Live on Sky News.
This is Sharry Good Evening.
We start with tonight's major breaking news that a terrorism attack against a synagogue and other Jewish sites has been thwarted. A caravan full of explosives was uncovered in Sydney's northwest, with reportedly enough firepower to create a forty meter blast wave. The Premier tonight held a press conference where he described this as a potential mass casualty event. That's a terrifying phrase for us all to hear. Inside the vehicle there was a note with the address of Jewish targets, including
a synagogue. There was also a note that read f the Jews. Here was Premier Chris Min's addressing the nation.
Police are very concern in the community, is very concern about the rising number of anti Semitic attacks in our community community, escalating to the point where there was a mass casualty event. Polica were made aware of a van with explosive material located in it in Duraal. They've been conducting investigations into the site, into the van, into the owners of the van and any associates of the owners of that van since that time.
The Premier called this terrorism and police are treating this as a credible terror threat. Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson said they already made arrests on the periphery. They wouldn't say the exact quantity of explosives that had been found, but it's understood to be substantial, and The Herald reported tonight that the powergel explosives were believed to have been stolen from a mind site and that they were powerful enough
to create a forty meter blast. Police discovered this caravan on the twentieth of January, that's nine days ago.
I did secret from the public.
We wouldn't have known about this at all if the Daily Telegraphs Crime editor Mark Murray hadn't broken the story this evening. After Murray published his report, the Premier and the police then held their press conference, and Murray is on standby right now to join us live in a moment to tell us everything he knows about this story. Police said they had kept this secret for operational reasons.
There are ongoing investigations which need to be conducted. Ideally, those investigations are conducted with some form of anonymity in relation to what we are trying to pursue. I've indicated that we have made arrests on the periphery of this job, but we still are after other offenders that we believe may be involved.
So police there insisting that they'd kept this quiet to help with their investigation. But this hasn't just been a matter for New South Wales Police, the afp AZO, the New South Wales Crime Commission are all involved in this investigation. More than one hundred officers are working on it, and that's a reflection of just how seriously this thwarted terror attack is being treated by police and authorities. The Premiere
was briefed on this on the twentieth of January. As you recall, he sat down with me the very next day to talk about just how seriously he was taking the threat to the Jewish community, and he admitted then that the threats were escalating. We just all didn't know by how much.
They are escalating. And I think it's important I say that. I don't want anyone to have the impression that we're trying to sweep this under the carpet or suggest that it's not a major issue. This is the central priority of the government at the moment and New South Wales Police we are horrified by it.
The Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi has also been briefed. He was briefed many days ago, but unlike Chris Mins, he hasn't addressed the public. Tonight, Caroline Marcus will bring us
the statement that he's made on social media. Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Patterson said that the Albanese government does need to explain why this has been kept secret and he wants to know when the Prime Minister and the Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke had been briefed, he said, and let's read his statement.
This is James Patterson.
The Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs must explain when they were first briefed on this matter, what action they took to protect the community, and why they thought it was appropriate to keep.
It a secret for this long now.
Asked about the arrests that have already been made, Deputy Police Commissioner Dave Hudson said they were related, but not the main culprits and police were still investigating, so no one has directly been arrested. Who who is responsible for this thwarted terror threat?
Have those people been charged yet?
They've been charged with offences related to Pearl. They are in custody, they are posing no ongoing threat whilst their investigations continue. Not in relation to this, but they are in custody, so there's no requirement for us the charge them at this stage whilst their investigations continue.
So potentially some link there, but we don't have the full story. Mark Murray, Mike, and he's going to join me, as I said in a moment. But the reality is the police don't know who is ultimately behind this spate of anti Semitic attacks. The tenterorists so far are of career criminals who may have been hired to commit the attacks by bigger players.
I asked the new.
Stuffer was Head of counter Terrorism, Mark Walton, about this last night. In a way, it does give comfort that police are making arrests. Ten people have now been arrested, But you're sitting here and saying you have no idea who's ultimately behind it, who's paying them. That is still a serious concern if.
Something's keeping me up at night.
It's just that.
We knew police had stepped up their presence around Jewish sites in the eastern suburbs with regular patrols, but we didn't know it was partly in relation to this very serious threat. The caravan with the explosives was found in Dural in northwest Sydney. It's about half an hour from Sydney's CBD. Police only discovered the explosives after a local resident noticed the caravan had been abandoned and it may have been sitting there since early December. This is part
of the investigation. Dave Hudson assured the public that police would not rest until this was solved, and the Premier said he had the very best officers investigating.
You were talking about the finest police force in the world that are deploying all of their resources to catch these people, and they will not stop until they're behind by us.
We will not rest until those matters are resolved. We understand the concerns of the community. We understand the concerns of the Jewish community, and we take all these threats exceptionally seriously.
Look, I have to be straight with you.
This news tonight that a caravan full of explosives enough to create a forty meter blast wave. This is frightening to all Australians, and no more so than the Jewish community. Every time we walk into a synagogue or other Jewish institutions, things that you just do normally, naturally in day to
day life. There's now anxiety and fear and concern. Hearing the Premier speak this evening about a potential mass casualty event his words, it makes me feel sick to the stomach and we can't get the safety guarantees from authorities that we want. Last night, Mark Walton said there was reason to be concerned. He couldn't say that Jewish figures were safe. I asked him whether the Jewish leaders were
vulnerable after Alex Ripten's former home was targeted. Very succinctly is their reason for high profile members of the Jewish community not to feel safe.
It's fair to say everyone should be concerned about what's been occurring, and those that have a profile would naturally feel more vulnerable.
Vulnerable is an understatement. This isn't the world any of us want to live in. Jewish Australians have only ever contributed in a wonderful way to this country in every area of life to help make Australia a better place to live. The Jewish community has done up so lutely nothing to deserve this on the country and I want to say. I want to say to you tonight, we can't let terrorism win because this is terrorism. Whatever the authorities say, it is terrorizing our community. I want to say,
let's be strong and continue life as normal. But the reality is we can't afford to be complacent. And it's not just the Jewish community either. The childcare center that was firebont wasn't a Jewish preschool, it was just nearby a synagogue. This terrorism, this violent crime, is impacting everyone. All Australians now have to take precautions. You have to
look around, be vigilant, report anything suspicious immediately. This wave of domestic terror threatens to destroy our Australian way of life. It's working against everything that we all love about our country. We have to stand up to this and we just have to hope that the police lock up the crooks as soon as possible before something, as the Premier warned, more serious takes place. I'm going to have full coverage on the show of this tonight. I've got police reporter
Mark Murray coming up now. Also the latest on this with Sky News reporter Caroline Marcus. Israel's Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Sharan Haskell.
She heard the news and she wants to.
Come on to talk about how concerned she is about how our government is handling anti semitism and for community reaction. David Adler will also join me. Also on the show, Warren Hogan will be on to speak about the chance of a rate cut after the CPI figures today, So don't miss any of it. But now let's bring in crime editor for the Daily Telegraph, the man who broke this story that we wouldn't know about if it wasn't for Mark Murray. Mark, thank you so much for your time.
Can you tell us the latest on this breaking news tonight.
I think the fact that the police have gone public and didn't try to shut everybody down means I think they're fairly confident that they have the players that were the threat of carrying out something in custody. I think Dave Hudson known that pretty clear. What they don't have, and what you know Walton told you yesterday is that they don't know who is orchestrating this. That I think the people in custody really are puppets, and that is
what's now being worked on. I mean, I could tell you now just we're here in Elizabeth Street to studios and the police headquarters is just a few flows down, and I'm sure the whole hierarchy are there now talking about strategy about where they go next.
Maybe you can pop in after this interview, Mark, And I was at those headquarters just a few days ago. Now, Mark, you weren't even working today, you're on holidays when you got this tip off about this story that there has been a caravan full of explosives enough to create a forty blast wave, obviously without revealing any confidential sources. How did you come by this incredible information that was deliberately being withheld from the public.
I was basically told that there was something brewing and it was very, very big, and it took some phone calls by myself and also even our editor Ben English, and then we started to piece together exactly how big it was. Now the whole fact about the secrecy, as you said, please are saying it's investigative reasons. I also think another problem would be the fact that there are
the federal police that are involved. Now, it wasn't just it was federal police Asio and New South Wales Police now deciding when to go public and if to go public. I'm wondering who was the one that overriding this. Now we know the premiery and knew about it. We also know the Prime Minute knew about it. So would it have been up to the Prime Minister to say we have to go public. I know he's the leader of the nation and he knew about it. So I think the buck stops there at a federal level. Now, New
South Wales Police, that happened in their backyard. They moved in very quickly and then they started talking to all the other organizations. Now we know that there's been problems between federal and New South Wales Police. None of them are talking about that publicly, but I'm wondering if that had something to do with the fact we did even get to find out about this.
Well, yeah, I just want to stop you then and get you to properly explain that because I've known about this, and you've known about this, but no one's actually put this into the public domain or properly written a story. There has been a total breakdown in the relationship between the New South Wales Police and the AFP in Canberra. Can you expand on just how bad that relationship now is?
Well, it's been strayed for a long long time over even things like drug seizures. You know, there's been this ongoing battle where drugs are being seized at the border by the Federal Police and New South Wales Police aren't getting the information straight away. Now they were trying to resolve in this and I think things were getting a
bit better. But when we've seen in the wake of this terrorism when the statement came out and said that the Federal Police had intelligence, not evidence, that they believe that it could be being orchestrated from overseas and being paid in crypto, New South Wales Police did not know that and that caused a major rift. And I think, as you said, you've known about it. It's always been under the surface and they were just trying to get
things back together. Now they were to that we have a joint Terrorism task Force that works New South Wales Police, Federal Police. New South Wales Crime Commissioner also heavily involved. Now they've got to work together. Is this this is the national international problem. Now New South Wales has very very good relationships with the FBI and other organizations around the world, as hopefully the Federal Police do. So you know, let's hope they just get their act together. But I
think you've probably hit the nail on the head. Why did it take so long to become public And I'm thinking that's because the agency is involved. And as I said, wouldn't it be up to the Prime Minister turn out? This is a this is a national threat. This isn't a couple of firecrackers found in a ute out in southwest Sydney that was going to be used. This was
a caravan full of explosives. When Dave Hardson said it had a potential fourteen meter blast range, I mean that's a terrifying, terrifying imagery that he was evoking.
Absolutely absolutely, Mark, thank you for bringing this to the public domain. We wouldn't know about this if it wasn't for your excellent journalism. You have given decades of brilliant police reporting to the Daily Telegraph. Used to be my desk buddy at the Daily Telegraph. I know how hard you work, how good your sources are, So you know, we're all grateful that you reported this.
We wouldn't know about it otherwise, and I.
Think it's fascinating to hear you say perhaps this was the Prime Minister's decision and I expect everyone will now be investigating that now that you've said it. All right, Mark, thank you so much. And of course he was on holidays when he broke this story.
Good on him.
All right, let's stay with this breaking news and joining minnow senior reporter Caroline Marcus. Caroline, the Prime Minister hasn't addressed the nation tonight. The Premier did. He has released a statement on social media though, can you tell us what he said?
Yes, Anthony Albaniz, he put out a statement a short time ago Shari. He said, we condemn unequivocally this act the full night of the afp Azo and New South Wales Police are being utilized in this major investigation by the Joint counter Terrorism Team. He goes on to explain that New South Wales Police have some people in customer and how these operations, these investigations are being handled, and he ends it hate and extremism have no place in
Australian society. Now, I think that may fall flat for some people given the type of rhetoric that we've heard come from the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister when it comes to the Jewish State Israel.
The sort of.
Weak actions that have been taken by the government and by our authorities in terms of people who preach hate, people who spew hate on the streets of Australia. So he's put out the statement both thoughts and prayers type of statement.
I think we'd like.
To hear from him in person though, absolutely, And I'm sure there'll be a lot of questions when he eventually does front the press about what date, when did he know about this? Was he involved in the decision to keep it quiet? As Mark Murray, who's well across this story, he.
Just suggested it might have been up to him.
Caroline, there might be discussion now about whether to raise the terror threat level. It's currently at probable that means there's more than a fifty percent chance of a terrorist incident. But given all these incidences that we've seen that even the premiere is calling terrorism, perhaps there should now be discussion about raising the threat level.
You'd think that would be the natural next step, Shorry. The terror threat has been a probable since the October
seven terror attacks on Israel in twenty twenty three. Now, if the past few weeks where we have seen the firebombing of the former Home of a Jewish community leader, the firebombing of a day care center because it appears it was mistaken for a Jewish daycare center and it was near a Jewish synagogue, the attempted firebombing of a Sydney synagogue, the firebombing of Bondai businesses, Jewish businesses.
I mean, the list goes on and on.
We don't have time to discuss.
All the incidents.
If those incidents, which you have rightfully called as incidents that terrorized the Jewish community should surely fit and meet the threshold for a terror designation. If all of these things combined, and now with this caravan full of explosives that police have described as a foiled terror plot, then that doesn't raise the terror threat level?
What will? Yeah, one hundred percent.
Now, just very quickly before you go, You've got an update on some of those who have been arrested in relation to aggressive pro Palestinian protests.
What happened, Well, this was in relation to the very first incident that we saw on October nine, two days after October seven, outside the Sydney Opera House. There were only three arrests.
I can reveal that night.
There has been talk of there being more than that. There's only been three and I can reveal that no convictions were recorded for any of those arrests. Now, these arrests had to do with the assault of someone outside at that riley. Two of them men pleaded guilty and had no convictions recorded, only were given a six month conditional release order. Well, the third person pleaded not guilty and had his case dismissed.
It's just appalling, it really is. Caroline Marcus, thank you so much, as always for your coverage of these important issues.
Thank Sarry.
Now we're going to cross live to Liam Mendes. He's on the scene of where this caravan was found in Jural.
Let's bring in Liam. Liam.
Can you tell us a bit about the local area where this caravan was found apparently abandoned.
That's right, Harry. This is a very very quiet area on the outskirts of sitting here in Jural. It's a dairy one road. It's a very quiet, lots of large properties with almost large farms as well. I'll tell you a bit about this road. Here right behind me, just in front of this pole, is where neighbors tell me that's where the caravan was found. There's a lot of people that I've spoken to are quite worried about being their suburb being tied to this I guess incident for
lack of a better word. The home that we saw that was raided by authorities as well, the people there are very very worried to their own safety as well that they're going to be linked to this attack. But everyone is also here being told as they're saying, that they've been told by the police not to speak to media. So there seems to be for some reason, a very big I don't want to say a cover up, but
people have been told specifically not to talk. Now you're talking about motives behind that with Mark Murray before you know, and there is another I guess the reason behind this is that, you know, we're police keeping surveillance on the area seeing whether anyone else involved was coming back to
see where the caravan was. Now we also know that there's at least some of the people that are in custody for previous attacks anti Semitic attacks in Sydney were you know, is it possibly linked to this vehicle that's been found with the explosives inside.
Yeah, and police are working on that and continuing to investigate and Probaly and Mendy's thank you so much for giving us that update.
I appreciate it.
When Liam said when he mentioned that a house had been raided, there was a house raided on that street, but we're told it's unrelated to this caravan, so related to something else entirely.
Just before we move on, I've got.
To say, you know, with police keeping this or authorities keeping this all secret from us, how lucky are we to have such such excellent journalists in this country. And they all work for my company, By the way, Mark Murray, Caroline Marcus, Lia and Mendy's all working hard at this late hour to bring us the news on this important issuet say thank you to them.
All.
Right, let's bring you now for some other issues, and we're going to come back to this. I've got sharenn Haskell still coming up, as well as Deputy Foreign Minister David.
Adler as well. But let's have a look at what else.
Happened today now with Michael Kroger from a Liberal Party president and former Labor Senator Graham Richardson.
Welcome to you both.
Let's look at the inflation data that came out today. It does show that CPI is falling. This would have Richo given your mate Albow some relief. I suppose he can now claim that he's making headway on the cost of living crisis.
Yeah, I think Galbo and Jim Chalmers would have smiles on their faces tonight. They've been waiting for some good news. It hasn't all been good lately, but this is very good and I'm happy for them because they have put in a lot of work on this.
Michael Kroger, the trimmed mean fell from three point five percent to three point two percent in the September quarter. This is still not in the target range. And I think what a lot of people don't understand when we talk about inflation. You know, they hear and even journalists inflation is falling, so they think prices are falling.
That's not right.
It just means that prices they're still rising, but they're not rising as fast as they were. The rate isn't as fast as it was, so Michael Kroger, you know, people don't even need to understand that from an economic space, it's just going to the supermarket, going to the local shops. They still know everything's getting more expensive.
So I look at these things from electric point of view, from people's lived experiences. What are people actually feeling, what are they paying for, rent, for food, for petrol, et cetera, electricity, et cetera. That's what people are voting on, that's what they're interested in. These technical changes are all very well, and there's a small cut coming to registrates, which will be good news for everybody, But generally you've got to look at what people what's happening to people on a
daily basis. Right They counting their cash every single day and prices have gone through the roof over the last dight months. And they're not going to give alban Easy much credit for one rate cut if it happens between now and the election. And the reason for that is that people tend to know that the government has exploded its expenditure. There's one hundred billion dollars or more in deficits coming over the next four years. Chalmers has not
been able to cut his expenditure. He's been too weak on that and government expenditure. Massive government expenditure fuels inflation. So generally speaking, the punters tend to know that. They tend to know that, and if they don't know that they look at the prices in the supermarket, then they do know a cherry.
Indeed, the Roy Morgan pole we saw overnight the Coalition is now leading Labor fifty two percent to forty eight percent on a two party preferred basis. Rich Oh, how do you interpret these pole results? Do you think this means that you know where it might be looking at a hung parliament or do you think Data now is in a winnable position even if it is minority government.
I think a hung parliament is still the most likely. But Dutton is closing gaps all the time and becoming more and more acceptable. You know, he was the blobber boy, the hard man, but he's done a pretty good job of softening that image gradually, and I think he's coming across very well. Labor need to treat Dutton very very seriously. Once upon a time they underestimated Tony Abbott to their great cost. They've got to make sure that doesn't happen again.
Now, Michael, there's some discussion about Peter Dutton needing to win over some more women. I mean, traditionally, I suppose the women vote has been a little bit softer for the Coalition. This isn't a new thing. And at least Labor tries to play this up. They always try to claim that whoever the opposition leader is, or sorry, whoever the liberal leader is has a woman problem. Do you think this is a real factor or not.
I mean, Peter Dutton won't be doing that. He'll be doing what he thinks best for the country. And look, to take Graham's point, I've lived through generations of conservative leaders who never had any hope of winning, starting with Bilchi Peterson, Jeff Kennett, John Howard and Margaret Thatcher, Scott Morrison, Tony Abbott, Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump. The quintessential problem here is that the left hate and despise conservative leaders, and
they are on this. You know, there's this rollercoaster of they hate them so much they can't believe that the public would vote for them, and so they tend to dismiss conservative leaders who tend to win electorally because they've got the interests of the majority of Australians at heart and throughout the world. Georgie and Maloney, just Winning et cetera. The Black and Argent Harbor, malayre in Argentina, et cetera et cetera. So no, I think Peter Dutton needs to
keep on the road he's been going on. He's done a first class job so far as leader. He's united the party like I've never seen. He's been unflappable, he's extremely honest with the public and as I said before, I think dott In his favorite to win the election. You know, Graham's probably right. It could be a hung parliament or he could win in his own right, but I think Albanezy winning is the is the least likely of the two options.
Least likely option. We'll keep covering this. I want to turn to this fascinating story today. So as we know, Elon Musk has got in there with his Department of Government Efficiency DOGE, and one of the first things he's uncovered is that the White House under Joe Biden was sending millions of US dollars in supposed aid to Gaza, but it was funding condoms.
Have a look.
Do Jao andb also found that there was about to be fifty million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza. That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer money. So that's what this part focused on being good stewards of tax dollars.
I mean, that's just appalling.
Obviously Trump has put a stop to that, and Elon Musk said on X that this was just the tip of the iceberg. This comes, of course, as we learned, as I told you last night, that Donald Trump is formally inviting Natan Yahoo to the White House. That'll be early next week, or it could be the week after, but either way he's going to be it'll be early next week. He will be the first foreign leader to meet with President Trump. Richo, Firstly, what do you think
of this insane government waste of money to guys? I mean, why are they funding condoms? Is it so that when they rape the Jewish hostages they don't get them pregnant?
I think this is so bizarre. It's very hard to sit here and make a rational comment on something that is so irrational, and that's what this is. I can recall some arguments about condoms and the Olympics, and we're even able to establish the Canadian girls with the most active But that having been said, it doesn't take you anywhere. And I think chasing the condom is definitely not the answer here.
What do you think about this Michael Kroger, Well, I want to know where our money's gone that's going to UNRA. Penny one couldn't wait to restore funding to UNRA. Could someone do an audit on that and find out where our money has been spent? I mean obviously presumably non condoms, but where has our money being spent? I mean, where is the audit of these funds? I mean this is one thing the Labor Party annoys me about. They never seem to worry about, you know where this money goes?
I mean the Coalition last year just end a price asked for an inquiry into where our money is spent in the Aboriginal affairs portfolio for example, or Labor opposed it. Why would you oppose an inquiry into where government money is spent in the Aboriginal community. So you know, government's lazy governments who just spend taxpayer dollars promising money for this money for that. We never seem to know where
this money goes. And I'd like, Penny, want to tell us where this funding, Where is this unrete down to the last dollar, where is this what is this money actually being spent on?
Exactly?
Has made a good made a good start.
Yeah, because when it goes to Gaza Humus, a listed terrorist organization is the governing body, so surely no one should trust the way that they're spending the money. All Right, Graham Richardson, Michael Kroger, thank you both very much for your time.
Now after the.
Break, will cross live to Israel for Deputy Foreign Minister Sharon Haskell's reaction to the news tonight of the thwarted terror attacks. Stay tuned, Welcome back with Sharon Haskell will join me shortly live from Israel. I must have going to have economist Warren Hogan to talk about what the inflation data to may mean for the election date and
whether we'll get a rate cut. But now let's return to that breaking news that police have launched a major investigation into a plot to terrorize a synagogue, to have a terror attack on a synagogue at canavan. Caravan filled with explosives enough to create a forty meter last wave was found nine days ago. All right, I'm Joe now by the Australian Jewish Association President David Adler. David, thank you so much for your time. First, what's your reaction to this revelation this afternoon.
Well, everyone's called it out as an escalation, and indeed it is. I mean, this is horrific. I used to live in a wonderful country called Australia. Maybe you remember it, because what we're seeing today is not Australia. And there are a couple of really important lessons which I don't think have been drawn out about the significance of the escalation. One is that for the first time we have demonstrated proof that extreme anti Semites are able to get their
hands on large quantities of explosives. So that's a clear lesson. And the second lesson is that we have people willing to plan huge terrorist events in this country. So that's a very toxic mix and it feels to me a bit like a horrific game of Russian Roulette where hopefully the authorities intervene. But experience overseas and I don't want to scare people, but experience overseas shows that from time to time these plans are executed and that's where Australia is. Unfortunately.
Well, you know, the premiere, in his own words, said tonight that there is concern out there that there could be a mass casualty event. Obviously, the police are working that utmost up that from happening, and we just have to have confidence that they are really throwing everything at this and I saw firsthound how they are patrolling the streets that you know they have a lot of resources
out in the ground. Do you think this should have been kept from the public and was your organization informed about this?
We were not informed. We found out about it when the Daily Telegraph released the story. It is very significant for the community. And look, we don't know the detailed in the workings of the police investigations. I hope they had very very good reasons for keeping it hidden that normally you would want to at least fully inform the affected community so that they're aware, so people can make informed decisions about security and many additional precautions that they
wish to take. We are certainly seeing the police more focused now. And if one wanted to take a bit of a cynical view, and I think it is a justified cynical view. The violent anti Semitism has become a major public issue, and we know that there's an election, a federal election coming up, and perhaps that is what's druden the focusing of the minds well for.
The first time we saw a freshwater pole in the finn Review this week. Earlier in the week showed that law and order is now one of the top five issues that are worrying voters.
Of course, cost of living.
Is number one, two to three fall basically, but law and order is now up there as an issue of serious concern. Of course, in the Jewish community it is the number one concern all day, every day. But this is now affecting all of Australia. It was a non Jewish preschool that was firebombed, a pre school being fire bombed.
You know, you can just never get your head around that. David.
How is your community, your members feeling at the moment.
Well, I can tell you that there is actually a visceral anger at the federal government, particularly because there is no doubt in the feedback that we receive that they have fueled this anti Semitism by their extraordinary sequence of hostile policy changes towards Israel and the Jewish community in Israel are identified together in the minds of many people, and their failure for the last fifteen months to deal adequately with the rise of anti Semitism that we've seen
in so many places so there is a visceral anger, there is a disappointment, and I know for a fact that there has been a major swing away from the government in voting intention and in our community, without.
A doubt, Apps, without question.
All right, David Adler, thank you so much, appreciate you coming in tonight.
Thank you, Shary.
Now after the break we will cross to Israel with Sharen Haskell.
Plus we'll get the.
Latest inflation numbers, what it means for the chances of a rate cut and the timing of the election. That with economist Warren Hoagan. That's all to come, So stay tuned, welcome back. Well. Australia's anti Semitism crisis has made headlines around the world and concerned Israel in particular, especially after today's shocking revelations, the news that a caravan filled with explosives has been found it was reportedly or police are
investigating whether it was destined for a synagogue. Let's cross live to Israel now and I've got Israeli Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister and regular on the show Sharen Haskell. Charen, thank you so much for your time.
Hello, what's showy? What's your action to this news? Tonight?
That a caravan filled with explosives enough to create a forty meta.
Blast has been found by police.
Well, Shary, I was at your show just last week and I said very clearly, it is not a matter of whether you know someone's going to get hurt. It's going to cost the lives of people if we don't deal with this problem right now, but a question of when how long will it take? And what we've seen today, the first thing I want to think the new Southwell Police, the Australian Police for taking it so seriously and dealing with this problem and advancing weather and actually keeping the
Jewish community safe, and we thank you for that. They are doing incredible work and they are taking it extremely seriously, and I'm very glad to see that and to hear that. But I'm really concerned the rise of anti Semitism in Australia is in a scope that I never imagined could happen.
You have been critical of the Albanesi government, as have I, very critical that they downplayed just how serious and severe the anti Semitism crisis was until very recently, when the attacks were so extreme that they couldn't look away anymore. What do you think the government should have done earlier to prevent this problem getting to this acute level.
I think personally, you know, just a few days after October seven, when a mob marched in the streets and on the steps of the Sydney Opera House enchanted gas to Jewice, that was a red line that was needed to be set. This was not a demonstration about criticizing Israel because Israel hasn't set foot getting I want to remind you that it took Israel for almost three weeks to set up an operation to go into Gaza if by Comas.
This was a full on.
Display of jihadists, supporting jihad supporting the murder of Jews, supporting terrorism, calling in the streets.
Of Sydney to gas or Jews. The confusion, the excuses are just you know, it's it's absolutely we cannot tolerate that. And that's when a red line should have been drapped immediately to send a message that those kinds of things
are absolutely unacceptable. If from there things are continuing to deteriorate and still there is no clear call from the government, then it will continue up to that point where we are today, where event a camp event was found with explosive targeting for the attempt to target Jews, to murder Jews, to blow up whether a synagogue or a Jewish area. The notes that were found in there are aimed towards the Jewish community in Australia. This is one of the
most incredible and accepting community. Australia is the beacon of light, multiculturalism and tolerance. And you know, those cases should be clear. You know that they contradict the Australian values and are absolutely unacceptable.
Exactly, and I think your point that anti Semitism did become tolerated by authorities, at least that was the message that was sent. It became normalized. We know anti Semitism like any racism, you know, it's like a virus. It is contagious, and it was permitted to spread and become normalized. And that is part of the reason we've ended up where we are. Sharan Australia has now got a very hostile foreign policy towards Israel under Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
We're seeing something completely.
Different from the new administration in the United States. Donald Trump has extended an invitation to Benjaminette and Yahoo. Your Prime Minister will then be the first foreign leader to meet with Trump. What does this say to you about the relationship between America and Israel under this new administration.
Well, you know, Trump has been one of the greatest allies to the Jewish people and to the State of Israel in his last term. You know, many of these actions are unpresidented, and has greatly supported us and backed us through very difficult situation. What we've seen only in a few days after his inauguration, his first day of inauguration, when he's already signed you know, certain presidential.
Like executive audis.
Executive orders exactly, are are remarkable and show the friendship and the support, but most of all, the understanding of the forces in the Middle East. Which forces are stabilizing forces that can create stability, economical prosperity and actual peace, and which forces are the biggest stabilizing forces, the biggest progressor and violent warmongers in that region.
And he made it very clear with those executive orders, including shipment of equipment, that Israel needed to fight commands to fight seven fronts. You know that we were attacked from all led by Iran, by the Iranian regime UH lifting certain sanctions from people, people who for some reason, people tried to compare them to violent terrorists who murdered
innocent civilian. They try to put an equivalence to you know, Jewish, Yeah, to Jewish people who, you know, I don't justify some of the violence, but there is tension and there is violence. But you cannot compare them to terrorists who went and murdered other people even they weren't sanctioned. So to sanction some people from the Jewish community specifically targeting specific organization, who are you know, you cannot describe them in a
way that the other administration has described them. It's very welcoming. We are very happy, and you know, it's.
Especially because it does have a strong justice system and it does lock up criminals, and it does apply the law to every Israeli who exim breaks the law and behaves in a violent way. Sharena Haskell, thank you so much for coming on the show.
Really appreciate it.
All right, don't go anywhere after the break. How have today's inflation figures changed the election? Warren Hogan would join me next, Welcome back. Well, let's turn to today's inflation data, which was an improvement at does show inflation is filing. Here was the Treasurer Jim Charmers.
Headline. Inflation is now in the bottom half of the Reserve Bank's target band, underlying inflation in the low threes. Both of those outcomes are better than expected and lower than the official forecasts. The Reserve Bank will weigh up all of those considerations. They'll come to a decision independently. But I think what we're seeing here is a reminder that the soft landing that we have been planning for and preparing for is looking more and more likely.
All right, let's bring in now Judo Bank chief economist Warren Hogan. Warren, tell us what you think this data means. Do you think Michelle Bullick is now going to have a look at whether there is a rate cut?
Yeah, good evening, Cherry. Look, they certainly will be, especially given the fact that the broad sort of consensus of economists and financial markets is basically seeing it as a done deal. At the RBA's next meeting in a few weeks so they'll discuss it, and this will be the first time that they've discussed the rate cut. But I still don't think the economic case for quite is strong enough. The Treasurer just there and your piece said that inflation
is at two point four percent. Inflation is not at two point four percent. The CPI has grown by two point four percent, but that's because the government subsidies, and it's not just the electricity, it's not just federal government. It's state government subsidies of urban transport, public transport, it's childcare, it's rents. So the inflation number is improving, but it's
still above three. And of course the RBA shouldn't be cutting rates until they are utterly confident that inflation is going to be in the middle of their target band at two and a half and it'll stay there. And I don't think they're at that point, but it looks like there's a lot of pressure on them, so we can't dismiss the risk that they will.
Cut Well, well, let's turn to that pressure. And this is going to be a test for the RBA, for Michelle Bullok about whether they are truly independent. There'll be a lot of spotlight on this decision, given that it's going to take place either in the middle of or just before an election campaign. We saw Sally McManus, the Union leader, come out today and say that the RBA
should cut rates. We've seen other labor andps now play the comments on my show tomorrow night, but put that pressure on the RBA, so you know they aren't meant to be independent. Do you think they will be swayed by some of this heavy political pressure.
Look, I hope not, because it will be It would be not good for our country. The RBA's credibility has taken a hit in the pandemic because of the missteps that we all know about with their guidance. And if they were to cut rates prematurely only to see the
economy continue to improve and inflation to stop falling. In a worse case, to actually have to high rates at some stage down the track, that would be truly embarrassing and would damage their Our reputation is a nation, and their reputation is independent in our community, So I think
it's dangerous. I think they should be very cautious with cutting rates, particularly given the evidence in the broader economy is that we've got strong employment growth, low unemployment and if anything, consumer spending is starting to pick up again. It really begs the question, what are they hoping to achieve with a rate cut, and if that is, if what they're looking to achieve is more employment and more inflation. I'm not clear that that's the right objective right.
Now, Warren.
You mentioned in your first answer energy subsidies, and we know they have some would say artificially brought down the CPI. So what do you think our real inflation level is looking like at the minute.
Yeah, I don't think there's any question that it's brought the CPI down artificially is a measure of inflation, It's brought down the cost of living and that's great for Australians that have had this support. But as we've seen with the Queensland budget, there's a cost of that in other ways. So look, I think inflation has come down to about three and a quarter percent, which is great.
It's moving in the right direction. But what we're seeing in the United States is inflation has stopped falling at about this level, and they're not looking like they're going to cut rates anymore, and their interest rates actually higher than our. So look, I think inflation is still an open question, and any talk that the inflation war is one I think is misguided.
All Right, Warren Hogan, always love having you on the show. Thank you so much. Now, don't miss tomorrow night. I've got Hollywood actor Daniel Listing on, plus Michael Schellenberger I'll see you tomorrow at eight.
And here's Paul