Panel with David Campbell and Peter Gleeson, Today Show

14 December 2023

DAVID CAMPBELL: Welcome back. Great to have your company. This morning, a high stakes request from the United States could see an Australian warship sent to the Red sea. Now, such a move would signal a major escalation in Australia's response to the unfolding crisis in the Middle East. Joining us to discuss this now is Liberal Senator Jane Hume in Melbourne. And for ABC's Peter Gleeson on the Gold Coast. Jane, I'll go to you first. The Australian is reporting this morning that the federal government is considering this request. Would you support such a move?

JANE HUME: Well both the Opposition and the Government have always tried to remain lockstep in its defence deliberations, and Australia remains ready to stand by our allies in the Middle East and particularly protect those trade routes, as potentially we may be asked to do so. Of course, we would support standing by Israel in any way that they need and the request from the US. What is concerning, though, is the mixed messages that we're now hearing out of the government, particularly around their decision yesterday to support a UN motion that called for a ceasefire in Gaza without condemning Hamas. Admittedly, the Australian government did issue a statement alongside Canada and New Zealand that called for a return of hostages. And that's a good thing. But the motion that we supported alongside countries like Syria, Russia, Iran, the Taliban, that motion didn't reflect the statement that Australia had made earlier on. I think that was a grave mistake, and it sends mixed messages to Australia's Jewish community.

DAVID CAMPBELL: So you don't support what happened yesterday, you don't support.

JANE HUME: I think that was a terrible misstep. Of course, everyone wants to see a cease fire, but we want to see a ceasefire with hostages returned and the defeat and surrender of Hamas and the dismantling of that terrorist organisation. Without that, there can be no cease fire. You're simply just allowing Hamas to regroup, recalibrate, reorganise and repeat some of the atrocities that have already been inflicted on Israel.

DAVID CAMPBELL: So I want to bring you in here. Cricketer Usman Khawaja is pushing to wear shoes inscribed with what's seen as a pro-Palestinian message during tonight's Perth test. He did a video message to this before. He was very calm, very measured about it. What do you think about that?

PETER GLEESON: Look, I love Usman Khawaja. I think he's one of the most elegant batsmen I've ever seen. He's sort of in the Mark Waugh, Greg Chappell mould. But I think, you know, his political views should not. Cricket should not be used as a vehicle for his political views. He essentially said in that video, David that this wasn't political, this was about humanitarian, uh, you know, values. But when you think about that issue in the Middle East, it is wholly and solely political. Think about what the Albanese government did yesterday when they called for that cease fire. They pandered to the Muslim community shoring up western suburbs seats in Sydney. And of course, the Jewish community have condemned it. So they'll lose votes. The Labor Party because of that. And just further to to what Jane just said, I mean, if you pander to Hamas, the idea for Israel is to actually eradicate Hamas. Otherwise, we'll see this going on for centuries. And by having a ceasefire, you can't eradicate Hamas.

DAVID CAMPBELL: Well isn’t he entitled to say anything. I mean, this is a free country. Politics does enter into sports and arts. And so he's not allowed to say, ‘yeah, this is what I believe’.

PETER GLEESON: He is, but don't use the shoes. It's okay to go on social media and talk about what his views are. But don't go on to a cricket field in a test match against Pakistan with those sorts of views because as the ICC says, and as Australian Cricket Board says, That's not part of their code of conduct.

DAVID CAMPBELL: Alright, just quickly, new data has revealed that 60% of Aussie managers are working from home. Jane, do as I say and don't do as I do is what they're saying.

JANE HUME: Yeah look, it's interesting this we also saw some data come out from the Public Service recently saying 60% of public service for servants are now have the ability to work from home too. And it's interesting to see some companies wind it back companies like ANZ and Amazon are now demanding that their workforce come back into the office for the sake of productivity. I think that that's not necessarily a bad thing. We want flexible workplaces. But if you can't do the job from home, if you can't get the job done, well, then you can't have the right to work at home either.

DAVID CAMPBELL: If your boss said ‘can you go into work for me, please, I'm staying home’, would you do it?

PETER GLEESON: Well, they're the boss, David. So you've got to hear what the boss is. Absolutely. I think flexibility in the workplace is the key. I think that's the key. And there are some, you know, occupations where you can't work from home like bus drivers, but if you know if you can work from home two days a week and three days a week in the office, I'm all for that. I think that's fantastic. All right.

DAVID CAMPBELL: Thank you both this morning. Great to have your company. Let's go back to SJ now in Cairns.