00:00:01
Speaker 1: Peter Krandlin live on Sky News Australia.
00:00:07
Speaker 2: Good evening, welcome to the program. Here's what's coming up tonight on Kredline. Ben Roberts Smith back in court today in a bit to vary his bail condition to attend a military ceremony in camera and to look closer to his family. I'll have an update for you shortly, but why his bail is so strict is beyond me. Plus, I hit the streets of Melbourne CBD with Shadow Police Minister Brad Batton.
00:00:30
Speaker 3: No prizes for what we found.
00:00:33
Speaker 2: Crime, rough sleeping, shuttered shops in a city that's lost its pride. The Reserve Band holds fire and interest rates. That's a relief. But could another rate rise be inevitable for households under pressure?
00:00:47
Speaker 4: I want to be very clear that inflation remains too high.
00:00:55
Speaker 2: In Sydney Today in a corporate Ben Roberts Smith faced just as Susan Horn as he applied to vary his bail conditions.
00:01:02
Speaker 3: He wanted to be able to live closer to.
00:01:05
Speaker 2: His family and to attend an upcoming event to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra later this month. Now, so strict are his conditions that even the simple act of accepting an invitation to the opening of a new space at the War Memorial, a space that coincidentally houses a collection of his own military material, or that requires the permission of the court. This is our most decorated living war hero, all but deny the right we all have to the presumption of innocence. Treated no better than a career criminal. Unlike the ISIS linked women who arrived back from a war zone and straight into the arms of Australian authorities welcoming arms, I might say, ushed out in private through the airport, these women were treated very differently than a man who put his life on the line to fight terrorism. Even where some of these women were arrested for crimes against humanity, slavery and terrorism offenses, so all verious serious things. Their arrests occurred behind close doors. Not so the soldier who did five tours of Afghanistan to fight terrorism, as you well recall, treated like a gangster trying to flee the country. Ben Robert Smith was arrested in sensationalist fashion on the tarmaggets in the airport, dragged off a plane in front of his family and a planeload of other passengers and into the full glare of waiting media. Now many have questioned the need for such a public arrest at all, including David Craig, a former AFP Detective superintendent and someone who himself served at our base at Taran Cott as a police expert in international law.
00:02:54
Speaker 5: He's also a person that's made it clear that he wants to clear his name. Now people want to clear their name, don't run. I don't believe that the arrest was necessary to have his appearance before the court. I do believe that a summons could have been arranged in instant summons which would place a requirement on him to return to court. I don't believe that this was a very good alternative to the AFP.
00:03:19
Speaker 2: That's David Craig, as I said, a former senior AFP officer. Others too, have questioned why he wasn't arrested at all in Sydney. He doesn't live in Sydney. He's lived in Brisbane to be close to his family for a number of years. Before that, of course, it was Perth where he was based out of the Campbell Barracks, the home of the SAS Regiment. His Australian at home while on deployment during the time those alleged war crimes were claimed to have occurred. So not Brisbane, not Perth.
00:03:48
Speaker 3: Why Sydney. Some claim it's.
00:03:50
Speaker 2: Because Sydney will give prosecutors a more ethnically diverse jury pool than Brisbane or Perth. We know there's a large Muslim population in Sydney. Some say that was a consideration.
00:04:01
Speaker 3: Well was it? We don't know, but.
00:04:03
Speaker 2: Given the close military links of both Brisbane and Perth have and I a fairly sympathetic population, perhaps that was behind police thinking. Now officially they claim that Robert Smith could have been a flight risk, but how so, He's flown in and out of Australia multiple times over the past ten years, so as to the flight risk claim, there's no shred of evidence, at least offered publicly. In fact, evidence s is that all times he has cooperated with requests from police and military investigators, as his lawyers revealed at the time of his arrest, he had in fact offered to attend the police station on summons, but the AFP instead chose to arrest him in scenes he later condemned as a spectacle.
00:04:55
Speaker 6: Past ten years my family and I have been subject to a campaign to convince the Strains that I've acted improperly in my service in Afghanistan. As I've always maintained, I categorically deny all of these allegations, and while I would have preferred these charges not being brought, I will be taking this opportunity to finally clear my name.
00:05:22
Speaker 2: The more we learn about the arrest of Ben Robert Smith, the more there is a stench around it. The fact that rumors of leaking from inside the government to the media have now been referred to the Anti Corruption watchdog says it all as well. The more we learn about the individuals former soldiers who have themselves been granted immunity from prosecution if they testify against their former comrade, well that raises serious questions about inducement and probity. But what really elevated concern for me was the recent revelations that the Albanezer government had changed the very definition of a war crime two years before the arrest of Ben Robert Smith, and that the change made was one that lowered the bar required to secure a conviction, and that change was then made to apply retrospectively to the case of this decorated war hero. Here is Senator michaelia Cash, a former Attorney General. Now, of course the shadow ag who first brought these secret legal changes to light Australia.
00:06:31
Speaker 7: You are judged on the law as it stood at the time, and as he so articulately says, our soldiers went to war under conditions explained to them by the government at the time. And now it appears that the government actually retrospectively changed the test under which they can be prosecuted.
00:06:56
Speaker 2: And this again from former AFP officer David Craig.
00:07:00
Speaker 8: I think Ben Robert Smith was set up and this is how they did it. To prove the war crime of murder, under section two six eight of the Criminal Code, you have to prove that someone is a non combatant, an innocent person in the field. Now, there used to be a list of criteria that had to be met. Every single criteria had to be met to prove that that person was a non combatant. Therefore the person that killed them could be held accountable for murder. What happened in turning twenty four the Albanese government changed it to not all those criteria, but just one. So they changed it just to one element of this non combatant list when they were investigating Ben Robert Smith for shooting allegedly a non combatant, So that was the step one. Step two. They made it retrospective. So this law changed in twenty twenty four, but they changed it back so it was retrospective from two thousand and two, so Ben Robert Smith was applicable within that time frame. Now, these laws affect the war crime of murder. They don't affect the war crimes that are applied to the ISIS brides that they do for Ben Robert Smith.
00:08:06
Speaker 2: Go figure, that's David Craig, as I said, a former detective superintendent in the AFP, someone with counter terrorism experience and of course who was himself deployed to Afghanistan to deal in the very complex area of international law. Now his claims there that Ben Robert Smith, he says, was set up, they warrant serious investigation by politicians and the media.
00:08:34
Speaker 3: We cannot have.
00:08:35
Speaker 2: A situation in this country where we send Australians to war in our name, wearing our nation's uniform under one set of legal rules, require them to meet those rules and put their lives on the line to do it, and then we change the rules when they get home and hit them with those rules retrospectively. Now there is every likelihood it'll be four or five years before this case even gets to court. As a soldier, he has already lost years and years of his family's lives, his children's lives, fighting for our nation on deployment. The very least the police can do here is to use common sense and allow him to move closer to his family. These are, after all, Commonwealth charges. They can be tried in any state of the Commonwealth. But the idea that he is treated like a war criminal now rather than a soldier facing unproven charges is wrong. It is just wrong, and so too I believe the decision handedly this afternoon down by the judge in relation to his bid to vary those very strict bowel conditions, said the judge. Ben Robert Smith can go to the event at the Australian War Memorial, but he had another request. He is forbidden from marching alongside other soldiers out of graduation event for Henry did Now Didhams is the son of his mate, the late Sergeant Blaine Didhams, who was killed in action in Afghanostan. That request to attend Henry's passing out parade has been denied, and the decision to be able to move closer to his family, well that was put off until next Tuesday. I'll cross shortly to our reporter from City Whill was there today in the courtroom. But again, I think this is where many Australians will be questioning just how fair and justice is in this country. We seem to roll out the welcome are to those accused of connections to terrorist organizations like Islamic State, but put a soldier who fought terrorism through the ringer just because he wants to live closer to his family, despite the fact, like all of us, he is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. We'll talk to our reporter in a moment, but let's go down to camera for the headlines. Guard US political reporter Ribbon Spargo.
00:11:04
Speaker 9: Emotions are running highs The Coalition escalates its criticism of Labour's budget process. The committee examining the government's proposed changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount is concluding its hearings.
00:11:18
Speaker 10: I feel very bad for the Australian people that not only are they stuck with a terrible dysfunctional parliament. Now there's the Senate Committee system and no wonder people want to smash the system up.
00:11:29
Speaker 9: Labor signaling it may make concessions for some investors and will.
00:11:33
Speaker 11: Await and treat the Senate Committee with the respect that it deserves.
00:11:37
Speaker 9: The committee is due to hand down its findings on Friday. The Prime Minister is facing growing calls to extend petrol price relief. The temporary cut to the fuel exercise is due to expire at the end of the month, but the Tourism and Transport Forum, once it extended through the July school holidays, will.
00:11:55
Speaker 2: Give consideration to those matters.
00:11:58
Speaker 9: The three month excise cut lost the federal budget two and a half billion dollars. The Reserve Bank is providing mortgage hold is some reprieve after three consecutive rate rises. It's left the cash rate unchanged at four point three five percent.
00:12:14
Speaker 6: This is reassuring in the face of all of this global economic volatility.
00:12:18
Speaker 4: I want to be very clear that inflation remains too high.
00:12:22
Speaker 9: The IRBA is not ruling out further increases.
00:12:27
Speaker 2: And as I said, we'll go back to the Bitten Robett Smith case. The appeal today or the appearance today in relation to varying the orders. He's seeking permission to vary his strict bail conditions and joining me our senior reporter of Matt Taylor, who was there for the hearing. I've just gone through some of the outcomes today, Matt, but you were there, what else can you tell us?
00:12:50
Speaker 6: Peter?
00:12:50
Speaker 11: It was a really really lengthy process ours into the afternoon. Ben Robert Smith arrived at court this morning. It was then delayed until the early afternoon, but we didn't emerge from the court until around about four thirty seven. Was about two and a half hours of hearing this argument. And as you rightly point out, he was successful in one of these variations, he was not successful in another, and the third one has been kicked down the road until next week by the judge.
00:13:15
Speaker 3: But let's run through the three.
00:13:16
Speaker 11: Of them, because the first one you point out, this was with respect to attending the opening of the atrium at the Anzac Hall at the War Memorial. Now this will be taking place in Canberra early on next week and it was eventually decided that he could attend. Now, a lot of the concern was around who he would speak to when he was at these events with other Defense Force personnel and what he might say to them.
00:13:39
Speaker 3: But the judge, when she was handing.
00:13:41
Speaker 11: Down her decision, was satisfied that this event in Canberra, it was a formal event. He received an invitation to attend, so that should be okay. But in her judgment she said though that while he's in the act, he's not to discuss anything directly or indirectly related to the case against him, apart from with his legal representatives and his family. There was them the next event, this is this march up parade happening late next week. You pointed out it was for the son of one of his combat mates. The judge, though, saying that she was not satisfied that some of those strict bail conditions could be adhered to because it was essentially an unsupervised event. In some parts there would be a portion of the event there would be a celebration that would take place behind closed doors where there might be alcohol served, and therefore she was not satisfied that these restrictions, these bail restrictions.
00:14:30
Speaker 3: Would be able to be met.
00:14:31
Speaker 11: Which is basically talking to other people about the case that's against him. Now, he was asked when he was leaving court whether or not he should be attending this event at the War Memorial in Canberra. And this is what Ben Robert Smith had to say, aspersed Victoria.
00:14:51
Speaker 3: Quess, I think this is all extraordinary. People at a home, Matt.
00:14:58
Speaker 2: I think people at home to you go through those two events won the War Memorial. Great that he can be there because the War Memorial is full of his own military memorabilia. But the idea that he can't be at a passing out parade to be alongside the son of one of his mates who was killed in action, a son who himself now has joined the military. Well, this is not a legal opinion of course on this program. I just think that's crazy. But there was another request he had to be able to move home closer to his family.
00:15:29
Speaker 3: What was the outcome there?
00:15:33
Speaker 11: The outcome on this almost interesting. This took up most of the time with a judge considering arguments from both sides. We know, of course that Ben Robert Smith is able to travel to Sydney to seek legal advice. He can then report has to report three times a week to police authorities to check in as part of those conditions. Under his well he can do that when he's in Sydney. He's also allowed to travel to Perth in Western Australia, where also if his visit to Perth or Western Australia falls within one of those three days, he's able to go and report to police there, but moving a distance away from where he currently has to report. Where unable to disclose what that location is. It was deemed that it's not sure whether or not that that would be in the best interest of this whole process for him to potentially move further away from where he currently reports, so there was a lot of back and forward about that. He says he wants to be closer to his family. There are also some other issues around employment and being closer to being able to engage in and employment, but the judge saying that she would need to seek further advice on this. There maybe further submissions as well when this returns to court incidentally next Tuesday, which is when Ben Robert Smith will be attending this event at the War Memorial in Canberra.
00:16:42
Speaker 2: We will stay across at thank you for your time, Matt. Let's bring in my pair on our national affairs are to the dat he telegraphs Guy and new his host across James Morrow and former Liberal MP Nicole Flint. I will make a comment and I won't ask you both to weigh in because we've got to be so careful of the lawyers. But it is extraordinary. These are commonwealth chargers, Nicole. I know you're a lawyer as well. They can be they could be held, they could be tried, They can be dealt with in any state in the Commonwealth jurisdiction. So this idea that he can't move here and he can't move there if there's a police station in the vicinity.
00:17:16
Speaker 3: I don't know what the drama is.
00:17:17
Speaker 2: But anyway, one rule for one and a different rule for someone else, it would seem let's go to this clash this morning, though, a fiery clash between Tim Wilson and Amanda Rishworth.
00:17:29
Speaker 3: Have a look at this.
00:17:31
Speaker 7: Maybe you should table your book because of course you've argued for these changes.
00:17:35
Speaker 12: Also, so these grow on a man.
00:17:38
Speaker 3: That's not true.
00:17:40
Speaker 12: That's not true. You're telling me to country.
00:17:44
Speaker 13: Screaming for help, and your answer to this is to turn around and to censor and silence them. There's a point in which astra Is just didn't give it to people that is, you didn't give it to people at the last election. You lied before the Australians people before the last election. You're now got through astrangers get to have to say about still running.
00:18:09
Speaker 3: Well.
00:18:09
Speaker 2: Here is Cops some criticism criticism Nicole that he's not going hard enough on the economic front. I think he's gone hard there this morning. If you're asleep watching today, he certainly would have woken everybody up.
00:18:19
Speaker 3: But he pushes back pretty hard on her in relation to the lie.
00:18:23
Speaker 2: And we all heard a man in Riskweth and she saying that's not true, that's not true, that's not true. Well, I'm not going to play it again, but we've all heard the Prime minister's lie.
00:18:33
Speaker 3: We sure have, Peter.
00:18:34
Speaker 14: And it's a relief to see Tim will seeing Tim Wilson firing up at last, and the Liberal Party firing up at last. This is what we've been missing from them, and this is the perfect reason that they should be getting as angry as possible, because every single small business around the country is screaming out for Labor to change the appalling announcements that they made during the budget that they seem intent on ramming through Parliament. But I tell you what, if they do, Peter, it doesn't end well for them, and nor should it. They are intent on economic destruction of the country. It's not good enough, and I hope we see more of these sorts of performances from Tim Wilson and the Liberal Party team.
00:19:17
Speaker 15: Yeah.
00:19:17
Speaker 3: I think that's probably been part of the problem, hasn't it.
00:19:20
Speaker 2: James to Cole's right, people have been willing the Coalition to get into the ring. We saw a little bit of it there, but we've got to have a lot.
00:19:27
Speaker 3: More of it.
00:19:28
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, we do have to get more of it. We have to not only get the angry performances like that Tim Wilson taking it right up to Amanda Rishworth and everybody else has been challenging all of the members of the government's front bench. But we also need to see a lot more I think in terms of policy now. We saw some of that start to come out in Angus Taylor's Budget reply speech, and that's great, you know, talking about indexing taxage, tax brackets, this sort of thing. Yes, all of that's good, but you know, what I really want to see is the start to create a real, inter actual case for real reform, not the reform, the nonsense reform that labor talks about, which is really just a way to raise another eighty or one hundred billion dollars, but real reform to get productivity up, to make us all wealthy again, because we should be such a rich nation, and it we're going backwards because of all of this.
00:20:21
Speaker 2: I'll stay with you, James. The Iran deal, I wasn't pretty happy with the last nime. I felt we were away. The West Australia unfortunately never got involved in any of it. But the United States looked like they had signed off a deal to get the deal away without really changing much at all. But there seems to be a little more meat on the bones today.
00:20:41
Speaker 3: Have a listen.
00:20:43
Speaker 16: This means that a Ran will never have a nuclear weapons.
00:20:45
Speaker 17: Why they didn't get a dime?
00:20:47
Speaker 13: Did they ever get an American dime a taxpayer dollar?
00:20:50
Speaker 6: No?
00:20:50
Speaker 16: So number one, First of all, they never get a dime of American tax payer money ever, full stop, not even close.
00:20:56
Speaker 12: What we have said is there's a lot.
00:20:58
Speaker 16: Of economic benefit in the United States relieving a lot of sanctions and welcoming them back.
00:21:03
Speaker 3: Into the world economy. There's a lot of benefit.
00:21:05
Speaker 16: They're not American money, but there's a lot of economic prosperity that can flow from that. What the President said to them is, we want you to be a successful country. But for you to be a successful country, you've got to give up on this threat. You've got to give up on this desire to have a nuclear weapon.
00:21:21
Speaker 2: What about the concerns those times that they could access a three hundred billion dollar reconstruction fund. I hear him on the nuclear but they promised the nuclear staff before. I have little faith that they will honor it. But generalized UN funds funds from Europe, that's a concern.
00:21:38
Speaker 1: That's a huge concern. I mean, you know, first of all, Germany also promised not to rearm when they signed the Treaty of Versailles after World War One, and you know, we know what happened there. So I also don't trust the Iranians this idea that you bring them back into the fold of the world community, so long as the IRGC is running the joint as far as some sort of reconstruction fund, well looking to reconstruct, because the stuff that got blown up in this conflict, you know, they never did the power stations, they never did the bridges, they never did civilian infrastructure with these attacks in military infrastructure. So I'm pretty wary of this, particularly since A we don't know what the terms of the MoU are here and B you cannot trust the Islamic Revolutionary Guard core. There is a premise within Islam called a Hudna treaty, which is what you signed with your enemies. It's in Islam to give you time to rearm for the next phase of the conflict when you win. I just think that this I'm not happy with it. I feel like they wanted to get the deal away so they can have a nice party. But you know, I just think that this is going to be this is going to come back and bite us. Sorry, it's true.
00:22:48
Speaker 2: I am as skeptical as you. Let's go to a good job today in the Australian from Judas Sloan. I mean, she's come through a lot of labor spinn here in a call on migration the perspective, there's been one point four million long term arrivals ever since this government was first elected. Now that's greater than the population of your hometown of Adelaide.
00:23:09
Speaker 3: The number of.
00:23:10
Speaker 2: People on bridging visas well, that's jumped up from three hundred and seventy thousand before Labels elected to four hundred and twenty thousand now those on temporary visas that's gone up by a million, from one point nine to two point nine.
00:23:25
Speaker 3: The numbers don't LINI.
00:23:28
Speaker 14: The numbers don't lie, but Labor certainly does. And Peter, is it any wonder that your excellent line that you said live on air. I think I was actually on the program when you said it. By the liar has resonated so strongly with the Australian people, and One Nation have very cleverly weaponized it to raise what over two million dollars now in funding to fight Labor. Their record on migration is appalling. The fact that we have more people coming into the country during Labour's term than we have residents of Adelaide is just simply shocking. We know we don't have enough houses, We've got record pressure on our hospitals, on our roads, on our infrastructure and our public transport. This is an absolute disaster. They're doing nothing to turn it around. And the other I thought quite shocking factor in Judiths article was that we are now the country in the world with the highest proportion of non Australian born residents. So there are no other countries that have as many migrants proportionally that Australia does. So is it any wonder people are angry?
00:24:36
Speaker 5: No?
00:24:36
Speaker 14: Is it any wonder that one nation is resonating so well? No, and good to see Angus Taylor and the Coalition saying we're going to introduce some really stringent rules to help deal with this problem.
00:24:49
Speaker 2: Nicole, you're spot on at the last point. It's thirty two percent. And in Britain they're up in arms about the fact that they're overseas born population first generation overseas born is sixteen percent.
00:25:00
Speaker 3: We're thirty two.
00:25:00
Speaker 2: We are double what Britain is and they're basically going to the barricades because they're so worried.
00:25:05
Speaker 3: And here you're.
00:25:06
Speaker 2: Basically a racist if you want to talk about migration. But the polls don't lie either. That's also the problem for labor. Thank you to you both. Olivia there, let's go to a quick break. After the break, we're going out on the bad streets of Melbourne. I said I would well. I went out with a bit of muscle. I took Brad Batton with me. We took the crew out. I want you to see for yourself just how far this capital city of Melbourne has fallen.
00:25:33
Speaker 3: Welcome up, Welcome back.
00:25:35
Speaker 2: Coming up live, we'll go to London for the latest on that crucial bar election at the end of this week. It involves a man who's very likely, if he wins, to challenge Starmer for the job of Prime Minister. But now to a city once consistently crowned the world's most livable a few shorty years ago. Melbourne was the duel, the victorious Crown and arguably one of Australia's greatest urban success stories. But that crown has well and truly slipped, and with it, some say the pride, confidence and sense of security the city once had. Concerns are growing over Melbourne's CBD. We're talking about crime, disorder and a growing sense of neglect. It's like COVID hit Melbourne, emptied it out and life never really returned. After years of criticism and not enough action from the Melbourne City Council or the state government, people are now demanding answers as to how to restore the city's reputation. So, as I said I would, I took the cameras out with shadow Police Minister Brad Batten to look at some of the issues confronting the CBD, to talk to locals and find out what it'll take to bring back pride and make Melbourne feel safe again.
00:27:00
Speaker 3: You know, really touristic part of Melbourne.
00:27:02
Speaker 2: If you're coming from into State, this is where you're going to the g or the theater or something, and this is what greets you.
00:27:08
Speaker 17: Well, this is the gateway in the city and if you want people to feel safe, then you have to have a clean environment without the graffiti all over the walls. It looks like in Melbourne's in decline and I think since COVID people have gone backwards and they're starting to see how it's impacting in Melbourne.
00:27:23
Speaker 4: Shops are empty, people are moving on.
00:27:25
Speaker 3: It's not like it used to be. No which is a horrible thing to say, but it's not.
00:27:30
Speaker 18: A lot of closed businesses.
00:27:32
Speaker 3: It's quite grotty.
00:27:34
Speaker 5: There's graffiti everywhere, there's a lot of crime.
00:27:43
Speaker 17: You can look around people that don't look at having anymore and I think that's just lost pride in our state, lost pride in our capital city.
00:27:49
Speaker 3: Retailers tell me that they're concerned.
00:27:51
Speaker 2: You know, when the customers are coming into the city, they don't feel safe. You walk around and you can see that there's not that economic lifeblood in Melbourne anymore, and so many of the shops have shuttered their clothes. There's least signs up in the windows and.
00:28:04
Speaker 17: Businesses have to get customers to walk over people effective to come into their stores and they don't get the support they need. And that's not just police. Where's the money going that was promised for homelessness here in Victoria to give people opportunity to take them off the streets. There's a lot of money going there, but it doesn't seem we're getting the services to live before that cash. And I think we need to investigate why why do Melburnians have.
00:28:24
Speaker 11: To put up with this?
00:28:25
Speaker 17: Well, they've had to put up for for a period of time now here because the government's too weak to do anything. They get scared to do anything about homelessness because I'll be seen as moving someone on from an area. But I think that actually will help those at are homeless if you've give them the services and we'll just haven't got the police support we need. Having police presence makes a massive difference. If you had three or four coppers here. You know, when you're going down to the footy, you feel safe. We don't have that anymore, and I think that's why people feel generally unsafe, because the government won't fund it.
00:29:04
Speaker 2: It's a grotty city now, you know. I don't mind a bit at edgy art graffiti.
00:29:09
Speaker 17: In some of the lanes, but this is grott and grind now the Graves Lane, These are classics. These are places you want to go and visit. But tags, tags like this aren't the things you want to see here around Melbourne.
00:29:20
Speaker 12: They're not graffiti.
00:29:21
Speaker 17: That's just someone who wants to damage our city. And I think we need to respond and make sure we can clean it up as quick as possible, but have actions have consequences for the actions of these people who do it.
00:29:31
Speaker 2: You know, I can tell the health of a state by the appearance of a capital city, and this capital city looks and feels like I think a lot of Victorians feel.
00:29:43
Speaker 17: If you don't have a strong capital city, your whole state will struggle. And I think that's just realistic across the whole world. Your capital city needs to be the place that is your peak of tourism. This should be where the pride.
00:29:54
Speaker 19: Is well, I don't feel safe, particularly towards the train station. It is very dirty as well, so I don't believe that anyone is doing anything about it. And I definitely feel a little bit less safer than before than probably the Melbourne ten years ago or twenty years ago.
00:30:13
Speaker 18: I just think there's a higher tolerance for bad behavior and people, particularly the authority, are prepared to look the other way to allow things have to happen that shouldn't happen. I'd like to see a few more people walking around, a few more police walking around, and actually I think the visual presence sort of.
00:30:31
Speaker 2: Deters people, so I spit sketchy around the train stations.
00:30:35
Speaker 4: There are way too many in shops for sure.
00:30:38
Speaker 3: Since COVID they have to start.
00:30:40
Speaker 20: It up again.
00:30:41
Speaker 3: You're a dad of girls.
00:30:42
Speaker 2: I mean, would you feel that they were safe coming into town on Saturday night?
00:30:46
Speaker 17: I wouldn't even want them traveling on the trains in groups. Now we've got no PSOs at something in the stations. We've seen the crime rates that are increased and the genuine, not just feeling of unsafety, the actual outcomes of people not being safe. So do I want them to come in the city. I really want them to. I want to make sure they in a group, but I'm not having them cuts tap with public transport and out at the moment.
00:31:15
Speaker 2: Well, i'm place to say. Brad Baton, the shadow Police Minister of course, a former police officer, a former prison officer as well, joins me on the desk.
00:31:23
Speaker 3: We'll get to homelessness in.
00:31:24
Speaker 2: About it, but let's just start with the look, the fear of the grime, grot the empty shops in the city. The city looks like it's down and it's luck.
00:31:32
Speaker 21: Yeah, and it's those empty shops, which we saw was one of the biggest issues all the way along. It gives you the impression then that no one does care. And I think that's what we heard from people even speaking to them. And you don't have to listen to me. Some of those people you've spoken to then just spoke. They use the words grotty, dirty. Ten years ago, Melbourne was unbelievable. You always knew you could walk in here. It was clean, it was safe. I just don't think it's got that same feel anymore. And businesses are feeling they're not just they're gone, they're going and they're not coming back and we saw some signs at the pizza shop.
00:32:03
Speaker 3: Tragic.
00:32:04
Speaker 21: These are small businesses who have put everything into it and they've obviously not got the support that I have the police to keep the areas safe.
00:32:11
Speaker 3: That's a huge issue.
00:32:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, this was for viewers at home. A shop at the top of Collins Street, sorry, atop of Burke Street, towards Parliament, where you'd think there would be a police presence. A young family had built a business and they had to cut and run because their staff weren't safe at night and they didn't feel safe. A lot of customers in and out of the pizza shop. I guess you know you can't now avoid the homelessness all the way through Melbourne. And we can't name this individual because he was not there to give us media comment. But we ran into someone from the council who checks on all the people as they move around, which was good to hear that there is such a program. But he made the point, didn't he that ninety percent of these people sleeping rough actually have housing, They just don't have the other services they need to get off and stay off the drugs or to deal with mental health issues.
00:33:01
Speaker 21: And that's where I think the tragic part comes in and he spoke about some people obviously not going into their individual details, that have been two years living rough, but they actually have accommodation and they where they go back to the home, it's reconnecting them back to drugs. They haven't got the support services they need, and we've seen that more and more here in Victoria. And one of the biggest things. I'm a believer that we should have had arrest powers for drunk in a public place. It's not because I want to arrest people who are drunk, it's because then you can get the services for them to assist them. I'm happy with no fines and no penalty, but I actually think we need to give the police the powers back. That makes a difference because police can guide them, give them the right options.
00:33:41
Speaker 2: Though, how are we paying four hundred thousand dollars for workers on the suburban rail loop but we've got the city of Melbourne looking as bad as it does well.
00:33:50
Speaker 21: I think there's a great question for the government and I have to ask obviously the Mayor of Melbourne as well, what's he doing to campaign for the government.
00:33:55
Speaker 2: It says to be traveling overseas and on a fine sort of lark, but you know, happy to have him on. I'm happy to have you on, Nick, but I think the city looks looks terrible on his watch.
00:34:06
Speaker 21: Cleaning up graffiti like we can have programs quickly, a clinic graffiti. There's examples of this all the way through Victoria where some councils do it really well. Well, Melbourne Council should be one of the ones, the main ones that do it. Footpaths they just don't look they're just dirty.
00:34:22
Speaker 1: You know.
00:34:22
Speaker 21: I was up in Ballarat and they're actually clean. Scrub they were actually scrubbing the foot paths in Ballaratt last minles up there. They've got the big machines out and they make the place look magnificent. If Ballarat City Council can do it with bigger foot paths than we've got in Melbourne, why can't Melbourne.
00:34:36
Speaker 3: I was in.
00:34:37
Speaker 2: Miami in January in Ronda Santis, as you know, the Republican governor there has a no tolerance policy, and I'm driving along the road for about an hour and a half north of Miami, and I'm thinking.
00:34:49
Speaker 3: Why does it look different?
00:34:50
Speaker 2: Is it particularly sunny? No, It's January, which is winter in America. What's different? And I noticed all the way along this main highway a the lawns of mode. They're not manicure, but their mode. And there is no graffiti. As soon as graffiti comes up, it's gone. You say the government could do something about it, because private contractors do something about it.
00:35:11
Speaker 12: Brad, Yeah, we've seen it.
00:35:12
Speaker 21: So the Monash Freeway compared to the Eastern Freeway, what's the difference. Then one is privately operated, one is run by government and there's a condition in their contract where they have to clean graffiti within seven days if it's offensive within twenty four hours, but they don't live by the same motto for themselves. Any person that drives along the Monash now will know there's three or four signs now that you can no longer see what Rolin is to get off on it is that covered in graffiti. There's no such thing as a sound war without graffiti. And it's not what we said before ACDC Lane style of graffiti. It's just kids out there who have just crowded havoc, and well they do it continuously because they can get away with it.
00:35:50
Speaker 3: Just a quick one.
00:35:51
Speaker 2: It looks like Ben Carroll is ruling out challenging the premiere.
00:35:57
Speaker 3: Do you believe him?
00:35:58
Speaker 21: Yeah, he's got a bit of mixed language him today, say he's not a sprinter, he's a marathon runner, and whether he's waiting till after the winter break to get his marathon run. But it's up to the Labour Party to sort this out. The reality is, the more they're talking about this, the less they're focusing on Victorians, the less they're focusing on the fact that people are struggling across them, living our crime crisis, and they're not walking down the streets of Melbourne and seeing the issues.
00:36:20
Speaker 2: He says he's not going to challenge her. Let's take him in his word. That's not to stop her resigning before the election. Do you think that's at all possibility?
00:36:29
Speaker 21: If I if I was a betting man and I looked on sports bet, I'd be actually still putting money that she's going to be there at the next election.
00:36:34
Speaker 3: That's my view.
00:36:36
Speaker 21: But the more they're talking about that, the less we're talking about the real things that happening in Victoria.
00:36:40
Speaker 3: Right, I'll ove it there, Brad, thank you, thank you.
00:36:42
Speaker 2: Right after break all across to the UK, that crucial bi election on Thursday. It's a lot there in that race for Kirstarmer of course, but also Nigel Farage and reform and the Defense Secretary, the big boss there in the UK. He has resigned taken another minister with him.
00:36:59
Speaker 3: This is huge new use. We'll talk to Sophie Elsworth in a moment. Welcome back.
00:37:06
Speaker 2: Coming up the PM's bizarre strategy, you can even call it a strategy.
00:37:11
Speaker 3: To deal with one nation.
00:37:13
Speaker 2: But now to the fallout in the Starma government with the big defense resignations the Secretary of State for Defense and also the Armed Services Minister, so that's the cabinet level minister and the junior minister both dramatically pulling the pin last week just ahead of their meeting with Australian Defense Minister Richard Miles here to discuss it. Our Sky News correspondent News Corp European correspondent Sophie Elsworth. Well, these resignations, Sophie, all over the claim and I think the numbers bear this out, that there is not sufficient investment in the British military. This is a This is a claim also leveled to Australia, but it's been heard the fallout around the.
00:37:58
Speaker 12: World it has.
00:38:01
Speaker 20: Indeed, Peter, this was a massive resignation for the Starmer government after we saw Defense Secretary John Healey Paul at quits last week and he said that there's insufficient funds being put towards defense spending here in the UK and there's no plan for defense spending to reach three percent of national income by twenty thirty. He's saying that it's not good enough and that he'd lost faith in the government and Peter, this is one of a string of resignations of key ministers under a Sekre Starmer, a very volatile time for him ahead of that upcoming by election in Ashton in Makerfield on Thursday.
00:38:46
Speaker 2: So do you think that some of these resignations are people sort of putting a pin in the map should Labor win the election and Starmer come under threat.
00:39:00
Speaker 20: Absolutely, it appears to be a cohort of ministers tossing in the tower and preparing for Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, if he is successful and wins that by election, that Key by election on Thursday, to mount a challenge against Sekir Starmer and then hopefully they get plumb portfolios. So this is diabolical for Sekir's starmer. At the moment, he's hanging on by a thread. Peter Many said he should have gone weeks, if not months ago.
00:39:30
Speaker 12: But it looks like we will.
00:39:32
Speaker 20: Have a new prime minister here very soon if Andy Burnham does win that by election here on Thursday.
00:39:39
Speaker 2: All right, Well, Reform is in the race, and events in recent days and weeks in Britain I think would suit the Reform argument. Is Burnham in the front running seat there who's likely to.
00:39:54
Speaker 12: Win, So he is ahead in the polls.
00:39:57
Speaker 20: But there's a new Ipsos poll out today, Peter, that says his approval rating is down to minus seven. It's dropped fifteen percentage points since last month. This is incredibly significant. It shows there's a tightening of this race ahead of Thursday. But Andy Burnham is the favorite to win this against the Reform UK candidate, candidate who is a plumber, a very working class candidate and someone who's seen very relatable. But Andy Burnham is hugely popular in Greater Manchester. So incredibly fascinating to watch these results come in, Peter.
00:40:36
Speaker 2: And I just want to mention too that UK announced today they're going to follow Australia and implement a social media band for under sixteens. I have to say many of the arguments that Starman was running today will run here. It hasn't been that successful in Australia. There's no prosecutions, there's no fines with the big players. Almost everyone I know under the age sixteen is still on social media, Sophie. But it's certainly getting news coverage where you are.
00:41:03
Speaker 20: He is indeed, Peter, and they are talking an awful lot here about Australia and whether or not it's worked, and also the fact that there have been significant challenges since the government in Australia introduced this ban in December. But here starma been claimed in the media. He's rushed this through ahead of the by election. But Peter will not come into force until the spring next year, which is around March next year, until children under sixteen will be booted off social media.
00:41:36
Speaker 2: We will see soph and I look forward to seeing you next week. I'll head you away to London. Will of course be at the ARC conference, the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship there, but I'll be broadcasting from London on week You'll join miss Sophie, so will Christi.
00:41:50
Speaker 3: Yulman and many others.
00:41:52
Speaker 2: And I want to get into the whole issue of deradicalization because Britain's been at it longer than any.
00:41:57
Speaker 3: Other country in the world. Is it working? Is it not?
00:41:59
Speaker 2: What we can pick up here for Australia. I'll leave it there, thanks, so see you soon. Right after the break. Albaneze's plan to deal with One Nation, we'll talk about that with someone from One Nation and the celebrity chef who's dividing public opinion. He says, if Pauline Hanson becomes PM, he's leaving the country. Welcome back, well, Anthony. Albaneze's strategy to deal with it, ever, rising Pauline hands and he says, is just to bide his time and let the wash, the populace wash, go across and come back down at the other side. So he thinks he's got a contest it. He's not going to treat her like an opposition worthy of the name, as an opponent worthy on the name. He's basically going to try and disregard her. Well, will it work. I'm not so sure it will. John Mean now Skine is contributed at Lucy zeleg and One Nation's set it up a new South. While Sean Bell, well, Sean, you'll get ignored and he thinks that'll just make you go away, will it.
00:43:07
Speaker 22: Peter? While Anthe Aberanese is claiming he's waiting for Australians to come to their senses, the Australian public is waiting for the Prime Minister to come to his I mean, what an incredible act of denial to say we can just wait out this storm. Well he can't, because the truth is the mobber upset. They're furious, and every time they open a power bill, they're going to be reminded of his lies. Every time they sit around the kitchen table and food's more expensive, they're going to be reminded of his lies. Every time someone goes to a house inspection for a rental and they see lines around the corner, they're going to be reminded of his lives. So you know, if he thinks he can and waits and somehow people are going to forget and forgive while I've got a wake up call for the Prime Minister because that is just never going to occur.
00:43:51
Speaker 2: It's a bit like lucy the old adage, should treat a man keep them keen I don't think that's going to work anymore, Prime Minister.
00:43:59
Speaker 23: No, it's just not going to wash anymore. Peter, great to be with you, you know. And this is a Labor Party, by the way, who are very obsessed with the polls. So the news for Anthony Alberanizi over the last few days has been really poor. We've also seen coming out of more left leaning publications that Pauline Hanson is now polling as the preferred PM, and we've got a host of things coming that will only serve One Nation in the way of Pauline Hanson addressing the National Press Club. We've also got the data on net migration coming out from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and this.
00:44:34
Speaker 12: Orange wave, it cannot be arrested.
00:44:37
Speaker 23: Regardless of how it's treated or what slurs are thrown at it. It only seems to embolden the One Nation movement. And you've made the point repeatedly, Peter, that for as long as people are arguing and there's still political discourse, you are still in the running. But people have stopped listening to Labor and that is a very dangerous situation to be in when it comes to politics.
00:45:00
Speaker 2: I also think comments like this from the celebrity chef Neil Perry just further reinforce that. And it's not left and right anymore. It's insider outside of Australia.
00:45:12
Speaker 3: Have a listen to this.
00:45:14
Speaker 15: We know you've got lots of fans and look, I can show you some of the text messages that are coming in right now from a whole range of people. But it sounds like the celebrity chef Neil Perry. He's not a Pauline Hansen fan. He's been asked about you during an interview. This is Neil Perry, the celebrity chef.
00:45:30
Speaker 2: Do you think Pauline could be Prime Minister of Australia.
00:45:34
Speaker 3: I wouldn't think so.
00:45:35
Speaker 5: But if she is, I won't be living in Australia.
00:45:38
Speaker 15: Neil Perry reckons you'll leave the country if you become.
00:45:41
Speaker 4: Primaristinct so what that doesn't worry me.
00:45:44
Speaker 3: I couldn't care less.
00:45:47
Speaker 2: Well, water off a duck's backshean it's better for her in many respects.
00:45:51
Speaker 3: This works for her.
00:45:54
Speaker 22: Look, I mean if I could pay Neil Perry to keep her repeat those comments, I would. If he does decide to leave, you know, perhaps the airline food would get a bit better. But the reality is when you've got people who are sort of in that elitist bubble acting like you know, everyone else out there, he's confused or foolish or silly, that's just going.
00:46:13
Speaker 2: To you know.
00:46:14
Speaker 22: It's that is the arrogance and the ignorance that has driven this surge that no one saw coming. Because one nation is out there talking to people, we are listening to their concerns. We hear and when they say that the cost living is through the roof, that they want to scrap that zero, that they want to end mass migration, we hear them. And that is why we are so focused on addressing those core issues. So when people like mister Perry and others sort of dismiss it, or they talk about Senator Hanson not not Havy, it makes me laugh because it is it is so it is it to our benefit?
00:46:47
Speaker 3: Well, I want to go to somebody.
00:46:48
Speaker 2: I opened up the top of the show with Ben Robert Smith in court seeking today in Sydney to have his bail conditions varied to enable him to leave closer to his family. He wanted to go to the War Memorial for an event that was allowed. He wanted to march with the son who's about to enter the military of a mate who was killed in action in Afghanistan.
00:47:08
Speaker 3: That was denied, Lucy.
00:47:10
Speaker 2: But we've also now got a former ISIS linked woman facing legal proceedings of her own that she's arguing she should be allowed out on bail because she has now rejected extremist ideology, and a lawyer is claiming the Evans shows she's not aligned now with the group she once joined. Are you satisfied with her professions of having turned her life around?
00:47:37
Speaker 12: Can anybom be satisfied with that?
00:47:39
Speaker 23: I mean, if for the majority of US Australians observing everything that unfolded with Ben Robert Smith. And this is an issue that, as you know, have been very committed to unraveling because there are so many things about those circumstances that stink. But if people weren't satisfied with those circumstances, they certainly.
00:47:56
Speaker 12: Shouldn't be satisfied with these circumstances. We sent these.
00:47:59
Speaker 23: Soldiers, including Ben Robert Smith, fight against ISIS and their terrorist affiliates. And now we had a woman here led with her husband from Melbourne over a decade ago to join the Caliphate.
00:48:10
Speaker 12: The caliphate ended up failing.
00:48:12
Speaker 23: They ultimately surrendered where they were held in a refugee camp, which they described as hell. But that now we as Australians have to observe someone like that come back to this country and try and plead that all that time spent over there was under the guise of oppression.
00:48:27
Speaker 12: This is a woman who has been charged with crimes against.
00:48:31
Speaker 23: Humanity, who observed one of her husband rape, allegedly rape and abuse one of their Yazidi slaves that they took in and paid ten thousand US dollars for. And we're supposed to feel sympathy. We're supposed to believe that now all of a sudden, because things didn't go in their favor, that they are against ISIS and denouncing them.
00:48:50
Speaker 9: I mean.
00:48:51
Speaker 23: One of the comments that I found to be very interesting that her lawyer argued. Miss Armad's lawyer argued was that once she got into the refugee camp she removed her face and started.
00:49:00
Speaker 12: To wear color because she was sick of being controlled by people. Well, that's interesting.
00:49:05
Speaker 23: The AFP photographs of her when she was arrested at Melbourne Airport on the seventh of May show her still in head to toe black wearing her hi job as have caught caricatures of her. So I don't think that we should be in a position to believe anybody, because what I dare say is a lot of them will be saying whatever they can to be released on bail.
00:49:27
Speaker 2: I think I share your skepticism, Lucy, and I do commend you on your work exploring some of the issues the treatment, particularly by police of ben Robin Smith.
00:49:35
Speaker 3: Well, don't you.
00:49:36
Speaker 2: I'll leave it there, Thank you you both, Thank you Sean as well. I will not be with you tomorrow night or Thursday. The wonderful Steve Price will be sitting here here, but I will pick you up on Monday. I'll we in London. I've got a huge four year next week out of London. Other forward to your company then. But right now is Andrew Bot
Speaker 1: Peter Krandlin live on Sky News Australia.
00:00:07
Speaker 2: Good evening, welcome to the program. Here's what's coming up tonight on Kredline. Ben Roberts Smith back in court today in a bit to vary his bail condition to attend a military ceremony in camera and to look closer to his family. I'll have an update for you shortly, but why his bail is so strict is beyond me. Plus, I hit the streets of Melbourne CBD with Shadow Police Minister Brad Batton.
00:00:30
Speaker 3: No prizes for what we found.
00:00:33
Speaker 2: Crime, rough sleeping, shuttered shops in a city that's lost its pride. The Reserve Band holds fire and interest rates. That's a relief. But could another rate rise be inevitable for households under pressure?
00:00:47
Speaker 4: I want to be very clear that inflation remains too high.
00:00:55
Speaker 2: In Sydney Today in a corporate Ben Roberts Smith faced just as Susan Horn as he applied to vary his bail conditions.
00:01:02
Speaker 3: He wanted to be able to live closer to.
00:01:05
Speaker 2: His family and to attend an upcoming event to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra later this month. Now, so strict are his conditions that even the simple act of accepting an invitation to the opening of a new space at the War Memorial, a space that coincidentally houses a collection of his own military material, or that requires the permission of the court. This is our most decorated living war hero, all but deny the right we all have to the presumption of innocence. Treated no better than a career criminal. Unlike the ISIS linked women who arrived back from a war zone and straight into the arms of Australian authorities welcoming arms, I might say, ushed out in private through the airport, these women were treated very differently than a man who put his life on the line to fight terrorism. Even where some of these women were arrested for crimes against humanity, slavery and terrorism offenses, so all verious serious things. Their arrests occurred behind close doors. Not so the soldier who did five tours of Afghanistan to fight terrorism, as you well recall, treated like a gangster trying to flee the country. Ben Robert Smith was arrested in sensationalist fashion on the tarmaggets in the airport, dragged off a plane in front of his family and a planeload of other passengers and into the full glare of waiting media. Now many have questioned the need for such a public arrest at all, including David Craig, a former AFP Detective superintendent and someone who himself served at our base at Taran Cott as a police expert in international law.
00:02:54
Speaker 5: He's also a person that's made it clear that he wants to clear his name. Now people want to clear their name, don't run. I don't believe that the arrest was necessary to have his appearance before the court. I do believe that a summons could have been arranged in instant summons which would place a requirement on him to return to court. I don't believe that this was a very good alternative to the AFP.
00:03:19
Speaker 2: That's David Craig, as I said, a former senior AFP officer. Others too, have questioned why he wasn't arrested at all in Sydney. He doesn't live in Sydney. He's lived in Brisbane to be close to his family for a number of years. Before that, of course, it was Perth where he was based out of the Campbell Barracks, the home of the SAS Regiment. His Australian at home while on deployment during the time those alleged war crimes were claimed to have occurred. So not Brisbane, not Perth.
00:03:48
Speaker 3: Why Sydney. Some claim it's.
00:03:50
Speaker 2: Because Sydney will give prosecutors a more ethnically diverse jury pool than Brisbane or Perth. We know there's a large Muslim population in Sydney. Some say that was a consideration.
00:04:01
Speaker 3: Well was it? We don't know, but.
00:04:03
Speaker 2: Given the close military links of both Brisbane and Perth have and I a fairly sympathetic population, perhaps that was behind police thinking. Now officially they claim that Robert Smith could have been a flight risk, but how so, He's flown in and out of Australia multiple times over the past ten years, so as to the flight risk claim, there's no shred of evidence, at least offered publicly. In fact, evidence s is that all times he has cooperated with requests from police and military investigators, as his lawyers revealed at the time of his arrest, he had in fact offered to attend the police station on summons, but the AFP instead chose to arrest him in scenes he later condemned as a spectacle.
00:04:55
Speaker 6: Past ten years my family and I have been subject to a campaign to convince the Strains that I've acted improperly in my service in Afghanistan. As I've always maintained, I categorically deny all of these allegations, and while I would have preferred these charges not being brought, I will be taking this opportunity to finally clear my name.
00:05:22
Speaker 2: The more we learn about the arrest of Ben Robert Smith, the more there is a stench around it. The fact that rumors of leaking from inside the government to the media have now been referred to the Anti Corruption watchdog says it all as well. The more we learn about the individuals former soldiers who have themselves been granted immunity from prosecution if they testify against their former comrade, well that raises serious questions about inducement and probity. But what really elevated concern for me was the recent revelations that the Albanezer government had changed the very definition of a war crime two years before the arrest of Ben Robert Smith, and that the change made was one that lowered the bar required to secure a conviction, and that change was then made to apply retrospectively to the case of this decorated war hero. Here is Senator michaelia Cash, a former Attorney General. Now, of course the shadow ag who first brought these secret legal changes to light Australia.
00:06:31
Speaker 7: You are judged on the law as it stood at the time, and as he so articulately says, our soldiers went to war under conditions explained to them by the government at the time. And now it appears that the government actually retrospectively changed the test under which they can be prosecuted.
00:06:56
Speaker 2: And this again from former AFP officer David Craig.
00:07:00
Speaker 8: I think Ben Robert Smith was set up and this is how they did it. To prove the war crime of murder, under section two six eight of the Criminal Code, you have to prove that someone is a non combatant, an innocent person in the field. Now, there used to be a list of criteria that had to be met. Every single criteria had to be met to prove that that person was a non combatant. Therefore the person that killed them could be held accountable for murder. What happened in turning twenty four the Albanese government changed it to not all those criteria, but just one. So they changed it just to one element of this non combatant list when they were investigating Ben Robert Smith for shooting allegedly a non combatant, So that was the step one. Step two. They made it retrospective. So this law changed in twenty twenty four, but they changed it back so it was retrospective from two thousand and two, so Ben Robert Smith was applicable within that time frame. Now, these laws affect the war crime of murder. They don't affect the war crimes that are applied to the ISIS brides that they do for Ben Robert Smith.
00:08:06
Speaker 2: Go figure, that's David Craig, as I said, a former detective superintendent in the AFP, someone with counter terrorism experience and of course who was himself deployed to Afghanistan to deal in the very complex area of international law. Now his claims there that Ben Robert Smith, he says, was set up, they warrant serious investigation by politicians and the media.
00:08:34
Speaker 3: We cannot have.
00:08:35
Speaker 2: A situation in this country where we send Australians to war in our name, wearing our nation's uniform under one set of legal rules, require them to meet those rules and put their lives on the line to do it, and then we change the rules when they get home and hit them with those rules retrospectively. Now there is every likelihood it'll be four or five years before this case even gets to court. As a soldier, he has already lost years and years of his family's lives, his children's lives, fighting for our nation on deployment. The very least the police can do here is to use common sense and allow him to move closer to his family. These are, after all, Commonwealth charges. They can be tried in any state of the Commonwealth. But the idea that he is treated like a war criminal now rather than a soldier facing unproven charges is wrong. It is just wrong, and so too I believe the decision handedly this afternoon down by the judge in relation to his bid to vary those very strict bowel conditions, said the judge. Ben Robert Smith can go to the event at the Australian War Memorial, but he had another request. He is forbidden from marching alongside other soldiers out of graduation event for Henry did Now Didhams is the son of his mate, the late Sergeant Blaine Didhams, who was killed in action in Afghanostan. That request to attend Henry's passing out parade has been denied, and the decision to be able to move closer to his family, well that was put off until next Tuesday. I'll cross shortly to our reporter from City Whill was there today in the courtroom. But again, I think this is where many Australians will be questioning just how fair and justice is in this country. We seem to roll out the welcome are to those accused of connections to terrorist organizations like Islamic State, but put a soldier who fought terrorism through the ringer just because he wants to live closer to his family, despite the fact, like all of us, he is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. We'll talk to our reporter in a moment, but let's go down to camera for the headlines. Guard US political reporter Ribbon Spargo.
00:11:04
Speaker 9: Emotions are running highs The Coalition escalates its criticism of Labour's budget process. The committee examining the government's proposed changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount is concluding its hearings.
00:11:18
Speaker 10: I feel very bad for the Australian people that not only are they stuck with a terrible dysfunctional parliament. Now there's the Senate Committee system and no wonder people want to smash the system up.
00:11:29
Speaker 9: Labor signaling it may make concessions for some investors and will.
00:11:33
Speaker 11: Await and treat the Senate Committee with the respect that it deserves.
00:11:37
Speaker 9: The committee is due to hand down its findings on Friday. The Prime Minister is facing growing calls to extend petrol price relief. The temporary cut to the fuel exercise is due to expire at the end of the month, but the Tourism and Transport Forum, once it extended through the July school holidays, will.
00:11:55
Speaker 2: Give consideration to those matters.
00:11:58
Speaker 9: The three month excise cut lost the federal budget two and a half billion dollars. The Reserve Bank is providing mortgage hold is some reprieve after three consecutive rate rises. It's left the cash rate unchanged at four point three five percent.
00:12:14
Speaker 6: This is reassuring in the face of all of this global economic volatility.
00:12:18
Speaker 4: I want to be very clear that inflation remains too high.
00:12:22
Speaker 9: The IRBA is not ruling out further increases.
00:12:27
Speaker 2: And as I said, we'll go back to the Bitten Robett Smith case. The appeal today or the appearance today in relation to varying the orders. He's seeking permission to vary his strict bail conditions and joining me our senior reporter of Matt Taylor, who was there for the hearing. I've just gone through some of the outcomes today, Matt, but you were there, what else can you tell us?
00:12:50
Speaker 6: Peter?
00:12:50
Speaker 11: It was a really really lengthy process ours into the afternoon. Ben Robert Smith arrived at court this morning. It was then delayed until the early afternoon, but we didn't emerge from the court until around about four thirty seven. Was about two and a half hours of hearing this argument. And as you rightly point out, he was successful in one of these variations, he was not successful in another, and the third one has been kicked down the road until next week by the judge.
00:13:15
Speaker 3: But let's run through the three.
00:13:16
Speaker 11: Of them, because the first one you point out, this was with respect to attending the opening of the atrium at the Anzac Hall at the War Memorial. Now this will be taking place in Canberra early on next week and it was eventually decided that he could attend. Now, a lot of the concern was around who he would speak to when he was at these events with other Defense Force personnel and what he might say to them.
00:13:39
Speaker 3: But the judge, when she was handing.
00:13:41
Speaker 11: Down her decision, was satisfied that this event in Canberra, it was a formal event. He received an invitation to attend, so that should be okay. But in her judgment she said though that while he's in the act, he's not to discuss anything directly or indirectly related to the case against him, apart from with his legal representatives and his family. There was them the next event, this is this march up parade happening late next week. You pointed out it was for the son of one of his combat mates. The judge, though, saying that she was not satisfied that some of those strict bail conditions could be adhered to because it was essentially an unsupervised event. In some parts there would be a portion of the event there would be a celebration that would take place behind closed doors where there might be alcohol served, and therefore she was not satisfied that these restrictions, these bail restrictions.
00:14:30
Speaker 3: Would be able to be met.
00:14:31
Speaker 11: Which is basically talking to other people about the case that's against him. Now, he was asked when he was leaving court whether or not he should be attending this event at the War Memorial in Canberra. And this is what Ben Robert Smith had to say, aspersed Victoria.
00:14:51
Speaker 3: Quess, I think this is all extraordinary. People at a home, Matt.
00:14:58
Speaker 2: I think people at home to you go through those two events won the War Memorial. Great that he can be there because the War Memorial is full of his own military memorabilia. But the idea that he can't be at a passing out parade to be alongside the son of one of his mates who was killed in action, a son who himself now has joined the military. Well, this is not a legal opinion of course on this program. I just think that's crazy. But there was another request he had to be able to move home closer to his family.
00:15:29
Speaker 3: What was the outcome there?
00:15:33
Speaker 11: The outcome on this almost interesting. This took up most of the time with a judge considering arguments from both sides. We know, of course that Ben Robert Smith is able to travel to Sydney to seek legal advice. He can then report has to report three times a week to police authorities to check in as part of those conditions. Under his well he can do that when he's in Sydney. He's also allowed to travel to Perth in Western Australia, where also if his visit to Perth or Western Australia falls within one of those three days, he's able to go and report to police there, but moving a distance away from where he currently has to report. Where unable to disclose what that location is. It was deemed that it's not sure whether or not that that would be in the best interest of this whole process for him to potentially move further away from where he currently reports, so there was a lot of back and forward about that. He says he wants to be closer to his family. There are also some other issues around employment and being closer to being able to engage in and employment, but the judge saying that she would need to seek further advice on this. There maybe further submissions as well when this returns to court incidentally next Tuesday, which is when Ben Robert Smith will be attending this event at the War Memorial in Canberra.
00:16:42
Speaker 2: We will stay across at thank you for your time, Matt. Let's bring in my pair on our national affairs are to the dat he telegraphs Guy and new his host across James Morrow and former Liberal MP Nicole Flint. I will make a comment and I won't ask you both to weigh in because we've got to be so careful of the lawyers. But it is extraordinary. These are commonwealth chargers, Nicole. I know you're a lawyer as well. They can be they could be held, they could be tried, They can be dealt with in any state in the Commonwealth jurisdiction. So this idea that he can't move here and he can't move there if there's a police station in the vicinity.
00:17:16
Speaker 3: I don't know what the drama is.
00:17:17
Speaker 2: But anyway, one rule for one and a different rule for someone else, it would seem let's go to this clash this morning, though, a fiery clash between Tim Wilson and Amanda Rishworth.
00:17:29
Speaker 3: Have a look at this.
00:17:31
Speaker 7: Maybe you should table your book because of course you've argued for these changes.
00:17:35
Speaker 12: Also, so these grow on a man.
00:17:38
Speaker 3: That's not true.
00:17:40
Speaker 12: That's not true. You're telling me to country.
00:17:44
Speaker 13: Screaming for help, and your answer to this is to turn around and to censor and silence them. There's a point in which astra Is just didn't give it to people that is, you didn't give it to people at the last election. You lied before the Australians people before the last election. You're now got through astrangers get to have to say about still running.
00:18:09
Speaker 3: Well.
00:18:09
Speaker 2: Here is Cops some criticism criticism Nicole that he's not going hard enough on the economic front. I think he's gone hard there this morning. If you're asleep watching today, he certainly would have woken everybody up.
00:18:19
Speaker 3: But he pushes back pretty hard on her in relation to the lie.
00:18:23
Speaker 2: And we all heard a man in Riskweth and she saying that's not true, that's not true, that's not true. Well, I'm not going to play it again, but we've all heard the Prime minister's lie.
00:18:33
Speaker 3: We sure have, Peter.
00:18:34
Speaker 14: And it's a relief to see Tim will seeing Tim Wilson firing up at last, and the Liberal Party firing up at last. This is what we've been missing from them, and this is the perfect reason that they should be getting as angry as possible, because every single small business around the country is screaming out for Labor to change the appalling announcements that they made during the budget that they seem intent on ramming through Parliament. But I tell you what, if they do, Peter, it doesn't end well for them, and nor should it. They are intent on economic destruction of the country. It's not good enough, and I hope we see more of these sorts of performances from Tim Wilson and the Liberal Party team.
00:19:17
Speaker 15: Yeah.
00:19:17
Speaker 3: I think that's probably been part of the problem, hasn't it.
00:19:20
Speaker 2: James to Cole's right, people have been willing the Coalition to get into the ring. We saw a little bit of it there, but we've got to have a lot.
00:19:27
Speaker 3: More of it.
00:19:28
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, we do have to get more of it. We have to not only get the angry performances like that Tim Wilson taking it right up to Amanda Rishworth and everybody else has been challenging all of the members of the government's front bench. But we also need to see a lot more I think in terms of policy now. We saw some of that start to come out in Angus Taylor's Budget reply speech, and that's great, you know, talking about indexing taxage, tax brackets, this sort of thing. Yes, all of that's good, but you know, what I really want to see is the start to create a real, inter actual case for real reform, not the reform, the nonsense reform that labor talks about, which is really just a way to raise another eighty or one hundred billion dollars, but real reform to get productivity up, to make us all wealthy again, because we should be such a rich nation, and it we're going backwards because of all of this.
00:20:21
Speaker 2: I'll stay with you, James. The Iran deal, I wasn't pretty happy with the last nime. I felt we were away. The West Australia unfortunately never got involved in any of it. But the United States looked like they had signed off a deal to get the deal away without really changing much at all. But there seems to be a little more meat on the bones today.
00:20:41
Speaker 3: Have a listen.
00:20:43
Speaker 16: This means that a Ran will never have a nuclear weapons.
00:20:45
Speaker 17: Why they didn't get a dime?
00:20:47
Speaker 13: Did they ever get an American dime a taxpayer dollar?
00:20:50
Speaker 6: No?
00:20:50
Speaker 16: So number one, First of all, they never get a dime of American tax payer money ever, full stop, not even close.
00:20:56
Speaker 12: What we have said is there's a lot.
00:20:58
Speaker 16: Of economic benefit in the United States relieving a lot of sanctions and welcoming them back.
00:21:03
Speaker 3: Into the world economy. There's a lot of benefit.
00:21:05
Speaker 16: They're not American money, but there's a lot of economic prosperity that can flow from that. What the President said to them is, we want you to be a successful country. But for you to be a successful country, you've got to give up on this threat. You've got to give up on this desire to have a nuclear weapon.
00:21:21
Speaker 2: What about the concerns those times that they could access a three hundred billion dollar reconstruction fund. I hear him on the nuclear but they promised the nuclear staff before. I have little faith that they will honor it. But generalized UN funds funds from Europe, that's a concern.
00:21:38
Speaker 1: That's a huge concern. I mean, you know, first of all, Germany also promised not to rearm when they signed the Treaty of Versailles after World War One, and you know, we know what happened there. So I also don't trust the Iranians this idea that you bring them back into the fold of the world community, so long as the IRGC is running the joint as far as some sort of reconstruction fund, well looking to reconstruct, because the stuff that got blown up in this conflict, you know, they never did the power stations, they never did the bridges, they never did civilian infrastructure with these attacks in military infrastructure. So I'm pretty wary of this, particularly since A we don't know what the terms of the MoU are here and B you cannot trust the Islamic Revolutionary Guard core. There is a premise within Islam called a Hudna treaty, which is what you signed with your enemies. It's in Islam to give you time to rearm for the next phase of the conflict when you win. I just think that this I'm not happy with it. I feel like they wanted to get the deal away so they can have a nice party. But you know, I just think that this is going to be this is going to come back and bite us. Sorry, it's true.
00:22:48
Speaker 2: I am as skeptical as you. Let's go to a good job today in the Australian from Judas Sloan. I mean, she's come through a lot of labor spinn here in a call on migration the perspective, there's been one point four million long term arrivals ever since this government was first elected. Now that's greater than the population of your hometown of Adelaide.
00:23:09
Speaker 3: The number of.
00:23:10
Speaker 2: People on bridging visas well, that's jumped up from three hundred and seventy thousand before Labels elected to four hundred and twenty thousand now those on temporary visas that's gone up by a million, from one point nine to two point nine.
00:23:25
Speaker 3: The numbers don't LINI.
00:23:28
Speaker 14: The numbers don't lie, but Labor certainly does. And Peter, is it any wonder that your excellent line that you said live on air. I think I was actually on the program when you said it. By the liar has resonated so strongly with the Australian people, and One Nation have very cleverly weaponized it to raise what over two million dollars now in funding to fight Labor. Their record on migration is appalling. The fact that we have more people coming into the country during Labour's term than we have residents of Adelaide is just simply shocking. We know we don't have enough houses, We've got record pressure on our hospitals, on our roads, on our infrastructure and our public transport. This is an absolute disaster. They're doing nothing to turn it around. And the other I thought quite shocking factor in Judiths article was that we are now the country in the world with the highest proportion of non Australian born residents. So there are no other countries that have as many migrants proportionally that Australia does. So is it any wonder people are angry?
00:24:36
Speaker 5: No?
00:24:36
Speaker 14: Is it any wonder that one nation is resonating so well? No, and good to see Angus Taylor and the Coalition saying we're going to introduce some really stringent rules to help deal with this problem.
00:24:49
Speaker 2: Nicole, you're spot on at the last point. It's thirty two percent. And in Britain they're up in arms about the fact that they're overseas born population first generation overseas born is sixteen percent.
00:25:00
Speaker 3: We're thirty two.
00:25:00
Speaker 2: We are double what Britain is and they're basically going to the barricades because they're so worried.
00:25:05
Speaker 3: And here you're.
00:25:06
Speaker 2: Basically a racist if you want to talk about migration. But the polls don't lie either. That's also the problem for labor. Thank you to you both. Olivia there, let's go to a quick break. After the break, we're going out on the bad streets of Melbourne. I said I would well. I went out with a bit of muscle. I took Brad Batton with me. We took the crew out. I want you to see for yourself just how far this capital city of Melbourne has fallen.
00:25:33
Speaker 3: Welcome up, Welcome back.
00:25:35
Speaker 2: Coming up live, we'll go to London for the latest on that crucial bar election at the end of this week. It involves a man who's very likely, if he wins, to challenge Starmer for the job of Prime Minister. But now to a city once consistently crowned the world's most livable a few shorty years ago. Melbourne was the duel, the victorious Crown and arguably one of Australia's greatest urban success stories. But that crown has well and truly slipped, and with it, some say the pride, confidence and sense of security the city once had. Concerns are growing over Melbourne's CBD. We're talking about crime, disorder and a growing sense of neglect. It's like COVID hit Melbourne, emptied it out and life never really returned. After years of criticism and not enough action from the Melbourne City Council or the state government, people are now demanding answers as to how to restore the city's reputation. So, as I said I would, I took the cameras out with shadow Police Minister Brad Batten to look at some of the issues confronting the CBD, to talk to locals and find out what it'll take to bring back pride and make Melbourne feel safe again.
00:27:00
Speaker 3: You know, really touristic part of Melbourne.
00:27:02
Speaker 2: If you're coming from into State, this is where you're going to the g or the theater or something, and this is what greets you.
00:27:08
Speaker 17: Well, this is the gateway in the city and if you want people to feel safe, then you have to have a clean environment without the graffiti all over the walls. It looks like in Melbourne's in decline and I think since COVID people have gone backwards and they're starting to see how it's impacting in Melbourne.
00:27:23
Speaker 4: Shops are empty, people are moving on.
00:27:25
Speaker 3: It's not like it used to be. No which is a horrible thing to say, but it's not.
00:27:30
Speaker 18: A lot of closed businesses.
00:27:32
Speaker 3: It's quite grotty.
00:27:34
Speaker 5: There's graffiti everywhere, there's a lot of crime.
00:27:43
Speaker 17: You can look around people that don't look at having anymore and I think that's just lost pride in our state, lost pride in our capital city.
00:27:49
Speaker 3: Retailers tell me that they're concerned.
00:27:51
Speaker 2: You know, when the customers are coming into the city, they don't feel safe. You walk around and you can see that there's not that economic lifeblood in Melbourne anymore, and so many of the shops have shuttered their clothes. There's least signs up in the windows and.
00:28:04
Speaker 17: Businesses have to get customers to walk over people effective to come into their stores and they don't get the support they need. And that's not just police. Where's the money going that was promised for homelessness here in Victoria to give people opportunity to take them off the streets. There's a lot of money going there, but it doesn't seem we're getting the services to live before that cash. And I think we need to investigate why why do Melburnians have.
00:28:24
Speaker 11: To put up with this?
00:28:25
Speaker 17: Well, they've had to put up for for a period of time now here because the government's too weak to do anything. They get scared to do anything about homelessness because I'll be seen as moving someone on from an area. But I think that actually will help those at are homeless if you've give them the services and we'll just haven't got the police support we need. Having police presence makes a massive difference. If you had three or four coppers here. You know, when you're going down to the footy, you feel safe. We don't have that anymore, and I think that's why people feel generally unsafe, because the government won't fund it.
00:29:04
Speaker 2: It's a grotty city now, you know. I don't mind a bit at edgy art graffiti.
00:29:09
Speaker 17: In some of the lanes, but this is grott and grind now the Graves Lane, These are classics. These are places you want to go and visit. But tags, tags like this aren't the things you want to see here around Melbourne.
00:29:20
Speaker 12: They're not graffiti.
00:29:21
Speaker 17: That's just someone who wants to damage our city. And I think we need to respond and make sure we can clean it up as quick as possible, but have actions have consequences for the actions of these people who do it.
00:29:31
Speaker 2: You know, I can tell the health of a state by the appearance of a capital city, and this capital city looks and feels like I think a lot of Victorians feel.
00:29:43
Speaker 17: If you don't have a strong capital city, your whole state will struggle. And I think that's just realistic across the whole world. Your capital city needs to be the place that is your peak of tourism. This should be where the pride.
00:29:54
Speaker 19: Is well, I don't feel safe, particularly towards the train station. It is very dirty as well, so I don't believe that anyone is doing anything about it. And I definitely feel a little bit less safer than before than probably the Melbourne ten years ago or twenty years ago.
00:30:13
Speaker 18: I just think there's a higher tolerance for bad behavior and people, particularly the authority, are prepared to look the other way to allow things have to happen that shouldn't happen. I'd like to see a few more people walking around, a few more police walking around, and actually I think the visual presence sort of.
00:30:31
Speaker 2: Deters people, so I spit sketchy around the train stations.
00:30:35
Speaker 4: There are way too many in shops for sure.
00:30:38
Speaker 3: Since COVID they have to start.
00:30:40
Speaker 20: It up again.
00:30:41
Speaker 3: You're a dad of girls.
00:30:42
Speaker 2: I mean, would you feel that they were safe coming into town on Saturday night?
00:30:46
Speaker 17: I wouldn't even want them traveling on the trains in groups. Now we've got no PSOs at something in the stations. We've seen the crime rates that are increased and the genuine, not just feeling of unsafety, the actual outcomes of people not being safe. So do I want them to come in the city. I really want them to. I want to make sure they in a group, but I'm not having them cuts tap with public transport and out at the moment.
00:31:15
Speaker 2: Well, i'm place to say. Brad Baton, the shadow Police Minister of course, a former police officer, a former prison officer as well, joins me on the desk.
00:31:23
Speaker 3: We'll get to homelessness in.
00:31:24
Speaker 2: About it, but let's just start with the look, the fear of the grime, grot the empty shops in the city. The city looks like it's down and it's luck.
00:31:32
Speaker 21: Yeah, and it's those empty shops, which we saw was one of the biggest issues all the way along. It gives you the impression then that no one does care. And I think that's what we heard from people even speaking to them. And you don't have to listen to me. Some of those people you've spoken to then just spoke. They use the words grotty, dirty. Ten years ago, Melbourne was unbelievable. You always knew you could walk in here. It was clean, it was safe. I just don't think it's got that same feel anymore. And businesses are feeling they're not just they're gone, they're going and they're not coming back and we saw some signs at the pizza shop.
00:32:03
Speaker 3: Tragic.
00:32:04
Speaker 21: These are small businesses who have put everything into it and they've obviously not got the support that I have the police to keep the areas safe.
00:32:11
Speaker 3: That's a huge issue.
00:32:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, this was for viewers at home. A shop at the top of Collins Street, sorry, atop of Burke Street, towards Parliament, where you'd think there would be a police presence. A young family had built a business and they had to cut and run because their staff weren't safe at night and they didn't feel safe. A lot of customers in and out of the pizza shop. I guess you know you can't now avoid the homelessness all the way through Melbourne. And we can't name this individual because he was not there to give us media comment. But we ran into someone from the council who checks on all the people as they move around, which was good to hear that there is such a program. But he made the point, didn't he that ninety percent of these people sleeping rough actually have housing, They just don't have the other services they need to get off and stay off the drugs or to deal with mental health issues.
00:33:01
Speaker 21: And that's where I think the tragic part comes in and he spoke about some people obviously not going into their individual details, that have been two years living rough, but they actually have accommodation and they where they go back to the home, it's reconnecting them back to drugs. They haven't got the support services they need, and we've seen that more and more here in Victoria. And one of the biggest things. I'm a believer that we should have had arrest powers for drunk in a public place. It's not because I want to arrest people who are drunk, it's because then you can get the services for them to assist them. I'm happy with no fines and no penalty, but I actually think we need to give the police the powers back. That makes a difference because police can guide them, give them the right options.
00:33:41
Speaker 2: Though, how are we paying four hundred thousand dollars for workers on the suburban rail loop but we've got the city of Melbourne looking as bad as it does well.
00:33:50
Speaker 21: I think there's a great question for the government and I have to ask obviously the Mayor of Melbourne as well, what's he doing to campaign for the government.
00:33:55
Speaker 2: It says to be traveling overseas and on a fine sort of lark, but you know, happy to have him on. I'm happy to have you on, Nick, but I think the city looks looks terrible on his watch.
00:34:06
Speaker 21: Cleaning up graffiti like we can have programs quickly, a clinic graffiti. There's examples of this all the way through Victoria where some councils do it really well. Well, Melbourne Council should be one of the ones, the main ones that do it. Footpaths they just don't look they're just dirty.
00:34:22
Speaker 1: You know.
00:34:22
Speaker 21: I was up in Ballarat and they're actually clean. Scrub they were actually scrubbing the foot paths in Ballaratt last minles up there. They've got the big machines out and they make the place look magnificent. If Ballarat City Council can do it with bigger foot paths than we've got in Melbourne, why can't Melbourne.
00:34:36
Speaker 3: I was in.
00:34:37
Speaker 2: Miami in January in Ronda Santis, as you know, the Republican governor there has a no tolerance policy, and I'm driving along the road for about an hour and a half north of Miami, and I'm thinking.
00:34:49
Speaker 3: Why does it look different?
00:34:50
Speaker 2: Is it particularly sunny? No, It's January, which is winter in America. What's different? And I noticed all the way along this main highway a the lawns of mode. They're not manicure, but their mode. And there is no graffiti. As soon as graffiti comes up, it's gone. You say the government could do something about it, because private contractors do something about it.
00:35:11
Speaker 12: Brad, Yeah, we've seen it.
00:35:12
Speaker 21: So the Monash Freeway compared to the Eastern Freeway, what's the difference. Then one is privately operated, one is run by government and there's a condition in their contract where they have to clean graffiti within seven days if it's offensive within twenty four hours, but they don't live by the same motto for themselves. Any person that drives along the Monash now will know there's three or four signs now that you can no longer see what Rolin is to get off on it is that covered in graffiti. There's no such thing as a sound war without graffiti. And it's not what we said before ACDC Lane style of graffiti. It's just kids out there who have just crowded havoc, and well they do it continuously because they can get away with it.
00:35:50
Speaker 3: Just a quick one.
00:35:51
Speaker 2: It looks like Ben Carroll is ruling out challenging the premiere.
00:35:57
Speaker 3: Do you believe him?
00:35:58
Speaker 21: Yeah, he's got a bit of mixed language him today, say he's not a sprinter, he's a marathon runner, and whether he's waiting till after the winter break to get his marathon run. But it's up to the Labour Party to sort this out. The reality is, the more they're talking about this, the less they're focusing on Victorians, the less they're focusing on the fact that people are struggling across them, living our crime crisis, and they're not walking down the streets of Melbourne and seeing the issues.
00:36:20
Speaker 2: He says he's not going to challenge her. Let's take him in his word. That's not to stop her resigning before the election. Do you think that's at all possibility?
00:36:29
Speaker 21: If I if I was a betting man and I looked on sports bet, I'd be actually still putting money that she's going to be there at the next election.
00:36:34
Speaker 3: That's my view.
00:36:36
Speaker 21: But the more they're talking about that, the less we're talking about the real things that happening in Victoria.
00:36:40
Speaker 3: Right, I'll ove it there, Brad, thank you, thank you.
00:36:42
Speaker 2: Right after break all across to the UK, that crucial bi election on Thursday. It's a lot there in that race for Kirstarmer of course, but also Nigel Farage and reform and the Defense Secretary, the big boss there in the UK. He has resigned taken another minister with him.
00:36:59
Speaker 3: This is huge new use. We'll talk to Sophie Elsworth in a moment. Welcome back.
00:37:06
Speaker 2: Coming up the PM's bizarre strategy, you can even call it a strategy.
00:37:11
Speaker 3: To deal with one nation.
00:37:13
Speaker 2: But now to the fallout in the Starma government with the big defense resignations the Secretary of State for Defense and also the Armed Services Minister, so that's the cabinet level minister and the junior minister both dramatically pulling the pin last week just ahead of their meeting with Australian Defense Minister Richard Miles here to discuss it. Our Sky News correspondent News Corp European correspondent Sophie Elsworth. Well, these resignations, Sophie, all over the claim and I think the numbers bear this out, that there is not sufficient investment in the British military. This is a This is a claim also leveled to Australia, but it's been heard the fallout around the.
00:37:58
Speaker 12: World it has.
00:38:01
Speaker 20: Indeed, Peter, this was a massive resignation for the Starmer government after we saw Defense Secretary John Healey Paul at quits last week and he said that there's insufficient funds being put towards defense spending here in the UK and there's no plan for defense spending to reach three percent of national income by twenty thirty. He's saying that it's not good enough and that he'd lost faith in the government and Peter, this is one of a string of resignations of key ministers under a Sekre Starmer, a very volatile time for him ahead of that upcoming by election in Ashton in Makerfield on Thursday.
00:38:46
Speaker 2: So do you think that some of these resignations are people sort of putting a pin in the map should Labor win the election and Starmer come under threat.
00:39:00
Speaker 20: Absolutely, it appears to be a cohort of ministers tossing in the tower and preparing for Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, if he is successful and wins that by election, that Key by election on Thursday, to mount a challenge against Sekir Starmer and then hopefully they get plumb portfolios. So this is diabolical for Sekir's starmer. At the moment, he's hanging on by a thread. Peter Many said he should have gone weeks, if not months ago.
00:39:30
Speaker 12: But it looks like we will.
00:39:32
Speaker 20: Have a new prime minister here very soon if Andy Burnham does win that by election here on Thursday.
00:39:39
Speaker 2: All right, Well, Reform is in the race, and events in recent days and weeks in Britain I think would suit the Reform argument. Is Burnham in the front running seat there who's likely to.
00:39:54
Speaker 12: Win, So he is ahead in the polls.
00:39:57
Speaker 20: But there's a new Ipsos poll out today, Peter, that says his approval rating is down to minus seven. It's dropped fifteen percentage points since last month. This is incredibly significant. It shows there's a tightening of this race ahead of Thursday. But Andy Burnham is the favorite to win this against the Reform UK candidate, candidate who is a plumber, a very working class candidate and someone who's seen very relatable. But Andy Burnham is hugely popular in Greater Manchester. So incredibly fascinating to watch these results come in, Peter.
00:40:36
Speaker 2: And I just want to mention too that UK announced today they're going to follow Australia and implement a social media band for under sixteens. I have to say many of the arguments that Starman was running today will run here. It hasn't been that successful in Australia. There's no prosecutions, there's no fines with the big players. Almost everyone I know under the age sixteen is still on social media, Sophie. But it's certainly getting news coverage where you are.
00:41:03
Speaker 20: He is indeed, Peter, and they are talking an awful lot here about Australia and whether or not it's worked, and also the fact that there have been significant challenges since the government in Australia introduced this ban in December. But here starma been claimed in the media. He's rushed this through ahead of the by election. But Peter will not come into force until the spring next year, which is around March next year, until children under sixteen will be booted off social media.
00:41:36
Speaker 2: We will see soph and I look forward to seeing you next week. I'll head you away to London. Will of course be at the ARC conference, the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship there, but I'll be broadcasting from London on week You'll join miss Sophie, so will Christi.
00:41:50
Speaker 3: Yulman and many others.
00:41:52
Speaker 2: And I want to get into the whole issue of deradicalization because Britain's been at it longer than any.
00:41:57
Speaker 3: Other country in the world. Is it working? Is it not?
00:41:59
Speaker 2: What we can pick up here for Australia. I'll leave it there, thanks, so see you soon. Right after the break. Albaneze's plan to deal with One Nation, we'll talk about that with someone from One Nation and the celebrity chef who's dividing public opinion. He says, if Pauline Hanson becomes PM, he's leaving the country. Welcome back, well, Anthony. Albaneze's strategy to deal with it, ever, rising Pauline hands and he says, is just to bide his time and let the wash, the populace wash, go across and come back down at the other side. So he thinks he's got a contest it. He's not going to treat her like an opposition worthy of the name, as an opponent worthy on the name. He's basically going to try and disregard her. Well, will it work. I'm not so sure it will. John Mean now Skine is contributed at Lucy zeleg and One Nation's set it up a new South. While Sean Bell, well, Sean, you'll get ignored and he thinks that'll just make you go away, will it.
00:43:07
Speaker 22: Peter? While Anthe Aberanese is claiming he's waiting for Australians to come to their senses, the Australian public is waiting for the Prime Minister to come to his I mean, what an incredible act of denial to say we can just wait out this storm. Well he can't, because the truth is the mobber upset. They're furious, and every time they open a power bill, they're going to be reminded of his lies. Every time they sit around the kitchen table and food's more expensive, they're going to be reminded of his lies. Every time someone goes to a house inspection for a rental and they see lines around the corner, they're going to be reminded of his lives. So you know, if he thinks he can and waits and somehow people are going to forget and forgive while I've got a wake up call for the Prime Minister because that is just never going to occur.
00:43:51
Speaker 2: It's a bit like lucy the old adage, should treat a man keep them keen I don't think that's going to work anymore, Prime Minister.
00:43:59
Speaker 23: No, it's just not going to wash anymore. Peter, great to be with you, you know. And this is a Labor Party, by the way, who are very obsessed with the polls. So the news for Anthony Alberanizi over the last few days has been really poor. We've also seen coming out of more left leaning publications that Pauline Hanson is now polling as the preferred PM, and we've got a host of things coming that will only serve One Nation in the way of Pauline Hanson addressing the National Press Club. We've also got the data on net migration coming out from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and this.
00:44:34
Speaker 12: Orange wave, it cannot be arrested.
00:44:37
Speaker 23: Regardless of how it's treated or what slurs are thrown at it. It only seems to embolden the One Nation movement. And you've made the point repeatedly, Peter, that for as long as people are arguing and there's still political discourse, you are still in the running. But people have stopped listening to Labor and that is a very dangerous situation to be in when it comes to politics.
00:45:00
Speaker 2: I also think comments like this from the celebrity chef Neil Perry just further reinforce that. And it's not left and right anymore. It's insider outside of Australia.
00:45:12
Speaker 3: Have a listen to this.
00:45:14
Speaker 15: We know you've got lots of fans and look, I can show you some of the text messages that are coming in right now from a whole range of people. But it sounds like the celebrity chef Neil Perry. He's not a Pauline Hansen fan. He's been asked about you during an interview. This is Neil Perry, the celebrity chef.
00:45:30
Speaker 2: Do you think Pauline could be Prime Minister of Australia.
00:45:34
Speaker 3: I wouldn't think so.
00:45:35
Speaker 5: But if she is, I won't be living in Australia.
00:45:38
Speaker 15: Neil Perry reckons you'll leave the country if you become.
00:45:41
Speaker 4: Primaristinct so what that doesn't worry me.
00:45:44
Speaker 3: I couldn't care less.
00:45:47
Speaker 2: Well, water off a duck's backshean it's better for her in many respects.
00:45:51
Speaker 3: This works for her.
00:45:54
Speaker 22: Look, I mean if I could pay Neil Perry to keep her repeat those comments, I would. If he does decide to leave, you know, perhaps the airline food would get a bit better. But the reality is when you've got people who are sort of in that elitist bubble acting like you know, everyone else out there, he's confused or foolish or silly, that's just going.
00:46:13
Speaker 2: To you know.
00:46:14
Speaker 22: It's that is the arrogance and the ignorance that has driven this surge that no one saw coming. Because one nation is out there talking to people, we are listening to their concerns. We hear and when they say that the cost living is through the roof, that they want to scrap that zero, that they want to end mass migration, we hear them. And that is why we are so focused on addressing those core issues. So when people like mister Perry and others sort of dismiss it, or they talk about Senator Hanson not not Havy, it makes me laugh because it is it is so it is it to our benefit?
00:46:47
Speaker 3: Well, I want to go to somebody.
00:46:48
Speaker 2: I opened up the top of the show with Ben Robert Smith in court seeking today in Sydney to have his bail conditions varied to enable him to leave closer to his family. He wanted to go to the War Memorial for an event that was allowed. He wanted to march with the son who's about to enter the military of a mate who was killed in action in Afghanistan.
00:47:08
Speaker 3: That was denied, Lucy.
00:47:10
Speaker 2: But we've also now got a former ISIS linked woman facing legal proceedings of her own that she's arguing she should be allowed out on bail because she has now rejected extremist ideology, and a lawyer is claiming the Evans shows she's not aligned now with the group she once joined. Are you satisfied with her professions of having turned her life around?
00:47:37
Speaker 12: Can anybom be satisfied with that?
00:47:39
Speaker 23: I mean, if for the majority of US Australians observing everything that unfolded with Ben Robert Smith. And this is an issue that, as you know, have been very committed to unraveling because there are so many things about those circumstances that stink. But if people weren't satisfied with those circumstances, they certainly.
00:47:56
Speaker 12: Shouldn't be satisfied with these circumstances. We sent these.
00:47:59
Speaker 23: Soldiers, including Ben Robert Smith, fight against ISIS and their terrorist affiliates. And now we had a woman here led with her husband from Melbourne over a decade ago to join the Caliphate.
00:48:10
Speaker 12: The caliphate ended up failing.
00:48:12
Speaker 23: They ultimately surrendered where they were held in a refugee camp, which they described as hell. But that now we as Australians have to observe someone like that come back to this country and try and plead that all that time spent over there was under the guise of oppression.
00:48:27
Speaker 12: This is a woman who has been charged with crimes against.
00:48:31
Speaker 23: Humanity, who observed one of her husband rape, allegedly rape and abuse one of their Yazidi slaves that they took in and paid ten thousand US dollars for. And we're supposed to feel sympathy. We're supposed to believe that now all of a sudden, because things didn't go in their favor, that they are against ISIS and denouncing them.
00:48:50
Speaker 9: I mean.
00:48:51
Speaker 23: One of the comments that I found to be very interesting that her lawyer argued. Miss Armad's lawyer argued was that once she got into the refugee camp she removed her face and started.
00:49:00
Speaker 12: To wear color because she was sick of being controlled by people. Well, that's interesting.
00:49:05
Speaker 23: The AFP photographs of her when she was arrested at Melbourne Airport on the seventh of May show her still in head to toe black wearing her hi job as have caught caricatures of her. So I don't think that we should be in a position to believe anybody, because what I dare say is a lot of them will be saying whatever they can to be released on bail.
00:49:27
Speaker 2: I think I share your skepticism, Lucy, and I do commend you on your work exploring some of the issues the treatment, particularly by police of ben Robin Smith.
00:49:35
Speaker 3: Well, don't you.
00:49:36
Speaker 2: I'll leave it there, Thank you you both, Thank you Sean as well. I will not be with you tomorrow night or Thursday. The wonderful Steve Price will be sitting here here, but I will pick you up on Monday. I'll we in London. I've got a huge four year next week out of London. Other forward to your company then. But right now is Andrew Bot
