Murray Olds: Australian correspondent on Australia cancelling the visa of a far-right Israeli politician

The Australian federal government has cancelled the visa of Israeli politician Simcha Rothman days before he was set to arrive for a speaking event.

Rothman, whose party is part of  Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition, previously advocated for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, and denied claims of starvation in the territory.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke claimed Australia would not accept people travelling to cause division.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
International correspondence with ends in eye insurance peace of Mind
for New Zealand business.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Murray's I was a correspondent, So that's hey muss and
picking up on it's theme there.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
It's a far far better thing that post he did
than you'd ever done before.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Wow, you guys are wonderful and you know what's going
on right now? Is everybody younger than a generation exits
going I don't know what they're talking. What do you
think they're talking?

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Read the book. It is one of the greatest books
in literature, isn't it. I I've must have read it
ten times. I love it.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Okay, I've only got halfway through, but I'll go back
and find it and pick it up. It was a
challenge because I'm younger than a generation exit. Anyways, talk
to me about this big economic roundtable in Canberra. What
have we got from it?

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Well, look today we had Look, it's a round table business,
union's government, the community sector. It got in the way
this morning. Three days of all of this. And first
that was a presentation from the Governor of the Reserve Bank,
Michelle Bullock. And look, she emphasized the importance heather of
domestic measures to boost productivity, you get the economy ticking
over again a lot more strongly, boosting living standards. She

(01:05):
spoke about globalhead wins. That was something that the Treasurer
Jim Charmers also spoke about his opening address, International risks,
particularly disruptions to global trade and sort of dominated by Washington.
But here's the thing, I mean, the Prime Minister Anthony Ebernez,
he says this, all the good ideas to come out
of this three day conference will be embraced very quickly

(01:26):
by the government. But the opposition points out quite rightly
that's going to be a bit difficult because Elbow's taken
off the table things like any reform of the tax
system at least at this point, and there's no overhaul
promised of industrial relations. So as far as the oppositions
concerned and business leaders do, say, can you, Bunny Well
cut red tape, we are strangling in this stuff. Free

(01:47):
up the economy a bit and watch us go. But Elbow,
he's going to squander this massive majority he's got. That's
the big fear of it.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Ah, they always do, don't they. Hey, what do you
make of this blocking of the Israeli politician?

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Well, It's divided Australia, no doubt. The Jewish community says, well,
you know, how come, but the government is not backing down.
He's a far right member of the coalition that runs
Israel with Benjamin Naho. His name is Simpcha Rothman. He is,
as I say, very hard right. He is spoken about,
for example, guards and children as enemies of Israel and

(02:24):
that was a step too far for the federal government.
It said that he's been banned from his speaking to it.
Here the Australian newspapers said had seen documents that say
Rothman's been banned for his comments that mentioned that you know,
the kids or enemies, but because his inflammatory remarks quite
could disrupt the Australian Muslim community. Well, you know, maybe

(02:44):
the case. The government hasn't mentioned that. But Tony Burke,
the minister involved here, he's the Home Affairs said listen,
this guy is the right wing rat bag spouting nonsense.
He's not welcome.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Maz okay, tell me why you think this is a
hideous palace.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Well, I'll just paint the picture. This was a beautiful
piece of pristine bush south from Sydney, a river on
one side, trees and birds and koalas everywhere, and it
was all been stripped. Nearly four thousand plants, six hundred
mature trees, all gone, illegally gone because this fella he's

(03:21):
a developer. Now, look, there are good developers, I understand,
both of them are currently working nicely, but the vast
majority apparently are rat bags. This bloke, this bloke, he
wanted to put a six bedroom mansion on this thing.
How I guess are some of the inclusions. He wanted
a gym, a sauna, he wanted, a man cave, a
popcorn bar, he wanted six a tenpin bowling alley and

(03:43):
indoor basketball court, a library, a big pool that included
a floating quote hammock island. I'd ask and about that
a hammock island. Bugget of mine o too. But in
any event, not only did he not get permission from counseling,
now is to pay back around and ten thousand dollars
and promised to replant all these native plants and trees.

(04:04):
The local people down there, who took this matter up
with the council said, are you kidding? This guy spends
that for lunch? What are you talking about? This lovely
bit of boosh, that's home to Koalas and all the
rest of it has gone, maybe forever, because how's this
guy going to restore that lovely piece of bush land?
He did own the land, but he'd been banned from

(04:25):
clearing it and has had the people before him who
owned that same block of land.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Brilliant mozz thank you has always appreciate it. Murray Old's
Australia correspondent. It is a neoclassical style mention, very sort
of hmm yeah, it's ghosh. I love what he's got
going on inside with all the luxury, but the outside
does look quite crap, like he's got a lot of

(04:50):
money but not a lot of taste. For more from
Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
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