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Speaker 1: Good evening.
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Speaker 2: We've got breaking news tonight. The Sydney Swans board is meeting right now to decide on players, sanctions and penalties. This is the AFL finally breaks its silence over the scandal engulfing the Swans, and more details emerge about what allegedly happened in the early hours of Sunday morning. Full details in just a moment. Also on the show, Julian Lisa uses parliamentary privilege to name those he says should be hold before the Royal Commission. He'll be on the show a bit later. Plus the shameful snubbing of veterans on Vietnam Veterans Day, and the Federal Court has made an outrageous decision to overturn the visa cancelation of a convicted sex offender. That with John o'dunham shortly, but first let's get to this breaking news. The AFL and Swans are looking at standing down four players for bringing the game into disrepute by partying into the early hours of the morning and drinking alcohol. Sources tell me the club is examining the legalities around suspending the players for this secondary issue of partying and alcohol. While the sexual assault. Allegations made about an incident at an East Melbourne hotel in the early hours of Monday morning are under investigation and to the Breaking News, the Sydney Swans have just released a statement moments ago. It reads, the Sydney Swans can confirm that the club board will meet tonight to agree on players sanctions and penalties, now that the club has concluded its interviews with all the players involved in the incident in Melbourne. We respect there's an ongoing investigation by Victoria Police and any actions we take are independent of this. The club believes the players are in serious breach of expected club behavior and standards, and it is appropriate to take firm action and highlight that any sanction we impose relates solely to those breaches. The club also acknowledges that these serious allegations impact others and their well being must be paramount So that breaking news right there that the Sydney Swan's board is meeting as we speak looking at penalties and sanctions for the players. And as I said, this is understood to relate to the secondary issue of the players parting into the early hours of the morning and consuming alcohol, rather than the issue of the investigation, which is with Victoria Police. Now this statement comes as fresh footage has emerged of coach Dean Cox and some staff heading into a bar after midnight. The Herald Sign has obtained this vision you're seeing in your screen right now, and it does show Cox walking into a buy in Richmond and then he leaves in a vehicle around one am. Four players from the Sidney Swans linked to the investigation, Isaac Keeney, Chad Warner, James Jordan and Riley Weiss have been questioned by police. Now some of them have partners of fiancees and the AFL tonight has finally broken its silence, with chief executive Andrew Dillon saying the woman who made the police report is entitled to privacy and care. He also hit back at those who complained this was all impacting the game so close to the finals. He said that sexual assault allegations are serious, irrespective of who's involved, what time of year it is, or what it may mean for a season. Here's what Andrew Dillon said in his statement. He said, our first question should not be what this means for.
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Speaker 3: A football club.
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Speaker 2: As a sport and as an industry, we are clear about the standards we expect and the values we stand for, and the need to uphold them. Being clear about our standards also means being prepared to act when those standards are not met. Notwithstanding the ongoing police investigation, the AFL and Sydney Swans will consider the broader conduct of the players as more information comes to light. Now Victorian police have clarified they're still investigating and no arrests or chargers have been late. They said that police spoke to a number of people at the hotel. However, no one has been arrested or formally interviewed at this time, but they confirm the Sexual Crime Squad is investigating a report of sexual assault. On seventeenth of August, in the early hours of the morning, the Swans had won the game against Essendon at the MCG on Sunday night. Many players then went out for dinner and drinks around seven hours long. Between two point fifteen am and three forty am, groups of players reportedly returned to the club's hotel. The Australian newspaper reports that one player had arranged for at least two women to join him at the Wellington Parade hotel. A commotion then erupted in the hotel room of one of the players when one of the women claimed their understanding of what was off limits was breached. Sources say in the Frakka, at least one of the women left the room and headed downstairs, where they confronted club and hotel staff. Onlookers in the hotel lobby overheard a woman who was visibly and audibly upset telling the venue and club staff that she'd been inappropriately touched. Now, this is all playing out publicly before the facts have been established. The Swans has been conducting its own investigation as well as the AFL Integrity un in it, and the Swan's chief executive made these initial comments yesterday.
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Speaker 4: We're still peaking together exactly what's transpired here and have our own set of internal inquiries ongoing. It's sad to say that we're extremely shocked and disappointed whether this has taken place and whether the players have found themselves in this situation. We understand the level of interest in the matter and there's going to be lots of speculation, but given it's a police matter right now, that is all that we can say.
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Speaker 2: And today Sydney Coach of Dean Cox fronted the media, saying he was extremely disappointed. That's before the vision of him emerged just tonight. Captain Callum Mills also.
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Speaker 5: Spoke, Yeah, obviously extremely disappointed with what's happened, and understand the questions and we'll update as we as we get the more information.
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Speaker 6: Have you spoken to the plays for all the enbot it.
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Speaker 1: Were speakers? We as the day, so good on your days.
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Speaker 5: Oh can't comment on it.
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Speaker 6: We don't know back. Sorry, guys, thank you very haven't spoken to any of the boys in world.
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Speaker 7: I can't comment.
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Speaker 6: Thank you, guys, appreciate it.
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Speaker 3: Let's just go now.
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Speaker 2: This may change after the board meeting tonight, but up until now the club hadn't suspended any players. Neither has the AFL, which also has the power to stand down players. You might recall back in twenty twenty the Swan stood down Ellie R. Taylor when he was charged with assault. Now, even though we don't know the details of this investigation, AFL Great Luke Hodge today said that that's exactly what should happen, That they should be stood down until they've been cleared or until more information emerges.
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Speaker 8: Should they stand the players down this morning.
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Speaker 1: I think if the reports are as serious as what we hear, I think that they have to do that they've got to stand them down until they're either cleared or until more information comes out.
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Speaker 2: But even as the police have been at pains to point out that they're still taking statements to try and get to the bottom of the matter. The Victorian Premier Ben Carroll through his support behind the alleged victim.
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Speaker 9: It is so important that every girl woman not only feels safe, but is safe and knows that they are protected and that they can be safe going about their everyday lives. This is horrible what has been reported. It is under police investigation, but every young woman, young girl, every female deserves to be treated with respect.
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Speaker 2: There are also calls for the AFL to examine its culture and the inclusion of women after this explosive investigation into sexual assault, and AFL women's player Kate McCarthy has come out publicly against the language used by the swan's chief executive Matthew Pavlich. Kate says, is there really any surprise that women within the industry experienced such horrific misogyny when the role models or people in positions of power like CEOs of clubs use language, saying that the players found themselves in this situation. For there still has a long way to run. Police need to establish the facts. But coming on the eve of the finals, this looks like it could escalate into the worst scandal to befollow the club in decades and it seems entirely self inflicted. And will bring you more breaking news on the board meeting as it comes to light throughout the app the hour and the evening. Now Liberal and p Juli and Lisa today delivered an extraordinary speech in Parliament excoriating the Royal Commission for failing to call witnesses who he says should answer questions about anti Semitism and for letting Albanesi government ministers off the hook. Julian Lisa said, this is the Royal Commission the Albanezi government never wanted, and now it's stifling the inquiry by imposing a set time frame. Now the commission is set to run for just eleven months. It should run for two years at least. Even former Federal Court judge and Farmer Disability Commissioner Ronald Sackville said it was too short when he joined me on the show yesterday. If it were you doing it, you would seek an extension more than eleven months.
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Speaker 6: If it were made doing it.
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Speaker 3: All sorts of things might have happened, but if I were to forward an application and extension, it would have been much earlier than right now.
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Speaker 2: Well, Julian Lisa today said the Royal Commission has failed to hold individuals to account. He says this was one of its key tasks.
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Speaker 3: If leaders and decision makers are not held to account by the Royal Commission, the anti Semitism that has run rampant in our institutions will only continue. Those who are not called, who are not asked to answer for their decisions and actions. The message will be that they are not responsible, but there is no consequence for the failure to lead.
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Speaker 2: And under parliamentary privilege. Julian and Lisa named those who he says should be called Matt Chan, Clementine Ford, John Menaju, Randa abdel Fatar. And here's what Julian Lisa said about Randa.
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Speaker 3: Why haven't we heard from academics like Randa Abdolphatar, who refuses even to be quoted in an article alongside anyone she deems as a Zionist and encourages children to support an into fada, but we saw an intofada at Bondai. It means more dead Jewish bodies.
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Speaker 2: Julian Lisa also said that the chair and the Chief Executive of CREATE of Australia, Wesley Enoch and Adrian Collett, should also be called to give evidence about their decision to make grant after grant of taxpayer money with a preference for artists to propagate an anti Israel or anti Jewish message. He said that university vice chancellors too should be caught. He named Genevieve Bell from the Australian National University and Duncan Muskel from Melbourne University. And Lisa also said that the protest organizers and the preachers should be on the stand.
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Speaker 6: Recently, we saw the grotesquaie in the Royal Commission of Protest Organizers cross examining an Australian Jewish communal leader in Australia about the actions of a foreign government, the government of Israel, as if he were responsible for Israel, or that Israel's active actions justified the targeting of Jews here, why weren't the protest organizers on the stand?
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Speaker 2: And then he named Wissam Haddad, Sheikh Ibrahim de Doone, Josh Lees Green's MP, Jenny Leong Green Senator Marine Ferruki as others who should be called. And he's right, where is the accountability from the Royal Commission? Why hasn't it subpoenaed these individuals and others like them to give evidence to answer questions. Julian Lisa also said, as we've been talking about here on the show, that the Commission had failed to hear from prominent Jewish Australians or Australians that have expertise in this area. And as you know we've been talking about it, the most senior Jewish politician in Australian parliamentary history, Josh Friedenberg, was rejected from giving evidence. The Commission also hasn't heard from Nova Paris or Mike Kelly, and there are others too. Jennifer Westercott, the singular figure showing leadership in the tertiary education sector, hasn't been called. Neither has Dave Shama, the former diplomat to Israel. But then, most powerfully, Julian Lisa demanded that the Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi, the Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, the Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, the Education Minister Jason Clair, and the Attorney General Michel Roland all be called to the stand. Now, this may seem simply political to you, but it's not. Remember ASIO director Mike Burgess publicly want that the greatest threat to life in Australia was to Australian Jews. Well, we need to know what these ministers running the country did after ASIO gave that very explicit warning. What action did they take. Their first duty isn't to indulge in all of their pet projects or waste taxpayer money. It's to keep all Australians safe. Now, here's Julian Lisa in Parliament today explaining why the Prime Minister and his top team need to give evidence.
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Speaker 3: Explain your decisions and actions in the two years leading up to Bondai. Let the Commission and the public be the judge. We know where we ended up, fifteen dead bodies on Bondai beach. Let us hear from them under oath. Let us hear from them what went wrong from the very top.
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Speaker 2: But Albanezi won't do this, and his hand pick Commissioner Virginia Belle won't call him. If Albanezi can't bring himself to apologize for a crass joke about melons, He's hardly going to front a Royal Commission and account honestly for his leadership failures in confronting Islamic extremism, terrorism and anti Semitism. It's far easier to announce new gun laws that cast farmers and recreational shooters as the problem. And as I said, Julie and Lisa will be on the show tonight a bit later, so I'll come back to that, but first, now veterans have blasted the Veterans Affairs Minister Matt Keo for declining to sit down and meet with them. It left the former Royal Air Force pilot Tim Nelson gobsmacked.
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Speaker 10: Minister Keyo was forced to have a meeting with us at five point thirty. It was obvious he did not want to be there. He even let us know that he was missing an appointment with the Governor General, which he was.
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Speaker 6: Very upset about.
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Speaker 10: He walked into the room, refused to shake our hand, sat down with his arms crossed, and rolled his eyes when we started telling him about the effect that this cap already is having on veterans that.
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Speaker 2: After Matt was forced into having the meeting. Now, this was because labor didn't want to scrap or doesn't want to scrap a five thousand dollars cap on Allied Health as funding for veterans. Well, Matt key O then admitted that he was wrong. Here's what he said in question time today.
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Speaker 11: I acknowledged that I got it wrong in not agreeing to meet with them last week when that initial request came in.
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Speaker 6: I owned that, and I met with them, and I heard them last the last night.
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Speaker 2: And joining me now to discuss former Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger and New's twenty four host Steve Price. Good to see you both. Well, Michael, this is pretty shameful on the day that marks the Battle of Longtan back in nineteen sixty six.
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Speaker 12: You know, Shari, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. There's probably no more sacred ministry is there in the federal government to be given the honor of being the Minister for Veterans Affairs. Joe Lyons prime minister held that portfolio. Billy Hughes after his primeister held that portfolio. More recently, people like the Great Michael Ronaldson, Bruce Bilson, Dan Tan and in the Keating government, the late and much loved and respected con Shaker Labor Minister between two four and two six. And now this bloke. If you can't be sacked for disrespecting veterans, which would be right up there amongst the most gregious political crimes in this country. If you can't be sacked for that, what can you be sacked for under Anthony Elbanezi Shari?
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Speaker 2: And what's worse Steve is that? And by the way, well said Michael, But what's worse Steve is that even when he met with them, I mean, by the account of the meeting that we just heard, it sound like it sounds like he was quite rude.
00:18:43
Speaker 7: Yeah, apparently he sat there with his arms folded, rolled his eyes, refused to shake hands on the way in. He did say in Parliament today he shook hands on the way out. I'm not sure any of those veterans there at the end of the day would have wanted to shake hands with Matt Ko. I mean, seriously, to cap veterans' medical expenses at five thousand dollars is such a bad piece of policy. And that's what this is all about you've got to get rid of that cap. I mean it's ridiculous. I mean you think about, you know what a psychiatrist's appointment's going to cost you. You think about what all of the medical issues that you might have as a returning veteran. I mean, in this instance, we're talking on the Battle of Long Tanday. But all of those boys and girls that came back out of the Middle East, imagine saying to them they can only get five thousand dollars. I mean, the Department of Veteran Affairs has been so badly handed for so long, it's ridiculous. I would suggest to Matt Keo and to Anthony Albanezi, why don't you, Matt go and sit down with Keith Payne VC who won that VC in a battle in Vietnam, and ask him what he did for his country. He fought in Malaysia, he fought in Borneo, he fought in Vietnam. He is ninety two years old. Now imagine what he thinks when he sees a bloke like Ki who's had no military experience, and what Kio has done to these people.
00:20:05
Speaker 11: It's drift, No, it.
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Speaker 2: Is indeed, look it adds to the perception that this government is just disrespectful to veterans. I mean, you look at the way that the AFP Commissioner decided to arrest Ben Robert Smith as well. All right, let's turn to the I mean, we're seeing more policies from Pauline Hanson every day, and today her plan to tackle the illicit tobacco trade and organize crime. Now, Michael, she wants to remove the seventy five percent seventy five percent of the tobacco excise. It would cut the price of cigarettes by nearly thirty dollars. But it's not actually about the price of cigarettes. The argument, of course, Michael, is that you know, this tobacco excise has been driving organized crime in quite a big way, particularly in New South Wales.
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Speaker 12: So it looks as if, in round figures, the cost of a cigarette has gone The text on a cigarette has gone from a dollar twelve to a dollar fifty five under the the Albanese government, a pretty hefty rise. This is fueled the black market, So I have to say I think Hanson's right. I mean, receipts have gone from twelve billion to four billion because everyone's buying them on the black market where they're twenty dollars instead of forty dollars. So I think she's right. Down here in Victoria Sharry, they've slowed recently, but we've had that many fire bombings of tobacco shops, the illegal tobacco shops opening everywhere, gangland wars down here, people being paid to drive cars through tobacco shops. We've had this war between the various illegal groups, some of the Middle Eastern crime gangs allegedly. So typically Jim Charmers says, Oh, I don't think that would have any effect. I mean, it doesn't have any He doesn't have a clue Jim Charmers about anything. And you know, honestly, and I think Hanson's right. You know, if you make if you disincentive, if you give a disincentive for people to bring in illegal cigarettes by reducing the price of the inward cigarettes, then there's no margin for the criminals. So what's happening at the minute doesn't seem to be working. So yeah, I think she's right.
00:22:10
Speaker 2: Do you think this is the answer?
00:22:12
Speaker 7: Steve One worked in Canada when they had the same problem, And Michael and I know a place in Melbourne called Chapel Street. Very well, we've had worry.
00:22:24
Speaker 6: I know that.
00:22:24
Speaker 2: Well, Illegue, Well, all the shopping.
00:22:27
Speaker 7: Illy not anymore.
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Speaker 6: You wouldn't go.
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Speaker 7: It's full of drugged out lunatics running around with machetes. You wouldn't want to go anywhere near it. But these tobacco shops down there, the state government passed laws to say it's illegal to sell these illegal cigarettes. I decided to test that out a cup about three months ago. I went into three shops and bought three packets of cigarettes for about fourteen dollars a packet, within about two hundred meters of each other. So no one's policing it. The police don't give her rats about it. They don't want to go in there and arrest people for selling these things. And so you know, Pauline again is ahead of the pack. I saw Matt Canavan on News twenty four tonight saying, oh, well, you know, one day she says it's this price, and the next day that forget about that, Matt. She has done the right thing. Lead the lead the issue on things, say to people, we're going to stop these firebombings, and that's one way to do it.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, it is Steve step go for it.
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Speaker 12: The good news, Steve is And you know, Steve, I just lived near Chapel Street. There hasn't been a fire bombing of an illegal tobacco shop, a fire bombing of a nightclub, or a gangland murder in Chapel Street for at least a month. At least a month that's gone by, mate.
00:23:41
Speaker 2: It's terrible that that is the good news. I just wanted to add, though that conversation that Pauline Hanson is on the same page as new Southerwist Premier Chris Men' who's been arguing that this high excise is causing this. He's been raising this for some time with the federal government, with the Treasurer, but the federal government, you know, just don't want to change the policy. Look, we're really running out of time, but very quickly before we go, Chris Bowlan is reportedly scrobbling to fill seats at his taxpayer funded climate summit in Fiji. I mean, Michael, this costs twenty million dollars. I mean, this whole exercise was for his own ego, wasn't it. And now we're hearing that he's turning to the Global Union Public Services International to get people to turn up.
00:24:27
Speaker 12: Look at they wan to be facetious chari but it seems to be a very low level conference. Why can't they do it by zoom? Why do they all have to fly to Fijian's been twenty million? You know, really it's taxpayers money. They couldn't care two hoots.
00:24:43
Speaker 2: Yeah indeed, all right, Michael Kroger, Steve Price, thank you very so much. Now to a story that's made a lot of people are angry today. A convicted child sex offender may be allowed to stay in Australia after the Federal Court overturned the cancelation his protection visa. This is a fifty year old he's been living in Australia since the High Courts and z YQ decision, which meant the release of hundreds of convicted foreign criminals. Now in an absurd move. The court was swayed by the advice of therapists, with one saying that a permanent visa would provide a level of security that may reduce the risk of criminal or sexual offending or reducing the risk to the community. This story in The Australian Today.
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Speaker 3: Now.
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Speaker 2: Just last week in the show, we revealed that sixteen child sex offenders had their visa cancelations overturned by another tribunal, and another four hundred and fifty nine convicted criminals also had their visa cancelations overturned well. For more Now, Shadow Home Affairs Minister John O Duniam joins me, JOHNO, as I said, I mean, we were just speaking about this issue last week. What do you think of the advice that we read about today from these therapists.
00:26:03
Speaker 8: I'd love to know, Shari, where these therapists get their registration from, because frankly, I think it needs to be revoked. The idea that a court could find, on the basis of advice from a therapist that we as a community might be safer or this individual might be less likely to offend, but if they stay here and are given some sort of ongoing protection visa or similar is frankly gob smacking. The best protection we can give to our country, to the people who live here, the safety of women and children in our community, is to send.
00:26:37
Speaker 13: These people home.
00:26:38
Speaker 8: They don't belong here. You break the law, you do something heinous like this, we should be sending you on the first plane out.
00:26:44
Speaker 6: So I think, and I.
00:26:46
Speaker 8: Would hope that there is an appeal on foot for this overturning of the visa, because honestly, we cannot and the government should not abide by allowing courts to decide who's here and taking the advice of therapists from goodness knows where to decide whether they should be in this country or not.
00:27:05
Speaker 2: Not just this case, but looking at the figures I just mentioned, you know, four hundred and fifty nine convicted criminals and other sixteen child sex offenders having their visa cancelations overturned. So obviously the government is doing the right thing in counseling their visas. What needs to happen to make sure that the cancelations can't be overturned by either a federal court or a tribunal.
00:27:29
Speaker 8: Yeah, look, and so the right decision is being made in the first instance, that's correct, and I think that needs to be backed up again by, as we've discussed previously, stronger ministerial directions so that members of the art can see what it is the government's intent is when it comes to protecting our community, the kind of people we are happy to have stay in our country under certain circumstances, and the types we should be booting post haste. And of course then if that isn't strong enough, then let's end the laws. Let's look at the basic laws we have governing who is able to stay in this country, what are the thresholds for removal from Australia. And you know what, again, here we are in Parliament this week. I'm happy to sit down with Tony Burke. I'm happy to sit down with Michelle Roland, even the Prime Minister if we need to and actually amend the laws so that we can make sure if a decision is made to boot an evil individual like the ones we're talking about here child sex offenders, we should get them out.
00:28:28
Speaker 2: What needs to change though, specifically with the law, because you know, your first suggestion of ministerial intervention I mean, Shirley four hundred and fifty nine ministerio interventions is unsustainable. It would take up the Home Affairs Minister's entire job. So how does the law specifically need to change?
00:28:46
Speaker 8: So with a ministerial direction, that is a direction in writing almost like a regulation, a legislative instrument. To members of the Administrative Review Tribunal, this is what the government means, this is what we think thresholds are for deportation or for cancelation of visas, So that is a one off and it should be a guard to members of that quasi judicial body to boot these kinds of people. If it is changes to the law, to the Criminal Code, or to the Migration Act, or to a regulation relating to the Migration Act, then let's just be clear about what we deem to be a threshold for booting someone from the country.
00:29:27
Speaker 6: If we need to.
00:29:28
Speaker 8: Insert new criminal offenses or ones that exist and make sure they're specified as a reason to cancel a visa, then let's do it. This is not rocket science and the government can do something. They've got willing accomplices here to keep Australia safe. So we're ready to work with them and they should do it tomorrow.
00:29:47
Speaker 2: As you've heard this week, Pauline Hansen has called the visa system a scam on the Australian people. She's talking about allowing three hundred and eighty five thousand spouses and their dependent children to enter the country off the back of you know, these student and graduate visas. So she's saying that this shouldn't happen. Do you agree that these numbers need to come down. And also do you think it's worrying broadly for the coalition that she's setting the agenda on issues like this.
00:30:16
Speaker 8: Well, firstly, I do agree that the numbers have to come down. The student migrant pathway, the visas available for people to come here to study should not be a backdoor for family visas to Australia allowing entire families to relocate temporarily or in many cases permanently. So that needs reform and that's something we're working on now. Look, am I worried that Paul Enhanson has something to say about migration. No, she put out a tweet this morning that dominated the agenda. She has had things to say. She's a participant in the public debate. We've got our policies or some of our us is in the migration space out for the world to see, whether it's about picking the number of people we allow into this country to the number of houses we actually build, or insisting that people must have our values as a condition of their visa when they come to Australia. There'll be more to say around what we do when it comes to students, international students, skilled margrants as well, and how we'll actually make a skilled visa list work for our country rather than us work for it.
00:31:27
Speaker 2: You still don't have your number though, you still don't have your migration figure out.
00:31:31
Speaker 8: No, like, I'm going.
00:31:33
Speaker 2: To ask you that every week until it's out.
00:31:36
Speaker 8: And I again will make the same promise every week that we will give you a number. More importantly, we'll tell you how we reach the number.
00:31:43
Speaker 2: It's not doing it's not doing us a favor. I mean, you know, if you guys want to be on the on the same fight as Pauline Hanson and migration, you've got to tell people you know what you're.
00:31:53
Speaker 11: Going to lower it to.
00:31:55
Speaker 8: Yeah, true, true, But I'm not going to pluck a number out of thin air. I'm going to tell you if you I'm going to respect their intelligence, how we got the number and what it means for our future. So I'm going to do it the proper way, not to break numbers up like one nation. Have you well before the election, not this week, not next week, but it will be.
00:32:11
Speaker 6: Soon, all right, darniamm. Good to see you.
00:32:15
Speaker 2: Feels like a repeat of policy delays before the last election. All right, still to come. Labour's mass text message scare campaign that Pauline Hanson and the Liberals plan to scrap super This is the scare campaign. I'll speak to Daily Telly editor Ben English about the latest on the Swan scandal as well after the break. Welcome back, and let's turn to today's top story and the breaking news tonight. The Sydney Swans board are currently meeting and I'm joined by the Daily Telegraph editor Ben English. Ben, reading between the lines of their statement, does it sound to you like they are preparing to have some sanctions or penalties on some of the players.
00:32:57
Speaker 13: Without doubt they're talking about they've actually described it as a serious breach of expected club behavior and they're going to take firm action. I mean that's from Dylan, but this was from actually the Swans.
00:33:09
Speaker 6: Ye, we do.
00:33:11
Speaker 13: So there's four players involved. The speculation, not that we should really go with that, is that it's at least two games, but for one of the players involved, and this is the front page story that we have for tomorrow, who may be subject to criminal charges. This is all This is all still up in the air, still being investigated by police. But our front page story talks about the allegation is that there was an off limits that a woman described there were off limits areas where she was not to be touched and she was that's her allegation. So if that is actually results in charges, then you will see some significant, significant weeks out.
00:33:54
Speaker 2: So I kind of jumped into the spot area, which I'm not usually in, and I made some calls today sources told me, which is I think where this statement is going. That the Sydney Swans and the AFL aren't going to suspend any players for the police investigation. They want to let that play out. People are entitled to the presumption of innocence.
00:34:13
Speaker 6: But where they.
00:34:14
Speaker 2: Are going to have sanctions penalties suspending players is around the fact that they were out until the early hours, they were consuming alcohol, they were partying, and this was bringing the game and the club into disrepute.
00:34:27
Speaker 13: Yeah, that's one hundred percent right, and they do have provisions for that, and so I think that's where they're going to have to go because this is tricky, as we've seen so often in the last sort of five or six years, that you do have to have a presumption of innocence, you do have to have the course of natural justice to take its course, But at the same time, This is a huge black mark for the game and particularly for the Swans, which have always sort of presented themselves of the clean skins.
00:34:51
Speaker 1: Of the game.
00:34:53
Speaker 2: Let's have a look at that vision I mentioned earlier in the show of the coach Dean Cox. That's right leaving a a nightclub and then arriving at a bar. So he was arriving at a bar after midnight and then he gets in a vehicle around one am. The Herald sign obtained this footage band. I mean that then brings into questions about, you know, whether he should also the coach stood down because he was also out in the early hours of the morning.
00:35:20
Speaker 13: Yeah, and I think that sort of puts some context around Dean Cox's the way that he was very hesitant and quite awkward, and his response that in the day afterwards. This puts some very telling context around that. You're right, this has to he has to be accountable for those actions too. I mean, he has to set the example. This would certainly not have happened under the previous coach John.
00:35:43
Speaker 2: Longmy So when I spoke to today said they all should have been put on a bus after the game and you know, send back to Sydney. Basically or back to the airport and just kept in lockdown, not allowed to go out partying. But you know, these are adults. They should be doing the right thing this and the Swans usually do. They've got a good reputation.
00:36:03
Speaker 13: They have a great reputation and it's probably why they've been affordable latitude and there was because there was a be an element of trust. But this is at the pointy end of the season, the coming second. At the moment, they're guaranteed two finals matches, so you'd expect that they would be leaning into that and not be focusing on partying. They'd be focusing on actually winning the flag.
00:36:24
Speaker 2: And apparently they didn't. I mean, I don't watch Spot, but apparently they didn't play so well. Even though they did win the game against Essendon. I'm told it wasn't such a great No, it's.
00:36:31
Speaker 6: A great game.
00:36:32
Speaker 13: I'm not an AFIL special as either, but I was told the same thing.
00:36:35
Speaker 2: Okay, there you go. We know how to get information there if we don't watch the games ourselves. All right, I want to turn to this amazing story now. Pauline Hanson put out this text message that is apparently from the treasurer Jim charmits, maybe we can bring it up on the screen. The text message basically says that there's this scare campaign. You know it's going to be a scare campaign from Labor. It's saying that both the Liberals and One Nation are planning to scrap Super.
00:37:04
Speaker 13: Yeah, it's a ludicrous claim and it's got Jim Chalmer's name to it. Now, this is this we remember Medi Scare. It's another episode of that. There's no plan by either party to get rid of Super. But Pauline Hanson's turned it back into our own favor and this is sort of her trademark at the moment. Has been very agile and so she's come straight back and said, it's Pauline Hanson here. This is on X tonight. It's Pauline Hanson here. Jim Chalmers is full of shit. That's what she said. I was told I could say it on air, So go ahead, glad you checked. One Nation doesn't support scrapping Super. We just think people should be able to use their Super when in financial distress instead of losing their home label rather you end up homeless.
00:37:49
Speaker 2: But look, I mean you said it was like Medi Scare. This is Super Scare. It's a new scare campaign. We know they work well. Medi Scare worked well back against Malcolm Turnberlin. I think it was twenty sixteen. It worked against you know, Peter Dutton, worked agains Scott Morrison, and they roll it out every election campaign. Now they're going to have super Scare as well.
00:38:07
Speaker 5: They are.
00:38:08
Speaker 13: It's interesting because I think the Libs have been sort of caught napping in the social media warfare, but I think pauland Hanson's team has shown themselves to be more agile. The Libs, if they're going to be competitive, need to get up to speed with this because they're just at the moment too paralyzed.
00:38:26
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:38:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean they've been quite napping in messaging and everything when it comes to policies even I mean one nation's kind of releasing more policies and the.
00:38:37
Speaker 13: Coalition feels like Paul and Hanson is the opposition at the moment, is the opposition leader.
00:38:43
Speaker 2: She's got the momentum, and once you've got the momentum, it's very difficult to it's very difficult for the Coalition to get that absolutely. But she's also working. She's doing a lot of media Pauline. Every day she's doing another interview, and I think Angus Taylor could probably be doing a bit more. What do you think.
00:38:58
Speaker 13: I definitely need to pick up his velocity. He needs to get up, be up and about and be seen. And it's hard. It is really hard because, as you say, Pauline Hansen has the momentum, and so the default for the media at the moment is to turn to her. In fact, often she's in front of the media and.
00:39:16
Speaker 2: Kind of like Trump, people want to read what she says, they want to watch her, you know, they're fascinated by her. So even when she makes a mistake, can't name the Indonesian president, people don't care.
00:39:28
Speaker 13: They don't care. And she's she's developed this stick over thirty years, so she's match fit. I think Angers is still finding his way in terms of what's my style and how aggressive should I be? She just basically swings from the fences.
00:39:41
Speaker 2: She's got cut through. All right, Ben, great to see you. We look forward to you. So the front page headline tomorrow's black Swans is that.
00:39:47
Speaker 11: Right, blacks one. We'll read it.
00:39:49
Speaker 2: Thanks, thanks well, still to come, Julian Lisa Jones Us after he's headline grabbing speech excoriating the Royal Commission, plus He's right here after we also get to the Around World with Peter Jennings a bit later Welcome Back. Well, As the final weeks of hearings for the Royal Commission looms, the Coalition is now urging Labor to extend its time frame and it's remit to ensure that key voices are heard, leading the charges Shadow Education Minister Julian Lisa, who joins me live from Canbra. Julian, thanks for your time. Look, you gave a brilliant speech in Parliament today. I played a lot of it at the start of the show. What are your key concerns about this Royal Commission?
00:40:37
Speaker 3: Well, Shari, This Royal Commission had three tasks. Number one, to hear the stories of Jewish Australians, which it's done reasonably well. Number two to provide recommendations, which we'll see later in the piece. But number three and most importantly, its job is to hold people to account who are in positions of leadership and whose leadership has failed. And it's in that area that I don't think that the Commission has done enough, and that's because it hasn't the time to do it, and I want to see the Commission given an extension of time in order that it can get people from the arts community, from universities, the Human Rights Commission, government ministers and put them on the stand and held them to account. I think that's so important. We're never going to get this opportunity again. Fifteen people were murdered in cold blunder at Bondai Beach. We owe it to them to make sure that this Commission does its job properly.
00:41:27
Speaker 2: I had the former Disability Royal Commissioner and former Federal Court judge Ronald Sackville in the program last night, and he also said that he felt the Commission hadn't used either enough or effectively its coercive powers, you know, forcing people of issuing subpoenas for people to give evidence and obtaining documents. I mean, we've barely seen that at all.
00:41:53
Speaker 3: I gave the example in my speech today of the Child Sexual Abuse Royal Commission where bishops and religious leaders were taken out of nursing homes and put on the stand to give evidence and held to account for their decisions. In this Royal Commission, we've seen recently retired Vice chancellors not called to talk about the failures at their universities. We need to see so many more people held to account, and that's why the Commission needs more time. And ultimately, the Albanesi government never wanted to have this Royal Commission. It gave it an unfair amount of time in terms of eleven months.
00:42:27
Speaker 6: It's set the terms of reference.
00:42:29
Speaker 3: Now I'm calling on the Albanzi government and the Prime Minister to do the right thing and extend the time so that the Commission could do the job it needs to do.
00:42:39
Speaker 2: Look, I agree with you that the time is too shot. We said that from the start. It's on by far the short side of royal commissions, just eleven months, the hearings only beginning in May this year. However, I don't only think the issue is the timing. I think that what we've seen in tone from this commission is that it's trading very softly, treading very lightly, doesn't seem to want to upset anyone. And I think even if it had another two years, you still wouldn't kind of get the sort of teeth that you're talking about that you've seen in other royal commissions.
00:43:13
Speaker 3: Well, Shari, I've been consistent on saying this about the timing of the Commission and its three roles. Since the Commission was established. I've made several speeches about this, but with the final hearings to be wrapped up next week, I think it's very important that we put the ball in the government's court here to ensure that the Commission can do the things that it needs to do, and to ensure that it does do the things that it needs to do, and that's to amend its terms of reference to ensure it's got the time and it's got the direction to hold people to account.
00:43:45
Speaker 2: But what do you think about my point that it does seem reluctant to put some of the alleged perpetrators of offensive behavior on the stand.
00:43:56
Speaker 3: Well, look, I think it's very clear from my speech that it just hasn't put those people on the stand, and that it needs to put those people on the stand. Otherwise we desecrate the memory of the people who died at Bondai Beach and we send even worse shari a message to people that when leaders failed to take responsibility for their actions, that effectively there is no consequence for that, and so that sends a terrible message to Australians about the way in which you can ignore anti Semitism, You can downplay it and nothing will happen to you.
00:44:31
Speaker 2: Look, as I said, you did call for the Prime Minister, the Education Minister, Home Affairs Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister, the Attorney General to all be called to respond to questions about their handling of this crisis.
00:44:43
Speaker 10: What are the key.
00:44:44
Speaker 2: Issues that you would put to them?
00:44:47
Speaker 3: Well, I'd put to them, you know, what were the resources and powers that they gave their agencies? What advice did they receive as the anti Semitism grew from October seven as to what they should do? Asked the Foreign Minister why when she visited Israel she decided not to go south to visit the kidwould sim and why the government continued to pursue its policy of delegitimizing the Jewish state and the effect that that had on Jewish people. I'd ask the Education Minister why he repeatedly failed to support a judicial inquiry into antisemitism on campus and failed to call the universities, the NTU, the student leaders, the university regulators to heal to deal with these issues. I'd ask the Attorney General why she and her predecessor failed to deal with the anti semitism at the Human Rights Commission. I'd ask the Prime Minister why he always had to be dragged, kicking and screaming to do anything in relation to protecting the Jewish community from antisemitism and ensuring the safety of all Australians.
00:45:50
Speaker 2: That was a question without notice. And you can tell you're a lawyer because you had all the answers ready to go. Julian Lisa, thank you very much for your time and again exceptional speech today. I'm so glad you put that on the record in Parliament because you know we've been talking about, including you and I those exact concerns off air, but now it's on the record in the Parliament in handside.
00:46:11
Speaker 3: Thank you, Charrion, thanks for your leadership on these issues too, Thank.
00:46:14
Speaker 14: You, thank you.
00:46:16
Speaker 2: Right after the break, Donald Trump's fiery threat to bomb a strategic ally and why are key player is concerned over the progress of orchis Peter Jennings next well, President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Amman if the country gets in the way of negotiations to open the Straight of hor moves when asked how the deal was going, here's what he had to say.
00:46:40
Speaker 14: They're not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel as necessary. Look, we're in there for one reason. Ran cannot have a nuclear weapon. You understand that Ran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won't have a nuclear weapon, and right now them building one after what we did previously with the beat two bombers going to be a long time behalf. But a Ran cannot have It is very simple.
00:47:05
Speaker 7: They can't have a nuclear what.
00:47:06
Speaker 2: A News twenty four Defense analyst Peter Jennings joines me now live in camera, Peter, is this another empty threaten? And do you think Trump was right to threaten an ally?
00:47:19
Speaker 11: It's another empty threat and he wasn't right to threaten an ally. This is bad long term or short term strategy from an America which now needs its allies more than ever. Amman has been a pretty low key but effective supporter of American interests in the Middle East for many years. It was a throwaway comments, so probably one shouldn't invest too much in a charry. But the President has just had a pretty awful week where he seems to be supporting the authoritarians, being nice to Kim Jong un of North Korea. That's never a smart move, and being nicety to the allies, the South Koreans, the amanis. This has not been a good week for American foreign policy consistency.
00:48:04
Speaker 2: I spoke to Scott Morrison earlier this week and he indicated that we could it might have been actually late last week he indicated that we could get to a situation where this conflict actually isn't resolved, the Iran war doesn't get a deal.
00:48:19
Speaker 11: Do you think that's likely, Well, it's certainly not resolved now, And in fact, I think as oil continues not to flow through the Straits of WM as the downstream economic consequences of this sharia still to be felt. We've been cushioned in the first phase of the war by the Japanese and the Chinese drawing down their existing oil reserves. So there is a bite which is still to be felt. I think at the petrol station and at the farm gate, through fertilizer and other things that come through the straits. I think the Iranians are now out to make absolutely certain that there will not be a resolution this side of the midterm elections in the United States, and so as we move into twenty twenty seven. This is going to continue when it's very clear that we will have a lamb d up president and also one that is remarkably uninterested in using military power.
00:49:16
Speaker 2: I mean, do you think that this is Trump mishandling this by making it known publicly pretty early on that he did want the war to come to an end.
00:49:28
Speaker 11: Yes, I'm afraid so. And we've reached the end of sixty days where negotiations were supposed to happen, which was going to create a peacetime dispensation. The Iranians couldn't be clearer in saying to the world, we are simply not interested in cutting a deal with the president. The clip that Jujus shrowed, you know, Trump is talking about no nuclear weapons, but he doesn't address the straight offul moves, which is the bigger economic issue in the short term at least. So the President has failed this one. I think he suffered from an absence of calm, consistent strategic and military advice in the Oval office. He's kind of made too much of it up by himself. It's diminished him as a result of that, and I think it's going to now dog his presidency for the remainder of his time.
00:50:17
Speaker 2: I think he got spooked by the domestic reaction early on the fact that everyone hated the war. But then what's that? I mean, ironically, that's just meant that it's lasted longer and the poles sunk further very quickly. You know, the frustrations building between ORCUS partners. Once again, how do you see this playing out?
00:50:37
Speaker 11: Look, I think there are some concerns that the Americans are still holding the ace card in terms of will they let us have those Virginia class submarines. They're not lifting their industrial ability to produce them any faster. We don't appear to have the capacity to sell orcast to our own people, let alone to the United States. It's great those American subs are going to be here from next year, but as to whether Australia se nuclear submarines for our navy, that's still an open question, and the government is not really making the case as to why the Americans should hand such a vital capability over.
00:51:10
Speaker 2: I'm surprised you say we can't sell it to our own people. I thought there was broad public support for it, but Peter were out of time. Always a pleasure and thank you for your company tonight, I'll see you tomorrow at eight. And right now, here's Paul Murray.
Speaker 1: Good evening.
00:00:07
Speaker 2: We've got breaking news tonight. The Sydney Swans board is meeting right now to decide on players, sanctions and penalties. This is the AFL finally breaks its silence over the scandal engulfing the Swans, and more details emerge about what allegedly happened in the early hours of Sunday morning. Full details in just a moment. Also on the show, Julian Lisa uses parliamentary privilege to name those he says should be hold before the Royal Commission. He'll be on the show a bit later. Plus the shameful snubbing of veterans on Vietnam Veterans Day, and the Federal Court has made an outrageous decision to overturn the visa cancelation of a convicted sex offender. That with John o'dunham shortly, but first let's get to this breaking news. The AFL and Swans are looking at standing down four players for bringing the game into disrepute by partying into the early hours of the morning and drinking alcohol. Sources tell me the club is examining the legalities around suspending the players for this secondary issue of partying and alcohol. While the sexual assault. Allegations made about an incident at an East Melbourne hotel in the early hours of Monday morning are under investigation and to the Breaking News, the Sydney Swans have just released a statement moments ago. It reads, the Sydney Swans can confirm that the club board will meet tonight to agree on players sanctions and penalties, now that the club has concluded its interviews with all the players involved in the incident in Melbourne. We respect there's an ongoing investigation by Victoria Police and any actions we take are independent of this. The club believes the players are in serious breach of expected club behavior and standards, and it is appropriate to take firm action and highlight that any sanction we impose relates solely to those breaches. The club also acknowledges that these serious allegations impact others and their well being must be paramount So that breaking news right there that the Sydney Swan's board is meeting as we speak looking at penalties and sanctions for the players. And as I said, this is understood to relate to the secondary issue of the players parting into the early hours of the morning and consuming alcohol, rather than the issue of the investigation, which is with Victoria Police. Now this statement comes as fresh footage has emerged of coach Dean Cox and some staff heading into a bar after midnight. The Herald Sign has obtained this vision you're seeing in your screen right now, and it does show Cox walking into a buy in Richmond and then he leaves in a vehicle around one am. Four players from the Sidney Swans linked to the investigation, Isaac Keeney, Chad Warner, James Jordan and Riley Weiss have been questioned by police. Now some of them have partners of fiancees and the AFL tonight has finally broken its silence, with chief executive Andrew Dillon saying the woman who made the police report is entitled to privacy and care. He also hit back at those who complained this was all impacting the game so close to the finals. He said that sexual assault allegations are serious, irrespective of who's involved, what time of year it is, or what it may mean for a season. Here's what Andrew Dillon said in his statement. He said, our first question should not be what this means for.
00:03:57
Speaker 3: A football club.
00:03:58
Speaker 2: As a sport and as an industry, we are clear about the standards we expect and the values we stand for, and the need to uphold them. Being clear about our standards also means being prepared to act when those standards are not met. Notwithstanding the ongoing police investigation, the AFL and Sydney Swans will consider the broader conduct of the players as more information comes to light. Now Victorian police have clarified they're still investigating and no arrests or chargers have been late. They said that police spoke to a number of people at the hotel. However, no one has been arrested or formally interviewed at this time, but they confirm the Sexual Crime Squad is investigating a report of sexual assault. On seventeenth of August, in the early hours of the morning, the Swans had won the game against Essendon at the MCG on Sunday night. Many players then went out for dinner and drinks around seven hours long. Between two point fifteen am and three forty am, groups of players reportedly returned to the club's hotel. The Australian newspaper reports that one player had arranged for at least two women to join him at the Wellington Parade hotel. A commotion then erupted in the hotel room of one of the players when one of the women claimed their understanding of what was off limits was breached. Sources say in the Frakka, at least one of the women left the room and headed downstairs, where they confronted club and hotel staff. Onlookers in the hotel lobby overheard a woman who was visibly and audibly upset telling the venue and club staff that she'd been inappropriately touched. Now, this is all playing out publicly before the facts have been established. The Swans has been conducting its own investigation as well as the AFL Integrity un in it, and the Swan's chief executive made these initial comments yesterday.
00:06:06
Speaker 4: We're still peaking together exactly what's transpired here and have our own set of internal inquiries ongoing. It's sad to say that we're extremely shocked and disappointed whether this has taken place and whether the players have found themselves in this situation. We understand the level of interest in the matter and there's going to be lots of speculation, but given it's a police matter right now, that is all that we can say.
00:06:33
Speaker 2: And today Sydney Coach of Dean Cox fronted the media, saying he was extremely disappointed. That's before the vision of him emerged just tonight. Captain Callum Mills also.
00:06:44
Speaker 5: Spoke, Yeah, obviously extremely disappointed with what's happened, and understand the questions and we'll update as we as we get the more information.
00:06:54
Speaker 6: Have you spoken to the plays for all the enbot it.
00:06:58
Speaker 1: Were speakers? We as the day, so good on your days.
00:07:02
Speaker 5: Oh can't comment on it.
00:07:03
Speaker 6: We don't know back. Sorry, guys, thank you very haven't spoken to any of the boys in world.
00:07:08
Speaker 7: I can't comment.
00:07:08
Speaker 6: Thank you, guys, appreciate it.
00:07:10
Speaker 3: Let's just go now.
00:07:12
Speaker 2: This may change after the board meeting tonight, but up until now the club hadn't suspended any players. Neither has the AFL, which also has the power to stand down players. You might recall back in twenty twenty the Swan stood down Ellie R. Taylor when he was charged with assault. Now, even though we don't know the details of this investigation, AFL Great Luke Hodge today said that that's exactly what should happen, That they should be stood down until they've been cleared or until more information emerges.
00:07:47
Speaker 8: Should they stand the players down this morning.
00:07:51
Speaker 1: I think if the reports are as serious as what we hear, I think that they have to do that they've got to stand them down until they're either cleared or until more information comes out.
00:08:02
Speaker 2: But even as the police have been at pains to point out that they're still taking statements to try and get to the bottom of the matter. The Victorian Premier Ben Carroll through his support behind the alleged victim.
00:08:15
Speaker 9: It is so important that every girl woman not only feels safe, but is safe and knows that they are protected and that they can be safe going about their everyday lives. This is horrible what has been reported. It is under police investigation, but every young woman, young girl, every female deserves to be treated with respect.
00:08:45
Speaker 2: There are also calls for the AFL to examine its culture and the inclusion of women after this explosive investigation into sexual assault, and AFL women's player Kate McCarthy has come out publicly against the language used by the swan's chief executive Matthew Pavlich. Kate says, is there really any surprise that women within the industry experienced such horrific misogyny when the role models or people in positions of power like CEOs of clubs use language, saying that the players found themselves in this situation. For there still has a long way to run. Police need to establish the facts. But coming on the eve of the finals, this looks like it could escalate into the worst scandal to befollow the club in decades and it seems entirely self inflicted. And will bring you more breaking news on the board meeting as it comes to light throughout the app the hour and the evening. Now Liberal and p Juli and Lisa today delivered an extraordinary speech in Parliament excoriating the Royal Commission for failing to call witnesses who he says should answer questions about anti Semitism and for letting Albanesi government ministers off the hook. Julian Lisa said, this is the Royal Commission the Albanezi government never wanted, and now it's stifling the inquiry by imposing a set time frame. Now the commission is set to run for just eleven months. It should run for two years at least. Even former Federal Court judge and Farmer Disability Commissioner Ronald Sackville said it was too short when he joined me on the show yesterday. If it were you doing it, you would seek an extension more than eleven months.
00:10:38
Speaker 6: If it were made doing it.
00:10:40
Speaker 3: All sorts of things might have happened, but if I were to forward an application and extension, it would have been much earlier than right now.
00:10:50
Speaker 2: Well, Julian Lisa today said the Royal Commission has failed to hold individuals to account. He says this was one of its key tasks.
00:11:00
Speaker 3: If leaders and decision makers are not held to account by the Royal Commission, the anti Semitism that has run rampant in our institutions will only continue. Those who are not called, who are not asked to answer for their decisions and actions. The message will be that they are not responsible, but there is no consequence for the failure to lead.
00:11:17
Speaker 2: And under parliamentary privilege. Julian and Lisa named those who he says should be called Matt Chan, Clementine Ford, John Menaju, Randa abdel Fatar. And here's what Julian Lisa said about Randa.
00:11:38
Speaker 3: Why haven't we heard from academics like Randa Abdolphatar, who refuses even to be quoted in an article alongside anyone she deems as a Zionist and encourages children to support an into fada, but we saw an intofada at Bondai. It means more dead Jewish bodies.
00:11:56
Speaker 2: Julian Lisa also said that the chair and the Chief Executive of CREATE of Australia, Wesley Enoch and Adrian Collett, should also be called to give evidence about their decision to make grant after grant of taxpayer money with a preference for artists to propagate an anti Israel or anti Jewish message. He said that university vice chancellors too should be caught. He named Genevieve Bell from the Australian National University and Duncan Muskel from Melbourne University. And Lisa also said that the protest organizers and the preachers should be on the stand.
00:12:35
Speaker 6: Recently, we saw the grotesquaie in the Royal Commission of Protest Organizers cross examining an Australian Jewish communal leader in Australia about the actions of a foreign government, the government of Israel, as if he were responsible for Israel, or that Israel's active actions justified the targeting of Jews here, why weren't the protest organizers on the stand?
00:12:56
Speaker 2: And then he named Wissam Haddad, Sheikh Ibrahim de Doone, Josh Lees Green's MP, Jenny Leong Green Senator Marine Ferruki as others who should be called. And he's right, where is the accountability from the Royal Commission? Why hasn't it subpoenaed these individuals and others like them to give evidence to answer questions. Julian Lisa also said, as we've been talking about here on the show, that the Commission had failed to hear from prominent Jewish Australians or Australians that have expertise in this area. And as you know we've been talking about it, the most senior Jewish politician in Australian parliamentary history, Josh Friedenberg, was rejected from giving evidence. The Commission also hasn't heard from Nova Paris or Mike Kelly, and there are others too. Jennifer Westercott, the singular figure showing leadership in the tertiary education sector, hasn't been called. Neither has Dave Shama, the former diplomat to Israel. But then, most powerfully, Julian Lisa demanded that the Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi, the Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, the Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, the Education Minister Jason Clair, and the Attorney General Michel Roland all be called to the stand. Now, this may seem simply political to you, but it's not. Remember ASIO director Mike Burgess publicly want that the greatest threat to life in Australia was to Australian Jews. Well, we need to know what these ministers running the country did after ASIO gave that very explicit warning. What action did they take. Their first duty isn't to indulge in all of their pet projects or waste taxpayer money. It's to keep all Australians safe. Now, here's Julian Lisa in Parliament today explaining why the Prime Minister and his top team need to give evidence.
00:15:10
Speaker 3: Explain your decisions and actions in the two years leading up to Bondai. Let the Commission and the public be the judge. We know where we ended up, fifteen dead bodies on Bondai beach. Let us hear from them under oath. Let us hear from them what went wrong from the very top.
00:15:28
Speaker 2: But Albanezi won't do this, and his hand pick Commissioner Virginia Belle won't call him. If Albanezi can't bring himself to apologize for a crass joke about melons, He's hardly going to front a Royal Commission and account honestly for his leadership failures in confronting Islamic extremism, terrorism and anti Semitism. It's far easier to announce new gun laws that cast farmers and recreational shooters as the problem. And as I said, Julie and Lisa will be on the show tonight a bit later, so I'll come back to that, but first, now veterans have blasted the Veterans Affairs Minister Matt Keo for declining to sit down and meet with them. It left the former Royal Air Force pilot Tim Nelson gobsmacked.
00:16:23
Speaker 10: Minister Keyo was forced to have a meeting with us at five point thirty. It was obvious he did not want to be there. He even let us know that he was missing an appointment with the Governor General, which he was.
00:16:34
Speaker 6: Very upset about.
00:16:35
Speaker 10: He walked into the room, refused to shake our hand, sat down with his arms crossed, and rolled his eyes when we started telling him about the effect that this cap already is having on veterans that.
00:16:50
Speaker 2: After Matt was forced into having the meeting. Now, this was because labor didn't want to scrap or doesn't want to scrap a five thousand dollars cap on Allied Health as funding for veterans. Well, Matt key O then admitted that he was wrong. Here's what he said in question time today.
00:17:08
Speaker 11: I acknowledged that I got it wrong in not agreeing to meet with them last week when that initial request came in.
00:17:12
Speaker 6: I owned that, and I met with them, and I heard them last the last night.
00:17:18
Speaker 2: And joining me now to discuss former Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger and New's twenty four host Steve Price. Good to see you both. Well, Michael, this is pretty shameful on the day that marks the Battle of Longtan back in nineteen sixty six.
00:17:33
Speaker 12: You know, Shari, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. There's probably no more sacred ministry is there in the federal government to be given the honor of being the Minister for Veterans Affairs. Joe Lyons prime minister held that portfolio. Billy Hughes after his primeister held that portfolio. More recently, people like the Great Michael Ronaldson, Bruce Bilson, Dan Tan and in the Keating government, the late and much loved and respected con Shaker Labor Minister between two four and two six. And now this bloke. If you can't be sacked for disrespecting veterans, which would be right up there amongst the most gregious political crimes in this country. If you can't be sacked for that, what can you be sacked for under Anthony Elbanezi Shari?
00:18:29
Speaker 2: And what's worse Steve is that? And by the way, well said Michael, But what's worse Steve is that even when he met with them, I mean, by the account of the meeting that we just heard, it sound like it sounds like he was quite rude.
00:18:43
Speaker 7: Yeah, apparently he sat there with his arms folded, rolled his eyes, refused to shake hands on the way in. He did say in Parliament today he shook hands on the way out. I'm not sure any of those veterans there at the end of the day would have wanted to shake hands with Matt Ko. I mean, seriously, to cap veterans' medical expenses at five thousand dollars is such a bad piece of policy. And that's what this is all about you've got to get rid of that cap. I mean it's ridiculous. I mean you think about, you know what a psychiatrist's appointment's going to cost you. You think about what all of the medical issues that you might have as a returning veteran. I mean, in this instance, we're talking on the Battle of Long Tanday. But all of those boys and girls that came back out of the Middle East, imagine saying to them they can only get five thousand dollars. I mean, the Department of Veteran Affairs has been so badly handed for so long, it's ridiculous. I would suggest to Matt Keo and to Anthony Albanezi, why don't you, Matt go and sit down with Keith Payne VC who won that VC in a battle in Vietnam, and ask him what he did for his country. He fought in Malaysia, he fought in Borneo, he fought in Vietnam. He is ninety two years old. Now imagine what he thinks when he sees a bloke like Ki who's had no military experience, and what Kio has done to these people.
00:20:05
Speaker 11: It's drift, No, it.
00:20:07
Speaker 2: Is indeed, look it adds to the perception that this government is just disrespectful to veterans. I mean, you look at the way that the AFP Commissioner decided to arrest Ben Robert Smith as well. All right, let's turn to the I mean, we're seeing more policies from Pauline Hanson every day, and today her plan to tackle the illicit tobacco trade and organize crime. Now, Michael, she wants to remove the seventy five percent seventy five percent of the tobacco excise. It would cut the price of cigarettes by nearly thirty dollars. But it's not actually about the price of cigarettes. The argument, of course, Michael, is that you know, this tobacco excise has been driving organized crime in quite a big way, particularly in New South Wales.
00:20:52
Speaker 12: So it looks as if, in round figures, the cost of a cigarette has gone The text on a cigarette has gone from a dollar twelve to a dollar fifty five under the the Albanese government, a pretty hefty rise. This is fueled the black market, So I have to say I think Hanson's right. I mean, receipts have gone from twelve billion to four billion because everyone's buying them on the black market where they're twenty dollars instead of forty dollars. So I think she's right. Down here in Victoria Sharry, they've slowed recently, but we've had that many fire bombings of tobacco shops, the illegal tobacco shops opening everywhere, gangland wars down here, people being paid to drive cars through tobacco shops. We've had this war between the various illegal groups, some of the Middle Eastern crime gangs allegedly. So typically Jim Charmers says, Oh, I don't think that would have any effect. I mean, it doesn't have any He doesn't have a clue Jim Charmers about anything. And you know, honestly, and I think Hanson's right. You know, if you make if you disincentive, if you give a disincentive for people to bring in illegal cigarettes by reducing the price of the inward cigarettes, then there's no margin for the criminals. So what's happening at the minute doesn't seem to be working. So yeah, I think she's right.
00:22:10
Speaker 2: Do you think this is the answer?
00:22:12
Speaker 7: Steve One worked in Canada when they had the same problem, And Michael and I know a place in Melbourne called Chapel Street. Very well, we've had worry.
00:22:24
Speaker 6: I know that.
00:22:24
Speaker 2: Well, Illegue, Well, all the shopping.
00:22:27
Speaker 7: Illy not anymore.
00:22:31
Speaker 6: You wouldn't go.
00:22:32
Speaker 7: It's full of drugged out lunatics running around with machetes. You wouldn't want to go anywhere near it. But these tobacco shops down there, the state government passed laws to say it's illegal to sell these illegal cigarettes. I decided to test that out a cup about three months ago. I went into three shops and bought three packets of cigarettes for about fourteen dollars a packet, within about two hundred meters of each other. So no one's policing it. The police don't give her rats about it. They don't want to go in there and arrest people for selling these things. And so you know, Pauline again is ahead of the pack. I saw Matt Canavan on News twenty four tonight saying, oh, well, you know, one day she says it's this price, and the next day that forget about that, Matt. She has done the right thing. Lead the lead the issue on things, say to people, we're going to stop these firebombings, and that's one way to do it.
00:23:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, it is Steve step go for it.
00:23:28
Speaker 12: The good news, Steve is And you know, Steve, I just lived near Chapel Street. There hasn't been a fire bombing of an illegal tobacco shop, a fire bombing of a nightclub, or a gangland murder in Chapel Street for at least a month. At least a month that's gone by, mate.
00:23:41
Speaker 2: It's terrible that that is the good news. I just wanted to add, though that conversation that Pauline Hanson is on the same page as new Southerwist Premier Chris Men' who's been arguing that this high excise is causing this. He's been raising this for some time with the federal government, with the Treasurer, but the federal government, you know, just don't want to change the policy. Look, we're really running out of time, but very quickly before we go, Chris Bowlan is reportedly scrobbling to fill seats at his taxpayer funded climate summit in Fiji. I mean, Michael, this costs twenty million dollars. I mean, this whole exercise was for his own ego, wasn't it. And now we're hearing that he's turning to the Global Union Public Services International to get people to turn up.
00:24:27
Speaker 12: Look at they wan to be facetious chari but it seems to be a very low level conference. Why can't they do it by zoom? Why do they all have to fly to Fijian's been twenty million? You know, really it's taxpayers money. They couldn't care two hoots.
00:24:43
Speaker 2: Yeah indeed, all right, Michael Kroger, Steve Price, thank you very so much. Now to a story that's made a lot of people are angry today. A convicted child sex offender may be allowed to stay in Australia after the Federal Court overturned the cancelation his protection visa. This is a fifty year old he's been living in Australia since the High Courts and z YQ decision, which meant the release of hundreds of convicted foreign criminals. Now in an absurd move. The court was swayed by the advice of therapists, with one saying that a permanent visa would provide a level of security that may reduce the risk of criminal or sexual offending or reducing the risk to the community. This story in The Australian Today.
00:25:32
Speaker 3: Now.
00:25:32
Speaker 2: Just last week in the show, we revealed that sixteen child sex offenders had their visa cancelations overturned by another tribunal, and another four hundred and fifty nine convicted criminals also had their visa cancelations overturned well. For more Now, Shadow Home Affairs Minister John O Duniam joins me, JOHNO, as I said, I mean, we were just speaking about this issue last week. What do you think of the advice that we read about today from these therapists.
00:26:03
Speaker 8: I'd love to know, Shari, where these therapists get their registration from, because frankly, I think it needs to be revoked. The idea that a court could find, on the basis of advice from a therapist that we as a community might be safer or this individual might be less likely to offend, but if they stay here and are given some sort of ongoing protection visa or similar is frankly gob smacking. The best protection we can give to our country, to the people who live here, the safety of women and children in our community, is to send.
00:26:37
Speaker 13: These people home.
00:26:38
Speaker 8: They don't belong here. You break the law, you do something heinous like this, we should be sending you on the first plane out.
00:26:44
Speaker 6: So I think, and I.
00:26:46
Speaker 8: Would hope that there is an appeal on foot for this overturning of the visa, because honestly, we cannot and the government should not abide by allowing courts to decide who's here and taking the advice of therapists from goodness knows where to decide whether they should be in this country or not.
00:27:05
Speaker 2: Not just this case, but looking at the figures I just mentioned, you know, four hundred and fifty nine convicted criminals and other sixteen child sex offenders having their visa cancelations overturned. So obviously the government is doing the right thing in counseling their visas. What needs to happen to make sure that the cancelations can't be overturned by either a federal court or a tribunal.
00:27:29
Speaker 8: Yeah, look, and so the right decision is being made in the first instance, that's correct, and I think that needs to be backed up again by, as we've discussed previously, stronger ministerial directions so that members of the art can see what it is the government's intent is when it comes to protecting our community, the kind of people we are happy to have stay in our country under certain circumstances, and the types we should be booting post haste. And of course then if that isn't strong enough, then let's end the laws. Let's look at the basic laws we have governing who is able to stay in this country, what are the thresholds for removal from Australia. And you know what, again, here we are in Parliament this week. I'm happy to sit down with Tony Burke. I'm happy to sit down with Michelle Roland, even the Prime Minister if we need to and actually amend the laws so that we can make sure if a decision is made to boot an evil individual like the ones we're talking about here child sex offenders, we should get them out.
00:28:28
Speaker 2: What needs to change though, specifically with the law, because you know, your first suggestion of ministerial intervention I mean, Shirley four hundred and fifty nine ministerio interventions is unsustainable. It would take up the Home Affairs Minister's entire job. So how does the law specifically need to change?
00:28:46
Speaker 8: So with a ministerial direction, that is a direction in writing almost like a regulation, a legislative instrument. To members of the Administrative Review Tribunal, this is what the government means, this is what we think thresholds are for deportation or for cancelation of visas, So that is a one off and it should be a guard to members of that quasi judicial body to boot these kinds of people. If it is changes to the law, to the Criminal Code, or to the Migration Act, or to a regulation relating to the Migration Act, then let's just be clear about what we deem to be a threshold for booting someone from the country.
00:29:27
Speaker 6: If we need to.
00:29:28
Speaker 8: Insert new criminal offenses or ones that exist and make sure they're specified as a reason to cancel a visa, then let's do it. This is not rocket science and the government can do something. They've got willing accomplices here to keep Australia safe. So we're ready to work with them and they should do it tomorrow.
00:29:47
Speaker 2: As you've heard this week, Pauline Hansen has called the visa system a scam on the Australian people. She's talking about allowing three hundred and eighty five thousand spouses and their dependent children to enter the country off the back of you know, these student and graduate visas. So she's saying that this shouldn't happen. Do you agree that these numbers need to come down. And also do you think it's worrying broadly for the coalition that she's setting the agenda on issues like this.
00:30:16
Speaker 8: Well, firstly, I do agree that the numbers have to come down. The student migrant pathway, the visas available for people to come here to study should not be a backdoor for family visas to Australia allowing entire families to relocate temporarily or in many cases permanently. So that needs reform and that's something we're working on now. Look, am I worried that Paul Enhanson has something to say about migration. No, she put out a tweet this morning that dominated the agenda. She has had things to say. She's a participant in the public debate. We've got our policies or some of our us is in the migration space out for the world to see, whether it's about picking the number of people we allow into this country to the number of houses we actually build, or insisting that people must have our values as a condition of their visa when they come to Australia. There'll be more to say around what we do when it comes to students, international students, skilled margrants as well, and how we'll actually make a skilled visa list work for our country rather than us work for it.
00:31:27
Speaker 2: You still don't have your number though, you still don't have your migration figure out.
00:31:31
Speaker 8: No, like, I'm going.
00:31:33
Speaker 2: To ask you that every week until it's out.
00:31:36
Speaker 8: And I again will make the same promise every week that we will give you a number. More importantly, we'll tell you how we reach the number.
00:31:43
Speaker 2: It's not doing it's not doing us a favor. I mean, you know, if you guys want to be on the on the same fight as Pauline Hanson and migration, you've got to tell people you know what you're.
00:31:53
Speaker 11: Going to lower it to.
00:31:55
Speaker 8: Yeah, true, true, But I'm not going to pluck a number out of thin air. I'm going to tell you if you I'm going to respect their intelligence, how we got the number and what it means for our future. So I'm going to do it the proper way, not to break numbers up like one nation. Have you well before the election, not this week, not next week, but it will be.
00:32:11
Speaker 6: Soon, all right, darniamm. Good to see you.
00:32:15
Speaker 2: Feels like a repeat of policy delays before the last election. All right, still to come. Labour's mass text message scare campaign that Pauline Hanson and the Liberals plan to scrap super This is the scare campaign. I'll speak to Daily Telly editor Ben English about the latest on the Swan scandal as well after the break. Welcome back, and let's turn to today's top story and the breaking news tonight. The Sydney Swans board are currently meeting and I'm joined by the Daily Telegraph editor Ben English. Ben, reading between the lines of their statement, does it sound to you like they are preparing to have some sanctions or penalties on some of the players.
00:32:57
Speaker 13: Without doubt they're talking about they've actually described it as a serious breach of expected club behavior and they're going to take firm action. I mean that's from Dylan, but this was from actually the Swans.
00:33:09
Speaker 6: Ye, we do.
00:33:11
Speaker 13: So there's four players involved. The speculation, not that we should really go with that, is that it's at least two games, but for one of the players involved, and this is the front page story that we have for tomorrow, who may be subject to criminal charges. This is all This is all still up in the air, still being investigated by police. But our front page story talks about the allegation is that there was an off limits that a woman described there were off limits areas where she was not to be touched and she was that's her allegation. So if that is actually results in charges, then you will see some significant, significant weeks out.
00:33:54
Speaker 2: So I kind of jumped into the spot area, which I'm not usually in, and I made some calls today sources told me, which is I think where this statement is going. That the Sydney Swans and the AFL aren't going to suspend any players for the police investigation. They want to let that play out. People are entitled to the presumption of innocence.
00:34:13
Speaker 6: But where they.
00:34:14
Speaker 2: Are going to have sanctions penalties suspending players is around the fact that they were out until the early hours, they were consuming alcohol, they were partying, and this was bringing the game and the club into disrepute.
00:34:27
Speaker 13: Yeah, that's one hundred percent right, and they do have provisions for that, and so I think that's where they're going to have to go because this is tricky, as we've seen so often in the last sort of five or six years, that you do have to have a presumption of innocence, you do have to have the course of natural justice to take its course, But at the same time, This is a huge black mark for the game and particularly for the Swans, which have always sort of presented themselves of the clean skins.
00:34:51
Speaker 1: Of the game.
00:34:53
Speaker 2: Let's have a look at that vision I mentioned earlier in the show of the coach Dean Cox. That's right leaving a a nightclub and then arriving at a bar. So he was arriving at a bar after midnight and then he gets in a vehicle around one am. The Herald sign obtained this footage band. I mean that then brings into questions about, you know, whether he should also the coach stood down because he was also out in the early hours of the morning.
00:35:20
Speaker 13: Yeah, and I think that sort of puts some context around Dean Cox's the way that he was very hesitant and quite awkward, and his response that in the day afterwards. This puts some very telling context around that. You're right, this has to he has to be accountable for those actions too. I mean, he has to set the example. This would certainly not have happened under the previous coach John.
00:35:43
Speaker 2: Longmy So when I spoke to today said they all should have been put on a bus after the game and you know, send back to Sydney. Basically or back to the airport and just kept in lockdown, not allowed to go out partying. But you know, these are adults. They should be doing the right thing this and the Swans usually do. They've got a good reputation.
00:36:03
Speaker 13: They have a great reputation and it's probably why they've been affordable latitude and there was because there was a be an element of trust. But this is at the pointy end of the season, the coming second. At the moment, they're guaranteed two finals matches, so you'd expect that they would be leaning into that and not be focusing on partying. They'd be focusing on actually winning the flag.
00:36:24
Speaker 2: And apparently they didn't. I mean, I don't watch Spot, but apparently they didn't play so well. Even though they did win the game against Essendon. I'm told it wasn't such a great No, it's.
00:36:31
Speaker 6: A great game.
00:36:32
Speaker 13: I'm not an AFIL special as either, but I was told the same thing.
00:36:35
Speaker 2: Okay, there you go. We know how to get information there if we don't watch the games ourselves. All right, I want to turn to this amazing story now. Pauline Hanson put out this text message that is apparently from the treasurer Jim charmits, maybe we can bring it up on the screen. The text message basically says that there's this scare campaign. You know it's going to be a scare campaign from Labor. It's saying that both the Liberals and One Nation are planning to scrap Super.
00:37:04
Speaker 13: Yeah, it's a ludicrous claim and it's got Jim Chalmer's name to it. Now, this is this we remember Medi Scare. It's another episode of that. There's no plan by either party to get rid of Super. But Pauline Hanson's turned it back into our own favor and this is sort of her trademark at the moment. Has been very agile and so she's come straight back and said, it's Pauline Hanson here. This is on X tonight. It's Pauline Hanson here. Jim Chalmers is full of shit. That's what she said. I was told I could say it on air, So go ahead, glad you checked. One Nation doesn't support scrapping Super. We just think people should be able to use their Super when in financial distress instead of losing their home label rather you end up homeless.
00:37:49
Speaker 2: But look, I mean you said it was like Medi Scare. This is Super Scare. It's a new scare campaign. We know they work well. Medi Scare worked well back against Malcolm Turnberlin. I think it was twenty sixteen. It worked against you know, Peter Dutton, worked agains Scott Morrison, and they roll it out every election campaign. Now they're going to have super Scare as well.
00:38:07
Speaker 5: They are.
00:38:08
Speaker 13: It's interesting because I think the Libs have been sort of caught napping in the social media warfare, but I think pauland Hanson's team has shown themselves to be more agile. The Libs, if they're going to be competitive, need to get up to speed with this because they're just at the moment too paralyzed.
00:38:26
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:38:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean they've been quite napping in messaging and everything when it comes to policies even I mean one nation's kind of releasing more policies and the.
00:38:37
Speaker 13: Coalition feels like Paul and Hanson is the opposition at the moment, is the opposition leader.
00:38:43
Speaker 2: She's got the momentum, and once you've got the momentum, it's very difficult to it's very difficult for the Coalition to get that absolutely. But she's also working. She's doing a lot of media Pauline. Every day she's doing another interview, and I think Angus Taylor could probably be doing a bit more. What do you think.
00:38:58
Speaker 13: I definitely need to pick up his velocity. He needs to get up, be up and about and be seen. And it's hard. It is really hard because, as you say, Pauline Hansen has the momentum, and so the default for the media at the moment is to turn to her. In fact, often she's in front of the media and.
00:39:16
Speaker 2: Kind of like Trump, people want to read what she says, they want to watch her, you know, they're fascinated by her. So even when she makes a mistake, can't name the Indonesian president, people don't care.
00:39:28
Speaker 13: They don't care. And she's she's developed this stick over thirty years, so she's match fit. I think Angers is still finding his way in terms of what's my style and how aggressive should I be? She just basically swings from the fences.
00:39:41
Speaker 2: She's got cut through. All right, Ben, great to see you. We look forward to you. So the front page headline tomorrow's black Swans is that.
00:39:47
Speaker 11: Right, blacks one. We'll read it.
00:39:49
Speaker 2: Thanks, thanks well, still to come, Julian Lisa Jones Us after he's headline grabbing speech excoriating the Royal Commission, plus He's right here after we also get to the Around World with Peter Jennings a bit later Welcome Back. Well, As the final weeks of hearings for the Royal Commission looms, the Coalition is now urging Labor to extend its time frame and it's remit to ensure that key voices are heard, leading the charges Shadow Education Minister Julian Lisa, who joins me live from Canbra. Julian, thanks for your time. Look, you gave a brilliant speech in Parliament today. I played a lot of it at the start of the show. What are your key concerns about this Royal Commission?
00:40:37
Speaker 3: Well, Shari, This Royal Commission had three tasks. Number one, to hear the stories of Jewish Australians, which it's done reasonably well. Number two to provide recommendations, which we'll see later in the piece. But number three and most importantly, its job is to hold people to account who are in positions of leadership and whose leadership has failed. And it's in that area that I don't think that the Commission has done enough, and that's because it hasn't the time to do it, and I want to see the Commission given an extension of time in order that it can get people from the arts community, from universities, the Human Rights Commission, government ministers and put them on the stand and held them to account. I think that's so important. We're never going to get this opportunity again. Fifteen people were murdered in cold blunder at Bondai Beach. We owe it to them to make sure that this Commission does its job properly.
00:41:27
Speaker 2: I had the former Disability Royal Commissioner and former Federal Court judge Ronald Sackville in the program last night, and he also said that he felt the Commission hadn't used either enough or effectively its coercive powers, you know, forcing people of issuing subpoenas for people to give evidence and obtaining documents. I mean, we've barely seen that at all.
00:41:53
Speaker 3: I gave the example in my speech today of the Child Sexual Abuse Royal Commission where bishops and religious leaders were taken out of nursing homes and put on the stand to give evidence and held to account for their decisions. In this Royal Commission, we've seen recently retired Vice chancellors not called to talk about the failures at their universities. We need to see so many more people held to account, and that's why the Commission needs more time. And ultimately, the Albanesi government never wanted to have this Royal Commission. It gave it an unfair amount of time in terms of eleven months.
00:42:27
Speaker 6: It's set the terms of reference.
00:42:29
Speaker 3: Now I'm calling on the Albanzi government and the Prime Minister to do the right thing and extend the time so that the Commission could do the job it needs to do.
00:42:39
Speaker 2: Look, I agree with you that the time is too shot. We said that from the start. It's on by far the short side of royal commissions, just eleven months, the hearings only beginning in May this year. However, I don't only think the issue is the timing. I think that what we've seen in tone from this commission is that it's trading very softly, treading very lightly, doesn't seem to want to upset anyone. And I think even if it had another two years, you still wouldn't kind of get the sort of teeth that you're talking about that you've seen in other royal commissions.
00:43:13
Speaker 3: Well, Shari, I've been consistent on saying this about the timing of the Commission and its three roles. Since the Commission was established. I've made several speeches about this, but with the final hearings to be wrapped up next week, I think it's very important that we put the ball in the government's court here to ensure that the Commission can do the things that it needs to do, and to ensure that it does do the things that it needs to do, and that's to amend its terms of reference to ensure it's got the time and it's got the direction to hold people to account.
00:43:45
Speaker 2: But what do you think about my point that it does seem reluctant to put some of the alleged perpetrators of offensive behavior on the stand.
00:43:56
Speaker 3: Well, look, I think it's very clear from my speech that it just hasn't put those people on the stand, and that it needs to put those people on the stand. Otherwise we desecrate the memory of the people who died at Bondai Beach and we send even worse shari a message to people that when leaders failed to take responsibility for their actions, that effectively there is no consequence for that, and so that sends a terrible message to Australians about the way in which you can ignore anti Semitism, You can downplay it and nothing will happen to you.
00:44:31
Speaker 2: Look, as I said, you did call for the Prime Minister, the Education Minister, Home Affairs Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister, the Attorney General to all be called to respond to questions about their handling of this crisis.
00:44:43
Speaker 10: What are the key.
00:44:44
Speaker 2: Issues that you would put to them?
00:44:47
Speaker 3: Well, I'd put to them, you know, what were the resources and powers that they gave their agencies? What advice did they receive as the anti Semitism grew from October seven as to what they should do? Asked the Foreign Minister why when she visited Israel she decided not to go south to visit the kidwould sim and why the government continued to pursue its policy of delegitimizing the Jewish state and the effect that that had on Jewish people. I'd ask the Education Minister why he repeatedly failed to support a judicial inquiry into antisemitism on campus and failed to call the universities, the NTU, the student leaders, the university regulators to heal to deal with these issues. I'd ask the Attorney General why she and her predecessor failed to deal with the anti semitism at the Human Rights Commission. I'd ask the Prime Minister why he always had to be dragged, kicking and screaming to do anything in relation to protecting the Jewish community from antisemitism and ensuring the safety of all Australians.
00:45:50
Speaker 2: That was a question without notice. And you can tell you're a lawyer because you had all the answers ready to go. Julian Lisa, thank you very much for your time and again exceptional speech today. I'm so glad you put that on the record in Parliament because you know we've been talking about, including you and I those exact concerns off air, but now it's on the record in the Parliament in handside.
00:46:11
Speaker 3: Thank you, Charrion, thanks for your leadership on these issues too, Thank.
00:46:14
Speaker 14: You, thank you.
00:46:16
Speaker 2: Right after the break, Donald Trump's fiery threat to bomb a strategic ally and why are key player is concerned over the progress of orchis Peter Jennings next well, President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Amman if the country gets in the way of negotiations to open the Straight of hor moves when asked how the deal was going, here's what he had to say.
00:46:40
Speaker 14: They're not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel as necessary. Look, we're in there for one reason. Ran cannot have a nuclear weapon. You understand that Ran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won't have a nuclear weapon, and right now them building one after what we did previously with the beat two bombers going to be a long time behalf. But a Ran cannot have It is very simple.
00:47:05
Speaker 7: They can't have a nuclear what.
00:47:06
Speaker 2: A News twenty four Defense analyst Peter Jennings joines me now live in camera, Peter, is this another empty threaten? And do you think Trump was right to threaten an ally?
00:47:19
Speaker 11: It's another empty threat and he wasn't right to threaten an ally. This is bad long term or short term strategy from an America which now needs its allies more than ever. Amman has been a pretty low key but effective supporter of American interests in the Middle East for many years. It was a throwaway comments, so probably one shouldn't invest too much in a charry. But the President has just had a pretty awful week where he seems to be supporting the authoritarians, being nice to Kim Jong un of North Korea. That's never a smart move, and being nicety to the allies, the South Koreans, the amanis. This has not been a good week for American foreign policy consistency.
00:48:04
Speaker 2: I spoke to Scott Morrison earlier this week and he indicated that we could it might have been actually late last week he indicated that we could get to a situation where this conflict actually isn't resolved, the Iran war doesn't get a deal.
00:48:19
Speaker 11: Do you think that's likely, Well, it's certainly not resolved now, And in fact, I think as oil continues not to flow through the Straits of WM as the downstream economic consequences of this sharia still to be felt. We've been cushioned in the first phase of the war by the Japanese and the Chinese drawing down their existing oil reserves. So there is a bite which is still to be felt. I think at the petrol station and at the farm gate, through fertilizer and other things that come through the straits. I think the Iranians are now out to make absolutely certain that there will not be a resolution this side of the midterm elections in the United States, and so as we move into twenty twenty seven. This is going to continue when it's very clear that we will have a lamb d up president and also one that is remarkably uninterested in using military power.
00:49:16
Speaker 2: I mean, do you think that this is Trump mishandling this by making it known publicly pretty early on that he did want the war to come to an end.
00:49:28
Speaker 11: Yes, I'm afraid so. And we've reached the end of sixty days where negotiations were supposed to happen, which was going to create a peacetime dispensation. The Iranians couldn't be clearer in saying to the world, we are simply not interested in cutting a deal with the president. The clip that Jujus shrowed, you know, Trump is talking about no nuclear weapons, but he doesn't address the straight offul moves, which is the bigger economic issue in the short term at least. So the President has failed this one. I think he suffered from an absence of calm, consistent strategic and military advice in the Oval office. He's kind of made too much of it up by himself. It's diminished him as a result of that, and I think it's going to now dog his presidency for the remainder of his time.
00:50:17
Speaker 2: I think he got spooked by the domestic reaction early on the fact that everyone hated the war. But then what's that? I mean, ironically, that's just meant that it's lasted longer and the poles sunk further very quickly. You know, the frustrations building between ORCUS partners. Once again, how do you see this playing out?
00:50:37
Speaker 11: Look, I think there are some concerns that the Americans are still holding the ace card in terms of will they let us have those Virginia class submarines. They're not lifting their industrial ability to produce them any faster. We don't appear to have the capacity to sell orcast to our own people, let alone to the United States. It's great those American subs are going to be here from next year, but as to whether Australia se nuclear submarines for our navy, that's still an open question, and the government is not really making the case as to why the Americans should hand such a vital capability over.
00:51:10
Speaker 2: I'm surprised you say we can't sell it to our own people. I thought there was broad public support for it, but Peter were out of time. Always a pleasure and thank you for your company tonight, I'll see you tomorrow at eight. And right now, here's Paul Murray.
