Transcript

Sharri | 7 April · Sharri

0:01
Speaker 1: Live o Sky News. This is Sharry.
0:06
Speaker 2: Good Evening, a major development for Ben Robert Smith, arrested,
0:11
Speaker 2: charged and now facing the fight of his life. Will
0:14
Speaker 2: break it all down with Chris Merritt and get the
0:17
Speaker 2: political reaction from Barnaby Joyce. An exclusive update tonight on
0:22
Speaker 2: the head of the sexual assault unit at one of
0:24
Speaker 2: Sidney's busiest hospitals and how she's been counseled by the
0:29
Speaker 2: healthcare regulator after allegations of anti Semitism and online bullying.
0:35
Speaker 2: The woman who made the complaint will join me, and
0:38
Speaker 2: Elon Levy joins US live from Tel Aviv on the
0:41
Speaker 2: latest on the war in Iran and Israel's role in
0:45
Speaker 2: the incredible rescue of a US airman whose jet was
0:49
Speaker 2: shot down by the Iranian regime. But first to the
0:52
Speaker 2: major news that broke today, Australia's most decorated soldier, Ben
0:57
Speaker 2: Roberts Smith, has been arrested and charged with five counts
1:01
Speaker 2: of war crimes related to murder. The former Special Forces
1:06
Speaker 2: soldier and recipient of the Victoria's Cross will spend the
1:10
Speaker 2: night behind bars and will front court for his first
1:14
Speaker 2: bail hearing tomorrow. He faces the prospect of life in
1:18
Speaker 2: jail if found guilty of these very serious charges. Now,
1:23
Speaker 2: these charges relate to the alleged murder of five unarmed
1:27
Speaker 2: Afghan and civilian prisoners between two thousand and nine and
1:31
Speaker 2: twoenty twelve, all in the Eurazgan province of Afghanistan. Robert
1:38
Speaker 2: Smith was arrested at Sydney Airport in front of his
1:41
Speaker 2: twin daughters by waiting federal police officers as he arrived
1:46
Speaker 2: on a family holiday from Brisbane shortly.
1:50
Speaker 3: After eleven am.
1:51
Speaker 2: Now let me make this clear from the outset ben
1:55
Speaker 2: Robert Smith, like anyone accused of a crime, is entitled
2:00
Speaker 2: to the presumption of innocence. That is the bedrock of
2:04
Speaker 2: our criminal justice system. And Robert Smith has always maintained
2:09
Speaker 2: his innocence right back to when I first interviewed him
2:12
Speaker 2: exclusively back in twenty eighteen about the claims raised by
2:17
Speaker 2: nine newspapers, specifically that you were involved in six unlawful
2:23
Speaker 2: killings in Afghanistan, including that of an adolescent age between
2:28
Speaker 2: fifteen and eighteen. There's also more details about a man
2:33
Speaker 2: called Ali Jan, who, according to the documents, you had killed.
2:39
Speaker 3: You kicked off.
2:40
Speaker 2: A cliff and then directed a soldier to shoot him
2:42
Speaker 2: there's also allegations about an unarmed boy aged thirteen or
2:47
Speaker 2: fourteen who had been shot. Do you have any response
2:51
Speaker 2: to any of these specific allegations.
2:53
Speaker 4: They're completely untrue. We're talking about scenarios of battle that
2:58
Speaker 4: have been and in many cases falsified to resemble the
3:03
Speaker 4: allegations at Fairfax up boarding to everyone, they're simply not true.
3:09
Speaker 2: Ben Robert Smith, of course, ended up losing his defamation
3:13
Speaker 2: case against nine Papers in twenty twenty three, and last September,
3:17
Speaker 2: the High Court refused him leave to appeal a decision
3:20
Speaker 2: by the full Federal Court backing that judgment. While the
3:24
Speaker 2: AFP refused today to reveal which of the alleged victims
3:28
Speaker 2: these five charges relate to, nine is reporting. The allegations
3:33
Speaker 2: include that Robert Smith kicked an Afghan civilian off a
3:37
Speaker 2: cliff and directed a subordinate to execute the man. The
3:41
Speaker 2: AFP Commissioner did, however, say this.
3:45
Speaker 5: It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and
3:49
Speaker 5: were under the control of EIGHTYF members when they were killed.
3:55
Speaker 5: It will be alleged the victims were shot by the
3:57
Speaker 5: accused or shot by so ordinate members of the ADF
4:02
Speaker 5: in the presence of and acting on the orders of
4:05
Speaker 5: the accused.
4:07
Speaker 2: These charges are the result of a five year investigation
4:10
Speaker 2: by the AFP, but as the Director of the Office
4:13
Speaker 2: of the Special Investigator admitted, there are clear limitations and
4:18
Speaker 2: hurdles due to the nature of the allegations.
4:22
Speaker 6: The OSI has been tasked with investigating literally dozens of
4:27
Speaker 6: murders alleged to have been committed in the middle of
4:31
Speaker 6: a war zone, in a country nine thousand kilometers in
4:34
Speaker 6: Australia that we can no longer access. We don't have
4:37
Speaker 6: access to the crime scenes. We don't have photographs, site plans, measurements,
4:42
Speaker 6: the recovery of projectiles, blood spatter analysis, all of those
4:45
Speaker 6: things we would normally get at a crime scene.
4:49
Speaker 2: Nine papers also reporting today the Commonwealth Director of Public
4:53
Speaker 2: Prosecutions had recently contacted Attorney General Michelle Roland seeking her
4:59
Speaker 2: all risation for the criminal prosecution of Robert Smith. The
5:03
Speaker 2: Prime Minister repeatedly refused today to confirm the role his
5:07
Speaker 2: government may have played.
5:09
Speaker 7: In all this.
5:10
Speaker 6: Can you confirm that Michelle Rowland was consulted on the
5:15
Speaker 6: lane of the charges.
5:16
Speaker 7: Indeed she consult with you.
5:18
Speaker 8: I'm not going to confirm anything to do with the
5:21
Speaker 8: legal matter that is a matter that it's very important
5:25
Speaker 8: that they're not be political engagement in what is a
5:29
Speaker 8: matter that is now the subject of legal proceedings.
5:34
Speaker 2: Nines at National Affairs editor Andrew Proben asked a question
5:39
Speaker 2: about the shadow, as he called it, that this arrest
5:42
Speaker 2: casts on all servicemen and women.
5:46
Speaker 9: In what reflections can you bring to bear on the
5:49
Speaker 9: shadow that this now puts over Australia's overall a grand
5:55
Speaker 9: service in a very difficult the fear of war.
5:59
Speaker 8: I have no indiension of prejudicing a matter that clearly
6:02
Speaker 8: is a legal matter and that's before the courts and
6:05
Speaker 8: any comment would do so.
6:07
Speaker 3: Now.
6:07
Speaker 2: Sure the PM may not be able to comment on
6:10
Speaker 2: the case itself, but would it have killed him to
6:13
Speaker 2: say something in support of the brave veterans who put
6:16
Speaker 2: their lives on the line for this country today. It
6:20
Speaker 2: would be a very difficult day for them too, something
6:23
Speaker 2: even the Police Commissioner could acknowledge.
6:27
Speaker 5: The alleged conduct related to these charges is confined to
6:30
Speaker 5: a very small section of our trusted and respected ADF.
6:35
Speaker 5: Today's charges are not reflective of the majority members who
6:39
Speaker 5: serve under the Australian flag with honor with distinction and
6:44
Speaker 5: with the values of a democratic nation.
6:47
Speaker 3: One as leader.
6:48
Speaker 2: Pauline Hansen was the first high profile figure to throw
6:52
Speaker 2: her support behind Robert Smith, tweeting shortly after news of
6:55
Speaker 2: the arrest broke. I remain steadfast in my support of
6:59
Speaker 2: Ben Roberts Smith despite news of his arrest today. Ben
7:03
Speaker 2: his immediate and broader defense family need the Australian people's
7:06
Speaker 2: support right now and I will not abandon him like
7:09
Speaker 2: so many other politicians. Ben was disgracefully arrested in front
7:13
Speaker 2: of his twin fifteen year old girls. He will be
7:17
Speaker 2: held in jail for seven days. He gets just one
7:19
Speaker 2: bail application. If that application fails, they can hold him
7:23
Speaker 2: for two years.
7:25
Speaker 3: AFP and OSI.
7:26
Speaker 2: Have spent three hundred million dollars over ten years to
7:29
Speaker 2: get to this point. Now he is facing a bail
7:32
Speaker 2: hearing tomorrow, so I'm not sure if that seven day
7:35
Speaker 2: number she's thrown around there is accurate. Talk to Chris
7:38
Speaker 2: Merritt about that in a moment, and we have seen
7:41
Speaker 2: other politicians come out like former Prime Minister Tony Abbott
7:44
Speaker 2: since then in support of Ben Robert Smith. But if
7:47
Speaker 2: there is a silver lining here for Ben Robert Smith,
7:51
Speaker 2: it's this if he is innocent, and again he's entitled
7:55
Speaker 2: to that presumption. A criminal finding demands are much highest
8:00
Speaker 2: added a proof than a civil one. In a criminal trial,
8:04
Speaker 2: a judge needs to be convinced and a jury of
8:07
Speaker 2: guilt beyond reasonable doubt. In a civil one like the
8:11
Speaker 2: one Robert Smith has already lost, the standard rests on
8:15
Speaker 2: the balance of probabilities. In other words, did he probably
8:20
Speaker 2: do it? The usual host of this show, Shari Markson,
8:24
Speaker 2: has already uncovered some shocking details calling into question the
8:28
Speaker 2: integratory the integrity of Rather of nine and its star
8:32
Speaker 2: reporter's conduct in the civil case, including that the media
8:36
Speaker 2: company paid seven hundred thousand dollars in hush money to
8:40
Speaker 2: one of its own witnesses to stop her going public
8:44
Speaker 2: with allegations of misbehavior by journalist Nick McKenzie.
8:48
Speaker 3: Shari also revealed.
8:50
Speaker 2: A recording of a phone conversation between McKenzie and that
8:54
Speaker 2: woman who had claimed to have had an affair with
8:57
Speaker 2: Robert Smith, in which McKenzie claimed to have reached his
9:00
Speaker 2: ethics and that nine had obtained access to the soldier's
9:04
Speaker 2: legal strategy, which is protected by privilege.
9:08
Speaker 10: No, I shouldn't tell you I've just preached my ethics
9:11
Speaker 10: doing that like this is where like this is.
9:15
Speaker 11: If they knew that and thyne that.
9:20
Speaker 2: So, after all that, this criminal trial may finally give
9:24
Speaker 2: Robert Smith the chance to have the allegations against him
9:27
Speaker 2: tested to a much higher standard, and if he ends
9:32
Speaker 2: up getting acquitted, he may finally finally clear his name. Well,
9:42
Speaker 2: joining me now for more on this is Chris Merritt
9:45
Speaker 2: from the Rule of Law Institute. Chris, thanks for being
9:48
Speaker 2: here tonight. First of all, your reaction to this arrest?
9:51
Speaker 3: Were you surprised?
9:52
Speaker 12: Shocked?
9:53
Speaker 13: I don't think there's anybody who wouldn't be shocked. That
9:57
Speaker 13: My real concern the more I I thought about this
10:00
Speaker 13: is I'm very worried about whether we will get a
10:04
Speaker 13: fair trial, whether this procedure will result in ben Robert Smith,
10:09
Speaker 13: whatever the outcome, getting a fair shake. Now, I say
10:12
Speaker 13: that for a couple of reasons. The delay is number one.
10:17
Speaker 13: Right now, this trial is over events that date all
10:21
Speaker 13: the way back, some of them for seventeen years. Now.
10:25
Speaker 13: Based on what's happened to the one other case where
10:31
Speaker 13: a soldier has been charged, it took four years. It
10:36
Speaker 13: will take four years from the time he was first
10:39
Speaker 13: charged to when his trial begins next year.
10:43
Speaker 3: And that's that's right now.
10:47
Speaker 13: It's bad enough. If Schultz's case goes ahead next year,
10:51
Speaker 13: that'll be a fifteen year delay. With Ben Robert Smith.
10:55
Speaker 13: If there's a similar delay, we're talking about a of
10:58
Speaker 13: twenty to twenty one years from the time the events
11:02
Speaker 13: are alleged to have taken place to when the court
11:05
Speaker 13: will hear evidence from witnesses who claim to have said
11:09
Speaker 13: seen things.
11:10
Speaker 2: Now, courtorary is not the most reliable thing, let alone
11:15
Speaker 2: twenty years.
11:16
Speaker 13: Courts are very wary of uncorroborated witness testimony about things
11:22
Speaker 13: that happened over a long period. But with corroboration with
11:27
Speaker 13: if other witnesses verify that something happened, or if there's
11:30
Speaker 13: documentary documentary evidence that is consistent with it, they'll be
11:36
Speaker 13: more more comfortable. But that's one point. But the big
11:40
Speaker 13: issue here is that this will take place, This trial
11:44
Speaker 13: will take place before a jury. There's no capacity under
11:49
Speaker 13: a commonwealth indictable offense, a series of indictable offenses for
11:54
Speaker 13: Ben Robert Smith to waive his right to a jury trial.
11:58
Speaker 13: And why would he do that? For the same reason
12:00
Speaker 13: that anybody who's been subjected to saturation adverse media coverage,
12:07
Speaker 13: would be very wary about placing their fate before a
12:12
Speaker 13: jury where there was every likelihood that everyone would have
12:17
Speaker 13: an opinion one way or the other. Either they might
12:20
Speaker 13: think he's the devil or they might think he's a hero.
12:22
Speaker 13: But to expect that we're able going to be able
12:26
Speaker 13: to get a jury of completely unbiased, impartial people, I
12:31
Speaker 13: think it's a real long shot.
12:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, you'd be hard pressed to find a person, let alone.
12:36
Speaker 2: I think it's twelve that have not heard of been
12:39
Speaker 2: Robert Smith and know nothing about the previous civil case.
12:43
Speaker 2: And I mean, I'm quite shocked that he has no
12:47
Speaker 2: prospect of hearing this within a judge alone case.
12:51
Speaker 13: Yes, Look, common sense would tell you that the approach
12:56
Speaker 13: that applies in New South Wales where someone accused of
12:59
Speaker 13: a serious criminal offense who suspects that they might not
13:02
Speaker 13: get an unbiased jury, can apply to a judge. It's
13:07
Speaker 13: not a right. You don't have a right to dispense
13:10
Speaker 13: with a jury, but a judge will determine whether justice
13:14
Speaker 13: requires in each particular case a jury trial or not.
13:19
Speaker 13: Now that's ruled out because of Section eighty of the Constitution,
13:22
Speaker 13: which says, if you're charged with a commonwealth indictable offense,
13:27
Speaker 13: you must go before a jury. The high courts have
13:32
Speaker 13: to look at this and you can't wave that. So
13:35
Speaker 13: two things. The immense delay. I think that there'll be
13:39
Speaker 13: a doubt unless we get corroborated witness testimony. The judge
13:45
Speaker 13: who hears this might well instruct a jury to treat
13:50
Speaker 13: uncoorroborated witness testimony with caution, sometimes with great caution. That's
13:57
Speaker 13: one point, But the the jury, I think that's I'm
14:04
Speaker 13: just appalled that the Commonwealth constitution does not allow that right.
14:10
Speaker 13: We saw it with people like Edio Bid when Edio
14:14
Speaker 13: Bid was facing criminal charges in New South Wales. It
14:19
Speaker 13: was pretty not a straightforward argument, but I think it
14:23
Speaker 13: was Elizabeth Fullerton. Justice Elizabeth Fullerton considered his application for
14:30
Speaker 13: a judge alone trial and granted it for the clear
14:33
Speaker 13: reason that he'd been any potential jury pool would be
14:37
Speaker 13: dreadfully tainted, and the judge recognized.
14:40
Speaker 3: That, Well, if it's in the constitution.
14:42
Speaker 13: That it's hard, it's hard to overcome.
14:46
Speaker 2: What do you think about the fact that they are
14:51
Speaker 2: not going to be The investigators haven't been able to
14:54
Speaker 2: access the alleged crime scenes nine thousand kilometers way in Afghanistan.
14:59
Speaker 2: How are they going to at the physical evidence that
15:02
Speaker 2: you would usually expect to these sorts of cases.
15:04
Speaker 13: It's not going to be there. It's not going to
15:06
Speaker 13: be there. I think what can happen is the evidence
15:11
Speaker 13: that was used in the defamation trial can on its
15:15
Speaker 13: own merits be used again. Not all of it. It
15:20
Speaker 13: would have to pass a very strict test. This will
15:26
Speaker 13: account for much of the pre trill jousting. There will
15:29
Speaker 13: be attempts to knock out evidence to restrict its use.
15:33
Speaker 13: There will also be, inevitably there will be concerns about
15:37
Speaker 13: national security information, whether the evidence would reveal strategic tactics
15:45
Speaker 13: or the movements, the way our armed forces operate, that
15:50
Speaker 13: sort of thing. Now, that will always delay this sort
15:54
Speaker 13: of trial. It happened in the other case that I
16:00
Speaker 13: was talking about Oliver.
16:02
Speaker 3: Do you think he will get bailed tomorrow?
16:04
Speaker 2: The police haven't indicated at the press conference today whether
16:07
Speaker 2: they'll oppose it.
16:08
Speaker 13: I wouldn't want to put a dollar on it. Let's
16:11
Speaker 13: wait and see what the court says.
16:12
Speaker 2: All right, and I just want to ask you Anthony
16:16
Speaker 2: Abernezi refused to confirm whether the Attorney General had been
16:21
Speaker 2: her approval for this prosecution? Is that a requisite? And
16:25
Speaker 2: how likely will would the Prime Minister have been aware
16:28
Speaker 2: that this was going to happen.
16:29
Speaker 13: Look, it shouldn't come as any surprise that the Attorney
16:32
Speaker 13: General was asked to sign off on this. It's a
16:34
Speaker 13: requirement of law. So the procedure is the OSI and
16:39
Speaker 13: the AFP investigate. They do that in consultation with the
16:44
Speaker 13: Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions concerning what sort of evidence
16:49
Speaker 13: and how it stacks up. But they can't initiate anything.
16:53
Speaker 13: They can't even arrest him without the sign off of
16:57
Speaker 13: the Attorney General. That's a requirement of law.
17:00
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm not sure why he couldn't have just said
17:02
Speaker 2: that was the case. But he doesn't want to fall
17:05
Speaker 2: foul I guess of prejudicing the case, or he just
17:07
Speaker 2: doesn't want to comment.
17:09
Speaker 3: Either way, very.
17:10
Speaker 2: Well, perhaps it was Chris Merritt. Thank you for offering
17:13
Speaker 2: your insights, fascinating stuff. Joining me now for the political
17:17
Speaker 2: reaction to this and more of today's news One Nation
17:20
Speaker 2: MP Barnaby, Joyce Barnaby, thank you for your time on
17:24
Speaker 2: this big news day. I told you was in my
17:27
Speaker 2: editorial that Pauline Hanson was the first public figure I
17:30
Speaker 2: could see come out and throw her support behind Bent
17:33
Speaker 2: Robert Smith.
17:34
Speaker 3: She's tweeted Ben his immediate and brought a defense.
17:38
Speaker 2: Family need the Australian people's support right now and I
17:41
Speaker 2: will not abandon him like so many other politicians. Do
17:45
Speaker 2: you agree with your party leader on this? Do you
17:48
Speaker 2: support Ben Robert Smith?
17:50
Speaker 5: Well?
17:51
Speaker 11: I think they need to go through a number of
17:53
Speaker 11: iterations of this. Number one is no matter what this is.
17:57
Speaker 11: A person who's received an award for gallantry at a
18:01
Speaker 11: point in their life was incredibly gallant of the highest order,
18:06
Speaker 11: and Bender Roberts Smith received the Victoria Cross and I'm
18:09
Speaker 11: sure no one has doubting that he was deserving of that,
18:13
Speaker 11: and so that should be put to one side.
18:16
Speaker 7: And I hope they hear other people reviewing this and
18:18
Speaker 7: reviewing that.
18:19
Speaker 11: And we've had reviews of citations of serving members and
18:23
Speaker 11: I think that's just completely wrong. If they deserved it
18:25
Speaker 11: for bravery, they deserved it for bravery. The next issue, obviously,
18:29
Speaker 11: is a brief of evidence has been brought forward in
18:31
Speaker 11: such a form that it passes the threshold, and therefore
18:34
Speaker 11: it becomes an item that's before the court, and you know,
18:39
Speaker 11: we let the court do its job. I don't think
18:42
Speaker 11: the AFP or anybody else would be a breaft of integrity.
18:46
Speaker 11: They will, they have to do their job. They've done
18:49
Speaker 11: their job, and now it's for a court. And as
18:52
Speaker 11: said under Section eighty, it has to.
18:54
Speaker 7: Go before a jury.
18:55
Speaker 11: It's going to be very very difficult as how a
18:58
Speaker 11: jury is selected. That hasn't I've got a view about
19:01
Speaker 11: the Ben Roberts Smith issue. That'll be something for close observation.
19:08
Speaker 7: I have more knowledge about what's happening in the dark
19:11
Speaker 7: of danglemar tonight.
19:12
Speaker 11: Than I do of what's happened in Afghanistan, and I'll
19:15
Speaker 11: leave that up to the process of the court. And
19:18
Speaker 11: I can absolutely understand where Pauline Hanson's coming from. Paul
19:21
Speaker 11: and Hansen was put in jail wrongly, and she'd spent
19:27
Speaker 11: time in jail. She was, as far as I'm concerned,
19:29
Speaker 11: our first political prisoner, and the motivations to put her
19:34
Speaker 11: in jail were wrong. And of course then she was
19:37
Speaker 11: released from jail and she was innocent. So I can
19:41
Speaker 11: absolutely understand where Pauline's coming from on this one, and
19:46
Speaker 11: her heart would be very very very focused on this issue.
19:49
Speaker 11: Now I think that's any further than that, and I
19:53
Speaker 11: go to the realms with subjudicy, which I don't intend.
19:55
Speaker 3: To do well.
19:57
Speaker 2: Much more diplomatic and cautious perhaps in Pauline. But you're
19:59
Speaker 2: right to bring that up. It is an important reminder
20:02
Speaker 2: that Pauline has faced prosecution herself and and was jailed,
20:06
Speaker 2: so she is coming from a different perspective for sure.
20:09
Speaker 2: How do you think, without knowing the details of this case,
20:13
Speaker 2: but how do you think today's events will have affected
20:17
Speaker 2: the veteran community.
20:21
Speaker 11: Well that remember, everybody who serves our nation puts signs
20:26
Speaker 11: on the dotted line to be killed, and people are
20:29
Speaker 11: very aware of that.
20:30
Speaker 7: It's a different job and we must all be aware
20:32
Speaker 7: of that.
20:33
Speaker 11: People who serve in our defense forces sign on the
20:36
Speaker 11: dotted line that they will offer their lives for our
20:38
Speaker 11: nation and for that they deserve the highest respect we
20:41
Speaker 11: can offer. And we're heading towards that with ans Zack Day,
20:44
Speaker 11: which I think is the which is the center of
20:47
Speaker 11: the soul of Australia, and so we.
20:49
Speaker 7: As a nation understand how important that is.
20:52
Speaker 9: I do have.
20:55
Speaker 11: Concerned about how mister Robert Smith was arrested I think
20:58
Speaker 11: it was very unbecoming. I don't know any criminals where
21:01
Speaker 11: we get to watch their arrest or alleged criminals get
21:05
Speaker 11: to watch it on television.
21:07
Speaker 7: How did that happen?
21:08
Speaker 11: It was a complete If this is an allegation, is
21:13
Speaker 11: a presumption of innocence. And I don't like people being
21:16
Speaker 11: sort of frog marshed off a plane, off a plane
21:18
Speaker 11: and then for the waiting, baying media. I mean, I
21:22
Speaker 11: think an investigation needs to know, like how did anybody
21:25
Speaker 11: get that tip off? And was he a flight risk?
21:29
Speaker 11: Wouldn't you just said to him you've got to present
21:31
Speaker 11: yourself at a police station tomorrow. I don't think he
21:34
Speaker 11: would have been going anywhere where he could have done
21:37
Speaker 11: something right with his family.
21:39
Speaker 7: How do you just go knock on his door? That
21:42
Speaker 7: would be a better idea.
21:43
Speaker 3: And well, to be clear, it was line.
21:45
Speaker 2: It was NNE that got that footage and happened to
21:48
Speaker 2: be at the dye.
21:49
Speaker 7: How did they get it?
21:51
Speaker 3: Valid questions? I think these are very valid questions.
21:54
Speaker 11: Just happen to have a camera that could see people
21:57
Speaker 11: walking down a side stairs?
21:59
Speaker 7: Does happen?
22:00
Speaker 11: What incredible luck that was?
22:02
Speaker 3: But I thinks another.
22:06
Speaker 11: Was to tip them off because Surely that would be
22:08
Speaker 11: a complete invasion of people's privacy. I'm sure that Channel
22:12
Speaker 11: nine are only too happy to come forward with the
22:14
Speaker 11: truth as to how they got that footage.
22:16
Speaker 2: Well, well, I dare say they reporters, including Nick McKenzie,
22:19
Speaker 2: would have sources very close to that investigation.
22:22
Speaker 3: But we don't know at this point.
22:24
Speaker 2: But I think you raise a good point too about
22:25
Speaker 2: him being arrested arriving on holiday in front of his
22:28
Speaker 2: twin daughters. Surely it could have been handled differently. It
22:31
Speaker 2: was a bit of a spectacle. Let's move on to
22:33
Speaker 2: other news now, because there is a lot to discuss.
22:36
Speaker 2: Labor is changing its tactic when it comes to confronting
22:39
Speaker 2: the threat of One Nation. Senior Cabinet Minister Murray Watt says,
22:44
Speaker 2: while the government won't run a negative campaign against Pauline Hanson,
22:48
Speaker 2: it will seek to expose one Nation as a party
22:52
Speaker 2: that hurts battlers. Barnaby, what do you think of this tactic?
22:56
Speaker 2: Is it keeping you up at night? No?
22:59
Speaker 11: Look, it hurts battler's parties that believe in climate change policy,
23:03
Speaker 11: hurt battlers that shuts stam blows up in some instances,
23:06
Speaker 11: as our coal fired power stations, believe in the safeguard mechanism,
23:09
Speaker 11: which are designed to shut down all refineries to put us.
23:12
Speaker 7: In the up to our neck in this crisis.
23:15
Speaker 11: Who have chased the cost of living beyond the capacity
23:18
Speaker 11: of people to pay for it. They're the things that
23:20
Speaker 11: people worried about. See, the Labor Party are out there
23:23
Speaker 11: to try and beat one nation, and one nation's out
23:26
Speaker 11: there trying to deal with the cost of living crisis
23:28
Speaker 11: and try to bring dignity back into people's lives.
23:31
Speaker 7: So you've seen it there.
23:32
Speaker 11: That's how much in the parlor games the Labor Party are.
23:36
Speaker 7: They go to their.
23:36
Speaker 12: Paper with a plan to deal with one nation, not
23:40
Speaker 12: a plan to rebuild Aull refineries, not a plan to
23:44
Speaker 12: turn brown coal into oil, not a plan to rebuild
23:47
Speaker 12: our coal fire power stations, not a plan to deal
23:50
Speaker 12: with the cost of living at the supermarket, not a
23:53
Speaker 12: plan to build dams on a plan to build rail,
23:55
Speaker 12: not a plan to build.
23:58
Speaker 7: Steal another road across Australia. They only have a plan.
24:01
Speaker 11: To deal with one nation, that is because they are
24:04
Speaker 11: bereft of a plan for our nation.
24:07
Speaker 2: Well, I think it says Follolumes about the threat that
24:10
Speaker 2: they see one nation as across the country.
24:12
Speaker 3: Now I have to ask.
24:14
Speaker 2: There have been reports you've had phone calls with New
24:16
Speaker 2: South Welles Nationals and Pop Wes Fang after he was
24:19
Speaker 2: bumped to an unwinnable spot on the coalition's ticket for
24:23
Speaker 2: next year's state election.
24:25
Speaker 3: Have you been trying to recruit him?
24:27
Speaker 11: No, No, I say to every person, we speak to
24:31
Speaker 11: people from all sizes of the political fence. To be honest,
24:35
Speaker 11: I don't encourage any person to jump ship. That is
24:38
Speaker 11: completely an issue for them, completely an issue for them.
24:42
Speaker 11: I basically it's I hate to say, it's like a
24:47
Speaker 11: marriage breaking up. It's incredibly traumatic. So I'm not going
24:50
Speaker 11: to encourage anybody to stay or to go. That's a
24:54
Speaker 11: decision for them.
24:56
Speaker 3: How to have phone conversations with him, I've spoken.
24:59
Speaker 11: To Wes in the past, but not recently. No, I
25:01
Speaker 11: haven't spoken to him recently. I sometimes I read the
25:04
Speaker 11: paper with interest, and it's more a case of people
25:08
Speaker 11: trying to confirm what they already know rather than getting
25:10
Speaker 11: information out of me. So you know, people, they make
25:15
Speaker 11: their own decisions about life. As you stated, where's they
25:19
Speaker 11: have dropped Where's to an unmimable position. But that's a
25:23
Speaker 11: basically sacked him. Let's be frank about what they've done.
25:25
Speaker 11: They've sacked him, and so I say, on that instance,
25:29
Speaker 11: where's the free agent and wheres.
25:30
Speaker 7: Can do what he likes?
25:31
Speaker 2: Do you think he will come to one nation or
25:33
Speaker 2: make that decision?
25:35
Speaker 11: I really don't know. I've never encouraged him to do so.
25:38
Speaker 11: I'd say that's completely a decision for you.
25:41
Speaker 2: Quickly, want to ask you, bine. We only have about
25:44
Speaker 2: thirty seconds Donald Trump and his latest wipe at Australian
25:49
Speaker 2: Let's show people what he said.
25:52
Speaker 14: Not just NATO. You know who Elston help us, South
25:55
Speaker 14: Korea didn't help us. You know who else didn't help us,
25:58
Speaker 14: or Australia didn't help.
26:01
Speaker 3: Has Trump got a point there? Should we have helped?
26:04
Speaker 7: Yep, we should have.
26:06
Speaker 11: We have vastly more to lose in the United States
26:09
Speaker 11: of America or basically most other people. Eighty to ninety
26:12
Speaker 11: percent of our oil comes out of Australia. Who moves
26:14
Speaker 11: and gets refined in Singapore or South Korea before it
26:18
Speaker 11: makes its way here. And if there is a conflict
26:22
Speaker 11: with Taiwan, that shuts down not only the stuff coming
26:24
Speaker 11: into Australia but the stuff going out.
26:26
Speaker 7: So we are really got our throats to the wolves.
26:29
Speaker 11: There's only one nation on the planet that can help us,
26:31
Speaker 11: in US, the United States of America. So keep your
26:34
Speaker 11: comments about the President of the United States to yourself. League,
26:36
Speaker 11: that up to the people of the United States of America,
26:39
Speaker 11: and understand quite clearly that we really have got to
26:43
Speaker 11: understand that without the United States we are we are
26:48
Speaker 11: a long way from home and in all sorts of danger.
26:52
Speaker 2: Barnaby Joyce, always great to chat. Thank you for your
26:54
Speaker 2: time still to come. Former Israeli spokesman Elon Leeby joins
26:58
Speaker 2: me live as is rail strikes deeper into Tehran, plus
27:02
Speaker 2: experts worn fuel rationing will be unavoidable if the war
27:06
Speaker 2: in Iran continues past this week. My panel Caleb Bond
27:10
Speaker 2: and Nick Cata join me next. Welcome back.
27:16
Speaker 3: Well, as I told you earlier.
27:18
Speaker 2: US President Donald Trump has singled out Australia as one
27:21
Speaker 2: of a number of allies who have not helped in
27:24
Speaker 2: his war effort in Iran. Joining me now at the
27:27
Speaker 2: desk to discuss this. Menzies Research Center Senior fellow Nick
27:31
Speaker 2: Cata and Sky News host cayleb Bond Welcome both gentlemen.
27:36
Speaker 3: Nick is Trump right to take a crack at us.
27:38
Speaker 1: Of course he is.
27:39
Speaker 15: And he's absolutely right here on this one, isn't he.
27:41
Speaker 15: I dont think there's any any sense in which he's
27:43
Speaker 15: giving us fake news there. I mean, look, I find
27:47
Speaker 15: it intentionally weird that we support the aims of this conflict,
27:52
Speaker 15: according to our Prime minister, but we don't. We're not
27:57
Speaker 15: part of it. And he always says that we are
27:58
Speaker 15: not part of it. Should be part of it. We
28:00
Speaker 15: should be part of it in the same way we've
28:02
Speaker 15: been part of every other action military action of any
28:05
Speaker 15: significance that the United States has taken. I know Trump
28:09
Speaker 15: sometimes makes it hard. It makes it hard in that
28:13
Speaker 15: he probably didn't spend nearly enough time going round talking
28:16
Speaker 15: the Allies into supporting this. But we should be jumping
28:18
Speaker 15: in and doing it. Here's an example. The American special
28:22
Speaker 15: forces went in and brilliantly rescued that down m and
28:26
Speaker 15: the other day. That's exactly what our special forces are
28:29
Speaker 15: trained to do. So we may not have, you know,
28:32
Speaker 15: we might be able to send one of these Sydney
28:33
Speaker 15: ferries or something. We don't have any serious naval capability,
28:36
Speaker 15: but we certainly have special forces and other specialties that
28:39
Speaker 15: we could send that.
28:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, Caleb, well, I think you raise a good point, Nick,
28:44
Speaker 1: that it is true that Trump perhaps didn't do much
28:47
Speaker 1: to convince the Allies to come on board. There was
28:50
Speaker 1: no briefing before the war began.
28:53
Speaker 3: Does he doesn't want this information to get out the
28:56
Speaker 3: Well no.
28:56
Speaker 1: But if the information was leaked, you'd find well, you'd
28:59
Speaker 1: find the lead and there would be serious problems. But
29:02
Speaker 1: I take that point. But also, on the other hand,
29:04
Speaker 1: what concerns me is that you've got Trump claiming that
29:08
Speaker 1: he asked for help from Allied nations and they didn't
29:12
Speaker 1: render that, Australia being one of them. And then you've
29:15
Speaker 1: got Australia and the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister, etc.
29:18
Speaker 1: Saying that we were never asked for help. So now
29:21
Speaker 1: clearly someone is lying, and I don't understand why it
29:24
Speaker 1: would be Donald Trump. I mean, what does Trump have
29:27
Speaker 1: to gain in standing up and saying, oh, well, I
29:29
Speaker 1: asked Australia to help and they didn't help. The Prime
29:32
Speaker 1: Minister has a lot more to save himself for to say, oh, well,
29:37
Speaker 1: you know, we weren't asked for help, therefore we didn't
29:40
Speaker 1: render it. And I think the point is also valid
29:42
Speaker 1: that it doesn't necessarily mean that you end up with
29:44
Speaker 1: troops on the ground. They don't even have troops on
29:46
Speaker 1: the ground from the US at the moment. It doesn't
29:48
Speaker 1: mean that we would be in there shooting people or
29:50
Speaker 1: doing anything. There are services that we can render as
29:54
Speaker 1: an ally of the United States that don't involve US
29:57
Speaker 1: getting involved directly militarily. And I don't see why that
30:01
Speaker 1: would be a problem.
30:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's a nation that benefits from the strait
30:05
Speaker 2: of will moves being opened, contribute and helping to the
30:08
Speaker 2: efforts to reopen it. Meanwhile, Trump has used the White
30:11
Speaker 2: House Easter egg roll to boast about the US's military power,
30:16
Speaker 2: all while standing next to the Easter bunny.
30:18
Speaker 3: Take a look.
30:19
Speaker 14: But I just want to say, we have a great military,
30:21
Speaker 14: with the greatest military and most powerful military anyplace in
30:25
Speaker 14: the world. You saw what happened with Venezuela. The greatest
30:29
Speaker 14: people on earth are warriors and the greatest fighters on earth,
30:32
Speaker 14: and they very much appreciate you and love you, and
30:35
Speaker 14: that's why they do it.
30:37
Speaker 3: Caleb, I had to do a double take here.
30:39
Speaker 2: I thought it first this was aar but actually it
30:42
Speaker 2: is classic Trump.
30:43
Speaker 1: I do feel a little sorry for the Easter bunny,
30:45
Speaker 1: to be perfectly honest, because I thought he was a
30:47
Speaker 1: political and then he sort of found himself in this
30:49
Speaker 1: position now where he's standing next to the president giving
30:52
Speaker 1: a political speech. So now he'll be forever damned by that.
30:55
Speaker 1: And I suppose people on the left will no longer
30:57
Speaker 1: be giving their children Easter eggs or allowing their children
31:00
Speaker 1: to have Easter.
31:01
Speaker 3: Exist because they would be canceled.
31:03
Speaker 1: That will written, that may will, that may will be true.
31:06
Speaker 1: But the eggs now being delivered by a bloke who
31:08
Speaker 1: endorses the words of Donald Trump, So we couldn't possibly
31:11
Speaker 1: have that. But it is classic Donald Trump. I mean,
31:14
Speaker 1: you know, here we are talking about the fact that
31:16
Speaker 1: he was saying it nixt to the Easter bunny, and
31:20
Speaker 1: people some people think that, you know, Trump does these
31:23
Speaker 1: things by accident. It's never by accident. He knows exactly
31:26
Speaker 1: what he used.
31:27
Speaker 2: Do you think the Iranian regimes leaders are quaking in
31:30
Speaker 2: the foods.
31:31
Speaker 15: Wait to see what those bunnies can do? They are
31:34
Speaker 15: mean creatures. There's a serious point to make here in
31:38
Speaker 15: that is that today's political leaders don't seem to be
31:42
Speaker 15: able to do gravitas. I mean, our prime Minister certainly can't.
31:46
Speaker 15: He is hopeless at it, but Trump neither. And I
31:49
Speaker 15: think this is what you need at a time like
31:51
Speaker 15: this if you compare it with I'm going back away now,
31:54
Speaker 15: but say JFK and the Cuba missile crisis, where he
31:57
Speaker 15: gives an enormously statesmanlike speech to the and it's highly respected,
32:01
Speaker 15: and I think we probably need to recover that because
32:05
Speaker 15: I think our leaders need to be respected a little
32:07
Speaker 15: bit more than they ask us to sometimes.
32:10
Speaker 1: I felt a bit the same last week when he
32:11
Speaker 1: was talking about the strait of Trump, and it's kind
32:14
Speaker 1: of like, you know, it's not really the time for jokes.
32:17
Speaker 1: We're in a war here in it should be given
32:19
Speaker 1: the restrict.
32:20
Speaker 2: Why he got the support he did. People love him.
32:23
Speaker 2: You just take him, take it as he is.
32:24
Speaker 3: He just there's no filter, which I sort of love
32:27
Speaker 3: about him.
32:28
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the Daily Telegraph reporting a disturbing new
32:31
Speaker 2: group of neo Nazis is recruiting Sydney teens as young
32:35
Speaker 2: as fifteen using letter drops in the city's West and
32:38
Speaker 2: other suburbs. The National Revolutionary Workers' Movement now has more
32:43
Speaker 2: than one hundred members and a youth arm specifically targeting teenagers.
32:47
Speaker 2: Caleb is one of the youngest hosts I think the
32:49
Speaker 2: youngest here at skuy. Do you think young people are
32:52
Speaker 2: vulnerable to this sort of propaganda or are they going
32:56
Speaker 2: to be you know, we always hear about threats of radicalation,
33:00
Speaker 2: especially online. I mean, are they going to be a
33:02
Speaker 2: bit too smart for this?
33:03
Speaker 14: Well?
33:04
Speaker 1: I suspect if anyone is more susceptible to it, it
33:07
Speaker 1: is young men. And that is not necessarily because young
33:10
Speaker 1: men are stupid, but young men have been disenfranchised, not
33:13
Speaker 1: only in Australia but across the Western world. And so
33:15
Speaker 1: anyone who comes along, whether it be neo Nazism or
33:18
Speaker 1: radical Islam or some other form of radical belief and
33:23
Speaker 1: offers answers to a certain very small number of young men,
33:28
Speaker 1: I can understand why that would be enticing. And of
33:31
Speaker 1: course this is concerning the hates speech laws that were
33:36
Speaker 1: passed earlier this year rushed through. Part of that was
33:40
Speaker 1: banning the National Socialist Network, which is a Neo Nazi organization.
33:43
Speaker 1: Of course, you're then going to have others go and
33:45
Speaker 1: set up I mean, you know, you splinter and then
33:47
Speaker 1: they go and do it all over again, and then
33:49
Speaker 1: we've got correct, and then we don't know where they are,
33:52
Speaker 1: and that does concern me. But I also think that
33:55
Speaker 1: it can be a convenient distraction for some people to
33:58
Speaker 1: talk about neo Nazi isn't rather than about radical Islam.
34:02
Speaker 1: It wasn't neo Nazis who shot up Jews at Bondi,
34:06
Speaker 1: so let's not lose sight of what the real threat
34:09
Speaker 1: at the industry.
34:10
Speaker 3: I think you're absolutely correct.
34:11
Speaker 2: I still think that I support the hate speech laws.
34:14
Speaker 2: I'm glad that neo Nazis have been cracked down on,
34:17
Speaker 2: but the real threat is radical Islam. Let's talk about
34:19
Speaker 2: the fuel crisis, because experts are wanting fuel rationing will
34:23
Speaker 2: be unavoidable if the war in the Middle East continues
34:26
Speaker 2: past this week, and even if it ends today, They
34:29
Speaker 2: say fuel supply will remain precarious and petrol price is
34:34
Speaker 2: high for months. Prime Minister Anthony Aberinizi is floing to
34:37
Speaker 2: Singapore Thursday to firm up fuel supplies, with supply not
34:41
Speaker 2: guaranteed at the moment beyond may Nick, do we get
34:45
Speaker 2: to panic.
34:46
Speaker 3: Yet or we still We've been told not to panic.
34:49
Speaker 3: Every panic panicking.
34:50
Speaker 15: But I must admit I think that the government seems
34:54
Speaker 15: to have no serious answer this whatsoever. And when you
34:56
Speaker 15: get Chris Bowing going out there saying make sure your
34:59
Speaker 15: ties are humped up, I mean I haven't done you know,
35:02
Speaker 15: I haven't done a Google search on this, but I
35:04
Speaker 15: would think that the petrol consumption improvement by putting your
35:08
Speaker 15: tires to thirty five pounds per square inch is marginal
35:13
Speaker 15: at best. It's hardly going to save our fuel supplies.
35:16
Speaker 15: But it just goes to the point they've got nothing
35:18
Speaker 15: to say, nothing constructive. They can't even put a plan
35:22
Speaker 15: in place for rationing if that's what's needed. I'd like
35:24
Speaker 15: to see the government actually show that it has a
35:28
Speaker 15: plan for this, and right now it just seems to
35:30
Speaker 15: me they're making up to go along.
35:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm telling us not to worry along the way.
35:34
Speaker 2: Nick Cato Calebon, thanks so much for your time. Tonight
35:36
Speaker 2: still to come an exclusive update on the Sydney doctor
35:40
Speaker 2: accused of anti Semitism and online bullying. The whistleblower at
35:44
Speaker 2: the center of it, Sharon Stollier, speaks out and what
35:47
Speaker 2: role did Israel play in that daring rescue of the
35:51
Speaker 2: US airmen inside Iran? And a former Israeli spokesman, Elon
35:55
Speaker 2: Levy joins me live from Tel Aviv.
36:01
Speaker 3: Welcome back, well.
36:01
Speaker 2: The rescue of a wounded US airman stranded for two
36:05
Speaker 2: days in remote mountainous terrain and Iran has.
36:08
Speaker 3: Gripped the world. Now.
36:10
Speaker 2: There are reports suggesting Israel played a central role in
36:14
Speaker 2: helping with the recovery. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee
36:18
Speaker 2: thanking the IDF and massade on Twitter for being helpful
36:23
Speaker 2: partners in the mission. Joining me now is former Israeli
36:26
Speaker 2: government spokesperson Elon Levy. Elon, thanks for your time tonight.
36:31
Speaker 2: Talk us through what role did Israel play in this
36:34
Speaker 2: rescue mission?
36:37
Speaker 16: The American rescue of that pilot truly will make an
36:40
Speaker 16: incredible Hollywood movie one day, and I'm excited to see
36:43
Speaker 16: which Israeli actors from founder end up playing the Mossad
36:46
Speaker 16: agents who helped in rescuing him. Really an incredible development.
36:50
Speaker 16: The Jerusalem Post quotes intelligence sources saying that Israel was
36:54
Speaker 16: involved in three ways, one providing intelligence, two joining strikes
36:59
Speaker 16: that were intended to create a diversion in order to
37:02
Speaker 16: draw the Iranians attention somewhere else, and three other strikes
37:07
Speaker 16: that were intended to attack Iranian assets that were going
37:11
Speaker 16: after the pilots. Prime Minister Benjamin Ettannieu taking to Twitter
37:15
Speaker 16: to say that he's incredibly proud of the Israeli cooperation
37:19
Speaker 16: with the United States, both on and off the battlefield,
37:22
Speaker 16: that helped to bring that brave pilot home.
37:24
Speaker 2: I love the mention of Bouder, one of my favorite
37:27
Speaker 2: TV shows. I also want to know what Hollywood star,
37:30
Speaker 2: what heartthrob they'd pick for the US am and himself.
37:33
Speaker 2: But what do you think, in all seriousness, the Iranian
37:36
Speaker 2: regime would have done to this amen if they'd captured him.
37:41
Speaker 16: The Iranian regime would almost certainly have sentenced the pilot
37:45
Speaker 16: to death or threatened him with death and used him
37:49
Speaker 16: as a hostage against the United States. It would have
37:53
Speaker 16: used him as a bargaining chip to get the United
37:56
Speaker 16: States to back off from its attacks on Iran's regime
37:59
Speaker 16: ballistic missile and nuclear sites. It would probably have told
38:03
Speaker 16: the Americans, you want your pilot back, well, back off,
38:06
Speaker 16: leave our nuclear program alone, leave the ballistic missile program alone,
38:11
Speaker 16: let us tax ships through the Straits of hor Moves
38:13
Speaker 16: because that belongs to us now, and let us continue
38:17
Speaker 16: to terrorize the region. So it's a double miracle. That
38:20
Speaker 16: the Iranians were not able to get their hands on
38:23
Speaker 16: that pilot. One for the sake of the pilot himself,
38:26
Speaker 16: but also for the sake of the whole global economy,
38:28
Speaker 16: because just as they've been holding the whole global economy hostage,
38:31
Speaker 16: they would have held the pilot hostage in order to
38:34
Speaker 16: continue to threaten the whole region.
38:35
Speaker 2: Oh, thank goodness, Thank goodness, he was rescued in Israeli
38:38
Speaker 2: strike in Tehran has killed the head of Iran's Revolutionary
38:42
Speaker 2: Guards intelligence arm Majid had Me was one of the
38:46
Speaker 2: regime's most senior security figures. He's accused by Israel helping
38:50
Speaker 2: to shape Iran's wartime intelligence, advanced terror plots against Israelis
38:56
Speaker 2: and Jews worldwide, and oversaw internal surveillance and repression at home.
39:02
Speaker 2: So how significant I on is this taking out?
39:06
Speaker 16: Honestly, I'm beginning to lose track of the number of
39:08
Speaker 16: Islamic Revolutionary Guard called commanders Israel has eliminated in this war,
39:12
Speaker 16: because it's the entire top brass. This was the intelligence
39:15
Speaker 16: chief of the IRGC, just weeks after the intelligence minister
39:18
Speaker 16: of the regime was taken out. And why this is
39:21
Speaker 16: important is that it means that Iran's surviving leaders are
39:24
Speaker 16: now fugitives on the run. They're not meeting calmly and
39:28
Speaker 16: making rational decisions. They're constantly looking over their shoulders and
39:32
Speaker 16: up on the sky is knowing that Israeli fighter jets
39:34
Speaker 16: are hunting them down. And it means that the regime
39:37
Speaker 16: isn't capable of making serious, sensible, thought out strategic decisions
39:41
Speaker 16: because they're more concerned with survival than they are with
39:45
Speaker 16: actually fighting an effective military campaign. And this also puts
39:49
Speaker 16: extra pressure on the Iranian regime to accept some sort
39:53
Speaker 16: of compromise with the United States and stop being a
39:57
Speaker 16: regional threat, because they know that as long as they
39:59
Speaker 16: can te you fighting a war, Israel's planes in the
40:02
Speaker 16: skies can pick them off one by one, and if
40:04
Speaker 16: they want to save their own skin, they should probably
40:07
Speaker 16: try to cut a deal that saves the whole world
40:10
Speaker 16: from the spectra of a nuclear Iran armed with ballistic
40:13
Speaker 16: missiles to the teeth.
40:14
Speaker 2: There are also reports that Iran's new Supreme Leader, mosh Tabahamone,
40:18
Speaker 2: is unconscious, with a diplomatic memo suggesting he's in no
40:23
Speaker 2: condition to run the regime just weeks after succeeding his father,
40:27
Speaker 2: who was of course killed by Israel. If Harmony is unconscious,
40:31
Speaker 2: who's running Iran?
40:33
Speaker 3: Elan?
40:35
Speaker 16: No one has seen or heard of Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtabahamane.
40:39
Speaker 16: No one really knows whether he's alive. The best bed
40:42
Speaker 16: of what's going on is that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
40:46
Speaker 16: Corps are running the show, and they're using him as
40:48
Speaker 16: a fig leaf to try to get domestic legitimacy. And
40:52
Speaker 16: that's a reminder that this is a fundamentally a revolutionary
40:57
Speaker 16: regime that is not a state. It's terrorist militia that
41:01
Speaker 16: has hijacked the whole state of Iran. They're making decisions,
41:05
Speaker 16: and that's why we're seeing the Iranian regime acting in
41:08
Speaker 16: such a violent and indiscriminate manner, firing ballistic missiles with
41:12
Speaker 16: cluster warheads at cities across the region, at airports, at
41:17
Speaker 16: energy stations, really acting like a totally out of control
41:20
Speaker 16: revolutionary regime rather than a sensible state.
41:25
Speaker 2: Hill On ten seconds or last I mean forty five days,
41:28
Speaker 2: seas fire is on the table, Trumps yet to agree
41:31
Speaker 2: to it. He's threatening to bomb power plans. Do you
41:34
Speaker 2: see this war ending sooner? What do you think is
41:36
Speaker 2: going to happen.
41:38
Speaker 16: Unfortunately, it looks like an escalation is more likely than
41:41
Speaker 16: a de escalation. The Iranian regime is making increasingly delusional demands,
41:46
Speaker 16: trying to kick American forces out of the region, nationalize
41:49
Speaker 16: the Strait of horror moves, protect their properties in the region.
41:52
Speaker 16: I don't think they've realized how hard they're getting thrashed,
41:54
Speaker 16: and they have until tonight's deadline to understand they really
41:57
Speaker 16: need to cut a deal.
41:58
Speaker 2: Well, we'll see tomorrow tomorrow morning, at least our time
42:02
Speaker 2: here in Australia, whether Trump follows through on his threats
42:04
Speaker 2: his ultimatum. Elon Levy, thank you so much for your time.
42:08
Speaker 2: Still to come an exclusive update on the senior Sydney
42:11
Speaker 2: doctor accused of anti Semitic abuse online and why she's
42:15
Speaker 2: still in the job. Sharon Stollier, the whistleblower in that case,
42:19
Speaker 2: joins me next.
42:24
Speaker 3: Welcome back now to.
42:25
Speaker 2: An exclusive update on a report I brought to Sky
42:29
Speaker 2: News viewers last year. New South Wales Health had been
42:32
Speaker 2: investigating the head doctor of the sexual assault service at
42:37
Speaker 2: one of Sydney's busiest hospitals, the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital,
42:41
Speaker 2: over allegations of anti Semitism and online Bullying's claimed doctor
42:48
Speaker 2: Jennifer Martinez had referred to Jewish and pro Israel doctors
42:52
Speaker 2: and health workers as zio doc flops, zimbos, demons and gronks,
42:59
Speaker 2: and we shared a video calling for an end to
43:02
Speaker 2: Zionism and the phrase from the River to the Sea,
43:06
Speaker 2: a phrase which the New South Wales government has previously
43:10
Speaker 2: considered banning. Now tonight, I can reveal doctor Martinez has
43:15
Speaker 2: been counseled by a regulatory body, the Healthcare Complaints Commission,
43:21
Speaker 2: but has been allowed to remain in her senior role
43:25
Speaker 2: at the hospital's sexual assault unit. News Southwell's Health is
43:28
Speaker 2: refusing to reveal whether its own review has concluded or
43:33
Speaker 2: whether any disciplinary action was taken against doctor Martinez. I
43:39
Speaker 2: spoke to the former midwife who we can now reveal
43:42
Speaker 2: was the complainant in this case, Sharon Stollier of the
43:45
Speaker 2: Australian Zionist Healthcare Alliance, about this a little earlier, and
43:51
Speaker 2: I kicked off by asking her why she made the
43:54
Speaker 2: complaint in the first place.
43:58
Speaker 10: Thanks Caroline for having me on your show. The first
44:02
Speaker 10: thing that came to my attention was doctor Martinus had
44:06
Speaker 10: made a post and referred to me as a gronk,
44:11
Speaker 10: which I thought was quite offensive insulting. And then many
44:15
Speaker 10: people also shared their post, shared posts to my Instagram,
44:21
Speaker 10: sent me messages of what she had posted. And these
44:24
Speaker 10: were quite serious posts that I saw. She had identified
44:30
Speaker 10: herself as being the owner of this Instagram account, and
44:33
Speaker 10: I thought this is very concerning. So I did compile
44:37
Speaker 10: a letter to Aprah which was sent to the HPOC,
44:41
Speaker 10: and that's I thought this was a patient safety concern
44:47
Speaker 10: and I wrote a complaint.
44:49
Speaker 2: You also wrote a letter to the New Southwell's Health Minister,
44:53
Speaker 2: Ryan Park, who referred it to New Southwell's Health and
44:57
Speaker 2: your understanding well, you were told by New Southell's Health
45:01
Speaker 2: that they were investigating this now.
45:04
Speaker 3: You even had a meeting with the.
45:05
Speaker 2: Hospital's lawyers who assured you that this was on a
45:10
Speaker 2: thorough investigation. But you never heard anything again, did you
45:15
Speaker 2: from New Southwell's Health?
45:16
Speaker 3: What do you think happened with that?
45:19
Speaker 10: I actually have no idea. I'm surprised that I have
45:24
Speaker 10: not heard anything. I believe she's still working in that
45:27
Speaker 10: same position. I really don't know what's happened, and I
45:31
Speaker 10: am concerned.
45:32
Speaker 2: Well New Southwell's health record They've refused to confirm with
45:36
Speaker 2: us too, but I can see doctor Martinez is still
45:39
Speaker 2: listed online as working in that sexual assault unit. They say,
45:45
Speaker 2: though they don't comment on staff matters, let's talk about
45:49
Speaker 2: your complaint to the regulatory body.
45:51
Speaker 3: Because the Healthcare.
45:52
Speaker 2: Complaints Commission also looked into doctor Jennifer Martinez but found
45:57
Speaker 2: that because she had deleted her Instagram count. They said,
46:01
Speaker 2: the Commission has not been able to verify there is
46:04
Speaker 2: an ongoing health information concern with doctor Martinez's use of
46:09
Speaker 2: social media, nor identify a clear breach of the social
46:14
Speaker 2: media guidelines. They also told you they had not even
46:18
Speaker 2: contacted doctor martin as to discuss the complaint with her
46:21
Speaker 2: when making their assessment, but they did, however, remind her
46:26
Speaker 2: afterwards of her obligations under the Code of Conduct and
46:30
Speaker 2: social media guidelines for practitioners. What did you make of
46:34
Speaker 2: how this was handled?
46:37
Speaker 10: Look, I think I think this is really concerning their
46:41
Speaker 10: reason for not investigating this raises significant alarm. Belve it
46:46
Speaker 10: is incentce sending a very clear message to registered practitioners
46:51
Speaker 10: that as long as you cover it up, it's not
46:53
Speaker 10: a problem. You know. I think the regulators have been
46:56
Speaker 10: noundated with social media from radicalients doctors. Really nothing has
47:01
Speaker 10: been done about it, absolutely nothing. They have been a
47:04
Speaker 10: lightning rod for vexatious complaints, dragging Jewish and Zionis healthcare
47:08
Speaker 10: providers through the mud, and protecting the complainants who wish
47:11
Speaker 10: to remain anonymous. Mark Butler cannot be confident that the
47:15
Speaker 10: medical regulators represents community values or has anything under control.
47:20
Speaker 10: We see absolutely no evidence that the hectrepracy or opera
47:24
Speaker 10: or members of the boards have been screened for bias,
47:27
Speaker 10: had any training, nor adopted any workable definitions. They've allowed
47:32
Speaker 10: clinicians to be bullying, abusive, and racists and given them
47:36
Speaker 10: a blanket of safety under the banner of freedom of speech.
47:40
Speaker 10: They don't appreciate that freedom of speech is based on
47:44
Speaker 10: getting to the truth of ideas. It's not a green
47:46
Speaker 10: light for abuse and bullying. They've missed many opportunities to
47:51
Speaker 10: take leadership and do something about this. Well.
47:54
Speaker 2: We have reached out to Dr Martin, as I should
47:56
Speaker 2: point out, and she has not got back to us
47:58
Speaker 2: for a response to some of the concerns raised about her.
48:02
Speaker 3: But speaking of the problems.
48:04
Speaker 2: More widely in the sector, let's talk about another doctor
48:08
Speaker 2: who you lodged a complain about a senior doctor Omar Asam,
48:12
Speaker 2: who's been suspended from Royal Perth Hospital amid allegations that
48:16
Speaker 2: he ran a trolling network targeting his peers with anti
48:20
Speaker 2: Semitic and racially abusive attacks. The kidney specialist has now
48:25
Speaker 2: been referred to the Professional Standards Tribunal for alleged professional misconduct.
48:30
Speaker 2: They're investigating that, and the regulatory body Opera has imposed
48:34
Speaker 2: conditions on his registration, penning the outcome of that. Sharon
48:39
Speaker 2: just quickly what happened in this.
48:41
Speaker 10: Case doctor Azam. I first noticed just disclaim it. I've
48:47
Speaker 10: never had anything to do with him. Before I noticed
48:50
Speaker 10: he was making some really awful posts comments about me online,
48:55
Speaker 10: offered to give me two neurons to take my tally
48:58
Speaker 10: up to a total of five, really insulting and offensive,
49:02
Speaker 10: and then he just continued to troll almost all of
49:05
Speaker 10: my posts and anyone interacting with my post. And this
49:10
Speaker 10: went on for a long time. I made one complaint
49:13
Speaker 10: initially which was dismissed by Opera and Royal Posth Hospital.
49:19
Speaker 10: And then when his post, when his post got significantly
49:26
Speaker 10: worse where he was using the Hamas triangle superimposed over
49:32
Speaker 10: IDs soldiers. This showed a clear escalation of his behavior
49:36
Speaker 10: and I complained again saying this is radicalization and this
49:42
Speaker 10: is a serious risk to patient safety. We don't know
49:45
Speaker 10: where where biases are going, when biases are going to
49:50
Speaker 10: impact on patient care. You just there's nothing to prove
49:54
Speaker 10: that he is completely safe.
49:57
Speaker 5: Yeah.
49:58
Speaker 2: I think it would be a surprise, surprise, a shocked
50:00
Speaker 2: to a lot of Australians that this is how someone
50:03
Speaker 2: of our respected healthcare professionals are acting online. Sharon Stollier,
50:08
Speaker 2: thank you so much for your time.
50:10
Speaker 10: Thank you, Karen.
50:12
Speaker 2: That's all the time we have for tonight. I'll see
50:14
Speaker 2: you back here tomorrow at eight. Now it's Paul Murray Live,
50:17
Speaker 2: hosted by James McPherson