Labor officials 'blocked' Jewish MP Josh Burns from appearing on Sky News in 'extraordinary' move, Sharri Markson says
Sharri Markson has reacted to the "extraordinary" cancellation of an interview with Jewish MP Josh Burns, which the Sky News host said came as a result of pressure from Labor officials.
Mr Burns, who represents Melbourne's Macnamara electorate, has appeared on Sky News several times, notably to discuss rising incidents of antisemitism in the wake of Hamas' October 7 attacks on Israel.
The MP is one of several Labor politicians to have had his electoral office vandalised by anti-Israel demonstrators and has called out rhetoric from the Greens which many in the Jewish community claimed was stoking hatred.
As a result, Mr Burns has waged a quiet battle with his own party over how to direct voting preferences at the upcoming Federal Election, with the Jewish MP refusing to allow his preferences to flow to the minor party.
On Monday night, Markson said Mr Burns had been due to appear on her show in part to discuss the preference issue, only to subsequently cancel the interview.
"I invited Labor MP Josh Burns onto my show tonight. In fact, I've been asking him to come on for most of this election campaign," she said.
"Josh Burns did what no other Labor MP has done: he refused to preference the Greens in his Victorian seat of Macnamara. He fought and fought with Labor for weeks and he simply refused to direct voters to preference the Greens. Instead he's running an open ticket.
"I think the Albanese government has been horrific when it comes to its treatment of the Jewish community and Israel. They've been weak and morally corrupt, but Josh Burns has been pushing back against this. He proves that just because you are federal Labor, doesn't mean you have to completely lack any moral clarity when it comes to the antisemitism crisis.
"Burns has been on my program several times and I speak to him often.
"He said he would come on my show - and he was keen to come on tonight in fact - but then he cancelled his appearance. The reason? Labor Party officials did not want him to come on my show. Yes, Albanese's team has blocked a Jewish Labor MP from coming on my show."
Markson described the move as "extraordinary".
Skynews.com.au has contacted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's office for comment.
Mr Burns' decision not to hand preferences to the Greens comes despite Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, another high profile Jewish MP, electing to instruct voters to list minor party candidate Matthew Kirwan as number two on ballots.
In an apparent effort to disguise Mr Kirwan's affiliation with the Greens, Mr Dreyfus' how-to-vote cards only list the minor party candidate's name.
It is standard practice for how-to-vote cards to list both candidates names and their party affiliation.
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