{"id":71070,"date":"2026-08-13T08:21:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T08:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/71070\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T08:21:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T08:21:21","slug":"angus-taylors-press-secretary-kane-silom-lashes-out-at-channel-10-political-editor-ashleigh-raper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/71070\/","title":{"rendered":"Angus Taylor\u2019s press secretary, Kane Silom, lashes out at Channel 10 political editor Ashleigh Raper"},"content":{"rendered":"

A senior press secretary for Angus Taylor <\/a>has publicly rebuked Channel 10 political editor Ashleigh Raper after she grilled the Opposition Leader about the ICAC inquiry probing illegal donations to the NSW Liberals.<\/p>\n

At the media conference in Canberra, Mr Taylor was repeatedly questioned by Raper about evidence he was tied to the scandal, after the inquiry <\/a>heard late last month that in 2021 Mr Taylor had agreed to bankroll a conservative religious faction within the party. <\/p>\n

Mr Taylor repeatedly declined to directly answer Raper\u2019s questions, saying he was \u201cnot going to give a running commentary\u201d on the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll let the commission do its work. No payment was made. I was clear about that from the start,\u201d Mr Taylor told reporters.<\/p>\n

But with the cameras continuing to roll after the press conference concluded, Kane Silom, who joined Mr Taylor\u2019s office after serving as communications director for Sussan Ley, took aim at Raper.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre your ratings that bad? Seriously, that\u2019s a fricken disgrace,\u201d Mr Silom could be heard saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat? Asking questions about an ICAC inquiry?\u201d Raper replied.<\/p>\n

Responding, Mr Silom said: \u201cHe\u2019s answered them like 500 times, seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo wonder 10 Plus got cut,\u201d he said, a reference to the network\u2019s current affairs show, which was cut back after failing to attract viewers.<\/p>\n

In late July, the ICAC inquiry heard evidence that Mr Taylor had committed to a $15,000 \u201cinjection\u201d to the conservative Liberal grouping, known as the NSW Reformers, alongside regular $3000 donations.<\/p>\n

Reacting to Mr Silom\u2019s outburst, NSW Labor senator Tony Sheldon demanded Mr Taylor answer questions relating to the ICAC probe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI say this to all journalists, you have a right and we have an obligation as politicians to answer your questions,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAngus Taylor, your time is up, you\u2019ve got to answer those questions just like you did six months ago when Sussan Ley (was) knocked off. How about you knock off these questions and answer them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A senior press secretary for Angus Taylor has publicly rebuked Channel 10 political editor Ashleigh Raper after she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[98096,45161,97661,98083,98073,98089,98087,98100,38951,98090,53626,98075,98092,98072,42139,62386,68456,98082,41519,98079,98093,93504,468,22,21,98095,2184,98068,98088,97536,79760,10485,63752,98097,98069,59401,87123,98091,40946,98094,68435,98076,19479,16460,98086,98085,98078,45069,1941,98070,63409,43541,98074,98084,98098,39402,37516,98071,39620,98080,97179,40894,37011,50892,86610,37679,65112,42159,98077,98081,98099,80473],"class_list":["post-71070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-current-affairs-show","tag-s-office","tag-s-outburst","tag-s-press-secretary","tag-s-questions","tag-s-senior-press-secretary","tag-000-injection","tag-10-plus","tag-38951","tag-500-times","tag-a-15","tag-a-conservative-religious-faction","tag-a-fricken-disgrace","tag-a-public-swipe","tag-a-reference","tag-a-right","tag-a-running-commentary","tag-a-senior-press-secretary","tag-aim","tag-all-journalists","tag-an-icac-inquiry","tag-an-obligation","tag-angus-taylor","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-camera-rolls","tag-canberra","tag-channel-10-journo","tag-channel-10-political-editor-ashleigh-raper","tag-communications-director","tag-cut","tag-evidence","tag-illegal-donations","tag-its-work","tag-kane-silom","tag-late-july","tag-late-last-month","tag-mr-silom","tag-mr-taylor","tag-mr-taylor-answer-questions","tag-no-payment","tag-nsw-labor-senator-tony-sheldon","tag-politicians","tag-questions","tag-raper","tag-regular-3000","tag-reporters-but","tag-six-months","tag-sussan-ley","tag-taylor-staffer","tag-the-cameras","tag-the-commission","tag-the-conservative-liberal-grouping","tag-the-icac-inquiry","tag-the-icac-probe","tag-the-inquiry","tag-the-matter","tag-the-media-conference","tag-the-network","tag-the-nsw-liberals","tag-the-nsw-reformers","tag-the-opposition-leader","tag-the-party","tag-the-press-conference","tag-the-scandal","tag-the-start","tag-these-questions","tag-those-questions","tag-viewers-in","tag-your-questions","tag-your-ratings","tag-your-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}