Caroline Marcus:
Well, joining me now is the deputy executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs, Daniel Wild. Daniel, this is a welcome result, no doubt, for these players, although concern does remain for the welfare of the other players heading back to Iran where they’ve been branded wartime traders. But it is a real shift in the government’s response to this from earlier in this whole saga. You’ll remember the assistant minister for Foreign Affairs, Matt Thistlethwaite, had said that the players would not be given preferential treatment. What do you think was behind this apparent change of heart? Was it US intervention here or do you think the government had been working all along towards this?
Daniel Wild:
Well, it’s a couple of things. It does look like the US is intervening in our domestic affairs, trying to dictate our immigration policy, and it should be the Australian government that has sovereignty over what arrangements can be made. So it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Anthony Albanese is kowtowing to the Trump administration, which is an interesting turn of events. I think in terms of the domestic side of it, well, I think it’s good and positive that we’re able to welcome people who are under threat from their home country, but it’s difficult to see this as anything other than political. The migration policy of this government has in the main been driven by political considerations rather than humanitarian, economic or social consideration, so that would have been very much the rubric. I guarantee you, they would’ve had the electorate map out in the offices when they’re looking as to where these people are going to be resettled. That’s how this government works, and I doubt that this is any different to past decisions they’ve taken.
Caroline Marcus:
Well, I wonder how popular the decision would be in some of the seats that Labour ministers like Tony Burke himself holds, because we’ve seen a lot of those seats be threatened by the rise of Muslim independents who’ve supported the pro Palestine movement, but they haven’t been very active or vocal at all when it comes to protecting the Iranian regime. I tend to think that in this case, it is the right move from the government, and a little bit of a departure from previous moves where they haven’t exactly been too keen to fall in line with the US on things like Gaza, for instance.
Daniel Wild:
Yeah. Well, the one thing I know is Tony Burke wouldn’t do it if it didn’t suit Tony Burke, so that much is clear. And I think it’s a shame because Australians don’t have any confidence in our migration system overall because it has been used for political purposes. I’m not saying every single decision has been taken for that reason, but a lot have. And the other concern I have here is that we don’t want to see a double standard. We want to help as many people as we can and people who are in genuine need of refuge should be welcomed into our country, but that shouldn’t just be because they’re in a sporting team. And I certainly hope that this decision hasn’t just been taken because it’s high profile and is going to get a lot of media interest in that fact, because there could be many other worthy people that are now being excluded from coming to our country who may be even more needy than those from the Iranian soccer team. So I’d hate to think that this is being done simply because it’s a high profile case that gets good publicity.
Caroline Marcus:
Well, look, I think it’s a large part of it, but I don’t think anyone can deny that these women were truly at risk after refusing to sing the national anthem at one of their first games. They faced horrible consequences back in their home country. Look, meanwhile, President Trump provided an update earlier today saying the US has achieved major strides towards completing its military objective in Iran with every single force wiped out.
Donald Trump:
We’re achieving major strides toward completing our military objective, and some people could say they’re pretty well complete. We’ve wiped every single force in Iran out very completely. Most of Iran’s naval power has been sunk. It’s on the bottom of the sea.
Caroline Marcus:
Iranian state television has also reported the country’s newly installed supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was wounded during the ongoing conflict, although it’s not clear exactly when that happened. Dan, do you see this conflict being over anytime soon, or do you share the concerns of some of Trump’s critics, many in the US, that this could be a forever war?
Daniel Wild:
Well, I hope Trump’s right. I hope it is near completion because it was a good move to take out the Iranian regime and to stop their nuclear programme, there’s no doubt about that. The big question has always been, as it always is in any of these cases, is, well, what comes next? And so we saw with Iraq, which I think was a justifiable intervention to start with, but the question was, well, what do you do when you remove Saddam Hussein? And they tried to implement democratic institutions, which is understandable, but ultimately failed. So that’s the big question here. And I understand the reservations that some have, particularly those in the MAGA base about not wanting to get drawn into a protracted conflict, so if Trump is able to draw a line underneath it, you’d have to say he’s done a remarkable job in being able to execute a discreet and targeted military objective without getting the US drawn into a broader regional conflict. That would be an outstanding and very rare achievement.
So if he has done that or if he can draw that to a close, he gets a 10 out of 10 for it. I certainly hope that’s the case.
Caroline Marcus:
Let’s hope so. Albanese has also announced Australia will send missiles, ADF personnel, and an E-7A Wedgetail plane to help to defend these Gulf states under attack from Iranian drones and missiles, but the Prime Minister reiterated Australia will not be involved in any possible troop deployment in Iran itself or be involved in offensive strikes. Daniel, what do you make of that announcement? Should we be more involved in this conflict, or do you think we’re right to take this approach?
Daniel Wild:
From my perspective, it looks like a pretty good approach, a pretty balanced approach to start with. I don’t know what the US has asked of us. Perhaps they asked for more and we didn’t want to give it, I don’t know. I tend to be of the view that the US is our most important ally. That has been the case since World War II and will be the case now for many decades to come, so we need to be a good, reliable, and dependable ally. And if the US has requested this of us, I’m not just saying we do whatever the US wants, but we need to play our role in that alliance. So if the US has made it clear that this contribution will make a difference to that effort, then this is a very good move.
So we’ll wait and see whether anything else is requested. I don’t think that our troops should go there, certainly not at this stage, so to me, on the face of it, it seems like a reasonable balance.
Caroline Marcus:
Yeah. And you’d have to say that Trump has spoken very highly of Anthony Albanese. If he wasn’t meeting the demands from the United States of this conflict, I think we would hear about it. The war is also sparking huge fears meanwhile about Australia’s economic stability. There are concerns that inflation in Australia could jump as high as 5% in coming months due to the petrol supply crunch. But what’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ biggest concern at the moment? Changes to the capital gains tax discount. The Australian reports, Treasury is modelling scrapping the entire capital gains tax discount on investment properties and replacing it with a flat tax and indexation. Daniel, has the government got its priorities right here?
Daniel Wild:
Look, at this very point in time, probably not. I am intrigued though about the flat tax. I’m not sure if that refers to personal income or something else, but certainly, if they’re saying they’re going to remove the negative gearing or the capital gains tax benefits and to replace that with a flat income tax with the income tax rates to be indexed, I’m not sure you’d need indexation if it’s flat, but anyway, that could be something to look at. The problem has always been, well, if you’re simply going to remove the capital gains tax discount and not do anything else, then that’s going to be a big tax slug, but if they’re offsetting it somewhere else in the tax system, then that’s something that we should keep an open mind towards.
Look, in terms of the domestic situation with the inflation and the fuel and oil, well, this is a domestic disaster in the making for many years. We’ve only got two oil refineries left in this country, which has been a result of policy decisions taken by successive governments in the name of climate change and net-zero. We import something like 90% of our liquid oil stock. There’s no reason for that. We have plenty of crude oil in our country. We should have more refineries, not fewer, and we should have our own sovereign abilities to refine the oil for our own domestic market should we need to. So look, this is another example of what happens when we outsource our manufacturing and industrial capabilities. When the squeeze is on, we miss out.
Caroline Marcus:
Yeah, and farmers and independent fuel retailers are warning of the supply crisis and how it’s left parts of Australia running out of fuel, and of course, leading to panic buying. We’re seeing long queues out of petrol stations, so I dare say, this isn’t going to wrap up anytime soon with this conflict ongoing.
Let’s quickly talk about this year’s Sydney Biennale, which has opened without its controversial artistic director attending the exhibition’s launch. The Emirati princess, Hoor Al-Qasimi, had been expected at today’s opening, but organisers said she wants to have the focus to stay on the artists and their work. But her absence comes after a former Biennale director, Morry Schwartz, raised concerns that the country’s largest contemporary art event could provide a platform for vocal antisemites. And The Australian is also reporting today that Carla Zampatti chief executive officer, Alex Schumann, will host a party for the Biennale patrons at his penthouse apartment, and that’s despite having such concerns about the overwhelmingly pro Palestinian programming that he had the company pull its funding from the event.
So a little bit of a turnaround there, Daniel. We’ve seen the art sector here become an increasingly hostile place for Jews or Zionists as the artists themselves like to call them. What do you make about this turnaround from one of our biggest fashion companies?
Daniel Wild:
Well, it shows that the tide might be turning a little bit on this issue, but I’m deeply disappointed in what’s happened in the arts sector, not just recently, but over many, many years. The antisemitism and the platform for one group of people based on their beliefs at the exclusion of others is the most recent manifestation of an art sector that’s becoming divisive. Art is something that should bring people together. It should speak to timeless human values of beauty and truth, rather than engaging in fairly low rent day-to-day political propaganda and activism. Also, a lot of the artistic community is dependent upon government subsidisation in some way, shape, or form. Now, there is a role for that through tax base to support certain artistic endeavours, but there is absolutely no role for that money to be put to a political use. That is unfair that taxpayers need to fund that.
So I just think it’s an example of wherever we turn in our society, sport, art, schooling, elsewhere, unfortunately have been turned into platforms for political grandstanding rather than undertaking things that can unite the community, and I hope that we are at a turning point.
Caroline Marcus:
True true. And sadly, as you point out, our taxpayer funding is going straight towards that. Daniel Wilds, thank you so much for your time tonight.
This transcript with Daniel Wild on The Rita Panahi Show – Sky News Australia from 11 March 2026 has been edited for clarity.
