Transcript

Sharri | 16 May · Sharri

0:03
Speaker 1: Live in Sharring.
0:07
Speaker 2: Well.
0:07
Speaker 3: Tonight we haven't seen a budget reply speech.
0:10
Speaker 2: Peter Dutton has delivered a pitch.
0:13
Speaker 3: For Australia if he were the Prime minister. There have
0:16
Speaker 3: been major policy announcements tonight, including a two year ban
0:21
Speaker 3: on foreign investors from buying Ozsie Holmes and slashing immigration
0:26
Speaker 3: levels to just one hundred and forty thousand a year.
0:29
Speaker 3: This is a bold speech and Dutton is unapologetic as
0:33
Speaker 3: he announces controversial and tough measures in housing, immigration, energy
0:39
Speaker 3: and crime.
0:40
Speaker 4: This is because this Labor government has made life so
0:43
Speaker 4: much tougher for Australians, because this Labor government has set
0:47
Speaker 4: our country on a very dangerous course.
0:51
Speaker 3: Dutton will fight the next election from this platform. He's
0:55
Speaker 3: got nineteen seats that he needs to win to get
0:57
Speaker 3: into majority government. It is a tough ask. He won't
1:01
Speaker 3: get close without a point of difference. His vision tonight
1:05
Speaker 3: clearly sets the coalition apart from Labour's vision for Australia.
1:10
Speaker 3: You think back to rud howard two thousand and seven election.
1:13
Speaker 3: The policies were virtually identical, but Peter Dutton and Anthony
1:18
Speaker 3: Albanesi's vision for Australia couldn't be further apart.
1:23
Speaker 4: Today, millions of Australians are struggling to pay their bills.
1:28
Speaker 4: Even going to the supermarket and petrol station has become
1:31
Speaker 4: stressful for so many. Prime Minister, Australians are genuinely hurting
1:36
Speaker 4: under your government.
1:38
Speaker 3: Here tonight, in the past half an hour, Peter Dutton
1:41
Speaker 3: has given a speech playing to the coalition's strengths and
1:45
Speaker 3: brutally exposing Labour's areas of weakness and vulnerability. He's outlined
1:51
Speaker 3: major policies in the area of domestic violence, immigration, housing.
1:56
Speaker 2: Health and energy.
1:58
Speaker 3: He knows that in this cost of crisis, with social
2:01
Speaker 3: cohesion at breaking point, plus the scandal of detainees released
2:06
Speaker 3: onto the streets without monitoring only to allegedly bash.
2:10
Speaker 2: A grandmother in one case.
2:12
Speaker 3: With this backdrop, Dutton knows the public are looking to
2:15
Speaker 3: his opposition and wondering if they've got the credibility, the
2:19
Speaker 3: substance and the policies.
2:21
Speaker 2: To be in office.
2:22
Speaker 3: Well, here were the key points from Dutton's Budget reply
2:25
Speaker 3: speech that we've just heard. On immigration, Dutton tied this
2:28
Speaker 3: closely to home ownership. In a major policy announcement, Dutton
2:33
Speaker 3: said he'll ban for two years foreign investors and temporary
2:38
Speaker 3: residents from buying existing homes in Australia have a listener.
2:42
Speaker 4: We believe that by rebalancing the migration program and taking
2:46
Speaker 4: decisive action on the housing crisis, the Coalition can free
2:50
Speaker 4: up almost forty thousand additional homes in the first year
2:54
Speaker 4: and well over one hundred thousand homes in the first
2:57
Speaker 4: five years. First, we will implement a two year ban
3:00
Speaker 4: on foreign investors and temporary residents purchasing existing homes in Australia.
3:06
Speaker 3: A ban for two years. That's a big policy announcement.
3:10
Speaker 3: He'll also cut immigration to one hundred and forty thousand
3:13
Speaker 3: for the first two years, he says, to recognize the
3:16
Speaker 3: urgency of the home ownership crisis. He says then permanent
3:20
Speaker 3: migration levels will increase to one hundred and fifty thousand
3:23
Speaker 3: in the third year and one sixty thousand in the
3:26
Speaker 3: fourth year. Now, what we've seen under Labor is that
3:29
Speaker 3: immigration levels have soared to over half a million a year.
3:34
Speaker 2: Dutton's moved to slash it to.
3:36
Speaker 3: Just one hundred and forty thousand for the first two
3:38
Speaker 3: years is likely to be a popular policy. The high
3:42
Speaker 3: number of immigrants has put extreme pressure on housing, particularly
3:46
Speaker 3: in the rental market, and it's pushed up inflation and
3:49
Speaker 3: thus contributed to rate rises. Now, home ownership, as we
3:54
Speaker 3: heard tonight, it was a major pledge of Dutton's and
3:57
Speaker 3: this will be his mantra in the lead up to
3:59
Speaker 3: the next election. He says the dream of home ownership
4:02
Speaker 3: has turned into a nightmare, and he says even finding
4:06
Speaker 3: somewhere to rent is nearly impossible.
4:10
Speaker 5: Now.
4:10
Speaker 4: It's wonderful that parents in some circumstances with financial means
4:15
Speaker 4: can help their kids into a home, but I will
4:17
Speaker 4: never accept a situation where the only people who can
4:20
Speaker 4: afford to buy a home in our country are those
4:23
Speaker 4: with the support of their parents.
4:25
Speaker 3: Now, energy was another area we heard a lot from
4:28
Speaker 3: Peter Dutton tonight on energy. In an announcement that will
4:31
Speaker 3: upset the likes of billionaire Twiggy Forest, Dutton said he'd
4:35
Speaker 3: pull the proposed thirteen billion dollar mega giveaway to green
4:40
Speaker 3: hydrogen and critical minerals. He says these projects should stand
4:44
Speaker 3: on their own without taxpayer subsidies. He also said he'd
4:48
Speaker 3: defund the Environmental Defender's Office, which is blocking projects, and
4:53
Speaker 3: he'll unlocked gas in key basins.
4:56
Speaker 4: There's little chance of labor bringing new gas supply to
4:59
Speaker 4: the system because it's ideologically opposed to guess and it's
5:03
Speaker 4: more worried about winning votes from the Greens inter city
5:06
Speaker 4: seats that it is worried about people living in suburbs
5:10
Speaker 4: or in regional towns around the country.
5:13
Speaker 3: Now, Dutton said in his vision for Australia there is
5:15
Speaker 3: a place for renewable energy as part of the mix,
5:18
Speaker 3: but he says there's no need for fifty eight million
5:21
Speaker 3: solar panels, three five hundred wind farms and twenty eight
5:25
Speaker 3: thousand kilometers of transmission polls and wires now, make no
5:30
Speaker 3: mistake about it. Energy policy will be an area of
5:33
Speaker 3: clear contest between Albanesi and Dutton in the lead up
5:37
Speaker 3: to the next election, and tonight we've heard from Dutton
5:41
Speaker 3: that he's reiterated his commitment to nuclear. He says Australia
5:45
Speaker 3: has three energy goals cheaper, consistent and cleaner power, and
5:50
Speaker 3: he says that all of these goals can be achieved
5:52
Speaker 3: by including zero emission nuclear power in our energy mix
5:57
Speaker 3: and by ramping up domestic gas production nuclear power.
6:02
Speaker 4: We can maximize the highest yield of energy per square
6:05
Speaker 4: meter and minimize our environmental damage. We do that by
6:10
Speaker 4: putting new nuclear technologies on or near the brown field
6:13
Speaker 4: sites of decommissioned or retiring coal fire power plants using
6:17
Speaker 4: the existing grid.
6:20
Speaker 3: Now, Peter Dutton referred to some of Labour's great prime
6:23
Speaker 3: ministers tonight and when he was speaking about nuclear he
6:26
Speaker 3: referred to Bob Hawk and also John Howard as too
6:30
Speaker 3: who've expressed support for nuclear power. He also cited Pole's
6:34
Speaker 3: showing that sixty five percent of Australians aged eighteen.
6:37
Speaker 2: To thirty four or so back nuclear.
6:40
Speaker 3: Now tonight we heard Dutton say that he'd tear up
6:44
Speaker 3: Labour's complex IRA agenda. This has been very controversial and
6:48
Speaker 3: unpopular with the business community.
6:50
Speaker 2: And industry and lobby groups as well.
6:53
Speaker 3: Now, on national security, Peter Dutton said it's going to
6:56
Speaker 3: take a coalition government to stop the people smugglers. On
7:00
Speaker 3: his past experience here, he says that they will be able.
7:03
Speaker 2: To deport criminals. And also he spoke about anti Semitism and.
7:08
Speaker 3: He pledged to provide what he described as moral and
7:11
Speaker 3: political leadership to make it abundantly clear that the law
7:16
Speaker 3: needs to be enforced on university campuses. And he said
7:20
Speaker 3: he'll make sure that the law wouldn't be enforced reluctantly,
7:24
Speaker 3: but readily, as he put it, against those who incite
7:28
Speaker 3: hatred and violence.
7:29
Speaker 2: Have a look.
7:30
Speaker 4: Anti Semitism is not just a threat to one segment
7:33
Speaker 4: of our community. It's a threat to our social cohesion
7:37
Speaker 4: and to our democratic values. We will also provide the
7:41
Speaker 4: moral and political leadership which makes it abundantly clear that
7:45
Speaker 4: we expect the law to be enforced readily, not reluctantly,
7:49
Speaker 4: against those inciting hatred and violence.
7:52
Speaker 3: In law enforcement, Peter Dutton said it will also become
7:55
Speaker 3: a crime to post criminal acts online. He says those
7:59
Speaker 3: convictors will be banned from using digital platforms and even
8:03
Speaker 3: face up to two years in prison.
8:06
Speaker 2: So quite a strong announcement.
8:07
Speaker 3: There, and he pledged to work with states and territories
8:11
Speaker 3: to give police the power to stop and search people
8:15
Speaker 3: for knives using detector ones. He said he'd also work
8:19
Speaker 3: with state and territories to ban the sale and possession
8:22
Speaker 3: of knives, both to minors and dangerous criminals. He also
8:27
Speaker 3: wants to work with the states to tighten bail laws.
8:30
Speaker 3: Now we've seen New Southell's Premier Chris Mins take recent
8:33
Speaker 3: action in this regard, we haven't seen so much from
8:36
Speaker 3: the other states, but Dartan says there are areas of
8:39
Speaker 3: domestic violence that do fall under the Commonwealth Code. He
8:44
Speaker 3: says it'll be a criminal offense to use a mobile
8:47
Speaker 3: phone or a computer network to cause a family member
8:51
Speaker 3: or an intimate partner to fear for their safety or
8:54
Speaker 3: to engage in coercive behavior. Now the bail laws that
8:59
Speaker 3: relate to these what would be new Commonwealth offenses.
9:02
Speaker 2: He says those laws will be tough now.
9:05
Speaker 3: In his speech tonight, just in the past forty minutes,
9:09
Speaker 3: Peter Dutton laid out his vision for Australia.
9:12
Speaker 2: This is what he wants.
9:14
Speaker 3: His leadership to look like if he were to become
9:17
Speaker 3: Prime minister. And he spoke very strongly of Australians who've
9:22
Speaker 3: been left behind by the Labor government and who have
9:26
Speaker 3: no longer been able to own their own homes or
9:28
Speaker 3: even have a place to live. And here he referred
9:32
Speaker 3: to another great Labor Prime Minister, Paul Keating and Treasurer
9:36
Speaker 3: when he repeated this phrase of Keatings twice in his speech.
9:40
Speaker 3: He said when governments change, the country changes, and Darton
9:45
Speaker 3: mounted the argument that Australians are now worse off, less safe,
9:49
Speaker 3: and less secure than they were two years ago. Now
9:57
Speaker 3: I'm going to bring in my political panel now in
10:00
Speaker 3: a moment for analysis about Peter Dutton's budget reply speech
10:03
Speaker 3: and what this means now for the next election. Matt
10:06
Speaker 3: Canavan and Joe Kelly would join me. But also on
10:09
Speaker 3: the show tonight, we're going to look at the national
10:11
Speaker 3: domestic violence crisis. It is in the spotlight, but one
10:14
Speaker 3: podcast host, a former ABC host, is highlighting the problem
10:19
Speaker 3: around the way we should speak about it. Josh Zepps
10:21
Speaker 3: would join me live. He's making headlines today. He'll be
10:24
Speaker 3: in studio also tonight, concerns over the ABC's inability to
10:30
Speaker 3: report on the explosion of anti semitism across Australia. The
10:34
Speaker 3: former ABC director Joe Gersh will join me live. Shortly,
10:39
Speaker 3: plus officials suspend funding to a US research organization, the
10:43
Speaker 3: EcoHealth Alliance, that was linked to funding at the Wuhan
10:48
Speaker 3: Institute of Virology. I'm going to speak with one Washington
10:52
Speaker 3: federal investigator later in the hour, but now let's bring
10:55
Speaker 3: in National Senator Matt Canavan and The Australian's National Affairs
10:59
Speaker 3: editor Joe Kelly. Welcome to you, both, Joe and Matt. Look, Matt,
11:03
Speaker 3: starting with you, this was a strong pitch from Peter
11:07
Speaker 3: Darton tonight, particularly on housing, immigration and energy. Do you
11:12
Speaker 3: think this is going to provide a clear option for
11:16
Speaker 3: Australians whether to vote for Albanezi or Darton.
11:21
Speaker 6: Well.
11:21
Speaker 5: I think it was a very strong contribution from Peter.
11:25
Speaker 7: He has correctly diagnosed the situation in this country. The
11:29
Speaker 7: country's clearly not on track and it's kind of off
11:32
Speaker 7: the rails since the Labor government came to power two
11:35
Speaker 7: years ago.
11:37
Speaker 5: People's grocery bills have gone through the roof.
11:40
Speaker 7: For mortgage payments, how to control the border doesn't seem
11:43
Speaker 7: to be controlled.
11:44
Speaker 5: There's just enormous numbers of people coming over here.
11:46
Speaker 7: People can't find a house, that alone, buy a house
11:49
Speaker 7: just finding a bed. I meaning is something has gone
11:52
Speaker 7: seriously wrong in this country over the past two years.
11:56
Speaker 7: And I think the important thing to know is Peter's
11:58
Speaker 7: not just diagnosed that. He's also outlined some very strong
12:01
Speaker 7: treatments that the coalition would do, like banning foreigners from
12:06
Speaker 7: buying homes for a couple of years, like significantly cutting
12:09
Speaker 7: back on those migration numbers that have been allowed to
12:11
Speaker 7: grow by too much, stronger penalties for crime as well.
12:16
Speaker 7: These are the sort of things we do need to
12:17
Speaker 7: being a government focused on the local issues. I think
12:20
Speaker 7: we've had a government the last couple of years that
12:22
Speaker 7: has been distracted with the global preoccupations of an elite
12:28
Speaker 7: class that want to see massive climate change action, that
12:33
Speaker 7: want to see open borders, that want to drive device
12:37
Speaker 7: of proposals like the Voice, whereas Peter speech is very
12:40
Speaker 7: much pitched I think at the hearth of the home
12:44
Speaker 7: of every Australian's home about giving people opportunity to get
12:47
Speaker 7: into a home, to be able to pay the bills
12:50
Speaker 7: in that home, to feel safe and secure in that home,
12:53
Speaker 7: and ultimately then build and support a great family in
12:57
Speaker 7: the home as well.
12:59
Speaker 3: Joe Kelly, you know, I'm really interested in your analysis
13:02
Speaker 3: of this speech because to me, very clearly that wasn't
13:05
Speaker 3: a budget apply speech.
13:06
Speaker 2: That was a pitch for the Prime ministership.
13:11
Speaker 5: A Sherry.
13:11
Speaker 8: I think it was a punchy and political speech from
13:15
Speaker 8: Peter Dutton. I think he's trying to really draw some
13:19
Speaker 8: larger contrasts between himself and Anthony Albanezi his philosophy and
13:26
Speaker 8: Labour's philosophy. Labor is talking about big, sweeping, transformational change.
13:32
Speaker 8: Jim Chalmers is talking about forging an entirely new economy,
13:37
Speaker 8: turning Australia into a renewable energy superpower. They're saying the
13:41
Speaker 8: changes the world are going through are the most significant
13:44
Speaker 8: since the Industrial Revolution. Peter Dutton is thinking smaller and
13:49
Speaker 8: simpler in a way, and as Matt said, he's thinking
13:53
Speaker 8: more about the issues that a family would be talking
13:55
Speaker 8: about around the kitchen table. This is the cost of living, energy, migration, housing,
14:02
Speaker 8: law and order, and so that's what he's focused on
14:05
Speaker 8: in the budget reply. I think we got a little
14:08
Speaker 8: more detail on housing and migration. But the other thing
14:13
Speaker 8: is he's really called out the budget with a very
14:18
Speaker 8: strong attack. He says it fails two tests. Essentially, he's
14:23
Speaker 8: saying it's wrong for the times. He's saying fails the
14:27
Speaker 8: inflation challenge. But secondly he's put a big stake right
14:31
Speaker 8: through the heart of the Future Made in Australia agenda,
14:34
Speaker 8: rejecting those thirteen point six billion dollars for production tax
14:38
Speaker 8: credits for green hydrogen and critical minerals. So those political
14:42
Speaker 8: battle lines have been really emphasized and entrenched tonight by
14:46
Speaker 8: Peter Dutton.
14:47
Speaker 3: I mean Matt Canavan Dutton has put energy firmly on
14:51
Speaker 3: the table. You know, he said, yes, renewables have a place,
14:53
Speaker 3: but he's not interested in there's thirteen billion dollars the
14:57
Speaker 3: subsidies for the lack of green hydrogen and cleaner minerals.
15:02
Speaker 2: And he's also said that.
15:04
Speaker 3: We need nuclear in the mix and we need more
15:07
Speaker 3: gas production. Do you think this is going to open
15:10
Speaker 3: up again, particularly in the teal seats there's climate change battle.
15:17
Speaker 7: Well, shure, I think most people around the country are
15:19
Speaker 7: just worried about paying their bills right now, and they
15:22
Speaker 7: would include lots of people in the teal seats too. Yes,
15:25
Speaker 7: those seats tend to have higher than average incomes. But
15:27
Speaker 7: everybody has been feeling the pinch across Australia in the
15:31
Speaker 7: past couple of years. I mean, real wages under this
15:33
Speaker 7: government have gone backwards ten years over ten just over
15:36
Speaker 7: ten years. We're back to levels of wages we haven't
15:39
Speaker 7: seen since twenty eleven. And so everybody is feeling the
15:42
Speaker 7: pinch right now. And I'll riff off what Joe said
15:45
Speaker 7: as well, that Future made an Australia program. It's really
15:50
Speaker 7: been designed in the boardrooms, the corporate boardrooms of this
15:53
Speaker 7: country directly gives subsidies to some of the largest corporations
15:58
Speaker 7: in our nation.
16:00
Speaker 5: Whereas what Peter's trying to design here, only.
16:01
Speaker 7: What the coalition will take the next selection, is something
16:04
Speaker 7: that helps people around their kitchen table pay their power bills.
16:08
Speaker 7: Because what good is installing eighty two percent of renewables
16:12
Speaker 7: in Australia if people can't afford to pay for it.
16:15
Speaker 5: That's the path we're on right now. We need to
16:17
Speaker 5: get a better balance into our energy system.
16:19
Speaker 7: And even myself, I mean I'll be doing mischaracterized lots,
16:22
Speaker 7: but I've always said there's a role for renewables in
16:25
Speaker 7: our system. It's just about fighting the right balance. An
16:27
Speaker 7: eighty two percent of our power system coming from types
16:31
Speaker 7: of power that dependent on the weather is not the
16:33
Speaker 7: right approach. We have to install power options which can
16:36
Speaker 7: be there all the time so that people's bills can
16:39
Speaker 7: be lower all of the time as well.
16:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, it's going to be a fascinating fight. This
16:43
Speaker 3: gives us a fight, gives us something to talk about.
16:46
Speaker 3: Matt Canavan, Joe Kelly, thank you very much for joining
16:48
Speaker 3: me with that analysis there. Now, don't go anywhere We've
16:51
Speaker 3: got a big show tonight. I've still got Steve Price,
16:54
Speaker 3: I've got Jason Morrison coming up. Josh Zepp's, the former
16:57
Speaker 3: ABC host, will join me live, plus the former ABC
17:01
Speaker 3: director Joe Gersh and he's scathing about why it's taken
17:05
Speaker 3: Sky News to do a documentary Josh Fridenberg into antisemitism
17:10
Speaker 3: and not the public broadcaster. Stay tuned, big show this hour,
17:18
Speaker 3: Welcome back. Okay, We're going to come back to the
17:20
Speaker 3: budget reply speech in a moment. Josh Zepp's will also
17:23
Speaker 3: join me live. But first now to our public broadcaster. Now,
17:27
Speaker 3: we've seen sickening displays of anti Semitism in Australia on campuses,
17:32
Speaker 3: in companies and on the streets.
17:34
Speaker 2: It's a major story.
17:36
Speaker 3: Unfolding in our country right now at crisis point. Yet
17:40
Speaker 3: the ABC has failed to cover it in any meaningful way. Instead,
17:45
Speaker 3: the public broadcaster is happy to delve into the subject
17:49
Speaker 3: of Islamophobia and provide a platform to people like Anthony Lowenstein,
17:54
Speaker 3: who has called for a one state solution.
18:00
Speaker 9: Seeing what has happened to Gaza since October seventh has
18:04
Speaker 9: been heartbreaking.
18:06
Speaker 2: I'm so ashamed. I'm so ashamed because it's been done
18:10
Speaker 2: in my name, and I.
18:11
Speaker 1: Think it's important that Jews or non Jews are really
18:16
Speaker 1: challenged on what they're backing.
18:20
Speaker 3: The ABC also produced a four corners piece on the war,
18:24
Speaker 3: led by John Lyons, who's been very critical of Israel,
18:28
Speaker 3: including claiming that Australia's support of Israel is illogical and unhealthy.
18:34
Speaker 9: If you were a Palestinian living in the West Bank
18:36
Speaker 9: or Gaza, what would your view be of Israel?
18:41
Speaker 4: I would fight against Israel in order to achieve my liberty?
18:46
Speaker 1: How would you fight?
18:47
Speaker 2: How dirty? I will do everything in order to achieve
18:53
Speaker 2: my liberty. And that's it.
18:56
Speaker 3: So where's the ABC's documentary on anti Semitism that's risen
19:00
Speaker 3: and by over seven hundred percent since October the seventh.
19:03
Speaker 2: As Peter Dutton just spoke about tonight.
19:06
Speaker 3: It's shameful that the public broadcaster hasn't examined this topic
19:11
Speaker 3: and it's left to us at Sky News and former
19:13
Speaker 3: Treasurer Josh Fredenberg to produce the only substantial documentary on
19:19
Speaker 3: this subject to date.
19:20
Speaker 2: Now I put questions to the ABC on this.
19:23
Speaker 3: I asked them that separate from Islamophobia and separate from
19:27
Speaker 3: whether anti Semitism and anti Zionism are indistinguishable because they
19:31
Speaker 3: have covered that. Has the ABC covered the story of
19:34
Speaker 3: the explosion in anti semitism in Australia this year on
19:38
Speaker 3: any of their flagship programs. Now they just directed me
19:42
Speaker 3: to the search results page on the ABC's news website,
19:45
Speaker 3: which showed nothing of substance. Now, the former ABC director
19:50
Speaker 3: Joe Gersh is calling this out and he joins me, Now, Joe,
19:55
Speaker 3: what do you think of the ABC failing to properly
19:59
Speaker 3: examin this crisis that we're seeing in Australia.
20:05
Speaker 6: Well, good evening, Shari. As you know, I'm a supporter
20:09
Speaker 6: of the ABC, or at least the supporter of a strong,
20:12
Speaker 6: independent and impartial ABC as a critical part of our
20:17
Speaker 6: national conversation. I was a director for a period of
20:21
Speaker 6: five years. I saw the promotion that you had last
20:26
Speaker 6: week of Josh Friedenberg's documentary and the commentary that you've
20:31
Speaker 6: made at that time and subsequently, and I observed independently
20:39
Speaker 6: of you and put on social media my concern, which
20:44
Speaker 6: is why has it fallen to Sky News and Josh.
20:48
Speaker 6: That's not a criticism of Sky News or Josh, but
20:51
Speaker 6: it is a matter of deep concern to me as
20:55
Speaker 6: a member of the Jewish community, as a former ABC
20:58
Speaker 6: director and as an Australian citizen, that our national broadcaster
21:03
Speaker 6: has not fully understood and dealt with what I believe
21:07
Speaker 6: has reached crisis proportion, which is anti Semitism in this country.
21:12
Speaker 6: But Charie, I might just say that I think that
21:17
Speaker 6: even since you announced Josh's documentary and called this to light,
21:27
Speaker 6: I think we've reached an inflection point in the public
21:29
Speaker 6: conversation about anti Semitism. The Prime Minister said this week
21:35
Speaker 6: that this is the worst that he's seen in his lifetime.
21:40
Speaker 6: We had the Leader of the Opposition's speech tonight which
21:44
Speaker 6: you referred to earlier. You had the Senate today passer motion,
21:52
Speaker 6: a bipartisan motion which said that from the River to
21:56
Speaker 6: the Sea, which is the mantra of the Harmas supporters
22:00
Speaker 6: and many of the Palestinian supporters, is offensive, is anti Semitic,
22:05
Speaker 6: and is out of place. We've had Vice chancellors some
22:08
Speaker 6: come out and say what's going on on campus is
22:11
Speaker 6: outrageous and unacceptable. So the conversation is moving and moving quickly.
22:16
Speaker 6: But I find it deeply disappointing that the ABC didn't
22:20
Speaker 6: lead this conversation and hasn't really joined in.
22:23
Speaker 5: On it.
22:25
Speaker 2: Now, Joe.
22:25
Speaker 3: Look, we've spoken and done interviews a lot of times
22:29
Speaker 3: in the past, and you were often on the other
22:32
Speaker 3: side defending the ABC from accusations of vias.
22:35
Speaker 2: And I think the issue is if you.
22:37
Speaker 3: Look at any one piece of ABC content that people
22:41
Speaker 3: complain about, it can be defended. You can say, oh,
22:44
Speaker 3: well there was balance in any one piece of content.
22:47
Speaker 3: We gave a voice to this one, and we gave
22:48
Speaker 3: a voice.
22:49
Speaker 2: To this one.
22:50
Speaker 3: But I think the issue is the overall subjects that
22:53
Speaker 3: they're covering and what they're not covering. So what we're
22:56
Speaker 3: seeing here is that they're not covering this crisis.
23:00
Speaker 2: I mean, do you think it's a case I.
23:01
Speaker 3: Mean you've been there, Joe, You've been in the room,
23:04
Speaker 3: You've sat at the board table, You've pushed back on
23:07
Speaker 3: some of these issues. Do you think it's a case
23:10
Speaker 3: of the people who work at the ABC not caring
23:14
Speaker 3: about the Jewish community? Do you think they are more
23:16
Speaker 3: pro Palestinian?
23:18
Speaker 2: Is that what it is?
23:21
Speaker 6: Well, yes, I've been in the room as a director,
23:24
Speaker 6: although as you know, the directors of the ABC don't
23:28
Speaker 6: run editorial content. I've also been in the room my
23:31
Speaker 6: hotel room in Tel Aviv when three hundred cruise missiles,
23:38
Speaker 6: drones and other projectiles were flung at Israel, thankfully unsuccessfully.
23:50
Speaker 6: I visited down south and saw what Hamas got up to.
23:53
Speaker 6: So I've been in not only in the room at
23:56
Speaker 6: the ABC, but in the room dealing with dealing with
24:01
Speaker 6: the issue on the ground, and with some regret and
24:06
Speaker 6: some trepidation, I would say this that one of the
24:10
Speaker 6: reasons the ABC is not part of the solution here
24:15
Speaker 6: is that it's part of the problem that for the
24:17
Speaker 6: reason that you've identified. You identified John Lyons in your introduction.
24:24
Speaker 6: He's an experienced journalist and he's knowledgeable on the subject.
24:27
Speaker 6: But he's written a book which makes it very clear
24:30
Speaker 6: where he stands on the question of Israel, but then
24:32
Speaker 6: a monograph in which he roundly attacked the Jewish communities,
24:37
Speaker 6: organizations and advocacy groups for standing up and defending Israel.
24:43
Speaker 6: Now he has a right to his views, obviously, but
24:46
Speaker 6: how can he be the lead spokesman on global affairs
24:50
Speaker 6: at the ABC dealing with this issue with that particular
24:54
Speaker 6: position you've mentioned the Lowenstein He is a stock standard
25:05
Speaker 6: anti Israel spokesman. The fact that he has Jewish parentage
25:09
Speaker 6: is a curiosity, but not to the point now Compass
25:14
Speaker 6: is the leading religious affairs program and yet it deals
25:19
Speaker 6: with this fringe issue and fringe person. Frankly, instead of
25:24
Speaker 6: asking this question, why is it that, for the first
25:27
Speaker 6: time in living memory, Jews in Australia have been part
25:30
Speaker 6: of the fabric of this society are saying to themselves
25:34
Speaker 6: is Jewish life viable in the medium to long term
25:37
Speaker 6: in Australia? And that is a very serious consideration. But
25:44
Speaker 6: as I say, even in the week since you've promoted
25:49
Speaker 6: that documentary, which I'm very much looking forward to seeing,
25:54
Speaker 6: I think the conversation has changed. I think that conversation
25:58
Speaker 6: has I think that conversation is changing, and it's not
26:03
Speaker 6: before time. But there's a lot more work to be done.
26:07
Speaker 6: But it begins sharing with one thing, which is recognizing,
26:11
Speaker 6: acknowledging and addressing the problem. And I would like to
26:14
Speaker 6: see the ABC front and center in that endeavor.
26:18
Speaker 3: And unfortunately they surely won't be. Joe Gersh, thank you
26:22
Speaker 3: very much for coming on air, for speaking out on
26:25
Speaker 3: Sky News, not on the public broadcaster where you are
26:29
Speaker 3: a director.
26:29
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for your time.
26:32
Speaker 3: And of course Anthony Lowenstein also won the Walkley Book
26:34
Speaker 3: of the Year award and the Walkley's had a pro
26:38
Speaker 3: Palestinian activist as a host.
26:40
Speaker 2: So that's where our media industry is now.
26:43
Speaker 3: From Molly Tyshost to Hannah Clarke, the horror deaths of
26:45
Speaker 3: women have galvanized the nation and put a spotlight on
26:49
Speaker 3: domestic violence. Former ABC host Josh Zepps, who's got a
26:53
Speaker 3: podcast now called Uncomfortable Conversations, has been in the news today.
26:57
Speaker 2: He was on ben Fordham this morning. He's been in
26:59
Speaker 2: the news because of.
27:00
Speaker 3: An episode he did called the Problem with the Conversation
27:04
Speaker 3: about male violence.
27:06
Speaker 2: Here's a snippet.
27:08
Speaker 10: Yes, let's try to pursue whatever policies make sense in
27:11
Speaker 10: order to reduce violence. But in order to do so,
27:15
Speaker 10: presumably we want the largest cohort of males to be
27:18
Speaker 10: on board with this mission, not feeling alienated because they're
27:23
Speaker 10: being accused of doing things that they haven't done.
27:25
Speaker 3: Now and Josh Zepp's joins me in studio. Now, Josh,
27:30
Speaker 3: thank you so much for your time. So you know
27:33
Speaker 3: what has been Why has this episode been so controversial?
27:37
Speaker 3: Do you think I mean you want to You basically
27:39
Speaker 3: are saying that at the moment the conversation that we're
27:41
Speaker 3: having is overly blaming men for the problem when really it's.
27:47
Speaker 2: Just a few.
27:48
Speaker 10: Well, I mean, let's think clearly, the men who deserve
27:50
Speaker 10: blame deserve the blame, and violent men need to be
27:52
Speaker 10: shunned by all of us. And domestic violence is tragic whenever,
27:56
Speaker 10: whenever it happens, and we should do everything we can
27:58
Speaker 10: to try to help people who are in relationship with
28:00
Speaker 10: bullies exit those relationships. The reason why I do uncomfortable
28:05
Speaker 10: conversations the podcast is when I can notice an important
28:09
Speaker 10: issue that I care deeply about being cleaved into two
28:12
Speaker 10: kind of phony binaries. And in this case, there seems
28:15
Speaker 10: to be a perspective of either men don't care and
28:19
Speaker 10: men are part of the problem, or we have to
28:21
Speaker 10: agree that men need to do more, men need to
28:24
Speaker 10: step up. Men are killing women at horrifying rates. So
28:27
Speaker 10: I just wanted to break down the data of what
28:29
Speaker 10: those rates actually are see how we're doing in the
28:32
Speaker 10: interest of trying to help create a conversation where young
28:36
Speaker 10: women don't necessarily feel more afraid of walking down the
28:39
Speaker 10: street than they need to, and where the largest cohort
28:42
Speaker 10: of men as possible can be included in the conversation
28:44
Speaker 10: can try to understand why some men are violent and
28:48
Speaker 10: most aren't. And I mean just this happens so often
28:51
Speaker 10: with these kinds of issues, as you know, you know,
28:53
Speaker 10: whether it's about race, or about feminism or about transgender
28:57
Speaker 10: or something like that, people hunker down into these kind
28:59
Speaker 10: of rival teams. And all I'm trying to do is
29:02
Speaker 10: occupy I suppose the radical center or the sensible middle,
29:06
Speaker 10: and say, hang on, let's just let's just cool it
29:07
Speaker 10: a little bit.
29:08
Speaker 3: You know, center zony radical if you come from the
29:10
Speaker 3: ABC by the way.
29:12
Speaker 10: Well, I mean I just I think there's a there's
29:14
Speaker 10: a space, and there's actually a hunger. And one of
29:16
Speaker 10: the reasons for the gratifying success of the podcast so
29:19
Speaker 10: far is that people are thirsty for people who can
29:22
Speaker 10: talk about controversial issues without constantly worrying about treading on
29:25
Speaker 10: eggshells or what trip wise they may trigger with their allies,
29:29
Speaker 10: or how well they can signal their own virtue to
29:31
Speaker 10: people who are on supposedly the right side of history.
29:34
Speaker 10: I'm about having faired income conversations. So I put out
29:36
Speaker 10: this episode of the podcast.
29:38
Speaker 5: I didn't know I was going.
29:39
Speaker 10: To do so well, and I didn't know that it
29:41
Speaker 10: was going to cause the conversations that's caused. But on
29:43
Speaker 10: the one hand, I'll have responses from you know, as
29:46
Speaker 10: many men, as many women as men, saying thank you
29:49
Speaker 10: for talking sense and thank you for trying to bring
29:51
Speaker 10: a spotlight to what is actually going on instead of
29:54
Speaker 10: engaging in hyperbole on one side or the other. And
29:57
Speaker 10: then I also have the predictable backlash where I had
30:00
Speaker 10: get a lot of feedback from very angry people who
30:02
Speaker 10: are missing the point completely and saying you don't get it.
30:05
Speaker 10: Men need to do better. Men are killing women. You know,
30:09
Speaker 10: I feel safer. They were holding up signs saying I'd
30:11
Speaker 10: feel safer with a bear than I would with a man,
30:14
Speaker 10: and this kind of rhetoric. I mean, if what you're
30:16
Speaker 10: trying to do is understand a violent cohort, then think
30:19
Speaker 10: about what we've done with something like terrorism, for example,
30:22
Speaker 10: where the you know, extremism experts will say you want
30:26
Speaker 10: a sideline and exclude the people who are violent from
30:30
Speaker 10: the rest of their cohorts. So you want to say,
30:33
Speaker 10: to Muslims, for example, we're not blaming all of you
30:36
Speaker 10: for jihadism. We're trying to understand why ghardists are jihadists,
30:39
Speaker 10: and we want you to be on side in that fight.
30:41
Speaker 10: And I think there's a similar analogy that can be
30:43
Speaker 10: drawn with the case of violence against women. You want
30:46
Speaker 10: men to be on side. So what we should be
30:47
Speaker 10: saying is, let's understand why there is violence in specifically
30:51
Speaker 10: domestic relationships, and by the way that violence exists in
30:54
Speaker 10: lesbian relationships, it exists in same sex gay relationships. There's
30:57
Speaker 10: something about the dynamic of being in an intimate relationship
31:00
Speaker 10: and foster.
31:00
Speaker 2: But what we've seen this year very clearly.
31:03
Speaker 3: You know, the deaths of twenty eight women, and in
31:06
Speaker 3: many of the cases it's a repeat offender. It's it's
31:09
Speaker 3: a partner or an ex partner who the women knew
31:12
Speaker 3: and had complained to authorities was threatening her or stalking her,
31:16
Speaker 3: and the person had been let out on bail me
31:18
Speaker 3: that's why he was free to commit the attack.
31:21
Speaker 2: So that's what we're seeing at the moment.
31:23
Speaker 3: But then this conversation is happening where all men need
31:27
Speaker 3: to take responsibility for this. So you know, what you're
31:30
Speaker 3: saying is it's not the case women. And you know
31:33
Speaker 3: in your in your piece, you say there are some
31:35
Speaker 3: women who are walking down the street just afraid of
31:37
Speaker 3: half the population.
31:39
Speaker 10: Yeah, I don't think it's constructive. Like, I mean, so
31:41
Speaker 10: these these repeat offenders and these and I can honestly say,
31:44
Speaker 10: like I have people say, you know, men need to
31:46
Speaker 10: push back better, and men need to do more at
31:48
Speaker 10: standing up to the other men in their midst. I
31:50
Speaker 10: can say if you say that the number of times
31:51
Speaker 10: that I've been sitting in a pub and with a
31:54
Speaker 10: bunch of mates and one of them has admitted to
31:57
Speaker 10: abusive or coercive control over an intimate partner, let alone
32:01
Speaker 10: physical violence, is zero, And if that did happen, then
32:05
Speaker 10: everyone else would immediately jump on that person and say, mate,
32:08
Speaker 10: that is not on. So what is it exactly that
32:10
Speaker 10: I'm supposed to be doing about the other men in
32:13
Speaker 10: our midst except for supporting policies that can identify those
32:16
Speaker 10: people earlier and target those people specifically rather than targeting
32:20
Speaker 10: all males. And I mean, I think we're also conflating
32:23
Speaker 10: here the problem of domestic control and domestic abuse with
32:26
Speaker 10: the supposed threat of women being killed randomly. I mean,
32:29
Speaker 10: one reason why this has all come up at the
32:31
Speaker 10: moment is because last month was a terrible month for
32:34
Speaker 10: men killing women in Australia. But almost half of the
32:37
Speaker 10: women who were killed by men in Australia last month
32:40
Speaker 10: were in the bond Bi stabbing. So I mean five
32:43
Speaker 10: of the eleven last month were in one very anomalous attack. Right,
32:48
Speaker 10: So I don't want.
32:48
Speaker 3: To foster environment men are blamed, but that you might
32:52
Speaker 3: still feel unsafe as a woman going for a run
32:56
Speaker 3: by yourself. I don't know many well, I wouldn't go
32:59
Speaker 3: for a run to park by myself.
33:01
Speaker 6: You know.
33:02
Speaker 2: So look, there are a few things into isolate.
33:04
Speaker 10: There are a few things going into that. Part of
33:06
Speaker 10: it might be the actual risk, and part of it
33:08
Speaker 10: might be that the way we're having the conversation about
33:10
Speaker 10: the stinks, and so you feel unduly concerned when actually
33:12
Speaker 10: the data, you know, I think it was about one
33:15
Speaker 10: hundred and eighteen women in the last financial year, which
33:17
Speaker 10: is where they keep the records, were killed. I mean
33:19
Speaker 10: these are not that this is the third.
33:21
Speaker 2: Lowest there is. I wouldn't go for a run, by
33:22
Speaker 2: the way, and I don't run.
33:24
Speaker 10: He's the third lowest rate in thirty years. And I
33:26
Speaker 10: just want some perspective here, right, I mean, I should
33:28
Speaker 10: be men are killed at more than twice the rate
33:30
Speaker 10: of women in this country, admittedly by other men. But
33:33
Speaker 10: I mean I sort of moderate my concern about being
33:37
Speaker 10: killed by another man on the basis of what the
33:40
Speaker 10: facts are, rather than on the basis of us constantly
33:43
Speaker 10: whipping up hysteria. I have the benefit of not living
33:45
Speaker 10: in a country that is constantly telling me that men
33:48
Speaker 10: are in danger, even though I am in twice more
33:50
Speaker 10: than twice as much danger as I would be if
33:52
Speaker 10: I was a woman of just randomly being killed by
33:55
Speaker 10: a man on the street. So part of our fear
33:57
Speaker 10: comes from reality, but part of it also comes from
34:00
Speaker 10: this drum beat of relentlessness.
34:01
Speaker 2: I've going to go.
34:02
Speaker 3: We're out of time because because Peter Dutton's a fly speech,
34:05
Speaker 3: ate into my show. It's night uncomfortable conversation where people
34:09
Speaker 3: can hear more and I really enjoy your podcast. Thank
34:11
Speaker 3: you so much for joining me, Josh. Now after the break,
34:14
Speaker 3: Chris Bowens, let's slip the real reason for labors three
34:18
Speaker 3: hundred dollars energy rebate my panel, Steve Price Jason Morrison
34:21
Speaker 3: will join me next.
34:27
Speaker 2: Welcome back all right.
34:28
Speaker 3: For further analysis of Peter Dutton's budget reply speech, Let's
34:32
Speaker 3: bring in Sky News host Steve Price, and commentator Jason Morrison.
34:36
Speaker 2: Welcome to you both.
34:38
Speaker 3: Jason, let's start with you a debate here about energy.
34:42
Speaker 3: How do you think this is going to be received
34:45
Speaker 3: by Australians.
34:47
Speaker 9: Well, Australians don't just want a debate, they want action,
34:50
Speaker 9: and they want action that is going to push down
34:52
Speaker 9: their prices. And I guess this is the drama at
34:55
Speaker 9: the moment that the fellow running energy in Australia at
34:58
Speaker 9: the moment doesn't think that that's a priority. Yeah, he
35:01
Speaker 9: thinks his band Aid solutions, which today was almost humiliated
35:05
Speaker 9: by trying to sell it. And yet at the same
35:08
Speaker 9: time the coalition I think it's got a problem because
35:12
Speaker 9: the front man might be into it, but there's a
35:14
Speaker 9: whole lot of snakes all riddle through the Liberal Party
35:16
Speaker 9: at the moment who actually don't agree with it and
35:18
Speaker 9: handbreaks on any progress on energy policy. I think that's
35:22
Speaker 9: a big problem actually, And as much as Dunton's got
35:24
Speaker 9: some great ideas, can he carry the back bench who
35:28
Speaker 9: really have been pretty good at kick at home goals
35:30
Speaker 9: for a long time.
35:31
Speaker 3: Steve Price, what did you think of Dutton's response tonight?
35:34
Speaker 3: How do you think this frames the run up to
35:37
Speaker 3: the next federal election.
35:41
Speaker 1: Well, I think when you described it as more of
35:43
Speaker 1: an election speech and a budget speech and reply, you're
35:47
Speaker 1: a spot on. And we're going to have now an
35:49
Speaker 1: election that's going to be fought on some central issues
35:53
Speaker 1: finally migration, nuclear power and energy energy costs, and we're
35:58
Speaker 1: going to find another election on climate change. Luck we
36:00
Speaker 1: have for so many elections going back years and years
36:02
Speaker 1: and years now. But the Liberal Party, and you know,
36:05
Speaker 1: I hope Jason's not right that the snakes come wriggling
36:08
Speaker 1: out from the background again. But the Liberal Party, the
36:10
Speaker 1: National Party, the Coalition have firmly laid out a difference
36:15
Speaker 1: to Labor and Anthony Albanesi. We haven't had an election
36:18
Speaker 1: where there has been such stark differences for a long time.
36:22
Speaker 1: Had now come Turnble running the joint even Scott Morrison
36:25
Speaker 1: that they did not have the I won't use the word.
36:29
Speaker 1: I was going to the courage perhaps to be different.
36:33
Speaker 1: Dunton has those things and he's going to show the
36:37
Speaker 1: Australian public that he's willing to do it.
36:40
Speaker 3: Look, we saw today front page of the Daily Telegraph
36:43
Speaker 3: and accusation against Anthony Alberanesi that his tenant living in
36:48
Speaker 3: his investment property in Sydney's Inner West was handed in
36:51
Speaker 3: a viction notice. Jason Morrison. A lot of people have
36:54
Speaker 3: come out today and said, oh, well, you know, fair enough,
36:56
Speaker 3: if Albanzi wants to Sully's house, he can.
36:59
Speaker 2: What do you think.
37:01
Speaker 9: I know why this is a story, because there's a
37:03
Speaker 9: great story, But I also kind of look at this
37:05
Speaker 9: and I think this fella is a damn winger. You've
37:07
Speaker 9: been given three months to vacate. Not many people get
37:10
Speaker 9: three months to vacate, and not many people get rend
37:13
Speaker 9: as cheap as he's had it for as long as
37:15
Speaker 9: he's had it. He should be thankful that he had
37:18
Speaker 9: a landlord who was as tolerant to keep the rate
37:20
Speaker 9: as low as he did for as long as he did,
37:22
Speaker 9: and to give him that amount of flak. I had
37:24
Speaker 9: someone who's close to me who was given three weeks
37:26
Speaker 9: to get out of a place, and you know, three
37:28
Speaker 9: weeks in this climate and a city like Sydney is impossible.
37:32
Speaker 9: What I mean, I actually, you know, we've just been
37:35
Speaker 9: talking about particular kinds of people. I think this fellow
37:38
Speaker 9: fits in the particular kind of people category. I think
37:40
Speaker 9: as a real low thing for him to do, because
37:42
Speaker 9: he's had a very good run for a very long
37:44
Speaker 9: time and he ought to be thankful.
37:46
Speaker 2: Steve Price more than anything.
37:47
Speaker 3: Though, doesn't it highlight that the Prime Minister has investment
37:51
Speaker 3: properties while people are and the career mail has in
37:54
Speaker 3: Queensland has covered this really well. Some people are seeing
37:57
Speaker 3: eight hundred properties just to rent them and they're unable
38:01
Speaker 3: to find a place.
38:05
Speaker 1: Look, we have a rental crisis. I think Jason's been
38:07
Speaker 1: kind on that blow calling him a winder. I think
38:09
Speaker 1: he's a pain in the neck. He got his rent
38:12
Speaker 1: decrease from eight hundred dollars a week to six hundred
38:15
Speaker 1: during COVID and the Prime Minister didn't put it up
38:18
Speaker 1: again after COVID was over. Now, the Prime Minister having
38:22
Speaker 1: rental properties, I don't have a problem with that. He's
38:26
Speaker 1: been in Parliament for a long time, he's earned a
38:28
Speaker 1: pretty good salary. He's both's been through a marriage breakdown,
38:31
Speaker 1: but he's still got some investments. That's okay. He wants
38:35
Speaker 1: to change his private arrangements. He's probably going to buy
38:38
Speaker 1: a bigger house when he gets married to Jody this year.
38:41
Speaker 1: But this bloke has really annoyed me today. As Jason said,
38:45
Speaker 1: he's lucky he's got a roof over his head. We
38:49
Speaker 1: had a rental inspection for a vacant apartment in the
38:52
Speaker 1: block I live in in Melbourne ocasionally and there was
38:55
Speaker 1: one hundred people queued up out the front. Yes, so
38:57
Speaker 1: the bloke should think he's lucky stars that he's had
39:00
Speaker 1: somewhere to live.
39:01
Speaker 2: Now, what about this?
39:02
Speaker 3: Jason Scott Morrison met with Donald Trump overnight posted a
39:06
Speaker 3: picture to Instagram. Anthony Albanezi didn't exactly welcome the news,
39:11
Speaker 3: even though Scomo has been able to get a meeting
39:14
Speaker 3: with Kevin Rudd. Sorry, Scoma has been able to get
39:16
Speaker 3: a meeting with Trump whereas Trump bags.
39:18
Speaker 2: Actually I think.
39:19
Speaker 7: Both are right.
39:19
Speaker 9: Actually, I would imagine Albanezy has struggled to get a
39:22
Speaker 9: meeting with Rudd as well. Look, you know that is
39:24
Speaker 9: Australia's great, big problem in America right now, is Kevin Rudd.
39:28
Speaker 9: Because look, we don't know how it's going to go.
39:30
Speaker 9: It looks like it's going to go Trump way, but
39:32
Speaker 9: whoever knows. But what we do know is that a
39:35
Speaker 9: former prime minister and a former treasurer, and thankfully a
39:39
Speaker 9: few others in Australian politics have got a reasonable relationship
39:43
Speaker 9: with She really said it that I don't have a
39:47
Speaker 9: problem with it all. And good on him, frankly for
39:49
Speaker 9: going and doing it. He's a free citizen to do
39:51
Speaker 9: as he pleases.
39:52
Speaker 2: Maybe he should be the ambassadator.
39:53
Speaker 9: What about those awards behind Steve look at they are
39:56
Speaker 9: radio Awards reward radio.
40:00
Speaker 2: Journalist Chief Price.
40:01
Speaker 3: Jason Morrison is great to see you now after the break,
40:04
Speaker 3: a COVID investigator from Washington would join me with a
40:07
Speaker 3: major development.
40:09
Speaker 2: Stay tuned.
40:14
Speaker 11: Well.
40:14
Speaker 3: Major news today that the US government has suspended funding
40:18
Speaker 3: for EcoHealth Alliance. This is the organization that US taxpayer
40:23
Speaker 3: funds to conduct gain a function that's risky research at
40:26
Speaker 3: the Wuhan Institute of Virology before the.
40:29
Speaker 2: Outbreak of COVID nineteen.
40:31
Speaker 3: To break this down, let's bringing now US federal investigator
40:34
Speaker 3: Diane Cutler. Diane, thank you so much for joining us tonight.
40:38
Speaker 3: I know it's early in the morning where you are,
40:40
Speaker 3: so tell us the significance of this announcement today.
40:45
Speaker 11: Hi, sure, thanks for having me. It's good to see you.
40:48
Speaker 11: This is a significant development in the COVID origins investigation
40:53
Speaker 11: because EcoHealth Alliance is a nonprofit organization that did funnel
41:00
Speaker 11: money US research money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology
41:05
Speaker 11: for dangerous coronavirus research, and uh you know, it's been
41:11
Speaker 11: under investigation since well Real licensed the onset of of
41:16
Speaker 11: COVID when we learned when we first learned that Eco
41:20
Speaker 11: Health had grants that were going to the Wuhan Institute
41:24
Speaker 11: of Virology. So Eco Health has not behaved properly. They
41:31
Speaker 11: have been out of compliance with all of the with
41:34
Speaker 11: the laws and regulations that are required of a US
41:38
Speaker 11: federal grandee, but they were not held accountable. Inn IH,
41:44
Speaker 11: which is one of the primary grant givers to ego Health,
41:51
Speaker 11: continue to even though they originally they suspended NIH suspended
41:57
Speaker 11: Eco Health's grants to to investigate if they had if
42:02
Speaker 11: their research had caused the pandemic. Quite frankly, and.
42:07
Speaker 3: Diana, it's quite incredible when you think that paida Dajik
42:10
Speaker 3: from Acohealth Alliance was initially one of the investigators that
42:14
Speaker 3: went into Wuhan to try and find out the origins
42:17
Speaker 3: of the virus, and now his very organization has had
42:21
Speaker 3: its funding, it can't get grants anymore.
42:24
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a massive admission. Well, it's a suspension.
42:30
Speaker 11: I just want to caution that it is a suspension,
42:32
Speaker 11: it's not, which means all of the AHHS grants currently
42:38
Speaker 11: are suspended to Eco Health, So any of the activities
42:42
Speaker 11: or any of the research that they are conducting right
42:45
Speaker 11: now will not be reimbursed pending the outcome of an
42:50
Speaker 11: investigation that now AGHS has to take on. And they're
42:56
Speaker 11: going to do their due diligence to independently assess whether
43:00
Speaker 11: or not this suspension should be upheld and if it
43:03
Speaker 11: should go further to a debarment of all federal grand times.
43:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a huge development today. Diane Catler really appreciate
43:13
Speaker 3: your time. You weren't involved in this particular investigation, but
43:16
Speaker 3: Diane has spent months and months over a year examining
43:20
Speaker 3: EcoHealth Alliance, their grants, their tax.
43:24
Speaker 2: It's been a lot of work.
43:25
Speaker 3: Now, thank you so much for your company this week.
43:27
Speaker 3: I'll see you Monday at eight. And here's Paul Mara