Zoe McKenzie MP
Shadow Assistant Minister for Education and Early Learning
Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health
Member for Flinders
TRANSCRIPT – SKY NEWS NEWSDAY WITH KIERAN GILBERT AND ANDREW CHARLTON
Thursday, 9 October 2025
Topics: Israel-Palestine peace deal, Opera House protest, Larissa Waters’ comments on Insiders
KIERAN GILBERT: With me, Andrew Charlton and Zoe McKenzie. It’s great to see you both. I want to play you both this comment Donald Trump made to Sean Hannity on Fox and get your thoughts on it, basically in response to this first phase of the peace plan being agreed to. Have a look.
DONALD TRUMP (AUDIO): I spoke to Bibi Netanyahu just a little while ago. He called. He said, I can’t believe it. He said, everybody’s liking me now, meaning him. I said, Israel cannot fight the world, Bibi. They can’t fight the world. And he understands that very well.
KIERAN GILBERT: Andrew Charlton, first to you, is that vindication for the government in the recognition of Palestine as part of that international push and really sort of the isolation of Israel at the United Nations recently?
ANDREW CHARLTON: I think it is. But let me first say that the government obviously supports peace. We support the release of the hostages. And we’ve been calling for this for a long time. But I do agree with you, Kieran. I think the Liberals have a bit of egg on their face today. We’ve had to listen to them over the last few weeks tell us every single day that the government’s action to recognise Palestine would slow down or prevent the peace process from moving forward. And yet here we are, less than a fortnight since the government recognised Palestine at the United Nations, and we have a real breakthrough. And I think that shows that all of the Liberals’ complaints and problems that they’ve raised about recognising Palestine have really come to nothing.
KIERAN GILBERT: I’ll get your thoughts on that, Zoe, in a moment. But firstly, your reaction to what is the disruptor-in-chief looking like he might have just secured another significant diplomatic breakthrough.
ZOE MCKENZIE: So this is a huge relief if this, in fact, does produce peace in the Middle East, particularly so close to the second anniversary of the 7th of October. We had an important moment of reflection and discussion in this parliament on Tuesday in respect of that. So if it does bring about peace and it looks as though it will, it is indeed a great day. So we are all welcoming this potential result.
KIERAN GILBERT: Some cautious optimism, I guess.
ZOE MCKENZIE: Absolutely. But not holding my breath that at any time in the next few days will Donald Trump say that this is because Australia recognised the state of Palestine or indeed anyone else. He made his view on the recognition of Palestine quite clear at the United Nations. But equally, we know that, in fact, ceasefire talks ceased, stopped in their tracks the day France came out and recognised the state of Palestine. It showed that that was going to be its intent in New York. So my view would be, if anything, this has delayed that peace.
KIERAN GILBERT: These are live pictures from Hostages Square and the relief is clear, they’re singing, there was some champagne being popped at 5 a.m. here in Tel Aviv. We saw celebrations too in Khan Yunis (Khan Younis) in Gaza, I think both sides of the divide, Andrew, relief that there is finally a breakthrough, hopefully.
ANDREW CHARLTON: Well, it’s terrific to see that breakthrough and you can only imagine the relief from the families who have been waiting for the release of those hostages. It’s terrific to see that and we hope and pray that this peace process continues. But I think the bottom line here is that all of the claims the Liberals made about the recognition of Palestine, slowing down or stopping the peace process were completely wrong.
KIERAN GILBERT: OK, well, Zoe’s obviously contested that and suggested that it… that the talks were…
ZOE MCKENZIE: According to the United States administration, the ceasefire talks ceased on the day France said they would recognise the state of Palestine.
KIERAN GILBERT: But Donald Trump did say, as you heard in that comment to Bibi Netanyahu, you can’t fight the world…
ZOE MCKENZIE: Because the world has been asking for peace in the Middle East, right? The world has been asking for peace. The world has been expressing concern for what we have seen in Gaza. The manifest suffering and indeed the starvation of parts of the population. Everyone has been asking for peace. But whether the recognition of the state of Palestine had anything to do with us getting there, I doubt that very much.
KIERAN GILBERT: On the court decision to block a protest at the Opera House, is that the right decision?
ANDREW CHARLTON: Well, this is a decision that is made by New South Wales jurisdictions. And we obviously respect the decision made by the New South Wales Supreme Court. They made that decision on the basis of public safety. The government in principle, of course, supports the right of Australians to protest. But we also need to make sure that Australians are safe. And in this case, the New South Wales Supreme Court deemed that going ahead with that protest would create public safety risks, and we certainly respect the decision that they made.
KIERAN GILBERT: And Zoe… I spoke to Alex Ryvchin earlier in the day, and he was very relieved that this is not going to happen two years on from October 7 on one of our great landmarks. The politicisation, whether you’re on one side or the other, that the use of the Opera House for this sort of thing does aggravate a lot of Australians, not just those of Jewish heritage or Jewish faith.
ZOE MCKENZIE: Yeah, but I think more to the point, this now should bring to an end the egregious anti-Semitic acts we have seen in this country over the last two years. It is time to be grateful for peace. It is time to move forward in a socially cohesive manner. It is time for the egregious anti-Semitism we have seen on our streets, and in particular in Sydney. Although I do commend the New South Wales Premier for the actions he has taken, or at least his vocal response to some of those protests. It’s time for the anti-Semitism to stop.
KIERAN GILBERT: It did surprise me. Maybe it shouldn’t have surprised me. But the way that Larissa Waters answered questions on Sunday about the attack on a synagogue in Manchester and kept pivoting, instead of simply condemning that outrageous and disgraceful anti-Semitic attack, but pivoted towards the suggestion that we’re sending arms to Israel, and we should embargo Israel. It went from one to the other, instead of an outright condemnation. If you were a Jewish Australian watching that, it would make you feel sick, wouldn’t it?
ANDREW CHARLTON: It would make you feel sick, yeah. I mean, it’s very sad to see the politicisation of that issue in that way. I think most Australians would look at the horrific acts of anti-Semitism in the United States, and equally importantly, and more importantly for them in Australia, and be horrified by what they see, and fear for the safety and security of their family and loved ones. No one in Australia should have to live with that type of fear. And that is the primary response that I think every fair-minded Australian would have. It’s also completely wrong, their claim that Australia has been sending arms to Israel, and it’s an attempt to politicise the issue, and avoid calling out the obvious, which is these horrific acts of anti-Semitism.
KIERAN GILBERT: Yes, and you would agree with Zoe that hopefully we see now, and we hope, and if you pray, I’m sure you would pray as well, that this does see a peace, and then hopefully then, this really appalling scourge of anti-Semitism evaporate and go back to what it was, because it’s been quite ugly in this country, as well as around the world.
ANDREW CHARLTON: A terrible, terrible set of circumstances in Australia. And it’s not the Australia that any of us recognise, it’s not the Australia that any of us want. And we do hope and we do pray that this turns the page on that, and that Jewish Australians can live here in peace, in security, in safety, and knowing how welcome they are.
KIERAN GILBERT: I’m going to go live to the Hostages Square in a moment. We’ve got a guest joining me from Tel Aviv, just in the next few minutes, but I want to get your thoughts on the comments made by the Greens leader at the weekend on the ABC.
ZOE MCKENZIE: I thought it was outrageous. She was referring to some small widget that Australia makes that goes into a door of an aircraft, I think, somewhere. A ridiculous connection to make. And frankly, one that is just appalling in terms of its sympathy or empathy due to the Jewish people of Australia, given the ongoing trauma of what happened in Israel two years ago. On the 7th, I went back through some of the emails that I had received after you and I had talked about what I had seen when I went to Israel in December of 2023 and the broken heartedness of people who felt that they had always belonged here. They’d been here for five generations and their son was being told at school that he wasn’t a real Australian. No one should be subjected to that in this country. And frankly, comments like Larissa Waters’ just validate that sort of hate.
KIERAN GILBERT: Indeed. Let’s hope we see the back of that sort of characterisation or comments on a much loved part of our community. And as we move on from this terrible period in the world and hopefully Donald Trump has achieved something great as he’s suggested he has. Andrew Charlton, Zoe McKenzie, thank you both, appreciate it.
ENDS.
