A debate about Anthony Albanese’s slow response to the Iran crisis descended into a near-shouting match on Channel Seven, with one panellist asking the other: ‘Whose side are you on?’
The Prime Minister fronted the media shortly after 11.30am on Monday – more than 24 hours after US President Donald Trump unleashed a series of ‘bunker bombs’ on three of Iran’s nuclear sites in a serious escalation of the conflict raging in the Middle East.
A government spokesperson initially failed to endorse the US operation, with Albanese only belatedly backing Trump’s decision while repeatedly insisting it was a ‘unilateral action taken by the United States’.
Amanda Rose, founding director of Western Sydney Women, argued that Albanese needing to show some ‘spine’ and criticise the Trump administration during a panel interview with Natalie Barr.
‘They (the government) shouldn’t just support the US simply because they’ve supported the us before,’ she said.
‘They can say, “Yes, we have an alliance with the US but we don’t agree with what Donald Trump has done”.’
Fellow panellist and Daily Telegraph journalist James Willis highlighted that the United States is Australia’s most important ally.
‘It works both ways. If Australia is ever under threat, we would expect America and the UK to come to our aid – it’s as simple as that,’ he said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) fronted the media shortly after 11.30am on Monday – more than 24 hours after US President Donald Trump unleashed a series of ‘bunker bombs’ on three of Iran’s nuclear sites in a serious escalation of the conflict raging in the Middle East
Daily Telegraph journalist James Willis (pictured, left) criticised Albanese’s ‘wishy-washy’ response on Sunrise on Tuesday morning – triggering an intense debate with fellow panellist Amanda Rose
Ms Rose hit back: ‘We can’t have an alliance with a leader of a country who is no unstable, that not only does he bomb another country, he then provokes them.
‘Maybe if Albanese had that conversation with Trump and actually had a relationship him he could say, “We don’t agree with this”. But he doesn’t. He hasn’t done anything.
‘We are sitting ducks in Australia. We have no defence strategy. There is no defending us from our leaders’ perspective – and then we just say we support the USA.’
Willis replied: ‘Which is why if it ever came to it, we would need the United States and the UK to come to our aid.’
Ms Rose hit back: ‘What a sad state of affairs that Australia doesn’t have a strong enough defence that we actually have to rely on a country.’
Natalie Barr was then forced to intervene: ‘We never have though – for decades and decades the US has been our big daddy.’
Barr then highlighted that Iran had breached the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, one of the reasons behind Trump’s decision to act.
But Ms Rose, was having none of it, as she accused the US of ‘hypocrisy’ for having its own nuclear weapons, while denying Iran the chance to have its own.
‘What they’re saying is we don’t want Iran to have nuclear weapons. However, Russia, China, Israel, America can have them,’ Ms Rose said.
‘Even America who’s got a track record of lying about the weapons of mass destruction in order to enter a country to bomb them, so they don’t have a history of being honest about starting war.
‘They’ve got nuclear weapons. But other people can’t have them. It’s the hypocrisy.’
Her outburst prompted Willis to ask: ‘Whose side are you on here, honestly?’
Ms Rose shot back: ‘The innocent people that are going to be killed if there’s World War Three!’
Willis replied: ‘One of these countries, could’ve been weeks away from using nuclear weapons. If there was intelligence to that effect, America has to act.’
Ms Rose shot back again: ‘They’ve been saying that for 30 years.’
The two guest panelists then spoke over one another before Barr intervened.
The Prime Minister was asked yesterday why it had taken so long to give his backing to the move by Australia’s top security ally against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear capabilities.
‘We aren’t a central player in this conflict, that’s just a fact,’ he responded.
‘What we do is we run an orderly, stable government. But I made comments about this in three countries over recent days. My comments today (Monday) are perfectly consistent with that.’
Trump declared a ceasefire between Iran and Israel earlier on Tuesday morning.
‘It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE … for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED,’ Trump wrote on social media.
However, rockets have continued to fly and Iran’s Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi said there was no ‘agreement’ between the countries.
Israel is yet to comment on the ceasefire.
