Sharri | 22 August

Why on Sky News This is Sharry Good Evening.

Welcome to the show tonight. Labor MP's dismayed at Anthony Albanesi's call over garsen visas after a shocking parliamentary fortnite. Labour figures are alarmed that the Prime Minister couldn't even say her mus supporters aren't welcome in this country. More on that exclusive. In a moment, Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison responds to the news that the UK is reviewing

Let's all choose Karmala Harror.

When Kamala Harris as president, every day will begin with you.

You.

You, you, the candidate utterly transformed from someone not even the left wing media thought was capable of becoming president.

I think she was arguably Biden's worst political decision.

They don't like her.

There's lots of reasons they.

Don't like her.

Kamala Harris's approval rating is now at twenty eight percent, which is an historic low for any modern vice president.

We're hearing it from mainstream media, one outlet after another, one league after another, that Kamala Harris is a worst vice president ever, the worst Polish distetition ever.

And that was all when she was VP, when Biden was still intending to be the Democratic nominee. So how has this happened? Will Barack Obama's tacticians have reportedly become involved or even taken over Kamala Harris's presidential campaign. It's extraordinary that gloss, slogans, and the power of celebrity can transformed the perception of an individual to the point that she appears tough where she was weak, and intelligent where

On October seven, Hamas terrorists went into small Israeli farming villages and a music festival where they filmed themselves gleefully murdering children, raping women and mutilating their victims, including after death. Thirteen hundred innocent people were gunned down and murdered for sport, and two hundred and fifty one hostages were forced at gunpoint into Hamas terror tunnels under Gaza. On return, thousands

The Prime Minister just couldn't answer the question.

One of the things that some of the Jewish community leaders have said to me in the wake of October seven is that they are precisely the sort of people who want to see peace and reconciliation with the Palestinians as well. There they were very close to where the border was, and to have them subjected to the horrific murder, rape and abuse that occurred, the kidnapping of people is horrific if it occurred to any human being.

And the speaker wouldn't even take a point of order, presumably to point out that the Prime Minister wasn't answering the question. So Julian Lisa got up and asked it again very specifically.

Prime minister does supporting Hamas past the character test for an Australian visa.

Albin Easy would not answer well. After question time, Julian and Lisa told me, I don't understand why the Prime Minister cannot say what Australians expect a prime minister to say, that anyone who supports terrorist organizations like HAMAS is not welcome here. It is very disappointing that he can't just say in simple words what John Howard or Bob Hawk

If it's just rhetorical reupport and they don't have an ideology or support for a violent extream as an ideology, then that's not a problem.

And the reality is Hamas sympathizers have already come to Australia on visas issued by the Australian government. I show that this had happened back in February. A twenty one year old Palestinian had liked and shared pro Harmusk content right after October seven, content that celebrated those terrorist attacks. Well, he's no longer in Gaza. He's now in Melbourne on

Over the last two weeks, the Prime Minister has dodged about thirty questions on the government's handling of people coming from terrorist control Gaza since October seven. It's now clear that by cutting corners and concocting the Visa for Votes scheme. This government has put domestic political considerations ahead of national security and Australians are now lis safe.

And not to get into too much detail about what went on in Parliament, but they actually made Peter Dutton remove the phrase of visa for votes. That's not even allowed freedom of speech to call this visa for votes, that's not even allowed under the Labor government in parliament, that is freedom of speech. Now Here were some of the questions that the Prime Minister refuse to answer just today.

Will individuals currently in the terrorist controlled Garza war Zone who have already been granted a visa by this government be subject to face to face interviews or biometric checks before they arrive in Australia. How many people from the Gaza war zone has Qatar accepted?

I referred to the government's issuing of tourists visas to nearly three thousand people from the terrorists controlled Gaza war Zone. Can the Prime Minister provide details on any concerns raised by the New South Wales State Police or the New South Wales Government regarding this matter.

Albanezi calls all the questions about the visa process pointless noise, and he lectured Dutton about national security.

National security is too important to be used as a political football. Our national security is something that historically in this place, in this place has been above the sort of game playing and targeting that we've seen here. The targeting of any group based upon hate is a bad thing, whether that people of Jewish faith, people of Islamic faith. And what they don't want also is conflict brought here. They want Australa to play a constructive role.

Now that is an extraordinary remark that he doesn't want the conflict brought here when the Prime Minister is literally handing out visas to thousands of people from a terrorist hotspot without proper or in some cases, any security checks. There are also live questions about whether Tony Burke gave any ministerial or personal recommendations to overturn visa cancelations. His

Seen Look, it just beggars belief, Shari.

I mean, ever since we saw the ASO director admit that well, if you just have some well I think he turned rhetorical support for a terrorist organization, you can still come to this country.

I mean, people here are gobsmack.

That this is this is actually the policy of an elected Australian government here, as you say in Labor and Peace, a gobsmack.

It defies all explanation.

The only explanation is that the Labor Party have become so panicked at the electoral armourgeddon that some seem to think might might be imposed on them an election in Western Sydney because of a voting base sympathetic to the Palestini Palestine issue, that they're willing to trade our nation's security, our national security to protect their own seats. It's the only explanation. So Peter Dutt's is absolutely right to call it the visa for vote scheme. I can't believe that

Yeah, it is really concerning. I'll come back to this a bit later in the show with Peter Jennings about ZIL. I want to ask you about the Democratic National Convention Day two star started event. Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, what do you think about this transformation, the remaking of Kamala Harris from someone that the left media and the US the Democratic Party more broadly didn't even consider a particularly competent vice president.

Sherry, I can see that you're quite triggered by the events that are happening across at the DNC. And yes, it has been a makeover, it's been a transformation. We shouldn't forget that the United States is the home of Hollywood and this is probably what they do best, and they're throwing everything at it. I suppose those who aren't sure about Kamala, and I know there's a lot of those people who do think that suddenly what she used to stand for.

She doesn't anymore.

How she was represented, She's not represented as they can console themselves with. It's very difficult to be inauthentic for too long before you get found out, and so it's a very dangerous game. Now if she's not any of these things that they are presenting her as, she will get found out. But will that happen before the election? That's the interesting question. What we do know is based on the reaction, the feedback the show is the fact

Yeah, no question. Politically they made the right call. But look, what I care about mostly is foreign policy. And we are seeing, like I said at the start of the show, the most volatile environment globally since World War Two, And we need to know what Kamala Harris is going to do. We need to know will she support Israel? Is she going to come to Taiwan's defend? Where does she stand on Ukraine? She hasn't been interrogated. Foreign policy has been absent entirely from the DMC convention week.

That is, of course what the debates are for, right, That's what those debates are for. That's what those opportunities this is presented her way. Then when she has to face the questions, and the media should be insisting that she has to answer the questions, then it's harder.

To hide your true self.

So let's see then, we'll see if she does do any tough interviews over the next few months. She hasn't yet. All right, Let's have a look at Environment Environment Minister Tanya Plibasek. She's now said that she's not going to release the advice that led to her blocking the one billion dollar gold mine. This was the mind that was all set to go ahead. The men's government in New South Wales was supporting it, State and federal departments had

Well.

I think the people of the Orange Bathurst area, Blaney, the smaller the town, small town close to the mind, they deserve to see it's their government. It's their government's made this decision that's imposed an enormous cost on this town and community. We've seen in the media today that you know, there's been people out there who bought businesses in Blaney, a butcher's shop on the expectations we go ahead, as you said, it had its approvals, and fact their

Yeah, it's the uncertainty, it's the unreliability around business investment that is such a big issue here Basil. The minor Regious Resources has had to write down the value of the gold mine by one hundred and ninety two million dollars and the mining company is now reportedly considering legal action, but it looks like they're not going to be able to go ahead at all.

As we well know over here in the West, when mining does well, Western Australia does well, Australia.

Certainly does well.

This is a decision that's bad for the economy, it's bad for jobs, and it's not a decision that can be stacked up and the Minister really does have to come clean and explain why. We know, for example, as you mentioned State Planning, it gets a tick. Her own department, it seems gave it a tick, and we know the local Aboriginal Land Council also gave it a tick. So we need to know why has this been knocked back? Because otherwise what else is going to be knocked back?

All right, that's a good point.

Now.

Major news today the ABC managing director David Anderson said publicly that he was going to leave the ABC. This is just a year into his second five year term, Matt Canavan. There's a lot of speculation that it could be linked to the incoming chair, Kim Williams, who has been described as being quite interventionist. What do you what are you hearing?

Look?

Who would know? Who would know? I'm not hearing anything. It's only just been announced today. I mean, I think the sad thing is that I'm not going to hold my breath to expect any major change at the ABC. There needs to be changed, I mean if it's hardly.

A well run organization now.

But to give David his jew, he did dismiss that journalist who was saying rapidly terrible things about the Israel conflict, adding to tension, something a journalist employed by national broadcaster should not do. He obviously copped a lot of backlash to that, so that might play a role from the staff, you.

Know, and look, maybe good luck to Kim Williams.

It seems to be a staff run collective over there, and really it should be an organization run for the interest of the whole nation. So maybe Kim can do something if he's in the diventions. But as I said, I won't be holding my breath. I won't be switching the dial to the ABC anytimes.

Keep it on the Sky.

And yes, I haven't watched the ABC in I don't no years. It's always on Sky News or Fox News Basil. Look, Kim Williams has said he was going to try and restore some balance to the ABC. He said that before he started. There are I am hearing a lot of rumblings that it is actually getting quite hands on things like the ABC website homepage. So you know, we'll see

Well, something has changed, obviously, when a decision like this is a career decision like this, a five year contract is put on your table, you do consider where will I be over the course of that contract. And unless there's been some family circumstances change, which doesn't appear to be the case, we know the MD has had a change of or a change of mind or a change of direction coming from above.

So that may well be a good thing.

That might be what many people around Australia have been calling for for a long time. There will be a new MD to carry out the new chair's vision. Let's see what happens, shall we?

All right, Basil zamplus Matt Canavan. Great to see you both as always on a Thursday. Now, the British New Labor government has appointed one of its top security bureaucrats to review the AUCUST partnership. The Nightly reports that Sir Stephen Lovegrove will pour over the progress and benefits of

He said.

I look forward to seeing his report and commend the Starmer government for appointing him to this important task. And while Scott Morrison couldn't be on the show tonight, he will be on my program early next week to discuss this and other topics. But for now, let's bring in Strategic Analysis. Australia Director Peter Jennings. Great to see you again. Why would Kiir Starma be ordering a review into Orcus.

Well, It's a new government and I guess he needs to persuade that huge backbench of MPs that Labour now has keeping them in government that this is something that's going to work from a labor perspective as well. I agree with Scott Morrison's take. I think that I would be astonished if anything negative came out of the review. And importantly, for AUCUST to work, each of the three countries that are partners Shari need to get something from it.

What the British get is a.

Strengthened defense industry and will get benefit from that. What the Americans get is a stronger ally in the Endo Pacific. So each of the three countries needs to get a benefit and I'm sure this review will put the case to Keir Starmer that the UK is a strong beneficiary from UCAS as well.

Peter, I'd like to ask you about the gas and visa issue now, Tony Burke, the Minister has categorically said that no government in its right mind would send people back to Gaza. Now the Palestinians are here on visitor visas, they have an expiration date, So what do you expect will happen when that time is up in the near future.

I think it's very clear Shari. Those visitor visas last for twelve months, and so if we can assume, and we know that a number of them were being issued from mid October on that right now there will be people with those visas who will be applying for asylum status in Australia in order to remain permanently. And the thing about asylum status, as I understand it, is a minister has to make that authorization. They have to authorize

I didn't mean to laugh then, when you were making a serious point about Mike Burgess assuring Australians that he was taking care of security. I mean there's been a loss of confidence in ASIO after they said the people with rhetorical support for hermus will welcome into the country. I think that that interview has proved problematic. But before you get into that, Pete, I want to ask you

I think if Kamala Harris becomes president, she's going to become the American Jasinda Ardern. She's going to be very focused on performative, theatrical politics of a woke, progressive variety, and that's going to be an unusual thing to see from the White House, even after having Obama and Biden

Span for.

A President Harris to try and cover from on the one hand, playing to the pro Palestinian student crowds occupying university campuses as they did, through to playing that serious role of being that the global national security guardian, which only the United States can do. But certainly at the moment, I think the model is Jsinda Radin. That's what I see Kamala looking like in terms of how she's presenting herself in the run up to the president election.

Yeah.

Yeah, we we'll see if she does become subject to any scrutiny regarding her policies. Peter Jennings, always wonderful to have you on the show. Thank you really appreciate it. Now still coming up in the program. Text messages highlight the involvement of the so called mean girls Pennywong and Katie Gallagher in the Brittany Higgins saga. Also, the former editor in chief of The Age slams The New York Times over its reporter leaking the names of hundreds of Jews.

Well.

The New York Times is meant to be one of the world's most trusted newspapers, and yet one of their journalists was part of a private WhatsApp group of six hundred Australian Jews. This journalist downloaded the private chats and leaked them to another individual and it leaked from their leading to horrific threats and anti Semitic attacks, and the private information of Australian Jews private individuals being leaked and disseminated.

Well, I think what happened was that.

After the doc sne happened the group, which happened some time ago, months ago. Now people on that WhatsApp obviously realized that their information, their chats had been somehow accessed by someone and leaked and had gone and had gone to people who were frankly viciously. They call themselves pro Palestinian, but they're vicious people who have basically, over a long period of time, six months or longer, attacked some of these Jewish people online, and many of them have tens

How she does that from.

Melbourne, I don't know, but they discovered that, they published the story. It was a good story. But I think, to the great shame of Australian journalism, this story had to be done by the Wall Street Journal rather than one of the newspapers here in Australia.

Very good point. Now, Michael, you've written a letter to the New York Times leadership. In it, you know, you ask what responsibility they've taken for one of their reporters, you know, being involved in this leaking of the information that led to so many hundreds of Jews being harmed. Do you think they have taken enough responsibility. They haven't even really reported on this at all.

Now they've taken no responsibility.

In my view, I think it's I think it's I don't understand the standard, except in terms of this is something that they think happened far away in Australia and that they can basically ignore it.

I think that's how they're behaving.

I thought to myself, if this had happened to say, a group of six hundred American Jews, that their information had been lead in this way by a New York Times reporter, could they have ignored the story the way they have.

I doubt that they could have.

But to me, this is just absolutely an example of journalistic cowardice. I wrote to them, I said, you know you pride yourself on being fearless in your reporting. You also pride yourself and have over many years, been absolutely committed to when you make mistakes, revealing the mistakes that your journalists have made.

Examining them, telling your readers about.

Them, telling your readers what you're going to do to make sure it doesn't happen again.

They have not done anything like that in this case.

I think it's I think it's a sign for me it's a sign of where journalism is at, especially I've got to say, in the liberal media. It's a sign of where which I was part of for my whole journalistic life. It's a sign of where we've ended up.

Well, yes, I mean, you know you look far too young for this, but I understand you spent five decades at the Age you were the editor in chief, and yet you're writing about anti semitism has appeared in the Australian. What does that tell you about, as you call it, the liberal media in this country.

Well, I'll tell you one thing.

It tells me that the Age and papers like the Age, and I think this is probably true about the ABC as well, that the executive producers, the news directors, the editors have lost control of their newspapers and their television stations and then news outfits. I think that we've reached a point now where editors, I feel like this has happened.

I think that's the situation we're in at the.

Moment, and shame on them because anyone, any media outlet, should be honored to have your work being published. Michael, thank you for your courage and speaking out on this issue and on the media who have been hostile in covering the antisemitism crisis. I just don't understand how the ABC has failed to comprehensively cover what's been going on in our country. It's unprecedented in Australia at the levels of antisemitism. Public broadcaster has barely touched the issue. Michael

You know, Shari.

If you don't eat it and I don't eat it, and Australians on average eat fifty kilos of chicken a year, there must be some people doing a lot of work for you and me.

Look, it's very rare.

Why don't you eat chicken? Gary, what's your excuse?

It's not my first choice.

I'd much rather have a good piece of red meat and some great seafood.

So there you go. It's pretty simple.

But look, chicken is the mainstay for a lot of people, and yet the cost of.

Living crisis is coming home. But the problem, the problem.

Here is that McDonald's, KFC and the people that cook chickens are not affording the cost of the electricity.

That's the problem, Charri.

And this is all the big retailers, all the big commercial fast food stores. Everybody is feeling the pressure because labor is so hell bent on driving up the cost of electricity.

So yep, going to come home to rooster.

As you say, yeah, James, I think there's a section of the population that are really struggling just to put food on the table, you know, kind of close to poverty during this cost of living crisis. But then there's another whole section of Australians who were just actually cutting back on a lot of grocery items because inflation has pushed up the price of just common things and it's not going back down.

Food prices under labor have gone up eleven percent in the last two years. This country isn't a cost of living crisis. Now, I love chicken and I'll take your fifty and fifty kilos here, go for it. I die genuinely adore KFC. But seriously, there are families out there their treat is on a Friday night is to get KFC. And if people can't afford KFC, it shows there is a real problem in Australia and that is because we've got a labor government and as Gary pointed out, they're

Yeah. Now, Donald Trump held his first outdoor campaign rally since the assassination attempt. He had to do it behind bulletproof glass.

Have a look that charade that they have going on.

They mentioned my name I think two hundred and seventy one times. They mentioned the economy like twelve times. They mentioned the border.

Maybe none.

They don't talk about the border. Our Great Borders doesn't talk about the border. But they mentioned me more than any other category. I'm now a category that had me down today as a category. That's all they talk about Trump. We've driven him crazy. They have Trump derangement syndrome and Gary.

Of course he was speaking there about the DNC, but it's true their focus was more Trump than any policies.

Yeah, because Trump is the guy that's standing between the insanity of more of this green left climate corn internationally and getting ourselves back on track. And frankly, Australians will be better off if Donald Trump can completely pierce this mad dream about renewables being able to give us enough electricity to cook that Kentucky fried chicken that James seems

I say now, I want to end our conversation with this amazing eleven year old Australian girl. She survived a horrific stabbing attack in London. She's spoken to the Daily Telegraph for the first time. Have a quick look.

The police that have been looking after me. They drove me everywhere and they've just been so lockfilly. Some of them bonded with me really fast and I felt safe. My friend Chris and Carly they came with us to Taylor swift for work for work and they had a great time, but they also made me feel.

More safe, James, She's incredible. But how is it that girls, that women are being stabbed, that the knife attacks in the UK. It's just next level.

It's next level in the UK. But also here the violence against women and girls in Australia. But what is just brilliant about this young Australian is what her mum said, that nothing will stop her. And I think the future

Yeah.

Beautiful story, beautiful girl. Gary Hargrave, James McGrath, Great to see you both tonight. Now after the break, Just how involved were the so called mean girls Katie Gallagher and Penny Wong in the Britney Higgins scandal. Well, some of their own text messages have come to light. We're going to look at it with Chris Merritt, after the break.

Look, it'll be up to justice title hopefully In his judgment to put together a timeline which will hopefully spell out a bit more detail about who knew what and when. But on the face of things, it looks as though this is in line with the finding in the earlier defamation case in the Federal Court, where Justice Michael Lee said this must be the only cover up where the party accused of covering up wanted to call the police. So the timing is crucial on all this who knew

We also heard this week that Brittany Higgins won't be giving evidence. She won't be defending herself.

If you like, is this unusual, Well, if you're going to defend a mation case and not take the stand, it's a very strange way to conduct a defense.

Let me put it that way. It denies Miss Reynolds's counsel from the opportunity of cross examining and testing Miss Higgins on the stand. We already know that mister Charraz is not going to give evidence, so it's almost like fighting someone who's not there. So the case will be determined on the evidence that's come to light so far, and some of that evidence. The text messages that came

She was concerned about putting pressure on Higgins, no question, Chris Merritt were out of time. Great to see you. Thanks everyone for your company this week. I'll see you Monday. And here's Paul Murray