Transcript

Sharri | 11 June · Sharri

0:07
Speaker 1: Good evening will Australians see Peter Dutton as a more experienced,
0:11
Speaker 1: decisive and stronger leader than Anthony Albanesi, according to new
0:16
Speaker 1: polling out Today News poll, which is one of the
0:19
Speaker 1: country's most respected polling companies, also found that Dutton is
0:24
Speaker 1: just ahead of Albanesi when it comes to the question
0:26
Speaker 1: of which leader understands the major issues better and has
0:31
Speaker 1: a vision for the country. The danger for Labor is
0:34
Speaker 1: that the perception is now cementing of Peter Dutton as
0:39
Speaker 1: a stronger and more decisive leader and increasingly Albanesi is
0:44
Speaker 1: looking weak as PM. A rollout of coalition MPs made
0:48
Speaker 1: the point today that the Prime Minister is ignoring the
0:52
Speaker 1: major issues affecting Australians and this is reflected in the polls.
0:57
Speaker 2: Australians are saying no, we don't feel safer and we
1:00
Speaker 2: don't feel as though we're better off.
1:02
Speaker 1: I don't think it's surprising that in an environment when
1:04
Speaker 1: people are feeling feeling cost.
1:06
Speaker 3: Of living pressures, that we're seeing poles tighten.
1:08
Speaker 4: The reality is is that it's getting more and more
1:10
Speaker 4: difficult every single day for them.
1:13
Speaker 1: Well, Labor always relied on the premise that Dutton was
1:17
Speaker 1: unpopular and unelectable, and this week's news poll came as
1:22
Speaker 1: quite a shock to them. It showed that Peter Dutton
1:25
Speaker 1: is catching up to Albanezi. It turns out his leadership
1:29
Speaker 1: style is suiting the times. His perceived flaws are morphing
1:35
Speaker 1: into attributes. We're living in an age of unrest, economic uncertainty,
1:41
Speaker 1: eroding social cohesion, lawlessness and youth crime. The Prime Minister
1:47
Speaker 1: struggles to even acknowledge or vocalize the immense daily problems
1:52
Speaker 1: voters are facing, let alone sanctioned ministers whose policy failures
1:57
Speaker 1: exacerbate these major issues. In the past, Albanesi has crafted
2:03
Speaker 1: his image around being the likable bloke Ossie's would want
2:07
Speaker 1: to have a beer with, and Labour has celebrated that
2:10
Speaker 1: Peter Dutton is perceived by voters as less likable, more
2:15
Speaker 1: of a tough, hard politician. Even liberal strategists initially try
2:20
Speaker 1: to soften the opposition leader's image. Now that's mostly unnecessary.
2:27
Speaker 1: Voters just may be looking for someone to be tough
2:31
Speaker 1: on detainees, to deport the child rapists and murderers, to
2:36
Speaker 1: arrest the pro Palestinian activists vandalizing our streets, to stop
2:41
Speaker 1: the hate speech and to tackle the cost of living crisis.
2:46
Speaker 1: With Dutton's ascension in the polls comes concerns in labor
2:50
Speaker 1: ranks that Albanese doesn't recognize the task ahead of him
2:55
Speaker 1: before the next election, and there's a similarity here.
2:59
Speaker 5: With the Voie.
3:00
Speaker 1: In the months leading up to the referendum, when the
3:03
Speaker 1: polls pointed to a sharp defeat, an upbeat and optimistic
3:08
Speaker 1: Albanesi remained convinced it would all come good in the end.
3:13
Speaker 1: He was convinced he would prevail and the Voice would win, Convinced,
3:18
Speaker 1: as he said repeatedly, that Australians would eventually do the
3:22
Speaker 1: right thing.
3:24
Speaker 6: I have faith in the Australian people and I have
3:29
Speaker 6: faith that we will put our case and I'll ask
3:34
Speaker 6: people to comment as well. But I've always had faith
3:39
Speaker 6: in the Australian people. Where's the downside here? What are
3:45
Speaker 6: purople risking here?
3:48
Speaker 1: In fact, Albanezi was so confident that the Voice would
3:51
Speaker 1: win he didn't even bother to find a model that
3:54
Speaker 1: would have bipartisan support because he didn't want to share
3:58
Speaker 1: the glory. Because for Albanesi, the Voice wasn't just for
4:02
Speaker 1: Indigenous Australians, but it was meant to be the defining
4:06
Speaker 1: feature of his own legacy.
4:09
Speaker 5: Well.
4:09
Speaker 1: Peter Dutton, at a press conference today asked what vision
4:12
Speaker 1: for Australia Albanese now had apart from the Voice.
4:17
Speaker 2: And this is a government that's two years old, frankly
4:19
Speaker 2: looks twenty two years old. He can talk big, but
4:22
Speaker 2: he never delivers. And apart from the Voice, what agenda
4:26
Speaker 2: does this government have?
4:28
Speaker 1: And you can see that Dutton is sharpening up his
4:31
Speaker 1: pre election messages. But it strikes me that we're now
4:35
Speaker 1: in a similar situation to that of the Voice ahead
4:39
Speaker 1: of the next election.
4:41
Speaker 5: The polls for weeks.
4:42
Speaker 1: Now have shown that Albanesi is headed into minority government
4:47
Speaker 1: at best. Yet he's got the blinkers on, convinced everything
4:51
Speaker 1: will be fine all the while his government is lurching
4:54
Speaker 1: from scandal to scandal, and most scandals are defined by
4:59
Speaker 1: his own weakness. The Prime Minister failed to even make
5:04
Speaker 1: a phone call to any Chinese minister after an aggressive
5:08
Speaker 1: near miss from a Chinese fighter jet. He's failed to
5:12
Speaker 1: sack his scoundal prone Immigration minister at the expense of
5:16
Speaker 1: community safety, as the Perth grandmother Ninette Simmons would attest,
5:21
Speaker 1: and during a cost of living crisis. There's been no
5:24
Speaker 1: apology from Albinizi or even an explanation for why his
5:30
Speaker 1: ten billion dollar housing fund has not delivered a.
5:34
Speaker 5: Single new house.
5:36
Speaker 1: The role of PM has shone a spotlight on Albanese's flaws,
5:41
Speaker 1: particularly his inability to crasp detail and his lack of
5:45
Speaker 1: authority over his ministry. You could say at heart he's
5:51
Speaker 1: actually ill suited to the role of Prime Minister and
5:55
Speaker 1: even inept at leading our country. There is now Syria
6:00
Speaker 1: anxiety within Labor about Albanese's chance of winning the next election,
6:05
Speaker 1: and the concern is that Albanzi doesn't recognize the extent
6:10
Speaker 1: of the problem. Only one third of voters support Albanesi,
6:15
Speaker 1: as we spoke about last night, the party's primary vote
6:19
Speaker 1: is now the same as it was at the last election,
6:22
Speaker 1: and these are historic lows for Labor. The challenges facing
6:27
Speaker 1: our nation are immense and historically significant.
6:32
Speaker 5: The very essence of.
6:34
Speaker 1: What makes up our successful multicultural society is fracturing. We
6:40
Speaker 1: see it on a daily basis, and parts of our
6:43
Speaker 1: suburbs are gripped by extreme poverty, a cost of living
6:48
Speaker 1: crisis doubling up with an anti Semitism crisis. Australians have
6:54
Speaker 1: no confidence that Albanzi has what it takes to lead
6:59
Speaker 1: and govern our kind during these fra times, and as
7:03
Speaker 1: if proving this very point, over the past two days,
7:08
Speaker 1: the Prime Minister has tried to shift the dial by
7:11
Speaker 1: using climate change as a distraction from the central issues
7:16
Speaker 1: gripping our nation.
7:18
Speaker 5: Just like with the Voice to Parliament.
7:21
Speaker 1: Voters marvel at how out of touch the boy who
7:25
Speaker 1: made it out of Housing Commission has now become. Also
7:32
Speaker 1: coming up on the show tonight, the climate was heat
7:35
Speaker 1: up with Albinizi launching an attack on Peter Dutton, claiming
7:39
Speaker 1: he's failed despite the fact the government is not on
7:43
Speaker 1: track to meet its own twenty thirty targets. Also tonight,
7:47
Speaker 1: the Albaneze government makes a point of saying that it
7:49
Speaker 1: won't supply Israel with any defense capabilities, and it hasn't
7:54
Speaker 1: done since October seven. Well, there's no more obvious sign
7:59
Speaker 1: that this government has abandoned Israel.
8:02
Speaker 5: In its hour of need.
8:04
Speaker 1: I'll discuss this with Bronin Bishop and Kayler Bond in
8:07
Speaker 1: a moment. Plus, a new scandal emerges at PwC, with
8:11
Speaker 1: a key figure casting doubt that women were raped on
8:15
Speaker 1: October seven.
8:16
Speaker 5: Caroline Marcus, who.
8:18
Speaker 1: Broke the story, would join me a bit later and
8:21
Speaker 1: Unrest at nine with Chief executive Mike Sneezeby under continued pressure.
8:26
Speaker 1: This is now mounting the Australians Media writers Sophie Ellsworth
8:30
Speaker 1: will be on the show with the latest developments. But first,
8:34
Speaker 1: now let's go to tonight's panel, former Speaker of the
8:36
Speaker 1: House Bronwin Bishop and Sky News host kayleb Bond.
8:39
Speaker 5: Welcome to you both, Bronwin.
8:41
Speaker 1: Let's start with the editorial the news poll figures that
8:45
Speaker 1: I just spoke about. It's now showing that Peter Dutton
8:48
Speaker 1: is catching up to Albanezi and the key MiG figures
8:51
Speaker 1: that we saw in Today's Australian in newspoll that Dutton
8:56
Speaker 1: is emerging as a more decisive, as stronger and a
9:00
Speaker 1: half a leader.
9:01
Speaker 5: Of course he is.
9:02
Speaker 7: I kept saying that the more than twenty years I
9:04
Speaker 7: sat in that chamber with Albanezy and nobody ever said
9:09
Speaker 7: he was a leadership material. And he's not. And I
9:12
Speaker 7: think the words that Peter Dutton used today that he
9:15
Speaker 7: is weak and rattled. He is starting to come through.
9:18
Speaker 7: He is searching to try and be liked, to try
9:22
Speaker 7: and be listened to. But every time he opens his
9:24
Speaker 7: mouth and wants to criticize the opposition, people remember that
9:29
Speaker 7: he's lied to us so often. Two hundred and seventy
9:32
Speaker 7: five dollars off your electricity bill. We won't change anything
9:35
Speaker 7: about the tax three Stage three tax cuts. If you
9:42
Speaker 7: go into every aspect of what policies they took. There
9:45
Speaker 7: was no mention ever of the industrial relations reforms that
9:48
Speaker 7: they brought in under the cover of the voice. So
9:52
Speaker 7: he is in a serious quandary, and Peter Dutton has
9:56
Speaker 7: gone back to the sort of things that people want
9:59
Speaker 7: to hear. Yes, climate change, we've locked into twenty and fifty. No,
10:04
Speaker 7: he won't sacrifice the economy or the people of Australia
10:09
Speaker 7: on the altar of climate change.
10:11
Speaker 1: I think the point you make, and I talk about
10:13
Speaker 1: it on this show often because it is just so
10:15
Speaker 1: astonishing that everyone, all the commentators wrote about how Albin
10:19
Speaker 1: Ezi was taking this small target agenda to the election,
10:23
Speaker 1: and in fact we have seen radical nation changing reform
10:28
Speaker 1: in almost every area, industrial relations one of them, and
10:31
Speaker 1: none of this was put to the voters. High immigration
10:34
Speaker 1: again another thing. But Caleb, I want to ask you
10:37
Speaker 1: about this point that I just spoke about at the
10:39
Speaker 1: start of the show about the idea, and Simon Benson
10:42
Speaker 1: first wrote about this the Political Editor that Peter Dutton's
10:45
Speaker 1: leadership style suits our times, and it was no secret
10:50
Speaker 1: of the fact that liberal strategists were trying to get
10:53
Speaker 1: him to soften his image. Now there's no need for
10:56
Speaker 1: that because voters in a cost of living crisis, when
10:59
Speaker 1: there's laws whilessness on our streets, whether it's youth crime
11:02
Speaker 1: or the pro Palestinian activists, they want a tough leader.
11:06
Speaker 1: His toughness is suiting the times correct.
11:09
Speaker 8: And when you talk about softening the image, fundamentally, what
11:12
Speaker 8: you're talking about his likability exactly. And Albaneze has had
11:16
Speaker 8: a certain level of likability because I don't know, they
11:19
Speaker 8: see the like modern sort of music and he downs
11:22
Speaker 8: a beer at the Marrickville Theater or whatever. Right, So
11:26
Speaker 8: he's tried to build an image that says I'm younger
11:29
Speaker 8: than what my years are.
11:30
Speaker 5: People have liked that.
11:31
Speaker 8: He's still marginally ahead of Dutton in terms of preferred PM,
11:35
Speaker 8: but when it comes down to brass tacks in times
11:38
Speaker 8: of crisis, people will look for a leader, and Darton,
11:42
Speaker 8: I think for a long time has looked like a leader.
11:44
Speaker 8: But it's now that it's really coming into the fore because,
11:47
Speaker 8: as you say, you got cost of living and plenty
11:48
Speaker 8: of other things to worry about. And it's why and
11:51
Speaker 8: I hate admitting this, but I've admitted it many times
11:54
Speaker 8: that Daniel Andrews is one of the best politicians this
11:56
Speaker 8: country has ever seen. And that is because at a
11:59
Speaker 8: time of crisis, everything that came out of his mouth
12:02
Speaker 8: was nonsense, but he looked like a strong leader, and
12:05
Speaker 8: people believe in a strong leader. And the great quality
12:09
Speaker 8: that Dutton has.
12:09
Speaker 1: I'm not just agreeing with you, but Daniel Andrews has
12:12
Speaker 1: not had any competition.
12:13
Speaker 5: The great posession has a week for such a long
12:15
Speaker 5: time and it still is correct.
12:17
Speaker 8: But the great thing that Darton has is that he
12:20
Speaker 8: has that appearance. He stands up.
12:22
Speaker 5: You believe what he says.
12:24
Speaker 8: You know, he says it with conviction. And he's now
12:27
Speaker 8: up against a man who looks increasingly more weak, and
12:30
Speaker 8: so people start to go, well, my power bill is
12:33
Speaker 8: going up, everything is going up. I need someone who
12:36
Speaker 8: can fix it, and Dalton has the conviction and seems
12:39
Speaker 8: convincing enough to be able to do it. That's where
12:41
Speaker 8: he pulls ahead. And there was another newspole I think
12:45
Speaker 8: it was just before Christmas that said a similar thing
12:47
Speaker 8: as well.
12:48
Speaker 1: Well, the climate was are now heating up again and
12:50
Speaker 1: Australians are rolling their eyes because there are so many
12:53
Speaker 1: pressing issues. Anthony Albanezi broke the public holiday yesterday to
12:58
Speaker 1: call a snap press conference to put climate change on
13:01
Speaker 1: the agenda, no doubt as a distraction away from the
13:05
Speaker 1: immigration scandal. Well, here was Peter Dutton today on whether
13:09
Speaker 1: he plans to commit to a new twenty thirty emissions
13:12
Speaker 1: reduction target.
13:14
Speaker 5: Will you adopt a.
13:15
Speaker 4: Lower climate target for twenty thirty then Labor?
13:18
Speaker 2: Well, as we've said, Labour has no chance of meeting
13:21
Speaker 2: their target by twenty thirty, and I'm going to have
13:24
Speaker 2: a responsible approach, but I'm not going to adopt an
13:27
Speaker 2: approach that sees power prices skyrocketing like they will under Labor.
13:31
Speaker 9: Does that mean you'll have a lower target.
13:33
Speaker 2: Later, Well, it means that we're committed to net zero
13:36
Speaker 2: by twenty fifty.
13:38
Speaker 1: And here was Anthony Alberanezi attacking Dutton over those comments.
13:43
Speaker 6: Peter Dutton is divisive. The coalition are divided, and there's
13:49
Speaker 6: no detail about what they would pursue. They are the
13:53
Speaker 6: three d's of the coalition device ship divided detail, which
13:58
Speaker 6: gives them a big f full fail when it climes
14:02
Speaker 6: to climate policy.
14:05
Speaker 1: I remember bron when, just like with the voice, you know,
14:08
Speaker 1: the cost of living crisis is what most Australians are
14:11
Speaker 1: really battling with, the interest rate rises, the extremely high
14:16
Speaker 1: cost of groceries.
14:18
Speaker 5: You know, do they want another election on climate.
14:22
Speaker 7: Well, it will be on cost of living. And that's
14:25
Speaker 7: why I've said all along it'll be an early election
14:28
Speaker 7: because those tax cuts won't last till next May. But
14:33
Speaker 7: if you look at the climate change question, the cost
14:37
Speaker 7: of energy, the cost of electricity feeds into the cost
14:40
Speaker 7: of everything else. It feeds into the cost of the
14:42
Speaker 7: vegemite and in the supermarket, it feeds into the cost
14:46
Speaker 7: of shifting cattle from the pasture to the advertise. It
14:50
Speaker 7: feeds into the cost of bringing imports from the wharf
14:54
Speaker 7: to be dealt with. It feeds in at every point
14:57
Speaker 7: both to inflation and to the cost of life, and
15:00
Speaker 7: so it is part and parcel of that issue. But
15:04
Speaker 7: Peter Dutton has made a very sensible point that there's
15:07
Speaker 7: no way in the world that the target of the
15:10
Speaker 7: Labor party is going to be met. It's just another
15:13
Speaker 7: broken promise. Every time he opens his mouth, he breaks
15:17
Speaker 7: a promise. Mister Alban easy, Albert the trot, and mister
15:22
Speaker 7: Dutton has said very properly that after the election we'll
15:26
Speaker 7: talk about twenty thirty. We're locked into twenty fifty. That'll do.
15:29
Speaker 7: Let's get on with it.
15:30
Speaker 1: And no doubt Labor will come under pressure from the
15:33
Speaker 1: Teals and the Greens for failing for being on track,
15:37
Speaker 1: for failing to meet the twenty thirty targets.
15:39
Speaker 7: I think they're melding into the same lot.
15:42
Speaker 1: Teals, Greens, Labor all the same to us over here,
15:46
Speaker 1: I joke, but they're not far off. Defense Minister Richard
15:50
Speaker 1: Miles is scrutinizing any potential defense shipment to Israel. This
15:54
Speaker 1: story in the City Morning Herald today. He's apparently reportedly
15:58
Speaker 1: trying to make sure that own military equipment is being
16:02
Speaker 1: sent to Israel, and Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy confirmed
16:06
Speaker 1: that contracts with Israeli companies are for Australian defense equipment.
16:11
Speaker 5: Have a look.
16:13
Speaker 9: Well, what I can say to you is, since the
16:14
Speaker 9: conflict has begun, we've been only approving export permits to
16:20
Speaker 9: Israel for equipment that is returning to Australia for the ADF.
16:28
Speaker 1: Now I find this absolutely extraordinary. You have to ask
16:33
Speaker 1: why would the government have any problem with supplying the
16:36
Speaker 1: democracy of Israel with the ability to defend itself after
16:41
Speaker 1: a terrorist attack. This Caleb is so clearly, this is
16:47
Speaker 1: the most blatant sign we've seen yet that Labor is
16:50
Speaker 1: anti Israel. It doesn't believe Australia should support Israel's efforts
16:55
Speaker 1: to defend itself.
16:56
Speaker 8: Because what they've done is changed the rules. Previously, you
16:59
Speaker 8: could have low level deals, they're not worth a huge
17:02
Speaker 8: amount of money that could be done at a bureaucratic level.
17:05
Speaker 8: Now the minister, mister Marles has decided that all those
17:08
Speaker 8: deals have to go directly to his desk.
17:11
Speaker 5: So he has the.
17:11
Speaker 8: Power of veto. And the only reason you ask for
17:14
Speaker 8: that power of veto is because you might want to
17:17
Speaker 8: exercise it. I mean, this government has had more flip
17:21
Speaker 8: flops on the issue of Israel and Palestine than Bondai Beach.
17:25
Speaker 8: To be perfectly frank, the last week you actually felt like, oh,
17:29
Speaker 8: maybe we're getting somewhere. They're taking on the Greens about
17:32
Speaker 8: what's been going on in front of officers, then we
17:35
Speaker 8: get this this week. It changes all the time because
17:39
Speaker 8: we know what they actually think. We know what the
17:41
Speaker 8: Prime Minister thinks. You've shown the clips many times going
17:44
Speaker 8: back into his history. We know what Penny Wong thinks.
17:46
Speaker 8: We know what many members of the labor left think.
17:49
Speaker 8: But they have to keep up something of a front
17:52
Speaker 8: to look like they actually care about the issue. They don't.
17:55
Speaker 8: If you scratch a little below the surface, as the
17:57
Speaker 8: Sydney Morning Herald did in this case, every turn they
18:01
Speaker 8: do not want to provide support to Israel. All talk,
18:04
Speaker 8: no action.
18:05
Speaker 5: What do you think about this?
18:06
Speaker 7: Bronwin spot on, And every time I look at mister Miles,
18:10
Speaker 7: having been myself Minister for Defense, Industry, Science and Personnel,
18:14
Speaker 7: I just absolutely cringe at the leadership or lack of
18:18
Speaker 7: leadership that's being given. Because just as he buried the
18:22
Speaker 7: helicopters that the Ukraine asked for or the coal we
18:26
Speaker 7: have refused to send them, here he is, as Caleb
18:31
Speaker 7: adequately and beautifully described, usurping a power so that he
18:35
Speaker 7: can deny Israel and his support. So all our ally
18:40
Speaker 7: is our ally, and we always support our allies. So
18:46
Speaker 7: mister Miles to me is an absolute pretender. He's the
18:50
Speaker 7: man who sent his speeches off to China to get
18:52
Speaker 7: them checked. He's the man who pretends to spend a
18:56
Speaker 7: lot of money on defense, but that's in ten years time.
19:00
Speaker 7: No money really flows until the end of the ford inestaments.
19:03
Speaker 7: He pretends to be concerned, but he isn't. And this
19:06
Speaker 7: is just another example of how he is not living
19:10
Speaker 7: up to our obligations for an ally the Parliament. The
19:14
Speaker 7: Parliament passed the motion that said Israel had the right
19:18
Speaker 7: to defend itself. That's what the Parliament said, Well, actually
19:21
Speaker 7: is not doing it, no.
19:23
Speaker 1: And by their actions they don't support that very statement.
19:26
Speaker 1: Because if Israel did want any defense equipment or supplies
19:30
Speaker 1: from US, we wouldn't be supplying it. And partly because
19:34
Speaker 1: of a political issue with the Greens and you know
19:36
Speaker 1: you raise China. Well, today the Prime Minister confirm that
19:40
Speaker 1: we would be having Australia would be having a visit
19:42
Speaker 1: from the Chinese premiere. We're going to come back to
19:45
Speaker 1: that later in the show, because he was asked about TikTok.
19:48
Speaker 1: You know, other countries around the world, based on intelligence,
19:52
Speaker 1: are taking action on TikTok well not alb and easy.
19:55
Speaker 1: He tried to criticize the journalists for even asking the question.
19:59
Speaker 1: Caylebon and Bishop, thank you both so much for joining me.
20:02
Speaker 1: Now coming up with nine Chair Peter Costello gone, all
20:06
Speaker 1: eyes or on. Chief executive Mike Sneezeby. Media writer Sophie
20:10
Speaker 1: Ellsworth joins me. Next, plus Queensland Treasurer hands down its budget, blowing.
20:16
Speaker 5: Out the state's debt, all the while.
20:18
Speaker 1: Urging voters to forget the past decade. Well, the Queensland
20:22
Speaker 1: Shadow Treasurer David Jenetski would join me after the break.
20:31
Speaker 5: Welcome back.
20:31
Speaker 1: Well, let's now turn to the reaction we've seen to
20:34
Speaker 1: nine chair Peter Costello's a former chair, his resignation on
20:38
Speaker 1: Sunday night. With Costello gone, the heat is now on
20:43
Speaker 1: nine Chief Executive Mike Sneezeby. Sneezebe and the Nine board
20:47
Speaker 1: are still under pressure to explain what they knew about
20:51
Speaker 1: the numerous sexual harassment allegations and serious in nature that
20:57
Speaker 1: have been made against former newsboss Darren Wick, and why
21:00
Speaker 1: they didn't take any action until formal legal action commenced
21:04
Speaker 1: against the network earlier this year. Even the Cydney Morning
21:08
Speaker 1: Herald has called the allegations an open secret with the
21:13
Speaker 1: Australians media writers. Sophie Ellsworth joins me. Now, Sophie, thank
21:16
Speaker 1: you so much for your time. Look, how much pressure
21:20
Speaker 1: do you think, and you've been reporting on this extensively,
21:23
Speaker 1: how much pressure is Mike Sneezebee under right now.
21:29
Speaker 10: Shary, great to be with you. Look, he's under immense pressure.
21:33
Speaker 10: There is absolutely no doubt about that. The fact that
21:37
Speaker 10: Peter Costello has left nine does not mean that this
21:41
Speaker 10: saga is over.
21:43
Speaker 5: It's anything but over.
21:45
Speaker 10: And now the responsibility for the moment is firmly with
21:48
Speaker 10: Mike Sneezebe to try and turn this ship around.
21:52
Speaker 5: He has an.
21:53
Speaker 10: Awful challenge ahead, awfully tough challenge ahead, Chari because as
21:58
Speaker 10: we know, there's been many women who have come out
22:01
Speaker 10: and spoken of their alleged mistreatment sexual harassment at the network.
22:06
Speaker 10: This has been very damaging four to nine, particularly as
22:11
Speaker 10: they go into the Olympics next month. So they have
22:15
Speaker 10: a big challenge on their hands to try and totally
22:20
Speaker 10: you know, re you know, get their brand back as
22:24
Speaker 10: a good brand, because it's been very seriously damaged.
22:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, it has.
22:28
Speaker 1: Indeed, Look, it was just about a week ago that
22:32
Speaker 1: Peter Costello tried to shift the focus onto Mike sneezebe By,
22:37
Speaker 1: you know, giving him up as the person who personally
22:40
Speaker 1: signed off on the one million dollar or near one
22:43
Speaker 1: million dollar reported payout to Darren Wick. When that happened,
22:48
Speaker 1: many expected Mike Sneezeby would be the first to go,
22:51
Speaker 1: although both men have been under sustained pressure. But since then,
22:56
Speaker 1: of course, the events unfolded with Leam Mendes at the airport.
23:00
Speaker 1: You contacted nine senior managers that work un'der Sneezebee to
23:05
Speaker 1: see if any of them would publicly support him.
23:09
Speaker 5: What was the response, Well, yes.
23:13
Speaker 10: I had a report in the Australian Today, Sharry on this.
23:16
Speaker 10: I contacted all of the ten executives that sit directly
23:20
Speaker 10: under Mike Sneezeby and ask them do they support him?
23:25
Speaker 10: And will they say so publicly?
23:27
Speaker 5: Now?
23:27
Speaker 10: I gave them hours to respond yesterday and not one
23:31
Speaker 10: of them responded. It was absolute radio silence, Sharry, which
23:37
Speaker 10: says a lot that the managers at nine are not
23:42
Speaker 10: saying a single word about Mike Steesby because I think
23:46
Speaker 10: they know he is in trouble. Nine is in trouble.
23:49
Speaker 10: And if they do come out and support him. They're
23:52
Speaker 10: effectively putting themselves on the line too, because he may
23:55
Speaker 10: be the next one.
23:56
Speaker 5: To go, Sophie.
23:58
Speaker 1: In terms of Costello's resignation, we saw that director Katherine
24:03
Speaker 1: West will replace him. Most of the nine board was
24:06
Speaker 1: loyal to Costello and there weren't actually many options on
24:10
Speaker 1: the board to replace him.
24:14
Speaker 5: Well, that's right, Sharry.
24:15
Speaker 10: There was mister Costello and six other directors. Catherine West
24:20
Speaker 10: was his deputy on the board, so she's moved up
24:23
Speaker 10: to chair. And then there were five other directors, including
24:27
Speaker 10: Mike sneezeby Andrew Lancaster who represents the biggest shareholder in nine,
24:33
Speaker 10: Bruce Gordon and he is the manager of win TV.
24:37
Speaker 10: There's Samantha Lewis Mickey Rosen who's based in la and
24:43
Speaker 10: there's also Mandy Patterson who is new to the board,
24:46
Speaker 10: relatively new, so there wasn't a lot of choice. Catherine
24:50
Speaker 10: West was the obvious choice, very close to mister Costello.
24:55
Speaker 5: And now it is obviously a.
24:56
Speaker 10: Woman leading the charge here at nine. And you all
25:00
Speaker 10: so have a woman, Fiona Dia who replaced Darren Wick.
25:04
Speaker 10: So they are putting females in these very important roles
25:09
Speaker 10: and perhaps that is quite an important thing to note, Shary,
25:12
Speaker 10: given the circumstances.
25:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, although I do note that, and I quoted it
25:18
Speaker 1: just last night on the show that the Citney Morning
25:20
Speaker 1: Herald's editorial last night from the editor Bevnshields did say
25:25
Speaker 1: that there are questions that the nine Bold still has
25:28
Speaker 1: to answer about what complaints got to their level and
25:31
Speaker 1: what they knew, so there might still be pressure on
25:33
Speaker 1: the board to come. Even the City Morning Herald reporting
25:37
Speaker 1: on that, Sophie, just before you go, can you tell
25:39
Speaker 1: us where the nine share price was today and the
25:42
Speaker 1: state of the company at a corporate level, Yeah.
25:47
Speaker 5: Of course, Sharry.
25:48
Speaker 10: So today it closed at a dollar thirty eight. It's
25:51
Speaker 10: at its lowest point under Mike Sneezeby's tenure since he
25:56
Speaker 10: took over the company's CEO in two thousand and one.
26:00
Speaker 5: This is not a good result.
26:01
Speaker 10: Was obviously the first day the share market was open
26:05
Speaker 10: following Peter Costello's exit on Sunday, and we had the
26:08
Speaker 10: public holiday yesterday, and Bruce Gordon's also purchased more of
26:13
Speaker 10: a steak.
26:14
Speaker 5: In the company.
26:15
Speaker 10: He is the largest shareholder by far and has about
26:19
Speaker 10: a quarter of a steak there, so very interesting to
26:23
Speaker 10: see how that's playing out. But their share price is
26:26
Speaker 10: not looking good for shareholders, Shari. They must be incredibly concerned,
26:31
Speaker 10: particularly as they come up to their annual results in
26:33
Speaker 10: reporting season in August, and.
26:35
Speaker 1: Even before this scandal, of course, there were concerns about
26:38
Speaker 1: the nine share price, Sophie Elsworth, You're reporting on this
26:41
Speaker 1: matter has been excellent. We will keep reading your work
26:44
Speaker 1: in the Australian. Thanks for joining us this evening now.
26:47
Speaker 1: The Queensland Labor government gave out a record eleven billion
26:51
Speaker 1: dollars in cost of living relief measures and concessions in
26:55
Speaker 1: the budget handed down today. This ahead of a state
26:58
Speaker 1: election in October. The pre election cash splash will blow
27:03
Speaker 1: out the state's debts to two point six billion dollars.
27:07
Speaker 1: We here was Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick making the announcement today.
27:12
Speaker 11: We make no apology for going into deficit so we
27:16
Speaker 11: can ensure Queensland families their family budget stays in balance.
27:22
Speaker 1: He also said his government shouldn't be judged on the
27:25
Speaker 1: last nine years in power.
27:28
Speaker 11: Queenslanders will be asked to make a choice about their future,
27:32
Speaker 11: not to express an opinion about the past.
27:36
Speaker 1: We're joining me now Queensland Shadow Treasurer David Jenetski, Welcome
27:41
Speaker 1: to the program. Look first up, what's your response to
27:44
Speaker 1: the budget and the cash splash handed down today?
27:50
Speaker 12: Well, sure, today's budget was a budget all about getting
27:54
Speaker 12: Stephen Miles to the election in four months and not
27:57
Speaker 12: about the future of Queenslanders for the four years ahead.
28:01
Speaker 12: We have seen an extraordinary spending of taxpayer money today
28:06
Speaker 12: without starting to address the longer term solutions that are
28:11
Speaker 12: required to get on top of this cost of living crisis.
28:14
Speaker 12: Never before have we seen a Queensland government spend more,
28:19
Speaker 12: tax more and borrow more and yet leave Queenslanders with
28:23
Speaker 12: less to show for it.
28:26
Speaker 1: So you've just said that never before have we seen
28:28
Speaker 1: a spending spree like this, But are you going to
28:32
Speaker 1: match the success of spending spree?
28:36
Speaker 12: So we've said quite clearly that the structural, long term
28:40
Speaker 12: cost of living relief has to be the focus. We're
28:42
Speaker 12: not going to stand in the way of short term
28:44
Speaker 12: measures because Queenslanders are struggling. We are ground zero for
28:48
Speaker 12: the cost of living crisis in Queensland and we've seen
28:51
Speaker 12: that right across a range of measures where.
28:53
Speaker 1: Anything in the budget today we've seen eleven billion dollars
28:57
Speaker 1: in cost of living relief. Is there anything out of
29:00
Speaker 1: that eleven billion dollars that you won't be giving to voters.
29:05
Speaker 12: Well, we've been very clear about a particular project in
29:08
Speaker 12: North Queensland, Pioneer Burdican project, that is the foundational cornerstone
29:13
Speaker 12: of so much of this government's approach.
29:17
Speaker 5: I'm talking about that we said a lot long. I'm
29:19
Speaker 5: talking about the cost of living relief.
29:21
Speaker 1: So this cash splash, you're saying you're going to give
29:23
Speaker 1: voters everything that Labour has promised today. How can you,
29:27
Speaker 1: on the one hand argue that we've never before seen
29:30
Speaker 1: a spending spree like this, but now say you're going
29:32
Speaker 1: to match it.
29:35
Speaker 12: Well, Harry, it's all about delivering long term structural relief.
29:38
Speaker 12: Queenslanders are struggling because this government has not attended to
29:42
Speaker 12: the crime crisis, which is driving up insurance premiums, has
29:45
Speaker 12: not built the flood mitigation which is driving up insurance premiums,
29:48
Speaker 12: hasn't released.
29:50
Speaker 1: In about the cost of relief their cash splash. How
29:53
Speaker 1: can you, on the one hand argue that this is
29:55
Speaker 1: an irresponsible cash splash and complain about the state's two
29:59
Speaker 1: point six billion dollars in debt and then say you'll match.
30:02
Speaker 6: It, Charry.
30:05
Speaker 12: The plan for Queensland must be about putting down long
30:08
Speaker 12: term down wood pressure on the cost of living here.
30:10
Speaker 12: We cannot allow Queenslanders who are struggling under the cost
30:13
Speaker 12: of living not to get the support that they need
30:16
Speaker 12: right now. And the truth about the Queensland debt, this
30:19
Speaker 12: debt bond that has landed today has been a long.
30:22
Speaker 5: Time before I'm matching the spending.
30:24
Speaker 12: Living crisis has been a long time.
30:26
Speaker 1: I'm matching the spending. Then you're going to contribute to
30:29
Speaker 1: the debt.
30:29
Speaker 5: Crisis, Charry.
30:32
Speaker 12: We've said very clearly for us that the way we
30:35
Speaker 12: put downward pressure on debt here in Queensland is to
30:38
Speaker 12: end the waste, to stop the wasteful spending, and to
30:42
Speaker 12: grow the economy. We have got projects here in Queensland
30:46
Speaker 12: that have blown out across the board. We've got.
30:50
Speaker 5: I'm just struggling to see that.
30:52
Speaker 1: I'm just struggling to see what your different what the
30:55
Speaker 1: difference will be in your.
30:56
Speaker 5: Approach to the economy.
30:58
Speaker 1: So Labor has done this as a vote grab because
31:00
Speaker 1: the polls show that they're going to lose the election
31:02
Speaker 1: in October.
31:04
Speaker 5: So what's your excuse for this economic irresponsibility.
31:10
Speaker 6: Chery.
31:10
Speaker 12: We're all focused about the long term solutions on cost
31:13
Speaker 12: of living. We will continue to go through and scrutinize
31:16
Speaker 12: the budget. We've been very clear about Pioneer Berdican as
31:18
Speaker 12: a project. We've talked about cutting spending on consultants and
31:22
Speaker 12: putting more money into a public service that needs to
31:25
Speaker 12: deliver the services that we need into the future. But
31:27
Speaker 12: more than anything, we need to end the wasteful spending
31:30
Speaker 12: we need to cut.
31:31
Speaker 1: But you're not.
31:31
Speaker 5: You say you're going to match it.
31:33
Speaker 1: You've said you're going to match the eleven billion dollars
31:35
Speaker 1: in spending that will put the debt at two point
31:37
Speaker 1: six billion dollars.
31:38
Speaker 5: So you're not you're matching it, Sharon. And the other
31:43
Speaker 5: question is inflation over time.
31:45
Speaker 1: The other question is inflation, your shadow treasurer, aren't you
31:48
Speaker 1: contributing to inflation here by putting all this cash back
31:52
Speaker 1: in people's pockets. Inflation isn't only a problem for the
31:55
Speaker 1: federal government. It's a problem for state governments too.
32:00
Speaker 12: Well.
32:01
Speaker 7: Chari.
32:02
Speaker 12: The discussion about inflation experts vary on what it means
32:05
Speaker 12: in terms of the spending that is on the table.
32:09
Speaker 12: But we will not back away from the needs of
32:12
Speaker 12: Queensland as to get long term cost of living relief.
32:14
Speaker 12: To make sure we put in the crime crisis. We've
32:17
Speaker 12: got seventeen percent more victims here in Queensland and those
32:20
Speaker 12: all those fifteen point nine percent increase in stolen cars
32:23
Speaker 12: is pushing up insurance premiums. A failure to invest in
32:26
Speaker 12: flood mitigation is pushing up insurance premiums. We need to
32:29
Speaker 12: release the lot of approvals and building approvals into the
32:32
Speaker 12: Queensland property market to put downward pressure on rents. We've
32:35
Speaker 12: had eight point four percent increase here in rents in Queensland.
32:38
Speaker 12: We need to be focusing on the long term cost
32:40
Speaker 12: of living solutions that will deliver long term cost of
32:43
Speaker 12: living relief. And it's only then, It's only then, after
32:47
Speaker 12: ten years where the debt has blown out from seventy
32:51
Speaker 12: two billion to one hundred and seventy two billion here
32:53
Speaker 12: in Queensland, interest payments are going to be twenty one
32:56
Speaker 12: million dollars a day here in Queensland by the end of.
32:59
Speaker 1: The FORTSKI looks like it looks like your team is
33:04
Speaker 1: going to win the election in October, and at some
33:07
Speaker 1: point you're going to have to start providing answers for Queenslanders,
33:11
Speaker 1: because at this point, despite you saying that this is unprecedented,
33:16
Speaker 1: you said never before seen spending spree, at this point
33:19
Speaker 1: you're matching every dollar of that. David Ganetski, thank you
33:22
Speaker 1: very much for your time this evening. Now coming up,
33:25
Speaker 1: PwC under fire after backing in an executive who peddled
33:29
Speaker 1: hamas propaganda. Caroline Marcus broke.
33:32
Speaker 5: The story and she'll join me next. Welcome back.
33:40
Speaker 8: Well.
33:40
Speaker 1: Consulting firm PwC has been hit with another controversy.
33:44
Speaker 5: It's been revealed one of.
33:46
Speaker 1: Their senior leaders posted online terrorist propaganda and pedaled anti
33:51
Speaker 1: Israel conspiracies. PWC's banking and Capital Market Solutions and Capability
33:57
Speaker 1: leader allegedly tweeted and retweeted posts that suggests the reports
34:01
Speaker 1: of the mass rapes of Israeli women by hamas were
34:05
Speaker 1: invented by israel I'm joined now by Sky News senior
34:09
Speaker 1: reporter Caroline Marcus.
34:11
Speaker 5: And The Daily Telegraph State political reporter James O.
34:13
Speaker 1: Doherty. Great to see you both. Caroline, you broke this
34:16
Speaker 1: big story today. Can you tell us about some of
34:19
Speaker 1: the more offensive tweets and also p wc's response to.
34:23
Speaker 3: This, I mean, where to start, Shari. It literally would
34:27
Speaker 3: take hours to go through this senior leader at PWC's
34:31
Speaker 3: Twitter feed and just read through the hundreds of tweets
34:35
Speaker 3: that he's posted about this conflict since October seven. I
34:39
Speaker 3: think it's fair to say posted obsessively about the conflict.
34:44
Speaker 3: You have to question how much time he's actually spending
34:46
Speaker 3: on his job rather than posting conspiracy theories and anti
34:51
Speaker 3: Israel propaganda. But some of the more offensive ones that
34:55
Speaker 3: I found on Jim Krista Dullis's Twitter account, which then
34:59
Speaker 3: was public he's now changed it to protected were posts
35:06
Speaker 3: that said told his followers to f yourself with your
35:12
Speaker 3: fake outrage over the International Criminal Courts chief prosecutor seeking
35:18
Speaker 3: arrest warrants for Benjamin Nettanna Who and other Israeli officials,
35:22
Speaker 3: as well as tweeting out videos propaganda videos that were
35:26
Speaker 3: made by the Al Kudz Brigade. Now, as many of
35:29
Speaker 3: your viewers would know, they are the military wing of
35:32
Speaker 3: a terror group Palisin in Islamic g Had. He's actually
35:35
Speaker 3: tweeted out their videos purporting to show Israeli soldiers being killed,
35:41
Speaker 3: as well as that he's posted, as you mentioned in
35:44
Speaker 3: your introduction, and reposted messages that suggest Israel had invented
35:50
Speaker 3: these claims of mass rape of women and girls in
35:53
Speaker 3: October seven, which we know that the United Nations has
35:56
Speaker 3: now said there's credible evidence for, as well as plenty
35:59
Speaker 3: of others in so many witnessing independence. Yes, so, I
36:03
Speaker 3: mean that was highly disturbing. But what a one Jewish
36:07
Speaker 3: rights group highlighted as the most disturbing factor, and I
36:10
Speaker 3: think his right is PWC's response to this. I mean,
36:14
Speaker 3: they are a big four accounting firm. They're already under
36:18
Speaker 3: so much scrutiny over the tax scandal, which the reporters
36:22
Speaker 3: do to come down tomorrow. I mean, this is a
36:24
Speaker 3: stressful time for them already. But their response to this
36:28
Speaker 3: was to come back and say through a spokesperson that
36:32
Speaker 3: they respect their individual's right to express themselves, but have
36:39
Speaker 3: reminded him of his responsibilities to do so in a
36:43
Speaker 3: respectful manner. And I understand that they accepted his explanation
36:48
Speaker 3: that he didn't find the tweets offensive and that he
36:51
Speaker 3: would take a little break from Twitter. So that was
36:53
Speaker 3: remarkable in itself, the fact that they could tolerate this
36:57
Speaker 3: level of I think it's fair to say I agree
37:00
Speaker 3: with the Jewish Rights group anti Semitism and James.
37:03
Speaker 5: That's the thing I mean.
37:04
Speaker 1: P WC is one of those corporate companies that is
37:09
Speaker 1: happy to get involved in promoting The Voice and other causes,
37:14
Speaker 1: but when it comes down to racism against Jews, well
37:18
Speaker 1: where are they?
37:19
Speaker 11: Well just goes to show when a company like PwC
37:22
Speaker 11: takes a stand on something like the Voice, it really
37:25
Speaker 11: brings their stance on all of these other social issues
37:28
Speaker 11: into question. And as Caroline points out, p WC is
37:31
Speaker 11: having a terrible time at the moment. Perhaps they should
37:33
Speaker 11: focus more on their core business. But I think one
37:36
Speaker 11: of the most important points that Caroline raised in her
37:40
Speaker 11: story was PWC's response when they were linked with the
37:44
Speaker 11: Adelaide Writers Festival and there were revelations of anti Semitism
37:48
Speaker 11: from some people linked with the Adelaide Writers Festival, and
37:51
Speaker 11: they said we condem in the strongest terms any anti
37:54
Speaker 11: Semitic comments and sought to remove themselves from that event.
38:00
Speaker 11: When it comes down to in one of their own
38:03
Speaker 11: senior staff, they have not shown the same response.
38:06
Speaker 1: Ship And this isn't a case of shutting down freedom
38:09
Speaker 1: of speech. Everyone can have their own opinion, but the
38:13
Speaker 1: denial of the fact that women were raped is something else. Now,
38:18
Speaker 1: Liberal front benure Liberal Senator Holly Hughes came on this
38:22
Speaker 1: program last night and she launched a scathing attack on
38:25
Speaker 1: Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor.
38:27
Speaker 5: Here's what she had to say. Well, he's gone against
38:31
Speaker 5: Peter Dutton here.
38:31
Speaker 4: Peter Dutton had given a reference to Andrew Bragg and
38:33
Speaker 4: myself that he wanted to keep his shadow ministerial team together.
38:38
Speaker 4: And I think, you know, really, Dennis Shanahan probably summed
38:40
Speaker 4: it up in The Australian Best earlier when he said
38:43
Speaker 4: that Angus Taylor has to get serious about detail and
38:46
Speaker 4: present a more mature alternative in Parliament. And I don't
38:50
Speaker 4: think anyone could say it better than Dennis there. It's
38:53
Speaker 4: interesting that he's spending more time on factional politics in
38:56
Speaker 4: New South Wales.
38:57
Speaker 5: I think that perhaps his portfolio.
39:00
Speaker 1: More time on factional politics in New South Wales than
39:03
Speaker 1: his portfolio. That's Liberal Senator Holly Hughes about the Shadow
39:07
Speaker 1: Treasurer Angus Taylor. Then she then gave a similar interview
39:12
Speaker 1: today that was last night on My show. She's then
39:14
Speaker 1: spoken tonight to the Cidney Morning Herald and made similar
39:16
Speaker 1: comments Caroline, This is because Angus Taylor was, according to Holly,
39:23
Speaker 1: behind the push to ousked her from a winnable position
39:27
Speaker 1: on the Liberal Party Senate ticket.
39:30
Speaker 3: Look, I mean, from just a late person's point of view,
39:33
Speaker 3: it seems remarkable that instead of having a sitting senator
39:38
Speaker 3: being backed by members of your own party, you have
39:41
Speaker 3: this person, Jessica Collins, who many people haven't heard before.
39:45
Speaker 5: She's from the Low.
39:45
Speaker 3: Institute, suddenly parachuted in on a winnable spot ahead of
39:51
Speaker 3: someone like Holly Hughes, who's so well known, who's done
39:54
Speaker 3: a lot for the community and really passionate about a
39:58
Speaker 3: lot of her care issues, ino her shadow assistant portfolios.
40:04
Speaker 3: But I think what Holly's suggesting is that Angus Taylor
40:09
Speaker 3: is obviously more interested in shoring up his own numbers
40:13
Speaker 3: for any sort of future leadership tilt. That was among
40:16
Speaker 3: the claims that she's made today following on from your
40:20
Speaker 3: interview with her, And I mean, I think she's obviously
40:23
Speaker 3: been blindsided by this and deeply upset, so she's now
40:29
Speaker 3: lashing back. I guess at the forces within the party
40:32
Speaker 3: are more interested in factional politics than keeping good people James.
40:38
Speaker 1: Many people who follow politics closely have observed that Peter
40:42
Speaker 1: Darton is doing remarkably well in terms of holding alban
40:47
Speaker 1: easy to account, but they comment that Angus Taylor is
40:51
Speaker 1: the weak link, that the shadow treasurer hasn't taken the
40:54
Speaker 1: fight up to Jim Chalmers.
40:57
Speaker 11: Yeah, that's right, and Holly Hughes points out that this
40:59
Speaker 11: is not the first time Angus Taylor has been accused
41:02
Speaker 11: of this. Denis Shanahan, she references, has made this criticism before,
41:06
Speaker 11: and she's right. Everyone in Peter Duttan's team should focus
41:12
Speaker 11: more on their day job, particularly Angus Taylor, instead of
41:17
Speaker 11: focusing on factional issues. The insiders that I've spoken to
41:20
Speaker 11: in the party about this Holy Hughes issue say that
41:24
Speaker 11: it is all about factions. Holy Hughes from the center
41:27
Speaker 11: right and Angus Taylor is from the right. The right
41:30
Speaker 11: now have more control in the party room and the
41:33
Speaker 11: broader party base than the center right, and this was
41:36
Speaker 11: the right wing of the party trying to flex its
41:38
Speaker 11: muscles and boot out someone from an opposing faction.
41:41
Speaker 5: So at the end of the day, it's all factional.
41:43
Speaker 11: But it does seem to be a messy look when
41:46
Speaker 11: you have a sitting senator who is quite high profile
41:50
Speaker 11: booted for someone that not many of the voters would know.
41:53
Speaker 1: Indeed, and Holly Hughes is a regular fixture on Sky
41:57
Speaker 1: News here at nighttime at least, and has been very
42:00
Speaker 1: strong in her support for the Jewish community, and she is,
42:04
Speaker 1: as you say, a well known face. Just before you go,
42:07
Speaker 1: very quickly, Caroline, because we're just about out of time.
42:10
Speaker 1: Green's leader Adam Bout today demanded that Israel release all
42:15
Speaker 1: hostages and political prisoners. Somehow comparing the hostages taken by
42:21
Speaker 1: Hermas with the criminals and terrorists that Israel holds in
42:26
Speaker 1: its jails.
42:27
Speaker 3: Disgusting, not surprising at all, and why I have absolutely
42:31
Speaker 3: no hesitation to call this party that he leads an
42:35
Speaker 3: anti symbitic cult. The Greens are comparing a one year
42:40
Speaker 3: old baby Kafir, who was taken youngest hostage in the world,
42:44
Speaker 3: with prisoners in Israeli jails who have been convicted of
42:50
Speaker 3: blowing up or trying to blow up buses, of stabbing
42:53
Speaker 3: Israeli's those levels of crimes, and he's trying to draw
42:58
Speaker 3: an equivalence between the two. That is shameful and antisthmitic.
43:02
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Caroline Marcus, well done again on your story today,
43:06
Speaker 1: James Adahity great to have you with us now after
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Speaker 1: the break, we're here from Israeli MP Sharon Haskell and
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Speaker 1: her reaction to the wonderful news of four hostages returning.
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Speaker 5: Hope, welcome back.
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Speaker 1: Well, let's bring in now, Israeli MP Sharon Haskell, Sharon,
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Speaker 1: thank you very much for your time. Once again. Look,
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Speaker 1: we saw the heartwarming news on Saturday night, our time
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Speaker 1: that four hostages had been amazingly, extraordinarily almost miraculously rescued.
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Speaker 1: Not everyone, though, has celebrated that decision. There are those
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Speaker 1: saying that too many civilians were killed. But it wasn't
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Speaker 1: civilians who were holding three of these hostages captive, was it?
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Speaker 13: So a few things. First of all, you know, the
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Speaker 13: release of the four hostages ought such a great joy
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Speaker 13: to Israeli people, knowing that Noah's mother will be able
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Speaker 13: to see her before she passed. She has level four
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Speaker 13: brain cancer and she was holding just to see Noah
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Speaker 13: for the last time, and knowing that they are reunited
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Speaker 13: and she's capable of seeing her. You know, there were
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Speaker 13: teases of joys from in every Israeli house here they
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Speaker 13: were held Actually, Noah Alkamani was held by a former
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Speaker 13: Al Jazeera journalist. Okay, his dad is a doctor. So
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Speaker 13: you might say there are civilians, but they're actually fully compromised.
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Speaker 13: They are part of Hamas. They've been holding hostages in
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Speaker 13: her house. Some of the hostages have been circulating in
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Speaker 13: between a few families. And you know what Hamas is
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Speaker 13: doing that on purpose. It plays them in a home
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Speaker 13: so that they can bring out propaganda as if Israel
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Speaker 13: is harming innocent civilians, but there's no innocence and it's
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Speaker 13: not civilians. More so, Sharry, this operation, this is like
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Speaker 13: taken out of a Hollywood movie, very accurate, very direct,
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Speaker 13: going in, going in, there wasn't much of the fighting
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Speaker 13: or battling. But the problem was on their way out.
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Speaker 13: And when Ramas is placing hostages in busy markets and
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Speaker 13: then open fire in highly populated area when they are
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Speaker 13: trying to escape, what hostages back to Israel?
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Speaker 10: What would you do?
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Speaker 13: I mean, you have no other choice but to defend
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Speaker 13: them and to defend yourself. So regardless of the point
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Speaker 13: that probably many of those people who died are probably
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Speaker 13: directly being shot by Ramas, this is the entire situation
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Speaker 13: is on their heads. Don't hold hostages in busy areas,
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Speaker 13: don't open fire after they've been taken also to be
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Speaker 13: taken back into Israel. You don't shoot in a highly
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Speaker 13: populated area because you know well, Sharon.
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Speaker 1: Not to mention that actually where they were held was
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Speaker 1: even in a refugee camp as well, supposedly run by
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Speaker 1: ANRA just appalling. Now I want to ask you about
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Speaker 1: the political situation in Israel. We've seen Benny Gantz effectively
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Speaker 1: resign from the war cabinet. Where does this leave Netan Yahoo?
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Speaker 1: Do you think there will be elections anytime soon?
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Speaker 13: So it doesn't look like there's going to be elections soon,
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Speaker 13: and now still hold a coalition of sixty four And
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Speaker 13: to be honest me, as part of the opposition, our
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Speaker 13: party as well, we know that if we go into elections,
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Speaker 13: it means that the war is stopping, which means that
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Speaker 13: we cannot defend our people. Okay, that we haven't achieved
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Speaker 13: our calalls, that our family members who are being held
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Speaker 13: in the dungeons of Hamas are going to be kept
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Speaker 13: there for quite a lot more months, if not a
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Speaker 13: few years later. And so it's not in our interest
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Speaker 13: to go straight into elections. If NATANIAO start creating the
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Speaker 13: right moves in this war towards a real victory over Hamas,
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Speaker 13: towards bringing back our family members us from the opposition,
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Speaker 13: will support him and we'll give him a safety net
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Speaker 13: to make sure that we do whin this war.
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Speaker 1: Do you think there is hope that many of the
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Speaker 1: other one hundred and twenty hostages will be brought home?
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Speaker 13: Well, Schary, To be honest, we have no other choice.
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Speaker 13: I mean, think about it, and I hope your viewers
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Speaker 13: maybe can imagine that as well. Try and imagine your child,
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Speaker 13: your baby, or your father, or your brother or your
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Speaker 13: grandfather being held in a dungeon, being beaten every day,
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Speaker 13: being abused, being sexually abused, psychologically abused, being start have
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Speaker 13: no medication.
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Speaker 5: What would you do?
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Speaker 13: You would do probably everything in your capability to bring.
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Speaker 5: Them back home.
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Speaker 13: And this is our mission, this is what we will do.
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Speaker 13: We will not rest until all of them are back home,
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Speaker 13: the babies and the grandparents, and the brothers and the sister.
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Speaker 13: It is our greatest mission. Afterwards, we will have to
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Speaker 13: see how we build Israel's de terrence and security so
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Speaker 13: that we make sure that we can live here safely
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Speaker 13: in the middle.
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Speaker 5: Of the East.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely, Sharon Haskell, really appreciate your time once again.
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Speaker 5: And you know, Sharon is right.
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Speaker 1: If anyone's family members were being held by terrorists, there
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Speaker 1: are no lengths we wouldn't go to to bring them home.
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Speaker 1: And like I said last night, we wouldn't leave anyone
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Speaker 1: in concentration camps. So we can't give up on these hostages.
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Speaker 5: Now.
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Speaker 1: That's all we've got time for tonight. I'll see you
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Speaker 1: tomorrow at eight. And here's Paul Murray.