Latest / The Bolt Report / The Bolt Report | 22 September

Transcript

The Bolt Report | 22 September · The Bolt Report

0:07
Speaker 1: This is the Volt Report.
0:15
Speaker 2: Well, good evening and thanks for joining me on The
0:16
Speaker 2: Bolt Report.
0:17
Speaker 1: I'm James McPherson. Here's what's coming up tonight.
0:20
Speaker 2: One Nation reacts furiously after a Nine News report appears
0:23
Speaker 2: to link Pauline Hanson and her supporters to the Ku
0:26
Speaker 2: Klux Klan. In a moment, I'm going to talk to
0:29
Speaker 2: Lee Hanson about how that report has affected her family.
0:33
Speaker 2: Former US President Barack Obama slams Donald Trump for banning
0:36
Speaker 2: CNN from the White House, but... Didn't Obama do something
0:39
Speaker 2: very similar to Fox News? John Heinderaker will join me
0:43
Speaker 2: from the US later in the program. Plus, a photojournalist
0:46
Speaker 2: admits he buried evidence that civilians had beaten Israeli hostages
0:51
Speaker 2: when they were paraded through Gaza because he didn't want
0:53
Speaker 2: to get Palestinians into trouble. All of that coming up
0:57
Speaker 2: later in the show. But first, do you remember when
1:00
Speaker 2: Karl Stefanovic went to the UK and interviewed controversial activist
1:04
Speaker 2: Tommy Robinson? I'm pretty sure that was one of the
1:07
Speaker 2: reasons Channel 9 hastened Stefanovic's departure from the network. Stefanovic's
1:12
Speaker 2: interview with Robinson was published on July 23 and nine
1:16
Speaker 2: execs held an emergency meeting the very next day telling
1:19
Speaker 2: the ABC, nine is taking this matter seriously. Well, two
1:24
Speaker 2: days later, Stefanovic was sacked. So Channel 9 sacked or
1:28
Speaker 2: at least hastened the sacking of Karl Stefanovic for talking
1:32
Speaker 2: to Tommy Robinson because, well, many believe Tommy Robinson to
1:35
Speaker 2: be a racist. Fast forward about 87 days and the
1:40
Speaker 2: Channel 9 team is sent to the United States to
1:43
Speaker 2: conduct a sit-down chat with the grand wizard of the
1:46
Speaker 2: Ku Klux Klan.
1:48
Speaker 3: This is Tom Robb.
1:50
Speaker 4: My comrades, my friends.
1:53
Speaker 3: And he agreed to speak to me.
1:57
Speaker 1: Is your head spinning? It should be.
1:59
Speaker 2: Interviewing Tommy Robinson, that's unforgivable. But interviewing the KKK's Grand Wizard, well,
2:05
Speaker 2: that's an exclusive.
2:07
Speaker 3: The idea that the KKK still operates here, as an Australian,
2:12
Speaker 3: it is hard to get your head around.
2:16
Speaker 2: Even harder to get one's head around is why Nine's
2:19
Speaker 2: US correspondent put together a news report on some white
2:23
Speaker 2: supremacist wacko in Arkansas. I mean, why do we care? Well,
2:27
Speaker 2: I'll get to that in a moment. But first you
2:30
Speaker 2: need to know just how racist this racist is.
2:34
Speaker 5: Would a black person be able to join your organisation?
2:37
Speaker 1: No, you couldn't join.
2:39
Speaker 3: And the pastor says he's not convinced they go to
2:42
Speaker 3: heaven either.
2:44
Speaker 1: Well, it's hardly a world exclusive, is it?
2:47
Speaker 2: Leader of the KKK in America doesn't like black people.
2:50
Speaker 1: Stop the presses.
2:52
Speaker 2: So why is this being served up for an Australian audience? Well,
2:56
Speaker 2: like I said, we'll get to that. But first, just
2:59
Speaker 2: in case you're the only person in the world who
3:01
Speaker 2: doesn't know just how racist the Ku Klux Klan racists are.
3:05
Speaker 5: Obviously, there's some horrific history, though, involving the Klan.
3:09
Speaker 1: Would you agree with that?
3:11
Speaker 5: I was yes and no.
3:14
Speaker 3: For centuries, KKK groups have been responsible for despicable, widespread,
3:19
Speaker 3: racially motivated murders, including lynchings and bombings aimed at enforcing
3:25
Speaker 3: white supremacy.
3:28
Speaker 2: And now, having established that the KKK in the back
3:31
Speaker 2: blocks of Arkansas are horrible, murderous, racist white supremacists, which
3:36
Speaker 2: they are, here comes the pivot.
3:39
Speaker 3: In Australia, there's a growing white supremacist movement from more
3:43
Speaker 3: extreme corners.
3:45
Speaker 6: March!
3:47
Speaker 3: And in the mainstream, voters are embracing anti-immigration policies and politicians,
3:52
Speaker 3: like One Nation's Pauline Hanson.
3:56
Speaker 2: Now, I used to love dot-to-dot books as a kid
3:59
Speaker 2: and I was pretty good at them, but even I
4:01
Speaker 2: couldn't join the dots Channel 9's reporter appears to be
4:04
Speaker 2: putting down. One minute, Channel 9 is interviewing the grandmaster
4:07
Speaker 2: of the KKK who hates blacks and is reluctant to
4:11
Speaker 2: condemn race-based lynchings. And the next minute, Channel 9 is
4:15
Speaker 2: showing us Pauline Hanson and her supporters.
4:19
Speaker 4: What?
4:20
Speaker 2: Cut to Pauline Hanson's recent speech at the National Press
4:22
Speaker 2: Club to demonstrate the apparently obvious connection.
4:26
Speaker 7: We cannot be a multicultural society. We are a multiracial society,
4:34
Speaker 7: but we must be monocultural.
4:38
Speaker 2: Well, far from making the point that Pauline Hanson is
4:41
Speaker 2: basically the Grand Wizardess of the KKK in Australia, I
4:44
Speaker 2: would have thought that speech proved the exact opposite. Hanson,
4:48
Speaker 2: by her own admission, said she wasn't talking about race.
4:51
Speaker 1: No, no, not at all.
4:52
Speaker 2: She was talking about culture. And everybody knows there's a
4:55
Speaker 2: big difference. Now, at this point, you're probably thinking that
4:58
Speaker 2: Channel 9 is reaching. But that's unfair because, as the
5:01
Speaker 2: reporter explains, the connection, which he had just gone to
5:05
Speaker 2: great lengths to illustrate, wasn't his idea.
5:09
Speaker 3: The Ku Klux Klan director brought Hansen up, unprompted, as
5:13
Speaker 3: we were preparing for our interview.
5:17
Speaker 2: Well, that was a lucky break because without the KKK
5:21
Speaker 2: director bringing up Hansen completely unprompted, all Channel 9 would
5:25
Speaker 2: have had was an interview with an American racist who's
5:27
Speaker 2: almost entirely irrelevant to Australian viewers. But thanks to this
5:32
Speaker 2: remarkable coincidence, 9 had a story. He's the totally unprompted,
5:38
Speaker 2: haven't even started the interview, just happened to have Pauline
5:40
Speaker 2: Hanson's name pop up in conversation moment that Channel 9
5:44
Speaker 2: then made the centrepiece of their whole story.
5:47
Speaker 4: She is demonized by the same element of people that
5:50
Speaker 4: wants to demonize us. What I understand of her is
5:53
Speaker 4: she's concerned about the immigrant, especially from Asia, China, and
5:57
Speaker 4: so on, coming into Australia and changing the racial complex
6:01
Speaker 4: of Australia, changing the culture, changing all the things that
6:04
Speaker 4: the people love and hold dear, and changing to something different.
6:08
Speaker 8: And she wants to restrict that.
6:09
Speaker 3: Is it heartening for you to see someone like anti-immigration
6:13
Speaker 3: Pauline Hanson doing well in Australia?
6:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's encouraging. Absolutely.
6:18
Speaker 2: Now, in a moment, I'm going to show you why
6:20
Speaker 2: I believe Channel 9 were not at all surprised when
6:22
Speaker 2: the KKK leader made his comment about Pauline Hanson. In
6:27
Speaker 2: my opinion, I think they knew full well he was
6:29
Speaker 2: going to bring up Pauline Hanson, and that's the only
6:31
Speaker 2: reason they did the interview. I'll show you the proof
6:34
Speaker 2: in a moment. But so what that the leader of
6:37
Speaker 2: the KKK likes One Nation?
6:38
Speaker 1: What does that prove?
6:39
Speaker 2: I mean, if the leader of the KKK also likes
6:42
Speaker 2: watching Nine News, does that make Nine News suddenly suspect?
6:46
Speaker 9: Right.
6:47
Speaker 1: Bad example.
6:48
Speaker 2: I'm going to talk to Lee Hanson in a moment
6:50
Speaker 2: about how she feels having one of Australia's major news
6:53
Speaker 2: outlets drawing comparisons between her family and the Ku Klux Klan.
6:58
Speaker 2: But here's what Pauline Hanson said earlier today. She said,
7:02
Speaker 2: and I quote, this is disgusting and a new low
7:05
Speaker 2: for the Australian media. Any suggestion that One Nation or
7:08
Speaker 2: its supporters endorse the KKK or share its ideology is
7:12
Speaker 2: absurd and offensive.
7:14
Speaker 1: Channel 9 should be ashamed of itself. And she's right.
7:18
Speaker 2: But it's not the first time Channel 9 have done
7:20
Speaker 2: this to Pauline Hanson. And when I say this, I
7:23
Speaker 2: mean exactly this. Because last night's report was a carbon
7:28
Speaker 2: copy of a 60 Minutes story ran on the Nine
7:31
Speaker 2: Network back in 2017, when they interviewed the exact same
7:36
Speaker 2: KKK leader who made the same ignorant comments about Pauline Hanson,
7:41
Speaker 2: which just nine years ago, just like on last night's program,
7:44
Speaker 2: went completely unchallenged.
7:47
Speaker 9: Pastor Thomas Robb and his daughter Rachel Pendergraft, a modern
7:52
Speaker 9: day KKK, a seemingly everyday friendly family, heading up an
7:59
Speaker 9: organisation with a damning history of racism, murder and violence.
8:05
Speaker 2: We know how this is going to go, right? Having
8:08
Speaker 2: established how racist these people are, here comes the pivot.
8:12
Speaker 9: A father-daughter team buoyed in the belief they are not alone.
8:17
Speaker 4: Even in Austria, Australia, the political party known as One
8:20
Speaker 4: Nation seems to be gaining in popularity.
8:23
Speaker 9: Popularity is indeed what the pastor and his daughter are
8:26
Speaker 9: currently feeling.
8:29
Speaker 2: Klu Klux Klan grandmaster supports the policies of Pauline Hanson.
8:34
Speaker 2: Goodness me, he didn't even know whether Pauline Hanson was
8:36
Speaker 2: Australian or Austrian. Like I said, that was 2017. Now,
8:40
Speaker 2: you can't tell me it's just pure coincidence that Channel
8:43
Speaker 2: 9 decided to pay a visit to the exact same
8:46
Speaker 2: Klu Klux Klan boss this week with One Nation's immigration
8:50
Speaker 2: policy dominating the headlines. and Pauline Hanson leading in the polls,
8:55
Speaker 2: and that they were completely surprised when Thomas Robb brought
8:58
Speaker 2: up Pauline Hanson.
8:59
Speaker 1: They never saw it coming.
9:00
Speaker 2: It was just pure luck that he said that and
9:03
Speaker 2: that they got their headline.
9:05
Speaker 10: Really?
9:06
Speaker 2: Channel 9 released a statement today saying, as the documentary
9:10
Speaker 2: makes clear, the reference to One Nation and Pauline Hanson
9:14
Speaker 2: was raised unprompted by Ku Klux Klan leader Tom Robb.
9:18
Speaker 2: It was neither initiated nor solicited by Nine News or
9:21
Speaker 2: journalist Reid Butler. Any suggestion otherwise is entirely incorrect. Nine
9:26
Speaker 2: News stands by the journalism in this documentary. Mr Robb's
9:30
Speaker 2: views were challenged by Reid during the interview and presented
9:33
Speaker 2: as one of more than 20 perspectives featured across the episode,
9:36
Speaker 2: reflecting a broad range of political viewpoints. Now, all of
9:40
Speaker 2: that may well be true. The reference to One Nation
9:43
Speaker 2: may well have been unprompted and unsolicited, but you can't
9:48
Speaker 2: tell me it was unexpected and you can't tell me
9:51
Speaker 2: it was necessary to broadcast. Well, joining me now is
9:59
Speaker 2: One Nation National Executive Member Lee Hanson. Lee, thanks for
10:03
Speaker 2: coming on the program. I'm going to ask first, what
10:07
Speaker 2: did you think about Channel 9 platforming the grandmaster of
10:10
Speaker 2: the Ku Klux Klan to insinuate similarities with your mum?
10:16
Speaker 8: Oh.
10:17
Speaker 11: James, when I heard about this today, I couldn't have
10:21
Speaker 11: been more disgusted. There's two key issues here. Obviously, firstly,
10:27
Speaker 11: for a leader of the KKK to.
10:32
Speaker 11: Praise Senator Hanson or One Nation in any way, shape
10:36
Speaker 11: or form is nothing but repulsive. You know, we've got
10:39
Speaker 11: a violent, racist organisation who shares zero beliefs in any way,
10:44
Speaker 11: shape or form with our party or our members or
10:47
Speaker 11: our supporters, and we absolutely condemn the KKK. Let me
10:51
Speaker 11: just make that really clear to start with. Secondly, the
10:55
Speaker 11: fact that Channel 9 have reported this Now, you can't
10:59
Speaker 11: tell me it's not a stitch up for starters. And
11:01
Speaker 11: second of all, it is absolutely deplorable that Channel 9
11:07
Speaker 11: would add nothing but fuel to the fire to extremists
11:10
Speaker 11: and activists when the heightened safety concerns of Senator Hanson
11:16
Speaker 11: our party, our members, our supporters and my family right now.
11:21
Speaker 11: It is disgusting that they have zero care for the safety,
11:25
Speaker 11: welfare of my family and the party more broadly. It
11:29
Speaker 11: is disgusting and it absolutely loathes me that they would
11:32
Speaker 11: stoop to this level.
11:36
Speaker 2: Lee, I think everyone in the country is well aware
11:38
Speaker 2: of the hostility being whipped up against Pauline Hanson personally.
11:43
Speaker 2: We've seen young people in the streets calling for her
11:45
Speaker 2: to be killed and Do you fear that Channel 9
11:48
Speaker 2: linking her to the Ku Klux Klan, you said it
11:50
Speaker 2: adds fuel to the fire.
11:52
Speaker 1: How dangerous does it make things?
11:55
Speaker 11: It is dangerous, James. You know what I mean? For
11:58
Speaker 11: the first time in a very long time, I now
12:02
Speaker 11: am worried about my mother's safety. I'm worried about the
12:04
Speaker 11: safety of our MPs. We've had staff members that have
12:07
Speaker 11: been attacked off the back of these student rallies. It's
12:12
Speaker 11: only last week that we had our first rally in Hobart,
12:15
Speaker 11: and my eldest son is due to go to his
12:17
Speaker 11: high school next year, that I actually rang the school
12:19
Speaker 11: to inquire whether any of their students attended or whether
12:23
Speaker 11: the school took a stance against this, or at least,
12:26
Speaker 11: you know, put out a message to parents and students
12:28
Speaker 11: not to attend. I asked for a call and an
12:31
Speaker 11: inquiry on that and the school hasn't even responded to me.
12:34
Speaker 11: So now that shows you that their duty of care
12:36
Speaker 11: about their future students are the safety measures. So I
12:39
Speaker 11: have to look and I'm currently searching for another school
12:41
Speaker 11: for my sons to start attending from next year. AFP,
12:46
Speaker 11: more death threats came in for Senator Hanson over the weekend.
12:49
Speaker 11: This is real, right? And when the Prime Minister stands
12:53
Speaker 11: up and says we need to, you know, turn down
12:56
Speaker 11: the heat, where was he today? I didn't hear any
12:59
Speaker 11: statement from him about turning down the heat and I
13:02
Speaker 11: haven't heard any other MPs come out and condemn this
13:04
Speaker 11: sort of behaviour or reporting from Channel 9 either. So
13:07
Speaker 11: our safety and our security is real. It's a real
13:10
Speaker 11: concern right now. And this type of disgusting, crappy reporting
13:16
Speaker 11: only contributes to that. And James, I'll tell you this,
13:19
Speaker 11: you know, the pressure and concern this causes on my
13:22
Speaker 11: kids as well. When my children come home from school
13:26
Speaker 11: and say to me, hey, mum, what's this about the
13:28
Speaker 11: KKK being linked to grandma? Should I pick up the
13:32
Speaker 11: phone to Channel 9, to their executives and their reporters
13:35
Speaker 11: and ask them to talk to my kids? and try
13:38
Speaker 11: to discuss their concerns and appease the risk that they've
13:40
Speaker 11: now put on my children, because that is not fair
13:44
Speaker 11: to them. So they need to think about the consequences
13:46
Speaker 11: and the impact of what they do on people's lives
13:49
Speaker 11: and children's lives. And I take this very, very seriously.
13:53
Speaker 2: I think sometimes in the argy-bargy of politics, and it
13:59
Speaker 2: gets pretty nasty as you're well aware, people forget that,
14:03
Speaker 2: you know, there are people involved, mothers, fathers, kids, Does
14:08
Speaker 2: it ever make you second guess your involvement in politics
14:11
Speaker 2: and make you think, why would I even bother?
14:15
Speaker 11: Look, if there's one thing my mother's taught me over
14:18
Speaker 11: the 30 years in this game, James, is don't let
14:21
Speaker 11: them beat you. And it actually makes me more determined.
14:24
Speaker 11: I've certainly got that same characteristic from my mother. I
14:27
Speaker 11: will put every protection and measure around my family and
14:30
Speaker 11: they come first and foremost. But by jingles, they're not
14:33
Speaker 11: going to deter me from standing up and doing what's
14:36
Speaker 11: right to protect and make this country a better future
14:39
Speaker 11: for my children and other generations to come. So no,
14:42
Speaker 11: they haven't won. They've just kicked me up another notch
14:45
Speaker 11: into another gear. And same with our supporters. So if
14:48
Speaker 11: this tactic... is to deter the support from One Nation,
14:52
Speaker 11: you've absolutely done the complete opposite. I tell you that
14:55
Speaker 11: because the support it just demonstrates, the corruption out there
14:59
Speaker 11: and mainstream media's dirty tactics and the other political parties'
15:03
Speaker 11: dirty tactics. We knew it was coming and this is
15:06
Speaker 11: the new low. I'll tell you that much, but no,
15:09
Speaker 11: it only makes me stronger.
15:10
Speaker 2: Well, Lee Hanson, I appreciate you coming on the program tonight.
15:15
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
15:17
Speaker 2: Now, if you're going to accuse people who want cuts
15:20
Speaker 2: to immigration of being racists, well, there's an awful lot
15:23
Speaker 2: of them. An exclusive news poll has revealed two thirds
15:27
Speaker 2: of Australians want migration numbers slashed, including 44 percent of
15:31
Speaker 2: Labour voters and more than a quarter of Greens voters. Meanwhile,
15:36
Speaker 2: just four percent say they want an increase of migrants
15:39
Speaker 2: coming to the country. with 2% saying they want a
15:42
Speaker 2: lot more. The poll also showed the majority of voters
15:45
Speaker 2: think mass immigration brings a mix of benefit and harm
15:49
Speaker 2: to Australia. Joining me now is Nationals leader, Senator Matt Canavan. Matt,
15:54
Speaker 2: thanks for joining me tonight. This latest polling on attitudes
15:57
Speaker 2: towards immigration is almost identical. to polling done back in
16:02
Speaker 2: October last year so these attitudes are absolutely baked in
16:06
Speaker 2: if you ask me I think the next election is
16:08
Speaker 2: about as close as we will ever get to a
16:10
Speaker 2: referendum on immigration what do you think.
16:15
Speaker 12: Well, definitely it's been the view of the Australian people
16:18
Speaker 12: for some time, as you have said, and so no-one
16:21
Speaker 12: should be under any illusion of what the Australian people want.
16:24
Speaker 12: I've just been having an event here with Ross Caddell
16:27
Speaker 12: in a pub in Maitland and the young nationals behind
16:30
Speaker 12: me have worked up about this issue. Everybody wants to
16:33
Speaker 12: see our country come back more into balance with the
16:36
Speaker 12: number of people that are coming to our nation. It's
16:39
Speaker 12: only the Labor Party that seemingly have their head in
16:40
Speaker 12: the sand and are not listening. The reason why we
16:43
Speaker 12: couldn't do a deal, so to speak, with the Labor
16:46
Speaker 12: Party on migration last few weeks is for the simple
16:49
Speaker 12: reason that they weren't serious about bringing migration numbers down.
16:53
Speaker 12: And if they're not real, there's no deal. They've got
16:56
Speaker 12: to get real, the government, about bringing the numbers down.
16:59
Speaker 12: What we saw from the Migration Minister last week was
17:02
Speaker 12: effectively just another plan to try and implement the plan
17:05
Speaker 12: the Labor Party already had that they'd failed to implement.
17:09
Speaker 12: with over 200,000 people under the Labor Party's plan due
17:12
Speaker 12: to come into this country, it's just far too many.
17:14
Speaker 12: And that number's got to come down. That's what we
17:17
Speaker 12: want to see in the Liberal and National parties. We'll
17:19
Speaker 12: have a lot more to say about exactly how we
17:21
Speaker 12: think that should happen. Maybe the government could pick up
17:23
Speaker 12: those ideas because, yes, there may be a big difference
17:28
Speaker 12: between us at the next election. But I'd prefer the
17:31
Speaker 12: government to take action today. The next election is not
17:33
Speaker 12: for another 18 months. And I don't want to see
17:35
Speaker 12: more people locked out of the housing market. I don't
17:38
Speaker 12: want to see more pressure, undue pressure, on our hospital system,
17:41
Speaker 12: on other services. The government has the power to take
17:44
Speaker 12: action and to take action now.
17:48
Speaker 2: Matt, I'm not sure if you were able to hear
17:50
Speaker 2: my interview with Lee Hanson right before you came on air,
17:53
Speaker 2: but what did you make of Channel 9 asking the
17:56
Speaker 2: leader of the Ku Klux Klan if Pauline Hanson's policies
17:59
Speaker 2: encouraged him?
18:02
Speaker 13: Well, look, it's a.
18:03
Speaker 12: Ridiculously long bow to draw here. No one here domestically
18:08
Speaker 12: is making these sorts of comparisons, and so I don't
18:10
Speaker 12: know why you'd go overseas and and try and whip
18:13
Speaker 12: up some kind of American-Australian comparison here.
18:17
Speaker 5: It's ridiculous.
18:18
Speaker 12: The political systems are so different. The issues are so different.
18:22
Speaker 12: It's completely absurd. But I suppose the other thing that
18:25
Speaker 12: comes out of this, James, is Karl Stefanovic should get
18:28
Speaker 12: his job back, right? I mean, just weeks ago, Channel
18:31
Speaker 12: 9 sacked Karl Stefanovic for, I suppose, in the way
18:35
Speaker 12: it's described, platforming Tommy Robinson there in the UK. Well,
18:39
Speaker 12: he didn't interview a Ku Klux Klan member like these guys.
18:43
Speaker 12: And so if it's good enough for Karl to get
18:45
Speaker 12: the back door for it, what's happening to these journalists?
18:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely right.
18:51
Speaker 2: All right, before we move on from immigration, Italian PM
18:55
Speaker 2: Giorgia Maloney has said that Italian kids mustn't become a
18:58
Speaker 2: minority in their own classroom. She's just introduced a burqa
19:01
Speaker 2: ban in schools, as well as a limit on number
19:04
Speaker 2: of foreign students in each classroom. Here's some of what
19:08
Speaker 2: she had to say. I want to get your thoughts
19:09
Speaker 2: on this.
19:10
Speaker 9: For us who arrive in Italy and want to build
19:12
Speaker 9: ourselves here, the future must be to learn our language,
19:15
Speaker 9: to know our culture, to respect our rules.
19:22
Speaker 2: Matt, she said that people who come to Italy must
19:30
Speaker 2: learn the language, must integrate into the culture. That's the
19:34
Speaker 2: only way that migrants can be welcomed. She's doing very
19:37
Speaker 2: well over there. Do you agree with her on all
19:39
Speaker 2: of those principles?
19:42
Speaker 12: Well, it has to be assimilation for people that come
19:45
Speaker 12: to this country. And, yes, we've said the Liberal and
19:49
Speaker 12: National Party will make sure that our migration system is
19:51
Speaker 12: run on values that migrants are expected to learn English
19:55
Speaker 12: or they won't be able to stay in this country.
19:59
Speaker 12: That's absolutely what should happen. Now, I hope we don't
20:01
Speaker 12: get to the situation easily. where there is some sort
20:04
Speaker 12: of risk of foreigners outnumbering locals in schoolrooms. We're not
20:11
Speaker 12: in that position here in this country. I mean, they've
20:14
Speaker 12: had a massive problem with illegal migration, and I think
20:16
Speaker 12: we should always be thankful here at this point. to
20:19
Speaker 12: thank the Howard government and the Abbott government that did
20:21
Speaker 12: stop the boats. We haven't had that problem in this
20:24
Speaker 12: country since those times. The Labor Party did lose control
20:27
Speaker 12: of our borders, and it was the Liberal and National
20:29
Speaker 12: governments that secured our borders by turning the boats back.
20:32
Speaker 12: There was enormous opposition to the policies at the time,
20:34
Speaker 12: but we made the tough and correct decisions to secure
20:36
Speaker 12: our nation's security. And likewise, it'll be the Liberal and
20:39
Speaker 12: National government after the next election, in my view, that'll
20:42
Speaker 12: secure our borders again. That's what our country needs.
20:47
Speaker 2: Matt, Barnaby Joyce this afternoon said he'd had conversations with
20:52
Speaker 2: very senior coalition figures about an agreement regarding confidence and
20:57
Speaker 2: supply after the next election, should it be that the
21:01
Speaker 2: coalition win and can govern with help from One Nation
21:04
Speaker 2: or vice versa.
21:05
Speaker 1: Were you involved in those talks?
21:09
Speaker 12: No, no, I wasn't. I talked to Barnaby regularly, but
21:12
Speaker 12: I haven't had those discussions with him. He's not the
21:16
Speaker 12: leader of the party either, so I'm not sure why
21:20
Speaker 12: he'd be having those discussions. But, look, you'll have to
21:23
Speaker 12: ask Bart to be more what he meant there. Maybe
21:25
Speaker 12: it's a desperate attempt to just get some relevance in
21:27
Speaker 12: the media narrative for the day. But, look, I'm focused
21:32
Speaker 12: on one thing, and that's getting rid of this government.
21:34
Speaker 12: That's what we've got to do. The government's taking our
21:37
Speaker 12: country in the wrong direction. We've spoken a lot about
21:39
Speaker 12: migration tonight. That's one of the failings. But we've also
21:42
Speaker 12: got a government that's addicted to more taxes and that's
21:45
Speaker 12: hurting our nation's economy, destroying confidence in the most important
21:48
Speaker 12: asset people hold, their own wealth. We'll scrap all those taxes.
21:52
Speaker 12: This government's driving our nation's industry and our competitors into
21:55
Speaker 12: the ground with their stupid net zero policies. We'll scrap
21:58
Speaker 12: net zero to get energy costs back down, to get
22:01
Speaker 12: the cost of living back down. We proposed this week
22:03
Speaker 12: that we should get rid of or halve the excise
22:05
Speaker 12: tax to bring immediate relief to families struggling to fill
22:09
Speaker 12: up their cars this week. I think a lot of
22:10
Speaker 12: people probably won't fill them up just to try and
22:13
Speaker 12: save some dollars given how high prices are. But the
22:16
Speaker 12: government's just not listening to Australian families right now. So
22:18
Speaker 12: we're going to fight this right through the next election.
22:20
Speaker 12: That's what I'm focused on doing.
22:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're not wrong about the cost of fuel. I'll
22:25
Speaker 2: be letting my car roll down hills in a bid
22:28
Speaker 2: to save on petrol this week. To be fair to
22:31
Speaker 2: Barnaby Joyce, he did say he'd had conversations with senior
22:34
Speaker 2: and very senior Liberal figures. I just wondered if, as
22:37
Speaker 2: the leader of the Nationals, you might have been involved
22:39
Speaker 2: in in those conversations. I guess we'll hear more of
22:41
Speaker 2: that going forward. Matt Canavan, always a delight to chat.
22:45
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining me. All right, coming up after the break,
22:49
Speaker 2: the whole world is watching New York, where Xi Jinping
22:52
Speaker 2: is soon to arrive for meetings with Donald Trump.
22:54
Speaker 1: And the president of Iran is on his way there too.
22:57
Speaker 2: Peter Jennings joins me right after this to talk about
23:00
Speaker 2: what will happen at the UN this week. Well, the
23:06
Speaker 2: entire world is watching New York this week as leaders
23:09
Speaker 2: from around the world meet at the United Nations. Two
23:12
Speaker 2: of the most interesting things to watch out for, apart
23:14
Speaker 2: from our own prime minister doing his level best to
23:16
Speaker 2: dodge awkward questions from home, a Chinese President Xi Jinping's
23:20
Speaker 2: meeting with Donald Trump and a speech due to be
23:23
Speaker 2: given by Iran's president. That will be an interesting dynamic
23:27
Speaker 2: to say the least. The president of Iran currently at
23:30
Speaker 2: war with the U.S., delivering a speech where presumably he'll
23:34
Speaker 2: rail against the U.S.
23:35
Speaker 1: On U.S.
23:36
Speaker 10: Soil.
23:37
Speaker 2: Joining me now is News 24 defense analyst Peter Jennings. Peter,
23:41
Speaker 2: great to have you on the program. Let's start with
23:43
Speaker 2: Xi Jinping. It's been reported Trump will personally meet the
23:47
Speaker 2: Chinese dictator when he lands at the airport, and they've
23:49
Speaker 2: set aside most of Thursday for a face-to-face meeting. AI
23:53
Speaker 2: is obviously the major talking point, and even Albanese has
23:57
Speaker 2: weighed in on that today.
23:58
Speaker 1: Here's what our prime minister said.
24:01
Speaker 14: Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve lives, to strengthen
24:06
Speaker 14: our economy and productivity, and to massively advance science and
24:11
Speaker 14: medical breakthroughs. But humans need to be in control of it.
24:16
Speaker 14: If it's going to be successful, then we need to
24:19
Speaker 14: make sure that humans are at the centre of everything
24:23
Speaker 14: that occurs.
24:26
Speaker 2: Peter, do you think the world's two most powerful leaders
24:28
Speaker 2: can find common ground on the AI question?
24:31
Speaker 1: It's pretty important.
24:34
Speaker 8: In a word, James, no, they won't. Neither of them
24:38
Speaker 8: want to find common ground. They both are in practically
24:44
Speaker 8: an arms race, one might say, to see which state
24:47
Speaker 8: gets artificial general intelligence first. That is to say, a
24:51
Speaker 8: very high level of artificial intelligence, which is basically smarter
24:54
Speaker 8: than than all of us. And there are a range
24:59
Speaker 8: of different views about how long that's going to take,
25:01
Speaker 8: but it's somewhere in the vicinity of two to maybe
25:04
Speaker 8: five years. So it's an intense competition. I believe what
25:10
Speaker 8: they're going to do is announce the establishment of an
25:13
Speaker 8: AI hotline, presumably answered by a human, James. But I
25:18
Speaker 8: don't think it's going to ring that often because, frankly,
25:20
Speaker 8: they're more focused on competition right now than they are
25:23
Speaker 8: on cooperation.
25:26
Speaker 2: Speaking of competition, trade is the other big area. This
25:30
Speaker 2: was Trump a couple of days ago.
25:32
Speaker 1: Have a listen.
25:33
Speaker 10: You know, China's paying us a lot of tariffs. And
25:37
Speaker 10: you remember I had it up to 145 percent at
25:39
Speaker 10: one point, but it was too much.
25:40
Speaker 5: It was really it was really hurting them badly.
25:43
Speaker 10: And I didn't want to do that.
25:46
Speaker 2: There's been something of a truce when it comes to
25:49
Speaker 2: the trade war, but both leaders would be hoping for
25:51
Speaker 2: a deal there.
25:52
Speaker 1: And then, of course, there's the security situation.
25:55
Speaker 2: You've got the Middle East, Taiwan and the Great War
25:58
Speaker 2: that China is waging against the West. Just on that note,
26:03
Speaker 2: have a look at this. I did laugh at this
26:05
Speaker 2: comment from Donald Trump last week.
26:06
Speaker 5: I don't want to give any any.
26:11
Speaker 10: Peter, Trump's making light of the security tensions between the
26:13
Speaker 10: two nations, but privately, I think the US would be
26:16
Speaker 10: hyper-conscious of the key flashpoints.
26:29
Speaker 5: Yes, absolutely.
26:30
Speaker 8: And the things that I would watch out for are two.
26:35
Speaker 8: The United States is on the brink of selling about
26:38
Speaker 8: $ 14 billion worth of military equipment to Taiwan. And Trump
26:42
Speaker 8: has already described that as a bargaining chip, somewhat to
26:45
Speaker 8: the alarm of the Taiwanese. Will Trump cut a deal
26:49
Speaker 8: with Xi Jinping, which sees that amount of weaponry reduced
26:54
Speaker 8: or slowed down in terms of its delivery? And then
26:58
Speaker 8: the thing to watch on the Chinese side is will
27:00
Speaker 8: China be prepared, at least to say, if not in reality,
27:04
Speaker 8: to try and put pressure on Iran to reopen the
27:07
Speaker 8: Strait of Hormuz? They're the two potential gives which I
27:12
Speaker 8: think the sides might be most interested to negotiate on. But,
27:16
Speaker 8: you know, broadly, James, my view is this is going
27:20
Speaker 8: to be a meeting very light on substance. The Chinese
27:25
Speaker 8: tend to go into these engagements with Trump really looking
27:28
Speaker 8: for there to be no mistakes. I'm sure Xi Jinping's
27:32
Speaker 8: nightmare is that he finds himself in some sort of
27:34
Speaker 8: uncontrolled Trump media engagement type situation. So they want no surprises.
27:41
Speaker 8: And I think they're going to be very light on
27:43
Speaker 8: in terms of substance. And then if they do agree
27:45
Speaker 8: anything on Taiwan or on trade, don't believe it. I
27:49
Speaker 8: think we've got to be pretty sceptical because both countries
27:53
Speaker 8: see themselves in deep strategic competition. frankly, deadly strategic competition
27:58
Speaker 8: around cyber and AI and weapons and influence in the Pacific.
28:02
Speaker 8: And nothing that they say to each other in New
28:05
Speaker 8: York is going to change that underlying strategic situation.
28:10
Speaker 2: I've only got about 30 seconds before I need to
28:12
Speaker 2: go to a break, but I mentioned the Iranian president
28:15
Speaker 2: will be in New York to address the United Nations.
28:18
Speaker 1: Strange situation, is it not?
28:22
Speaker 8: Absolutely, and particular rules are being applied to this visit.
28:26
Speaker 8: He's not being allowed to bring many people with him.
28:29
Speaker 8: He can only move from the airport to the UN
28:32
Speaker 8: to his embassy compound, and no luxury shopping. That has
28:36
Speaker 8: been denied him and the Iranian party on this trip.
28:39
Speaker 8: So it's going to be under tight wraps, but we
28:42
Speaker 8: can expect a pretty fiery statement from the President when
28:45
Speaker 8: he gives his speech to the General Assembly.
28:49
Speaker 2: Peter, what is the point of being in New York
28:51
Speaker 2: if you're not allowed to do any luxury shopping?
28:54
Speaker 1: I appreciate you coming on the program.
28:56
Speaker 2: It'll be interesting to watch what happens in New York
28:58
Speaker 2: over the next couple of days.
28:59
Speaker 1: Thanks, Peter Jennings.
29:01
Speaker 2: All right, coming up after the break, Barack Obama has
29:03
Speaker 2: a very short memory. He slammed Donald Trump for doing
29:07
Speaker 2: to CNN what he himself did to Fox News. I'll
29:10
Speaker 2: talk with John Hinderaker about Trump's awkward meeting with New
29:13
Speaker 2: York Mayor Zoran Mamdani.
29:15
Speaker 1: All of that and more after this.
29:22
Speaker 2: President Donald Trump has banned CNN from the White House,
29:25
Speaker 2: saying there's no reason for him to give access to
29:27
Speaker 2: news organisations that publish fiction and lies. He's also banned
29:31
Speaker 2: journalists from Politico and MS Now. Former President Barack Obama
29:36
Speaker 2: has blasted the move, saying he would never have done
29:40
Speaker 2: anything like this.
29:41
Speaker 13: I believe there was just an announcement that the White
29:43
Speaker 13: House decided.
29:46
Speaker 14: You know what?
29:47
Speaker 13: CNN, MSNOW, maybe the New York Times was included. You
29:56
Speaker 13: just can't come to the White House press briefings anymore
30:01
Speaker 13: because you're giving the current president unfavorable coverage. I'm trying
30:06
Speaker 13: to think what would have happened if I had said,
30:08
Speaker 13: you know what, Fox News, get out of here.
30:12
Speaker 5: It's unimaginable.
30:15
Speaker 2: Except we don't have to imagine it because, well, it
30:17
Speaker 2: actually happened. This is from 2009 when Barack Obama was president.
30:22
Speaker 9: Presidential advisor David Axelrod argued Fox News is not a
30:26
Speaker 9: real news organization.
30:27
Speaker 10: And the bigger thing is that other news organizations like
30:31
Speaker 10: yours ought not to treat them that way.
30:33
Speaker 9: The administration specified that all members of the pool were
30:36
Speaker 9: welcome except Fox News.
30:39
Speaker 1: So there you go.
30:40
Speaker 2: Barack Obama is about the only person in the world
30:42
Speaker 2: who makes CNN seem trustworthy by comparison. I mean, joining
30:47
Speaker 2: me now is president of the Center of the American Experiment,
30:49
Speaker 2: John Heinrich.
30:50
Speaker 1: John, welcome to the program.
30:52
Speaker 2: What does Trump's ban mean for CNN's coverage and how
30:56
Speaker 2: long do you expect it will last?
30:59
Speaker 5: Well, James, it's not going to last very long. I
31:01
Speaker 5: think Obama's ban on Fox News lasted for about 24 hours.
31:06
Speaker 5: And Trump's ban on CNN and these other news organizations
31:10
Speaker 5: probably won't last much longer. You know, we had almost
31:14
Speaker 5: exactly the same case a year and a half ago
31:16
Speaker 5: when Trump barred certain news organizations from being on Air
31:20
Speaker 5: Force One. And he lost that battle in court. He's
31:25
Speaker 5: going to lose this one, too. They announced that they're
31:27
Speaker 5: going to sue. And I'm pretty sure a court is
31:29
Speaker 5: going to say that he can't engage in viewpoint action.
31:33
Speaker 5: discrimination if he lets the press generally into these White
31:37
Speaker 5: House briefings. So I don't think this is going to
31:40
Speaker 5: last for very long, and I don't think it's going
31:42
Speaker 5: to have much impact on CNN. CNN has been working
31:46
Speaker 5: for the Democratic Party for a long time, and they're
31:49
Speaker 5: going to keep working for the Democratic Party.
31:53
Speaker 2: What do you say to those who argue that Trump's
31:55
Speaker 2: ban is a violation of democracy? Do they have a point,
31:58
Speaker 2: or is CNN a danger to democracy because they continually
32:02
Speaker 2: publish lies?
32:04
Speaker 5: Well, I think a court is going to hold that
32:06
Speaker 5: the ban is invalid under the First Amendment for the
32:12
Speaker 5: democracy is concerned. I mean, one thing we don't lack
32:15
Speaker 5: for in America is criticism of President Trump. His news
32:19
Speaker 5: coverage is probably 98 percent negative. And so if for
32:24
Speaker 5: some period of time CNN and Politico and MSNOW didn't
32:29
Speaker 5: attend White House press briefings, that would not be a
32:33
Speaker 5: serious blow against our democracy.
32:37
Speaker 1: Indeed.
32:38
Speaker 2: All right, Donald Trump is currently in New York for
32:40
Speaker 2: a United Nations meeting and, of course, a big meeting
32:43
Speaker 2: with Xi Jinping later in the week. But on his
32:45
Speaker 2: way to the UN, he stopped off for a catch-up
32:48
Speaker 2: with socialist mayor Zoran Mamdani.
32:51
Speaker 1: Mamdani's called Trump a fascist.
32:53
Speaker 2: He's also urged New Yorkers to protest in the streets
32:56
Speaker 2: when Trump's friend and ally Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in the city.
33:00
Speaker 2: On the other hand, Trump has called Mamdani a communist. So, John,
33:04
Speaker 2: you'd love to be a fly on the wall when
33:06
Speaker 2: the two of them caught up. But we were privy
33:08
Speaker 2: to this exchange when the two addressed the media.
33:11
Speaker 1: Have a listen.
33:12
Speaker 10: I said some great ones and some not so great ones.
33:14
Speaker 5: So hopefully you're going to be a great one.
33:16
Speaker 10: I'll be able to say you're going to be a
33:17
Speaker 10: great one and you're off to a start.
33:21
Speaker 1: Oh, that made me laugh. You're off to a start.
33:23
Speaker 1: Not a good start, just a start.
33:26
Speaker 2: John, talk me through the dynamics of their relationship, because
33:29
Speaker 2: I suppose despite their massive differences, it's in both their
33:33
Speaker 2: interests to make it work, right?
33:36
Speaker 5: Yeah, this is actually the second very cordial meeting that
33:40
Speaker 5: Trump has had with Mamdani. They had one in the
33:42
Speaker 5: Oval Office. And it was like buddy-buddy. You know, it's
33:45
Speaker 5: very funny because they call each other's name, they call
33:48
Speaker 5: each other names, and then it seems like they get
33:50
Speaker 5: along well. And so on Mondami's part, he's trying to
33:54
Speaker 5: get federal funding for a housing project he's working on
33:59
Speaker 5: in New York. And so it's in his interest to
34:02
Speaker 5: try to maintain a relationship with Trump. And Trump would
34:05
Speaker 5: like better cooperation on issues like immigration. But I also
34:10
Speaker 5: think that Trump just enjoys... being friendly with politicians who
34:14
Speaker 5: have denounced him as a fascist and Adolf Hitler and
34:18
Speaker 5: so on, because it shows how insincere those smears really are.
34:26
Speaker 2: I mentioned Trump will be meeting with Xi Jinping.
34:29
Speaker 1: Later in the week.
34:30
Speaker 2: And I suppose one of the most important topics they'll
34:33
Speaker 2: cover will be the development of AI. To that end,
34:35
Speaker 2: US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant met with China's vice president
34:40
Speaker 2: yesterday and proposed that the two countries set up a hotline,
34:44
Speaker 2: much like the hotline they have to guard against nuclear misunderstandings.
34:48
Speaker 1: How important will that meeting be?
34:52
Speaker 5: It's really hard to say, James. I mean, as you say,
34:56
Speaker 5: the Senate says that they want to set up a
34:57
Speaker 5: so-called notification system that would enable cooperation between us and
35:03
Speaker 5: China if there were AI incidents that rise to a
35:07
Speaker 5: national security level. What does that mean? I think it
35:10
Speaker 5: has something to do with the sudden panic that we're
35:13
Speaker 5: seeing here in America over AI supposedly wiping out the
35:17
Speaker 5: human race. in the next 10 years. Now that panic
35:21
Speaker 5: has been instigated by none other than the executives of
35:25
Speaker 5: the leading AI companies. And most people here in America
35:29
Speaker 5: are very skeptical of their motives in looking for some
35:33
Speaker 5: kind of government regulation and government protection. So how this
35:38
Speaker 5: proposed agreement with China fits into that is hard to say.
35:42
Speaker 5: But at the end of the day, it probably can't
35:45
Speaker 5: hurt to have that line of communication in case something
35:49
Speaker 5: should go awry with AI.
35:53
Speaker 1: I'm trying to imagine how it works, John.
35:55
Speaker 2: Does Trump have like a red phone on his desk
35:57
Speaker 2: for a nuclear threat and an orange phone for an
36:01
Speaker 2: AI threat? I'm trying to work out how these hotlines
36:05
Speaker 2: actually operate. Have you got any idea?
36:08
Speaker 5: Well, then the AI takes over the orange phone. You know,
36:11
Speaker 5: the nuclear weapons couldn't commandeer the red phone. But I
36:15
Speaker 5: suppose you could, if you're paranoid, you could worry that
36:18
Speaker 5: an AI program will take over the orange phone. I
36:21
Speaker 5: don't know.
36:24
Speaker 2: Donald Trump has dropped his threat of invading Greenland after
36:28
Speaker 2: the Denmark-controlled territory announced it would permit the US to
36:31
Speaker 2: station more soldiers there.
36:34
Speaker 1: That's a good result for everyone.
36:37
Speaker 5: Well, I think it is. I mean, talking about invading
36:39
Speaker 5: Greenland obviously was never serious, but what they've announced, and
36:42
Speaker 5: we haven't seen the details yet, but the agreement supposedly
36:45
Speaker 5: is going to be signed tomorrow. It is a security agreement.
36:49
Speaker 5: It doesn't change the legal status of Greenland and Denmark,
36:53
Speaker 5: but it gives the United States authority to look out
36:56
Speaker 5: for Greenland's security, and it gives us the authority to
37:00
Speaker 5: bar other powers from having bases on Greenland and And
37:04
Speaker 5: this is all about Greenland's strategic location and the scramble
37:09
Speaker 5: that is now going on among the United States and
37:12
Speaker 5: NATO and Russia and China for control of the Arctic region.
37:16
Speaker 5: So I think this is a it's a good resolution.
37:19
Speaker 5: I think the purpose, I think, is to deter other countries,
37:23
Speaker 5: hostile countries from trying to move in on Greenland and
37:26
Speaker 5: hopefully it will have that effect.
37:31
Speaker 2: I guess looking at this, John, my question was, would
37:34
Speaker 2: Trump have gotten this agreement without all the bluster and
37:37
Speaker 2: we're going to invade Greenland and take it over? And
37:40
Speaker 2: did we need to go through all of that to
37:42
Speaker 2: get where we are? Or could this agreement have been
37:45
Speaker 2: negotiated quite easily months ago?
37:50
Speaker 5: Well, I think probably the latter, James, to be honest.
37:52
Speaker 5: I mean, we have a security agreement with Greenland going
37:55
Speaker 5: back to, I think, 1951. And my guess is that
37:59
Speaker 5: neither Greenland nor Denmark is interested in having the Russians
38:03
Speaker 5: or the Chinese moving into that country. And I suspect
38:07
Speaker 5: we could have gotten this agreement a little bit more easily.
38:13
Speaker 2: So just quickly, because there's one more thing I want
38:15
Speaker 2: to ask you about, but just quickly, what was all
38:17
Speaker 2: the we're going to invade Greenland stuff for if it
38:21
Speaker 2: was completely unnecessary?
38:24
Speaker 5: Well, Trump sometimes says things, you know, it's hard to
38:27
Speaker 5: say why. Why did he talk about making Canada the
38:30
Speaker 5: 51st state? You know, I mean, that was ridiculous. No
38:34
Speaker 5: one took it seriously. But yet it caused diplomatic problems.
38:38
Speaker 5: And I think as with Greenland, he's talking about like
38:41
Speaker 5: we might invade or something. Well, no one seriously thought
38:45
Speaker 5: we're going to invade Greenland. I don't know why he
38:47
Speaker 5: sometimes just talking off the cuff says things that frankly
38:52
Speaker 5: are not particularly helpful.
38:56
Speaker 2: John, quickly before I let you go, I've got to
38:58
Speaker 2: show you a little exchange from a town hall meeting
39:00
Speaker 2: in Michigan where Democrats could quiz their Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed.
39:06
Speaker 2: I just thought this clip perfectly encapsulates the modern Democrats.
39:09
Speaker 2: You've got a Muslim candidate defending LGBTQIA plus rights after
39:14
Speaker 2: being asked a question from a supporter with green hair.
39:17
Speaker 1: Take a look. Right here in the middle, we have
39:19
Speaker 1: a question. Green hair?
39:22
Speaker 15: I was wondering what you plan to do to support
39:26
Speaker 15: your LGBTQIA plus constituents in your time in congress um
39:31
Speaker 15: how you plan to support our rights as a trans
39:34
Speaker 15: person who is on hormones thank you.
39:36
Speaker 5: For your question so first let's be clear right rights
39:40
Speaker 5: are rights our rights our rights Oh.
39:42
Speaker 2: John, we could spend the rest of the show unpacking
39:45
Speaker 2: that little exchange, but the cognitive dissonance for far-left Democrats
39:50
Speaker 2: to put faith in an out-and-out pro-Islam senator to protect
39:53
Speaker 2: gay and trans rights, it's quite something, isn't it?
39:58
Speaker 5: Well, this is like the Queers for Palestine organization, right?
40:02
Speaker 5: It's the alliance of people who hate America and who
40:05
Speaker 5: hate Western civilization, these people are all using each other.
40:09
Speaker 5: You know, they think that the other guys are the
40:12
Speaker 5: useful idiots. And when the revolution is over, they will
40:16
Speaker 5: be the ones left standing. And let's hope we never
40:19
Speaker 5: have to find out who's left standing when the revolution
40:22
Speaker 5: is over.
40:25
Speaker 1: I am absolutely with you on that one. John Heinrich,
40:28
Speaker 1: always a delight. Thanks so much.
40:31
Speaker 5: Great to be with you, James.
40:33
Speaker 1: Stick around.
40:33
Speaker 2: Coming up after the break, a Palestinian photojournalist admits he
40:37
Speaker 2: buried footage of civilians beating Israeli hostages for fear Gazans
40:41
Speaker 2: would get in trouble.
40:43
Speaker 1: My panel is after this.
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Speaker 2: A Palestinian photojournalist who was nominated for a Nobel Peace
40:52
Speaker 2: Prize and who made it into Time magazine's list of
40:55
Speaker 2: the world's 100 most influential people has admitted to burying
41:00
Speaker 2: footage of civilians beating Israeli hostages when they were brought
41:03
Speaker 2: into Gaza by Hamas on October 7. Motaz Ezaiza said
41:08
Speaker 2: he didn't want Israel to be able to identify the
41:10
Speaker 2: perpetrators and he was afraid for his family's safety. Why?
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Speaker 5: It's not worth it to lose my family and my
41:25
Speaker 5: family so that people don't have to worry about me.
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Speaker 1: There is a condition that you are afraid.
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Speaker 5: I mean, I will be careful in the street, they
41:36
Speaker 5: will bring their faces, because the Israelis have all their faces,
41:38
Speaker 5: all our faces, on ID, on identity.
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Speaker 13: So, it's easy.
41:41
Speaker 5: So, it's very easy.
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Speaker 2: He also claimed that every journalist in Gaza, that's his words,
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Speaker 2: is in a Hamas-run WhatsApp group.
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Speaker 15: What is this group?
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Speaker 5: A group called Smart.
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Speaker 15: Ali Alam Hamas.
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Speaker 5: His manager was the manager of the Al-Rafah press station.
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Speaker 9: The manager of Al-Rafah press station.
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Speaker 13: And so on.
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Speaker 2: Joining me is Michael Danby, former Labor MP and chairman
42:09
Speaker 2: of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade,
42:12
Speaker 2: and Mia Schlitt, executive director of the Samuel Griffith Society.
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Speaker 1: Welcome to you both. Michael, I'll start with you.
42:19
Speaker 2: What's your reaction to that disclosure from the photojournalist?
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Speaker 6: Well, it's very acute of News24 to pick up this interview.
42:28
Speaker 6: It's part of a collapsing narrative of Hamas. Of course,
42:32
Speaker 6: it's got no effect on Penny Wong or Alba, who
42:36
Speaker 6: continue to give away millions to the Hamas-supporting UNRWA organisation,
42:41
Speaker 6: despite Finland and Switzerland defunding them. This collapsing narrative has
42:48
Speaker 6: led to the International Association of Journalists taking 100 Hamasniks
42:53
Speaker 6: off the list of journalists who were killed as they
42:56
Speaker 6: published their obits with the pictures of them in military uniform.
43:02
Speaker 6: So You know, Australia's at the United Nations. I'm sure
43:05
Speaker 6: the vote last year on unilateral recognition of a Palestinian
43:09
Speaker 6: state was designed to help us with our Security Council bid,
43:14
Speaker 6: but it's a false narrative and claims of genocide and
43:18
Speaker 6: all of the other nonsense that that side came up
43:22
Speaker 6: with will eventually be proven as a recent Yale study,
43:25
Speaker 6: which I urge all of your readers to Google, your
43:28
Speaker 6: listeners to Google.
43:31
Speaker 2: Mia, I want to be careful because, of course, not
43:34
Speaker 2: all Gazans are extremists. However, it is the most extreme
43:39
Speaker 2: region in the world. And I just wonder if we'd
43:42
Speaker 2: been shown the truth about Gazan civilians beating Israeli hostages
43:47
Speaker 2: as they were brought back into Gaza by terrorists. That
43:51
Speaker 2: might have informed the Australian government's policy, certainly public sentiment,
43:54
Speaker 2: when it came to bringing Gazans into Australia. Despite the
43:58
Speaker 2: protests of many concerned, this is a very radicalised region.
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Speaker 11: Absolutely, James.
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Speaker 9: I think that's spot on.
44:06
Speaker 16: At the end of the day, a free press is
44:08
Speaker 16: really important to the functioning of society. And I think
44:11
Speaker 16: this is an important story because whilst we might have
44:14
Speaker 16: suspected it for a long time, we now have evidence
44:17
Speaker 16: that we weren't told the whole story about what was
44:20
Speaker 16: happening in Gaza. And I think what's really interesting about
44:22
Speaker 16: the remarks from this journalist is not only we didn't
44:26
Speaker 16: hear about the way that Hamas was treating Israelis, but
44:28
Speaker 16: also there's a treatment online. of innocent Palestinians who are
44:31
Speaker 16: suffering at the hands of this terrorist organisation that we
44:35
Speaker 16: haven't heard about, that has been censored through the press.
44:38
Speaker 16: And certainly that censorship has had consequences around the world.
44:42
Speaker 16: Look at how Jewish Australians have been treated here in
44:45
Speaker 16: our country because of the way the media has betrayed
44:47
Speaker 16: what has happened in Gaza. So I think this is
44:50
Speaker 16: really important. I think we need to be talking about it,
44:52
Speaker 16: but certainly I don't think we'll see organisations like the
44:55
Speaker 16: ABC picking up on this interview.
44:57
Speaker 1: Dead right.
44:59
Speaker 2: The University of Sydney is allowing a political group to
45:03
Speaker 2: run for student council elections. Can you believe this? Under
45:05
Speaker 2: the banner, Globalise the Intifada. Both the New South Wales
45:09
Speaker 2: Premier's Office and the Opposition Leader's Office have contacted Vice-Chancellor
45:13
Speaker 2: Mark Scott, expressing their disgust. The university has reportedly said it's, quote, unquote,
45:19
Speaker 2: seeking advice. Michael, can you believe they would allow a
45:23
Speaker 2: student group to run under the banner Globalise the Intifada
45:26
Speaker 2: after everything we saw yesterday? at Sydney University during the encampment?
45:31
Speaker 6: I have no faith in Vice-Chancellor Scott. After all, he
45:34
Speaker 6: was the big shot at the ABC during all of
45:38
Speaker 6: the years when they had a one-sided narrative on the
45:41
Speaker 6: Palestinian issue. And he apologised for the encampments, which censored
45:48
Speaker 6: and physically prevented, in a bigoted, racist way, students at
45:52
Speaker 6: his own campus from participating in their studies. And now
45:57
Speaker 6: he He goes along with this. Sir, no faith in
46:02
Speaker 6: Professor Scott.
46:05
Speaker 2: Well, Mir, I was going to ask you about that
46:07
Speaker 2: because Michael's quite right. Mark Scott did apologise at a
46:11
Speaker 2: Senate committee hearing back in 2024 that was hearing evidence
46:15
Speaker 2: of anti-Semitism on university campuses. He apologised to Jewish students,
46:19
Speaker 2: but I don't see how you could apologise back there
46:22
Speaker 2: but not clamp down immediately on this and say, look,
46:24
Speaker 2: it's just not on.
46:27
Speaker 16: And it's not the first time, James, since that apology
46:29
Speaker 16: in 2024, there's been a number of incidences that have
46:32
Speaker 16: occurred on campus at the University of Sydney. And the
46:35
Speaker 16: uni has been very, very slow to respond. It was
46:38
Speaker 16: in October 2025 where there was some member of staff
46:41
Speaker 16: who was there abusing Jewish students. Earlier this year, Jewish
46:45
Speaker 16: students had to be moved when they were at a
46:47
Speaker 16: certain stool because of the abuse they were receiving. There
46:49
Speaker 16: were fears online. for their safety. And now we have
46:52
Speaker 16: this incident with the student group running under the banner
46:55
Speaker 16: of globalising the intifada. And the problem with this is,
46:58
Speaker 16: is this student group could be justified under the free
47:02
Speaker 16: speech banner because universities are meant to be the beacons
47:06
Speaker 16: of freedom of speech. But that is not the reality
47:09
Speaker 16: that we've seen in Australian universities for a long time.
47:11
Speaker 16: And for University of Sydney, who has continuously put out
47:14
Speaker 16: statements saying that they want to stamp out hate speech
47:17
Speaker 16: and they've continuously censored certain things. To not censor this, well,
47:21
Speaker 16: I think that sends a pretty clear message about where
47:23
Speaker 16: they stand politically.
47:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, it really does.
47:27
Speaker 2: All right, before we finish up, Hockey Victoria is under
47:30
Speaker 2: fire for letting a biological man win the women's best
47:34
Speaker 2: and fairest award. The player who's previously competed in elite
47:38
Speaker 2: men's hockey but now identifies as transgender and plays in
47:41
Speaker 2: the women's league won the top honour with 33 votes. Michael,
47:45
Speaker 2: just quickly, I can only assume Hockey Victoria wants every
47:47
Speaker 2: parent to sign up their daughter for netball.
47:51
Speaker 6: Yes, and I've got some very strong women family members
47:55
Speaker 6: who playing in leagues where transgender athletes are knocking them
48:01
Speaker 6: over and causing physical injuries. So it's a serious issue.
48:05
Speaker 6: And I'm afraid the High Court's codified this problem. And
48:10
Speaker 6: unless we get a change of government and they have
48:12
Speaker 6: the courage to do what Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg wouldn't,
48:17
Speaker 6: because they don't fight cultural wars, in a revised government,
48:22
Speaker 6: then we're going to have this problem throughout Australian society
48:26
Speaker 6: and in all the institutions, whether it's minor hockey or
48:30
Speaker 6: in bigger leagues.
48:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're quite right.
48:34
Speaker 2: All right, that's all we've got time for. Michael and Mia,
48:37
Speaker 2: really appreciate you joining me tonight. Thanks so much. Thanks
48:40
Speaker 2: to you at home. I'll see you again tomorrow night.
48:42
Speaker 2: Right now, here's Shari Markson.