Latest / Credlin / Credlin | 12 October

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Credlin | 12 October · Credlin

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Peter Credlin, live from News 24.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Good evening. Welcome to the program. Here's what's coming up
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: tonight on Credlin.
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: Tonight, more on the international terrorism probe linking the fly-to-buy
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: hijacked pilot to an Islamic centre here in Australia. The
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Melbourne imam connected to the claims broken his silence this
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: afternoon over his alleged links claiming he is the victim
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: of false allegations. Plus a lot of fine words yesterday
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: from the Prime Minister to mark the 25th anniversary of
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: Australia's mission in Afghanistan. But what of the parents whose
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: son was killed on the front line? who didn't even
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: receive an invitation. That shocking snub tonight as David and
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Mary McCarthy joined me live, the proud parents of fallen
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: hero signaler Sean McCarthy.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Meanwhile, Labor was back at it today.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Trying to convince you the digital duty of care laws
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: are about protecting children online.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: But it's not.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: It's government-controlled censorship. and free speech at risk. We'll be
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: joined by our global free speech fighter, Michael Schellenberger. And
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: mounting public pressure, which started right here on Credlin, confirmation
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: today the Royal Commission into Antisemitism will be extended for
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: additional hearings.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Pauline Hanson, though, she says... It could be too little,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: too late.
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: They are still not going far enough.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: It's about radical Islam in the country and we've got
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: to call it.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Out for what it is.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: We will stay with that issue of radical Islam because
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: over the weekend, news broke out of the United Arab
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: Emirates that the co-pilot at the centre of the flight
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: of I-911 would-be style attack had been in a Melbourne
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: Islamic centre or in and around issues. managed by prominent
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Muslim leader Samir Matadi, also known as Sheikh Abu Hamza.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: On Saturday, UAE Attorney General Hamid Saif al-Shamzi stated that
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: the co-pilot had confessed that during his time in Melbourne,
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: he became acquainted with individuals associated with My Centre, a
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: northern suburbs Islamic facility managed by Mr Matadi. The findings indicated,
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: this is the Attorney General, the findings indicated that signs
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: of his drift towards extremism and terrorism first emerged in
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: 2017 while he was studying in Australia. During that period,
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: he was influenced by Takfiri ideology through reading extremist literature
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: and following online content glorifying terrorist organisations and suicide attacks.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: said the UAE Attorney General, this influence subsequently developed into
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: the adoption of ideas advocating violence and terrorism. He also
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: drew inspiration, he said, from the 9-11 September attacks and
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: the idea of carrying out a similar operation using an
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: aircraft became firmly established in his thinking. Well, as we know,
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: the tragedy was only averted by the quick thinking of
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: the injured Indian pilots who, opened the door of his
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: cockpit to Israeli passengers who then overwhelmed the alleged would-be terrorist.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: But mass murder was clearly his intention, says UAE officials,
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: with recent reports that 29-year-old Omani-born co-pilot had planned to
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: crash the fly-to-buy flight into the terminal at Israel's Ben
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: Gurion airport. Now, if this had occurred, the loss of life, Well,
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: it would likely have been in the thousands. Disaster on
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: the other side of the world averted, but now the
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: real risks are heading home to Australia with the alleged
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: connection of this would-be killer to Melbourne and a group
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: of Muslim leaders in Melbourne who are already well known.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: For all the wrong reasons.
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: The leader of the Islamic Centre linked to the co-pilot,
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: as named by the UAE government, is Melbourne Muslim leader
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: Samir Maqtadi, also known as Sheikh Abu Hamsa.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: Now, in the past, this.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: Imam has branded Zionists, so anyone who supports the existence
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: of Israel, as scavengers, as bloodsuckers, after calling on Allah
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: to cast terror into the hearts of Zionists.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: We don't believe in a state called Israel.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: And I swear by God, the Almighty, it's just a
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: matter of time before Palestine will only have one state,
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: only one state, the.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: State of Palestine. I've always said and I've always believed
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  Speaker 2: that these Zionists are not normal. They're blood-sucking human beings.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: They're scavengers. They're not humans, I swear by Allah.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: Samir Matadi, who you just heard from there, is behind...
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: an almost $ 7 million push to build an Islamic facility,
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: including new separate schools for boys and girls, in the
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: northern suburb of Mickleham, Decatur for Melbourne's burgeoning Muslim population.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: And that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: of taxpayer money that's now been thrown at groups associated
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: with this man and others like him. The Melbourne suburb
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: of Micklem is in the Labor-held federal seat of Colwell,
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: and that's important. This is a seat where, according to
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: the 2021 census, almost 24% of residents have identified as Muslim.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: At the last election, this.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: Seat suddenly became a real problem for Labor with the
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: emergence of two Muslim-specific political players, Muslim Votes Matter and
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: the Muslim Vote. which could partly explain the taxpayer funding
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: that's been poured into the Muslim community in this area
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: by Labor governments, both state and federal. But back to
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: the sort of man Sheikh Abu Hamza has shown himself
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: to be as evidenced by radical speeches and social media activity.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: In 2009, a recording of a lecture he delivered in
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: 2003 resurfaced, generating criticism after Sheikh Abu Hamza suggested that
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: men could compel their wives to have sexual intercourse and
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: physically discipline them, beat them if they disobeyed. In the
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: lecture titled Keys to a Successful Marriage, this imam argued
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: that Islamic law permitted a husband to strike his wife
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: as a last resort, provided the act did not cause
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: bleeding or bruising. At the time, The remarks drew Nass condemnation,
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: as they should, including from then former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: But still, Labor leaders after Rudd have continued to throw
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: money at organisations linked to this man, despite those offensive comments.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: Samir Maqtadi had earlier come to the attention of authorities
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: during the court proceedings around Operation Pendennis in 2008. Central
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: to this terrorism investigation was an individual known as Abdul
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: Naisa Ben-Brika, who Maktari admitted in evidence to the court
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: that he had known for some 15 years, describing their
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: relationship as close and that he had learned a lot
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: about Islam from Ben-Brika. What's more, he admitted to watching
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: videos of Beheri to the court, he admitted this in
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: the court, And he agreed under cross-examination that Osama bin
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: Laden had been regarded as a good man by many Muslims,
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: including himself. Ben Breaker, the man at the centre of
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: the trial, born in Algeria, was ultimately convicted of intentionally
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: being the leader and member of a terrorist organisation in Australia.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: He was jailed for 15 years.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: And in 2020, prior to his release from prison, Ben
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: Bricker's citizenship, Australian citizenship, was cancelled by the Morrison government.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: But in 2023, Ben Bricker won his case in the
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: High Court to have it restored. While in prison, I
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: might add, Ben Bricker continued to have influence on jihadist
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: ideology and a number of his associates and relatives died
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: fighting for Islamic State. So understand the sort of individual
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: we are talking about here. And it's no surprise that
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: officials in Dubai have warned that Australia has a problem
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: with extremist Islam. As the UAE Attorney General said on
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: Saturday to the Emirati news agency regarding this alleged co-pilot's time,
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: a terrorist co-pilot's time in Australia, he said, and I quote,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: the suspect admitted that while studying in Australia, he regularly
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: attended a mosque affiliated with with the RMIT, Royal Melbourne
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: Institute of Technology. Through these visits, he became acquainted with
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: individuals associated with a centre known as My Centre. He
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: stated that the centre was managed by a Lebanese man
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: known as Abu Hamza and allegedly received support from an
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: association linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. He also said that
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: he had prepared himself both psychologically and physically to carry
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: out the plot by intensifying his exposure to material promoting
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: terrorism and training in boxing under.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: A private coach.
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  Speaker 3: Now, to be clear, News 24 is not suggesting that
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: these comments from the accused are proven or that McCarty
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: was involved in the alleged plot or the radicalisation, just
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: that the UAE Attorney General has reported them publicly as
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: the confessions of the co-pilot accused in the fly Dubai
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: terrorist incident. Note that references here to the Melbourne centre
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: known as My Centre, well, it has a big board
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: and on that board are a number of men, including
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: Sumia Maktadi, Sheikh Abu Hamza. Then there is this man too,
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: the principal of My Centre's affiliated high school project, It's
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: called My College, and this man I'm speaking of now
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: is Tarkadian Mokhtari. Now, he is also worth a second look,
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: given his clear rejection of Australian values, values about gay
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: Australians and about women, including that the women's soccer team,
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: the Matildas, well, that they should not be supported in
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: any way. As far as I can make it out,
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: and I am still digging, last year this organisation, by
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: an offshoot called My Centre, received almost $ 70, 000 from Tony
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: Burke's Home Affairs Department for community language funding, so Arabic
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: language funding. Earlier, the Allen Labor Government in Victoria gave
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: My Centre some $ 393, 000 despite serious concerns raised at the
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: time by Liberal MP Jade Benham about the leadership of
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: the organisation in June last year. This builds on other
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: funding too that they have received from Victorian Labor in
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: recent times, $ 58, 000 in that instance. What also deserves attention
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: too is an announcement made by Anthony Albanese just a
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: few days before last year's federal election to put $ 25
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: million into community language schools announced in Melbourne. Now, I'm
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: yet to confirm that any of the organisations linked to
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: Samir Mahtadi are in receipt of funds from this funding announcement.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: But the very fact that $ 25 million announced by Albanese
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: is so opaque, well, that begs the question. Surely questions
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: must also keep being asked of ministers like Tony Burke,
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: given these revelations by officials in Dubai. Surely Australians need
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: assurance that no taxpayer dollars are inadvertently involved with or
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: used to train or radicalise anyone in the cause of
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: extremist Islam. We know tonight that the Australian Federal Police
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: have confirmed to News24 they are now investigating links between
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: Australia and the co-pilot. But where is the press conference
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: from the Prime Minister to reassure Australians that this very
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: serious matter has his full attention? Where is the confirmation
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: that the National Security Committee has met, that all the
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: resources that our intelligence agencies and police say they need
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: are being provided to get to the bottom of these
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: serious claims from the UAE Attorney-General? Now, I would like
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: to hope that every taxpayer dollar allocated to organisations connected
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: to this man and the claims he has had made
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: about him see that money immediately suspended. But when Burke
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: can't answer questions, as we saw yesterday with my colleague
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: Andrew Clennell, then I think all Australians are right to
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: be concerned.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: News24.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Com reporting that this My Centre that he was involved with,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: the pilot, received a $ 60, 000 grant from the Department of
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Home Affairs. Do you have a reaction to that?
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: Sorry, which centre?
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: It's a multicultural youth centre in Melbourne called the My Centre.
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: I don't have more information on that, Andrew.
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: I'm sorry.
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: As I said, that was the day after that news
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: out of Dubai from the Attorney-General regarding those disturbing allegations
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: connecting Australia to the would-be events from the terrorist flying
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: that fly-to-buy flight. And still no answers from our government.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: It's now Monday and the clock will stay on this issue.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: Let's go to Canberra now for the headlines. Parliament's back.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: Here is Cam Redden.
• 14:14
  Speaker 7: Good evening.
• 14:15
  Speaker 8: Support for One Nation has cooled slightly as Parliament returns
• 14:18
  Speaker 8: to Canberra. The latest news poll shows a slight recovery
• 14:21
  Speaker 8: for both major parties. The Coalition now polling at 20%,
• 14:26
  Speaker 8: its highest vote since May. But Angus Taylor is yet
• 14:29
  Speaker 8: to convince the other 80 he has the right policy blend.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: That's actually bloody good.
• 14:35
  Speaker 8: Speaker of the House of Representatives Milton Dick has been
• 14:37
  Speaker 8: elected head of the International Parliamentary Union, a global organisation
• 14:41
  Speaker 8: for national parliaments.
• 14:43
  Speaker 9: You are the best speaker that I've seen in my
• 14:45
  Speaker 9: time in the House of Representatives.
• 14:47
  Speaker 10: It's a noble and worthwhile cause. I know you will
• 14:51
  Speaker 10: do a magnificent job and you will do our nation
• 14:54
  Speaker 10: proud in that job.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Cameron Redden, News 24, Canberra. All right, joining me now,
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: News24 political contributor Chris Yeoman. Chris, welcome.
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: I mentioned there Parliament's back, opposition not wasting any time,
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: hitting Labor pretty hard on that mess that's emerged now
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: for small business following that credit card ban from the ATO.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: Have a listen.
• 15:16
  Speaker 10: Since Labor came to power, over 50,000 businesses have gone bust.
• 15:21
  Speaker 9: Wow.
• 15:22
  Speaker 10: Killed by power bills no one can afford. New taxes
• 15:26
  Speaker 10: no one voted for and a credit card ban no
• 15:29
  Speaker 10: one was told about. When will this Prime Minister start
• 15:33
  Speaker 10: listening to Australians who have a go and stop waging
• 15:38
  Speaker 10: war on small businesses?
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the PM had skipped out of the country, put
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: his Fijian shirt on, Chris, hoped it was all sunshine
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: and uplit lands over there. But, of course, here at
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: home in the last fortnight, it's been a shocker we've
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: had that historic 16th cash rate increase, the surcharge mess,
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: the ATO backflip on those credit card payments. I don't
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: think he can disconnect himself from the reality that this
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: budget is now, I think this is the 13th issue,
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: this budget is a shocker.
• 16:13
  Speaker 7: I think the real shocker for the government in recent weeks,
• 16:15
  Speaker 7: beyond the Reserve Bank putting up the interest rates, is
• 16:19
  Speaker 7: that whole thing with the Australian Taxation Office. That was
• 16:21
  Speaker 7: really a case of do as we say, not as
• 16:24
  Speaker 7: we do. The government has this magical thinking. It believed,
• 16:27
  Speaker 7: or it seemed to believe, that when the surcharge was
• 16:30
  Speaker 7: taken away, that it would just disappear. But that cost
• 16:33
  Speaker 7: has to go somewhere. It has to be borne by
• 16:35
  Speaker 7: a business. They clearly expected that business would absorb that cost,
• 16:38
  Speaker 7: but then Their own tax office said that it was
• 16:41
  Speaker 7: not prepared to absorb that cost. So there's a level
• 16:44
  Speaker 7: of hypocrisy in that, which is just breathtaking, particularly when
• 16:47
  Speaker 7: you see that being applied by the tax office, which expects,
• 16:51
  Speaker 7: of course, small business to cough up money whenever it
• 16:54
  Speaker 7: taps them. And by God, I know running a small business,
• 16:57
  Speaker 7: you get tapped by the tax office quite often. So
• 17:00
  Speaker 7: I think that was really seriously damaging because that's something
• 17:03
  Speaker 7: that everybody can understand.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: I think it.
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: Also shows just how out of touch the Labor side
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: of politics is. There are people from small business on
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: the Liberal side and certainly on the crossbench and elsewhere.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: But on the Labor side, there's just that pathway coming
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: up through the unions. And it just, I think, highlights
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: how out of touch they are. But also the Prime Minister,
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: you know, he's in summit season. Pretty much every time
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: he's not in the Parliament, he's going to be on
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: a plane, Chris. And that's just going to exacerbate this divide.
• 17:39
  Speaker 7: Yeah, and look, I think what happens over the course
• 17:40
  Speaker 7: of the next 18 months is things in the economy
• 17:42
  Speaker 7: are not going to get better. They are going to
• 17:44
  Speaker 7: get worse unless something dramatic changes that you see all
• 17:47
  Speaker 7: of the sittings are heading south for the government. People
• 17:50
  Speaker 7: will feel more pain over the course of the next
• 17:52
  Speaker 7: 18 months. With the electorates really fractured, people are really
• 17:56
  Speaker 7: seriously discontented with both major parties. We see that in
• 17:58
  Speaker 7: all of the published polling, which we'll talk about in
• 18:00
  Speaker 7: a moment. But I think the real fear that I
• 18:03
  Speaker 7: would have if I was in the Labor Party at
• 18:05
  Speaker 7: the moment is that Anthony Albanese clearly believes that he
• 18:07
  Speaker 7: has the measure of the opposition, and that includes the
• 18:10
  Speaker 7: coalition and One Nation, that the fracture of that vote
• 18:14
  Speaker 7: will deliver government to him. But the closer that we
• 18:16
  Speaker 7: get to the next election, more MPs will realise that
• 18:20
  Speaker 7: they may not make it. The Prime Minister might drag
• 18:23
  Speaker 7: his way there, but a whole lot of backbenchers will go,
• 18:26
  Speaker 7: and then you enter very dangerous political territory as you
• 18:29
  Speaker 7: head towards the next election.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: Well, you mentioned NewsPoll or you mentioned polling. We'll go
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: to NewsPoll.
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: There's one out today and you've got all three major
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: parties down and you can't not say that One Nation's
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: a major party. You've got Labor, One Nation and the
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: Coalition all in the 20% range there. Labor just marginally
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: ahead of One Nation on 28. The Libs there for
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: the first time in a while comfortably on 20. They're
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: all there in the hunt. I don't think it's a
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: strategy to rely on the split on the right at
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: all when your government is so fundamentally on the nose.
• 19:04
  Speaker 7: Yeah, your primary vote can only fall so far before
• 19:07
  Speaker 7: you run the risk of losing government, obviously. But I
• 19:10
  Speaker 7: think there's been a tectonic shift in politics, not seen
• 19:12
  Speaker 7: in our lifetime, in fact, not seen since the Second
• 19:14
  Speaker 7: World War. When you look at minor party challenges to
• 19:17
  Speaker 7: the major party system, we can go back to the
• 19:19
  Speaker 7: Democratic Labor Party, they kept the Labor Party out of
• 19:22
  Speaker 7: government for 20 years. three years, but they were never
• 19:25
  Speaker 7: a seriously large force. They just used the numbers that
• 19:27
  Speaker 7: they had to make themselves a real nuisance. We had
• 19:29
  Speaker 7: the rise of the Democrats. We've had the rise of
• 19:31
  Speaker 7: the Greens. We've seen the Teals. One nation is something
• 19:34
  Speaker 7: completely different now. We're seeing a complete fracture of business
• 19:37
  Speaker 7: as usual in politics. And what we've seen over the course,
• 19:39
  Speaker 7: or really since the Rudd era, is that that major
• 19:42
  Speaker 7: party advantage, where once upon a time they scooped up 80%
• 19:45
  Speaker 7: of the primary vote, now we've got down to sort
• 19:48
  Speaker 7: of 30 and 30, and now it's down to 50%.
• 19:50
  Speaker 7: of the primary vote going on those numbers. So we
• 19:53
  Speaker 7: haven't seen this before in our lifetime. Politics is in
• 19:56
  Speaker 7: the process of being completely remade and the show may
• 20:00
  Speaker 7: well be blown up for a while before it comes
• 20:02
  Speaker 7: back together again.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: What about the news this afternoon? The Royal Commission will
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: reopen hearings. albeit closed, in camera hearings for national security reasons,
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: I presume, this.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: Month, Chris?
• 20:18
  Speaker 7: Well, Peter, I don't know about you, but I find
• 20:19
  Speaker 7: this bewildering. I've only just seen this report, and as
• 20:22
  Speaker 7: you say, it will be held in camera, so it
• 20:23
  Speaker 7: will only be the commission of people who are testifying
• 20:25
  Speaker 7: before her, and they will look at the security environment
• 20:27
  Speaker 7: around about the time of December 7th, attack. But the
• 20:32
  Speaker 7: thing about that is I thought that that would have
• 20:34
  Speaker 7: been up front and centre and was up in front
• 20:36
  Speaker 7: and centre at the beginning, particularly when Dennis Richardson was
• 20:39
  Speaker 7: involved in this before he pulled out. So why is
• 20:42
  Speaker 7: it at this particular stage, which is really the 11th hour,
• 20:46
  Speaker 7: that the Commission decides to reopen hearings to hear this
• 20:49
  Speaker 7: particular thing? Is there something deeper going on here? I
• 20:52
  Speaker 7: can't say that I know what it is, but it
• 20:54
  Speaker 7: seems curious.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: I do like to see these things in camera, if
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: we can, not in camera, beg your pardon, if we
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: can have the ASIO boss, as he did give evidence publicly,
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: the least I want to see is prime ministers and
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: relevant ministers, Tony Burke and others, and in New South
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: Wales too, Chris, hold their testimony in the public domain.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: I think this is important for confidence.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 21:20
  Speaker 7: And, of course, it all ends at the doorstep of
• 21:22
  Speaker 7: the political class. You can send out the head of
• 21:24
  Speaker 7: ASIO and you can send out the head of the
• 21:25
  Speaker 7: Australian Federal Police, but they all actually do report to
• 21:28
  Speaker 7: ministers and the Prime Minister. So you would have expected
• 21:32
  Speaker 7: that through the course of this inquiry that the Royal
• 21:35
  Speaker 7: Commissioner would have called the appropriate ministers, including the Prime Minister,
• 21:39
  Speaker 7: to come and have a conversation about something which is
• 21:41
  Speaker 7: hugely important to Australia, and that is our social cohesion
• 21:45
  Speaker 7: and what actually happened to help destroy it or to
• 21:48
  Speaker 7: rip it to shreds. So those questions should have been answered.
• 21:50
  Speaker 7: They haven't been answered. I'm afraid that this Royal Commission
• 21:54
  Speaker 7: has been set too short a time and really been restricted.
• 21:57
  Speaker 7: I think what the government wanted was to get in
• 21:59
  Speaker 7: and out of this as quickly as possible. Didn't want
• 22:01
  Speaker 7: a Royal Commission in the first place. It was lumbered
• 22:03
  Speaker 7: with one because it was forced on it. Now I
• 22:06
  Speaker 7: think it wants that date to come as quickly as possible.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: Right, we'll leave it there. Thank you, Chris Yeoman.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: Let's go now to those revelations I brought you tonight
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: in relation to the fly-to-buy co-pilot, alleged terrorist, of course,
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: at the top of the show tonight. The investigation also
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: revealing that he had been involved.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: In a number of Muslim groups in Australia.
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: This has been reported in the UAE on Saturday and
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: statements made by the Attorney-General in the UAE that he
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: had posted thousands of extremist messages advocating brutal Sharia punishments,
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: violence against women, and religious fanaticism. He also, as I said,
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: spent time here at RMIT in Melbourne, where there are
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: significant concerns tonight about his path to radicalisation. Tony Burke yesterday, though,
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: the boss of the Home Affairs Department in Australia, was
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: fudging things fast.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: News24. com reporting that this MyCentre that he was involved with,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: the pilot, received a $ 60, 000 grant from the Department of
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Home Affairs. Do you have a reaction to that?
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: Sorry, which centre?
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: It's the Multicultural Youth Centre in Melbourne called the My Centre.
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: I don't have more information on that, Andrew.
• 23:21
  Speaker 6: I'm sorry.
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: It is really important that we use every lever we
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: have to be able to make sure that we are
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: denying oxygen to people who want to do us harm.
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: Joining me now, the Shadow Attorney-General, Senator Michaelia Cash. I'll
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: ask you about this, Michaelia. So comments are made in
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: Dubai on Saturday by your would-be equivalent, your counterpart, the
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: UAE Attorney-General. A day later, the Australian minister in charge
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: fronts the camera, is asked about these very grave allegations,
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: doesn't know anything about it, needs to come back to you,
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: can't help you, sorry, Andrew Clennell, not good enough.
• 24:05
  Speaker 6: It's absolutely not good enough, Peter. But at the end
• 24:08
  Speaker 6: of the day, I think the Australian people really now
• 24:11
  Speaker 6: need to ask themselves, does this government and its ministers,
• 24:14
  Speaker 6: and in particular, Tony Burke and Anthony Albanese, Peter, do
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: they even care any more about Australian values? How much
• 24:23
  Speaker 6: more hatred? How much more antisemitism? How many more warnings
• 24:27
  Speaker 6: does this government need before it takes action? And as
• 24:31
  Speaker 6: you said, You are now in the face of an
• 24:34
  Speaker 6: international terrorism investigation. And the minister still has no idea
• 24:42
  Speaker 6: what Andrew Clunell was talking about. But what's worse, today
• 24:45
  Speaker 6: has not stood up and given the Australian people the
• 24:49
  Speaker 6: answers that we so desperately need. We need to know
• 24:53
  Speaker 6: what action this government took. What due diligence was undertaken
• 24:58
  Speaker 6: when it was actually extending the amount of taxpayer funding
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: that was going to this organisation? Again, I think Australians
• 25:07
  Speaker 6: are now at a loss. The only conclusion you can
• 25:10
  Speaker 6: come to is this. This is a government that does
• 25:14
  Speaker 6: not care about Australian values, because if you did, quite frankly,
• 25:19
  Speaker 6: you would have done your homework and you would have
• 25:22
  Speaker 6: stood up today and answered those questions that were rightly
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: put to the minister yesterday.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: Pretty obvious, though, Makati, they didn't do their homework because
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: no less so. exposure of the views of this Australian
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: imam were provided to the Australian court in the terrorism
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: case of Ben Breaker a number of years ago. And
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: this imam at the centre of all the controversy and
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: linked allegedly to the flight of by-pilot, this imam in
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: the court said that a lot of Muslims had support
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: for Osama bin Laden, him included. He mentioned that he
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: had watched beheading videos. We know there are some seriously.
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: I have to say, disgusting commentary on his social media,
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: remarks made about basically being able to rape your wife
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: inside marriage, that that's allowed. This has no place in Australia. Now,
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: all of that's on the public record, and no less
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: than Kevin Rudd took him to task for those last comments.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: So how on earth does the organisation he's so involved
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: with get $ 400, 000 from the Victorian Labor Government, get upwards
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: of $ 70, 000.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: From the federal government last year.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: And from what I've been able to look at today,
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: is absolutely involved in that $ 25 million announced last year
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: from the Prime Minister in relation to multicultural language schools.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: They knew all of this. How does this happen? They
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: sure did.
• 26:54
  Speaker 6: Because they actually don't care. And it goes back to
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: that fundamental question. Does this government have any regard at
• 27:02
  Speaker 6: all for Australian values?
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: Peter, these concerns, as you said, were not new.
• 27:07
  Speaker 6: They were also again raised last year in both the
• 27:10
  Speaker 6: State Parliament of Victoria and the Federal Parliament. And yet
• 27:14
  Speaker 6: this organisation was still given taxpayer funding, an extension of
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: the grant they received, by this minister's department. What due
• 27:25
  Speaker 6: diligence did this minister do? I have a very fundamental principle, Peter.
• 27:30
  Speaker 6: If you're part of an organisation, that holds those values
• 27:35
  Speaker 6: that are inconsistent with what we believe in as Australian,
• 27:39
  Speaker 6: then you should not get one cent of taxpayer funding.
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: What I also want Burke and Albanese to answer tomorrow,
• 27:47
  Speaker 6: have you actually launched an investigation into this organisation and
• 27:51
  Speaker 6: its funding? Have you suspended all payments? to this organisation,
• 27:57
  Speaker 6: subject to, obviously, legalities, whilst an investigation has been undertaken?
• 28:03
  Speaker 6: Let's hear those answers because, again, if you are part
• 28:06
  Speaker 6: of an organisation And you hold values that are inconsistent
• 28:12
  Speaker 6: with the values that we hold dear as Australians. And
• 28:15
  Speaker 6: in particular, when it comes to women and your ability
• 28:20
  Speaker 6: to do whatever you like to a woman if you
• 28:22
  Speaker 6: are married to them. If you had a belief in
• 28:26
  Speaker 6: Sharia law, you should never, ever, quite frankly, get one
• 28:30
  Speaker 6: cent of taxpayer funding. This government and this prime minister
• 28:34
  Speaker 6: and this minister, they have a lot to answer for. And, Peter,
• 28:39
  Speaker 6: there is a long way to go in relation to
• 28:42
  Speaker 6: this funding.
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: I will make the point too, they're involved in the
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: establishment of a school. inculcating these values with the next
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: generation of young Australian Muslims.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: I find that very concerning.
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: But going back to the issue with the pilot and
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: the allegations that have been put forward by the Attorney-General,
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: I mean, do we know if the government here has
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: had a national security meeting to discuss this?
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: What action have they taken?
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: Are our agencies resourced enough in the UAE? I mean,
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: has our ambassador, for example, been offered a briefing or
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: sought a briefing from the authorities overseas. I am concerned
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: about the lack of clarity from the Prime Minister. I
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: go back to the John Howard era. If John Howard
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: had heard this on a Saturday, linking an Australian organisation
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: and radicalisation of an individual allegedly in Australia to a
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: terror plot overseas, there would have been a press conference
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: that day, if not the next day. Now, we have
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: heard nothing from the Prime Minister and nothing from Home
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: Affairs Minister.
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: Not good enough. Has the opposition had a briefing, Michaelia?
• 29:53
  Speaker 6: At this point in time, I don't have that information,
• 29:55
  Speaker 6: but we are certainly asking the questions that you are asking, Peter.
• 30:00
  Speaker 6: Senator John O'Donoghue, he is on the record as saying
• 30:02
  Speaker 6: that Anthony Albanese and Tony Burke have questions to answer.
• 30:07
  Speaker 6: But again, it goes back to... Look at how they
• 30:09
  Speaker 6: responded to October the 7th, three years ago. Again, they
• 30:14
  Speaker 6: just don't care. It is a general pattern of behaviour
• 30:19
  Speaker 6: now in relation to this government. They just put their
• 30:22
  Speaker 6: heads in the sand and they plead ignorance. I mean, yesterday,
• 30:26
  Speaker 6: Tony Burke didn't even know what Andrew Clunell was talking
• 30:29
  Speaker 6: about when the questions were raised. You would have thought
• 30:32
  Speaker 6: that he would have done his homework last night and
• 30:34
  Speaker 6: been prepared to answer those questions today. Questions were asked
• 30:38
  Speaker 6: in the Senate today in relation to this. Again, no
• 30:41
  Speaker 6: answers were provided. So I don't have any faith that
• 30:44
  Speaker 6: the government has done any of what you have said.
• 30:48
  Speaker 6: But as I said, it goes back to that fundamental
• 30:50
  Speaker 6: question that all Australians now need to be asking themselves.
• 30:54
  Speaker 6: Is this a government that even now believes in Australian values?
• 30:59
  Speaker 6: Is it a government that is prepared to defend those
• 31:02
  Speaker 6: Australian values? Because quite frankly, based on its record... The
• 31:06
  Speaker 6: answer is sadly no.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: Well, fortunately, Parliament's there this week and next for you
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: to pursue all of this. Thank you, Michele Cash.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: I know you will.
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: After the break, another sorry moment for the Albanese government. Yesterday,
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: of course, the big service in Canberra at a mark
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: 25 years since Australia went into the Afghanistan war. What
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: about the families of those who lost their sons and
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: husbands who were not even invited? We'll get on that
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: shocking treatment of those who lost so much.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: After the break. Welcome back.
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: Coming up, more warnings over the government's digital duty of
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: care reforms. First, yesterday marked 25 years since the start
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: of Operation Slipper. That was the name given to our
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: military mission in Afghanistan. and the beginning of what would
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: become Australia's longest war. 40,000 military and service personnel were
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: deployed during the time. 41 Australian men made the ultimate sacrifice.
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: The anniversary was marked yesterday at the Australian War Memorial
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: in Canberra, and the Prime Minister delivered a tribute to
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: those who served and the families who had sacrificed so much.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: But for all those words.
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: About honouring the families of the fallen, the parents of
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: signaller Sean McCarthy who was killed in Afghanistan in 2008,
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: were nowhere to be seen.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: Sean's mum and dad weren't even invited.
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: He was killed when the vehicle he was travelling in
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: struck a roadside bomb in the Uruzgan province in July 2008.
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: His wonderful mum and dad, David and Mary, were based
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: in Dubai at the time. In the wake of their
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: son's death, they made it their mission to attend some
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: 31 ramp ceremonies for for the other dead at Al Midhad,
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: our airbase in the UAE, as the bodies of fallen
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: Australian soldiers were prepared to make the journey home. Mary
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: even wrote to the mother, the mothers of every fallen Australian,
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: assuring them that another Australian mother would stand there on
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: the tarmac for them to accompany their.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: Loved one home.
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: It was an extraordinary act of compassion from two parents
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: dealing with their own unimaginable grief. And yet when Australia
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: gathered to commemorate the Afghan mission, David and Mary McCarthy
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: were overlooked.
• 33:36
  Speaker 9: We honour those who came home wounded in body or
• 33:40
  Speaker 9: wounded in soul. Hearts changed forever by the fight. And
• 33:46
  Speaker 9: we acknowledge and honour the families, those who have felt
• 33:53
  Speaker 9: both the pride and weight that comes when a loved
• 33:58
  Speaker 9: one puts on our uniform. Those who have lived with
• 34:02
  Speaker 9: the grief that is the pain of love wrapped around
• 34:06
  Speaker 9: an absence that can never be filled.
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: That might sound like poignant words from the Prime Minister,
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: but just empty rhetoric for David and Mary McCarthy, who
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: join me now from the Gold Coast. Well, welcome to
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: you both. I wish there were better circumstances. around which
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: we were praying tribute to your magnificent son. But Australians
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: would be shocked tonight to hear, David, that you were
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: not even invited to yesterday's commemorative events.
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: Were you?
• 34:39
  Speaker 11: That's true, Peter. This is the third event we've had
• 34:45
  Speaker 11: with the authorities where lack of compassion, lack of empathy,
• 34:49
  Speaker 11: and there appears to be no no consequence for the
• 34:54
  Speaker 11: whole thing.
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: I was shocked to hear that you were not the
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: only ones left off the list yesterday, were you?
• 35:05
  Speaker 11: No, we got a phone call on the Friday from
• 35:08
  Speaker 11: a couple of the widows who said, look, we'll meet
• 35:11
  Speaker 11: you at the memorial. And we said, what are you
• 35:14
  Speaker 11: talking about? They said, aren't you coming? I said, well,
• 35:18
  Speaker 11: we know it's on, but We don't know. We haven't
• 35:20
  Speaker 11: been invited. And it's too late for us to organise
• 35:24
  Speaker 11: accommodation and transport at that stage. So they managed to
• 35:28
  Speaker 11: get themselves on the list. They went to DVA and
• 35:31
  Speaker 11: managed to bang the table and get them on the invite.
• 35:34
  Speaker 11: But for us, it was really too late for us
• 35:37
  Speaker 11: to make a move.
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: Mary, I'm shocked to know that, you know, the place
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: was full of VIPs yesterday, politicians and all manner of
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: other worthies. How do you leave to widows and the
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: mum and dad of a fallen soldier like you and
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: David off the list?
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: Well, obviously nobody's done their homework in the DVA department
• 36:05
  Speaker 4: to make sure that they have contacted the 41 families,
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: those parents and widows and especially the children of those soldiers.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: So I'm shocked, David.
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: I know that when eventually you were given some rationale
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: about a letter that was sent inviting someone from your
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: family to the event, can you tell my viewers what
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: you learned?
• 36:38
  Speaker 11: We had a phone call from the Chief of Army
• 36:41
  Speaker 11: on Saturday morning who had read the article and in
• 36:45
  Speaker 11: the paper and was absolutely shocked. She rung us apologising
• 36:49
  Speaker 11: for the whole thing. And it wasn't her responsibility, but
• 36:53
  Speaker 11: she was taking ownership of it. And that's something that
• 36:56
  Speaker 11: has been missing. Here is the head of a government department,
• 36:59
  Speaker 11: the Army's a government department. She was taking responsibility and
• 37:04
  Speaker 11: apologising for what had happened. And we were advised that, yes,
• 37:09
  Speaker 11: they had sent a letter. The idiots had sent it
• 37:12
  Speaker 11: to Sean.
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: Who was killed in action 18 years ago. 18 years.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: That's correct.
• 37:21
  Speaker 12: Oh, Mary. Yep.
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: How does that happen, Mary? There are an awful lot
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: of empties.
• 37:31
  Speaker 4: Well, you know, other departments, like the Governor-General, she's got
• 37:36
  Speaker 4: a full list. She sends invitations to us. So how
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: does the DVA get it wrong?
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: Well, how does Matt Keogh get it wrong again? Matt
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: Keogh is the Minister. Do you have any sense that
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: there was something nefarious at all about why you are
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: repeatedly left off the list, David? Because I know that
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: you spoke out very strongly against the handling of the
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: government's Brereton report. Do you think that perhaps had any
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: reason for this oversight?
• 38:11
  Speaker 11: You can have your suspicions about it. The fact that
• 38:16
  Speaker 11: the three families who appeared in the bravery and betrayal
• 38:20
  Speaker 11: doco were the three that didn't get an invite. And
• 38:24
  Speaker 11: we didn't get an invite to the opening of the Anzac,
• 38:27
  Speaker 11: of the Afghanistan opening at the war memorial a few
• 38:31
  Speaker 11: months prior. We were never invited to that one as well.
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: Before I go, Mary, I.
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: wanted to tell Australians that I did at the top
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: of this segment about what you did, you and your
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: husband on the tarmac, in the midst of your own grief,
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: for everybody else who was at home and not able
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: to be there, to be there with their own loved ones.
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: But to sit down and write a handwritten note to
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: all those Australian mothers, that's just extraordinary.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: Not really. I mean.
• 39:04
  Speaker 4: I knew how they'd be feeling and they would be worried.
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: When Sean was killed, all we were worried about was
• 39:10
  Speaker 4: getting him home. And we didn't relax until he actually
• 39:16
  Speaker 4: was flown into Amberley Air Base. So I knew that
• 39:19
  Speaker 4: all those mothers would be terribly worried. And fathers as well.
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: And siblings and children.
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: You know, you're trusting... um pilots.
• 39:31
  Speaker 4: And people to get get them home and that's all
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: you want is to get them home.
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: Well i know personally that both of you were held
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: in enormous high regard by anyone who served in afghanistan
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: uh least of all those who lost loved ones given
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: your enormous compassion for the dead and those left behind.
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: So for them to hear around Australia, and also my
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: view as the rest of the country, about what happened
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: to you yesterday.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: We are disgusted.
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: And let's hope this really means some action in relation
• 40:05
  Speaker 3: to the way DVA is run and the minister in charge.
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: I thank you for joining me tonight.
• 40:10
  Speaker 12: Absolutely.
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: The fish rots from the head. Matt Keogh, that is
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: on you. After the break, that snub, Matt Keogh, he's
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: got to go.
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: More on that in a moment.
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: Look, the brilliant Michael Schellenberger coming up in a moment.
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: We'll talk about the digital duty of care, but let's
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: get straight into a few things that has come out
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: of the top of the show with former Prime Minister,
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: Federal Liberal Party President, of.
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: Course, Tony Abbott. Tony, welcome.
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: In the interest of time, I want to get straight
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: into a few issues we've exposed tonight. But first, to
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: David and Mary McCarthy, you've been a Prime Minister. You
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: were there actually in Afghanistan when we closed.
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: Down our base at Tarrant Cotte.
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: How does someone who lost their son 18 years ago
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: and stood there for 31 ramp ceremonies in Dubai to
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: support other families not get invited to yesterday's commemoration?
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: You were there.
• 41:11
  Speaker 12: And plainly, the McCarthy's had much more right to be
• 41:16
  Speaker 12: there than I did. I was simply a prime minister
• 41:19
  Speaker 12: who supported the troops. They'd lost their son along with
• 41:23
  Speaker 12: about 40 other Australian families.
• 41:25
  Speaker 9: Look.
• 41:28
  Speaker 12: I do not understand this level of ineptitude. And frankly,
• 41:32
  Speaker 12: the minister has got to take responsibility. There was the
• 41:35
  Speaker 12: rip off with the $ 5, 000 allied health benefits cap. There's
• 41:42
  Speaker 12: this government sanctioned attempt to change the war memorial from
• 41:46
  Speaker 12: a monument to the work of Australians in uniform to
• 41:49
  Speaker 12: some kind of invasion day display of the frontier wars.
• 41:53
  Speaker 12: And now what looks to be either a deliberate or
• 41:58
  Speaker 12: an incompetent snub to the parents of the dead, I
• 42:04
  Speaker 12: think the minister's got to take responsibility.
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: He's got to go, Tony. Three strikes, he should be out.
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: He's got form with Kay and Doug Baird in relation
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: to their late son and taking away the financial entitlement
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: they had to travel around the country to honour his memory.
• 42:19
  Speaker 3: I mean, my audience was outraged about that. He cut
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: the money to the Invictus Games. I mean, how many
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: chances does this guy get?
• 42:26
  Speaker 12: It's incompetent, it's heartless and, frankly, a Prime Minister who
• 42:32
  Speaker 12: takes no action in the face of this heartlessness is
• 42:36
  Speaker 12: himself guilty.
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: His words yesterday ring hollow if he allows this man
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: to stay in the job.
• 42:43
  Speaker 12: They were lovely words but they look entirely hypocritical.
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: Let me ask you now about the comments made in
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: Dubai on Saturday from the Attorney-General there who.
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: Said, and this is the.
• 42:56
  Speaker 3: The confession of the would-be terrorist co-pilot in relation to
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: this fly-to-buy flight. He says he was radicalised in Australia.
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: He says he was linked to this place called My Centre.
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: I've gone into detail tonight about the people involved in
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: that centre and their receipt of.
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: Hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• 43:16
  Speaker 3: Where is the press conference from the Prime Minister telling
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: us that he's doing everything he can to test if
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: these allegations are true and to keep Victorians and Australians safe.
• 43:27
  Speaker 12: This is a government which is asleep at the wheel
• 43:30
  Speaker 12: on national security. It's a government which whenever it hears
• 43:34
  Speaker 12: these reports, it deliberately buries its head in the sand. Now,
• 43:38
  Speaker 12: the kind of Muslim Brotherhood-inspired preaching and teaching which we
• 43:42
  Speaker 12: are now seeing very prevalent here in Australia, in Dubai,
• 43:47
  Speaker 12: in the UAE, It simply wouldn't be allowed.
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: Well, they're outlawed in Dubai.
• 43:51
  Speaker 12: Simply wouldn't be allowed. And we've got to show the
• 43:54
  Speaker 12: same strength against Islamist extremism that the people who know
• 44:00
  Speaker 12: it best routinely display.
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: So surely the Prime Minister, though, has got to front
• 44:04
  Speaker 3: a press conference and tell us exactly what they are
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: doing to test these allegations because they are that serious.
• 44:11
  Speaker 12: He's got to front a press conference and explain to
• 44:13
  Speaker 12: the Australian public how he's keeping us safe and the
• 44:16
  Speaker 12: best possible thing for him to do right now is
• 44:19
  Speaker 12: utterly defund any organisation with what look to be strong
• 44:26
  Speaker 12: links to Islamist terrorism.
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: Right, Tony Abbott, thank you. Quick break after the break.
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: Michael Schellenberger will discuss digital duty of care and this
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: bid by the government to censor everything you watch, read
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: and listen to on the internet.
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: Welcome back.
• 44:48
  Speaker 3: Michael Schellenberger, author, journalist and outspoken critic of government censorship,
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: was in Canberra today briefing MPs on the potential consequences
• 44:57
  Speaker 3: of Labor's planned digital duty of care. And Michael joins
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: me now. Michael, thank you for your time. You've been
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: fantastic on this issue from the get-go. What concerns you
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: most about the Albanese government's plans?
• 45:14
  Speaker 13: Well, it's great to be with you, Peter. It's... Huge
• 45:16
  Speaker 13: bill for us. I mean, this is we've never seen
• 45:19
  Speaker 13: anything so radical, so extreme. We've been fighting censorship bills
• 45:23
  Speaker 13: around the world for the last three years. There's been
• 45:26
  Speaker 13: nothing like this. I think one of the most incredible
• 45:28
  Speaker 13: parts of it is that it allows the government to
• 45:31
  Speaker 13: create fake online accounts. It allows the government to pretend
• 45:35
  Speaker 13: to be ordinary Australian citizens on an unlimited number of accounts.
• 45:40
  Speaker 13: to basically spread misinformation, disinformation. They actually call them sock puppets.
• 45:46
  Speaker 13: When the government, we asked the government, what is this for?
• 45:48
  Speaker 13: Their response is, well, this is just to enforce the rules.
• 45:51
  Speaker 13: But when you read the legislation, it very clearly says
• 45:54
  Speaker 13: for educational promotional purposes. So this is a new level
• 45:58
  Speaker 13: of informational warfare that the government is preparing to do.
• 46:01
  Speaker 13: I think it's pretty transparently clear that this is about
• 46:04
  Speaker 13: responding to populism because the government's message is so unpopular
• 46:09
  Speaker 13: rather than rethink in their own agenda, they're wanting to
• 46:12
  Speaker 13: invent fake Australians to defend what they're doing.
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: And we know it's not illegal content. If it was illegal,
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: it's already banned. We ban terrorist extremism. We ban offensive
• 46:25
  Speaker 3: content in relation to children.
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: This is what is harmful.
• 46:29
  Speaker 3: And what's deemed harmful is a political decision by the
• 46:33
  Speaker 3: minister in this case.
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, that's right.
• 46:37
  Speaker 13: I mean, look, if you're talking about psychological harm, then
• 46:40
  Speaker 13: maybe you would start with all of the climate alarmism,
• 46:43
  Speaker 13: which has given one out of four British children nightmares.
• 46:47
  Speaker 13: You've got Greta Thunberg out there terrifying children. Is that
• 46:50
  Speaker 13: what they want to censor? I think it's also telling
• 46:53
  Speaker 13: that the administration itself is actually spreading misinformation about its motives.
• 47:00
  Speaker 13: Communications Minister Wells today claimed that their motivation was to
• 47:03
  Speaker 13: prevent 14-year-old girls from getting eating disorders. There's already an
• 47:07
  Speaker 13: under-16 ban in Australia. So what exactly is this about?
• 47:11
  Speaker 13: You know, Annika Wells has failed to provide an explanation
• 47:15
  Speaker 13: of why they need this legislation in the first place.
• 47:17
  Speaker 13: I think that's the reason so many people think it's
• 47:19
  Speaker 13: clearly about stopping the rise of populism and defending the
• 47:24
  Speaker 13: government's agenda, which has become so unpopular.
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: Michael Schellenberger, thank you.
• 47:29
  Speaker 3: I know if you are here, we've got our best
• 47:31
  Speaker 3: chance to defeat this bill.
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: Thank you for your time. Apologies for me.
• 47:35
  Speaker 3: It's a jam-packed show, but you completely understand why. Have
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: a look at the News24 website. There's a lot more
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: content about those two issues I've spoken about tonight.
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: See you tomorrow night. It's Andrew Bolt.