Latest / Steve Price / Steve Price | 17 January

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Steve Price | 17 January · Steve Price

0:00
Speaker 1: This is Steve Price. Welcome to Friday Night's Steve Price
0:06
Speaker 1: back with you for twenty twenty five. Great to be here.
0:09
Speaker 1: It's going to be a massive news year, including, of
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Speaker 1: course we're going to have a federal election within probably
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Speaker 1: the next four months and from Tuesday our time next week,
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Speaker 1: the second Donald Trump presidency and ongoing conflict of course
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Speaker 1: in the Middle East, and not forgetting the war in Ukraine.
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Speaker 1: Will look at all of that tonight. Add to that
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Speaker 1: a jittery world economy and a cost of living crisis
0:29
Speaker 1: at home, and the never ending debate about renewable energy
0:33
Speaker 1: and the cost to ordinary Australian Sky News will have
0:36
Speaker 1: you covered all year on all fronts, and each Friday
0:39
Speaker 1: we will dig into the issues that really matter. Coming
0:42
Speaker 1: up on our program tonight, first program of the year,
0:45
Speaker 1: yet another disgraceful anti Semitic attack, this time Sydney's Eastern Suburbs,
0:51
Speaker 1: again one of the most densely populated Jewish areas of Australia.
0:55
Speaker 1: Former federal member for that seat where this attack took
0:58
Speaker 1: place in a former Amba Israel and a current New
1:02
Speaker 1: South Wales Senator Dave Sharma, will join us shortly. Also,
1:06
Speaker 1: the nauseating annual debate around the date of Australia Day
1:10
Speaker 1: and arguments about whether a national day should be held
1:13
Speaker 1: at all. Now a lot of noise comes from indigenous
1:16
Speaker 1: activists like Lydia Thorpe, while in the meantime the real
1:20
Speaker 1: issues that affect remote communities are ignored the Australian newspapers.
1:25
Speaker 1: Leam Mendez broke a story this week. He'll join us
1:28
Speaker 1: with an example of horrific domestic violence, and Friday regular
1:33
Speaker 1: Campbell Newman's back with some very important advice for state
1:37
Speaker 1: and federal politicians right around the country about how to
1:40
Speaker 1: cut fat out of the public service. Plus our Friday
1:43
Speaker 1: paneler back for twenty twenty five, Amanda Rose and Joe
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Speaker 1: Hildebrand Todave Sharma in a moment Senator Dave Sharma and
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Speaker 1: what is likely to be called I think a terrorist
1:54
Speaker 1: incident probably by the end of the weekend. When that
1:58
Speaker 1: happened in Dover Heights, They're clearly was terror included and intended.
2:03
Speaker 1: But first up, though, after a significant milestone birthday this week,
2:07
Speaker 1: I turned seventy years old on Monday this week. It
2:12
Speaker 1: made me reflect on the sort of Australia we now
2:14
Speaker 1: live in compared to the Australia I grew up in.
2:18
Speaker 1: Australia seems to me to be having a permanent argument
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Speaker 1: with itself about what sort of country we actually want
2:25
Speaker 1: to be. We've got disputes, as I mentioned over Australia day,
2:28
Speaker 1: the number of flags we need to display on government
2:31
Speaker 1: buildings or at media conferences, the never ending welcome to
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Speaker 1: country ceremonies that are overdone, out of control youth crime.
2:39
Speaker 1: We've got young teenagers arming themselves with knives and machetes,
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Speaker 1: attacking people, running down main streets, trying to hack people
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Speaker 1: at the back of their heads, breaking into people's houses,
2:52
Speaker 1: stealing cars to brag on social media about how fast
2:55
Speaker 1: they can drive. It just goes on and on, relentless
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Speaker 1: street marches by propeller Stinian protesters who would struggle to
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Speaker 1: show you on a map where Palestine actually is. We've
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Speaker 1: got the anti semitism we're about to talk about today.
3:09
Speaker 1: Then we have the national suicide note around net zero
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Speaker 1: and energy in an Australia that face it has some
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Speaker 1: of the richest mineral resources on the planet. Politically, we've
3:20
Speaker 1: got a dearth of political leadership, I believe, federally and
3:24
Speaker 1: in many states, especially in the state of Victoria, where
3:27
Speaker 1: that state is led by a tired, broke ten year
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Speaker 1: old labor government that has plunged the state into crippling
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Speaker 1: debt that sees essential services being ignored. Think about police
3:38
Speaker 1: being paid properly, roads being repaired, a creaking health system
3:43
Speaker 1: and the light the rest of the country, well, there's
3:45
Speaker 1: a housing crisis. It's pretty grim picture. So broke as
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Speaker 1: the state of Victoria, they have had to introduce property
3:51
Speaker 1: taxes that have smashed the real estate sector with house prices.
3:55
Speaker 1: Can you believe it in a city like Melbourne going
3:57
Speaker 1: backwards for the first time in my life, but with
4:00
Speaker 1: high immigrations, still too expensive for our children to actually
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Speaker 1: go out and buy even a modest flat. Now, my
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Speaker 1: reflection at seventy though, includes a ray of optimism. I
4:11
Speaker 1: know you might find that surprising. I sense, like the
4:14
Speaker 1: rest of the world, people are waking up to the
4:17
Speaker 1: fact that lecturing wokeism has had its day. People are
4:21
Speaker 1: sick and tired of being told what to think. They
4:23
Speaker 1: don't want to be lectured to by corporate giants like
4:26
Speaker 1: Woolworths or sporting bodies like the AFL and the NRL
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Speaker 1: and My opinion comes from a sense that there is
4:33
Speaker 1: a mood change coming from younger Australians. An IPA pole
4:38
Speaker 1: just this week showed support for Australia Day Staying on
4:40
Speaker 1: the twenty sixth of January was overwhelming. Socialist left governments
4:45
Speaker 1: around the world are being chucked out as we have seen,
4:47
Speaker 1: so are their leaders people like Justin Trudeau. Conservative movements
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Speaker 1: across Europe are being elected and many EU nations are
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Speaker 1: realizing the rush to net zero is going to send
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Speaker 1: them broke. Now, I'm not saying we'll ever get back
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Speaker 1: to the days of the sixties, the seventies and the eighties,
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Speaker 1: the golden days in my view for Australia, but I
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Speaker 1: do have confidence that young people are waking up to
5:10
Speaker 1: the fact that the Greens are radical activists, not environmentalists.
5:15
Speaker 1: The hard left Labour think Prime Minister Albanisi and Victorian
5:18
Speaker 1: Premier Decinda Allen are two agenda driven, common sense labor
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Speaker 1: leaders like New South Wales Chris Min's just look at
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Speaker 1: what he had to say today about that attack on
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Speaker 1: Dover Heights or Adelaide's Peter Malinowskis. They're both great premiers
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Speaker 1: in my view. Labor leaders. Those two much more like
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Speaker 1: Bob Hawk than Daniel Andrews, thank god. So as I
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Speaker 1: enter my seventy first year, I have some genuine hope
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Speaker 1: for Australia's future. Let's hope that I'm right. But first
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Speaker 1: up tonight, as I mentioned, overnight in Sydney, yet again
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Speaker 1: a disgusting anti Semitic attack carried out with prominent Jewish
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Speaker 1: spokesperson Alex Ritchen like the apparent target. We'll hear from
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Speaker 1: him shortly. Richin, of course is the co CEO of
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Speaker 1: the Executive Council of Australian Jury and has been a
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Speaker 1: regular on the Sky Network now. The latest attack seemingly
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Speaker 1: targeted a house that previously was owned by Rifchin, with
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Speaker 1: cars set alight. The house was smeared in red paint
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Speaker 1: and anti Semitic graffiti sprayed all over a car. And
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Speaker 1: we've seen this time and time again. Now Alex spoke
6:27
Speaker 1: today and issued what I think is a very dire
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Speaker 1: and prominent warning over that attack.
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Speaker 2: I fear that we're going to wake up before long
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Speaker 2: with someone and dad. I think that's the trajectory that
6:39
Speaker 2: we're on, and we've been there for a long time.
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Speaker 2: When you have people in our society who were so
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Speaker 2: consumed by wickedness and hatred that they would set fire
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Speaker 2: the things, set fire to suburban streets and risk the
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Speaker 2: lives of everyone who lives here simply because they disagree
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Speaker 2: with certain views or opinions. It shows that we're in
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Speaker 2: a very dangerous state.
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Speaker 1: Imagine how he feels about his family given the bad
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Speaker 1: was where they used to live.
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Speaker 3: Now.
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Speaker 1: The Premier, Chris Men's, who I must say I think,
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Speaker 1: has been very strong on this, along with Police Commissioner
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Speaker 1: Karen Webb. It came out strongly this morning. But you
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Speaker 1: have to ask when is this sort of stuff going
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Speaker 1: to stop. Hell.
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Speaker 4: Look, and those who are perpetrating these attacks will be
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Speaker 4: met with the full force of the law. And as
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Speaker 4: we speak New South Wales police are hunting down these
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Speaker 4: absolutely barbed barrickacts.
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Speaker 5: The messages.
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Speaker 1: You will get caught.
7:28
Speaker 6: It's just a matter of time, so you can expect
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Speaker 6: police to knock on your door look over your shoulder.
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Speaker 1: I should make the point that there has been no
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Speaker 1: zero arrest for the firebombing of that synagogue in Melbourne.
7:43
Speaker 1: Still nobody has been tracked down by Victoria Police. Joining
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Speaker 1: me now to talk about this and more liberal senator,
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Speaker 1: former ambassador to Israel and former local federal member for
7:54
Speaker 1: the seat of went with where that attack took place overnight.
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Speaker 1: Dave Sharma, Senator Sharma, thank you very much much for
8:00
Speaker 1: joining us on this Friday night.
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Speaker 7: Good to join us, Steve, thanks for having me on.
8:08
Speaker 1: I'll get to the important issue of the cease far
8:11
Speaker 1: in the moment. I really want to tap into your
8:13
Speaker 1: diplomatic experience around that. But do you agree with Alex
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Speaker 1: Ritchin that at some point in time we're going to
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Speaker 1: lose there's going to be a death or a murder
8:23
Speaker 1: in one of these attacks. And are you happy with
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Speaker 1: the response that you've seen so far from the police
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Speaker 1: commission around the premier.
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Speaker 3: I Shair, Alex has feared that the violence and the
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Speaker 3: frequency and the venom that's being directed, the hate that's
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Speaker 3: been directed the Jewish community. I worry that it's only
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Speaker 3: a matter of time until a life is lost or
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Speaker 3: someone is seriously injured, you know. And these attacks, you know,
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Speaker 3: there have been two in the past week on property
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Speaker 3: in vehicles in the East and so that there's been
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Speaker 3: two attacks on synagogueist as all within.
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Speaker 7: In the past week.
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Speaker 3: See, I mean I was glad to hear the messages
9:00
Speaker 3: that Karen Webb and Chris Mins delivered today. But you know,
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Speaker 3: my fear about this all along was that this attitude
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Speaker 3: of zero tolerance, of saying that arrest will be made
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Speaker 3: and doors will be knocked on, that attitude should have
9:13
Speaker 3: been evinced well over twelve months ago. I think many
9:17
Speaker 3: of us saw after the Opera House protests, which you
9:19
Speaker 3: recall fifteen months ago, that this was going to quickly
9:23
Speaker 3: get out of hand unless the police and law enforcement
9:25
Speaker 3: took a strong response, and that response has been far
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Speaker 3: to slow in coming.
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Speaker 1: These Obviously, these attacks, this graffiti, the anti semitism, the
9:36
Speaker 1: torching of cars are clearly targeted. I mean, you were
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Speaker 1: the local member in that seat. You know the proportion
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Speaker 1: of Jewish residents who live in the eastern suburbs of Sydney.
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Speaker 1: You can't you can't ignore the fact that someone says, Okay,
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Speaker 1: there's a lot of Jews who live in the eastern
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Speaker 1: suburbs of Sydney. Let's find an address and let's create fear.
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Speaker 3: And absolutely, there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever
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Speaker 3: that this has targeted at the Jewish community. We've seen
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Speaker 3: a tax in Ballara in the Eastern suburbs. We've seen
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Speaker 3: at tax in Dover Heights. We've seen a tax of
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Speaker 3: course on Jewish places of worship, on synagogues, and you
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Speaker 3: know they are trying to intimidate, power, interfear and silence
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Speaker 3: and make the lives unbearable of Australia's Jewish community and
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Speaker 3: that it should be unacceptable for any group of Australians.
10:29
Speaker 3: And it's completely unacceptable to see how this is playing out.
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Speaker 3: And clearly the evidence of this most recent attack suggests
10:36
Speaker 3: that they were targeting a particular individual, Alex Rifton, who
10:39
Speaker 3: I know, his wife, his young children. That is a
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Speaker 3: terrifying thing for them to have to internalize and live with.
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Speaker 3: I'm sure it was terrifying for the residents of their
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Speaker 3: house as well. But this is a deeply menacing, sinister
10:55
Speaker 3: series of actions that we're seeing perpetrated by people who
10:58
Speaker 3: live amongst us and a part of our community.
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Speaker 1: I watched all of Alex's media conference. He did make
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Speaker 1: the point that he did take a phone call from
11:10
Speaker 1: the Prime Minister Anthony Albernezi. But Alex did go on
11:13
Speaker 1: to make the point that he doesn't believe that in
11:16
Speaker 1: the fifteen months that we've endured this, that there has
11:19
Speaker 1: been strong enough leadership at the top of the Australian
11:22
Speaker 1: federal labor government. You agree with that, don't you.
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Speaker 3: I do agree with that assessment. And you know I
11:30
Speaker 3: try my utmost not to make this. You know this
11:33
Speaker 3: isn't a part Issan point I'm making. I think the
11:35
Speaker 3: objective facts bear it out. I mean, we saw a
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Speaker 3: report earlier in the week that has compared anti semitism
11:42
Speaker 3: in Australia countries around the world and found objectively that
11:45
Speaker 3: it is considerably worse here and has deteriorate a much
11:48
Speaker 3: further here. But we said with our own eyes and ears,
11:51
Speaker 3: I mean, we're seeing attacks on synagogues on a weekly basis,
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Speaker 3: We're seeing vandalism of property, being to face with anti
11:57
Speaker 3: Semitic slogans on weekly times, a daily basis. We're seeing
12:01
Speaker 3: cars being torched, We're seeing Jewish businesses being boycotted, We're
12:05
Speaker 3: seeing Jewish individuals bedocks, any number of manifestations we've seen
12:10
Speaker 3: over the past fifteen months. And that is on the
12:12
Speaker 3: federal government. I mean, I think the early stages of this,
12:16
Speaker 3: they sought to wish the problem away or.
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Speaker 7: Diluted or group it in with all other forms.
12:21
Speaker 3: Of discrimination, and I think they just hoped it would
12:24
Speaker 3: go away and settle out of its own court.
12:25
Speaker 7: That was never going to happen.
12:27
Speaker 3: And the leaderlessness that they've prevailed, that they've presided over
12:32
Speaker 3: has led directly to the situation we have today that
12:34
Speaker 3: we're grappling with it.
12:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's very sad to see. You're a very highly
12:40
Speaker 1: credential diplomat. You've served in a number of countries overseas.
12:45
Speaker 1: You were in Israel for I think three years. What
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Speaker 1: do you make of this CEASEFI ideal? Do you have
12:51
Speaker 1: any confidence that it will hold?
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Speaker 7: Look, I certainly welcome it.
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Speaker 3: I mean I welcome it for the thirty three Israelis
13:00
Speaker 3: and their families who've been enduring unimaginable anguish the families
13:06
Speaker 3: and ordeals for the hostages for their release. But I
13:08
Speaker 3: also welcome it for the Palestinian civilian population, who have
13:12
Speaker 3: been as much the victims of this war as anyone.
13:16
Speaker 3: But I'm also cautious. I mean, this is an interim
13:19
Speaker 3: cease phirogram, but at lasts for six weeks. It involves
13:22
Speaker 3: the release of thirty three Israeli hostages, the release of
13:26
Speaker 3: Palestinian prisoners, in exchange at quite a favorable rate, if
13:30
Speaker 3: you like, But it is not a permanent cease phrogram.
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Speaker 7: That still needs to.
13:34
Speaker 3: Be negotiated, and I think they're all going to be
13:37
Speaker 3: some very difficult hurdles to cross there because if we accept,
13:41
Speaker 3: and I certainly do that her musk can plain no
13:45
Speaker 3: future role in the governments of Gaza, well, then you
13:49
Speaker 3: know her must needs to be able to sign up
13:51
Speaker 3: to that. That's going to be a difficult negotiation.
13:56
Speaker 1: I know you're in the US. How much of a
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Speaker 1: role do you think the tough talk from Donald Trump
14:00
Speaker 1: has played in this The incoming president, he'll be president
14:03
Speaker 1: by Tuesday next week, and he said if the hostages
14:07
Speaker 1: were not released by the time he took office in
14:10
Speaker 1: the White House, all hell would let loose. Do you
14:13
Speaker 1: believe that's had some impact on getting the two parties together,
14:17
Speaker 1: particularly convincing Hamas that they need to do a deal.
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Speaker 7: I think it certainly played a role.
14:26
Speaker 3: I think Trump's tough words and his clear intent about
14:30
Speaker 3: what he would do I for deal was not made,
14:31
Speaker 3: has helped get this over the line. But I would
14:34
Speaker 3: also say that you know, we've seen Hamasa's strategic position
14:39
Speaker 3: dramatically deteriorate in the past six months. I mean the
14:42
Speaker 3: deal that has been agreed was on the table as
14:44
Speaker 3: far back as made her Musk steadfastly refused to agree
14:47
Speaker 3: to its terms. Israel was willing, Hamas was not. What
14:50
Speaker 3: has changed since then, Well, you know, Harmas's senior leadership
14:53
Speaker 3: has been killed. People are yah yah Sinwa. Hasbila's senior
14:56
Speaker 3: leadership has been killed, a hussunderstrauma, Hasbiler's command.
15:00
Speaker 7: Structure has been decapitated.
15:02
Speaker 3: The Assad regime has been toppled in Syria, and Iran
15:05
Speaker 3: has been humbled. All of that has made that Hamas
15:09
Speaker 3: isolated and under siege. And I think that, combined with
15:12
Speaker 3: the diplomatic pressure that a new Trump administration would bring
15:15
Speaker 3: to bear, and to give them credit, the continuous efforts
15:18
Speaker 3: to the Buyer administration, I think all those ingredients together
15:21
Speaker 3: have allowed us to reach this point.
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Speaker 1: Dave Sharma, thanks for joining us from Seattle in the
15:28
Speaker 1: United States. Appreciate it very much.
15:31
Speaker 7: Thanks so much, Steve.
15:34
Speaker 1: I do know that the Data Telegraph now is reporting
15:37
Speaker 1: that there is some CCTV footage of that attack on
15:40
Speaker 1: those cars in that house, So we'll follow that up
15:42
Speaker 1: as we go through the night. Because clearly if they
15:45
Speaker 1: can identify those people, that will make the police's job
15:47
Speaker 1: a lot easier. Now, coming up after the break, we'll
15:49
Speaker 1: turn our attention to Victorian politics. The Victorian opposition leader
15:53
Speaker 1: is going to join us Brad Batton on his plans
15:55
Speaker 1: to turn the state around. Plus a warning for state
15:59
Speaker 1: and federal pol peticians who think it's going to be
16:02
Speaker 1: easy to cut back on the ballooning number of public servants.
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Speaker 1: That's next welcome back tou price with you. I should
16:13
Speaker 1: let you know that coming up straight after US tonight
16:16
Speaker 1: where Sky will replay that outstanding documentary fronted by former
16:20
Speaker 1: Treasurer Josh Friedenberg about the issue of anti Semitism. So
16:23
Speaker 1: make sure if you've not seen it, and even if
16:26
Speaker 1: you have, make sure you give it another look. Straight
16:28
Speaker 1: after US, coming up at the top of the hour,
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Speaker 1: Brad Baton is a former Victoria police officer. He's been
16:33
Speaker 1: a regular with US here on Sky Friday nights. He's
16:36
Speaker 1: now the Premier in waiting in Victoria. He was elected
16:40
Speaker 1: Liberal leader during the summer break. He's now got the
16:44
Speaker 1: daunting task if he can win in twenty twenty six
16:46
Speaker 1: of trying to fix a busted state and of course,
16:49
Speaker 1: before that, there's a federal election, and I know the
16:51
Speaker 1: Dutton team are very optimistic that they can pick up
16:54
Speaker 1: some seats in Victoria. I would imagine the anger aimed
16:58
Speaker 1: at the state labor government in Victoria is likely to
17:01
Speaker 1: impact in outer suburban Melbourne seats and probably a couple
17:05
Speaker 1: of those Till seats won at the last election. Brad
17:07
Speaker 1: Batton joins us, congratulations on your new job, but do
17:11
Speaker 1: you feel you may have been handed and heerited a
17:14
Speaker 1: poison Chalice got.
17:17
Speaker 7: A Steve No.
17:18
Speaker 5: I don't think I've been handed to poison, Chalice. I've
17:20
Speaker 5: been handed a big challenge and a fantastic opportunity. We've
17:23
Speaker 5: got to work hard. We know that as a team.
17:26
Speaker 5: But myself, I've put myself up because the reality is
17:28
Speaker 5: in Victoria we do need that change, and I think
17:31
Speaker 5: coming from the background I've got I've got the skills
17:35
Speaker 5: to do what we need to do, to listen to
17:37
Speaker 5: Victorians about the issues that they're concerned about and make
17:40
Speaker 5: the changes we need to make Victoria a great place again.
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Speaker 1: Brad, you and I talked a lot about law and order.
17:46
Speaker 1: I'll get onto that in the moment, and we seem
17:48
Speaker 1: to have talked about it just about every Friday night
17:50
Speaker 1: last year. But I want to pick It's almost impossible
17:52
Speaker 1: to pick one issue you're going to have to fix,
17:54
Speaker 1: But I'd like to start with property and taxes. Will
17:58
Speaker 1: you reform or acts the land tax killing investment in
18:02
Speaker 1: real estate in this state.
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Speaker 5: We need to review all the taxes.
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Speaker 7: Steve.
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Speaker 5: I'd love to come on and say we're going to
18:08
Speaker 5: cut every tax here in the state, but we all
18:10
Speaker 5: know we need to operate. But the biggest focus we'll
18:13
Speaker 5: do is how do we reform the tax system to
18:16
Speaker 5: create the investment we need to get investment properties in
18:19
Speaker 5: the market. How do we make it a fair system.
18:22
Speaker 5: But the biggest issue of this book most people don't
18:24
Speaker 5: pick up on is it's the increase in rental cost
18:27
Speaker 5: because of these taxes. The difficulty to buy a first
18:30
Speaker 5: home because a house now has a new home and
18:32
Speaker 5: land has forty two percent tax on it. So we
18:35
Speaker 5: have to address that so we can actually ensure that
18:37
Speaker 5: people get the opportunity to buy their first home because
18:39
Speaker 5: we know that's still an Aussie dream that people want
18:42
Speaker 5: to have here in Victoria. But also to get the
18:45
Speaker 5: rents down because we're seeing it too common up through
18:47
Speaker 5: donny Brook, out through the north, the western parts in
18:50
Speaker 5: where every where I've been the last few days, pran
18:53
Speaker 5: rent is going up like one hundred dollars a week
18:55
Speaker 5: and people just can't afford that. So the government has
18:58
Speaker 5: a responsibility to how can they address that through the
19:00
Speaker 5: tax system. And we'll have more to say about it
19:02
Speaker 5: as we approach the election to ensure we can get
19:04
Speaker 5: that investment back in the state.
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Speaker 1: I fear slightly that you're not going to be able
19:09
Speaker 1: to afford to drop the land tax. I spoke to
19:12
Speaker 1: a property owner this week. Now, clearly he has a
19:16
Speaker 1: really decent piece of real estate, but it's a weekend
19:20
Speaker 1: get away place for him. It's a holiday home and
19:23
Speaker 1: it's on substantial lan He's paying two hundred thousand dollars
19:27
Speaker 1: a year in property tax, not just once every year, Brad.
19:33
Speaker 5: And then he's going to have to pay the extra
19:35
Speaker 5: now because the government's going to throw a tax at
19:36
Speaker 5: him for the fire services levy, which is sometimes tripled
19:39
Speaker 5: in certain parts of Victoria. He's probably paying an empty
19:42
Speaker 5: land tax because the property's probably got no one in
19:45
Speaker 5: it and it's a holiday home. If he wants to
19:47
Speaker 5: try and rent it, out and make some income. He'll
19:49
Speaker 5: get an AIRB and B tax, he'll get chuck to
19:52
Speaker 5: road tax for driving down there. You just get tax
19:54
Speaker 5: for everything you do here in this state. That's because
19:57
Speaker 5: the mismanagement of this government, who have effectively put us
20:00
Speaker 5: into a position where everything in the state has to
20:03
Speaker 5: be taxed just to cover the incrist bill they have daily.
20:06
Speaker 5: That's before we spend any money on services, and we're
20:09
Speaker 5: seeing our services are already facing the impact of that.
20:12
Speaker 5: People know we've got less police to respond. They know
20:14
Speaker 5: when they call triple zero, the chances of getting a
20:17
Speaker 5: police to respond automatically it has can be more and
20:19
Speaker 5: more difficult. And we'll go on to the crime section.
20:22
Speaker 5: But there's a huge issue here. The state just does
20:24
Speaker 5: not have the money. They have mismanaged it so bad
20:27
Speaker 5: that we need to review everything so we can build
20:29
Speaker 5: the investment, grow the economy. They'll be our priorities and
20:33
Speaker 5: that way we can put more money back into lowering
20:35
Speaker 5: the debt and having a debt plan for the long term.
20:39
Speaker 1: Melbourne's full of visitors at the moment into state overseas
20:42
Speaker 1: and as strain and open. What do you think they
20:44
Speaker 1: make when they wander around the city and see police
20:47
Speaker 1: cars with slogans drawn across back windows and downside windows
20:53
Speaker 1: complaining about the fact that they can't get properly paid.
20:57
Speaker 5: True, most people come oversea from overseas or into state
21:00
Speaker 5: and they go around our city and they see these signs,
21:02
Speaker 5: and they'll believe the fact then that the government are
21:04
Speaker 5: mistreating and not respecting Victoria police, because it's truth. My
21:08
Speaker 5: bigger concern, rather than just seeing those signs that we're
21:11
Speaker 5: seeing on the TV right now or as you saw
21:13
Speaker 5: the helicopter flying around to a conference, is the amount
21:16
Speaker 5: of shops they're seeing closed in Melbourne, how dirty the
21:19
Speaker 5: city is compared to what it used to be, the
21:21
Speaker 5: impact on not as many restaurants to choose from the
21:24
Speaker 5: cafes that have been shut. The life of Melbourne, the
21:27
Speaker 5: style that people used to love to come down to,
21:30
Speaker 5: was what it was all about. I don't want them
21:32
Speaker 5: here just for the two weeks of the Australian Open.
21:34
Speaker 5: I want them to walk around the city go how
21:36
Speaker 5: good is this place. I want to come back here
21:38
Speaker 5: in July and spend another holiday or September, to come
21:41
Speaker 5: back down for the football that I don't normally watch.
21:43
Speaker 5: But there is nothing inspiring in Melbourne anymore. The government
21:46
Speaker 5: have just let it go for too long and now
21:48
Speaker 5: we're seeing the impact of that where people won't want
21:50
Speaker 5: to return for longer term holidays and that's where we
21:53
Speaker 5: generate really good income to create jobs here in the state.
21:57
Speaker 1: There was a vision yesterday of a bloke running down
22:00
Speaker 1: crowded Chapel Street, which I know well because I live
22:02
Speaker 1: near there, armed with a machete, chasing someone down the
22:05
Speaker 1: street to try and slam the blade into the back
22:08
Speaker 1: of his head. I mean, you're an ex copper, as
22:10
Speaker 1: I said, did you ever think in your worst nightmare
22:14
Speaker 1: that you'd see something like that?
22:17
Speaker 5: I was a copper in Paran and we did Chapel
22:19
Speaker 5: Street and I can tell you we'll there. Even when
22:21
Speaker 5: we had issues with drugs down the street, we never
22:24
Speaker 5: saw someone running down the street chasing someone with a machete.
22:27
Speaker 5: We used to have some fights, you had the fist
22:29
Speaker 5: fight out the front of a club. We'd be at
22:32
Speaker 5: chases quite regularly, revolver. We'd go to many of the
22:35
Speaker 5: clubs where they had issues with drugs. But the violent
22:38
Speaker 5: crime we're seeing now is no longer just because of
22:42
Speaker 5: someone who's drug fuelled We're actually seeing it every day
22:45
Speaker 5: across Victoria and we've seen it in Clyde North out
22:48
Speaker 5: in my electric today. We saw it over and where
22:50
Speaker 5: we last week where a young man lost his life.
22:52
Speaker 5: The second in a family where a young person has
22:55
Speaker 5: lost their life and that's just tragic. But now to
22:57
Speaker 5: see it, it's just random on the street with someone
23:00
Speaker 5: with a machete, all the way through bayside home invasions
23:02
Speaker 5: with people with knives. In Fountain Gate, two kids were
23:05
Speaker 5: arrested with guns. This is actually becoming super scary here
23:08
Speaker 5: in Victoria. Stephen, we need to act otherwise it's going
23:11
Speaker 5: to get more and more.
23:12
Speaker 7: Out of hand.
23:15
Speaker 1: You tough enough to fix it.
23:17
Speaker 5: One hundred percent. I will be very focused on what
23:20
Speaker 5: we can do. We've done a lot of research and
23:22
Speaker 5: what we can do in prevention as well as ensuring
23:24
Speaker 5: we can work to keep kids out of the system.
23:27
Speaker 5: But we also have to understand that if you read
23:29
Speaker 5: a book by Jeffrey Canada, which was from in New
23:32
Speaker 5: York back in the day, and it started off with fist, stick, knife, gun,
23:37
Speaker 5: and that's what the book is called. But it's the
23:39
Speaker 5: process of what happens if you don't act. We want
23:42
Speaker 5: to make sure that we don't end up moving down
23:43
Speaker 5: to that pathway of guns here in our state. We've
23:46
Speaker 5: already got knives. We've got a plan. We'll have a
23:49
Speaker 5: plan that'll be implemented over time, toughening the barrel laws
23:52
Speaker 5: to stop the revolving door of young kids going in
23:54
Speaker 5: and out and thinking it's okay. We'll change our sentencing
23:57
Speaker 5: system here in Victoria to ensure that people know that
24:00
Speaker 5: when they get sentenced that they're going to have to
24:02
Speaker 5: serve a time that is relevant and what the community
24:05
Speaker 5: would expect, so victims are coming first, and will put
24:08
Speaker 5: community safety as our priority by reinstating a Crime Prevention
24:12
Speaker 5: Minister and also a crime Prevention department so we can
24:15
Speaker 5: try and work with these young kids. Even if it's
24:17
Speaker 5: to do with the graffiti we're seeing which takes away
24:19
Speaker 5: the pride of Melbourne, we want to see all of
24:21
Speaker 5: that being changed here in the state so we can
24:23
Speaker 5: be proud of Victoria and proud of Melbourne.
24:27
Speaker 1: You've got a hell of a job ahead of you.
24:28
Speaker 1: Good luck with that, Brad Baton. You've always been very
24:31
Speaker 1: generous with your time. Thanks for talking to us again tonight.
24:33
Speaker 1: That's Brad Batton he wants to be the next premier.
24:35
Speaker 1: Sadly for Victorians, there's no election until twenty twenty six. Now,
24:39
Speaker 1: Sky's Victorian political report of Simon Love You might have
24:42
Speaker 1: seen a bit of this. Today's got an interview with
24:44
Speaker 1: Brad Batton, which will run at length across the weekend.
24:47
Speaker 1: You can watch it this weekend. Tune in for part
24:49
Speaker 1: one that'll go to air tomorrow. Now, the number of
24:52
Speaker 1: federal bureaucrats, as we know, is ballooned under the alban
24:56
Speaker 1: Ezy government's time in power. They've been there two and
24:59
Speaker 1: a half year and there's been an increase don't fall
25:02
Speaker 1: off your chair of thirty six thousand, thirty six thousand
25:07
Speaker 1: full time federal public servants added under this labor government.
25:12
Speaker 1: It's just almost impossible to believe. Now, while the coalitions
25:15
Speaker 1: repeatedly attacked labor over the growth of the bureaucracy, it
25:19
Speaker 1: remains to be seen whether a government led by Peter
25:22
Speaker 1: Dutton would actually make cuts to the public service and
25:26
Speaker 1: what effect that would have. Someone who knows how hard
25:28
Speaker 1: this job is is former Queensland Premier and Friday Night
25:32
Speaker 1: regular Campbell Newman. He's worn Peter Dutton. It's going to
25:35
Speaker 1: be very challenging to cut back on public service, he
25:38
Speaker 1: joins me. Now, welcome to twenty twenty five. Thanks for
25:41
Speaker 1: joining us again. Thirty six thousand extra public servants. What
25:45
Speaker 1: the hell do they do?
25:48
Speaker 8: Look, it's extraordinary, mate, And the average pay for a
25:51
Speaker 8: federal public servant, I'm told is one hundred thousand dollars
25:54
Speaker 8: a year. That's the average. There's three hundred and sixty
25:57
Speaker 8: five thousand. But Steve, by the way, we're now in
26:00
Speaker 8: a situation in this country where just under one in
26:03
Speaker 8: five employees in the nation public sector employees two point
26:09
Speaker 8: five one seven million across federal, state and local government,
26:14
Speaker 8: and it is out of control, not just at the
26:16
Speaker 8: federal level, but at the state level as well, and
26:20
Speaker 8: it is something that we need to address, and we
26:24
Speaker 8: need to recognize that the public sector is crowding out
26:28
Speaker 8: the private sector. We've now got twenty seven point three
26:31
Speaker 8: percent of the nation's GDP being spent through the public sector,
26:38
Speaker 8: and that's an all time high. So we just can't
26:42
Speaker 8: keep doing this, mate, It's not sustainable. The challenge for
26:45
Speaker 8: Peter Dutton and the Coalition if they become the government,
26:49
Speaker 8: is to do this in a way that doesn't have
26:50
Speaker 8: the same sort of backlash that I got when I
26:53
Speaker 8: was Premier of Queens. Do it they must. I would
26:56
Speaker 8: recommend doing it through attritions, from a very careful plan
27:00
Speaker 8: and ensuring that the ministers.
27:02
Speaker 5: This is the important thing.
27:03
Speaker 8: The ministers need to get into the detail and understand
27:07
Speaker 8: when they're calling for savings and efficiencies, they've got to
27:11
Speaker 8: realize that they will be served up some poison pills
27:15
Speaker 8: by the public sector. I've got to tell you that
27:18
Speaker 8: because we saw that as well. You know, the central
27:21
Speaker 8: administration always protects themselves and to hell with the frontline
27:26
Speaker 8: worker in the public sector.
27:30
Speaker 1: Well, I mean the crazy thing is in our system
27:32
Speaker 1: we've got health public servants in camera where they don't
27:35
Speaker 1: run a hospital, Education public servants in camera where they
27:38
Speaker 1: don't have anything to do with the school. I mean,
27:40
Speaker 1: there's so much doubling up in this country that it's
27:43
Speaker 1: going to take almost a Trumpian like way to fix
27:47
Speaker 1: this by getting someone to get in there and just
27:50
Speaker 1: work out where the fat is and cut it out.
27:52
Speaker 1: I mean, no one wants to see, you know, AFP
27:55
Speaker 1: officers sacked, or nurses or teachers, but you've got to
27:58
Speaker 1: get rid of some of these people.
28:02
Speaker 8: Well, look, if you go, for example, to the United
28:04
Speaker 8: States in the last week or so, in these hearings
28:08
Speaker 8: where they've been looking at the Trump nomination for Defense,
28:12
Speaker 8: the head of Defense, he's pointed out how many sort
28:16
Speaker 8: of top brass generals are there compared to when they
28:19
Speaker 8: fought World War Two. Now you will find the same
28:23
Speaker 8: thing in this country in our own defense force. You'll
28:26
Speaker 8: find it in all the various top public service departmental positions.
28:32
Speaker 8: There's lots of very senior people pulling amazing pay packets
28:37
Speaker 8: and far more than we need. And we've also got
28:40
Speaker 8: all these quongos and commissions and our well I'll nominate
28:44
Speaker 8: one s evening. Of course, that's the e Safety Commissioner
28:48
Speaker 8: and her team of people. They should all go. They
28:52
Speaker 8: it never should have been created in the first place.
28:54
Speaker 8: But it has to be done really carefully. It's got
28:56
Speaker 8: to be done with a clear plan, probably through atrition,
29:00
Speaker 8: and it's got to be ensuring that the frontline services
29:04
Speaker 8: are delivered. So you just mentioned the AFP tick, Australian
29:08
Speaker 8: Border Force tick. Those sorts of public sector employees need
29:12
Speaker 8: to be there. But it's the back of house, it's
29:14
Speaker 8: the administration, and it is a very challenging thing to
29:17
Speaker 8: do if ministers want to skate along and not get
29:20
Speaker 8: into the detail, because they'll be out maneuvered by the
29:23
Speaker 8: public's service mandarins.
29:27
Speaker 1: I've been a bit reflective this week because I had
29:30
Speaker 1: a major birthday on Monday. But I never thought i'd
29:34
Speaker 1: see an Australia where a major supermarket, Coles is not
29:38
Speaker 1: going to sell kitchen knives anymore because of an alleged
29:42
Speaker 1: stabbing by a thirteen year old with a knife plunged
29:46
Speaker 1: into the back of a person stacking shelves.
29:51
Speaker 8: It's been quite extraordinary, Steve, what's happened up here. And
29:55
Speaker 8: I think the idea of taking knives off the shells
29:57
Speaker 8: is completely ridiculous. I what you can hurt someone with
30:02
Speaker 8: a shishkaba obscure or a sharpened chopstick. There's many ways
30:07
Speaker 8: to hurt people, and there's plenty of things on the
30:09
Speaker 8: shelves of supermarkets. I mean, I could assault someone with
30:12
Speaker 8: a frying pan from the homeware section. So that's not
30:17
Speaker 8: the answer. But what we did see this week, unfortunately,
30:20
Speaker 8: was a bit of a first major faux pa by
30:23
Speaker 8: the Christa Foley government when we found that they hadn't
30:27
Speaker 8: actually incorporated the offenses of attempted murder, rape, and I think, yeah, Arson,
30:34
Speaker 8: for example, on the adult time, adult adult crime, adult
30:39
Speaker 8: time legislation. So they've sort of been caught with their
30:42
Speaker 8: pants down a bit on.
30:43
Speaker 1: This, Yeah, they have been. I just can't believe that
30:51
Speaker 1: we're in the country that I grew up in, in
30:53
Speaker 1: the country that you've served, has got to the point
30:56
Speaker 1: where young teenagers, presumably for social media, you know, a
31:01
Speaker 1: committing the sort of crimes they're committing. It's just it
31:05
Speaker 1: cunke at your head around it.
31:08
Speaker 8: Well, I sort of afraid I have a bit of
31:10
Speaker 8: a theory on this because it is a nationwide phenomenal
31:13
Speaker 8: we're seeing. And I go back to twenty twenty one
31:17
Speaker 8: twenty two, where we had kids schooling totally disruptive, and
31:22
Speaker 8: we've got a cohort coming through now. I think who
31:26
Speaker 8: have been leted down by collectively all of us, But
31:29
Speaker 8: I'll point the finger at politicians and chief health officers
31:33
Speaker 8: who were hell bent on dealing with COVID and nothing else.
31:37
Speaker 8: And I think we are actually reaping that harvest, that
31:40
Speaker 8: bit of harvest now from a crop of young people
31:44
Speaker 8: who really had a very difficult period of time and
31:48
Speaker 8: weren't properly.
31:49
Speaker 1: I think you're right. I think you're probably right. Great
31:53
Speaker 1: to have you back on Friday night. We'll see you
31:55
Speaker 1: next week. That's Campbell Newman there, coming out of the
31:58
Speaker 1: break talking of things you never thought you'd see in
32:00
Speaker 1: your own country. Calls for hand sanitizer restrictions in the
32:04
Speaker 1: Northern Territory following a shocking domestic violence incident that took
32:09
Speaker 1: place in the territory. I mean, it's just horrendous. Plus
32:13
Speaker 1: the debate over strated. Here we go again once again,
32:17
Speaker 1: over one hundred and fifty local councils planning to ignore
32:20
Speaker 1: our national Day. When will they learn? Welcome back to
32:28
Speaker 1: de price with you for twenty twenty five on Friday nights. Now,
32:31
Speaker 1: I want to go to a shocking domestic violence story
32:34
Speaker 1: that was broken in the Australian newspaper out of Alice Springs.
32:38
Speaker 1: It's been reported that an Indigenous mother has allegedly been
32:42
Speaker 1: killed by her husband after they had spent a day
32:46
Speaker 1: drinking hand sanitizer. Now authorities first raised concerns about people
32:52
Speaker 1: drinking the substance at the end of last year, but
32:54
Speaker 1: it's apparently been a problem since the outbreak of the
32:58
Speaker 1: COVID pandemic, calls for regulations. I mean, again, is this
33:02
Speaker 1: really happening in our country to be introduced around the
33:05
Speaker 1: sale of alcohol based hand sanitizer in the Northern Territory
33:09
Speaker 1: and I presume in other places as well. Joining me now,
33:13
Speaker 1: who broke the person who broke this story to discuss
33:15
Speaker 1: it is the reporter from the Australian newspaper, Liam Mendez.
33:19
Speaker 1: Good to see you again, Liam. I read that story
33:22
Speaker 1: of yours during the week and when I read the
33:24
Speaker 1: line that this incident was allegedly caused by a day
33:29
Speaker 1: drinking hand sanitizer, I could hardly believe it. Mate.
33:34
Speaker 9: Yeah, thanks for having me steeve. It is horrific. And
33:37
Speaker 9: you know, we've got this domestic violence crisis across the country,
33:42
Speaker 9: but no one's really talking about the DV crisis that
33:47
Speaker 9: is happening in the indigenous community. A third of women
33:53
Speaker 9: who were killed at the hands of their relatives in
33:56
Speaker 9: a DV related incident in across the country since June
34:02
Speaker 9: last year were Aboriginal or tourists Straight Islander women and
34:08
Speaker 9: they make up just four percent of the population. Now
34:13
Speaker 9: there's also the DV inquiry in the territory heard at
34:19
Speaker 9: the end of last year before Coroner Elizabeth Armitage that
34:23
Speaker 9: there were eighty seven women who died at the hands
34:26
Speaker 9: of their partners in a DV incidence since two thousand
34:32
Speaker 9: and eighty four. Sorry, ninety four percent of them were Aboriginal.
34:37
Speaker 9: So there is an astronomically huge issue here when it
34:43
Speaker 9: comes to DV in the territory and also involving Aboriginal
34:48
Speaker 9: and Torres Strait Islander women, and I think it's something
34:50
Speaker 9: that we really need to be looking into very closely.
34:55
Speaker 7: Well.
34:55
Speaker 1: The Australian newspaper and our own Matt Cunningham are both
34:59
Speaker 1: You've both done x cent work in this space, and
35:01
Speaker 1: I know it touches the people who report on it.
35:05
Speaker 1: I mean, why are we having these tortured debates Liam
35:09
Speaker 1: about you know, twenty sixth of January and Australia Day.
35:12
Speaker 1: And yet this is happening in our own country, you know,
35:18
Speaker 1: right in front of our own eyes, and children are
35:21
Speaker 1: being molested, women are being bashed, women are being murdered,
35:25
Speaker 1: and it seems that the territory government and more importantly
35:28
Speaker 1: the federal government is unwilling or unable to do anything
35:32
Speaker 1: about it.
35:34
Speaker 9: Absolutely. I mean, you've got people like Justiner Price who
35:38
Speaker 9: have been screaming about these issues, but also Labor Marion
35:43
Speaker 9: scrimdra has also been very vocal about some of the
35:47
Speaker 9: issues and very upfront and honest about some of the
35:51
Speaker 9: issues that is being seen in the territory. But nothing
35:57
Speaker 9: seems to be changing. These statistics are getting work. You know,
36:00
Speaker 9: we're not even two years in, sorry, two weeks into
36:03
Speaker 9: twenty twenty five, and you know, there was a woman
36:07
Speaker 9: who has allegedly being murdered, You're allegedly bashed to death
36:11
Speaker 9: by her husband at the Todd River in Alice Springs.
36:14
Speaker 9: I mean, it just keeps on happening. It doesn't seem
36:18
Speaker 9: to be the trends only seem to be going up.
36:21
Speaker 9: It is just mind boggling. It's the fact that why
36:24
Speaker 9: the nation is not talking about this more trying to
36:27
Speaker 9: find out the root causes of the issues and trying
36:29
Speaker 9: to find out what can be done to really, you know,
36:34
Speaker 9: stop these DV deaths.
36:40
Speaker 1: Well, it's an excellent point you make, But because the
36:42
Speaker 1: response to your story has not been about, you know,
36:45
Speaker 1: we've got to do more in this space, We've got
36:47
Speaker 1: to put more resources to it. The response has been, well,
36:50
Speaker 1: let's ban hands on sanitizer. I mean, these people insane.
36:53
Speaker 1: I mean if they'll find something else to drink. If
36:57
Speaker 1: they can't get hand sanitizer and their alcohol and they
37:01
Speaker 1: can't control themselves after consuming alcohol, they'll just find something
37:05
Speaker 1: else to drink. I mean, petrol sniffing's out of control.
37:08
Speaker 1: I mean, seriously, nothing has worked ever.
37:13
Speaker 9: Well, you've got you know, young children as well. There
37:16
Speaker 9: was a report I heard from police that there was
37:19
Speaker 9: a fourteen year old that was arrested and when she
37:24
Speaker 9: was arrested, she just before she was arrested because she
37:27
Speaker 9: was seen sniffing a substance and then she attacked a
37:32
Speaker 9: police officer. You know, we're talking about really vulnerable people,
37:36
Speaker 9: really vulnerable members of our community here. Yet you know,
37:41
Speaker 9: there seems to just be this continuous cycle of these
37:44
Speaker 9: issues coming up. The country talks about them for a
37:46
Speaker 9: little bit, and then it sort of gets put onto
37:50
Speaker 9: the side for you know, until the next big issue happens.
37:54
Speaker 9: And you know, frankly, it just seems like not nearly
37:59
Speaker 9: enough is being done to try and get to the
38:03
Speaker 9: root causes of these issues. You know, you know, why
38:06
Speaker 9: are people so addicted to alcohol and you know, taking
38:12
Speaker 9: away different you know you're not going to be able
38:15
Speaker 9: to do prohibition is not going to work. You know,
38:19
Speaker 9: there's always going to be a black market. But you know,
38:22
Speaker 9: I think looking at some of the root causes here
38:24
Speaker 9: and trying something other solutions because clearly what's being done
38:29
Speaker 9: at the moment is not working.
38:32
Speaker 1: Absolutely. What is working is your great reporting. Liam. Keep
38:35
Speaker 1: up the good work, mate. Thank you very much for
38:37
Speaker 1: joining us. Liam Anddze from the Australia Now after the break.
38:40
Speaker 1: You won't believe the number of councils nationally, well you
38:42
Speaker 1: probably will believe it that are completely shunning Australia Day.
38:46
Speaker 1: Plus how on earth crime ridden cities topping the rankings
38:51
Speaker 1: for the best cities in the world. Have more on
38:53
Speaker 1: that in the moment. Welcome back to the Price with you,
38:59
Speaker 1: please to say our Friday Night panel from last year
39:02
Speaker 1: is back in Hannah's Small Business Women Australia CEO Amanda
39:05
Speaker 1: Rose joins us and Sky News contributor Joe hilde Ram.
39:09
Speaker 1: Thank you both for harnessing up again for us on
39:12
Speaker 1: a Friday night. I want to go. I've got been
39:15
Speaker 1: tortured all week about this ongoing debate about Australia Day.
39:20
Speaker 1: Now look we've got more counsels than ever one hundred
39:24
Speaker 1: and fifty. Say oh, and I no citizenship ceremonies on
39:26
Speaker 1: the twenty six Amanda, first to you. Surely this just
39:30
Speaker 1: gives a bit of strength to Peter Dutton's idea that
39:33
Speaker 1: he's going to actually legislate the twenty six and that
39:37
Speaker 1: we should leave it on that date. Please say you agree.
39:41
Speaker 6: What I agree with is the power of Australia Day
39:45
Speaker 6: for newly arrived migrants. So I've been an ambassador for
39:48
Speaker 6: a few years and when I'm speaking to a group
39:50
Speaker 6: of people that are so excited to be in Australia,
39:53
Speaker 6: they're so excited to become an Australian and they look
39:56
Speaker 6: at the sea, it's hope, it's community, and it's opportunity
40:00
Speaker 6: for people to get to know other cultures, get to
40:03
Speaker 6: know other people, and feel like they belong to Australia.
40:06
Speaker 6: I understand why people don't want to celebrate on the
40:10
Speaker 6: twenty sixth of January, but for councils to make that
40:14
Speaker 6: call on behalf of their community when their community is varied,
40:18
Speaker 6: and they're going to be people that support it and
40:20
Speaker 6: don't support it, but they're missing out on the fact
40:22
Speaker 6: that it's actually one of the most cohesive days, especially
40:26
Speaker 6: for a migrant council or a council that has migrant
40:29
Speaker 6: communities to bring them together.
40:33
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Joe. One of the most Australian things about this
40:36
Speaker 1: crazy debate that we have every year, not this weekend,
40:39
Speaker 1: but next weekend is the Australia Day. Long weekend. Only
40:42
Speaker 1: in Australia would just say, Okay, Australia Day is on Sunday,
40:46
Speaker 1: the twenty sixth of January, but we better have a
40:48
Speaker 1: public holiday on Monday as well, even though that's not
40:50
Speaker 1: Australia Day.
40:51
Speaker 10: I mean, seriously, oh, I love that. Bring on the
40:54
Speaker 10: public holidays. I reckon that we should have two Australia Days,
40:57
Speaker 10: twenty fifth and to twenty six keep everybody happy, have
41:00
Speaker 10: twice as many public holidays, although you can also, as
41:03
Speaker 10: you suggested, just confine public holidays to actual week days.
41:08
Speaker 10: But I look, I'm not in favor of forcing councils
41:12
Speaker 10: to hold Australia Day ceremonies. I think they should, but
41:15
Speaker 10: I don't think if you're forcing them to do it
41:17
Speaker 10: against their will, it kind of defies the whole purpose
41:20
Speaker 10: of it. I think what is very heartening is that
41:23
Speaker 10: there has been an increase in the number of people,
41:25
Speaker 10: including young people, who actually support Australia Day. There was
41:29
Speaker 10: a poll that was published in the News Court mast
41:31
Speaker 10: Heads a little while ago that showed that over the
41:33
Speaker 10: past year, when the noise around Australia Day has actually
41:36
Speaker 10: been getting louder and louder and louder over the last
41:38
Speaker 10: few years, in the last twelve months, support has actually
41:40
Speaker 10: gone from sixty three to sixty nine percent, So that's
41:43
Speaker 10: more than two thirds a jump of ten percent on
41:47
Speaker 10: last year's numbers. And I think a lot of this
41:49
Speaker 10: has to do with the fact that people are looking
41:51
Speaker 10: around Australia, they're looking around the world, and they're starting
41:54
Speaker 10: to realize that the woke template, the sort of you know,
41:57
Speaker 10: the sexless livaturing, the sexist and racist uphobia that we're
42:02
Speaker 10: all sort of supposedly heading inevitably towards, is a fiction.
42:07
Speaker 9: It is not.
42:07
Speaker 10: It is just people saying you have to do this,
42:10
Speaker 10: you have to do that, you can't sell Australia, and
42:12
Speaker 10: people are actually saying, well, no, I like it, and
42:15
Speaker 10: I'm not celebrating genocide. I'm not a racist. I just
42:17
Speaker 10: love having a barbecue and thinking how lucky I am.
42:21
Speaker 1: Now we've started the year with Joe speaking common sense.
42:24
Speaker 1: It's just extraordinary, man, Let's do it. Who would have known?
42:30
Speaker 1: I'm just talking to Campbell Newman about this crazy decision
42:33
Speaker 1: by Coles. Now I feel very sorry for the woman
42:36
Speaker 1: who was stabbed allegedly by this thirteen year old boy
42:38
Speaker 1: in Queensland. But Coles say, well, the answer to this
42:42
Speaker 1: is we won't sell knives well as Campbell Newman, Joe
42:45
Speaker 1: just said to me, you can pick up a fry pan,
42:49
Speaker 1: or you can pick up a you know, a tooth
42:52
Speaker 1: for anything you can damage people with. I meant, but
42:54
Speaker 1: who would have thought in the Australia we grew up
42:57
Speaker 1: in that you'd have thirteen year olds stabbing a poor
43:01
Speaker 1: woman stacking a shelf in coals.
43:03
Speaker 4: Yeah.
43:04
Speaker 10: I mean, obviously that is just an appalling crime and
43:06
Speaker 10: that needs to be investigated and those guilty need to
43:09
Speaker 10: be prosecuted and held fully responsible. But the idea that
43:13
Speaker 10: this is simply because there happen to be knives being
43:16
Speaker 10: sold at coals is patently ridiculous. People commit crimes for
43:20
Speaker 10: all sorts of reasons. Drugs is a huge one. Sometimes
43:24
Speaker 10: it's homelessness and poverty. But usually it's just because of
43:27
Speaker 10: sheer sort of social you know, the social decay basically,
43:32
Speaker 10: and that is how you stop crime. You don't do
43:34
Speaker 10: it by taking all the knives away. If someone wants
43:37
Speaker 10: to stab someone badly enough, they're not going to have
43:40
Speaker 10: any difficulty finding a knife to.
43:42
Speaker 1: Do it with.
43:42
Speaker 10: What we have to do is make sure that we
43:44
Speaker 10: don't have kids who are so I suppose nihilistic, or
43:49
Speaker 10: or raised in such a broken way, or perhaps not
43:52
Speaker 10: raised at all, that they are out there thinking that
43:55
Speaker 10: this is a good idea, or taking these opportunities.
43:59
Speaker 1: Amanda, I read some study today that says Melbourne has
44:03
Speaker 1: somehow managed to come in at number four as the
44:05
Speaker 1: best city in the world. It's in some magazine called
44:09
Speaker 1: Time Out. I don't know who they interview or who
44:11
Speaker 1: they asked the question of, but it's come fourth ahead
44:15
Speaker 1: of Sydney. Now, look, I want to see Melbourne thry,
44:17
Speaker 1: But honestly, when you see scenes like the one yesterday
44:22
Speaker 1: of a man wielding a machette chasing someone, this is
44:25
Speaker 1: that bloke running down Chapel Street in Melbourne, supposed to
44:29
Speaker 1: be a great shopping street no longer is trying to
44:32
Speaker 1: get someone with a machete. How the hell are they
44:34
Speaker 1: getting voted above Sydney, above Adelaide, above Brisbane as the
44:38
Speaker 1: fourth best city in the world. But what question and
44:41
Speaker 1: who were they talking to?
44:43
Speaker 6: Well, look, I think it was a typo.
44:45
Speaker 1: I think it was forty, not four.
44:47
Speaker 6: And someone's amassing exactly And they're obviously not considering the
44:51
Speaker 6: economic stability of Melbourne in including in this rating, but
44:56
Speaker 6: they definitely shouldn't be fo I'm convinced. I'd like to
44:59
Speaker 6: order the books of who actually is in who's responsible
45:03
Speaker 6: for this, because I think someone's been paid off or
45:05
Speaker 6: maybe they had to pay for the privilege, because a
45:07
Speaker 6: lot of these ratings they want you to pay or
45:09
Speaker 6: buy a spot and so forth. Now Melbourne used to
45:12
Speaker 6: be a really thriving it was culturally rich, it was
45:16
Speaker 6: a beautiful place. But I'd say over the past five
45:18
Speaker 6: years it's been completely neglected and I feel for the
45:21
Speaker 6: people that live in Melbourne because it should be genuinely
45:24
Speaker 6: number four. That's when Sydney's number three, mind you, but
45:27
Speaker 6: it should be number four. But right now that's actually
45:30
Speaker 6: giving people a false sense of security that it's a wonderful,
45:33
Speaker 6: beautiful safe place when right now it's not.
45:37
Speaker 1: Joe Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide. And I'll throw in Auckland because
45:42
Speaker 1: I was there for five days last week, streets ahead
45:46
Speaker 1: of Melbourne. I mean, you grew up in Dandenong. I
45:48
Speaker 1: don't reckon you'd be brave enough to go back to Dandenong. Now,
45:51
Speaker 1: I mean it's the crime in this city is out
45:55
Speaker 1: of control.
45:56
Speaker 10: Yeah it is, and it's obviously ridiculous. Obviously this survey
45:59
Speaker 10: was inducted exclusively by Melbournians, and it probably actually was
46:04
Speaker 10: because they actually get people to basically rate their own city.
46:08
Speaker 10: And we all know that Melbournians and I was one,
46:10
Speaker 10: and I remember used to see the world's most Livable
46:13
Speaker 10: City plasted on every possible sign you could imagine, and
46:16
Speaker 10: I just kept thinking, who's deciding this? And also who
46:19
Speaker 10: really cares? I mean, do you have New York saying, hey, guys,
46:22
Speaker 10: we're the world's most livable city, which Melbourne beat. Incidentally,
46:25
Speaker 10: Melbourne beat New York as the best city in the world.
46:28
Speaker 10: So I think the Lady doth protesteth too much. And
46:32
Speaker 10: you've got all these very house proud hipsters furiously filling
46:36
Speaker 10: in their forms to Time Out magazine and saying that
46:39
Speaker 10: you know, Melbourne's the best place in the world while
46:41
Speaker 10: someone runs past their organic arm and Lata Cafe.
46:45
Speaker 1: With a machete and one hundred percent Amanda for small
46:49
Speaker 1: business people, I'd love to get give you. I heard
46:52
Speaker 1: one of these Palestinian protest leaders today on Talkbek radio saying, oh, well,
46:57
Speaker 1: even though there's probably going to be a sea fire
47:01
Speaker 1: and everything's going to be okay in the Middle East,
47:03
Speaker 1: we're going to continue our Palestine protests every Sunday through Melbourne,
47:08
Speaker 1: regardless of what happens in the peace protests and the
47:11
Speaker 1: traders of Melbourne and say, for God's sake, we don't
47:14
Speaker 1: want these protests every weekend because you're driving people out
47:17
Speaker 1: of the city.
47:19
Speaker 6: And that's a very good point. And I think that's
47:22
Speaker 6: what a lot of people don't consider. A lot of
47:24
Speaker 6: people just think of themselves. This is we live in
47:26
Speaker 6: a society of absolute selfishness. And if they genuinely wanted
47:31
Speaker 6: to make a point, work with the council, work with
47:34
Speaker 6: the police and say what can we do to have
47:37
Speaker 6: a protest that won't impact the small and family businesses
47:41
Speaker 6: that are trying to survive and if we saw that,
47:43
Speaker 6: wouldn't that be wonderful? They'd be a wonderful Australia. So
47:46
Speaker 6: it's very disappointing because they're struggling as it is. People
47:48
Speaker 6: are working from home, they're not coming into the city
47:51
Speaker 6: as it is, and then when they do, they're deterred
47:53
Speaker 6: by a protest that is relentless.
47:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, and look at they are everyday, weekend. And I
48:00
Speaker 1: don't think it's just in Melbourne. I think it's probably
48:03
Speaker 1: around the country. But nothing's going to keep these people.
48:07
Speaker 1: Nothing's going to keep these people happy. So I don't care,
48:11
Speaker 1: you know, having an argument with them is going to
48:12
Speaker 1: solve any Yep, you're right, they don't care. I care
48:15
Speaker 1: about having you two back on with me on every
48:17
Speaker 1: Friday night. Thanks very much for joining us. Talk to
48:20
Speaker 1: you next week. Good on you, Amanda, Good on you, Joe.
48:22
Speaker 1: Appreciate it very much. Coming up tonight on the program
48:26
Speaker 1: and that's it for me and I'll see you next week.
48:28
Speaker 1: But coming up now, you might remember that outstanding Sky
48:31
Speaker 1: News documentary that was fronted by someone I really respect,
48:35
Speaker 1: and that is the former Treasurer Josh Friedenberg. It's called
48:38
Speaker 1: Never Again, The Fight Against Anti Semitism. And when you
48:42
Speaker 1: think about it, what better day to have a replay
48:46
Speaker 1: of that excellent documentary fronted by Josh than Tonight, I'll
48:50
Speaker 1: see an ext wrider