Transcript

Sharri | 9 July · Sharri

0:01
Speaker 1: Live on Sky News.
0:04
Speaker 2: This is Sharry.
0:06
Speaker 3: Good evening and thanks for joining me. Great to have
0:08
Speaker 3: your company. I'm James Macpherson filling in for Sharry Marks.
0:11
Speaker 3: And well you've got to admire the bosses at SBS,
0:14
Speaker 3: don't you. Addressing how the public broadcaster could do better
0:17
Speaker 3: in the fight against antisemitism. You'll never believe what they
0:21
Speaker 3: suggested to the Royal Commission, or maybe you will believe
0:25
Speaker 3: it more funding. SBS urged the Royal Commission into Antisemitism
0:29
Speaker 3: to and I quote affirm the need for sustained investment
0:33
Speaker 3: in SBS at a time of rising antisemitism, increasing racism
0:37
Speaker 3: and pressure on social cohesion. Has there ever been a
0:42
Speaker 3: problem in either the SBS or the ABC that couldn't
0:44
Speaker 3: be fixed with more tax payer dollars. SBS told the
0:48
Speaker 3: Commission they didn't need any changes to their oversight or
0:52
Speaker 3: governance or culture. No, no, they just needed a bigger check.
0:56
Speaker 3: The problem, of course, is that money can't buy goodudgment,
1:00
Speaker 3: and good judgment would come in handy in the fight
1:03
Speaker 3: against antisemitism, especially given the warning from Israel's ambassador to Australia,
1:07
Speaker 3: who today described the current level of antisemitism in this
1:11
Speaker 3: country as the worst he's ever witnessed. Worse, he said,
1:14
Speaker 3: than even in Muslim majority countries where he's previously served
1:17
Speaker 3: as ambassador. I'll get to more of that later, but
1:21
Speaker 3: good judgment was sadly lacking in so much of what
1:24
Speaker 3: we heard from sbs in the ABC today. Take the
1:27
Speaker 3: ABC's defense of its coverage of the war in Gaza.
1:31
Speaker 3: The ABC argued that evidence of their impartiality when it
1:34
Speaker 3: came to reporting on the war was found in the
1:37
Speaker 3: number of complaints they had received. They said fifty one
1:41
Speaker 3: percent of complainants accused the ABC of being pro Palestinian
1:45
Speaker 3: and forty seven percent of complainants charged the opposite. So
1:49
Speaker 3: there you go, everyone's equally unhappy. So the coverage must
1:52
Speaker 3: be fair and balanced. It's a fascinating theory, except when
1:58
Speaker 3: you remember there's around one hundred thousand and Jews in
2:00
Speaker 3: Australia compared to more than eight hundred thousand Muslims. Well,
2:05
Speaker 3: the more or less equal number of complaints doesn't mean
2:08
Speaker 3: what the ABC wants it to mean, a point the
2:10
Speaker 3: government appointed envoy to combat anti Semitism was quick to make.
2:15
Speaker 4: The Jewish community is a very very very small percentage
2:18
Speaker 4: of this community. If there are an almost equal number
2:22
Speaker 4: of complaints from the Jewish community, it's a disproportionate number
2:26
Speaker 4: of members of the Jewish community who are feeling pretty aggrieved, and.
2:31
Speaker 3: She worked that out without extra funding. I found this remarkable.
2:35
Speaker 3: In twenty twenty four to twenty five, the ABC Ombudsman's
2:38
Speaker 3: office received four thousand, one hundred and ninety two complaints,
2:42
Speaker 3: more than a quarter of them relating to the broadcasters
2:45
Speaker 3: coverage of the Middle East, and yet not one complaint
2:48
Speaker 3: of bias was ever upheld, not even one. He's Jillian
2:52
Speaker 3: Siegel again.
2:53
Speaker 4: I just don't know how you can think or how
2:57
Speaker 4: they think that they can set the rules, which are
3:02
Speaker 4: their standards, they can review them, which is their internal
3:06
Speaker 4: complaints system. It's an ombudsman, but it's internal appointed by
3:09
Speaker 4: the board, reporting to the board, and they can mark
3:12
Speaker 4: their own homework.
3:15
Speaker 3: Siegel agreed that the ABC Ombardsman is not beholden to
3:18
Speaker 3: ABC directors, but she made the point that independence on
3:22
Speaker 3: paper doesn't necessarily mean independence from institutional culture. Now, speaking
3:28
Speaker 3: of institutional culture, what kind of newsroom culture allows a
3:32
Speaker 3: major reporting eraror to go to air at six am
3:36
Speaker 3: and not be corrected until ten hours later, the Royal
3:40
Speaker 3: Commission heard how the ABC published an interview sourced from
3:44
Speaker 3: the BBC in which a un official claimed fourteen thousand
3:48
Speaker 3: babies could die in Gaza if aid wasn't delivered within
3:51
Speaker 3: forty eight hours. Except there was just one problem. The
3:56
Speaker 3: claim by the un official, broadcast on the BBC and
3:59
Speaker 3: then rebroad asked on the ABC, was completely false. The
4:04
Speaker 3: un officials' remarks were based on an IPC report that
4:07
Speaker 3: warned four thousand, one hundred severe cases of malnutrition were
4:11
Speaker 3: expected to occur between April twenty twenty five and March
4:15
Speaker 3: twenty twenty six among children aged between six months and
4:20
Speaker 3: five years. So it wasn't fourteen thousand babies, it wasn't
4:24
Speaker 3: that everyone would die, and the crucial period wasn't forty
4:27
Speaker 3: eight hours but twelve months. Apart from all that, of course,
4:30
Speaker 3: it was completely accurate that our ABC and SBS reported
4:35
Speaker 3: the claim unquestioningly was astonishing. Fourteen thousand palasinin babies dead
4:41
Speaker 3: in forty eight hours? Really, and the Israeli government, the
4:45
Speaker 3: Middle East's only liberal democracy, were going to just let
4:48
Speaker 3: thousands of tiny baby starve to death. Seriously, that's not
4:53
Speaker 3: a minor misunderstanding, that's an extraordinary allegation, one that required
4:58
Speaker 3: extraordinary evidence. Instead, it appears some journalists saw a claim
5:02
Speaker 3: that fitted an existing narrative and forgot the oldest rule
5:05
Speaker 3: of journalism. If something sounds unbelievable, maybe check it and
5:11
Speaker 3: check it again. The fact that no one did begs
5:14
Speaker 3: the question did no one check such an outlandish claim
5:18
Speaker 3: about Israel? Because the outlandish claim about Israel confirmed in
5:22
Speaker 3: existing anti Israel bias. Now the BBC believes it enough
5:27
Speaker 3: to publish, and so too did our ABC, except that,
5:30
Speaker 3: as I said, it was false and obviously false. He's
5:35
Speaker 3: what Jillian Siegel had to say about.
5:36
Speaker 5: That today three am Australian time, it was apparent that
5:40
Speaker 5: the original comments were not accurate. Yes, and then at
5:46
Speaker 5: six am on that morning, ABC News Breakfast commenced broadcasting,
5:53
Speaker 5: and the opening headlines of the show included video footage
5:58
Speaker 5: of mister Fletcher's initials exactly.
6:02
Speaker 4: I think incredibly important that there'd be rigor and skepticism
6:08
Speaker 4: in relation to some information emanating from Gaza. If you
6:12
Speaker 4: think about it, you know, fourteen thousand babies. It's a
6:16
Speaker 4: very large assertion and it needed a degree of rigor
6:23
Speaker 4: to follow.
6:24
Speaker 6: Up on that.
6:25
Speaker 4: It was inaccurate, and it was a result of insufficient
6:29
Speaker 4: investigation and skepticism and following up on something that was
6:34
Speaker 4: a very negative story to begin with.
6:37
Speaker 3: Now, the Royal Commission was told the ABC corrected the
6:40
Speaker 3: story at four pm, But as I said, that was
6:42
Speaker 3: ten hours later, and by that time the original claim
6:45
Speaker 3: had already traveled further than the correction ever would he's
6:49
Speaker 3: the ABC editorial director, Gavin Fang.
6:52
Speaker 2: Yes, it was a bad mistake.
6:56
Speaker 3: You don't say the Commission heard. It wasn't until a
6:58
Speaker 3: week later that ABC News published an online correction regarding
7:02
Speaker 3: the fourteen thousand babies dead within forty eight hours story
7:06
Speaker 3: across its various programs. Now, I come back to where
7:09
Speaker 3: I started. SBS made a submission asking for support to
7:13
Speaker 3: get more government funding. But mistakes like that aren't down
7:17
Speaker 3: to a lack of money. Mistakes like that are down
7:19
Speaker 3: to a lack of curiosity, a lack of critical thinking,
7:22
Speaker 3: and a lack of urgency in correcting obvious errors. And
7:26
Speaker 3: this is an important point because, as Jillian Segel told
7:29
Speaker 3: the Commission, and as the Israeli Ambassador to Australia pointed
7:32
Speaker 3: out in a newspaper column today reporting on the actions
7:36
Speaker 3: of the Israeli government, whether accurate or inaccurate, invariably result
7:41
Speaker 3: in abuse towards Australian Jews. Jillian Siegal wrote, quote, while
7:47
Speaker 3: all media forms need to be scrutinized from that perspective,
7:50
Speaker 3: publicly funded broadcasters in particular should be aware of the
7:54
Speaker 3: exacerbated risk for Jewish Australians. That's why their relevant legislations
8:00
Speaker 3: scifically requires reporting to be accurate, balanced and impartial. Now
8:05
Speaker 3: it's a very curious thing to me. When the Egyptian
8:09
Speaker 3: government does something silly. Australian Egyptians aren't blamed. When the
8:13
Speaker 3: Trump administration does something dumb, not that they've ever done
8:17
Speaker 3: anything dumb. Americans here aren't targeted. But when the Israeli
8:22
Speaker 3: government does something wrong, Australian Jews can find themselves held
8:26
Speaker 3: responsible for decisions made thousands of kilometers away by people
8:29
Speaker 3: they've never met, and they fear for their lives. It's
8:33
Speaker 3: an irrational standard, but it's a reality, and Jillian Siegal
8:37
Speaker 3: testified today that that reality is what has infuriated so
8:41
Speaker 3: many Australian Jews about shall we call the mistakes by
8:46
Speaker 3: our national broadcaster. Those mistakes aren't just editorial booboos. They
8:51
Speaker 3: have very real consequences for Jewish Australians trying to go
8:54
Speaker 3: about their lives. Well, the Indian Prime Minister arrived in
9:02
Speaker 3: Melbourne with labor politicians falling over themselves to get close
9:06
Speaker 3: to him. He was met at the airport by Housing
9:09
Speaker 3: mister Clare O'Neill and Victorian Premier just sent to Allen
9:12
Speaker 3: and then well it was Anthony Albanese's turn to fawn
9:15
Speaker 3: over him like he was Kylie Minogue. Elbow told the
9:19
Speaker 3: Indian Prime Minister quote, you are the living bridge between
9:23
Speaker 3: our two nations, which translated, I think means oh, date you,
9:26
Speaker 3: shag you, or even marry you if it helps me
9:29
Speaker 3: get the one million Indians living in Australia to vote
9:31
Speaker 3: for me. But it wasn't just our labor politicians falling
9:34
Speaker 3: over themselves for a piece of Moody magic. Forty thousand
9:38
Speaker 3: tickets to hear the Indian PM speak at Marvel Stadium
9:41
Speaker 3: later in the week sold out in a day. Organizers
9:45
Speaker 3: boasted the tickets were selling faster than for a Taylor
9:48
Speaker 3: Swift concert, which raises a rather interesting question, what if
9:53
Speaker 3: it was Anthony Albanesi giving a speech at Marvel Stadium.
9:56
Speaker 3: Do you reckon he'd sell out the venue? Do you
9:59
Speaker 3: reckon he'd sell out even half of one quarter of
10:01
Speaker 3: one grand stand? Or would he struggle to attract more
10:04
Speaker 3: than a handful of his paid staffers and a couple
10:06
Speaker 3: of newly arrived migrants who'd just got lost on Google Maps.
10:09
Speaker 3: Because this is where things get fascinating. What does it
10:13
Speaker 3: say about integration and assimilation in this country when the
10:18
Speaker 3: leader of a foreign nation can sell out one of
10:20
Speaker 3: Melbourne's biggest stadiums within ours, while our own prime minister
10:25
Speaker 3: he'd struggle to attract even his best friends without a
10:28
Speaker 3: government funded sausage sizzle. And what does it say when
10:31
Speaker 3: labor politicians are fawning over a foreign leader in order
10:35
Speaker 3: to boost their own standing with Australian voters. Now, to
10:38
Speaker 3: be clear, I'm not casting aspersions on Melbourne's Indian community.
10:42
Speaker 3: It's perfectly possible to be passionate about your old country
10:46
Speaker 3: while being completely loyal to your new one. But still,
10:49
Speaker 3: it's an interesting phenomenon. We seem to be creating a
10:53
Speaker 3: country where everyone's encouraged to celebrate where they're from, but
10:56
Speaker 3: they're increasingly unsure about what we're all meant to be
10:59
Speaker 3: coming together as now. When the Indian Prime Minister spoke
11:03
Speaker 3: to business people in Melbourne this morning, he boasted about
11:06
Speaker 3: how he would use Australia's uranium to power the Indian economy.
11:11
Speaker 3: He said nuclear energy was the key to lifting Indians
11:14
Speaker 3: out of poverty and spurring his country's clean energy transition.
11:18
Speaker 3: You can immediately see the irony, can't you. Here we
11:22
Speaker 3: are selling huge stockpiles of our uranium to help India,
11:26
Speaker 3: but won't use our uranium reserves to help ourselves. Oh
11:30
Speaker 3: and we're progressively cutting back on using our coal while
11:33
Speaker 3: providing it for everyone else to use. Do you think
11:37
Speaker 3: any of that occurred to Anthony Albanezi as he sat
11:39
Speaker 3: in the front row while the Indian PM spoke. I
11:42
Speaker 3: doubt it. He was too busy fascinating and fantasizing about
11:46
Speaker 3: whether to eat butter chicken or tandury chicken at lunch
11:49
Speaker 3: and how that would endear him to Modi supporters, I imagine.
11:52
Speaker 3: And maybe that's why Indian Australians are so excited to
11:55
Speaker 3: see the Indian Prime Minister. Maybe it's not that they
11:59
Speaker 3: don't love Australia. Maybe they just don't recognize leadership here
12:03
Speaker 3: and on that point, Indian Australians are certainly not alone.
12:11
Speaker 3: Well for more on that, let's bring in the panel
12:13
Speaker 3: Menzies Research Center Senior Fellow Nick Cata and GXO Strategies
12:17
Speaker 3: Director Cameron Milner. Welcome to you both. Nick, I'll start
12:21
Speaker 3: with you, what have you made of the reaction both
12:24
Speaker 3: by politicians and by the Indian community towards the Indian
12:28
Speaker 3: Prime Minister's arrival.
12:30
Speaker 7: It's incredible, isn't it. He's a man with a lot
12:32
Speaker 7: of charisma and big amongst the Indian community. And as
12:36
Speaker 7: you say, I mean, I'm on two minds about that.
12:38
Speaker 7: I mean, of course it's great. I mean it's great
12:40
Speaker 7: that you can celebrate your old country as well. But
12:43
Speaker 7: I do think we've really got to start talking about
12:47
Speaker 7: Indian Australians and Lebanese Australians. We're all Australians, and I
12:52
Speaker 7: think the sooner we get over that hurdle. And I
12:55
Speaker 7: hear this actually from Indian friends, they say, look, we
12:58
Speaker 7: don't want to be thought of as Indians. Came here
13:00
Speaker 7: because we want to be Australian, So please, can't we
13:03
Speaker 7: just be Australian citizens? Like everything everybody else. I really
13:07
Speaker 7: think that we've got to start moving towards the point
13:10
Speaker 7: where we don't make those kind of distinctions anymore.
13:13
Speaker 3: They're people, Camern. I don't understand how our Prime Minister
13:16
Speaker 3: can sit there clapping for someone boasting about how they'll
13:19
Speaker 3: use our resources to make themselves wealthy, while he's denying
13:23
Speaker 3: those same resources to us. That's the part of this
13:26
Speaker 3: that really gets to me.
13:29
Speaker 8: It's quite ironic, isn't it, James. I mean, you know,
13:31
Speaker 8: I mean, you know, who would have thunk it that
13:33
Speaker 8: Albow could have been a situation where where someone just
13:35
Speaker 8: showed up the craziness that we have in Australia, where
13:38
Speaker 8: we've got the resources yet we send them overseas for
13:40
Speaker 8: someone else to use. And for that matter, you know,
13:42
Speaker 8: we don't use nuclear energy here in Australia, where we
13:45
Speaker 8: could do that like twenty other countries around the world
13:48
Speaker 8: are or more potentially I thought was what it was
13:50
Speaker 8: really interesting was the communicate from the Indian Prime Minister today.
13:52
Speaker 8: And Albow will be shuddering about this because Mody said
13:55
Speaker 8: the Australia and India have a joint threat from international
13:59
Speaker 8: terrorismnet national terrorism. Why because here in Australia we have
14:03
Speaker 8: Muslim based terrorism and India they have Muslim based ter
14:06
Speaker 8: ter terrorism as well. And that was a really interesting
14:08
Speaker 8: and telling point. I thought about Modi's communicator to day,
14:11
Speaker 8: which is a shared situation where both countries big democracies
14:15
Speaker 8: are actually under threat from Islamic extremism, both in India
14:19
Speaker 8: but also in Australia.
14:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, certainly radical Islam is a major problem right around
14:24
Speaker 3: the world and Modi was right to make that point
14:26
Speaker 3: about radical Islam. Just one more point before we move
14:29
Speaker 3: on from the Indian Prime minister's visit. Were you are aware
14:32
Speaker 3: that with his big stadium appearance tonight at Marvel, he's
14:37
Speaker 3: not the only speaker. Do you know who the other
14:38
Speaker 3: speaker is? Nick? No, tell me just Into Ellen has
14:41
Speaker 3: got a podium spot.
14:43
Speaker 7: That'd be the real draw card. Of course, he's surely
14:46
Speaker 7: just doing well the war market.
14:49
Speaker 3: Modis the Walmart Act for Justinta Ellen. I'm not sure
14:51
Speaker 3: about that, but the Australian newspaper reported Cameron that the
14:56
Speaker 3: Victorian state government is partly sponsoring this event this evening.
15:01
Speaker 3: That may well be why she's got a speaking spot.
15:05
Speaker 3: She probably needs the Indian vote, doesn't.
15:07
Speaker 8: She well, isn't it interesting? I mean, I think there's
15:11
Speaker 8: lots to talk about in terms of the Indian DASPA
15:13
Speaker 8: in Australia because they're not voting one way or the other.
15:15
Speaker 8: They're they're quite malleable in terms of where they vote.
15:18
Speaker 8: They can vote federal Liberal and state Labor. So it's
15:20
Speaker 8: a really interesting group of Australians. And the really telling
15:24
Speaker 8: thing and the thing that's going to come out in
15:25
Speaker 8: the Victorian election I think in November, is it's going
15:27
Speaker 8: to be an awful lot of Australians of Indian heritage
15:30
Speaker 8: Nick her voting one Nation as well. So there's a
15:34
Speaker 8: very interesting voting group and no major party owns them
15:37
Speaker 8: at all.
15:38
Speaker 3: Very interesting. All right. Telstra, let's talk about the telco.
15:43
Speaker 3: Their boss, Vicky Brady. She's returning to Australia as the
15:46
Speaker 3: telka continues to investigate what caused the network to crash.
15:49
Speaker 3: There's been a second network fault that's continued to impact
15:52
Speaker 3: some triple zero calls, so all of that is going on.
15:56
Speaker 3: Their CEO is on her way back to Australia. But
15:58
Speaker 3: I was surprised today by this response from CFO Michael Ackland,
16:03
Speaker 3: who's been handling the crisis in Vicky Brady's absence. He
16:06
Speaker 3: was asked when will the boss be back on Australian
16:08
Speaker 3: soil and when can Australians expect to hear from her.
16:11
Speaker 3: Have a listened to what he said.
16:13
Speaker 9: She is overseas with her family and she is making
16:15
Speaker 9: her way back home and she'll.
16:16
Speaker 3: Be on deck tomorrow.
16:17
Speaker 9: We will update media on that in terms of when
16:21
Speaker 9: Vicky may or may not talk to the media tomorrow
16:24
Speaker 9: or next week, but I would expect that she will
16:29
Speaker 9: want to get up to speed.
16:31
Speaker 3: She may or may not talk to the media. Maybe tomorrow,
16:33
Speaker 3: maybe next week. Cameron, this is not how you handle
16:37
Speaker 3: a crisis. I was watching that footage and watching you
16:41
Speaker 3: at the same time, seeing you just shake your head.
16:45
Speaker 8: No, it's the worst possible crisis. Calm is to be
16:47
Speaker 8: seen by such a large, large sub audience. And isn't
16:50
Speaker 8: this guy to see if it looks like crash test dummy.
16:52
Speaker 8: Crash test dummy would do better in these press conferences.
16:55
Speaker 8: This is it the train wreck. But for goodness sake,
16:57
Speaker 8: Vicky Brady's sucking down Martinez in the mediatry and has
17:00
Speaker 8: even picked up the phone because what doesn't work? I mean, now,
17:04
Speaker 8: this is crazy. This is a made to Telco people
17:06
Speaker 8: all on it, and for goodness sake, six hundred people
17:09
Speaker 8: didn't have triple low calls answered because Telstra couldn't get
17:12
Speaker 8: the software update right. I mean, for goodness, they had
17:14
Speaker 8: one job and they didn't do it particularly well. And
17:16
Speaker 8: the CEO should be answerable. She should be out here
17:18
Speaker 8: the moment she steps off a plane. She'd have an
17:20
Speaker 8: answer for Australians about what went wrong and why it
17:22
Speaker 8: will never happen again.
17:24
Speaker 3: That's what I don't understand, Nick. Why wouldn't you have
17:26
Speaker 3: announced there will be a press conference at three pm
17:28
Speaker 3: tomorrow afternoon. The CEO will be here. Of course she's
17:31
Speaker 3: been briefed. I mean, unless she's using a Telstra phone,
17:34
Speaker 3: they would have been able to get in contact with her.
17:36
Speaker 7: Look, never more than twenty four hours from Australia, are
17:39
Speaker 7: you particularly if you can play to go at the
17:40
Speaker 7: front of the plane, as I'm sure she can on
17:42
Speaker 7: her salary. So I just think it's appalling she's not
17:45
Speaker 7: back here. Look, Telsha have seemed to have behaved pretty
17:49
Speaker 7: sluggishly and poorly over this. They'll pay the price for it.
17:52
Speaker 7: Of course, we're in a free market, which is wonderful,
17:55
Speaker 7: just took a hit when they went down. The bit
17:57
Speaker 7: where the government's got to get involved though, is bang
18:00
Speaker 7: heads together within the telco industry and say why can't
18:03
Speaker 7: you do what they do in Canada. You know, if
18:05
Speaker 7: one network goes down, all your emergency calls automatically forward
18:10
Speaker 7: through the other networks. There's automatic roaming in place. Technically,
18:14
Speaker 7: I understand it's not hard, it's just getting an agreement
18:17
Speaker 7: in place. And why they haven't done that, you know
18:19
Speaker 7: what a couple of years now after the options crash.
18:22
Speaker 7: I think this is where the government is really dragging
18:24
Speaker 7: its heels. And Anika Wells, I don't think she was
18:27
Speaker 7: in the country when this hapn'ed either. I think she's
18:29
Speaker 7: back now, you know.
18:31
Speaker 3: Well, I mean she missed the state of origin unfortunately,
18:33
Speaker 3: when we know how much she loves her sport. But
18:35
Speaker 3: it's the origin because she had to be hanging around
18:38
Speaker 3: for the Telster thing. Speaking of sport, the Commonwealth Game
18:42
Speaker 3: starts in Scotland in just a few weeks and the
18:45
Speaker 3: Australian team is expected to do very well. We always
18:47
Speaker 3: clean up at the Common Games. Politicians are usually falling
18:51
Speaker 3: over themselves to be seen alongside Ozsi athletes. But I
18:54
Speaker 3: found this interesting, Cameron. Not a single Victorian government minister
18:57
Speaker 3: will be in Scotland to cheer on our athletes, not
19:00
Speaker 3: even Victorian Premier just sent to Alan. Can can you
19:03
Speaker 3: imagine why that might be, Cameron?
19:06
Speaker 8: I think it's called five hundred and eighty nine million
19:08
Speaker 8: dollars worth of reasons, James. I mean, that's how much
19:11
Speaker 8: it costs Victorian taxpayers for this complete catastrophe. I mean,
19:15
Speaker 8: what a horrible embarrassment. Horrible embarrassment. And Dan Andrews made
19:18
Speaker 8: ultimately a huge number of mistakes in government, but this
19:21
Speaker 8: is certainly one of the highlights of just incompetent government.
19:24
Speaker 8: I mean, you know, close to six hundred million dollars just.
19:26
Speaker 1: Burnt, burnt.
19:27
Speaker 8: But I wish our Australian athletes all the best. We
19:29
Speaker 8: will clean up in the Comic Games. I'll be watching,
19:31
Speaker 8: my kids will be watching. But Victorian taxpayers they better
19:34
Speaker 8: be watching two because six hundred million dollars of their
19:36
Speaker 8: money went to someone else.
19:38
Speaker 3: Well Nick, you mentioned Anika Wells and she has not
19:41
Speaker 3: confirmed whether she's going, and the Prime Minister has not
19:45
Speaker 3: confirmed whether he'll be there either. Is this an event
19:47
Speaker 3: that labor politicians, whether at state or federal level, they
19:51
Speaker 3: just want to stay away from it because it will
19:54
Speaker 3: raise all the points that Cameron just made. So well,
19:57
Speaker 3: we put.
19:57
Speaker 7: Five hundred and eighty nine million dollars into it. You
19:59
Speaker 7: think that they could quite legitimately claim the front row
20:03
Speaker 7: seats there, But no they're not there. Look, this is
20:06
Speaker 7: the problem when Anika Wells and other ministers just get
20:09
Speaker 7: carried away with their travel. I mean, I actually think
20:12
Speaker 7: she should be there at the Common Games. I mean
20:14
Speaker 7: that is that is an important event whench you expect
20:17
Speaker 7: our sports minute to be present at so you know,
20:20
Speaker 7: I mean the fact that she obviously is too embarrassed
20:24
Speaker 7: to go. She doesn't want to take these trips. This
20:26
Speaker 7: is a consequence really of her recklessness early in her term.
20:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, certainly, all right, before I let you gentlemen go,
20:32
Speaker 3: just want to point out the infantile nature of our
20:36
Speaker 3: political class. Victorian Liberal leader Jess Wilson made a social
20:40
Speaker 3: media post. All politicians are doing it these days. She
20:42
Speaker 3: may want to highlight the problem of potholes in Victorian roads,
20:46
Speaker 3: and in the post she boasts that she's going to
20:49
Speaker 3: fix them herself. God knows, the Labor Party isn't doing it,
20:53
Speaker 3: so she'll do it herself. There she is in a
20:55
Speaker 3: high visvest. Now, Victoria's Department of Transport and Planning has
20:59
Speaker 3: launched an investingation into whether or not Wilson had undertaken
21:03
Speaker 3: unauthorized roadwork activities. Cameron, apparently they decided there was nothing
21:08
Speaker 3: to pursue. But are we the stupidest, most infantile society
21:12
Speaker 3: on the planet right now? Haven't they got better things
21:14
Speaker 3: to do than that?
21:16
Speaker 8: He'd thinks they like fix a pothole too. I mean,
21:19
Speaker 8: why going to an investigation Jess Wilson when there's lots
21:21
Speaker 8: of potholes out there, which is their day job that
21:24
Speaker 8: they could be doing as well. No, I mean, to
21:26
Speaker 8: your point, infantile, totally infantile.
21:28
Speaker 3: And Nick, Jess Wilson previously made another social media video.
21:32
Speaker 3: I forget what it was in aid of, but she
21:34
Speaker 3: was driving or pretending to drive a forklift. Well she
21:37
Speaker 3: was reported for that as well because she didn't have
21:39
Speaker 3: a fork lift license. And I mean, this sort of
21:42
Speaker 3: politicking really annoys me, because, as Cameron said, there are
21:46
Speaker 3: major problems in our country when they're doing this sort
21:49
Speaker 3: of stuff.
21:50
Speaker 7: Really it backfires doesn't it in the end, because I
21:52
Speaker 7: now know of this video and I didn't know before.
21:54
Speaker 7: I mean, they've actually drawn about ten times more attention
21:58
Speaker 7: to their pothole problem than they would have had if
22:01
Speaker 7: they just let this thing through to the keeper. So
22:04
Speaker 7: it's a ridiculous thing. And by the way, the pothole
22:06
Speaker 7: problem is really real. I won't take my car into Victoria.
22:10
Speaker 7: I stop at Aubrey.
22:13
Speaker 3: Stopping at Aubrey these days. All right, I appreciate both
22:16
Speaker 3: of you for joining me. Thanks so much. I'm really
22:19
Speaker 3: glad to talk to both of you. All Right, we've
22:21
Speaker 3: seen ten ISIS brides return to Australia. Now the government
22:25
Speaker 3: is preparing for the return of thirteen Australian men suspected
22:29
Speaker 3: of being ISIS fighters.
22:31
Speaker 6: Now.
22:31
Speaker 3: These men are currently being held in an Iraqi prison,
22:34
Speaker 3: and the Australian newspaper has reported the men are being
22:37
Speaker 3: interviewed by US officials and prison staff in order to
22:40
Speaker 3: determine what level of involvement they had with ISIS and
22:43
Speaker 3: to prepare them to return to Australia. Joining me is
22:47
Speaker 3: Shadow Home Affairs Minister John o'dunham. What do we know
22:51
Speaker 3: about these thirteen men?
22:53
Speaker 10: Well, James we know that these men are not friends
22:57
Speaker 10: of Australia, much like the ISIS brides, these artist husbands
23:00
Speaker 10: or fighters, whatever you want to call them, people who,
23:03
Speaker 10: more actively than some of the other cases of people
23:06
Speaker 10: that have returned, he went and chose to participate in
23:09
Speaker 10: the actions of ISIS. And frankly, when you're talking about
23:13
Speaker 10: people like that who genuinely do want to see the
23:16
Speaker 10: downfall of Western civilization, of Christianity, of Judaism, the rule
23:21
Speaker 10: of law that we respect and hold so dear here
23:23
Speaker 10: in Australia, we should not be even contemplating having these
23:27
Speaker 10: people return to the country. And I know the government
23:29
Speaker 10: say they're not going to do anything to help them
23:32
Speaker 10: come here. But of course that's exactly what the government
23:35
Speaker 10: said about the artist brides, who are all here now
23:38
Speaker 10: with great amounts of government help.
23:40
Speaker 3: So do you put any trust or faith in the
23:43
Speaker 3: Australian government saying they've told the Australian newspaper we're not
23:46
Speaker 3: going to do anything to help with repatriation efforts. Am
23:51
Speaker 3: I too cynical to disbelieve that?
23:54
Speaker 1: Now? I think the proof is there.
23:56
Speaker 10: They said we're not going to help, we're actively doing nothing,
23:58
Speaker 10: And of course all of these women came.
24:01
Speaker 1: I mean they talk about slamming the door on these ISIS.
24:04
Speaker 10: Brides, but of course they then slide the passport under
24:06
Speaker 10: the door to these people so that they can come in.
24:10
Speaker 10: There is no trust that one can have in the
24:13
Speaker 10: government saying they're not going to help. They've turned a
24:16
Speaker 10: blind eye to labor supporters actually going and helping these
24:20
Speaker 10: ARSIS brides and their affiliates come back to Australia. These
24:24
Speaker 10: are people that were affiliated with a listed terror organization.
24:29
Speaker 1: They're going to be in our neighborhoods.
24:31
Speaker 10: The government can't tell us where they are or what
24:33
Speaker 10: protections they're putting in place. So this is a very
24:35
Speaker 10: concerning development and your viewers have every right to be
24:38
Speaker 10: very worried about it.
24:39
Speaker 3: John Know. The other part of this story that I
24:41
Speaker 3: find curious is they're trying to ascertain what role these
24:45
Speaker 3: men played as part of ISIS, and they're trying to
24:49
Speaker 3: differentiate between well, were you a combatant or a non combatant?
24:53
Speaker 3: But I mean, if you were over there as part
24:56
Speaker 3: of ISIS killing infidels or cooking lamb chops for those
25:01
Speaker 3: who are killing infidels, you're equally culpable, are you not?
25:05
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely you are.
25:07
Speaker 10: You cannot differentiate between the administration workers of ARSIS and
25:11
Speaker 10: the people out there shooting bullets or planting.
25:13
Speaker 1: Land mines or whatever they might have been doing.
25:15
Speaker 10: You have made a choice to go to a declared
25:19
Speaker 10: terror hotspot, which of course is an offense under our
25:22
Speaker 10: criminal Code. You have affiliated with a listed terrorist organization.
25:26
Speaker 10: It doesn't matter what role you have, whether you're emptying
25:28
Speaker 10: their bins at the end of the week or going
25:30
Speaker 10: and maiming innocent civilians, as many of these ISIS fighters did.
25:35
Speaker 10: They don't deserve to come back. And I think tying
25:37
Speaker 10: ourselves up in knots about whether or not they were
25:40
Speaker 10: hands on in the evil act of Issis is frankly
25:43
Speaker 10: a furfee of an exercise.
25:45
Speaker 3: I read a comment from someone who's been in that
25:48
Speaker 3: prison in Iraq and they said everyone there is a
25:51
Speaker 3: cook apparently, so there you go. Opposition lyd Angus Taylor
25:56
Speaker 3: has given a speech at the Sydney Institute. I want
25:58
Speaker 3: to ask you about this because he's accused Labour's big
26:01
Speaker 3: government agenda of dragging down Australia's living standards. I think
26:05
Speaker 3: everyone would agree with that, But then he also took
26:08
Speaker 3: aim at one Nation, arguing they're not the solution. Have
26:12
Speaker 3: a listen.
26:14
Speaker 11: I understand why some Australians think the way out is
26:17
Speaker 11: to blow the place up. But to those who feel
26:21
Speaker 11: like lighting a match, believe me when I say that
26:25
Speaker 11: a moment of satisfaction isn't worth the eternity of pain
26:29
Speaker 11: that will follow. One Nation claims to offer a way
26:33
Speaker 11: out of a national malaise, In reality, they would only
26:37
Speaker 11: make things worse.
26:40
Speaker 3: John O. Angus Taylor also described One Nation as a
26:43
Speaker 3: puff of smoke and he likened them to the Greens.
26:47
Speaker 3: It's gloves off.
26:48
Speaker 10: I guess well, we've got a big job ahead of us.
26:53
Speaker 10: As I've said on this program and others previously, we
26:56
Speaker 10: were brounced at the last election and we need to
26:58
Speaker 10: actually win back the trust the voters that lost trust
27:02
Speaker 10: in us.
27:02
Speaker 1: We need to win back their votes.
27:04
Speaker 10: Of course, that means going out to those who, as
27:07
Speaker 10: Angus is identified, have chosen to take their vote somewhere
27:11
Speaker 10: else and win them back. Now, highlighting that parking your
27:14
Speaker 10: vote with one Nation is not going to solve the
27:16
Speaker 10: nation's problems is part of it. Giving them the solutions
27:19
Speaker 10: that they need to deal with the problems we have.
27:21
Speaker 10: Whether it's in immigration, whether it's in tax policy, whether
27:25
Speaker 10: it is related to infrastructure.
27:27
Speaker 1: Whatever it might be.
27:28
Speaker 10: We've got to give those policies to the people who
27:30
Speaker 10: need them and want them and convince people to come back.
27:33
Speaker 10: But the point is one nation do have some amazing
27:37
Speaker 10: one line policies and they sound great, but you scratch
27:40
Speaker 10: beneath the surface and you'll see that there hasn't been modeling,
27:44
Speaker 10: There hasn't been thinking or planning around these things. And
27:46
Speaker 10: some of the consequences of the policies they take out
27:49
Speaker 10: to the public, we don't really know what sort of
27:52
Speaker 10: consequence they'd have on our country, our economy, or our society.
27:56
Speaker 3: John, you're leaving politics, which I'm really disappointed about because
28:00
Speaker 3: as you're leaving, I know you can just speak honestly
28:02
Speaker 3: and forthrightly and tell me exactly what you think. Right,
28:05
Speaker 3: So we agree this government is terrible. I mean, this
28:08
Speaker 3: Albanezi government is a shocker. Honestly, Why is the coalition
28:13
Speaker 3: just struggling to cut through it? You know, what are you?
28:16
Speaker 3: Sixteen seventeen percent in primary vote? What's the problem.
28:22
Speaker 10: Well, just for what it's worth, I would be honest
28:25
Speaker 10: with you, regardless of my future departure or starting on
28:29
Speaker 10: But can I say, I think what we're experiencing now
28:32
Speaker 10: is the product of more than a decade of a
28:35
Speaker 10: series of decisions taken by successive Liberal Coalition administrations where
28:40
Speaker 10: we've made decisions where people in a compounding way have
28:44
Speaker 10: lost trust in us. This is not a just now problem.
28:47
Speaker 10: It is not just an Angus Taylor problem. It is
28:50
Speaker 10: something that has been growing over time and people are
28:53
Speaker 10: crying out for signs of life from the coalition. Angus
28:57
Speaker 10: Taylor has taken over the reins after nine wasted months
29:00
Speaker 10: in opposition under straight after the election, and can I
29:04
Speaker 10: say it is a huge amount of work we have
29:06
Speaker 10: to do to demonstrate we are hearing what people are saying.
29:10
Speaker 10: So while we have I believe hit rock bottom, it
29:14
Speaker 10: is now time for us to start putting out in bold,
29:17
Speaker 10: dramatic ways what it is Australians want to hear.
29:20
Speaker 2: Now.
29:20
Speaker 1: While I won't be a part.
29:21
Speaker 10: Of the team that go to the next election, I'll
29:23
Speaker 10: be working my backside off to make sure that it
29:26
Speaker 10: is that mob that actually get back to the Treasury
29:28
Speaker 10: benchure sooner rather than later, because God.
29:30
Speaker 1: Knows this country actually needs it.
29:32
Speaker 3: On that we are completely agreed, JOHNO Duniam always a delight,
29:35
Speaker 3: Thanks so much, all right, stick around Coming up after
29:38
Speaker 3: the break. Donald Trump claims Iran is ready now to
29:41
Speaker 3: make a deal following the latest round of strikes. But
29:44
Speaker 3: can the Iranian regime be trusted? That's a rhetorical question.
29:48
Speaker 3: And why is our offense industry minister so enthusiastic about
29:51
Speaker 3: this week's NATO summit. I'll talk to Michael Schubridge after
29:54
Speaker 3: the break. Well. President Donald Trump says, I run reached
30:00
Speaker 3: out and wants to make a deal following the latest
30:02
Speaker 3: round of US strikes. I've not heard that one before.
30:06
Speaker 3: Have you joining me now? A Strategic Analysis director, Michael Schubridge. Michael,
30:12
Speaker 3: just yesterday Trump said the ceasefire was off, that Iranians
30:15
Speaker 3: were scum and liars who didn't want a deal. Now
30:19
Speaker 3: a dealer is apparently on the table. Do you think
30:21
Speaker 3: he'll take this latest over? Tore seriously?
30:26
Speaker 12: Well, I think Iran has reached out, but not in
30:28
Speaker 12: the way Donald Trump has said They've reached out by
30:31
Speaker 12: striking Irain and Kuwait and Qatar and ships in the
30:35
Speaker 12: Strait of Hormuz. I think what we've got here is
30:39
Speaker 12: a new kind of view as Iran conflict that's focused
30:43
Speaker 12: pretty closely just on that straight, and I don't think
30:46
Speaker 12: that phase is over yet.
30:49
Speaker 3: What did you make yesterday of Trump's protestations at NATO
30:54
Speaker 3: where he essentially said, I'm done, I'm fed up. They lie.
30:58
Speaker 3: I don't believe that they will ever come to the
31:00
Speaker 3: table in good faith. So all that's really left for
31:03
Speaker 3: us to do is we're just going to have to
31:06
Speaker 3: finish the job properly. Do you take him serious or
31:10
Speaker 3: has it been difficult? How do you read between the
31:13
Speaker 3: lines of what he says? That's that's what I want
31:15
Speaker 3: to know.
31:16
Speaker 12: Well, James, I think the frustration is real. He thought
31:20
Speaker 12: that fourteen point memorandum that both countries agreed was a
31:25
Speaker 12: path to ending this. But I think what he overlooked
31:29
Speaker 12: was the fourteen point plan was extremely wooly, including on
31:34
Speaker 12: simple things like what did opening the straight mean? The
31:38
Speaker 12: language in it does talk about Iran coordinating shipping through
31:43
Speaker 12: the Strait, So now the US are trying to use
31:46
Speaker 12: a bit of the Straight close to Oman, and Iran
31:49
Speaker 12: is attacking the ships that are trying to do that.
31:51
Speaker 12: So he's really frustrated, But I don't think he's got
31:55
Speaker 12: a great plan from here. I think they kind of stuck,
31:58
Speaker 12: both Iran and the US. They both want more than
32:02
Speaker 12: the other one wants to give.
32:04
Speaker 6: All.
32:04
Speaker 3: Right, well, all of that is happening. Defense Industry Minister
32:07
Speaker 3: Pat Conroy has been in Turkey for the NATO meeting
32:11
Speaker 3: and he appears very enthusiastic about the summit. He's excited
32:14
Speaker 3: because apparently NATO has recognized all wars are now global,
32:19
Speaker 3: and so that means we've got support from European countries
32:22
Speaker 3: recognizing what happens in the South Pacific is going to
32:25
Speaker 3: invariably affect them as well. What do you make of
32:28
Speaker 3: for the minister's enthusiasm regarding that? To my mind, I
32:33
Speaker 3: would like to see our government be a little bit
32:35
Speaker 3: more enthusiastic about the US alliance rather than getting excited
32:39
Speaker 3: because some NATO countries say, hey, all worlds are global,
32:42
Speaker 3: so we recognize uasas as being important.
32:47
Speaker 2: Yes.
32:48
Speaker 12: Look, what NATO members are actually doing is focusing extremely
32:54
Speaker 12: heavily on European security because of Russia and the Russia
32:59
Speaker 12: Ukraine War. That is their abiding priority. So if mister
33:03
Speaker 12: Conroy thinks that suddenly the European members of NATO are
33:09
Speaker 12: seized of security in the South Pacific.
33:12
Speaker 2: He's just flat out role.
33:15
Speaker 12: I thought he was so enthusiastic about NATO maybe helping
33:19
Speaker 12: us because he's doing such a bad job strengthening our
33:22
Speaker 12: own military. He talked about their priority being collective. They've
33:26
Speaker 12: got a collective priority on missile defense. Well, guess what
33:30
Speaker 12: he has left Australia completely vulnerable to Chinese missiles, so
33:35
Speaker 12: he needs all the help he can get.
33:37
Speaker 3: Well, you segued beautifully into the other thing I wanted
33:40
Speaker 3: to talk to you about from the NATO summit, and
33:42
Speaker 3: that's these comments from German Chancellor making observations about Trump's
33:47
Speaker 3: treatment of the alliance. Have listened to what the Chancellor said.
33:51
Speaker 13: It's presidenty on Swinish Kubittnahamen Martochtz and Bisma to.
34:00
Speaker 1: Uber of Tolbert, wonderful.
34:03
Speaker 13: It's comment a stre creaking little Kina on President.
34:11
Speaker 6: On.
34:11
Speaker 13: Finally starks right, Benzi signs in, did the Americana for
34:19
Speaker 13: you now to ask you him?
34:20
Speaker 1: And did you for you now to ask you him?
34:22
Speaker 13: And for this one swans at America SWANSI is in
34:30
Speaker 13: utceptar inccept tarber.
34:34
Speaker 3: I'd make two points about that. Number one, it's vindication
34:37
Speaker 3: for the way Trump has handled data. But second, if
34:40
Speaker 3: Pat Conroy wants to play with the big boys, he
34:42
Speaker 3: might want to talk to his boss about our defense spending.
34:46
Speaker 12: Yes, I mean, mister Albanezi, Richard Miles, and Pat Conroy
34:51
Speaker 12: are all incredibly lucky that neither Donald Trump nor Pete
34:55
Speaker 12: Hegserth have actually got the calculator out in any discussions
34:59
Speaker 12: with this. You're about our defense effort because we would
35:03
Speaker 12: be at the bottom of the League of NATO and
35:06
Speaker 12: what we're actually doing is clearly insufficient. So mister Comroy
35:11
Speaker 12: may have enjoyed his meeting, but that's only because nobody
35:15
Speaker 12: really paid much attention to him.
35:18
Speaker 3: One of the quick issues before I let you go,
35:20
Speaker 3: the United States is expected to send six F thirty
35:23
Speaker 3: five fighter jets to Turkey, despite protestations from the Israeli
35:28
Speaker 3: Prime Minister Benjamin net and Yahoo have.
35:31
Speaker 6: Looked it would destroy the power balance in the Middle
35:35
Speaker 6: East because because Turkey, I think has aggressive aspirations. He
35:42
Speaker 6: is the President of the United States. He does what
35:44
Speaker 6: is good for the United States. I'm the Prime Minister
35:47
Speaker 6: of Israel. I do what is important for what is
35:51
Speaker 6: good for Israel. On the big things we see eye
35:53
Speaker 6: to I and occasionally we don't, but we're true allies.
35:58
Speaker 3: Trump said that Turkey will have gone to war against
36:01
Speaker 3: Israel with Iran had he not prevented them from doing it.
36:06
Speaker 3: So when you've got Turkey that antagonistic towards the state
36:09
Speaker 3: of Israel, is it a wise move for the US
36:11
Speaker 3: to be arming them with F thirty fives.
36:15
Speaker 12: No, And there's another big reason. It's a very bad
36:18
Speaker 12: idea to give Turkey these F thirty five. Whether it's
36:22
Speaker 12: six or forty, it doesn't really matter. The Turks have
36:26
Speaker 12: the Russians four hundred air defense missile system. The Russians
36:32
Speaker 12: will get incredibly deep knowledge of the F thirty five
36:35
Speaker 12: jet by the two things being operated by the same country, Turkey.
36:40
Speaker 12: So it's a terrible idea for American national security and
36:44
Speaker 12: for anyone else that operates the F thirty five, like Australia.
36:49
Speaker 3: Michael Schubridge always fascinating the talk to you, thanks for
36:51
Speaker 3: joining me all right after the break. The extraordinary amount
36:55
Speaker 3: one Western Sydney Council has spent responding to social media complaints,
37:01
Speaker 3: and Israel's ambassador to Australia says anti Semitism in this
37:04
Speaker 3: country is the worst he's seen in twenty six years
37:07
Speaker 3: as a foreign diplomat. That's coming up well. A Western
37:14
Speaker 3: Sydney councilor whose social media posts have attracted more than
37:17
Speaker 3: six hundred complaints in just twelve months, is refusing to apologize,
37:21
Speaker 3: despite having the council spend more than one hundred thousand
37:26
Speaker 3: dollars responding to all of those complaints. I'm not surprised
37:30
Speaker 3: Cumberland City Councilor Ahmed Uff gets complaints. To be honest
37:33
Speaker 3: when he posts rubbish like this.
37:36
Speaker 14: The Australian Holocaust began on twenty six of January seventeen
37:41
Speaker 14: eighty eight. This isn't about asking you to apologize for
37:45
Speaker 14: something you didn't do. It's about telling the truth.
37:49
Speaker 3: There you go. Councilor Off, who arrived here in twenty
37:52
Speaker 3: ten as an immigrant from Egypt, has posted a lengthy
37:55
Speaker 3: response on Facebook, saying, and I quote, I will not
37:59
Speaker 3: apologize for speaking up, representing my community, standing with people
38:02
Speaker 3: who feel unheard, or asking difficult questions. He also points
38:07
Speaker 3: out the more than six hundred complaints were not findings
38:10
Speaker 3: of misconduct, so there's that. But like I said, a
38:13
Speaker 3: Cumberland City Council report has found ratepayers were billed one
38:17
Speaker 3: hundred thousand, three hundred and three dollars in costs responding
38:22
Speaker 3: to all the complaints against mister Ulf. Between July first,
38:25
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five and June sixth of this year, there
38:29
Speaker 3: were a total of six hundred and thirty eight complaints
38:31
Speaker 3: about social media from this council. Six hundred and twenty
38:35
Speaker 3: three of those complaints were about mister Ulf, fourteen were
38:39
Speaker 3: about Counselor Steve Christou, and one was about another councilor.
38:43
Speaker 3: Joining me now to discuss all of this is one
38:45
Speaker 3: of those men, Cumberland City Councilor Steve Christou. Steve only
38:49
Speaker 3: fourteen complaints about your social media. You're not trying well, James.
38:53
Speaker 15: I can guarantee you those fourteen were probably Labour Party
38:56
Speaker 15: branch members.
38:58
Speaker 3: I kid you not. So tell me how on earth
39:01
Speaker 3: does a council spend one hundred thousand dollars responding to
39:06
Speaker 3: complaints about one council member's social media. I mean, this
39:11
Speaker 3: is money that could have been spent in so many
39:13
Speaker 3: other ways.
39:14
Speaker 15: Look, I'll say from the art set, Concloof's comments are
39:18
Speaker 15: ironic at times, but also the code of conduct system
39:22
Speaker 15: is very broken. When you've got a system that's weaponized
39:25
Speaker 15: by counselors and members of the public to hold a
39:28
Speaker 15: scrutiny where if they log a complaint, council's manager has
39:33
Speaker 15: to investigate it, possibly outsource it to a code of
39:35
Speaker 15: conduct firm. At least people charge like who winded Bulls
39:39
Speaker 15: the thousands and thousands of dollars one report could end
39:42
Speaker 15: up being twenty thousand dollars.
39:44
Speaker 3: So what's the solution to this? Because as I understand it,
39:48
Speaker 3: Counseloroff says, well, i can post whatver I want on
39:51
Speaker 3: my social media because I'm not working for the council.
39:54
Speaker 3: I'm working for the ratepayers who voted me in. I've
39:57
Speaker 3: got a right to speak to them about things I'm
39:59
Speaker 3: passionate about. As we saw just a moment ago, probably
40:03
Speaker 3: most of us would be horrified at some of the
40:04
Speaker 3: stuff he says, But he says, as a councilor, I've
40:08
Speaker 3: got to speak my mind. That's what ratepayers expect. Where's
40:11
Speaker 3: the balance in being responsible in social media so you
40:15
Speaker 3: don't cost counsel of fortune, but at the same time
40:19
Speaker 3: expressing your views as an elected representative.
40:22
Speaker 15: Look, I'll say from the art set, I stand against
40:24
Speaker 15: everything council all says, However, it's a very fine line
40:28
Speaker 15: when we have unelected bureaucrats trying to censure an elected representative.
40:34
Speaker 15: They're trying to do it in our council and shut
40:36
Speaker 15: us down on our social media, so people like myself
40:38
Speaker 15: can't speak against armadoff or in matters of interest to
40:43
Speaker 15: the community. Look what happened at Hawksbury Council whenever essentially
40:46
Speaker 15: shut down, shut out the local media.
40:48
Speaker 3: So the council has, in light of this huge amount
40:52
Speaker 3: of money that's being spent on all of these complaints,
40:55
Speaker 3: as we've said, predominantly overwhelmingly from one council member, council
41:00
Speaker 3: now changed or amended their social media policy. What's the
41:03
Speaker 3: policy now? And are you happy with it or do
41:06
Speaker 3: you not like it?
41:07
Speaker 15: Well, look at the artset. They wanted to bar counselors
41:11
Speaker 15: from speaking about anything that doesn't invol council issues and
41:15
Speaker 15: I threatn legal action and I'm serious about that. And
41:18
Speaker 15: now that's not happening. But what is happening. They're saying
41:22
Speaker 15: if you step in the territory where it's potentially endangering
41:26
Speaker 15: somebody's mental health or then you might be in trouble. Now,
41:29
Speaker 15: how they're going to enforce that is, how do you
41:32
Speaker 15: know anyone might be offended in regards to their mental health.
41:36
Speaker 15: I don't think it's a strong policy. I think there
41:38
Speaker 15: needs to be better guidelines within counsels. And John Ruddick
41:42
Speaker 15: had the best idea when he wants to legislate free
41:46
Speaker 15: speech and if people are saying something that's not that's
41:49
Speaker 15: against the law, prosecute them through the courts. That's why
41:51
Speaker 15: they're Therefore.
41:52
Speaker 3: The problem with this, of course, is if you say
41:54
Speaker 3: you can only post on social media things that are
41:57
Speaker 3: about counsel, well you'd have council members like a meed
42:00
Speaker 3: ufuuld say well, Palestine is very important to buy constituents.
42:04
Speaker 3: And then, as you say, if something causes harm or hurt,
42:07
Speaker 3: it's entirely subjective. Who measures that. I reckon that the
42:12
Speaker 3: cost should come out of that particular district that the
42:16
Speaker 3: council member himself represents, and then ratepayers can decide whether
42:19
Speaker 3: they're getting value for money or not.
42:21
Speaker 15: Oh, James are very harsh. The south Grave Award is
42:23
Speaker 15: already the most neglected ward in the half council. You'll
42:27
Speaker 15: be sending him into poverty and bankruptcy.
42:29
Speaker 3: Well, maybe they'll make a different choice at the next election. Well,
42:32
Speaker 3: I hope so, Steve Christou, I appreciate you joining me.
42:35
Speaker 3: Thanks so much. All right, stick around after the break.
42:38
Speaker 3: I want to talk about comments from the Israeli ambassador
42:41
Speaker 3: to Australia who reckons anti Semitism in this country is
42:45
Speaker 3: the worst he's ever seen, and he's been a diplomat
42:48
Speaker 3: in full majority Muslim countries, but Australia is the worst,
42:52
Speaker 3: he reckons. That's next. Well, Israel's ambassador to Australia has
42:58
Speaker 3: written a piece for The Australian Today lamenting the fact
43:01
Speaker 3: he has and I quote, never seen such levels of
43:04
Speaker 3: hatred of Israel and of Jews as I experience and
43:08
Speaker 3: witness here in Australia. Now bear in mind he served
43:12
Speaker 3: as a diplomat for twenty six years, including his ambassador
43:15
Speaker 3: in two majority Muslim nations. Joining me out to discuss
43:19
Speaker 3: this is executive director of Stand with Us, Michael Gensher. Michael,
43:23
Speaker 3: thanks for coming on the program. I knew things were
43:26
Speaker 3: pretty bad in Australia when it comes to anti Semitism.
43:29
Speaker 3: I've been shocked at some of the stuff we've seen,
43:31
Speaker 3: but I didn't imagine it was this bad, did.
43:34
Speaker 16: You unfortunately, James, Yes, well aware of it obviously the
43:40
Speaker 16: lived experience. But more interesting and more we're telling is I.
43:46
Speaker 16: On a weekly basis, foreign press reaches out to me
43:50
Speaker 16: asking what's the story in Australia. The rest of the
43:52
Speaker 16: world is aware that Australia has a problem, and yes,
43:57
Speaker 16: I would say the Australian Jews, cammunity and those of
44:01
Speaker 16: the greater community that are informed do realize the problem
44:05
Speaker 16: is as bad as the ambassador spelled out in his
44:08
Speaker 16: article today.
44:10
Speaker 3: Let me read to you from his article. He's talking
44:13
Speaker 3: here about pro Palestinian protesters. He says, and I'm quoting,
44:17
Speaker 3: they dress it up as caring for some humanitarian cause.
44:21
Speaker 3: It's not love or care or any kind that drives them.
44:26
Speaker 3: It's hatred, hatred of Jews and hatred of Israel, the
44:29
Speaker 3: one and only majority Jewish state. He makes a very
44:33
Speaker 3: good point, doesn't he, Because it is dressed up as well.
44:36
Speaker 3: You know, what about the children, what about the people
44:38
Speaker 3: who are suffering, there's a genocide. It's all sounds very moral,
44:43
Speaker 3: but when you get beneath all of that, there's just
44:46
Speaker 3: a vicious hatred towards Israel, and part of The evidence
44:49
Speaker 3: he presents for that is the fact that these protests
44:52
Speaker 3: against Israel began before Israel ever responded to the October
44:57
Speaker 3: seventh attack.
44:59
Speaker 2: Well, Ragings, you know, I hate to say it's performative.
45:06
Speaker 16: It is false social justice, And exactly to your point,
45:11
Speaker 16: what we saw on the ninth October at the Sydney
45:14
Speaker 16: Opera House was a ripping open of that scar, if
45:19
Speaker 16: you will, and that therein was the defining moment that
45:22
Speaker 16: has played out of the last two and a half.
45:24
Speaker 2: Years the show. This is due hatred.
45:28
Speaker 16: We can call it, we can name it, we can
45:30
Speaker 16: play semantics, but this is jee hatred playing out.
45:34
Speaker 3: So let's believe, and I do that there's a lot
45:38
Speaker 3: of people, maybe a significant number of people, who have
45:41
Speaker 3: gotten caught up in this idea of this is a
45:44
Speaker 3: moral crusade, this is a good cause, and they really
45:48
Speaker 3: just failed to see the underlying issues. What's the solution
45:53
Speaker 3: for helping people have been caught up in what the
45:56
Speaker 3: ambassador calls the herd.
45:59
Speaker 16: Well, I'll take it one back, and I like to
46:01
Speaker 16: pose a question to the herd or. I believe Lenin
46:05
Speaker 16: was attributed to the term the useful idiot. Now that
46:08
Speaker 16: might be a bit harsh. Let's use the herd. I
46:11
Speaker 16: challenged the herd that at your protest, and I was
46:14
Speaker 16: at one today at a counter protests with the pro
46:18
Speaker 16: Palestinian or anti Zionist movement outside the Royal Commission today.
46:24
Speaker 16: For all the support of the people of Palestine, I
46:27
Speaker 16: have been to countless protests, I have not seen signs
46:32
Speaker 16: that call for the removal of fromas, call for the
46:35
Speaker 16: end of Hormos atrocities. Now, if that doesn't set out
46:38
Speaker 16: exactly where the herd is placed and where their moral
46:42
Speaker 16: standard sits, I don't know what better describes that. Surely
46:47
Speaker 16: we all want the people of Palestine to have a
46:52
Speaker 16: decent life, a life of peace, a life that everyone expects.
46:56
Speaker 2: But where is the herd.
46:57
Speaker 16: Calling for that true just for the Palestinian people by
47:01
Speaker 16: freeing them from Hamas.
47:03
Speaker 2: That in there is the proof.
47:06
Speaker 3: You're so right. I was at a pro Palestinian protest
47:09
Speaker 3: just having a look at how it all works, and
47:11
Speaker 3: there was a guy holding a sign that said f
47:13
Speaker 3: Hamas and he was being abused. So make of that
47:17
Speaker 3: what you will. Just quickly. You will be giving testimony
47:21
Speaker 3: at the Royal Commission next week. What will you be
47:25
Speaker 3: presenting to the commission.
47:27
Speaker 16: Well, it's been entered into evidence, but essentially I am
47:32
Speaker 16: the work that Stand with Us does is primarily on
47:34
Speaker 16: campus in support of students, in challenging the narrative, fighting
47:39
Speaker 16: anti Semitism, and supporting Israel. And I'm essentially giving witness
47:44
Speaker 16: and evidence in testimony to a number of incidents on
47:48
Speaker 16: campus and really playing out how the students went through
47:52
Speaker 16: the process from the incident to the complaint process, the response,
47:58
Speaker 16: and if there has been a sufficient or acceptable response
48:03
Speaker 16: and outcome. So I'm really speaking about the process that
48:07
Speaker 16: students have been on and the unfortunate journey they've been
48:11
Speaker 16: on to the last two and a half years.
48:13
Speaker 3: I've got to hand over to Paul Murray in just
48:15
Speaker 3: a moment, So in ten seconds, what do you think
48:17
Speaker 3: about the evidence from the ABC and SBS today.
48:20
Speaker 2: Well, I'm going to say it's not surprising.
48:23
Speaker 16: I go back to May twenty twenty one with twenty
48:26
Speaker 16: one Gay the War, and I was looking through my
48:28
Speaker 16: emails today. None of this is new. None of this
48:31
Speaker 16: started in October twenty three. I go back to twenty
48:35
Speaker 16: one there was a children's program still on air, Call
48:38
Speaker 16: Behind the News, an ABC publication. I remember my wife
48:41
Speaker 16: and I making complaints to the public school that there
48:44
Speaker 16: was an incredibly imbalanced reporting.
48:48
Speaker 3: It's been going for a while. You're right, it's been
48:51
Speaker 3: going for a while. That's all I've got time for Michael.
48:53
Speaker 3: All the best next week when you present at the Commission.
48:56
Speaker 3: Thanks for joining me. He's Paul Murray