Transcript

Sharri | 27 May · Sharri

0:04
Speaker 1: Sho Welcome Well. First tonight more downing allegations about the
0:10
Speaker 1: nine News cover up over the allegations of sexual harassment
0:15
Speaker 1: against former news boss Darren Wick. This time it involves
0:19
Speaker 1: a senior female executive. Two women have claimed that director
0:23
Speaker 1: of Communications and Public Relations at nine, Victoria Buckan, spoke
0:28
Speaker 1: to them about allegations of sexual harassment against Darren Wick
0:32
Speaker 1: five years ago, but he remained in his job. This
0:37
Speaker 1: comes as nine News chief executive Mike Sneezeby broke his
0:41
Speaker 1: overseas holiday where he was celebrating his fiftieth birthday to
0:45
Speaker 1: order an external investigation into the complaints against Wick that
0:49
Speaker 1: we first aired on this show a week ago. And
0:53
Speaker 1: in a moment, I'll show you an astonishing video of
0:57
Speaker 1: Wick at a Logi's after party where he holds the
1:00
Speaker 1: hand of a female colleague. But before that, we can
1:04
Speaker 1: tonight reveal the conflicts of interest and paul governance that
1:08
Speaker 1: led to serious allegations of sexual harassment, sexism, and a
1:13
Speaker 1: toxic culture being swept under the rug at nine Victoria
1:18
Speaker 1: Buchan sought to suppress the scandal of Wick's inappropriate conduct
1:23
Speaker 1: after the twenty nineteen Logis after party at the function.
1:27
Speaker 1: We've now learned of four women who Darren Wick allegedly groped,
1:33
Speaker 1: sexually harassed, or propositioned. One on air presenter who was
1:38
Speaker 1: the victim of sexual harassment claims that Victoria Buchan rang
1:42
Speaker 1: her in the weeks afterwards to ask about the incident,
1:46
Speaker 1: and the woman says that Bucan asked her whether she
1:49
Speaker 1: leaked information to the media about Darren Wick's behavior and
1:53
Speaker 1: whether he had sexually harassed her. The woman said she
1:58
Speaker 1: hadn't leaked to the media, and the presenter claims that Buchan,
2:03
Speaker 1: along with another nine female executive, asked if she intended
2:08
Speaker 1: to make a formal complaint. Well, like many women at nine,
2:12
Speaker 1: she didn't want to lodge a formal complaint so that
2:15
Speaker 1: it wouldn't affect her career at Progression Now, Wick remained
2:19
Speaker 1: in his job. Another woman who works in an off
2:23
Speaker 1: air role at nine received a call from Buchan to
2:26
Speaker 1: ask if she'd been gossiping about Wick's behavior at the
2:30
Speaker 1: Logi's after party, and the woman claims that Bucken defended
2:34
Speaker 1: Wick by saying he had mixed medication with alcohol. Now.
2:38
Speaker 1: Buchan denies this. When the woman pressed Buchan on the
2:42
Speaker 1: sexual harassment allegations. Bucken said that it had been dealt with.
2:48
Speaker 1: One nine employee told me today and I quote, HR
2:52
Speaker 1: is working hand in hand with publicity, so it's not
2:55
Speaker 1: really a safe space now. I've asked Victoria who buck
3:00
Speaker 1: and twice whether it's correct that over the years she'd
3:04
Speaker 1: become aware of allegations that Wick behaved inappropriately towards women
3:10
Speaker 1: when he was intoxicated. I asked her what action she
3:13
Speaker 1: took about this, and whether she was more concerned about
3:17
Speaker 1: bad publicity for nine and protecting Wick than a duty
3:21
Speaker 1: of care to vulnerable women. Buckan responded to say, I
3:27
Speaker 1: was aware that Darren Wick was intoxicated at the Logis.
3:30
Speaker 1: He was spoken to and left the event. After the event,
3:34
Speaker 1: I spoke to people who came to me about his drinking.
3:38
Speaker 1: I spoke to Darren Wick on a number of occasions
3:40
Speaker 1: about his drinking. People knew this. I was never at
3:44
Speaker 1: events where I was aware of the behavior described as
3:48
Speaker 1: Hansy occurred. I didn't receive any internal complaints to deal
3:52
Speaker 1: with or external media inquiries about such behavior. She said.
3:57
Speaker 1: My role here is quite clearly to have media inquiries
4:01
Speaker 1: about our business and our people, which are many and varied.
4:04
Speaker 1: It requires consultation across all parts of Nine. Victoria Buckin said,
4:09
Speaker 1: I have always done my best to operate with integrity
4:12
Speaker 1: and support for all our people. Well tonight we can
4:16
Speaker 1: show you clear evidence of Wick's love of partying with
4:20
Speaker 1: staff who worked under him. Have a look at this video.
4:28
Speaker 1: As you can see there, Wick reaches down to hold
4:33
Speaker 1: an on air presenter's hand on the dance floor. This
4:37
Speaker 1: was taken at the previous year's logis. It was the
4:40
Speaker 1: after party in twenty eighteen, and it clearly shows Wick
4:44
Speaker 1: on the dance floor holding the hand of a woman
4:47
Speaker 1: who we know was an on air colleague while dancing.
4:51
Speaker 1: The video clearly demonstrates that Wik was happy to blur
4:55
Speaker 1: the lines of appropriate employer employee interaction, especially when the
5:01
Speaker 1: logis and alcohol were involved. Now it's not just Nine's
5:07
Speaker 1: corporate affairs that women claim covered up allegations of inappropriate conduct.
5:13
Speaker 1: During mister Costello Peter Costello's term as chair of nine,
5:17
Speaker 1: a high profile nine News presenter raised concerns about Wick's
5:21
Speaker 1: workplace behavior with a board member. The presenter, who first
5:26
Speaker 1: shared her story here on Sky News' last Wednesday, said
5:30
Speaker 1: that she was so distressed, she felt she had nowhere
5:33
Speaker 1: else to turn, so she called a director in confidence
5:38
Speaker 1: to speak about the toxic culture under Wick. Now, this director,
5:42
Speaker 1: who is still on the board, was sympathetic and assured
5:47
Speaker 1: the senior presenter that they would deal with the issue.
5:51
Speaker 1: The nine Star was then extremely disappointed when nothing was
5:55
Speaker 1: done to address the situation. She said there was no
5:58
Speaker 1: assistance provided by the network to source the leaks, stamp
6:02
Speaker 1: out the toxic behavior, or change the culture. After board level,
6:07
Speaker 1: there's nowhere to go, and I was fearful of losing
6:11
Speaker 1: my job. So, as I said those revelations we first
6:14
Speaker 1: aired last Wednesday, Well, I asked Chair Peter Costello about
6:18
Speaker 1: this again today. I asked him whether any board directors
6:22
Speaker 1: had raised issues about darren Wick with him, and if so,
6:27
Speaker 1: what action did he take. Costello declined to answer the question,
6:32
Speaker 1: even though it was put to him three times. The
6:37
Speaker 1: board member also didn't respond to specific questions about whether
6:41
Speaker 1: they fulfilled their obligations as a director. There are now
6:47
Speaker 1: serious questions being raised about the board governance at nine
6:51
Speaker 1: and about why a six figure payout was given to
6:55
Speaker 1: darren Wick despite the known legal complaint of inappropriate behavior.
7:00
Speaker 1: One employee told me today They're all talking about budget
7:04
Speaker 1: cuts that are coming, yet Wiki gets a massive payout.
7:08
Speaker 1: It leaves a bitter taste. So far, dozens of women
7:14
Speaker 1: have bravely revealed their stories of sexual harassment, inappropriate behavior
7:20
Speaker 1: or a toxic workplace under Darren Wick. We broke the
7:25
Speaker 1: story of Wick's history of hansy and inappropriate conduct here
7:29
Speaker 1: on Sky News last Monday. Our coverage was the front
7:33
Speaker 1: page of the Daily Telegraph on Thursday. The Sydney Morning
7:37
Speaker 1: Herald spoke to more women on Saturday for their front page,
7:41
Speaker 1: and The Australian also ran it on their front page today.
7:44
Speaker 1: After first reporting last Monday that a complaint of inappropriate
7:48
Speaker 1: behavior had led to Wick's departure, nine chief executive Mike Sneezeby,
7:54
Speaker 1: as I said, broke his overseas trip and address staff.
7:58
Speaker 1: Today he fronted the news he announced an external investigation
8:02
Speaker 1: into complaints. He also offered to confidentially speak to any
8:07
Speaker 1: women at an off site location. He followed this with
8:11
Speaker 1: an email at four pm where he said, this afternoon,
8:15
Speaker 1: I'm meeting with our people across nine News to talk
8:18
Speaker 1: about recent reports about alleged inappropriate behavior and broader cultural
8:23
Speaker 1: issues in our television newsrooms. I want to begin by
8:27
Speaker 1: saying I'm aware this has been a very tough time
8:29
Speaker 1: for many of you, and I acknowledge the distress and
8:32
Speaker 1: frustration the substance of those reports has caused. He said.
8:38
Speaker 1: The recent reports that detail alleged serious failings of leadership
8:42
Speaker 1: in television news clearly tells me more work needs to
8:46
Speaker 1: be done to ensure we have a safe and inclusive
8:49
Speaker 1: workplace throughout Nine. Now Mike Sneeze be the chief executive.
8:54
Speaker 1: He said, the recent reports and the internal feedback he'd
8:58
Speaker 1: received and other nine leaders had received in recent days
9:02
Speaker 1: has made it clear that he needs to accelerate the
9:04
Speaker 1: work he's doing to build a culture of respect and trust,
9:09
Speaker 1: and he announced the external review. He announced that there'd
9:12
Speaker 1: be an ongoing formal complaint line. He also allowed open
9:15
Speaker 1: door access to nine's executive group and said there'd be
9:19
Speaker 1: a helpline for emotional or psychological support. Now, this is
9:24
Speaker 1: all a good start in external review into a long
9:28
Speaker 1: history of complaints or issues with inappropriate conduct. But this issue,
9:34
Speaker 1: and specifically how Nine protected a senior television executive with
9:40
Speaker 1: a long history of shocking conduct towards women. While this
9:44
Speaker 1: has a long way to go. Now, let's bring in
9:51
Speaker 1: tonight's Sky News panel, sky News host Liz Storer and
9:54
Speaker 1: commentator Joe Hildurrand. Welcome to you both, Hi, Joe. Look,
10:00
Speaker 1: this is now a major scandal for Channel nine. It's
10:03
Speaker 1: an ASX listed company. There are questions being asked not
10:07
Speaker 1: only about Darren Wick's conduct, but about why this was
10:10
Speaker 1: allowed to go on for so long when so many
10:13
Speaker 1: people clearly knew about the issues. Do you think enough
10:18
Speaker 1: has been done at this point?
10:19
Speaker 2: Look, it seems that Mike Sneedsby is taking this seriously,
10:23
Speaker 2: the fact that he's cut forward his holiday, his birthday
10:26
Speaker 2: celebrations to come back and deal with it. That email
10:28
Speaker 2: struck me as fairly fairly sincere. I think the problem
10:32
Speaker 2: that I've been reading all about this, my overwhelming feeling
10:35
Speaker 2: is just one of sadness. I mean, the legacy media,
10:39
Speaker 2: the mainstream media, is fighting for its survival in the
10:42
Speaker 2: twenty first century. We've got all sorts of new and
10:46
Speaker 2: often very sinister threats to just you know, just good
10:50
Speaker 2: old fashioned news reporting, news breaking. The skills and the
10:55
Speaker 2: abilities and the platforms we need to be able to
10:57
Speaker 2: do that, and to have yet another body blow like
11:02
Speaker 2: this and and again you know Channel nine is not alone,
11:05
Speaker 2: but another body blow. It just fills me with a
11:07
Speaker 2: sort of sense of sadness. I think that we also
11:11
Speaker 2: need to the thing that upset me the most, and
11:15
Speaker 2: I met Darren Wick, I think on two occasions, once
11:18
Speaker 2: in an event in Canberra and another time we had
11:22
Speaker 2: lunch after I left Channel ten. But you know, and
11:26
Speaker 2: I had heard and i'd heard, you know, I never
11:28
Speaker 2: seen or witness but had heard some of these reports.
11:31
Speaker 2: I didn't realize just how bad it was.
11:33
Speaker 1: I think no one knew how extensive.
11:35
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people. I think a lot
11:37
Speaker 2: of people thought it was you know, like you know,
11:39
Speaker 2: it's just people getting drunk having a good time. Maybe
11:42
Speaker 2: some people went a bit too far, woke up with
11:43
Speaker 2: sore heads and regretted things, and obviously there seemed to
11:47
Speaker 2: have been more than that now. But also what really
11:51
Speaker 2: struck me, and I know has really hurt at least
11:54
Speaker 2: some of the people involved, is that that cold kind
11:58
Speaker 2: of freezing out of people after those incidents in the
12:02
Speaker 2: cold light of day, and crushing their careers, often their dreams,
12:06
Speaker 2: and that all sort of been tied into it. And
12:09
Speaker 2: to me that almost feels like the more sort of
12:11
Speaker 2: toxic element, that stuff that happened in the cold light
12:14
Speaker 2: of day.
12:14
Speaker 1: Look, I think you know you're right that emotional turmoil
12:18
Speaker 1: is very difficult. But you know, I've spoken to a
12:20
Speaker 1: number of women now who were sexually harassed. They I
12:23
Speaker 1: should say they alleged they were sexually harassed, and you
12:27
Speaker 1: know the trauma of that, the distress, the tears, because
12:31
Speaker 1: you know you can't do anything. It's your boss. He's
12:34
Speaker 1: the most powerful television executive in the media company, and
12:38
Speaker 1: they felt that they had to put up with it.
12:40
Speaker 1: And sometimes there were repeat instances over many years, and
12:44
Speaker 1: very difficult for people to live like that and to
12:47
Speaker 1: work like that and to know how to handle it,
12:49
Speaker 1: especially when, as we've reported, at least some senior female
12:53
Speaker 1: executives knew about it and apparently didn't do anything, or
12:57
Speaker 1: at least if they did, it was nothing that meant
12:59
Speaker 1: that Wick didn't have his job. Now, let's have a
13:03
Speaker 1: look at another out of touch leader, well, the PM
13:07
Speaker 1: Anthony Alberanizi. He opened last Tuesday a new affordable housing
13:11
Speaker 1: project in western Sydney, but just hours later he was
13:16
Speaker 1: feasting on apparently three lobsters with billionaire Justin hems at
13:20
Speaker 1: his new restaurant, where lobsters are said to cost up
13:23
Speaker 1: to two hundred and fifty dollars a kilo. Three days later,
13:27
Speaker 1: Anthony Alberanzi was back out in Western Sydney again, making
13:31
Speaker 1: a big speech where he said that he too could
13:33
Speaker 1: feel voter's cost of living pain.
13:36
Speaker 3: Have a look, I know that when you are living
13:39
Speaker 3: week to week, it's hard to even find the time
13:42
Speaker 3: to think about the future, let alone plan for it
13:45
Speaker 3: with confidence.
13:48
Speaker 1: Liz, you know you can bet if this had been
13:51
Speaker 1: Albanese's counterpart and the opposition team, he would have accused
13:55
Speaker 1: them of being out of touch for having lunch with
13:57
Speaker 1: a billionaire, as he has in the past.
14:00
Speaker 4: Yeah, and look, there's nothing wrong with being wealthy. There's
14:02
Speaker 4: nothing wrong with having wealthy friends. Where where yeah, enjoy
14:06
Speaker 4: your two hundred and fifty dollars obs tomate. Where this
14:09
Speaker 4: rubs Australians up the wrong way, as it should is
14:12
Speaker 4: when you also want to pretend to be a man
14:14
Speaker 4: of the people. I was raised in social housing, etcetera, etcetera,
14:17
Speaker 4: and so on his whole I'm still Jenny from the bronc.
14:20
Speaker 1: He used to have a little, Now I have a lot.
14:22
Speaker 1: Routine is getting really, really old.
14:24
Speaker 4: This cost of living crisis is dragging out. His government
14:27
Speaker 4: is doing little to nothing to save it. So when
14:30
Speaker 4: he still tries to pretend like, oh, I'm a man
14:33
Speaker 4: of the people. We all know your master five million
14:36
Speaker 4: dollar portfolio of land holdings he takes home almost six
14:41
Speaker 4: hundred thousand dollars a year. Just don't pretend to be
14:45
Speaker 4: one of us as well, which he still tries to
14:48
Speaker 4: stir up. I am you, you know, I'm one of you.
14:52
Speaker 4: But it's talking these people, especially out in Western Sydney,
14:56
Speaker 4: being like, oh me as well, no, not you as well.
14:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it seems like he has forgot in his roots.
15:01
Speaker 1: But I think what's funny is that at that Western
15:04
Speaker 1: Sydney function where he was claiming to be a man
15:07
Speaker 1: of the people and talking about how tough the cost
15:09
Speaker 1: of living is with Joe in the Daily Mail article
15:11
Speaker 1: on this, he was seen hugging one of those men
15:14
Speaker 1: of the people.
15:15
Speaker 2: That's right, yeah, exactly, absolute tally and good on the Mail.
15:21
Speaker 2: They do a great job with that. And then I
15:23
Speaker 2: say the PM sort of beaming because he's hugging somebody
15:25
Speaker 2: at this Western Sydney event.
15:27
Speaker 1: And I'm like that's me.
15:30
Speaker 2: I know that cheap ass off the rack Jack's and
15:34
Speaker 2: beautiful long brown locks as well. But yes, I was there.
15:37
Speaker 2: I thought it was a very good speech. I think
15:39
Speaker 2: this is all a bit and again there's always.
15:41
Speaker 1: Kind of who the person going pleasure.
15:44
Speaker 2: Well, unlike Laura Tingle, I don't pretend I'm impartial, but
15:48
Speaker 2: unlike I mean, obviously, if you're going to you know,
15:52
Speaker 2: if you're going to go and eat lobster with a billionaire,
15:55
Speaker 2: the media is going to taie you up the Daily
15:56
Speaker 2: Mail or the Daily Telegraph, will whoever. Obviously, if you
15:59
Speaker 2: buy a couple of you know, bowing seven three sevens
16:01
Speaker 2: for your prime ministerial fleet, you're going to get a
16:03
Speaker 2: towel up on two GB or whatever it may be.
16:05
Speaker 2: So it's also fair game and good sport. But honestly,
16:09
Speaker 2: does anyone actually think that the Prime Minister of Australia
16:11
Speaker 2: is earning a pauper's wage and wearing a hair shirt
16:14
Speaker 2: and living in the straight Of course, he's made it.
16:15
Speaker 2: That doesn't mean he didn't grow up poor. It doesn't
16:17
Speaker 2: mean he doesn't understand what it was like, far more
16:20
Speaker 2: than most prime ministers. But I think the whole point
16:23
Speaker 2: of a labor government should be to raise people from poverty,
16:26
Speaker 2: from the working class and help them get ahead.
16:28
Speaker 1: I mean the accusation is that he's forgotten what it's
16:32
Speaker 1: like to do it tough in this cost to live
16:34
Speaker 1: in crisis. So just before we move on to the
16:36
Speaker 1: next topic, let's have a look at Joe hugging elbow
16:38
Speaker 1: for next time he tries to him as he always loved,
16:44
Speaker 1: really leaning in there for a friendly hug Joe.
16:47
Speaker 2: Look how happy he is Minister as an objective, free
16:51
Speaker 2: and fearless and partial journalist. I think that was a
16:53
Speaker 2: great peak, right all right.
16:56
Speaker 1: Well, let's move on to ABC journalist Laura Tingle, who's
16:59
Speaker 1: landed herself in hot water after she claimed that Australia
17:03
Speaker 1: is a racist country. She says the comments that Opposition
17:06
Speaker 1: leader Peter Dutton has given license for migrants to be
17:09
Speaker 1: abused when looking to buy or rent property in Australia.
17:13
Speaker 1: Have a look, I mean.
17:15
Speaker 5: We are a racist capsulate's face that we always have
17:17
Speaker 5: been as very depressing. To give a license like that
17:21
Speaker 5: I find more profoundly depressing and a terrible prospect for
17:25
Speaker 5: the next election.
17:29
Speaker 1: Look, Liz, even Tanya Plubisek disagreed with the remarks. She says,
17:34
Speaker 1: while some Australians have experienced racism and we're seeing a
17:37
Speaker 1: lot of antisemitism at the moment, she said, overwhelmingly the
17:40
Speaker 1: country's not racist, and I'd agree with that.
17:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, And what Dutton was talking about was the unprecedented
17:46
Speaker 4: level of immigration that we've seen in the last year
17:49
Speaker 4: and how the math simply doesn't add up. We're letting
17:52
Speaker 4: all these people in when we can't even accommodate basic
17:55
Speaker 4: needs of a people who are already here, and claiming
17:59
Speaker 4: that is racism, or as she claimed, gives people license
18:04
Speaker 4: to discriminate against people if you're at an auction and
18:07
Speaker 4: somebody's bidding and they don't look Australian, whatever that means. Anyway,
18:11
Speaker 4: We're a very multicultural society. No one looks Australian anymore.
18:16
Speaker 4: Is outright ridiculous being against these high levels of immigration.
18:22
Speaker 4: As a Resolve poll showed just this month, two thirds
18:25
Speaker 4: of Aussies are like, yeah, cut that back even further
18:29
Speaker 4: than you've already promised to What are we all racist
18:31
Speaker 4: now for saying that it's got nothing to do with
18:33
Speaker 4: the color of people's skin or where they're coming from.
18:36
Speaker 1: Or who they are.
18:37
Speaker 4: It's simply about putting Australians first.
18:40
Speaker 1: And that's what done. Putting Australians first. I think the
18:44
Speaker 1: issue dote In is trying to highlight is the strain
18:47
Speaker 1: on the housing supply. And Joe here's link exactly their
18:51
Speaker 1: first access with the high immigration levels. And we have
18:54
Speaker 1: seen unprecedented immigration levels.
18:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've gone on the record on this network on
19:00
Speaker 2: my podcast. The real story with Jojo something that actually
19:04
Speaker 2: that's a false equivalence. The idea that more migrants just
19:07
Speaker 2: means less stuff for everybody who's already here is actually wrong.
19:10
Speaker 4: So simple for a million people last year.
19:17
Speaker 2: Not that simple. And I and that's.
19:18
Speaker 1: Not affecting the housing crisis. A million extras in one year.
19:23
Speaker 2: Houses get built when people think there are more people
19:25
Speaker 2: coming to buy them. And the reason why there's been
19:27
Speaker 2: a glut and a trough is because everyone stopped building
19:29
Speaker 2: houses when we stop letting my migrantcy in during COVID.
19:32
Speaker 2: You're welcome having said that.
19:33
Speaker 4: And what has the government done about it that they're
19:36
Speaker 4: letting them in?
19:36
Speaker 1: Nothing?
19:37
Speaker 2: The idea that anyone who raises these concerns is racist
19:40
Speaker 2: is incredibly unhelpful. It's the sort of rhetoric that lost
19:44
Speaker 2: the Voice referendum just last year, and it had me
19:47
Speaker 2: tearing my hair out. We had everyone saying, oh, you
19:48
Speaker 2: don't know for this year racist or Australias the racist country,
19:51
Speaker 2: or anyone who poses it's racist or it's rooted in racism.
19:54
Speaker 2: You would think that people who think that they are
19:56
Speaker 2: so smart and consider themselves part of the intelligence here
19:58
Speaker 2: would be intelligent enough to learned from that lesson. Clearly
20:01
Speaker 2: they have not. I would say, I know the sort
20:04
Speaker 2: of crowd that goes the Melbourne Writers' Festival. They're whiter
20:06
Speaker 2: than a polar bear in a snowstorm. It'd be great
20:08
Speaker 2: to see, you know. The whitest electorates were the ones
20:12
Speaker 2: that actually voted. If you want to talk about racism,
20:14
Speaker 2: let's talk about racism to Indigenous Australians. The whitest electorates,
20:18
Speaker 2: the whitest and richest electorates, were the ones very few
20:21
Speaker 2: ones who actually ended up voting yes for the referendum
20:24
Speaker 2: was the most multicultural electorates who voted no. So if
20:27
Speaker 2: Laura Tingle is accusing Australia of being racist, she's accusing
20:31
Speaker 2: a land mass of being racist. And I'm not sure
20:33
Speaker 2: how a lump of rock can be racist. If she
20:36
Speaker 2: is accusing Australians of being racist, then she is. It
20:39
Speaker 2: would appear by all the data that we have, unless
20:41
Speaker 2: she's got any other data that she might want appoint
20:43
Speaker 2: us to that she is accusing.
20:45
Speaker 1: Didn't point to any.
20:46
Speaker 2: She's accusing migrants themselves.
20:48
Speaker 1: You know what, for a supposedly objective ABC journalist, she
20:52
Speaker 1: is very opinionated.
20:53
Speaker 2: Sometimes it helps to admit your bias.
20:55
Speaker 1: I far all right, Liz Storry, Joe Hude Bran, thank
20:58
Speaker 1: you both so much, and list we'll see you back
20:59
Speaker 1: here ten o'clock Now coming up, Deputy Prime Minister Richard
21:03
Speaker 1: Marles says anti Semitism in this country is the worst
21:07
Speaker 1: he's seen in his lifetime. Well that's no thanks to
21:10
Speaker 1: months of inaction from his own government. Senator James Patterson
21:14
Speaker 1: will join me next. Plus Lisa Wilkinson's million dollar legal
21:18
Speaker 1: bill revealed over Bruce Lehman's failed defamation case. Will have
21:22
Speaker 1: the latest from the Federal Court today with the legal
21:25
Speaker 1: expert Chris Merrit Welcome back. Well, Anti Semitic chants could
21:33
Speaker 1: be banned under new hate speech laws being drafted by
21:37
Speaker 1: Attorney General Mark Dreyfuss. The bill will reportedly carry criminal
21:42
Speaker 1: and not civil penalties for serious offenses of vilification based
21:47
Speaker 1: on someone's race, sexuality, gender, disability or religion. Now, the
21:53
Speaker 1: timing could not be better. After Melbourne's biggest Jewish school
21:58
Speaker 1: was vandalized with tragic death threat sprayed across its fence.
22:03
Speaker 1: The statement jew die was graffited across the entrance to
22:07
Speaker 1: the school last Friday night, terrorizing and upsetting students and parents.
22:13
Speaker 1: Here was the school principal and Deputy PM, Richard Miles.
22:17
Speaker 6: Today there are a number of families who chose not
22:20
Speaker 6: to send their children to school today. This is off
22:23
Speaker 6: the back of the community already feeling quite unsafe, given
22:28
Speaker 6: the anti Israel protests that have been going on, and
22:32
Speaker 6: the fear that our families have that they might find
22:34
Speaker 6: their ways to high schools, not just or to Jewish schools,
22:38
Speaker 6: and not just university campuses.
22:40
Speaker 7: The levels of anti Semitism that we have seen in
22:42
Speaker 7: the past few months more than any that I've seen
22:45
Speaker 7: during my lifetime, and it must stop. It has no
22:49
Speaker 7: place in our country.
22:52
Speaker 1: So deeply upsetting. All right, Let's bring in now Shadow
22:55
Speaker 1: Home Affairs Minister James Patterson. I mean, James, look all
23:00
Speaker 1: all these protesters and others claim that you know, this
23:03
Speaker 1: is about Israel, this isn't about being Jewish, that they're
23:05
Speaker 1: not anti Semitic. Well, graffiti like that Ju Dae just
23:11
Speaker 1: shows what a mockery their claims are. And I strongly
23:15
Speaker 1: believe that right now, if you're denying Israel's right to exist,
23:19
Speaker 1: that anti Zionism is indistinguishable from anti Semitism. What do
23:24
Speaker 1: you think?
23:26
Speaker 8: Of course, that's exactly right, Shari. Scratch the surface on
23:30
Speaker 8: almost every vehement anti Zionist and you will find an
23:34
Speaker 8: anti Semite if they're smart enough. They couch the language
23:37
Speaker 8: in terms of Zionism in the State of Israel, but
23:40
Speaker 8: it doesn't take much before you get to what's really
23:43
Speaker 8: underlying all of it, and that is a hatred of
23:45
Speaker 8: Jewish people and racism towards the Jewish community. I agree
23:49
Speaker 8: with what the Deputy Prime Minister said today, but I
23:51
Speaker 8: think we would all be forgiven for wondering whether Richard
23:54
Speaker 8: Mirles has been in an induced coma for the last
23:56
Speaker 8: six months and is only just woken up and realized
23:58
Speaker 8: what's going on, because it shouldn't have taken what has
24:01
Speaker 8: happened at Mount Skoper's for him to realize how serious
24:04
Speaker 8: the anti Semitism crisis has been in our country for
24:07
Speaker 8: more than six months now, since the seventh of October.
24:09
Speaker 8: It's abundantly clear what's happening and where has been the
24:12
Speaker 8: action to complement these serious words that we're now hearing
24:16
Speaker 8: out of the deep Prime Minister.
24:17
Speaker 4: And some others.
24:18
Speaker 1: Well, next week it will be eight months. Actually, you know,
24:20
Speaker 1: it's eight months that we've seen this extreme anti semitism.
24:24
Speaker 1: And look, as I've said repeatedly, the strong daily anti
24:29
Speaker 1: Israel rhetoric that we see from this government where they
24:32
Speaker 1: wrongly accuse Israel of targeting civilians, of causing of not
24:39
Speaker 1: acting in accordance with humanitarian law when they call for
24:42
Speaker 1: an immediate humanitarian cease fire because they think they claim
24:47
Speaker 1: again wrongly that Israel is targeting civilians. Well, all of
24:52
Speaker 1: this sends the message to people on the street, to
24:55
Speaker 1: Australians that you know, Israel isn't behaving properly, isn't behaving
25:00
Speaker 1: in accordance with international law, and this is part of
25:03
Speaker 1: what's driving the anti semitism. So doesn't the government have
25:07
Speaker 1: to take some responsibility for the levels of antisemitism that
25:11
Speaker 1: we're seeing.
25:13
Speaker 8: Of course they do sharow, that's exactly what they should do.
25:16
Speaker 8: But the Prime Minister right now can't even control his
25:18
Speaker 8: own caucus when it comes to these questions. He's had
25:21
Speaker 8: Senator Fadam a payman out there the previous week endorsing
25:25
Speaker 8: a phrase which the Prime Minister has said is a
25:27
Speaker 8: very violent statement which has no place in Australia. And
25:30
Speaker 8: again today she is tweeting that we should end all
25:33
Speaker 8: trade and economic relations with israelm and we should unilaterally
25:36
Speaker 8: elect recognize a Palestinian state. I mean, what she knows
25:40
Speaker 8: is there are no consequences for defying a weak prime minister.
25:44
Speaker 8: And if the Prime Minister kind of control his own caucus,
25:46
Speaker 8: what hope does he have defending the Jewish community against
25:49
Speaker 8: these unprecedented levels of anti Semitism.
25:52
Speaker 1: And look, he's barely lifted a finger to even try
25:55
Speaker 1: defend the Jewish community in my opinion. Now, Immigration Minister
25:59
Speaker 1: Andrew jaile were his order apparently to go soft on
26:03
Speaker 1: foreign born criminals who have ties to Australia, has continued
26:07
Speaker 1: to haunt him. The Australian Today reporting that thanks to
26:10
Speaker 1: the Immigration Minister's direction, ninety nine a child rapist was
26:15
Speaker 1: allowed to stay in the country. Now, James, this New
26:18
Speaker 1: Zealand bond man reportedly raped his fourteen year old stepdaughter
26:23
Speaker 1: while his wife was giving birth to his child in hospital.
26:28
Speaker 1: Surely Andrew Giles has to resign for this. How does
26:34
Speaker 1: it get worse than this?
26:37
Speaker 8: Every minister would hope that they would have a Prime
26:39
Speaker 8: Minister who was as tolerant of incompetence and weakness as
26:43
Speaker 8: Anthony Alberanzi is. But surely even Anthey Albanesi has his limits.
26:47
Speaker 8: Surely allowing a pedophile to stay in this country who
26:52
Speaker 8: should otherwise been deported is a bridge too far, even
26:55
Speaker 8: for Anthony Alberenzi. But that is exactly the effect of
26:58
Speaker 8: Andrew Giles' directtion to his department. Because under Andrew Giles,
27:02
Speaker 8: and under this direction issued in January twenty twenty three,
27:05
Speaker 8: he told his department and therefore also the AAT and
27:08
Speaker 8: other bodies that consider their decisions, that as a primary
27:11
Speaker 8: consideration they must evaluate the connection of this person to Australia,
27:16
Speaker 8: and if they have a connection to Australia, regardless of
27:19
Speaker 8: the level of their offending, they must be allowed to
27:22
Speaker 8: a stay in Australia and there's now been not just
27:23
Speaker 8: one case like this, but dozens of cases like this.
27:26
Speaker 8: Andrew Giles should be sacked and tomorrow Direction ninety nine
27:30
Speaker 8: match he issued should be repealed and replaced with what
27:32
Speaker 8: the Coalition had in power, which is if you're a
27:34
Speaker 8: non citizen and commit a crime, you'll be deported no
27:37
Speaker 8: if nobuts.
27:39
Speaker 1: Look, this is a major issue and it's unbelievable how
27:42
Speaker 1: many lives Andrew Giles has. And I think Anthony Albernezi
27:46
Speaker 1: boasts about the fact that he hasn't lost a minister
27:49
Speaker 1: in his first term as Prime Minister. But it is
27:51
Speaker 1: nothing to boast about because when you see this much
27:54
Speaker 1: incompetence and it has affected public safety. We have seen
27:57
Speaker 1: people who've been allegedly bashed, assaulted, injured by some of
28:02
Speaker 1: these release detainees. Then this is affecting public safety decisions
28:08
Speaker 1: directly made by his government. He's got to go. It's
28:11
Speaker 1: a sign of weakness that he won't sack him. Not
28:13
Speaker 1: something to boast about, that's right.
28:17
Speaker 8: And I bet the family of the young man who
28:19
Speaker 8: was allegedly murdered by someone who was allowed to stay
28:22
Speaker 8: in Australia after they breached the character visions of the
28:24
Speaker 8: Migration Act. Doesn't take much comfort from the fact that
28:27
Speaker 8: the Prime Minister hasn't lost a minister. In fact, I
28:29
Speaker 8: don't think they care at all. I don't think most
28:31
Speaker 8: Australians care at all. It's a bizarre boast when your
28:34
Speaker 8: ministers are failing to protect the community, which is the
28:37
Speaker 8: sacred and first duty of every Australian government.
28:39
Speaker 1: Indeed, James Patterson, thank you very much for your time tonight.
28:43
Speaker 1: And James is, of course the Shadow Home Affairs Minister. Well,
28:48
Speaker 1: Lisa Wilkinson is seeking one point eight million dollars from
28:51
Speaker 1: her employer, her old employer, Network ten, to cover her
28:54
Speaker 1: costs of fighting the defamation case against Bruce Lehman. A
28:58
Speaker 1: shot hearing this morning discussed whether Wilkinson's cost should be
29:02
Speaker 1: sent to a referee for assessment, after Ten had agreed
29:05
Speaker 1: to pay reasonable costs for her defense team earlier this year.
29:10
Speaker 1: But they say they won't pick up the bill for
29:12
Speaker 1: anything that was unnecessarily deceptive or wasteful. Well, let's bring
29:18
Speaker 1: in now the Rule of Law Institute of Australia's Chris Merritt. Chris,
29:22
Speaker 1: thank you very much for joining us. Look what are
29:24
Speaker 1: the court here today? And you know, is there any
29:28
Speaker 1: real point to determining the costs when we know that
29:31
Speaker 1: Bruce Lherman can't afford to pay in any case?
29:35
Speaker 9: Well, we know that for sure. Now. Justice Lee made
29:38
Speaker 9: the point that there are limited prospects of recovering anything
29:41
Speaker 9: from mister Luhrman. He strongly urged Ten and Lisa Wilkinson
29:47
Speaker 9: to narrow the scope of their dispute over how much
29:52
Speaker 9: Ten should pay Wilkinson for the costs of her separate defense.
29:57
Speaker 9: If that there's no ability to narrow that dispute, it
30:02
Speaker 9: will probably go to a referee to objectively assess it.
30:07
Speaker 9: That will cost money. Justice Lee was very strong in
30:11
Speaker 9: his encouragement for them to narrow the terms of that
30:14
Speaker 9: so that they don't lose more money. They're the losers
30:17
Speaker 9: if you look at the reality here, the financial reality,
30:21
Speaker 9: the winners of that defamation case in financial terms are
30:25
Speaker 9: the biggest losers.
30:26
Speaker 1: So, you know, Bruce Lehman brought on this defamation case.
30:30
Speaker 1: I mean effectively, he has nothing to lose. Really, he's
30:34
Speaker 1: lost the case, but he's not going to be able
30:36
Speaker 1: to pay any costs. Shouldn't there be some provision or
30:39
Speaker 1: new law that litigans shouldn't be able to take up
30:42
Speaker 1: defamation cases that are going to cost those defending them
30:46
Speaker 1: millions of dollars if they can't pay.
30:48
Speaker 9: But there are provisions for plaintiffs in these circumstances who
30:54
Speaker 9: are impecunious to post security for costs. Courts are extremely
30:58
Speaker 9: reluctant to do that. The worst example of that reluctance
31:02
Speaker 9: took place a few years ago with a war criminals
31:07
Speaker 9: known as Captain Dragon who know the case well, who lost,
31:12
Speaker 9: who caused News Corporation just spend millions of dollars and
31:16
Speaker 9: they never got it back and they won. They won
31:18
Speaker 9: in the end. So it's yes, there is a scope
31:21
Speaker 9: for serious reform here. People with limited ability to pay
31:27
Speaker 9: the cost of the other side can impose a massive
31:30
Speaker 9: financial detriment on people who have done nothing wrong.
31:34
Speaker 1: Seems like there could be reform in that area. Now,
31:38
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about these text messages that
31:40
Speaker 1: have emerged in discovery process between Britney Higgins and her
31:44
Speaker 1: fiance David Charaz and how this relates to the defamation
31:48
Speaker 1: case that Linda Reynolds is pursuing against Higgins and Schirats book.
31:53
Speaker 9: This is extremely significant during the pre trial discovery process.
31:58
Speaker 9: Linda reynolds solicitor Martin Bennett discovered a WhatsApp exchange between
32:04
Speaker 9: mister Sharaz and miss Higgins and what it shows that
32:07
Speaker 9: they were arranging. He would argue, he has argued in
32:11
Speaker 9: court that they were arranging between themselves who would post things.
32:16
Speaker 9: It appeared to be a joint enterprise. Now why is
32:18
Speaker 9: that significant? Because Linda Reynolds is suing over four social
32:22
Speaker 9: media posts that were posted not by miss Higgins, but
32:26
Speaker 9: only by mister Charraz. Now this is very relevant when
32:31
Speaker 9: you consider that mister Charaz is already effectively given up.
32:35
Speaker 9: He's agreed to judgment against him and in favor of
32:39
Speaker 9: Linda Reynolds. He's impecunious.
32:41
Speaker 1: Well, he says he doesn't want to take part in
32:43
Speaker 1: this legal process.
32:44
Speaker 9: The bottom line is he can. The judgment against him
32:48
Speaker 9: could be millions and millions dollars. He's unemployed, he doesn't
32:52
Speaker 9: own a shadow in France. He doesn't have two point
32:55
Speaker 9: four million dollars, but miss Higgins does. She's got two
32:59
Speaker 9: point four million dollars. So the joint enterprise argument is
33:02
Speaker 9: how mister Bennett, Martin Bennett, Linda Reynold's lawyer, can impose liability,
33:10
Speaker 9: could impose library.
33:11
Speaker 1: On Higgins because of those what's that messages where they
33:14
Speaker 1: discuss posting. Fascinating, Chris Merritt, thank you very much. You're
33:20
Speaker 1: always across the detail. Now coming up, why new polling
33:24
Speaker 1: says a minority government is a fifty to fifty bet
33:27
Speaker 1: at the next election as Labour losers support in the regions.
33:31
Speaker 1: My political panel will join me next. Welcome back with
33:38
Speaker 1: new polling out today shows that a minority government or
33:42
Speaker 1: a hung parliament is a fifty to fifty bet at
33:45
Speaker 1: the next election. The Thin Review reports that Labor is
33:49
Speaker 1: predicted to govern at the next election, either in a
33:52
Speaker 1: hung parliament or with a thin majority. Now, the poll
33:56
Speaker 1: they published today also shows that the coalition could win
33:59
Speaker 1: back a number of Labor held regional seats. Let's bring
34:04
Speaker 1: in now Tonight's political Insiders panel, Bill Shotton's former chief
34:08
Speaker 1: of staff and now Gxostrategy is director Cameron Milner and
34:11
Speaker 1: Sky News host kayleab Bond. Welcome to you both. So, Cameron,
34:16
Speaker 1: this is fascinating because this poll is predicting that the
34:20
Speaker 1: Liberals could win back seats in the outer suburban regional area,
34:26
Speaker 1: including Robertson and Gilmour in New South Wales lines in Tasmania.
34:31
Speaker 1: But they're saying that the Liberals aren't strong enough to
34:34
Speaker 1: win back the Teal seats that they lost. So based
34:38
Speaker 1: on this, Peter Darton's prospects aren't looking great at the
34:42
Speaker 1: next election.
34:43
Speaker 10: What do you think, Well, I think it's very true.
34:47
Speaker 10: I think we are heading towards a minority government given
34:49
Speaker 10: the trajectory of the Albanese government. And let's not forget
34:51
Speaker 10: that Gillard and Swann took a much larger RUD majority
34:55
Speaker 10: and destroyed that and created a minority government in twenty ten,
34:57
Speaker 10: so Lava knows how to do this with the first term.
35:00
Speaker 10: But what a horror show. What a horror show we're contemplating.
35:03
Speaker 10: I mean, can you imagine the marriage of labor after
35:06
Speaker 10: the next election if this is the case. The groom
35:08
Speaker 10: there's Albow, Penny Wong's the best man, the blushing and
35:11
Speaker 10: bearded bride and bands there at the altar, you know,
35:14
Speaker 10: with the Teals being that, you know, the maids of honor.
35:17
Speaker 10: I mean, it would be a horror show for Australia
35:19
Speaker 10: in the midst of a cost of living crisis. So
35:21
Speaker 10: let's hope that's not going to happen, but Albo would
35:24
Speaker 10: be very happy because he'd be a promise suit without
35:26
Speaker 10: having to do any more than he's already doing. And
35:29
Speaker 10: they'd be perfectly perfect for Alba. So no threat to
35:31
Speaker 10: Alban He's been Prime Minister in I'm already government. Just
35:34
Speaker 10: the rest of Australia.
35:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, Caleb. Look, it is going to be a tough
35:38
Speaker 1: ask for the Coalition to claw back the nineteen seats
35:43
Speaker 1: that they need to win majority government. But I do
35:46
Speaker 1: think that there are shortcomings with polling, particularly when it
35:50
Speaker 1: comes to the Teal seats. You know, the emergence of
35:53
Speaker 1: the Teals are really a new trend at the last election,
35:56
Speaker 1: so it might not capture whether or not people have
36:01
Speaker 1: tied of the tials. And you know, partly the reason
36:04
Speaker 1: people in at least in wealthier seats embrace the tials
36:07
Speaker 1: is because they were turned off Scott Morrison at the
36:10
Speaker 1: last election. They didn't want to vote for Morrison, but
36:12
Speaker 1: they weren't prepared to vote for Labor. So I think
36:15
Speaker 1: you might see some of these seats return to the Coalition.
36:18
Speaker 11: What do you think potentially? My feeling is that the
36:22
Speaker 11: Teals haven't had their day yet. We can't also forget
36:25
Speaker 11: that part of the Till phenomenon, beyond, of course the
36:28
Speaker 11: moneyed up Champagne socialists who voted for the Teals, is
36:32
Speaker 11: that the demographics in a lot of these seats have
36:34
Speaker 11: also changed. They have a much higher proportion of renters
36:38
Speaker 11: than they used to because you've had a lot of
36:40
Speaker 11: large properties that have been subdivided and turned into apartments, etc.
36:44
Speaker 11: So you still have those rich types, but you also
36:47
Speaker 11: have a much larger cohort of renters who are more
36:49
Speaker 11: likely to vote for a left wing candidate any way,
36:52
Speaker 11: and then we know how the preferences will flow after that.
36:56
Speaker 11: Given the nineteen seats, as you said, that the coalition
36:58
Speaker 11: would need to claw back in order to form government,
37:01
Speaker 11: it's basically a statistical impossibility. The government has a majority
37:06
Speaker 11: of only two or three seats, so it is highly
37:10
Speaker 11: likely that that will be lost and they will go
37:12
Speaker 11: into minority. That is what I have been saying for
37:15
Speaker 11: quite some time. Will happen, and then it's just a
37:17
Speaker 11: matter of which independence they get on board. I haven't
37:21
Speaker 11: gone to check what the odds are on sports better
37:23
Speaker 11: any of the bookies yet, but that would be my bet.
37:26
Speaker 11: I reckon a minority government formed by Labor because the
37:29
Speaker 11: problem for the coalition is, let's say they craw back
37:32
Speaker 11: five or six seats, which would be a pretty good result,
37:34
Speaker 11: they then still need a huge number of people on
37:37
Speaker 11: the cross bench in order to get them over the line.
37:40
Speaker 11: And I just can't see.
37:41
Speaker 1: That happening now. Yeah, well there's still a long way
37:44
Speaker 1: to go, potentially up to a year, so anything could
37:47
Speaker 1: happen now. Earlier in the show and the last segment,
37:50
Speaker 1: we were talking about how Andrew Anthony Albanezi is proud
37:55
Speaker 1: of the fact that he hasn't lost a minister in
37:57
Speaker 1: his first term as PM, and he wants the perception
38:00
Speaker 1: of stability leading into the next election. And you know
38:03
Speaker 1: this is partly why he hasn't sacked Andrew Giles, even
38:06
Speaker 1: though the reports today are that Giles allowed a child
38:10
Speaker 1: rapist to remain in Australia thanks to his nonsensical direction
38:14
Speaker 1: ninety nine. But Cameron Milner, there's another reason as well
38:18
Speaker 1: that Albanize hasn't moved on Andrew Giles. And I bet
38:21
Speaker 1: you can explain it to us. You would know it
38:23
Speaker 1: more than most. It's that Giles is one of his
38:26
Speaker 1: factional heavyweights. It's one of his numbers men. You know,
38:30
Speaker 1: tell us about whether you think this is why, at
38:33
Speaker 1: least partly why Albanize would be protecting Andrew Giles despite
38:38
Speaker 1: he's repeated and proven incompetence. And I think we've just
38:42
Speaker 1: lost and now he's back. We've got Karen Milner back.
38:45
Speaker 1: I think we've we've got you back, Cameron Hope. So yeah,
38:49
Speaker 1: all right, well I can hear you, yes, yeah, okay,
38:51
Speaker 1: we'll tell us about Andrew Giles been one of Albo's
38:56
Speaker 1: factional men.
38:59
Speaker 10: Well, is definitely an Albanista. That's the only possible reason
39:02
Speaker 10: for his survival. But the second reason is the worst
39:05
Speaker 10: kept secret in Canberra, is that Albanize is going to
39:07
Speaker 10: have a ministery of reshuffle. This guy needs to refresh
39:10
Speaker 10: with his numbers. So Albot's going to have a ministry
39:12
Speaker 10: or reshuffle very soon. And I think in that stage,
39:15
Speaker 10: Giles if we move sideways and put in a different
39:17
Speaker 10: portfolio to save the embarrassment, but he'll still be a minister.
39:21
Speaker 10: And then people like Andrew Charlton or Gillian Hill who's
39:23
Speaker 10: very ambitious, they'll be promoted into the ministry to refresh
39:28
Speaker 10: the ministry. So I think Albo's is waiting for the
39:30
Speaker 10: minister a reshuffle which is coming to refresh his own
39:33
Speaker 10: numbers in Canberra.
39:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's extraordinary. I think you know, as
39:39
Speaker 1: much as I on this show care strongly about the
39:42
Speaker 1: anti seminism crisis, and we talk talk about it every night. Caleb,
39:46
Speaker 1: you know we will do we will do. Yes, thank
39:49
Speaker 1: you Cameron. But Caleb, to perhaps mainstream Australians, it's stories
39:55
Speaker 1: like this that the minister allowed a child rapist to
39:57
Speaker 1: stay in Australia that really cut through and are own
40:01
Speaker 1: example of the government's and competence most certainly.
40:05
Speaker 11: And I know mister Giles is generally pretty useless, but
40:07
Speaker 11: I'd be checking where he was about two minutes ago
40:10
Speaker 11: when Cameron cut out, because I think he might have
40:12
Speaker 11: pulled the plug to prevent what he knew was coming.
40:15
Speaker 1: Not that parts.
40:17
Speaker 11: Let's talk about why this happened. This Directive ninety nine
40:23
Speaker 11: was essentially because New Zealand and its Prime Minister at
40:27
Speaker 11: the time, Jacinda R. Dune, was herself facing an election
40:31
Speaker 11: in New Zealand, which he won in twenty twenty. But
40:34
Speaker 11: we know what happened to her after that, and she
40:36
Speaker 11: was taking this hardline at the time that Australia was,
40:40
Speaker 11: you know, dumping its criminals on New Zealand. You're trying
40:43
Speaker 11: to deport these New Zealand citizens back to our country
40:47
Speaker 11: even though they've lived their whole lives in your country.
40:50
Speaker 11: They're your problem and you should deal with it now.
40:52
Speaker 11: Scott Morrison, to his credit, did not cave into that
40:55
Speaker 11: and as good as said get stuffed. But soon after
40:59
Speaker 11: Alberanizi became Prime Minister he said, oh, we'll take a
41:02
Speaker 11: look at this. There's something we can do about this,
41:04
Speaker 11: and sure enough, in January last year that's exactly what
41:07
Speaker 11: they did. That directive was sent out to say that
41:11
Speaker 11: people who are not citizens but have lived a significant
41:13
Speaker 11: portion of their lives in this country should be allowed
41:16
Speaker 11: to remain. Now you saw Richard Miles today say the
41:19
Speaker 11: government tried to deport this fella and then a decision
41:23
Speaker 11: of an independent body sorry overturned that. Well, no, no,
41:27
Speaker 11: If it weren't for the decision of Andrew Giles that
41:31
Speaker 11: people who have lived a significant portion of their lives
41:34
Speaker 11: should not be deported, he would have been deported. The
41:37
Speaker 11: government's talking out of both sides of their mouths and
41:40
Speaker 11: claiming it wasn't their fault as a direct result of
41:43
Speaker 11: their decision.
41:45
Speaker 1: Now, just before we go, Ukraine has been left waiting
41:48
Speaker 1: for six months for a response from the Labor government
41:52
Speaker 1: after the Ukrainian ambassador requested an urgent shipment of coal
41:57
Speaker 1: as its power plants are targeted by Russia. Now the
42:00
Speaker 1: Age Today reporting that Ukraine lodged the request in December,
42:04
Speaker 1: with a follow up written to Foreign Minister Pennywog just
42:08
Speaker 1: earlier this month. Cameron, you know that this clearly seems
42:13
Speaker 1: there are so many examples of this, how the Albanizi
42:15
Speaker 1: government has let Ukraine down over and over again.
42:22
Speaker 10: They have, and it's been terrible what we've done in
42:24
Speaker 10: terms of Ukraine, but it's also terrible what we have
42:26
Speaker 10: done with China as well. I mean, Penny Wong is
42:28
Speaker 10: completely distracted with winning a PLA award for the Palestinian
42:32
Speaker 10: Liberation Army at the hotline her mass you know, I mean,
42:35
Speaker 10: this is a terrible woman distracted by political movement in
42:41
Speaker 10: the Middle East and everywhere else, couldn't care less about
42:44
Speaker 10: and that's terrible for Australia.
42:45
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, And just before I get sued by Penny Wong,
42:49
Speaker 1: of course she claims. She says she doesn't support her
42:52
Speaker 1: MASS or the PLO or any other terrorist group. She
42:56
Speaker 1: would be arguing that she Mass.
42:58
Speaker 10: Certainly supports Penny Wong has put.
43:00
Speaker 1: Out statement supporting moves that pennyone has made. That is true.
43:03
Speaker 1: All right, Cameron, Mina, Caleb, thank you both very much
43:06
Speaker 1: for your time. Now after the break the train wreck
43:09
Speaker 1: speech that has voters concerned that Joe Biden isn't fit
43:13
Speaker 1: for another four years in office. Koshagada will join me next.
43:22
Speaker 1: We're just five months out from the election. A Gaffield
43:25
Speaker 1: speech has intensified criticism that President Joe Biden is not
43:29
Speaker 1: fit for another four years in office. Have a look.
43:34
Speaker 12: And when I was Vice president, thanks were kind of
43:37
Speaker 12: bad during the pandemic. And what happened was Rock said,
43:42
Speaker 12: and he'd go to Detroit and help fix it. Well,
43:46
Speaker 12: poor Mary spend more time with me than he ever
43:48
Speaker 12: thought he was going to have you well.
43:51
Speaker 1: The White House reportedly issued nine corrections following that speech
43:55
Speaker 1: for the Black Civil Rights group. It was filled with
43:57
Speaker 1: mispronunciations and factual errors. Joining me now, Sky News contributed
44:02
Speaker 1: Kosha Gata Koisha, thank you very much for your time.
44:04
Speaker 1: Look what were some of the errors here, it kind
44:09
Speaker 1: of ran the gamut.
44:10
Speaker 13: Some of them were you could be charitable and say
44:13
Speaker 13: that he just misspoke, and they were relatively minors. Some,
44:16
Speaker 13: as you say, were quite factual, like, for example, he
44:18
Speaker 13: said the average American household can expect to save eight
44:21
Speaker 13: hundred thousand dollars a year, when the fact was eight
44:24
Speaker 13: hundred dollars a year from some amendments they made to
44:27
Speaker 13: the government run healthcare Obamacare system, so that one was
44:30
Speaker 13: kind of funny. And then some just unfortunate use of words,
44:35
Speaker 13: such as, instead of an insurrectionist for the January sixth issue,
44:39
Speaker 13: he used something else like erectionist or something that was
44:42
Speaker 13: sad and funny. But I think you know, all it
44:44
Speaker 13: does is this advances the opinion that everybody has that he's.
44:47
Speaker 1: Not fit cognitively right now.
44:50
Speaker 13: And it just also advanced the speculation of are they
44:52
Speaker 13: going to pull a switcharu or are they going to
44:54
Speaker 13: go with him?
44:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's amazing they're leaving it so late, but again
44:58
Speaker 1: it could still happen. Trump, though, also received a frosty
45:02
Speaker 1: reception and a major gathering of libertarians in Washington, DC.
45:06
Speaker 1: Here he is now, I think you should nominate me
45:10
Speaker 1: or at least vote for me and we should win together.
45:16
Speaker 1: So you can hear the booing there. He left after
45:20
Speaker 1: just thirty four minutes. This is unusual for Trump. Was
45:24
Speaker 1: it the area, the venue, what happened?
45:28
Speaker 13: I think it was the party, the Libertarian convention that
45:32
Speaker 13: he spoke to. It was definitely a mixed reception, the
45:34
Speaker 13: resumpturing a lot of booing and heppling, as you mentioned.
45:37
Speaker 13: But I think what's important to remember is who the
45:39
Speaker 13: intended recipients are and were for him in this. It's
45:43
Speaker 13: not the diehard libertarians. He would not be appealing to them,
45:47
Speaker 13: for example, just his spending record among other issues. Those
45:50
Speaker 13: are people who are really purest about purists, about limited,
45:54
Speaker 13: extremely constricted government in all aspects of life.
45:57
Speaker 1: He wouldn't be there, guy.
45:58
Speaker 13: But who he is appealing to, not just those attending
46:01
Speaker 13: in person, but the tens of millions of people who
46:04
Speaker 13: view speeches that he gives any time anywhere, is the
46:07
Speaker 13: independent minded voters who are dissatisfied with both sides and
46:11
Speaker 13: are maybe considering an independent vote to an RFKJ or
46:15
Speaker 13: Jill Stein or somebody like that. That's who he's courting.
46:17
Speaker 13: And one other observation I'd make too, is he is
46:20
Speaker 13: playing on offense right now, where he's going into the
46:22
Speaker 13: Lions den of crowds that would not historically be favorable
46:25
Speaker 13: to him like these guys, or he went into the
46:28
Speaker 13: South Bronx, which is a Democrat stronghold. No Republican candidate
46:31
Speaker 13: has been there for forty years, so he's doing that,
46:33
Speaker 13: whereas you see the other side seems to be on defense,
46:36
Speaker 13: where they're also speaking to the black vote in Detroit
46:39
Speaker 13: and other places, which is something that typically they wouldn't
46:42
Speaker 13: want to be spending their time doing because it should
46:44
Speaker 13: be a lock.
46:45
Speaker 1: And do you think there is a chance that Trump
46:46
Speaker 1: could pick up some of those areas that haven't traditionally
46:50
Speaker 1: voted for Republicans or is this just a strategy game.
46:56
Speaker 13: I think so, because these elections are won and lost
46:58
Speaker 13: on razor thin margins. So it's coming down to ten
47:01
Speaker 13: thousand votes twenty thousand votes in select areas, as you know,
47:04
Speaker 13: in a country with three hundred plus million people, so
47:06
Speaker 13: it really will make a difference if he can peel
47:08
Speaker 13: away a little bit more. All eyes seem to be
47:10
Speaker 13: on the black vote because he got eight percent of
47:13
Speaker 13: them in sixteen, twelve percent in twenty twenty, so he's
47:17
Speaker 13: grown his share and that those are numbers that Republicans
47:21
Speaker 13: have not seen since Ronald Reagan forty years ago. So
47:23
Speaker 13: if he can even peel off a little bit more,
47:25
Speaker 13: that puts the Democrats on defense. It's not that Republicans
47:30
Speaker 13: are going to take the black vote, but they could
47:32
Speaker 13: stye me the other side. And then also, I think
47:34
Speaker 13: appealing to these libertarian minded independence not the hardcore libertarians,
47:38
Speaker 13: is another one where if he could peel back a
47:41
Speaker 13: little bit ten thy twelve thousand folks in those battleground states,
47:44
Speaker 13: it could make the difference.
47:45
Speaker 1: Look, a lot of commentitis have suggested that Trump would
47:48
Speaker 1: easily win against Biden given his age and incompetence, but
47:52
Speaker 1: it seems like the polls have them a lot cloiser
47:55
Speaker 1: than we expected.
47:59
Speaker 13: Indeed, I think, you know one thing, polls are polls,
48:02
Speaker 13: and they haven't exactly covered themselves in glory the polling
48:05
Speaker 13: industry in recent times, so we take it as an indicator,
48:08
Speaker 13: but with a huge rain of salt. The second thing, too, though,
48:10
Speaker 13: is that US elections are increasingly about the machinery because
48:14
Speaker 13: it rather than the candidates, because we don't have mandatory
48:17
Speaker 13: voting so these elections are won and lost ultimately on
48:20
Speaker 13: turnout and who has the better apparatus on the ground,
48:23
Speaker 13: and they can go out into those specific counties and
48:25
Speaker 13: battle ground states and get voters who don't vote typically
48:28
Speaker 13: to come out, and when it comes to that, the
48:30
Speaker 13: domoates just seem to do better, which is why you
48:32
Speaker 13: see that tightening.
48:33
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time, Koshagada. Now I'll see
48:36
Speaker 1: you all tomorrow night at eight o'clock. Don't forget, Josh
48:38
Speaker 1: Fridenberg's documentary is on at seven PM. All looking forward
48:41
Speaker 1: to that. Here's Paul Mari