Why On Sky News This is Sharry.
Good evening, and don't worry, Andrew, I'll forgive you well. Tonight on the show, Donald Trump makes alban easy beg over tariffs while threatening to unleash hell on hermus I'll get reaction from Brunwyn Bishop Holly Hughes and Julian Lisa Shortly AA Butcho's takes the stand in the Antoinette Latouf trial, saying the activist should never have been hired.
Well, ain't that the truth?
Daily Telegraph journalist James Willis will share all the details from court, including the look as black as thunder that Latouff shot Buttro's and I'll tell you how you can get involved in our Sky News antisemitism summit.
We need your ideas.
Our politicians have been behind the eight ball, so we want to hear from you about how you think we should fix this crisis. I'll tell you how to get those ideas to us a bit later, but first tonight, Albanezi and Pettiwong's criticisms of Donald Trump come back to bite them as they try to seek favors for Australia. The biggest test yet of the Albanese government will be whether the Prime Minister can negotiate with Trump to give
Australia an exemption from his teal and aluminium tariffs. Now, our prime minister is not known for either his charm or his powers of persuasion. In fact, he's seen as a weak prime minister who can't get anything done. And he had forty minutes forty to convince Trump not to slap tariffs on Australia, with precedent already set during Trump's last administration. But even after a forty minute call, Trump then publicly declared to the world that the tariffs would apply.
To all countries with no exceptions.
Acting our steel an aluminum industries as a must. And today I am simplifying our tariffs and steal and aluminum so that everyone can understand exactly what it means. It's twenty five percent, without exceptions or exemptions, and that's all countries, no matter where it comes from, all countries.
Asked specifically about Australia, Donald Trump was polite and said Albanezi was a very fine man, and he did concede that Australia has a trade surplus with the US.
He said he'd consider an exemption.
I just spoke to him, very fine man. We actually have a surplus. It's one of the only countries which we do. And I told him that that's something that we will give great consideration.
It's encouraging.
But Trump made no commitment to a tariff exemption for Australia. That was an exemption that Turnbull was able to negotiate when he was Prime Minister. Scott Morrison, his PM, also negotiated an exemption. While Morrison and Trump get along famously, as James Patterson said here last night, Turnbull was hardly an ideological acolyte of Trump's.
Well, you wouldn't necessarily think that Malcolm Turnbull and President Trump were simpatico in personality types. You can imagine they would have different world views on many issues. But Malcolm Turnbull put the national interests first. He bet a pathway to President Trump's door. He very assertively stood up for Australia's interest and he persuaded President Trump.
And you have to compare Trump's lukewarm attitude to Australia to how he rolled out the red carpet for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin nettan Yahoo. We can plainly see that Trump isn't treating Australia anywhere nearly as warmly as he is other clearly better allies like Israel, and we know why.
Policy and personality.
On the policy front, there's already been a rift between America.
And Australia under the Biden administration.
America was deeply unhappy with Australia's voting record on Israel at the United Nations. The Biden administration was also unhappy with how Albanesi was cozying up to China. These are things that Albanzi knew but chose to forge your head with anyway, and now they could come back to haunt him.
It seems he was not.
So worried about not upsetting Chinese dictator Jijingping, and now he's put the Australian US alliance at risk, and this means hurting Australian businesses.
And the economy, and that's the reality of the matter. Then there's personality.
Trump would be well aware of Albanesi and Kevin Rudd's comments about him in the past. As you know, Kevin Rudd called him a village idiot, while Albanesi mocked Trump.
The United States in the last four years has been run by a village idiots. People have seen China continued continuing to be competent international state craft and the United States increasingly incompetent and international state craft under Trump.
A skates academy. And I think it's of some concern that the leader of the free world thinks that you can conduct politics through one hundred and forty characters on Twitter.
And Albanizi was a senior shadow minister when he made those comments in twenty seventeen. But even in twenty twenty one, Petty Wong accused Donald Trump of trashic foreign alliances.
You know, we've seen somebody, a leader of previous in recent times who was prepared to trash alliances and partnerships for personal political interest in his name was Donald Trump.
None of this is wise or diplomatic. From the figures who are now the most senior ministers of the Albanesi government, it makes you seriously question their political judgment. Now, the tariffs begin on March the fourth, so Albanezi has around three weeks to convince the president that he should treat Australia like his closest ally. But if it doesn't go Australia's way, then the entire country. All the businesses will pay Albanese's lack.
Of judgment and leadership.
Now, Trump has threatened to end the Gaza cease fire and unleash hell if all the hostages aren't back by noon on Saturday. His comments came after HAMAS said its handover of hostages this weekend will be postponed until further notice. These are cruel games that HAMAS has now been playing for sixty months.
And it was able to get away with.
Playing these cruel games under the Buyner administration, but not anymore. Trump is one of the only world leaders showing genuine strength and leadership, particularly when it comes to terrorism, and he said, if all the hostages aren't back by the weekend, they'll be held to pay.
Saturday at twelve o'clock, I think it's an appropriate time. I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out.
And once again, Trump spoke about the hostages who were released on the weekend, who were emaciated and they look like concentration camp survivors. He said he was worried how long the other hostages still held captive would be able to stay alive.
It looked like something out of the nineteen thirties. It's an absolutely disgrace. What you see is probably the best because they want to send people that look at least healthy, and that's not healthy. These people have been badly heard mentally and physically, and I think Amas is looking at that and say, well, it's not going to get much better than that, because they're probably sending out their best as a representative, and I.
Agree with his comments.
It is a serious concern that the remaining hostages who are alive warn't stay alive for a long time, given Hamas has been starving and torturing them. The international community should be worried about this, but no statement from the United Nations today, despite the fact that innocent lives hang in the balance. Israel's Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Sharan Haskell demanded the international community step up.
The pressure of the international community and humanitarian efforts need to be ramped up on Hamas so they release the rest of the hostages right now.
If only the international community cared. There are still seventy three hostages remaining in Gaza, although not all are alive. Hamasa's military wing has blamed Israel for violating the terms of the ceasefire when it did say that it wouldn't be releasing any more hostages this week, but of course
that was a nonsense excuse. The Times of Israel reports that Hamas claimed Israel wasn't allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza, but that it was not immediately clear what Hamas was referring to in its comments about humanitarian aid, which has been entering this strip in great quantities now.
In reality, like Donald Trump's.
Suspects, it's likely that it's because the hostages are in such weak, poor condition and Hermas is too embarrassed to release them. And that's saying something because Hermas wasn't too embarrassed to slaughter babies in their.
Clots on October seven. Now we know there have been reports that.
Hamas was trying to fatten up Eli or Hard and Awe before their release last weekend. They were suddenly trying to feed them after extreme starvation for sixteen months. Former labor and p Michael Danby agrees that this is most likely why Harmas doesn't want to release any more hostages, And here he was making what I found to be such a heartbreaking point on Chris Kenny earlier.
The reason her Musk canceled the ceasefire in the last few hours. Chris is because they're afraid of the reaction of the rest of the world when they send the rest of the hostages back in boxes, particularly coffins, with those two little children and their mother in it.
And that is such a horrible and tragic thought. It is the moment we've all been dreading that we know is coming. In recent weeks, we've been able to get a good look at these bloodthirsty terrorists. These monsters have been hiding like cockroaches in the web of tunnels underneath Gaza.
There's such cowards that they.
Don't show their face and they've only emerged in public now that there's a ceasefire. Instead, they've preferred in the past to put innocent civilians in harm's way. It's all part of their deliberate military strategy to have Palestinians killed so that the international community turns against Israel in outrage.
But that strategy isn't going to wash with Trump.
If the terror group does not release the remaining hostages, all of them, Trump said, and this includes the Bibas children by midday on Saturday, then the President says they'll be hell to pay now. Hamas should have been made to pay hell for what they've done a long time ago, instead of being molly coddled by the international community. But finally Hermas is now on notice and it's not a moment too soon.
All right, let's bring it now.
Former Speaker of the House Bronwin Bishop and Liberal Senator Holly Hughes.
Welcome to you both, Bronwin.
I want to start with the trades and then we'll get to Trump's threaten the hostages. But clearly the Prime Minister is under immense pressure to achieve an exemption from Donald Trump. He has already signed that executive order today, so it's not looking promising.
Look, Alban Easy is literally a boy on a man's errand, and he's so out of his steps. It just doesn't matter.
The fact of the matter is.
That the whole background of his personal background and that of Kevin Wood puts them behind to start with. But to come out afterwards and imply, oh, we had such a nice chat, We've done a deal. He's just so stupid when it's not true. So he's made the situation worse with that statement that it would have been otherwise. He doesn't even know how to finesse. He's got no idea. It's an embarrassment to see this man as Prime Minister
of our nation on the international stage. So it's a long way to go before we find out whether or not there will be any exemptions given for us. And the first thing that the government could do is bringing some relief with regard to energy policy, so that the people who are making the aluminium, for instance, can have a lessening and cost so that they can be cost competitive with a tariff. It starts to think things that are within his control, not making up what somebody else is going to do.
Holly.
The reality is if there are tariffs on the aluminium and steel industry, many people will be thinking, well, you know, perhaps have alban easy. Penny Wang and Kevin Wright hadn't been so hostile in past comments towards President Trump, there might have been a different outcome.
Well, but it's.
Also come out this afternoon Shari that President Trump has claimed that Australia had broken its verbal promise when it came to aluminium into the United States. And for anyone I think who doesn't just blindly believe what mister Albineazy said that basically a deal was done. It's certainly a worrying sign that President Trump is reconsidering or was perhaps
not as seriously considering, exempting Australia from these tariffs. I do think it's important that you know it's we can be part of it, and we're coming into an election and there'll be plenty of that. But the reality is when it comes to these sorts of issues, we do need to have a little bit of Team Australia to
make sure that our manufacturers are being supported. As Peter Dutner said, not only is the US an important trading partner, they're an important ally We've had a very long standing relationship with them, but that we also support free trade
and want to ensure that we're supporting local manufacturers. With an interesting suggestion there, Bromwin, you know, the aluminium smelter in Tomago requires such huge amounts of energy and quite often they're called upon to sort of slow down production or to come offline for a little bit because obviously they can't go offline permanently, you can't restart them, but to shed the power so that Sydney can keep the
lights on. So I think you're right Bromwin, if we are going to do anything when it comes to particularly the aluminium smelters, that we do have a look at some energy relief for them in a bid to keep them float until these matters are resolved.
I think you can't escape the fact that both Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison were able to achieve these exemptions. So if alban Ezy can't, there'll be a lot of questions for him to answer.
About why that's the case.
All right.
A former Labor politician has weighed in on the latest Downing Pole figures. We spoke about those figures on the show last night. They show that the Albanzi government is hemorrhaging voters in outer suburban areas. The former Fowler MP Chris Hayes told The Daily Telegraph that if those stats hold, it'd be a serious worry for the Labor Party at the next election. Bronwin, I mean, in large part Labor did win the last election because they were able to
win some of those outer suburban seats. They need those seats to hold power, but those seats are where regular mainstream Australians are and they're not buying the Albanezi government's agenda.
Look, Chris Hayes was a thoroughly decent, old fashioned labor member who looked after his electors. I used to deal with him quite often, and I found that he was the sort of person you could have a good regard for. And what he's describing as his own disillusionment with what
has happened in that part of Sydney now. When I was Party president back in nineteen eighty five, I set my office up in Paramatta because I knew we had to go into the west of Sydney where aspirations were alive and well, because that's where future leaders were going to come from. When I became a senator, I put my office in Paramatta and served there. I regarded the million people then that were surrounding me as my personal electors electorate, and I treated it like it was an electorate.
It's a good temperature check in that lie acturate for what just regular issue.
Yes, And the important thing was for Nick Griner to get the lapslide he got. He had to win seats
in Western Sydney and we did so. This has been a long term process, but there is a realization now, I think by more and more Australians who may have had a soft spot for the old Labor Party, that they have well and truly abandoned them, and that the way ahead is through the Liberal Party, which believes in the individual, their opportunity to use their own talents and to get ahead without the burden of government crushing them
or regularly red and green tape. They're the sorts of things that they respond to because they want for their kids, they want for their standard of living. These are good Australians and they deserve much better and Peter Dutton is offering that to them.
Holly, if Peter Dutton is able to find the path to victory at the next election, it will be through outer suburban seats, but also through Victoria, which has been such a difficult state for the Coalition in the past.
Oh absolutely, And I think what we saw in Victoria on the weekend such an enormous shift away from the Labor Party. I haven't heard very many people, if any, mention that the seat in wherever it was actually the former Treasurer's seat, it was considered as safe as houses that seat and the fact that it's come down to a couple of one hundred votes is an enormous swing away from the Labor Party in their heartland. The red
brick wall is very very quickly crumbling around Victoria. That is in part to the terrible Andrews Allen government and what they have done in just decimating Victoria. It's absolutely devastating when you look at what these this government has
done to that state. But voters acros the board, I think they're generally feeling a little bit gas lit by this Prime Minister and listening to the Labor members because when you listen to their talking points that they sprout and I hear them when they come on Sky News. We've done cheaper childcare, we've done free tafe, and you know this renewable energy that's going to be so cheap and free for everybody, and all this ridiculous.
Rubbish they're going on with.
But every day Australians know when they go to the grocery store, it costs more. When they try to pay their rank, call their mortgage, it costs more. Their energy costs more. When people are putting their kids into childcare and they're being told we've delivered cheaper childcare, but they're paying more every week to put their kids in childcare. It's gas lighting by the government of the Australian electorate and I think they're starting to see through it.
Absolutely. That is the crux of the matter. Now, just before we go, let'speak about this story. There's about eighteen Coalition senators who are reportedly backing Pauline Hanson's motion for an inquired into medical treatment for transgender children and also
a ban on gender related medical interventions for children under eighteen. Now, Ron, when Peter Dutton wandered his party room to stick to the cost of living agenda, what do you think about having these sort of issues feature in the federal election campaign.
Of course they'll feature.
I mean the culture walls are part of the debate and that vote with regard to Pauline Hanson's motion, I was so proud of the women like Michaulia Cash, Good Strong, Hey me too, Bromween Harley was there, Holly did it?
Yeah, we're getting We're getting to you, Holly.
But the point was that we had three copouts. Now, mister Bragg or Senator Bragg, he was against the he was a year's vote for the voice. Senator Maria whatever her name is, she was a blow in as a President and a blow in as a senator. So there's not the commitment there that we see from other people. So this issue is not going to go away. And Donald Trump saying there are two genders, yes, and that women are entitled not to have men bashing them up in their sport.
Yeah, exactly, is John Away. He's excellent, Holly. What's your view on Pauline Hansen's motion?
Well, for a start from and welcome to your new South Wales Senate team.
And I was the only one sitting over there.
Supporting this motion and I won't be there for much longer.
I'm sorry to hear that.
Really.
Well, see how that goes.
But look, that motion from Pauline has been up a number of times. It has been consistently voted down. It was originally put up under Senator Birmingham's leadership is later of the House for the oth the Senate for the opposition that it was a conscience vote. Now I find procedural matters as conscience votes a bit odd, but that was the procedure that was continued with when we went into this vote.
It was a conscience vote.
I know there is another inquiry ongoing and that's fine, but Senator Hanson had put this up before. I had supported previously and I intend to continue to support it. I think it's a far too important issue. I don't think it so is just you know, as was you know, let's be honest here briefed out, leaked out against colleagues that supported Senator Hansen. That was very much the tone and the fact that was in the Sydney Morning Herald, I think tells you.
All you need to know.
But you know, we can walk and true gum at the same time, and I'm sorry if some on the left can't. But we can absolutely recognize and appreciate that Australians are facing a cost of living pressure. But we also know that they don't want to be in a situation where their twelve year old can go and get access puberty blockers without parental consent.
So we want to make.
Sure that these sorts of issues are being looked at. And it is an issue that a lot of Australians find important. You know, not every issue we debate is the first and top issue for every Australian, but for some people this is a very important issue, and I think it's important as a senator that you do stand for something and I have stood in support of this motion every time Pauline has brought it up, and quite frankly, will continue to do so for the rest of the time.
I'm good on you, Harley Hughes, Roman Bishop, thank you both very much for your time. Now you might have heard of the push to end salmon farming in Tasmania. This has been a push by political activists and Tanya plibisk has been dithering over it. But what you probably aren't aware is that an anti Israel lobby group is behind this campaign. Echo is a left wing activist organization from the United States and it's consistently campaigned against the Australian salmon industry.
Last year they pressured.
Coals and Woolwords just stop selling salmon, and the pressure was so great that at the Coles annual general meeting last year, thirty nine percent of shareholders voted to stop selling the product. Now the group is also lobbying Tanya Plibisek to ban salmon farming in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbor, citing the threat that it poses to a species called the skate.
Might have heard about this.
Plibisek has launched a review of salmon farming and if she does decide to end it, hundreds of families will lose their livelihood and it could cost up to between two and five thousand jobs. Now, ECO is notorious for its anti Israel positions.
It's accused the Jewish homeland of Apartheit.
Puma ended the sponsorship of Israel Football Association after ECO pressured them. EKO also tried unsuccessfully thankfully so far, to have Eurovision, FIFA and the Olympics ban Israel.
To discuss this.
And it's a fascinating alliance having this one group take such a strong anti Israel position and be behind this activist push to ban salmon farming in Tasmania. Joining me now is Shadow Environment Minister and Senator for Tasmania Jonathan Dunniam Joddah.
Good to see you. Look.
Are you aware of this American connection to the group trying to ban salmon farming?
Now it was quite a shock to see, although we did wonder where the local on ground protesters the anti salmon Brigade were getting their money from. But to have overseas billionaires funneling their money through these dark and opaque organizations linked to such an insidious movement, a movement that has no regard for truth, no regard for the facts, and frankly seems to completely discard the rights of others,
as they have in this Middle East debate. I'm not surprised that they are willing to do the same sort of thing, albeit on a smaller scale in our state of Tasmania, disregarding the facts and jeopardizing the jobs of
around five thousand Tasmanians. It is something that I'm glad is now out in the open, and I applaud you for reporting this because Tasmanians need to know that overseas billionaires are backing the people that are claiming to stand up for the environment, but really all they're trying to do is destroy the Tasmanian economy. That's all this is about now.
Of course there are local Australian activists who are involved with this, but you could mount the argument that there's foreign interference here as well.
Yeah.
I think that is absolutely the case, and this is something we've been worried about for some time. I read a report by the Menzi's Research Center recently which indicated that funding to these green activist organizations has exploded over time in some cases going from around ten million to eighty million dollars per annum. That it's not mums and dads handing a bit of their weekly payover. That is
money coming in organizations like this. The Environmental Defender's Office is a prime organization involved in this sort of activity, and they're receiving donations we don't know where from.
We don't know.
Who's paid for their legal bills in the Santos case, and I would argue that some of this money is coming from overseas. Who's to say it's not foreign state actors who want to damage our economy. Who's to say it's not competitors from overseas. Our government is blind to all of this, but it all needs to stop and we need to clamp down on it.
Now.
There's been a lot of frustration about Tanya plebis x gathering on this. Can you tell me your view on that and also what motion the coalition has put up in the Senate?
Yeah, well, look, it's been now over a year. There's been two Christmases that the honest, hard working men and women of the salmon industry have been waiting for this government to make a decision on whether salmon farming, which has operated in Macquarie Harbor, the body of what you talked about before for thirteen years. She still hasn't made
a mind up. And I will bet my house on the fact that she won't make a decision before the election because she doesn't want to annoy the Green voters and she wants to keep the blue collar voters in seats like Brandon and Lyons in Tasmania. So I don't think they'll make a decision. That's why we did move a motion in the Senate to call on the Minister to actually make a decision now. Disappointingly, as you would expect, Labor and the Green's voted together and with a number
of the cross Bench worked to defeat the motion. But it is a preview into what the world after an election. If a Labor Green minority government is elected, what it's going to look like. They will let this sort of activity run rife, just like they'll let anti Semitism run rife on a grand scale, because they don't stand up to these groups and the people behind these insidious campaigns.
Well said John Odnim. Good to have you on the show. Thank you for your time. Now still to come, Ita Butcho's appears in court today in the Antoinette latoof trial. I'll get the latest with James Willis. Plus has alban Easy's foreign policy and hostility to Trump meant that Ozzie businesses.
Will have to pay tariff's.
I'm going to speak about this with Julian Lisa.
Welcome back.
Well.
Last night we announced the Sky News Antisemitism Summit. It'll be held next Thursday, the twentieth of February. Headlining the event Opposition leader Peter Dutton, New South Wales Premier Chris Min's Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, former Prime Minister John Howard, Antisemitism Envoy Gillian Siegel, Holocaust survivors and so many more. Now, the aim is not for this to be a talk fest, but to come up with solutions and firm action to hopefully lead us out of this antisemitism crisis.
But if there's one thing we've.
Learned over the past sixteen months, it's that our politicians and leaders don't always have the answers. So we want you to get involved. And I know that all my sky News viewers are highly educated.
You're smart, you're on the money.
We genuinely need to hear your ideas about what you think we should discuss at the summit. So think of your best idea on how to address anti semitism. Make it big, be inspired by Donald Trump's big ideas, and I want you to email Alex Ripchin and I. And it could be hard to address racism against Jews on university campuses or in schools, or how to deal with the hate preachers, because no one's dealing with the hate preachers.
So here's how to get your idea to us. We've got a new email address.
It's Summit at sky news dot com dot Au.
Summit.
Write it down Summit at skynews dot com dot Au. That is the best email, and we're going to go through every single suggestion. We are genuinely working night and day on this anti Semitism summit. So write that down Summit at skynews dot com dot Au. Will remind you of it again at the end of the show in case you didn't get a pen on time.
Can't wait to hear from you. All right.
Now, let's return to these tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium.
Now, Alban Eazy.
Tried to say that he'd won over Trump but the fact is that an executive order on tariffs has now been signed with no exceptions. And there was also news breaking this afternoon or this evening that the Trump administration has now accused Australia of breaking its word on allowing aluminum to surge into the US and failing to rain and steal expots. Now, this US proclamation says, and I'm quoting, now Australia has disregarded its verbal commitment to voluntarily restrain its aluminum expots.
To a reasonable level.
It's claiming that the volume of US imports of aluminum from Australia surged, and that it was one hundred and three percent higher last year in twenty twenty four than the average amount for twenty fifteen to twenty seventy. Now, the levels of exports, that was how Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull got through bypassed the exemption. Previously right to discuss this in more liberal MP Julian Lisa joins me.
Now, Julian, welcome.
This is going to be a very difficult issue for the Prime Minister to deal with, given senior ministers criticized Trump and their policy positions couldn't be more different from the US when it comes to China and Israel.
Well Sherry, this is a very important issue. You're quite right, and the aluminium and steel industry is worth something of the order of five hundred and fifty million dollars worth of exports to this country. It employs thousands of Australians in jobs, and we in the Coalition have been very clear that we support exemptions being negotiated from these executive orders in relation to aluminum and steal and we support the government in its efforts to try and achieve those exemptions.
It's very important that the US administration here is that there is bipartisan support for these exemptions, and it's important because the US does have a trading surplus with Australia. We are its most reliable ally. The Orcus arrangements are going to provide lots of opportunities not just for Australia but the United States as well, and if we come to government with our nuclear policy plan, there'll be further
training opportunities there as well. So we are providing by partisan support for these negotiations to achieve these exemptions.
Julian just sticking with Trump.
He also said that if Hamas breaks its promise as it looks like it is, and doesn't release hostages this week. In fact, Trump says if it doesn't, if a mass doesn't release all the hostages.
Then hell will break loose. What do you make of this threat.
Well, I think when you go back to how the hostages came to be in Gaza in the first place, we saw the greatest crime committed against Jewish people in a single day since the Holocaust. We saw two hundred and fifty people taken hostage. And as we've seen the hostages being released, each new release sees more emaciated hostages coming forward. While there's a joy in seeing the releases, there's great sadness in seeing the conditions and the suffering
of the hostages that have been there. We and the Coalition want to see all of the hostages released. We want to see them reunited with their families. That has been sort of key condition in relation to this conflict. And so the idea that this has stopped and that the hostage releases are not continuing is a very development. Right.
Just quickly before you go, Mark Dreyfus attacked the Coalition for politicizing anti Semitism. What's your reaction to Dreyfus's comments.
Look, Mark Drefus has form in accusing the Coalition of politicizing these issues. Before the last election, when Scott Morrison pointed out the very great differences between the Coalition and Labor on this he accused Scott Morrison of politicizing the issue.
I will not accept Mark Dreyfus's criticism when I stand up for my country, my community, and my family, particularly from someone who has deserted the Jewish community, who has gone along with every change in policy and relation to Israel, who, as we've read in the paper in recent days, was opposed to the mandatory sentencing penalties that the Coalition proposed
and Labor eventually had to agree with. Someone who has opposed the judicial inquiry and anti semitism on campus, someone who has done nothing to clean up the due hatred at the Human Rights Commission. Someone who has had the awesome resources at the Federal Police at his disposal the entire time, and yet failed to take these issues seriously
right from the very beginning. So we're not going to be lectured to by Mark Dreyfus when we point out the failings of this government and the failings to protect the Jewish community and other law abiding Australians.
Well said very strong remarks, Julian Lisa, thank you for your time as always.
Now still to come.
I'm going to cross to Israel to get the latest on himasa's refusal to hand over more hostages. Plus, it's been a big day in court in the Latouf ABC case with Ide Buttro's taking the stand. James Millis will tell us what she said after this quick break.
Welcome back, Well.
Ita, Buttro's former ABC chair, gave evidence today at the unfair dismissal hearing between Antoinette Latouf and the ABC, and today Ita told the court Latouf was an activist who never should have been hired by the ABC. Butcho said she was a controversial broadcaster and I think in relation to the Gaza Israel conflict, she was an activist.
That was quite apparent.
I drew the conclusion and I don't think we should have hired an activist of any kind, regardless of whatever view they held. Now, I think that's again a statement of the obvious. This was a hiring mistake by the ABC. To discuss I'm Joe now by Daily Telegraph journalist James Willis James, you are covering this court case, tell us about Ida Butchros's evidence today.
Well, the interesting thing was Antoinette Latouff gave Itita a very big glare at one point during the evidence, and I think there would be a perception with Antoinette that Eida played a key role or a deciding role in having her dismissed and not finishing this shift. But Ito is really standing by how this played out. She's standing by her involvement, which was to send emails to David Nay and other people at the ABC to say I've
received dozens of complaints, I've done my own research. My view is that she is an activist and should not be on air for the rest of the week. Or said there was a problem there that needed to be addressed, and so she was grilled at length for two hours, but once again sharing the questions. She handled it well, and she's been grilled about this suggestion that Antoinette should have the rest of the week off with COVID or
the flu. I mean, look, she's been around for long enough to know that in media sometimes that does happen as an excuse to get someone off air or to give someone a break when there's something else actually going on.
Just to explain that to viewers, Ite Butchers sent an email to ABC management saying, can't she just pretends she has COVID of the flu or something come back to work.
And that was halfway through a five day contract. And this whole fight is over a five day contract, which, as you say, and I think both of the view there was enough paper trail that Antoninette le Tufe was not going to satisfy the ABC's impartiality guidelines. She had a long history of provocative comments, long history of one sided comments on the saga and the war and the
conflict in the Middle East. So the other thing today was that you've got all these other ABC middle management and these people have been called out that don't have their ducks lined up. Some of them say, oh, she was told not to post on social media. Others are saying that she actually was the complete opposite of that. So it's been a complete train wreck on every front.
But I just think Ita looked at it and looked at the complaints and looked at the evidence and said, hey, for a five day radio shift, why is she still on air?
Why are we actually putting ourselves through these complaints in the first place.
Yes, it would have been easy to cut the cord.
Yes, it's also emerged in cod that latoof was a diversity higher in the first place because the ABC has got these diversity quotas.
Yes exactly, and to think that she was hired to tick that box. But then someone also didn't say, oh, look to be honest like anyone. I mean, if Sky Newes was hiring someone tomorrow, the first thing you would do is look at their social media year history and say, just so you know, in the last two years they've said a lot of controversial comments about one particular issue
regarding politics or science or anything. And that might be enough not to give someone a job, because guess what the first thing the rest of the media does is look at that and say, Sky's just hired someone that didn't tick that so terrible higher from the ABC. And this mess I think could have been should have been avoided.
Could have been prevented with a proper resume background check. Absolutely. All right, let's have a.
Look at this story that just broke on the Australian right now, and it's a good one that the teals have turned up for a fancy cocktail party at the lodge. So this story the Teals have been invited to the lodge by Anthony Alberizi for the first time. We're going to show you the pictures that this is the Australians
exclusive of the Teals arriving at the lodge. Now, James, clearly, while we're looking at these pictures, clearly this is the Prime Minister trying to woo the Teals in case he needs their support in a hung part.
That's right, and I think despite the Labor primary vote being in real trouble, the other elephant in the room is the fact that the minor parties still have significant support and in the event of Labor or Liberal being unable to form government, they're going to have to rely on the cross bench. The Greens are not the biggest part of that in the lower House. The biggest part of that are the Teals and Independence, like d Lee,
who was also there tonight. So Albo's attempting to woo them before the election very strategically because I think he thinks that ultimately, if it gets close, he's going to need their votes. The great irony of the Teals supporting Anthony Albanesi is that they are in traditional blue ribbon seats, traditional conservative voters who will tenderly vote that way. They've decided to vote independent. They're certainly not people that would prefer,
in my view, labor over liberal traditionally. But you can guarantee that if it's close, Zali and the others will be supporting Anthony Alberanisi.
So that'll be a story.
And the Cocktail Party has just made it all that more interesting.
Indeed, it has.
James Willis, thank you very much for joining us. All right, don't go anywhere. We'll cross live to Israel as Donald Trump calls out Hermas's cruel tactics and threatens.
To unleash hell. That's next. Welcome back.
Well, let's return to this big breaking story that HERMAS is refusing to release the remaining hostages and Trump has threatened to unleash hell. Joining me now, human rights lawyer, the chief executive of the International Legal Forum and senior fellow at the MISGOV Institute for National Security, Arsen Ostrowsky joins me.
Arsen, good to see you again.
Look what is your Well, I actually want to just start with the news that's been breaking that eighty six year old hostage Shlomo Mansor. He was kidnapped on October seven, and we're now hearing that he was killed by Hermas eighty six year old.
Books Sharry. There is, honestly, depths no ends to the to the depravity, the cruelty, and the monstrous evil of Hamas. They spare no one from a Holocaust survivor eighty six year old Shamoon Manso whom they kidnapped to hostage, from his fineman modern captivity, to the youngest of hostages nine month old baby, to women and the elderly. No one is spared by their evil. There is, there is no ends to that. So true, there's a very very sad day.
Indeed, it's really really sad, you know, to think that an eighty six year old has to go through this arson. I spoke earlier in the show about my sense, which is that the remaining hostages are either not alive or they're in such a terrible condition, so emaciated and starved, that Hamas doesn't want the world to.
See their depravity. What do you think about that?
I think that's that's that's a fair assumption. Harmas is engaged in a sadistic game of psychological warfare and torture. We have seen that with every single move they make, everything for them is some kind of you know, vile show and a propaganda exhibition. My worry had been for some time that they are in fact releasing hostages in descending order of health, and we have seen that steadily, of course, culminating the three as you noted, emaciated stuff
hostages we saw just a few days ago. So it may well be that the remaining hostages are in such awful condition, which we know already for a fact, including for most of ever return. They've spoken about the hostages and captivity being chained, being deprived of food, water, lights, in the most horrific, barbaric of conditions, and again for hamass is all exhibitions or some kind of vile show.
So it may well be that they're doing this, prolonging this in order to buy themselves more time in order to release the next set of captives, possibly in a better condition. We don't know, but they are, you know, they are violating every single term of the agreement with his role with the mediators, and as he said, President Trump has been very clear released the hostages by twelve nun or they will be indeed hell to pay.
Yeah, And he said, now release all of them. He said he doesn't want to see them in drips or drabs. Do you think this is a threat or do you think he would actually fulfill his threat that they would be hell to pay?
And what does that really look like?
Because you know, it's really been Israel leading the fight against her mass up until now.
Look, I mean, I think that we should take President Trump at his word. He has been consistent well before even his election that they will be hell to pay for if Hamas does not release these hostages, not just the Americans holding hostages, but all the remaining hostages. So it has been very very clear about that. How that we look in terms of what further what else can be done. Look, there are a number of steps that sertainly can be taken. Those radio troops can go back
into the net Surim corridor. We can see a stoppage of gardens going back to the north. We can see more build up with radio troops. We can see a stoppage in the flow of aid getting into gaards, which has really increased even more even beyond what it had already been coming through, but not decisions in Hamasa's in Harmasa's hands whether they have these hostages or suffer the consequences of what will be held to pay for.
Yeah, and I think the thing is that HARMUSK clearly doesn't care about Palestinian civilians when it comes to aid. Arsenostrowsky, thank you very much for your time. Now, as I mentioned a bit earlier, we have the Sky News Antisemitism Summit next Thursday. We need to hear your ideas. What do you think we need to do to fix this
antisemitism crisis? What do you think we need to do about the hate preachers, about the protests, about the antisemitism on education campuses, in schools, in the classroom, in our institutions.
Email us.
The address is summit at skynews dot com dot au, Summit at skynews dot com dot au.
I'll see you tomorrow night at eight o'clock. And here's Paul Murray