Why on Sky News This is Sharry.
Good Evening, Big Show tonight coming up, how Anthony Albanizi has changed Australia for the worst as the cost of living crisis creeps up ahead of the federal election. Pro Palestinian protesters are tonight as you've been hearing descending on a Melbourne synagogue despite being told to counsel. Will go live to the scene in a moment. Also tonight, exclusive revelations that a man with a Hesbla tattoo on his neck has been charged over the anti Semitic rampage in
Sydney's East. He was about to leave the country when police swooped at Sydney Airport. Those exclusive details in a moment, And Labor faces its own problem with women after Richard Miles's chief of staff takes claims of bullying to court. But first, as we sit here tonight, a month from Christmas, it appears less and less likely that Albanezi will win the next election. I say this not based on the polls, although the polls are sharply tracking downward, but based on
the climate in Australia right now. Labour say over Peter Dutton, he's unelectable but he's not looking so unelectable right now. Albanizi also claims he is reassured by the fact that it's been nearly one hundred years since Labor had a one term government. In fact, it was the Great Depression in nineteen thirty one that saw Labor booted after one term. But traditions are currently being shattered.
In America.
There'd been only one president who'd won two non consecutive terms. That was Grover Cleveland in the late eighteen hundreds. Will Trump smash that tradition. He was only the second president in US history, and we saw his win was a landslide, three hundred and twelve College votes compared with Kamala's two hundred and twenty six. So Albanzi can't feel comforted by
precedent and predictable voting batons when they're being obliterated. Now, what makes Australian voters consider voting Albanzi out is just how he's dramatically reshaped our country without warning or even getting a mandate for it at the last election, and his list of broken promises is mounting now. As you know, Albanezi took a small target agenda to the twenty twenty two election. He sold voters on a dream of cheaper cost of living, lower power bills and petrol prices. This
is the prime Minister's greatest failure. Simon Benson reports and I quote that households are suffering the worst decline in living standards since the nineteen fifties, with the fall in real disposable income eclipsing those of the last four major recessions, including the nineteen seventies inflation crisis and the COVID pandemic. Benzonosa reports that the current cost of living crisis is hurting households twice as hard as during the nineteen ninety
and eighty two recession. And it's not pretty when you look at how other OECD countries are faring. Here's Australia's real gross household disposable income per capita. That's the figure that you can see in red. It's now falling and compared to the OECD, which is the line in blue that's now rising. That's each household's disposable income Now at the same time, as this graph shows, we're paying more personal income tax than ever and it's forecast to skyrocket further.
You can see that forecast the red dotted line again. The worst living standard since the nineteen fifties are now occurring under a Prime Minister who was literally elected on a cost of living platform. Remember how often Albert Easy ram that message home during the election campaign.
We've said that our priority is cost of living, putting that downward pressure on inflation, whilst making sure that we provide support for families and for people with cost of living pressures. Make pressure off cost of living, pressure off the cost of living, the cost of living, cost of living.
Now, the cost of living crisis would be reason enough for voters to question voting Albin EASi back in.
But there's so much more. The competition is.
Tough for Albanesi's worst move since becoming PM. And here's some of the worst, and let's call them albotrocities. There's the misinformation legislation, the radical environmental laws, the big Australia immigration policy that made the housing crisis worse just last week, the political raid on the Future Fund, the Voice failure and the division that came with it, His tolerance for
racism against Jews. He's doubling the tax on superannuation for wealthy retirees, and who could forget releasing criminals onto the streets where they've been free to bash grannies.
The list is much longer than this.
Of course, Albanzi has also refused to sign up to the COP twenty nine nuclear agreement alongside all like minded countries around the world.
And then there's the unfathomable.
Decision to grant visas to Palestinians from a terrorist control war zone while refusing a visa for a distinguished former Israeli minister who has family here in Australia, and the Palestinians are here to stay, thousands of them, while the Israeli minister was only meant to come here to speak at a security conference and visit her family. Albinisi, in his Sidekickpenny Wong, also treat allies as enemies and enemies as allies cozying up to China while continually attacking our
ally in Israel. Even the Biden administration is perplexed. The moral confusion that we're seeing is astonishing, the capitulation to terrorism inexplicable. Now Christopher Doore breaks all of this down in his column, easily the most readable in the country, and he writes Australia has changed under Anthony Albinizi. It is more hateful, it is less safe, Its families are poorer, its place in the world less clear, its collective values corroded,
its common sense corrupted. We are less united, less happily, less happy, and fundamentally more divided. A change of government has changed our country. It has been slow and subtle. It is now surreal. And his columns on the cover of The Nightly which says the rebrand.
Of Australia gone wrong, and.
He's spot on, We're all worse off economically and socially. Albanizi's fingerprints on almost every facet of our lives is.
Now in upheaval.
Without warning or asking for a mandate, Albanizi imparked on dramatic and dangerous change to our country. And I'm going to come back to discussion about that in a moment with Steve Price and Joe Hildebrand. But I just want to turn now to the breaking news today about the man who police allege is behind that anti Semitic attack in Wallara in Sydney's East where cars and homes were vandalized, one car even torched. Just days after that racist attack
shook Sydney at the country. Police today arrested a twenty year.
Old man, his name Muhammad far Hat. That was just before four am.
Now I've exclusively reported today that Muhammad was about to leave Australia.
He was booked on a flight.
To Thailand when New South Wales police swooped in and made that dramatic arrest at Sydney Airport. I can also reveal that Muhammad has a Hesbala tattoo on the side of his neck. He has another neck tattoo as well with the numbers three one three. This is I'm told of reference to another terrorist group symbol. I'm advised the number three one three is significant in Shea Islam and it.
Is associated with Hesbela.
So an apparent Hesbela supporter allegedly went on this anti Semitic rampage in Sydney's East and he's been charged with twenty one offenses.
This is scary stuff.
A man who has a terror symbol tattooed on his neck, well, you'd hope that he would have been the focus of counter terror police before this.
We don't know the answer to that.
Mohammed Farat didn't apply for bail and it wasn't granted today. He'll be back in court in early December. Now he allegedly did an act alone. We know from CCTV you're looking at it now that at least one other person was allegedly on the rampage that night, and my sources tell me we can expect.
Another arrest in the near future.
But what we've seen today this is the best case where police acted fast, very fast to catch an alleged perpetrator of anti Semitic violence. And there are two reasons for this amazingly successful outcome. Firstly, New Southwal's police, under the direction of Premier Chris Mins through resources at this They moved extra police onto this strike force, even i'm told bringing in officers from regional New South Wales.
But secondly, I'm.
Told that the alleged perpetrators allegedly left items at the scene that helped police identify them.
There were also other factors.
That helped police, either DNA or fingerprints. We'll know those details as it goes through the court process in time, but we can only thank the New Southeal's government and the police for acting so quickly in this instance. It shows what can be done when there's political will and that is what has been missing, and we need more of it because I'm seeing more and more vile racism towards Jews, like this incident.
That took place in Townsville over the weekend.
I mean, that's incredibly distressing in twenty twenty four from a shopkeeper in regional New South Wales. And it's why rabbis are now feeling the need to publicly speak up to implore leaders like Anthony Albineasi to act. Here were two rabbis on Sky News tonight.
He is the leader of the country and therefore prime responsibility, I'm afraid, has to rest with him. That's what leadership is. I think he's a man of goodwill. I don't think he's malicious, but I think he has fallen short in exercising the clarity of the leadership which is needed this time.
The messaging has to be very clear, unequivocal, and the consequences have very clear and unequivocal, because otherwise who knows where this will end.
So Daniel Rabin from Melbourne Benjamin Elton from Sydney, both speaking out for very diplomatic rabbis to have to speak out like this, it shows how dire. The situation is we all need to speak up Jews and non Jews alike, especially non Jews, to demand Alban Easy and Penny Wang and Tony Burke do better. The more we stand up to them, the more we speak out, the more we can ensure change.
All Right, lots to come tonight.
I've got international human rights lawyer Hillel Noyer on a bit later. Ross Greenwood is also going to join me to discuss how Australia has become the world's biggest cost of living loser. Graham Richardson and David Gazzard also coming up later. But now let's bring in Sky News host Steve Price and also Joe he would around our Monday
regular Great to see him, Steve. Before we get to Joe, I just quickly want to start with those revelations that I've had today on the Sky News website that a Hasbela supporter was allegedly behind this rampage we saw in Sydney, someone who I'm told by police sources has the Hasbela signed tattooed on his neck.
I mean, you'd.
Hope someone like that would have been the focus of counter terror police.
You would have thought he would have been at the top of the list, charring. I mean, he's out at Sydney Airport trying to flee the country. I mean, maybe we would have been better off letting him flee the country, but you just don't. You have to wonder where our counterterrorism forces are at that they don't know that a person like this is potentially.
Able to do what he did.
Allegedly, what happened in the eastern suburbs of Sydney was just outrageous and shocking and it's scared lot of people. And let's hope that the due course of the law takes its course and they throw the book at him because this is obviously clearly a dangerous individual.
Yeah, indeed, all right, and that's all Allegedly he's under investigation. Police have made those claims. We haven't seen his rebuttal yet. Joe, I want to ask you about the Misinformation Bill. This is something we've all been campaigning on. The Prime Minister has now been forced to dump this controversial legislation. It didn't have support from anyone in the Senate. The Coalition was against it, the Greens were against it, the Crossbench were against it. I mean, it was madness to think that.
For a year and a half he pursued this.
I mean, you've got to say it's his obsession with censorship.
Look, I don't actually think so. I think that the story is a bit more complex than that.
Because he was so angry about the Voice, and what he got was misoxformation against there was.
I think there was a big problem with elements on the left who were upset that the Electric didn't just do what it was and anyone who you know, they can't say that all the people who vote against the Voice where you working class immigrants, which they were, because that would make them sound classiest and racist, and so they had to say, oh, they weren't educated enough, and so we have to educate them. We have to protect them from this misinformation similar stuff to COVID as well.
So I think it came from an incredibly pretentious but well intentioned place, but it very very quickly became apparent that this thing was at Pandora's box.
It needed to.
Die, and die quickly. I've never seen a policy pursued with less enthusiasm than this one. They made no attempt, basically to get it through the Senate, no attempt to negotiate because they wanted it to die.
They knew how harmless it was, how hopeless it was.
I wrote in a column today that this bill died as friendless as an ayatola at a bar mitzvah, and that's exactly what it did. It had no friends on either side of politics. And I can absolutely assure you that this is something that for weeks now, if not longer, the government has just been sort of waiting to die and just get off the books, get off the decks, something that they're going to resurrected, not something they were
desperate to do. They realized very quickly. I think that this raised so many questions, created more problems than it solved, and it was just an island of doctor Morow monster.
Steve, I want to ask you about my opening comments as well about the cost of living and how dramatically our country is deteriorating under Anthony Albanezi. You know, whether it's his misguided attempts to introduce misinformation laws because he didn't like the outcome of the Voice and he blamed misinformation, whether it's you know, most critically, the cost of living crisis, but every single thing he's doing is turning voters off.
The story in The Australian on Saturday really shocked me. I mean to read that our standard of living is now back where we were in the nineteen fifties, that it's much worse than recessions that particularly Joe and I've lived through and you have two partly Shari and you know, the early eighties and the nineties. That is shocking to read.
And Australians are really hurting. I mean, you know, politicians in this country, and I've been thinking about this all day to day, politicians are both sides in this country are starting to really annoy me because many of them, not all of them, but many of them are completely out of touch with what's happening in the real world.
Now.
People might say that I'm out of touch because you know, I'm reasonably well paid and you know I'm at the end of my working life, but I'm not a politician is trying to steer the country to a better place. And every other OECD country, and my great mate Ross Green, but I'm sure we'll tell you this later, every other
OECD country is doing better than Australia. How can that possibly be with all the riches we've got, with everything we've got at our disposal, with all the advantages we have over the rest of the world, how can we be sitting here in twenty twenty four going worse. We're a bust at ask country at the moment and it's really really hurting people and it's really disturbing. I think it's I mean, the Labor Party are going to have to really rue the day I think that they put
Anthony Albanesi in charge. You made those comments at the start of your program. I agree entirely. The Bloker probably should still have been there is the Bloker gave his valedictory speech to Parliament last week in Bill Shorten because Labour's done is they've installed a hard left prime minister, he's got a hard left foreign minister exactly, and the Australian public are going, we are no better off and these people that are blame.
Well, I couldn't agree with you more.
I mean alban Easy pretended that he was going to lead from the center. I mean he gave that interview to you, Joey order Brand in the election campaign where he said he wasn't going to go woke like, indicating he was becoming a centrist.
But ultimately you can't abandon.
And he has been a left faction warrior his entire political career.
Yeah, I mean he's been a fixer more than a factional fixer, and a factional WARLORDO ideological more than an ideological, To be honest, I don't think if you know the sort of hard heads who knock around Sussex Street, they're not a particularly sort of ideological has been ideologically.
He was at the protest.
I know, I know the footage of the protest, and you know, back then he would have been expected to say certain things. Look, he certainly believes that he has moved to the center, is far more to the center than he has ever been, and just light years, light years away from where he was. Look, I was a stupid student socialist when I was younger, and now.
I've got half of Twitter one now.
But I think, I think what what Alban is he has learned is that every time he sort of dips his toe in the water of anything perceived as ideological or wokeness, it hurts very very much, and you get burned and you get punished for it. And we saw that with the Voice, and again he was you know he responded by dumping all that stuff like a hot potato, by talking about nothing but.
Cost introducing misinformation laws.
Letting letting those letting those laws are on the line and die.
No one is morning in June last year.
He fought for them for a year and they have been They've been sitting in a back room quietly asphyxiating ever since.
And the come on, I love you like a brother, Joe, but seriously, seriously, Mae Becaho's the cheerleading going to stop.
I'm just trying to provide some context for it. So again I've heard you're not. I've been highly.
Sticking up for your mate.
I've been incredibly critical of Labor, and basically for the last three years of Labor being in opposition, I was screaming from rooftop like me and Joel Fits given both publicly. We have got to ditch all that woe crap. We've got to get the party back from rapped when Donald Trump won the election, because it means the Democrats have to do the same and learn what happens when they start to go on ideological crusades and have steering elites talking down to work.
I want to talk about the Barley Nine.
There's now a controversy over the Albanese government's decision to bring the remaining Ballei nine members who are in prison back to Australia. This is the deal done with the Indonesian government. Now the coalition has demanded to know what was given in exchange.
Have a look what is the deal? What is he extracted in relation for the deal? What is Australia giving up in relation to the deal? How much is it going to cost the Australian taxpayer? Will they continue to serve their prison sentences because they have been sentenced to life imprisonment in Indonesia?
Once again Albanezy government refusing to answer. No transparency, another broken promise. Steve Price, what's your view on this? Do you think they've done their time? I mean it was two thousand and five. I was a reporter covering it at the time.
Do you think they've done their time or do you reckon?
You know, there's no reason for Australia to spend money bringing them back here.
I was on the air on radio the night the two ring leaders were executed and that was a horrible thing to have to witness. But these people were trying to bring from memory something like eight Kilo's a heroin back into Australia. And they were a variety of involvement in it by all of them, but that's what they were. They were going to be heroin traffickers. They were stupid people.
I mean the Australian Federal Police tipped off the Indonesians, as you know, and that's why this crowd got arrested. I'd just like to have one question answered by the government. Why are we doing this? I mean, where was what's the hurry and the Russian? Where did the idea that we needed to do it come from? Who's pushing for this? What were you know, what is Indonesia getting in return
for us taking these people off their hands? And I think Micaulia Cash is right to ask all those questions, none of which we got an answer to.
I think we do need to know the answers to those questions before we can form a proper judgment Joean whether or not this is a good thing in our national interest.
Yeah.
Look, I mean I don't think it's not particularly uncommon for Indonesia to they hand out extremely punitive sentences, including death for these offenses and again, Steve's absolutely right. You know, trafficking heroine isn't a victimless crime. It results in hundreds and hundreds of debts and it's an absolutely horrible drug.
But you know, as with the case with Chappelle Krby, often what happens is you get, if not a life sentence, then a giant sense of say thirty years or something, and then on the President's birthday or a certain public holidays, the President, in his great merciful beneficence, will you grant an active clemency or mercy and reduce it. And again it's not unprecedented for people to come from Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries and finish the rest of their
senses in Australia. I'm not sure if it's that big a deal. I don't know if it even would have got to a midiserial level. Apart from just sort of signing it off, there would have been consular officials working behind the scenes. My sister was one of the people in Defata was trying to stop the Bali nine members from being executed. We all know how that went.
But again.
Without sort of saying too much, but there is always work going on behind the scenes trying to get these out. And again I didn't see it coming. This was not on my twenty twenty four being go yeah no.
But once again yeah, no mention of any of this before it happens. Joe hud Around, Steve Price, thank you so much for joining me.
Thanks.
Now I want to take you back to Melbourne.
Now we know that the pro Palestinian protesters were told not to turn up to the synagogue in Crawfield tonight. This protest was canceled. The Victorian government stepped in to take action today and yet we're hearing, and you've been seeing on Andrew Bolt that protesters did turn up.
Let's go live to the scene.
Now we've got Sky News reporter Georgie Dickerson on the ground. So Georgie, what do you know about how many pro Palestinians ignored the ruling that they should be canceled and turned up anyway.
Good evening, Sharry, Well, around twenty.
People from my county is the number of pro Palestinian protesters that did turn up. We arrived here around six o'clock tonight outside the synagogue here in Courtfield.
And there was a slowly the level and the number.
Of the Jewish community started to turn up, and it seemed as if there was going.
To be okay.
It seemed as if for the first hour or so that the pro Palestinian protesters were going to abide by what they had said. They said that they had canceled the protests and they weren't going to turn up. But that was when we saw a mass running of some of the Jewish community down to around halfway off this street, and that is when we saw around twenty of those pro Palestine protests. The Jewish community was yelling at them, saying go home, go home, And at the moment they
have gone home. This is a situation that it looks like at the moment we've gone a large turnout of members of the Jewish community. They have been extremely peaceful. They have been playing songs, they have been dancing. Obviously, some of the Instagram posts that we had seen from some of the pro Palestine groups claimed that the Jewish community was going to be violent. They say that was never going to be the case. I spoke to so many people here tonight and they say that they feel
like they've already been pushed out of the city. There's pro Palestine protests every single weekend on the steps of Parliament and they say, now these groups are coming into their backyards somewhere where they.
Should feel safe. We've seen vision of one person being arrested.
We're unsure exactly what reason that was for, but at the moment it's.
Remaining calm here. There is a large police presence here tonight, Shari.
To ensure that it did escalate, that they would be on hand to stop that from escalating any further.
I mean, you know, I just want to pick up in the comment you made there where you've spoken to people who say that they feel that they can't go into the city anymore, especially not on the weekend. And look, that's the same in Sydney as well. When you have thousand strong pro Palestinian protests every weekend in the city, you know that takes out areas that as a Jew you can go. So I hear what the people are
telling you. And now that this protest was going to come once again outside of synagogue, we know that that already happened in Melbourne.
There was also.
Vandalism on a synagogue in Sydney.
I mean, it.
Moves to a point where it becomes intimidation when it's outside a place of worship.
What do you think.
Exactly right there, Shari.
Even when we were speaking to some of these people the Melbourne Burke Street Christmas decorations out the front of Maya, they were forced to cancel the opening because pro Palestine groups wanted to protest out there, saying that these people were complicit in genocide.
And speaking to some of the people here on the ground.
Today, they say, you know, people should be able to enjoy Christmas, they should be able to enjoy these happy moments, but instead they're being shut down, and they feel it's almost an empty threat.
They are claiming that they're.
Going to come here, they are inflicting this fear.
But then on the other hand, they turn around and say that they're going to cancel the protest.
So it feels like the damage has already been done when they're making these threats time and time again, and you know, people own backyards don't feel safe. But right now it seems like the moon has certainly lifted.
There is songs and dancing happening.
Everyone that drives past basically beeping their horns in support of the Jewish community that is out here. Tonight, So for now it looks like it's all bit over. We can't see any signs of those pro Palestine protesters. There was a small scuffle just down there before. It looked like there was another small couple of people from that group coming forward, but they were quickly shoot away by a mass group of Jewish community and a mass group of police that were quickly on the forefront down there.
Sharry, Well, Georgie, thank you so much for the news update. You've done a terrific job all night and good to see the joyous spirit their Jews reclaiming their streets outside of synagogue.
There should be no protests, Thanks Georgie. Now still to come.
SeaBus Chairman Wayne Swann snubs the Senate committee that's investigating the Funds customer service scandal. I'm going to discuss that with Russ Greenwood next. Plus the Deputy Prime Minister faces a potentially DMN in court battle after his chief of staff launch legal action over bullying claims. Well, will the left media launch an anti women campaign now against Labor? I'll chat about that with my panel a bit later.
Welcome back.
Well, as we've been speaking about tonight, Australians are experiencing the sharpest decline in cost of living standards since the twenty nineteen and our living standards have fallen by eight point seven percent. It's higher than during the recession in the eighties or the nineties. At the same time, the government is being accused of raiding the Future Fund for its political pet projects, and voters are pretty angry about
all this. Will Sky News Business editor Ross Greenwood, I'm thrilled to say, joins me here now.
Ross.
We'll get to Wayne Swann and the Future Fund in a minute, but I want to start with this report that we've seen on the weekend that our living standards are now worse than in the fifties.
Can you talk us about why this is so.
What's happened is inflation in Australia has really hurt people.
But it's not just that.
It's the amount of tax that the government is taken out of people's pockets that has risen. So the government tax take right now is at a record level and he's only going to get higher from here. So while the good news is that people have got jobs in Australia, people need to have jobs because if the unemployment rate were to arise ays save in the Reserve Banks suggests by the end of this year should be four and
a half percent. It's four point one percent. Now you've put another one hundred thousand families or without an income. You've got some real economic problems that the Albanezi government would have to face. Now. The fact is that they're taking record amounts of tax out despite the fact that we have got almost near record low unemployment rates, and so the real pressure on families is coming from all of the costs and from interest rates staying too high
for too long because inflation hasn't come down quickly. So this is the real problem for Australia families. They need two incomes in capital cities to be able to afford mortgages, to be able to afford the cost of living, and so there is real pressure on families right now. They feel it very much, so, especially if a job is lost or if a marriage busts up. There where the real pain points will come into the future.
And then you look at how Australia compares with other OECD nations already now but also the forecasts, and you know we're just worse.
So go back pre pandemic disposable incomes in Australia have fallen by two percent. The average of the other OECD
countries has them rising by seven point seven percent. So you see the real issue here is that in Australia there is a fundamental problem now though Australia has not slipped into an official recession two consecutive quarters where the economy goes backwards, which other nations did, because they pushed interest rates up faster and as a result now taking pressure off by cutting interest rates, like for how long we'll find out here at Australia, they took a different course.
They really the government and the Reserve Bank then trying to keep as many people in jobs as possible by basically keeping interstrates not as high as others. Didn't plunge the economy in recession, but guess what happened the individual the household has been in recession for months and months and months now, and that's what consumers are feeling. That's
what people are feeling. That's the reason why you've got restaurants going out of business around Australia right now, because people do not have the disposable income to be able to go out and spend on those types of luxuries.
Yeah, the per capita recession and it's just immigration really that's.
Helped batch up the overall figures.
Now I want to ask you about CBS chairman Wayne Swann.
Now, this is a big scandal.
The former federal treasurer, the euro money Treasurer of the year or Finance Minister of the year at one stage.
Yeah.
Well, indeed, as he liked to tell everyone, the best treasurer in the world. Now he has been called to appear in front of a Senate committee that's investigating the allegations that sibus mishandled the death and disability payouts. Now we're told that he quote and I'm quoting here, that he would not be in a position to add anything further to the areas of particular interest to the committee at this time. Surely he should appear USS, given he's the chairman.
Yeah.
Well.
SeaBus is one of Australia's biggest superannuation funds. It has ninety four billion dollars that it manages and it has nine hundred and twenty thousand members, so it represents a lot of Australia. Now, just one little side to this is that SeaBus actually also runs the Media Super the Superannuation Fund, so Media Super, which I used to be the chairman of the Investment Committee and I was a director of for years, so I know a little bit
about this. But what's happened is there's two things that are going Number one is, and this is the issue that you're pointing out, is that sea Bus basically is said by ASSEK, the Australian corporate regulator, that they mishandled almost one hundred thousand people who came forward with claims for either insurance, life insurance or disability insurance. In actual fact, what happened was at SeaBus not get back to them in a prompt and timely manner as they're supposed to
do within ninety days. So as a result there's something in the administration of that fund that has not gone well. But then secondarly, this is another issue, a separate issue which has come up, and this is as a result of its close alliance with the CFMAU, clearly one of
the most milletant unions. Now the Victorian branch of the CFMEU has been sent into administration and as a result, three members of Seabas who are appointed by the union have had to quit, one of whom is Dave noonan very well known union is he did not go willingly. But what they've done is they put other members into place, as they're entitled to do. One of those is Paddy Crumlin, who is the former head of the Maritime Union, right
one of the most milleant unions in Australia. And there are question marks about the appropriousness of the directors that have been appointed to this board. So Wayne Swan right now is grappling with one issue on administration, but they did not pay out the.
Life actual crisis as well.
And then they've got the other crisis that comes from the collapse of the CFMU see ciebus. Being one of our most powerful unions tells businesses how they should behave and how they should react. And right now inside that superannuation fund they have their own crisis in terms of governance and culture and the way in which they should behave and whether they have behaved appropriately, which is now being investigated not only by the Superannuation Regulator APRA, but
also by the Corporate Regulator ASSEX. So this is pretty serious.
And set an inquiry to top it off.
That's right in cops I should tell you about a quarter of a million bucks a year for being the chair of that super fun.
He definitely needs to front up if he's getting paid that sort of money. All right, Russ Greenwood, we'll talk about future fund next time, because I know you're an expert on that as well.
Thanks for her. Now still to come.
The ICC's deeply disturbing decision to issue arrest warrants for Nada Yahoo has shocked well everyone except for Penny one. I'm going to speak about her pathetic response with international human rights lawyer Killel Noyer next, plus the claims of bullying by Richard Miles, chief of staff. I talk about that with my panel a bit later. Well, Pennywog has been grilled over the Albanese government's response to the International Criminal Court's decision to issue a rest warrants for Neda Yahoo.
She was asked why Australia is out of step with our biggest ally, the US.
Here she was I have made clear many times in this place that all parties to the conflict must comply with international law, and I again say we respect the independence of the International Criminal Court and its important role in upholding international law.
It's now clear.
Australia should leave the ICC immediately and we should leave Pennywong.
Behind US Foreign Minister too.
The ICC and Pennywog are both utterly discredited on this issue. The ICC issued a warrant for Hamas leader Muhamma Dave. He's presumed dead, and also that move puts Israel on power with a terror group, lumping Israel's right to defend itself from Hamas on power with the October seven massacre itself. Now Israeli Prime Minister Etta Yahoo has responded.
To all of this.
He said he's deeply concerned at the anti semitism of the ICC.
The antisemitic decision of the International Court in the Heague is a modern Dreyfous trial and it will end the same way. One hundred and thirty years ago, the French Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus was falsely accused of treason by a biased French court.
As I've outlined before, Israel has not committed war crimes, It has not starved children. Israel has gone above and beyond to make sure civilians are protected. It's Hamas and Hamas alone that continues to put innocent Palestinians in harm's way, but again showing how warped the Albanezy government is. It also refused just on Thursday night, a visa to former Israeli Minister Aolette Shaket, an upstanding advocate of Israel who
has family here in Australia. Well, Pennywong had no problems fast tracking literally thousands of visas to Gazans from a war zone controlled by terrorists. This government couldn't get any worse. I'm joined now by un Watch Executive director and international human rights lawyer Hillel Noya.
Hillel, thank you very much.
Once again. Look, I want to start with the ICC decision. Can you explain to my audience why its accusations against Israel are horrifically wrong.
Look, the International Criminal Court in the Hague has issued arrest warrance for Israel's Prime minister its former defense minister on the accusation that they committed war crimes by depriving Palestinians of humanitarian aid. But the facts show the very opposite. The facts are that since the war, Israel has facilitated
into Gaza. Again. This is a territory from which Hamas waged war, launched an invasion On October seventh, there was a ceasefire in place for a couple of years, Hamas launched an invasion, massacred twelve hundred Israelis in front of their family members, dragged in some two hundred and fifty Israelis and many of whom are still being held as hostages.
Despite that Israel has facilitated into Gaza in the past year twenty seven thousand tons of medical aid, fifty one thousand tons of water, eighty five thousand tons of shelter equipment, and eight hundred and seventy thousand tons of food aid.
So the notion that Israel's leaders are depriving gasms of humanitarian aid is manifestly false and frankly shows the depth to which this once respected court has now descended, and it joins the club of other international entities such as the Human Rights Council, where I'm based in Geneva, which was founded by Eleanor Roosevelt and Reniequssin eminent figures of human rights, and today includes the Chinese communist regime, the
qatar whose Katari regime that sponsors terrorists, the Cuban police state, and other dictators. So sadly an institution meant to protect international justice has joined a very nefarious club.
Hello, can you tell us about your revelation that a secret Lebanon meeting has occurred between a former UNRAK Commissioner general and also some terrorist organizations?
What can you tell us?
Look, Sherry, you and watch as a massed a dosia a massive trove of evidence documenting how UNRA leaders, including the former leader Pierre Crahenbul and the current leader Felipe Lazarini, how they routinely meet with terrorist leaders from Hamas, from the Islamic Ghead and other terrorist groups including Asbat al Ansar, which is an al Qaeda affiliate. They routinely meet with them,
whether in Lebanon or Gaza. And we obtained one transcript of the meeting where the former Commissioner of UNRA said to Hamas and the Jihad we are united. Nothing can separate us.
Unbelievable, and yet, Hillel, the Australian government still continues to fund ANRA to the tunes of millions of dollars, despite the fact that there's mounting and long standing evidence of its links to terrorism.
It's absolutely shocking, Hillel Noya, your reports from U nrot watch.
Your exposes are always brilliant and I thank you so much for your courageous work. Now, don't go anywhere. Richard Miles's chief of staff takes him to court. Well, will Labor finally deal with the allegations of bullying. I'll discuss that after this break with my panel. All Right, lots more to cover. Let's bring in former Labor minister Graham Richardson and former John Howard advisor David Gazard.
Great to see you both.
Look, let's start with Richard Miles, the Deputy Prime Minister. He's now staring down the barrel of a court battle, his former chief of staff launching legal action against him and the Commonwealth and even Albanize his own chief of staff, Graham Richardson. How damaging is this going to be?
Well, it's not going to help, that's for sure. And the problem also is one of those things that will tend to go on and on and on. Whenever you start to get near a court, you know you'll get delays. And so I do worry about this. I think this is unfortunate and I think that the government should be making some extra steps to try and stop it going down that path. In a court and sorting it out.
David Gazard, we saw the campaign against Scott Morrison. Are you expecting this to be as lethal against Albin Ezy and his government?
No?
I mean I agree with Graham here.
I mean I think journalists have been very, very incurious when it comes to this case after sort of taking up the cudgels against the previous government over its perceived women's problem. But that's come back to bite them, and Graham is absolutely right. This will now drag on in the courts because this chief of staff has felt she hasn't got the proper hearing, no one has believed her, no one has come to her and asked her her view.
She's indeed been treated.
Like a lapper by the Labor Party, and so she's launched legal action which will now deflect from the government's message for the coming weeks and maybe months in front of us all the way possibly to the next election.
So the incuriousness of the Gallery has just.
Pushed this underground, and so this chief of stuff has now gone to.
The courts for action.
Yeah, you think a labor woman would get more support from the press gallery and the Labor Party itself. Now, let's have a look at this decision by the Abenezy government not to take part in the COP twenty nine
agreement on nuclear Well. Dennis Shanahan has ridden a great piece in The OHS where he says that there's now a danger and growing evidence that the government is turning the issues of renewable energy and nuclear power from believing what it believed, sorry from being what it believed would be negatives for Dutton actually into positives for the coalition.
Graham, what do you think about this?
Do you think nuclear could actually be something like Dennis says that works in Dutton's favor.
Yeah, Look, I think that there's been a massive change of thinking on this. I think if you've went back a decade or two, obviously, women in Australia practically to a woman, we're against it. And you know that once you get that in that means your poles are pretty well slanted all the way. But I think that you know that attitude has changed. I think there's been plenty of demonstrations now that you can have a modular, small, modular nuclear power plants that can just look after a
city or a village whatever. You don't need to have the massive power plants to which we've become accustomed. So I'd say that this is an issue not to go away. And I'd say that Dutton has been ahead on this. You know, he's leading on this issue and he's doing well.
It looked risky, I think risky when Duttin first came out with this policy. But David now it's alb and easy, that's looking out of step with the international community, and voters will be thinking, well, why does he think he's smarter than all the other world leaders.
That's right, there's many other countries that are going down this path. As Graham correctly says, I think the real structural problem for the Albaneze Labor Party and the Labor Government is that they were fine to sign up our navy with submarines and sub mariners in nuclear submarines, and so you've got a bunch of sailors that are going to be sitting on top of a reactor literally while while it cruises along underwater. Those same submarines are going
to be serviced in Australian ports. But yet they're saying it's a danger to the health of Australians to have other reactors on shore that will deliver a cleaner power, and we've of course, we've got tons and tons of uranium. So if you're going to crack the seal on submarines and sign up to the Orchest agenda with nuclear submarines, you can hardly turn around and say well it's unsafe if we use the same reactors on land.
Yeah, exactly. And then there's the cost argument.
But it seems like, well we've heard that the renewable energy transition will be just as or if not even more costly. And now just before we go, we've seen Graham Richardson this warning from business leaders. And remember the business community was on board with the Albanesi government. Now they're warning that Australians are going to face worse living standards and job opportunities.
Graham, Well, I think I was waiting for them to turn. It's not as if the business community is a natural ally for the Labor Party, and so anytime you get them supporting labor, it's always temporary, it never lasts, and this one was never going to last either.
Well, it's lasted a while so far.
David Gazard, what do you think of what the CEOs actually had to say today?
Well, it's interesting because I think big business particularly find themselves almost friendless across the spectrum. They campaigned in part at least for a change of government, and the Coalition now are saying, well, we don't owe big business anything. If you've got problems with productivity and ir why don't you go to the party that you supported to get it into government now?
So I think the Coalition will.
Try to paint itself as the Party of workers, but not the party of big business.
But Graham's right, that's definitely right, and I think.
Seen out of time, David Gazard, Graham Richardson, thank you for your time. And just quickly before I go tune in tomorrow night, I've got one of Donald Trump's key appointments on the show. Don't miss that tomorrow at eight, his Paul