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This is Sharry Good Evening.
The alban Eazy campaign hits major hurdles just two days out from the election, with ministers now embroiled in controversy. Political editors are even saying that Labor may be more vulnerable.
Than first thought that in a moment also tonight, does Labor actually believe in democracy?
Well, Pennywog hints it plans to revive the Voice to Parliament and neo Nazis hit the campaign trail in Cawfield, Melbourne, dressing up as Jews. I'll show you the full video of these vile anti Semites shortly plus more bombshell accusations against Nine Star journalist Nick McKenzie in his pursuit of war hero Ben Robert Smith. Could these new text messages be his undoing What's another massive show tonight? Michael Kroger,
Graham Rich and Holly Hughes, Bridget McKenzie and more. But first, the Albanezy government is stumbling towards the finish line in a disastrous final week of the campaign riddled with arrogance, deception and scandal from Pennywog's defiance of a democratic mandate on the Voice to allegations of foreign interference to reckless economic management jeopardizing our triple A credit rating. Well, the
spin is no longer papering over these cracks. Well, let's start with Pennywong and the revelations today that she may want to resurrect the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, never mind that sixty percent of Australians voted against it. This is breathtaking arrogance. The referendum result was one of the clearest democratic rejections in modern Australian history. Yet the government, it seems, doesn't want to accept the result, and Pennywog in a soft in you casually dismisses the public's verdict.
Look, I think we'll look back on it in ten years time and it'll be like marriage equality, don't you reckon? Like I always just say marriage equality, which took us such a bloody fight to get that done. And I thought, all this fuss, it'll become something and be like, people go, do we have an argument about that? They weren't even like kids today or any even adults today, barely kind of clock that it used to be an issue.
I mean, this isn't just tone deaf, it's contempt for democracy intending to resurrect a policy Australians overwhelmingly voted against reflects the elitist arrogance that defines this government.
Albanezy needs to recognize so that.
Penny Wang has given him the worst day of his campaign so far.
Now there's this questionable claim.
I don't believe it, but it's a claim the media keeps prosecuting that she is the most.
Popular politician in the country.
But it's curious because if this were the case, well, wouldn't the Albin Easy roacho have featured her more heavily this campaign. The reality is Pennywong thinks she's a better mediate performer than she actually is, and she can't be trusted to stay on message. And if this is the case,
imagine what she's saying in meetings with other countries. Pennywong is notorious for not doing hard interviews, but to do this soft chit chat with the Batuta advocate during an election campaign in the final high stakes week while Peter Darton took full advantage of her comments.
Today you see Pennywong out there at the moment talking about the fact that the voice is inevitable, so under a labor Green's government. We see this secret plan to legislate the Voice and Penny Wong's let that cat out of the bag. Now people will be opposed to that because they thought they sent a very clear message to the Prime Minister that they didn't bought the voice.
Now you can agree or disagree with the Voice, but the point is there was a referendum, Australians voted against it and having a blatant to disregard for democracy is more in line with communist regimes tyrannies on autocracies. And when I asked about this today, the Prime Minister didn't offer an adequate explanation.
He sort of cracked a joke.
Well, that's not what the Foreign Minister said at all, and she's right here, so probably not a great idea to verbal Penny one while she's sitting there. I'll just give you that. I'll just give you that tip for free. Ask getting you the cabinet colleagues. I'll explain to you why that's a bad idea.
Well, that will be easy. I'll give you a tip for free.
You can't pretend she didn't say what she said when it was an audio recorded interview. And then there's Clara O'neilustralian Electoral Commission has referred allegations that the Hubet Association, apparently linked to the Chinese Communist Party, planned to supply her campaign with volunteers. And this comes after the video admission from Monique Ryan's own volunteers yesterday. Now, if this is all true, it's deeply troubling. Australians shouldn't have to
wonder where campaign influence ends and foreign interests begin. As Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Patterson says, this could be a serious national security matter.
It's especially surprising that Clara O'Neil has found herself caught up in this because as the former Minister for Home Affairs, no one in the Federal Parliament should better understand the risks of foreign interference than her. No one would have been briefed more often and in a more detailed way than her. She was previously responsible for ASIO and so for her campaign to be caught up and this is especially troubling.
And then there's Albanezi himself, who is substance free and spin deep, and he was today press by Andrew clonel on his onslought of lies during the campaign. He insists everything is hanky dory when the most reputable global ratings agency has put his government on notice that our tria A credit rating is at risk.
And why S and P is.
Concerned about structural spending that's built in spending.
They're also concerned about over.
One hundred billion dollars in hidden off budget spending and the unsustainable debt which is going to hit a trillion dollars next year. Now a downgrade would hit every Australian with a mortgage, a small business loan or even a credit card. And this isn't hypothetical. Alban Easy is officially on notice, and then it gets worse with Labour's likely co conspirators in the case of a hung parliament. Green's leader Adam band is already laying out his demands on Gaza,
on so called Islamophobia, and of course on Israel. If we thought the Albertezy government has been hostile towards the only Jewish nation in the world, will wait until it co governs with the far left, anti Semitic Greens. And all this while the Teals are imploding. Sophie Scamps tried to exploit the tragic death of a young NROL player by falsely blaming it on climate change, and she was forced into an apology today, an embarrassing one to Keith
Titmas's parents. But sorry, it seems, was the hardest word for her to say. Her apology, in my view, was half hearted, bungled and defensive, and it also ended with Sophie Scamps hanging up the phone on Ben Fordham when he didn't want to hear her ramble on about climate change anymore.
If there's any distress or upset, deeply, deeply sorry, that was never any attention my intention at all, of course, loved best wishes and deep apologies if there was any well, if sorry, she is upset, and it went on.
It got worse. The ending was worse. Now this was a shocker. Now.
Sophie Scamps's top backer, Simon Holmes the Court, has also been caught out launching condescending sexist attacks on women.
He dubbed Jane Hume.
The nanny and a silly woman. He called Hume, Anne Rustin, Michaylia Cash and Maurice Payne crumb Maiden. They're the most senior women in the Liberal Party. These are the sexist remarks from the spiritual leader of the Teals, which supposedly ran on women's issues and integrity and speaking of hypocrisy, Well, let's return to Pennywog because this is a classic. Now you'd presume that Pennywang wouldn't be a great fan of Independent MP Day, who won the seat of Fowler from
Pennywog's fellow mean girl, Christina Kinneerly. And so Pennywog has criticized Dilie for preferencing a candidate accused of racism. She said, it's concerning that Dilly is more committed to supporting the Liberals than standing up to this racism. So that's Pennywong there again, saying it's concerning that Dilly is more committed to supporting the Liberals through her preferencing, through her preferences,
than standing up to this racism. But Labor is preferencing the Greens who've repeatedly been accused of racism and anti semitism, and they're preferencing the Greens in almost every seat across the country.
Well, where is Pennywog's outrage about that?
Of course there is none, because she has no moral clarity, consistency, or integrity.
This is all.
Dirty politics, and that dirty politics is working for labor. The Prime Minister was cocky and arrogant today as he cracked jokes in response to serious questions about our nation at the National Press Club. And he's expecting to win big on Saturday, and so he doesn't think he has to properly answer questions from pesky press gallery journalists. And even when he was pressed on his record as Prime Minister and his inability to tell the truth, he just couldn't answer adequately.
You said we'd have cheaper mortgages. We don't. You said an election night you'd commit to the ULARU statement in full. You haven't. And you said when you're messed up you would admit fault. Now you say Peter Dutton is seeking to Americanize the health system. He's promising to match your bulk billing funding.
Some of you are.
It's basically say he's going to abolish Medicare you say his nuclear plan will be funded by cuts? You're renewable subsidies and rewiring the nation aren't paid for by cuts.
You must might come up here, Andrew, And my question is.
How why do you have to exaggerate in this campaign. Why can't you win this election by telling the truth.
We are absolutely telling Australians as Peter Dutton did on Sunday night in the Channel sevent debate.
And Albineasy also won't say whether the nation is better off after three years of his government.
Our Australians better off now than they were before you're elected.
I'll tell you what the right answer to that is, and that is that Australians would be seven two hundred dollars worse off if Peter Duttner got his way.
Good debating tactic, taking question, but it's not the question.
And got his way. That is what Peter Dutton has done.
Yeah, and Mark Riley from Channel seven was right there, that was just a debating tactic. The Prime Minister, of course couldn't answer the question.
And that is the key question. Are you better off?
That's what voters will ask themselves when they enter the ballot box. And the reality is Albanezi took a small target, no risk agenda to the last election, but then sprang radical left ring reforms on the country without a mandate, think sky high immigration, a shift in foreign policy on Israel, environmental extremism, backflips on the Stage three tax cuts and now taxing unrealized capital gains tax.
This was all kept secret.
From voters before the last election in a calculated deception and it's astonishing they've got away with it, and there is genuine anger about this and the cost of living broken promises too with mainstream Australians. It's why Labour is
most vulnerable in suburban areas. The Finn Review's political editor Phil Couri rites today that seat by seat polling by JWS Research backs the internal findings of both major parties that a certain demographic of seats out of suburban mortgage belt electorates with blue collar workforces, substantial commute times, high cost of living sensitivities, and in some cases high crime rates are behaving differently to the rest of the electorate.
And The Australian's political editor Simon Benson says that while a hung parliament with a minority Labor government is most likely, he says there could be major surprises, and he says there are some parts of the country that are buying Peter Dutton's message and not buying labors.
The question is whether.
It will be enough for the coalition to make the inroads it needs. So when the Prime Minister stands at the press club and dodgers questions and cracks jokes and refuses to say whether our country is better off, it's because he believes he's already won. He doesn't think he owes anyone an explanation. But his hubris could come back to bite him. After three years of broken promises and radical reform, Australians just might deliver him a protest vote
that's strong enough to knock him off his perch. Now, the Albaneze government is trying its best to avoid speaking about anti Semitism, and yet it's erupting in polling booths. Two examples Today in the suburb of Cowfield in Melbourne, residents woke up to these disgusting flyers handed out by the National Socialist Network. It's a neo Nazi, white supremacist party. Have a look and as you can see, the Liberal
Party apparently he gives the Jews everything they want. Of course, that is not a Liberal Party fly it's the neo Nazi flyer.
But it gets worse.
Neo Nazis dressed up as Jews confronted voters at.
A polling booth in Q with anti Semitic messages.
I would Australia need a dependent I mean, God.
On Israel lawns free speech.
Criticizing Jews is another hollass.
It's another shout.
We can't allow them.
Anti lost jail hall antisis to get criminals smiling, criminals of kids.
Anti slies are the really making juice feel safe.
It's really all that matters.
And we need to keep Jews free money because we know the Jews little.
Short on cash, right, so good party website, these alpholsies.
So many anti Semitic tropes there.
It's of course highly offensive to the Jewish community in that electorate and beyond. Can you imagine having to confront that those neo Nazis as you turn up to vote. And they were also happy to parade their hatred on the side of a busy road. Now their posters say that it's authorized by Joel Davis. So this is the same group who marched on the Victorian Parliament late last year calling for Jews to leave Australia.
By man.
The man.
I mean, it's chilling that this UnAustralian anti Semitic group is now turning up at polling booths to try influence the election and your vote. Now they are on the far right, then there's the radical Greens on the far left. There was also news today that Jewish Labor and p Josh Burns had his poster defaced with a red star of David A right to discuss this and more, Let's bring in former Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger and labor legend Graham Richardson.
Welcome to you both. It's exciting, it's election week.
I can't wait to get your official predictions in a moment. But just sticking with this for a minute, Michael, I mean, this is horrific. This is the same neo Nazi group that, as we just heard there shouted freedom for the white man, the Jews must go, and now they're dressing up as Rabbis and Jews on a polling booth in Corefield.
Yeah. Sure, it's absolutely disgusting. But I'm sorry, I think you have to say this that Jewish hatred, anti Semitism, hatred of Benjamin Etniah of Israel and Israeli government have been licensed by the federal Labor government through their weakness, through all of the things they've done, these extremist Prohamus disgusting demonstrations parading in many cases as demonstrations to free
Palestine when we know their riddle with Jewish hatred. We've seen the flags of terrorist organizations in some of these demonstrations, the weakness of our university leaders, the appalling behavior at Sydney Uni, monash Uni, the ANU, I mean, a weak government which has basically allowed this to flourish in this country. And the person the head of this snake is Alban Easy.
I'm not saying he's anti Semitic himself, but through his weak action, the weak action of his government and the terrible things that they've done, the subliminal message has been to people that you can get away with this Jewish hatred, and this is the latest incarnation of it, and it's disgusting. It's a sickness. I've never seen it in my life in this country before. Social cohesion has been immensely and maybe permanently damaged under this labor government.
I couldn't agree more. Michael Kroger.
Now let's go back to talking about what I was just speaking about in my opening remarks that Albanezey can't answer the question posed by Mark Riley that Australians are better off. He can't say that they are better off now than they were three.
Years ago when he was elected.
Rich.
This is the crux surely of what this election comes down to.
Well, well, I think that the Australians can say they're certainly not worse off. Come on said, of course, no, I.
Don't come.
It's they're worse off now.
I can see no reason why Australians would say they're worse off. I can see plenty of reasons why they can say are there as well of? And I think that's where most of them think. Most people are not walking around unhappy. This is not an unhappy country. This is you know, You've got to remember, if this was all really terrible and everyone hated the government, then the government would go in a flash.
But it won't.
It won't because that's not the case. That in the end, I think people think that the Albanesi government's been doing okay. I'm not suggesting they think it's wonderful, but they think it's it's enough to get half a tick, and that's about you they ever going to get in politics.
I think you'd be very hard pressed to find a single Australian who said they were better off now than they were three years ago. And the reason the baseballouts aren't out, although they are out in some areas, but if they aren't out right across the country, I would say that's a failure of the coalition to pin the cost of living crisis on alban Easy. But Michael, do you want to respond to what Richard just said just there about the fact that Australians you know, aren't worse
off now? Of course they are. All the data points to it. The interest rate rises, that how grocery prices have gone up by around forty percent, power bills have gone up.
Michael, Well, I've known Graham for thirty years. We used to do channel line election courages together in the late eighties and he rarely gets things wrong. Occasionally he does, and tonight Graham might be one of the occasions. Of course, we're all better off under the Albany's. The government's been a spanking success. But show the big point. The bigger point is this, Why does albanias he get away with this?
Why does charmers get away with things? It's because the press hold them to a lower, lower standard of account on economics. They basically think that Albo doesn't know much about economics and Charmers has just got an arts degree he doesn't really know. So when they make blunders and mistakes, people just say, oh, that's just Albo and Charmers. They're not a Costello or a Howard or a Keating or
a Hawk. So all these young journals of these press conferences are just more interested in social policy than economic policy. But Charmers would never have got away with the stuff he got away with today if Lorry Oaks, Michelle Gratt and Paul Kelly were part of the traveling press pack. So, for example, Charmer said today he's got the debt down. Well, not on the traveling press pack, but Chalmers said today
he's got the debt down. In last year's budget it showed that when Charmers became treasurer, gross debt was eight ninety five billion, and this year's budget shows that at the end of this decade it'll be one trillion, two hundred and twenty three billion gross stet Jim is going up three hundred and twenty eight billion on your watch, my friend. But not a single journalist, I mean Phil Corey in the finn has got onto this. I think Truey got onto it yesterday on Sky, but the Fairfax Press,
the ABC show absolutely no interest in economics. Charmers is a political liar and a Charlatan par excellence. But people just think, look it's Jimmy. He's trying his best. He's not that good. He's not really an economist, so if he gets things wrong, don't hold the term he's a nice guy. Costello or Keating or Howard or Morrison, Freedenberg
and you know Wayne Swan. These people are be hung, drawn and courted if they'd got numbers wrong like that and just light out right about the budget figures and no one asked them about it, so they're held to a lower standard of account. That's one on cost of living. He gets away with it.
Yeah, I think there is something to be said that the media treatment has been softer.
We've spoken about that on the show.
Now, Richard, you might have known Albow when he worked at Pancakes on the Rocks back in the cety in the seventies, I think.
But this is a very good story in the fin.
Review today, so Albanezy has put forward the notion that hospitality businesses don't need to pass penalty rates onto consumers. He says that they don't need to because that's what happened when he worked at Pancakes on the Rocks, except that the fin review then tracked down the menu from when Albanezi did work at Pancakes on the Rocks, and of course at the very bottom the menu shows that they did have surcharges on public holidays, and there it
is rich. You know, this might be a small example, but again it just goes to this build up of lies from alban Easy.
Oh the guy, I think, you know, calling that a lie is going a bit far. I just look, some exaggeration is always going to happen in politics. The question is who's going to be the great exaggerators and who's not. I think Elbow is pretty good when it comes to telling the truth. No politician is ever going to tell the truth on every single occasion. There's just no way
they can do that. You can't ask them if a colleague is doing a good job and expecting, as they know is dil They can't say that, So they'll say that the person are doing well.
That's normal politics.
That nothing less be here.
I really had to stop myself from jumping in after about five seconds there. We have never seen a prime minister who's lied so much.
It is egregious.
I mean he he claims that Peter Dunnan wants to slash Medicare. Darnan has said over and over and over and over again he's not going to touch Medicare. There's no suggestion he would ever touch medicare. But this is what the Prime minister gets away with saying. He says, and again it's the small things that show how easily he lies. Michael, you know that the stage example, there's pancake example.
It is a direct lie.
He said there was no search charge. The menu turns up there's a surcharge.
So there's two things to say. It shows you why a prime minister or treasurer who's never run a business or never worked in the private sector should be elected to any office when eighty percent of the jobs in this country come from the private sector. Does this guy have any idea how many restaurants, caf small businesses in the in the in the restaurant trade, live music, et cetera, wine bars, does he have it, small breweries? Does he have any idea how many of these businesses have gone
to the wall in the last few years. If he thinks you can just just absorb these costs, this guy has no understanding of profit and loss statements. And secondly, I think it's fair to say Chary that probably since last Friday, Labor's momentum have stopped and the poles, you can just feel the poles turning back to Peter Dutton. And the reason I say that is people are now thinking, well, hang on, he lied to me about Dutton selling Turnble,
selling medicare. They're lying to me about Dutton slashing medicare. They're lying to me about the deficit, the debt that they're lying to us about, you know, the energy prices being cheaper under renewables, they're lying to us about the cost of nuclear et cetera, et cetera. So people are thinking, are we here okay?
So that brings me to the point you're saying, there's a slight turnaround in the polls. So Michael ten seconds, final prediction, who wins and if you can give a seat count, that would be good.
Well, if the polls are right at fifty two forty eight, then the government will be returned in minority. All I, as I said, I'm still very much hoping that there's a late swing back to the Coalition and Peter Dutton wins, because I think it'll be a fantastic prime Minister.
Richo, what do you think the final.
Michaels had too many forlorn hopes over the course of the years, and there is but another one. Alba will win on the weekend that I have no doubt will he get there in his own right? My view is probably yes, which is not the common view, but I think Albo is going to do okay.
All right, Well, well talk about how your prediction's fared this time next week.
Thank you both so much.
Thank you.
Now let's return to Penny Wong's claim that the Voice will eventually happen and Jonimir's National Senate leader Bridget Mackenzie.
Bridget, great to see you. Now. This is the worst.
This is the worst thing Alberize could have hoped for. These comments from Pennywog. I mean, the Voice was resoundingly defeated. Do you think she really wants to.
Have another voice referendum?
Well, Shari, Sixty percent of Australia voted no to the Voice referendum in twenty twenty three. They sent a very clear message. They wanted practical action on the issues for Indigenous and torrestraight islands, particularly those invulnerable communities, but they did not think changing our constitution dividing Australians using the Voice proposal was the way to go. They sent a
clear message. And yet Pennywong, in a rare moment of honesty in the Labor campaign, I might say, chose to reveal that.
The Labor Party.
Has it legislated in the top drawer, ready to go should they be successful on Saturday. And I think one thing, I sit in the Senate chamber with Pennywong my entire career. She's now leader of the Government in the Senate. This is not a woman who uses her words carelessly. She's very considered highly intelligent. And this is actually what Penny Wong believes, that the Voice is a proposal of merit worthy to go forward. And she is in the senior leadership.
The kitchen cabinet, shall we say, of Anthony Albanese, is most inner circle.
So I think will many say she leap back on the table.
Yeah, many say she runs the show and she has more authority than many of the other ministers now bridget what I want to ask you about these unearthed comments by Simon Holmes Acott.
It was in margin cole Bishan today. You know, the Teals claim to be pro women.
They were so critical of the Scott Morrison, you know, apparently over the Me Too movement, and yet his own social media postings show very disparaging remarks towards senior women. Do you find this both offensive and hypocritical?
Well, it's both. It's incredibly offensive and extremely hypocritical. Simon Holmes at Court uses these women as a front to protect his own commercial interests. Let's be very very frank. These women, the Teal movement more broadly, highly educated women, Greens in designer close by any other name, and if they were really feminists they'd stand on their own two feet and give this bloke the heave ho, because right now his brand is undermining their reputation. This guy, it's
always at follow the money, Shari. You need to just follow the money of Simon Holmes of Court, his commercial vested interests, who he runs with, and why they are pursuing one hundred percent renewables for this country when we know it is dangerous, it will ruin our economy, and that there are much better ways to bring down emissions. Use our backyard full of uranium, keep drops on shore and make sure we put down with pressure on prices.
All right, I want to ask you about this comments from Donald Trump today. Now I broke the story in the show a month or so ago that Albanezi was trying to get hold of Trump and Trump wasn't taking the phone calls. Were Now they are these comments publicly from Trump today, which indicates that he is aware of the cause.
Have a look, there's an election in Australia.
Are the Australian Prime minister is having an election this weekend?
Will you speak to him about trade?
They are going well with.
God, So there you go. He knows his calling. I mean, bridget Donald Trump is working with negative well apparently journals in.
He can't send Kevin Rudd, so he sent the journals in to say please take my call President.
What about the other night on Chattel seven he says he doesn't know if he has.
A mobile phone. Well, of course he does have a mobile phone.
But the point is, firstly, is Trump working as a negative for the coalition? Because this was initially embarrassing that Albaneze couldn't get him on the phone. But now the Trump factor is impacting, it seems on Dutton's prospects.
Well. I think we live in incredibly challenging times, and not just Geo strategically, Shahi economically and socially as well. And the solutions to these challenging times are very neat, sophisticated plans, not sort of soundbites and the fifteen second grabs that sometimes you get from prime ministers in election campaigns. The Trump issue is obviously a problem, not just for Australia but right around the globe. He's a great disruptor.
I would argue he's not a conservative, and I think for Peter, he's made very clear that for us in the Coalition, we have one priority and that's our national sovereignty here at home, and he's going made it very clear that should we get the great privilege come Sunday morning to be the government, then we will be putting Australian's interests first. Now, presidents come and go. The alliance, irrespective of who's sitting in the White House or who's sitting in the lodge, is strong and we need to
sort of put this into perspective and can't. I don't think the coalition could have been clearer around where we sit when it comes to President Trump.
All right, of course it has been weaponized against and Mark Conny, Mark Carney's win yesterday I think is frightening a lot of people in the coalition. Fridgia mackenzie really appreciate your time. Now still to come the man who'll tell you that Alban Eze's reckless spending will ruin the economy. But first the bombshell new text messages that could below
open the Ben Robert Smith appeal. That's after this quick break, Welcome back with massive day in the Federal court tomorrow with Victoria Cross recipient Ben Robert Smith's bid to set aside the defamation finding against him and even have a retrial. His appeal now centers on the bombshell admission from nine journalist Nick mackenzie that he obtained the war hero's legal strategy. Now this was captured in explosive audio that we first broadcast in March.
He was the most egregious part.
I shouldn't tell you.
I've just preached mythics in doing that.
Like this is where like this is.
If you knew that.
But it gets worse.
We now know about text messages where Danielle Scott, and she's the best friend of Ben, Robert Smith's ex wife, told Nick mackenzie always better to be on the front foot. I say, and know what they are planning. I think you owe me two beers now, So those texts appear to corroborate the suggestion in the recording that mackenzie had access to Robert Smith's legal strategy or part of it. Now Robert Smiths lawyers are arguing a serious injustice has occurred.
They claim this is a case of misconduct. Nine have denied all suggestions they've acted unethically or obtained any privileged legal documents were to discuss. Let's bringing now the Rule of Law Institute of Australia's Chris Merrick. Chris, great to see you, so give us an overview of where you think this is headed over the next couple of days.
Until now this case has all learn about Ben Robert Smith. He's faced all the downside, but the downside now weighs far more heavily on Nick McKenzie and his employer Nine Entertainment. And I say this for this reason. If Ben Robert Smith loses this case, the only thing that happens is
he can't reopen his appeal. If Nick McKenzie loses this, it's almost certain that not only the appeal will be reopened, but the verdict and the original defamation case could be vacated, and that inevitably would trigger moves to reconsider the costs order in that case. And that's tens of millions of dollars that could be up for grabs.
Fifty million.
Isn't it easy? Now? It doesn't end there. There's four points that Ben Robert Smith needs to prove if he's going to win this the right to reopen this case? Was the material that Nick McKenzie obtained privileged two? Did he know it? Privilege three? Did he engage in conduct that a court considered to be unlawful or improper? And did that affect the unfairness of the trial. If he
gets all those things up, he wins. But just consider this, If he gets up on just one, If he gets up on proving that Nick McKenzie, a star Walkley Award winning reporter, engaged in conduct that was unlawful or improper,
Ben Robert Smith would still lose the case. But Nick McKenzie would be stuck with a finding by the full Federal Court that his journalistic methods a manner to unlawful or improper conduct that would be very reputational, not suicide, but difficult to be difficult for him to live with.
Well, already this audio recording being made public is probably difficult for him to live with.
I mean for people watching at home.
Why this matters ultimately is you had Australia's most decor war hero, most celebrated war hero, accused of war crimes by Channel nine and now there seems to be I mean, an admission in the recording from Nick mackenzie. He says he's breached his own ethics and other things. And so you know, I think the Australians go, right, if you're going to pursue a war criminal, well you can't engage in dirty tricks like potentially obtaining his legal strategy.
It will be really entertaining to put it that way. To see Nick mackenzie cross examined tomorrow by Arthur Moses. Arthur Moses is one of the country's most forensic silks, and he's also the silk who was referred to by Nick Mackenzie in his book on the defamation case as sneering and supercilious. So I think it will be very entertaining to see how Mackenzie stands up. So a forensic cross examination about that recording by a fellow who he's personally criticized.
Always high risk, I'm told journalist on the stand, they don't usually give good, great evidence.
Yeah, I think that might be the case. But look, it's only going to be two days, but it's before the full federal court, so it'll be a very substantial decision with wide ranging implications.
Well, I'm sure it'll be a dramatic day in court tomorrow.
We'll have all the details here tomorrow night, Chris, thank you very much, and so make sure you're watching tomorrow night eight o'clock final show before the election from me. But also we will have news on how that hearing went, now still to come, how alban Easy's wild spending could see a ratings downgrade, and how to impact on your loans. Plus Liberal Senator Holly Hughes won't hold back when she tells us what she really thinks of the campaign strategy.
That's after this quick break.
Well, as we've been discussing tonight the Tills are in a world of pain with campaign scandals mounting by day. Or to discuss let's bring in liberal Senator Holly Hughes.
Holly go to see Hey Shari. So we've had the Minique Ryan scandal. She's had more than anyone.
But then also, which one are we talking about? Yeah, we need to clarify which many teal makes.
I was driving dropping kids at school this morning when I heard Ben Fordham interview Sophie Scomps.
And it was just so appalling. I don't know if you heard it, but.
The way she said if I offend it.
It's the apology without an apology, and it's so appalling. I mean, if you're bringing people's children, and particularly children who died so that family is going through horrific grief and she's using that grief to score political points over climate change. I mean it is These were the politicians
of integrity, kindness. They were going to do it differently, and they're disgusting and they are reaching at the bottom of the barrel at every opportunity, whether it is pulling down signs and husbands doing those of dirty jobs for you, or whether it's the CCP helping out manning booths, or whether it's now dragging in a grieving family to push a climate change agenda.
It's disgusting. But you think they get back in or who do you think loses?
Oh well, you know all of them would be my hope. I think that might be pushing a little bit too much. I think mon aik Ryan is in trouble. I think Emelia Haim is a great candidate in Kojong, and I think Monique should be in trouble. Goldstain looks like we could pick that back up with Tim Wilson. Kate Cheney I think is in a lot of trouble in Curtain. I was been over in Wa and they're doing a great job over there.
With Tom So hearing that as well.
Yeah so, But I think Sophie Scompsy mckela has really kind of shown the grub that she is. I mean a Legrasvender, I'd be too late, might be too late, you know.
And this is the thing, there's so many.
Votes that have already been lodged. But you know, Allegraspender forgot she was on seven boards. I mean, like, how does that relate to people who are struggling with cost of living. When you forget you've got seven directorships, I.
Mean that'll be a tight contest in went Worth between her and Roe Notox.
Yeah, absolutely, that'll be a close one. I think.
Look, I want to ask you your thoughts and the Coalition campaign. You're an outgoing senator, so perhaps you don't have to be as careful as everyone else.
What do you think could have been better?
Look, I feel like the last couple of days have been not just from the colligion, from every side, even the Teals and Labor and everyone. This sort of almost feels this chaos as are up to in the last three or four days, and whether it's just too little, too late to really engage the electorate properly, because as we said, for nearly four million people have already voted. But I think for me what's been disappointing. I think
Darts has done a great job. I think Peter Dutton's been out there every day, working really really hard and doing his best to get our positive message and change plans out there. But I looked at Labor and they've got Murray Watt as their attack dog, and I don't know who else is and the fact, we've got a prime minister who is an out and out liar. This is someone who lied about falling off stage when it's on camera. He lied about your two hundred and seventy
five dollars coming off. He lied about the Chinese warships and when they learn about the live fire exercises. He's now been found what did Joe hild a Brand call it tactical obscation? Obscation I can't even say that word, but it's a lie, Joe, it's a lie.
But you know he was.
He's been caught lying now about Russia and Indonesia. This guy's an out in mountli takes on the Rocks recipes like everything, everything he lies about and that it just doesn't seem to have landed in the electorate. I mean, you cannot believe a word that this guy says. And you know it was clonel today, Andrew Clanel at the Press Club. You know, an hour of my life I'll never get back after watching that. But it was Clonail that asked him some of those questions and you know
we're in a more friendly time slot for it. But caught him out like Malcolm Fraser did with the bullshit of the press gallery and that's I mean, to watch that press club today, it was like he was hanging out with his best mates.
It was Sydney, it really was. That showed the camera above to a tea. Absolutely absolutely, But well that has been an issue as well.
I mean we've been covering it and when I interviewed Peter Dutton on Monday, he said to me he called the press pat traveling with him activists, not journalists.
Absolutely, So many reporters now are not journalists. I did journalism when I started after university, and I can tell you we were taught to be impartial. That was our role was to look at the facts and then give every sort of angle of a story and try and tease it out. Now they come in with an agenda
and push that agenda. They're not journalists. They certainly didn't get the same education I got when it came to being a journal But I do you know, I'm frightened for Australia when you look at the policy that Labor and the Greens have around and realized super it's an inheritance and a death tax, and yet that just hasn't come through.
And you know the superannuation.
It's going to upset family farmers and it's not index the three million, so it's going to affect more and more Australians every year.
Holly Hughes, so good to see you as always.
Thanks very next week now after the break, Just how serious is this risk from Albanize spending to our triple A credit rating? And could Labor extend its policy on taxing unrealized capital gains?
It's after this break, all right, welcome back.
Let's speak to the economics correspondent for The Australian, Matthew Cranston.
Matt, thanks for joining us tonight.
Look, this was a very shocking warning from ratings agencies down and Pause this week that we could lose our triple A credit rating because of structural spending, off budget spending and.
The debt levels.
Do you get the sense that the government is taking this seriously enough?
Well, I think judging by his response, he's obviously thought that he had to do something. He came out into a press conference on it, so at least rhetorically he thinks it's important and rhetorically he thinks it's worth taking seriously. He keeps on obviously talking about the seventy eight billion dollar deficit that the coalition left behind, which which isn't accurate, it's the thirty billion dollar one.
But I think that he's also.
This is the prime minister you mean or the treasurer.
No, this is the treasurer.
This is Jim Jim Charmers.
But I think when it comes to the actions and the request of the ratings agencies, it does come down to both both sides of politics. But it's just he's in the box seat. He's the one that's got to think about all these deficits going forward. But the big risk, I think is that he doesn't take it seriously. And part of that is because a lot of the bond markets and a lot of the people that look at ratings agencies now they say the ratings agencies don't make
a difference, they don't have an impact. This is what they think. When the US lost its tip of a credit rating to double a plus, the markets didn't respond very strongly to that didn't it didn't really increase the cost of debt dramatically very quickly, And so there's this danger that you can be complacent and think, well, it doesn't really matter so much and I can just slide by and let the next few years just keep on spending big and taxing big.
But it does matter because, of course, yeah, the consequence isn't just servicing the nation's debt. But you know, how could this flow onto mortgages and other loans like business loans.
Well, I mean just take for example, when when a ratings agency isn't on top of things and isn't constantly assessing, you know, the fiscal management of a country or the risk within certain products such as credit default swaps during the which ultimately led to the GFC. This is the subprime crisis. The ratings agencies didn't do anything there and
it blew it all up. But when it comes to debt and sovereign debt, it does trickle down because if you start to reprice the cost of government debt and triple a debt and it comes down, then that flows through because all borrowing costs in Australia and around the world are really based on the risk free rate, which is government debt like US treasuries, and it's the same
sort of thing in Australia as well. The risk free rate sort of thing is what you'd pay for a government bond and that's what mortgages are priced on, and if that goes up, then your mortgage cost goes up as well. It's all based on that.
Yeah, all right, Matt, I just want to quickly ask you about the focus on Labour's tax policy on unrealized capital gains be concerning many people.
Yeah.
Well, look, I'm still a gased at because I've come back from being a correspondent in Washington and come back into this environment and seen so little debated about it. People will say, oh, no, we had that debate a few years ago, why are you bringing it up now? And I'm like a serious like, this is a middle of an election campaign. This is the time where you actually have to discuss these policies. People will say, oh, it's not legislated. Well, yeah, of course, but this is
this is the whole point. You discuss it before it gets legislated.
But what is it.
It's it's probably one of the most horrendous taxes you can bring in. It's an essentially it's taxing again that you have made on an asset, but you haven't sold it. And so it can be anything on paper, it could be properly, it could be Yeah, it's exactly you could You could have an investment in a company and you might not have any cash, and it could go right up.
And so you're out of time. But love your work now that you're the OZ. Great to see you, all right, Do not miss tomorrow night's show. It's the last one before the election. I'm gonna give you my endorsement who I think should be the next government.
Here's Paul Murray.