Live on Sky News. This is Sharry.
Good Evening. Massive show tonight the Red Cross embarrassed after Hermas terrorists swarmed their convoys. Are these brutes really the heroes of lefty students and the international community? Plus what's next for the hostages who finally came home last night? Also on the show, will cross to Washington ahead of Trump's inauguration, and I'll tell you which high profile Australian
hopped in the secret Service motorcade. Also tonight, the deeply serious allegations which led to the departure of Nine's news boss are revealed for the first time. It's worse than previously thought. That exclusive story in a moment, and Attorney General Mark Dreyfus is called out over Labour's anti Israel campaign. Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Sharon Haskell would join me live
a bit later, but first tonight. Nothing shows the stark difference between the barbaric terrorism of her Musk controlled Gaza and the peaceful celebration of love in Israel than the images we saw overnight. Three innocent girls finally being freed from brutes were surrounded by her muss and jeering Palestinians. Even as they were being put in Red Cross ambulances.
This disgusting display of terrorsm of brutality, it's everything we should and do reject as a Western democracy when we talk about misogyny and the Me too movement, But look at this young girls surrounded by terrorism as they're put in Red Cross ambulances. As you can see Hamas literally crawling all over the Red Cross vehicles. It's appalling brutality. It's beyond misogyny. It's rape culture, it's intimidation, it's terrorism
and the celebration of terror. And this is the place that Pennywang and Anthony Albanesi and the entire moorally corrupt federal labor government would like to reward with statehood.
It demands.
The recognition of Palestinian Palestinians aspirations for statehood.
To that demand that they make over and over again, I say, are you joking? Get real? These brutes can't have a seat at the United Nations or any other international body alongside properly functioning human beings. Those scenes overnight should once and for all put an end to the discussion about recognition of a Palestinian state unless there's total reform and new leadership. Gaza is broken. They can be
no statehood right now. They don't deserve it. After October seven and the abhorrent war crimes of taking girls, even a baby and a child hostage. They can't possibly contribute to discover ussions about civilization when they rape, behead and kidnap innocent people. Those powerful and shocking images of a Jewish girl de ron Steinbrecher surrounded by terrorists, they will become historic. Look at the fear in her face. This
is one brave woman, a warrior. She, along with the other girls, they are the very symbols of defiance, of strength, of positivity, of an unbreakable spirit that wasn't defeated despite the cruelty around them. All of this footage that we've seen, it also shows quite sadly that despite the incredible headway Israel has made over the past fifteen months, Hamas is still thriving and in control. The cowardly cockroaches hid under schools and hospitals, and they've only come out onto the
streets in the open because there's a ceasefire. And with images like this of Harmas gunmen standing on top of Red Cross ambulances, well it's pretty easy to see how they've been looting a trucks that Israel has sent into Gaza as well. It's a fact the international community has ignored, as they prefer to blame Israel for not providing enough aid. Now I know the sight of the Red Cross van stepping into the spotlight at this pivotal moment coming to
the rescue, well, it was frustrating. They were there for the publicity, but like all the other aid organizations, the Red Cross didn't lift a finger to help the hostages the entire time they were in Gaza, and many still remain they're humanitarian hypocrites. Did they object at all as Hamas swarmed their vehicles, overwhelming these young girls. And you have to look by contrast at the joyous, emotional, peaceful, loving vigils that were held in Israel overnight.
Or more not locking.
Thee but I feel like it.
That's money.
It couldn't be more different, families singing, hugging and crying as three beautiful girls were finally brought home, Emily de Maari romy gone In and Doron Steinbrecher, young girls who should never have endured, not even one day, let alone four hundred and seventy one days in cruel and barbarica mask captivity, and we saw their emotional reunions with their
mothers and their family. Here's Emily, the twenty eight year old British Israeli reunited with her family and friends after she was kidnapped from her home at the Kafar Azakibutz in Israel on October sevenious Or Harmas shot her dog and they shot her as well, and as you saw there,
she's missing two fingers. Then there's romy Gone aged twenty four, and she was abducted from the Nova Music festival and here you can see her embracing her family, and Doron Steinbrecher, also kidnapped from Kiboltz kava Za, clung to her family in another emotional reunion. We can't even begin to comprehend the unbearable pain these girls and their families have endured for the past fifteen months. And there are still thirty more hostages for release in this first phase of the deal,
although we know not all are alive. And then there's another sixty hostages after that, again not all are alive. To secure their return, Israel was forced into a deal when ninety three Palestinian prisoners, including criminals and terrorists were released. That's for the first three girls. As Alan Dershowitz says, this isn't a deal, It's an extor. He said the decision by the Israeli government to make significant concessions to the Harmas kidnappers should never be called a deal. It
was an extortion. The kidnapping was a crime, and the extortionate demand was an additional crime. And Dershowitz also talks about all of those who campaigned on the side of those brutal her Musk terrorists over the past year, and he says they're all complicit in this war crime. Especially complicit with blood on their hands are supporters of Harmas
on university campusses who chart for interfada and revolution. Also complicit are international organizations such as the International Criminal Court that treat Israel and her Mus as equals. Let us put the blame for all the deaths in Gaza where it belongs on her mus and the useful idiots and
useful bigots who support murderous terrorists. With Trump's inauguration tonight our time, we should see a very different attitude to those who support terror in the West, and judging by the scenes overnight where Hermas appears to steal control the Gaza Strip. It's pretty clear that Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu will inevitably need to resume the war against the terror group once this hostage release and temporary cease fire is over. Both have said they're prepared to do this.
Trump has already pledged to lift weapons restrictions on Israel that Biden had imposed. Unlike Joe Biden, unlike Albineasi, Trump will support nedin Yahoo and together they won't be weak on terror. It's a resolve we've desperately needed right around the world, as the anti Semites have been emboldened and our hostages, innocent as they may be, have been an afterthought. All right, let's return to this saga a Channel nine.
But right now I've got new information that's never been reported before, and it is very serious and it is distressing. High profile journalist Ellie Walsh has reached a confidential settlement with nine after she made explosive allegations against the network relating to sexual assault, sexual harassment, and her treatment at
work during her pregnancy. So I can reveal tonight that Walsh was the original television reporter who lodged the very first complaint against the now disgraced news boss Darren Wick, and this led to his departure from the network. At the time she made the complaint through lawyers, Wick was a powerful television executive. He was considered untouchable in the newsroom.
Walsh's complaint then led to a string event of events at nine, including a culture review where hundreds of women were interviewed about their own experiences, and this revealed a toxic culture. There were other allegations of sexual harassment and also bullying complaints. Now you'll recall that Nine denied repeatedly initially that Wick's departure from the network was related to
any allegation of inappropriate behavior. They attempted to cover up this scandal and they would have been successful, but news of an anonymous complaint, and we didn't know that it was Ali Walsh who made it. It was an anonymous complaint was eventually published by the Australian newspaper on that same day. On this show, we revealed a history of sexual harassment allegations against Wick and a toxic culture that
had been swept under the carpet by the network. Walsh's initial complaint sparked a domino effect, with other female journalists at nine then deciding to speak up about their own experiences relating to harassment, bullying, and other issues, and this entire affair ultimately contributed to the departure of the CEO, Mike sneeeseby the chairman Peter Costello, another senior news executive
Simon Hobbs, and the head of Communications, Victoria Bucken. Ellie Walsh also launched a sex discrimination case against Nine in the federal court, a case that has now been settled during mediation. Walsh's a talented television reporter, and she said she made the difficult decision to engage lawyers and in her own words, to try to write a number of wrongs.
Now for the first time I can reveal that these wrongs did include an allegation of sexual assault, also sexual harassment, along with allegations of how she was treated by management during her pregnancy, which was considered high risk. Wick, as you know, denied claims of wrongdoing. Now in a statement today, Walsh spoke about her decision to take legal action, and she said during this time more women bravely came forward. Nine conducted a culture review and many of my broadcast
colleagues contributed their experiences in doing so. I was buoyed. It turns out courage is contagious. She said, Well, this isn't the way I wanted to leave nine. I'm filled with gratitude towards those who made me a better journalist in person, and I'm relieved the legal process has been resolved. And before all of this, Walsh had been at nine for fifteen years, covering news, reporting politics in Canberra and
working for the Today Show. She's a popular journalist and she has been rightly supported by many colleagues at nine, including publicly by two GB host Ben Fordham. Now, the United States is on the eve of ushering in a new wave of politics, the inauguration of Donald Trump just hours away. It's going to take place at three in the morning our time. You can watch all the coverage
on Sky News Live. It'll be your second night staying up till three am, because I know many of you were up at the same hour watching the hostages released last night. Now for more details of what it's like on the ground, I spoke to my colleague Chris Kenny a little earlier. Chris Kenny, thanks for joining us in Washington. You're there, of course for Trump's inauguration. There'll be billions of people tuned in around the world. What can we expect tonight at the inauguration?
Great to talk to your sherry.
It's bitterly cold here in DC about minus four at the moment.
It's going to be minus ten.
Tomorrow on inauguration day, which is why everything's been moved inside. When you say what to expect with Donald Trump, will expect the unexpected. I suppose he really is promising to hit the ground running. Says that once he's been sworn in, though once the inauguration's over, he's going to sign one hundred executive orders in the first day.
A lot of his supporters believe this.
They really believe he understands he's got a window of opportunity here. He has to act quickly, so, especially in the first two years before the midterms could knock out his congressional majority and the like. So we expect Trump to go full speed ahead with his agenda, which I suppose the world is already seeing now even before his inauguration, but after about midday to Murrow a lookout.
Chris, quite a few high profile Australians are over there for this special event. Can you tell us a bit about who'll be there.
Well, I haven't seen all of them. I believe Gina Ryan Harts in town.
I know Joel Fitzgibbon, the former Labor Defense Minister, will be in town. There's a lot of people flooding in from all around the United States. Of course, there's going to be fascinating to see who Donald Trump has in the rotunda in the Capitol building behind me. Of course, the whole thing moved in side, so they can only have about six hundred guests in that rotunda under the
dome of the Capitol. So those six hundred, when you take make allowances for the officials and the former presidents and the like, there's probably going to be five hundred of Donald Trump's favorite people.
So look out for who gets that gig.
And then after that, of course, there's an indoor rallyer dressed up as the inauguration parade.
There'll be balls.
There's at least three balls the President's going to tomorrow night one.
It's a Union station just over the way here. So there's a lot of people in town ready for these events.
But there's so many punters, so many mainstream Americans. Trump supporters from Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, from the Midwest.
They've all come into town.
They're disappointed they're not going to get the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, but they'll be here anyway. I think they'll hit the streets and try and see the modicade all the same, and many of them planning to be in bars and pubs and watch it all on TV.
Chris, you interviewed Steve Bannon today. He's raised some concerns about Elon Musk and just how close he might be to Donald Trump. How do you see that playing out, and what are Bannon's thoughts on Trump's second term.
Yes, Steve Bannon was fascinating to catch up with today. He was with a bunch of other right wing supporters, if you like, they see this is the coming of a new dawn.
Really. And Steve Bannon, of course, who was the.
Chief strategist that helped get Donald Trump into the White House the first time, and then was one of the many leading figures who left the White House. He ended up serving jail terms after because of some of his breach of some of the protocols around congressional hearings into January the sixth and all.
The rest of it. I thought he'd be a little bit more critical of Trump.
He's very full on, very bullish, not just about Trump and his agenda, but also about his team, about Marco Rubio and the rest of them. Didn't take a swipe at Elon Musk. So he thinks that Donald Trump is going to do everything in this term that he wished she had done in the first term. So here's a little bit of what Steve and had to say and.
What he's got to Some of his toughest warriors, the most combat hardened.
Are on the outside. But we're all ready to go. We're ready to go, particularly for tomorrow.
I would tell your audience you're about to see in twenty twenty five a year in American politics and international politics, liberal politics that has never been seen in modern times.
So just stand by strap In, Chris. You followed this issue as closely as I do. We saw last night some of the hostages finally released. Trump has signaled a firm commitment to help NAT and Yahoo in Israel. He'll be much stronger than Biden, won't he.
Well, there's no doubt about that, Sharry, we would not see these hostages out overnight today and hopefully more tomorrow without Trump winning the last election. His threats against Hamas and his pressure on Israel have obviously led to this ceasefire and the hostage deal.
But like me, Sharry, I'm certain.
You've felt mixed feelings today, the joy and relief for those hostages, but the anger and outrage freeing Hummus terrorists, thirty of them for each one of these innocent Israeli women taken hostage, the other hostages that are dead, the other hostages that are held, the thousands of Israeli lives lost and tens of thousands of Palestinian lives lost, all because of the horrors of Hummus, an organization that everybody agrees should be destroyed, yet they're the ones everybody's having to.
Deal with to get these hostages free.
The one thing Donald Trump keeps saying he certainly claimed credit for the ceasefire in his rally in DC just down the road here earlier today, but.
He's also stressed if Hummus does.
Not stick to the terms of the ceasefire, then there will be all held to pay.
That term he's used in the past.
So he's going to make sure that they follow through on this, and let's hope so, because every step of this process is fraught with danger. You were dealing with a terrorist organization, not any sort of reasonable organization that's been running Gaza.
Chris, thank you so much for your time, and we look forward to your week of coverage in the US. Thanks Sherry, you too, and don't forget. You can set your alarm at three am and turn on Sky News to watch the full inauguration coverage. All right, let's return to the emotional scenes of the hostages coming home finally after four hundred and seventy one days to Israel. And joining me now is former British commander Colonel Richard Camp. He led troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Richard, thank you
so much once again for your time. Firstly, I want to ask I want to ask you what your opinion was of those horrific scenes where we saw literally Hermas terrorists overrunning Red Cross vehicles.
Yeah.
I think not just to mass terrorists, but we've also seen civilians, men and boys spitting on the hostages as they were being.
Prepared for handover.
So content and abuse of these hostages to the very end.
Look, it seems like the terror group is still thriving in Gaza. You know, they've come out from beneath the hospitals and the schools where they've been in hiding. Look, do you think after this hostage deal and temporary ceasefire, and we do have to make the point it is a temporary ceasefire, do you think that given they're still running the show in Gaza, Israel and the United States will need to return to defeating Hermas.
Yeah, I've got no doubt about that.
I think we you know, we've seen obviously the very we're very grateful, I think to see the release of the first few hostages already. Hopefully more will follow during this phase of the ceasefire. But in my view, her Master's unlikely to hand over all of the hostages. They're there major bargaining chip. They're going to want to keep hold of them, I think on pretty much a permanent basis. Some of them, the ones that are not have not
been agreed to be handed over. But her Mass has been very badly destroyed, very badly damaged, but it still has elements intact, They're not as effective as certainly as they have been earlier on in the war, but their numbers are going to be boosted. The ones that have been killed are going to be boosted by the release of more than a thousand hardened terrorists who are held prisoner by the Israelis and who some of whom at
least will be returning to Gaza. So the situation that we've got at present in Gaza is one whereby it simply cannot be allowed to continue. And you're right, I think to emphasize a temporary ceasefire. Ha mass will undoubtedly be breaching that ceasefire at some point in Israel will have to return and really finish off the job. I think you know that. I can understand what painful though it was to have to be to basically be forced to release over one thousand hostages back although that was.
Well criminals and terrorists, do you mean?
I'm sorry?
Yeah, And you're absolutely right to pick me up on that point, because some in the UK media at least have been talking about a hostage swap.
These are not hostages.
These are hardened terrorists who have been lawfully held prisoner by the Israelis being exchanged for for hostages who have been seized, abused, in some cases, rape, tortured, and murdered by her mass So there is no equivalence there, and thank you for picking me up on it. But I don't think there's any you know, there's no question really that this evil has got to be defeated, and it hasn't yet been defeated, and it will, I hope be defeated once this hostage, once the.
Ceasefire ends, and with Trump's support, because it is going to make it a big difference. Don't you think that there is now a president, there will be a president who unequivocally supports Israel and its efforts to prevail over terrorism. I mean, do you think we can expect a very different attitude from.
The US, And absolutely can. I hope we can.
And you know, we've already had assurances from President Trump himself and also from his National Security Advisor designate that if Israel feels the need to go back into Gaza and finish off this problem, then it will have one hundred percent support of.
The United States of America.
And it certainly hasn't had one hundred percent support from the Biden administration.
It's got a lot of.
Support, but it's always been restrained and held back by Biden.
I hope Trump isn't going to do that, and I think part of this whole deal.
You know, many people have found this deal unsatisfactory and I can understand why. But I do believe it forms part of a much wider strategy for the Middle East that's been agreed between Trump and also Prime Minister and Yahoo, which will involve I hope, and it needs to involve dealing with Iran, which is basically the head.
Of the.
Exactly and the nuclear threat that around continues to pose. All Right, Richard cambois a pleasure to have you on the program. Thank you so much for your insights. Now let's bring in The Australian's chief political correspondent, Jeff Chambers. Jeff, great to see you. Look, we're all wondering when the federal election is going to be held. Are we expecting MPs to return to Canberra in February or is Albanize
going to call it before then? What are your thoughts on the Prime Minister's options at this point.
Hi, Scharry, I think we're almost near one hundred percent now that Anthony Alberanezi will return in that first week of February. It's slated for a fortnight of sittings. The big question mark is the calculation of the Prime Minister has to make now as to whether he will follow through with what he said publicly, which is to run full term to May, or whether he needs to go early, looking towards March or April. My understanding is that they were never going to go to the back end of last year.
There was too many things going wrong.
That they were looking.
They were looking seriously at February, March, April and May options, and we've got some RBA meetings coming up next month in the next few weeks, and some key economic data. My sense and I think he's being urged this by some of his really spooked MPs, some of those many of those who are on track to lose their seat, that there is no point in waiting, that they need to go when they can win, even if that means a slim minority.
Government, and so they'll be closely monitoring polling, perhaps even overnight polling if it gets to that. Jeff, You've written an article in The Australia and which looks at the limited experience really of Albaneze's cabinet and just how many actually have business experience under their belts. Do you think this lack of experience is contributing to the problems that his government is having in connecting with voters because they just see his team as totally out of touch.
Well, interestingly, I've had a lot of feedback on this piece. It's a fairly obvious piece, but it's one to work. It's always worth pointing out to look at what the real real world experiences are labors cabinet versus the coalist and shadow cabinet. And some of these senior labor figures have told me over the weekend that they've never seen such a concentration of union ex union officials or political staffers in a labor government cabinet in history. And this
is a concerning trend for labor. There was a time when you had teachers, truck drivers, miners, obviously some union affiliation, but real world experience. And it's not to say that they work any less than their counterparts on the other side, but you know, when you've got ex police officers, ex soldiers, farmers, people that have actually run a business, you're going to
come at things differently. You're going to have a different approach and perspective around policy issues and connecting with people. So I think that there is some consternation in labor ranks about how do they modernize and stay relevant in the future.
Jeff Peter Dutton was in Sydney today. He went to Central Synagogue and he announced new laws to deal with anti Semitism. He wants a minimum six year sentence for terror offenses, also a minimum twelve month sentence for displaying hate symbols. Here's what he had to say.
I give this absolute commitment to the Istralian people if elected as Prime Minister, we will provide the resources, we will provide the legislation and we will provide the will to stamp out anti Semitism in our country and to send a very clear message that that is not going to to be tolerated in any form whatsoever, and that will happen from day one.
Look, the Prime Minister was asked to respond to all of this today and he is still rejecting an anti semitism national Cabinet.
National cab.
Well.
I convening a meeting with New South Wales and Victoria that took place last week in order to take that strong action, and what people want to say isn't more meetings.
So I want to see more action, Jeff.
It's not just the Jewish community, but all Australians would be welcoming stronger action against terrorism. Why won't Albanesi just you know, take a tough position.
Anthony Aberanezi and some of his senior cabinet members have been playing catch up for fifteen months now, and I think when you look at Peter Dutton, he's been unequivocal and he's been consistent from day one, and I think that is resonating. And obviously he's putting forward clear, concrete actions to tackle and fight this scourge of anti Semitism.
But I think more broadly, the majority of Australians are seeing these awful images on TV, on social media and they are feeling that Australia is becoming that there is lawlessness in this country and that there is greater division. And when it comes to focus groups and polling, you know, this is usually a state issue, but what we're seeing is that crime and public safety are really coming to the fore. And I think this is what Peter Dunton.
He's not looking at this from a political perspective. He's looking at trying to actually fix the problem. And I think this is where we see Anthony Abnez exactly. We see Anthony abne Tony Burke and others. They seem to take their cues in response to incidents. So you know, whether it's a premier who is putting forward something, they will react to that, whether it's them trying to set up a police task force months after it probably was required, and we still want to know and still need to
see some tangible outcomes from this police task force. And they seem to shift that responsibility elsewhere and expect others to look after the problem for them.
Yeah, exactly. And you can just see when they speak that they don't care about it, whereas Dutton deeply does. He speaks with conviction on the issue. Right, Jeff Chambers, Great to have you back in twenty twenty five. We'll see you next week. Now. Hamasa's sick and twisted move when handing over hostages to the Red Cross, Well, I'm going to have an exclusive interview with the Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel, Sharan Haskell, and boy is she disappointed
in Mark Dreyfus. Plus with Donald Trump's inauguration just hours away. Coochhagada would join me live to detail Watson his agenda on day one. That's after this quick break.
Back.
Well, last night in Washington, there was a private cocktail event at Peter Teel's DC Residents for Vice President elect JD. Vance and Australian businessman Anthony Pratt was among that a list attendees, along with Donald Trump junior Mark Zuckerberg and House speaker Mike Johnson. And my spies tell me that Anthony Pratt also hopped into Vance's secret service motorcade to attend his black tied dinner that night, and he's also now scored an invite to Trump's own dinner on the
eve of his inauguration. Or to discuss who's in and who's out of Trump's inner circle. Joining me now in studio is Sky Newes contributor Kosha Data. Kosha, great to see you here. Look, tell us about who else has made it from Australia to Trump's team. You know some of it.
I'm sure there are going to be people. It's top secret and we won't know until after the fact, but Pratt has been mentioned, Gina Ryan Hart, as you said as well, they both took out full page ads in the New York Times and neurok Post congratulating Trump. Maybe that had something to do with it. And also James Packer was seen at mar Lago dining with Trump and Musk, so maybe he's I wouldn't be surprised if he scored an invite as well.
Trump has already announced a packed agenda for his first day. What can we expect.
I think the tonality of the messages, who's going to be there, who's not going to be there, their expressions, their body language, all of that is going to make a lot of news. And then right after that, he's reportedly got one hundred to even two hundred executive orders queued up for day one. Typically president's release about fifty to sixty per year, so he is hitting the ground running. We're hearing talk of declassification Martin Luther King files JFK files.
We'll see if that happens. The J six pardons is another big thing that there's high expectations. It's a little bit controversial and people are expecting that as well. And I just think a slew of deregulations as well, right out of the gate.
I also read a fascinating one that I think Barry Waste broke the story about having an executive order relating to gender, so he's only going to have according to this report too, gender is a male and a female, so that'll be highly controversial. Now, what can we expect from the inauguration itself. It'll be three am our time, tonight Life coverage on Sky. I mean, Trump's the ultimate show man, so you'd hope it'll be entertaining.
Yes, I think the rally, the victory rally already is so different. Nobody does that he won. He didn't need to do a rally, but he did it. I think you're going to see a lot of the tone of his speech and what he's going to say, what kind of premise it's going to take. I think it's gonna be a lot of victoriousness, a lot of redemption. Retribution has been this word that he's been using again controversially, but he says his success in America's success is his retribution.
I think you're going to expect a lot of that. But I do think that it'll probably just still be very statesmanlike and presidential, the official business and speech, because he's been there before, he is the president and he can project that, and then it's going to be a way to those executive orders and the craziest news cycle I think for the next twenty four hours thereafter.
Yeah.
Absolutely, now very quickly before you go. I was surprised to hear him speak so strongly about TikTok and to commit to having it in America if only for making money. I mean, I thought this was you know, even Republicans were concerned about the security risk of TikTok.
Some still are, like Senator Tom Cotton just came out against Trump, even though he is an ardent supporter. This is about a trade off of two issues, national security concerns with China and the CCP's involvement of the algorithms and data versus free speech and the fact that one hundred and seventy million Americans use it, millions of small
business owners use it. It is an alternate platform to the other ones like Facebook and all that did censor speech and suppress the laptop story and all of that. So I think it's about balancing free speech protections with national security, and he's trying to see if there's a way to do both in how the divestiture would be executed.
Yeah.
No, it's fascinating and never consistent principles on these sort of issues, but it's an interesting one to watch. Kosha Data, thank you so much for your time.
Pleasure.
Now still to come, Israel's deputy ourign Minister has called Mark Dreyfussaud for his government's anti Israel campaign. My exclusive interview with Sharen Haskell coming up. But first, how Dutton is tracking against Albinizi in the polls. I'll break this down with my political panel Cameron Milner and Andrew Carswell. Next, welcome back. Let's bring in our Monday political panel Scott Morrison's former press secretary Andrew Carswell and Bill Shotton's former
chief of staff Cameron Milner. Welcome to you both once again. Look, Peter Dutton has caught up to Albanisi in Freshwater Strategy's latest preferred Prime minister survey. This is for the first time, Cameron, break these figures down for us. Is this alban Ezi turning off voters or is Peter Dutton actually winning Ossie's over.
Well, it's a bit of both, isn't it, Shari, Because Albo's numbers have been on the slide for a while. These freshwater numbers are the first time Dutton's been in front, but Albo has been in a terrible state for some time and Dutton's been coming. Dutton's finished the year really, really well and Alba finished it terribly, so these numbers
aren't a surprise. What's more interesting is that Albo has been out there splashing over ten billion dollars of taxpayer's money in the last two weeks in this faux campaign. Yet these are the numbers with our seeing in January. These are not good numbers for labor and terrible numbers for Albow, considering that Dutton has got him now in terms of preferred prime minister.
Andrew Caswell, you worked for Scott Morrison ahead of the last election and before some research is showing that Alberniz is now as unpopular as Scott Morrison was before the twenty twenty two election. Do you think this means Albo's headed for the history books as a one term government.
Well, I think it's getting very interesting, Shari. And it's important to note too that this metric on preferred prime minister, it traditionally skews towards the incumbent. It favors the current sitting Prime minister because Australians get to see that person doing the role of day to day Clearly they are not seeing that, they are not liking what they are seeing, and they are actively imagining what Peter Duarton would would
would be like as a prime minister. They actively now considering that in light of his his you know, the strengths that he has shown on certain issues, but also in light of the weakness that the current Prime Minister has shown on a range of different issues as well. Now, no matter what Labor, Labor and Anthony Abanezi throw at Peter Dutton, it doesn't seem to be sticky, and I
would argue that it's actually becoming counterproductive. Now I find it really really interesting that in the midst of a global economic downturn, in the midst of rising anti semitism and the the you know, the the erosion of social cohesion, in the midst of a rise in global uncertainty, that you would denigrate a leader for being strong exactly. Isn't that what we need at this very time? And yet
they are highlighting the strengths of Peter Dutton's character. Yes, they're putting a negative spin on it, but they are highlighting his strengths and Australians are starting to see that maybe we do need a strong leader at this very point in time.
And you throw forward to Donald Trump.
Who do we trust to stand up to Donald Trump when he launches twenty percent tariffs on Australian exports? Is it the guy that's routinely denigrated for his week leadership or is it the guy that's denigrated for being too strong?
Yeah? I think the times are suiting Peter Dutton and that Australians are looking for strength and toughness and not weakness. And I hear that the word weak is what's resonating with voters when it comes to Albanezi and the focus groups. Now, the Prime Minister announced today two billion dollars to go towards converting Australia's for aluminium smelters to renewable electricity. This is in an effort to speed up Labour's transition to
green energy. Cameron, is this a good use of tax payer money and it will it buy votes?
Well?
I think it is a good use because aliminium is essentially solidified electricity, is how it's been described to me. When I used to work for Rio, and Rio actually bought Alcan's assets in Canada probably fifteen years ago because it was based on hydro power. So look, no, in the end, aliuminium to survive, to be competitive in the world, needs to come from green energy. That's the basic fact
of it. So the transitions there and as you saw in that article, Tommigo is already going for as much green energy as possible, making the market decision anyway to use renewables. So now I think backing our aliminium industry, backing Australian industry is a great thing to do, and it's a great export industry too, our aliminium smelters cars.
Well.
I thought it was interesting that Resources Minister Madeline King told The Australian today that you quickly lose a port for an energy transition if people can't maintain their lifestyle. What do you think about this? Do you think this is the Resource Minister becoming concerned that they're not taking voters with them on this path to renewable energy.
I think it was a wonderful piece of timing first and foremost.
But look, I'm.
Happy that Minister King has built a cat on this one, And to be fair to Minister King, she's been very upfront about Australia's dwindling supply of gas and the need to have gas as an important part of this energy
transition in the short, medium and the long term. So she's always been a strong advocate for more gas in the system and this issue has been highlighted by the Australian Energy Market Operator, it's been highlighted by the Consumer watched over as well about the impending issue that we're going to have as we approach winter this year with dwindling supplies of energy. But the sad thing about the Labor Cabinet is that Minister King does not have sway
in that cabinet room. The debate on energy and the energy position is left with the ideologues, it's left with Chris Bone, it's left with the Prime Minister.
So you get this pushed towards.
These unattainable renewable energy targets that the rest of the world is starting to walk away from.
All right, it's going to be an ongoing debate for show. Cameron Milner Andrew Carswell, great to have you again, Thank you so much. Now don't go anywhere after the break my exclusive interview with Sharen Haskell, Israel's deputy Foreign Minister. She's calling out the Albanezy government for abandoning Israel and not taking action on anti Semitism. Okay, let's cross live to Israel and I'm joined for an exclusive interview by Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Sharen Haskell. Sharen, great to see
you again. Look, you met with our Attorney General Mark Dreyfus last week and I understand you expressed to him very clearly the Netta Yahoo government's disappointment in Israel's hostile sorry in Australia's home style policies towards Israel, along with the rise in anti Semitism. Can you tell me what message you sent to him.
Well, as you've said, we are extremely disappointed from the attitude towards Israel, the change of policy towards Israel and the international organization.
I think that it is very set and we do see Australia as one of our greatest allies and historical allies, and it was very disappointing that during this very difficult year that we've experienced, we felt like the Australian government turned their back on us.
We expect our.
Friends, longtime friends and allies that we used to be able to count on for a very long time to actually stand beside us during the most difficult period of time that we've actually experience. But Charry, I think it's also important to say that our deep concerns about the rise of anti Semitism are you know, are are one of the main issues that we've discussed here at the
Foreign Ministry as well. How to our country like Australia, who has been a safe haven for Jews for so many generations and has been one of the safest places and how you know, the rise of anti Semitism and I think more than seven hundred percent, how the Jewish community is being targeted and attacked violently, physically, verbally, and unfortunately not much has been done, especially the recent attacks, graffiti's attempt to vandalize synagogues and Jewish homes, and in
the lack of arrests or accountability on how many people were arrested and persecuted prosecuted for these cases.
Look, it has been shocking with the Jewish community has been begging for tougher laws that Albanezer government has absolutely refused. And there have been very specific requests made, so you're right to be concerned. We are all concerned here as well, so thank you for raising that with our government. Now, Charan, we saw overnight terrible scenes of a Hamas in Gaza swarming the Red Cross vehicles. Were you personally surprised by just how many Hamas supporters there were in Gaza?
Well, I'm not surprised because the fact is that the United Nations, in particular rap has been educated, educating generations of gas and children to hatred violence.
You know.
The fact is that they taught them in school how to stabage you, how to murder, how to hate them, and through that indoctrination of a population, it's very easy for Hamas to recruit terrorists. And so I wasn't surprised. And more so, it's important to note that one of the main figures in the negotiation teams of Hamas, after he signed, you know, the temporary cease fire, went in the media and publicly said that they will try and
attempt to commit another seventh of October. Those words are not a surprise to us, because we know who our enemy is, we know who our neighbors are.
And that's why the international community has to understand that a permanent cease fire can only be reached if Hamas is disabled it's military capabilities and its vilian capabilities.
And that hasn't happened. Clearly, They've just come out from beneath the hospitals and schools where they've been hiding.
Absolutely, I mean Hamas has invested all of its resources, including the money that was meant for Palestinian children, to build an underground city to protect their terrorist activity, their mineralist activity.
They know, they don't hold back.
They used children and women as human shields and it's very difficult. We are fighting a terrorist organization.
These are monsters and Israel hasn't had the international community onside. That was the first we saw of the Red Cross overnight, just stepping in at the last minute to claim the publicity. It outraged so many people because they never bothered to visit the hostages. Sure, and Haskell, it's a big fight ahead. Really appreciate your time this evening. Thank you so much, so we've got time for it tonight. I'll see you tomorrow at eight. And right now, here's poor Murray