Why on Sky News This is Sharry.
Good Evening tonight, how the Albanzy government pressured police to publicly state the caravan was not a terror plot ahead of the election campaign. Police are furious at what they claim is interference in their investigation. My exclusive report in a moment, also on the show, how Green's and the Independence are ganging up to pressure Chris Mins to reverse Haste speech laws that would see the vile hate preachers.
Held to account.
Let's hope the Coalition doesn't get in on this. Plus tlnp Alegraspender's humiliation after her own sister tried to hold an event with an offensive pro Palestinian activist.
It was only.
Canceled at the eleventh hour today when we submitted questions. More on that in a moment, and a very special guest tonight on the show. Iranian lawyer and pro Israel advocate Eleka Lebon will be here live in studio, but first tonight I can reveal the Albanese government pressured police to publicly state that the caravan plot was not a
terror related incident. This was despite the risk of jeopardizing the investigation, which was ongoing with suspects still under surveillance and arrests yet to be made.
Multiple sources involved.
In the joint counter terror investigation told me there was a push from the Albanese government to get the caravan hoax narrative into the public domain before the federal election, and that was meant to be called on Sunday, March the ninth. It was postponed because of ex tropical cyclone Alfred. One well placed senior policing source told me and I quote they've had a desire to call it out as not a terror incident for some time, based on the fact they needed to de escalate it prior.
To any election in court.
Now I have confirmed that the AFP pressured New South Wales Police to agree to release publicly that the caravan was a criminal conjob for at least two weeks before the press conference on Monday this week, but New South Wales Police pushed back. They were furious at what they saw as political interference in a delicate and difficult police investigation.
They had counter surveillance operations running, they were conducting coercive examinations and were still in the midst of their own investigation, which included building a watertight case against fourteen suspects who.
They arrested just on Monday morning.
Law enforcement officials feared that going public prematurely could have risked compromising their investigation. Now when New South i was police agreed with the decision to go public with the information, it was understood to have required a change in strategy. Now the AFP had determined that organized crime was behind the explosive laden caravan and that it did not pose
an active terror threat. The AFP then briefed key figures in the Albanzy government about this development, and the Albanezy government, which was preparing for an election to be called just on Sunday for the twelfth of April, were then keen to get this information made public now the election was meant to be.
Caught on Sunday.
Then, on Monday morning, New South Wales Police arrested fourteen people over the spate of anti Semitic attacks in Sydney's East and AFP Deputy Commissioner for National Security Chrissy Barrett, and both New South Wales and New Southees Police Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson. They both held a press conference announcing that day that the caravan packed with the explosives was a fabricated terror plot.
Almost immediately, experienced investigators within the Joint Counterterrorism Team believed that the caravan was part of a fabricated terrorist plot, essentially a criminal conjob. This was because of the information they already had, how easily the caravan was found and how visible the explosives were in the caravan. Also, there was no detonator.
Right after the press conference that night and again the next day, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke was ready with the attack lines.
Mister Dutton, without seeking a briefing, simply asserted a large scale planned terrorist attack. That is not what we were dealing with. We were dealing with a criminal con job and Peter Dutton was one of the people who was conned.
Of course, Tony Burke's accusation there was nonsense because both the Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi and the New Southeales Premier Chris Mins had also spoken about the caravan being a terrorism threat.
Do you classify this as a terrorism as well, Prime Minister, I'd certainly do.
I agree with Chris Mints. It's clearly designed to harm people, but it's also designed to correct fear in the community.
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 the point is that Tony Burke, the Home Affairs Minister, was ready to roll with his attack lines on what was meant to be the first day of the election campaign. Now, when Albanezy was asked repeatedly when he was first briefed on the caravan of explosives, he claimed he couldn't comment because he wouldn't dare undermine a police investigation.
I have no intention of undermining an ongoing investigation by going into the details. This should not be the source of political debate.
Yet he did exactly that.
According to multiple senior police figures, the Albanezy government did undermine and interfere with the police investigation. Now, I asked Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor about this.
I've got him on the show tonight.
I spoke to him just before and he said, these are serious concerns that need to be investigated.
If the Prime Minister has been interfering in a police investigation and pressuring them to do the spin for the government that the government wants this is completely inappropriate.
Now here's the thing.
There's now a major push by the media like the Sydney Morning Herald, the Greens, the Independence, the Libertarians and some Labor and Peace to play anti Semitism as a result of organized crime being behind the spate of violent attacks targeting Jewish sites. But I've discovered, and I've spoken to very well placed police that anti Semitism hasn't.
Been ruled out as a motive for these attacks.
Now I've drilled down deeply on this topic and I found out that there are figures from two different outlaw motorcycle gangs who are being investigated. One of the figures at the center of this is the Australian.
He's actually a dual citizen.
He's based offshore and he was paying locally based criminals to carry out the spate of violent attacks the targeted Jewish businesses, cars and properties. But the Joint Counter Terror Team still do not categorically know his motivations. Federal police haven't ruled out that a foreign actor isn't paying this individual. Anti Semitism has not been ruled out as a motivation either. In fact, one police source told me, and I'm quoting. Now, anti Semitism could be the motive, or it could be
a multiple range of things. So how this plot worked is that this Australian dual citizen based overseas then paid local street criminals to carry out the spate of anti Semitic attacks, and these local criminals are understood to have accepted the paid jobs through various encrypted apps. Police are not certain about which country the Australian duel citizen is currently in. They are not close to making an arrest. In fact, an arrest could be a year or more away.
The figure is understood to be a successful global criminal who's well connected with multiple motorcycle gangs and other criminal organizations.
The investigation is still active.
And ongoing, and to me, it seems that there's more that the police don't know than what they do know.
Yet.
Despite this, new Southerwans Premier Chris Mens is tonight facing a cross bench revolt over his hate speech laws. The Cinny Morning Herald is reporting that he's facing a revolt from the cross bench and also aggrieved labor MPs and they want that his hate speech laws to either be repealed or subject to a parliamentary inquiry. And this is apparently all because there is no antisemitism threat, because the caravan packed with explosives was organized by criminals rather than
a live terror threat. This is absolute nonsense. These are all people who never cared about antisemitism in the first place. Every single violent attack, including the fire bombing of a preschool, the torching of cars in in front of Alex Ripchen's house, is an anti Semitic attack.
Just because it might have.
Been carried out by organized crime doesn't mean it wasn't an antisemitism an anti Semitic attack. As journalist Stephen Rice says in The Australian Today, for the police to have ruled out the motivations of a suspect they haven't yet questioned, or even caught, or even approached is a highly unusual approach and I'd say it's a shocking and dangerous approach.
Stephen Rice says in The Australian that these comments by police have given free reign to anyone who wanted to downplay the level of antisemitism experience by the Jewish community, and he asks, well, what about the attempt to set fire to the Newtown's synagogue in January? He questions how anyone, and let alone a Green's politician could question that this was anti semitism. This is what the accusations are, that it's not anti semitism. How can you say an arson
attempt on a Newtown's synagogue is not antisemitism. Stephen Rice says this is absurd. He says, this is the absurdity of being asked to agree to a sentiment that this was not an anti Semitic attack. And even Dave Hudson, the New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner, admitted in questioning in budget estimates yesterday that they did not know the actual ideology or motivation of these people.
That it is still under investigation now.
Thankfully, despite the absolute disgrace of those in New South Illes Parliament using this as an opportunity to attack a popular premiere, Chris Mins is standing firm. Chris Mins has released a statement saying he will not repeal the hate speech laws.
And why should he.
The caravan filled with explosives has nothing to do with hate speech. The hate speech laws are needed to finally crack down on those hate speeches and pro Palestinian activists who insist on saying the most derogatory comments about Jews, yet they get away scot free because none of the laws apply. Chris Means's strength is the leadership we need in this country. And simply for standing up to anti Semitism, his own colleagues are trying to tear him down. Well,
let's hope they're not successful. Now, I also want to say here that I've approached Mark Speakman's office tonight for comment, to get reassurance that he's not going to get in on this and demand that there's a parliamentary inquirer and these hate spech on these hate speech laws. I couldn't
contact Mark Speakman, he's in a regional area. But if he if the Coalition sides with the Greens, with the Libertarians, with some aggrieved labor and piece just to attack chrince Mins, then this would be an indictment on the coalition in New South Wales, an absolute indictment. It would be unforgivable for the New South Wales Coalition if they don't stand
firm with Chris Mins on this. Now, in relation to my story tonight that the Prime Minister has put pressure on the police, I've contacted the Prime Minister's office for comment.
They haven't replied.
A spokeswoman for the AFP said the timing of Monday's press conference was decided by the Joint counter Terror Team, which included New South Wales Police, and she said the AFP's priority has been to ensure community safety, investigate those responsible for the alleged crime, provide the truth to the Jewish community, and that the investigations were ongoing. All right, Wentworth mp A Legrispender's sister has counseled an event at the last minute that she was meant to host tonight
with a highly offensive pro Palestinian activist. Fashion designer Bianca Spender had sold tickets to an event in conversation with the artist Monica Rani Ruter. Now, this artist has posted some pretty extreme views regarding Israel and the hostages online. She re shared a video of the hostage o Meer Shemtov kissing the Hamas captive on stage, and the caption of that reshared post was they tell us these people had been plucked from the depths of hell, delivered from
the clutches of monsters. Yet here the hostages are kissing the very people we are taught to fear. Perhaps the real horror was never in Gaza, but in the stories we let ourselves believe. Another very offensive post, she shared another photograph of that kiss of the hostage, which we all know was forced. But in this post it said, and I'm quoting an undoing of the script of the roles assigned of the carefully and near delusion that some lives are worth grieving while others deserve.
To dissolve into statistics.
Yet another bizarre reshared post claim that Israel has been harvesting Palestinian's organs without consent. Now, we contacted Bianca Spender for comment today and we got the reply that the event for tonight was counseled. We also reached out to a Legraspender and her office said that this event has nothing to do with a Legraspender. We understand it is not even happening now. I understand tickets were still being sold yesterday and even this morning, so it was canceled at the eleventh hour.
Now why is this relevant?
Well, of course, the leg Respender is the MP for Wentworth, which has the largest Jewish population of.
Any electorate in the country.
This would be seriously tone deaf for her sister, of all people, to consider giving someone a platform who holds such outrageous views. All right, let's bring in now our regular Thursday panel, Matt Canavan and Basil Zemplus. Great to see you both. I want to start with this wombat story. So this was something we hadn't covered earlier this week. I mean, it started going viral yesterday that a wombat was taken by a baby wombat was taken by a
TikTok viral influencer, separated from its mother. Now why I want to talk about it tonight is that the level of outrage it's attracted from the Prime Minister, from Tony Burke, who's threatened to counsel this woman's visa or stop her from coming to the country again, and also from Penny Wang is completely at odds with their reaction to hate preachers to any of the other people who they've happily
brought into the country. Let's have a look at some of that reaction from the Prime Minister, from Penny Wan.
To take a baby wombat from its mother and clearly causing distress from the mother is just an outrage. And you know, I suggest to this so called influencer maybe she might try some other Australian animals. Take a baby crocodile from its mother, and see how you go there. Take another animal that can actually fight back, rather than stealing a baby wombat from its mother, See how you go there.
I actually just saw that as I was sort of prepping for your for the for this interview, and it looked pretty dreadful, didn't it. I'll leave those sorts of questions to Tidy Burke and then to the authorities, but really it's leave the.
One but alone.
And Tony Burke has released a statement saying his department is working through the conditions on a current visa determining whether immigration law has been breached. He says, either way, given the level of scrutiny that will happen if she ever applies for a visa again, I'll be surprised if she even bothers now.
Tony Burke wouldn't even give a comment.
When I reported last week that a pro hasbela hate preacher was set to arrive in Australia, his department canceled that visa basil. This hypocrisy from this government is astounding.
Sherry.
I think it's less about the hypocrisy, although I absolutely appreciate why we can say there is quite a deal of hypocrisy here. I think this is all about diversion and distraction. This is an easy hit for the Prime Minister and his senior team. We all love cuddly animals, we all love Australia. We put the two together and the Prime Minister thinks an easy hit here. People will
look at that and yes, they'll start commenting. This will go off on some social media and it means people won't be talking about tariffs, they won't be talking about caravans, they won't be talking about the economic situation which is hurting every day Australians. So to me, this just seems straight out of the playbook Delay, distract and deny the topics the airspace that they don't want people talking about.
I mean, Matt Canavan.
This seems to be me the perfect example of the weakness of this government. The only thing they can be tough on is an influencer who momentarily separated a baby won bat from its mother and then returned it.
Yeah.
Look, I think Basil makes good points there that especially the Prime Minister there clearly had a pre can line about the crocodiles.
He's obviously thought.
Of that about that long and hard in the bathroom before coming out for the interview. Wouldn't it be better for if he had spent more time thinking about how to bring down the cost of living seeing electricity prices going up again today, more time, as you've highlighted, focusing on those people in our country are doing real harm to our social cohesion and harmony. And look, so sure I thought the only one that was sensible in that
package of Penny Wong. She's sort of said, oh, well, I've only just seen it, and I'm in the same bit. I only just looked at it because we're talking about it tonight. Yeah, it's not appropriate, but surely there are bigger things for the Prime Minister and our major ministers to focus on our country.
No, exactly. It's absolutely bizarre.
Now we're seeing that the Trump administration is working to deport speaking of actual tough action to deport a Columbia University pro Palestinian student activist who's been arrested amid the crackdown on anti American and anti Semitic activity on campuses.
Now they've been protests after the.
Department of Homeland Security alleged that Mahmud Khalil led activities aligned to her musk Basil.
Why aren't we seeing.
These sort of actions here at Australian universities.
Well, it's a very different approach, isn't it. And I think you take the temperature from the leadership of the nation. We know that the Prime Minister has really walked both sides of this street. Contrast that with the American leadership that's been very firm, very hard and very strong, and therefore that's the tone that has been set in the
United States. It's such a such a difference in how it is being approached and university's here continuing to happen each way, bet and very be very soft on this sort of stuff. And then many Australians look at what's happening in the United States and say that's the sort of leadership that we want on this topic and this issue. But it's not happening here.
That's right, No, exactly.
Look, we hear today that power bills are probably going to increase by as much as two hundred dollars a year depending on where you live, coming starting from this July Matt Canavan, you know, I talk about this a bit later.
With Angus Taylor.
But this was a central campaign promise from Albert easierhead of the last election to lower power bills by two hundred and seventy five dollars. Yet they just keep going up.
They keep going up, up and up under this government. Despite all the promises that we're told that renewable energy is cheaper. Why hasn't the installation of more renewable energy, more win, more solid this government wants to do. Why hasn't that lowered your power bill? They cannot answer that question. As you say, they promised a turner and seventy five dollars cut. After these figures, today you're seeing power bill increases or the average power bill under these default offers
of up to eight hundred dollars extra up. So there one thousand dollars more than one thousand dollars behind. So we're going to go to a tour of seventy field dollars be lower. They're actually ending up eight hundred dollars higher just.
Within three years.
This is in three years.
Of this government.
Can we afford another eight hundred dollars increase if you vote for labor again. People are already struggling, And keep in mind all of these power bill increases then flow through to the cost of doing business, especially in your grocery aisle, because all the production of food requires a lot of energy. That's why your grocery bills are going up to.
Basil.
You've just obviously had an election campaign and I should say congratulations to you because you're not quite there yet, I don't think, but it does look like you will be.
The new Liberal MP for the state seat of Church Lends. Is that right?
That's right, Sherry, Yes, thank you. Not officially declared, but expected to be done on the weekend.
Yes, that's sure.
Look probably a much closer fight than you were expecting. Was cost of living not a big issue in Wa?
Interesting it didn't seem to play out that way, and although cost of living was made of focus, there were very substantial swings against the labor government and from a federal point of view, really interestingly in the areas and in the marginal seats federally, there was a big swing away from the state labor government. That does auger well for the coalition heading into this coming federal election. Cost of living was a factor, but it wasn't the overriding factor.
And look, to be honest, a huge government with big resorts is against a very undemanned opposition. I think that was part of the story here as well.
And there's been a lot of speculation while we're talking about your results, whether you you know, are interested in challenging for the leadership of the State Liberal Party.
Is that something you are considering, Sherry.
We don't know who's in our party room at this stage, and we'll have a clearer picture comes Saturday and pat potentially into next week before all of those positions are finals. By the way, church Lands is considered one of them. It's just that the counting has not been officially declared. But until such time as we know who's in the party room then it's very difficult to project beyond that. And we'll do that as a team once we know who's in our team.
So this time next Thursday we could be having the State Liberal leader on our panel.
That would be fun if he gets that.
I hope you don't get a buffalo.
Will He's not going to give us the please're going to stick with us nowhere.
I'd rather be on a Thursday.
Night than right he Yeah, exactly, And it's earlier in Perth anyway, It's only five pm where you are, so easy time.
I'm in my pajamas, still got out of my pajamas yet here.
In Perth, sticking in Perth.
Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio, as in the Hollywood actor, has slammed a mine expansion in Wa over concerns that it'll impact and endangered species. Has said this in an Instagram post, Matt, It's really interesting when you have Hollywood actors worrying about mine expansions in Wa, when they're not even Australian and they don't even understand what's actually going on here.
You reckond.
Leonardo DiCaprio spent much time thinking about the gas fields of Western Australia. I think this might be pre canned. And sometimes, you know, sometimes I actually think maybe it's the oil and gas industry that pay these Hollywood starts to do this, because I actually think it undermines their case massively. I mean, people just see this stuff and shake their heads. I means, if they're going to listen listen to lectures from people living in Hollywood about what
should happen in Western Australia, it's absurd. It doesn't work and we should let Australians make this decision, not people from California.
Bazzer very quickly.
What do you think we loved him in Wolf of Wall Street. We loved him, Titanny. We've got no interest whatsoever in what he thinks about our natural resources.
Leo.
Stick to what you're good at, and it's not commenting on West Australian affairs, that's for sure.
No, there you go, oh too true?
All right, Matt Canavan, Basil Zempler's great to have you both as always, Thanks Sherry. All right, Still to come on the show in a raining Attorney Elka Lebon will be live in studio to discuss her incredible advocacy and the plight of women at the United Nations. Plus my interview with Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor a bit later.
Welcome back.
Well, there's been global outrage after the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women got underway this week, shared by none other than Saudi Arabia, the country with the shocking record of women's rights has been tasked with a commission that's supposed to empower women and promote gender equality. This is just further proof that the United Nations is now an entirely discredited organization. Now Hillel Noya, our friend
from United Nations Watch. He says that electing Saudi Arabia as global chair of protecting women's rights is like putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank. Now for more on this, I'm delighted to be joined live in studio by Iranian attorney Elka Levon. Elica, thank you very much for your time, and welcome to Australia.
Thank you. Look, what's your reaction to this news?
And not just Saudi Arabia but a man his name is Ambassador ol Wassel. He's actually chairing the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
How inappropriate is this?
I mean, it's really shocking because you know, we've had just this similar incident where we had the Islamic regime in Iran that was chairing the Status of Women, and you know, the Iranian community engaged in all of these efforts to have them removed because it was obviously so inappropriate, and then for them to remove them and then have Saudi Arabia instead, it's a little bit confusing, but also just you know, confirms again the fact that you know
the UN is just like you said, a discredited organization, such an illegitimate organization, you know, where it's obvious that's what's more important to them. What's more important to the UN is presenting this sort of farce of multiculturalism, you know, and you know, inclusivity at the cost of actual women's rights and human human rights.
You know, no, one hundred percent.
Now you wouldn't know her, but we've had an Australian politician here, convadamer Payment in recent weeks come out with Iranian propaganda and say how incredible Iran has been when it comes to human rights and the treatment of women.
You don't know who she is, Yeah, I can't remember.
Vaguely, Yeah, you set her strike, Yeah, I mean, look, she said something about how you know women are allowed to participate in democratic processes. Well, first of all, there are no democratic processes, right. You have something that fronts as a democracy, where you might have three branches of government, as you have everywhere else, but over that the overwatching thing is velayeta faggi, which is the system of the supreme leader, and the supreme leader is the one that
makes all the decisions. So you kind of have this fast government and there's no real participation in democracy. And then I also just gave the example of you know, it's kind of like saying, you know, women were allowed to participate in Nazi Germany. That's not anything to be proud of to say that, you know, women were able admitted into the Nazi regime. It's just women being a
part of it doesn't make it legitimate. It's not like you're looking for feminism in Nazism, right And so if she thinks that it's such a wonderful place to be, I don't know why she isn't there, right, So, I think the actions speak louder than words.
No.
Indeed, now, you as an incredible advocate for the Jewish community here around the world and in Israel right after October seven, what made you speak at so strongly?
Yeah?
So, I had been advocating for the Runnian people for about a year before that, after the murder of a young woman, Massagena Amini for showing a little bit of her hair. And I found that at that time, you know, people were really on ward with what I was explaining about terrorism and all of these things. And then post October seventh, I noticed that there was a completely different narrative that was emerging, which was that you know, these
are not the terrorists that you are talking about. These are a separate group of freedom fighters who are nothing like those terrorists. And I'm just like, well, explain to me how they're different, you know. And then so when I saw this sort of developing narrative that was very progy Had, it made me realize that, you know, this ideological war, this ideological battle, is not going to be one piece meal where we sort of get people to
understand this, but not that it's one thing. And unless people understand g Had from a global perspective, they're not going to understand any of it. So that made me kind of commit to correcting the record on that, specifically when it comes to October seventh and everything that happened there.
I mean, the reframing Jihades in Gaza as freedom Fritus has also been by the so called women's groups, feminist groups, yes, official bodies and just the women's groups on social media as well. Yes, you know, do you feel like it's a losing battle. You know, you have a big following on social media, but it just seems overwhelming.
Yeah, And that word reframing is actually the perfect word that you used because it was a word used by a KGB defector, Micha Pucheppa when he was talking about Soviet disinformation.
That's responsible for that.
And I have my necklace that says there's in formatsia.
But he basically explains, so what does your necklace mean?
Disinformation? Oh wow, yeah, and someone made it for me. It's just I say it all the time. So it's
a little bit silly and funny. But he actually has a chapter in his book, or more than a chapter, I guess, he talks about in his book disinformation where you know, Soviet agents were disseminated out into the world, a million agents that were spreading this disinformation and working with you know, different Islamist and she had or our nationalist groups and talking about how to exactly do that, how to reframe this as a liberation movement where originally
Zionism was the liberation movement. So they taught them how to reverse that and makes Zionism a colonialist movement even though it was a return to their ancestral homeland. She had this movement as a liberation movement.
We've got to fight back against that narrative.
Had el absolute pleasure to have you here and in Australia. Welcome, Thank you just arrived today, sure very much, jetlagged. Still to come the latest revelation on the caravan, Plus I'm going to have a former AFP detective here to discuss, plus my interview with Angus Taylor up next.
Welcome back.
We Angus Taylor is coming up. But now let's return to our exclusive report tonight that alban Easy pressured police to ultimately downplay the caravan plot and the lead up to the election, and for more. I'm joined now by former AFP Detective Superintendent David Craig.
David, thank you very much for your time.
Thank you.
Look, what's your.
Reaction to these allegations by police who are furious at interference.
Look, it is absolutely abhorrent if there has been political interference at a federal level into a characterrorism investigation, then that jeopardizes the very integrity of the premier law enforcement agency of this country and it is completely unacceptable. Every officer in the AFP swhears an oath of office or an affirmation of office, the investigational Doctrine, the Code of Conduct, the AFP Regulations, the AFP Act, which establishes the AFP.
It's all about being impartial, it's all about being a political and to coin an American term, no fear or favor with the investigation.
So the AFP and New Southwes Police had determined that the caravan packed with explosives wasn't a live terrorist, that it was organized crime behind it.
The alban Ezy government was briefed.
The alban Ezy government then put pressure on the AFP to get that information into the public domain. Now New Southwes police were still doing counter surveillance, they were doing coercive interrogations. Their investigation was live and they were pushing back saying we're not ready to put this in the public domain yet.
You know, can you understand how they would have felt that their investigations could have been jeopardized.
It would have jeopardized their investigation. I've got no doubt that investigative strategies would need to be modified if they were investigating on the premise that this was not publicly available information. And then suddenly they are pressured by the AFP or the federal government who wouldn't even reveal when the Prime Minister or Tony Burke was actually briefed on when this was actually revealed, when he was actually told
about the caravan in the first place. It's very incongruous and I have to say it smells there's something a little bit rotten with this.
I spoke to a couple of nights ago when I first found out that AFP had withheld the identity of this Australian mastermind criminal based offshore. They'd withheld the identity of that person from New Southell's Police. Well, I found out today that the reason they did that is that they say they were concerned about New Southellans Police leaking
it now. To have this level of distrust between two agencies that are part of a joint counterterrority, to me, that's highly alarming when it comes to something as serious as national security.
Yeah.
Absolutely, there cannot be any daylight between any agencies working together in a cohesive way on counterterrorism investigations. And that has been my experience. I haven't seen any political interference coming down from you know, the head offices of the AFP or from the federal government before. I've always been
able to investigate things impartially and apolitically. I'm very shocked by these investigations and the cohesive nature of the joint counacteris and teams in every state and territory that we are joined at the hip and we work together in all aspects of the investigations.
Well, this has been a major breakdown in the relationship between the Federal Police and the New South Wales Police.
I mean, how can there be.
Ongoing trust or ongoing confidence in that cooperation.
Look, this is very, very damaging and extremely messy and I have to say that this it really does not seem right to me. The way the AFP has been avoiding a lot of questions about this investigation and then suddenly apparently pushes for these particular things to be revealed. It's not the sign of an impartial investigation. It seems like the AFP may be getting pulled and pushed in the direction of the federal government. That's what it seems like to.
Make the motivations of the criminal mastermind or the person at least paying the petty criminals is still unclear. Open lines of inquiry include, you know, a more lenient terms of their status of some sort, or maybe they're being paid by foreign actor or anti Semitism, all those motivations are still on the table.
This is very difficult area to investigate.
It's extremely difficult to investigate. And there's also the outstanding issue of the incredible or the less than credible source. I hope they're not one of the same persons and they.
Are indeed, David Craig, really appreciate your time.
All right, coming up after the break Angus Taylor on Labour's broken promise on power bills.
That's next well, in just a couple of months time, Angus.
Taylor could be Australia's a federal treasurer. I spoke to him just a little while ago. Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor, thank you very much for your time.
Good to be with you.
Sharing At the last election, the Albanese government campaigned on bringing down power bills by two hundred and seventy five dollars a year. We've learnt today that power bills are set to soar in July by up to two hundred dollars a year. If you are treasurer at the next election, what would you do to bring them down?
Well?
Can I say that it's even worse than what you say. Everything you say is right, but what we've seen since Labor came to power is power bills are thirteen hundred dollars up to thirteen hundred dollars higher than was promised by Labor with their two hundred and seventy five dollar reduction. Nine percent increase in the later's numbers coming through. The biggest increases in Western Sydney. And Lord knows in western and southwestern Sydney that I know well because my electrid
extends into that area. They cannot afford it, and so this is absolutely diabolical. The answer, which is your question, the answer to this is more supply in as quickly as possible. We'll continue to see people put household solar on the roofs. Good stuff, go for it, but we need gas getting into the system fast. That's what I did when I was an energy minister. I focused on working with the gas supplies to get more gas into the domestic network. We saw prices come down both for
gas and for electricity. That is the key in the short to medium term and then longer term, we've got to have that zero missions baseload nuclear power that is absolutely essential to have a grid that's going to sustain manufacturing, data centers and everything else we do in this country into the longer term, and that's why nuclear is so important.
Peter Dutton said today that Chris Bowen should be sacked, that the Prime Minister should sack him over this.
Do you agree this is his fault.
He's not up to the job. The blud just cannot get the real job done, which just to deliver affordable, reliable power to Australians. He's completely failed. You know, the worst pricing outcomes are in his own electorate of mcmahton. This bloke has let the side down. He is absolutely hopeless and he should go.
We've seen concerns of a US recession this week, partly off the back of the Trump trade tariffs and the reaction to that. Are you concerned there would be a flow on effect to that in Australia.
Oh, we're deeply concerned about what's happening in the global economy. But the real problem is back at home where we've seen a collapse in Australians standard of living, so eight percent in two and a half years, completely unprecedented, Chary, We've never seen this before. That are going back to nineteen fifty. Never seen this before, not in the seventies, not in the eighties, not in the early nineties, not in the GFC. We've never seen a collapse like this before.
It's also the worst of any of our peer countries in the world. What we're seeing in terms of living standards, in living standards, which is the per capita recession, well it's absolutely linked to the seven quarters of per capita recession that we've seen. But what it essentially means is people are able to buy eight percent less with their incomes in terms of goods and services, eight percent less than just two and a half years ago. Never said it before. Now what it means is global shocks are
really dangerous in that environment. You don't have any shock absorbers left, and so Australians are already really struggling. They're working extra hours, they're cutting back on spending. I was out with small businesses today and we're just hearing how consumers are changing their behavior because they have to, they've got no choice, and another global shock on the horizon. This is a massive problem. No doubt. Label will say it's all someone else's fault. We've seen Jim Charmers go
over to Washington, DC recently. He got all the photo ops and he came back with absolutely diddly squad. He got nothing done over there with avoiding these tariffs, so we're deeply concerned about where it might go from here.
The ABEZ celebrated the quarter of a percent rate cut. As you say, people are still hurting. It does seem to have given the Prime Minister a bounce though. Do you think the perception in the community is that the cost of living crisis, that the end is in sight because of the one rate cut, Well.
It's not insight. The facts are that on the government's own plans, their own plans, we're not going to see our standard of living restored to where it was when Labor came to power until twenty thirty. The RBA says it's going to be twenty thirty one. So whichever way you look, it's a long long way back. It's a long journey. The truth is that that rate cut was
too little, too late for Australian families. If you've got a typical mortgage in Sydney, yeah, seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, you've paid an extra fifty thousand dollars in interest costs in the last two and a half years compared to what you were paying before that, and that's after tax income Shari, I mean this is deep pain being felt by hard working Australians who are trying to
get ahead aspirational Australians. If we lose the Australian dream of owning your home, of having the opportunity or option to start and build a business over time, if that hope fades, we're in deep trouble as a country and that's why we can't afford another three years of labor.
There's been confusion over the insurance policy from the coalition, conflicting messages between you and Peter Dutton. Is there still an active area to be discussed of coalition policy? You have you decided whether the divesture policy will extend to ensure us?
Well, I don't think there have been conflicting views. What we've said very clearly is that we'll take action in industries or sectors where there's clearly been anti competitive behavior or abuse of market power, and we have I've led that, I led it in energy label, were brought kicking and screaming way back when we were in government on that and that was that helped and contributed to bringing down
energy prices when we were in government. Of course, we've lost all of those gains of the last two and a half years. And more recently, I've worked with my colleagues across the Coalition to put in place, well thought through, with careful safeguards, measures to penalize anti competitive behavior, abusive market power in the supermarkets and hardware sectors. So we're prepared to do that where there's clear evidence.
And that's the same with insurance.
Well, we're prepared to do that where there's clear evidence of abusive market power, anti competitive behavior, or clear suspicion that that's going on. Now. The truth is that's not part of our policy for insurance right now. But the point that Peter's made and I've made is that any sector, if we see that anti competitive behavior, if we see that bad behavior, we're prepared to take it on.
Okay, just a couple of other areas.
Reports in the papers today that Coalition MPs have they been airing their grievances complaining that you haven't released enough policies yet.
What's your response to the MP who leaked this.
Well, you know, you get a lot of free advice in this game that I'm in yours too, I'm sure, and that's the nature of it. But the truth is we've released i think the most substantial policy platform already and there's more to come of any opposition. In recent times.
I mean, we've announced major changes to our energy sector that we've talked about, removing the moratorium on nuclear, getting rid of the Environmental Defenders Office that's stopping gas projects, getting the Bea to lou base and opened up getting more gas supply into our networks, taking on the CFMU in the construction sector, which has got deep links to the criminal underwall, making sure that we're not over regulating
the construction sector with the National Construction Code. I mean, these are all incredibly important policies in key industries like energy, construction, financial services, where it's getting harder and harder to get alone.
But your policy is still to be an out, and.
Of course there is because we've got an election campaign coming up. But these are substantial policies that we've differentiated out of sales versus labor. We've opposed over one hundred billion dollars of spinning that labour's pursued that we think is wrong. For this time. We opposed a divisive voice. We've said that we should be standing in front of one flag, not three. I mean, these are really important policies for a great note.
Are you concerned about the disunity?
Look, we have been a remarkably united coalition through the course of the last two and a half years and that's been a source of much of our strength. United behind the strong leadership of Peter and the contrast of that is the week leadership of Anthony Albanezi, which has been there for all to see.
Just finally, there's a record tax revenue at the moment, the federal government collecting more tax from Australians than ever before. Our income tax thresholds are also among the highest in the world. Is this something you'd consider examining if you won the election.
Well, we absolutely considered when we were lasting government with the stages one, two and three.
Tax cards that was round back.
Of course, Labor decided to throw that out. They're not lovers of aspiration, they're not lovers of Australians wanting to be able to get ahead and know that there's a.
Very broad but again, would you adjust that to show.
About that the best way of course to beat what we've seen which is a twenty four percent increase in personal income taxes being paid. So you're absolutely right, is to beat inflation. That's the most important thing we can do to prevent bracket creep and prevent what we've seen. But we've also announced tax cuts in other areas, accelerated appreciation for small businesses. We are not going to hold on to or accept unrealized capital gains taxes which Labor is pursuing, of course, And okay.
We're almost out of time.
Just finally, i'd love to get your reaction to the story I broke on air just earlier today that the Albanezy government has put pressure on police to publicly release information related to the caravan Terra plot before news Well's police.
Were ready to do that. What's your reaction.
Are you concerned about this alleged interference in a police investigation?
Well?
Absolutely, I mean if Labor, if the Prime Minister has been interfering in a police investigation and pressuring them to do the spin for the government that the government wants, this is completely inappropriate. I was a law enforcement cybersecurity minister. That is not how you should behave when you're in that role or in the Prime Minister. Well, for that matter, it's completely unacceptable. There's some serious questions here for the Prime Minister to answer.
All right, Angus Taylor, really appreciate your time.
Good to be with you show.
Thank you so much.
All right And in some final breaking years before we go thirty seconds, the tailor Telly has just reported that police believe the alleged masked mind behind the caravan terror plot to be this man, Sydney businessman sayet rhan Akka, and according to the Telegraph, he's been darting back and forth between Asia and Turkey, and that he fled Australia by boat while on bail for an alleged six hundred kilogram drug importation. Thank you for joining me this week,
Thanks for your company. Have a lovely and safe long weekend. Here's Paul Mari