Transcript

Sharri | 20 May · Sharri

0:07
Speaker 1: Good Evening, Well tonight, I can reveal the major scandal
0:10
Speaker 1: enveloping at nine, involving the departure of one of its
0:14
Speaker 1: top executives and the lengths the network went to cover
0:18
Speaker 1: it up, including the use of non disclosure agreements. Nine
0:23
Speaker 1: has been accused of covering up allegations that its legendary
0:27
Speaker 1: news guru, former Director of News and Current Affairs, Darren Wick,
0:31
Speaker 1: behaved inappropriately towards women. In one incident, he behaved inappropriately
0:37
Speaker 1: to a television star after the logies. In another, he
0:42
Speaker 1: refused to engage or respond to senior female staff who
0:47
Speaker 1: reported to him. His drunken behavior raised so much concern
0:52
Speaker 1: at one nine function that an employee is said to
0:55
Speaker 1: have called police when they witnessed Wik getting in his
0:58
Speaker 1: car to drive. The secrecy of Wick's departure has infuriated
1:04
Speaker 1: many employees, particularly women, with many aware of the nature
1:08
Speaker 1: of his alleged behavior. There's internal revolt about the cover up,
1:14
Speaker 1: with journalists worried that it exposes the company to accusations
1:18
Speaker 1: of hipocrisy. Wick formally left nine on the fifteenth of
1:23
Speaker 1: March after being on leave in the weeks prior, while
1:27
Speaker 1: an external firm investigated a fresh complaint against him. He
1:33
Speaker 1: claimed he was leaving because of exhaustion after four decades
1:37
Speaker 1: working as a journalist, but The Australian confirmed today that
1:41
Speaker 1: his departure followed allegations of inappropriate behavior towards a female
1:46
Speaker 1: staff member, and tonight I can reveal further details about
1:52
Speaker 1: this complaint. I understand while the complaint was new, it
1:56
Speaker 1: related to an incident that occurred some years ago historical.
2:01
Speaker 1: The allegation is understood to have been made from a
2:04
Speaker 1: current female employee in the Nine network, in the television
2:08
Speaker 1: news division. I understand an external legal firm was brought
2:13
Speaker 1: in to conduct the investigation into the allegation against Wick.
2:17
Speaker 1: It didn't substantiate the allegation, yet the decision was made
2:22
Speaker 1: for him to leave at the highest levels, where this
2:25
Speaker 1: was seen as the final straw, given previous concerns about
2:30
Speaker 1: his conduct. Now I sought comment on all of this
2:34
Speaker 1: from Nine's corporate affairs Today, Victoria Bucken, a friend of Wicks, said,
2:40
Speaker 1: and I quote not responding. Multiple sources today told me
2:45
Speaker 1: this complaint against Wick was seen as the final straw
2:50
Speaker 1: in a separate incident. It became well known at Nine
2:53
Speaker 1: that there'd been an alleged incident of inappropriate behavior by
2:57
Speaker 1: Wick towards a Channel nine star at the Logis After
3:01
Speaker 1: party on the Gold Coast in twenty nineteen. There was
3:05
Speaker 1: no official complaint and the woman has distanced herself from it,
3:10
Speaker 1: not wanting to be the subject of media scrutiny. The
3:14
Speaker 1: woman referred us to nine's corporate affairs, who denied there'd
3:18
Speaker 1: been any complaint. But when questioned on how this had
3:22
Speaker 1: been handled, whether Wick had faced any formal repercussions, or
3:27
Speaker 1: whether the board chaired by former Treasurer Peter Costello or
3:31
Speaker 1: executive management had shown a duty of care to the
3:34
Speaker 1: female employee, Victoria Buckin said, we do not discuss our
3:39
Speaker 1: processes on any instances of this kind publicly about anyone.
3:44
Speaker 1: These processes are always confidential and it is important for
3:49
Speaker 1: all parties that they remain so. That is our policy.
3:54
Speaker 1: I made several attempts today to contact wik for comment.
3:57
Speaker 1: I sent him questions. So far he has not responded now.
4:02
Speaker 1: As well as these alleged incidents of inappropriate behavior, there
4:06
Speaker 1: are also a number of instances where Wick allegedly deliberately
4:11
Speaker 1: ghosted senior employees, refusing to engage with them even though
4:16
Speaker 1: they reported to him. It's understood to be a tactic
4:20
Speaker 1: to keep female employees on edge and make them feel
4:24
Speaker 1: insecure in their jobs. But there was one transgression that
4:28
Speaker 1: was thrust into the public domain, which was when Wick
4:32
Speaker 1: pled guilty to high range drink driving in January twenty
4:36
Speaker 1: twenty one.
4:37
Speaker 2: The boss of nine News has narrowly avoided doing jail
4:40
Speaker 2: time after pleading guilty to high range drink driving. It's
4:44
Speaker 2: the second time Darren Wicks being convicted. This time he
4:48
Speaker 2: was almost five times the legal limit, but he.
4:50
Speaker 3: Won't do time behind bars. Instead, a nine month's intensive
4:54
Speaker 3: corrections order means the news boss is free to live
4:57
Speaker 3: a normal life in the community. He could be jail
5:00
Speaker 3: if he puts.
5:00
Speaker 1: A foot wrong outside court. Wick was remorseful and apologized
5:06
Speaker 1: for his behavior.
5:08
Speaker 4: I'm in a.
5:08
Speaker 5: Position where I do know better, and I should have
5:11
Speaker 5: known better in a terrible mistake where I could have
5:13
Speaker 5: harmed others or harm myself, which would have harmed my
5:16
Speaker 5: family and harm my friends and colleagues.
5:19
Speaker 4: So I own it completely.
5:22
Speaker 1: Wick had been driving home from a work function at
5:25
Speaker 1: nine in October twenty twenty when he was stopped by police.
5:29
Speaker 1: The word inside nine is that Wick was only caught
5:32
Speaker 1: because a concerned colleague phoned police worried that he'd be
5:36
Speaker 1: a danger to others or himself behind a wheel after
5:40
Speaker 1: consuming so much alcohol, and when police breathalyzed him, he
5:44
Speaker 1: recorded a blood alcohol reading of more than four times
5:48
Speaker 1: over the legal limit. Wick held onto his job after this.
5:53
Speaker 1: Now The Australian reported today that the Channel nine board
5:56
Speaker 1: knew about the most recent complaint of inappropriate behavior from
6:01
Speaker 1: a female staff member, Sophie Ellsworth, and James Madden reported
6:05
Speaker 1: that it has also understood issues relating to Wick did
6:08
Speaker 1: go to nine's human resources department, and parties have signed
6:12
Speaker 1: non disclosure agreements pertaining to the matter. So the board,
6:18
Speaker 1: led by former Treasurer Peter Costello and Chief Executive Mike Sneezeby,
6:23
Speaker 1: knew about the allegation of inappropriate behavior, and presumably they
6:28
Speaker 1: also knew about the non disclosure agreements. By putting calls
6:32
Speaker 1: to Costello today but haven't heard back yet. Despite the
6:37
Speaker 1: board discussing the complaint, Wick was given a warm sendoff
6:41
Speaker 1: and there was no public mention of any complaint against him.
6:46
Speaker 1: Nine's Director of Television Michael Healy praised Wick's enormous impact
6:50
Speaker 1: at nine, including his recent work heading up the news
6:54
Speaker 1: division at a time of transformation. He wished him well
6:58
Speaker 1: and thanked him for his commitment to the news brand.
7:02
Speaker 1: Now there is a broad sentiment from everyone at nine
7:04
Speaker 1: I've spoken to that there should have been transparency over
7:08
Speaker 1: Wix departure. There's a strong view that nine journalists can't investigate,
7:13
Speaker 1: pursue and attack others, whether it's politicians, media companies, or
7:18
Speaker 1: big corporations, over internal scandals and inappropriate conduct when it
7:24
Speaker 1: covers up its own problems. And multiple Nine sources have
7:29
Speaker 1: accused their own company of covering up this scandal. They
7:33
Speaker 1: say there shouldn't be a veil of secrecy over allegations
7:37
Speaker 1: of inappropriate behavior. One source said to me there's been
7:41
Speaker 1: an extraordinary degree of secrecy around it. The key thing
7:45
Speaker 1: that people are annoyed about is the fanfare of his
7:48
Speaker 1: departure versus what happened. In fact, at precisely the same
7:55
Speaker 1: time the spotlight scandal was unfolding at Channel seven nine,
7:59
Speaker 1: the publisher of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and
8:02
Speaker 1: The finn Review didn't say a peep about why Wick
8:06
Speaker 1: had left the company. Here was nine pursuing seven and
8:11
Speaker 1: its executives.
8:13
Speaker 6: Our backs roll at seven Spotlight program in June last
8:16
Speaker 6: year was to help the show's executive producer Mark Llewellyn
8:20
Speaker 6: lockin Lurreman for an exclusive interview deal with the.
8:23
Speaker 7: Network tailor made package. Apparently no expense spared check book,
8:29
Speaker 7: journalism laid bare in a hotbed of allegations aired before
8:34
Speaker 7: the federal court, Channel seven racking up I watering expenses
8:39
Speaker 7: to nail down their prized scoop.
8:42
Speaker 1: The Cydney Morning Herald has published stories about Alan Jones,
8:46
Speaker 1: Craig McLaughlin and Channel seven Spotlight, and I do understand
8:50
Speaker 1: that investigative journalist Kate mcclemont has been chasing the story
8:54
Speaker 1: about what unfolded with Darren Wick. I also put to
8:59
Speaker 1: nine's corporative Affairs Today the hypocrisy of nine's journalism arm
9:04
Speaker 1: reporting on similar topics and allegations in the world of
9:07
Speaker 1: politics and rival media organizations, yet covering up a scandal
9:12
Speaker 1: within their own organization. Victoria Buckin said nothing has been
9:18
Speaker 1: swept under the carpet or covered up. Will Nine's cover
9:23
Speaker 1: up of this scandal at the very top of its
9:26
Speaker 1: news division is laughable given the ferocity with which it
9:31
Speaker 1: pursued their commercial rival at seven across its media outlets.
9:36
Speaker 1: Nine does much to support women editorially and at a
9:39
Speaker 1: corporate level, but perhaps they could focus more closely on
9:44
Speaker 1: issues affecting some female employees within their own company. Now
9:53
Speaker 1: also on the show Tonight, to Melbourne University threatens to
9:56
Speaker 1: call in the police and expel pro Palestinian students who
9:59
Speaker 1: are occupy buying buildings on campus. It comes after a
10:03
Speaker 1: weekend of unrest on the city streets as protesters clash
10:07
Speaker 1: with police. Also ahead, new data dropping Tonight revealing Labour's
10:11
Speaker 1: failure to improve Australia's unemployment problem with a million people
10:16
Speaker 1: still claiming welfare benefits, and Around's president, known as the
10:21
Speaker 1: Butcher of Tehran, confirmed dead in a helicopter clash along
10:25
Speaker 1: with the Foreign minister. We'll talk about what this could
10:28
Speaker 1: mean for the Middle East, but now let's have a
10:32
Speaker 1: look at federal politics and Anthony Albanesi is joining a
10:35
Speaker 1: growing chorus of politicians at both federal and state who
10:38
Speaker 1: want to see enforceable age limits on social media. Have
10:42
Speaker 1: a look.
10:44
Speaker 8: Parents are worried seek about what the kids have access
10:47
Speaker 8: to online. It is a major social issue in this country.
10:53
Speaker 8: We want to respond positively too the request from parents
10:58
Speaker 8: that we do something about this. We want to make
11:02
Speaker 8: sure that any measures that are put in place effective
11:07
Speaker 8: because one of the concerns which is there is that
11:11
Speaker 8: age protocols may be circumvented by users.
11:16
Speaker 1: Okay, let's bring in sky News host Liz Storra and
11:19
Speaker 1: contributor Joe hilt A brand Joe. In a sense, wouldn't
11:22
Speaker 1: this be a relief to parents that they don't have
11:26
Speaker 1: to say to the sets, you're banned from TikTok. You know,
11:29
Speaker 1: in their young teenage years, they can say, well, the
11:32
Speaker 1: government's bounding this.
11:33
Speaker 3: That's right. This is an absolute god's end. Good on
11:35
Speaker 3: the PM for doing this. Chris Means also came out
11:38
Speaker 3: very early the Premier of New South Wales and said, yep,
11:40
Speaker 3: I'm all on board. I cannot punch a hole in it.
11:43
Speaker 3: I cannot see I've been saying for years now, I
11:45
Speaker 3: cannot see pretty much any benefit from social media, certainly
11:49
Speaker 3: no benefit which outweighs the downside to it. It's been
11:52
Speaker 3: an absolute force for destruction right across the globe, particularly
11:55
Speaker 3: in the West, and I think it has really harmed
11:58
Speaker 3: politics that I think is harmed public life. The difference
12:01
Speaker 3: you're talking about about it, but I was about to say,
12:05
Speaker 3: the difference is that adults. What I'm saying is I've
12:08
Speaker 3: seen it do harm to adults who have got hides
12:11
Speaker 3: as tough as rhinoceroses. Just imagine the harm that it
12:15
Speaker 3: is doing. We don't have to. We've seen the suicides,
12:17
Speaker 3: we've seen the boy We've seen that's right, and again,
12:21
Speaker 3: all sorts of things, even just kids. You know that's
12:23
Speaker 3: the extreme end, obviously, and that's horrendous enough, but you
12:25
Speaker 3: know kids being addicted to it, dragged into it by
12:28
Speaker 3: the algorithm, a rewarding the focus at rewarding extreme behavior,
12:33
Speaker 3: and just dragging kids in so that there's zombies distracting
12:36
Speaker 3: them when they're at school. We know that it reduces
12:38
Speaker 3: cognitive function when kids are at school, let alone when
12:41
Speaker 3: they're at home. This is no place for children, it's
12:45
Speaker 3: no place for adults.
12:46
Speaker 9: It's definitely one.
12:47
Speaker 1: Of the stories as a journalist that will never leave
12:50
Speaker 1: me is interviewing the parents of a ten year old,
12:53
Speaker 1: a ten year old who took her own life after
12:57
Speaker 1: she was cyberbullied so badly. And of course bullying is
13:00
Speaker 1: terrible in the playground, but the cyberbullying. It follows the
13:03
Speaker 1: children into their bedrooms. The parents don't know what's going on. Liz,
13:07
Speaker 1: only makes sense to have an enforcible ban here, raising
13:11
Speaker 1: the age limit to sixteen.
13:13
Speaker 10: I can't imagine any irrational person disagreeing. My biggest question
13:17
Speaker 10: is what took so long? We have had such comprehensive
13:21
Speaker 10: data for so long that has been screaming at us
13:25
Speaker 10: worldwide that the effect of social media on children is
13:30
Speaker 10: massively detrimental, socially, mentally, you name it.
13:35
Speaker 1: It is no good. So why now? Better late than never?
13:39
Speaker 10: But why now is the government suddenly taking measures?
13:42
Speaker 1: And I've said it before.
13:43
Speaker 10: My only question mark here is how on earth you
13:46
Speaker 10: can enforce such a ban without really railroading absolutely everybody
13:51
Speaker 10: else's rights. We heard the Morrison government talk in late
13:55
Speaker 10: twenty twenty one, No no, I, Like I said, no
13:59
Speaker 10: rational person would oppose a ban of children accessing social media,
14:03
Speaker 10: especially if they visited any amount of the study that's
14:06
Speaker 10: been done. But in order to enforce such a ban,
14:11
Speaker 10: we are unquestionably looking at what it will require, and
14:16
Speaker 10: that is going to mean quite a few rights, matters
14:21
Speaker 10: of privacy for adults, because everyone is going to have
14:25
Speaker 10: to prove that they are who they say they are
14:27
Speaker 10: in order to jump online, in order to prove I
14:30
Speaker 10: am not a child, I am old enough to access.
14:33
Speaker 1: You know what, I wouldn't need to show them my idea.
14:35
Speaker 1: I just have tonkles up.
14:38
Speaker 4: But the.
14:41
Speaker 3: People are going to go and behave like monsters online,
14:43
Speaker 3: should they not at least not be accountable for that.
14:45
Speaker 3: I mean, that's what free speech is. Free speech is
14:48
Speaker 3: not the ability to be able to go and anonymously
14:50
Speaker 3: bully someone to death or control someone you don't like
14:53
Speaker 3: without But as I've.
14:54
Speaker 10: Discussed before, there is a lot of people online who
14:57
Speaker 10: aren't bullies, who aren't trolled and have chosen to remain
15:00
Speaker 10: anonymous because they know speaking their truth these days, usually
15:04
Speaker 10: conservative beliefs, they will copy it in their public life.
15:10
Speaker 10: Is it for everyone else's safety? And it does remove
15:13
Speaker 10: anonymous trolls as well? It does, But again, these things
15:16
Speaker 10: are always done in the name of safety, and often
15:18
Speaker 10: at the time we cannot see the effects of down
15:22
Speaker 10: the road and what it will mean for people who
15:24
Speaker 10: then no longer have the right to remain All.
15:27
Speaker 1: Right, let's have a look at this next topic, labour's
15:29
Speaker 1: travel expenses. Once again, in the spotlight after revelations in
15:32
Speaker 1: the odds. Today the taxpayers will find four hundred and
15:36
Speaker 1: fifty million for two new Boeing seven three sevens to fly.
15:40
Speaker 1: The PM well, his dog Toto and the government around Joe.
15:46
Speaker 10: Look, this is car on, Joe, how are you going
15:51
Speaker 10: to defend this.
15:52
Speaker 3: It's not a great look in the middle of the
15:54
Speaker 3: cost of living crisis and after a.
15:56
Speaker 1: Budget that everyone's agreed.
15:57
Speaker 10: Doesn't actually relieve that Christ, it.
16:00
Speaker 3: Can't because it can't be it can't be inflationary. But again,
16:03
Speaker 3: this is something the PM and the government and the
16:06
Speaker 3: Governor General who are all these digitries who are sharing
16:10
Speaker 3: these two jets, I think we all agree that they
16:12
Speaker 3: do need jets to be able to get around twenty
16:16
Speaker 3: years old. Why luxury jets are twenty years old, are
16:20
Speaker 3: at the end of their life. And the government had
16:21
Speaker 3: a choice by either leasing two jets for twelve years
16:26
Speaker 3: or buying them out right. And it found out that
16:28
Speaker 3: buying them out right was actually cheaper, So it was
16:30
Speaker 3: actually cheaper to buy these two jets. It's the government
16:33
Speaker 3: actually saved one hundred million dollars and actually got a jet.
16:37
Speaker 1: Luxury jets lutury jet do you know, basically they needed.
16:43
Speaker 1: It's basically as essential as bread, these yeats exactly without the.
16:48
Speaker 10: Question mark is the luxury nobody is?
16:52
Speaker 1: How dare they get around?
16:54
Speaker 10: Although if they want to practice what they preached, they
16:56
Speaker 10: should all be on bicycles or some sort of emissions
16:59
Speaker 10: free bus because they expect everyday people to pay dearly
17:04
Speaker 10: and we all are for the green dream that they're
17:07
Speaker 10: voisting onto everyone while they buy spend almost half a
17:11
Speaker 10: billion dollars of our money to buy two luxury jets
17:15
Speaker 10: that will spew our emissions.
17:18
Speaker 1: But don't for decades to go do me a failure?
17:21
Speaker 1: Don't you wish they would also have to catch quantus
17:24
Speaker 1: of Virgin flights or Jetstar and see how many cancelations.
17:28
Speaker 10: The bonds off that would make them politicians of the
17:33
Speaker 10: people all right.
17:35
Speaker 1: Unions are pushing for Labour's controversial right to disconnect laws.
17:39
Speaker 1: Remember these are the laws that give employees the right
17:42
Speaker 1: to disconnect, not to answer their boss's phone once they've
17:45
Speaker 1: got home at night. Well, the odds reporting that the
17:48
Speaker 1: ACTU wants fair work to rule out bosses being disorganized
17:53
Speaker 1: as a reasonable excuse to contact workers after hours to
17:57
Speaker 1: perform unpaid work. Is this fair enough?
18:02
Speaker 3: Well, I think the example that Michelle O'Neill, act President,
18:05
Speaker 3: gave was I thought a pretty reasonable one, which is
18:08
Speaker 3: a boss, can't you realize suddenly that there's something that
18:10
Speaker 3: were meant to do during the week and they've totally
18:12
Speaker 3: forgotten and call an employee at four fifty on a
18:14
Speaker 3: Friday and say, right, you've got to spend your weekend
18:16
Speaker 3: doing this. Having said that, the number of times I've
18:18
Speaker 3: had editors asked, they say, oh my god, we've got
18:20
Speaker 3: to do stuff this up? Can you fix this?
18:21
Speaker 1: But I said, whether the work to disconnect?
18:24
Speaker 3: And of course I say yes. But I guess I'm
18:26
Speaker 3: not and we are not. I mean, the sort of
18:28
Speaker 3: workers that unions represent are not necessarily the higher end
18:31
Speaker 3: kind of white collar workers where you are expected to
18:34
Speaker 3: do whatever it takes and you usually remunerated and rewarded accordingly.
18:39
Speaker 3: These are workers who might be safe. For example, you
18:41
Speaker 3: know teachers who don't want to have to respond to
18:43
Speaker 3: every single email they get from a cranky parent until
18:46
Speaker 3: nine o'clock at night, which frankly I can assure you
18:48
Speaker 3: they do anyway. So I think it's more about just
18:51
Speaker 3: saying employees have the right to say no to change
18:54
Speaker 3: the kind of expectation. But again, yeah, I think there'd
18:58
Speaker 3: be a lot of workers sort of at our in
19:00
Speaker 3: and out industries and professionals who would say, what are
19:03
Speaker 3: you talking about. I think also, if you're asking to
19:04
Speaker 3: work from home, then the right to disconnect suddenly becomes a.
19:08
Speaker 1: Very I feel like the younger generation don't even need
19:11
Speaker 1: these laws because try getting hold of anyone under thet
19:14
Speaker 1: after hours and they're not picking up their body.
19:16
Speaker 10: Oh exactly, They're well aware of their rights and they
19:19
Speaker 10: are laying down the law, which is why a lot
19:21
Speaker 10: of employers do not want to hire them, because very
19:24
Speaker 10: different work ethic in the younger generations. But I just
19:27
Speaker 10: think this is getting absolutely ridiculous because of course it's
19:30
Speaker 10: so subjective. I mean, what you might class as, oh,
19:35
Speaker 10: this is because you have been disorganized, Sharry, and as
19:38
Speaker 10: my boss, this is your fault. And whereas you know
19:41
Speaker 10: the backstory, you know that maybe a client's called up
19:44
Speaker 10: last minute asked for something, therefore it's not your fault
19:47
Speaker 10: at all, and now we have to deliver on something
19:50
Speaker 10: to a deadline, et cetera, and so on. This is
19:53
Speaker 10: just going to mean so much, he said. She said,
19:57
Speaker 10: type action for anyone who actually will to exercise these
20:01
Speaker 10: laws and take them for a ride.
20:02
Speaker 1: It's going to get ridiculous.
20:03
Speaker 3: Maybe we should have it so it goes both ways.
20:05
Speaker 3: O good aid Bys. Yeah sorry, Look, I know at
20:07
Speaker 3: five o'clock on a Friday, but I've forgot to do
20:09
Speaker 3: all that stuff you ask me. Would you mind doing
20:11
Speaker 3: it yourself and getting it back to me on Monday morning?
20:13
Speaker 1: Pats All right, Joe, you around this story. Thanks so
20:16
Speaker 1: much for hures. Now, don't go anywhere. Labor has failed
20:20
Speaker 1: to improve Australia's unemployment problem despite overhauling the jobs program.
20:25
Speaker 1: The Daily telegraphs James Willis has crunched the numbers and
20:28
Speaker 1: joins me with his exclusive story. Next plus, pro Palestinian
20:33
Speaker 1: protesters attempt to confront anti Semitism supporters who were rallying
20:39
Speaker 1: in Melbourne. I've got more on that with the Christian
20:42
Speaker 1: organizer of nevergrain Is Now after the break, welcome back,
20:51
Speaker 1: well exclusive news story now from the Daily Telegraph. New
20:54
Speaker 1: data has revealed that there are still more than one
20:57
Speaker 1: million people receiving either job Seek or Youth Allowance welfare payments.
21:02
Speaker 1: The same number is when Labor was sworn into government
21:06
Speaker 1: despite overhauling the jobs program, this is costing taxpayers sixteen
21:11
Speaker 1: billion dollars a year. I'm joined now by the Daily
21:15
Speaker 1: Telegraphs James Willis. James, great to see you, so tell
21:18
Speaker 1: us about this story you've just broken over on the
21:21
Speaker 1: Daily Telly.
21:22
Speaker 11: Thanks for having me on your show, Shari, I think
21:24
Speaker 11: this figure that you've just quoted is important to clarify
21:28
Speaker 11: so people understand exactly how bad this problem is. We're
21:32
Speaker 11: not talking about people that are on a disability pension, veterans,
21:36
Speaker 11: people that are on an age pension.
21:37
Speaker 4: This is one million ossies.
21:40
Speaker 11: Who have been declared capable of working at least a
21:44
Speaker 11: little bit about five hundred thousand of them for.
21:47
Speaker 4: At least thirty hours a week.
21:49
Speaker 11: And yet in two years of government with Tony Burke
21:52
Speaker 11: as the Employment Minister, Labor has failed to move the
21:56
Speaker 11: dial on this figure. And we still have one million
21:58
Speaker 11: ausraeans on the Job Seeker and Youth Allowance program. Now
22:02
Speaker 11: a lot of these people, I think two three hundred thousand.
22:05
Speaker 4: Have been on the program for.
22:08
Speaker 11: At least two years, if not five years, if not
22:10
Speaker 11: ten years, for about seventy thousand, and we have to
22:13
Speaker 11: start asking when Labor continues to say, we've created hundreds
22:17
Speaker 11: of thousands of jobs, unemployments at record lows.
22:21
Speaker 4: You've got this massive.
22:22
Speaker 11: One million elephant in the room, which is people that
22:26
Speaker 11: should be working that aren't, and it starts to shine
22:29
Speaker 11: a pretty big light on the number of migrants that
22:33
Speaker 11: we've brought in over the last two years. More than
22:35
Speaker 11: one million people who can't go immediately on unemployment.
22:38
Speaker 4: Benefits need to have a job. So that's taken jobs
22:41
Speaker 4: in that regard.
22:42
Speaker 11: But what is labor doing to fix this problem that
22:45
Speaker 11: Tony Burke said was on the right track in Dune
22:47
Speaker 11: twenty twenty two.
22:49
Speaker 1: Well, Tony Burke, as you said, the Employment Minister, what
22:52
Speaker 1: did he have to say for himself today when you
22:55
Speaker 1: asked him about this problem.
22:57
Speaker 11: Well, it's the same lines that we hear from labor
23:00
Speaker 11: over and over again.
23:01
Speaker 4: They've created eight hundred.
23:02
Speaker 11: And twenty thousand jobs, unemployments at almost record levels, and
23:07
Speaker 11: they've managed to get things moving and they've had new
23:09
Speaker 11: things in the budget to give incentives to employers to
23:13
Speaker 11: get people into work. But the reality is in June
23:16
Speaker 11: twenty twenty two, Tony Burke said it was a clean
23:18
Speaker 11: slate he was going to wipe all the penalty points
23:20
Speaker 11: from welfare recipients if they hadn't met their mutual obligations.
23:24
Speaker 11: It was going to get people job ready, and two
23:27
Speaker 11: years on we still have one million people out of
23:30
Speaker 11: work completely. I would note as well, Shari, that there
23:32
Speaker 11: are large numbers of these people on job secret and
23:35
Speaker 11: youth Allowance that are on in mister Burke's backyard in
23:39
Speaker 11: Watson in ed Husick's Electric of Chiffley, in Jason Clair's
23:44
Speaker 11: Electric of Blaxln and also McMahon in for Chris Bowen.
23:48
Speaker 11: That's about thirty thousand between them. So this is a
23:51
Speaker 11: problem that senior labor ministers should be deeply concerned.
23:55
Speaker 4: By, and yet we have not moved the dial.
23:58
Speaker 11: And the number of unemployed Australians a lot of cheap problem.
24:00
Speaker 11: As you say, it's a sixteen billion dollar problem.
24:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, massive sixteen billion a year. Now, let's have a
24:06
Speaker 1: look at news poll today. It showed that despite the
24:09
Speaker 1: commitments to cost of living relief, twenty nine percent of
24:13
Speaker 1: voters thought they'd be worse off after this new labor budget.
24:18
Speaker 1: This is compared to twenty seven percent who thought they'd
24:20
Speaker 1: be better off. Meantime, thirty nine percent thought that the
24:24
Speaker 1: new budget would actually make inflation worse. Now, James, this
24:28
Speaker 1: will be a disappointing result for Albanisi and Charmers. You know,
24:32
Speaker 1: they say this had nothing to do with politics, but
24:35
Speaker 1: of course you know, it is an economic document, but
24:37
Speaker 1: it's also a political one and they would certainly help it,
24:41
Speaker 1: hoping that the billions of dollars spent on costs of
24:44
Speaker 1: living relief would put them in good standing ahead of
24:47
Speaker 1: the next election.
24:49
Speaker 11: Well it all goes back, Sharhi to the broken promise,
24:52
Speaker 11: one of the greatest broken promises in recent memories that
24:54
Speaker 11: we heard before the last election that Labor would reduce
24:57
Speaker 11: people's power bills by two hundred and seventy five dollars,
25:00
Speaker 11: and they kept saying along the way, I.
25:02
Speaker 4: Don't worry, that doesn't start until twenty twenty five.
25:04
Speaker 11: Well we're now at that point where that money should
25:08
Speaker 11: be coming off people's power bills. As we know, whether
25:11
Speaker 11: you're a small business, whether you're a family, energy bills
25:14
Speaker 11: are absolutely crippling people. So a three hundred dollars supplement
25:17
Speaker 11: to everyone from the richest Australian down is their way
25:20
Speaker 11: of saying, look, we got this wrong.
25:22
Speaker 4: But here's a little bit of bill relief anyway.
25:24
Speaker 11: As we know, for the majority of people, you'll barely
25:27
Speaker 11: even feel this off Your quarterly bills are going in
25:30
Speaker 11: the wrong direction.
25:31
Speaker 4: This is the biggest story.
25:34
Speaker 11: And the most common thing you hear from small businesses
25:36
Speaker 11: right across Australia.
25:37
Speaker 4: Their energy bills are through the roof.
25:39
Speaker 11: They can't pay their gas. The gas is a massive
25:43
Speaker 11: issue that hasn't even been looked at properly in this budget.
25:45
Speaker 11: Later's taking that off the agenda because they've had to
25:48
Speaker 11: do deals with Greens and the Independence to keep things going.
25:51
Speaker 11: And it's the cost of inflation, it's the cost of wages.
25:54
Speaker 11: Small businesses are going broke. We've had some of the
25:56
Speaker 11: best restaurants in Sydney that have gone broke over the
25:59
Speaker 11: last few weeks and can't remain open because they simply
26:03
Speaker 11: cannot afford the costs of doing business.
26:06
Speaker 4: It's terrible. It's probably in fairness to labor.
26:10
Speaker 11: There's a fair sting in the tale from the coronavirus,
26:12
Speaker 11: as we know. But the Prime Minister is the one
26:14
Speaker 11: in power and ultimately when voters go to the polls,
26:18
Speaker 11: he's going to be the one that they judge when
26:19
Speaker 11: they decide whether he can get another term or not.
26:22
Speaker 1: Well, they might not have blamed him, but he promised
26:24
Speaker 1: that he'd be able to make life more affordable. It
26:26
Speaker 1: was one of his key election pledges ahead of the
26:29
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two election. Dawly Telegraph, thanks for joining us
26:32
Speaker 1: live from the Telegraph newsroupe. Now, there were ugly scenes
26:36
Speaker 1: on the streets of Melbourne yesterday after pro Palestinian protesters
26:40
Speaker 1: tried to clash with those simply demanding an end to
26:44
Speaker 1: anti Semitism. They weren't supporting Israel openly, they were just
26:49
Speaker 1: demanding an end to anti semitism. Now police arrested six
26:53
Speaker 1: people in the ensuing chaos. The peaceful crowd attended the
26:58
Speaker 1: Never Again is Now. It was organized by my next guest,
27:03
Speaker 1: pastor Mark Leech, and he joins me here in studio. Mark,
27:07
Speaker 1: thank you very much for your time. Now, firstly, congratulations
27:11
Speaker 1: on organizing these rallies. As a Christian pastor fighting anti Semitism,
27:17
Speaker 1: it is so important to have non Jews leading the charge,
27:21
Speaker 1: so you know, as a Jew, I thank you for that. Now,
27:24
Speaker 1: now tell me what happened, because you know we saw
27:26
Speaker 1: all of this unfold on the news yesterday and it
27:29
Speaker 1: was really worrying.
27:32
Speaker 9: Yeah, well, thank you for having me on your show.
27:34
Speaker 9: And look, yesterday was an amazing day in Melbourne. It
27:38
Speaker 9: was in some ways the best of days and in
27:42
Speaker 9: other ways the worst of days. The best of days
27:44
Speaker 9: because in spite of Melbourne's lovely weather fourteen degrees rain showers,
27:50
Speaker 9: the security thread around us. Seven thousand of us gathered
27:54
Speaker 9: on the steps of Parliament Gooch two.
27:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, huge to.
27:57
Speaker 9: Come and say to our country that there is no
28:00
Speaker 9: place here for hate. We were led by Christians, We
28:04
Speaker 9: had worship music, we had Jewish music, we had a
28:06
Speaker 9: big indigenous presence on the stage. We had political leaders,
28:09
Speaker 9: religious leaders, Persian speakers, Indian speakers. It was a wonderful
28:13
Speaker 9: celebration of all that is best about our multicultural, cohesive society.
28:18
Speaker 9: It was just fantastic.
28:21
Speaker 11: That was the best.
28:23
Speaker 9: The worst was there were probably it looks like they're
28:28
Speaker 9: going to be more reported incidents of anti Semitism on
28:31
Speaker 9: that day than on any other single day in Australia's
28:34
Speaker 9: recorded history. There were mobs of left leading and jihadists
28:41
Speaker 9: supporting Islamic supporters, baying for vengeance all around us. The
28:48
Speaker 9: city was full of these people, and as our people
28:51
Speaker 9: tried to come peacefully Christians, like one lady seventy two
28:55
Speaker 9: year old Presbyterian of all people and her husband trying
28:59
Speaker 9: to get rally. She was kicked in the calf, she
29:02
Speaker 9: was pushed, she was spat on, she was called a
29:05
Speaker 9: baby killer and a Nazi.
29:07
Speaker 4: So that was doing.
29:10
Speaker 1: Is she okay, She's okay.
29:11
Speaker 9: She's resilient. She stayed for the whole rally and found
29:14
Speaker 9: it an incredibly uplifting experience. But it just showed these
29:18
Speaker 9: people believe that any form of resistance is justified because
29:23
Speaker 9: their cause is so valid, I guess, but it does
29:29
Speaker 9: seem like their cause really is.
29:31
Speaker 1: The psychology is difficult to understand though, when they were
29:34
Speaker 1: trying to disrupt a protest that was just calling for
29:36
Speaker 1: the end of anti Semitism. It's inexplicable. So now the
29:41
Speaker 1: police tried to have these two rallies in separate locations.
29:45
Speaker 1: So how did this confrontation eventuate.
29:48
Speaker 9: Well, we started negotiating the police probably two months ago
29:53
Speaker 9: because we wanted to come into the city center to
29:56
Speaker 9: support the Jewish community. Now the Jewish community can't come
29:59
Speaker 9: in on a Saturday, the Christians can't come in on
30:01
Speaker 9: a Sunday morning. Because they're in church. So Sunday afternoon
30:03
Speaker 9: was the time, and the police negotiated with the pro
30:06
Speaker 9: Palestinian side and they were going to stay on the
30:08
Speaker 9: State Library. They've been in the city of Melbourne every
30:11
Speaker 9: Sunday for thirty four weeks, so it just seemed pretty
30:14
Speaker 9: reasonable for the first time since October seven for the
30:17
Speaker 9: Christians and Jews to get together on the steps of
30:19
Speaker 9: Parliament House. They'd agreed to that. The police had deployed
30:23
Speaker 9: six hundred officers, including the Riote Squad and the horse sat.
30:28
Speaker 1: That's a massive waste in a sense of resources in itself,
30:32
Speaker 1: isn't it.
30:33
Speaker 7: Well.
30:33
Speaker 9: I'm glad I'm a New South Wales taxpayer, not a
30:35
Speaker 9: Victorian taxpayer, because they are footing the bill to maintain
30:39
Speaker 9: public order in the face of sustained hatred and vitriol
30:44
Speaker 9: and violence. Every week six hundred officers mounted police for
30:48
Speaker 9: say eight hours. Do the math on that. That's what
30:50
Speaker 9: the Victorian taxpayers footed the bill for.
30:53
Speaker 1: So they were there. They were meant to be separate locations,
30:56
Speaker 1: and then what.
30:57
Speaker 9: Happened as the afternoon progressed, They started their the pro
31:01
Speaker 9: Palestinian started at State Library and then against what they'd
31:04
Speaker 9: assured the police would be the case. They marched up
31:07
Speaker 9: to our rally and tried to break through police lines
31:10
Speaker 9: to attack what we were doing. It was an extraordinary display.
31:14
Speaker 9: I think what it did was just show that, you know,
31:17
Speaker 9: they just hate love and inclusion and peace, because that's
31:21
Speaker 9: what we were protesting. We were there to say we
31:23
Speaker 9: stand for love and for inclusion. We weren't taking a
31:26
Speaker 9: view on events in the Middle East. So anyone who
31:29
Speaker 9: protests love, well, what are they standing for?
31:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, how can you possibly oppose that? Now let's
31:35
Speaker 1: turn to Melbourne University and we know that finally the
31:39
Speaker 1: chancellors the leadership there have said that if the protesters
31:44
Speaker 1: don't leave the encampment, they are going to call police.
31:46
Speaker 1: I mean this has been many, many days. Now do
31:49
Speaker 1: you think they should remove these encampments? I mean, you
31:52
Speaker 1: know people say, people like Mark Scott say, oh, well
31:54
Speaker 1: there's free speech, and yes there's free speech, but you're
31:58
Speaker 1: not allowed to just camp it any university campus on it.
32:02
Speaker 1: You know, we don't have campus setting up tents on
32:05
Speaker 1: university campuses, so why should this be any different?
32:08
Speaker 9: Well, I don't think it should be. And the problem
32:10
Speaker 9: is not just the encampments. But what they're trying to
32:12
Speaker 9: do is intimidate and shut down anyone else's right to
32:16
Speaker 9: free association and free speech. So there are lots of
32:18
Speaker 9: reports of Jewish students who are scared to go on campus,
32:22
Speaker 9: who are intimidated, who are abused, and these encampments should
32:25
Speaker 9: have been they should have been closed down the first
32:28
Speaker 9: within the first hour that they started. I mean, the
32:30
Speaker 9: best time to pull out a weed is before it
32:32
Speaker 9: takes over your whole garden. And this is just an
32:35
Speaker 9: infestation of hatred on our places of higher learning that
32:38
Speaker 9: make it unsafe for our Jewish students and our Christian
32:42
Speaker 9: students who oppose this kind of hatred to go about
32:44
Speaker 9: their business and study in peace.
32:46
Speaker 1: YEP, there's been a lot of abuse and harassment. Mark Leacher,
32:48
Speaker 1: have to thank you again for your leadership on this issue.
32:51
Speaker 1: You were there on October nine at the very first protest,
32:55
Speaker 1: you were chased by aggressive protesters, and you haven't backed
32:58
Speaker 1: down since. Thank you very much.
33:00
Speaker 9: It's a pleasure now.
33:02
Speaker 1: Plenty more to come. Politicians and staffers put on notice
33:06
Speaker 1: with the threat of jail time if they don't report
33:08
Speaker 1: complaints of assault, discrimination or bullying. More on that shortly.
33:13
Speaker 1: Andrew Caswell and Karen Milner will be here live next,
33:17
Speaker 1: plus the latest from Iran on the helicopter crash that
33:21
Speaker 1: killed President Abraham Racy, known as the Butcher of Terehran.
33:30
Speaker 1: Welcome back will. Politicians and staffers have been put on
33:34
Speaker 1: notice report sexual harassment, assault, discrimination or bullying or face
33:39
Speaker 1: a potential three million dollar fine. The Age has reported
33:43
Speaker 1: that this much delayed and heavily disputed Parliamentary Standards Commission
33:48
Speaker 1: could even jail a politician or staffer for fifteen years
33:52
Speaker 1: for failing to report allegations. Meanwhile, former PM Scott Morrison
33:57
Speaker 1: says he did everything he possibly could for women while
34:01
Speaker 1: he was in the top job, Yet he says the
34:04
Speaker 1: issue was weaponized against him for partisan political purposes. Have
34:08
Speaker 1: a listen.
34:10
Speaker 12: Our government and me in particular were the target of
34:13
Speaker 12: what was a very, I think a disappointing campaign. This
34:18
Speaker 12: wasn't an issue that should have been used for politics,
34:22
Speaker 12: and sadly I think it was, as the recent court
34:25
Speaker 12: case has found.
34:27
Speaker 1: All Right Tenner, he was of course there referring to
34:29
Speaker 1: Brittney Higgins when he said the recent court case, let's
34:31
Speaker 1: bring in tonight's political panel. Former media advisor to Scott
34:35
Speaker 1: Morrison Andrew Caswell, and former chief of staff to Bill Shotten,
34:39
Speaker 1: Cameron Milner. Great to see you both, Andrew Carswell, Well,
34:42
Speaker 1: let's start with you. The Scott Morrison there's doing a
34:45
Speaker 1: round of interviews to promote his new book. He made
34:49
Speaker 1: that claim that the issue was weaponized against him, the
34:53
Speaker 1: women issue, the claims that he had a problem with women,
34:56
Speaker 1: and this did become a political liability for him. What
35:00
Speaker 1: did you think? How did you handle this? Do you
35:02
Speaker 1: in his office at the time?
35:06
Speaker 5: Well, I think Shari Scott was used as a lightning
35:09
Speaker 5: rod in this moment too, and his enemy seized upon this,
35:15
Speaker 5: whether it be a me too movement or women raising
35:18
Speaker 5: other issues in society. His detractors jumped on him in
35:24
Speaker 5: that very moment to paint him to be somewhat either
35:28
Speaker 5: against women or not understanding of their needs, and I
35:34
Speaker 5: think that certainly stuck with him throughout the rest of
35:37
Speaker 5: his Prime ministership quite unfairly. I mean, he's very open
35:41
Speaker 5: and honest about some of the slip ups that he
35:42
Speaker 5: made in some of those forums, but by and large
35:48
Speaker 5: his record is pretty significant in what his government and
35:52
Speaker 5: the termal government as well did for Australian women, whether
35:56
Speaker 5: that be from funding for metriosis, whether it be for
36:01
Speaker 5: domestic violence, funding mental health, various measures that were done,
36:06
Speaker 5: so his policy outcomes far outweighed some of those small
36:10
Speaker 5: slip ups that his enemies used against him at will Well.
36:15
Speaker 1: In the recent Core case, Justice Michael Lee did find
36:18
Speaker 1: that while Britney Higgins was raped, there was no political
36:22
Speaker 1: cover up in the Morrison government relating to her rape,
36:26
Speaker 1: and he made this very clear. Camen Milder, do you
36:29
Speaker 1: think there should be an apology to Scott Morrison from
36:32
Speaker 1: some of the labor ministers who really targeted him, claiming
36:36
Speaker 1: that he covered up the rape. A judge has now
36:39
Speaker 1: found that this never happened.
36:42
Speaker 13: Well, say two things. The first is Scott Morrison was
36:45
Speaker 13: a politician and he gave as good as he got,
36:47
Speaker 13: so he sledged people, he made names, he called things out,
36:50
Speaker 13: so boohoo, sorry Scott, you're in politics mate, and you
36:53
Speaker 13: were heading up the show. But I will say this,
36:55
Speaker 13: the three Labor mean girls did weaponize the rape. There
36:59
Speaker 13: was no political conspiracy. Justice Lee has gone through extensively
37:02
Speaker 13: to say there was no political conspiracy. So there is
37:04
Speaker 13: absoually no justification for taking a young woman and politicizing
37:09
Speaker 13: and weaponizing her in a desperate attempt to win the
37:12
Speaker 13: political points, to score points Againstcott Morrison on such a
37:16
Speaker 13: personal and potentially criminal matter which at least a civil
37:20
Speaker 13: level has been proved to be a rape. So those
37:22
Speaker 13: mean girls, Katie Gallagher, Pennywong are still there. They bullied colleagues,
37:26
Speaker 13: they went after this issue and they're the ones who
37:29
Speaker 13: should be investigated if this is the new standard to
37:32
Speaker 13: which Parliament's going to have to meet.
37:34
Speaker 1: Well, we now know just how close the Prime Minister
37:37
Speaker 1: is to Penny Wang in some areas. She's basically running
37:40
Speaker 1: the show, so we can understand why at the time
37:43
Speaker 1: he so heavily resisted calling any investigation into the allegations
37:47
Speaker 1: of bullying a story by the way, that I broke.
37:52
Speaker 1: Just got to put that in there now, Andrew Carswell,
37:56
Speaker 1: we've seen that after the recent budget. We still think
38:01
Speaker 1: the polls are showing that people are still feeling like
38:04
Speaker 1: they're going to be financially worse off, despite the three
38:08
Speaker 1: hundred dollars in energy bill relief, despite the Stage three
38:11
Speaker 1: tax cuts taking effect on July one. Do you think
38:14
Speaker 1: this budget is going to work against labor I mean
38:17
Speaker 1: they're hoping it will be at least the platform ahead
38:20
Speaker 1: of the next election.
38:24
Speaker 5: I think Australians are already starting to see through this budget.
38:28
Speaker 5: They're smart, they know what's going on. They know when
38:30
Speaker 5: a government is trying to buy them off or or
38:33
Speaker 5: win them over. Yes, they'll take the goodies that come
38:35
Speaker 5: out of a budget. They'll take the bride, but they
38:37
Speaker 5: won't say thanks, and they won't give you any credit
38:40
Speaker 5: for it because they can see what you're trying to do.
38:42
Speaker 5: And this is a budget that is trying to win
38:44
Speaker 5: them over twelve months out from an election. So the
38:49
Speaker 5: public is cynical about this. But we're already facing the
38:52
Speaker 5: fact that this budget has gone down the toilet. It's
38:55
Speaker 5: I mean, we're work five six days after the budget.
38:58
Speaker 5: We're not talking about the measures, talking about how badly
39:01
Speaker 5: it's performed, and we're talking about Peter Dunton's budget and
39:04
Speaker 5: reply speech where he's talking about migration and housing and
39:07
Speaker 5: the link and getting that right. And that is the
39:09
Speaker 5: message that is resonating with the public because people are
39:12
Speaker 5: feeling that it's tapping into this kind of inherent fear
39:16
Speaker 5: that that Australians have of either getting their kids in
39:19
Speaker 5: the homes, or addressing the housing crisis in this country
39:22
Speaker 5: by bringing down migration. So I think it's really tapped
39:25
Speaker 5: into something. The budget is yesterday's news already.
39:29
Speaker 1: Well, you know, Cameron, Jim Chalmers, who I know you
39:32
Speaker 1: admire greatly, thinks he's found a very clever way here
39:36
Speaker 1: to give cost of living relief to people and give
39:40
Speaker 1: that relief and use that spending in effect to bring
39:44
Speaker 1: down inflation. And you know his argument, and we've heard
39:47
Speaker 1: him prosecute this argument in many media interviews. His argument
39:51
Speaker 1: is that by bringing down the CPI component that is
39:55
Speaker 1: energy bills that low is inflation. At the same time
39:58
Speaker 1: you're putting money in people's crockets. He says, he's not
40:01
Speaker 1: sending a check out, he's giving the money to the
40:04
Speaker 1: energy companies. You know a lot of journalists and economists
40:08
Speaker 1: are questioning this logic. What do you make of it?
40:13
Speaker 13: Well, I admire Jim Chalmer's loyalty to the Prime Minister
40:16
Speaker 13: who is desperately struggling to walk around with a fist
40:19
Speaker 13: full of fifties and try to buy himself some love
40:21
Speaker 13: from the Australian electorate. This budget was an election budget.
40:25
Speaker 13: This was a budget to try to fix Elbow's appalling numbers.
40:28
Speaker 13: And it's not just newspoll Resolve Freshwater our own GXO
40:31
Speaker 13: Pole all is polling should be alarm bells for Albanite
40:35
Speaker 13: because he's desperately disliked, not trusted by the electorate. He's
40:39
Speaker 13: made cost of living the central issue and has failed
40:41
Speaker 13: on it. And poor old Jim has to, you know,
40:44
Speaker 13: put out a budget which quite quite reasonably hasn't lasted
40:48
Speaker 13: less than a week with the economists. And it's because
40:52
Speaker 13: of Jim's loyalty to Albow to try to give him
40:54
Speaker 13: electional platform because Albo is stalling every other, every other
40:59
Speaker 13: possible way in this polling.
41:01
Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, you both seasoned political operatives. You know, there's
41:04
Speaker 1: a lot of speculation about election timing. I have it
41:08
Speaker 1: on extremely good authority that there are no plans for
41:11
Speaker 1: an election this year that Albanezy is planning and going
41:15
Speaker 1: you know, the full term to next year. Andrew Carswell,
41:19
Speaker 1: you know, would it make sense at all for him
41:21
Speaker 1: to try hold one later this year?
41:25
Speaker 5: I think, Sharry, you always want that option, and I
41:27
Speaker 5: think what Jim has put forward in his numbers just
41:31
Speaker 5: just open the door to a possible December election, in
41:34
Speaker 5: early December election. It's not their intent and wouldn't be
41:38
Speaker 5: their first choice to do that. They will want to
41:40
Speaker 5: go to a full term. They want to deliver a
41:42
Speaker 5: mini budget in March and then go to an election
41:46
Speaker 5: in May. But you always go when the numbers say
41:49
Speaker 5: to go, and if the numbers are good in December,
41:52
Speaker 5: if the economy is recovering, if inflation is coming down,
41:56
Speaker 5: and there's a prospect of an interest rate decrease, then
42:00
Speaker 5: they'll be wanting to keep that option open.
42:03
Speaker 1: What do you think, Cameron, I mean, the PM is
42:05
Speaker 1: probably going to want to stay in the job until
42:07
Speaker 1: he can fly in those new four hundred and fifty
42:09
Speaker 1: million dollar jets that he's ordered.
42:13
Speaker 13: That's right, Toto two point zero is on the tarmac
42:16
Speaker 13: for elbow. Now, look for a guy who said that
42:19
Speaker 13: at a cost of living was a central issue didn't
42:21
Speaker 13: do anything about it. The guy who promised two hundred
42:22
Speaker 13: and seventy five dollars powercut and didn't deliver it. Why
42:25
Speaker 13: would Australian Electric believe him that he's going to go
42:27
Speaker 13: full term? This budget was all about buying a vote
42:31
Speaker 13: and that's what it looks like, and that's what it is,
42:34
Speaker 13: and that only has a certain lifetime. So I think
42:36
Speaker 13: this budget has a half life about six months and
42:38
Speaker 13: is desperately designed to give them an option before Christmas
42:41
Speaker 13: to go before potentially things get much worse for Australians andrew.
42:46
Speaker 1: Any chance the Coalition could win. I mean they need
42:49
Speaker 1: to recut, they need to win nineteen seats the coalition.
42:53
Speaker 1: They need to win nineteen seats to be a majority government.
42:56
Speaker 1: Is that too big an ask?
43:00
Speaker 5: History certainly against them that There's only been one first
43:02
Speaker 5: term government that has failed to win a second term,
43:05
Speaker 5: and that was way back in nineteen thirty one, so
43:09
Speaker 5: it is against them. They are a long way behind.
43:12
Speaker 5: What we're more likely to see is a veryholy, ungodly
43:16
Speaker 5: unruly minority government of all sorts of colors, Green, Teal
43:21
Speaker 5: and others. That is the most likely outcome. A labor
43:25
Speaker 5: majority would be probably second running in that order, and
43:29
Speaker 5: then a coalition government. So the task is ahead of them.
43:33
Speaker 5: They are proving themselves to be formidable rival, a formidable
43:38
Speaker 5: alternative government. I think Peter Dutton has surprised many and
43:43
Speaker 5: he's caught them napping a little bit, and he'll be
43:46
Speaker 5: a formidable opponent in any election campaign upcome.
43:51
Speaker 1: I thought Simon Benson's analysis. He's the political editor for
43:55
Speaker 1: The Australian. He wrote a piece last week where he
43:58
Speaker 1: said that the advisor is around. Peter Dutton had been
44:01
Speaker 1: trying to soften his image, but it actually turns out
44:04
Speaker 1: that his tough image suits the times, suits the times
44:08
Speaker 1: when people are worried about national security with the detainee scandal,
44:13
Speaker 1: they're worried about the social cohesion in our streets and
44:16
Speaker 1: worried about cost of living. What do you reckon, Cameron.
44:21
Speaker 13: Well, I think Peter Dutton's secret weapon is Anthony Albanese.
44:25
Speaker 13: If this is a referendum on Albanese, and this very
44:27
Speaker 13: well be the case come the next federal election, Labour's
44:30
Speaker 13: got real problems. This is a leader who has gone
44:33
Speaker 13: backwards since the last election, whose primary is falling, whose
44:36
Speaker 13: best opportunity, as Andrew quiet reason he says, is this
44:39
Speaker 13: cavalcade of weird, weird Teals and Greens propping up and
44:43
Speaker 13: Alberti's the prime ministership disaster. So Labour's got real problems
44:48
Speaker 13: coming into the next federal election. As I say, Peter
44:50
Speaker 13: Dutton's best friend is Anthony Albanese.
44:52
Speaker 1: As they say governments lose elections, often oppositions don't win them.
44:55
Speaker 1: Andrew Carswell, Cameron milnerk great to see you, as always
44:58
Speaker 1: in a Monday still to come. The death of Iran's
45:02
Speaker 1: president and what it means for the conflict in the
45:04
Speaker 1: Middle East to Koshergada or join me next. Well, let's
45:13
Speaker 1: turn to Iran, where it's been confirmed that President Ebrahim
45:16
Speaker 1: Raisi and his foreign minister have been killed in a
45:19
Speaker 1: helicopter crash. Mister Raisi and Hussein Oh I'm not even
45:24
Speaker 1: going to attempt this last name. We're flying in heavy
45:27
Speaker 1: fog when the helicopter suffered a hard landing into a mountain.
45:31
Speaker 1: Peak State Television is reporting that there have been no
45:34
Speaker 1: signs of life at the crash site. And I'm joined
45:37
Speaker 1: now by Sky News contributor Koshergada. Kosher, there's a lot
45:41
Speaker 1: of speculation about what this means for the conflict in
45:44
Speaker 1: the Middle East. The president isn't the most powerful figure
45:47
Speaker 1: in Iran, that's the Ayatola, So do you think his
45:51
Speaker 1: death could mean any change in strategy?
45:56
Speaker 14: I think that is the question, you know, given that
45:59
Speaker 14: the Ayatola is the supreme leader and really controls most
46:03
Speaker 14: of the political power in that country. It would appear
46:05
Speaker 14: that this isn't really going to be that consequential, certainly
46:08
Speaker 14: not in the immediate term. On paper, the president really
46:11
Speaker 14: is more of a ceremonial role and doesn't have that
46:14
Speaker 14: much authority behind the scenes. Of course, there might be
46:17
Speaker 14: different ones who express divergent opinions and things happen behind
46:21
Speaker 14: closed doors to some extent, but reportedly President Raizie was
46:25
Speaker 14: not one of those, and he was somebody who was
46:27
Speaker 14: very much in the image of the Ayatola, very much
46:29
Speaker 14: in agreement with him on all policy positions, and so
46:32
Speaker 14: it would appear that the replacement is likely going to
46:35
Speaker 14: be somebody similar since the Iatola is still around, he's
46:39
Speaker 14: eighty five years old, and while there will be elections
46:42
Speaker 14: that have to take place, he is most likely expected
46:44
Speaker 14: to appoint or select the next person in those elections
46:49
Speaker 14: who's likely to win and is going to be a replacement,
46:51
Speaker 14: and we won't see much change, I don't think in
46:53
Speaker 14: policy positions.
46:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's not considered truly democratic elections, far from it. Now,
46:59
Speaker 1: is there the possibility that there was anything suspicious in
47:02
Speaker 1: this crash or is it simply a case of bad weather?
47:05
Speaker 1: And aging equipment.
47:10
Speaker 14: Now, it's impossible to know that, and we can only speculate.
47:13
Speaker 14: What we do know is that it was bad weather.
47:16
Speaker 14: This is very tough to rain close to the border
47:18
Speaker 14: with Azerbaijan. Even the search and rescue and recovery mission
47:22
Speaker 14: has been very difficult and very challenging to execute. Suggests
47:25
Speaker 14: that it's certainly possible that it was accidental. But what
47:28
Speaker 14: we also know is whenever there is opportunity and motive
47:32
Speaker 14: for something suspicious to happen to these world leaders, that's
47:36
Speaker 14: human nature, and it's natural and appropriate even to harbor
47:40
Speaker 14: some suspicion that there might be more to the story.
47:42
Speaker 14: We'll never know, of course, and there are lots of
47:45
Speaker 14: actors who have motive to have something like this happened,
47:48
Speaker 14: both domestically. Is very unpopular with dissidents and people who
47:52
Speaker 14: want the reform movement in Iran as well as right
47:54
Speaker 14: now globally, given the conflict in that region and all
47:57
Speaker 14: the movements that are happening on the geopolitical stage, not
48:00
Speaker 14: out of the realm of possibility that there's more to it.
48:04
Speaker 1: Now. The president is often referred to as the Butcher
48:06
Speaker 1: of Tehran. Can you tell us how he got this title.
48:13
Speaker 14: Yes, the history is that in nineteen eighty eight he
48:17
Speaker 14: was one of four or five judges that presided over
48:20
Speaker 14: mass mass capital punishment executions of political prisoners and political dissidents.
48:26
Speaker 14: I think the US Treasury Department, during sanctions that they
48:29
Speaker 14: imposed on Iran back in twenty nineteen even said that
48:32
Speaker 14: these were extra judicial where they went sort of outside
48:34
Speaker 14: the laws on the books in Iran and executed thousands
48:37
Speaker 14: or even tens of thousands of political dissidents. And that's
48:40
Speaker 14: where that name comes from.
48:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, Koshagada, thank you so much for explaining
48:46
Speaker 1: that to us tonight. Now, thanks everyone for your company
48:48
Speaker 1: this evening. I'll see you tomorrow at eight. If you
48:51
Speaker 1: want to rewatch, or if you missed the breaking story
48:53
Speaker 1: at the start of the program about the scandal at
48:56
Speaker 1: Channel nine, head to the website. Here's Paul Murray