Latest / The Kenny Report / The Kenny Report | 21 May

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The Kenny Report | 21 May · The Kenny Report

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Line from the Skoing New Center. This is the Kenny Report.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining me on the Kenny Report tonight.
• 0:08
  Speaker 3: The flooding crisis on the New South Wales coast set
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: to get worse in coming days. I'll cross to the
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: emergency headquarters and to flooded Taree.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: The man who blew up.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: The Coalition joins me live David Little Proud on what
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: it will take to put the Liberals and Nationals back
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: together again. The snowy two point zero pumped hydro project
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: hits another snag as its former boss says we'd need
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: another eight of these projects to make Labour's renewables plan work.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: All that plus plenty more with Denika de Giorgio and
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Justin Smith in the Wednesday Wrangle, Let's get cracking. The
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Prime Minister returned from his overseas trip late last night,
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: and today he turned up back at his home ground
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: in Canberra, the National Press Club. He was therefore a
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: bit of a victory lap, sitting in the audience while
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: the the ALP National Secretary, Paul Ericson outlined his interpretation
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: of how and why Labor managed its landslide election win.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: It was Labor padding itself on the back and fair enough.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: But Ericson did take did hit the mark actually with
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: some important observations.
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: They were more focused on claiming front runner status than
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: explaining what they would do if they won. This built
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: on their misread of the twenty twenty three referendum, convincing
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: themselves that a century old reluctance to change the Constitution
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: represented a realignment of Australian politics and an endorsement of
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: their narrow worldview.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: There was one area, however, where Ericson wildly missed the mark,
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: getting confused between political spin, winning political strategies and real
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: policy outcomes, and that was on climate and energy. Now
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: this policy area is partly to blame, of course, for
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: tearing the coalition parties up part and they need to
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: get themselves sorted on climate and energy. But listen to
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: Ericson and hear how Labour seems to believe its own publicity.
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: Labour has one energy policy and we are delivering it,
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: driving private sector investment in renewables backed by gas, hydro
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: and batteries.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: And this policy is working.
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: Australia is producing record renewable energy, our emissions are lower
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: than when Labor was elected, and we're on track to
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: achieve our mission's reduction goals.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Is there anyone else in the country who'd argue that
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: Labour's climate and energy policies are working.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: They're failing badly.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: They're certainly unlikely to meet their renewables or their emissions
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: reductions targets. But more to the point, remember they promised
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: to two hundred and seventy five dollars annual cut in
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: power bills by this year, and instead electricity bills have
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: skyrocketed by more than one thousand dollars a year.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: And as the renewable roll out, we.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: Face a supply crisis with a rising incidence of electricity
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: shortages and the market operator issuing warnings and shutting down
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: large energy users in what it calls demand management. State
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: governments are now subsidizing coal fired power stations to stay
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: open for longer to avoid disaster. So ericson and Labor
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: can pretend it's working all they like, but engineering and
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: economics reveal a different story, and their advice that the
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: Liberals ought to drop nuclear should be dismissed for the
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: political posturing that it is. The Coalition needs to focus
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: on the reality the nuclear energy policy is absolutely essential
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: for the future of this country. If we're intent on
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: cutting emissions to zero, that is getting rid of coal
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: and large amounts of gas generation. So in political campaigning terms,
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: as far as advocacy is concerned, it's not a matter
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: of promoting nuclear power for the sake of it. The
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: policy issue here is not do we like energy nuclear
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: energy or not. Voters won't have any emotional connection to
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: a nuclear power plant.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Now. The point here is.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: Our energy disaster and how to fix it. The challenge
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: is to highlight how broken our electricity grid is, how
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: much worse it will get under Labour's renewables first experiment,
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: and then offer nuclear as the only plausible addition to
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: the mix that can give us reliable base load power
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: that's both affordable and emissions free. It's a cost of
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: living issue, it's an energy security issue, it's an economic issue,
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: and so far neither the Liberals nor the Nationals have
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: even begun to outline the problem, let alone the solution.
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: The last thing they need to do is to scrap
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: their nuclear policy, and they need to make the argument,
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: map out the problem and the options, and detail how
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: nuclear fits into the picture, and when they have a
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: clear alternative, their policy and political position will strengthen.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: With every power bill rise and every blackout.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: Now, while Anthony Albanezi made it back to Canberra in
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: time for the Press Club, he didn't find time to
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: visit Israel on the way back from Rome. He hasn't
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: visited Israel since the October the seventh atrocity nineteen months ago.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: He prefers to.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: Criticize Israel, blaming Israel for the plight of Palestinians in Gaza.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: Shouldn't he blame the Palestinians Hummas leadership who slaughtered innocence,
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: who still hold hostages, and who persist with their war
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: in pursuit of their stated aim of eliminating Israel and
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: all Jews. Yeah, Hummas are an organization committed to genocide
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: and they happily use their own people as human shields
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: and as cannon fodder and propaganda tools in their jihadest plots.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: It's Hummus who.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: Steals their food, prolongs the war and deliberately makes the
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: Palestinian people suffer. And once more, some of them are
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: brave enough to protest. In these social media posts, Palestinians
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: chart hum Us get out, we want to live, hum
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Us out, We want to live and know it's not
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: the Jews, it's hum Us.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: The last time this happened, there were reports that one
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: young protester's mutilated body was dropped off by Hummas at
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: his family's home. We don't know how the fate. We
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: don't know anything about the fate of these latest protesters
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: or how widespread their bravery is.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: But what we do know is that in the.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: West political leaders and much of the media do not
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: have the courage or the wisdom to criticize Humas and
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: demand its surrender. Instead, they portray Israel the country under
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: attack from Hummas and from Hezbollah, Iran islamicj had the
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: hoodies and others. The portray Israel as the aggressor.
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: That we're horrified by the escalation from Israel. We repeat
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: our demand for a ceasefire as the only way to
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: free the hostages. We repeat our opposition to settlements in
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: the West Bank, and we repeat our demand to massively
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: scale up humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: Starma must know, Masani that there's been no shortage of
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: aid getting in. The problem has been Hummas controlling and
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: hoarding it and not supplying its own people.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: And our prime minister.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: Our federal government lines up with the likes of Starma
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: in this diplomacy instead of with Israel. Meanwhile, that Queensland
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: author I told you about last night who lauded the
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: former HUMMAS leader Yaya Sinwa as a martyr, well, the
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: good news is she has been stripped of that indigenous fellowship,
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: a little outbreak of sanity in Queensland. The facts matter,
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: and the most important facts when it comes to this
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: issue today and for every one of the past five
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: hundred and ninety two days, is that HUMAS has tried
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: to inflict genocide on Israel, and HUMAS is still holding hostages,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: and Hummas is perpetuating this war rather than surrendering. Just
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: a bit more on Joe Biden's cognitive issues while he
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: was in the White House and that book where Jake Tapper,
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: the CNN host, now reveals all.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Megan Kelly called Tapper out on her show.
• 9:15
  Speaker 6: You covered the Biden presidency aggressively throughout the four years,
• 9:18
  Speaker 6: and you didn't cover mental acuity hardly at all. I
• 9:22
  Speaker 6: mean time and time again when issues came up. You
• 9:25
  Speaker 6: seem to be running cover for the president.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: Interested Yeah, Kelly called it out, all right, and She
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: reminded Tappa of the way he dismissed Lara Trump's observations
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: about Biden's mental state way back more than four years ago.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: Kelly showed tap of the clip.
• 9:43
  Speaker 7: I think what we see on stage with Joe Biden
• 9:46
  Speaker 7: Jake is very clearly a cognitive decline. That's what I'm
• 9:50
  Speaker 7: referring to. It makes me uncomfortable.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: You are, that's so amazing. You're trying to tell.
• 9:56
  Speaker 7: Me that what I was suggesting.
• 9:57
  Speaker 8: Was you were mocking his stutter.
• 10:00
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 10:00
  Speaker 8: I think you were mocking a stutter. And I think
• 10:02
  Speaker 8: you have absolutely no standing to diagnose somebody's cognitive decline.
• 10:05
  Speaker 7: And it's very concerning to a lot of people that
• 10:08
  Speaker 7: this could be the leader of the free world. That
• 10:11
  Speaker 7: is all I'm saying.
• 10:11
  Speaker 9: I genuinely thank.
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: You, La.
• 10:13
  Speaker 7: Sorry for Joe.
• 10:14
  Speaker 8: I appreciate it. I'm sure it was from a place
• 10:15
  Speaker 8: of concern all we all believe that. Laura Trump, thank
• 10:17
  Speaker 8: you so much.
• 10:21
  Speaker 6: Do you want to apologize to Laura Trump?
• 10:22
  Speaker 10: Now, I've already apologized to her. I called her months
• 10:26
  Speaker 10: ago after we did the research for this book and
• 10:29
  Speaker 10: I realized how bad his acuity issues were. I like,
• 10:36
  Speaker 10: I mean, I called Laura Trump, and I said, you
• 10:40
  Speaker 10: were you were right.
• 10:42
  Speaker 7: She was totally right.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: She was totally rot. We would totally rot, you would
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: totally rot.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: This is the point. It was obvious, and the White
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: House and the Democrats lied and covet it up, taking
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: the public for fools, and most of the media, including
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: TAPPA and all of the rest of them at CNN,
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: they went along with the ruse.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Shameful.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: I'm going to catch up with the Nationals leader David
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: Little Proud in just a moment, but first up, listen
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: to what he had had to say today on ABC
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: Radio looking back at the election and the role of
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: the then opposition leader Peter Dutton.
• 11:26
  Speaker 11: When you look at where the polls were Christmas time
• 11:28
  Speaker 11: and you see where they shifted. I think the Labor
• 11:31
  Speaker 11: Party were able to make Peter data Dunton unelectable. And
• 11:34
  Speaker 11: what they couldn't do is put a vote next to him,
• 11:36
  Speaker 11: and they held their nose and put a vote next
• 11:38
  Speaker 11: to Anthony Albanezi.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: David Little Proud now joins me from camera. Good to
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: talk to you again.
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: David Labor made Peter Dunton unelectable? How so and why
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: wasn't the coalition able to do the opposite.
• 11:53
  Speaker 11: Yeah, although were better at demonizing and tearing down Peter's
• 11:57
  Speaker 11: character and not the man that I know. Unfortunately what
• 12:01
  Speaker 11: they did, and some of that was our own goals
• 12:03
  Speaker 11: around some of our policies like work from home, but
• 12:07
  Speaker 11: also the fact that I don't think we were able
• 12:10
  Speaker 11: to get the media to cut through apart from Peter
• 12:13
  Speaker 11: being there to defend himself.
• 12:14
  Speaker 12: And I don't think that's a reflection on Pete.
• 12:16
  Speaker 11: I think that was the fact that we were trying
• 12:18
  Speaker 11: to defend him, but we couldn't get cut through. It
• 12:20
  Speaker 11: became very presidential and Labor had a very slick campaign,
• 12:24
  Speaker 11: and you can't walk away from that. You've got to
• 12:26
  Speaker 11: be brutally honest. They were able to demonize him, and
• 12:28
  Speaker 11: I think that started with cyclone Alfred and they even
• 12:33
  Speaker 11: tried with that smear around his share ownership and house
• 12:36
  Speaker 11: ownership with his father. And I think we weren't nimble enough,
• 12:41
  Speaker 11: and we weren't defensive enough of Peter's his own character
• 12:45
  Speaker 11: and what he sort of man he was and what
• 12:47
  Speaker 11: he stood for. And I think we allowed him Labor
• 12:50
  Speaker 11: to get away with this perpetrated lie of a six
• 12:53
  Speaker 11: hundred billion dollar nuclear power plan. In fact, that was
• 12:57
  Speaker 11: perpetrated off a report from the Smart Energy Council, an
• 13:01
  Speaker 11: organization that represents renewable companies. It's just a lot have
• 13:05
  Speaker 11: a financial vestige exactly, and just in our right live
• 13:08
  Speaker 11: independently cost it.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: But to tell me, then, do the Nationals do you
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: and the Nationals except your share of the blame for
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: the election failure?
• 13:16
  Speaker 12: Oh totally.
• 13:17
  Speaker 11: And in terms of articulating that report, and I remember
• 13:22
  Speaker 11: having a very robust debate with Laura Jays one morning
• 13:25
  Speaker 11: during their campaign about this six hundred billion dollar Live
• 13:28
  Speaker 11: being perpetrated and the gallery that was traveling with Anthony Albanize.
• 13:32
  Speaker 12: We were allowing him.
• 13:33
  Speaker 11: Unchallenged to sprout it out every day, and we weren't
• 13:37
  Speaker 11: able to get that and we weren't able to get
• 13:39
  Speaker 11: the cut through. We can't sit here and winge about it.
• 13:42
  Speaker 11: Those are the rules we played. They played it smicker
• 13:44
  Speaker 11: than us, And you know, we tried tactically, not just
• 13:48
  Speaker 11: myself in the NATS and some of the other Libs.
• 13:50
  Speaker 11: I think Michael Suker courageously also tried to stand up
• 13:53
  Speaker 11: and defend DUTs at times, and we just couldn't get
• 13:56
  Speaker 11: the cut through. Became very presidential and it was just
• 13:59
  Speaker 11: Peter with the nightly news every night rather than any
• 14:03
  Speaker 11: other talking heads, and it just became frustrating.
• 14:06
  Speaker 12: And I don't think that's a reflection on Peter.
• 14:08
  Speaker 11: I think it was all not being able to be
• 14:11
  Speaker 11: able to get that cut through and to really get
• 14:14
  Speaker 11: back at Terry and Anthony Albanezy's character down.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: Now, Bob Catter's just had a chat with the Ross
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: Greenwood on Business Now and he's laid into the Nationals.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: He says, you've failed regional Australia. Here's a little bit
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: of Bob Catter.
• 14:28
  Speaker 13: The best part of twenty years they were running the
• 14:32
  Speaker 13: Australian government as Deputy Prime Minister and if there was
• 14:36
  Speaker 13: something they did for rural Australia, I'm not aware of it.
• 14:41
  Speaker 11: How do you respond to his criticisms, Rookwood, We're in
• 14:45
  Speaker 11: Rockhampton and the Inland Rail over twenty seven billion dollars
• 14:51
  Speaker 11: into damn infrastructure that was placed out there for states
• 14:54
  Speaker 11: to spend the countless billions of dollars into rhads saving
• 14:59
  Speaker 11: the life sheep industry. Look, you can sit on the
• 15:03
  Speaker 11: sideline and yell and scream and love Bob de bits,
• 15:06
  Speaker 11: but look, unfortunately the numbers don't support Bob's accusation there.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: Well, now let's get back to the coalition split. You've
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: identified some key policy areas, the regional fund, the idea
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: of sanctions divisi, just sanctions against supermarkets if there's foul
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: play revealed, also the nuclear policy.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: If the coal if the Liberal Party.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: Comes out and says it will stick broadly with these
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: policies that were taken to the most recent election, would
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: you walk back into that party.
• 15:39
  Speaker 11: Room and reform the coalition? Yes, And that's what was
• 15:43
  Speaker 11: articulated to our party room. There were four policy areas
• 15:46
  Speaker 11: including also reformed to the universal service obligation to protect
• 15:49
  Speaker 11: mobile phone towers to be repaired and maintained in a
• 15:53
  Speaker 11: serviceable level. We made it very clear, but we couldn't
• 15:56
  Speaker 11: get that guarantee. And as Peter Kredline articulated last night,
• 16:00
  Speaker 11: the convention within the coalition is that all the coalition
• 16:03
  Speaker 11: policies that were taken to an election are maintained until,
• 16:07
  Speaker 11: by exception they're taken away. Now, Susan made a commitment
• 16:09
  Speaker 11: and I respect that that she wanted to review all policies.
• 16:12
  Speaker 11: Everything was taken off the table. I respected that and
• 16:15
  Speaker 11: conceded that. But what I wanted to make sure was
• 16:17
  Speaker 11: that those four key areas were maintained because it gave
• 16:21
  Speaker 11: us confidence not just about delivering technology for telecommunications, but
• 16:26
  Speaker 11: also getting away from this all renewables approach that really
• 16:29
  Speaker 11: frightens us, and we're bearing the burden of But.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: You'd understand, of course she couldn't give that guarantee. She'd
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: be preempting her own party room. She's got to give
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: her party room a chance to endorse these policies. But
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: it would seem a small price to pay, and that
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: if the Liberals could tick off these policies at their
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: next party room, you'd be back in coalition with them.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: Why isn't that the agenda? What is the policy sticking point?
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: You don't think they'll be able to deliver?
• 17:00
  Speaker 11: Well, I asked that to be articulated, and I took
• 17:02
  Speaker 11: written form to my party room. But we couldn't get
• 17:05
  Speaker 11: that in a surety of.
• 17:06
  Speaker 12: Those four areas.
• 17:08
  Speaker 11: And I was happy to concede that there are others
• 17:10
  Speaker 11: that obviously liberal policies that cause us some consternation that
• 17:15
  Speaker 11: I was happy to continue on with.
• 17:17
  Speaker 12: But these were four areas that were important to us because.
• 17:20
  Speaker 11: They would change the lives of the people we represent,
• 17:22
  Speaker 11: and they were ones that we fought for for a
• 17:24
  Speaker 11: long time.
• 17:25
  Speaker 12: But I wasn't being unreasable.
• 17:27
  Speaker 11: I was happy to concede the rest in terms of
• 17:28
  Speaker 11: where we were and if the Liberal Party gets to
• 17:31
  Speaker 11: that junction.
• 17:31
  Speaker 12: I've made it very clear the door was open.
• 17:33
  Speaker 11: But that was the decision that was predicated in our
• 17:35
  Speaker 11: party room on pure principle, you know, and it'll mean
• 17:40
  Speaker 11: at great cost to many of our people take pay cups,
• 17:43
  Speaker 11: but they're not worried about that. These are real changes
• 17:46
  Speaker 11: that would help regional Australians and we can't walk away
• 17:49
  Speaker 11: from that. We've been given a privileged position to come
• 17:51
  Speaker 11: to this place, and I couldn't walk back into the
• 17:54
  Speaker 11: streets of Rome and Charlivial and Clifton and Dolby. And look,
• 17:58
  Speaker 11: people know, I say, I've traded away something to benefit
• 18:00
  Speaker 11: their lives for political expediency.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: But didn't you just need more time spectat? Didn't you
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: just need more time?
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: Once once Susan Lee names a front bench where they're
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: all Liberals, it's going to be very hard for her
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: to unwind that because to bring you back into coalition,
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: she's going to have to sack a bunch of people.
• 18:20
  Speaker 11: Well, we're in a hurry. This was a timeline that
• 18:22
  Speaker 11: we perpetrated. It was one that we were accepting in
• 18:26
  Speaker 11: that season wanted to form a coalition into announce a
• 18:28
  Speaker 11: shadow cabineta. This wasn't a timeline that we decide on.
• 18:32
  Speaker 11: It was one that, with respect also of her personal sectanses,
• 18:36
  Speaker 11: we were happy to work through.
• 18:37
  Speaker 12: But I made it very clear after our initial meeting.
• 18:40
  Speaker 12: I took back what Suasan took.
• 18:41
  Speaker 11: To our initial party room meeting last Friday, that it
• 18:44
  Speaker 11: was unacceptable and that there was that it was serious
• 18:47
  Speaker 11: enough for our room to consider.
• 18:49
  Speaker 12: Have you not re signing?
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: Have you and Susan Lee spoken in the last twenty
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: four hours to see whether there's a process, an emergency
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: process you could put in place to save the coalition?
• 19:01
  Speaker 12: No, not today.
• 19:01
  Speaker 11: I've got to admit I haven't had a band with
• 19:03
  Speaker 11: other than being studios like yours. But as Susan I
• 19:08
  Speaker 11: left on Wednesday, say it or Tuesday saying that the
• 19:14
  Speaker 11: door will be open and I'm open to anything but
• 19:16
  Speaker 11: these I'd rather be upfront and honest now about what
• 19:19
  Speaker 11: were the sticking points and that came from my room.
• 19:21
  Speaker 11: This isn't an individual decision. This is the collective room going.
• 19:26
  Speaker 11: These are what are important to us, and if we
• 19:29
  Speaker 11: get that, they will be something that are important in
• 19:32
  Speaker 11: the legacy items and protecting our people into the future
• 19:35
  Speaker 11: that we can work through the other things, they're superfluous.
• 19:38
  Speaker 12: Do you accept them for many in many respects?
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: Do you accept that the biggest winner out of this
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: is Albanezi and his government because they are now just
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: peerless in the Australian Parliament And the greatest losers are
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: the Australian voters because we're left with a shambolic and
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: divided opposition.
• 19:57
  Speaker 11: Well, that's why I've left the door open and made
• 19:59
  Speaker 11: it very clear. I haven't concealed anything. We've been very
• 20:02
  Speaker 11: upfront about what's important to us and it's important for
• 20:06
  Speaker 11: it a coalition to get back together.
• 20:08
  Speaker 12: And I'm pragmatic about that.
• 20:09
  Speaker 11: But I've been given a privileged position to come and
• 20:12
  Speaker 11: change the lives of the people I represent. I'd be
• 20:14
  Speaker 11: letting them down if we didn't stand up for the
• 20:16
  Speaker 11: values and those really important things. Happy to concede on
• 20:20
  Speaker 11: things where we have to, but these I don't believe
• 20:23
  Speaker 11: are insurmountable, and they're not huge. I just that's why
• 20:26
  Speaker 11: we're disappointed. But we're optimistic that at some juncture that
• 20:31
  Speaker 11: we'll be able to get back in with the Liberal
• 20:33
  Speaker 11: Party and be a coherent coalition before the next election.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, let's hope that sooner rather than later.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: Thanks again for joining us, David, I appreciate it, David
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: little Proud, they're the Nationals leader joining us from Canberra.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: We had to cross to SEES headquarters to give you
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: the latest on the New South Wales flooding. We will
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: cross to Tari later in the program and try and
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: get back to the SEES.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: There's some sort of problem there with that.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: Interview, but we will bring you up to date the
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: serious flooding that's hitting New South Wales and is predicted
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: to get a lot worse in coming days. Also, after
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: the break the Snowy two point zero pump hydro project,
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: it hits another snag the former boss.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: I'll speak to him.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: He says they need another eight projects like this to
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: make Labour's renewables plan work, and that won't be happening.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: The dramatic floods in New South Wales continue and the
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: risk of flash flooding is intensifying. Flood warnings are in
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: place now for areas of the Mid North coast as
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: Tarre faces a one in five hundred year surge. Let's
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: head up to Tarre on the Mid North coast of
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: New South Wales. Jeremy Thornton is a local business owner.
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: He joins me, Now, good to talk to you, Jeremy
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: at this difficult time. This is the worst floodwater. Is
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: anybody seen up there in living memory? How's the town
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: holding up?
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 21:52
  Speaker 14: Well, Chris, you put it in perspective when you say
• 21:54
  Speaker 14: one in five hundred, I don't think any of us,
• 21:56
  Speaker 14: including yourself, are around of that stage. So it's just
• 22:00
  Speaker 14: absolutely incredible what's gone on. We've got an inkling of
• 22:02
  Speaker 14: this late last week in all honesty, but not to
• 22:05
  Speaker 14: this degree.
• 22:07
  Speaker 9: We're absolutely stunned at.
• 22:08
  Speaker 14: What's happened, and the town's in a little bit of
• 22:10
  Speaker 14: disbelief at the moment. To be honest, there's an eerie
• 22:13
  Speaker 14: silence throughout the place. We all emerged early on this
• 22:15
  Speaker 14: morning and you know, rubber necking around and checking on
• 22:18
  Speaker 14: our neighbors and checking what's going on, and you know,
• 22:20
  Speaker 14: seeing what the businesses are up to and everything, and
• 22:23
  Speaker 14: there was just this kind of shocked look on everyone's face,
• 22:26
  Speaker 14: not much conversation, and as the days gone on, people
• 22:29
  Speaker 14: have just bunkered down and kept out of the water,
• 22:31
  Speaker 14: kept out of the rain.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Because it just continues to pour.
• 22:34
  Speaker 14: Just in the past five or so minutes it started
• 22:36
  Speaker 14: pouring once again. We're expecting maybe not one hundred millimeters
• 22:39
  Speaker 14: or more in the next twenty four to thirty six hours.
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: So we're we're seeing we're seeing pictures now of the
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: Manning River, just the raging Torrent, you know, just a
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: huge spread of water, obviously flooding areas now that haven't
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: been flooded before. I'm just conscious of around the country,
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: so many Australians being in drought at the moment in
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: Western Victory, western New South Wales in South Australia and
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: not being aware perhaps that across the New South Wales
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: coast in recent weeks it's just been consistently wet.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: There's been so much rain. Sydney's been drowning.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: So your problem up there for further north, of course,
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: is your country's completely water logged. So this water's got
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: nowhere to go and you're expecting a lot more rain
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: than coming days.
• 23:24
  Speaker 14: Absolutely, we are totally water logged. And the thing is
• 23:27
  Speaker 14: that we the summer wasn't too bad. It was a
• 23:29
  Speaker 14: pretty normal summer as all things go, no major buyer risks,
• 23:33
  Speaker 14: and you know the storms that came through weren't too bad.
• 23:35
  Speaker 14: But realistically, from about early March onwards we've just had
• 23:39
  Speaker 14: this consistent rain just hanging around and what are we
• 23:42
  Speaker 14: now were in the end part of May and here
• 23:45
  Speaker 14: we are it's still going when all me entering our
• 23:47
  Speaker 14: dry period. So the water logging is just an absolute issue.
• 23:50
  Speaker 14: And that's all the way up through the Barrington region,
• 23:53
  Speaker 14: up through the Breadeye which is on the way to
• 23:54
  Speaker 14: Tamworth and Armadale.
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: All the water up the.
• 23:57
  Speaker 14: Top of that hill, it's got one place to go,
• 23:58
  Speaker 14: and that's down in Tiree. We've got a really unique
• 24:01
  Speaker 14: and beautiful river system here, but when all the water
• 24:04
  Speaker 14: comes down to this one spot, it's got.
• 24:06
  Speaker 15: Nowhere to go.
• 24:07
  Speaker 14: And we've seen how the river reacts in this area
• 24:09
  Speaker 14: with flooding before we know how it's done it. This
• 24:11
  Speaker 14: has just changed the whole thing. I think I heard
• 24:14
  Speaker 14: from someone of the sees today. The shoreline itself has
• 24:16
  Speaker 14: moved in where the water ends up about one point
• 24:19
  Speaker 14: three kilometers, so it's just staggering. And people that have
• 24:22
  Speaker 14: never had water in before they have it now. My
• 24:25
  Speaker 14: in laws, for example, we're thinking of them. They live
• 24:27
  Speaker 14: on the river down at Cundletown, but they've never had
• 24:30
  Speaker 14: water in thirty five years. They've never had water anywhere
• 24:32
  Speaker 14: near their house, and it's lapping at their door right
• 24:35
  Speaker 14: at this moment. So, you know, people like that, Our
• 24:37
  Speaker 14: thoughts and prayers with them and everyone else absolutely.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: Now, speaking of the State Emergency Service, the Commissioner has
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: just given an update.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: Here's some of what he had to say.
• 24:46
  Speaker 16: We currently have more than one hundred flood warnings in place,
• 24:50
  Speaker 16: with twenty three of those been at a MINTI level.
• 24:53
  Speaker 16: The new South Powa State of MENTI service continues to
• 24:56
  Speaker 16: respond to record breaking floods in the mid North.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: If you are if you.
• 25:03
  Speaker 16: Are under a munty warning currently and it is safe
• 25:07
  Speaker 16: to do so, I need you to evacuate now. I
• 25:11
  Speaker 16: cannot stress enough that it is important to heed the
• 25:16
  Speaker 16: warnings of evacuations. We've already seen over the past few nights,
• 25:20
  Speaker 16: rescue conditions been extremely difficult and dangerous, particularly at nightfall.
• 25:26
  Speaker 16: We currently have a number of locations and communities that
• 25:30
  Speaker 16: have received new warnings and munty warnings to evacuate this afternoon.
• 25:35
  Speaker 16: In particular the Kempsey CPD, Smithtown and Gladstone areas are
• 25:41
  Speaker 16: required to evacuate now it is safe to do so.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: Pretty clear warnings there, Jeremy, I really appreciate you talking
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: to us. Of course, public safety is the number one issue.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: They're on the ground in tari and in the area.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: Are you getting enough information? Is there enough help to
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: make sure that people do get out of the flood
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: zone rather than try and tough a out.
• 26:01
  Speaker 9: Look.
• 26:01
  Speaker 14: In all honesty, I can't speak highly enough of the
• 26:04
  Speaker 14: authorities up to this stage, but the information flowing through
• 26:08
  Speaker 14: on social media text messages. We just got endless text messages,
• 26:11
  Speaker 14: particularly across yesterday about who needs to evacuate and what
• 26:14
  Speaker 14: needs to be done. In all honesty, I guess some
• 26:17
  Speaker 14: people didn't evacuate because they did not expect to get
• 26:19
  Speaker 14: to where it was. We were doing sandbaging and preparing
• 26:22
  Speaker 14: our clients on the two days ago for this, and
• 26:25
  Speaker 14: we set it to the level just above the twenty
• 26:27
  Speaker 14: twenty one flood, which was our record, and we've gone
• 26:30
  Speaker 14: a meter over that. So I mean, some people might
• 26:33
  Speaker 14: say there was complacency. I don't agree with that. We
• 26:36
  Speaker 14: know this river, we know how it acts, and all
• 26:38
  Speaker 14: of a sudden we've been totally caught out. So the
• 26:40
  Speaker 14: information from the community services and the government agency to
• 26:43
  Speaker 14: date has been fantastic. What we do need now, and
• 26:46
  Speaker 14: I'll be quite honest about this, is leadership. We need
• 26:49
  Speaker 14: to see some leadership from our state, federal, our mayor.
• 26:52
  Speaker 14: We need to see those people step up and say, hey,
• 26:54
  Speaker 14: what are you guys going.
• 26:55
  Speaker 15: To do for us?
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Now?
• 26:56
  Speaker 14: I know it's still raining, the still flood waters. We're
• 26:58
  Speaker 14: going to be in this for a couple of days,
• 27:00
  Speaker 14: but you know behind the scenes that they're planning for
• 27:02
  Speaker 14: what's going to happen to help Tari get through this.
• 27:05
  Speaker 14: The community's damn anxious, mate, we are really anxious. You
• 27:08
  Speaker 14: need to know what they're doing to try and you know,
• 27:10
  Speaker 14: guide us through this and just calm everyone down. But
• 27:13
  Speaker 14: look as far as response goes in the early stage, mate,
• 27:15
  Speaker 14: quite happy.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: Well said Jeremy, Thanks so much for joining us. Really
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: appreciate your time, Jeremy Thornton.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: They're in Tari. Good on you, Chris Tari.
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: You are a resident and business owner, and keep an
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: eye on this it's going to get worse in the
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: coming days and we'll be crossing to the Emergency Services Minister.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Later in the program.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: Now, the latest problem to hit the Trouble Plague Snowy
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: two point zero project is a strike, with more than
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: a thousand workers downing tools today in a twenty four
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: hour strike over paying conditions. The Australian reports that workers
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: have effectively been confined to their rooms and face discipline
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: reaction if they try to leave the work site while
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: the strike's going on. But as I put it to
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: form a Snowy Hydro boss Paul Broad, this industrial action
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: is probably the least of the jet's problems.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it probably is, actually, and it doesn't surprise me.
• 28:05
  Speaker 17: They turn on a blue just after the labor government
• 28:08
  Speaker 17: gets in, so you know they're they're using their monopoly
• 28:11
  Speaker 17: power to extract a few more rents out of it.
• 28:14
  Speaker 17: And when you're running a cost class project, you're going
• 28:17
  Speaker 17: to you can rest assured.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Everyone everyone's going to put the hand up for put
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: the hand up for more. Yeah.
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: Now, give us your take on the status of the project.
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: We had tunnel boring machines stuck for months on end.
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: We've had more equipment brought in from overseas.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: Are they back on track?
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: No? No, no, they're fairway behind still.
• 28:38
  Speaker 17: Right from day one, it was always going to be
• 28:40
  Speaker 17: complext drilling that sort of that sort of machines in
• 28:44
  Speaker 17: the mountains, and sadly the contractor didn't deliver to the
• 28:50
  Speaker 17: standard that you would expect of that sort of contractor.
• 28:53
  Speaker 17: And that first tunnel boring machine he got stuck about
• 28:55
  Speaker 17: one hundred meters in. They knew all about that ground
• 28:58
  Speaker 17: before they launched it, so fact that got stuck and
• 29:01
  Speaker 17: they couldn't move it. It was an absolute disgrace, but
• 29:04
  Speaker 17: reflected somewhat on their performance right right from the get go.
• 29:08
  Speaker 17: They took over a year a year late to bring
• 29:11
  Speaker 17: up the cabins and the accommodations in the mountains because
• 29:14
  Speaker 17: they imported it from Italy.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: So there was there has been real issues with the contractor.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: And not long after I left, I went to a
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: cost plus contract.
• 29:23
  Speaker 17: Which in my view was simply taking all the incentive
• 29:26
  Speaker 17: away from the contract and to deliver on performance place contracts.
• 29:30
  Speaker 17: So you're always going to have these delays and problems,
• 29:32
  Speaker 17: and it doesn't surprise him one little bit they're having it.
• 29:36
  Speaker 17: But that's what it is. But I've got to say you, Chris,
• 29:38
  Speaker 17: I've got to say, yeah, this is a really good project.
• 29:41
  Speaker 17: Engineering going to this project is phenomenal. At some point
• 29:45
  Speaker 17: someone will step back from this and say, what has
• 29:48
  Speaker 17: been achieved on this site ten years fifteen years time
• 29:53
  Speaker 17: will set new engineering standard, particularly the way they're running
• 29:56
  Speaker 17: the tunnel boarding machines uphill. So while there's all these
• 30:00
  Speaker 17: with it now, and I accept all that, and I
• 30:01
  Speaker 17: accept my responsibility as part of that, but in reality,
• 30:06
  Speaker 17: what's going on is absolutely phenomenal in the depths of
• 30:10
  Speaker 17: those mountains.
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: I'll come back to the benefits of the project in
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: a moment, but just your best guess of where we're at.
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: I mean, this thing looks like being a decade over due,
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: and the cost blowout could be almost tenfold, couldn't it
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: from the original two billion dollars?
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: Oh well, I get hung out the dry and the
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: two big in a light.
• 30:30
  Speaker 17: You know. As we seven day one, the feasibility worked
• 30:34
  Speaker 17: out the cost to build a thing, which came in
• 30:36
  Speaker 17: at four point eight and with all the other costs
• 30:38
  Speaker 17: associated it was close to six.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: So the cost plus contract doubled.
• 30:44
  Speaker 17: And it's not surprise on a cost plus contract, and
• 30:46
  Speaker 17: I think they've got more cost pressure coming now.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: They're launching an additional tunnel boring machine.
• 30:51
  Speaker 17: They're employing fifteen hundred more people on site now than
• 30:55
  Speaker 17: they had originally budgeted for. So there are certainly cost
• 30:58
  Speaker 17: pressures coming at them. I'd question lots of those, and
• 31:01
  Speaker 17: I'll be interested to see in the wash up of
• 31:03
  Speaker 17: this thing how those costs ever arrived at. But I
• 31:06
  Speaker 17: suspect the thing might be finished until probably twenty eight
• 31:10
  Speaker 17: to thirty at the earliest. But that would coincide probably
• 31:14
  Speaker 17: with the transmission lines which have to be built out
• 31:16
  Speaker 17: of the mountains. There's no point really having two point
• 31:19
  Speaker 17: h available to you if you can't get the power
• 31:22
  Speaker 17: out when you need it, so the transmissions will determine
• 31:26
  Speaker 17: when Snowy is a benefit to the market.
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: Now talking about that benefit, of course, as we continue
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: to build out renewables, we've got a national electricity grid
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: that lacks the energy reliability at the moment. That's where
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: snowe Hydro would really come into its own, being able
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: to store that energy and provide some sort of baseload.
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: I suppose, as you say, when we need it, is
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: that going to be absolutely crucial to the system given
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: the lack of reliability in the system at the moment
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: as coal fired power stations shut down.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm being in your.
• 32:01
  Speaker 17: I think we are heading over a cliff on the renewables.
• 32:05
  Speaker 17: While two point zero and the snow existing snowy playing
• 32:08
  Speaker 17: enormous enormous benefits to the system, You're going to need
• 32:12
  Speaker 17: massive transmission upgrades and other things to.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: Really really get all those benefits.
• 32:17
  Speaker 17: But that's not going to be anything near enough to
• 32:19
  Speaker 17: achieve the sort of things they're talking about.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: Even a em you know, an EMO in the bowels
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: of our EMO.
• 32:25
  Speaker 17: The real workers in an email other than not the
• 32:28
  Speaker 17: leaders of it, really know that they that the models
• 32:32
  Speaker 17: that they're trying to trying to put together doesn't work.
• 32:35
  Speaker 17: And they've been cheering a million particular from the sidelines,
• 32:39
  Speaker 17: and you probably as well for having the courage to
• 32:42
  Speaker 17: speak up and point out the facts and the flaws
• 32:44
  Speaker 17: in what the government's proposing. They need at least another
• 32:49
  Speaker 17: eight two point ohers eight so that'll take eighty years.
• 32:53
  Speaker 17: They need leeds another eight to two point ohs to
• 32:55
  Speaker 17: go any like firming up this renewables that the Chris
• 32:59
  Speaker 17: Bowen and Anthony alb and easy you have plan for us?
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: I mean, well that's disastrous. That's not going to happen, right,
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: that's not going to happen. So what do we do
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: in the meantime?
• 33:09
  Speaker 17: Keep Cold going, keep col going, keep building gas plants,
• 33:13
  Speaker 17: access gas. We have more gas under the Hunter than
• 33:16
  Speaker 17: there is in Bass straight access gas. Build this one
• 33:19
  Speaker 17: next to us, build another one alongside it. Buill build
• 33:22
  Speaker 17: one up there a ladell build it now, start it now.
• 33:26
  Speaker 17: And our left know we wanted to double the size
• 33:28
  Speaker 17: of Kolombra. We want to double the side the two
• 33:30
  Speaker 17: gas plants in Victoria. Build gas plans. They can be
• 33:33
  Speaker 17: built in relatively quickly, and or you simply got to
• 33:37
  Speaker 17: do with access gas and you can start to build
• 33:39
  Speaker 17: them around where you've got transmission lines.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: Get gas plans up, keep your baseloaders going, Arrahi bays Water.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: They've all got lots of life left in them. The
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: notion they're all on their last legs is rubbish.
• 33:52
  Speaker 17: They've just got to keep up a reasonable amount investment,
• 33:54
  Speaker 17: keep them going for much longer, and don't ever think
• 33:57
  Speaker 17: about replacing them until you know what your alternative is
• 34:00
  Speaker 17: work exactly.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: Don't unplug them till we know we're okay.
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: It's not where the government's heading, but the engineering and
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: the economics are going to hit them pretty hard eventually.
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: Thanks for sharing your insights with us.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Paul my pature cress anytime.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: He's so much.
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: He's so right there the country sitting on gas right
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: around the country where one of the leading.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: Exporters of gas worldwide. Yet we won't use it ourselves sufficiently. Madness.
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: Now, after the break, we have more on the flooding
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: in New South Wales. Plus are we heading for a recession?
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: So much more to cram into the program. Let's return
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: to the flood crisis in New South Wales. Multiple rescue
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: operations are underway and there are more than a dozen
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: emergency warnings in place. G Had Dibb is the New
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: South Wales Minister for Emergency Services.
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: He joins us now live. Good to talk to you again.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: G had to tell us about the extent of the flooding,
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: whether you've got to handle on the area affected and
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: how much the worse you fear it could get in
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: the next couple of days.
• 35:03
  Speaker 15: Yeah, thanks so much. Chris's good to be with you again.
• 35:05
  Speaker 15: I prefer to be talking about something different, But obviously
• 35:08
  Speaker 15: we're managing a pretty difficult situation at the moment and
• 35:11
  Speaker 15: we're doing the very best that we can, and the
• 35:13
  Speaker 15: emergency services have been out there. I mean, in effect,
• 35:16
  Speaker 15: we've had some really strong rain if you think about it,
• 35:20
  Speaker 15: from like the Newcastle Lower Hunter area and it's starting
• 35:23
  Speaker 15: to head up towards Coffs Harbor. In some parts we've
• 35:27
  Speaker 15: had over three hundred millimeters of rain, and I think
• 35:30
  Speaker 15: in Tare, which is on a New South as was
• 35:32
  Speaker 15: Mid North Coast, we've had five times the amount of
• 35:35
  Speaker 15: average rainfall in two days. And to give people a
• 35:39
  Speaker 15: concept of that, we're talking about three hundred millimeters of rain,
• 35:43
  Speaker 15: you know, in different parts, and that's in a place
• 35:45
  Speaker 15: where there's already the grounds have been saturated, the rivers
• 35:48
  Speaker 15: are full, when other on the East coast there's been
• 35:51
  Speaker 15: plenty of rain over the past six months and so
• 35:53
  Speaker 15: in ef fact that water's sort of got nowhere to go,
• 35:55
  Speaker 15: and you know, we're managing our way through this and
• 35:58
  Speaker 15: obviously undertaking a whole heap of warnings. There's been a lot,
• 36:04
  Speaker 15: as you said, there's a number there's evacuation centers that
• 36:06
  Speaker 15: are open pretty much around that area, and you know,
• 36:09
  Speaker 15: to give you an example, just today, there's been two
• 36:11
  Speaker 15: hundred and eighty nine flood rescues, wow, and over close
• 36:14
  Speaker 15: to forty and close to four thousand incidents over the
• 36:17
  Speaker 15: past few days that the SEES and our emergency services
• 36:20
  Speaker 15: have responded to.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: So let me just pass on to you.
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: Let me just pass on to you some information we
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: got live on air twenty minutes ago from Jeremy Thornton,
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: a resident and businessman in tai He was very complementary
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: about the information everyone's been getting so far about the
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: warnings to evacuate and what to expect. But he's desperate
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: for the next stage. He says, people need to know
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: the next stage on what facilities.
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: Will be available.
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: They know they're going to be in strife for days
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: to come. So that's his plea to you to keep
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: the information coming so they know what services will be
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: available in days to come.
• 36:54
  Speaker 15: No, thanks thanks a lot for that, Chris, and thanks
• 36:57
  Speaker 15: to Jeremy for acknowledging that. I mean, one of the
• 36:59
  Speaker 15: things that we we really took, especially when I became
• 37:01
  Speaker 15: the minister, was from learnings of twenty twenty two floods,
• 37:05
  Speaker 15: and we thought that what we could do is a
• 37:06
  Speaker 15: little bit better. Is better communication, be really clear without
• 37:09
  Speaker 15: communication and tell people what's coming. Obviously, we can't stop
• 37:14
  Speaker 15: this weather, but what we can do is be better
• 37:16
  Speaker 15: at the way that we respond to it, better the
• 37:17
  Speaker 15: way we.
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: Can All right, we've lost audio there with GDP the
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: Emergency Services Minister, so.
• 37:26
  Speaker 12: We've got you back there.
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: We are out of time.
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Gee, I'd really appreciate you joining us
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: and good luck in coming days keeping everybody safe.
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: It's a hell of a task.
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: New South Wales Emergency Services and first responders have got
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: ahead of them in coming days because as you heard,
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: there is much more rain forecast and there is nowhere
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: for it to go.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: Let's get back to the economy now.
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: I want to catch up with Gigi Foster, who's the
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: New South Wales Economics and New South Wales University Economics
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: professor joining us live from Sydney.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: Good to talk to you again, Gig.
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: I wanted to get your thoughts on the back of
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: this interest rate kat. We heard from Michelle Bullet yesterday
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: saying they are in two minds as whether a hold
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: or cut again and they've gone for another slight cat
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: But she actually said, She's actually mouthed the words that
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: they're still worried about recession.
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: What's at play here?
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: Is it global factors, domestic factors, or a combination of both.
• 38:19
  Speaker 18: I mean, I do think it's a combination of both. Remember,
• 38:21
  Speaker 18: markets respond to information. So even if there's no real
• 38:24
  Speaker 18: effect of for example, the Trump tariffs, let's say, just
• 38:28
  Speaker 18: to take one thing that's happening internationally, people who believe
• 38:32
  Speaker 18: that there might be an effect are going to propagate
• 38:33
  Speaker 18: that belief through markets, and so that's going to create uncertainty.
• 38:37
  Speaker 18: It's going to create more hesitancy. It basically self perpetuates,
• 38:40
  Speaker 18: and it's like a self fulfilling prophecy. It will make
• 38:43
  Speaker 18: people act more bearish rather than bullish, and so that
• 38:47
  Speaker 18: is definitely probably on her mind. I would say, whether
• 38:50
  Speaker 18: or not there's going to be a real effect of
• 38:51
  Speaker 18: those tariffs, you know, that's really substantial economically, if people
• 38:55
  Speaker 18: didn't have that fear factor or that kind of spook factor,
• 38:58
  Speaker 18: I'm not sure, do you think. Domestically, of course, we
• 39:01
  Speaker 18: know we've had this productivity slump for years now, and
• 39:05
  Speaker 18: we've got a bloated public service which is dragging us down.
• 39:09
  Speaker 18: And of course, as you just were talking about with
• 39:11
  Speaker 18: a previous guest. We aren't really managing our energy very well.
• 39:14
  Speaker 18: And energy is an input into almost every aspect of
• 39:16
  Speaker 18: the modern lifestyle. So I think there are a lot
• 39:18
  Speaker 18: of things we could do a lot better on the
• 39:20
  Speaker 18: domestic front, and of course making our shoring up our
• 39:24
  Speaker 18: own capacity as Australians to make things and do things
• 39:29
  Speaker 18: for ourselves, having food security and whatnot is important. But
• 39:33
  Speaker 18: I would say also equally important is diversifying our trading
• 39:36
  Speaker 18: base overseas, particularly in lighter what's happening in the US.
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: Yes, spot on. He's a little bit of what Michelle
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: Bullock said yesterday.
• 39:44
  Speaker 19: If you look at our our scenario analysis, it does
• 39:48
  Speaker 19: suggest that in a really bad outcome, they could possibly
• 39:52
  Speaker 19: be a recession. Yes, that's in the very extreme circumstance.
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so that's not to I've stated it now. You
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: and I share these concerns. When you talk about what
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: needs to be fixed in this economy, and talking in
• 40:05
  Speaker 3: the pre election context, people say, oh, you're playing politics
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: or whatever.
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: Well I'm not.
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: What I care about is the future of our country, right,
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: I'm worried about it. I'm worried about the level of
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: government spending, and I'm worried about we've turned energy from
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: an advantage into a disadvantage. And I'm worried about the
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: lack of productivity. The ALP national secretary today said at
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: the National Press Club, but the focus groups don't talk
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: to him about productivity. Well, yeah, that's a glib line.
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: But the whole economy depends on productivity. And I'm worried
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: that the government's got such a big margin here now
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: on an ineffective opposition, they're just going to continue down
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: this road of spending and not actually reforming anything.
• 40:44
  Speaker 9: No.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: I think that's right, Chris.
• 40:45
  Speaker 18: That's what the political incentives will dictate for them, and
• 40:48
  Speaker 18: there's no reason to think that the Australian people are
• 40:50
  Speaker 18: going to demand anything different. Where are the mechanisms to
• 40:53
  Speaker 18: bring that up? I mean, I'm co organizing the Australian
• 40:56
  Speaker 18: Conference of Economists in July and we will be trying
• 40:59
  Speaker 18: to talk about a lot.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: Of these things.
• 41:00
  Speaker 18: We have some sessions on productivity. But even academic economists
• 41:04
  Speaker 18: generally speaking, as you know, are a bit divorced from
• 41:06
  Speaker 18: the problems of the country that pays their salaries. You know,
• 41:10
  Speaker 18: maybe a present company accepted, but generally speaking, it's not
• 41:12
  Speaker 18: that popular to be doing research into productivity. It's kind
• 41:15
  Speaker 18: of not sexy, it's kind of boring. But as you say,
• 41:18
  Speaker 18: it underpins so much, and so I think we need
• 41:20
  Speaker 18: to have an elevation of economic literacy and reality facing
• 41:24
  Speaker 18: in this country before we're going to get any serious
• 41:26
  Speaker 18: attempts to fix the structural issues that we've got. And
• 41:29
  Speaker 18: those issues are really run right through multiple sectors and
• 41:33
  Speaker 18: they have a lot to do with the way that
• 41:34
  Speaker 18: the government manages and also just sees its role. I
• 41:38
  Speaker 18: think it's not that the government should.
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: Fix our problems.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: We need to have markets.
• 41:42
  Speaker 18: As the primary source of growth and productivity and health.
• 41:46
  Speaker 3: As Ronald Reagan's famously said, governments not solution.
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: Governments the problem.
• 41:51
  Speaker 3: Will come back to you and discuss some of those
• 41:53
  Speaker 3: issues in detail.
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: GGI, thanks for joining us, g G as US. They're
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: joining us.
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: Live from the University of New South Wales. We do
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: have to get to a break on the other side.
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: Danika to Georgia and Justin Smith Wednesday wrangling. We'll talk
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: about all the coalition travails and a bit of silliness
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: in the media.
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: We're going to wrangle.
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: We've got Justin Smith in our Melbourne studio and on
• 42:19
  Speaker 3: the desk key with me, Denika to Georgio in early
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: from what are you doing tonight? Late tonight all over
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: the place. Look, let's start with the coalition, Justin. Is
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: this a ridiculous move by the Nationals to blow up
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: the Coalition or is this a healthy sort of time
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: apart to reassess their relationship.
• 42:39
  Speaker 20: I don't think healthy is worth that I would ascribe
• 42:44
  Speaker 20: to what's been happening over the last couple of days, mate,
• 42:48
  Speaker 20: And I don't think you would do that either. But
• 42:50
  Speaker 20: you've got to have a look at the Nationals here
• 42:52
  Speaker 20: and think, well, it's easy for them to sort of
• 42:55
  Speaker 20: sling off at the Liberal Party and then the Liberal Party.
• 42:57
  Speaker 20: He certainly deserves it after the result that they've had.
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: But the Nationals need.
• 43:01
  Speaker 20: To remember that they've been along for the ride, not
• 43:03
  Speaker 20: only for eighty years, but over this disastrous campaign.
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: They've been along for the ride.
• 43:08
  Speaker 17: Now.
• 43:09
  Speaker 20: You know, people like David Little Proud has been standing.
• 43:11
  Speaker 4: Up and.
• 43:13
  Speaker 20: You know, sticking up for Peter Dutton and going along
• 43:17
  Speaker 20: with the campaign. It's their campaign as well. Yeah, so
• 43:19
  Speaker 20: if it was a disaster, they've certainly got to where
• 43:22
  Speaker 20: some of that too, you would think, but maybe a
• 43:25
  Speaker 20: little time apart might be as you say, healthy.
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: There is a sense to Nika that it's bit of
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: you know, it's not me, it's you.
• 43:33
  Speaker 21: Know, it's a bit like a bad relationship I divorced
• 43:36
  Speaker 21: gone wrong or something. Look, I do actually agree with
• 43:39
  Speaker 21: Justin's point. I think they need to actually come together soon,
• 43:41
  Speaker 21: because otherwise we are going to be stuck with labor
• 43:44
  Speaker 21: for a very very long time, and the Libs and Nats.
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: Will be together.
• 43:48
  Speaker 21: But my issue here is why would the Nationals want
• 43:52
  Speaker 21: to wait around for the Liberals to sort themselves out?
• 43:54
  Speaker 9: I mean the Libs? Who are they? What do they
• 43:56
  Speaker 9: stand for? What are their policies?
• 43:58
  Speaker 21: The Nats are looking after the people in the regions,
• 44:00
  Speaker 21: They're looking after nuclear power. They want to ditch at
• 44:03
  Speaker 21: zero by twenty fifty. What exactly do the Liberals stand
• 44:06
  Speaker 21: for it? If the Lips don't get themselves together soon
• 44:08
  Speaker 21: and find out that.
• 44:09
  Speaker 9: Policy, well no one of the Mats are forging a head.
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: Well, hang on all these policies.
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: The Nats are worried about the policies that were taken
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: to the election, so they should stay in and try
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: and make sure that the Coalition sticks with them, and
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: the Nats haven't abandoned that zero.
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: They've actually backed.
• 44:23
  Speaker 21: It for the last four But the whole nuclear argument
• 44:26
  Speaker 21: was buried in the last time.
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: No, they stuffed it up. They Look, I'm just saying
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: the policies are there. The way they prosecuted them just disastrous.
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: Let's have a look at what the great Man, the
• 44:36
  Speaker 3: former Prime Minister John how It had to say with
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: Andrew Bolt last night. Oh we don't, but I can
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: assure you that the great Man shared words of wisdom
• 44:50
  Speaker 3: in which he suggested the Coalition needs to get back
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: together for the sake of the country.
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: It's the only way to provide.
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: An effective opposition and a path forward for the right
• 44:59
  Speaker 3: of center parties. Do you think we'll see this resolved quickly?
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: I just got a sense.
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: Talking to David Little Proud earlier justin that you know,
• 45:07
  Speaker 3: maybe there could be a quick.
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: Sort of Reprochmont.
• 45:10
  Speaker 3: But there seems to be another school of thought that
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: thinks this could all go all the way to the
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: next election.
• 45:16
  Speaker 20: Look, I think it's going to go all the way through.
• 45:18
  Speaker 20: They certainly seem to be determined. But can I say this,
• 45:20
  Speaker 20: though there seems to be there's a determined some determination
• 45:24
  Speaker 20: sometimes and it comes from people in the media that
• 45:28
  Speaker 20: we've got to save the Liberal Party or we've got
• 45:30
  Speaker 20: to save the coalition. I know that's John Howard's job,
• 45:33
  Speaker 20: and that's you know, that was a big part of
• 45:34
  Speaker 20: his legacy, is keeping the coalition together.
• 45:37
  Speaker 9: But if the.
• 45:38
  Speaker 20: Liberal Party were to dissolve, and if the National Party
• 45:42
  Speaker 20: were to dissolve, someone else is going to fill that void.
• 45:45
  Speaker 20: I mean, I think trying to save them has probably
• 45:49
  Speaker 20: been their biggest problem because they think they've got so
• 45:51
  Speaker 20: many people sticking up for them that all I've got
• 45:54
  Speaker 20: to do is put on a blue bloody T shirt
• 45:56
  Speaker 20: and go to the polling boost and people are going
• 45:58
  Speaker 20: to vote for them. Maybe they need to act, start
• 46:00
  Speaker 20: trying a hell of a lot harder than they have
• 46:03
  Speaker 20: been to sell what they've got and to try and
• 46:07
  Speaker 20: catch a few voters.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: Well, I think it was just a disaster.
• 46:11
  Speaker 3: That's been the natural party of government in this country
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: over the past century. Toneka And you do need an
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: effective opposition as well as an alternative government, and you
• 46:19
  Speaker 3: do need a rite of center party. We can't have
• 46:21
  Speaker 3: everybody on the green left. We won't last very long.
• 46:24
  Speaker 9: No, we certainly will not last very long.
• 46:25
  Speaker 21: But I also think it raises the question, Chris, of
• 46:28
  Speaker 21: where is conservative politics heading to in this country? When
• 46:32
  Speaker 21: already weeks after an election you've got a split for
• 46:35
  Speaker 21: the coalition. I think it raises questions about where it's going,
• 46:38
  Speaker 21: and again it comes down to what they actually stand
• 46:41
  Speaker 21: for anymore.
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: It's extraordinary.
• 46:43
  Speaker 3: I've never seen it this low, obviously, and no one
• 46:47
  Speaker 3: expected this two months ago.
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: And for all the.
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: Gloating labor supporters might have, none of them predicted this.
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: So it is extraordinary.
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: But it goes to show in politics, nothing's ever as
• 46:57
  Speaker 3: good or as bad as it seems, so it could
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: turn around quickly if they get their act together.
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: I want to get to it. It's as bad as
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: it seems.
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: Oh no, no, no, nothing in politics is ever as
• 47:06
  Speaker 3: good or as bad as the sieves. That's the utbreakable rule.
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: Have a different thought.
• 47:13
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm tipping in about probably not yet, but within
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: a week or two Peter Dutton will be thinking he's
• 47:19
  Speaker 3: well out of it, get his handicapped down and all
• 47:24
  Speaker 3: the rest of it. I want to go to the
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: US politics, and we've talked.
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: A lot about how the media and the Democrats in.
• 47:29
  Speaker 3: The White House hid the obvious mental decline of Joe Biden.
• 47:34
  Speaker 3: But the person a lot of people are focusing.
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: On now is his wife, Dr Jill Biden. His is.
• 47:40
  Speaker 21: You did such a great job.
• 47:42
  Speaker 3: You answered every question you want.
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: He answer the crowd, what did Trump do?
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: The last time I saw someone talking like that to
• 47:58
  Speaker 3: a person was at my kids childcare center.
• 48:01
  Speaker 9: You know, so chatronizing.
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: Do you think she's culpable?
• 48:04
  Speaker 9: I do, absolutely, she's culpable.
• 48:06
  Speaker 21: Doctor Jill acted like the ultimate stage mother throughout this
• 48:09
  Speaker 21: entire campaign, orchestrating Joe Biden's stage left, stage right. The
• 48:12
  Speaker 21: bloke could barely stand up. He had no mental capacity
• 48:16
  Speaker 21: to do anything, yet she was cheering him on. And
• 48:18
  Speaker 21: you remember, a week after that debate, Chris, she posed
• 48:21
  Speaker 21: on the front cover of Vogue magazine wearing a five
• 48:24
  Speaker 21: thousand dollar outfit and said, we will decide our future.
• 48:28
  Speaker 21: She is as culpable as the rest of them. She's
• 48:30
  Speaker 21: as culpable as a Democrat. She's as culpable as all
• 48:33
  Speaker 21: of the doctors who hid his decline. We should know
• 48:35
  Speaker 21: when he was first diagnosed, because I actually think that's
• 48:38
  Speaker 21: a disgrace, because also he had he won.
• 48:41
  Speaker 3: Well, they were just going to give it to Kamla
• 48:43
  Speaker 3: I suppose, so, Justin, you still reckon he was good
• 48:45
  Speaker 3: enough to go for another term, don't.
• 48:46
  Speaker 20: You said that? But anyway, look nice try. I actually
• 48:54
  Speaker 20: thought the courts would have been far too busy with
• 48:56
  Speaker 20: his both his successor and predecessor who happens to be
• 49:00
  Speaker 20: exactly the same person. But if they lie to anyone,
• 49:03
  Speaker 20: they should absolutely answer to it. I mean, we're talking
• 49:05
  Speaker 20: about a big job here, so if they covered anything up,
• 49:08
  Speaker 20: I have no problem with them with people going after them.
• 49:12
  Speaker 3: Yes, mord On, thanks for joining us. Justin and Deanika
• 49:14
  Speaker 3: will catch up with you next week. I just want
• 49:16
  Speaker 3: to finish off with some of your feedback from last
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: night's program, where you had a bit to say about
• 49:20
  Speaker 3: the coalition breaking up. Glenn says, finally some common sense.
• 49:24
  Speaker 3: Far too many liberal MPs wanted net zero renewables, no
• 49:27
  Speaker 3: nuclear or coal, and high immigration. Another viewer says the
• 49:31
  Speaker 3: coalition was nothing more than labor light because of the Liberals,
• 49:34
  Speaker 3: a clear choice is now available, there is for some
• 49:37
  Speaker 3: voters in the regional area. So I don't know who
• 49:40
  Speaker 3: the coalition is going to put up in the city seats.
• 49:42
  Speaker 3: We shall see. Thanks so much for joining me. I
• 49:44
  Speaker 3: will be back tomorrow night at five o'clock. Here's Peter Quedlin.