Murray Olds: Australian correspondent on the investigation into Dezi Freeman's wife during ongoing manhunt

The search for alleged cop-killer Dezi Freeman is still ongoing, but his wife is also the subject of an investigation as the situation continues.

Freeman is accused of gunning down two officers before disappearing into the bush, but authorities have evidence to prosecute the fugitive's wife, Amalia Freeman, for obstructing police at the time of the shooting.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says Amalia Freeman and a 15-year-old were arrested during a raid last week, but there's been no update since.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Muriel's ass he correspondence for US.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
He mass, hello here they're going to happen.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Any updates on this chap who's been running around in
the bush?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Does he Freeman know? There's not?

Speaker 3 (00:10):
There's a bit of interest, I must say, renewed interests
in his wife. Apparently she was in the in the
van the bus when mister Freeman allegedly opened fire and
killed two police. She's been arrested briefly, along with a
fifteen year old boy. We understand her son, but they've
been released on bail, like I presume on bail. And no,

(00:31):
there's been no update that I'm familiar with. I've been
listening to the news all day and reading across different websites,
but no, I've seen nothing.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
They're still looking for him. Day nine, Day ten, Day nine.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Take on this is this? When does this get embarrassing
for the cops?

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Well, look, he may be dead, he may have taken
his own life. And it's a it's an extremely rough area.
There are all sorts of abandoned mine shafts, there are caves,
there are you know, it's extremely rugged country and if
you want to go out there and do away with
yourself at the bottom of a mind shaft.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Will they be going to find you?

Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yeah, you know, it's that sort of country.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Heather, Yeah, fair enough.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Hey, what's this robodebt update?

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, the government just go back to the start.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Under Scott Morrison, there was this algorithm used by the
Department of Social Security. It was a new piece of
tech that they said, oh that you know, we'll be
able to catch welfare cheats. Well, they rounded up nearly
five hundred thousand people and said you owe the government money.
And in many in almost every case, it was absolute horsepoo.

(01:40):
It was rubbish. This algorithm got it completely wrong, and
in some cases people took out big debts they couldn't
afford and could never repay, to try and repay this
debt tragically, sadly, in other cases, people took their own
lives because they just said, well, we can't pay this
debt and I don't know where it's come from, and
I can't I can't going anymore now. Under Scott Morrison's leadership,

(02:04):
that was the algorithm used, and the government at that
time agreed to pay up one hundred and twelve million
dollars in compensation. Well, lawyers for those involved went.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Back asid your kidding. We run a whole lot more
than that.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
And now with the approval still to come from the
Federal Court, another four hundred and seventy five million dollars
has been approved to be paid, so it's well over
half a billion Australian dollars. Now that you know, if
the Federal Court signs off on this, we'll go to
those who were affected by this dreadful piece of government,
just complete government bungling.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
What about John Howard? What's he had to say?

Speaker 3 (02:44):
Well, I don't know, he's a bit like Bob Catter.
Perhaps they're just too old and we shouldn't go to
them for headlines anymore. But I mean John Howard's come
out swinging against Anthony Alberneze's decision to formally recognize the
Palestinian state. Elbow was off to the United Nations General
Assembly this month, and that confirmation during a speech to
the UN, now Alexander down Of, the former Liberal Foreign

(03:06):
minister one time would be Prime Minister and mister Howard
have signed a joint statement saying.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
They're absolutely poor by Elbow's decision.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Accusing pardon me, they said, the former Labor Prime Minister
Bob Hawk was a very strong friend of Israel. What
Albanese he's done, according to John Howard, is a betrayal
of Israel by Australia. According to mister Howard, the only
democracy in the Middle East now was under threat from Australia.
It's all about, he says, domestic political gain. Maybe you

(03:35):
shred a truth for more than that, but reducing statehood
to a prize that can be simply handed out at
the whim of any political leader. I'm not sure where
this has come from or why it's come at this
particular time, but certainly John Howard's come out swinging against
Anthony Albanezi.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Thank you for that much appreciate it. Murray Old's Australia correspondent.
For more from Hither Duplessy, Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks be from four pm weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.