Live on Sky News.
This is Sharry.
Good Evening. Welcome to the show tonight. Victory for Tim Wilson after teals Zoe Daniels celebrated a win in Goldstein far too early. We'll bring you the latest on the nail biteing count in Minnie Ryan's seed of Couyong and Adam Bank's seat of Melbourne. Exciting news tonight with Ray Hadley. He's got a big announcement to make on the show. We might just be dragging him out of retirement, so don't miss that. He'll be on the desk live to
celebrate his new move and commiserate the election result. And nine chair Catherine West is ducking for cover over what the board knew about a seven hundred thousand dollars hush money payment to silence a witness. That's in a moment also tonight, should the ABC have told authorities about where a wanted criminal was hiding when they interviewed him in Turkey? And Donald Trump signs one of the most important executive orders of his presidency. Perhaps it's one I played a
small role in influencing, certainly been campaigning for it. That's later in the show. But First nine is tonight under pressure over revelations the media company paid seven hundred thousand dollars in hush money to stop a witness making damning allegations that their network had access to the private emails of war hero Ben Roberts Smith. Nine chair Katherine Westwards ducking for cover today when asked what the board knew about this secret payment to cover up a scandal.
This is the chairwoman of nine Entertainment this morning, Catherine west Camera shy and silent, Catherine, did you sign off on hush money payments? Did you sign off on those payments? Stand by Nick McKenzie's reporting. Did you sign off on the seven hundred thousand hush money payments?
Catherine?
Why are you avoiding us? Has nine made other payments to keep people quiet?
In this case, Nine isn't speaking publicly and he's trying to shut down this story with legal threats. But I can tonight reveal that a top newspaper executive was in the inner circle involved in the secret seven hundred thousand dollars hush money payment to stop a witness speaking out about alleged misbehavior by reporter Nick McKenzie. Nine paid the money and asked a woman to sign an NDA to
stop her from speaking. There was also a highly damaging audio when McKenzie admitted to having access to part of Ben Roberts Smith's legal strategy and where he said he'd breached his own ethics. Now we understand that a senior figure at the Nine newspapers knew of the payment at the time it occurred. With knowledge of such payments say it would have required approval from either the chief executive
or NINES board. The payment, which is under an agreement with a confidentiality clause, was made shortly before the Victoria Cross recipient's appeal against Nine started, and it prevented the damning allegations from being raised in public and potentially forming part of the appeal. Robert Smith's lawyers today told me they that had they known about the audio recording and the payment, it would have certainly been included in that appeal.
Black Bay Lawyers set in a statement until the audio recording was received on fifteenth of March twenty twenty five, neither the appellent nor his legal team had any knowledge of Person seventeen's allegations of misconduct, namely that Nick mackenzie had had access to the appellants privileged and confidential legal
strategy during the trial. Had the appellan been aware of Person seventeen's allegations in twenty twenty three, as it seems to nine was the allegations would have formed part of the substantive two week appeal heard before the Full Court in February last year. They said, this is a matter which goes to the heart of our justice system and the right of all individuals in this country to a fair trial. So that's Ben Robertsmith's lawyers, and that's a
key point. This is a matter which goes to the heart of our justice system and the right of all individuals to a fair trial. Now, the woman who'd had an affair with Robert Smith emailed Tory Maguire, who was then executive of The Herald and the Age, and nine's lawyer Lorena Alec in March twenty twenty three, writing, I also know these women were passing on cidential and privileged information to Nick as far back as mid to late twenty twenty What are you going to do when all
of that comes out to the judge? What are you going to do when all of that comes out to the judge and She also claimed in that email there'd been a behind the scenes corrupting of the process. She said, if you have to lie in cheat to win, then you shouldn't be playing the game at all. So, just to repeat there, the claim is that Nine paid off a witness to stop damning allegations emerging, including that Nine had gained access to part of Ben Robertsmith's privileged legal
strategy from his own emails. The witness as a claim that mackenzie had treated her in such a way that caused her mental distress. There are questions about what action nine took to investigate the journalistic, ethical, and legal conduct of its team, because in the secret recording McKenzie described this as a breach of his own ethics.
No, I shouldn't tell you I've just breached my ethics and doing that like this is where like this is probably sheep position there if they knew.
That I paid, he knew that. I asked nine questions about whether they conducted their own investigation into the allegations raised by Person seventeen that led to this seven hundred thousand dollars payment, And I asked them also who authorized this payment, who signed off on it? But nine has refused to answer questions, and its chair Katherine West ran away from the cameras today when she was confronted about this scandal.
This is the chairwoman of nine Entertainment this morning, Katherine West, camera shy and silent, Catherine, did you sign off on hush money payments? Did you sign off on those payments? Do you stand by Nick mackenzie's reporting? Did you sign off on the seven hundred thousand hush money payments?
Catherine?
Why are you avoiding us? Has Nine made other payments to keep people quiet in this case?
Well, the evidence is mounting that nine had access to Robert Smith's privileged legal strategy from his emails. This evidence now includes Telster records that show Danielle Scott that's Ben, Robert Smith's ex wife's Emma's close friend, Telster records that show Danielle Scott accessed his email account one hundred and one times, an admission from Emma Roberts that his email account was accessed in relation to their marriage proceedings. It has also emerged that nine had access to emails about
person seventeen. Robert Smith says one email from his lawyer was flagged and already read when he opened his account. Daniel Scott tipped off Nick McKenzie in a text message the Ben Robert Smith's lawyer and Monica Allen, was about to write to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions about one of his tweets, and she said to him in another message that it was better to be on the front foot and know what they were planning, and that
he owed her to beers. There's also the audio recording where mackenzie says that he had been briefed on Robert Smith's legal strategy or part of it. Here's that specific admission that was caught on tape.
Let go Yet again, you wrote the movies himself.
Definitely, they came actively.
Briefing us on his leadership to you respected you writ with his piece, and yet we're not learning about We anticipated most of it.
One or two things.
Now we know every which is helpful.
But at the point there Rene told you that is to say, like, you know, we've got this and and they're not hostile to ye, despite your worst fears, they're not.
Veteran Heston Russell, who won his own case against the ABC, told me last night he was appalled by the tactics used against Ben Robert Smith, and how.
These journalists being allowed to conduct these actions in order to throw Australia's most decorated soldier under the bus and try and scrubb all the rest of it under the table. So I think the Nine board has a lot to
answer to the Australian public. My personal experience of what I'm seeing now with Ben goes to show that there are elements of the Australian media who are happy to throw the rule book of ethics out the window when it comes to trying to pursue Australia's most decorated people who went to war and fought for this country and fought for these rights that were meant to be defending in our courts.
So now the pressure is mounting on nine to explain why it paid hush money and asked a witness to sign an NDA in what Robert Smith claims impacted on his right to a fair hearing. Now, last night a former Biki gang member working for the ABC flew to Turkey to interview the man police claim was behind the caravan terra plot. Now, this is the man who on social media made highly anti Semitic comments. He's hiding from
Australian authorities. He fled the country, but then he agreed to meet an ABC journalist who doesn't appear to have told police about his location. Now, this journalist, Mummled Fuzzle, is a former outlaw BIKI gang member turned reporter. He's been the subject of an expose by journalist Kate McClymont who alleged that he'd passed on menacing messages from an organized crime gang to journalists. And he now works at
the ABC. And he sat down with the man who is called sayeta Aka, who admitted to telling authorities about the caravan with explosives, and he said in the interview that there were detonators inside the caravan originally, but he had them removed.
He does admit he took charge of the caravan's movements and he decided where to leave it.
I actually picked a juryl and I just told the driver that I had intercepted to do the seizure off to just put it in a safe spot that we selected off that map. My clear instruction was to make sure this is not going to explode. So he says he instructed the driver to remove the detonators from.
The van.
Sayet Akka also admitted to hiring a man to damp to dump the caravan of explosives. You just heard some of that there, but claimed he only intercepted the caravan to prevent a crime from taking place. Here's that part.
I didn't organize the caravan. I just organized the seizure of it. There's so many ways this could go wrong. What if the wrong agency found it and it had the deadonators read to go, I'd have a terrorism judge when I was actually just trying to get this stuff off the street to be able to go back home.
But he denied having anything to do with the anti Semitism crisis across Sydney. Police alleged he was behind all of those attacks that plagued the Jewish community, including the fire bombing of a childcare center, the vandalism on Alex Rifchin's former home, and also the attempt at arson of the Newtown Synagogue. But Aka claims this is all untrue. Now you'll recall that when police came out and said this caravan plot was fake, was a hoax, and they
effectively downplayed the whole anti Semitism crisis. Or after that, I looked into the story, and I reported that there was a political push from the Albanese government behind this. The Albanese government pressured police to publicly state that the caravan plot was not a terror related incident. This was despite the risk of jeopardizing the investigation, which was ongoing with suspects still under surveillance and arrests yet to be made.
Multiple sources involved in the joint counter terror investigation told me there was a push from the Albanese government to get the caravan HOAPX narrative into the public domain before the federal election, so that messaging was highly political. Well say it aka. Last night in this four corner story, he showed messages text messages that he said were from his handler at the aff where they also blamed politics for that press conference.
The AFP's working with local and overseas law enforcement officials in our bid to have all of those responsible brought to justice.
Sa Akah was feeling the heat, but says his AFP handlers were reassuring him, it's been a.
Rough couple of days. There's a few things going at the moment that we need to work through on our end. Your safety has been our priority from the start. What has happened in the media is out of our control. As you would appreciate, this is very political.
Trying to listen to the circus, give us a couple of days to let the dust settle.
Very political, and the political strategy worked. The Albernezi government was able to shut down any claims that there was a genuine antisemitism crisis here in Australia right before the federal election campaign. But the question now is do you believe this criminal that he had nothing to do with the antisemitic attacks and only intercepted the caravan of explosives, or do you believe the AFP that he is ultimately
the asked mind behind the summer of antisemitism. Well, unless police are able to catch him and present more evidence, perhaps will never know. And of course it seems that they that had they been assisted in the effort by their AFP, they might have been able to catch him. But it doesn't appear that the ABC assisted in telling authorities where in the world say it AKA was. They found the criminal, they interviewed him, they gave police nothing. It seems this is quite the ethical dilemma one would
have thought. Now among the A list celebrities at the met Gala in New York today was one familiar face to Australians. Billionaire Anthony Pratt. The Cardboard King, paid homage to the company his father started Visy wearing a very on brand, very green suit and if you look closely, it says one hundred percent recycled printed on it. He also had a top hat and cain as he walked the blue carpet to the fashion event of the year.
The theme was tailored for you. Now, it wasn't Anthony Pratt's first Met Gala, of course, here he was last year making a similar fashion statement. Now it's been a busy few months for Anthony Pratt, who recently pledged seven point eight Australian billion dollars into America's manufacturing sector in his bid to help America make America greater again. And it's no wonder Donald Trump called him a personal friend just a few days ago.
Executive Global Chairman of Pratt Industries. Friend of mine, Anthony Pratt. He's investing five billion dollars.
Thank you, Thank you, Anthony, and Anthony just a few months ago, joined Trump and Millennia at Mara Lago. But his outfit on that occasion wasn't quite as colorful. All right, let's bring in tonight's panel, former Speaker of the House Broman Bishop and former Labor minister Graham Richardson. Welcome to
you both. Well, let's start by talking about what's got to be some good news, at least since the weekend, that the tide is turning against the Teals, with Zoe Daniel losing her seat of Goldstein to Liberals Tim Wilson, and this after she already declared victory on Saturday night. She's not quite titanium, is she. Maybe she's going to
settle for silver medal instead. Now. Minnick Ryding Ku Young is also struggling to hold onto her lead against Emilia Hamer, who looks like she may just pick up the traditional blue ribbon street And of course Adam Bant is also fighting to hold onto his seat in Melbourne. The Labor candidate is ahead. These counts are still ongoing. They're taking their time at the AEC, so hopefully we'll have an
outcome on some of these seats tomorrow. They need to get some more vote counter as that, so this would be if there is a loss of at least one TiAl seat we know of this would be a silver lining at least.
Yeah, there's every possibility that we can maintain Bradfield, that Kuyong may flip. The question is what happens to the absent votes, which usually favor the left of politics, whereas the postal votes favor the Liberal party. And there are always many more postal votes and there are absent te votes, But it's how far you are ahead by the time the absentee's come in to see which way it will go. But I'm very hopeful that the so called teal representation will be halved.
At least some of them.
And to see Adam Bradam, to see him go would be justice.
I only ever got there because of liberal preferences, and to take liberal preferences away and see him lose would be justice.
Indeed, well, I think this is something that liberal should do in all elections, perhaps absolutely green. Last, now, Richo, what do you think do you think we are going to see Adam Bant lose his seat and what do you think is behind this rejection of the Greens?
Well, first off, there'll be many a dry eye if he does lose his seat.
I don't think there there'll be too many people weeping at that loss, and I certainly won't be. When you look at why what's happened with the Greens. They basically get ten percent of the vote every election. It might have got one percent or down, but it never varies much and so once they get to a seat like Melbourne, that's not giving themselves much cover.
And you know, so if the swing's on, they're going to go.
And obviously with Sarah why she's done particularly well. I can't see how she'll get pigged back or a postal votes or anything else.
Well I heard that she barely even campaigned and she wasn't given any resources or funding by the Labor Party. You know, it was just an underresourced campaign. I mean you imagine if they actually would have put proper funding into that. Now, Brodman, we're seeing Liberal donors, including billionaire Robert Milner also stockbroker Angersaitkin, refuse to keep donating to the Liberal Party unless they see change. This is a
story in the Australian newspaper today by Matt Kranston. Now this isn't surprising Brunwin who would want to throw them? They're hard earned millions of dollars at a party that's in utter disarray.
Well, they're both sensible people and they certainly don't want to see the Liberal Party disappear.
They want to see it function properly. And I watched the language that was used.
It was quite nuanced language, I thought, and I certainly look, I can simply say we've been here before, and well we've had resurgence.
I mean, I was in that that might be quite useful advice for you to Champron.
At the time, I was in the Houston campaign and it felt like this last one. It really did, and Houston was meant to win that election, of course, keating on it with a big vote, eighty seven seats out of a smaller parliament, big vote, and it to me raises the question are very large majorities are blessing or a curse? Because if you look at the way, and
I did, I just did a little little chart. If you look at the way big majority suddenly get dashed, you've got a much more difficult backbench handle, You've got much more difficult issues to handle, and.
The voters seemed to turn against them.
So when Paul Ketty won with eighty seats, John Howard next time got ninety four seats, but his then majority went down to eighty because of the GST. He got lucky for the next two elections because we had the Tampa, and believe me, we were on the nose in two thousand and won and then the Tampa happened and we got lucky again with Mark Latham in two thousand and four. But in two thousand and seven incomes rud with eighty three seats, and then he loses and goes out as the two and so it goes.
It does move around, so don't ever write it off.
And we've got a million people who are willing to have their say on what went wrong and what was all terrible.
It was terrible. It didn't have a proper narrative.
It didn't spend the whole time talking about what we would do to bring down the cost of living. When it came to the petrol halving of the tax on petrol, that was right because this was an ingredient, but it had to be spelt out how it would work and others, and then talk about what was in the wings, what's coming next if you re elect these people.
None of that was done.
But ruhman, I've got to get to richro So just a quick answer here, But we are looking at six years at least of labor. I mean, if they have ninety seats now, you can't win that and could pick up forty or so seats in three years time.
Paul Keaton would have said that in ninety three he would have thought he had two terms.
He didn't.
And when John Hard was re elected in two thousand and four with that great big majority, he thought he was going to be there for another couple of terms too. He wasn't so predicting politics from when you cop it, and we did cop it. We cop they hiding and deservedly. So I have to say, but that doesn't mean to say that what the Liberal Party believes in and stands for,
and we need in this country a solid opposition. And so it's a question of getting behind them, not saying, oh, I'm going to stand back and just cry out and say it's all too hard. And people who are committed to a course and want to see something. And Graham, you've been there, like you've got to get back.
In and.
You know, what are your reflections on what Bromwin just said.
I agree with much of what you just said. Look, it's going to be the case.
I think that you know, people are going to write terrible things about Peter Dutton and how he was a failure. But the failure is not just Peter Dutton. I mean there's a whole party here who went along with policy prescriptions at the MOB we're never going to wear. I think you know, you Broman have been around long enough. She knows what policies you can sell and what you can't.
There's a limit to all of it. And I think she's as well qualified as anyone I know to listen them, and so you can bet that's what she was doing. But you know, Hubre's sometimes over Texas m And what do you.
Think, Richard, do you think we are looking at six years of labor? Nine years of labor?
Now, I don't think anyone can ever predict nine years. I think that's that's going way over the top. But it would be given this lead, very hard to pick it back in one election. So it is a reasonable thing to say that Labour's got two in the bag for this. It's not as certainly, nothing is but in politics. But I'd have to say it's going to take a hell of an effort to beat Albo next time.
And what about Albanize's cabinet, Richard, do you think he's gonna do a big reshuffle here? Who are you hearing that he's going to demote?
Well, I don't think that he's out to change too much, So it's not a matter of looking at who he wants to denote. I think he'd much prefer to take almost all of his ministry back. He doesn't want controversy, he doesn't want fights, he doesn't want drama.
He just wants continued smooth administration. What about delivering that? And he wants to keep delivering in that?
Who do you think who'll be elevated then?
Well, I'd hate to start nominating too many of them, But I think people like ed Husic should certainly be big time cabinet ministers up. Their roles should be increased because I think that they're very talented people. So I'd pick someone like him and say he should be advanced. Knowing but that headline labor factions fight over cabinet it was ever thus, you know, we always go to war over that.
But it'll settle quickly.
Anthony's now got so much power, so much respect, that he'll basically get whatever he wants.
He's going to be sensible.
He knows anyone he sacks becomes an enemy, and when you've got a big back bench, you don't want enemies.
So he'll want to have basically stability and what he's got now.
Brum when just quickly before we go to we've got to move on, who do you think should be the Liberal leader?
Now it's not a matter for me.
I don't get a vote, and believe me, nobody in the party room would thank me for expressing a point of view because whatever comes out is going to be what the Liberal Party has to be behind to get in there, to get in there and fight for being holding the government two account as we always say.
You know what, I think your words of wisdom are so good that I think you need to become an advisor to the Liberal Party, not just you know, then picking up what you say on Sky News, but I think you need to actually get in there and advise them, because they sure as hell needed at the moment. All right, from and Bishop Greg Richardson. Great to see you vote,
Thank you. All right. Well let's return to our top story, well not our top story, but this big story that there's been a third arrest over the alleged anti Semitic attack on the former home of Alex Ripchin. A twenty five year old Bailey Coombs from your Mina on the Central Coast has been given bail. Police alleged the man was not present at the attack, but helped planet This, of course, as we've been saying, was part of the
multitude of attacks over summer. Sky New senior reporter Caroline Marcus has been covering this and she joins me now, Caroline, can you tell us some more details about this latest arrest.
Shari Police wooped on twenty five year old's Bailey Coombs at a home in your Minor Beach yesterday morning at about six thirty am.
They arrested him and charged.
Him over his alleged role in this attack on the home of Alex Ripchin. They say he helped to mastermind the attacks, so he wasn't physically present police say when the incident happened, but he helped to plan it.
Now they've charged him with two offenses.
The first is participating in a criminal group to contribute to criminal activity, and the second is accessory before the fact destroying property and company using fire of a value of more than five thousand dollars. Now accessory before the fact that clearly relates to the fact he policed alleged that he wasn't there, but he helped in the planning of this. Now our viewers will probably well recall this incident.
It happened amid a backdrop of a summer of anti Semitic attacks, but it was particularly confronting because it appeared to be targeted on the home of a Jewish leader. Police arrived they'd been called in the middle of the night on January seventeen. They arrived to find four vehicles alive right two of them had been spray painted with anti Semitic graffiti, and two homes had been.
Splashed with bread paint.
It was particularly confronting and mister Ripton spoke about it at the time.
Now, as part of his bail conditions, because.
He was released on conditional bail, mister Coombs's banned from traveling to Sydney's eastern suburbs, which are about an hour and.
A half from where he lives.
He also can't have any contact with the other two men who've been arrested and charged over this incident. They are Nicholas Alexander and Leon syphilis and he can't have any contact with them. And he also has to maintain a curfew of between ten pm and six am. And he'll appear in court later this month.
All right, Carolyn Marcus, thank you so much. Entrific reporting as always. Now still to come, Donald Trump signs one of his most important executive orders that I've personally been arguing for for years. And Ray Hadley is here with a big announce this meant time dragging him out of his retirement. That exciting news right after this quick break, welcome back. As you know, during the election campaign, Ray Hadley has joined me here every Tuesday night. Now we've
got an announcer to make and raise back here. Now, it's not good news for your blood pressure, Ray, Your blood pressure was doing better every other day of the week.
But my GP, my GP said that he watches this on a Tuesday night, doctor Jeff, and he said, you've got to come down a bit.
You're getting one of it.
But I've just had a discussion with management and I'm going to be back here every Tuesday night to talk to you. For one reason. I love what you do. I watch you when I'm not here, thank you. And even though I'm retired or semi retired, you know, just coming here on a Tuesday night and having am with you a better whole range of things keeps the mind active.
You are the absolute best in the business. I'm so grateful and honored to have you on the show permanently every Tuesday. Thank you so much for being part of it from now on. So there you go. Great Hadley joining our program as a permanent regular every Tuesday night. Wonderful news. I know you're all loving it at all. Right, Ray commiserations. Now what a shocking result.
Well, who would have guessed that, Well, not even the opinion polls, not even Labor. I think it caught them by surprise. I noticed rich ow on earlier and he was saying there was still a way forward for the Liberal Party prior to the election, and of course he's absolutely delighted with the victory for his beloved Labor Party.
And his comrades there.
But look, I've got to congratulate Anthony Albanezi and say about the Liberal election and the way they conducted themselves, I'm still scratching my head. We talked about it every Tuesday night, for five weeks about the missteps, and it seemed to be very much ad hoc on the run. And I've said before I like Peter Dutton. I think he's a really decent feller. Like yeah, but you know, I don't think he should shoulder all the responsibly. There needs to be a bit of research into what went
wrong and how it went wrong. You can't go from being in such a powerful position before Christmas to getting lapped. And it's eighty seven. They're going to creep to forty by the little but it may forty one or forty two. But I mean if anyone had suggested that prior to the election, particularly before they called it, they would have had the straight jacket out and put you in a straighter said no, they can't get to eighty seven.
The other mob can't just get the forty or forty one.
It'll be much closer than that. And well it's not the only thing they've got this over warming majority in the lower House. They'll need to do a bit of bartering and horse trading.
In the Senate with the Greens or the coali Ish.
Yeah, I say to you Charlie and Adam Bant, Well it's on a knife sedge there for him, and I'd be happy to see him out of politics for a whole range of reasons. But then you look at who may be the leader of the Greens, Sarah Henson Young.
Maybe bet anything.
Well, the deputy leader in the Senate is Marine Feruki. You know, she's the one who stood next to that sign with the Jews getting in the bed.
Yeah, that would not be good. But anyway, but I can't understand the fascination with the Teals. I really can't. Nikola Buller made more mistakes than anyone was entitled to make in the lead up to what was happening in Bradfield, and she's narrowly in front, allthough the claims coming from the Liberals that they might grab it through postal votes and then Saphey scomps either word. James Brown was a reasonable choice, former army officer, and.
You know, I think he is a good candidate.
Yeah, I thought he was a very good candidate. Isn't any red close? And then you've got Andrew Constance down south. He's like last week's pay, He's gone. He's had two shots at the Senate, and I think two shots at the Lower House and unsuccessful every time.
He's got to move on. Now clearly people don't want him for whatever reason.
Yeah exactly. I don't know what it is at a local down there as well, but I just it's going to be different next election. With the restraints put on by Labor and Liberal in terms of spending, Clive Palmer is no longer a factor. He's going to pack up his tent and move on after spending sixty million dollars, which was about half of what he spent in twenty twenty two. But I just don't understand the electorates persistence with the Teals. They say one thing and do another.
They have no real power in Parliament, but there seems to be this fascination and I don't know whether it's a young vote or what it is, but they're useless.
Well this is what I think. I agree with you. They're useless and ineffective and no substance. And the whole premise that they're elected on integrity is a face. But I think what it is is that Australians didn't want to vote for the Coalition this time. They didn't want to vote for Scott Morrison last time. I mean Labour's primary barely grew by one and a half percent in this election. You know they've got a landslide result, but their primary is still at a pretty low level historically
thirty four percent. So that Australians didn't want to vote for the Liberals, so then they turned to the other parties, which are the Teals.
Well, let me ask you a question in relation to the leader of the Liberal Party, because I think, and I don't mean to be disrespectful, I think this is what it's going.
To be like.
You're here as a permanent record.
Well, I don't think anyone leaps out of me. I said in a piece yesterday that Angus Taylor is a brilliant mind, a brilliant, brilliant blake, but he has no charisma. He's not a warm sort of person. From I said yesterday rather boldly that if I was having a Rayman orgy, I'd send him out for the grapes because he's pretty boring. But I mean, I just don't know who leaps out Dan Ten Susan Lee. I mean Andrew Hasty has a disadvantage. He's young and he comes from Western Australia, but I'd
be looking at him. I think they've got to really reinvent themselves.
I think he doesn't have the experience yet. Angus Taylor is partly to blame for failing to prosecute the cost of living case, also for some of the flawed policy decisions. Him and Jane Hume are partly behind the working from home policy that backfired. So you know he's but I think he's probably the best lower House option. I mean, some of the best talent for the Liberals are in the Senate. I mean James Patterson, very smart guy. Is this in the Senate? Dave Shalma, really smart guy in
the Senate. And of course traditionally you don't have leaders come from the Senate.
But I think what I think takes the leadership. We'll be marking time because to turn what happened on Saturday round even, I mean, three years is a long time and things happen, and maybe Alberanisi won't be there for the next election. Maybe he'll retire and someone will be having the bat and past to them. But I think it was there will be marking time. I think. I don't think what about just enterprise, Well, she's an obvious shouldn't that be amazing she's an obvious one. She'd be brilliant.
She'd be brilliant. But I have it and this is my point. I think the next Liberal National Party Prime Minister is not in the Lower House at the moment. They're not in the lower House, but they are certainly in the Senate. But they've got to make their way to the lower House to be elevated to that position.
Just enterprise this.
Well, she knows. I love her. I really thinks she's a great Australian and I really think that we need someone to stand up and take us forward, and she'd be the person if she could get to the Lower House that could do it.
And you know, people talk about modernizing the Liberal Party or having an Indigenous person and a female. I mean, that would be our first ever Indigenous prime minister.
It'd be wonderful. Plus she's as smart as they come.
I mean, she's can connect with people.
She's a complete package. And you know, she I think is the future. But as I say, well, mark time in the meantime to see what happens, and we'll see whether all these promises that have been made by the Prime Minister are kept as opposed to what happened last time he is elected.
Now, Ray, before you go, I haven't asked you in a couple of weeks how your granddaughter's doing.
Little Lola is battling leukemia. Just three shears. She's the bravest little soul I've ever encountered. She had a lumber puncture her third or fourth and a bod marrow last Thursday, and the results come out either tomorrow or Thursday. And she's now got this aminotherapy backpack on, which is revolutionary treatment for kids and others with leukemia. And hopefully when they do the one in one hundred thousand cell test tomorrow or Thursday, the lakemia will have disappeared. It doesn't
mean it's gone forever. It just means that the treatment for the first twenty eight days and fifty six days is work. But look, I'm going to do that Gold dinner again this year for the Sydney Children's Hospital Foundation, and it's going to be a bit different doing it this year. I do the auction and the pledges and things like that. First, it's really personal this time, it's
really personal. Eighty six children every month the diagnosed across this country with some form of cancer or lakemia every month eighty six, and I've had the situation of going to John Hunter where my little baby girl is, and watching other parents come in in a state of shock with a diagnosis. That's a little girl in an adjoining room six and watching her grandparents and her mum and dad battle with it. And Lowell is just one of many little children battling at the moment, and it's a
battle we hope we can win. And look, the medical research, the things we're doing here in Australia are world class, and that's on our side. And to all the people out there whose children and grandchildren like mine of battling, God bless you all them. We hope everything goes well for you as it will hopefully for us.
Ray, when you get those results, please let me note.
I'll be texting you straight away. I'll text you if tex straight away.
I'm all right. All our love to Lola.
Thanks Dylan, See you next week, See next week, Chrry, thank you.
Ray.
All right still to come. Donald Trump signs an executive honor we've been campaigning for since twenty twenty one, and the tax reform that's desperately needed. I'll speak about this with a former assistant Treasury Secretary next, well, as you know, there's a lot of discussions about what the Liberals need to be doing now, which policies they need to reform, what they should keep, and one of the focuses surely
has to be on economic policy. From an assistant Treasury Secretary, David Pearl writes today in The Australian that Darton did not present a compelling alternative policy platform. He could have called echoing Kevin right in two thousand and seven for Labour's reckless spending to stop, but instead he endorsed Labor's idea that this was the solution to the problem, and David Pearl joins me, now, thanks for your time again.
So do you think this is I mean, it wasn't necessarily the reason why they lost the campaign, but do you think this is a big issue that we are seeing too much spending, that it is impacting on the economy, and the liberal parties not presenting the fiscally conservative position that they traditionally would.
Thanks for having me on, Shari. It's not the only reason the campaign and the election was lost. But I think when the conservative side of our politics don't on tax cutting and tax reform, they plan to their opponents' hands. The Labor Party, at least the modern Labor Party, which is far to the left of the sensible Labor Party we saw twenty years ago, believes in big government, high spending, and welfare dependency. They're confident on that ground and they
feel that they can out maneuver the coalition. Coalition governments historically and I think in this election, are on strong ground and put Labor in a difficult position when they campaign on lower taxes and smaller government.
Now, you know, what we're seeing so far has been a lot of election spending from Labor. I mean one of the big policies that I think really secured the youth vote for Labor was their pledge to pay twenty percent of everyone's HEX debt. I mean, that's an extraordinary sixteen billion dollars. You know, that's effectively buying the youth vote. But how irresponsible do you think that is from a policy from a financial perspective, Well.
It's actually a reverse robin hood policy. It's taking money from people dependent on welfare and tax payers and giving it to highly educated, high income people with hex's debts. So a Labor government introduced HEX to make higher education sustainable and to prevent working Australians from paying university fees of affluent Australians. This Albanesi government has done the exact opposite. It's a big transfer of wealth from the poor and working Australians to affluent Australians.
Such a smart point and you know, it shows you just how effective that policy was because it was one of the first things Albanezi mentioned when he had when he held his post election press conference, he said this was his first order of business. Now, David, talk to me about the next IVA Board meeting. We're going to see a new composition of the board. How do you think this could affect the outcome when it comes to interest rate decisions?
To be honest, Shari, I don't think the new composition on the board will make any difference. Monetary policy decisions in Australia are made by two people, and in my view two people only, Michelle Bullock with advice from her Economic Department on the one hand, and Stephen Kennedy, the Treasury Secretary on the other hand. That's why we had the cameras in the room for the February Board meeting, which I might add, cut interest rates before the case
was made. As you know, Shari, and I think this was critical to the election result. Every single time Jim Chalmers opened his mouth during the election campaign he could say at the end of a sentence about his economic management and interest rates are starting to fall. So I wouldn't underestimate that the new board is just window dressing. We don't have an independent central bank making monetary policy decisions.
We've got a captiveentral bank. To give you an example, the physcal irresponsibility of the Albanizi government is putting Australia as public finances at risk. This idea that we have a triple A credit rating is fascical.
It's going to be sorry if that comes off.
Yeah, it's well, I don't think we have a triple A credit rating because that triple A rating, Shari, is based on the official budget forecast, which are pure fiction, and so an independent central bank governor go on, no, I was.
Just going to say, we're already on notice, of course, that we might lose that triple A credit rating because of the off budget hidden spending and you know the one hundred billion dollars or so in structural built in spending that's not temporary. But you're completely right, David Pearl, as always so many intelligent points, And I tell you what, if there's one story I want to get to the bottom of, it's whether that interest rate cut was politicized.
I'm not going to give up on that, David Pearl. Appreciate your time. Now, after the break, Donald Trump assigned one of his most important executive orders four years in the making. That's next. Well, today, Donald Trump, in an executive order, banned US government funding towards any gain of function research around the world. Now, gain of function research involves giving a virus extra functions that it never had before, such as the ability to become airborne, and this could
make it more infectious or lethal to humans. Now, this research was banned under the Obama administration on coronaviruses and other deadly viruses, but then it was secretly lifted under the first Trump administration. Now I discovered in my investigation that gain of function research was happening at the Wuhan Institute of Rology and that America had been funding it. It was explosive and I pressed Trump about this about
why the band had been lifted. When I interviewed him, why did you allow the gain of function research to continue?
Well, I think probably people that worked for me looked at it, and at one point they might have done that.
But ultimately what we did was we shut it off. We shut the whole thing.
Off, and we stopped making payments that were approved much earlier than our administration.
Now, gain of function research is so dangerous because it can start as we had to experience a global pandemic. Now, I revealed that Anthony fauci I argued that the benefits of experimenting on contagious viruses was worth the risk of a lab accident sparking a pandemic. He knew that a pandemic was a possibility from gainer function research, but he
funded it in Wuhan anyway. And now finally today this risky research has been banned, with a White House spokesperson telling Fox News that this order will drastically reduce the potential for lab related incidents involving gainer function research like that conducted on back coronaviruses in China by the EcoHealth
Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Now, the sarte of Trump's second term hasn't been perfect by any means, but its executive orders like this which make his victory significant, and this will be hopefully one of his legacies. All right, that's all we've got time for today. I'll be here eight o'clock tomorrow. I'll see you then, another big show ahead. Let's stay tuned because right now, my good mate Paul Murray