Why on Sky News.
This is Sharry Good Evening.
We're coming up on tonight's show. The Boss of Azio issues a rare rebuke to the Iranian ambassador. I'll bring you this exclusive story and it comes as an Iranian attack on Israel is imminent.
The Macarata Commission.
Is the Albanezy government going to move forward with it or not?
Just Enterprise will join.
Me live for her take on the PM's latest blunder, and we'll cross to the US where Kamala Harris is attempting to undergo a major reinvention with ninety days to spare until America votes. But first tonight, I want to start with the economy. RBA Governor Michelle Bullock has ruled out a rate cut in the next six months, saying inflation has been more persistent than expected. In part, she blamed high government spending and low productivity for the need to keep rates higher for longer.
We're coming out of an extraordinary period of massive supply shocks, a new zero cash rate back in twenty twenty two, massive physical support for the economy, all part of the pandemic and the pandemic response. And it's not surprising really that it's taking time for things to stabilize a bit. What we can say is that a near term reduction in the cash rate doesn't align with the board's current thinking.
Up until this week, the economic conversation has centered on the number of rate rises needed to curb inflation. But now the very real risk of recession in the United States has changed the debate from not only controlling inflation.
But to carefully avoiding a recession.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has spoken for some time about the narrow path between not crushing our economy whilst still bringing inflation under control, and his want that the balance of risk is shifting in our economy.
We've said around budget time, before that and since then, just how important it is that we recognize the balance of risks in our economy, domestic and international, our growth and inflation. And it's just as important now as it's ever been.
Well, many economists locally have looked to the US for guidance, and they were highly critical of the IBA for not tackling inflation fast enough with earlier rate hikes. Interest rates in the US are higher than ours at five point five percent compared to our four point three five percent, so Australia took a less aggressive approach in curbing inflation so as not to crush growth, and while the future CPI data is.
Uncertain, at the moment, it.
Looks like Australia's path out of the global inflation.
Crisis may have been better than in the US.
The Treasurer today said that the concerns of a US recession show that Australia's economic plan to fight inflation without plunging US into recession is the more responsible path to have taken.
We are confident about the Australian economy. We are confident we can continue to see inflation moderate. We're confident that we can continue to grow. But this is a really important warning against complacency.
And Chalmers claimed his measures had in fact taken half a percentage point of inflation. But Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor seized on the RBA's concerns about government spending and low productivity.
Our inflation is stuck at a persistent level around four percent, and as I said, the Reserve Bank is seeing that inflation staying higher for longer than its previous forecasts back in May. It is clear that inflation is running the economy, not the government.
So while the main discussion point has been whether rates would have to rise this year, and some economists have even predicted up to three rate hikes, it is possible that the next move we see will be an interst rate drop, and that's the prediction of Deloitte Access Economics partner Stephen Smith. He said it is now looking increasingly certain that the next move and the cash.
Rate will be down, not up, with the RBA.
Clearly concerned that its quest to stamp out inflation might derail an emerging recovery, he said, with inflation trending down a week Australian economy and rising volatility in global markets, Australia needs an environment where business can invest for growth.
Well.
Herald's Sun Business legend Terry mccran will be on tonight just in a minute to break this down, but he says the RBA shouldn't be raising rates and that today's decision to hold was the right one. He says, yes, our own jobless numbers and other indicators like those from SEKH suggests our economy might be close to snapping and there is absolutely no case, he says, for a rate hike. Well, it's true the growth in our economy is weak and consumption.
Is down a little, but employment remains strong.
If we start to see weaker jobs numbers, then there will be cause for alarm. And the inflation battle is far from over, as Michelle Bullock stressed today, and even Charmers admits, inflation is persistent and stubborn. And inflation rose one percent in the June quarter in Australia, but in the US it only went up by zero point two percent. Now, this is all sparking a debate about migration.
Internally, in the Labor Party, there's a.
Big political push to slash the high migration number and stop the government's big Australia, but those concerned about the economy are unlikely to support a migration cut ahead of what is looking like a dicey next twelve months in the global economy. We are already in a per capita recession in Australia and the reality is if the immigration levels hadn't been so high, we would absolutely be in a recession now.
Internally in the.
Labor Party there's already some resistance to cutting the migration rate. This isn't about the cost of living crisis of costs for Albanese.
It's about politics.
If the US plunges into a recession, an Australia manages to avoid one thanks to the narrow path Jim Chalmers is taking along with the high migration numbers.
Well, this will be good.
News for the Albanese government ahead of an election. A rate cut early next year would be the prime minister's dream ahead of an election campaign that could kick off in early April.
Well for more.
Expert analysis on this now, I'm joined by business columnist Terry mccran. Terry, great to see you again and thanks for joining US. Economists have been pushing for an interest to rate cut. We've heard many call for that, but Michelle Bullock today made it absolutely clear that a cut isn't on the cards anytime soon. No time in the next six months, which probably puts the first potential rate cut in the first quarter of next year.
Which might work out quite well for the government if it has an election in the normal course. Sherry, But I thought, looking at Jim Chalmers's comments today, I thought I saw signs of fear in those eyes of his where he really thought that there's a prospect that rather than get a rate cut, as you move into the election campaign, you might actually face a rate high. I think, Chris, I think we can be very thankful to Michelle Bollock.
She was absolutely crystal clear in describing the state of play, and that was inflation is too high. There was absolutely no prospect of a rate cut anytime soon, and the Reserve Bank was looking seriously at hiking rates today and we'll keep that possibility on the table going forward. Now there anything that's going to save us from a ray hike. Charity is if the economy does go over that cliff, and that's not exactly an attractive prospect.
On the other hand, no, absolutely, Look, we heard the Treasurer today.
I argue that he's.
Successfully walking this narrow path avoiding a recession, unlike the very real risk in the US at the moment.
Do you give him credit for this?
I give him zero credit for a shary because and I think the Reserve Bank hit has quite a moment, so we'll also give him zero credit for it because the government is the one that's causing the difficulties. The government the one, as you've indicated, Cherry, with that massive immigration program, which is force you up rents, forcing up the cost of living, putting great stress on Australian families.
What the government's done with energy prices. Everybody understand what's happening as a consequence of that, what it's done in the industrial relations space, where it's making very hard to get productivity improvements. All those things are not only making life tough for Australians and for business, it's also making it tough for the Reserve Bank to think about cutting rates anytime soon. So the buck stops precisely at Jim Chalmers's desk. He's not the guy that's delivering some sort
of benefit. He's making life tough for everyone.
What did you think about the IBA governor's comments when she spoke about government spending being an issue. I mean, that's quite rare for her to say that, isn't it.
Well absolutely, I mean it's because it's just the basic reality cherry that the numb if the government is adding to demand, and demand is the problem. There's too much demand chasing what's produced in the economy. That's what causes inflation. Well, then you know the government is part of that problem,
but that's only a small part of it. And she didn't want to get into a direct assault on the government, and she doesn't want it, certainly doesn't want to get you a situation where she's got to put up rates precisely because the government is creating the problem.
All right, Terry mccran, you always are spot on and have such brilliant analysis. We appreciate you joining us on your show and look forward to reading more in the Herald Sign tomorrow. Now, AZO Boss Mike Burgess has entered the debate about the Iranian ambassador's offensive tweet.
Now just to recap.
In a post on x, Iran's ambassador, Ahmed Sadagi, referred to Israel as a Zionist plague that he said should be wiped out by Hamas.
Have a look at his comments.
Here they are, he said, the late leader of Hamas Resistant Movement rectified, wiping out the Zionus plague of the Holy Lance. Now, the alban Eezy government has admitted that these comments are unacceptable and yes they hold in the ambassador, but not at the ministerial level.
Have a look.
We have called in the Iranian ambassador to the Department of Foreign Afairs and Trade. Is the protocol when something like this happens. There's no place for the sword of comments that were made online in social media by the Iranian ambassador. They're a born and they are hateful, they are any Semitic and they have no place.
Would shadow.
Home Affairs Minister James Patterson said today that if the Prime Minister and Penny Wong was serious about this, they could take stronger action, have.
A look and so if the government is really concerned about what the ambassador has said, then there are powers of rble to the Minister for Foreign Affairs to make an ambassador persona on Grada and send them home. And it's up to the government and the Foreign Minister to explain if she's not going to use those powers. If she's not going to do so, why isn't she and how bad would it have to get What could they say that would cause her to use that option of able to.
Now you might think, oh, it's just a social media post, what's the big deal. Well, the AZO Director General, Mike Burgess told me today just how dangerous this type of language from.
The Iranian ambassador is.
These are exclusive comments, and he told me the comments were disgraceful and given the current security climate, deeply unhelpful. Inflamed language can inflame emotions an inflame action, he said, I again call on all parties to reflect on the
words they use and the impacts they can have. So those exclusive comments from the Boss of ASIO, the top spy agency about the Iranian ambassador, let's bring in now our Tuesday panel former Speaker of the House Bronwin Bishop and Shadow Housing Minister Michael Sooker.
Welcome to you both.
Michael, that is a rare rebuke of an ambassador from ASIO from.
The Boss of Aisio. Do you agree with James Patterson.
Do you think Penny Wong and ALBINIZI should have perhaps expelled the Iranian ambassador over these remarks?
Well, of course I agree with James Patterson, and one I think can reflect on this, And I suspect one of the motivations for the ambassador on this is that he knows how weak Anthony Albanesi and this government is. The probably made a calculated decision that he would get away with it because they are so weak, as weak as water, And you know, diplomats like that generally make very calculated statements. And I suspect he knew that he would get not so much as a wrap over the knuckle.
He got caught into the Department for a cup of tea. Albanezy is so weak and every single day he seems to exceed himself as to how weak he can possibly be. I think this is a clear cutcase. I think, as Simon Birmingham has said, this could amount to incitement under our criminal Code and those are the sorts of things that someone like Mike Burgess doesn't weigh into lightly. And I spect that Mike Burgess has waited into that because he has seen how weak the government's response has been run.
What do you think on this?
I mean Mike Burgess's intervention here comes when he just yesterday raised the terror threat level to probable. We just heard from Michael Silk of the suggestion that this could be incitement to violence?
Do you think this is that dangerous language?
Absolutely? But the thing that gets me where is this royal we come from? I am ashamed to have such a coward from our Prime minister at Penny One's way. He should call in the ambassador. He should have been absolutely had the stripped words to him saying you are no longer acceptable in this country. What that man was saying, that ambassador was calling for the genocide of the Jewish nation. That's what he was calling through and you could see Hitler could smile from his grave that he's passed on
such hatred. And to think that we get, oh, we called him in to talk to the department, is just appalling. It's just appalling and quite unacceptable is a word that I'm beginning to turn off greatly because it's been robbed of any meaning. What happened today is cowardice, nothing short of the government. And Michael's quite right when he says that the ambassador made a calculated decision that nothing would happen to him and his confreres and the people of Homas, they would laugh.
Yeah.
No, indeed, I think your remarks about the Hitler comparison, you know, spot on.
Now.
We all knew this already about the era employees, but big news today because the United Nations officially came out and said that nine employees of UNRA were likely involved in the October seven attacks. United Nations held a press conference but said it had no idea where those nine UNRA staff involved in the October seven attacks are now.
Have a look, are any of them in Israeli custody? Where are they? Are you there?
I don't have a case by case amount of information. I believe that they're not. I believe that they're not people who are currently in custody.
I mean, the UN supposedly all concerned about justice, Well where is the justice? Why aren't these people facing a court? They absolutely should well. The Opposition leader Peter Dutton today called on the Albanese government to stop funding this group.
It should cause the Aurbanzi government to reconsider their involvement to their engagement, their funding of UNRA. It's completely an utterly unacceptable that a UN agency would have employees involved in or alleged to have been involved in the October seventh tragedy.
And these revelations are just the tip of the iceberg. As we've spoken about on this show before, the links between ANRA and terrorism and extremism and in doctor tranation of children are extensive and date back years.
Michael Sika, what do you.
Think it says about the Albanzi government that this has emerged big press conference and they're still happy to send millions and millions and millions and millions of our hard earned, taxpaid dollars to this group that has been linked to terrorism.
It's disgusting it's beyond belief. You know, weakness is a theme I think tonight in critiquing the governments. How weak is Anthony Albanesi and this government? And it's disgusting because we've sent sixty million dollars of Australian taxpayers money over
there that he's funding. Quite frankly people who have been terrorists and presumably have only we're only able to participate in terrorist as because they are on the under a payroll and sadly Australian taxpayers dollars have contributed to that organization. So Anthony ll needs he's asking Australians to get up every morning, work hard, take more of their paypacket in order to ship it over to NRA so they can employ people to be part of a terrorist organization. It
is just beyond belief. You almost laugh if it wasn't such a serious topic, because this is a clear cutcase as the US is quite rightly done where you cut off the funding. Now Anthony Alberanezi needs to explain what does he know that the United States doesn't know? What's his intelligence that the United States doesn't have because they've cut off the funding, He's reinstated the funding and let's always remember Shari, this is not Anthony Albanese's money. He's
using Australia as taxpayers money. It's in our name money being sent over to anra who I think, in the full light of day, will be shown to have employed people who were up to their necks in this absolute atrocity.
Exactly.
And Bronwin, you know what's even work is that initially the government paused funding, but they didn't even wait for the investigation before recommencing it again.
Well, Pennywong has showed herself to have made some made decision on which side she backs, and she's backing the Palestinians and she doesn't care about what happens to the Israeli citizens, Otherwise she would cut the funding. America has ensured that the funding is not being renewed. But honestly and truly, when you see that the United Nations has become so self righteous about so many issues, why aren't these nine people being referred to the International Criminal Court?
Why aren't they being prosecuted?
Exactly?
Why aren't they being hearded up and kept I mean, it just makes a joke of it.
Where are they now? Are they in Gaza? Are they still working with harms. I mean there's a lot you'll need to know about.
This well, and look at the amount of money that's at stake. It is said that agency has thirty thousand employees doing what doing good?
Question? Good question?
Now a bit of a change of pace now the New South Wales and Victorian governments are at odds over whether public service employees should.
Be forced back into the office.
New South I was Premier Chris Mins publicly said today that he thought it was bizarre Victoria wasn't asking their employees to get back to work after what were quite extreme COVID restrictions.
Have a look, I've seen the Victorian government, not New South Wales for this change.
We're not for changing.
We think it's important for the public service in New South Wales.
And at the end of the day, frankly, with all of the lockdowns.
In Melbourne, I would have thought a lot of people in Victoria would be desperate to get out of the house.
The Allen government in Victoria said that any public servants from New South Wales who wanted workplace flexibility should move to Victoria. Michael Suko, you know you live in Melbourne.
What did you think of this response from Victoria, Well.
There were smart alic words from a premier who's basically running an insolvent government. Let's be frankier, and the premier has been a part of every single decision, wayful decision that has led Victoria to the position wherein now I think the Premier of New South Wales has made a pretty self evident call today in many respects that follows
what the corporate world is already doing. And I think the truth is of public servants, they are there to serve the public good and the vast majority of them want to do so, but they need some leadership. And this sort of smart alec line from the Victorian premier, I mean they are the worst performing government in this country behind Anthony Albanese's government. So she doesn't exactly have a place occupy a place where she should be giving advice to any other state, let alone sort of smart
lines like that. This is sadly Victoria a government that's seeing business leave our state, investment leave our state, and on so many metrics, Victoria which occupied and I'm a very parochial Victorian, but Victoria which occupied the upper echelon of virtually every single economic statistic in this country is now right at the bottom of the ladder, and I would have thought someone like the Victorian premier will try and take some advice and look at what other states
are doing. Quite frankly, other states that are doing much better than Victoria and are not in the parlas financial situation that we're in, which is basically bankrupt.
Look aside from the budget bottom line run when I think Chris Men's is showing time and time again that he is the model of what a centrist lay politician should look like. I mean, whatever the issue is, he mostly takes a very mainstream, sensible standpoint.
I don't think I can endorse him on everything, but I can certainly do so on this issue. I think he's realized there is no productivity growth that he's decided that he's going to insist there be some. And Michael, I feel very sorry for you down there with Victoria having to live there appalling government. It's a basket case.
And everyone watching who's in Melbourne.
And everyone watching indeed indeed, and you don't deserve it, but you really have to vote them out to get a change. But if you go back to this question of productivity, generally there is none while there's work from home. He's become such a norm. People say, oh, you can't go back, Well, yes you can, and indeed peritate today coming out and saying that mandatory vaccinations were wrong. Finally a mission about how we're induced into the myths that
has followed COVID. We're still not over it, we're still suffering from it.
He didn't come out and publicly say that, of course at the time. We're not at the time.
You said it today the day indeed, all right, Michael Silko, Brahma Bishop.
Great to have you both on the show. Thank you.
Coming up after the break, just Center Price will join us live to unload on alban Easy's Macarata confession plus Facebook censorship of the now famous photograph of Donald Trump right after the assassination attempt.
You won't believe Meta's excuse.
That's all coming up, Welcome back with the Prime Minister has been accused of backtracking on an election promise to create a Macarata commission, one of the key pillars of the earliery statement from the heart. The confusion came after this awkward response on the ABC over the weekend.
One of the architects of the Ularuz Statement.
Pat Anderson says that you should be embarking on a truth and justice.
Commission and you're saying it's not that.
That's not what you're going to do.
Well, that's not what we have proposed. What we're proposed is Makarada just being the idea of coming together.
So it's talking about that's what we want to do. We're engaging.
Being here is a starting point.
And it's made the news eversets over the years. Albanezi has been adamant that his government will commit to the statement in full.
And on behalf of the Australian Labor Party, I commit to the Ularus Statement from the heart and whole, and I recommit on behalf of the government that I proudly lead to the implementation of the Ularuz Statement from the heart in full. And I'm proud to lead a government that's committed to implementing the ULARUS Statement from the heart in full.
And Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians just Enterprice joins us.
Now, just great to see you.
Look do you think this was an unclear answer of Albernizi's odd Do you think it is a broken promise.
Oh look, it's absolutely a broken promise from Anthony Alberzi. He's demonstrated many broken promises over and over again. You know, he's quite competent at breaking promises, it seems. But look, I mean he's at odds with his Minister for Indigenous Australians, who I know at the last Senate estimates told us that they would be pursuing makarata form of truth telling commission. She also said that recently. So I'm not sure who he thinks is running the portfolio, whether it's himself or
it's the Minister herself. But again, this is our prime minister unclear on many things.
And do you personally think that there is a case for a Macaraatei commission?
And if not, what do you think the issues are?
Look, the term macarata, and that's another thing. The Prime Minister has to get that right. The term macarata actually means it's.
A form of payback. It's a spearing in the leg.
It's not a coming together as he likes to suggest it is. So I don't like the concept behind it, which tells me, you know, is this a commission that will would be set up by the Labor government to again hold responsible non Indigenous Australians for our country's history.
I'm not interested in that. I'm interested in real.
Educational outcomes for all of Australia's young people. And if that means teaching history in its entirety, the good, the bad, the ugly, everything, not for the purposes of weaponizing it against our country, but to have a better understanding of who we are, I'm all for that, But I'm not up for this commission that they're suggesting.
I mean, you get this and so that the Prime Minister has all but abandoned Indigenous policy after the failure of the Voice. He doesn't speak about it anymore. He spoke about it virtually every day for the best part of the year, and now it does seem like his lost interest.
What do you think?
Look, the Prime Minister has failed miserably when it's come to addressing the needs of our most disadvantaged.
He didn't have any ideas to begin with.
He put all these eggs in one basket and the very expensive referendum that he could have invested where it is needed. He talks about touching down and listening. Well, he's got to get out of Gama. He's got to get out of Ulara. When he visits Ulara, he's got to go out to remote communities. He should come back to Alice Springs and go to some town camps. The situation has not improved on the ground, but he goes to where it's easy for him to grandstand, which is
Gama every year and do very little. But he knows he'll get very little pushback from those that are ten Garma.
I mean, we're coming up to an election probably in the next nine or ten months. If you were Indigenous Affairs minister, what are the first thing you do from a policy perspective.
Well, several times already I've attempted to pass a motion in the Senate to launch an inquiry into land councils and statutory authorities, those who are funded who have the responsibility to improve the lives of our most marginalized, so that we can better know where the money is being misspent, you know, where it's not actually providing outcomes.
And each time we've.
Put this motion up, the Labor Government and the Greens have voted it down for what reason, I do not know, And if Minister Melanderry McCarthy is serious about taking a bipartisan position, then she would support efforts to vote in favor of an inquiry to begin with, so we know where to invest money that will actually produce outcomes.
But we also need a rural.
Commission into the sexual abuse of Indigenous children.
You know, we talk about.
High rates of youth incarceration, of incarceration. The reason we've got that is because our kids experience the highest rates of sexual abuse and neglecting the country. And if we don't address that, we're not going to get further upstream and reduce rates of incarceration, suicide and everything else.
Whether the gap is greatest a.
Lot to do for sure, if you do get the opportunity to be Indigenous Affairs Minister Disent Deprice.
Great to have you on the show again. Thank you.
Now still to come Keir Starmer facing accusations of hypocrisy over the riots that have rocked the UK and why did Facebook censor the photograph of the Donald Trump assassination attempt?
All of that coming up next. Welcome back.
Well, let's turn to the UK now, which is still in the throes of deep social unrest and violent anti immigration riots that have rocked parts of England.
For the past week.
The protests have provided a major challenge to the new Prime Minister, Kiir Starmer, who has called on a standing army of police.
To deal with the disorder.
Things have got so extreme that even Australians have been advised to exercise a high degree of caution in the UK due to the threat of terrorism. Well, I'm joined now by Tom Slater, editor of Spiked. Tom, thank you very much for your time. Look, these riots were sparked in part by the horrific stabbing of three young girls.
How have they taken off since then?
Well, as you say, that was the thing that lit the flame, I think that was the excuse that a lot of these thugs chose to use, chose to jump on, to commit the carnage that we've seen across the country. But it's spread very organically, very alarmingly, first across the North and the Midlands, now parts of the South well, and it's something that quite clearly the authorities don't really have a handle on. I think Kir Starmer's most to
make a horrendous situation much worse. He's managed to essentially fuel the kind of the narrative put out by a lot of the hard right agitators that this is two tier policing, that they are coming down hard on protesters but not on counter protests and so on, when it would have been so easy for him to make clear that all forms of crime and disorder would be condemned.
And I think that's the real, really disheartening thing in the UK at the moment, is there's no clear sense that anyone is really in control at this point.
Look, initially we were seeing you know, fire right anti immigration protesters leading the social mayhem and the violence here, but we've also been seeing footage of other groups joining in the violence, you know, pro Palestinians and others in masks.
Andrew Bolt played some of that footage a bit earlier.
So it seems like this is just complete social line that's now breaking loose on the street. Is that an accurate depiction of what's happening in the UK?
Absolutely? And of course the kind of response that we've seen from groups of British Muslims, Islamist activists and so on has been nowhere near the same scale. I mean of what the kind of racist writing that we've seen, which has been targeting migrant hotels, has been smashing up minority businesses has been a costing ethnic minorities in the street.
We've seen nothing on the scale of that. But what we saw in say Birmingham last night when you had groups of young Muslim youth wearing balaclava's harassing, intimidating press. They chase an LBC journalists out of the area, They tried to slash the tires of a Sky News UK crew. There was also footage of them beating up someone outside of a pub, which kind of community elders have since
apologized for. And even though as I say, it is on a smaller scale, it shows that things are spinning out of control and worse still, there's a sense that from the Labor Party they struggled to condemn or take seriously that behavior, which again fuels this narrative that this is a two tier policing. We even saw the local Birmingham Labor MP there effectively tried to basically talk down what been going on there last night. So, as you say, what's things aren't on the same scale of the racist
writing that we've seen. It's a sign that British societies is threatening to kind of come apart, not just in one area or one community.
Across many Yeah, look the violence is shocking and terrifying and even a travel warning to Australians. Tom Slater, thank you very much for your time. Now, Facebook has come out of fire for censoring the now iconic photograph our
former president Donald Trump right after the assassination attempt. Users were complaining that their Facebook accounts were categorizing the image as altered, with an explanation then saying independent fact checkers reviewed a similar photo and said it was altered in a way that could mislead people, and Meta has tried to defend this well. To discuss, let's bring in now the CEO of Libernette, Andrew Lowenthal. Andrew, great to have
you in Australia once again. So look, we are seeing the odd censorship and it does seem to be growing of big tech over Donald Trump. What was Facebook's response to this censoring of the most iconic photograph to come out of what was now a very historic event.
Sure well, apparently there was another photograph that was circulating that was doctored, and the AI system and other systems they were using to identify what they've considered false information flag this one up as well. Obviously, this image is so iconic now that you would probably expect, kind of with the resources that a Facebook has for them to be much more on top of this kind of thing.
And given the lack of trust that has developed through things that have been exposed through the Twitter files or other kind of investigations that you know, big tech is considered, you know, or seen by many many people as been really quite quite partisanates. So you don't really want to kind of be messing this level of stuff.
And I should have mentioned to everyone that you were part of the Twitter files. You were part of the investigative investigative journalists along with Michael Schallenberger and Barryweese who went into Twitter and uncovered the evidence of what they'd been censoring right after Elon Musk brought it, So I should have mentioned that.
But we've also seen.
From Google, you know, a censoring of the search results for the Donald Trump assassination attempt as well. So do you think this is part of that same pattern that you saw when you went into Twitter?
Oh, I mean, obviously we don't one hundred percent no, because there's no kind of specific receipts to explain to us why that has happened there's a certain level of plausible deniability, but again, the trust is broken down so much, I think by a huge way of not just the American public, but the public at large in you know, are these big tear companies really properly managing what is
now essentially the public square. It seems they're doing really quiet a bad job of it, and a lot of people feel censored because there really was quite a lot of censorship going on and still is really so there needs to be a lot more alternatives. There needs to be a lot more accountability for big tech to make sure that they're you know, if they're going to have this much power, they need to have a lot more accountability.
What's interesting because in Australia there is a push by our government to make big tech accountable, but not from you know, the aspect of censoring one side of politics, but from misinformation. And there's this very controversial misinformation bill. You've looked at it in some detail and you've even made a submission to the Communications Minister Michelle Roland. What do you think the main problems are with formalizing misinformation in legislation?
Well, one is do you trust politicians to be the arbatas or bureaucrats to be the arbators of truth. I think most people would put them absolutely, very very low down in trustworthyness. The other is that you know who's actually getting policed. So think that we've seen that the people who get of policed online tend to be at the bottom of the food chain, and they don't they're not the people at the top of the food chain.
That the kind of if you want to police missing disinformation or hate speech as well, you should be looking at the government, politicians, corporations, etc. Who have the most power and the most capacity to spread misleading claims.
And we saw during the COVID pandemic, and this was under a coalition government by the way, that the Home Affairs Department was centering about four thousand posts where people had been critical of mask mandates COVID vaccines. So none of that freedom of speech was allowed during the COVID pandemic.
Well exactly, so they flagged four thousand Twitter didn't necessarily take all of them down. That was the freedom of information requests. In the Twitter files we found two hundred or so of the content of those requests.
But in Australia at in Australia.
In Australian Twitter files that I worked on that showed they were flagging you know, jokes about Dan Andrews, jokes about how long you'd have to wait in the car for a PCR test accounts with this few of twenty followers, which makes you wonder, what is the Department of Home Affairs doing following accounts with only twenty people on it when you know they're tasked with quite serious, quite serious remit in terms of public safety and terrorism and other issues.
So it's really this again, this problem where you're policing the people at the bottom and saying you're the baddies, whereas actually the people who do need watching, which is the role of the media and should be a role for anti disinformation campaigns if you're going to have a field that that is that large is concentrated on the people with the most power, not on.
The people on the street.
We've also got an e Safety Commissioner who's spoken out about missing disinformation. She previously was you know, a woke Silicon Valley involve you know, an executive, and now she's come to Australia. Originally appointed to the role by former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, but it is still in the role under the Labor government. So this again says something about where Australia is headed well totally.
And again to go back to the point that I've made a few times, is you were doing a story earlier about the tweet from the Ranian ambassador. Yeah, so there's no comment that I've seen so far from E safety.
Yes, that issue good point.
E safety would be all over or manner of kind of issues of you know, the kind of general person might be saying, and here you have something really at scale that would be much more concerning. I'm not sure that I would be one hundred percent backing kind of
censorship there or not. But it's interesting that if you're going to apply the rules, you know, then you should you have to apply them fairly across the board, and that based on her rules and her very strict system that she currently has in place, that tweet would probably come within them.
Yeah, exactly.
It is incitement to violence, So there is an argument for censoring.
I agree with you.
I don't know whether you'd want it censored or you want to see what the Iranian ambassador is actually saying.
I'd follow on the.
Free speech side in this particular case. But agreed, right, Andrew Lowenthal, Thank you very much for your time.
Thank you.
Now, we've still got a lot to come.
We've got Facebook admitting the mistake in censoring Donald Trump.
We've just covered that.
But after the break, we are going to cross live to the US where Kamala Harris is experiencing the mother of all makeovers.
Will it work well? The Democrats, sure hope, So stay tuned after the break. Welcome back.
Well.
The rebranding of Kamala Harris is well underway, and it's extraordinary. As Jared Baker writes in The Wall Street Journal, can the Democrats and a collaborative media pull off? They're recasting a vice president Kamala Harris from the verbally malley, politically inept ruinous policy espousing electoral dud we have all seen over the past five years, into the holy trinity of Joan of Arc, Harriet Tubman and Margaret Thatcher we have been presented with in the past two weeks.
He says time all.
The lack of it is the key to the operation's success. I say ninety days, but in practice they need to keep the hype show.
On the road.
For just two months after in August of jubilees. Well, the left media and the Democratic spin doctors do seem to be pulling this off, despite old clips like this that keep popping up.
And as a woman, there is a balance to be struck between being tough.
And being a turn that off, and there's so much of that.
Well, let's bring in now Fox News contributor political podcaster Brad Palambo.
Brad, thank you very much for joining us.
Look, this transformation is quite stunning, really because Kamala Harris was considered pretty much incompetent vice president and suddenly she's the new Obama.
Yeah, even a couple months ago before this all went down and she became the nominee, the New York Times as writers they ranked her as the least electable of the possible Biden replacements. But now because the switch has been made, they all flipped on a dime. And you got to give the mainstream media credit for one thing. It's message and discipline control. But look, they're going to have to shelter her because she is a gaff machine. She is cringe personified. So what they're going to have
to do is try to keep her away. She still has not done an interview or a press con since becoming the nominee, and it's been more than two weeks. They're going to have to try to hide her away until now an election day and hope that just their heavily filtered media coverage is all people will be exposed to, or her edited TikTok videos, which I will admit are well done. But because if she's actually scrutinized for all her flip flops, for the Biden administration's many failures and calamities,
then I think Americans will really lose a lot. The shine will come off, they'll really see what's there, and they won't be so interested. But if they can successfully pull a Joe Biden in twenty twenty and just campaign from the basement, it might just work out for them, but it is kind of a sham for the democratic process.
Or she is on show, she's doing events, just not rigorous interviews or press conferences, but at least she is out of the proverbial basement.
But Brad, you know, this strategy is clearly.
Working because the polls are showing that she's now catching up to Trump. But it is becoming a major news story. That she hasn't done an interview in fifteen days, So how long is she is Kamala Harrison the Democratic Party actually going to be able to stick with this strategy of not sitting down with a serious, tough journalist.
Well, unfortunately, you know, people in right of center media, Fox News or the Wall Street Journal they're not going to listen to us, right, It's going to have to come from the New York Times. It's going to have to come from the liberal media establishment actually sticking to their journalistic principles rather than their rank partisan bias and calling her out and saying, listen, you're running for president of the United States. You've got to do actual interviews,
not just fan service, not just events with celebrities. You've got to sit down and be held to account because she has flip flopped on everything under the sun just in the last few weeks, from healthcare policy to fracking to so many other things. She's done a complete eighty
not really explained any of it. Plus, there's so much she needs to answer for from this administration's record, from the inflation and the policies they had that contributed it to the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan that left many US service members dead unnecessarily, that could have been avoided so many things. But if they just want to try, what the campaign wants to do is just avoid all that and just do like cooking videos with celebrities between now
and November. So you will come down to the liberal media establishment. Are they going to actually stick up for journalism and demand that Kamala does some interviews? She will listen if they do. Are they just going to keep their democratic partisan hats on and go along till now in November?
Yeah, just quickly before you go, We've had the big news that there could be a recession in the United States precisely the same time that Kamala Harris has claimed the economy is in top shape in the US. You've got about thirty seconds. But this is now going to be a big problem for her ahead.
Of the election.
It has and it will be a problem because it has been a problem. They keep bragging about Bidenomics when Americans cannot afford groceries. So now if we do end up going into a recession, they're talking points on the economic agenda will only ring even more empty.
Indeed, it will Brad Plumboth thank you very much for your thoughts tonight, and thanks everyone for your company and for watching this evening, so we've got time for I'll be back tomorrow at eight. And right now, here's Paul Murray.