Sky News host Kel Richards says surrogacy is a “morally absolutely utterly despicable” act as it turns human beings into “commodities”. Pope Francis has called for a global ban on surrogacy, calling the act “deplorable” and a “grave violation” of the dignity of the mother and the child. This comes just weeks after he authorised Roman Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples in a significant shift in the church’s approach to LGBT people. “I think [it is] a really serious issue – it’s an issue raised by the Pope in a speech recently,” Mr Richards said. “Now, I don’t always agree with Pope Francis, but I do on this. “Let me explain it in terms which might offend some people and might be controversial – I don’t intend it to, but I think it’s a really big moral issue – because surrogacy, trading in a baby, actually terms human beings into being commodities, property. “So it’s the moral equivalent, it’s morally equal to slavery – I know that’s a very strong thing to say, but think about it: this is a little human being who is a commodity, who can be bought and sold or given as a gift, the way you would with a large-screen TV or a car. “I think this is morally, absolutely utterly despicable.”

Sky News host Liz Storer says “headlines were graced” when a Western Sydney councillor vowed to scrap the Indigenous Welcome to Country if his party won the majority in the next election. “Our headlines were graced,” Ms Storer said. “A Western Sydney councillor has said that if his party, the Local Community Party, won the majority in his … council, he will be scrapping Welcome to Country’s. “Smoking ceremonies, they are all going out the window.” Ms Storer sat down with Sky News host James Macpherson and Broadcaster and Wordsmith Kel Richards to discuss the Welcome to Country ceremony debate.

Sky News host James Macpherson says Premier “giggles” Miles has vowed to push ahead with a treaty between non-indigenous people and indigenous people. Queensland Premier Steven Miles will forge ahead to progress state’s landmark Path to Treaty program ahead of this year's election. “Here we go dividing up the community again,” Mr Macpherson said. “His pushing ahead with the treaty despite the fact that 70 per cent of QLD voted no to dividing Australia by race last time October in the referendum. “And former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, after the referendum, walked away from the treaty saying unless there’s bipartisan agreement, then it’s not going to work.”

Sky News host James Macpherson says “green shoots of sanity” are coming into the new year as a Western Australian council has voted no to adding an Indigenous name to an already named river. “Maybe some good news, could 2024 be the year that common sense makes a comeback,” Mr Macpherson said. “We are only a couple of days into the new year but already there are green shoots of sanity pushing through the woke dirt that saturates our culture. “A West Australian council has just voted no to adding an Aboriginal name to the existing name of a river that flows south of Perth.” Mr Macpherson is joined by Broadcaster and Wordsmith Kel Richards and Sky News host Liz Storer to discuss the Indigenous name changes.

Broadcaster and Wordsmith Kel Richards says there are around “3 million” places with Indigenous names in Australia “right now”. “Not a lot of people know this,” Mr Richards said. “There are about approximately 4 million place names in Australia, three-quarters of them, 3 million of them are Indigenous, right now. “3 million names on our maps are Indigenous. “They don’t like the non-Indigenous names … it’s destructive.”

Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli says his party are going to “keep questioning” the Queensland government over the firing of a nurse who wasn’t vaccinated against COVID-19. “Nurses are leaving in droves from Queensland Health, they feel battered, broken and bruised and here’s one who wants to go to work, and she can’t,” Mr Crisafulli told Sky News host Caleb Bond. “We said to the Minister, well hang on the requirements were lifted … clearly that doesn’t apply to this person. “We’ve repeatedly asked that question and we haven’t got an answer, so we are going to keep asking that question on behalf of her and everybody else." A Brisbane nurse with seven years’ experience was fired from her job at Queensland Children’s Hospital just before Christmas for failing to comply with the government’s COVID vaccine mandate more than two years after it was introduced.

US mining giant Alcoa announced on Tuesday that it will close its Perth alumina refinery over the coming months, leaving the future of 1,000 employees in limbo. Nationals MP Keith Pitt said the closure of the refinery is a “terrible start” to 2024. “What a terrible start to the year to 2024 for more than 700 … individuals who will lose their jobs, and potentially that’s 750 families," Mr Pitt told Sky News host Caleb Bond. “The reason are pretty straightforward that this is a legacy factory, a legacy refinery, it’s been around for a long time. “According to media reports it’s been underwater by more than $1 million in terms of the loss for the year, last financial year. “And you now have the impact of Labor government policies, like the safeguard mechanism, like changes to IR, like a massive increase in energy costs.”

Nationals MP Keith Pitt has backed Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's call for tougher hate speech laws. Peter Dutton has called for tougher hate speech laws to stop anti-Semitism, saying Jewish leaders shouldn't have to foot the bill to take radical hate preachers to court. "On this issue, he’s exactly right," Mr Pitt told Sky News host Caleb Bond. “I mean why on earth should the Jewish association have to go and take this action to prevent what shouldn’t be happening in the first place? “So, I think Dutton is exactly right, he is on the money here, action needs to be taken.”

Sky News host Andrew Bolt says Australia is fast becoming a "second-rate country" because of "stupidity" regarding global warming alarmism. This comes after 1,000 workers and contractors at Alcoa Kwinana aluminum refinery in Western Australia have been told they’re being sacked due to the plant closing. Mr Bolt said politicians keep babbling about global warming, with Victoria's Emergency Services Minister today blaming it for the recent flooding. "These politicians are so scientifically clueless. They'll say just anything," Mr Bolt said. "End this unreason before this country gets even poorer."

Sky News host Caleb Bond raises questions over Pope Francis calling for a “total ban” on surrogacy. “Pope Francis … has called for a global ban on surrogacy,” Mr Bond said. “He said the practice of carrying another person’s child is deplorable; he said it is a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and child and that a child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract. “When he is talking about commercial surrogacy, which is illegal in every state in Australia, I totally agree. “I don’t know that a total ban on surrogacy … to help you have a child, surely that should be okay.”

A bill that would reform how Maine electors cast their votes in the US presidential election is being discussed by the state’s lawmakers. If the bill is passed, it would change how the state participates in the presidential election. The National Popular Vote Bill – which has already been passed in 17 other states – has the potential to reshape how voters cast their ballot in presidential elections. Currently, Maine casts its four electoral votes based on who wins in each of the state’s two congressional districts. If LD 1578 passes, all of Maine’s electors would vote for whoever wins the majority of the vote nationally. Critics say that it defeats the purpose of the Electoral College, but supporters claim that it would give voters more power.

German farmers are staging a week of nationwide protests by blocking roads with tractors against the government's planned phasing out of agricultural subsidies. Tractors and trucks gathered on German roads on Monday, including Berlin's main avenue leading to the Brandenburg Gate, causing major disruptions. A constitutional court ruling on unutilised pandemic funds left the German government facing a 60 billion euro ($US65 billion) financial gap, leading to a sudden budget crisis. The government backtracked partially, preserving the car tax exemption and staggering the reduction of diesel tax breaks over three years. Despite this, the German Farmers' Association insists on a complete reversal and said it would proceed with a "week of action" starting Monday.

Sky News Australia host Piers Morgan says it looks as though Hollywood may have finally gotten the “Ricky Gervais memo” following this year’s Golden Globe Awards. Mr Morgan said the ceremony was devoid of the “usual political pontificating and virtue-signalling sermons”. "It looks as if Hollywood might finally have got the Ricky Gervais memo," he said. "Even more amazingly, Gervais himself, who's currently running the cancel culture gauntlet once again for his supposedly unacceptable and distasteful jokes in his new Netflix special, Armageddon, actually won a top award for it,” Mr Morgan said. “Amid the conflict, disruption and a massive year for elections around the world, maybe 2024 has begun with a suggestion, just a suggestion, that the woke worm is finally turning."

Clinical psychologist and public intellectual Dr Jordan Peterson says there are “any number of reasons” to have New Year’s resolutions and he thinks it’s a good idea to have a vision. Dr Peterson said the idea of a New Year's resolution is a very “ancient” one and it can be traced all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia. “So it's the death of the old. That's the old year, often symbolised by an old man, and then the birth of something new. And you see a conjunction between that and the Christmas celebration as well,” he told Sky News Australia host Piers Morgan. “And so when you have the opportunity to start again, you can start fresh – you can lay a new vision on the world. “And that's how we cope with the world, is by laying a vision on it, consciously or unconsciously. Better to do it consciously – so there's any number of reasons for New Year's resolutions.”

Growing Families Australia Director Sam Everington says it’s “outrageous” that same-sex couples are still prohibited from applying for surrogacy in Western Australia. It’s the only state in Australia which bans male same-sex couples from using surrogacy. “It goes against federal and discrimination laws clearly,” Mr Everington told Sky News Australia. “We see that it’s outrageous that that ban is still in place, which is basically forcing that part of the population to go offshore to have their family. “It’s just not fair.”

Ukraine Ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko has accused Russia of a “war crime” as Vladimir Putin’s troops look to make the longevity of the war “unbearable” for Ukrainian civilians. “We see that Russia is intensifying their attacks on civilian infrastructure, on power generation and electricity distribution,” Mr Myroshnychenko told Sky News Australia. “They are putting more pressure on the Ukrainian civilian population and making it unbearable for Ukrainians to go through this winter. “This in itself is already a war crime by targeting civilian infrastructure. “We are now working very closely with our partners and allies to strengthen our aerial defence capabilities and strengthen the missiles we need to actually counter those attacks.”

A father, in a rush to get to his daughter in Brooklyn, has angrily stepped out of his vehicle to confront pro-Palestinian protesters blocking traffic on the Williamsburg Bridge in New York. On Monday, pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked major routes in and out of the city, causing significant traffic disruptions. The father's SUV was halted by masked protesters who refused to let him pass. Frustrated, he pushed three male protesters standing in front of his car. "I'm going to have to start throwing fists at y'all," he said as he stepped out of the car. "Get out of the way; I have to get home... I have a daughter in Brooklyn."

Psychologist Dr Jordan Peterson predicts Donald Trump will defeat Joe Biden and win the 2024 presidential election. Dr Peterson sat down with Sky News Australia host Piers Morgan to discuss the upcoming US election, the Israel-Hamas war and political activism in the entertainment world. The public intellectual noted that no political figure has been more falsely and thoroughly “vilified” than Mr Trump. “I think personally – and this is just a guess because what do I know – I think the most likely outcome is that Trump is the next president,” Dr Peterson said. “That’s what it looks like to me so I think that is unfortunate because he is so divisive – that’s the problem.”

The Australian’s Washington Correspondent Adam Creighton says the United States National Defence Authorisation Act’s “fine print” may cause troubles for Australia when trying to receive the submarines in the future. Mr Creighton also said the president at the time the transfer of submarines occurs needs to state that it won’t undermine the capacity of the United States. “Congress passed legislation late last year that basically enables the transfer of the power of the nuclear-powered submarines to Australia,” he told Sky News Australia. “Of course, there was much enthusiasm, much excitement back home in Canberra about that and that is all fair enough. “I spoke to some Republican advisors, fairly senior guys who I imagine will be part of the next Republican administration, and they said it would be crazy to transfer the subs at the moment based on the trajectory of US submarine production which is well, well below where it should be.”

Psychologist Dr Jordan Peterson warns no political figure has been more falsely and thoroughly “vilified” than former president Donald Trump, noting that Richard Nixon could be a possible exception. Dr Peterson sat down with Sky News Australia host Piers Morgan to discuss the upcoming US election, the Israel-Hamas war and political activism in the entertainment world. The public intellectual pointed to the “idiot conclusion” of Russian collusion as evidence of the former president’s vilification. “Trump has no shortage of flaws, a statement that can be said of all of us, but apart from vicious criticism with regard to those faults, there has been an absolute surfeit of devastating criticism and persecution for faults that are not real,” he said. “It isn’t obvious to me how much a person can take without starting to feel continuously embattled.”