00:02
Peter Credlin, live from News 24.
00:08
Good evening, welcome to the program. Here's what's coming up tonight on Credlin. A federal Labor MP charged with two counts of assault, the PM refusing to demand that he stand down, and a hotly contested Darwin seat that could now be in play. I'll get you an update from our bloke, our Matt Cunningham, who broke the story. Day two of Ben Carroll as Victorian Premier. Already it's hard to know where he stands, be that on the white elephant to the suburban rail loop or Dan Andrews in that bronze statue. But the Liberal leader Jess Wilson, well, she's already said Dan's bronze is scrap metal if she's elected.
00:44
Plus, another flashpoint. In the debate over biology versus trans ideology, Kiralee Smith losing her appeal against a finding that she unlawfully vilified two transgender footballers. She says, I was just fighting to protect spaces for women. I'll speak to Kiralee later. And Pauline Hanson puts forward a plan to lock ISIS-linked Australians from our country. I'll speak to Shadow Attorney-General Michaelia Cash to see if they'll work with One Nation. But already Tony Burke is refusing to play ball.
01:17
I would not want to go down a path where somehow we started a principle that countries don't have to take their citizens back.
01:27
Well, stay with that issue because listen carefully here to the words of former Labor Minister, former Army officer Mike Kelly.
01:37
But the bad news is that there's these elements that are rising within the Labor movement that have this unholy alliance between extreme revolutionary Marxists and Islamist extremists that are trying to pervert the party. And their goal is not a two-state solution, which is aligned with Hamas because Hamas doesn't support a two-state solution.
02:00
Remember that? A Labor insider warning about the rise of Islamist extremists inside the Labor Party. Now listen today to the Prime Minister.
02:12
Asked about the return to this country of Dr Jihad, the Australian Islamic State doctor captured in Syria with hardcore terrorist fighters, now locked up in a jail in Iraq.
02:25
citizenship does bring certain rights under the Constitution. And we will do everything we can. We're, of course, within the law, though, and we'll also, of course, provide no support for any of these people to return to Australia.
02:45
See why Kelly's so concerned about the rise of Islamist extremists? That's his phrase, Islamist extremists inside Labor.
02:54
Anthony Albanese and his government, well, they have known about Dr. Jihad for four years. And for four years, they have kept his existence a secret. We only know about him now because journalist Mohamed Al-Farez uncovered the truth and the Iraqi government, well, they answered his questions in a way that our government still refuses to. Here's Al-Farez on my show exposing Labor's deception.
03:24
The government knows everything, in my opinion. And what the Iraqi government told us, the Australian, is that the embassy in Baghdad is following his case.
03:35
And not just his case, the case of every Australian national in Iraq. So what that tells us is that The embassy in Baghdad operates for the Australian government. And what they also, our sources have said that DFAT was briefed on this back in 2022. And in 2019, obviously, as we reported,
04:04
Labor is lying. The Prime Minister is lying. He's lying when he says he won't give Dr Jihad any help. And he's playing you for a fool, pretending that if this ISIS man wants to come back here, his government's all but powerless to stop him. Because the fact is, they are not powerless. As former Federal Police Detective Superintendent David Craig has repeatedly made clear.
04:30
The first thing the government needs to be doing is using these temporary exclusion orders. Now, I've seen Tony Burke say that there'll be a constitutional challenge or that the High Court won't like it. Well, the fact is no High Court has actually tested the validity, constitutional validity, of temporary exclusion orders. So that's a nonsense. He's scared of something that doesn't actually exist. If this is going to push our laws to the High Court, then this is the case to do it on.
04:59
And if the laws need to be boosted, made tougher, to cut off any risk of legal challenge, then that's what we have a parliament to do. The parliament sits again in 10 days' time. Now, that's more than enough time to get any new bills drafted to keep this Dr Jihad out and the 12 other Australian men linked to ISIS sitting with him in that Iraqi prison. Now, for the better part of a week now, Albanese has dodged media questions about this ISIS doctor. So too Tony Burke. But today the Home Affairs Minister, well, he was also out in front of the camera, forced to respond to draft legislation from One Nation to do what the government so far has refused to do, and that's to toughen these laws to keep the terrorists, alleged terrorists, out.
05:46
On all the advice that I've had, something like what's being proposed here would last about 30 seconds in the High Court.
05:54
I mean, come on, you're not even going to try, Tony Burke? You're not even trying. If Hanson's bill isn't strong enough, as you say, that it wouldn't last 30 minutes in the High Court, as you say, then you've got a whole department at your disposal. Where's your bill? Where's your tougher legislation? Where is it? 15,000 employees in your own department and what none of them, not one person, can draft some legislation?
06:23
You know what's happening here.
06:25
In my opinion, Labor wants these people back, that Labor will let these men come back.
06:31
The brutal truth is that Labor wants them back in Australia, that Labor will let these men come back.
06:40
Now, whether it's the high Muslim vote in Labor-held seats like Burke's own seat of Watson, or whether it's the takeover by Islamist extremists as foreshadowed by Mike Kelly, I don't know. I don't know what's driving this madness, but it's a complete disregard for the first duty of government, and that first duty is to keep Australians safe.
07:02
because we can't be safe, as Bondi has shown us, if we keep importing hate. And there is no doubt, if the allegations about these 13 men are true, that bringing known terrorist fighters back into this country is importing hate, radical Islamist hate.
07:21
Now, I've been warning for years that Labor always had a plan to bring these men home.
07:27
First, you know, the soft sell of the women and children, then the men.
07:31
It was always about the men.
07:35
Albanese and Burke, if they do not keep these men out, if they don't use the laws they have now or pass stronger ones, if that's what's needed, if they don't keep these men out, then know this.
07:50
Labor is selling your safety for votes.
07:54
Labor is selling your right to live free from the scourge of Islamist terrorism for votes.
08:01
That explains the secrecy. That explains the lie of we won't help them at the same time as the government's giving them a passport.
08:10
It also explains why they're not sitting down with the opposition and with One Nation, with whomever they need to, to find a way through this.
08:22
Now, faced with this same issue of Islamic State before, I was in the room on many occasions when then PM Tony Abbott and then opposition leader Bill Shorten met.
08:33
We had national security challenges about Islamic State back then too, but they worked through difficult issues like that. Back then, they found a way to agree on draft legislation.
08:47
When the meeting ended, Abbott and Shorten, they shook hands, they walked out of their room, out of the office and into the Parliament and passed the laws needed to keep Australians safe.
09:00
So trust me on this, it can be done if there's will at the top, and it must be done.
09:07
Now over the next 10 days before Parliament resumes, Albanese must sit down with all sides of politics now and work this out.
09:16
Otherwise, I guarantee these 13 Islamist extremists will be here in Australia before you know it.
09:30
Now look, last week I discussed the parallel universe that exists inside the media industry.
09:39
As you know, I don't call myself a journalist and I correct anyone that does. If anything, I'm a lawyer by training and a political strategist by profession. Here on Sky News, I host an opinion program. And that's what you get every night of the week. My opinion and the opinion of my guests on all the big issues facing our country. But that's an honesty you don't always get from others, do you? From the media types who like to masquerade as straight back journalists, when in fact, it's opinion dressed up as straight talk.
10:15
And it's about as biased as you get.
10:18
Now, as you know, it's what they say that's a concern, but just as relevant, it's also what they don't say, what they leave out, the questions they're not prepared to ask, the politicians they go easy on. And let's be honest, it's a sheer bloody hypocrisy too.
10:39
Like this, all the manufactured outrage about a billboard demanding that Jacinta Allen resign as Premier.
10:46
Well, that's happened. She's now been ditched. But also almost crickets when a female business leader who's not even in politics gets threatened with sexual attack. Yes, that's what it is when you use the object to rape someone anally and then it gets aired on the taxpayer funded ABC as so-called satire.
11:07
Well, not funny at all.
11:09
Gina Reinhart gets named and mocked and, well, the ABC, they get shielded by the government, shielded by a female, a female minister at that.
11:20
My personal view is it's unacceptable. Like any Australian, there's stuff I see on TV that I don't agree with. I respect the editorial independence of the ABC, but I understand they have now referred it to the ombudsman. I think that was the right thing to do.
11:34
Labor's Mean Girls, well, they've clearly got a new member of the team in Annika Wells, quick to call a billboard misogyny if it's about a woman on the left, but happy to step around the issue of sexual assault if a woman doesn't vote for them.
11:49
Gina Reinhart deserves a full and immediate apology from the ABC and for all of that content to be taken offline and that filmmaker shown the door.
12:00
Now, there's been something late today from the woman involved, and sorry, she says, to anyone that I have offended, but she doesn't even have the courage to name Mrs. Reinhart. And while they're all out there trying to humiliate her, well, do you know what she's done overnight?
12:18
Well, she's kept her promise to the athletes. That's what she's done.
12:22
After Australia's outstanding medal haul at the Comm Games in Glasgow, Mrs Reinhart's paid out over $1.2 million in cash bonuses to swimmers as she said she would. 36 gold medals are one in the pool, 16 silver, 23 bronze. So you do the math. $20,000 for a gold medal, $15, she said, if you got silver, and a $10,000 bonus for bronze.
12:48
And she's paid out so much because our swimming team has done so well. Indeed, out of the 103 medals so far won by our Australian Comm Games team, 75 of them have been won in the pool. As Olympic legend Dawn Fraser said to the media today, I wish my dear friend Gina had been around when I was swimming.
13:10
And you know what I love about this incentive scheme?
13:14
It's that Mrs. Reinhart's not pouring money into head office. She's not funding the sports bureaucrats.
13:20
Every dollar she pays goes directly into the bank account of our athletes. It's money they can use to pay the rent, to fill up their car with petrol, to get to training. It's real money that's helping them to be the best in the world. And for that, well, our national broadcaster thinks she's fair game.
13:39
Now, the media world has changed dramatically from what it was when the ABC was first created in 1932. The ABC is no longer the fair and balanced broadcaster. It was created.
13:52
People have got a whole lot of options now, a lot more than they had a century ago. So why then a taxpayer spending $1 billion a year to promote this rubbish?
14:04
I think it's time now for the ABC to move to a subscription model. People want it, they can pay for it. But no taxpayer should be funding any network that openly abuses another Australian and then refuses to admit when they've got it so wrong.
14:28
Lots to talk about tonight, but we'll get the headlines first from Canberra. Political reporter, Revan Spargo.
14:34
Good evening. The eSafety Commissioner is taking legal action against messaging platform Telegram. Julie Inman Grant alleges it has failed to remove extremist material from its service. She claims the content included Islamic State executions and beheading videos.
14:50
It is more important than ever that digital platforms meet their obligations to protect the Australian community.
14:57
The Commissioner says she could apply to have Telegram blocked. The opposition is calling on One Nation to back its bill to prevent terrorists from returning to Australia. Angus Taylor's message is in response to Pauline Hanson's own attempt to strengthen laws. She's seeking support for legislation that would allow the government to cancel the passports of Australians charged with or convicted of terrorism offences.
15:22
I've asked them to support that legislation. It's there, ready to go. That is how we will prevent terrorists from coming back to this country.
15:29
The government maintains it's not helping Australians with Islamic State links, but says it cannot deny citizens a passport under the Constitution. The Prime Minister is responding to questions over the future of the suburban rail loop in Victoria. The federal government is promising billions of dollars for the project.
15:48
When it comes to infrastructure, of course, the former government reduced spending on Victorian infrastructure to around about 8%.
15:56
Anthony Albanese says he will work constructively with the state's new premier.
16:03
Well, let's go to the big news today that was rocking federal politics. Labor MP and member for the territory seat of Solomon, Luke Gosling, charged with the alleged assault of the Administrator of Northern Territory. So that's the Crown's representative in the NT. Our reporter, Matt Cunningham, broke the story this morning. He joins me now. As I said, Matt, big news. It's gone national today. A federal MP up your way, charged with assault. What can you tell us this evening?
16:33
Well, Luke Gosling has issued a statement late this afternoon, Peter. Didn't say a lot in that statement, to be honest. He certainly didn't address the issue of whether he would be standing down from those special envoy roles that he holds for defence and for Northern Australia.
16:51
He did say that it had been a big day, and that is certainly the case. Police arrived at Luke Gosling's home in Darwin this morning where they arrested him and they took him to the Palmerston Police Station. He was questioned there for about three hours in relation to these allegations that have been made by the Northern Territory's administrator, David Connolly. Now, he has alleged that at a Thai festival in Darwin on July 18, so almost two weeks ago now, He was assaulted by Luke Gosling. Police interviewed David Connolly last week for about three hours as well.
17:25
They took detailed statements from the administrator. This is a serious charge, Peter, because of the person that is involved. As you say, he is the Crown's representative here in the Northern Territory. He does carry a maximum jail sentence if convicted of 14 years in prison. Now, Luke Gosling... I put it to him directly when I first broke this story last week, those allegations.
17:50
Here's his denial and the denial today from his lawyer, Marty Ost.
18:07
It's particularly concerning that in a matter of this type, police resorted to the power of arrest where it could easily have been dealt with on notice to appear or a summons. It's a concern that that might have some political basis behind it. The charge is fully and completely contested, but we're unable to comment any further other than to say we are assisting police with their investigations and we'll cooperate fully.
18:38
Matt, just quickly, do we know anything about the nature of the assault that's alleged to have occurred?
18:46
Look, my understanding, Peter, is that what David Connolly is alleging is that Luke Gosling brushed past him at that Thai festival and ran into him in some way. Now, he's obviously made a complaint to the police about that, and Luke Gosling has categorically denied any wrongdoing. In fact, he said that the allegations levelled against him. This was in a statement put out last week. He said that those allegations were ridiculous. So it has now been listed for a mention in the Darwin Local Court on the 1st of September.
19:22
I think we're going to have to wait for that court process to take its place before we get a better understanding of exactly what has happened at that festival when these allegations of assault are alleged to have occurred.
19:37
All right, I'll leave it there. Thank you, Matt. I know you'll stay across it for us. Let's go down to the other issues we've got here. We've got senior ministers in Victoria fleeing the sinking ship that is Victorian Labor. News today that both Harriet Shing and Lily D'Ambrosio, she's the energy minister, I'm not sorry to see her go, announcing that they won't contest the election in November. Joining me now on my panel, News24 contributor Carolee Katzenbarnas and Deputy Director at the IPA, Dan Wilde. Well, Carolee, you're a Victorian. I know you've followed this closely. Dan, you too.
20:08
You were here during the Andrews years. You've managed to escape. But I'll get a question in to both of you. I'll start, though, please, Dan, with you on the Royal Commission, announced, of course, this week by the new Premier.
20:22
You know, I fear it'll end up a farce, like that hotel quarantine inquiry, and this is the sort of so-called answers we'll get. Have a listen.
20:34
I can't specifically recall. I can't recall. I presume I did. I don't recall the conversation. And I have some memory, but not full memory. I don't recall specifically. Not in my recollection. I have no recollection of that. I can't specifically recall.
20:50
Dan, you know how the game works. They're calling it now because they want to put a Labor-friendly in the chair and Labor wants to write the terms of reference.
21:01
Well, that's right. It's a political con job designed to help Ben Carroll make good on his word that he's not Daniel Andrews and he's not Jacinta Allen. Well, of course, he's not either of those two individuals, but he was a very senior member of those governments, which were very bad governments. And I wonder whether he would have to front such a Royal Commission.
21:21
That's unclear, but you're right. It's all about politics. It's not about getting to the bottom of it. And we've already seen this in action with the anti-Semitism Royal Commission. which is also unfortunately a political con job where we're not going to get the truth of the causes of what happened there, nor are we going to get any indication of how to improve it. In fact, Labor is going to use that anti-Semitism Royal Commission to feather bed anti-hate speech laws. I mean, Tony Burke is already paving the way to do that. So, as you know, Labor does this better than anyone else. They put their people in, they write the terms of reference, they're probably going to get a heads up about what the questions will be.
21:55
So, Sadly, you know, Victorians are not going to be any clearer on just the extent of the corruption under a Ben Carroll premiership.
22:06
All right, almost $40 billion, and some of this money coming from other states out of the national budget, of course, has been spent on this suburban rail loop, the railway line, I say, that goes to nowhere that no one wants.
22:19
It's supposed to cost all up something like $200 billion. When asked the Prime Minister, he dodged a question on this. Have a listen.
22:29
Would you be glad to see it go? Yes.
22:34
Look, I spoke with Ben Carroll yesterday and I welcome his election as Premier. I look forward to working with him. We'll work constructively with the Victorian Government to make sure that the interests of Victorians are... Well, he's dancing around that one, Carolee, and so too is the new Premier, but it's got to go.
22:57
it has to go. I mean, he says he'll work constructively in the interests of all Victorians. Victorians, the debt is scheduled to be, as you said, $200 billion by the end of the decade. To put it into context, our interest repayments are $24 million a day as they stand. That works out to $1 million an hour.
23:16
That's just on the interest to be repaid. $24 million a day, $1 million an hour. It is absolutely ridiculous. The money is not there. This was a plan conjured up by Dan Andrews back in 2018 ahead of a state election, before COVID, before the goalposts have completely changed. Victoria is a broken state. We need help with the crime, the health, nurses, doctors, teachers. And it is really insulting to say we'll work with the interests of all Victorians.
23:47
It is not in the interests of any Victorian to pursue this 17 kilometre stretch of suburban rail loop when we've got businesses smashed the highest taxes in the state and crime at record highs. It's absolutely ridiculous.
24:03
He also danced around the Dan Andrews statue. This is the new premier. But Jess Wilson, the opposition leader, well, she couldn't have been clearer. Have a listen.
24:18
I have nothing to say on that, and that is not a priority of mine.
24:20
Do you want to see the statue there?
24:22
It's not a priority of mine.
24:23
Ben Carroll was very tricky today, even refusing to acknowledge it. But absolutely, if we come to government, we will not allow that statue to proceed.
24:33
You know the Victorian game well, Dan. Now that Labor's changed the Premier, she's got to get 16 seats. The Coalition have got a bit of a mountain to climb. They're absolutely in front, let's be clear. They are in front, but it's a big ask. Can they do it? Can they survive the change of Premier?
24:52
I think they probably will. I mean, Labor had no choice but to change its leader and change Premier. Now, if you look what happened in Queensland when Stephen Miles replaced Palaszczuk, you'd have to say that kind of worked in the sense that they saved a bunch of seats. I think they would have lost a lot more had they not made the change. And arguably, Labor ran a better campaign in the campaign period. than the LNP. So Stephen Miles did inject a lot of energy. I just don't see it with Ben Carroll. I mean, to me, people say he's a good guy and, you know, he's not like the others. Maybe that's true, but I don't see it.
25:23
He's implicated in all of the terrible decisions that were made, including COVID. I mean, let's not forget all of the COVID decisions that he was a part of.
25:31
Plus, he just comes across as very wooden, doesn't he? Very uninspiring. You know, that's not a priority of mine. You know, I don't know. I don't see it happening. Labor had no choice, but...
25:41
Yeah, he'll save a few seats, but I don't think he'll do much more than that.
25:46
Let's go to this story about the Smart Energy Council. And you remember when we dug into that bogus costing of the Liberal Party's nuclear policy at their last election, it all ended back at this charity called Smart Energy Council. Well, we learned today that they donate to the Labor Party. Yes, they do. They've got charitable status. But they're also getting a lot of government taxpayer money, nearly half a million dollars, to run out a whole lot of green energy PR.
26:18
They've put money into a solar study in Bangladesh and a Chinese clean energy summit. Well, given we've got pensioners in this country who can't pay their power bills, what the heck's going on here, Kiralee? It looks crook to me.
26:36
Yeah, well, it sure does. I mean, there are other groups that were wanting to be awarded tenders, but why on earth are they doing some kind of a solar energy study in Bangladesh and one in China when we've got energy crisis here and we need to know how to do our affordable energy? Well, we do know how to do our affordable energy here because we need to start drilling for oil and having gas exploration again. But it just shows they've been awarded seven contracts by the Labor government. And so, you know, it's a bit of you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.
27:07
And it just seems to me to be money for activists. This is not solving any problems for Australians. And, you know, as I said, in Bangladesh and also in China, they don't need these studies. It's silly.
27:21
And a waste of money. I'll leave it there. Thank you, Carolee. Thank you, Dan. After the break, the policy push from One Nation and the Coalition to stop those convicted ISIS fighters returning to Australia. And why isn't Labor, though, now, right now, using the powers it has to keep us safe? Liberal Shadow Attorney General Michaelia Cash after the break.
27:46
Now to the policy push to protect Australians from terror, with One Nation devising a new plan to ban Islamic State-linked fighters and terrorist sympathisers. Pauline Hanson's also flagged strengthened bail laws for terror offences and introducing tougher passport-blocking powers. We're here to discuss this and more. Shadow Attorney-General Michaelia Cash... Welcome, Senator. But before we get to all of the terror policies we want to discuss, can I get a quick comment from you about the arrest of your colleague, Labor colleague, federal colleague, Luke Gosling, charged with two counts of assault?
28:24
At the moment, of course, the Prime Minister is not requiring that he stand down. Should he?
28:31
The Prime Minister should stand him aside and this is turned into a test Peter of leadership for Anthony Albanese. This is not about pre-empting a court process, it is about the Prime Minister's judgement. These as you said are very serious charges, they carry a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment. So the Prime Minister needs to be very clear with the Australian people. Does he believe that Mr Gosling, as charged, should still be his special envoy for Defence Veterans in Northern Australia?
29:06
Mr Albanese also needs to front the Australian people and say, when did he first become aware of these charges? What he's actually asked of Mr Gosling? And again, this is a test for his judgement and his leadership. These are serious charges and Australians deserve an explanation.
29:26
Okay, we'll get into ISIS bans now. We'll also talk about legislation, both that I know the Coalition's got on the table, that Pauline Hanson today has also flagged her own legislation. But let's start at the beginning, because the Prime Minister says, basically, we don't want these people back. But they've got constitutional rights, basically. My hands are tied. And we've seen with the women and the children, they land back in Australia. David Craig, he's an AFP, former AFP detective. He's been on the program. He's made it very clear the government's got a whole suite of measures now, laws it could enact, exclusion orders it could put in place.
30:03
Obviously, refusal of passports is a power they already have. So why aren't they using them?
30:11
Because this is a Prime Minister who has turned his back on the Australian people and Australian values. Let us not forget who these people are. Australians who made a conscious decision to turn their back on Australia, leave our country and join a death cult. I mean, the Coalition's always been clear. We are the ones that have always said the fundamental responsibility of a government is the security of its nation. We put in place the temporary exclusion orders so that you could keep these foreign fighters out.
30:44
This is a government that has refused, Peter, to use these temporary exclusion orders. We've said to them, if you need to beef them up, let us know. we will work with you. We have also brought forward legislation to make it a criminal offence to assist in the return of an ISIS fighter or an ISIS bride. The government voted against that legislation. So this is a government that will make every excuse for returning terrorists while putting the Australian people's security at risk.
31:19
And quite frankly, When it comes to this bill, I wouldn't believe anything that this government says.
31:26
So Mike Kelly, former Labor Defence Minister, he says that the party's in thrall to Islamist extremists. There's a party takeover by them inside Labor. Now, is that what this is about? Is that what's turning the Prime Minister and Tony Burke's head here? Is it about Muslim votes in Sydney and Melbourne?
31:49
Well, look at who one of the chief instigators of the return of the ISIS brides was. And that was, of course, the man who heads up Friends of Tony Burke, a member himself of the Muslim community. So let's be honest here. This is a numbers game and nothing more for Anthony Albanese and for Tony Burke. I mean, what Prime Minister and what Minister for Home Affairs in their right mind would not do everything that they possibly could to keep these people out?
32:24
The fact that they have not done that, the fact that they have made every excuse in the world for the return of the ISIS brides actually shows you They're not dinkum about national security. They will not stand up for Australian values. Quite the opposite, they will do everything, quite frankly, to destroy them.
32:47
In Senate Estimates recently, you uncovered the fact that it was, what, 24 hours before the Attorney-General signed off the paperwork to charge, to arrest and charge Ben Robert Smith over leech war crimes. But it was a couple of weeks, three weeks, I think it was, in relation to some of the women in the latest cohort linked to ISIS charged with terrorism and slavery offences. Yes. What's telling last week when we found out about this bloke Dr Jihad in prison in Iraq was that the government was briefed about this first four years ago, that they've kept this a secret.
33:23
Now, there's also the government under pressure too because they've been asked questions, are they providing these women with taxpayer-funded housing? And we're not getting a straight answer. Can you understand why people are so angry today?
33:37
Again, this is a government that by their very actions have shown the Australian people that they will not stand up for those good old Australian values. They will put the rights of terrorists before the security of the Australian people. It no longer matters, Peter.
33:58
What comes out of Anthony Albanese's mouth? He can say what he likes because his actions now speak louder than his words. He doesn't believe in Australian values. He will bring people back to Australia even when he says, my government's done nothing. How did they get a passport, quite frankly? That's government assisting the process. And then he justifies to the Australian people why he has allowed them to return when at law... There are actually tools that he could use to keep them out.
34:30
So again, this is a Prime Minister. Don't listen to what he says. This is a Prime Minister that will say anything now to calm the Australian people. Look at his actions because they speak louder than his words.
34:46
Just quickly, I know you're a proud West Australian. This attack on the ABC against Gina Reinhart, the ABC won't apologise. The Minister dances around the issue, even though she's one of the first to get out there and defend women on the left. Given all she does for Australia, she's an enormous philanthropist, as you know. Why does Gina Reinhart have to cop this?
35:10
Oh, because she's from the right. Nothing more and nothing less. She is not a preferred woman in Australia. So let's be very clear here. This is an absolute disgrace that the publicly funded broadcaster even allowed this to go to air.
35:28
Peter, imagine this scenario. News 24 publishes something, the same content, but with a left-wing woman. Can you honestly imagine the hysteria that would be coming from the left? Quite frankly, Hugh Marks... You've disappointed all Australians. You need to show a little bit of humility. But in relation to Minister Wells, seriously, again, speaks, says she condemns, but then fails to take any action.
35:58
You're either the Minister for Communications or you're a bystander. She's acting like she's a bystander when she's actually the Minister. I'll leave her there.
36:08
Senator Cash, thank you.
36:10
Good to be with you.
36:13
There you go. After the break, the court judgment against an activist who argues her posts are part of political advocacy when it comes to the protection of women and girls and spaces. I'll speak to her next.
36:30
Welcome back. Let's go now to the court ruling that's gone against activist Kiralee Smith, who lost her appeal against a finding that she'd unlawfully vilified two transgender footballers. Now, the post included photographs of one transgender player. This one, of course, a biological man who was playing in a woman's football team. Kiralee Smith, who heads the organisation Binary Australia, has argued that her posts were part of her political advocacy and part of public debate when it comes to the protection of women's spaces.
37:04
I'm pleased to say Kiralee joins me now.
37:07
Well, Kiralee, it's a tough ruling. What's your initial response to the decision?
37:13
Thanks for having me, Peter. Look, of course, disappointment, but I also feel a great deal of peace and resolve because this is a conversation that needs to be had. This is a debate that Australia needs to have. And I'm right. No human can change sex. And I'm quite confident in my position.
37:30
Many would argue, and I do too, that this was a statement of scientific fact of biology. So what does this say about your right, our right, to free speech in this country?
37:42
Well, we don't have free speech in this country and it even goes beyond free speech to truth speech. Men cannot be women and women do deserve sex-based services, sports.
37:54
We deserve our sex-based rights. There are certain instances in society where... in change rooms, on the sporting field and different environments where women really do need those sex protections and basically what my case has shown, what other cases have shown in Australia like Sal Grover is that women have been effectively erased from law. We don't have those protections yet men who want to appropriate womanhood or want to identify as women have far more protections than we do and I think that that's outrageous and as I said it is a debate that we need to have and if they're so confident that they're men sorry that they're women let's have the debate prove it
38:36
So what do you say to the critics who argue that you were targeting an individual here unnecessarily? What's your response to that?
38:45
I did not target any individuals. I took information that was in the public domain posted by the sporting organisations themselves. I took that publicly available information and asked what I think are very reasonable questions that not just myself but many other Australians are asking, and that is, Why are men in women's sport? They want to see the examples. They want the evidence that this is actually happening. The evidence was in the public domain and I simply re-shared it. And, you know, we've all seen the images overseas, you know, of Leah Thomas or Iman Khalif, the males in women's sport, And as you know, an image is worth a thousand words.
39:23
And what's happened here in Australia is effectively we've been told you cannot use examples, you cannot provide the evidence, you cannot speak about individual cases. And there's also been a strong chilling effect on those girls who do have to play against these male players that they can't call them out, they can't oppose it, and if they do, they will suffer the same fate that I have.
39:46
Yeah, look, it's fascinating to me because if you look at how this has played out over the last few years around the world, well, the debates shifted very quickly. You've got the Olympic Association, you've got swimming organisations everywhere, globally, now holding fast that women's biology is the determinant for participation in women's sport. So the backflips have happened right across the board. Look at Sophie Cunningham. Look at what's happening in the UK there about sex-based rights now protected in law.
40:17
Why do you think Australia is such a laggard?
40:21
Oh, look, we can only speculate, but it seems that, you know, in the highest ranks, there's such a capture. And there's been a really clever move to, you know, use people like me as an example to then create that chilling effect for others not to speak out, because it is very obvious. We've had male and female divisions in sport for a reason, because there are differences that need to be protected. And...
40:47
For whatever reason, the activists have been very successful in the policy guidelines and also in the legal area to make sure that this debate cannot be had, that examples cannot be used and that women, you know, we must be silenced and we must suffer the consequences.
41:04
Look, I'm conscious that these legal actions cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars and so too are my viewers. They're alive to that. Where to now for you, Kiralee?
41:15
I'm consulting with my legal team this week. I believe there are avenues of appeal. They, of course, will be expensive, but so is a $95,000 damages payment. So I will continue as the spokeswoman of Binary. I will not change my mind that men can be women, and we will continue to raise money. We're fundraising for the legal action at binary.org.au forward slash donate. It's very expensive to continue this legal action, to pay the damages, to raise the awareness.
41:49
But it is absolutely essential because this isn't just about me, Peter. This is about all women and girls in Australia. It's about all people in Australia. And if we don't have the right and the ability to speak freely and truthfully about these situations, it doesn't fade well for other situations either.
42:08
Well, powerfully said, I know this has been a huge personal toll on you, but you've got a smile on your face, haven't you? You're determined to fight and I, for one, will back you all the way. Kiralee, thank you. Thank you so much for having me, Peter.
42:24
She's courageous, isn't she? Now, just before the break, the annual Garma Festival kicks off tomorrow in remote Arnhem Land. It was just last year that the PM, of course, promised he'd always attend the festival, only that's now another broken promise. He won't be there this year. However, there's a lot of wonderful work being done up in remote communities around Arnhem Land. And as I mentioned to you last week, Tony Abbott was heading up there to do more than just talk at a festival. Over the last few days he's been camping and I mean literally he's in a tent, he tells me, out in a small remote community in East Arnhem, about 13 hours out of Darwin and he's working with a whole of local Aboriginal people to improve their water infrastructure.
43:05
This is so that they can build an economic base, they can have tourism and visitors and While he's been up there, he's been joined by the former Labor Senator, Nova Paris. This is her country, which shows, doesn't it, Labor and Liberal, the opposites. They can still work together. I was hoping to do a cross with Tony and Nova, but the signal out there is pretty patchy. So they've recorded you this little message about the work they're doing in the community, on the ground.
43:34
Well, apart from just getting wet, we've just made a wonderful outdoor shower. Good on you, Timmy, really good. Nova, wouldn't happen but for you. It's an honour to be here.
43:46
Thank you for your time that you've given up as well. You're a very busy man, but to come and spend six days out here, and this is just day two, and what you've been able to achieve in two days, how many years has that been in your heart wanting to do?
44:04
Tony, I just want to say thank you, because when I say you're working here, I guess my company, like it just makes me emotional.
44:13
I'm a great man that you've been here with us for, you know, and doing a working with me, and I'm not in all of it, but it just makes me up.
44:22
It reminds me of my family here.
44:26
Yeah, and we should also thank Israel for their big part in all of this because if we wouldn't have been able to do it without my foundation Israel Aid and you know with you wanting this we've been able to all join together and You are a machine, Tony Abbott. You are an absolute machine, what you've been able to achieve in two days, and yeah, I'm sure you can just say thank you.
44:53
Thank you.
44:54
Everyone as a team coming in and doing this, it's just, I call this, you are all angels.
45:07
There you go. We need a bit of good news, don't we? And you saw some of those beach shots. It looks like terrific tourism country. I'd watch the crocs. Right after the break, the heat's on Anthony Fauci. Well, there were no answers today in those hearings. I'll show you all of that. And what's happening in Europe? We've seen a real increase in terror attacks, Islamist terror attacks. So who's pulling the streams after the break?
45:32
Welcome back, Coach O'Gard and Michael Damby here for the international panel. But before I bring them in, I want to go first to that extraordinary grilling of Anthony Fauci at the COVID-19 hearings, Capitol Hill in Washington. Of course, he was the government scientist who became the face of the US response, actually the global response to COVID. He should have been giving us straight answers about where the virus emanated from. We know it was China. In my view, it was out of his lab, a lab he had long funded. But that wasn't the sort of answers he was giving the Congress.
46:05
Have a listen to this.
46:07
What colour tie are you wearing?
46:10
On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.
46:17
What colour is the carpet in front of you?
46:19
On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment.
46:26
All right, Koshigata, we know that he got a pardon, a peremptory pardon from Biden before he'd even been charged with anything, but clearly he expected he could be. He's written this book. It's a big noting book. It's all about him.
46:40
Given all the chaos, don't we deserve answers?
46:44
We sure do deserve them. There is an interesting legal question with that pardon, because some legal analysts are saying that actually the pardon means, by definition, he cannot be criminally liable, and therefore he cannot invoke the Fifth. The Fifth is meant to save you from incriminating yourself.
46:59
This might continue to be pushed in the legal angle, and Rand Paul has been his arch nemesis. Good for him, he's not letting this go. There's a hearing next week to hold him in contempt of Congress, so they're gonna keep trying to bring the heat on him legally. But in the court of public opinion, there've always been two camps, the ones who sort of lionized him as the saviors of everybody in this pandemic, and then those who were skeptical at best, That second camp is only growing. This showing is only gonna further that camp. Yes, he'll sell his book and he'll always have his fans, but he does not come across well. The diary releases don't make him look good.
47:30
He seems to be obsessed with fame on top of the fact that he was the root cause of the global response. And he, I think, will go down in infamy for it.
47:38
It paralysed the world for two years.
47:40
You know, Victorians, I don't think they've got their mojo back absolutely around the world. Obviously there were deaths and everything, Michael. How is it when you have a global crisis on any other issue? We drill down, we want the facts, we want to be able to prevent it happening again. We've let China get off the hook and we've let this guy get off the hook.
47:59
Thank heavens for Sky and for Shari in particular with her book.
48:04
The central core of this is this dreadful coronavirus. You talk accurately about its terrible effects in Victoria, was funded by the United States.
48:15
the Wuhan Institute of Virology was funded by a New Jersey-based ancillary branch of Fauci's office. That is disgraceful. And it's against the explicit directive of former liberal President Barack Obama, who said, I don't want the United States involved in any gain of function, another word, germ warfare research. Yeah.
48:44
And that's when you got the pardon.
48:45
And that's such wisdom. I mean, these things are so dangerous. And in a second-rate lab, this is exactly what happened. And we're all paying the price for it. So Fauci's no hero. This has been established by the FBI, the CIA, and a lot of scientists who were formerly supporters of his.
49:04
I want to play a grab from the President about Iran because he was pretty blunt today.
49:10
We can hit them very hard.
49:12
I mean, I can actually say that because there's very little they can do about it. They've already apologized, but, you know, we got to smack them a little bit.
49:23
Where's his head of kosher?
49:25
Sounds like he wants to keep smacking them a little bit. And he's no fan of the regime. He's said that multiple times. The other pressure, of course, is how long does this continue? But for now, it sounds like he's doubling down. Of course, Prime Minister Netanyahu is there. And they're going to stay the course. The biggest cost to him will be if more American soldiers lose their lives. That's really going to affect the negativity.
49:43
And he'll run up against the midterms. And of course, Michael, we're seeing around, we certainly saw in France, we saw in Berlin, there's a rise in Islamist tax, which is exactly what the warlords in Iran were calling for.
49:53
And some of it's funded by them. They use crims like they did here. They use their professional intelligence officers. They're mainly focused in Europe against dissidents and against the Jewish community. But this is an evil regime. And one of the things that Americans have to think about is You can't stop this Iranian regime. There was a three-day ceasefire, nothing was being initiated by the Americans, and they made a Pearl Harbour surprise attack on the American bases with ballistic missiles in Jordan, trying to kill as many Americans as possible.
50:26
What does Trump do with that? He can't surrender.
50:28
Got to leave it there. I'm sorry about that, but it'll be on the table for next week, I'm sure. Poor old Iran. Well, not poor old Iran, the people of Iran. We'll leave it there. See you Monday. Thanks for great company. We've got flags for you on Monday. Wait for Monday. Here's Andrew.
