Sho good evening.
Well, there's one story in my career as a journalist that's never left me. I interviewed the parents of a young girl called Brianna Devrees, who was bullied on social media so badly that one day she went upstairs to her bedroom and never came back down. She was just fourteen years old and had her whole life ahead of her.
Brianna had been.
Bullied at will Google High near Coffs Harbor in New South Wales. Her parents didn't just change schools to help her, but even moved into state. Yet through social media, she couldn't escape the brutal bullying and it was too much for her at such a young age. It's beyond devastating and I think back to her and her parents often.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures show that there's been a two hundred and seventy five percent increase in the rates of self harm and hospitalization of girls just aged ten to fourteen years old from two thousand and eight to twenty twenty one, and social media use has been linked to bullying, mental health conditions including anxiety and depression, body image issues, poor physical health, and lack of sleep, and then there are also concerns around predators
and pedophiles, not to mention the age inappropriate content that's easily accessible.
Well, this is why Peter.
Dutton made an important announcement today. He said he'd lift the minimum age of social media access from thirteen to sixty. Under his proposed laws, there'd be an age verification system and heavy penalties for social media companies that don't comply. Dartan says children are particularly vulnerable and deserve to be protected.
We've seen some tragic consequences as a result of that online environment having a negative impact on the minds of young, impressionable Australians and it's true around the world as well.
The Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman spoke about how social media and all of the problems particularly impacts on young girls.
The data that we're seeing in relation to the mental health of Australian kids is really disturbing, especially relating to girls. If you look at things like the self harm rates of self harm hospitalizations of girls. Over the last decade, we've seen dramatic increases in that and there's no question in my mind that social media is playing a significant part in that look.
This issue isn't covered boldly enough mainstream media and on our nighttime talk shows, but it is a big issue. And in the United States, health experts say that social media is the defining public health issue of our time.
Social media is an important driver of that youth mental health crisis.
This is the defining public health issue of our time.
Surch In general things Congress can and should do more to regulate social media companies the same way safety standards are in place for car seats, for example. Well, Peter Dutton's push for new laws mirrors what others are doing internationally. Florida Governor Ron de Santa's passed the law just in March banning children under fourteen from having social media accounts.
You can have a kid in the house safe, seemingly, and then you have predators that can get right in there into your own home. You could be doing everything right, but they know how to get and manipulate these different.
Platforms, and other United States states are looking at similar laws. So the tech giants will have to develop or introduce reform and the tech urgently. But David Coleman says the tech's already there yet. Social media companies aren't enforcing the age limits that they set.
At the moment, there is no scenario whether social media companies will do the right thing, and so we're going to force them to. It's the right thing to do and we hope that the government will get behind this. The companies will be required to comply with the new law and that will include penalties if they don't.
Well yet to hear exactly what those penalties are, but the Coalition says they will be.
Strong and serious.
Now.
Just this week in Australia, Meta has rolled out age verification for those who change their age online from fifteen to eighteen, so there's reason to be leave that they aren't the age that they say they're that they say they are. It's very hard for any individual parent to pull their kids off social media or tell their young teens that they can't sign up to Snapchat or Instagram when all their friends already on these platforms and others.
But if it's the.
Law, it takes the decision out of parents' hands and it means that at least until they're sixteen, social media won't be the dominant aspect of their lives. Now, with Dutton surging ahead, in the polls and the coalition preparing for a possible early election. They're now starting to release their policies now. Dutton pledges he'd introduce the social media ban for under sixteens within one hundred days if he wins government. Now, this is a positive and family friendly.
Policy that will appeal to parents who.
Are concerned about how social media will impact or does impac ACKed on the life of their children. Well, Peter Dutton today offered to work on this policy in a bipartisan fashion with the Albanesi government.
I don't understand what the government's hesitation is at the moment, but this is one of those issues where we can try and help protect kids online, try and help families and parents have the tools that they need to help
protect their children. But it's one of those issues that really should be approached on a bipartisan basis and we'd be really happy to work with the Prime Minister and the government to see the outcome here and send a very clear message that both sides of Parliament stand united against the scourge of social media and its influences on young minds.
Well.
The Prime Minister was asked about all of this at a press conference and he couldn't argue with the policy today, he did appear frustrated that Peter Dutton was getting credit for it. Albanese claimed they were already working on a trial, although Labor did shut down legislation November, coalition legislation that included minimum age requirements for social media.
I think very clearly, and the reason why we're doing the trial is that social media is having a negative impact on young people. I want people to spend more time on the footy field or the netball court than they're spending on their fonts, very clearly, and a band, if it can be effective, is a good way to go.
Well, let's hope they do progress with this on a bipartisan basis because it is important. It will be impossible to pull teenagers off social media who are already on it, so there's going to have to be a transition period for how these laws are introduced, and it could be starting with all year seven or year eight students from twenty twenty six.
Now.
Critics say this will be difficult to enforce, but concern about compliance is hardly a reason not to take action. And thinking back to Brianna and others like her who are struggling thanks to the pervasive nature of social media in our lives. Will governments can't afford not to take action.
Now?
Also coming up on the show tonight, as the Prime Minister fails to call out the thuggish behavior of the CFMEU will tell you the full list of labor ministers who had union paymasters before entering politics. Also tonight, the ABC chair launches a scathing attack on Peter Dutton's policies, So much for his new era of impartiality. Quilette's Claire Lehman will join me later in the show to discuss and Hermas yet again destroys another ceasefired deal.
Anthony Blinkin is.
Clearly frustrated what will it take for the terror group to release innocent hostages? But first, now bring in tonight's panel, Perth Mayre, Basil Zemplus and the finn Reviews senior correspondent Aaron Patrick.
Welcome to you both. Now.
Both of you are fathers, Basil and Aaron, and I'm a mum of two young children. I'm dreading the day personally that they discover social media and want to go online on social media apps if it wasn't an option for them until they were sixteen. You don't think that they'd be missing out on anything, and in fact, you think they'd be happier, healthier, spend more time with their actual friends and outdoors.
Basil, do you think this is.
A good idea of Peter Dutton's today to ban social media for those under the age of sixteen?
Of course I do. I feel very strongly about this. I'm right in that wheelhouse a thirteen year old daughter and eleven year old daughter. The six year old son is still some while away, and thank goodness for that. But yes, it is one of the great cancers in and on our society of the modern day, and anything we can do to take young people away, not so much from online, but in particular the apps, that's where the real danger is the apps is something that should
be reported. Two things I'd say. Firstly, why Anthony Albanezi doesn't just come out and say I agree with it. It's a great idea, and we already know Peter Malinowskis has bang gone about this some time ago, so bipartisan is the best way to go here. But secondly, I just asked you to consider this when people say we won't be able to do it. The kids will find a way around it. They're too smart for us. Consider this, how much harder has it become to log onto your
internet banking to make payments online? How much double verification has suddenly come into vogue where you need a code word that goes to your phone that then you insert there. It can be done, and the apps is where it should start. If we keep them off the apps, we can make their adolescent years that much better. This is a great idea.
We should all in it.
Yeah, I agree, and I find that argument are and frustrating when people say, I know, you know, kids will find a way around this. Well, you've got to start with the law. And it's just like anything you know that's against the law for those under the age of eighteen, whether it's drinking, whether it's driving, whatever it is.
Of course some kids break the law.
That doesn't mean you don't have the law for the minority that will break it.
No, No, you're absolutely right, and there's a clear health issue that we're trying to deal with here. I would just temper though what we're saying by pointing out that we are talking about an issue which is going to affect millions of families.
Today.
Some children get on social media as young as ten. It's going to be I think quite It's one thing to give a press comments. It's nothing to tell a lot of Australian fans families that their children can't do what they think they've got entitlement to do. And perhaps we should, Perhaps we wish to be more focusing on the algorithms that detect giants use to display the kind of content that can be really disturbing an age and appropriate I would just suggest that's probably a better place to start.
It's not just the age and appropriate content though, it's you know, for girls, there's a whole lot of body image anxiety, mental health issues wrapped up in trying to think compare themselves to the ideal that they see on Instagram by the likes of I don't know, celebrities and the Kardashians, who themselves spend tens of thousands, probably millions
of dollars trying to change the way they look. You know, all of that is unhealthy for ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen year old girls to have to look at on a daily basis, not to mention the bullying basil.
And I think that the apps. In my experience is a that the apps is where this real danger kicks around. The images and the commentary and the peer group pressure can all marry up in the one space, and it's the apps, the social media apps in particular, that we should try and keep the kids off. Another idea is what if kids had to pay for them, So they need a credit card or they need a form of payment to be able to pay for them. They've got to pay their for their Netflix and the like. If
you haven't got payment details, you can't get on. It's not too difficult to do if we turn our minds to it. And it's that important, it really is. It's that important.
No, I agree, I agree, And you only have to look at the stories, you know, people like Brianna look at the figures to know that this really is affecting young people. It's our obligation as a society to protect young people. But Aaron, don't you think with any big change, there's going to be a transition period for about five or so years where this is difficult, but then eventually the law will be in place across the country that you know, you can't have social media apps until you're sixteen.
If that's what the government settles on or fifteen whatever they settle on, and ultimately people will know it's just this transition period of getting all the companies on board, getting families on board.
That's a bit tricky.
Look perhaps, but I think it's also worth bearing in mind that not all social media is bad bad for children. My good daughter is sixteen and she uses something called Pinterest, which is basically about design, and she loves it and it's a pretty safe space, and I think I don't think there's anything wrong with children using that, So I think just.
As interest is Pinterest to find as social media, though I'm not sure that is social media.
Probably beyond my capabilities to my understanding here, but you understand the point I'm going.
No. I like Pinterest as well, very helpful from time to time. Now.
Peter Dutton has also today hit at it what he calls thagish behavior of the unions and he's calling on the Prime Minister to condemn CFM EU bus John Secca after he declared war on the AFL.
Have a look.
The unions serve a useful role, but not when there are standover merchant to tactics and bullying tactics to try and get outcomes a lot of the hues around.
Version in the NFL giving it's approgerate for the unions, the seat you can involved in Kati and the deppointment of CEOs and the high level officients.
No, so sorry, it's back to unions and John Sector.
Do you believe that he should give up on his campaign against the AFL.
Yes, it's not very just common sense.
It comes as the Australian reports today are Jeff Chambers. The full number of ministers who worked for the unions before entering politics, and it's extensive. It includes Richard Miles, Pennywong, Tony Burke, Katie Gallagher, Don Farrell, Amanda Rishworth, Ed hughes At, Chris Bowen, Mark Butler, Bill Shorton and Brandon O'Connor and Jeff Chambers. Also reports of the those holding union memberships include Jim Chalmers, Tanya Plibasset, Catherine King, Linda Bernie Murray Watt,
Claire O'Neill, Bazil. With a less like this, you wonder you know it's not surprising that the Prime Minister isn't coming out in a more forciful fashion.
Well forceful is the word is in first thing, we acknowledge that not all members of unions and not all union officials are thugs and stand up for merchants, as per the behavior that we are seeing reported, But yes we would have I mean, how many times does the Prime Minister and other ministers for that matter, weighed in on issues that really have got nothing to do with them, but they're happy to give you their chapter and verse
opinion on it because it suits them. Now, yes, he did say the two right word answers, but he could have been far stronger. This behavior demanded a far stronger response from the Prime Minister, and I thought that was pretty weak from the PM. He needed to make a stand on that, and he has hasn't done that. So you asked the question, Well, he hasn't made a really strong stand on that, so you asked the question why not?
Yeah, Aaron, you could see he really didn't want to be brought into that debate that Anthony Albanezi.
He so did not want to be answered. He still did not want to answer that question. It was the least for both I've ever seen him. The amazing thing this country is is union membership is down to about ten percent, but they still has incredible political power and what's happening on the construction sites it's just well it's criminal, you know. The judges, the courts have found it to
be criminal. And I think that the Labor guvernment's decision to abolish the independent Commission that policed industry relations on construction sites was one of the worst decisions they've ever made.
Well and not to mention what's going on with virgin as.
Well, well, that's right, you know, I think when you have the problem is we've got a country where unions have become so influential in the boardrooms for the control of superannuation funds that they're getting.
To the point where they feel they can dictate to management of companies. And that's probably something that is going to become more accentuated in the future and it could have a huge impact on how business operates in Australia.
Yeah, and already the IRA reform introduced by Tony Burke and the Albanezi government is going to make such a big difference in terms of how bosses and employees react with each other, you know, not being able to contact people out of office hours, it's going to change a lot of things.
For how business operates.
Now, Boso, I want to ask you about the cost of living, because we saw today an extraordinary story that Perth has officially become one of the hardest cities in the world, in the developed world to find a rental home where seeing that Perth's a rental vacancy rate is sitting at zero point four percent, much tighter than similarly
populated cities Berlin, Toronto and Auckland. You know, there's even we're even hearing that some Perth councils are contemplating raising rates, some of even up to eight percent due to inflation driving up the cost of services like waste disposal. You know, why is it so difficult in Perth in particular?
Do you think.
A massive housing crisis? Part of it brought on by the current government and they offered incentives to the building community and those who were purchasing houses and unfortunately the demand that was created and those incentives caused an oversupply and unfortunately just not able to get things done. But also the social and affordable housing the stock has not
been added to by the Labor government. They've only in seven years, they've only added one hundred and fourteen social dwellings to the overall stock of the state government and thirty five thousand people are on the public housing wait list.
Unfortunately for the people of Western Australia, despite incredible economic prosperity being felt and enjoyed by the state, largely largely through the resources boom and a much improved GST deal, there are many people who that does not relate to and they have never done it tougher and many people have gone backwards under this labor government here in Wa.
Yeah, cost of living crisis affecting many families, but it was a shock to see just how bad the rental crisis is in pers Oranges. Before you go, you've written a piece in the Finn Review where you talk about some of the policies that Peter Dutton has come out with, whether it's on climate change or the economy, and just how he's pitching slightly more conservative policies. Do you think this is a deliberate strategy to try win over some of the labor marginal seats in outer suburban areas.
Sherry, I think Peter Darton has decided he's going to be Tony Abbott without God and the royal family. He's decided the way to win power is through a conservative populist agenda and one of the central strategies is going to use as a war on climate. And I think he's decided in the short term he probably can't win what the so called teal seals teal seats back in the inner cities, so he's going for regional and regional
Australia and out of suburbs in the first instance. I think his plan is to knock Albanezy back to a minority government and they'll only take three seats. Then we'll have three years where he will just nail the government
week after week through the cross bench. And I think he's looked at how Tony Abbott was such an effective opposition leader with Peter Krelin's Jeevas staff between twenty ten and twenty thirteen and finally they they won government twenty thirteen, and I believe that's his approach.
It's fascinating because there's been a lot of debate about how the Coalition manages its policies.
Does it try appeal to the teals.
And the out of suburban But what we're potentially starting to see with Peter Dutton, what you say we are seeing with him, is that he's saying we're not going to worry about the Teals, We're just going to pitch to mainstream Australia. But with well, you've caught it populist conservative.
I think I think it's fair. I think it's a little bit trump like a little bit. He says that he hasn't given up the Teal seats. I don't really believe him. And if you speak to liberals in some of those seats, they're very very careful how they express it. But let's just say I've heard of polling which shows that Peter Dutton is as popular in some of those seats as Scott Morrison was, which is to say not.
At all interesting.
Definitely not the seats where there's a high Jewish population, because Peter Dutton has been incredible for our Jewish community. All Right, Basil zamplus Aaron Patrick, great to see you both. Now coming up, Anthony Albanezi ramps up the climate was Graham Lloyd would join me to discuss the more aggressive twenty thirty five target that we revealed on this show last night.
Chris Bowen is looking at stay.
Tuned, welcome back. Well, let's turn now to this week's outbreak in.
The climate work.
Last night I reported that the Albanezy government's Climate Change Authority is aiming for an even higher emissions reduction target of sixty five to seventy five percent by twenty thirty five. Well Ray Hadley asked Peter Dutton about this today.
Well, I just can't believe how disconnected they are from where people are at the moment. In their own pame budgets and in their own small business budget. People can't afford another twenty or thirty percent increase in their electricity prices. We already pay the highest prices in the world, and now they're talking about the sixty five seventy five percent target by twenty thirty five. I haven't seen any of the economic model, and I don't think the Prime Minister
has either. So it needs to be transparent and honest with the Australian public about what does it mean, particularly if the economy goes into recession.
Okay to discuss this, let's bring in now the Australians Environment editor Graham. Lloyd Graham, good to see you.
Look.
The Prime Minister has criticized Peter Dutton for pulling out of the twenty thirty climate targets, but experts and even the Gratin Institute is doubting whether labor will be able to meet their current emissions reduction targets by twenty thirty, which are forty two percent.
What do you think, well, good, evening Cherry. This is really the key question out there at the moment is whether there is any prospect at all of the government meeting the target that is there. It's very easy to set a target and it's much more difficult to meet it. And what it's fair to say is that it's proving a lot more difficult than the government would have ever envisaged. Things are taking longer, they're more expensive, and it's not
going as planned. So the view in the industry and in the think tanks is that this is pretty tough and we won't get there. And it's interesting to see even the Gratin Institute and others who are really pushing the government to adopt these sort of targets and now saying, oh, well, we never said it would be easy. But it's really that the Albanesi government that's left holding the can.
Yeah, So it's interesting, So they doesn't look according to the experts, it doesn't look like they're going to meet the forty two percent target in twenty thirty, and yet the Climate Change Authority is on record in their twenty twenty four Issues paper discussing targets of between sixty five
and seventy five percent by twenty thirty five. I mean, if you're not going to meet forty two percent by twenty three, then isn't it a massive stretch to expect the government to get to sixty five to seventy by twenty thirty five? And Graham, I mean a seventy five percent target by twenty thirty.
Is what the Greens took to the last election.
So these are quite ambitious and aggressive targets.
Well they are, and this is the nature of what's happening. They're really reverse engineering the expectations of the UN Climate Establishment that we have to really form everything around meeting a target of keeping temperatures below one point five degrees. So that is where that target of sixty five to seventy five comes from. That if we do that, then we're going to be on track for what the UN hopes is going to happen with the climate. There's two
problems with that. One is that it's easy to set the figure, but unless you actually achieve the reductions, it's all been for no point. And the other is that Australia is not alone in not meeting its targets. In fact, very few places, in fact, virtually nobody is meeting the reduction targets that they've promised. And even the targets that have been promised are not enough to achieve what the UN wants to happen. So there's two sort of worlds
going on in parallel. One is this great expectation of what could happen and what would be the result, and the other is trying to actually deliver on those promises, and the two don't really sync up.
Look, it's fascinating.
We're in this debate all over again. Graham Lloyd, thank you very much for joining me.
Let's turn to the US.
Now, where the Federal Reserve left the cash rate unchanged between five point two five percent and five point five percent, and now the forecasts are in the US that there'll be only one rate cut this year. Judo Banks chief Economic advisor Warren Hogan joins me.
Now, Warren, look, the US is.
Still forecasting one rate cut, while it doesn't look like we're going to have any interest rate cuts until next year a and Zed is saying it won't be until February next year. In fact, we might even have a rate rise in Australia this year. So how do you see our inflation picture compared with what's happening in the US and why is there a different trajectory?
Yeah, Hi, Sherry, it's unfortunately our inflation story is diverging from what we're seeing overseas, and it's not good. We're seeing a pick up in our inflation this year, and it's for two reasons. One is, our interest rates never went up as much as other countries. The US, as you said, is up around five and a half. We're under four and a half. But most importantly, we have
no productivity growth in this economy. The US is experiencing productivity growth similar to its long term trend, but here we're seeing nothing in the Q one numbers we got last week and today's employment numbers, which was great. We got jobs, but the hours worked aren't moving. And of course we know growth isn't moving much in the economy. That's telling us there's no productivity. So that's the real difference here.
Yeah, so you mentioned that unemployment data. Let's go to that.
So it confirmed that forty thousand more people secured work in May. There's now the number of jobless is now down to four percent. I mean it was virtually unchanged. It does mean around six hundred thousand Australians are unemployed. Let's have a look at what the Treasurer Jim Chalmers had to say about the slowing of our economy.
The jobs market's been a real source of strength in our economy. You know, we're in an economy which has been otherwise soft and when people are under pressure, it has been a source of strength that the Albin Easy Labor government's seen the creation of eight hundred and twenty thousand jobs, which is a record for a first term government of any political persuasion. And we've had faster jobs growth than any major advanced economy.
Yeah, so, Warren, I mean, the job's picture is fine, but our economy is all but at a standstill. The growth rate in the March quarter just zero point one percent.
Yeah.
Well, I mean I think if we had some productivity with that job's growth, the economy would be growing at a much stronger pace. But the reality is and I'm really not sure why the government really wants to keep talking down the economy. We can't grow because we're operating at capacity. We those six hundred thousand unemployed Astraians, you know, that's actually a very low figure. That's the same figure as we had twenty years ago, and we had nine
hundred thousand in the early nineties recession. So we're at capacity. We can't grow, and of course if we try and stimulate the economy then we're going to create more inflation. And of course without productivity, we're not going to get real wages moving either. So we're really in a very uncomfortable position. And I think what's going to end up think is that the RBA is going to have to raise rates further to deal with this inflation.
Yeah, look, it's a terrible thought. Just very quickly, Worren before you go.
We quite rightly, we do.
Focus our attention when it comes to inflation on the federal government. But we just saw the Queensland state government handout its budget this week with eleven billion dollars worth of cost of living handouts, all to try and win at the polls come October. The opposition stupidly said it was going to match that spending.
I mean they're going to win.
They don't need to give out eleven billion dollars in cost of living handouts which are inflationary. So do you think there needs to be more focus on state governments taking responsibility to drive down inflation as well, so that we don't all see rate rises.
Yeah, well, I think you've nailed the point here is that the state governments don't wear the political approbrium for rate hikes. That's the federal governments bear all that problem. And of course one of the many bad legacies of COVID is the state government have learned how to throw money at households, which they never used to do, not to the extent we saw in Queensland anyway, soment, state goverments need to stick to the supply side of the economy.
They need to get the infrastructure in place, education, hospitals. It's more critical than ever. And what they've said we seen in Queensland this week is a horrendous economic policy which is just all politics and it is inflationary and it not only adds to the pressure on the RBA, but it adds to the case for more than one rate hike and that's going to be devastating for the federal government.
Yeah, all right, well said Warren Hogan, Thank you very much for your insights. Now after the break, the Prime Minister ways into the Holy Hughes Senate ticket drama, claiming Peter Darton could face a leadership challenge and so much for bringing in a new era of impartiality at the ABC. The new check him Williams has made some questionable comments on the coalition.
That's upnext come back well.
This week in New York, there was a tribute to the October seven Nova Festival music victims. These were innocent people, all young people, who were slaughtered in cold blood on October seven. Women were raped, bodies were mutilated. It's actually incomprehensible that anyone could disagree with a tribute to commemorate
such tragic loss of life. Yet in New York there was a mob of anti Semitic protesters who rallied outside the tribute with flares and aggressively charged chance of long live the Interfada and Israel.
Go to hell. Have a look.
Outside a tribute to people who had died, who were killed in cold blood. Look that protest was part of an entire day of protest in New York and on the subway, protesters yelled, raise your hand. If you're a Zionist, this is your chance to get out.
It's unbelievable.
These are the Prosist.
Chance to get out.
New York Mayor Eric Adams gave a strong speech and described all of this as pure anti Semitism.
It was disgusting what we saw, and you cannot call for peace while you're celebrating what happened on October seventh.
Now, these protests are not pro Palestinian. It is simply racism against Jews. It's a chilling celebration of terrorism, with some of the protesters carrying Hamas or Hesbela flags. The Wall Street Editorial Board pointed out that anti Israel protesters wouldn't even let a tribute to Israeli's murdered at the Nova Music Festival be held in peace. The editorial said, President Biden's waffling on the moral justification of Israel's war to destroy Hermas has emboldened the pro Hamas left in
the US. And this is exactly what we've seen with the Albanesi government here in Australia.
This is what I've been talking about.
When political leaders criticize Israel more than the terrorists that Israel is fighting, despite evidence clearly showing that Israel goes above and beyond to abide by international law.
That is what the evidence shows.
Well, when the Albanezi government does that, when Joe Biden does it, it gives a green light to extremists and anti Semites.
And this is part of.
The reason we're seeing extremism, the rise of anti Semitism globally because of weak political leadership. Well, let's bring in our founding editor of Quillette, Claire Lehman, and Sky News commentator Jason Morrison.
Welcome to you both.
Claire, what do you think of this arta moral I mean, it's not even moral confusion. It's people who have lost all morals when they can't let a tribute to people who've been murdered just go in peace.
Yeah.
It was a real mask off moment, wasn't it. Shari And I think it's true these people are vicious, absolutely vicious anti Semites, but they're more than that. They're anti Western, the anti civilization. And I think we should frame this problem not just in terms of racism and anti Semitism. But these people want to destroy everything we hold dear.
They want to destroy democracy. They want to destroy not just Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, but they would like to see all the liberal democracy is destroyed. They have Marxist sympathies. They are you know, their news organizations are sympathetic to Iran, they're sympathetic to Russia. They're sympathetic to dictators and autocrats.
So we have to name.
These vicious mobsters as anti civilization, not just anti Semitic.
I think it's a.
Really good point because we do often speak about this as as mainly a problem affecting the Jewish community. But you're completely right, Claire.
It affects all of us.
It affects all of us, and it also seeks to destroy the very values that underpin our society, the very values that Australian soldiers sacrificed their lives fighting for in our previous wars.
Jason, Yeah, I see it.
I think these people have a disorder, and most of them are lemmings. They don't think about issues. They follow the pack and they follow some real bent individuals, and their hatreds are so ill defined. They just seemed to just hate. And if they weren't at this one about the Jews, they'd be at something else about another group of people or another minority. And of course, the irony of the we'll call it the ideological far left, is
they kind of think they're better than everyone else. They're rats, and they behave like rats, and they should be treated like them. And I'm kind of amazed that we have this tolerance for this crap, I really am.
I agree.
I think the political leadership does have an unacceptable tolerance for this, and I think if it were any other community, Anthony Albanezi wouldn't put up with it, but he somehow is condoning it.
And you know why because he was once a.
Pro Palestinian protester himself at a rally where American and Israeli flags were burned. And I've shown you those clips and I'm going to keep reporting on that now. On Monday night, Liberal Senator Holly Hughes came on this show and she blamed the shadow treasurer Angus Taylor for the fact that she lost a winnable position on the Senate ticket. Just a reminder, here's what she had to say.
Believe, well, he's.
Gone against Dutton here Peter Dutton had given a reference to Andrew Bragg and myself that he wanted to keep his shadow ministerial team together and I think, you know, really Dennis Shanahan probably summed it up in The Australian Best earlier when he said that Angus Taylor has to get serious about detail and present a more mature alternative in Parliament. And I don't think anyone could say it better than Dennis there.
It's interesting that.
He's spending more time on factional politics in New South Wales. I think that perhaps his portfolio.
So this has become a big story this week. Peter Dutton spoke about it today with Ray Hadley.
Sometimes sitting members or sitting senators lose their pre selections and it's tough because Holly's done a great job. She's got a lot to offer and you know she's understandably upset about losing her position, but that's the democratic process.
She says.
He's lining himself up for a till you if things don't go according to plan at the next federal election.
Are you confident that you heavy support?
Yeah?
Absolutely, And then even the Prime Minister weighed in and he claimed that Yep, Peter Dutton might face a leadership challenge for Angus Taylor, even though Albin Easy wouldn't know anything about that.
Have a look.
Polly Hughes has called this out as being about Angus Taylor trying to secure the numbers for a future Liberal leadership bid. She's been very explicit about it.
All right, Claire, Look, the fact remains, you know, fine, it's a democratic preselection process. But the fact remains that the Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor, did support someone who's not in the Parliament over one of his own colleagues, his own colleagues in shadow cabinet, and that is a very divisive thing to do for the coalition when it's trying to present a unified frant ahead of the next election.
That's true, and the Liberal Party obviously needs more women. I know that the replacement to Holly Hughes is all a woman, but you would think there would be there would be some kind of capacity to make sure that they could parachute her into another seat that is potentially not occupied by a woman.
I don't know.
The Liberal Party factionalism is a bit opaque for me, so I can't comment any further.
On it.
But yeah, yeah, it was. It was definitely a messy. Look, Jason, I want to ask you about these comments from the ABC chair Kim Williams. I mean, he launched an attack on Peter Dutton's nuclear policy. This is at a panel a vivid and Criike's reported that he actually said the policy was Do we have the quote there he said he criticized the coalition policy. He said it was absent any of the normal fabric of policy formulation. That does sound like something Kim Williams would in fact say exactly.
But Jason, the point is Kim Williams strongly criticized the ABC in the past for a lack of impartiality.
He said he was going to fix this.
But then look he's now the chair and he thinks the rules don't apply to him.
That's right, folks, we got another activist, and we got another bloke who actually thinks that the world is interested in his view about this. When he took on the job, and he took on this position that he from day one very cleverly said, you know, we've got to show impartiality practice what you preach, mate. I actually think that, you know, for all the criticism, and there was plenty of Ida Buttrow's and her shortcomings in the job. Ita
didn't mouth off about political issues. She looked after the causes that mattered to her, you know, health issues, aging issues, things like that. But she didn't get into politics because she knows this is the ABC chairmanship that's up there. He doesn't get that yet because he's still being surrounded by the lovees who are making him feel warm and special and he's back in the club again after having been out of it for a long time, and suddenly he thinks he matters.
He also thinks he's an expert on everything, Claire, even nuclear policy.
Yes, and he was complaining that the opposition went following the normal policy process, putting out green papers and so on, which is only what you ever do when you're in government.
You don't do that in opposition.
So you know he's schooling people when he doesn't know the facts himself.
Yeah, what's it done? The Whitlam way, Claire Lee and Jason Morrison. Great to see you.
Thanks Now after the break, Hamas is doing everything it can to ruin a ceasefire deal after evidence emerged this week. It's military leader wants its own civilians to die.
I'll discuss this after the break.
Well.
The US Secretary of State Anthony Blincoln has warned Hermas that suffering will continue because they chose not to accept the latest ceasefire peace deal.
Amus could have answered with a single word yes. Instead a mass waited nearly two weeks and then proposed more changes the war that Hamas started on October seventh with its barbaric attack on Israel and on Israeli civilians.
We'll go on.
Joining me now, the Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council Executive director Colin Rubinstein. Colin, what in particular did Hamas reject about this latest ceasefire proposal, Because they've rejected every single one now.
For months now.
Well, good to see you, Saric Sherry. They've made it clear that they've imposed conditions that tagged them out to a rejection of the deal, the Secretary of State Lincoln has pointed out unequivocally. And Israel, on the other hand, has accepted this three phase deal that the Americans crafted. They clearly want Israel well to pull out of Gaza
completely and to stop now the war. And it's clear that Sinoar, the Hamas leader, thinks he's on a winner in terms of the more bloodshed that's inflicted on his fellow guards, and the better it is for his strategy in wearing Israel down.
So he even admitted that.
I should understand by now, yeah.
Sorry to interrupt, Colin, but he even admitted that this week we saw reporting in the Wall Street Journal that, as you just said, Sinoa described Palestinian civilian deaths as necessary sacrifices. I mean, do you think this is something that the international bodies like the UN just don't understand that this is Hamasa's strategy for their own people to suffer.
They either don't understand or they're so blinded by their hostility to Israel that they.
Look the other way.
Because Kamas is clearly a genocidal death cult, it's a terrorist organization, is to dictatorship, and frankly, the gardens need to be liberated. They need to be liberated from hamas As. I'm sure many Gazans feel this very day, and many people in the Arab world, many of the interlocutors in Egypt, Cata, Arabia, Jordan and beyond understand and the Abraham Accords are holding firm because the Arab world, much of the Muslim world,
understands that Hamas is the problem. It's a genocidal entity, it's backed by Iran, that's a threat to all of them, and they do understand that Israel has an absolute right to self defense and that Hamas has to be dismantled in the same way that the Nazis had to be dismantled at the end of World War Two, and that the Germans had to be need Nazified in a similar fashion.
The Palestinians in Gaza. They need to be the hamasified and an opportunity created for Palestinians who might be prepared to live alongside Israel than peace to pursue that option, to the benefit of both the Palestinians and obviously to Israel, which is tied up with fights against its very existence, not only of course from Hamas, but from its Baka Iran and obviously from Hezbollah in the North as well.
Colin I want to get to this independent report to the United Nations Human Rights Council. It has accused Israel, alongside Hamas of a string of war crimes and human rights abuses, including torture, extermination, starvation, and even gender persecution.
What's your response to this UN report.
Well, it's predictable. This UN body, like so many other UN bodies, have as a track record of anti Israel hostility that's very extreme. So their position is completely divorce us from reality. They don't understand the difference between a democratic country pursuing its self defense in the most humane way. Experts like John Spencer point out that it Israel has done more to prevent civilian casualties than any other military
and history in situations of urban warfare like this. On the other hand, Hamas as guilty of double war crimes. It's deliberately trying to kill as many Israelities as possible. It has through the years. It clearly has on October seven, that was a genocidal act. It's continuing to fire rockets and at the same time, it's deliberately putting its own people at risk.
It's a warp crime.
On its own gardens and it's use of human shields. We all know that, and that's what we're seeing happening now. It's time for the international community and the UN bodies to wake up the reality and put pressure on Hamas.
Indeed, it is so out of time. Very much for joining me.
I'll see you everyone at home back Monday at eight pm. And here is James Morrow filling in for Paul Murray
M