Queensland chief health officer appointment scrapped for second time
Dr Krispin Hajkowicz was appointed to the job in 2021 but resigned shortly after, citing "personal reasons".
Sources have confirmed to the ABC that he was recently offered the role again following a lengthy recruitment process.
It's understood that a corporate head shot was arranged and a media release regarding the appointment was drafted by Queensland Health.
The offer was then rescinded. A spokesperson for Queensland Health said a campaign to recruit for the role was undertaken, "however, no appointment was made".
"A renewed campaign to recruit a permanent Chief Health Officer was launched on Friday 8 August."
The international recruitment campaign advertises the role as earning up to $431,000 per annum.
In a statement, a government spokesperson said the job "is a very forward-facing leadership role".
"The government is not confident that the stability and longevity Queenslanders expect in this role has yet been met and the recruitment process is ongoing."
Dr Hajkowicz declined to comment on questions from the ABC.
Queensland has been without a permanent CHO since December, after Dr John Gerrard stepped down after three years.
Dr Hajkowicz's wife, Dr Sarah Martin, made a submission to parliament over the Victoria Park Stadium and planning legislation, before his job offer.
It related to laws that exempt 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games infrastructure from major planning rules, to ensure projects aren't held up by potential legal challenges.
In her submission, Dr Martin strongly opposed the legislation.
"The Crisafulli government's plan to override the rights of the individual Queenslanders to make life easier for politicians and developers is right out of the Joh Bjelke-Petersen playbook.
"Exempting this development from public scrutiny and removing the right of Queenslanders to protest via the courts is a very concerning proposition and makes the risk of corruption very likely."
She went on to allege that the Bill proposed to remove "the right to protest this development in the courts" and was "out of the fascist playbook".
The government said it was not aware of the submission during the recruitment process.
Deputy opposition leader Cameron Dick said the government had "questions to answer" over the recruitment..
"I think this whole process stinks," he said.
"This is so opaque, lacking in clarity, lacking in transparency, that every Queenslander should be deeply concerned about what the process was.
"What has happened, and why has an eminently qualified medical specialist who ticked all the boxes been rubbed out by the LNP for a very important job, particularly as we go through one of the worst flu seasons in recent history?"
Mr Dick said the opposition was considering further steps it could take regarding independent investigations into the matter.
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ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
How RFK Jr is eroding global trust in vaccines
Sam Hawley: Donald Trump once declared them a medical miracle. Now his health secretary is taking an axe to them. Robert F Kennedy Jr doesn't believe in the science behind mRNA vaccines that were deployed across the world during COVID, and he's cut nearly half a billion dollars in research funding. Today, public health professor at Sydney Uni, Julie Leask, on what Kennedy's anti-vaccine stance means for global health. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. Julie, why don't we start with a reminder of Robert F Kennedy Jr's history when it comes to vaccines and science? He is a sceptic, and he doesn't mind a conspiracy theory or two, does he? Julie Leask: Yeah, exactly. He doesn't. Sen. Chris Murphy: Are you actually still recommending people get the vaccine, or are you not? Robert F. Kennedy Jnr: Senator, if I advise you to swim in a lake that I knew there to be alligators in. Wouldn't you want me to tell you there were alligators in it? Julie Leask: So he first really got very interested in vaccines in 2005 when he was hearing from parents about their concerns about autism and a belief that vaccines linked to autism. Now, they came to him because he'd been an environmental lawyer litigating governments and companies over environmental pollutions, you know, the lakes, the lands. And so I think he kind of carried that theme of being against pollution. In this case, he started to believe that vaccines pollute the body, if you like. And that's been quite an intense campaign for him in the last 20 years since the publication of this infamous article in Rolling Stones magazine called Deadly Immunity, which was retracted. Sam Hawley: And just to make clear, there is no scientific evidence that vaccines are linked to autism. Julie Leask: No, there's not. This has been looked into over decades now, and many large and well-done, rigorous studies repeatedly show no link between vaccines and autism. Senator Bernie Sanders: The evidence is there. That's it. Vaccines do not cause autism. Do you agree with that? Robert F. Kennedy Jnr: As I said, I'm not going to go into HHS with any preordained... Senator Bernie Sanders: I ask you a simple question, Bobby. Studies all over the world say it does not. What do you think? Robert F. Kennedy Jnr: If you show me those studies, I will absolutely, as I promised to Chairman Cassidy, I will apologize. Senator Bernie Sanders: That is a very troubling response. Julie Leask: And what's tragic there is that this idea keeps being resurrected and fed, and that's awful for parents of children with autism who are trying to understand the causes. And it really is redirecting resources away from better understanding and better science around this into what's really just a dead-end cause. Sam Hawley: Yeah, he often rejects established science. He's also rejected that when it comes to HIV and AIDS, that HIV causes AIDS. He's questioned the safety of polio and measles vaccines. He's falsely linked antidepressants to school shootings, and it goes on and on, right? Julie Leask: It does. And so it was so deeply concerning when it started to look like he would lead up the US Health and Human Services, which is essentially the role of the health minister for the United States. And that's what has happened. So our worst possible nightmare is coming true. Sam Hawley: Yeah. All right. Well, he says he's not an anti-vaxxer, but in 2021, he told Louisiana lawmakers that the coronavirus vaccine is the deadliest vaccine ever made. Robert F. Kennedy Jnr: Now, if you look at their post-licensing record, it confirms that this is the deadliest vaccine ever made. Sam Hawley: Now, that's just not true, is it? It's not. Julie Leask: It's completely false. In fact, the coronavirus vaccines are estimated to save many millions of lives. Now, this vaccine does carry some rare serious side effects. So the mRNA COVID vaccines are known to potentially cause myocarditis or pericarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle or the area around the heart. And also, of course, you know, common minor side effects. So it's not like vaccines are risk free and nobody is ever saying that. But what RFK Jr has done is sort of perpetuate junk science, made it look like there are all these studies showing the vaccine to be unsafe, when in fact the benefits of this vaccine far outweigh what are known risks of rare but serious side effects. Sam Hawley: All right, well, Julie, that's a reminder of RFK Jr's view on medicine and science. Now, as you say, he is leading the health system in America. And in June, he fired all 17 members of a committee that issues official government recommendations on immunisations. Just tell me about that and who replaced all these people. Julie Leask: So, this committee is very important. I mean, the equivalent in Australia is what people might have heard of as ATAGI, which is the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation. These committees around the world are high level experts who have done a lot of research and published on vaccination and have deep expertise. They're vetted very carefully. They form a committee that looks at the evidence around vaccines, their safety, their benefits, their cost effectiveness. And they then make recommendations to the government. So he fired all 17 members of this committee and he replaced them with eight individuals. And the new committee consisted of some people who had a bit of a track record in vaccination, but themselves usually tended to be COVID lockdown sceptics or very critical of the government's responses, which aligned with how he thought. Also, there are some vaccine sceptics on that committee. There are very, very clever people who are new to vaccination. And there are some people who are just extremely low on any vaccination expertise, but handpicked by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., because of their positions that are more likely to align with his very marginal views. And that has really caused a great deal of concern among the US medical community, public health community and also among policy advisors as well because of the ramifications of this. Sam Hawley: Hmm. All right. So he puts this new, really controversial committee in place. And then, Julie, last week he cancelled nearly 500 million dollars of grants and contracts for developing mRNA vaccines. Now, this was the technology, of course, used during the pandemic. Just give me your initial reaction when you saw that news. Julie Leask: I was not surprised, but also very concerned, as I have been, about the sort of, I'd say, public health vandalism that the Trump administration are engaging in public health globally and, of course, locally in vaccination programs. So mRNA vaccines have helped save millions of lives by stopping people from getting really severe COVID and dying from it. They also hold promise for enabling us to quickly pivot to vaccine development with a new virus that could be the next pandemic. So one of the concerns has been about avian influenza, bird flu. This mRNA technology enables you to quickly develop the vaccine without sort of having to sort of grow the incubate, the germ in eggs and take six months or more in production. So there's so much promise with these vaccines. And then the therapeutics have promise and are being studied for their ability to treat cancer and certain types of anemia. So huge promise. And it's just driven a massive wedge in that scientific field and in development. So we're going to see a big brain drain in mRNA science, particularly from the US, where there's been so much exciting and positive work. Sam Hawley: Well, in a video released on social media, RFK Jr. argued that mRNA vaccines don't work. Robert F. Kennedy Jnr: After reviewing the science and consulting top experts at NIH and FDA, HHS has determined that mRNA technology poses more risk and benefits for these respiratory viruses. Sam Hawley: And then he then said in a statement that they encourage new mutations and can actually, he says, prolong pandemics. That's his view. How damaging are those words? Julie Leask: They are damaging. A lot of my research is in how people respond to these kinds of messages. What this is doing, and it's unique, this is one of the most influential countries in the world when it comes to vaccine science and policy. And it now has its leadership, someone who is ostensibly, by their actions, demonstrated to be an anti-vaccination activist in the health portfolio. And this is going to really supercharge not just the vaccine misinformation that is peddling, but also diminish people's confidence in vaccines because we rely a great deal on trust and trust in the expert systems that produce and recommend vaccines. And now the public are being told, yes, trust those systems and those experts, except when it comes to the United States. So in a way, we're having to sort of do this dual thing of saying, trust us, but don't trust them. And that becomes incredibly confusing and difficult for the public. Sam Hawley: And presumably that's not contained within America. Faith in public health, that could have an impact here too, right? In a GP surgery in Australia. Julie Leask: It could and, you know, we're hearing from the nurses and nurses are the biggest providers of vaccines. I'm a former nurse myself and a midwife. We're hearing from them around the country that they're getting more and more questions about vaccine, the schedule in the first year of life. You know, whether there are too many vaccines given, whether they're really that necessary, because these what we're seeing is very marginal positions and now being, you know, allegedly legitimised by the US administration. So it is going to affect Australia. We might not be seeing too much of it yet, but we will in the coming years as this administration continues to reap the havoc on public health. Sam Hawley: Well, Julie, Donald Trump, we presume, is backing this move, even though he hailed mRNA vaccines as a medical miracle during the pandemic. And he did seem to still support the technology when he was asked about the funding cut by a reporter last week. Journalist: You were the driving force behind Operation Warp Speed, these mRNA vaccines that are the gold standard. Now your health secretary is pulling back all the funding for research. He's saying that the risks outweigh the benefits, which puts him at odds with the entire medical community and with you. What is going on? Donald Trump, US President: Research on what? Journalist: Into mRNA vaccines. Donald Trump, US President: Well, we're going to look at that. We're talking about it and they're doing a very good job. Operation Warp Speed was, whether you're Republican or Democrat, considered one of the most incredible things ever done in this country. Sam Hawley: So what do you fear? What do you think we might see next from RFK Jr.? Julie Leask: It's going to be very interesting because Trump likes chaos. That's pretty clear from what he's done. And even saying about Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I'm going to let Bobby go wild on health. So if he's sort of seen or feels like the technologies that he once promoted are now being undermined by his health secretary, he might start to push back against that. And really, the hope would be that he doesn't like to see quite so much damage being done to this technology. It's, as always with Trump, sometimes quite hard to predict what he will do. Sam Hawley: But it sounds like if this isn't reversed, it could have very severe and lasting consequences for the world. Exactly. Julie Leask: And, you know, it will not just undermine our access to these technologies, but it's undermining public confidence. And one of the things that we think is very important is getting people mentally ready for the sorts of misinformation they might hear about vaccines, such as, you know, we found the cause of autism, it's this or that ingredient of vaccines. And therefore, you know, avoid having it. And then the government could probably be stronger in the way it supports research and development. So if we've lost all this capacity in the US, there's that opportunity that comes with that, that we can capture some, harness some of that lost talent from the US and augment our existing incredible talent we've got here in Australia too. Sam Hawley: Julie Leask is a professor of public health at the University of Sydney's Infectious Diseases Institute. This episode was produced by Sydney Pead. Audio production by Cinnamon Nippard and Sam Dunn. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. ABC News Daily will be back again on Monday. Thanks for listening.
ABC News
6 hours ago
- ABC News
Australia's commitment to recognise Palestine met with 'disappointment and disgust' by Trump administration
The US ambassador to Israel says the Australian government's decision to recognise Palestine was met with disgust by senior members of the Trump administration. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee told 7.30 he discussed Australia's decision with US President Donald Trump. "There's an enormous level of disappointment and some disgust," Ambassador Huckabee said. "I don't know that the president used that word, [but] I would say that is a characterisation of a sentiment. Ambassador Huckabee also said Australia's timing was "terrible". "I think the timing has been very hurtful to any prospects of negotiating some settlement in Gaza with Hamas … this is a gift to them, and it's unfortunate," he said. The ambassador continued his critique of the Albanese government's decision, saying it would have a direct impact on the remaining hostages of Hamas. "For this to come at a time like this, further endangering them and endangering any hopes of some peaceful resolution of dealing with Hamas and getting them to lay down their arms," he said. Australia followed similar commitments to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, that were made by France, Canada and the UK. "As Israel's closest partner, we would have expected that there would have been some heads up," he said. On 7.30 this week, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she had spoken to the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the government's intentions. "As a matter of courtesy, I did want to give him advance notice of our announcement," Ms Wong said. Earlier in the week, Minister Wong warned there would be "no Palestine left" to recognise if the world did not act. Asked about Senator Wong's comments, Mr Huckabee claimed Australia's decision could inadvertently push Israel towards annexation of the West Bank. However, in July, the Israeli Knesset passed a non-binding motion calling for the annexation of the West Bank. On Thursday, multiple outlets reported that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened an expansion of settlements outside Jerusalem. "Those who try to recognise a Palestinian state will receive from us an answer on the ground … and ensure that by September the hypocritical leaders in Europe will have nothing to recognise," he said. Pressed on whether the Trump administration should have sought to influence Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conduct of the war in Gaza, the ambassador said: "I guess if we wanted to tell them what to do we would, but we respect the fact they were attacked on October 7." On Wednesday, the total number of hunger-related deaths since the war began in October 2023 rose to 235, among them 106 children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Asked about Mr Trump's recent comments expressing discomfort at images of malnourished children, Mr Huckabee said Mr Trump had done "more than anyone else" to stop starvation. "He was the one who authorised us to create the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to start feeding people … get food to people who are hungry to give it to them in a way where Hamas cannot steal it," he said Since the GHF has been operating in Gaza, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid, according to the UN. The UN also says 500,000 people are facing famine and every child under five is at risk of acute malnutrition. Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV Do you know more about this story? Get in touch with 7.30 here.
ABC News
6 hours ago
- ABC News
What is the US response to Australia committing to recognition of a Palestinian state?
SARAH FERGUSON, PRESENTER: Mike Huckabee was appointed by President Donald Trump as the US ambassador to Israel earlier this year. He joins me now from Jerusalem. Ambassador Huckabee, welcome. MIKE HUCKABEE, US AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: Thank you, Sarah, an honour to be with you. SARAH FERGUSON: What is the US response to Australia joining other key allies in committing to recognition of a Palestinian state? MIKE HUCKABEE: Well, the US is disappointed that nations like Australia, UK and others, have decided to pick this particular time to unilaterally recognise a second state. I think that the timing has been very hurtful to any prospects of negotiating some settlement in Gaza with Hamas. They basically walked away. This is a gift to them and it's unfortunate. And also, it is a violation of the agreement that was done in Oslo that any type of recognition of a Palestinian state would involve the Israelis. This clearly does not, and I would say that it is unfortunate, but it's also very disappointing to the United States. SARAH FERGUSON: I think it's worth pointing out that Prime Minister Netanyahu has said in the past that he was proud to have put the brakes on Oslo. But let me ask you a specific question, have you discussed this issue with Donald Trump, President Trump? MIKE HUCKABEE: Absolutely and we discussed it at State Department level with the Secretary. There is an enormous level of disappointment, and some disgust. You perhaps heard the Secretary Rubio's interview this past weekend and he made it very clear that the result of this has been to completely halt any type of thoughtful negotiations going forward, and it's just very terrible timing for this to come about. SARAH FERGUSON: Can you be precise? We have heard what Secretary Rubio said. What did President Trump specifically say about this decision? MIKE HUCKABEE: Well, I don't want to disclose personal conversations with the President, that wouldn't be appropriate for me to do. SARAH FERGUSON: Perhaps, ambassador, you could characterise them for us? MIKE HUCKABEE: I can characterise them as sharing what I just shared. That is disappointing and frustrating. Frustrating that there was no communication with the United States. As Israel's closest partner, we would have expected that there would have been some heads up. There wasn't. This was done unilaterally. That was a disappointment. In the case of the UK, the President had had an extensive visit with the Prime Minister in the UK and about an hour after the President left to go back to Washington, that's when this decision was announced. One would think that it would have been an appropriate topic of conversation while the two were sitting there together. SARAH FERGUSON: And just if I could come back, you used the word "disgust", that's a very strong term. Who expressed disgust? Was that the President? MIKE HUCKABEE: I don't know that the President used that word. I would say that it is a characterisation of the sentiment - whether or not that word was employed by anybody in particular other than me. I think that it does express, though, the emotional sentiment, a sense of, you've got to be kidding! Why would they be doing this? And why would they be doing it now? And why wouldn't they not be telling the United States, or telling Israel, for that matter. But to go out and make a public announcement like this - it was unseemly. SARAH FERGUSON: Let me just put to you some of the arguments that were made by the Australian Government in making this decision. They felt, for example, that they had no option than to recognise a Palestinian state before Israel annexed the West Bank and to use their words, there was no state left to recognise. What do you say to the Australian Government in relation to that? MIKE HUCKABEE: I would say what Australia and the other countries may have done inadvertently is to push Israel towards doing exactly what they're afraid of. SARAH FERGUSON: But just talk to me about the US. This is really a question as to whether or not the US is becoming isolated? Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said that they had to do this because shortly, given what we've heard from the Israelis in relation to annexing the West Bank, there would be no state left to recognise. So how do you respond to that? MIKE HUCKABEE: Well, I would be very quick to tell you, I don't think that the United States feels isolated at all. You asked do we feel isolated? No, we don't. We're a sovereign country, so is Israel. So is Australia. Australia can do what it wants to do but we certainly don't have to agree with it. We don't have to like it. We don't have to pretend that it's okay, because in our view, it's not okay. And it was ill-timed, and I think, when hostages are being held, and tortured, not just held. They're not being fed. They're being forced to dig their own graves. We have seen the videos. And for this to come at a time like this, further endangering them, and endangering any hopes of some peaceful resolution of dealing with Hamas and getting them to lay down their arms. And Sarah, something that I think is very important to note, in the very week that the Australian Government, along with many others, were declaring publicly for a Palestinian state, you know who wasn't declaring for a Palestinian state? The Arab League. What they were calling for, that very week, was for Hamas to disarm and to let all of the hostages go. SARAH FERGUSON: I think that I just have to interrupt you there, ambassador, because it is clear that the Arab League has welcomed this recognition of a Palestinian state. But let's move on. Let me ask you a different question. MIKE HUCKABEE: They weren't calling for it last week, Sarah. They weren't calling for it last week. They were calling for Hamas to lay down their arms and surrender the hostages, and I think that it is an issue of timing. So I want to be very clear that, of course, they probably all support a second state, that they knew that there was a time and a place. Last week wasn't the time or the place. SARAH FERGUSON: Let me ask you this question. Do you take it as a starting point for any discussion on this conflict that the idea of a two-state solution is dead? MIKE HUCKABEE: The idea of a two-state solution is only alive if Israel and the Palestinian Authority can figure out a way to make it work. But as long as you have people chanting "From the river to the sea", as long as the Palestinian Authority continues to pay terrorists stipends for murdering Jews ... SARAH FERGUSON: I think to be clear, that Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, has committed to stop doing that. But please continue. MIKE HUCKABEE: No, actually, he hasn't, Sarah. He said in Arabic, that if there is only one penny left in the Treasury, that penny will go to the martyrs. So whatever he may say in one language to sound as if he's appeasing, the truth is that he has not given up on that policy. It is still going on today. SARAH FERGUSON: Let me ask you another question. This is really looking at the situation in Gaza, which was along with the question over the annexation of the West Bank was the other set of circumstances that the Australian Government described as motivating them in this decision. Why is the Trump administration apparently powerless in its ability to impact on the way Benjamin Netanyahu has conducted this war? MIKE HUCKABEE: Well, I don't know that it is the role of the United States to tell Israel how to prosecute a war. I want to remind you that there were 100 Americans who were held hostage, too. Two of them, who are deceased, their remains are still being held hostage. Some of them are out. Others have been killed, and we have their remains back. SARAH FERGUSON: Does not the United States' very large military aid, billions and billions of dollars to Israel, give you some leverage over how the war is conducted? MIKE HUCKABEE: I guess if we wanted to tell them what to do, we would but they're our partner. We respect the fact that they were attacked on October 7. They're not the attacking country. They were attacked country and there were 1,200 people... SARAH FERGUSON: Sure but the question here... MIKE HUCKABEE: No, Sarah, I'm going to stop you there. SARAH FERGUSON: Go ahead. MIKE HUCKABEE: Because I'm so tired of people blaming Israel for the fact that it is defending themselves against the monsters who raped women in front of their families, who mutilated their bodies, who burnt babies, who beheaded people, who burned elderly people in their wheelchairs, who took 250 people hostage - continued to torture them - many of them Holocaust survivors, many of them children and infants and somehow, we're supposed to blame Israel because it's trying to defend its country. No, I'm sorry, we're not going to tell them how to defend themselves. SARAH FERGUSON: As I have said many times on this program, the actions of Hamas are repulsive to all right-thinking people. This is a question however about the extended coverage of the war, not Israel's right to defend itself. Israel has dropped 100,000 tonnes of explosives on Gaza, a very small territory. That is more than the combined ordinance dropped on Hamburg, Dresden and the United Kingdom in the Second World War. That is the question. You cannot do that over a tiny space without mass casualty. So why doesn't the US have anything to say about the huge extent of civilian casualties in Gaza? MIKE HUCKABEE: We do. We have a lot to say about it. The first thing that we say is that Hamas should have surrendered on October the 8th. That would have ended the war and there wouldn't have been civilian casualties. The second thing that we say is that Hamas shouldn't do what it does routinely, which is put its civilians in front of targets that the Israelis announce in advance they're going to hit. I've got to be very clear to you. Not even the US military, and I think that we have one of the best and most ethical that have ever existed, but we don't announce in advance when we're going to hit a target, where we're going to hit and tell people to get out of it. Israel does that. They get no credit for that but Hamas on the other hand, they move their civilians right towards the target that Israel has announced, and then they threaten to shoot anyone who gets away from the target. So do they have a lot of civilian casualties? Yes, they do and a lot of the reason that they do is because Hamas makes sure that they have civilian casualties, because then, everybody can blame Israel for it. SARAH FERGUSON: I just note that you're not answering the question about Israel's conduct of the war. But let me ask you a different question about the war. MIKE HUCKABEE: No, I just did. I told you that Israel, I did announce that. I told you very clearly. SARAH FERGUSON: A partial answer, if I may, ambassador. A partial answer about warnings that are not universal. Let me ask you a different question. We all pay a lot of attention to your President. You are aware of that. We watched him express some disquiet, some upset over pictures of starving children in Gaza. When understand he doesn't like it. Why doesn't he make it stop? MIKE HUCKABEE: I think that the President has done more than anyone else I know to stop it. He was the one who authorised us to create the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, to start feeding people. He gave us two directives, Sarah. He gave us one, get food to people who are hungry. Two, give it to them in a way where Hamas cannot steal it or loot it and turn it into a commodity that they can sell, which they have been doing, to the tune of $500 million last year. So the President has been very clear what he wants to see done. I just wish people would recognise that the real reason for any deprivation in Gaza and starvation that may be happening is because Hamas has taken control of the food. This morning, I got the reports that of the UN food that goes in, as of this week, 91.5 per cent of food was stolen or looted. SARAH FERGUSON: We are running out of time but I am going to jump in there because I need to say something to the audience which is that since that organisation took over there, there has been a fundamental change in the way that aid is distributed inside Gaza. There are now only four centres. There were 400. There is only one crossing, one road in and more than 1,000 people have been killed while seeking that aid. But the issue here, I'm afraid here, is that we're running out of time. Ambassador Huckabee, I'm very grateful for the time that you've given us. Thank you for joining us. MIKE HUCKABEE: Thank you, Sarah. SARAH FERGUSON: Thank you.
