Live on Sky News.
This is Sharry.
Good Evening.
Tonight our exclusive report that Albanezi has not managed to schedule another call with President Trump.
This despite trey tariff.
Set to take effect in just eight days and a Chinese warship circling Australia. Our scoop coming up an urgent planes ahead of Cyclone Alfred, which is set to hit Queensland and northern New South Wales on Thursday. We'll get the latest from the Bureau of Meteorology and I'll tell you how this.
Could delay the election.
Also tonight, Moranda Devine tells us who the administration the Trump administration has its eye on to replace Zelenski after that explosive oval office brawl. Plus Alex Rifchin will join me on the show after our letter to the Prime Minister asking him to endorse our anti Semitism action plan.
That's all coming up, but first tonight I can exclusively reveal that Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi has not managed to schedule another call with President Donald Trump, despite trade tariffs due to take effect in just eight days and a Chinese warship circling Australia. Three sources tell me that Albanesi and his representatives have been desperately contacting Republican networks in the US, approaching senior figures to try and appeal to
President Trump. The lack of communication between the two leaders comes at a precarious time for Australia, with Chinese warships circling our coastline and even conducting live fire exercises. Trump's twenty five percent tariffs on Australian aluminium and steel are also scheduled to start in just eight days, and the tariffs on Canada and Mexico begin today on Tuesday US time. Well, we can see that time is now running out. The
pair haven't spoken since February the tenth. Australian officials have been frantically trying to achieve an exemption on the trade tariffs, and they're getting increasingly panicked. I've confirmed there is no further call currently set between alban Easy and Trump.
Sauces tell me.
Alban Easy has been trying to set up a call with Trump, but albin Easy denies this. One source with close ties to Trump told me and I quote, the ambassador has been kissing my ass works every angle and about Trump's attitude towards our prime minister. This source said he's as in Trump's ending the Third World War, no time for anti Trump left wing globalists. So that's a pretty brutal description of Alberizi as an anti Trump, left
wing globalist. The Trump administration is well aware of both Albanisi and Kevin Rud's past comments about the President, and I approached Rudd and the Prime Minister for comment. A spokeswoman for Albanesi said this is wrong. It's an absolutely incorrect insinuation that they have been rebuffed.
Now, my understanding is that Donald.
Trump's trade advisor, Peter Navarro is not keen on the idea of giving Australia a trade exemption, and Treasurer Jim Chalmers downplayed hopes of an exemption when he returned from Washington on the weekend.
Oh, We're under no illusions. It will be hard, I think, as Penny Wong has pointed out before, this is a big hill to climb. It will be harder this time than last time. We had a very productive conversation. We were able to make the case. They heard us out, and you know, I'm not going to take any outcome for granted or try and make predictions or preempt where the Americans might land.
But Trump has said publicly that he understands Australia has a trade surplus with America. He's also said he'd give great consideration to an exemption.
We have a surplus with Australia. What are the few and the reason is they buy a lot of aeroplanes. They are rather far away and they need lots of aeroplanes, and we actually have a surplus. It's one of the only countries.
Which we do.
But Australia is the least of Trump's concerns at the moment, as he deals with the fallout of the explosive Zelensky meeting. He's also preparing to deliver a major address to Congress on Tuesday night. Yet Trump has found the time to meet out the White House with the leaders of Israel, Japan, Jordan, India, France, the United Kingdom, and of course Ukraine. Our Prime minister hasn't made the trip to the White House since Trump's
election in November. And if alban Easy can't manage proper communication with a president of the United States, well that's a terrible look for him, particularly on the eve of a federal election. It exposes the distance in the relationship between Australia and our greatest and most important strategic and security ally America. Under the Albanesi government, It's a relationship that Peter Dutton believes he could manage more effectively.
Well, I've worked very closely with the Obama administration, with the Trump administration, with the Biden administration, and we have good relationships with a number of people in the forty seventh presidency in the West Wing, and we can work very closely and effectively with them.
There's a little doubt that alban Easy like the personal skills, the charisma, the strength of the political nous to deal effectively with Donald Trump and achieve the best outcomes for our country. Now, I'm going to come back to that story in a moment with Bronwin Bishop and Holly Hughes. But first, right now, as we go to air, Queensland and northern New South Wales are preparing for a major cyclone.
It's expected to hit in just two days time. Meteorologists say Cyclone Alfred is a once in a fifty year weather event and there are serious concerns about the impact it'll have. It could reach serious devastation residents could lose power and fresh water for days. Four million Queenslanders are on high alert now. The cyclone is forecast to hit Australian land on Thursday night.
Or Friday morning.
The Bureau of Meteorology predicts that its impact would be greatest in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Northern Rivers basically southern Queensland and northern New South Wales.
A tropical cyclone watch extends from Sandy Cape in Queensland down to areas just north of Grafton in New South Wales. Now in those areas we are likely to see gale force winds developing in the next twenty four to forty eight hours.
There are also warning that there'll be heavy rainfall and life threatening flash fighting for both Thursday and Friday, and the wind gusts are predicted to be up to one hundred and fifty kilometers an hour. There are also warnings that waves could reach nine meters high, creating dangerous conditions on the water. Now the Bureau of Meteorologies say this will be a Category two most likely when it hits Queensland's southeast coast, and families from South Stridebog Island are already evacuating.
Voluntary evacuations are already occurring on South Stridebrack Island as a precaution. Our emergency crews are also door knocking the at risk areas across sun On Coast, Morton and the Brisbane Buy areas today.
As a result of all of this, there is panic buying in Queensland supermarkets, The Courier Mail reporting that water has sold out in many suburbs and milk and bread are running low. Queensland Premier David Chrisafooley and New Southeales Premier Chris Mins are both warning residents to prepare for the worst.
Alfred's obviously a major concern for New South Wales tropical cyclone, warning that we haven't had in the state for decades.
It is serious and it is happening and we want Queenslanders to be prepared. We are and we want Queenslanders to know we'll get through this if you do the preparation now.
Aside from the devastation of the cyclone, this could also impact the timing of the federal election. The Prime Minister was poised to call the election on Sunday afternoon for April twelve. He was expected to head to Yarra Lamla to see the Governor General either on Sunday after the WA election on Saturday or on Monday, and he's already deployed Labour staff to their campaign a headquarters in Sydney.
Sam Maiden reports today on news dot com dot Au that Labor has canceled their planned economic meetings this week, which were meant to prepare for the budget. She writes that senior cabinet sources have confirmed they expect the PM to visit the Governor General straight after the WA state.
Election on March eight.
But if the cyclone devastation is catastrophic, and if there's a humanitarian disaster, it would be unseemly for alban Easy to press ahead with calling the election. The Prime Minister would risk looking heartless and insensitive if he puts his political campaign ahead of the cyclone cleanup effort. It's a point Our regular on the show Cameron Milner makes in The Nightly. He says, now, even for a bloke like Albo, tone death and out of touch, calling a national election
would seem like a particularly callous act. Now the election has to be held by May seventeenth, so if Albanze doesn't have it on April twelve, He'll then have to wait until May the third or May the tenth, because in late April there's Easter Anzac Day, the school holidays. Now having the election in May means that Albanize would have to have a federal budget and he's not inclined to do that because he's not going to be able to deliver a surplus yet again, not with Labour's level
of pre election spending. Now, Cameron Milner makes the fascinating point that Labour's trying to turn the election campaign into a referendum on Peter Dutton.
It's why you're seeing attacks like this.
We need leadership with a heart. Peter Dutton represents a could mean spirit. It's sometimes just plain nasty response and that's not going to help people. Seriously, I'll swap my property portfolio with Peters. I'll tell you what weaknesses. Weaknesses not having the guts to come to the National Press Club. Weakness is just saying no to everything before you even see the detail.
If Labor is successful in framing the election as a referendum on Peter Dutton, well they could do better. Then the polls are expecting them to do at the moment, and this would be a repeat of how Albanesi eviscerated Scott Morrison's character. But if the election is a referendum on the cost of living, then Labour's done because there's no question Albinizi promised to solve the cost of living crisis and yet every single aspect of life has become
more unaffordable under his government. Okay, let's bring in now Liberal Senator Holly Hughes and former Speaker of the House Ronman Bishop.
Welcome to you both.
Now, I want to start with getting your reaction to my exclusive story tonight that Albanizi hasn't managed to schedule another call with Donald Trump, despite a Chinese warship circling our coast and the trade tariffs that kick in on March twelve. Holly, so many leaders have visited the White House, not Albanzi and it can't even get another call.
As absolutely disgraceful.
We are the only country that is a member of the Quad that hasn't had a meeting with President Trump since his election at leadership level. And it was interesting to hear Penny Wong say that when she was at the UN she couldn't possibly meet with the Israeli representatives because they weren't at her level. Yet, somehow or other, we're expected to believe that sending Penny Wong to the inauguration of Donald Trump was sending some one at the
appropriate level. This is a government who is frightened. I think of Donald Trump. They know that he very much bases things on how people behave, what they've said, and he's.
Got a very long memory.
And you know, as we know, back in seventeen eighteen, when Joe Hockey was the ambassador, he was able to secure an exemption, he was able to get those tariffs held off for Australia. Yet Albaneze's hand picked ambassador, Kevin Rudd, can't even secure a meeting or a phone call.
And it just shows how pathetic both of them are.
What's your reaction to you know, whichever way you look at it, clearly there's not a close relationship between the two leaders.
Look, he is a man with a memory, and he really does judge people's character on how they respond to certain things. So he remembers Kevin Rudd, he remarks about him personally, he remembers Albanesi's remarks about him personally, and more particularly, he notes that when he's taken a stance on Ukraine that our Prime minister came out and said, well where all for Ukraine? With the hypocrisy of the man. When asked by Selensky for helicopters, which we no longer,
we just buried them. We promised them tanks. They haven't been delivered. So he and that doesn't go unnoticed. So he knows that the character of Albanisi is weak.
He just knows it.
And when you look at the incidence, as you mentioned, with the Chinese ship in our waters, still it's still still in our waters. What that ship is showing to our Pacific island states is don't rely on Australia, rely on us, because they can't even follow us and know when we're here. So we're in a really difficult bind
with this man. And if we were to re elect him, then I think our going relationships are in peril because at every turn, unfortunately, because this is something where we wanted to be bipartisan, where we support our leadership in strong action, but there hasn't been any. And as for the elections that he's said to call, he's just dithering he just did this.
It's like you can't make up his mind.
He's so indecisive and I can't decide which day he wants to call the election.
He I mean, it's just in action.
It's completely frustrating, I think to all Australians at the moment, because there's a faux campaign being run. I think Australians have a right to know whether or not they're going to get a budget in three weeks and this.
Will they won't they?
Oh, I'm not going to tell you it's due on the seventeenth of May. You look, my husband's got a thought. This guy might realize that he's slightly on the nose, So he's clinging on to every day at the address at the Lodge and Kiribillity, just in case it's not his home after the election.
I actually get this sense that he's overly confident the Prime Minister. It's a bit like he was before the referendum when he thought the Voice was going to sail through. He was so confident and that's how he's feeling at the moment.
Whether there's reason for that or not.
I mean, the polls indicate he doesn't have reason to be confident.
But the fact that he got a bit of a fillip with the lowering of interest rates, whether that gives a balance in the polls or not, it's given him abouts. Yes, it's given him more confidence to go out. But then I watched today's press confidence and seriously, this was a man who in the election campaign that he won, whenever he give a performance like that, they'd say, oh, he's got COVID and he'd be off for a week. Well I haven't got COVID anymore. So where are they going
to send him? What are they going to do with him? We are in a campaign now and it's going to be long and he doesn't have the resilience for that.
So whenever, whatever date.
He calls, and I agree that the cyclone is going to have but just unless he feels he can go out and be seen as the hero and look at me, I'm giving assistance. That didn't do too well for the former Premier of Queensland, as I recall.
But also Dutton's bunker down in Queensland. You know his electorates in Queensland and you know it's going to be Look, we don't want it to be devastating. I hope the weather forecasters the meteorologists have it wrong, as they so often do, but at this point it is expected to be hitting southern Queensland quite hard. All right, let's have a look at this report in the finn Review today.
It shows that the gender pay gap is still a problem in corporate Australia, the AFAR reporting that the best paid workers at some of Australia's top companies are still overwhelmingly men, earning million dollar salaries. Now there's two issues here, Holly. You know, the issue is there's either a gap when men and women are doing the same job but they're paid different. But I think what we're seeing more and more is that it's just that more men have seen your roles than women do and thus.
Earn higher salaries.
What do you think, well, and I mean the reality is most of the time women are the caregivers and so it's women who quite often take a step out
of their career for a period of time. Now, whether that's right or wrong, I know that we talk about all the time about fathers being given more leave and better at work, you know, working conditions for men to be more flexible to spend more time with their families and it is important that kids have a good relationship with their dads, but that hasn't been the trend in the past. And you know, hopefully as we go forward we will see more women enter into those top echelons
of management. But I think as far as the gender pay gap goes, you know, there is a lot of legislation that the Labor Party wants, you know, put in that if you're doing the same job, it's same pay. Remember they had the big slogan about that. So I think we need to understand where it is and where it's coming from, and it's sort of a totality of care, not people getting paid less for doing the same same job.
Yeah, yeah, Robin, I'm really interested to hear your insights on this because when you came through in politics, there weren't many women in politics at all or in senior roles in corporate Australia. You know, you really were, You are a trailblazer.
It's perfectly true. There were for twenty years no women at all in the Lower House. And when I went into the Senate, when you realized that the first woman to be elected, and she wasn't elected, she was a placement by the Western Australian government for a casual vacancy was nineteen forty three, a labor center from Western Australia. I went in in nineteen eighty seven and New South Wales had never elected popularly a female senator then. But the difference is and I was sort of one of
the original members of Chief Executive Women. So I'm very pleased women who have taken strong steps forward and are in those sessols.
Look at the top of the Macquarie.
Banks, she's very impressive and there are a lot of women as a caliber. But it gets used by some people to say until we've got even numbers of men and women, that there's a pay gap. Well, it doesn't work like that. It's still got to be the best person for the job. And there's no place for DEI in those top jobs.
You just don't get the leadership.
You don't get productivity, you don't get good outcome for your shareholders.
But although it's still.
Tough and you've really got to fight to stay there and to get on, the opportunities are there. And I think there's one other aspect that I think has been important to women stepping up more, and that is the way that marriage marriages have tended to end in divorce, that a woman has to be prepared very often to support a household, so don't lose your skills.
Good point.
I just want to say, as a final comment, run when I don't think you have been recognized.
I don't not even nearly enough.
You haven't been recognized at all by the feminists or the feminist groups for the role you've played in bringing women into politics. And it's because you're a conservative women women, it's because you're from the Liberal Party. All of the feminists groups are basically left wing organizations. And you know you should be celebrated for the role you've played and recognized for that. Absolutely, and you know, maybe we'll have to get you one of the t shirts that Caro de Russo got a few of us.
Made during the Me Too movement.
Wrong kind of woman because conservative women we deserve it. The Me Too movement believe all women except conservative women.
So absolutely.
And you know, I get compared to you quite often and people like to leave me feedback or you're just the next Broman Bishop, and I think.
Well, what a compliment.
I take it as a compliment.
I'm not quite sure they mean it that way, I can tell you that's how I take it.
I think it definitely is a confident a compliment. You are both very strong women, all right. And on that note, thank you so much, Holly Hughes from a bishop.
Wonderful to see you as always. Actually, I appreciate your time.
All right, let's return now to this cyclone that we are expecting, Cyclone Alfred, which is currently fluctuating between a category one and category two tropical cyclone. It's expected to hit on late Thursday. The Bureau of Meteorology is Tropical cyclone Watch extends all the way from Sandy Cape and Queensland to just north of Grafton in New South Wales. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, so families are on high alert. I spoke with a Bureau of Meteorologies Senior
meteorologist Angus Heines a little while ago. Angus Heines, thank you so much for your time. When are we expecting Cyclone Alfred to make landfall? Good evening.
Yeah, we've seen Cyclone Alfred take a real shift today. It had been moving southeast toward slightly away from the country. It's now turned to the west, taking it back towards southeastern parts of Queensland. We have just issued the latest forecast track for Alfred and that track shows a likely arrival time of very late in the day Thursday night, perhaps the last hour or two on Thursday, That could
be the first hour or two of Friday morning. So it's around that midnight time period Thursday into Friday where we are anticipating Tropical Cyclone Alfred to arrive. And the coastal crossing location that hasn't really shifted from the most recent tracks. We still expect that to be between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast in southeast Queensland.
So which areas are most at risk and what's your advice to families who are in those areas? Are you saying to evacuate or what should people do?
So there are a number of areas which are at risk of seeing some really significant weather impacts from Tropical
Cyclone Alfred. Heavy rain and flooding will pack large parts of eastern Queensland from around about Fraser Island down right to the cool and Gata Cool and Gatta on the coast with northern New South Wales and in New South Wales, heavy rain and flooding is anticipated for the northern Rivers, the mid North Coast and parts of the Northern Tablelands, damaging it to destructive winds will also be significant for many areas. In particular, the winds will be strongest near
and south of the crossing point. That means places like Brisbane, the Gold Coast, tweedheads, cool and gatter as well as up into the hinterlands, the tablelands and elevated to rain for eastern parts of the country could see those strongest winds now. The advice for people in the affected areas is a to stay up to date with warnings and forecast information for where and when Alfred is likely to arrive.
But then also it's to turn to your local authorities and your local emergency services during the time of severe weather. They'll have the best information for how each individual community is best equipped to handle the passing of tropical cyclone out and that's going to be the best way to get information during the severe weather event.
We're being told that this is once in a fifty year weather event. Just how severe is this whining and how will it be different from other cyclones we've seen in Northern Queensland.
Yeah, Look, this is a very uncommon. It's an unusual weather set up to get a tropical cyclone affecting the country this far south. There have been a few in recent decades. We had Tropical Cyclone Omer in twenty nineteen, although that one didn't make landfall, it got quite close to southeast Queensland before it went away over the ocean
back off to the north there. We've had a few also over recent decades which have been tropical cyclones and then turned into tropical lows, but have still brought some very significant weather impacts to this part of the country. But it has been many decades since a fully fledged tropical cyclone has made landfall. It will be a significant weather event. The rainfall numbers we're looking at are very large, multiple hundreds of millimeters a day for several days in
a row. We could see extensive flooding of the river network through both southern Queensland and northern New South Wales, including the possibility of major flooding in parts of both states. And the winds could be gusting up to about one hundred and fifty kilometers an hour, particularly near the crossing point of tropical Cyclone Alfred. That is a destructive wind. It can cause significant damage for places that do experience
those very strong winds. So this is a powerful, significant and unusual weather event for that part of the country.
Yeah, really worrying for us there, Anger Siins.
We appreciate your time.
Thank you, Stay safe.
Still to come as Trump suspends weapons to Ukraine. Marada Devine tells us about the general the Trump administration is eyeing to replace Zelenski and our letter to the Prime Minister demanding he endorsed the outcomes from our antisemitism summit. Alex Revchin would join me next. Welcome back well. Our antisemitism summit to about twelve days ago now heard from the brightest minds in Australia about how to fix this crisis. At the end of the summit, Alex Riftrin delivered comprehensive
outcomes that we believe would make a tangible difference. They included declaring a national emergency on antisemitism, setting up a joint counter terror task Force, and including antisemitism education in the school curriculum. And to talk about this, let's bring in now. Executive Council of Australian Juries co Chair Alex Riftchin, Alex, thank you so much for being here.
Interest.
Thank you.
So these outcomes you delivered at the end of our summit a week and a half ago on Thursday, you've now sent them to the Prime Minister and Peter Dutton, Is that right?
That's right. So, you know, at the conclusion of the summit, which was a spectacular success, you know, we had the brightest minds as you mentioned, across terrorism and policing and education, community leaders, political leaders. John Howard was then spoke brilliantly as h always does, and you know, kind of to coalesce all of the thoughts and ideas and concepts that came out of the expert panels and speakers. We produced this action plan, a concrete plan of fifteen points to
comprehensively address anti semptism crisis in this country. And now we've put the challenge to the government, the opposition, and to independence as well and civil society to actually get behind this plan, adopt it and make fighting anti Semitism a national priority and a non partisan priority, because there's too much at stake and the issue is bigger than politics.
So your letter asks for the leaders and the independent candidates to endorse the fifteen point action plan and if there are outcomes that they don't want to commit to to explain why they don't support them.
Yeah, I mean I went through every one of the points, you know, at the closing of the summit, to explain the merits behind it, the thinking behind it, and why will actually correct this horrific state that we found ourselves in terms of antisemitism in Australia, and we hope that it will be comprehensively adopted. There's nothing overly ambitious there. There's are common sense policies to actually improve the lives of the strange Jews and restore our society to what
it's meant to be. But we want to put the challenge to the political leaders of our country either adopt a plan or let us know why you can't exactly.
It's such a good point, especially when we just heard the Prime Minister on Q and A a week ago say he's done everything. The Jewish community asks, well, now we've sent this letter just on Friday. He would have heard it at the summit, but now we've sent this letter, so we'll see what he comes back with. Let's just go through some of the outcomes that we're saying, we'll make a practical difference to the antisemitism crisis on education.
It includes tackling antisemitism on university campuses and in the school curriculum.
Yeah, so here we have both. I suppose you call it a treatment of the symptoms and the long term cure. In terms of what's happening on university campuses, Jewish students, staff and academics should not have to endure what they've faced over the past academic year. Encampments, support for terrorism, the storming of their lectures, being forced to identify themselves as as Zionis, and lecture theaters. This is a current behavior,
it's not on and it degrades our university system. And so we're calling for a ban on encampments, a ban on the storming of university lectures, and also an inquiry into a judicial quarienty semptism on campus to get to the bottom of issues like foreign funding, who is funding these protests, what outside intervention is taking place on campuses.
And of course this is something the government has rejected.
It's inexplicable.
There's no reason not to have a judicial inquiry into antisemitism on university campuses.
Look, the Jewish community has been calling for it the Special Envoy has been calling for it. There's a serious crisis and a serious problem that's occurring on every campus in the nation, and so our feeling was and it remains that we need a judicial to take this outside the politics and partisanship at Acrimoni de Parliament give privilege and confidence and confidentiality to those who give evidence to this inquiry, and we don't see why it can't be adopted.
The opposition supports this, we understand, and now we're calling for the government to do likewise, to again make this a unified, bipartisan action.
And then in the school system, it's incorporating not just Holocaust education, but Holocaust education as an example of where antisemitism can lead.
Precise, I mean whole clast education we all know is essential. There's a great virtue in teaching it. There are so many lessons in the Holocaust about the depths of in humanity, the process from dehumanization to destruction. It needs to be taught, but it's got to be taught correctly, and it has to be positioned within the broader study of anti semitism. Otherwise it consigns Holocaust history to ancient history in Europe,
which seems irrelevant to students today. They need to understand anti semitism in the here and now, how it presents and what it's doing to our society.
In terms of immigration, this has been a big issue. You know, when we said to Sky News viewers, contact us with your ideas.
A lot of those ideas.
Were kind of deport the violent criminals who are anti Semitic. Now, in many cases they can't be deported because they're Australian citizens. But some of the outcomes here are about potentially amending the Migration Act to ensure that anti Symitic conduct is grounds to both reject a new visa or counsel an existing one.
Take us through that, well.
Look, there's no reason why someone who exhibits antisemitic behavior, prejudice, expresses support for terrorism and the destruction of the Jewish people should pass a character test for migration to Australia. I mean, anyone that has this mindset is a danger to our national security and a danger to our communities. And we would effectively be on the one hand trying to lessen and ameliorate the problem of anti Semitism, another hand deepening it by importing people to this country. That
for such prejudice. So we want to ensure that the migration art is fit for purpose. Either it's enforced properly or it's amended as necessary to ensure that we can vet and test people for these sorts of views and denial councel visas for people who are rapidly anti Submitic composed the threat to our society.
And on the day I interviewed Peter Darton and he immediately expressed support for an idea like that. And I think that was the problem that many of us had with the near three thousand visas that were issued to Gazans. It wasn't just that there were necessarily national security concerns about every one of them, but had they already been indoctrinated to hate Jews? Were we importing more anti Semitism into the country. So this seeks to address some of those concerns.
And what was really disappointing at that time when concerns were being raised about the levels of vetting. Is it possible to vet that many people in such a short period of time. The response by some media commentators and some in government was to accuse those questioning this process of races to effectively politicize the issue, but it had nothing to do with race. No one was talking about Palestin's in the West Bank, no one was talking about
Arabs in the UAE or Egypt. We were talking about people living for sixteen years under a fascist jihadist regime who were reared with anti semitism in the education system. And Australians have a right to query who these people are, what their prevailing views are, and what threat they may
post to Australian society. These are perfectly legitimate questions and when we start flinging around accusations of racism, it degrades the public conversation and it seeks to stifle and silence people who have a legitimate viewpoint.
You know, absolutely, just finally, your views on what needs to change in terms of the cultural sector, the arts sector. You know, what are you asking because this has been such a big issue. We only have about thirty seconds, But what's the outcome related to that that you're asking?
The pole trying to be quick because it's a big issue, it said, But I remember I was on your show a couple of years ago talking about Adelaide Writers Week, where Louise Adler became the curator invited on overt rabid anti Semites and supporters of terrorism. So the most vicious demagogues we've seen, and they were brought to this country
with the public expense. Cultural institutions should reflect the breadth of austrained culture and contribution, but too often they become places where one viewpoint is entrenched and all others are pushed out. So we need to correct that balance and preserve a strained culture.
And by the way, you know, it's not just that pro Israel Jews Zionists don't feature at writers festivals, but you know, neither do news corp journalists often or conservatives. It's often just a representation of the left.
Wing view of the world.
That's ryan. It's claimed to be about artistic expression, and yet only one form of expression is considered legitimate.
All right, Alex Richtan really appreciate your frivinily hard work on this.
Thank you, so thank you.
Shan Now coming up after the break a till and p says labor has broken their trust. Can Dutton now win over the Tills? I'll speak about that a bit later with cam Redden, but first Miranda Devine tells us which you Ukrainian general, the Trump administration is eying to replace Zelenski.
That's after this quick break.
Welcome back will in Global News, Donald Trump has ordered an indefinite suspension.
On military aid to Ukraine.
This of course follows the now infamous Overlaffi Stauche with Zelenski. Now, Trump's anger should also, in my view, be directed also at jd Vance, since he was clearly the agitator at the meeting and jd Vance finally broke his silence on Fox News today.
I really don't care what President Zelenski says about me or anybody else, but he showed a clear unwillingness to engage in the peace process that President Trump has said is the policy of the American people and of their president.
Now, in saying that, it's important to keep in mind that Zelensky has also refused three times now to sign the Mineral's agreement that he knows would economically time America to Ukraine for years to come.
But Donald Trump has said that the deal could still be revived.
I think everybody has to get into a room, so to speak, and we have to make a deal. And the deal could be made very fast. It should not be that hard. A deal to make. It could be made very fast.
But can Zelenski reach a deal? And if he can't, should he resign?
Well?
For more on this, I spoke with Miranda Devine, columnist at the New York Post, a little earlier. Miranda Divine, great to see you. As always, this White House over office dispute between Zelenski, jd Vance and Trump has dominated the global agenda over.
The past few days.
We're getting this sense from the Trump administration that they're saying Zelenski doesn't want piece, that he was offered three opportunities to sign the minerals a deal and he still hasn't done that. What are you hearing about how frustrated the Trump administration is over this.
Look, I think they've been in incredibly patient And as you said, this started when Trump sent his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant to Ukraine, which is difficult. You know, you're on a train for eleven hours and you're going into a war zone. And Scott besson is probably Trump's most significant cabinet member and he was there with the deal,
and according to him, Zelensky was incredibly rude. He kept him waiting, and then when the two of them were talking and Scott Besant was trying to explain to him how this deal worked and how it was effectively a security guarantee for Ukraine but an economic one that was the same as boots on the ground, but sort of economic corporate boots on the ground, and it was still
a deterrent for Russia. Zelansky just started shouting, and you know, he was also completely unhelpful in Munich when they tried again. Keith Kellogg, who's the former general that Trump's brought in as his sort of envoy to Ukraine to work out these piece deals. He is a very patient and a very dignified man, and he finally had had enough when he was getting on the train to go home, just
basically quitting in disgust. And then some of the people around Zelensky quickly rushed some documents to the train so he could sign them, so they could get to the next phase. And it was Zelenski's people who insisted that Zelenski come and sign this deal, this minerals deal, rare earths deal at the White House, and that was all set up. They were supposed to go down the hallway,
have dinner, six, have lunch. I mean sixteen of them and then go into a nearby room and with great flourish, in front of the cameras, sign this historic deal, which was you know, Trump said it was ninety eight percent of the peace deal, and Zelenski, in one of his many rude sort of contradictions and interruptions during that almost one hour meeting in the.
Oval Office, said it was a two percent deal.
So he was obviously he.
Should never should have gone to Washington if he wasn't willing to sign that deal. And I mean, I don't really understand it. Some people say that he was put up to try to embarrass Trump and disagree with Trump in that meeting by Democrats who had met with him beforehand. And then you know, there's some talk that he'd been talking to the Europeans and that they put him up to it to embarrass Trump and to make sure that Trump didn't get a win.
Miranda JD.
Vance also had a major role in escalating the retoric in the Oval Again.
JD.
Vans has his own agenda. He's looking forward to a future presidential run. Trump's goal for his term currently is to end the war in Ukraine and Russia. He wants to be the president that solved this war. So how do you think this conflict, these tensions might continue to play out between Trump's agenda advances.
No, they're not at odds at all. There's no distance between them at all. They are speaking as one. And if you watch the entire meeting, the provocation is coming entirely from Zelenski for the first forty three minutes. So after he snapped at jd Vance, that was when Trump decided I've had enough, and you could see it, and he was still very controlled. People say he lost his temper.
That was a man who was not losing his temper, but he was being firm and he'd given up any pretense of being cordial, and he just told Zelenski the facts, which is, you don't have any cards. You know, you rely on the United States to continue your military support, to continue sending you weapons and ammunition. And in fact, this afternoon, the US has just paused the weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. So that will be a wake up call because Europe does not have the wherewith all the arms,
the troops to replace America. Keirth Starmer said over the weekend that we need America as a backstop. That was echoed by other European leaders. Zelenski knows that and America. You know, this was a one off opportunity for Zelenski, that was a win win for Ukraine and for the United States and the rest of the world to end the war. And Donald Trump's genuine about his humanitarian purpose is to stop the deaths. And Zelensky doesn't seem to care about peace.
Miranda, given this as the state of the relations at the moment, do you think there is a push by the Trump administration for Zelenski to resign, for there to be a change in leadership in Ukraine.
Yeah, I wouldn't call it a push, but it's certainly been a suggestion by a couple of cabinet members. And you know, just in interviews they've just said, well, you know, if Zelensky is an obstacle to peace, maybe Ukraine needs to find someone else. But you know that's up to the Ukrainian people, and you know, it'll be up to the Ukrainian generals who you know, it's said that they
are dissatisfied with Zelenski. In fact, when he went to London to meet Kis Starmer on the weekend, you might have noticed this tall, very imposing man who is the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, who was a very popular general in Ukraine, who ran the first couple of years of the war when they were doing well, and surprised everybody with how strong they were against Russia. He's a, you know, a brilliant general.
But he and.
Zelensky fell out, and rather than knocking him off, bumping him off like he's done to other people who've displeased him, this general is so popular that Zelensky sort of exiled him to the UK. And he was interviewed just a day before that Oval Office meeting and asked about his political aspirations, and he said, look, if there are elections at some point, then he would consider putting his hat in the ring.
All right, Miranda Devine, we really appreciate your time.
Thanks so much.
And that Ukrainian general that Miranda was speaking about there is. His name is Valeri Zaluzinni. Valeri Zaluzini. I'm sure I'm not pronouncing that correctly, but you can look him up. He is a very tall, very big, intimidating looking figure.
All right, don't go anywhere.
Albinizi and Peter Darton are open to campaign debates, but who will hold them? Sky News Political Report of cam Redden would join me for his analysis after this.
Welcome back.
Well, we could be just days away from the federal election and I'm joined now by sky News Political Report of cam Redden. Cam Look, there are reports that both Albanezi and Dutton are keen on multiple debates three or maybe four ahead of the election. Who do we expect is going to host them?
Well, we could expect them to be shared around, Shry. I've got to say these debates are pretty interesting because even if you win them, you often don't gain a lot. But we saw in the United States if you lose them, just how badly things can go wrong. I'm not saying we can expect the Joe Biden style moment here, but
it always is a good insight. I do think though, the one difference will be the Sky News People's Forum, and I would say that, of course, the reason is it's the least scripted most we would but it is a reason because it's the most unpredictable. And both sides will say that because they're both pretty experienced campaigners at this point, Sharry, they can work their way to a kneel or drawer a debate and get out relatively unscared.
But the people's forums are unpredictable. You don't know what Joe blogs on the street is going to ask of a leader, and that's why that'll be the one. Yes, of course I would say that, and I know we would. But they're the ones that both sides will be preparing the most for and will surely be the best test of both leaders because they're pretty hard to prepare for when you don't know exactly what questions are going to be thrown up.
Yeah, I think it's a good point.
They're both very polished performers, and you know on Q and A a week ago when the Prime Minister was up against the public asking questions, I mean you just take Janet, the mother of four who's Jewish from Melbourne. I mean she asked the Prime Minister much tougher questions than any interview he'd normally agree with. Now I want to ask you about the Teals and we're seeing this fallout between the Teals and Labor Minister Don Farrell overcapping
political donations. This is fascinating and Goldstein MP Zoey Daniel is one of those who's hit out at this tell us what this fight boils down to and whether it means that Peter Dutton could win their support in a hung parliament.
It's possible.
I don't think they'll go running into the coalition's arms if that was an option, Sharry, although I do think we can expect this issue of campaign donations and spending caps and reforms in this area to be a bargaining chip in a minority government, because it's not just the Tills, although they've been the key leaders in this. We remember Zali Stegel just a few weeks ago in an arguing match with Don Farrell in the corridors of Parliament here.
But the entire cross Bench hates these rules. They think they're designed to shut them out of politics and to shut out independent challenges to the major parties. So this could be a key bargaining chip Sharry. If the two major parties fall a couple of seats short, no one can form a majority. This might be one of those tools on the table for somebody to try and find a path to a minority.
We're seeing what's being dubbed a race to define Peter Dutton. This effort by Labor to turn the campaign into a referendum on Dutton's character.
I think it's interesting, Shari that both sides in a way have leant out of the hard man, the tough former Defense and former Home Affairs Minister kind of persided because I think anecdotally too, that's what most people have in their mind. We've seen Labor focus on his record as Health Minister. Keep in mind that was just fifteen months in the Abbott government, and Peter Darton points regularly to his time as the assistant treasurer to Peter Costello
that was nearly twenty years ago. So there is an attempt to kind of define the rest of his personality. We'll see how much of that comes to bear as they spend more time on the campaign trail.
Cam Reddin, great to see you as always. I'll see everyone tomorrow. Here's Paul Murray.