Why on Sky News this is Sharry Good Evening bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment, yet the nine network won't hold the perpetrators accountable, and women at nine, from presenters to producers are furious. More on these damning findings and the astonishing tone deaf lack of accountability in a moment also tonight, how it took a Fox News journalist to finally put Kamala Harris under scrutiny and it was too hot for
her to handle. I'll cross live to Washington and analyze that train wreck interview throughout the show, Plus the Lebanese politician taking on Hesbela I'll speak to him lie from Beirut a bit later. Also on the show tonight, Basil zemplus Matt Canavan, Holly Hughes and Moore. But first female staff at Channel nine are furious that not a single perpetrator of sexual harassment or bullying will be held accountable despite a damning review exposing the toxic culture at the network.
Nine has been utterly shamed by the revelations of misconduct inside its newsrooms and offices over years, all of it exposed in graphic detail by an external review into company culture, where one hundred and twenty two past and current employees took part the series allegations grooming, sexual harassment, sexual intimidation, bullying, and abuse of power. Much of this horrific behavior was covered up by the media. Company. Staff was specifically warned
not to complain to human resources. They were ordered to stay silent. This external review was only commissioned after we revealed on this show in May widespread and historic allegations of sexual harassment and toxic culture. Today, the network's board and executives have to confront the terrible misconduct in their ranks that took place under their watch. Yet, even at this moment of truth, nine's leadership is failing to properly
address the problem. Women at the nine Network were devastated and distressed today to be told by Acting CEO Matt Stanton that none of the repeat offenders would face consequences. At an all staff meeting, Stanton admitted that there were a few individuals who were raised repeatedly in the allegations, but he said they'd remain working at the company no action would be taken against them. Nine presenters Deborhnight, Dimity Clancy, and Amelia Adams were among those who questioned him about this.
One presenter is understood to have said to Stanton that the onus was on him and the board to protect employees and on behalf of the one hundred and twenty two people who complaint. Well, I understand that Stanton responded that the report was not about individuals, but about systemic cultural change. He said that if any staff wanted to proceed with formal complaints against current employees, they were free to do so through nine's official processes. This is despite
the evidence women had already given to this thorough external inquiry. Now, his response on this matter in particular infuriated employees who felt they'd already lodged their complaints in lengthy sessions that were at times understandably very distressing. After learning there'd be
no accountability, some staff were in tears. One woman at nine told me today, I think it's really sad that we were asked to relive our awful experiences only to be told it was never about holding any individual to account. Another said, if there are still leaders in our network who came up again and again, why are they not being held accountable? And a third female employee at nine told me and I quote we're saddened by the report, but we're even more upset that people aren't going to
be held accountable. Even a current Affair host, Alison Langdon, addressed the issue on air tonight, urging leadership to act well.
Every day we ask you to share your stories to right wrongs, and tonight, if you'll spare me a moment, I want to talk about my own workplace. There was a darning report released today in Tonight's Toxic Culture of bullying and Harassments. It's a really hard read because many of the stories are from women I deeply admire and work closely with.
Ain is real.
Their experiences are real, and I have so much respect for them, and I know why they spoke up. Transparency is important. Sharing the ugliness is via to if anything's to change, it is the very business that we're in. So it's over to management now to act and to show leadership.
And the report couldn't have been more confrontic. It found that across the company, around one quarter of employees had been sexually harassed. In Nine's broadcast division, this was far higher, with forty four percent of women saying they'd experienced sexual harassment. So that's nearly half of all women in nine's television division, About fifty two percent of nine employees had experienced or witnessed abuse of power or authority. Nearly half of all
employees had experienced bullying, discrimination, or harassment. And this report included the broadcast, radio, digital sales, publishing, corporate divisions as well as stan Now. In the review and it was tough reading, a nine employee spoke of being groomed by an unnamed male. She said, he also touched me on the bum at the Christmas party, and at other times he'd rubbed my legs under the table. I saw him
do it to other women. Another staff member was quoted in the report describing how inappropriate conduct had been covered up by a female employee. She said, the day after it the inappropriate workplace behavior happened, this individual came up to me to talk about it. I thought she wanted to see if I was okay or if I wanted to do anything about it, but no, she was there to make sure that I didn't say anything, that I
didn't complain. She made it very clear that it would be in my best interests not to make an issue out of it. Another comment included in The report states that it is drilled into us, never go to They are very much on the side of the company. Their attitude is it's not our fault. This happened. Make no mistake. This is the me too movement hitting one of the country's biggest media companies. The allegations are damning but also very sad. The working environment for women has been unacceptable
over many years. It wasn't only sexual harassment either, but details of bullying and a toxic culture. The report quotes one staff member speaking about being put on ice by their manager. She said, everyone calls it punishment island. When I was younger, I would be in tears about something like this. I've now become disengaged. I'm exhausted by the games. There are allegations against a female employee who was alleged to have bullied a colleague to the point where they resigned,
but then she bullied that woman's replacement as well. While nine's chair Catherine West was only recently elevated to the role, she's been a non executive director since twenty sixteen. In an email to staff today, she admitted the company had undeniable problems with their workplace culture. She said no department is immune, and the results are concerning across the company. She said, we are deeply sorry. We unreservedly apologize. You
should not have had to endure this conduct. Now, let's go to some of the other damning allegations, because in the broadcast division, employees claim that male reporters are automatically assigned all the serious, hard hitting stories, whether it's politics, finance, they are One woman was quoted in the report saying that it's only the male employees who were taken seriously. Another comment included in the report is that women reporters seem to be there just to look pretty. Women's right
to report seems tied to appearance. A woman presenter was told when she got pregnant, why would you go and do that. The level of abuse and mistreatment contained in this robot that's now been laid bare for all of us to see is to me a disgrace, particularly the role that some played in demanding the conduct be covered up. Nine took the time and the expense to conduct this external review, and it can't be for nothing. For a media organization that it's for years demanded that others are
held accountable for their actions. Will now as the time for the nine board and executives to practice what they preach. The perpetrators must be held accountable. The women who suffered at their hands deserve justice and their voices to be heard. I'm going to come back to this in a moment because The Daily Telegraph's chief entertainment writer Jonathan Moran will join me to discuss it. It is an important issue. Also coming up in the show Holly Hughes, Adam Crichton
and retired Major John Spencer. But let's bring in now National Senator Matt Canavan and Perth Meare Basil Zemplis. Welcome to you both. Now, I want to start with what is the biggest news surely in the world today, Kamala Harris's interview on Fox News with journalist Brett Bayer. So this was a half an hour interview, but I tell you what, I could have watched it for a lot longer.
This was the first time the Vice president had been properly grilled on the immigration issue, at the border, the border crisis, the economy, her role in the Biden administration, and she just couldn't properly answer any of the questions. Have a look at one of these moments.
How many illegal immigrants would you estimate your administration has released into the country over the last three and a half years.
Well, I'm glad you raised the issue of immigration because I agree with you it is it is a topic of discussion that people want to rightly have And you know what I'm going to talk about.
Yeah, but you're just a number.
Do you think it's one million, three million?
Brett. Let's just get to the point, Okay.
The point is that we have a broken immigration system that needs to be repaired.
So your land Security secretary said that eighty five percent of apprehension.
I'm not finished.
We have a refreshment of six million people have been released into the country, and let me just finish. I'll get you the question, I promise you.
I was beginning to answer, Matt the border crisis is unquestionably her weakest area with Americans, and you'd think she had some lines worked out for what she was going to say, but she just couldn't answer the questions.
Look, Shari, I think this just exposes the very tough hand that any Democrat candidate would have right now because the current administration has lost control of things like the are pretty important issues, and it's quite remarkable to be trying to run as a candidate, almost impossible to run as a candidate saying hey, I'm going to turn the page. But I'm also the incumbent vice president who was responsible
for all of these issues. There's I think a klonel of absurdity at the heart of Karmela's reelection effectively re election campaign here that just gets exposed under any kind of sustained spotlight like this. It's probably why she's down in the polls. It's pretty hard to see here in the last few weeks how the Democrats regained momentum. I think she's obviously gone on this media blitz because they're.
Not winning right now.
They're clearly not doing that well, and she's trying and desperately to do anything to claw back. But with the record they've got to run on all. Her only answer during an interview, and I watched it like you, the only answer was I'm not to hold Trump.
It's probably not going to be enough.
Yeah, I think that's right, Basil. She turned every art into an attack on Donald Trump because she couldn't speak about her own performance, particularly on areas like the bottom and we just looked at that, but Brett bay is excellent questioning went on to speak about one of the women who had been killed by an illegal immigrant, who should have been behind bars, who would have been behind bars under the Trump administration, had Kamala Harris not reversed
so many of those reforms that were in place, measures that were in place. And you know, she couldn't even apologize to the family. She said, I'm deeply sorry that this happened, but she couldn't take responsibility for it.
So many mixed messages and so much confusion from her, and really there was a lack of preparation. You can see that honeymoon period that she enjoyed when Joe Biden first stood down and she became the candidate and the easy interviews like Oprah for example, that came with it.
Isn't she longing for those days?
So she takes the move, or the bold step if you liked, to go for a harder interview, thinking if I perform well, I can turn it around, and then performs abysmally. So she's gone backwards on the strength of one interview. And as Matt said, how does she get the momentum back? Now it's almost impossible, and what it
has done is exposed her true positions. And for the record, she didn't or couldn't answer that question about how many immigrants had been released into the United States, which was revealing in itself.
She would know the figure. She just didn't want it to be used, probably in an attack out against her. But I want to have a look at another moment, because she was asked, you know, she talks about Donald Trump's mental state. But then Brett Bayer asked her when she first noticed that Joe Biden was suffering from mental decline? Have a look at that.
When did you first notice that President Biden's mental faculties appeared diminished?
Jill Biden. I have watched him from the Oval office to the situation room, and he has the judgment and the experiment and experienced to do exactly what he has done in making very important decisions on behalf of the American people.
Joe Biden.
Jill Biden is not on the ballot, understanding Donald Trump, Donald Trump.
Matt this is a relevant question. He's the current president of the United States. Find he is not on the ballot, but he's the current president. And as Bayas said to her, you've been having weekly lunch meetings with him. You know, what obligation did she have do you think Matt to actually speak up about whether the president was incapable of doing his job.
Look, the problem the problem for Kamala though, Shahi, she can't. She can hardly say yeah, he's not mentally up to it. And I found that out in this day because, as you say, he's still the president and we've got a situation where there's massive conflicts in multiple regions around the world. It's very very scary if that is the reality. So she can't do that. If she doesn't say that it is true, then why is she the candidate not Joe Biden.
It's very messy. It reminds you a lot of the situation that Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd found themselves in years ago, when Julia was trying to both defend the record of Kevin Rudd but also defend the fact that she just kniped him in the back weeks.
Before an election.
And apparently the relationship between Carla and Joe Biden's people is now probably a similar state of affairs as there was there between Julia and Kevin all those years ago.
Sherry.
I think on that one we actually have to give it to Camalais. It was an awkward answer, but it was the only answer she could give because, as Matt said, if she said, oh, yes, I did notice or note mental decline at a certain period, then the entirety of the presidency that where or they are now going through at the moment, and indeed her own vice presidency would have all sorts of questions over it. It was a killer question. Credit to the journal, magnificent question. She actually
answered it pretty well. Believe it or not.
I genuinely think he did such an excellent job. I said he was going to you know, I said on the show last night or the night before that I didn't understand why Donald Trump was attacking Fox for doing the interview because a lot of the other networks have been doing pre records, They've been doing edits, refusing to release transcripts afterwards. Brett Bay was always going to do a tough interview. That was obvious. But it has exposed
her in a way. And you know a lot of people today said, oh, he talked over her too much. I'm sorry. He had half an hour to do a proper interview with potentially the next president of the free world.
We needed to get those answers out of her, and I wish she would have answered his last question, you know, he asked her about Iran and the billions of dollars that went to Iran under the Biden administration and how that has been used for terror by Hamas and HEZBLA, and she just kept speaking over him because she wouldn't
have been able to answer that question. So good on him for doing such a great interview and his team probably all right, let's turn to negative gearing labor and ps A backgrounding against the Prime Minister again, this after his property splurge was revealed this week. Two insiders told The Australian that there's now a renewed push for negative gearing reforms. Richard Miles strongly shut down this speculation today.
Have a look, no jewels have.
Been opened here. We're not doing need of gearing. That's been made manifestly clear and none of that has changed.
Okay, but negative gearing options are being worked up by Treasury, but you're categorically ruling out any changes.
Just to be clear, I just did, and not only have I done that, The Prime Minister has made that clear, Matt.
It doesn't kill it off though, right, it's off the table until it's on.
The table, exactly right.
And we've now got a government where it's clearly divided, and there are a bunch of people within the Labor Party have lost complete confidence in the political strategy and now of their current leader, the Prime Minister. So there are clearly moves to think about a change of leader before the next election. That's why clearly Jim Charmers leaked out. I think I'm pretty sure it came from Jim or
Jim's people that these issues were being considered. You could tell the Prime mister Bristle that that suggestion a few weeks ago, and there will be this move for to do something and I'll just be completely absurd, though, whyonn't it chari that if we all face a higher tax rate on property because the Prime Minister bought a house.
I mean, that's what's being argued for here by some of these Labor and ps that because the Prime Minster bought a mansion, we're going to put property taxes up on everybody.
Why do we have to copy? This is absurd?
But the government is completely at sea right now. We've got major challenges facing the world that we've discussed. We've got some of the highest energy prices in the world. This country, we're losing a manufacturing industry, our housing. We can't provide houses for people, the people living on the street in and the government is completely at sea. They are lost and it's a bit of a shame here. I don't see how they get through the election like this. They're completely at odds with each other.
You don't see how they get through the election, as in you think they're going to lose.
I think, well, I think there's that's definitely on the cards. Obviously, I think it's very competitive. Obviously there's a challenge for us to win a number of seats we need. But it's hard to see how there's much of a choice of this train people right now because the Labor Party don't have a clear plan for this country. Is that we've got a clear plan on housing. They're to cut migration. We can let people use their superannuation to buy it.
Yeah.
Yeah, First, I'm going to cut government spending to bring that inflation. We've got a plan.
These guys don't, Basil, you know. I think the story this week about the Prime Minister's purchase of the four point three million dollar beach house, not even his main residence, has cut through to Australians and it's just such a terrible perception issue that the Prime Minister doesn't understand what they're going through during a cost of living and housing a fidability crisis. Do you think this further derails the PM's chance of winning a game.
There's no doubt about that. It was a bad look, badly received by the Australian public at a time when there's a housing crisis. We all know that in the cost of living crisis on top, I got to say, I defend the Prime Minister's right, or any other politicians right. If they've done well put some money away, they can afford the deposit and they can make the repayments. Good luck to them. That's what we encourage in this country. We want people to work hard, create their own destiny,
go for it and be able to do it. However, the timing absolutely appalling.
I also thought, for what.
It's worth, Scott Morrison was entitled to take a holiday with his family. These two moments have been compared and I think the analogies are not far off. I think they're very similar in terms of the impact of that person standing with the Australian public, and that's just unfortunate for both of them as it turns out.
Yeah, it'd be interested to see some research on it because this could be the moment that he loses the election, no question. All right, Matt Canavan, Basil Zemplus, great to see you both. All Right, Well, let's return to tonight's top story, where Nine Entertainment has been rocked by a bombshell report which found that the network has a systemic cultural issue with abuse of power, bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment.
Let's bring in now the Daily Telegraph's chief entertainment writer, Jonathan Moran. Jonathan, thank you for joining us. Look, this is a very sad story, very sobering reading, really devastating. I know that you've been speaking with some of the women since May this year, as I have the women who've been brave enough to speak out about this and
force this review to go ahead. But Jamo, what can you tell me about just how much anger there was today when the acting CEO Matt Stanton said that no one who is currently at the network would be held accountable despite repeat allegations.
I personally think it's absolutely disgraceful, and that's what I'm hearing from multiple women that I'm talking to. The Fact is, they've very publicly released this report, very publicly gone out there, and surprisingly, I think many of us have been surprised by how open that is. It's dropped on the website, there's a statement that's gone out and we weren't sure what was going to happen, so that actually surprised me.
It's like sitting at someone's Christmas lunch family table while of fight's going on and just watching it all laid bare in front of us. But what people are angry about, as you said rightly, is to release this report. And so we've made twenty two recommendations. But none of the people that are mentioned in the report, obviously they're not named because they've been taken out, are going to face any real accountability. I mean, what does that say about
this report? The millions of dollars presumably that's gone into being conducting this report and to the people have put their hearts on the line to really relive this experience or these experiences that have gone on for years, decades. It's a very sad state of affairs.
But also, you know, as journalists we always ask when did you know something was happening? At what point in time? The CEO, presumably the board now note that there are current employees who have repeat allegations against them of a serious nature. So how in good conscience can they continue
employing these people without announcing? And you know, I understand the argument that there needs to be fair process, but without even commencing an investigation, how in good conscience can they continue to put staff in Dager in an unsafe environment.
You would argue that this independent review is a fair due course of an investigation, wouldn't you, Sharry? I mean, it's it's just nonsensical to me that this isn't the first step in then taking the next steps to see how they take action.
So the twenty two.
References that they've made are things like looking into their HR policies, revealing that they've done the review, owning it. But what does that actually mean for the people at the coal Face that are there still in the newsroom, still at the desk, still in the offices, feeling unsafe, feeling bullied, feeling hurt, and frankly, it's just not good enough and.
The idea that, as Matt Stanton said to them today, if you want to make a complaint, you can now ring this hotline. It's not going to be the normal HR process as I understand it, there's another process, another hotlines because staff don't trust the regular HR process, so that people have to relive their trauma all over again.
Surely that's unacceptable. When the when the company promised accountability, they held this review, they asked victims to come forward, and now they're saying to them, well, if you want action, you have to do it all over again. How can that be the process that this media company is following.
It is unbelievable. I do have to say that they have fallen on their sword, so to speak, like this is a very damning, damning, damning report. It could not have been worse for them, really, I would say.
So.
They're not hidden from that. And if you read through it's eighty pages, If you read through the statements that are made about the treatment of women, the ogling of them, all of that stuff, the bullying is extreme. And even executives that I've spoken to today at nine were shocked at the depths to which this report has gone.
But you're right, what's next?
And if you were a victim or an alleged victim of this behavior, you would have thought that this independent review would have been that first step, and that that information that they've gone through and bravely recounted would factor into what the next steps would be. It is just unbelievable.
I think one of the other really sad things that you read in the report, and of course we did report this at the time back in May, that a lot of the allegations had been known to some people but had been swept under the rig, had been covered up, but that finding that we reported, that finding was in the report today. It found that people were told not to go to HR, that one female colleague came to someone who'd experienced sexual harassment the night before and said
to her, don't report this, don't take it further. So again, that cover up is so damning and it's so damaging, and it contributes to that unsafe work environment.
Yeah, and people are told if you come forward, then you're never going to work again. And the fact is that these are the people that make those decisions their few jobs, and that's it. So the people that I've spoken to a number of people who don't work there anymore. Their careers are over financially, they're struggling, what do they do? Their mental health is broken. It's a very sad state
of affairs. So yeah, I mean what is next is the massive question is what these people can do either to ask for more assistance to do what can they do with what this report has found? As I said, it's very damning.
It is indeed, and Jamo, we appreciate your time to help us break it down tonight. In just a final shout out to the brave, courageous women and the one hundred and twenty two people in total, current and former staff who went through the trauma of having to relive those experiences for this review. Right, plenty more to come tonight. Australia's birth rate hits rock bottom as the cost of
living source. This means for our economic future. I'll talk about that with my panel Holly Hughes, Jason Morrison later, but first, the only Australian politician in Lebanon's parliament. He's going to join us live from Beirut and he'll speak about why he's fighting against Hesbalah. That's after the break. Welcome back. Well, let's cross live now to Lebanon, where Ihab Mata joins me live. Ihab is a proud Australian citizen. But Ihab, you felt a duty three years ago to
join the Lebanese Parliament to run for elections. Can you tell me how you came to be a politician in Lebanon.
Well, first of all, a very good evening to you, Sherry, very good evening to the audience and to all Australians now. Obviously, being of Tibonese origin, I'm agree to Australia. Forty years ago and along the way, I was following this situation in Lebanon, and I felt pity for the situation in Lebanon,
the corruption on every level, economic and political. In twenty nineteen, there was a political revolution in Lebanon where the people said enough is enough and we felt that the time was right for a new blood to be taken over the political life in Lebanon. So, by the time election was due in twenty twenty two, I felt a sense of obligation towards my country to play a role in the new political pass and party, if you like, so I decided to return to Lebanon to play this role.
I ran as an independent, I was at the head of a ticket and I got elected for many reasons, and one of the reasons that I was elected for was the fact that I am actually an Australian. I spent a lot of my time in Australia. People believe that Australia is one of the best countries in the world, if not the best, and obviously I felt that I was ready to take this journey because of my experience and my tim spent in Australia, where I was able to learn about food management, I was able to learn
that a politician is there to serve the people. I learned that integrity and the transparency in public life is the key to success. And two years on, I'm still here being a dependent, remaining dependent and then trying to fight for a better future for my country.
Anie, have you've been very courageous because you've publicly spoken out against the terror organization Hesbela. I mean, presumably that would endanger put you in danger as well. Your family is with you in Lebanon, and why are you taking a public position and speaking out against Hesbela.
Well, look, for a long time, the majority of Yoganese people believe that we need to have a strong government. We need to government that is uh everpowering, and then there is ruling in Lebanon. Most of Lebanese people believe that the WAYLA exists in its form, its armed form,
is out of the state. So what I'm saying now is something that I've always said, even before entering public life, and that's something that I will continue to say, not to criticize as Balla per se, but to try and then advise them to return back to become a political party. It disarmed a political party and player role like all parties. You can be in a position, you can be, you know, like a coalition, but the existence of an armed mini state within the official state is unacceptable.
This will be difficult to demilitarize Hezbala though I wanted. I mean, Israel has taken out a lot of its leadership, of course, including Hassan Israela, but Iran continues to fund the growth.
Yeah, well, I think, you know, obviously if hits the men on the head. The main issue here is not the conflict between Israel and Lebanon per se.
But we believe that this is.
The conflict between Israel and Iran that has been played out on Lebanese soil because because of the existence of fasball Lave belonging to Iran. And this is what we are trying to say as politicians, we are trying to speak to isabel Lah to make some sense and to them and then encouraging them to come back to being Lebanese, come back to obviously address the interest of Lebanon and then the people of Lebanon and then detached from Iran because what Iran is doing for his ball Lah is
obviously utilizing them to their benefit. And then this is this is becoming a very high and very expensive cost. We have Lebanese villians that have been killed, we have obviously tons of people who have been displaced. We have more than one point five million that have been displaced. We have obviously a large area of the South Blon that has been demolished. So hopefully this is time for Hesbelah to say, well, I want the interest of Lebanon.
Therefore I need to be playing the role of the Lebanese party and then try to detach from Iran.
Yeah, the suffering for the Lebanese people has been devastating, no question the UN Security Council Resolution seventeen oh one that came into effect after the Second Lebanon War in two thousand and six was meant to keep southern Lebanon demilitarized. It was meant to keep Hesbola north of the Latany River. Are you critical of the UN for failing to ensure that Hesbela did stay north and wasn't in a position to start attacking Israel as it did on October eighth last year?
Look to be quite quite honest with you, Sherry, I criticize both parties because post parties did not fully implement and then apply Resolutions seventeen oh one from two thousand and six. So now, obviously we believe that we need to go back to just obeying the resolution, all your resolutions starting by the seventeen oh one and full deployment
of the Lebanese Army of Litani. But at the same time, we want Israel to be respected different implementation of seventeen oh one because we know and then we acknowledge the violation of the seventeen oh one have occurred from both parties since two thousand and six until now. So the
criticism is for all involved. Both parties to come back, and then obviously no solution in the area, no truths in the area will happen, No sense of stability will have open for the people on both sides if we continue to go through a ward and then continue to use weapons as a mean of trying to enforce our opinion. I believe there's no solution but the diplomatic and the political solutions and obviously driven by the UN.
All right, Ahabmata, really appreciate your thoughts and for joining us from Beirut, and we hope you stay safe now still to come after the break, Why the housing crisis is impacting on the birth rate. Jason Morrison and Holly Hughes would join me next and later we're going to return to Kamala Harrison's Fox News interview. Adam Crichton will be on live from Washington, So stay tuned, welcome back. Well, let's bring it now commentator Jason Morrison and Liberal Senator
Holly Hughes. And Holly, of course you're at home because the city in Sydney is basically shut down after that horrific accident on the Harbor Bridge this afternoon. Two people died, so very tragic accident, but yet one accident on the bridge and it shuts down the whole of Sydney. Let's start with the declining birth rate, because we read today that the extent of the housing crisis is now being
blamed for Australia's flatlining birth rate. We've hit the lowest birth rate in modern record, only two hundred and eighty seven thousand babies born last year, so that's a rate of one point five per woman. Jason, it's not surprising that in this cost of living crisis, people are now saying, can that actually afford to have more children?
I'm not surprised at that we've been suffering a replacement issue in Australia.
For a long time number of babies born.
For people who's just been going down, the birth rate's going down, they're not always the same thing because we have to keep bringing people into this country to sort of service it, and we're kind of making up reasons to boost the population without looking at our own issues.
But I think it's deeper than just cost of living.
I actually think society has devalued motherhood a bit, and in many respects, women are kind of told that motherhood's an end of a career, and it comes out and it's said so often, and I know my own wife, I think once wrote quite a courageous piece for the newspaper you're working for at the time where she sort of said, the moment you go on maternity leave, all thenyone wants to know is when you're coming back, not what are you going to do? How long you be
with your kids? And I think we do have an issue that is bigger than just the cost of.
Living and whatever else.
It is our attitude to motherhood and its place in society. And I reckon that's something a country like ours needs to talk about.
I think there's some truth to that. We see in society, this push to get babies into childcare, often as early as possible. The governments are obsessed with childcare holy So I think there is some truth to that. But there's also no question that some families might have chosen to have two or three children, even more, but they just can't afford it. It's too expensive, particularly in the major citis.
But I think Jason's right. I think Jason's absolutely hit the nail on the head. We have devalued motherhood. And interestingly, Jason Lowe in contrast what your life experienced. When I first went on maternity with my baby in politics from a woman with no children, the comment was, we're going to miss you so much, but you know you might be back in sixteen or eighteen years. And I remember turning around her saying, I'm having a baby. But the expectation was that I would leave and not come back
at all. But I look, I have my one for mum, one for dad, one for the country. And every time I see Peter Costello, I say to him, where do I send my one the country to get that information? He's about to turn fourteen a little bit, my favorite.
So let's not say that, you know, I think we.
Have devalued motherhood with devalued children.
I think the.
Rise of the mummy blogger and how terrible motherhood is and how challenging it is and how hard it is has actually made women think maybe I really.
Don't want to do this.
I don't know about your wife, Jason yu Sharhi. I just wanted my babies, and I was going to have my babies whatever it costs. And I have one with a disability before the NBAS and let me tell you, they cost a lot of money.
Yeah, but I agree with your motherhood absolute best job in the world.
Couldn't notified.
I'm sorry, but yeah, really, I am very hard to be that because I must say I sat in the car think and am I going to say this because as.
A dude, you're not allowed to have these comments.
But I actually think this is a real fundamental societal issue, and we've turned it into a women's issue.
It's actually a bigger issue than that.
It's a family issue.
It's a family issue.
Yeah, and childcare is a family issue. All of these things are a family issue, not a women's issue. And until we start speaking about them in noise terms, Yes, good point, come up against the same wall.
Good point. All right, Well, let's have a look at Tony Burke because he has canceled the visa of a pro Palestinian professor. But he's tonight under pressure to remove a labor pointed member of the Council for the National Gallery of Australia who accused Israel of committing genocide. In social media posts, Abdul Rahm and Abdullah accused Israel of conducting a holocaust against the Palestinian people. He called on
Israel's opponents to end this sickness and end Zionism. Jason Tony Burke has to act here.
Shirley got to go. Shouldn't have been there in the first place.
You scratched the surface with unfortunately too many so called Islamic leaders, and you find a Jew hater, and you find people that hate Australia, and this guy is one of them. He doesn't like Jews and he don't like Australia very much. So I don't know why we reward them. Look has a problem. We seem to let communities decide, you know, this guy should be our representative. They're often not the representative I had for many years, and you'd know this Kaiser Trade. I had huge dramas with Kais
of Trade. We went to the High Court over Kais of Trade over deformations because I knew he was a person who had particular views which I thought were disgusting and repugnant, and thankfully the court agreed.
But governments kept putting.
Him on boards and it got to the point where you almost had to keep sending them the judgment from the court to say, why are you promoting this man? He is not representative of mainstream Islamic views. He's representative of a perverted view of it. This guy's one of them too. Shouldn't be there, Tony Burke, wake up, grow up and grow a set and get rid of him.
Really, Holly, do you give Tony Burke credit firstly for canceling the visa of the pro Palestinian professor? And do you think he should also act in this case.
I don't give anyone credit for canceling the visa of someone after they've left the country. I think to try and claim credit when the guy's already left the country. The issue is he should never have been given a visa in the first place. And I think disappointment. And I'm going to bet my bottom dollar on Tony Burke's in action says more about his bid to keep his seat in Southwest Sydney than it does about his respect for the Australian people.
Our culture, our way of life.
It is absolute appeasement at the worst level that we're consistently seeing from this Albanese government, and no one is more flagrant with it than Tony Burke, probably only closely followed by Jason Clair and Ed Husick.
It's extraordinary that Tony Burke, given his attitudes to this issue, and we know that over a long period of time is now the minister in charge of visas. It's a scary thought. All right, Jason Morris and Holly Hughes, thank you both very much for your time. Now still to come, we'll cross live to Washington for more analysis on Kamala Harris's interview today with Fox News. Was it worth the risk for her? I'll talk about it with Adam Crichton
after the break. All right, well, let's return to Kamala Harris's interview on Fox News, and let's bring in Adam Crichton, the Australians Washington corresponded, Adam, good to see you. I thought this was a sensational interview. I just want to start with the moment where Brett Bayer pressed Kamala Harris on her past comments around gender reassignment surgeries for people who are inmates. Let's have a look at that.
Kamala supports taxpayer funded sex changes from prisoners.
Surgery for prisoners. For prisoners, every transgender in me in the prison system would have access.
So are you still in support of using taxpayer dollars to help prison inmates or detain the illegal aliens to transition to another gender.
I will follow the law. And it's a law that Donald Trump actually followed.
You're probably familiar with. Now it's a public report, Adam. That interview just produced so many gold moments. I wish it would have gone for an hour. I was glued. I wanted it to go home for longer. But that was just yet another example of a question she couldn't answer.
Yeah, look, that's basically right. She hardly answered any questions at all. I think in the thirty minute interview, I don't think anyone watching that really learned anything about her position on anything. And actually, just after she was asked that question about the reassignment surgery, she became quite upset. I thought she was almost going to cry at one point. At least that's what I thought, and many social media
users thought the same thing. It was a it was a difficult certainly a difficult.
Experience for her.
It was very confrontational, very adversarial, and she finally faced some tough questions.
And you know, throughout her career, she.
Hasn't really done many interviews like that, and I think that's what the problem was. That's what really showed up in that interview.
Yeah, well, let's turn to another moment now where Brett Baya was trying to ask her about the threat from Iran.
Have a look, critics just say that you either relaxed or failed to enforced sanctions on Iran, allowing all of this money to flow into Iran like billions.
Let's go back to Donald Trump. Hold on who pulled out?
Who pulled out of a deal that would have actually put but here are Ran in check the estimates and billions during Donald Trump's administer the Ran regime, that we had an American military base that was attacked.
It was such an important question from Brett Bayer the billions that went to Iran that were part of funding Harmas and HEZBLA. And she didn't answer what role her administration played in this.
Yeah, look, certainly that was a good part of the interview where you see the Trump dearrangement syndrome of her on full display. I mean, you'd have to say, you know, probably fifteen minutes of the interview, she would talk about Donald Trump's rhetoric, how it horribly is, what a bad person is, how it was his fault in the Middle East, and on immigration and basically on everything. I mean, she refused to concede any responsibility whatsoever, for instance, for the
illegal immigration over the southern border. That's how the interview started, and it started badly.
And look at my view, I think it went downhill from there.
I mean, interestingly, it hasn't really moved the political betting markets at all. I thought it might have in Donald Trump's favor, but they haven't moved at all overnight, So perhaps it's a wash. You know, we're at the stage of the campaign where people that like I say she did great and was feisty, and people that don't like I say, you know.
She was angry and not very good.
So look, my view is like though, is that I don't think she'll be doing any more Fox interviews in the next few weeks.
Well, it's amazing she even did one of them. But you know, I think a lot of people in the commentariat turn their noses up at Fox News. And this was the only proper interview we've seen, the only interview where she was asked for tough questions about her record, about what she knew about Joe Biden's mental acuity, about how her record would actually be different from Joe Biden's with follow up questions, and it has exposed her for lacking in substance. Adam.
Yes, that's right. And as you say, why did she do the interview in the first place, That's probably the more interesting question. I mean, a few weeks ago, no one would have expected this, and I think it smacks of desperation in the campaign. I mean, we're seeing now in the final weeks of the campaign, the polls are really narrowing, and of course we know from twenty sixteen and twenty twenty that those poles are systematically in favor of Democrat. Yes, the last few.
Weeks for her, Yeah, all right, we're out of time, Adam. And by the way, how annoying was it how she kept saying, let me be clear, let me be clear, let me be clear, and then she wasn't clear. Here's to a man now who's always clear. Poor Murray.