Transcript

Sharri | 5 February · Sharri

0:01
Speaker 1: Live on Sky News.
0:03
Speaker 2: This is Sharry Good Evening. Albanese's secret plan to raise
0:10
Speaker 2: the capital gains tax all to pay for one hundred
0:12
Speaker 2: and forty four billion dollars in spending. More on that
0:16
Speaker 2: in a moment. Explosive revelations from the Epstein files as
0:21
Speaker 2: the scandal. Engulf's Keir Starmer will cross live to London.
0:26
Speaker 2: Trump warns Iran's Ayatola Komani that he should be very worried.
0:31
Speaker 2: Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Sharen Haskell will tell us the
0:34
Speaker 2: latest and Pauline Hansen's floating a Conservative mega deal with
0:39
Speaker 2: the Liberals and Nationals. Mccnavan will give his reaction in
0:44
Speaker 2: a moment. But first to major news this week that
0:47
Speaker 2: hasn't had enough scrutiny. The Albanese government is looking at
0:51
Speaker 2: raising the capital gains tax on investment properties in the
0:55
Speaker 2: May budget. This will be pitched as making the tax
0:59
Speaker 2: system bearer for young voters and helping first home bias.
1:04
Speaker 2: That's what the government will say and the media will
1:07
Speaker 2: welcome it, but really it's yet another tax grab targeting
1:12
Speaker 2: hard working Australians. Labor is looking at harving the fifty
1:17
Speaker 2: percent discount on capital gains tax. In fact, the City
1:21
Speaker 2: Morning Herald reports today that this is firming as the
1:25
Speaker 2: expected centerpiece of Treasurer Jim Charmers may budget and judging
1:32
Speaker 2: by the KG answers ministers are giving, this does seem
1:36
Speaker 2: to be firmly on the cards. When Pete Stefanovic asked
1:40
Speaker 2: Deputy Prime Minister Richard Miles about this today, he simply
1:45
Speaker 2: wouldn't give a straight answer.
1:49
Speaker 3: So you're ruling out now any changes to the capital
1:52
Speaker 3: capital gains tax discount?
1:56
Speaker 4: Our housing policies haven't changed. We acknowledge that there are respective.
2:01
Speaker 3: How will they change come budget time?
2:04
Speaker 4: Well, we'll Pete in explaining our position in relation to
2:09
Speaker 4: housing policy. We do accept that they're intergenerational challenges in
2:13
Speaker 4: relation to housing.
2:15
Speaker 3: Okay, So I mean capital gains tax can also apply
2:18
Speaker 3: to stocks, so it's not just housing co apply to
2:20
Speaker 3: other things as well. Are you going to rule out
2:23
Speaker 3: any changes to the capital gains tax system?
2:27
Speaker 4: Look, I've made this position clear in answering your question,
2:31
Speaker 4: and as have ministers throughout the week. We are we
2:36
Speaker 4: do not have any Our position in relation to housing
2:39
Speaker 4: policy is clear and we are not changing any of
2:41
Speaker 4: the We don't have any intention to change the tax
2:47
Speaker 4: arrangements around housing.
2:50
Speaker 2: And on it went miles as you heard there says
2:54
Speaker 2: that position is clear. It's clear as much saying up
3:00
Speaker 2: haven't changed is what politicians always say right up until
3:03
Speaker 2: the day they officially change the policy. And Pete did
3:08
Speaker 2: a terrific interview there. By the way, now Albanezi himself
3:12
Speaker 2: wouldn't rule it out in question time today, while Cabinet
3:15
Speaker 2: Secretary Andrew Charlton also spoke about tax reform with Andrew
3:19
Speaker 2: Klanell earlier this week.
3:22
Speaker 5: Will the Prime Minister now rule out raising capital gains
3:25
Speaker 5: tax on housing?
3:27
Speaker 6: The Parliament is looking into the capital gains tax discount.
3:33
Speaker 6: Why are they looking into it because in November last
3:36
Speaker 6: year they established a committee in the other place to
3:40
Speaker 6: select committee to look at the operation of the capital
3:45
Speaker 6: gains tax discount.
3:48
Speaker 7: Pan mentioned a budget about reform again yesterday.
3:51
Speaker 1: Are you looking at negative gearing and capital gains? Are
3:54
Speaker 1: you looking at more tax?
3:55
Speaker 8: Well it's not to meet a front round the budget,
3:57
Speaker 8: but the Treasurer and the Prime Minister have said that
4:00
Speaker 8: this will be a budget of reform. Does that include
4:03
Speaker 8: tax reform, Well, that's up to the cabinet processes. The
4:07
Speaker 8: budget isn't written today, but the treasure and the Prime
4:10
Speaker 8: Minister have been clear that reform will be a priority
4:14
Speaker 8: for this budget. It's not going to get written now,
4:16
Speaker 8: and I'm not writing it myself. You're not ruling it
4:19
Speaker 8: out though, you're not ruling out tax reform and the budget.
4:21
Speaker 1: It's not up to me to rule it in or out.
4:25
Speaker 2: And Treasurer Jim Chalmers also hasn't ruled out changes to
4:29
Speaker 2: capital gains tax.
4:31
Speaker 5: You essentially get a discount as an investor on the
4:35
Speaker 5: tax you pay when you sell a home.
4:37
Speaker 1: Do you want to change that?
4:40
Speaker 7: Oh, we haven't changed, have you on that? I'll sort
4:45
Speaker 7: of the best way to explain the situation there is
4:48
Speaker 7: we've got this Senate committee which the Greens and the
4:51
Speaker 7: Liberals set up to look at capital gains and but
4:53
Speaker 7: our focus in housing is on the supply side, which
4:56
Speaker 7: means we're trying to build as many new homes as
4:59
Speaker 7: we can.
4:59
Speaker 1: I'm going into treasure.
5:00
Speaker 9: You keep getting asked that and you never rule it out.
5:05
Speaker 1: Well, what I tried to do.
5:06
Speaker 7: I think I gave a speech at the Press Club
5:08
Speaker 7: last year where I talked about this. You know, since
5:13
Speaker 7: the governments are asked to rule things.
5:15
Speaker 8: In and out.
5:17
Speaker 2: Now this is a major sleeper issue. We're likely to
5:21
Speaker 2: see the Albanezer government take advantage of the political vacuum
5:26
Speaker 2: of the week opposition to scrap tax benefits they've long
5:30
Speaker 2: hate it. The first looks like it could be capital
5:34
Speaker 2: gains tax, but then it could be negative gearing or
5:37
Speaker 2: others as well. This is despite the Albaneze government benefiting
5:42
Speaker 2: from record revenue. Economist Chris Richardson wrote about this in
5:47
Speaker 2: The finn Review a couple of months ago. In this
5:50
Speaker 2: article titled Lucky Charmers Revenue Rainbow's mask spending problems, Richardson
5:56
Speaker 2: explained that revenue is up in part because of export
6:00
Speaker 2: and soaring gold prices. He wrote, this government's four hundred
6:05
Speaker 2: billion dollars in rainbow revenue is a level of luck
6:10
Speaker 2: never before seen in Australia. Record revenue, more money than
6:15
Speaker 2: ever to spend. Yet Labour still plans to raise taxes
6:19
Speaker 2: because they're spending more than any other government. Richardson explains
6:25
Speaker 2: that since Albanize one office in twenty twenty two, there's
6:29
Speaker 2: an extra one hundred and forty four billion dollars of spending.
6:34
Speaker 2: An extra one hundred and forty four billion I mean
6:37
Speaker 2: Albanesi spend money like there was no tomorrow in the
6:40
Speaker 2: lead up to the twenty twenty five election, and now
6:43
Speaker 2: he's looking to raise taxes as a result, targeting the
6:48
Speaker 2: capital gains tax discount may just be the first Well,
6:56
Speaker 2: the coalition is a joke right now. Is an extraordinary
7:00
Speaker 2: that in New South Wales both Premier Chris Mins and
7:05
Speaker 2: Opposition leader Kelly Sloane are credible options as leaders. Voters
7:10
Speaker 2: could be comfortable with either leading the state. But in
7:14
Speaker 2: Canberra the opposite is true. The Albanezi government is the
7:19
Speaker 2: worst on record. Its failure to confront anti Semitism created
7:25
Speaker 2: the conditions that led to the bond Eid terror attack.
7:29
Speaker 2: It's reckless spending, as we've just been speaking about, has
7:33
Speaker 2: fueled inflation and pushed interest rates higher. This is a
7:38
Speaker 2: comprehensive failure of leadership, one that rests squarely with Anthony
7:43
Speaker 2: Albanezi himself. He lacks conviction, he lacks moral backbone, and
7:49
Speaker 2: he doesn't have the intellectual rigor required for the job.
7:53
Speaker 2: Yet when you turn to the opposition the picture isn't
7:57
Speaker 2: much better. After they're devastat election loss, you would expect
8:02
Speaker 2: the coalition to regroup, reflect and quickly rebuild. Instead, they're
8:10
Speaker 2: deteriorating by the day. They can't even manage basic unity.
8:16
Speaker 2: We've seen some National senators put their personal ego ahead
8:21
Speaker 2: of the collective good. And meanwhile, Susan Lee catastrophically mishandled
8:26
Speaker 2: the response to the race hate laws, failing to secure
8:29
Speaker 2: agreement from Nationals and some Liberal colleagues before arriving at
8:34
Speaker 2: a position. Now I'm told the Nationals only wanted one
8:39
Speaker 2: amendment to the legislation and they would have voted for it,
8:43
Speaker 2: Yet there was no joint party room meeting to nut
8:46
Speaker 2: this out. The result the Nationals Party outrageously voted against
8:53
Speaker 2: urgently needed antisemitism laws, and now the Coalition is split,
8:58
Speaker 2: leaving Australia without a credible alternative government. Their conduct has
9:04
Speaker 2: been nothing shot of disgraceful, even fromer Prime Minister John
9:08
Speaker 2: Howard is exasperated, intervening yet again, urging the coalition to reunite.
9:17
Speaker 2: One of the few voices of reason, James Patterson, echoed
9:21
Speaker 2: that call today, urging his own colleagues to heed John
9:26
Speaker 2: Howard's advice.
9:27
Speaker 9: Susan has publicly talked about how much she respects John
9:30
Speaker 9: Howard's advice, including on this issue, so I think we
9:33
Speaker 9: should listen very carefully to the advice that he gives us.
9:36
Speaker 9: I think we should give this the time that it
9:37
Speaker 9: needs and give it the best chance it can to succeed.
9:40
Speaker 9: I don't think it's in the best interest of our parties,
9:43
Speaker 9: or more importantly, in the country's best interest for the
9:46
Speaker 9: two center right parties of this country, which have governed
9:49
Speaker 9: so effectively together for more than eighty years, to be
9:52
Speaker 9: at odds.
9:54
Speaker 2: If the Liberals and Nationals ignore these warnings, their influence
9:59
Speaker 2: will do diminish even further. The coalition is crumbling and
10:04
Speaker 2: alban Easy is getting a free pass.
10:10
Speaker 6: Well.
10:11
Speaker 2: Pauline Hansen is now floating the idea of a three
10:13
Speaker 2: way deal with the Liberals and the Nationals before the
10:16
Speaker 2: next election in twenty twenty eight. She says it's the
10:19
Speaker 2: only way Conservatives can compete with Labour's massive majority. If
10:25
Speaker 2: she was with Chris Kenny, you.
10:27
Speaker 10: Would be interested in being involved in a coalition government
10:32
Speaker 10: with the Nationals and the Liberals.
10:34
Speaker 11: Of course, that's the only way to move forward, because
10:37
Speaker 11: I'm not going to be government and either is by
10:40
Speaker 11: the looks of it, either as a Coalition or the
10:43
Speaker 11: National Party. So the fact is that I am a
10:47
Speaker 11: conservative at heart and I would work with them to
10:50
Speaker 11: give them supply. Would I join up to the rabble
10:54
Speaker 11: that they are at the moment? No one in the
10:55
Speaker 11: wide world.
10:57
Speaker 2: Nationalist leader David Little Proud has pot cold water on
11:00
Speaker 2: this idea. He says it's purely hypothetical.
11:04
Speaker 10: I think everyone just needs to take a could sure focus.
11:07
Speaker 10: I'm working out who they are and what they are.
11:09
Speaker 11: Would you consider some kind of deal, whether it's just
11:12
Speaker 11: confidence and supply.
11:14
Speaker 10: Well, I think we're talking about a hypothetical some two
11:18
Speaker 10: years into the distance.
11:22
Speaker 2: All right, and joining me now is National Senator Matt Canavan. Matt,
11:25
Speaker 2: good to see you. Look, isn't John Howard right? You
11:29
Speaker 2: guys have to sort this out or you're never going
11:32
Speaker 2: to get back in government.
11:35
Speaker 12: Well, look, I'd like to sort this out, Shari, and
11:39
Speaker 12: welcome back after I know some important work you've been doing.
11:43
Speaker 2: Thank you.
11:44
Speaker 12: I'd like to see this sort it out. I don't
11:47
Speaker 12: really understand why we had to split over this issue.
11:51
Speaker 12: We did have a difference of opinion on a detailed
11:54
Speaker 12: piece of legislation. I did not think that hate speech
11:58
Speaker 12: laws in this country should be defined to include things
12:02
Speaker 12: like psychological, social, or economic harm, and neither did my
12:05
Speaker 12: National's Party colleague. So we stuck up for people's free
12:07
Speaker 12: speech in this country. We knew there may be consequences
12:11
Speaker 12: from that, but I don't know why we had to
12:14
Speaker 12: have ministers sacked over the issue. We have voted differently
12:17
Speaker 12: before on issues like this, So it's happened.
12:20
Speaker 1: It's happened. So we've got to get back together. But look,
12:23
Speaker 1: it's been.
12:24
Speaker 12: Disappointing this week to see the Liberal Party or the
12:28
Speaker 12: Liberal leader Susan Lee insists that three of our senators
12:32
Speaker 12: have to spend time on the bench or in detention
12:34
Speaker 12: or something.
12:35
Speaker 1: I mean, look, we've.
12:36
Speaker 12: Either got to get back together and trust each other
12:38
Speaker 12: or not. And I'd like to see this go back together.
12:40
Speaker 12: I'd like to see us work together. I think it
12:43
Speaker 12: is best for the country. But if that's not the case,
12:46
Speaker 12: I just get on with my job as I've been
12:48
Speaker 12: doing this week, to hold the government to account and
12:49
Speaker 12: the Senate.
12:51
Speaker 2: And just on that. Well, what do you think about
12:53
Speaker 2: this new coalition with Pauline Hanson. Is that something you
12:57
Speaker 2: think is a good idea.
13:01
Speaker 12: Look, Pauline herself has been a little schizophrenic on this.
13:05
Speaker 12: In the last twenty four hours, she's told the Senate
13:07
Speaker 12: that she wouldn't join up with the Liberal and Nationals parties.
13:10
Speaker 12: You played a clip there on her and Chris Kenny
13:12
Speaker 12: saying sort of she would or suggesting that. So it's
13:14
Speaker 12: not really clear what Pauline envisages. I don't think now's
13:19
Speaker 12: the time to be talking about arrangements after an election
13:22
Speaker 12: a couple of years away. I'm focused on two things
13:26
Speaker 12: right now. One doing my job to hold the government
13:29
Speaker 12: to account, to point out what they're doing wrong, and
13:31
Speaker 12: obviously the results of their actions are not good at
13:34
Speaker 12: the moment, with interest rates going up this week, and
13:37
Speaker 12: two developing the plans and policies that are going to
13:40
Speaker 12: get this country back our country.
13:42
Speaker 1: Just that I understand, But.
13:44
Speaker 2: Just I understand your position. So you're saying you would
13:47
Speaker 2: or wouldn't be open to a merger with one nation.
13:52
Speaker 12: I just don't know what that looks like. I don't
13:54
Speaker 12: rule things out in life. You don't real options out.
13:56
Speaker 2: You sound like Jim Chalmers now talking about capital gains.
13:59
Speaker 12: I haven't considered for on second. Yeah, well, I'm not
14:01
Speaker 12: going to rule out options. I'm not going to rual options.
14:03
Speaker 12: Are you going to commit to me? You'll never lose
14:05
Speaker 12: Leaf skyde News. You'll always be on Sky News. You
14:08
Speaker 12: love them and you've.
14:12
Speaker 1: Got to you know, good enough for you. I'll leave.
14:15
Speaker 2: Well, I'll give it definitive answer. I'll always be here.
14:18
Speaker 2: Now you give it answer.
14:20
Speaker 1: You are right?
14:21
Speaker 2: Would you be open to a merger with one name?
14:23
Speaker 12: I'll always be I'll always be I'll always be a
14:25
Speaker 12: member of the Liberal National Party.
14:26
Speaker 1: That's what I'm going to stay true too.
14:28
Speaker 12: So we'll see what happens after the election or anything
14:31
Speaker 12: like that.
14:32
Speaker 2: But before the election, which is what she's saying. She's
14:35
Speaker 2: saying the.
14:35
Speaker 1: Best you have. No, no, no, no, that's not going
14:39
Speaker 1: to happen.
14:40
Speaker 2: All right, all right, Look, as you said, this is
14:42
Speaker 2: the first night I've been back on with you, and
14:45
Speaker 2: you know, I know you care about Andi Semitism. You're
14:48
Speaker 2: on my show every week. I personally couldn't believe it
14:51
Speaker 2: when you and others voted against these laws that we
14:55
Speaker 2: desperately need. I understand though, that you would have voted
14:59
Speaker 2: for them if they had just been one amendment. Is
15:02
Speaker 2: that right?
15:05
Speaker 11: Yeah?
15:05
Speaker 12: Look, as I said, Shahi, we had a few issues
15:07
Speaker 12: with these laws, Obviously they were rushed through and there
15:10
Speaker 12: was a truncated process. So I don't think that was
15:13
Speaker 12: the best way to tinker with these fundamental rights that
15:16
Speaker 12: affect all Australians. And I pointed out earlier that there
15:20
Speaker 12: was this issue that there was a bit of inconsistency
15:23
Speaker 12: in the law where at one part of the law
15:25
Speaker 12: there sort of had to be a report on whether
15:27
Speaker 12: group was encouraging violence. But the objects of the Act
15:30
Speaker 12: or the part this part of the Act said that
15:34
Speaker 12: it was to protect Australians from psychological, economic and social
15:38
Speaker 12: harm and that set of warning bills for us, because
15:41
Speaker 12: it is true that a number of people think that
15:44
Speaker 12: speech is violence, that economic boycotts are violence, and I
15:48
Speaker 12: don't put them in that category. I don't want to
15:49
Speaker 12: see Australia end up like the UK, where people's social
15:52
Speaker 12: media posts and communication are monitored by some kind of
15:56
Speaker 12: free speech police. And so that's what we were fighting
15:59
Speaker 12: for and I'm proud that we fought for that in
16:00
Speaker 12: the Nationals Party.
16:02
Speaker 1: We did move a number of amendments.
16:03
Speaker 2: You can't be proud, you can't be proud that antisemitism
16:07
Speaker 2: legislation didn't get through. I mean, you you should have
16:10
Speaker 2: worked harder.
16:11
Speaker 1: I went through, but we didn't go through.
16:13
Speaker 2: You should have worked harder to get your amendments rather
16:15
Speaker 2: than the fact that you voted against it. That is
16:18
Speaker 2: something you can't be proud of.
16:21
Speaker 12: Well, it did get it did go through, and no,
16:23
Speaker 12: I am proud of standing up for free speech and
16:26
Speaker 12: the and the overwhelming feedback I've had is is support
16:31
Speaker 12: for the approach the Nationals Party has taken here because
16:34
Speaker 12: I think these trained people are sick and tired of
16:37
Speaker 12: being told what they can and can't say.
16:39
Speaker 1: So now, if you're saying, if you're encouraging.
16:42
Speaker 2: No, no one wants to see happened, Well, that's what
16:44
Speaker 2: we did.
16:44
Speaker 1: That's what we did.
16:46
Speaker 2: But you didn't. You didn't work to get those amendments through.
16:48
Speaker 2: You just voted against it.
16:50
Speaker 1: Well, I'm not no that.
16:52
Speaker 12: Well, Shari, I'll push back strongly on that. We developed
16:57
Speaker 12: those amendents we wrote. There's aments of keeping in mind,
16:59
Speaker 12: one nation did not move any substantive amendments to the bill.
17:02
Speaker 12: We moved I believe six from memory, different amendments. Obviously,
17:07
Speaker 12: this bill was we saw this bill, we saw the
17:09
Speaker 12: table version of this bill on the Tuesday morning that
17:11
Speaker 12: it was passed. We had our amendments developed by lunchtime
17:14
Speaker 12: on Tuesday. Within three or four.
17:16
Speaker 1: Hours, we distributed those Liberal Party.
17:18
Speaker 12: The reason we didn't vote against the laws in the
17:19
Speaker 12: House was to give the Liberal Party the time to
17:21
Speaker 12: consider them, and so by the evening those amendments, our
17:26
Speaker 12: amendments and the law were voted on in the Senate.
17:28
Speaker 12: We got the Green support, One Nation support, and quite sadly,
17:32
Speaker 12: if we'd had the Liberal Party.
17:33
Speaker 1: Support, the bill would have been amended and then the.
17:36
Speaker 12: Labor Party would have had to decide whether to vote
17:37
Speaker 12: against their own bill or accept a reasonable change. But anyway,
17:41
Speaker 12: that's all spilt milk. I'm not that's done. That's all done.
17:45
Speaker 12: It's done. But I'm not going to resile from the
17:49
Speaker 12: Nationals Party standing up for people's rights and freedoms in
17:52
Speaker 12: this country. I'm very proud of that. And if that means,
17:55
Speaker 12: if that means that some of my colleagues take pay cuts,
17:58
Speaker 12: we lose positions, well that's worth it. That's worth it
18:02
Speaker 12: to stand up for people's rights.
18:05
Speaker 2: Just before you go, I want to ask you about
18:07
Speaker 2: this move. You've gone public about this today, this move
18:11
Speaker 2: where the Liberals were trying to strip you from your
18:14
Speaker 2: committee position. Tell me about this, Why did the Liberals
18:19
Speaker 2: want you off this committee?
18:23
Speaker 12: Well, you'd have to ask them about that, so I
18:27
Speaker 12: can't speak for other motivations. Obviously we don't have the
18:31
Speaker 12: coalition right now, but I strongly believe that the Nationals
18:34
Speaker 12: Party deserve representation on Senate committees. We have been elected
18:42
Speaker 12: to fight primarily for people who live outside our capital cities,
18:45
Speaker 12: who often don't get a voice on mainstream media, and
18:48
Speaker 12: it seemed extremely strange to me that the Liberal Party
18:52
Speaker 12: would be seeking to silence and gag those voices I've
18:55
Speaker 12: been doing. I've been working my guts out on this
18:58
Speaker 12: climate misinformation inquiry, owing to the points we're talking about earlier.
19:01
Speaker 12: There's a cabal of labor and green senators that want
19:04
Speaker 12: to pass misinformation laws that would penalize anybody that is
19:09
Speaker 12: questioning a solar and wind project that is destroying their
19:11
Speaker 12: local environment or questioning the science behind climate change.
19:15
Speaker 1: And I'm totally against that.
19:16
Speaker 12: So I've been working my guts out on that, and yes,
19:19
Speaker 12: they tried today in the Senate to remove me from
19:22
Speaker 12: that committee the Liberal Party. Fortunately they ran at a
19:24
Speaker 12: time and National Centaers remain on all our committees for now,
19:29
Speaker 12: I think all those people out there who I know
19:31
Speaker 12: a lot of people range Liberal Party officers, and that said,
19:33
Speaker 12: why are you doing this? We need people like Susan
19:37
Speaker 12: McDonald my colleague, think I'm doing my best and Bridget
19:40
Speaker 12: mackenzie and Ross Cadell to do our work to represent people.
19:43
Speaker 12: Why wouldn't we be allowed to represent people? They weren't
19:45
Speaker 12: kicking the Greens off committees, you know they're allowed on.
19:48
Speaker 12: Why should the National Senators be allowed on too?
19:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it sounds like the relationships just getting worse
19:52
Speaker 2: and worse if the Libs are trying to kick you
19:55
Speaker 2: off a committee, and I mean, your performance on every
19:58
Speaker 2: committee is just exceptional. Matt, appreciate your time as always.
20:02
Speaker 2: Thank you. All right, let's turn now to the explosive
20:05
Speaker 2: revelations from the Epstein files. Melinda Gates has spoken candidly
20:10
Speaker 2: about the Epstein document dump. She says Bill Gates being
20:14
Speaker 2: named drags her back into the most painful moments from
20:18
Speaker 2: their marriage.
20:19
Speaker 13: It's beyond heartbreaking, right, I remember being those ages those
20:23
Speaker 13: girls were. I remember my daughter's being those ages.
20:26
Speaker 2: Right.
20:27
Speaker 13: So for me it's personally hard whenever those details come up, right,
20:32
Speaker 13: because brings back memories of some very very painful times
20:38
Speaker 13: in my marriage, but I have moved on from that.
20:41
Speaker 13: So whatever questions remain there of what I don't can't
20:45
Speaker 13: even begin to know all of it. Those questions are
20:47
Speaker 13: for those people and from even my ex husband. They
20:50
Speaker 13: need to answer to those things, not me.
20:53
Speaker 2: And of course Bill Gates denies all the allegations. All right, well,
20:57
Speaker 2: let's cross to London now with our Sky News respondent
21:00
Speaker 2: Sophie Elsworth. Sophie, good to see you. This whole saga
21:05
Speaker 2: is now threatening to engulf Keir Starmer's leadership because he
21:09
Speaker 2: appointed Peter Mandelssohn Peter Mandelson despite knowing about his links
21:14
Speaker 2: with Epstein. Where is this going? Great to be with you, Sharry.
21:20
Speaker 14: Look, this is dominating the headlines here in the UK,
21:23
Speaker 14: as you would expect, because the UK's ambassador to the US,
21:27
Speaker 14: Lord Mandelssohn, was dumped by Sekirs Starmer last year after
21:33
Speaker 14: more revelations came out about his close relationship relationship with
21:39
Speaker 14: Jeffrey Epstein. Now, in the last few days, our Conservative
21:43
Speaker 14: leader Kenny Vaidenok asked Sakiath Starmer in the House of
21:47
Speaker 14: Commons did he know that Jeffrey Epstein and Lord Mandelsson
21:52
Speaker 14: maintained a relationship after he left jail, and the Prime
21:56
Speaker 14: Minister astonishingly admitted that he did, and he went ahead
22:00
Speaker 14: and appointed him as the US Ambassador, the UK ambassador
22:05
Speaker 14: to the US. So this has engulfed his premiership and
22:09
Speaker 14: you can see here on the front of the Daily
22:11
Speaker 14: Mail today just one of the headlines with the Prime
22:15
Speaker 14: Minister here Sakia Sama under siege. And there is no
22:19
Speaker 14: doubt Sharry, that his reign as Prime Minister is very
22:23
Speaker 14: much on shaky ground over this.
22:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's incredible this could actually bring him down
22:29
Speaker 2: as leader as Prime minister.
22:32
Speaker 14: It absolutely could, Sharry. I mean, he has got a
22:35
Speaker 14: lot of labor MPs very irritated with him, quite appalled
22:41
Speaker 14: that he admitted in the House of House of Commons
22:45
Speaker 14: that he knew about these close ties. He ignored the
22:48
Speaker 14: close ties that the two had, and he's tried to
22:51
Speaker 14: shift blame onto Lord Mandelsson and said that he lied
22:54
Speaker 14: to him repeatedly when he was interviewed in the lead
22:57
Speaker 14: up to being appointed this role. But many people are
23:01
Speaker 14: saying this is not good enough. I mean, he's a barrister,
23:04
Speaker 14: he should be very strategic and very forensic with his
23:08
Speaker 14: questioning and knowing that a lot of this information Charry
23:13
Speaker 14: was online. This is not a secret that the two
23:16
Speaker 14: maintained a professional relationship.
23:18
Speaker 2: So this is.
23:19
Speaker 14: Incredibly damaging for SECA starmer and I wouldn't be surprised
23:22
Speaker 14: Sharry if he's no longer Prime Minister here in the
23:25
Speaker 14: coming months.
23:26
Speaker 2: Extraordinary, Sophie. What about these new claims today involving Epstein,
23:31
Speaker 2: Andrew and a stripper, noting of course that Andrew denies
23:36
Speaker 2: all of the allegations.
23:39
Speaker 14: Well, disgraced former Prince Andrew again is making headlines here,
23:43
Speaker 14: Shary for all the wrong reasons. There's claims in the
23:46
Speaker 14: latest tranch of Epstein files, together with Jeffrey Epstein, they
23:51
Speaker 14: engage the services of a woman to take part in
23:56
Speaker 14: strip teasers and then requested that she take part in
24:00
Speaker 14: the threesome afterwards. Now, she was offered ten thousand dollars,
24:04
Speaker 14: which the documents say she was never paid, but she
24:07
Speaker 14: was given two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to never
24:10
Speaker 14: speak about this. This is just another stain on the
24:14
Speaker 14: royal family, another problem for Andrew, Mountbatten, Windsor and Sharry.
24:19
Speaker 14: Just here on the front of the Sun today. I
24:21
Speaker 14: mean there's a headline here revolting. He's now moved up
24:25
Speaker 14: to Sandraham Estate. He's gone there in the dead of
24:29
Speaker 14: night from Windsor earlier in the week, and staff there
24:33
Speaker 14: at Sandrahamer State are refusing to serve him, refusing to
24:39
Speaker 14: work for him because they're so appalled with these a
24:41
Speaker 14: allegations leveled against him. This is something that continues to
24:46
Speaker 14: dog the royal family, Sharry, incredibly concerning for them. The
24:51
Speaker 14: form of Prince Andrew as well was seen leaving Windsor
24:54
Speaker 14: Estate this week, smiling and waving at cameras, which was
24:58
Speaker 14: just extraordinary, incredibly baffling and quite disturbing for many.
25:03
Speaker 2: All Right, Sophie Elsworth, thank you so much for your time,
25:08
Speaker 2: and there's going to be more on that almost every
25:10
Speaker 2: date the moment. Fresh developments from those three million files.
25:14
Speaker 2: All Right, as I spoke about a bit earlier, the
25:16
Speaker 2: Albanezi government is targeting the capital gains tax discount. They're
25:21
Speaker 2: going to sell it as fairness for young Australians, but
25:24
Speaker 2: have a look at Liberal Senator Jane Humes saying it's
25:27
Speaker 2: just another tax grab that won't help build a single
25:31
Speaker 2: extra home. All Right, we don't have that comment right now,
25:36
Speaker 2: but joining me now is Institute of Public Affairs chief
25:39
Speaker 2: economist Adam Crichton. Adam, great to see you as always.
25:43
Speaker 2: You heard what I had to say about the government's
25:46
Speaker 2: plans on the capital gains tax discount earlier in the show.
25:49
Speaker 2: Do you agree. Do you think there's going to be
25:51
Speaker 2: any significant impact in the government cutting this or is
25:54
Speaker 2: it just a tax grab another way to raise revenue.
26:00
Speaker 5: Well, look, I think Jo.
26:01
Speaker 1: And hum is right.
26:02
Speaker 5: It's certainly a tax grab. It's very disappointing. It's not
26:05
Speaker 5: tax reform. It's not going to make any difference to
26:08
Speaker 5: house prices. Even the Gratin Institute, I think, says the
26:10
Speaker 5: difference in prices will be one percent. So house prices
26:13
Speaker 5: in Australia have gone up about eighty percent in the
26:16
Speaker 5: last ten years, and they continue to increase about five
26:18
Speaker 5: percent every year. So do you think one percent change
26:21
Speaker 5: from this tax change is going to make any meaningful
26:23
Speaker 5: difference to any first home buyer.
26:26
Speaker 1: No, it's not.
26:27
Speaker 5: But the funny thing about this proposed change is it's
26:30
Speaker 5: not even going to raise much revenue. I mean, for
26:32
Speaker 5: top break taxpayers, the capital gain tax rate is about
26:36
Speaker 5: twenty four percent, so in the UK, in various countries
26:40
Speaker 5: in Europe, they have increased the capital gain tax rate
26:42
Speaker 5: and they have lost revenue because people simply won't sell
26:45
Speaker 5: their homes, they won't sell their assets, or they'll move
26:48
Speaker 5: to New Zealand where there is no capital gains tax
26:51
Speaker 5: at all. So it's a very stupid reform. It's not
26:54
Speaker 5: cohesive reform, and I really hope it doesn't happen. And
26:57
Speaker 5: you'll also see a dive into assets in the next
27:00
Speaker 5: few months if people start to think that this will
27:02
Speaker 5: be grandfathered, you'll see a huge surge into property to
27:05
Speaker 5: lock in the current tax rate.
27:08
Speaker 2: We have that comment from Jaye Hume. Now, so let's
27:10
Speaker 2: have a quick look.
27:12
Speaker 15: When labor run out of money, they come after yours.
27:16
Speaker 15: If somebody can demonstrate to me that if you remove
27:19
Speaker 15: the capital gains tax discount a red tape reduction measure,
27:23
Speaker 15: that it's going to dramatically increase housing supply, I'll be
27:27
Speaker 15: open minded.
27:29
Speaker 2: So, Adam, if you're saying it's not actually going to
27:31
Speaker 2: generate a significant amount of revenue for the government, is
27:34
Speaker 2: this just about one of their ideological pet hatreds, kind
27:40
Speaker 2: of similar to negative gearing. Well, look I think it's
27:44
Speaker 2: a mix of that.
27:45
Speaker 5: It's a mix of ideological hatred and just sheer economic stupidity.
27:48
Speaker 5: I mean, I think these people mean well, but they
27:50
Speaker 5: just don't understand how the economy works. I think they
27:53
Speaker 5: actually think it will raise a lot of money, but
27:55
Speaker 5: it just won't. I mean, we are already taxed so much.
27:58
Speaker 5: You know, forty seven cents the dollar is the highest
28:01
Speaker 5: marginal rate, which cuts in at an absurdly low level
28:04
Speaker 5: globally one hundred and ninety thousand dollars Australian. It cuts
28:07
Speaker 5: in the US. You've got that tax rate at something
28:09
Speaker 5: like six hundred thousand dollars a year. So more and
28:12
Speaker 5: more bright young Australians are leaving the country. They just
28:15
Speaker 5: think that you raise more money from these changes, They
28:17
Speaker 5: don't look. I just think it's a lack of competence.
28:20
Speaker 2: You know, the Treasury just they couldn't.
28:22
Speaker 5: Even count fifty seven billion dollars, right, you must have
28:24
Speaker 5: seen that story. Just oh whoops, there's an extra fifty
28:27
Speaker 5: seven billion of spending that we couldn't even add up.
28:30
Speaker 5: So the fact that they're even recommending this is really embarrassing.
28:33
Speaker 1: Frankly, I want to ask.
28:35
Speaker 2: About the rate rise this week. Now, on the show
28:38
Speaker 2: last night, we spoke about how economists urging the government
28:41
Speaker 2: to do some of the heavy lifting on inflation, you know,
28:44
Speaker 2: just cut government spending. But we've seen the treasurer reject
28:48
Speaker 2: the idea that the spending's making it any worse. And
28:51
Speaker 2: they point to Michelle Bullock's comments because she was asked
28:55
Speaker 2: about this, and I suppose understandably she skirted around it.
28:59
Speaker 2: So what's your view one, how much the Albernezer government
29:03
Speaker 2: is contributing to inflation and thus the rate rise, well.
29:08
Speaker 1: Hugely, I think.
29:09
Speaker 5: I mean, the Reserve Bank is the first central bank
29:11
Speaker 5: in the Western world to lift rates, so they can
29:13
Speaker 5: hardly blame global factors. Spending by the federal government is
29:17
Speaker 5: growing the fastest rate since the Whitlam years, if you
29:20
Speaker 5: exclude the COVID period, it's growing at about nine percent
29:22
Speaker 5: a year nominal.
29:23
Speaker 1: That is huge.
29:24
Speaker 5: Nothing else is grown at that, not the population, not incomes,
29:28
Speaker 5: but federal spending is. And there are huge budget deficits,
29:31
Speaker 5: about thirty five billion dollars a year I think, as
29:33
Speaker 5: far as I can see. And when governments run those deficits,
29:37
Speaker 5: they essentially create money and they pump it into the
29:39
Speaker 5: money supply, and of course that lifts prices, so it's
29:42
Speaker 5: a huge factor. It's just bad economics that they deny it.
29:47
Speaker 5: And you know, these are the people who just before
29:49
Speaker 5: that huge spike in inflation to seven percent, said inflation
29:52
Speaker 5: would be three percent in the next year. So they
29:54
Speaker 5: clearly have no idea what they're talking about. You know,
29:56
Speaker 5: these people don't understand how the economy works.
30:00
Speaker 2: You're right, the forecasting has been appalling. We were meant
30:03
Speaker 2: to be back in the target bound by now two
30:05
Speaker 2: to three percent. I suppose that. I mean, the RBA
30:08
Speaker 2: can't control government spending, but the forecasting has been wildly
30:13
Speaker 2: inaccurate for whatever reason, and now they're saying it's not
30:16
Speaker 2: going to be back to target banned until twenty twenty eight.
30:19
Speaker 2: At them, I mean, you know, can you do it?
30:21
Speaker 1: Shocking?
30:22
Speaker 2: It's just can you just explain to people what about
30:24
Speaker 2: all what this means in real terms? You know, because
30:28
Speaker 2: Michelle Bullock did make that comment. The prices have increased
30:31
Speaker 2: by twenty to twenty five percent basically because you know,
30:34
Speaker 2: if inflation is sitting at three or meant to hit
30:38
Speaker 2: four percent four point two percent by mid this year,
30:41
Speaker 2: just the impact, the cumulative impact that has on you know,
30:45
Speaker 2: butter or a cup of coffee.
30:49
Speaker 5: Yeah, of course, I mean hundreds of thousands of households
30:51
Speaker 5: with mortgages is going to be paying many hundreds of
30:54
Speaker 5: dollars a month more. It's a huge impact. And the fact,
30:59
Speaker 5: you know, there's a fifty percent chance now that there'll
31:00
Speaker 5: be two more rate rises I think by the middle
31:03
Speaker 5: of the year. And you know, here's the government just
31:05
Speaker 5: a few months ago trying to encourage young buyers to
31:07
Speaker 5: get into their the five percent deposit scheme. So he's
31:10
Speaker 5: young people who've got their fifty thousand dollars posit, they've
31:13
Speaker 5: borrowed nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars and now the
31:16
Speaker 5: interest rate's going to go zero point seventy five percent
31:18
Speaker 5: and completely wipe them out. So you have to feel
31:20
Speaker 5: sorry for those people, and you also have to realize
31:22
Speaker 5: just how little again, to go back to my earlier point,
31:25
Speaker 5: they understand how the economy works. Very embarrassing and you know,
31:29
Speaker 5: it's a sad day for Australia.
31:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is indeed, all right, Adam Crichton, thank you
31:34
Speaker 2: very much for your time. All right, Still to come
31:37
Speaker 2: a key figure in the bond Ai terror attack. Royal
31:39
Speaker 2: Commission has a daughter who led Palestinian protests on campus
31:44
Speaker 2: prior to October seven. Should this stop him from being
31:47
Speaker 2: involved or talk about that next? Plus, as Sidney teen
31:51
Speaker 2: allegedly post the death reat against Israel's President Isaac Hertzog
31:55
Speaker 2: ahead of his visit next week, Sharan Haskell would join
31:58
Speaker 2: me a little later. Stay tuned. Will Two key figures
32:06
Speaker 2: have been announced to lead the Royal Commission into the
32:08
Speaker 2: Bondai terror attack, the Royal Commissioner Virginia Bell and Senior
32:13
Speaker 2: Council Richard Lancaster. Now there's a prominent story you've probably
32:17
Speaker 2: seen about Lancaster in the Australian today. It's emerged that
32:22
Speaker 2: his daughter previously led pro Palestinian activism at the University
32:27
Speaker 2: of Sydney, including backing BDS that's boycott, divestment and sanctions,
32:33
Speaker 2: also motions accusing Israel of Apartheit. This was in twenty
32:38
Speaker 2: twenty two, before October seven. We're joining me now to
32:41
Speaker 2: discuss is Sydney Barrister Gray Connolly, who specializes in constitutional
32:46
Speaker 2: and public law and has advised the Federal government on
32:49
Speaker 2: national security. Gray, thank you for your time. Thank you
32:52
Speaker 2: for having Miche now great. Many parents don't agree with
32:56
Speaker 2: their children, and many children don't agree with their parents,
33:00
Speaker 2: So I think we shouldn't automatically hold the actions of
33:04
Speaker 2: one against the other. So if Lancaster doesn't agree with
33:09
Speaker 2: his daughter, we don't know his position, right. If he
33:12
Speaker 2: doesn't agree with his daughter, then do you think he
33:14
Speaker 2: should be fine to continue in the job.
33:17
Speaker 16: I think he should be fine to continue in the
33:20
Speaker 16: job regardless, because I just think it's bad to hold
33:23
Speaker 16: anyone's children's views against them. The law has a long
33:27
Speaker 16: history of parents and children having very different views on things.
33:30
Speaker 16: The form of Federal Attorney General Philip Braddock famously had
33:33
Speaker 16: a daughter who I think went on the ABC to
33:36
Speaker 16: denounce him, and he continued on as the Federal attend
33:39
Speaker 16: General without any problems. I just very against the idea
33:42
Speaker 16: of anyone's children or siblings being held against them. None
33:47
Speaker 16: of us can really help our family in some.
33:48
Speaker 2: Respects, and on this particular issue, I do know of
33:52
Speaker 2: many Jewish families where you know, the families have become,
33:56
Speaker 2: if not broken, divided by kids having a different viewpoint.
34:01
Speaker 2: But I do think it would be helpful to know
34:03
Speaker 2: what Lancaster's views are given she had such a prominent
34:07
Speaker 2: role in university activism.
34:09
Speaker 16: Okay, if I can just defend him and Richard Lancaster,
34:11
Speaker 16: I don't know, but I think his argument would be,
34:14
Speaker 16: if I'm the council assisting, you'll you'll see me speak
34:17
Speaker 16: through my work with the Commission, through the questions I
34:20
Speaker 16: ask him, through the very professional job I will do.
34:22
Speaker 16: So I think it's unfair. It's very unfair for advocates.
34:25
Speaker 16: When you're an advocate and your barrister, you go into
34:27
Speaker 16: court for a particular cause to be argued, you have
34:30
Speaker 16: duties to the court, you have judies to your client.
34:32
Speaker 16: You're really not there for yourself, and so very much
34:35
Speaker 16: you have a long history of almost having an out
34:37
Speaker 16: of body experience when you argue it, whatever your personal VIESA.
34:40
Speaker 2: Well, do you think though, that he might be loath
34:43
Speaker 2: to make findings about the role of pro Palestinian activists
34:48
Speaker 2: in demonizing Zionists that contributed to the environment that then
34:54
Speaker 2: led to the Bondai terror attack.
34:56
Speaker 16: Well, I would not think so, simply because he's the
34:58
Speaker 16: counsel assisting. He's the one who's meant to assembly materials
35:00
Speaker 16: and ask the questions and examine the witnesses. Really that
35:02
Speaker 16: will be a question for the Commissioner, Virginia Bell. She's
35:05
Speaker 16: the one who's going to have to make the findings,
35:08
Speaker 16: and really a lot of this will come back to her.
35:10
Speaker 2: I mean calf on that note, what do you think
35:13
Speaker 2: of the commission of Virginia Bell? Do you think she
35:15
Speaker 2: is the right person for the job.
35:17
Speaker 16: She's a very nice person. She did I think a
35:20
Speaker 16: fairly good job on the High Court. I just don't
35:22
Speaker 16: think she is the right person. I've never thought that.
35:24
Speaker 16: I think this is a Royal Commission that really is
35:26
Speaker 16: fundamentally about national security. Everything about this from the massacre,
35:31
Speaker 16: if you look at a timeline from the massacre to
35:33
Speaker 16: the left of that is really something that goes to
35:35
Speaker 16: how the national security of this country is managed. And
35:38
Speaker 16: really you have to have someone who is intimately familiar
35:41
Speaker 16: with how the national security uprightest works in this country.
35:44
Speaker 16: I just don't think it's something someone can come into
35:46
Speaker 16: the job and do in the very short time period.
35:48
Speaker 16: There's three hundred and twelve days before this Royal Commission
35:51
Speaker 16: is meant to report. That is just a ridiculously short timetable.
35:54
Speaker 16: The terms of reference are really all over the place.
35:57
Speaker 16: For what is fundamentally inquiry or what should be fundamentally
35:59
Speaker 16: into a national security failure that led to the greatest massacre,
36:04
Speaker 16: sorry terrorist attack in Australian history.
36:09
Speaker 2: In terms of the time frame that you just spoke about,
36:11
Speaker 2: three hundred and twelve days, it's actually shorter than that,
36:14
Speaker 2: isn't it, because there's got to be a limited number
36:17
Speaker 2: of days for hearings and then she needs time to
36:19
Speaker 2: write the report.
36:20
Speaker 16: Yes, so there's going to be limited time for hearings.
36:22
Speaker 16: You have school holidays and all the other things. I mean,
36:24
Speaker 16: the biggest problem with it is that a lot of
36:26
Speaker 16: the whole purpose of a raw commission is that it
36:28
Speaker 16: is done as much as possible in public, because the
36:30
Speaker 16: principle behind it is no one gets to mark their
36:32
Speaker 16: own homework. For this to be done properly, you have
36:35
Speaker 16: to have, particularly in such a short period of time,
36:37
Speaker 16: you would have to have someone who's intimately familiar with
36:39
Speaker 16: how the national security uproads of the country works. Australia
36:41
Speaker 16: since nineteen hundred and one has been rigged in a
36:44
Speaker 16: certain way. If I can use the nautical analogy, it's
36:46
Speaker 16: been rigged like a ship to be protected in a
36:47
Speaker 16: certain way. But the intelligence and security agencies are not
36:51
Speaker 16: rogue elephants. They operate according to the dictates or the
36:53
Speaker 16: directives of the government of the day. They follow what
36:55
Speaker 16: they're directed to do. They're resourced by government to fulfill
36:58
Speaker 16: their mission. To do this properly, you actually have to
37:01
Speaker 16: have a long raw commission that is going to go
37:02
Speaker 16: into that and it is going to start asking questions
37:04
Speaker 16: of government. And really this Royal Commission falls down in
37:07
Speaker 16: two areas. One is it's not focused enough on what
37:09
Speaker 16: direction was given to intelligence security agencies before the attack.
37:12
Speaker 16: It's also fallings out because it is not making inquiries
37:15
Speaker 16: of what relations the perpetrators had with foreign elements. I mean,
37:20
Speaker 16: just to give one example that I've given before when
37:21
Speaker 16: I've been on sky, the perpetrators were caught with IEDs,
37:25
Speaker 16: so the car was caught with IDAs. Where did those
37:28
Speaker 16: ideas come from? Who made them, who paid for them?
37:31
Speaker 16: I mean we had recently the Iranian ambassador was expelled
37:34
Speaker 16: because there was belief that Iran is behind attacks within Australia.
37:38
Speaker 16: Was there a foreign sponsor of this attack? Was someone
37:41
Speaker 16: enabling this? You have two perpetrators who go to the
37:43
Speaker 16: Southern Philippines. They are there for thirty days. Southern Philippines
37:47
Speaker 16: is a notorious jihadi hotspot. Were they just there playing solitaire?
37:51
Speaker 16: Who were they there to meet? What other foreign countries
37:54
Speaker 16: would be interested that? Certainly the Philippines would be. Certainly
37:56
Speaker 16: India would be, to the degree one of them traveled
37:57
Speaker 16: on an Indian passport. These are all the sort of
37:59
Speaker 16: the This is the meat of what the inquiry should
38:02
Speaker 16: be about. And instead it goes off if you look
38:04
Speaker 16: at the terms of reference, it goes off into quite
38:06
Speaker 16: airy fairy ideas about souciacasion. No two Australians are gonna
38:10
Speaker 16: have the same idea of what sushacasion is. It's a
38:12
Speaker 16: really ridiculous area for an inquiry to you can do look.
38:15
Speaker 2: To do it properly, it would need to be a
38:17
Speaker 2: lot longer, just very quickly, because we've got to go.
38:19
Speaker 2: Would this be one of the shortest royal commissions in
38:22
Speaker 2: Australia's history?
38:23
Speaker 16: Yes, certainly, dealing with the death toll and the toll
38:26
Speaker 16: of wounded that this involved, yesa would be.
38:27
Speaker 2: All right, great, thank you very much for sure for
38:29
Speaker 2: being here. All right, still to come an outrageous story.
38:33
Speaker 2: Companies donating to labor have picked up at least four
38:37
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty one million dollars in government contracts. More
38:41
Speaker 2: on that later, plus details on the Sydney teen who
38:44
Speaker 2: allegedly posted a death threat towards Israeli President Isaac Kurtzog.
38:48
Speaker 2: Sharon Haskell joins me after the break well as Sydney
38:56
Speaker 2: teenager is facing serious charges after allegedly posted an online
39:00
Speaker 2: death threat against Israeli President Isaac Hertzog. This is protests
39:05
Speaker 2: ramp up ahead of his official visit to Australia. Police
39:08
Speaker 2: are warning there are major security challenges. There's fears around
39:12
Speaker 2: the safety of the Jewish community as they attend events
39:15
Speaker 2: with Hertzog. We're joining me now to discuss is Israel's
39:18
Speaker 2: Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Charen Haskel. Charen, great to see.
39:23
Speaker 2: It's been a long time. Look, do you absolutely do
39:27
Speaker 2: you trust that Australian authorities can keep President Hertzog safe
39:32
Speaker 2: during this visit or are you worried about the rising
39:36
Speaker 2: anti Semitism that we've seen in Australia. All right, we've
39:43
Speaker 2: just lost Charen. All right. I was going to speak
39:47
Speaker 2: to her about what's happening with Iran. If she's coming
39:51
Speaker 2: back in a moment, because we have seen that the
39:54
Speaker 2: US and Iran are still meeting on Friday. They're still
39:58
Speaker 2: planning to have a go siations and have talks. Trump
40:02
Speaker 2: has wanned the Iotola Kimani that he should be very
40:07
Speaker 2: worried that he does need to come to the table
40:09
Speaker 2: and have an agreement. There has been this push for
40:11
Speaker 2: regime change, but Trump says that's not what he's interested
40:17
Speaker 2: in at this point in time. We're trying to see
40:19
Speaker 2: if we can get Charenne haskellback Paps in a moment,
40:22
Speaker 2: she might be joining us again. In the meantime, let's
40:24
Speaker 2: bring in Victorian liberal MP Brad Baton. Brad, good to
40:30
Speaker 2: see you, just as we're getting Charen back. That's all right, Brad,
40:32
Speaker 2: we'll stick with you. Look, we've seen this outrageous story
40:37
Speaker 2: in Victoria this week where major labor donors have now
40:44
Speaker 2: received government contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Now
40:48
Speaker 2: we're told that this is all technically above the line,
40:51
Speaker 2: there's nothing that's actually untoward about it, but it doesn't
40:56
Speaker 2: look good when labor donors are landing hundreds of millions
40:58
Speaker 2: of dollars in contract.
41:01
Speaker 17: As we've already said, Shanny this government has had a
41:04
Speaker 17: history of issues when it comes to integrity. It goes
41:08
Speaker 17: back to the Red Shirts. We know that dates back
41:10
Speaker 17: a long way now, but it's continued and they continue
41:13
Speaker 17: to get away with it.
41:14
Speaker 1: And I've heard the.
41:15
Speaker 17: Premiere today turn around and many of her colleagues who
41:17
Speaker 17: go this is a party matter when it comes to donations,
41:20
Speaker 17: and they try and fob it off as nothing is
41:22
Speaker 17: their responsibility. The reality is a lot of these things
41:26
Speaker 17: now don't pass the pub test, the very simple pub
41:28
Speaker 17: test of if you're donating this kind of money to
41:31
Speaker 17: parties and you're getting a return that you'd be very
41:34
Speaker 17: proud of on the stock market, then it should be
41:36
Speaker 17: looked at and it should be investigated. But the problem
41:38
Speaker 17: is most of the investigative organizations and the independent organizations
41:42
Speaker 17: now have had funding cuts. The Odmnsman's complained about not
41:45
Speaker 17: having enough money. IBAC said they haven't got enough money.
41:48
Speaker 17: No wonder we've got problems in government when you start
41:51
Speaker 17: to see that the integrity agencies to keep government responsible
41:54
Speaker 17: are no longer will no longer have the money to
41:57
Speaker 17: investigate what they should.
42:00
Speaker 2: I've seen in the news that Victorian Liberal and p
42:01
Speaker 2: Sam Grath is walking away from Victorian politics next week,
42:05
Speaker 2: set to trigger a by election that will cost Victorian
42:07
Speaker 2: tax payers more than two million dollars. Now, Brad, this
42:11
Speaker 2: happens all the time. But the issue is he said
42:14
Speaker 2: he wasn't going to leave. Have a look at this
42:17
Speaker 2: as I.
42:17
Speaker 4: Stand here right now, there is a zero percent chance
42:21
Speaker 4: of me causing a by.
42:22
Speaker 10: Election in Japan because I don't have a job on
42:25
Speaker 10: the table that I'm going to at the moment.
42:27
Speaker 2: My intention is to.
42:28
Speaker 1: Serve out my term.
42:31
Speaker 2: Brad, what's your reaction to this.
42:33
Speaker 17: Yeah, Look, obviously everyone knows I get along with Sam
42:35
Speaker 17: really well. I've respected Sam what he's done through the Parliament.
42:39
Speaker 1: He's been He was a.
42:40
Speaker 17: Great and loyal deputy to me and he worked very
42:43
Speaker 17: much in favor of the party. I can't argue now
42:45
Speaker 17: what he's said last week and what he's doing this
42:48
Speaker 17: week are obviously very very different. In politics, things can
42:52
Speaker 17: change very very fast, and he've been now up to
42:54
Speaker 17: Sam to come out and say why he's leaving. But
42:56
Speaker 17: I just want to say I wish him all the best.
42:58
Speaker 17: Politics is hard, and actually had more threated him than
43:01
Speaker 17: a lot. He's got a lot to offer in the future.
43:04
Speaker 17: He's still a great young man who I think has
43:06
Speaker 17: a great future in whatever he does, whether it's media
43:09
Speaker 17: or other departments or whatever he goes to. I want
43:12
Speaker 17: to wish him all the best. But I get and
43:14
Speaker 17: I understand the frustration from the community. Totally understand it.
43:17
Speaker 17: We all get sick of by elections. But the reality
43:20
Speaker 17: is we have to go through that path now, and
43:22
Speaker 17: I'm not going to stand here and go after Sam now.
43:24
Speaker 17: As I said, he was fantastic with me, and I
43:27
Speaker 17: wish him all the best whatever he does.
43:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right, though, the community is frustrated when voters
43:32
Speaker 2: are told one thing and then the politician does the
43:34
Speaker 2: exact opposite. Frustrating is the right word, and not to
43:38
Speaker 2: mention the cost to tax phase of two million dollars.
43:41
Speaker 2: Now just before you go, this by election will be
43:44
Speaker 2: a high stakes early test for the Liberals and for
43:46
Speaker 2: the new leader, won't it for Jess Wilson.
43:49
Speaker 17: Yeah, look, Jess is all ready to go. I was
43:51
Speaker 17: speaking to Jess again this week, and most people know
43:55
Speaker 17: obviously there's a change of leadership because I was there,
43:57
Speaker 17: and I'll tell you now, I am super impressed, super
44:00
Speaker 17: proud of what Jess Wilson has done and will continue
44:02
Speaker 17: to do. I'm loving working with her. She's very open
44:06
Speaker 17: and honest with me. We've had some really good discussions.
44:08
Speaker 17: She's got her focus. We all know crime is a
44:11
Speaker 17: big issue here in our state, but she also knows
44:14
Speaker 17: that there's so many people out there that just want
44:15
Speaker 17: to get into the housing market. So we'll be making
44:17
Speaker 17: sure we've got our policies fine tuned around the next
44:21
Speaker 17: generation getting that opportunity to get into housing. We know
44:24
Speaker 17: the economy has massive issues and massive holes in it,
44:27
Speaker 17: and we're seeing that when you see potholes, police stations closing,
44:31
Speaker 17: bias and CFA having funding cuts, the police getting funding cuts.
44:35
Speaker 17: All of these things we have to address and I
44:38
Speaker 17: do honestly believe it, and sometimes it hurts to say
44:40
Speaker 17: we've got the right person for it. I think she
44:42
Speaker 17: is going to be an absolute amazing premiere, and our
44:45
Speaker 17: first step is coming up into pen and I assure
44:47
Speaker 17: you people in the pen will be just as impressed
44:50
Speaker 17: as I am of what I've seen.
44:52
Speaker 2: It's a great attitude, Brad, from someone who lost their
44:55
Speaker 2: job to her. Really impressive. Brad Badden, thank you for
44:57
Speaker 2: your time right after the break. Do have Charen Haskell Brack,
45:01
Speaker 2: I'm going to speak to her about the security situation
45:04
Speaker 2: ahead of Isaac Hurtzog's visit, plus what Trump is planning
45:09
Speaker 2: with Iran. That's after the break. Okay, let's bring back
45:17
Speaker 2: in Israel's Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Charen Haskel. Charen, So,
45:20
Speaker 2: I was asking you whether you're concerned about the security
45:24
Speaker 2: challenges during President Hertog's visit to Australia.
45:29
Speaker 18: Oh, of course I'm concerned. I would never imagine the
45:32
Speaker 18: situation in Australia will deteriorate to this point. I mean,
45:36
Speaker 18: it's not just about Herzog's visit, but about the Jewish community.
45:41
Speaker 18: The security around school's being buffed up, there's more security
45:46
Speaker 18: around places of worship and prayers, there's more security around
45:51
Speaker 18: Jewish businesses, and so this is just a symptom of
45:54
Speaker 18: a very big disease of anti Semitism that has been
45:57
Speaker 18: spreading around Australia.
46:00
Speaker 2: Why do you think this visit by President Hertzog to
46:03
Speaker 2: Australia is so important at this point in time.
46:07
Speaker 18: Well, I think at the first point is to strengthen
46:10
Speaker 18: the Jewish community, to really show them they do they're
46:13
Speaker 18: not alone and we stand beside you. I mean, this
46:18
Speaker 18: is one of the most horrifying tragedies that have occurred
46:22
Speaker 18: to the Jewish community, to the Australian people. And I
46:26
Speaker 18: think that the President Hertsop being a figure a leadership
46:31
Speaker 18: here of the only Jewish state in the world to
46:34
Speaker 18: come and comfort, understanding solidarity has a huge significance. And
46:39
Speaker 18: I think that a lot of the things and the
46:41
Speaker 18: messages that we've been sending in the last two years
46:44
Speaker 18: is very important to reiterate directly to the Australian leadership.
46:50
Speaker 2: Sharon. I also want to ask you about what's happening
46:53
Speaker 2: with Trump and Iran. I mean, we've seen that they
46:55
Speaker 2: are holding these talks on Friday, and Aman Trump is
46:59
Speaker 2: turning up hate his want commanding that he should be
47:02
Speaker 2: very worried. We've seen in the US moving military infrastructure
47:05
Speaker 2: and weapons, more weapons into the region. So do you
47:09
Speaker 2: think these talks have a chance at working or is
47:14
Speaker 2: this just around buying time.
47:17
Speaker 18: So look, it's a very good question. I won't try
47:20
Speaker 18: and attempt to predict the moves of President Trump, but
47:23
Speaker 18: I can say he understands the Middle East, and he
47:26
Speaker 18: understand the Middle East better than many other leaders. Week
47:30
Speaker 18: leaders that throughout the last years haven't done anything to
47:35
Speaker 18: try and stop major conflicts that are happening here, devastating situations,
47:40
Speaker 18: massive massacres in Syria and in Lebanon and in Iran.
47:47
Speaker 18: And look, the fact is that you know, the Iranian,
47:51
Speaker 18: the IRGC, the Ayatola, they don't have any other choice.
47:56
Speaker 18: But we're not talking to some reasonable leader that don't
48:01
Speaker 18: understand what's at stake. This is a person who's been
48:05
Speaker 18: leading the world's hardest movement to the world radical islamust domination,
48:11
Speaker 18: and they see the death as part of their mission.
48:15
Speaker 18: And they don't care for the lives of their people.
48:18
Speaker 18: I mean, they're butchering them down in their own streets.
48:21
Speaker 18: They're shooting young people and teenagers and little girls, and
48:26
Speaker 18: they're torturing them, and they ask for their parents a
48:30
Speaker 18: ransom to receive their body so that they are capable
48:33
Speaker 18: of burying them. I mean, this is a leadership that
48:37
Speaker 18: does not care about its people, does not care about
48:40
Speaker 18: the country, and that its whole ideology is about death
48:44
Speaker 18: and destruction.
48:46
Speaker 2: So do you think the ladyship needs to go?
48:50
Speaker 18: Well, I really hope for the Persian people, the Iranian people,
48:55
Speaker 18: that they will be liberated from such a terrorist, monstrous,
48:59
Speaker 18: sayce Tanic regime that have been taking their freedom, their liberty.
49:05
Speaker 18: You know, the fact that a woman can sing in
49:07
Speaker 18: the streets is not something that you can take for
49:10
Speaker 18: granted in Iran, And that's everything that I can wish
49:13
Speaker 18: for them at that point. You know, Israel has no
49:18
Speaker 18: intention in going into a direct conflict with Iran. We've
49:21
Speaker 18: said that numerous times, time after time. It is Iran
49:24
Speaker 18: that have attacked us, that conspire and organize its army
49:29
Speaker 18: and its proxies to attack Israel, And everything that we've
49:33
Speaker 18: been doing is in order to defend our country, to
49:36
Speaker 18: defend our people. But I think that it's not just
49:40
Speaker 18: the United States, but it's world leadership, whether it's in
49:43
Speaker 18: Australia or Europe, where they understand that Iran posts a
49:47
Speaker 18: serious existential threat to humanity, I think they should consider
49:52
Speaker 18: the situation and to act, not just to talk, but
49:56
Speaker 18: to act.
49:58
Speaker 2: You think Australia should get involved.
50:02
Speaker 18: Well, I think that Australia understand what a huge threat
50:05
Speaker 18: it poses as well. And I think you know, in
50:07
Speaker 18: the past, Australia was part of different forces who have
50:10
Speaker 18: protected humanity and protected freedom and liberty especially you know,
50:14
Speaker 18: and when we could go back to the Second World War,
50:16
Speaker 18: in the First World War, and unfortunately we live through
50:19
Speaker 18: times where there's tectonic changes in world order and Trump
50:23
Speaker 18: is leading it.
50:25
Speaker 2: And we've seen firsthand here in Australia Iran's role in
50:28
Speaker 2: at least two of the serious violent attacks. Sharon Haskell,
50:33
Speaker 2: so glad to have you on the show again. So
50:35
Speaker 2: glad we could sort the connection problems at Thank you
50:38
Speaker 2: so much, Thank you very much, and great to see
50:41
Speaker 2: you all. I'll be here on Monday at eight o'clock. Yes,
50:44
Speaker 2: Paul Murray