Transcript

Sharri | 20 November · Sharri

0:01
Speaker 1: Why on Sky News This is.
0:04
Speaker 2: Sharry Good Evening. After a dramatic day, Mark Speakman finally
0:11
Speaker 2: fell on his sword. With Kelly Sloane set to be
0:14
Speaker 2: voted in as the new South Wales Liberal leader at
0:17
Speaker 2: the party room tomorrow morning. I'll bring you the inside
0:20
Speaker 2: details on how this unfolded and Ray Hadley would join
0:24
Speaker 2: us live. Susan Lee has blindsided Angus Taylor by giving
0:29
Speaker 2: a major address on defense that she failed to consult
0:33
Speaker 2: him on and only sent him a copy after giving
0:36
Speaker 2: it to the media that scoop shortly and Labour's accusations
0:41
Speaker 2: against Linda Reynolds ruthless, fabricated and now falling apart. So
0:45
Speaker 2: will Albaneazi and his mean girls finally apologize? Plus some
0:51
Speaker 2: breaking news this evening, Neo Nazi Joel Davis has been
0:54
Speaker 2: arrested by the Australian Federal Police in Bondi. Those details
0:59
Speaker 2: in a moment, but first Mark Speakman has tonight resigned
1:04
Speaker 2: as Liberal leader and Kelly Sloane is poised to replace
1:07
Speaker 2: him tomorrow morning. Speakman this evening gave a press conference
1:12
Speaker 2: where he accepted it was no longer in the best
1:14
Speaker 2: interest of the Liberal Party for him to remain in
1:17
Speaker 2: the top job. He lamented how half a day was
1:22
Speaker 2: a long time in politics.
1:24
Speaker 3: But it is clear after conversations I've had since this
1:27
Speaker 3: morning's meter events, that many of my colleagues now want
1:31
Speaker 3: to see a change. Politics is rough, Politics is brutal,
1:35
Speaker 3: politics is savage. You know that when you become a
1:39
Speaker 3: first term opposition leader.
1:41
Speaker 4: You know what the odds are. You know what you're
1:43
Speaker 4: getting into.
1:45
Speaker 2: It was a gracious speech, it was considerate, and he
1:49
Speaker 2: endorsed Sloane as a leader. Yet as gracious as it was,
1:54
Speaker 2: Speakerman resisted his fate until the very end. For a
1:59
Speaker 2: large part of today, Speakman bunken down and refused to
2:04
Speaker 2: see colleagues who wanted to deliver the very clear message
2:07
Speaker 2: that he no longer had their support. Speakman virtually went
2:12
Speaker 2: into hiding, refusing to face the music. Now, what ultimately
2:18
Speaker 2: happened today was months in the making. His week leadership
2:22
Speaker 2: had failed to put a dent in the Men's government,
2:24
Speaker 2: and there was no sign the coalition's chances were improving now.
2:30
Speaker 2: Last night on the show, I broke the news that
2:32
Speaker 2: a cross factional group of MPs was soon to visit Speakman.
2:38
Speaker 2: Opposition leader Mark Speakman is expected to be tapped on
2:41
Speaker 2: the shoulders soon, like in Victoria, by a cross factional
2:46
Speaker 2: group of Conservatives and his own faction, the Moderates. They'll
2:51
Speaker 2: tell him he has lost their support if he listens
2:55
Speaker 2: to his colleagues, they'll then be a party room meeting
2:59
Speaker 2: either Thirdnesday night, that's Tomorrow night or Friday morning. This
3:05
Speaker 2: is precisely what's played out. A cross factional group of
3:09
Speaker 2: moderates and sent to Write and Peas visited Speakman in
3:13
Speaker 2: his office last night and sent a clear message that
3:18
Speaker 2: he'd lost party room support. Those MP's were Chris Rath,
3:22
Speaker 2: Scott Farlow and James Wallace. They cornered Speakman in his
3:26
Speaker 2: office after the press gallery Christmas drinks and they held
3:30
Speaker 2: an hour long meeting, leaving around nine thirty pm. One
3:35
Speaker 2: source familiar with the conversations told me that Speakman, and
3:40
Speaker 2: I quote here, he was told he no longer commands
3:44
Speaker 2: the majority support of the party room, which wanted to
3:47
Speaker 2: move to another leader. That's what Speakman was told last night.
3:50
Speaker 2: He was also specifically told this the majority of the
3:53
Speaker 2: party room prefers sloan to him now after del bring
4:00
Speaker 2: that very clear message last night in a meeting that
4:03
Speaker 2: finished at nine point thirty pm. Many Liberals believed Speakman
4:07
Speaker 2: would then listen to his colleagues and call a party
4:11
Speaker 2: room meeting. Instead, they were astonished when he turned up
4:16
Speaker 2: on ben Fordham and on Pete Stefanovick here on sky
4:20
Speaker 2: this morning and dug his heels in.
4:24
Speaker 3: As Mark Twain once said, reports of my death have
4:26
Speaker 3: been greatly exaggerated. I deserve to stay a bit about
4:30
Speaker 3: what I deserve. It's about what is the best interests
4:32
Speaker 3: of the party and the people of New South Wales.
4:35
Speaker 3: I offer experience, resilience, grit, determination to lead the party
4:41
Speaker 3: to the next selection.
4:44
Speaker 2: And it was similar messages with Ben Fodham as well,
4:47
Speaker 2: and Speakman insisted it wasn't over because a rival candidate
4:51
Speaker 2: hadn't declared their hand. Well after this. After these media
4:56
Speaker 2: performances this morning, multiple Liberals sought to contact Speakman to
5:01
Speaker 2: reinforce the message that was given to him last night
5:04
Speaker 2: that he no longer held majority support in the party room.
5:08
Speaker 2: He still refused to budge. He said he wasn't going
5:12
Speaker 2: anywhere unless another candidate showed their hand. His friend and
5:17
Speaker 2: factional colleague, the Shadow Health Minister Kelly Sloane eventually did
5:22
Speaker 2: just that. She met with Speakman this afternoon and told
5:26
Speaker 2: him that she would like to lead the party and
5:29
Speaker 2: felt that a change was in the party's best electoral prospects.
5:34
Speaker 2: Now this is the right decision, It's the only decision. Speakman,
5:40
Speaker 2: as nice as his final press conference was, didn't have
5:43
Speaker 2: a shot at being competitive at the next election. He's
5:46
Speaker 2: not a natural leader. Kelly Sloane is the best hope
5:51
Speaker 2: for the Liberals at the next election, and that is
5:53
Speaker 2: due in March twenty twenty seven. She has real world
5:57
Speaker 2: experience as a former television journalist, a charity and business
6:01
Speaker 2: chief executive as well. She's got excellent communication skills and
6:05
Speaker 2: she'll be able to better connect with voters. There's no
6:09
Speaker 2: doubt New South Wales Premier Chris Mins would be far
6:13
Speaker 2: more worried about facing Sloan as a political rival than
6:18
Speaker 2: Mark Speakman, and as Ray Hadley will surely tell us
6:22
Speaker 2: when he's on the show shortly, Mins was hoping that
6:24
Speaker 2: Speakman didn't go because it was making his life so
6:27
Speaker 2: much easier. As I reported last night, a party room
6:32
Speaker 2: will be held tomorrow morning, where Sloan is expected to
6:36
Speaker 2: have the numbers to be elected Liberal leader. Now, I
6:40
Speaker 2: brought you this news first last night that speakman was
6:45
Speaker 2: being blasted out by his colleagues, and I told you
6:48
Speaker 2: this at the start of my show last night at
6:50
Speaker 2: eight PM, Good evening. Major breaking news tonight. The leadership
6:55
Speaker 2: spill is on in New South Wales.
6:58
Speaker 1: Kelly Sloane.
6:59
Speaker 2: It's tip to be the Liberal leader as soon as
7:02
Speaker 2: tomorrow night. I'll bring you exclusive details in a moment. Now.
7:09
Speaker 2: I press my contacts every day so that I do
7:11
Speaker 2: bring you the big news and the big scoops first.
7:15
Speaker 2: And with this leadership story, not one of the newspapers
7:18
Speaker 2: had it on their front pages today, not the Cydney
7:21
Speaker 2: Morning Herald, and not the Daily Telegraph, not the Australian,
7:25
Speaker 2: not the Financial Review. I'm only saying that because in
7:29
Speaker 2: the noise of all the news you often forget where
7:34
Speaker 2: you do see things. And this is yet another reason
7:36
Speaker 2: why you need to watch Sky News every night. We
7:39
Speaker 2: are first with the big stories and the news. We'll
7:43
Speaker 2: get more reaction on this breaking news tonight. Kelly Sloan's
7:46
Speaker 2: set to be elected tomorrow morning with Ray Hadley. Shortly
7:54
Speaker 2: Opposition leader Susan Lee has blindsided Angus Taylor by giving
7:59
Speaker 2: a major dress on defense that she failed to consult
8:02
Speaker 2: him on. Angus Taylor, who is Lee's hand picked shadow
8:07
Speaker 2: Defense Minister, was not even given a copy of Susan
8:11
Speaker 2: Lee's speech until after it had been distributed to the media.
8:16
Speaker 2: There was no opportunity for input, ideas or consultation. Now
8:21
Speaker 2: it's unheard of to deliver a major defense speech announcing
8:24
Speaker 2: serious policy without involving your shadow minister. And there were
8:29
Speaker 2: big announcements in her defense speech about spending, weaponry and manufacturing.
8:35
Speaker 2: Lee said that under the coalition there'd be a national
8:38
Speaker 2: defense shield, drone manufacturing, and military satellites. She also promised
8:44
Speaker 2: action to strengthen national resilience by improving our satellite network
8:48
Speaker 2: and fuel security. And she committed to spend three percent
8:54
Speaker 2: of Australia's GDP on defense. So this is what she
8:58
Speaker 2: had to say. She's saying at in a speech tonight
9:01
Speaker 2: at the Menzies Institute in Melbourne. She's saying, first, to
9:04
Speaker 2: uphold our continental security and protect rotational forces based in
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Speaker 2: our country, Australia must have an integrated air and missile
9:13
Speaker 2: defense system. She says. The second thing we need is
9:17
Speaker 2: a greater ability to rapidly, build, deploy, and resupply unmanned
9:23
Speaker 2: on autonomous weapon systems, whether they be aerial drones or
9:28
Speaker 2: undersea weapons systems, or the systems to defend against them.
9:34
Speaker 2: Now on defense procurement. It is a very sound speech
9:39
Speaker 2: and it showed up the Albanese government's lackluster defense plan.
9:44
Speaker 2: But not a word of it was done in consultation
9:47
Speaker 2: with her team, despite Lee repeatedly promising to take a
9:51
Speaker 2: more consultative approach. In fact, that was her entire pitch
9:56
Speaker 2: to the coalition to become leader over her rival Angus Taylor.
10:01
Speaker 2: She said there'd be no captain's calls, and she speaks
10:04
Speaker 2: about this consultative process often in the media, and as leader,
10:10
Speaker 2: I said, there wouldn't be any captain's calls and I'd
10:13
Speaker 2: listen to my team, and that's exactly what I'm doing.
10:17
Speaker 1: Now.
10:17
Speaker 2: It was Susan Lee's decision to appoint Angus Taylor to
10:20
Speaker 2: the role of Shadow Defense. She chose that, yet now
10:24
Speaker 2: she doesn't take his counsel now. I asked Susan Lee's
10:28
Speaker 2: office about this today and they told me the Leader's
10:32
Speaker 2: office and the Shadow Defense offers have been working together
10:35
Speaker 2: on these issues for the past five months, and this
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Speaker 2: speech is an important step in that ongoing policy work.
10:43
Speaker 2: As always, the leader sets the overall direction and the
10:46
Speaker 2: team continues to shape the detail in line with that approach.
10:52
Speaker 2: So Susan Lee isn't denying in that statement that she
10:55
Speaker 2: didn't consult with Taylor on this speech and this announced.
11:01
Speaker 2: This is despite the fact that Taylor has shown on
11:03
Speaker 2: multiple occasions now his public loyalty to her. Now he's
11:08
Speaker 2: in the US at the moment having meetings with senior
11:11
Speaker 2: defense officials in the Trump administration, is also meeting with
11:15
Speaker 2: elected representatives and congressmen, and he was recently in Israel
11:19
Speaker 2: having similar meetings. We cross to him when he was there.
11:23
Speaker 2: His input and his knowledge should be sought as a
11:27
Speaker 2: matter of course, but particularly because he's the one having
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Speaker 2: these international defense meetings, it's absurd that it isn't involved
11:37
Speaker 2: in a major defense announcement. Now, Susan Lee has a
11:41
Speaker 2: right to expect unity from her colleagues, but she's got
11:46
Speaker 2: to show it in return. And the fact she's isolating
11:49
Speaker 2: herself and becoming apparently paranoid about who she can trust,
11:54
Speaker 2: it's the clearest sign yet that she's worried her leadership
11:59
Speaker 2: is terminal. Now to some more breaking news. Tonight, the
12:05
Speaker 2: City Morning Herald has reported that neo Nazi Joel Davis
12:09
Speaker 2: has been arrested by the Australian Federal Police. Now, Davis
12:14
Speaker 2: was one of those who led that Neo Nazi rally
12:17
Speaker 2: outside of Parliament House. The Herald reports that Davis is
12:28
Speaker 2: expected to be charged with using a carriage service to
12:31
Speaker 2: harass on menace and the Herald reports that the alleged
12:35
Speaker 2: victim was a political figure. We know that the new
12:40
Speaker 2: the nearly New New South I was Liberal leader Kelly
12:43
Speaker 2: Sloan and also the Teal Allegrispender had both previously revealed
12:48
Speaker 2: that they received threats after condemning the Neo Nazi rally.
12:53
Speaker 2: So this arrest big news of Joel Davis today. All right,
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Speaker 2: let's return to that major break news, Mark Speakman tonight
13:01
Speaker 2: quitting his Liberal leader, and let's bring in our regular
13:05
Speaker 2: radio legend, Ray Hadley. Ray, thank you so much. Great
13:08
Speaker 2: to see you joining us from your home, not in studio,
13:11
Speaker 2: because this news broke late so late today. We've been
13:16
Speaker 2: discussing this often, you and I We've said that Speakman
13:19
Speaker 2: isn't the right person to lead the Liberal Party. What's
13:22
Speaker 2: your reaction to the fact that he finally got that
13:25
Speaker 2: message tonight, Cherry.
13:28
Speaker 5: First of all, it's about time. It's been twelve months
13:32
Speaker 5: in the making. I started talking about this when I
13:34
Speaker 5: was still on air October last year, about the fact
13:36
Speaker 5: he didn't have the necessary charisma to lead this party,
13:40
Speaker 5: and I kept saying he's a nice blake. That was
13:42
Speaker 5: illustrated as you already poured it out by his performance
13:44
Speaker 5: today in finally in finally saying well, it's time for
13:48
Speaker 5: me to step down. But there was a certain naivety
13:51
Speaker 5: to appear on Sky and on two GB this morning
13:54
Speaker 5: after he was tapped on the shoulder as you reported
13:56
Speaker 5: exclusively last night, and suggesting that he would still lead
13:59
Speaker 5: into until March twenty twenty seven. Illustrates why he can't
14:03
Speaker 5: be leader. The naivety is breathtakingly bad. He just doesn't
14:08
Speaker 5: get it. And the quicker they gets Kelly Slain into
14:11
Speaker 5: the chair, the better. And she comes there without owing
14:14
Speaker 5: the factional warrior is anything. They all taped him on
14:17
Speaker 5: the shoulder finally, from the moderates to the left, to
14:20
Speaker 5: the right, and she's.
14:21
Speaker 4: Got to lay down the law.
14:22
Speaker 5: She's got to lay down the law tomorrow and effectively say,
14:25
Speaker 5: as Jess Wilson did in Victoria, I'm in charge, this
14:28
Speaker 5: is what we're doing.
14:29
Speaker 4: Follow me or get out of the queue, one of
14:31
Speaker 4: the two.
14:33
Speaker 2: And she did finally have that courage, you know, when
14:35
Speaker 2: it became clear when Mark Speakman was saying there's no
14:39
Speaker 2: other rival candidate that's declared their hand. I mean he
14:42
Speaker 2: said that on ben Fordham this morning, so she couldn't
14:44
Speaker 2: be completely clean of it. I mean she wasn't the one,
14:48
Speaker 2: you know, moving behind the scenes, but she did have
14:51
Speaker 2: to this afternoon actually front up and say I want
14:54
Speaker 2: the top job.
14:55
Speaker 1: You know.
14:55
Speaker 2: She had to do that or we might not be
14:57
Speaker 2: in this position tonight.
14:59
Speaker 4: Well it's funny.
15:00
Speaker 5: On Tuesday night when I joined you, we both said
15:02
Speaker 5: she needed to act for the betterment of the party,
15:05
Speaker 5: for the state of New South Wales.
15:07
Speaker 4: I mean, Chris Mens is making himself a fair target
15:09
Speaker 4: of the Mayan.
15:10
Speaker 5: You know that.
15:10
Speaker 4: I think he's done a pretty good job.
15:11
Speaker 5: But this more park nonsense that he continues to offiscate
15:14
Speaker 5: on needs a thorough investigation and needs someone to challenge him.
15:19
Speaker 5: She's the right person to do it, given her feelings
15:20
Speaker 5: about closing down more Park and now we know it's
15:23
Speaker 5: two hundred and fifty million, not fifty million. And there
15:26
Speaker 5: are some weaknesses, and they're brought about by the fact
15:29
Speaker 5: that he was very comfortable with Mark Speakman in the chair.
15:32
Speaker 5: He was very comfortable with Speakman being an opposition. He
15:35
Speaker 5: won't be so comfortable anymore, and they can put the
15:38
Speaker 5: blay torch to him figuratively by illustrating that Moore Park
15:42
Speaker 5: is a very important issue, and there are a stack
15:43
Speaker 5: of other issues that she needs to get a teeth into.
15:45
Speaker 5: But she's got to get the party in step with her,
15:48
Speaker 5: and I would strongly suggest they revisit as a party.
15:52
Speaker 4: They're the only liberal.
15:54
Speaker 5: Opposition at the moment who are not lockstep with the
15:58
Speaker 5: Nationals and the Federal Liberal Party on met zero by
16:00
Speaker 5: twenty fifty. She needs to convince them they need to
16:03
Speaker 5: pull their heads in and do something about that as
16:06
Speaker 5: well to give the electorate a point of difference by
16:09
Speaker 5: March twenty twenty seven.
16:11
Speaker 2: I can't imagine the party would be changing position on
16:14
Speaker 2: that issue. But I just want to go back to
16:16
Speaker 2: what you said about Chris Men's because Ray, I think
16:18
Speaker 2: you were here a couple of weeks ago and you
16:20
Speaker 2: revealed a private conversation the Premier had had with you
16:25
Speaker 2: where he indicated that he didn't want there to be
16:28
Speaker 2: any change from Speakman.
16:30
Speaker 5: Well, it was cheeky and probably cheek of me to
16:33
Speaker 5: reveal it, because we have a lot of conversations off
16:35
Speaker 5: the record, myself and the Premiere. But i'd done an
16:39
Speaker 5: editorial on the Daily Telegraph dt TV and I was
16:42
Speaker 5: pretty heavy on Speakman and he sent me a text
16:45
Speaker 5: that day and.
16:45
Speaker 4: Said, can you drop off? He's a great man and
16:48
Speaker 4: a great leader.
16:49
Speaker 5: So text backers, you think he is a great man
16:52
Speaker 5: and a great leader because you want to be the
16:53
Speaker 5: premier beyond March of twenty twenty seven. So I think
16:56
Speaker 5: you might have sent me a smiling emoji. Well, the
16:59
Speaker 5: smiling image. You will be finished today or more appropriately
17:02
Speaker 5: tomorrow when the party room meets and all of a sudden,
17:06
Speaker 5: there will be a challenger, Chris. There'll be someone who'll
17:08
Speaker 5: come to get you, and you'll have to pick up
17:11
Speaker 5: your game on more Park and other issues as well,
17:13
Speaker 5: because Kelly Slane will take the game to you and
17:16
Speaker 5: she'll be far more, far more investigative, investigative in dealing
17:21
Speaker 5: with you, and she also has that thing you've mentioned
17:23
Speaker 5: the nous former media performer. She knows how it works,
17:26
Speaker 5: she knows her to talk to, she knows her to
17:28
Speaker 5: get the message across to and she's a smart woman.
17:31
Speaker 5: And I'm sure that if she follows the lead of
17:33
Speaker 5: Jess Wilson in Victoria, we'll see a marked difference in
17:37
Speaker 5: the polls sometime beyond Christmas.
17:40
Speaker 2: It'll still be very difficult for Kelly Sloane. I mean
17:43
Speaker 2: easier certainly than with Mark Speakman, who had absolutely no
17:47
Speaker 2: chance but still very tough battle to try and ask
17:50
Speaker 2: Chris Mins in March twenty twenty seven. He's a very
17:54
Speaker 2: popular premier in New South Wales. Like you said, he
17:57
Speaker 2: is doing a good job, although there are vulnerabilities.
18:00
Speaker 5: Well it's a herculean task, but it was obvious that
18:04
Speaker 5: Mark was going to get lapped, absolutely lapped. And that
18:08
Speaker 5: recent poll we saw whether we're going to lose all
18:10
Speaker 5: sorts of seats ten in total, I think.
18:12
Speaker 4: Proved that he was not up to the job.
18:15
Speaker 5: Now I'm not suggesting Kelly Slane, will you know what
18:18
Speaker 5: the floor with Mark? With Chris Mens in twenty twenty seven.
18:21
Speaker 5: What I'm saying is she'll narrow the gap. Yeah, you know,
18:25
Speaker 5: we always thought after Dominic Perete's loss that maybe he'd
18:29
Speaker 5: be a two term and possibly three term premier because
18:32
Speaker 5: he's very popular. There's a few unpopular things that I've
18:35
Speaker 5: mentioned that he's done, but he's very popular, and he's smart.
18:37
Speaker 4: He's very smart.
18:38
Speaker 5: But all of a sudden he might have to lift
18:39
Speaker 5: his game a bit because I think Kelly Slaan will
18:42
Speaker 5: offer far more than her predecessor did.
18:46
Speaker 2: And he's a very mainstream labor leader Chris Mens, you know,
18:49
Speaker 2: not like this far left government we have in Canbra,
18:53
Speaker 2: the Albertezi government. You know, he is a very mainstream leader,
18:56
Speaker 2: which is part of his success. But you know Kelly Sloan,
19:00
Speaker 2: she's I think fifty two years old, so she's young,
19:04
Speaker 2: fresh faced, teenage children, part of the community, a mother,
19:09
Speaker 2: a lot of life experience behind her in different fields,
19:12
Speaker 2: not just politics. So I think she will have that
19:15
Speaker 2: ability to connect with voters.
19:18
Speaker 5: Well, look, you and I can, I guess talk about
19:20
Speaker 5: whether she will or she won't. The polls will tell
19:23
Speaker 5: us whether we're right or wrong. But I, like you,
19:25
Speaker 5: think she will connect with the voters. I think that
19:27
Speaker 5: she's and I don't know that. Well, I've had dealings
19:30
Speaker 5: with her obviously when I was still working full time.
19:33
Speaker 5: And she's affable, she's approachable, and she's really smart, and
19:38
Speaker 5: I just think she needs to perhaps be a little
19:41
Speaker 5: tougher in the early stages, particularly with her own members
19:44
Speaker 5: of our own party. And as I said, lay down
19:47
Speaker 5: the Laura and say listen, you put me in charge,
19:50
Speaker 5: you'll be following me. And if anyone has a little
19:54
Speaker 5: knife in their handbag or inside their coat, get rid
19:57
Speaker 5: of them, because I won't tolerate backstabbing. And of course
20:00
Speaker 5: he's going to have to change the deck chairs on
20:02
Speaker 5: the Titanic in terms of the shadow cabinet, and people
20:06
Speaker 5: like Anthony Roberts might come back to the floor. I
20:08
Speaker 5: think he was very funny today when he was quated.
20:10
Speaker 5: I think in various publications saying that you know, this
20:14
Speaker 5: is twelve months too late. There's still enough time for
20:16
Speaker 5: Kelly Slane to make a difference. But he's obviously been
20:19
Speaker 5: sidelined and he's one of the really powerful right wing
20:22
Speaker 5: members of the Liberal Party who can perhaps take a
20:24
Speaker 5: more prominent role if he chooses.
20:27
Speaker 2: I've just got a text message from James Willis, who's
20:30
Speaker 2: often on the show. Daily Telegraph Johnist. He's saying that
20:32
Speaker 2: Henskins has withdrawn from the leadership contest, so it'll be
20:36
Speaker 2: Kelly unopposed tomorrow mining in the leadership.
20:41
Speaker 4: I know Alis said pretty well, he's a pragmatist.
20:45
Speaker 5: He'll think that maybe he'll have a chance sometime in
20:48
Speaker 5: the future. But he's obviously of the opinion that he
20:50
Speaker 5: couldn't win a two persons Slane, so he's.
20:54
Speaker 4: Done the smart thing. Indeed, all right, watching James.
20:57
Speaker 2: By the way, everyone's got a well break the stories here,
21:01
Speaker 2: all right, Ray, thanks for popping on. We'll see you
21:04
Speaker 2: on Monday.
21:04
Speaker 4: Back for all the best, have a good week. Thank you, bye, and.
21:08
Speaker 2: Let's bring in now National Senator Matt Canavan. Matt, great
21:12
Speaker 2: to see you. I want to get across some of
21:14
Speaker 2: the other big stories today because this was extraordinary. You know,
21:18
Speaker 2: the alban Eezy government has been making such a song
21:21
Speaker 2: and dance about how it wants to host this climate
21:24
Speaker 2: change conference. Now finally today we find out that they've
21:27
Speaker 2: said that, you know, Turkey will host it. But Chris
21:32
Speaker 2: Bowen made this big deal about being the president of negotiations.
21:38
Speaker 2: Have a look at this.
21:40
Speaker 4: It would be great if Australia could have it. All,
21:43
Speaker 4: but we can't have it all.
21:45
Speaker 6: As COMP President of Negotiations, I would have all the
21:48
Speaker 6: powers of the COMP Presidency to manage to handle the
21:52
Speaker 6: negotiations to a point, CO facilitators to pair draft text
21:57
Speaker 6: how to issue the COUVER.
21:58
Speaker 7: Decision Matt, and now Alberezi is calling this an outstanding
22:04
Speaker 7: result when we've lost the conference that we didn't want anyway,
22:08
Speaker 7: By the way, your reaction, sure should just clarify.
22:14
Speaker 1: I desperately wanted it.
22:15
Speaker 8: I thought it would be the greatest campaign toill for me,
22:20
Speaker 8: going around to see all these people fly in on
22:23
Speaker 8: private jets and just to remind everybody why this is
22:25
Speaker 8: such a hypo critical load of rubbish, this whole net
22:28
Speaker 8: zero agenda. But look, I always thought it was unlikely
22:31
Speaker 8: that we'd do it, and particularly since the government now
22:34
Speaker 8: has a fight on its hands, I think Anthony Albanezi
22:37
Speaker 8: here is running scared.
22:39
Speaker 1: He's running scared now.
22:40
Speaker 8: From an opposition that's setting the agenda, saying that maybe
22:43
Speaker 8: we should focus a bit more on our own country.
22:46
Speaker 1: Maybe the government.
22:47
Speaker 8: Should focus on getting energy prices down like they promised
22:50
Speaker 8: they would before spending billions of dollars hosting forty thousand
22:55
Speaker 8: self entitled hypocrites from the around the world arriving on
22:58
Speaker 8: private jets to lectrosol about how terrible we are.
23:00
Speaker 1: So that's clearly what's happened here.
23:02
Speaker 8: That's why they throw out flow in the white flag,
23:04
Speaker 8: because now the government realizes they have a fight on
23:07
Speaker 8: the hands and finally the opposition's taking the fight up
23:10
Speaker 8: to them on behalf of the Australian people now. In
23:13
Speaker 8: terms of Chris bow And yes, it was a little
23:15
Speaker 8: embarrassing saying his attempt at dismount here. I only wish
23:19
Speaker 8: he could become cop president and no longer be the
23:21
Speaker 8: Energy minister. That would be a great thing for our country.
23:24
Speaker 8: I'd happily ship him off over to Turkey and see
23:27
Speaker 8: what he can do over there, because he's not doing
23:29
Speaker 8: anything for our own country. But what he seems to
23:32
Speaker 8: be suggesting is that he'd do both the energy minister
23:35
Speaker 8: job and the cop president job. Shouldn't he focus on
23:38
Speaker 8: his day job right now? Shouldn't he focus on the
23:41
Speaker 8: bringing down energy prices, making sure we protect manufacturing jobs
23:45
Speaker 8: in this country, because he's not doing that very well.
23:48
Speaker 8: He doesn't deserve a promotion.
23:50
Speaker 2: No, exactly right, And just to clarify the reason I
23:54
Speaker 2: didn't want this conference being in Australia, apart from having
23:57
Speaker 2: to deal with all these hypocrites flying in on their
24:01
Speaker 2: private planes, is the cost, you know, up to two
24:04
Speaker 2: billion dollars. It just makes me feel sick. The waste
24:08
Speaker 2: that of our taxpayer dollars are extraordinary. But I agree,
24:13
Speaker 2: you know he's he's now going to call himself the President,
24:17
Speaker 2: Chris Bowin, so cringe.
24:21
Speaker 4: Madam.
24:21
Speaker 2: Also want to ask you about the extraordinary testimony we
24:24
Speaker 2: heard from several of the bank chief executives in the
24:28
Speaker 2: Senate this week where they expressed some concern about the
24:32
Speaker 2: net zero direction as well. Now, this must have been
24:35
Speaker 2: surprising for you to hear these remarks from the major banks.
24:41
Speaker 8: Look, there's there's a there's a there's a contradiction here.
24:46
Speaker 8: The banks that have been some of the biggest boosters
24:49
Speaker 8: of the net zero agenda, they've all all were signatricea
24:52
Speaker 8: this thing called the Net Zero Banking Alliance. It's actually
24:55
Speaker 8: now suspended its operations because almost every other country, every
24:59
Speaker 8: other bank, and every other country had left. Our banks
25:02
Speaker 8: went down with the sinking ship, unfortunately, and yet they
25:07
Speaker 8: have been remarkably honest about the cost of net zero
25:10
Speaker 8: at these House or Committee House of Representative committees this week.
25:14
Speaker 8: I've got to give credit to people like Henry Pike
25:17
Speaker 8: and Simon Kennedy Aravioli have been extracting.
25:21
Speaker 1: These these tipbits from them.
25:24
Speaker 8: We've seen one of the bank CEOs say that net
25:28
Speaker 8: zero could kill the patient. The medicine might be too
25:30
Speaker 8: strong and actually kill the patient. The question then has
25:32
Speaker 8: to arise why the bank's continuing to refuse finance to
25:38
Speaker 8: things that can make money for our country. We had
25:40
Speaker 8: the remarkable admission from one of the banks that they
25:44
Speaker 8: don't finance gas exports. A only finance operations that gas
25:49
Speaker 8: operations that supplied domestic energy. If it involves exports, they
25:52
Speaker 8: don't supply it. Gas is our third biggest export in
25:56
Speaker 8: our nation, he said, He said glibly, Oh, other nations
25:59
Speaker 8: can do that while at our own banks, our own
26:02
Speaker 8: banks say no to a profit making opportunity. Aren't they
26:05
Speaker 8: meant to be Aren't they meant to have a fiduciary
26:07
Speaker 8: duty to their shareholders? And the way gas markets work,
26:11
Speaker 8: you can't just segment imports and exports. If you're not
26:15
Speaker 8: going to support the exports, that means you are also
26:17
Speaker 8: not going to support gas production this country, and we
26:20
Speaker 8: have some of the highest gas prices in the world
26:23
Speaker 8: right now, So why are the banks not supporting energy
26:26
Speaker 8: production in this country?
26:28
Speaker 2: No good point, Matt to another topic just finally, that
26:33
Speaker 2: you've been speaking about in the Senate. Michael Schallenberger, the
26:37
Speaker 2: journalist has also been really investigating this. Australia's e Safety
26:42
Speaker 2: Commissioner Julie in mangrat Now it looks like she's going
26:45
Speaker 2: to be hold before the US Congress over the government's
26:49
Speaker 2: Online Safety Act. They say there's serious censorship concerns. Now
26:54
Speaker 2: the US House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan has written
26:59
Speaker 2: a letter about this. Can you tell us what this
27:02
Speaker 2: is exactly about?
27:05
Speaker 8: Look, this stems from the decision last year from the
27:10
Speaker 8: Safety Commissioners seek a global takedown of content relating to
27:15
Speaker 8: the stabbing of Bishop Mari Mari in Western Sydney. A
27:19
Speaker 8: shocking incident that occurred and you might recall it in
27:22
Speaker 8: the days after that. So a lot of the images
27:24
Speaker 8: were being posted on social media and these Safety Commissioner
27:29
Speaker 8: sought to not only remove that from Australian servers if
27:32
Speaker 8: you like, Australian viewers, but also globally. It was unbelievable,
27:38
Speaker 8: unbelievable overreach from an Australian agency. Her decision actually got
27:42
Speaker 8: struck down in court ultimately, along with a bunch of
27:45
Speaker 8: other decisions she has made, She's lost in court time
27:47
Speaker 8: and time again in my views, as an organization that's.
27:50
Speaker 1: Out of control, way beyond the remit of.
27:53
Speaker 8: What parliaments set for the E Safety Commissioner when it
27:55
Speaker 8: was established, and now there's some blowback. Is obviously a
27:59
Speaker 8: country like America, which enshrines free speech in its constitution,
28:03
Speaker 8: is going to take a dim view to agencies in
28:06
Speaker 8: other countries seeking to restrict the free speech of Americans.
28:10
Speaker 8: So look, fortunately it's been rained in a bit by
28:12
Speaker 8: the courts, but I have huge concerns that the E
28:15
Speaker 8: Safety Commissioner and the agency itself are still seeking to
28:20
Speaker 8: silence the free speech of Australians in a way that was.
28:24
Speaker 1: Not intended by the Parliament when it was established.
28:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's highly concerning and we'll see how what the
28:31
Speaker 2: interrogation is like when she does finally face Congress. That'll
28:34
Speaker 2: be fascinating. Matt Canavan, great to have you as always
28:37
Speaker 2: on a Thursday. Thank you now still to come. How
28:40
Speaker 2: Reynolds Linda Reynolds is still planning to pursue the Albanezy
28:44
Speaker 2: government over the two point four million dollar payout to
28:47
Speaker 2: Britney Higgins. I've got those details coming up. Plus the
28:50
Speaker 2: ABC Center ladder over there reporting on women's only spaces
28:55
Speaker 2: alleging bias and editorial imbalance. Sarah Henderson with the details next.
29:03
Speaker 2: Welcome back. The Lesbian Action Group and this is the
29:07
Speaker 2: group embattled in the Tickle versus Giggle case on women's
29:10
Speaker 2: only spaces has written a letter to the ABC alleging bias,
29:15
Speaker 2: editorial imbalance and conflicts of interest. In their letter, they
29:19
Speaker 2: say the ABC was created to serve all Australians, not
29:23
Speaker 2: activist organizations, not lobbyists, and not ideologically driven movements. Its
29:28
Speaker 2: independence is not optional. It is the foundation of public
29:31
Speaker 2: trust in our national broadcaster. They say, we urge the
29:35
Speaker 2: board and executive leadership to take immediate action to restore
29:39
Speaker 2: confidence in the ABC's impartiality, transparency and editorial integrity.
29:45
Speaker 4: Now.
29:45
Speaker 2: A copy of the letter was sent by the group
29:47
Speaker 2: to Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson, who joins me, Now, Sarah,
29:52
Speaker 2: you're pushing for a Senate inquiry into the ABC already.
29:55
Speaker 2: What do you make of these latest accusations by this
30:00
Speaker 2: women's only group.
30:03
Speaker 9: We'll share a good evening and terrific to join you. Yes,
30:06
Speaker 9: I have called for a Senate inquiry into the ABC
30:10
Speaker 9: because it has failed the impartiality test on too many occasions.
30:14
Speaker 9: We've had the terrible situation with the fake gunshots and
30:17
Speaker 9: Heston Russell who was falsely accused of being a war criminal.
30:21
Speaker 9: We've had the controversy over the Four Corners program on
30:25
Speaker 9: Donald Trump, We've had the biased coverage of the Tickle
30:29
Speaker 9: versus Giggle case. And now the Lesbian Action Group has
30:33
Speaker 9: sent a stinging letter to the ABC making a very
30:38
Speaker 9: serious complaint where it says that women's rights groups, including
30:43
Speaker 9: lesbian organizations, have been completely disregarded. It's also raised very
30:50
Speaker 9: serious concerns about the ABC's partnership with an organization called ACON,
30:55
Speaker 9: which promotes trans or gender identity ideology in a way
31:02
Speaker 9: that the Lesbian Action Group says completely disregards the rights
31:06
Speaker 9: of women, including of course lesbian groups.
31:09
Speaker 2: So this is a.
31:11
Speaker 9: Serious complaint, and after concerns were raised about ACON just
31:17
Speaker 9: yesterday with the managing director Hugh Marx at the National
31:20
Speaker 9: Press Club, I think this is a complaint that.
31:23
Speaker 2: The ABC does need to take very seriously. They don't
31:27
Speaker 2: seem to be taking any of these complaints seriously in
31:30
Speaker 2: all likelihood, given Labor does have you know, when combined
31:35
Speaker 2: with the Greens and the Cross benches, they do have
31:37
Speaker 2: the numbers in the Senate. Your inquiry is not going
31:40
Speaker 2: to get up, is it.
31:44
Speaker 9: Well, I am going to give it the biggest possible
31:46
Speaker 9: shop that I can, and I am hopeful when you
31:49
Speaker 9: see complaints like this where women's groups have been marginalized
31:53
Speaker 9: and let's not forget Shari in the Tickle versus Giggle
31:57
Speaker 9: case which is now under appeal in the fees Or Court,
32:01
Speaker 9: women have basically been expunged from the Sex Discrimination Act,
32:06
Speaker 9: so there is no longer an inherent right for women
32:09
Speaker 9: to have women only spaces, as decided in that case that's.
32:14
Speaker 2: Now under appeal.
32:15
Speaker 9: So we are seeing a dramatic change and denigration of
32:20
Speaker 9: the rights of women, the rights of women to be
32:23
Speaker 9: in safe spaces, the rights of women to play against
32:27
Speaker 9: each other in women and girls only sport. And the
32:32
Speaker 9: ABC has really failed to grapple with these issues.
32:36
Speaker 2: And as I.
32:37
Speaker 9: Experienced a few weeks ago when we were doing a
32:39
Speaker 9: briefing in Parliament, with Sol Grover and also many other
32:44
Speaker 9: people who attended, Drew Hutton, the co founder of the Greens.
32:49
Speaker 9: You know, this is a really serious issue and frankly
32:52
Speaker 9: it's not one that the ABC is taking seriously whatsoever.
32:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's absolutely right, and your advocacy on this and
33:00
Speaker 2: keep pushing the fact that you keep pushing on it
33:03
Speaker 2: is incredible. Just on another topic, we had Holly Hughes
33:06
Speaker 2: on the show this week and she made some quite
33:11
Speaker 2: unkind comments about you. She said that you and just
33:14
Speaker 2: Enter Price, as I'm sure you've heard by now, were
33:17
Speaker 2: being used by the Conservative block. I just wanted to see,
33:21
Speaker 2: as you're on the program, get your response to that.
33:27
Speaker 9: Oh look, Sherry, I'm not really going to buy into
33:29
Speaker 9: these discussions, I think really at the moment, I'm very
33:33
Speaker 9: focused on fighting on behalf of all Australians, including on
33:37
Speaker 9: the very significant policy decision that we've made to abandon
33:41
Speaker 9: net zero, to advocate for lower energy prices, to get
33:45
Speaker 9: emissions down, and to reject Labour's regressive policies which are
33:49
Speaker 9: driving up electricity prices. So I'm not going to get
33:52
Speaker 9: caught up in the weeds, other than to say Holly
33:56
Speaker 9: continues to be a great friend. We were great mates
33:58
Speaker 9: in parliament. Think she knows that a decinta and we
34:03
Speaker 9: are not wallflowers and so a bit of Arji bajie,
34:07
Speaker 9: but we're certainly not wallflowers. And I'll continue to get
34:12
Speaker 9: my elbows out in the corridors and right across the Parliament.
34:18
Speaker 2: In the work that I do. And just finally, I
34:20
Speaker 2: don't know if you heard my report at the start
34:22
Speaker 2: of the program that Susan Lee was delivering a defense
34:26
Speaker 2: speech today to the Menzies Institute in Melbourne this evening. Actually,
34:30
Speaker 2: and my report at the start of the show was
34:32
Speaker 2: that she didn't consult on this defense speech with the
34:35
Speaker 2: Shadow Defense Minister, Angus Taylor, and he only received a
34:38
Speaker 2: copy of it after it had been given to the
34:41
Speaker 2: media yesterday. Do you think this is the Would you
34:44
Speaker 2: like to see more of the consultation that Lee promised
34:48
Speaker 2: when she became leader.
34:52
Speaker 9: Well, I can't really comment on the consultation of the
34:55
Speaker 9: Leader's office with the Shadow Defense Minister. They are really
34:59
Speaker 9: are matters for Susan Lee. But we are going through
35:03
Speaker 9: a process of working very hard to develop our policies.
35:07
Speaker 9: We have had a bit of a policy vacuim so
35:09
Speaker 9: I'm pleased to see that we are starting to move
35:12
Speaker 9: at pace, particularly in relation to energy policy and also
35:16
Speaker 9: of course in relation to immigration. There's a lot more
35:18
Speaker 9: hard work to do. We've got a very big mountain
35:21
Speaker 9: to climb, Shari. We had a terrible loss at the election.
35:24
Speaker 9: We know we've got a lot of work to do
35:27
Speaker 9: to win back the faith and the trust of all Australians.
35:30
Speaker 9: But we are up for the task, and I'm certainly
35:32
Speaker 9: up for the task in doing the work that I
35:35
Speaker 9: need to do, particularly in Victoria.
35:37
Speaker 2: All right, Sarah Henderson. Always great to have you on
35:39
Speaker 2: the program. Thank you. Still to come Trump's new plan
35:44
Speaker 2: for peace in Ukraine. Plus, Linda Reynolds is now suing
35:48
Speaker 2: the Albanezi government in the Federal court for negligence over
35:52
Speaker 2: how they cut her out of her own defense over
35:54
Speaker 2: that two point four million dollar payout. The details next
36:01
Speaker 2: welcome back.
36:02
Speaker 5: Well.
36:02
Speaker 2: Linda Reynolds is suing the Albanesi government in the Federal
36:06
Speaker 2: court for negligence over how she alleges they cut her
36:10
Speaker 2: out of her own defense over that two point four
36:13
Speaker 2: million dollar payment to Britney Higgins. In a fiery statement today,
36:17
Speaker 2: Reynolds has hit back at Anthony Albanesi, She says, rest
36:21
Speaker 2: assured the truth will surface and the Australian public will
36:25
Speaker 2: be able to form their own views about the transparency
36:28
Speaker 2: of the Labor government's process after seeing the exhibits for
36:32
Speaker 2: themselves when this matter goes to trial. I will not
36:37
Speaker 2: be dissuaded by the government's delay tactics and I am
36:39
Speaker 2: not afraid to keep taking this all the way to
36:43
Speaker 2: expose the truth, she says, even if Labor are content
36:47
Speaker 2: to use further taxpayer money to engage the most experienced
36:50
Speaker 2: barristers in the country to fight me. So this will
36:55
Speaker 2: go to the Federal court now. And this comes after
36:58
Speaker 2: alban Ezi faced at pressure it is until now avoided
37:02
Speaker 2: over why his senior ministers have refused to apologize for
37:07
Speaker 2: their discredited claims of a cover up over the Higgins matter.
37:12
Speaker 2: The so called mean Girls, Pennywong and Katie Gallagher were
37:16
Speaker 2: among those in Albaneze's team who publicly framed Higgins's rape
37:21
Speaker 2: as a failure of the Morrison government. And as you know,
37:24
Speaker 2: Linda Reynolds was hounded over false allegations that she tried
37:28
Speaker 2: to cover up the sexual assault that took place in
37:31
Speaker 2: her office Labour's accusations were ruthless. It appeared to be
37:36
Speaker 2: a coordinated political campaign withholding information.
37:40
Speaker 10: What she is is continuing is the cover up that
37:44
Speaker 10: has been underway for two years and is the cause
37:48
Speaker 10: of much trauma to Miss Higgins. It's the cover up
37:52
Speaker 10: often that is as much as traumatic as other elements
37:57
Speaker 10: of a serious crime like this.
38:00
Speaker 11: Instead, Senator Reynolds did not lead by example, and she
38:05
Speaker 11: let a woman down badly, a woman to whom she
38:07
Speaker 11: had a duty of care, because we know from the
38:10
Speaker 11: courageous public testimony from Miss Higgins this week that she
38:13
Speaker 11: did not feel supported when she told her minister she
38:16
Speaker 11: had been raped by a colleague.
38:18
Speaker 2: Now, even before official court verdicts, it was clear that
38:22
Speaker 2: there'd been no deliberate cover up of higgins rape by
38:26
Speaker 2: the Liberal Party. The narrative put forward by Labor and
38:30
Speaker 2: their media allies just did not align with the evidence,
38:34
Speaker 2: and two courts have now confirmed this, both the Federal
38:37
Speaker 2: Court in New South Wales and the WA Supreme Court,
38:41
Speaker 2: and Reynolds has won a defamation finding that has left
38:44
Speaker 2: Higgins and her husband, David Scherraz, facing the prospect of bankruptcy.
38:50
Speaker 2: This is despite the fact they were awarded two point
38:53
Speaker 2: four million from the Commonwealth in a fast tracked and
38:57
Speaker 2: flawed process, and right from the of the story's inception,
39:02
Speaker 2: Reynolds was positioned as a target and she was criticized.
39:07
Speaker 4: Tears is quite that she thought we was shut. I know,
39:10
Speaker 4: I know, I remember an idiot.
39:12
Speaker 9: And it was literally about a week after I had
39:16
Speaker 9: the exchange with her, you just said this is everywhere.
39:21
Speaker 2: That was at the very first meeting between Higgins and
39:24
Speaker 2: Channel ten to discuss the story, and the framing was
39:27
Speaker 2: clear as the scoundal grew a profoundly serious criminal allegation.
39:32
Speaker 2: The shocking rape of a young woman was grotesquely used
39:37
Speaker 2: to help Labor win the election, and before the story
39:41
Speaker 2: was public, David Cherraz discussed asking Labor Senator Katie Gallagher
39:46
Speaker 2: to put questions to the government and he said specifically
39:50
Speaker 2: that the timeline was chosen for political reasons.
39:54
Speaker 3: I got a friend in Labor, Katy gallaher on the
39:57
Speaker 3: Labor side, who.
39:59
Speaker 1: Will proad and continue it going. So sitting week story.
40:04
Speaker 4: Comes out, I have to answer questions a question time there.
40:08
Speaker 4: It's a mess for them. That's why Brits picked that timeline.
40:13
Speaker 2: That's why Brits picked that timeline. That's what he just
40:16
Speaker 2: said at the end. There So, despite two courts now
40:20
Speaker 2: rejecting the cover up narrative, there's been no apology or
40:24
Speaker 2: retraction from Penny Wong and Katie Gallagher and ALBINIZI has
40:28
Speaker 2: not face sustained questions on any of this. Until yesterday,
40:33
Speaker 2: away from the camera bubble, he was put through the
40:36
Speaker 2: ringer by journalists in Perth.
40:40
Speaker 10: W A found no ybl pmmarty to cover up, but
40:43
Speaker 10: didn't find bring Givens was a.
40:44
Speaker 1: Great befo the judge to span that's kind of the
40:47
Speaker 1: big issue.
40:48
Speaker 12: But all that's kind of the biggest all the liber
40:50
Speaker 12: that's kind of the biggest issue.
40:52
Speaker 4: Found there was no evidence of.
40:54
Speaker 10: Therefore, should the payout to Brittain Higgins have been more
40:58
Speaker 10: rigorous to protecting reputations.
41:00
Speaker 2: Of Linda Reynolds?
41:01
Speaker 12: And those things are hand hands off from the government.
41:05
Speaker 12: I had no role in that as Prime Minister. And
41:07
Speaker 12: that's entire and that's entirely appropriate.
41:11
Speaker 4: Your senators who led.
41:13
Speaker 2: The charge of able party coverer over gigs apologize to
41:17
Speaker 2: the friends.
41:18
Speaker 4: Well, that's not right.
41:19
Speaker 12: I don't accept that characterization.
41:22
Speaker 4: Accept.
41:22
Speaker 12: I don't accept I don't accept accept that. I don't
41:25
Speaker 12: accept I don't accept that characterization. I don't accept that characterization.
41:31
Speaker 12: A judge found that, on the basis of probability, a
41:35
Speaker 12: rape occurred, hang on, hang on, a rape occurred in
41:41
Speaker 12: That is what a judge found on the balance of
41:43
Speaker 12: probability in a ministerial office in parlmer House.
41:48
Speaker 4: I think that's a pretty big issue.
41:52
Speaker 2: So this is what happens when ALBINIZI is exposed to
41:55
Speaker 2: proper scrutiny. He's so used to the Canbra press gallery
41:59
Speaker 2: and their softball questions. They've never pressed him on the
42:02
Speaker 2: Linda Reynolds issue like you just saw there, and that
42:05
Speaker 2: interrogation only happened because he was in wa when you
42:11
Speaker 2: like to see more of that on other important matters.
42:13
Speaker 2: We just don't get that sort of scrutiny. But as
42:18
Speaker 2: you heard there from his comments, Albanezy shifted his answers
42:22
Speaker 2: to the rape itself, but not the question the journalists
42:25
Speaker 2: were pressing, the false accusations of a cover up by
42:29
Speaker 2: his favorite ministers Penny One and Katie Gallagher. They weaponized
42:36
Speaker 2: a rape no less to get ahead politically. The Albanezy
42:40
Speaker 2: government did that then in opposition and now this matter
42:43
Speaker 2: will be aired in a third court, the Federal Court,
42:47
Speaker 2: where Linda Reynolds will try seek justice for what she
42:51
Speaker 2: alleges was negligence involved in the two point four million
42:56
Speaker 2: dollar payout. Still to come Donald Trump's executive order on
43:04
Speaker 2: the Epstein files. How quickly will we see those files
43:07
Speaker 2: in the public domain? Plus his peace plan for Ukraine?
43:11
Speaker 2: That's next. Donald Trump has today signed the US House
43:18
Speaker 2: of Representatives bill compelling the release of the Epstein files
43:22
Speaker 2: he posted to truth. Social Democrats have used the Epstein issue,
43:26
Speaker 2: which affects them far more than the Republican Party, in
43:30
Speaker 2: order to try and distract from our amazing victories. Perhaps
43:34
Speaker 2: the truth about these Democrats and their associations with Jeffrey
43:38
Speaker 2: Epstein will soon be revealed, because I have just signed
43:42
Speaker 2: the bill to release the Epstein files in typical classic
43:48
Speaker 2: Trump fashion in all capital letters and with me now
43:52
Speaker 2: is Fiked Online editor Tom Slater. Tom, Already the files
43:57
Speaker 2: have been well, what's been released so far have been explosive.
44:01
Speaker 2: When these are release, I understand within thirty days they
44:05
Speaker 2: have to be given to Congress. This is going to
44:08
Speaker 2: unleash a whole not a lot of allegations, some very
44:12
Speaker 2: true and damaging, and some will be just based on
44:16
Speaker 2: the merest passing association. What do you think.
44:20
Speaker 13: Now, I think you've hit the nail on the head
44:21
Speaker 13: they're sharing. There is obviously two ways to look at
44:24
Speaker 13: the Epstein files controversy, one of which is that there
44:27
Speaker 13: is clearly much that the public needs to know about
44:30
Speaker 13: who knew what about Jeffrey Epstein's to preade activities and when.
44:34
Speaker 13: But there's also been this feeding frenzy. We've seen it
44:36
Speaker 13: unleashed against Republicans and Donald Trump in recent days, increasingly
44:40
Speaker 13: lurid allegations based often just on bits of rumor and
44:45
Speaker 13: scandal mongering, And now it seems like Trump hopes that
44:48
Speaker 13: some of that will be unleashed against the Democrats as
44:50
Speaker 13: this comes out in time.
44:51
Speaker 4: And I think it's just really important at points like
44:53
Speaker 4: this that.
44:54
Speaker 13: You do make that separation between people who definitely do
44:56
Speaker 13: have questions to answer, who definitely do have some guilt
45:00
Speaker 13: to be apportioned to them, and other people who are
45:02
Speaker 13: just going to be effectively tainted by association, not least
45:05
Speaker 13: because of the fact that Epstein was very successful at
45:08
Speaker 13: just finagling his way in to elite circles, to powerful
45:12
Speaker 13: people so even though this is being presented by Donald
45:15
Speaker 13: Trump as the kind of end of the matter, I
45:17
Speaker 13: dare say, what we're going to end up with is
45:19
Speaker 13: plenty of sort of scandal mongering and picking over this
45:22
Speaker 13: from all sides to politics, who will be provided with
45:24
Speaker 13: plenty of ammunition by these files.
45:27
Speaker 2: It's extraordinary also that while the Epstein files have always
45:30
Speaker 2: been a big story, this was never used by the
45:34
Speaker 2: transparency crowd against the Biden administration. It's only been used
45:38
Speaker 2: against Donald Trump.
45:42
Speaker 13: I know that's become really grimly explicit in over the
45:45
Speaker 13: course of the past week. It's very clear that because
45:48
Speaker 13: the Democrats failed to defeat Trump at the ballot box,
45:50
Speaker 13: they want to use the Epstein files to.
45:52
Speaker 1: Bring him down. There's a bit of that on both sides.
45:54
Speaker 13: Of course, we've seen that in what Donald Trump has
45:56
Speaker 13: said in the past twenty four hours about how the
45:59
Speaker 13: Democrats hand if anything, dirtier by this scandal then Republicans.
46:03
Speaker 13: But that particular attempt to exploit what is deprave crimes
46:09
Speaker 13: with many victims just to land political blows against your opponents.
46:12
Speaker 13: I think that's really unpleasant development in politics, and as
46:15
Speaker 13: you say, has been very much used by the resistance
46:18
Speaker 13: crowd by the Democrats to try and do to Trump,
46:21
Speaker 13: to bring him down what they fundamentally failed to do
46:23
Speaker 13: at the.
46:24
Speaker 2: Election, well exactly, but they were in power for four years.
46:27
Speaker 2: There was a Biden administration. The Biden Department of Justice
46:30
Speaker 2: had the files. They could have released them, they weren't
46:32
Speaker 2: pressuring their own Justice department to declassify them. Then, just
46:38
Speaker 2: to move on to the new Russia Ukraine peace fan
46:42
Speaker 2: now the Trump administration has drawn up said to be
46:44
Speaker 2: a secret new proposal to end the war. What do
46:48
Speaker 2: you think this will involve? How will it be different?
46:50
Speaker 2: And again, does it come down to major land concessions?
46:55
Speaker 13: That seems to be the case, at least from what
46:57
Speaker 13: we've been reported so far. FT has some of the
47:00
Speaker 13: details talking about the need for Ukraine to kind of
47:03
Speaker 13: sde the remainder of the Eastern don Vas territory, including
47:07
Speaker 13: land that they're currently militarily in control of. There are
47:11
Speaker 13: calls in there reportedly to abandon key forms of weaponry
47:15
Speaker 13: that have been absolutely essential for Ukraine to repel the
47:18
Speaker 13: Russian invaders. There's also discussion about potentially Ukraine having to
47:23
Speaker 13: have its army in order to please the Kremlin, so
47:27
Speaker 13: this is at a very early stage.
47:28
Speaker 4: This really is essentially a plan that no one.
47:31
Speaker 13: Has seen published publicly, but from the reporting it does
47:34
Speaker 13: seem to mirror the maximalist demands made by Moscow, which
47:39
Speaker 13: is going to be deeply concerning to Kiev. As ever,
47:42
Speaker 13: there's always a lot of smoke and mirrors. As ever,
47:44
Speaker 13: there's always a lot of gameplaying going on. Is this
47:46
Speaker 13: what the final plan will look like? Is this about
47:49
Speaker 13: trying to bounce Ukraine into making some kind of concession,
47:52
Speaker 13: even if they're not as extreme as a being reported
47:55
Speaker 13: at the moment. All that will become clear in the
47:57
Speaker 13: coming days. But I think depressingly for those of us
47:59
Speaker 13: who do support Ukraine in its fight for its independence,
48:02
Speaker 13: it does feel like because of the weakness of the
48:05
Speaker 13: government over there, because of the fact that the military
48:08
Speaker 13: campaign has ground to this stalemate, which is if anything
48:11
Speaker 13: favoring Russia, they're in a particularly weak position.
48:14
Speaker 2: Exactly, just very quickly, we've got less than a minute here.
48:17
Speaker 2: But you've recently released a documentary which has now been censored.
48:22
Speaker 13: What has happened, Yes, Sharry, our free speech documentary was censored,
48:27
Speaker 13: So think before you post about the rise of British
48:30
Speaker 13: speech policing. We were due to have our premiere at
48:33
Speaker 13: an East London cinema called Rich Mix, and they canceled
48:36
Speaker 13: it at the last minute, saying that the film didn't
48:38
Speaker 13: align with its values, so that a free speech documentary
48:42
Speaker 13: being banned. The irony wasn't lost on us, but it
48:44
Speaker 13: certainly was lost on this venue. Who, if they do
48:47
Speaker 13: have any values, free speech clearly is more than them.
48:50
Speaker 2: Absolutely well, I hope you get the documentary app online,
48:52
Speaker 2: get it shared widely, because you know this sort of hypocrisy,
48:57
Speaker 2: I mean, counting something over free speech when we see
49:00
Speaker 2: just hate speech left unchecked on the streets. Unbelievable. Thank
49:04
Speaker 2: you so much, really appreciate your time, and thank you
49:07
Speaker 2: everyone for your company. Tonight. Been such a busy news
49:10
Speaker 2: week this week. Two new liberal leaders. Have a lovely weekend.
49:13
Speaker 2: I'll see you Monday at eight. And here's Paul Murray