Sky News host Caleb Bond says Stephen Smith is “taking away from charity” after the UK High Commissioner of Australia cancelled an Australia Day event meant to help charities.
Mr Bond sat with Sky News hosts James Macpherson and Liz Storer to discuss Mr Smith’s decision to cancel the event.
“This event that’s been going on in the UK for 20 odd years is a charity gala event, it’s held obviously on the Saturday closest to Australia Day and in the last 20 years it’s become a major event that now turns a profit for charity,” Mr Bond said.
“So not only is Stephen Smith making political statements about Australia Day and saying you can’t have it here, he’s actually taking money away from charity.
“By one, telling them ‘you’ve got to pay $50,000 if you want to set up shop for the evening even though we’ve done it for free for all this time prior, and you’ve got to be out by 11pm so no one’s going to stick around and spend money on charity.”