SARAH ABO, TODAY: Well, two Sydney nurses have been stood down from their roles at southwest Sydney hospital after they were caught making vile comments about killing and refusing to treat Israeli patients.
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ABO: It's deeply disturbing. Joining us to discuss today's headlines is Minister for Aged Care and Sport, Anika Wells, and commentator Lucy Zelic in the studio with me. Good to see you both.
Anika, I'll start with you. So after weeks of fire bombings, public declarations of hate, we have managed somehow to reach a new low in this country.
ANIKA WELLS, MINISTER FOR AGED CARE AND MINISTER FOR SPORT: Yeah, that footage you just showed, I feel sick in my stomach just seeing it again. It is despicable. It will not be tolerated. I want people watching today to know we do not tolerate this. Our Australian health system is world class. This contravenes every single principle within it. And I don't want people to hesitate for a second when thinking about whether or not they are safe to approach our health system, so I want people to know they will not work again in our health system. The New South Wales Police is investigating and we will throw the full force of the law at them.
ABO: Yeah, I want to come back to that, Anika, because it's a good point you make there. There will be a lot of people out there feeling very fearful. Lucy, in the meantime, police are investigating, as Anika just pointed out. There could be jail time that this pair face, but how on earth has it even gotten to this point in this country? That's the most troubling part, I think.
LUCY ZELIC, COMMENTATOR: Well, I think that so many people looking on at this will think back to 7 October and the aftermath of that, and the position that the Albanese Government took on it. They'll be feeling as though - was Anthony Albanese strong enough when it came to condemning these actions, when it came to condemning the protests that we saw and the revelations that emerged out of that? And has he very largely dealt with the anti-Jewish sentiments in this country with an iron fist? Many people will say - and if you're looking on the balance of evidence of what we've seen so far, the terrible attacks and the threat of attacks taking place across Sydney alone, many people will argue that he hasn't dealt with that swiftly enough, Sarah.
ABO: So you think that the PM’s enabled this?
ZELIC: And the fact - well, I think a lot of people definitely feel as though that they have, and emboldened people to be able to have these kinds of positions, to go on these types of chats and to feel as though that that's going to be okay and that it's going to be the largely accepted sentiment. What's clear is that it's not. But the fact is, is that the damage has already been done, and a lot of people are feeling as though they're having to play catch up and clean up after the fact.
You know, we talk about, particularly with respect to Donald Trump, peace through strength, right? And showing that strength is something that Anthony Albanese has failed to do on this front.
ABO: It's a big condemnation there of your Government, Anika.
WELLS: In the weeks following 7 October, we introduced $25 million to combat anti-Semitism, another $32.5 million after that and another $100 million after that. We currently have before the Parliament laws that we have introduced that represent Australia's strongest ever hate crime laws …
ZELIC: Anika, with all due respect, the Prime Minister was playing tennis the day after a synagogue was firebombed, right? So I think it’s …
WELLS: That is a gross …
ZELIC: … but I think at some point you have to acknowledge that we are seeing people in these extremist factions feel very emboldened by what's going on, and the fact that the Albanese Government hasn't been swift enough in condemning these things.
WELLS: Lucy, that is a gross misrepresentation of the Prime Minister's actions across a series of events designed to appeal to a Sky After Dark audience. I don't think that trying to stoke this fight helps anyone.
ZELIC: What does this have to do with Sky After Dark, though?
WELLS: Stoking this fight is exactly how people do feel emboldened, because there are strong words exchanged. I think that you and I clearly agree about what the pathway forward is, what actions need to be taken. So let's take them together. Let's work together. Let's not stoke things unnecessarily.
ABO: I think what we need to hear as an Australian population is that there is some kind of bipartisanship here. Sentiments aren't enough, because we are seeing this get out of hand. And Anika, you know, one of your portfolios is Aged Care, right? I mean, that concerns the health of patients. How can you guarantee that those patients are in safe hands, given the video we've just watched? How do you weed out those bad operators?
WELLS: Well, I was just listening carefully to your interview with Minister Park and how there is now an audit going through the work histories of those two nurses to make sure that has not happened. And we've introduced strong, serious incident response schemes in Aged Care federally as a result - as a response to the Royal Commission where there were too many things happening on the Federal Government’s watch, albeit the previous Federal Government, where people were not getting the care and treatment that they deserve. So now we have a serious incident response scheme that does monitor these things, that does report things as little as someone needing a Band-Aid. We now currently report and provide to a public audience …
ABO: So these two just slipped through the cracks?
WELLS: Sorry, I didn't hear what you said.
ABO: Did these two just slip through the cracks then?
WELLS: I'm not sure, I don't govern the New South Wales Health System. I'm not grateful this has happened. I'm not grateful this has come to light. But now that it has, I'm grateful that we have the opportunity to conduct this audit and make sure that this isn't happening elsewhere, so that patients and future patients have confidence that this will not happen to them.
ABO: All right. It is deeply distressing. Anika. Lucy, we've run out of time but thank you so much for joining me this morning. I really appreciate it.