AVI YEMINI credits Benji, his cameraman and editor for seven years, for braving hostile protests—like 2019 clashes with socialists Raleigh and Tifa—while using cutting-edge tech like 360-degree cameras and drones. Benji, a Melbourne-based Hong Kong-Chinese Australian, shifted from music to journalism after COVID-19 lockdowns derailed his career, filming in war zones, including Israel post-October 7th, where their Tesla was stopped by armed men. He dismisses accusations of racism or fascism, defending YEMINI’s work while highlighting his team’s relentless, high-stakes coverage despite a tiny crew of three. Their independence, fueled by $8/month viewer support, underscores journalism’s survival against mainstream suppression and political smears. [Automatically generated summary]
You're tuned into the free audio version of this episode, which is solid, but it's just a taste of the full experience.
Over at YaminiReport.com, the full video edition is ready for you, and it takes things to the next level.
Why not head there now and join Rebel News Plus?
Because for just $8 a month, you get access to the video version of this show, plus every Rebel program and documentary.
We're not backed by corporate sponsors or government cash.
We're backed by you.
So if you believe in independent journalism, go to your minireport.com, sign up for Rebel News Plus, and be a part of the fight for truth.
Welcome back to the Yamini Report, and thank you for all the lovely wishes from last week's special about the passing of my grandmother.
I really appreciate it.
I really feel like we're a family with all the love I get here.
I guess I'm feeling a little bit sentimental, so I thought this week we'll do another special thing because you always see me on camera, but for the years that I have been working, you rarely get to hear about the people or the person behind the camera who makes it all possible, who does so much of the hard work and doesn't get much of the credit.
So today I thought we'll interview Benji the cameraman, tell you about how we got going together and a bit about his story and why he hasn't run away yet.
Benji, welcome to the show.
How are you doing?
I'm doing great, man.
You're actually taking on.
I know how much you wanted to be on this.
You told me this morning.
Are you sure we have to do it?
Yeah, yeah.
Not looking forward to it, but I had to do what is done because it's part of my job, in it.
Are you saying I forced you to join this, Benji?
Nah, I'm joking.
That's not what you're doing.
Nah, I'm joking, man.
I'm trying to give you credit for all your hard work because I think we get a lot of comments most of the time.
Sometimes people ask, why is the angle so low?
And I think it's because you've got this extremely heavy rig and you get tired.
And so you end up putting it lower instead of lightening up your rig.
Is that right?
Yeah, it is a way to prevent fatigue, but at the same time, it's a deliberate attempt to make you look taller in case you haven't noticed.
With the low angle short.
I think the cat's out of the bag.
I think the cat's out of the bag.
I think everyone knows I'm short.
So maybe we can do it straight now so people don't tell me that maybe your cameraman needs a break because I think people think that I'm working you too hard.
Do you work too hard, Benji?
Sometimes.
I mean, like it's just literally you and me editing videos in Australia.
Like I don't think people realize that Rebel Australia is actually no more than three people working.
Yeah.
You, me, and some other guy.
Daniel.
He has a name, Daniel.
Oh, I thought we can't.
I thought we can't say his name.
We can say his name.
Daniel is great and he does a lot of good work.
He does more of the website stuff while you and me are a team in person.
You're the camera guy, editor.
We work together closely every single day.
We're usually both working and you work extremely hard.
In fact, you're going to prep this after ready to go on the show.
And then we've got plenty of other editing to go.
So we're going to get straight into the story.
How did you end up?
I know the story obviously because I was the other person involved in this story.
But I want you to tell the story.
How it came to be that Benji has become my cameraman now for how many years is it?
Six years.
I think it's seven years already.
Seven years.
I started working with you long before you joined Repo back when you still were for TR News.
How did it happen?
Tell people the original story because it was such a fantastic story.
Well, I think like most people, I started out as a fan.
I saw your content, especially when it comes to immigration, when it comes to youth crime from black African gangs in Melbourne.
I saw your content about calling these stuff out and like wanting to address the issues when in an environment where most people are woke and are scared to touch on these issues because they're afraid of being called racist or all that type of stuff you're used to being called Nazi, racist, white supreme pizza, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, yeah, I saw your content and I like what you do.
So like I started like meeting you in person, like attending some events that you organize like around the city in Melbourne.
And then one day back in, and this was back in the 2019 when like the pro-democracy protest happened.
Obviously, my background is Hong Kong Chinese.
Even though I am born here, I am still proud Aussie first and then proud Hong Kong Chinese second.
So like I'm passionate about both issues about like what's happening in Hong Kong because obviously it is where my parents came from and like I'm proud of like that background as well.
So when that when that protest and that issue started happening, I tried to invite you to cover like some of the stories because I feel like you would be interested in this topic of communist China trying to erode the freedoms of like Hong Kong.
So I invited you.
I think you saw my message, did you?
I don't recall.
I may have.
Maybe that's how I got the information.
Yeah, I tried to invite you to a pro-democracy protest in the state library in Hong Kong.
Sorry, not in Hong Kong here in Melbourne.
And then I get to see what you do.
And I like the stuff that you do.
And at one point, I saw you got confronted by socialists and Tifa in this one Hong Kong Hong Kong protest in Melbourne.
I stepped in to defend you.
This is what I remember.
This is the story I remember.
It's actually quite a famous video.
Let's play the clip.
I was going to say, yeah, the rest is history because people can watch the video and judge by yourself.
I'm still looking to look back.
Benji, let's play the clip now.
How do you feel about the idea that socialists who side with communists want me who fights for freedom to leave?
What do you feel about that?
Well, let's not forget, like, socialism lead to communism.
We're here in Melbourne, CBD, where the local Hong Kong community are protesting as they are around the world for Hong Kong.
I just want everyone to know that we value democracy like true freedom and we value Australian like values.
We shouldn't talk to this man.
So, Raleigh's gonna start now.
He's an extreme right wing.
Like Nazi, Nazi, Nazi.
He's well known for being like extremely racist.
You're part of the Victorian socialists.
What are the Victorian socialists doing here today?
I'm not going to talk to you.
You're like a racist.
You're like an actual huge racist.
You know, I just came back from Hong Kong.
I was at the project.
I think you should not be here.
I don't want to.
Can you stop coming towards me?
You're the one that came up to us.
Mate, you're a racist.
So what here exactly?
What here are you supporting?
Don't touch me.
Don't touch me.
So wait, as a socialist, you're saying you should.
As a socialist, I'm an anti-fascist.
I'm opposed to you, as a fascist Zionist, being at a rally, who opposes the struggles of ordinary people everywhere.
We're opposed to that.
We're opposed to you co-opting the movement.
In an anti-democratic way.
Have you been to Hong Kong?
No, I don't.
So in the street protests right now in Hong Kong, everybody says that they support Donald Trump.
How do you feel about that?
No, they don't.
They fly the American flag.
Some people even wear a mega hat.
How do you feel?
They want me to leave.
The socialists want me to leave.
How do you feel about the idea that socialists who side with communists want me who fights for freedom to leave?
What do you feel about that?
Well, let's not forget, like, socialism leads to communism.
It's like socialism is a precursor to communism.
So yeah, I would never trust a socialist.
Never trust Bernie Sanders.
Yeah, anyone that everyone wants to force everyone to submit to a state and to live under tyranny.
You have connections to Blair Cottrell.
Connections were to Blair Cottrell.
You guys work together.
No, no, no.
I work for TRNU.
You know what would be best for everyone?
Why don't we trade in the self-loathing Australians, socialists, like pro-socialists, supporting socialists, for the freedom-loving, hard-working Hong Kong people that have been oppressed across the ocean?
Yeah, why don't we just trade them in?
We trade them in.
Can you leave?
You're being completely absurd.
You walked up while I was interviewing.
I do support, like, I support equal rights, like, in democracy in places like all over the world, including Palestine.
How do you feel about communism?
Love it.
I'm a coffee morse.
I'm a coffee myself.
Co-opting Australia to like show that you're like anti-shitchin.
Keep your hand on your rights.
Donald Trump don't trust China.
China is S-Ho.
Show that you're like anti-China.
Keep your hand on your rights.
Donald Trump don't trust China.
China is S-Ho!
Show that you're like anti-shitchin.
Keep your hand on your rights.
China is S-Ho!
Anti-China.
Hong Kongers are freedom-loving people.
And Donald Trump, yeah.
He's all about freedom.
He's all about, yeah, he's all about individual liberty and all about free speech and all that stuff.
Do you reckon the Hong Kongers are behind him?
Yes.
Hong Kongers will love Hong Kong's will love every Western country in the world, man.
Britain, here in Australia.
Yeah.
We all love free.
Do you reckon they like socialism?
Nah, but they're not.
Nah.
Can you just say, please?
I just like.
You're the one that came up to me.
Just go.
You're the one that came up to me.
Don't understand why the socialists, Victorian socialists, are here.
I don't which part of this, which part of the Hong Kong community supports Victorian socialism socialism, who?
No Hong Kongers support socialism.
They support democracy freedom, not socialism, not communism.
Why We Left Music00:15:30
That there is how I remember it, starting it.
Possibly you sent me a message before and, and how I got there um, and the rest is history.
In fact, it's been a long history.
I think my best line in that video is when I talk, I joke about deporting uh the socialists, trading him in for a freedom, loving Hong Kong, where I probably, like should have been more prepared and polished and polished uh, in the way I saw.
I thought it was great.
It came out of nowhere.
For me, there was a.
You know the this, from my perspective, what I saw, you know you had these two socialists which um, like you articulated there was, were essentially the precursors of the communism that they were pretending to care about.
Um, they were just doing what they usually do.
They were hijacking an issue and making themselves, giving themselves the leadership role and the spokesmanship position of the Hong Kong community, which they certainly weren't, because after I started covering more of these protests, in fact, I became quite well known around uh, the Hong Kong community.
Even when we went to Hong Kong it, you know, it became crazy how well known I became in Hong Kong for uh confronting uh, questioning mainland Chinese students here in on the streets of Melbourne, and all of that was because of you, and it was incredible because you had these socialists trying to kick me out.
And here there was a proud Australian Hong Konger wrapped in an Australian flag, just can, basically saying no um, if we have to pick a side here, it's definitely not your side.
He can stay.
And uh, and we definitely stayed.
And from there we went on to you started.
I think you told me you were an aspiring or you were studying um photography, and uh actually uh, I wasn't.
I wasn't originally uh, wanting to wanted, wanting to be a filmmaker, a photographer as a career.
I was a musal, a music, a musician, when I was, when I was a kid.
I play guitar.
I have like, in fact, I got a couple of instruments right behind me, if you can see right, can you play anything?
Well, I actually haven't touched my guitar for a while, ever since, like I had surgery on my hand oh, that's right.
And also, like, obviously, I got this new job working for you.
So, like, my skills as a musician is no longer required.
But I still keep also my guitars as a sentimental reminder of, like, what I used to be passionate about.
And I can add as well, like, the main reason why I kind of started working for you full time is because, like, I used to be a musician during studying music in TAFE during the lockdowns.
And then, like uh and covet hit obviously, and I, like most of my peers in my class, we got affected the most during like uh, the lockdowns because we, we were musicians and we needed to be together to um, um rehearse and like a perform uh as part of our requirement in uh studying Tif.
so it was it was a very shitty experience but then uh i got you along so so and like i i met you and then i uh i already i and i do have like a a hobby and and a set of skills with the camera and like uh and so when when i uh met you and then i started wanting to uh work for you because obviously i'm
an ideologically driven individual, I'm passionate about like a many deep political issues.
So like and I'm good with the camera.
So I wanted to I decided I wanted to film for you and to and to like do it as a psychic.
Yeah, so in the beginning before COVID, I think even when we went to Hong Kong in 2009, you did hold the camera a couple of times.
You were kind of playing with it.
I thought in the beginning you were also playing with photography, but maybe I was wrong.
That's how I remember it.
I was doing a bit of photography.
Yeah, so there was something about photography then.
And you did a couple of small gigs.
And then I signed on to Rebel at the beginning of COVID on the 3rd of September, I think, of 2020.
So that's five years ago.
And I think shortly after that, because until that point, you were kind of working casually for me every time I needed somebody while I was with TR and all that.
And then once I moved to Rebel, we essentially, pretty soon after, by memory, you'd come on full time.
Is that right?
Yeah, it's because like I thought that like my musical career was derailed during lockdown during COVID and the vaccine mandates.
So like and so like it was a shitty experience back then.
So like I feel like the time is is the time to move on to a different career, one that I'm also passionate and like a one that I also enjoy, which is videography and photography, camera work, etc.
And that's why I and that's how I became your full-time cameraman and editor.
And like I feel like the one of the main reasons is because I'm also a guy that is interested in tech, camera tech.
I do a bit of filming of myself playing guitar when I was a kid.
So I know how to edit videos and I'm good with camera work.
And like I'm also interested in like many of the latest technologies in filmmaking, mainly 360 camera right next to me.
And like I like once I discovered this tech, I knew that it would be very useful for this line of work in journalism.
And I remember someone once told me, I can't remember who, but like it was right after I mentioned I'm working as a journalist.
I remember he told me, if you master and get used to many of the most recent and most latest technologies in filmmaking, you'll be valuable to your company one day.
You've grown with it because if people look back at, you know, anything that was filmed, you know, since the TR day, so any, any of my, most of my videos, especially on the street since, you know, late 2019, was most likely you who filmed it.
And if you look, if people just go look at the quality and the style changes through the period, so look at one video every six months and you'll see the progression into what we have today.
And of course, you've almost every dollar you make, you go and invest in other equipment.
And I come back every time to work and suddenly you've got all these other devices and you've got different devices for sit-down interviews.
You've got different equipment that you use for the street.
So you've got like a whole rig and set up for when we go to the street and where it's going to be slightly potentially more dangerous and you've got to be more You've got to be able to move around and run around fast and it's got to be strong enough that if somebody hits it as opposed to when you have the setups, you know, when we sit and do a sit-down interview, you've got a whole setup for that.
You've really invested everything in it.
But do you do you feel like you're not feeling well?
Yeah, yeah, I was going to say, yeah, I'm proud of you.
Were you happy that you moved from music?
Do you regret that?
Do you regret that you were forced essentially by the government to move from music into photography?
Or are you happy doing photography?
Nah, I'm not.
I'm not.
I'm not.
I don't regret moving from one career to another career.
I'm actually grateful for this new opportunity that Rebel has given me.
The music career is, I still love it.
I still pick, I actually still pick it up, pick my guitar up from here and there.
But like I wasn't, I'm probably not as devoted as playing guitar as I used to do.
But like, yeah, I definitely like I'm proud of like the work that I do for Rebel and like this new career that I've chosen.
And like, yeah.
Tell me now, in the five years since you've been with Ramble, we've done a lot of different, whether it was the COVID or even when we went to Hong Kong or we were in Hong Kong.
I think that was...
Don't forget Israel.
Then Israel.
There's a bunch of, some of them more crazy than others.
What was your favorite, the World Economic Forum?
We've done a couple of times.
What has been, I guess, your favourite trip?
Like as in, what do you feel, what was your favourite and why?
And then on top of that, what was your single favorite video we ever did?
The highlight of my moment in it.
Yeah, it's definitely some of the more intense and more action-impact events that I go to.
It's my favorite.
If I had to narrow it down, it has to be something during lockdown.
I'd say it has to be like outside of the CFMEU headquarter, right?
Oh, that day.
That was intense, yeah.
When there is like a little bit of catching each other, that was your favorite day of journalism.
What was your favorite trip?
Why was that your favorite?
Just because of the intensity?
Yeah, it's because of the intensity.
And like I said, most people think you're crazy.
I love going into action.
And yes, I am a bit crazy because I can be crazy.
Yeah, I don't remember.
There's one video that I'll never forget when we're at one of the COVID protests at the Parliament stairs and the protesters had breached the police line and the police were going nuts trying to control the crowd.
And what did you do when the cop hit your camera?
Oh, man.
I loosed it.
I lost myself at him.
And I had to stop you.
I was like, Benji, Benji, Benji.
Because obviously we were there.
But I always like that.
I honestly would have two-footed him if he wouldn't conned me down, but I feel like that would be justified.
Yeah, well, they probably would have used that as an excuse to beat you up and we wouldn't have been able to cover the event.
But I always think about that moment where you see him push the, you know, this cop pushing your camera unfairly targeting it.
He was just angry, frustrated.
And that was the time that I started.
That was the time where I started using 360.
So they probably would have known I would have caught that.
But I feel like now these days, not only everybody from the mainstream media used like a wide angle camera.
It had to be a 360.
Most of the mainstream media, they now use it.
They're using, I was going to say to you, and they've all copied.
That was you who started it.
And they all would see us out there with your 360 up there.
Now I've noticed, like I was watching a current affair the other night.
You can probably put it over this.
You can see where it was the story of where they were doorstepping this refugee.
I think he was an Iraqi refugee who had raped a girl and they kept taking wide shots.
And then I just out of interest, because I know that you were the one that started this trend and which they used to all see at the COVID protest.
And when you saw the wide shot from the camera, you could see that they've mounted a GoPro on the mic down, which is their form of giving them that 360 effect, wide angle of the whole shot.
Everyone's doing that because that was your idea when we're in middle of all the action.
You just, we kept missing little things.
You know, somebody coming from the side of hitting, including that comp.
How does it feel now looking back and seeing everyone copying your technique?
It kind of, yeah, I feel like you just gotta take advantage of the most latest tech that's available.
Like you even see like in protests now these days, you've got individual, the activists using 360s to like film everything and film themselves, like if they get attacked.
Yeah, whether it's just from the left or right, everybody's doing it because it's like it is, it is so like a effective at like recording everything is literally a bird's eye view of the entire surrounding.
And like you say that and like it makes me, it makes me think, it makes me feel like, why didn't I do this sooner?
Why didn't I have a 360 when you first get arrested next in the first COVID lockdowns?
You know what I'm talking about.
September 5th.
It was somewhere in next to Taylor Lake, I think.
Yeah, September 5th.
Yeah, that was the first time where I realized that.
But that's what I'm saying to people.
They can go back and look and see in each video the technology, the skill, but very much the technology.
You invested in your skill by practicing, but also the technology.
Like 360s, and we've gone through a couple of them, like drones, but also just the lenses, the styler camera.
You have one for the street, you have one for the indoor.
Mate, you've grown as a professional cameraman, but who cares about his shot and cares about his work and as a journalist.
But yeah, you were going to tell me what your favorite trip was.
What was your favorite trip in all this time?
It has to be Israel.
It has to be the trip to Israel.
October, just after October 7th when we went there and we were literally running away from bombs.
It was like the career-defunny moment because I went to a war zone, obviously.
And been shot out of rockets with you.
And it's not like how it is now.
It was in the beginning of the war.
So it was like, you remember that night we were driving in the Tesla and then they pulled the guns on us because we were driving down a street we shouldn't have been going?
Half Time in Israel00:05:06
It was just half of the time I wasn't even sure what was going on because I don't understand Hebrew, man.
You want me to tell you a secret, Benji?
Yeah.
Half the time I didn't understand what was going on.
Okay.
But like the thing is, like I'm the only civilian.
I'm the only civilian in our group when we're in Israel.
We have you.
We have that other Aussie dude.
I forgot his name.
Will.
Y'all are both.
Yeah.
Y'all are both veterans.
You've seen combat.
You've have operational experience.
I'm an outsider to you, basically.
And like half of the time, so half of the time, I wouldn't have known what to do to keep myself safe.
But I guess like most of the time, it is, I do have common sense and like you do use that to like to like keep yourself safe in those type of situations.
But yeah, it is an experience.
It is like an experience that like Akira had an emoting highlighting moment in my resume, if you know what I mean.
Now, I know a lot of people are going to be asking, why does he have a British accent?
Oh, it's because I also enjoy watching Tommy Robinson when I was a kid.
In fact, I found out who you are from Tommy Robinson.
So you're a Tommy fan.
That's how you got to me.
Yeah.
You were a Melbourne boy that was a Tommy fan, and that's how you found me.
Yeah, exactly, man.
And like, I did grow up, I did grow up watching a lot of English movies and shows.
I watch a lot of American movies, but you don't see me speaking with an American accent.
And this is not something, this is something that you do full time and we laugh about because even when we went to England together, you were speaking with an English.
Attempting to speak in a Birmingham accent manner.
And they were all laughing.
They're like, this guy's more English than me.
What's going on?
Well, you can't go to a country and not bother learning the language in that country.
If you know what I mean?
Even when I was in Switzerland with you, I try to speak a bit of Swiss German to the locals when I'm interacting.
Because in my experience, yeah, when you don't even attempt to speak their language, when you're a tourist entering somebody's country, the people with people there would treat you like shit, if you know what I mean.
But why are you speaking in an English accent here?
Why didn't you attempt an Australian accent?
Because I can do it.
Listen, we love and appreciate you at Rebel with or without your Pommy accent.
We're still trying to work out why, but your work speaks for itself with an Australian accent.
Now, finally, before we wrap this up today, I just want to know, now for probably four years, Rookshan has been trying to take your job.
Yeah.
What have you done to keep your job away from Rookshan?
It has to be because I'm a better cinematographer than Rookshan because I actually make my shot look interesting from the low angle shot from the very wide.
We don't like the low angle shot.
No one likes the low angle shot.
And use that one as your defense.
That's the reason why we like Rookshan.
No low angle shots, but we like your shots generally, minus the low-angle shots.
You are a better photographer than Rookshan.
I'll go on the record.
You have got more angle.
And now you've been to war zones that Rookshan's never done.
And also, like, the thing is, I feel like also run towards the danger when I see it.
Like, I don't know about you, but if you know it's Rookshan.
Or some other people that I've seen online whenever they see confrontation, like when people get arrested.
They run away.
He doesn't go straight to it and capture it.
I remember when you told me when I first worked with you, like, oh, you said, make sure to film everything.
Even if I got stabbed in the neck, I want you to film it.
That's your words.
Film it.
I want you to film the blood squirting off my neck and me dying on the floor.
I think it's something on the line.
I may be paraphrasing.
But I remember you've said that to me before, and I took it literally.
So you're telling me if I got stabbed in the neck at one of these protests, you would just stand back and film because I told you to do that.
Make Sure To Film Everything00:00:59
That's my job, innit?
100%, Benji.
Benji, I know you didn't want to do this interview.
I'm sure.
I'm sure you have.
Yeah, sorry.
Go on.
No, no, go on.
I'm sure I have what?
I'm sure like when you're whenever you got bashed or stabbed in a protest, you have Daniel Jones, the security guy with the security.
Yeah, that's his job.
You're right.
You're right.
Listen, I'm just testing you.
I want to say on behalf of all the viewers, thank you.
Firstly, for doing this interview, even though you didn't really want to do it, because this gives people an insight into the people behind the camera and the team that's on the ground and the person that's really the person behind it all.
And then on top of it, thank you for your work.
Everybody I know watching this is going to appreciate it, knowing how hard you work.