Latest / The Rita Panahi Show / The Rita Panahi Show | 20 October

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The Rita Panahi Show | 20 October · The Rita Panahi Show

0:02
Speaker 1: Starting right now, The Rita Panahy Show.
0:07
Speaker 2: Good evening and welcome to The Rita Panahy Show. I'm
0:09
Speaker 2: James Morrow filling in for Rita and here's what's coming
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Speaker 2: up tonight. The New South Wales government has introduced workplace
0:17
Speaker 2: protection orders as thugs overrun shops. What do you think
0:21
Speaker 2: this is, Victoria? And is this a sign of a
0:24
Speaker 2: win or a sign of a deeper issue? Plus, the unrest,
0:27
Speaker 2: if that's what we're calling it, in France grows as
0:30
Speaker 2: President Macron is forced to implement curfews. About time, but
0:34
Speaker 2: will this really stop the mayhem? Plus, Vladimir Putin pushes
0:39
Speaker 2: for a trilateral meeting with Trump and Xi Jinping. Big
0:43
Speaker 2: question is, will the U.S. president go for this and
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Speaker 2: will it be Yalta 2.0? And the Simpsons' beloved character,
0:52
Speaker 2: you know who, he's back after cancel culture wiped him
0:55
Speaker 2: from our screens. But is this a return to common
0:58
Speaker 2: sense or a win for woke? You might be surprised. Plus,
1:03
Speaker 2: lefties losing it. We're going to have a quick prayer
1:06
Speaker 2: from Texas Senate hopeful James Tallarico.
1:10
Speaker 3: The Islamic mystic Hafiz says that we are all invited
1:14
Speaker 3: to join that dance. God who only knows four words
1:18
Speaker 3: and keeps repeating them saying, come dance with me.
1:23
Speaker 2: Come dance with me. Amen. Anyway, but first, we've got
1:28
Speaker 2: to talk about the tragic and shocking attack which has
1:31
Speaker 2: rocked the country. Now, as you know by now, independent
1:34
Speaker 2: MP Helen Haynes remains in hospital in a critical condition
1:39
Speaker 2: after she was struck by an SUV outside her electorate
1:42
Speaker 2: office in Wangaratta Monday afternoon. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said
1:47
Speaker 2: the car that struck Haynes allegedly did a U-turn on
1:51
Speaker 2: the street in order for the driver to come back
1:54
Speaker 2: and allegedly hit the MP. The suspect was apprehended after
1:57
Speaker 2: the attack and authorities have confirmed he was indeed known
2:02
Speaker 2: to police. Politicians from across the aisle have, of course,
2:05
Speaker 2: condemned the attack. Have a listen.
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Speaker 4: No act of violence or political violence is acceptable in
2:11
Speaker 4: this country.
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Speaker 5: We've got to stand up.
2:15
Speaker 1: Call it out and make sure that this is a
2:19
Speaker 1: turning point.
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Speaker 4: We know that there has been increasing threats to people
2:25
Speaker 4: in high office. The government has been seeking to provide
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Speaker 4: additional protection and we would support whatever measures are necessary.
2:34
Speaker 2: Joining me now to discuss this and a whole lot
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Speaker 2: more is Deputy Leader of One Nation in Victoria, Colleen Harkin,
2:41
Speaker 2: and former Labour Advisor, Darren Barnett. Darren, I'll start with
2:44
Speaker 2: you since you're here on the desk with me here.
2:46
Speaker 2: You've worked in many Labour offices over the years. Tell us,
2:51
Speaker 2: we've heard an awful lot of talk from the AFP,
2:53
Speaker 2: from Tony Burke, from the Prime Minister, saying that the
2:56
Speaker 2: number of threats have increased. I think there was something
2:59
Speaker 2: like 1,000-plus in the last financial year. Is the atmosphere
3:03
Speaker 2: now more febrile for politicians across the spectrum?
3:08
Speaker 6: I think it is. And online abuse, obviously, you know,
3:12
Speaker 6: 30 years ago there was no online. So online abuse
3:16
Speaker 6: is something that's quite prevalent now. And I think it's about,
3:19
Speaker 6: you know, the number of or percentage of people who
3:22
Speaker 6: report significant online abuse is around 25% to 30% of politicians,
3:28
Speaker 6: people who fear for their safety is sort of up
3:30
Speaker 6: around that 20%. So I think the nature of the
3:33
Speaker 6: game has changed and I think people have always been
3:38
Speaker 6: keyboard warriors in a sense.
3:39
Speaker 7: Sure.
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Speaker 6: But this is the next level where it's actual in-person
3:45
Speaker 6: significant violence. I imagine the charge will be... attempted murder,
3:50
Speaker 6: from what we can see, that this is next level,
3:54
Speaker 6: and it will be a moment that changes how we
3:57
Speaker 6: do politics.
3:58
Speaker 2: Colleen, I want to ask you about this, too, because,
4:00
Speaker 2: of course, as we said, you're the deputy leader of
4:02
Speaker 2: One Nation Victoria. Now, the Prime Minister has talked very
4:06
Speaker 2: much in the last 24 hours about turning down the temperature,
4:11
Speaker 2: he says, in public debate. Let's have a little listen
4:12
Speaker 2: to what he said.
4:15
Speaker 8: We need to turn the heat down. You know, we
4:19
Speaker 8: can have disagreement in politics without personalising it and we
4:26
Speaker 8: all have a role to play in raising the level
4:30
Speaker 8: of political discourse and turning down the personal attacks and
4:37
Speaker 8: the level of division and rancour which is there.
4:42
Speaker 2: Colleen, I found that an interesting thing for the Prime
4:45
Speaker 2: Minister to say given some of his rhetoric around One Nation,
4:49
Speaker 2: particularly in August, at around the same time that there
4:52
Speaker 2: were high school students out there saying they wanted to
4:55
Speaker 2: smash Pauline Hass in the face. They were talking about
4:58
Speaker 2: bringing out the guillotine for her. Do you think that
5:03
Speaker 2: Labor is a little bit one-eyed, shall we say, on
5:06
Speaker 2: these pleas to calm things down? When it comes to,
5:08
Speaker 2: you know, One Nation and stuff, they're perfectly willing to
5:11
Speaker 2: treat One Nation as an existential threat that Albanese says
5:14
Speaker 2: must be defeated for the good of history and the
5:17
Speaker 2: good of the nation. How is that turning down the temperature?
5:21
Speaker 7: Well, yeah, that's true.
5:24
Speaker 5: I think there's been a lot of public discourse and
5:26
Speaker 5: things that have been said in the public square that
5:28
Speaker 5: are less than palatable. So, you know, this idea of
5:32
Speaker 5: lowering the tone of the discourse applies to everybody and
5:35
Speaker 5: not just those who are speaking about One Nation. I
5:38
Speaker 5: don't want to sort of speculate on the scenario with
5:41
Speaker 5: Helen Haynes and our wishes are to her and her family.
5:46
Speaker 5: I do want to comment on, you know, Australians have
5:49
Speaker 5: ready access to politicians and Unlike a lot of other countries,
5:53
Speaker 5: you know, we are readily available, walk along the street.
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Speaker 5: It would be a shocking shame if the consequence of the,
6:00
Speaker 5: you know, the violent rhetoric that we do see in
6:02
Speaker 5: the streets at the moment was the result of that
6:05
Speaker 5: was that politicians were not readily available and readily accountable
6:10
Speaker 5: for their words. So, you know, this has, it's a
6:14
Speaker 5: shocking day for Australia and for Australian politics. But the
6:18
Speaker 5: consequences are quite wide and we do need to be
6:22
Speaker 5: able to speak freely, to be able to be criticised,
6:26
Speaker 5: for people to say what they think without it actually
6:29
Speaker 5: putting people's lives and safety at risk.
6:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, Darren, that's the interesting thing about Australia.
6:34
Speaker 2: You know, I've covered white houses in the United States
6:37
Speaker 2: back in an earlier life. And, you know, when you're
6:39
Speaker 2: covering a president, you're It's got security. There's metal detectors everywhere.
6:44
Speaker 2: No one can get anywhere near them without going through
6:46
Speaker 2: a whole security bubble. You know, here, the prime minister,
6:49
Speaker 2: he's out and about. You can see cabinet ministers going
6:52
Speaker 2: for a jog. Sometimes people give those cabinet ministers a
6:55
Speaker 2: serve and it goes viral on social media. But that's
6:58
Speaker 2: part of the charm, I think, of Australian politics. And
7:03
Speaker 2: what is the danger that we look at this and say,
7:06
Speaker 2: you know, this one-off, we hope it's a one-off– We
7:10
Speaker 2: react in such a way that we lose some of
7:13
Speaker 2: that accountability, I think, that Colleen was talking about.
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Speaker 6: I think Colleen's absolutely correct that the accessibility of politicians,
7:21
Speaker 6: the fact that you can walk up and talk to
7:23
Speaker 6: them in the street or at a mobile office or
7:26
Speaker 6: wander into their electorate office is a vital part of
7:29
Speaker 6: our democracy. And that does get placed at risk. by
7:33
Speaker 6: what we've seen in the last 24 hours. So that
7:36
Speaker 6: part is really troubling. But what you describe about that accessibility,
7:40
Speaker 6: it goes all the way to Election Day, where we
7:42
Speaker 6: celebrate Election Day, we have a democracy sausage, there's people
7:46
Speaker 6: in orange T-shirts, blue T-shirts, red T-shirts, give you a
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Speaker 6: how to vote or not. It's quite a jovial, genial atmosphere.
7:54
Speaker 6: You get heated, but not to the point of.
7:58
Speaker 6: Democracy is kind of enjoyable in Australia. We don't have
8:00
Speaker 6: armed guards, we don't have... all of these problems that
8:04
Speaker 6: other places have. So let's please all just try to
8:07
Speaker 6: keep it that way.
8:08
Speaker 2: No, I know. I mean, look, I know where I
8:09
Speaker 2: vote in the inner west of Sydney, the Bolsheviks and
8:11
Speaker 2: the Mensheviks get along very well every election day. But, Colleen,
8:15
Speaker 2: I want to ask you, though, there is, I think,
8:18
Speaker 2: and I'm trying not to make this too partisan a
8:20
Speaker 2: thing because, of course, it's the day when we should
8:22
Speaker 2: all be coming together. But you do feel like violence
8:27
Speaker 2: from the left, and let's not even talk about this case,
8:30
Speaker 2: but violence from the left in general gets treated differently
8:32
Speaker 2: from violence from the right. You've got Paris and cities
8:36
Speaker 2: across France being torn up by people coming at this
8:39
Speaker 2: from a left-wing perspective. And yet it's not spoken about,
8:43
Speaker 2: you know, like you would talk about far right populists
8:45
Speaker 2: like Donald Trump or Marine Le Pen. And when you
8:48
Speaker 2: look at the studies of American students, for example, left
8:52
Speaker 2: wing students will be more likely to say that violence
8:56
Speaker 2: in some circumstances is acceptable. Does the left need to
9:00
Speaker 2: come to a bit of a terms with the way
9:03
Speaker 2: that it looks at these things, Colleen Harkins?
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Speaker 7: Oh, definitely.
9:08
Speaker 5: There sort of seems to be double standards with what's
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Speaker 5: acceptable and what's not. If we look across Europe at
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Speaker 5: the moment, what's happening in Italy and France and Belgium,
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Speaker 5: the destruction of public property of buildings that are hundreds
9:20
Speaker 5: of years old that have withstood world wars and people
9:24
Speaker 5: think an appropriate way to have their message heard is
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Speaker 5: to destroy them. There's nothing about that that actually reconciles
9:31
Speaker 5: with what they want to say. Those students in France,
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Speaker 5: for example, complaining about an alleged lack of education, they've
9:38
Speaker 5: all got mobile phones. There is nothing to stop them
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Speaker 5: from learning anything they ever want to with access to
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Speaker 5: the World Wide Web. So it's an ideology that's driven
9:47
Speaker 5: about this activist pursuit that says we can destroy and
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Speaker 5: bring everything down to, I don't know what level they
9:54
Speaker 5: want to bring it to, but, you know, as a
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Speaker 5: general rule, I don't think that you see right-wing people
10:00
Speaker 5: doing this. Right-wing people have a view. We don't see
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Speaker 5: them destroying buildings that are hundreds of years old.
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Speaker 2: Indeed. Hey, I want to bring you a little closer
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Speaker 2: to home now with this story here about we've got
10:13
Speaker 2: this incredible trend of violence in shops and in workplaces.
10:18
Speaker 2: The New South Wales government has introduced workplace protection orders
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Speaker 2: which give businesses the power to ban violent or threatening customers' work.
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Speaker 2: There were apparently 800,000 violent incidents reported in a year,
10:32
Speaker 2: which is unbelievable to me. Anyone who breaches one of
10:35
Speaker 2: these orders could face up to two years' imprisonment, a
10:39
Speaker 2: $ 5, 500 fine or both, though we both all know that
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Speaker 2: it's probably unlikely that a judge will give either of
10:45
Speaker 2: those in New South Wales. But, Darren, you know, there
10:47
Speaker 2: is sort of a bigger problem here. It's violence, it's civility,
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Speaker 2: it's rudeness, it's frayed nerves, frayed tempers. What is happening
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Speaker 2: in our society that, like, shops are now this place
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Speaker 2: where people... Everywhere you go, there's signs saying, let's make
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Speaker 2: this a fair and respectful environment. You know, you hear
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Speaker 2: this on the plane. Let's make it a safe and
11:09
Speaker 2: respectful workplace. All of these sorts of things. What has
11:14
Speaker 2: broken in our society? Was it COVID? What was it?
11:18
Speaker 6: Look, it's hard to say, but certainly the collective level
11:20
Speaker 6: of entitlement has grown significantly. And people think that they
11:25
Speaker 6: command the right to own the experience and that the
11:30
Speaker 6: workers are just there to provide. And look, I support
11:33
Speaker 6: that campaign. And I know the Telegraph has backed it
11:36
Speaker 6: in very heavily. It does concern me mildly that it's
11:41
Speaker 6: one thing to have an order. But if you're faced
11:44
Speaker 6: with the immediacy of someone who's violent or difficult to
11:47
Speaker 6: you can't really say, oh, look, hold on five minutes, mate,
11:49
Speaker 6: I'm going to call... Like, the immediacy of that action,
11:53
Speaker 6: that changes the flavour of it. But anything that sets
11:57
Speaker 6: better standards and encourages better behaviour, even if it's done punitively,
12:01
Speaker 6: I think is a good thing.
12:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, look, I agree with that, and it is
12:04
Speaker 2: a good campaign. But, Colleen, you know, coming at this
12:07
Speaker 2: from your experience in Victoria, where things are much more
12:10
Speaker 2: far gone in terms of crime and incivility and, you know,
12:14
Speaker 2: we all hear... The horror story is I saw that
12:18
Speaker 2: the head of one of the hardware chains said the
12:20
Speaker 2: only thing that is increasing in sales in Victoria is
12:23
Speaker 2: security equipment. Are things like this enough to stop New
12:27
Speaker 2: South Wales from sliding further down into that path of
12:31
Speaker 2: Victorian despond?
12:33
Speaker 5: Look, I'm a bit confused about this proposal because shops
12:40
Speaker 5: already have the right to refuse, so long as it's
12:42
Speaker 5: not on the basis of race or religion or any
12:44
Speaker 5: of those sorts of things that But, you know, they
12:46
Speaker 5: already have.
12:46
Speaker 7: The right to refuse service.
12:48
Speaker 5: To me, the problem is the consequences of the behaviour.
12:51
Speaker 5: And we have this sort of rotating round-door scenario where
12:55
Speaker 5: people are called to account, they're taken to court and
12:57
Speaker 5: they get back out again. I sort of see this
13:00
Speaker 5: having to take people to court to stop them from
13:02
Speaker 5: coming into your shop to either hurl abuse or to
13:05
Speaker 5: take something just increases a layer of bureaucracy and paperwork
13:09
Speaker 5: that I don't see the purpose of it. The laws
13:12
Speaker 5: are there. They have a right to refuse. They ought
13:14
Speaker 5: to be able to do that carte blanche. You know,
13:16
Speaker 5: somebody has a history. They know who they are. don't
13:19
Speaker 5: allow them into the store. Bunnings last year, I think
13:23
Speaker 5: it was, implemented sort of facial recognition and they were
13:26
Speaker 5: taken to court to have that taken away from them.
13:29
Speaker 7: We do have to.
13:30
Speaker 5: Have the consequences connected to what the offence is and
13:34
Speaker 5: to be serious about what those consequences are. There's no
13:37
Speaker 5: point if we put people through the court system and
13:39
Speaker 5: they walk back out and do exactly the same thing.
13:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, look, that's right. It is shocking. Sorry, David,
13:44
Speaker 2: anything else you want to say, please?
13:45
Speaker 6: I think what's interesting about that facial recognition, we're a
13:48
Speaker 6: very conservative nation when it comes to... Like, we don't
13:52
Speaker 6: even like having barcode technology on our driver's licence, let
13:56
Speaker 6: alone facial recognition. We're a very... Ever since the Australia
14:00
Speaker 6: card of the Hawke government, we've been very shy on
14:04
Speaker 6: wanting any form of identification that's readily available and used.
14:08
Speaker 6: So I think Australians want to get that balance right
14:11
Speaker 6: And if it means there's some sort of court-driven punitive measures,
14:15
Speaker 6: then they'll consider that. Because I don't think anyone I know,
14:19
Speaker 6: political class or otherwise, wants facial recognition of where they
14:22
Speaker 6: are at every given point in time. Well, let's actually stick.
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Speaker 2: With this here, Darren and Colleen, because this is a
14:27
Speaker 2: really interesting concept here. In America right now, there's a
14:31
Speaker 2: huge dispute over these things called flock cameras, which they're
14:34
Speaker 2: putting everywhere. They can recognise basically everywhere where you are
14:37
Speaker 2: all the time. Colleen, Darren brings up a really interesting
14:40
Speaker 2: point here which is that Australians think, you know, we
14:43
Speaker 2: don't want to be tracked, we don't want to be surveilled,
14:46
Speaker 2: and yet I think about how absolutely happy and willing
14:49
Speaker 2: we were to be surveilled and tracked and check in
14:53
Speaker 2: for a couple of years there earlier in the decade
14:56
Speaker 2: because of you know what? I mean, do you find
14:59
Speaker 2: that all right?
14:59
Speaker 7: Yeah, absolutely.
15:01
Speaker 5: Yeah, and look, the reality is... I do think it's
15:03
Speaker 5: a sensitive topic. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going
15:05
Speaker 5: to carte blanche sort of saying this is what we
15:07
Speaker 5: should do, but the reality is that we're tracked all
15:09
Speaker 5: the time.
15:10
Speaker 2: Yeah.
15:11
Speaker 5: Using our mobile phone, pings us everywhere we touch a
15:14
Speaker 5: charge meter, our banking, everything we do, shopping.
15:19
Speaker 7: It's easy.
15:20
Speaker 5: To track where a person is. Actually, a lot of
15:22
Speaker 5: murders are solved as to where a person was at
15:24
Speaker 5: any particular time by tracking their mobile phone. The other,
15:28
Speaker 5: you know, the problem with this is if an organisation
15:31
Speaker 5: or a shop has to go to court, how do
15:33
Speaker 5: they then, a large organisation like a Bunnings or a
15:36
Speaker 5: Coles or something like that, how else do they actually
15:38
Speaker 5: tag a person who has caused an enormous amount of
15:40
Speaker 5: trouble in that environment when there's new staff on a
15:44
Speaker 5: different shift? There is a reality, there is a fine balance,
15:47
Speaker 5: I agree, But we can't keep going down the path
15:51
Speaker 5: of just accepting this atrocious behaviour and people not being
15:54
Speaker 5: able to do anything about it.
15:56
Speaker 2: Absolutely right. It's a fascinating topic, Colleen. Darren, we're going
15:59
Speaker 2: to have to leave it there. We're out of time.
16:01
Speaker 2: But really fun to take a deep dive on this
16:03
Speaker 2: and we'll speak again soon. Thanks so much. All right,
16:09
Speaker 2: let's keep moving on now. Joining me is Shadow Home
16:12
Speaker 2: Affairs and Immigration Minister Jonathan Dunham. Jonathan, welcome to the
16:16
Speaker 2: program here. And we've got to start. I would hate
16:19
Speaker 2: to do this, but I do have to ask about
16:21
Speaker 2: your reaction to this horrific attack, apparent attack in Wangaratta
16:28
Speaker 2: against the independent MP Helen Haynes, and particularly the fact
16:32
Speaker 2: that that the AFP has apparently investigated 1,067 different threats
16:38
Speaker 2: against Australian elected officials in the last financial year. Jono,
16:43
Speaker 2: tell us your reaction to this horrific incident in Victoria.
16:47
Speaker 2: But also, you know, I'd love to hear, as an MP,
16:50
Speaker 2: your own experiences. Have you had to cope with this
16:54
Speaker 2: sort of behavior yourself?
16:57
Speaker 1: Well, James, thanks for having me. I mean, off the bat,
16:59
Speaker 1: obviously what happened to Helen is terrible. Of all the
17:04
Speaker 1: people that this could happen to, the most delightful human being,
17:08
Speaker 1: who I don't always agree with, but her way of
17:11
Speaker 1: transacting and doing business, and I've read countless reports now
17:14
Speaker 1: of how wonderful she is to her community, to be
17:17
Speaker 1: attacked in this way is just heartbreaking. mostly, though, because
17:21
Speaker 1: of the impact it has on our democratic discourse, on
17:25
Speaker 1: the behaviour of politicians in their community. And so there
17:28
Speaker 1: will be colleagues who are, of course, observing this and thinking, oh, gee,
17:32
Speaker 1: hang on, maybe we aren't as safe as we otherwise
17:35
Speaker 1: thought we might have been. And to that end, these
17:38
Speaker 1: sorts of events do have a chilling effect on members
17:41
Speaker 1: of parliament going and interacting in their community. Obviously, there
17:45
Speaker 1: are issues that need to be dealt with here. I mean,
17:47
Speaker 1: I do tend to believe, though, sadly, in this day
17:50
Speaker 1: and age, There are always, and it's not a new
17:52
Speaker 1: phenomenon either, I might say, but there are always going
17:54
Speaker 1: to be bad eggs who will do stupid things, who
17:57
Speaker 1: will push things to the limit, who will make threats
18:01
Speaker 1: and sadly sometimes carry out these threats. How we deal
18:04
Speaker 1: with that is something that is very difficult to grapple with.
18:07
Speaker 1: Based on the reports, of course, of what happened to
18:11
Speaker 1: our poor colleague Helen, how could you stop someone who
18:16
Speaker 1: was reportedly under the influence or have been consuming some
18:22
Speaker 1: sort of illicit substance. It is impossible to know what
18:24
Speaker 1: drives these things. I guess we'll find out over time.
18:28
Speaker 1: But for backbenchers, for independents, for shadow ministers and most
18:32
Speaker 1: of the government as well who don't have personal protection,
18:35
Speaker 1: there are just no ways of being able to protect
18:37
Speaker 1: ourselves from this kind of thing should it come our way.
18:40
Speaker 1: For me personally, sure, I've had the threats. I've had
18:42
Speaker 1: people write to me and say they're going to kill
18:44
Speaker 1: me in my first year of parliament when I was
18:47
Speaker 1: And I'm not much more than this now, but certainly
18:49
Speaker 1: a nobody. I had someone saying they were going to
18:52
Speaker 1: wait behind a dumpster and come out and slash my throat.
18:55
Speaker 1: And of course, the police dealt with it well. We've
18:57
Speaker 1: got great law enforcement and intelligence officials that do their
19:00
Speaker 1: best to deal with the threats that come our way.
19:03
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, sadly, I do
19:05
Speaker 1: believe that there are just going to be these elements
19:08
Speaker 1: of society we have to deal with. and we've just
19:11
Speaker 1: got to take steps to protect ourselves from them.
19:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, and of course, I mean, you know, we
19:15
Speaker 2: don't want that really lovely openness that we generally have
19:19
Speaker 2: with our politicians and elected officials. We don't want that
19:21
Speaker 2: to change in Australia. That's one of the really nice
19:24
Speaker 2: things I was saying earlier in the program about the
19:26
Speaker 2: way we do things and govern Australia. But there are
19:29
Speaker 2: some people who are concerned and raising the point that
19:33
Speaker 2: the Prime Minister himself is a bit hypocritical, possibly, in...
19:37
Speaker 2: being so praiseworthy of Helen Hayes when apparently, according to
19:41
Speaker 2: reports in The Australian, just a few weeks ago, his
19:46
Speaker 2: office was out briefing against Helen Hayes when she she,
19:50
Speaker 2: as a great integrity candidate, integrity representative, had been criticizing
19:56
Speaker 2: him over that community sports grants program, which, of course,
19:59
Speaker 2: wound up with that $ 6 million landing in the pockets
20:03
Speaker 2: of the golf course near his house. Is there a
20:07
Speaker 2: bit of hypocrisy here?
20:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, well, firstly, the indefensible grant to the golf
20:13
Speaker 1: club that no one knew about, and there was no
20:15
Speaker 1: recollection of them, and it is all a bit rich
20:17
Speaker 1: on that front. But look, yeah, this is the problem
20:20
Speaker 1: with some of the things that happen. I delivered my
20:23
Speaker 1: last speech to Parliament last week, and I said in that, look,
20:27
Speaker 1: we need to have points of difference. We have to
20:30
Speaker 1: be active participants in the contest of ideas. But there
20:35
Speaker 1: is the right way to do that, and that is
20:37
Speaker 1: to play the ball, not the man. Sadly, when you're
20:41
Speaker 1: putting out dirt sheets, as has been reported here and
20:43
Speaker 1: referred to, I gather, by Senator Pauline Hanson, that isn't
20:48
Speaker 1: the ball, that is the man. This sort of thing
20:51
Speaker 1: doesn't help in this whole notional need to sort of
20:54
Speaker 1: take the heat out of the debate that leads to
20:58
Speaker 1: events that can sometimes put colleagues in harm's way. So
21:04
Speaker 1: I say let's get back to contests of ideas, whether
21:08
Speaker 1: Labor have crappy tax policies or have presided over a
21:11
Speaker 1: broken migration system. Happy to debate them on those things
21:14
Speaker 1: any day of the week, but dirt sheets and backgrounding, well,
21:18
Speaker 1: it doesn't really help anyone and sadly I think is
21:20
Speaker 1: more the hindrance than anything else.
21:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, Jono, I think that's just sadly the nature
21:26
Speaker 2: of the game. Jonathan Dunham, thank you so much for
21:27
Speaker 2: your time this evening.
21:29
Speaker 1: James, thanks very much.
21:30
Speaker 2: Still to come, France is at the boiling point. Now,
21:33
Speaker 2: will these curfews Macron slapped on the place really stop
21:37
Speaker 2: these protests? I know what I think, but we'll find
21:39
Speaker 2: out what Kosha Gada thinks after the break. Hey, now
21:48
Speaker 2: it's time for the lefties losing it. And you know what?
21:50
Speaker 2: There's been a fair bit of controversy over former press
21:53
Speaker 2: secretary Katie Zachariah, which is pretty hilarious given some of
21:58
Speaker 2: the stinkers the Democrats have put up to the White
22:01
Speaker 2: House podium to do the job. And indeed, Antonin Seawright
22:07
Speaker 2: still defends Korean Jean-Pierre, as seen here in this Daily
22:12
Speaker 2: Wire forum.
22:13
Speaker 10: Karine Jean-Pierre, my dear friend, was chosen because she was
22:16
Speaker 10: qualified to be able to do the job. She didn't
22:20
Speaker 10: lie about being a lawyer or an attorney. She did
22:23
Speaker 10: not get the job because she was good on TV.
22:26
Speaker 10: She ran an organization. She engaged with the press in
22:29
Speaker 10: previous roles. The other things added to that were, I think,
22:32
Speaker 10: gravy on top of the rice to help amplify the
22:36
Speaker 10: reason why she should have the job.
22:37
Speaker 2: Am I the only one who remembers just how awful
22:40
Speaker 2: career Jean-Pierre was? Thankfully, I'm not, because Ben Dominic was
22:45
Speaker 2: also there to give this helpful corrective.
22:49
Speaker 11: I'm sorry to interrupt. That is the stupidest claim I've
22:51
Speaker 11: ever heard. There is not a single Democrat who agrees
22:54
Speaker 11: with you that Karine Jean-Pierre, that was good at her job,
22:57
Speaker 11: who is good at politics. I'm sorry, that's absurd.
23:00
Speaker 2: That's laughable.
23:01
Speaker 11: No one thinks she's good. I think you missed what
23:04
Speaker 11: I said. If she was not the DEI representation that
23:08
Speaker 11: she was, if she was not working for the Biden administration,
23:11
Speaker 11: She would have been lambasted on Saturday Night Live day
23:14
Speaker 11: after day.
23:16
Speaker 2: This is absurd.
23:17
Speaker 11: Karine Jean-Pierre goes down as one of the worst press
23:21
Speaker 11: secretaries in history.
23:23
Speaker 2: Absolutely right. Meanwhile, let's go over to France now where
23:26
Speaker 2: climate gremlin Greta Thunberg has got a whole new bag
23:30
Speaker 2: defending French looters and riders because, well, you know, if
23:33
Speaker 2: you don't give people free Chanel handbags, they'll just go
23:36
Speaker 2: break into the shops and get them themselves.
23:38
Speaker 12: We stand behind you, we support you.
23:41
Speaker 2: Oh, really? Thank you, thank you. The whole world is.
23:43
Speaker 12: Following what you're doing. I'm incredibly proud of the French students.
23:47
Speaker 12: Young people all over the world, especially in France, are
23:49
Speaker 12: leading by example, showing what young people all over the
23:52
Speaker 12: world should do, because young people are being neglected. What
23:55
Speaker 12: do you expect young people to do? Of course we're
23:57
Speaker 12: going to revolt, of course we're going to rise up,
23:59
Speaker 12: so it should have been expected.
24:02
Speaker 2: Of course we're going to burn shops. Of course we're
24:04
Speaker 2: going to burn down the Limoges Town Hall. My God,
24:07
Speaker 2: do you listen to yourself, woman? Anyway, is it just
24:11
Speaker 2: me or does it remain absolutely amazing that the entire
24:15
Speaker 2: Western world rewrote the capitalist economy to accommodate her whims,
24:20
Speaker 2: or rather the whims of her parents and handlers? Anyway,
24:25
Speaker 2: let's go over to a lefty who's too dopey even
24:29
Speaker 2: for CNN's Dana Bash. Meet Maine Democrat Senate candidate Troy Jackson.
24:35
Speaker 2: And he's the guy who replaced the previous candidate the
24:38
Speaker 2: Democrats had up for that Senate seat in Maine. And
24:41
Speaker 2: you might remember him. He was the one who had
24:43
Speaker 2: all those problems with the claims about the Nazi tattoos.
24:47
Speaker 2: and incest and the sexual assault business. Yeah, anyway, let's
24:51
Speaker 2: see if old mate Troy can do any better than
24:55
Speaker 2: he did.
24:55
Speaker 9: What would that mean for the Strait of Hormuz, which
24:57
Speaker 9: is still, or would be certainly controlled by Iran if
25:00
Speaker 9: that happened, which would continue to keep the oil prices high?
25:05
Speaker 13: Well, Iran controlled it before and the oil prices weren't
25:09
Speaker 13: anywhere near.
25:10
Speaker 7: They didn't, it was open.
25:12
Speaker 9: Well, before the Iran war.
25:13
Speaker 2: No, it wasn't.
25:14
Speaker 7: It was open.
25:15
Speaker 13: Well, Iran had the ability to do what they did
25:18
Speaker 13: before we started bombing them and things were fine. I'm
25:22
Speaker 13: sure that if we move out of Iran, things will
25:25
Speaker 13: stabilize and prices will probably go down.
25:27
Speaker 9: I mean, you think if the United States just leaves,
25:31
Speaker 9: Iran will say, OK, fine, we're going to pull out
25:33
Speaker 9: of the Strait of Hormuz?
25:34
Speaker 13: Well, it's a lot better than what we're doing right now.
25:36
Speaker 2: Imagine that guy in the Senate. And not even Dana
25:41
Speaker 2: could let this one go. And keep in mind, by
25:42
Speaker 2: the way, that CNN really, really, really wants the Democrats
25:46
Speaker 2: to pick up this Senate seat.
25:48
Speaker 9: But now we are where we are. And there are
25:52
Speaker 9: blockades and other ways that the U.S. being there is
25:56
Speaker 9: at least letting some ships through.
25:59
Speaker 7: And if the U.S.
25:59
Speaker 9: Leaves, why would Iran just leave? pull up stakes and say, okay, fine,
26:05
Speaker 9: we can just, we'll leave it open.
26:07
Speaker 13: I'm sure we can negotiate something that has us leave
26:12
Speaker 13: the Strait of Hormuz without losing any more ships, going
26:16
Speaker 13: back to a situation where we used to be.
26:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, sorry, I am not buying that, my friend. Anyway,
26:22
Speaker 2: let's go down to Texas for the Tallarico or Talafrico
26:27
Speaker 2: Senate race, depending on what you want to call him.
26:29
Speaker 2: And these videos of Tallarico, who portrays himself as a
26:33
Speaker 2: devout Christian pastor, hallelujah, keep popping up. Like this one
26:39
Speaker 2: that has just resurfaced. Here he is apparently at his
26:43
Speaker 2: church with the cross draped in a transgender pride flag
26:48
Speaker 2: behind him. Delivering a sermon about a poem written by
26:54
Speaker 2: an Islamic mystic fellow called Hafiz.
26:57
Speaker 3: In one of my favorite poems, the Islamic mystic Hafiz
27:02
Speaker 3: says that we are all invited to join that dance.
27:06
Speaker 3: He says, every child has known God, not the God
27:10
Speaker 3: of names, not the God of don'ts, but the God
27:15
Speaker 3: who only knows four words and keeps repeating them. saying,
27:20
Speaker 3: come dance with me.
27:22
Speaker 2: Can I get an amen? Or maybe yallah, habibi? Anyway, hey,
27:28
Speaker 2: remember Jamie Rest, the Indiana local politician who showed up
27:32
Speaker 2: to her candidate forum on local TV? Well, shall we
27:35
Speaker 2: say a little under the weather, tired and emotional? Come on,
27:39
Speaker 2: you remember this one.
27:41
Speaker 14: What is the one decision that I would make that
27:43
Speaker 14: might not be popular?
27:44
Speaker 9: Right.
27:44
Speaker 7: That may be unpopular with some voters.
27:46
Speaker 14: Unpopular with some voters.
27:47
Speaker 7: But is in the best interest of the county. Firing
27:54
Speaker 7: all Republicans. I wouldn't let them.
27:56
Speaker 2: I mean, I.
27:57
Speaker 7: Don't even talk to them.
27:59
Speaker 2: I don't like them. I got to tell you something.
28:04
Speaker 2: She's admitted what we all suspected for a while. But
28:09
Speaker 2: her condition going into that interview. How many beers did
28:12
Speaker 2: you have?
28:13
Speaker 7: I was nervous, OK?
28:15
Speaker 2: I get it.
28:15
Speaker 7: I thought I was going to win with the full Republicans.
28:18
Speaker 5: We've all had a drink when we're nervous, but just
28:21
Speaker 5: to be clear... Jamie, here's your chance to be completely
28:25
Speaker 5: honest and transparent.
28:26
Speaker 2: How many beers did you have? All right. Three. Three beers.
28:32
Speaker 11: OK, well, it's.
28:33
Speaker 2: Trebled in the last 30 seconds. What do you mean,
28:37
Speaker 2: say it, man? I had three beers, OK? Three beers,
28:41
Speaker 2: you say? Talk about a cheap date. Well, they just
28:47
Speaker 2: keep going, don't they? What began as student protests in
28:51
Speaker 2: France over classrooms and the cost of living, yeah, right,
28:54
Speaker 2: have escalated into a wider wave of unrest with clashes, destruction,
28:59
Speaker 2: and growing questions over who is driving the chaos. Now,
29:03
Speaker 2: a Fox News digital investigation has identified 54 groups allegedly
29:09
Speaker 2: linked together to the unrest in Europe, spanning communist parties,
29:13
Speaker 2: revolutionary socialist movements, labor unions, environmental activists, Muslim student activists
29:19
Speaker 2: and pro-Palestinian organizations. Authorities have responded now by finally putting
29:24
Speaker 2: in curfews in Paris and other cities following another weekend
29:29
Speaker 2: of rioting. But we know that this isn't something that
29:33
Speaker 2: is fixed with a curfew. This is an undercurrent of
29:36
Speaker 2: civil unrest that has reached the boiling point. And in
29:40
Speaker 2: the U.S., President Donald Trump has weighed in, issuing a
29:43
Speaker 2: stark warning to French President Emmanuel Macron about where he
29:48
Speaker 2: believes the country is heading. Have a listen. I told
29:52
Speaker 2: him a long time ago, you're making a big mistake
29:55
Speaker 2: in France. You're letting everybody from the world come in.
29:58
Speaker 2: The whole world was coming in. And, you know, as
30:01
Speaker 2: you know, Paris is going to be a Muslim city
30:03
Speaker 2: very soon. Well, joining me now to discuss this is
30:07
Speaker 2: News 24 contributor Kosha Gada. Kosha, let's start with the
30:11
Speaker 2: president's warning. Do you think he's speaking hyperbole or is there...
30:16
Speaker 2: Something to this, given the size of the Muslim population
30:21
Speaker 2: in Paris and other cities and the fact that there
30:23
Speaker 2: are large areas of the suburbs that are essentially no-go
30:28
Speaker 2: zones now.
30:30
Speaker 14: You know, with President Trump, James, there's always hyperbole, but
30:33
Speaker 14: there's also always truth. He's very plain spoken, and he
30:36
Speaker 14: says things that everybody knows but maybe wouldn't quite put
30:40
Speaker 14: as bluntly. As they say, demographics is destiny. And you
30:44
Speaker 14: can look at the demographics of Europe overall, of France,
30:48
Speaker 14: of cities like Paris in particular, as you mentioned, and
30:52
Speaker 14: you also look at how those demographics then grow. who's
30:55
Speaker 14: having more kids and what the fertility rate is, who's
30:57
Speaker 14: not having enough kids and what the fertility rate is.
30:59
Speaker 14: You can do the math, and he is, I'm sorry
31:02
Speaker 14: to say, right, unless there's some drastic measures taken around immigration, deportation,
31:07
Speaker 14: and all of that, which the political class does not
31:09
Speaker 14: have the will to do.
31:10
Speaker 2: Well, indeed, and in fact, I mean, you know, many
31:12
Speaker 2: of the young people who we see rioting now, they're
31:15
Speaker 2: not migrants.
31:15
Speaker 13: They are.
31:16
Speaker 2: The children, they're second- and third-generation migrants, so it's not
31:20
Speaker 2: simply a question of stopping the inflows. It's what do
31:23
Speaker 2: you do about the population you have there? And, Kosha,
31:26
Speaker 2: with these curfews here, I suppose that's one thing, but
31:30
Speaker 2: what do you actually do about this much bigger nest
31:33
Speaker 2: of organisations, political parties and so on that are determined
31:38
Speaker 2: to undermine French civil society? We can only imagine that
31:42
Speaker 2: this is about the elections coming up in six months'
31:45
Speaker 2: time or so, when Marine Le Pen from the right-wing
31:49
Speaker 2: FLN party is expected to win.
31:53
Speaker 14: Yes, it is such a tough, tough multilayered problem, and
31:56
Speaker 14: that means the solutions are going to be even tougher,
31:59
Speaker 14: and it's going to require a lot of political will.
32:00
Speaker 14: As you say, you know, curfews are just like a
32:02
Speaker 14: band-aid that, okay, you've got 500,000 people marching and rioting
32:06
Speaker 14: and looting in the streets, have a curfew that gives
32:08
Speaker 14: some way for the police to contain that, but that
32:12
Speaker 14: is not solving the root of the problem at all.
32:13
Speaker 14: As you mentioned, they're second, third generation people that on
32:17
Speaker 14: paper are French. I call them paper nationals, but obviously
32:20
Speaker 14: we can see their allegiance or their respect for the
32:22
Speaker 14: country is not where it needs to be. And that
32:25
Speaker 14: is a very, very tricky thing to do. The other
32:27
Speaker 14: vector is the finances. and the way these groups are
32:32
Speaker 14: being funded and figuring out that network of funding or
32:36
Speaker 14: people that are sympathetic to these groups all around the world. USAID,
32:40
Speaker 14: which I know you and I talked about before, got
32:42
Speaker 14: a lot of coverage when that was dismantled by President Trump,
32:46
Speaker 14: but it's not fully gone and there are other avenues
32:50
Speaker 14: of funding that certainly props these groups up and connects them.
32:53
Speaker 14: There's connective tissue across the world with them. So that's
32:56
Speaker 14: something else that maybe could be choked off. That's a
32:58
Speaker 14: little bit of an easier problem to solve than the second,
33:00
Speaker 14: third generation immigration issue, but not easy. And all of this,
33:04
Speaker 14: while they don't solve it, is like rocket fuel to
33:07
Speaker 14: Marine Le Pen. She is up, up and up in
33:08
Speaker 14: the polls, notwithstanding the embezzlement charges and all of that
33:11
Speaker 14: that she had to deal with. And I think France
33:14
Speaker 14: is looking ripe for some sort of political reset in 2027.
33:18
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's going to be a huge reset,
33:20
Speaker 2: and it's going to be a difficult reset because, you know,
33:23
Speaker 2: some of those groups, some of those neighborhoods, they're not
33:25
Speaker 2: places you'd want to invade without or go into without
33:29
Speaker 2: some sort of forced majority. But, you know, it's really
33:31
Speaker 2: interesting when you see what's happening in France contrasted with Italy,
33:35
Speaker 2: because Italy, you know, we've seen violent protests start to
33:38
Speaker 2: break out in Milan and so on. But Georgia Maloney,
33:41
Speaker 2: their prime minister, has taken a very different tack, taking
33:44
Speaker 2: the social media to condemn unrest and back law enforcement.
33:48
Speaker 2: On X, she wrote that thugs who exploit demonstrations to
33:52
Speaker 2: So chaos, attack those who ensure security and hold entire cities.
33:55
Speaker 2: She went after them. But I've also seen footage of
33:59
Speaker 2: the Italian troops stationed in the Duomo and in the
34:03
Speaker 2: big plaza in Milan to stop these demonstrations. So, Kosha,
34:06
Speaker 2: different approach from Italy. Have the Italians got a better
34:10
Speaker 2: handle on this than the French, do you reckon?
34:13
Speaker 14: A little bit, and it's funny how that works, how
34:16
Speaker 14: leadership actually can lead to different consequences and outcomes. And
34:20
Speaker 14: it's a fun little exercise that we all can do
34:23
Speaker 14: on a spectrum, look at the entire Western world and
34:26
Speaker 14: place the leadership from one end, I guess a spectrum
34:29
Speaker 14: of fecklessness, I would call it, and we can place
34:31
Speaker 14: people from different countries on one end of the spectrum,
34:34
Speaker 14: and then you go all the.
34:34
Speaker 7: Way to the right.
34:35
Speaker 14: I would put somebody like Nayib Bukele of El Salvador,
34:38
Speaker 14: who's now famous for taking a country that was the
34:41
Speaker 14: highest had the highest per capita homicide rate in the
34:44
Speaker 14: world to the lowest in like four years. And Giorgio
34:47
Speaker 14: Maloney would be somewhere on that spectrum, closer to that
34:50
Speaker 14: right end point. And the more people are willing to
34:53
Speaker 14: do that and really enforce law and order, enforce criminality,
34:58
Speaker 14: hold people accountable based on the laws that are on
34:59
Speaker 14: the books and set that as a deterrent where it's
35:02
Speaker 14: sending a message, they will see results. And if you're
35:05
Speaker 14: just going to pander to them and not do much else,
35:08
Speaker 14: as we see many people doing from the left of
35:10
Speaker 14: the political aisle usually, then this is what you're going
35:11
Speaker 14: to get.
35:12
Speaker 2: Kosher, there seems to be a great paradox in the
35:15
Speaker 2: way countries like France are responding to this sort of thing,
35:17
Speaker 2: they almost say, oh, well, we're too civilized to do
35:21
Speaker 2: anything kinetic or, God help us, violent to put down
35:25
Speaker 2: these riots and these people who clearly want to overthrow
35:29
Speaker 2: the system. And yet in being so civilized, I suppose,
35:33
Speaker 2: or they think that they're being civilized and tolerant and liberal,
35:36
Speaker 2: they're actually, I'll put it to you, Kosha, undermining the
35:39
Speaker 2: very tolerant liberalism that they claim to believe in.
35:45
Speaker 14: Of course, it's code for weakness or unwilling to do
35:49
Speaker 14: what it takes and some of those very tough solutions
35:51
Speaker 14: that we were outlining before. The only place where you'll
35:54
Speaker 14: see them flex their muscle a little bit is going
35:57
Speaker 14: after the law-abiding citizens, such as censoring speech or putting
36:00
Speaker 14: people who have no business being put in jail or
36:03
Speaker 14: what have you for different things that they've done that
36:06
Speaker 14: are not criminal, doing that, like the grandmas praying. That
36:09
Speaker 14: was in the UK, but same example, similar examples can
36:12
Speaker 14: be found around the world. That's where they'll flex. and
36:14
Speaker 14: taking away civil liberties from law-abiding citizens, as opposed to
36:17
Speaker 14: doing what they actually need to do to the people
36:19
Speaker 14: that are causing this.
36:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, indeed. And Kosha, though, let's move over to further
36:24
Speaker 2: east in Europe. And the situation with Ukraine, Russian President
36:28
Speaker 2: Vladimir Putin is pushing for a trilateral meeting between himself,
36:31
Speaker 2: Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to negotiate, they say,
36:35
Speaker 2: an end to the war in Ukraine. Now, according to
36:38
Speaker 2: a report I've seen, Putin wants to rerun the 1945
36:42
Speaker 2: Yalta summit, which was, you know, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin
36:45
Speaker 2: meeting in Ukraine. Crimea to carve up the Western world.
36:50
Speaker 2: But I'm not sure remembering how that went and how
36:53
Speaker 2: badly the United States and Roosevelt and Churchill were taken
36:58
Speaker 2: advantage of by Stalin in giving so much of Eastern
37:01
Speaker 2: Europe over to the Soviet Union. I'm not really sure
37:04
Speaker 2: that analogy sells me on this being a good idea.
37:10
Speaker 14: Yes, and the circumstances today are different, for sure. But
37:13
Speaker 14: I think President Putin sees a window, somewhat a window
37:18
Speaker 14: of opportunity, if he's ever going to affect something like this.
37:21
Speaker 14: It's now, when there are two years left in the
37:23
Speaker 14: Trump administration, simply because Trump is a very transactional president.
37:27
Speaker 14: He famously says, I'll meet with anybody. Why wouldn't I meet,
37:30
Speaker 14: whether it's Kim Jong-un or anybody else? And I think
37:34
Speaker 14: President Xi of China, as we know, also is whether
37:37
Speaker 14: you'd say transaction, transaction is the right word because he
37:39
Speaker 14: definitely plays the long game as China does, but very
37:42
Speaker 14: rational or pragmatic probably would be a better word. And
37:44
Speaker 14: he has been doing business with Russia and Putin and
37:47
Speaker 14: would continue to. So that's probably what Putin is signaling
37:50
Speaker 14: that let's have these three major powers of the world
37:53
Speaker 14: sit down. It would certainly be a smack in the
37:56
Speaker 14: face to the old world order and other countries that
37:59
Speaker 14: maybe aren't as relevant on the world stage as they
38:01
Speaker 14: once were. But I don't know what will come of
38:04
Speaker 14: it beyond meetings and discussions and maybe driving headlines. I
38:08
Speaker 14: don't think it'll be a recreation of what happened post-World
38:11
Speaker 14: War II because it's a very, very different global environment.
38:13
Speaker 2: Yeah. And also, Yalta was, frankly, for An awful lot
38:17
Speaker 2: of people for tens of millions of people. A complete disaster.
38:20
Speaker 2: But hey, let's talk about this story here. Keeps going
38:23
Speaker 2: on here in the United States. This is the Ilhan
38:26
Speaker 2: Omar story. And according to the New York Post, federal
38:30
Speaker 2: prosecutors are planning to use DNA evidence they've obtained to
38:33
Speaker 2: prove that Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota congresswoman, committed immigration fraud
38:40
Speaker 2: with sources saying that this evidence is going to be
38:45
Speaker 2: used to help prove that Omar, the allegation goes, married
38:50
Speaker 2: her brother in a fake marriage, we would presume, trying
38:53
Speaker 2: to help him get a green card, which apparently never
38:56
Speaker 2: came to fruition. This is just unbelievably Byzantine here, isn't it, Kosha?
39:04
Speaker 14: This story is crazy and it just grows and grows
39:06
Speaker 14: and gets bigger and bigger every day. There's something new
39:09
Speaker 14: being revealed about just how long this investigation has been
39:12
Speaker 14: happening behind the scenes, how expansive it is. And we're
39:15
Speaker 14: just now hearing about it, but it has been going
39:18
Speaker 14: on for some time. It was started under the previous DOJ,
39:21
Speaker 14: under Joe Biden, and then abandoned. And the current DOJ,
39:24
Speaker 14: the U.S. attorney in Minnesota, the feds, it's a multi-pronged
39:28
Speaker 14: approach to this. And I think, you know, the biggest
39:32
Speaker 14: thing that's going to come out of this, it seems
39:34
Speaker 14: to be, is they're probing whether or not she even
39:37
Speaker 14: is a U.S. citizen because her father reportedly did not
39:40
Speaker 14: maybe properly naturalize. There's reports that there is no record
39:44
Speaker 14: in the government of his naturalization event. That would mean she,
39:48
Speaker 14: since her citizenship was derived from the father, if she
39:50
Speaker 14: was 18, which is also being disputed and probed, if
39:53
Speaker 14: she was under 18, I should say, is not valid,
39:56
Speaker 14: which would mean that she is an illegal and is
39:58
Speaker 14: serving the United States Congress, which is a scandal in
40:01
Speaker 14: and of itself. On top of that, all the financial fraud,
40:04
Speaker 14: and it seems like they're looking at building some sort
40:07
Speaker 14: of conspiracy scheme. RICO case, the same thing they tried
40:09
Speaker 14: to do in Atlanta against President Trump. Over here, 11
40:13
Speaker 14: of her family members are ensnared in this and have
40:16
Speaker 14: been subpoenaed. They've gone dumpster diving to get DNA evidence
40:19
Speaker 14: to try and presumably prove the relationship between her husband
40:23
Speaker 14: or brusband, as people have been calling him, brother and husband.
40:26
Speaker 2: Her brusband.
40:28
Speaker 14: I think that's a Megyn Kelly term, but it's catchy.
40:30
Speaker 14: So there's a lot going on here, and I think
40:33
Speaker 14: we're only just scratching the surface.
40:35
Speaker 2: Wow, Kosha, this is fantastic. This is a story that's
40:37
Speaker 2: going to keep on giving, I think. Thank you so
40:40
Speaker 2: much for your time, for walking us through this incredible
40:43
Speaker 2: mess of a case here. But I reckon if there's
40:45
Speaker 2: so much stuff there, there's got to be something to it.
40:48
Speaker 2: And Brusband is a word I'm going to absolutely revel in.
40:53
Speaker 2: Kosha Gana, thank you so much for your time, as always.
40:57
Speaker 14: Always a pleasure.
40:58
Speaker 2: Still to come, all your entertainment news and Simpsons character
41:01
Speaker 2: Apu comes back. But is it a return to common
41:04
Speaker 2: sense or a win for woke? I'll chat to Deedee
41:07
Speaker 2: Dunleavy after the break. Alright, welcome back to the Rita
41:18
Speaker 2: Panahy Show. I am James Morrow filling in for Rita
41:21
Speaker 2: and let's catch up on all the latest entertainment and
41:24
Speaker 2: royal news with broadcaster Dee Dee Dunleavy. Dee Dee, great
41:28
Speaker 2: to see you again and a bit of news here
41:31
Speaker 2: out of the world of animation. It seems that the
41:34
Speaker 2: Simpsons character Apu, Apu Nahasafina Pedelan, who, of course, ran
41:39
Speaker 2: the Quickie Mart, he has returned to the show after
41:42
Speaker 2: being away for almost a decade, and he reappeared in
41:45
Speaker 2: Sunday's episode on Fox, but instead of being voiced by
41:49
Speaker 2: Hank Azaria, he's now voiced by India-born, U.S.-raised Sunil Mahatra.
41:55
Speaker 2: And as I said, he was previously voiced by the
41:57
Speaker 2: white guy, Hank Azaria, using an Indian accent and, of course...
42:01
Speaker 2: That caused all sorts of political controversy and he was
42:04
Speaker 2: axed from the show. Didi, is this a win for
42:08
Speaker 2: common sense? Are we glad to have Apu back? Should
42:12
Speaker 2: he have ever gone away in the first place?
42:14
Speaker 15: Well, firstly, thank you for doing all the heavy lifting
42:16
Speaker 15: with the surname because I.
42:17
Speaker 7: Wasn't going to have to go with it.
42:20
Speaker 15: Look, you know, the character is back and that tells
42:22
Speaker 15: us that the character was not the problem, it was
42:24
Speaker 15: the person doing the voice. And Hank did a brilliant
42:27
Speaker 15: job for decades. And the accent was exaggerated and the
42:31
Speaker 15: comedy was broad and people, sensible people, understood.
42:34
Speaker 7: That it was a joke, it was cartoon.
42:38
Speaker 15: But they had to, as you said, chase him out
42:40
Speaker 15: of town because it wasn't woke enough. And now they've
42:42
Speaker 15: hired an actor who is of Indian descent and he
42:45
Speaker 15: has said, that he hopes that South Asian audiences will
42:49
Speaker 15: reconnect with The Simpsons, which is fine if you want
42:53
Speaker 15: to connect with The.
42:54
Speaker 7: Simpsons, but most people just want to watch it to
42:56
Speaker 7: have a laugh. So just make the show.
42:58
Speaker 15: Funny, concentrate on that, and good luck doing it because
43:01
Speaker 15: I imagine every line that Apu utters now will have
43:03
Speaker 15: to be run through some sort of sensitivity filter in
43:06
Speaker 15: the writer's room.
43:07
Speaker 2: No, I mean, I think it's ridiculous, too, because Apu,
43:10
Speaker 2: when he was there in the first iteration, he was
43:13
Speaker 2: this model character. Everybody loved him. He was hardworking. He
43:16
Speaker 2: was enterprising. And why they had to change him, I
43:20
Speaker 2: don't know. But that's just me editorializing there. Anyway, let's
43:23
Speaker 2: move on, because Taylor Swift, our old friend there, well,
43:26
Speaker 2: had a bit of an awkward moment at a Chiefs game.
43:30
Speaker 2: She was sitting in the suite when a fan started
43:32
Speaker 2: to film her but it looked like she got a
43:34
Speaker 2: bit uncomfortable, asked them to look at the game instead.
43:38
Speaker 2: Dee Dee, I'm sorry if you're a celebrity, you're out
43:40
Speaker 2: in public. I kind of feel like you're fair game,
43:43
Speaker 2: but am I wrong about this?
43:45
Speaker 15: No, you're absolutely right. Look, I think this was pretty
43:47
Speaker 15: bad from Taylor Swift.
43:49
Speaker 7: It's not a good look.
43:50
Speaker 15: Look, she wants millions of people to hand over their
43:52
Speaker 15: money to listen to her songs, which talk about her
43:55
Speaker 15: private life, her personal feelings, and yet when a fan
43:58
Speaker 15: gets excited to actually see her in the flesh, she
44:01
Speaker 15: sends in the cavalry.
44:02
Speaker 7: It's not a good look.
44:03
Speaker 15: She's made billions off wanting people to feel that connection
44:06
Speaker 15: to her, and yet when somebody did feel the connection...
44:09
Speaker 15: they got told off by security. And if she did
44:12
Speaker 15: want privacy, I don't think that in a stadium filled
44:15
Speaker 15: with tens of thousands of people who all have eyeballs
44:19
Speaker 15: and that is one of the most televised events in
44:21
Speaker 15: America is the place to do it. And I do
44:23
Speaker 15: believe that celebrities do deserve privacy in a private setting,
44:27
Speaker 15: but this is not one of them. And I think
44:28
Speaker 15: this is a bad look for Taylor Swift.
44:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I mean, it's not like somebody was, you know,
44:32
Speaker 2: picking over the fence with a long lens into her
44:34
Speaker 2: garden or something like that. I agree with you. I
44:37
Speaker 2: just think that You know, people like this, you've got
44:40
Speaker 2: to know what side your bread is buttered on. But
44:43
Speaker 2: let's move over to the Victoria's Secret fashion show. I
44:46
Speaker 2: didn't even know that still was going on, but apparently
44:49
Speaker 2: they've faced some backlash for platforming celebrities like Kendall Jenner,
44:55
Speaker 2: who wore a bra covered in diamonds worth around $ 70 million.
45:02
Speaker 2: Kylie Jenner, sorry, what did I say there? $ 70 million. DeeDee,
45:06
Speaker 2: this is, well, I mean, it sounds like it's just
45:08
Speaker 2: kind of in bad taste, but what am I missing
45:10
Speaker 2: about why this is controversial?
45:11
Speaker 15: Well, my question is why are you getting so flustered, James?
45:16
Speaker 15: Couldn't help looking at the pictures. Look, I'm delighted this
45:19
Speaker 15: show is back. I don't really care.
45:20
Speaker 7: Who's walking in it because I think it's wonderful that we're.
45:23
Speaker 15: Celebrating beauty and fashion because there was a period there,
45:27
Speaker 15: and this is maybe why you were confused as to
45:30
Speaker 15: whether the show was still happening because.
45:32
Speaker 7: In 2020 it went woke.
45:34
Speaker 15: And it became more like a lecture on inclusivity. And
45:38
Speaker 15: that was reflected in the annual turnover. It dropped by
45:41
Speaker 15: something like 1.1 billion. And then as soon as they
45:43
Speaker 15: corrected again and put the beauties back on the runway,
45:46
Speaker 15: the profits started to go up again. So, look, I
45:48
Speaker 15: didn't watch the full show because I'm not a 15-year-old boy.
45:51
Speaker 15: But I've seen enough of the images, and that's what
45:53
Speaker 15: Victoria's Secret wants most of us to take away, that
45:55
Speaker 15: it's about glamour and beauty, and it certainly was that.
45:59
Speaker 7: And I don't want to wear a bra that's worth
46:02
Speaker 7: $ 70 million. How absurd.
46:04
Speaker 2: It's absurd.
46:05
Speaker 11: It is.
46:05
Speaker 2: I mean, I think, frankly, if you want to talk
46:07
Speaker 2: about obscenities and lingerie, I think that that's the real
46:11
Speaker 2: obscenity there. But, hey, we've got to talk royals because
46:14
Speaker 2: that's what we always do here. And Prince Harry and
46:18
Speaker 2: Meghan Markle have been dealt a major blow after one
46:21
Speaker 2: of their biggest supporters at Netflix, well, is out of
46:25
Speaker 2: her position. Bella Bahara was Netflix's chief content officer and
46:30
Speaker 2: is known to have been the absolute champion for Meghan
46:34
Speaker 2: and Harry behind the scenes, signing the deal for their
46:38
Speaker 2: streaming show there. Didi, is this the end of the
46:42
Speaker 2: partnership with Netflix? Because If I've read the headlines correctly,
46:47
Speaker 2: greenlighting this deal, that was not a hot idea.
46:52
Speaker 15: No, it wasn't, and now they've lost their champion within Netflix,
46:56
Speaker 15: and Netflix is not.
46:57
Speaker 7: A charity for displaced royals.
46:59
Speaker 15: So I think they're cooked because after the success of
47:02
Speaker 15: the original documentary, which had a lot of publicity, nothing
47:07
Speaker 15: that they did after that was well received. Things were
47:10
Speaker 15: ridiculed or they were absolute failures and there was no
47:12
Speaker 15: interest in them. So they haven't completely cut ties with Netflix.
47:16
Speaker 15: Netflix still has a first-look deal with, which means anything
47:20
Speaker 15: Harry and Meghan come up with, Netflix gets the first
47:22
Speaker 15: option as to whether they want it or not.
47:24
Speaker 7: But effectively, that means nothing. So what it tells us is, look.
47:27
Speaker 15: You've got all the profile in the world, but it
47:30
Speaker 15: doesn't necessarily guarantee a viewing audience for that.
47:33
Speaker 7: Netflix wants to make money. It needs eyeballs. It needs subscribers.
47:37
Speaker 15: And I don't think that we will see anything from
47:40
Speaker 15: Harry and Meghan on Netflix ever again.
47:42
Speaker 2: Oh, good Lord, there's a good reason to turn Netflix
47:45
Speaker 2: back on. Anyway, hey, speaking of just other royals news here,
47:48
Speaker 2: the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Well, they were welcomed
47:50
Speaker 2: with cheers and applause during a visit in Nottingham last week. But, ooh,
47:56
Speaker 2: this is controversial. Hello Magazine's royal correspondent, Eleanor Dyes, claimed
48:01
Speaker 2: one of the charities the couple were visiting were actually
48:04
Speaker 2: asking people to cheer. Didi, this feels sort of like
48:08
Speaker 2: an old kind of czarist village when you've got everybody
48:11
Speaker 2: sort of told to go and cheer. Is that what's
48:13
Speaker 2: going on here?
48:14
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, it's like a movie set.
48:16
Speaker 15: The only thing missing is a director yelling action and
48:19
Speaker 15: everyone behaves as they've been told to behave. Look, I've
48:22
Speaker 15: got secondhand embarrassment for them.
48:25
Speaker 7: This is really awkward, isn't it?
48:26
Speaker 15: If people were being told to cheer, it tells us
48:28
Speaker 15: that there was no genuine enthusiasm and.
48:30
Speaker 7: The crowd itself was very small.
48:32
Speaker 15: We've seen estimates of between 150 to 200, which is
48:35
Speaker 15: not a lot when you compare to what William and
48:38
Speaker 15: Kate get.
48:39
Speaker 7: And if they're having to tell people.
48:41
Speaker 15: To clap and to cheer and And apparently people were
48:44
Speaker 15: even told, the reporting tells us, to.
48:46
Speaker 7: Call out, we love you, Megan. That's a circus.
48:50
Speaker 15: And a circus is exactly what they said that they
48:53
Speaker 15: were escaping Britain for in the first place when they
48:56
Speaker 15: originally left for Montecito.
48:58
Speaker 2: Wow.
48:58
Speaker 7: It's a PR disaster.
48:59
Speaker 2: That is an absolute PR disaster. But, DeeDee Dunleavy, we're
49:04
Speaker 2: going to have to leave it there. And I haven't
49:05
Speaker 2: been told to say this, but we love you, DeeDee Dunleavy.
49:08
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for coming on the program. We'll
49:11
Speaker 2: speak soon. And that's it for me. Up next is
49:14
Speaker 2: Late Edition. Good night.