Live on Sky News.
This is Sharry Good Evening Tonight, the AFP accused of being played by the offshore Australian criminal.
At the heart of this hoax.
They refuse to share his identity with New South Wales police.
Until just two weeks ago.
My exclusive report in a Moment also tonight, Tony Birth blames Peter Dutton for confecting a crisis as media now downplay anti Semitism.
Ray Hadley would join me live with his reaction.
Our new polling shows of four teals could lose their seats.
Holly Hughes and Brodwin Bishop will be here to.
Discuss plus is the cost of living crisis causing families to have fewer babies. So I'll talk about this with Kelly Sloane. But first tonight, the AFP stands accused of mishandling the joint counter terror investigation into the caravan bomb plot. To Night revealed that the AFP fell for a hoax by an Australian criminal living offshore, a source they treated as credible and even agreed to keep his identity secret from.
Other authorities they were working with.
The AFP has now been accused of being played by their source who claimed to be aware of credible and ongoing threats against the Australian Jewish community, and this included a threat against a prominent Jewish businessman who's required twenty four hour.
Police protection for more than a month.
Despite insisting that New Southeweal's police act on their informants intel, the AFP then withheld the identity of the source. This led to immense disagreements and unrest at the heart of the joint investigation that was meant to be investigating the anti Semitic threats.
The unrest first.
Came to light when the AIA went public to say that there.
Could be foreign actors behind these attacks.
The AFP's investigative lines of inquiry are looking at whether some individuals have been paid to carry out some antisep medic acts in Australia. We believe criminals for hire maybe behind some incidents, so part of our inquiries include who is paying those criminals, where those people are, whether they are in Australia or offshore, and what their motivation is.
That claim was based on their secret source being located overseas, and the media and the Prime Minister repeated that claim. Yet New South Wales Police publicly said at the time they had no knowledge of any foreign actors being behind any of the anti Semitic attacks in Sydney.
We will work with our national counterparts.
If the AFP and other jurisdictions had information relevant to investigations, then we need to have that information.
The AFP had been referring to their informant, who was an Australian criminal based offshore. New South Wales Police didn't know about any offshore link because the AFP deliberately withheld information that source's identity, despite the investigation being a joint operation.
With New South Wales Police.
Now, despite their claims on Monday's at Monday's press conference, the AFP did not know initially that the caravan bomb threat was a hoax, but New South Wales Police were immediately concerned that it was suspicious, and The Daily Telegraph reported that on the day they broke the story, New South Wales Police were comfortable with investigating the caravan packed with explosives under Strike Force PEERL that's the task force that they set up to.
Deal with hate crimes.
Now, my sources tell me that it was the AFP that insisted on escalating the caravan plot into a joint counter terror investigation, which then also included officers from ASIO and the New South Wales Crime Commission. In recent weeks, the AFP's offshore source they'd been taking.
Seriously was deemed not credible.
Multiple sources told Sky News that the AFP only informed New South Wales Police of the identity of this Australian criminal as recently as.
Two weeks ago.
We put this to the AFP this afternoon and an AFP spokeswoman said that the AFP had received specific specific information about the presence and location of the caravan on Jazz January the nineteenth. The spokeswoman said all threats are taken seriously by the AFP.
It was a decision by all the agencies.
The AFP, ASIO, New South Wales Police and the Crime Commission that the matter be investigated by the New South Wales Joint Counter Terrorty. Well, this was such a bungling and mishandling that there are now calls internally for an investigation into how the matter was handled by the AFP and also a review into joint investigation arrangements. But the revelation that organized crime is behind some anti Semitic attacks is now helping to fuel a campaign to downplay the antisemitism.
Crisis in Australia.
Now, as you've heard, the caravan packed with explosives turned out to be a criminal conjob. But that's been seized by some commentators and titians who are trying to suggest anti Semitism is actually not that serious or that violent a problem. They're even saying we should all be comforted. Well, that suggestion is plain wrong and downright dangerous. Let's just have a look at some of the anti Semitic attacks.
Real attacks that we've witnessed.
The preschool fire, bombing, the New Town's synagogue, ars an attempt, the cars torched and the homes vandalized outside Alex Riftrin's former house, the synagogue fire.
In Melbourne, just to name a few.
The motivation behind these attacks, whether it's anti Semitic ideology or other criminal purposes, is utterly irrelevant. Let me say that again, the motivation is irrelevant because these attacks on Jewish property were real and could have cost lives. A preschool was destroyed, the Adash Synagogue destroyed by flames.
I walked in it just a couple of days afterwards.
And on the weekend I spoke with the owner of Lewis's Continental Kitchen in Bondi, and she's devastated that the fire destroyed her business, that no one ever speaks about it, and yet her business still isn't back up and running. Yet we've seen so many commentators and politicians now using the fake caravan plot to downplay this crisis, saying.
The Jewish community should be comforted.
Well, in many respects, it's even more terrifying that organized crime is.
Involved in some of these incidents.
Given the easy access to serious weapons and the means.
To commit the attacks, there's no comfort here.
Those people now downplaying anti Semitism never wanted to speak about it in the first place. Hatred and attacks on Jews were an inconvenience to them. Now, the police revelation that the caravan of explosives was a hoax has given them an opportunity to gaslight our community.
And that's exactly what's unfolding now.
And it's a point Alex Ripten touched on in chrias Keunty's program a bit earlier.
And I think there's elements of our society that have never wanted to admit that there's an antisemitism crisis. Have never wanted to grapple with it. They found it to be an inconvenient truth. And I think the revelations by the police and their investigation has given them the pretext, pubs and excuse to brush aside antisemitism and pretend that what's transpired in our streets and in our cities for the past seventeen months hasn't happened.
Now.
Even Tony Burke acknowledged the motivation for anti Semitic attacks was irrelevant when the ABC asked him this completely absurd question that anti semitism could be revised down.
Do we need to revise down our understanding the number of genuine anti Semitic attacks that have taken place, or when these kind of attacks generate fear anyway, how do you balance all of that.
Well in terms of the impact on the community. The impact on the community and the fear from the community is similar. If there's a chance of graffiti or firebombing, or whatever threat there might be coming from to cause fear, coming from organized crime or coming from people who are motivated by antisemitism and hatred, then an individual will receive it the same way.
A zero Director General Mike Burgess couldn't have been clearer when he said anti Semitism was the single greatest concern from a threat to life life perspective.
What's your assessment about the increase in the level of antisemitism right now?
In terms of my organization, our threats are faced, threats to life, threats to way of life. In terms of threats to life, it's my agency's number one priority because of the weight of incidents we're seeing play out in.
This country, no less than the Director General of ASIO. Yet never mind what he has to say, because of course the likes of Tony Burke and the ABC and the nine network know better. You heard the ABC's question already and here was Chan on nine News this evening.
So I add Massoui is one of fourteen people arrested after the Dural caravan investigation uncovered the wave of antisemitism across our city was a criminal hoax.
The wave of antisemitism across our city was a criminal hoax. Well, Tony Burke, who keeps accusing Dutton of politicizing antisemitism, Well he wasted no time politicizing.
This police response.
Burke hit the airwaves to attack Dutton for saying that this could have been a terror attack.
On one day in the Parliament he made the assertion that we were dealing with a planned mass casualty attack four times in less than an hour, like he was just off well.
Tony Burke failed to mention that both the Premier Chris Mins and the Prime Minister his boss, said the exact same thing.
It's designed to create fear and terror.
In the community and it will not succeed.
This is the discovery of a potential mass casualty event.
There's only one way of calling it out and that is terrorism.
That's what we're very worried about.
But Tony Burke claimed that Peter Dutton deliberately didn't want to be briefed.
He deliberately chose to not find out and so what we had was a situation where quite deliberate Peter Dutton made a decision to not find out the facts from the Australian Federal Police, to ignore the advice from ASIO in lowering the temperature simply because it suited his self promotion ambitions. Now that is the very definition of being reckless with national security.
But Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Patterson this afternoon said that Burke's claims that Dutton had refused briefings were nonsense. He said the AFP had briefed them and that nothing was mentioned about the caravan plot being a hoax that.
Theory developed later.
As I've told you tonight now, Dutton has also entirely rejected the allegation.
If a proper offer for a briefing was offered, we would have taken it. In my nine years in the Parliament, I have never, on one occasion turned down a national security a law enforcement briefing.
We requested a briefing on the twenty second of January, we requested a briefing about a week later. At no time during those briefings or my discussion with the Director General of ASIO, including up to and including on the eighteenth of February, was it any mention whatsoever.
Of a hoax.
Tony Burke was also very worried about the Muslim community being blamed for anti Semitism.
There is no doubt that throughout this and you only have to look at the combination of what was said on radio at the time, what was said on social media, the blaming and the suspicion of the Muslim community throughout those attacks is something that was well and truly part of the public narrative.
So his affronted that the Muslim community would receive any blame for anti Semitism. Yet like it or not, we have seen blatant, an extreme anti semitism from parts of the Australian Muslim community.
Have a look, you.
Have no idea how many Israelik a dog came to this hospital.
I'm smiling and I'm happy, I'm insited.
It's a day of courage.
Proudly if you likes that are not if they would have depart me from Asia or not? Did you have the solution for Domna?
But as you know, Tony Burke has preferred to speak about Islamophobia over anti Semitism, and when there was a single social media threat made to a mosque, he rushed.
To visit it immediately.
Yet when the Adash Synagogue was destroyed by fire, he took four days to visit. Tony Burke makes a huge fuss whenever there's a social media threat.
To a mosque or Muslim school.
But I don't know of any prominent Jew who's heard from the minister when they've received equivalent or worse death threats, but never mind the facts, because this is all about political spin. And Tony Burke found a cheerleader for his argument in the Citney Morning Herald's political editor, David Crowe the irony of Crow, writing today that Dutton has cheerleaders in the media and on Sky when he's running Albanesi and Burke's political lines. Crow writes that Dutton could have
sought more briefings from authorities. By going so hard and being so openly partisan about national security, he is more exposed.
Now the facts have emerged.
Well, that was the precise talking point of Burke, as.
You've already heard.
David Crowe then claimed that Dutton had created a confected anti semitism crisis.
He wrote, why was he so.
Quick to create a confected crisis out of a criminal plot. He increased the alarm about the caravan in ways that added to community anxiety about terrorism. He gave more publicity to the con Well, the crisis, an alarm and anxiety was not because of a caravan found with explosives. It was because of the two thousand actual incidents of anti Semitism, including violent crime and arson attacks, that took place last
year and that were reported to Jewish groups. If the City Morning Herald really believes that this is a confected crisis created by the opposition leader, then they're more removed from reality and more beholden to the Albin Easy political agenda than we thought. The truth is, left leaning media outlets were very slow to cover anti Semitism in the first place, and now they're using the caravan as an
excuse to downplay the crisis. This is categorically a campaign of terror and violent crime that has targeted Jewish homes, cars, businesses, and the community. And no matter how you spin it all the motivation of those behind it, it doesn't detract from the lived reality. Okay, let's get reaction to this now from tonight's panel, former Speaker of the House for Oman Bishop and Liberal Senator Holly Hughes.
Welcome to you both. Holly, starting with you, what did.
You think of the way Tony Burk has politicized this today?
It's just appalling and there is just so much to unpack here. I mean, was there a caravan filled with explosives?
You know?
Were they not explosives? Were they part of the hoax? When was the Prime Minister briefed on this. He has refused to say consistently when he was briefed on this matter at all. And I think we do need a really serious investigation here if the AFP have somehow been exposed with this investigation with their sources and the fact that they weren't communicating with the New South Wales Police.
As you said, Chris Mins and the Prime Minister himself have both claimed that this was possibly a mass casualty incident waiting to occur, and Tony Burke has just picked out Peter Dutton here to attack. If he really wanted to attack anyone for saying anything, he could have gone
Chris Mins as well as the Prime Minister. But I think maybe we might find out when New South Wales Police did brief the Prime Minister when he was bought in on the loop, because at the time this all happened, it very much looked like he couldn't be trusted with this sort of an issue. The whole thing is incredibly messy.
But to try and deny anti Semitism, to try and deny listening to the least you were going through all the cars that were done in Ocean Street, the graffiti on restaurants down there out the front of people's homes which are right near the manual in synagogue. It has just been absolutely appalling what we've seen across not only New South Wales but in other states.
And the truth is that while the criminals were paid, the authorities don't know if they were also motivated because the way this worked is a job offer was put up on encrypted messaging app.
Criminals could then take the job.
They might have been ideologically motivated as well as taking money.
Anti anti Semitism has always been infected by a criminal element and that's just a matter of fact. So why would you be surprised the criminals are involved. As for Peter Dutton, when you look at who you believe, Premier Mins or Prime Minister Albow, which one would you say has more credibility? Every time Mins Mins came out, the Peace Commissioner came out and made a very strong, powerful
statement based on the information that they had. Of course Peter Duttin would to accept that information has been legitimate and go out and say what Albow will not say. It was merely mouthed again when he said, oh it's a terrorist organization or terrorists happening but the man has no credibility. Of course you'd go with Mins and Albanesi in that sense was a little mister echo. So it's a story that is slithering and slow everywhere and the people.
You were quite right to point out that those who want to bury the anti Semitic movement that's going on in this country and try and say that Islamist hatred doesn't exist, misleading our fellow countrymen. That's clip shoes show.
Particularly of the.
Noon who was elated at the murder, slaughter rape Bernie babies of October the seventh, How could you in any other way express the hatefred that truly exists and say something has.
To be done about it.
And it was Albert who failed to come in at the moment when that demonstration occurred on the Opera House fore court.
That's where the rod began, exactly exactly. I'm going to come back to this topic.
I've got a senior former AFP Perston on my show, Olso Ray Hadley. But now let's turn to some of the other big news today. The Australian share market went into meltdown, twenty five billion dollars off the ASX and this of course follows concerns that Trump's tariff trade wall could spark a recession.
In the US.
Holly, I mean this is you know that Trump has always pointed to the markets as a measure of his success, so this should be troubling him.
And look, I think if you look even in Australia today, there's been a reaction here to what happened in the US and the tariff wars are obviously playing into that. And I think when we look at what's happening in the Australian market, it doesn't look like we're going to get an exemption. We've been helped along by a few former political luminaries, we might say this week coming.
Into the country Court.
Absolutely no relevance deprivation syndrome at all.
But you know these are the.
Sorts of things that feed into our markets and confidence at home. But the reality is Australians have been in a per capita recession for almost two years, so this could actually make the cost of living crisis worse when Australians already doing it incredible, and it does.
Look now Bromwyn, I mean the Trey tariff's sore due to kicking on the twelfth tomorrow, our time, Thursday, you know our time if it's in the US. So it doesn't look like the Albanesi government's going to get an exemption here.
Well, I'm not surprised by that, because all the people who have been out there lobbying to say, look at us, we're really good guys are people who've been out there beating up on Trump, and he's got senior people surrounding him who are adamant about what behavior has gone on. Now for us, we want to protect it. But it's very interesting for me, who sat in that parliament for nearly thirty years and to be involved in politics for
much longer than that. I have sat and seen governments get elected saying we're going to cut waste, we're going to change the system, smaller government, and we're going to really go on a new track. And guess what, nothing happens. Even Ron Reagan's commission into waste, what do we find gold plated toilet seats on an aircraft? So what Trump
is doing is something entirely different. Robert got leaves and writes some very interesting articles and dealing with this and the way he talks about the tariff being almost like a GST being imposed at a federal level. And you might remember that when the GST was imposed here in Australia, inflation leapt to six percent, but it was offset by tax cuts and the abolition of the wholesale sales tax, and it came back down again, and it did then
change the way taxation operated here. What Trump is saying is he wants to see America reindustrialized. To do that, he can't do it without.
Bringing down interest rates.
The crash of or rather the stock market coming down also the bond rate means that there is going to be pressure on the federal resils of to lower those interest rates. Is also going to have more money coming in from tabs, and then he's going to say there's also this proposal that's now on the table from Doge
saying that there will be a Doge dividend to consumers. So, yes, we don't like I've been a free trader all my life, but I know I've looked at many articles that have written part of the headline that says, why won't they give us an exemption? It's a much deeper question than that. If you're successful in industrializing the country, then there'll be lots of opportunities for us as well.
Yeah, it's fascinating as.
Our manufacturing is continuing to shrink here.
I mean we had one hundred weeks.
We are almost in the senter quarter alone.
It's extraordinary.
Indeed, all right, before we go, let's look at the Teals freshwater pulling today claiming that four of the six tier MPs are at risk of losing their stick their seats.
And this is really.
Because because of the falling Green vote, because a lot of the Teals got up on preferences. So, Holly, if this is true, if you're seeing four Teals lose their seats, and I note that on Le grispend Onworth is not one of them, then you know that starts to make an easier path for Darton.
To win the election.
Yeah, it certainly clears a lot of the pathway that those seats. You know, they were big liberal seats and had always been strong liberal seats, as Problein.
Is more than aware.
And you know, for them to come back to the fold I think would be a very good thing. I think a lot of people that live in those electorates have seen how ineffective these Teals are, that they're really just backed by Simon Holmes the court and a mouthpiece for him.
And I think it's.
Let's just hope those poles right, because to see the back of them will be a very good thing.
It's a very important thing to remember. There is no blue in Teal. No, it is entirely a green movement hanging off the and in infected by a good dose of socialism.
And really many of them were elected because Australians didn't like Scott Morrison, you know so, and those seeds didn't want to support labor, so they went with this.
Well, and there's a hung parliament, we're it lands and where that I think people are starting to see that they're looking at another oak shot kind of.
I think there needs to be a lot of pressure wearing about on the tiles to clearly say that if there's.
A hung Parliament, this is what we'll do.
This is what they're going to do, and their elect pressure on them to say they're electrics to.
Serve tonight, they're local serve tonight.
Indeed, all right, Harley Hughes, brom A Bishop, great to have you as always on a Tuesday. Now let's bring in to further discuss the AFP's mishandling of the caravan investigation. I'm joined now by Australian Federal Police Detective superintendent, sorry, a former Australian Federal Police Detective Superintendent David Craig, involved in counter.
Terrorism during your career.
David, I want to ask your view of my reporting tonight that the AFP fell for this hoax and passed on information to New South Iales Police claiming that it.
Was credible about threats to the Jewish community.
Hi, Charry, Hi, everybody. Look, if your reporting is accurate, and I suspect it is, it's highly embarrassing for the AFP. It's entirely critical for the source management team managing that particular person on shore or offshore to start with the very building blocks of that relationship and their information is to check the credibility and ulterior motives that may be held by that source. Now, if that hasn't happened, then
this is highly embarrassing for the AFP. Christy Barrett needs to perhaps maybe move portfolios if she's not up to the task. Source management is the core business strategy of the AFP. It's how we get information behind the closed criminal laws of organizations.
But we need to be.
Able to trust that information, and that comes down to the management of the source and the expertise of the people handling that source.
There's also the issue that the AFP refused to reveal the identity of this source, the Australian criminal to New Southwell's Police who they were working with as part of this joint team. They refuse to reveal the identity until around two weeks ago, and New Southewey's Police felt it was important to know the identity to understand the motivation
of the claims that were being made. David, in your experience, if there is a joint investigation like this, how can the AFP withhold the identity of such a critical source.
The usual course of business chari is that sources, identifying names, an actual identity are withheld in all circumstances except where it is absolutely critical to reveal it.
Now.
The AFP has shared source information before with outside agencies and it should have clearly happened earlier on this occasion, so they protect their source information very carefully.
But more to.
The point, if the information is inaccurate, then you wouldn't you want a second set of eyes to have a look and reassess that information.
Just a question on the overall breakdown in the relationship here during this investigation.
I mean that's not great for national security.
No, it's absolutely terrible. And the categterism investigations that I've personally been involved with, and there have been plenty, it has always been very good, very open with the State and Territory police AZIO. Definitely a free flow of information backwards and forwards. It's always been good. This is a terrible situation. It's a very very messy situation and it needs to be looked into because the trauma that has caused a number of Australians, not just Jewish Australians, but
just the community in general. The waste of police resources and the fear and the fear of crime as escalated, all because someone can't handle their source correctly. It's appalling.
No indeed, all right, David, really appreciate your time, Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Still to come.
Is the cost of living crisis to blame for families having fewer babies.
I'll speak about this with Kelly Sloan.
Plus, it's Ray Hadley's first time back on air and he's fired up about Malcolm Turnbull, Anthony Albanezi and Tony Burke.
He's up right after this quick break.
Well, if the alban Easy government had any hope of securing a tariff exemption at the eleventh hour, it might have been ruined by Malcolm Turnbull. He claimed he'd done nothing wrong in speaking publicly, and he even attacked the ABC journalists who dared to ask him why he'd criticized Trump at such a delicate time.
Is it easier and better for Australia in this acute moment when the tariff decision is obviously being made, if diplomacists are given the maximum opportunity to operate behind closed doors without your intervention.
I never thought i'd have to defend free speech here on the seven point thirty report.
And I'm glad you're you're you're a little bit embarrassed raising that.
With me.
Embarrassed?
I doubt Sarah Ferguson was embarrassed, and then Turmer was even angry at being asked the same question.
This morning, Sally, is this where we've got that we've become or you know, is the ABC becomes so puselanimous that you're seriously suggesting that we shouldn't be free to speak to the truth in Australia for fear of Donald Trump.
All right, and I pleased to say joining me now former two GB host Ray Hadley, who will be on every week on my show from now until the federal election.
Great to see you again.
I'm sure the Prime Minister's overjoyed that you're back on the air and the lead up to the election. Now, tell me Temple, couldn't he have just stayed out of this when it's two days before the tariff exemptions and there are so many businesses who were counting on the government getting these exemptions.
It's not his fault, Sharhi.
He suffers with relevance deprivation syndrome. It's an affliction that's rarely, of course suffered by former prime ministers, but he and Kevin Rudd suffer greatly with it. The only place you get the starts on the ABC, and now he's burning his bridges there as well.
The best thing you can do is pull.
His head in, go back to the eastern suburbs and leave the really important stuff that people who can actually make a change. He was a terrible prime minister in that three year period.
I thought up until.
Albanese, it was a dead heat between he and Kevin Rudd Alberanzi.
He's pipped them by a short half head.
Now he's the worst prime minister I've seen in thirty five years.
Of broadcasting, certainly the weakest, the most ineffective. And I reported last week on air that Trump has been refusing to take Albanese's calls, and Albanesi has been contacting all sorts of people trying to set up the calls, people in the Republican Party. I mean, clearly, this is a deteriorting relationship between Australia and the US under Albanesi.
Well, well, I read in this Saturday Telegraph that he declared he's not perfect. My immediate reaction was thanks Scoop. No one's perfect, but there are levels of imperfection, Chari that he reaches great heights. Now if we go back through and I commend you and congratulate you. One of my great regrets about retirement is I don't get the platform I did on Radiator talk about the dreadful anti Semitism.
We've confronted the worst I've ever seen the worst, and continually, you know, this hope stuff that you've reported accurately tonight. It just typifies what the Jewish community in Australia are putting up with at the moment. But from October seven, the Prime Minister, who was a cheer for the Palestinians previously, of course in a younger life, he's done nothing.
For the Jewish community. He talks the wheezel words. I heard the stuff you did earlier with him and all that. You know, it's dreadful and all the rest of it. But his actions speak louder than words.
Because Penny one went to the United Nations and voted on two occasions in a way that we've never vaded before as a nation, and they supported indirectly hamas a terrorist organization.
Who are the government in Gaza?
They supported them And it just is a string of ineptitude of the Prime Minister. Apparently, I think his Minister for Energy casnaberbow And must be in witness protection.
He can't be sited off nobbies.
That stupid idea of the offshore wind farm off Port Stevens and off Wollongong. The funding for that's dried up and so is he. He's dried up. And then this dreadful character Tony Burke. Now people would understand pork barreling is about spending money to gain vates. He's doing some something far worse than that. He's pork barreling Australian citizenship.
Australian citizenship is being used to gain him a foothold in his electorate and to try and return labor by pretending that, you know, he's very sympathetic to the Muslim cause he's very sympathetic. And thirty and a half thousand people unprecedented, and I was infuriated that it didn't get the coverage except here that it deserved. It's the worst case of political basardry I've.
Seen in again thirty five years.
By this weasel word, Tony Burke has got the audacity to attack Peter Dutton tonight about the way Peter Dutton handle this very delicate story about the hoax.
The AFP have a major problem.
They need to deal with that and deal with the New South Wales Police in regard to that. But Tony Burke, I mean, with your vote for Albert easy By, may you get Casanova Bowen back, you get Penny Wong back, and you get Tony Burke back.
I mean what a quadrilla.
No exactly.
I mean, Tony Burke, you just fo there rushing through between twelve and thirteen and a half thousand people. I mean, as you say, it's the equivalent of vote branch stacking, rushing through people to be new Australian citizens in and it's been revealed that the majority of the electorates will Labor electorates. So trying to hope and a lot of the Liberal MPs say that they weren't invited. Die Le
says that she never got her invitation to it. So the hope is presumably that these new citizens will be thankful and grateful. Because Tony Burke was there, his diary was checked, he attended many of the ceremonies, so you know this would be the equivalent of vote branch stacking. You know, you just wonder how they're going to vote and whether it will make a difference in those seats.
But Ray, I want to ask.
I want to ask about the election because we're seeing the polls kind of shows that it's most likely to be a hung parliament. The polls were totally wrong in the US election. They said it was neck and neck between Trump and Kamala. Trump won by a Lance slide.
Do you trust that the polls are accurate here?
Well, they haven't got it right recently in the last two elections. You know, you go back three elections, they've probably got it close to being right. But and maybe Morrison's demise was typified by the Poles to a certain extent. But I would plead with people that I lived through
Robot Shot and Tony Windsor. I live through that. I mean, it's probably the most agonizing thirty minutes of my broadcasting life's listening to those two adults talk about, you know, whether they go with Julia Gillard or go the other way. And that was bad enough with Windsor and ake Shot. You're going to get Adam Benton, the Greens You're going to get and where are they by the way, talking about the marine life that's going to be disrupted if this imbecile Bowen gets his way.
But you're going to get the Greens. If it is in.
Fact going to be a hung parliament, Labor will do whatever they can to hold on to power, and that'll.
Mean to deal with the Greens.
We would be one of the few nations in the world with a Green government. Now you're see what they've done in Canberra over twenty one years, a Green lead government. For goodness sake, you can't have a hung parliament because it'll go the same way it did with Julia get Out, only a whole lot uglier now.
Albanize he couldn't decide when to call the election. He was dithering.
He was planning eventually finally to call it on Sunday. He then had to cancel those plans because of the ex cyclone Alfred. This now means that Labor will likely have to deliver a budget unless they want a very long election campaign.
They'd been planning to avoid the budget. They didn't want to have. You know, part of their narrative is the fact that there've been two surpluses. There's not going to be a surplus. Now.
Do you think this budget will work against the government.
Well, look, I think that you know, doctor Chalmers can juggle the figures the best he's like, but I don't think the news is going to be too broad. They got the bounce with the Reserve Bank reducing interest rates and they thought that might favor them, and to a certain extent, even though they had nothing that they claimed the victory but they had nothing to do with the Reserve Bank bringing the interest rates down. They did that
in spite of the spending of the federal government. But look, when he calls it, he calls it, that'll be a matter for him. But whether it's short or along the campaign, I would implore people watching you and watching sky News to really think about what they're going to do for the sake of my children and my grandchildren, and your children and your grandchildren down the track. This nation is in a crisis point thanks to this in the labor government over the past few years.
Ray, I just want to ask you personal question now. I mean, not long after you retired from radio, you found out that your three year old granddaughter, Loyla had leukemia. She's been in hospital. How is she doing, how her parents coping? How are you doing.
Well?
Thanks for your concern, and I appreciate the concern of a lot of people that have contacted me about my little baby granddaughter, one of seven grandchildren. Loll was back in hospital at the moment, under the care of expert on collegist at John Hunter because she's susceptible to infection. She has virtually no immune system because of the leukemia. I'm very proud of my daughter Laura, her mum and her dad Brad and the rest of my family who stood by and helped in every possible way.
In fact, Laura tried to get some positive.
About of all at this last Monday when she phoned me and said, Dad, did you know that eighty six children across Australia every month contracts some form of cancer? And I didn't, And so she contacted the Children's Cancer Institute and said, how can we help? And they've got a fundraiser which is in progress at the moment, and
my daughter swung into action. I helped her to a certain extent by getting my media colleagues to who were hebanda, including my former colleague Ben Fordham, And in the space of five days she raised fifty one thousand dollars.
Wow, share us the details, if not now then the next Yuesday where you're on and.
I can tell you right now it's double see double cia dot org dot au. And the two names are Lola and Ava. That's not Ava, her elder sister. That's another little girl who's in remission thankfully. And the money's going to.
The institute obviously.
And I'm so proud of this crisis that my daughter and I guess it's a diversion for her to try and think about other things and other people who are in the same position as her and her husband.
But look, it's a battle a lot of.
Families are going through at the moment and we're no different to those families, and we just hap and pray the result in a couple of years will be a very positive one.
All right, Ray, We're so sorry you're going through this, and all of our love to Lola and your daughter.
All right, and we'll see you next Tuesday. Thank you for coming on.
Appreciate the offer. Thank you very much.
Thanks, thanks Ray.
All Right, Still to calm insurance claims following a cyclone Alfred plus, why is labor making IVF harder for couples to access? Kelly Sloane will join me next Welcome back Well. Shadow health Minister in New South Wales. Kelly Sloane writes today that fewer symbols capture the quiet heartbreak of modern
Australia more than the shrinking family table. She writes, fewer children, fewer siblings, fewer grandkids, and she says that Australia has gone from a baby boom to a baby bust in just a few generations, and that this demographic shift is reshaping our country's future. And for more on this, Kelly Sloane joins me. Now, Kelly, thank you very much.
For being here. Look what are the figures to start with?
What do the figures tell us about how women or families are having fewer children?
Well, we know that of course in the baby boom there was this huge population boom in Australia, But today the grandchildren are having fewer children. So women today are having on average one point five children each, and to replace our population we need two point one. So that's one for you, one for your husband, and a bit extra to cover those that won't have babies or who pass away. There are huge societal and economic issues with
that decline. It means fewer taxpayers, fewer people to look after us when we're older, and a greater reliance ultimately on immigration. So I'm saying this is an unfortunate but very present issue of our time. One in every seventeen kids in a school classroom is born through IBF today,
so you get one or two in every classroom. It's a modern reality and it's a reality that comes with couples having kids later necessarily, so unfortunately because of the cost of living and the other pressures on young families.
Yeah, so just to break it down, the reason that people are having fewer babies is that economic reasons. Is it the cost of living or is it that we're marrying older and having children older, And of course then you often come across fertility issues.
So that is all of that combined.
We're having kids later because we're having careers first, and that's often by necessity. So young couples today have it's so much tougher than the generations before them. So if you are having a family or getting married back in you know, the baby boomers generation, to buy a house that would cost you three to four times your average and your salary.
These days it costs you nice.
It'd be so nice, but these days it's ten to fifteen times as much. And there are all sorts of other pressures, the cost of living pressures, you know, population pressures, and unfortunately people can't afford to have children early. Now, the unfortunate consequence of that is your biology doesn't wait until your economics catch up. So lots of couples are having fertility issues. It's a problem just as much for
men as women. IVF specialist say that in about a third of cases the issue is with the woman's biology, a third is with the male and the other third they just can't determine.
I didn't realize that. That's so interesting.
Yeah, so this has become a big political issue because the new South Wales government has scaled back the two thousand dollars rebate that the former coalition government had in place for IVF.
Is that right, that's right?
So don perite in the former coalition government brought in a two thousand dollars IVF rebate just to kickstart that fertility journey for couples. It doesn't come anywhere near paying the full cost, which can be between eight and twelve thousand dollars for the first round, and many couples have many rounds, but it said we've got you back, we're investing in you, we're going to get you started because
it's important. It's important for families who have that ultimate goal of having a baby to cherish, which is so heartfelt and it's our reason for being in many people's lives, but also an economic imperative. We need those future workers, we need those taxpayers, and a reliance on immigration to make up for that isn't the answer.
No, it puts more pressure on the House of crisis and the cost of the EVIC I guess.
So the end point to that is that the chris Min's government removed that subsidy in effect by means testing it virtually out of existence. So what they were saying is if you earn one hundred and sixteen thousand dollars as a couple, so that's fifty eight thousand dollars each, you are ineligible. So that discounts every key worker in the state. Your first year teachers, your first year nurses
can't be part of this program. And I can't tell you, Shari, the response that I've had from the community from parents desperate to start families as a result IVF clinics across Sydney have had a rush of applications over Christmas time for couples trying to get in and take advantage of.
It before it cuts off.
Just very quickly, Kelly, before you go, you know you're electorate is in is a state election, of course, but it's in the same federal area.
As Wentworth.
What's the sense you're getting about how tough the battle is at the moment for the liberal candidate Roeknox against the deal a leg Respender.
I think it's going to be a tough battle for both major candidates. For a Legraspender, who's the current member facing a challenge by Roeknox, who's an incredibly impressive Liberal candidate in the area, local businesswoman, someone who knows the area well, who's connected very strongly with the community. The landscape has shifted entirely from the last election when Dave Sharma was running an outstanding candidate himself local member. But
we had that real shift, that change. But the current economic circumstances, the border security issues, and the issues within the very large Jewish population in our community have meant that the pendulum has shifted enormously. This is a seat to watch, and if Wentworth falls to Roeknox, the liberal candidate, it'll be a liberal government. So it's an important contest and it'll be the one to watch in my opinion, and Roeknox is a candidate to watch.
All right, thank you so much, calvially, welcome your time.
All right, after the break, we'll across to Queensland as the recovery efforts continues.
Stay tuned Welcome back.
Southeast Queensland is through the worst of the weather from ex tropical Cyclone Alfred. The region is turning its attention from response to recovery as the rain eass and the rivers received. Sky News reporter at Kaeser Shields has the details.
Oxley, which is about to thirteen minute drive southwest of Brisbane, is one of the worst affected areas from x Tropical Cyclone Alfred. This two story brick building is home to several generations of the same family and was flooded with water from Oxley Creek. Family and Brand helps the residents start cleaning up yesterday before volunteers joined in today.
We have seen people's houses and living areas affected, which is always really traumatic because you know, it means they've got belongings that they've lost. We've also had underhouse areas where people store, fridges where people have their washing machines set up, so they people have lost white goods and
things like that. It has not been as bad as twenty twenty two, but of course, if you are a person whose house has been inundated and you're waking up this morning with mud on half the things you own.
That's really cold comfort.
The owner is in good spirits, even though he has no insurance. He says it would have cost him about twenty seven thousand dollars a year to ensure the property for about three hundred thousand dollars after the floods in twenty twenty two. This is just one family facing a massive cleanup.
All right, thanks for that update there on the recovery, and that's all we've got time for today. Thank you so much for joining me tonight. I'll be back to morow another big show. James Patterson would join me live. We might also have another special guest, but right now, here's Paul Murray