Latest / The Bolt Report / The Bolt Report | 7 April

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The Bolt Report | 7 April · The Bolt Report

0:10
Speaker 1: It's the report tonight. Donald Trump attacks Australia for not
0:16
Speaker 1: helping as he threatens around with massive destruction as of
0:20
Speaker 1: tomorrow morning. Plus King Charles to the rescue is about
0:23
Speaker 1: to join Trump. Can you fix an alliance Trump says
0:26
Speaker 1: has let him down as well? Plus a business that
0:30
Speaker 1: could have turned coal to fuel, well, the man in
0:35
Speaker 1: charge of it says he got the bums a rush
0:37
Speaker 1: from Australian climate change politicians, so has moved it to
0:41
Speaker 1: New Zealand and plenty more, including Mcanavan, the Panel and
0:44
Speaker 1: Samara Gill. But first, the rest today of Ben Roberts
0:49
Speaker 1: Smith represents a tragedy for Australia and a test of
0:54
Speaker 1: our values. But it is also, of course a danger
0:57
Speaker 1: our enemies will again gloat, especially in this time of war.
1:03
Speaker 1: Now Australia's most famous living war hero is you know,
1:10
Speaker 1: a war criminal, they say, That's what they will say.
1:14
Speaker 1: In fact, now an alleged war criminal facing possible life
1:16
Speaker 1: sentence for allegedly murdering unarmed prisoners in Afghanistan, and those
1:22
Speaker 1: enemies will almost certainly use this to recruit people to
1:24
Speaker 1: their cause. So what happened today is more than the
1:29
Speaker 1: fall of a hero Robert Smith was arrested this morning
1:32
Speaker 1: at Sydney Airport and arrival from Brisbane and charged on
1:35
Speaker 1: five counts.
1:37
Speaker 2: It will be alleged the man was a member of
1:39
Speaker 2: the ADF when he was involved in the death of
1:42
Speaker 2: Afghan nationals between two thousand and nine and twenty twelve
1:46
Speaker 2: in circumstances that constitute war crimes. Under the Commonwealth Criminal
1:51
Speaker 2: Code the defense of war crime murder carries a maximum
1:55
Speaker 2: penalty of life imprisonment. It will be alleged the victims
2:00
Speaker 2: were not taking part in hostilities at the time of
2:03
Speaker 2: their alleged murder in Afghanistan. It will be alleged the
2:08
Speaker 2: victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of
2:12
Speaker 2: EIGHTYF members when they were killed. It will be alleged
2:17
Speaker 2: the victims were shot by the accused or shot by
2:21
Speaker 2: subordinate members of the ADF in the presence of and
2:24
Speaker 2: acting on the orders of the accused.
2:29
Speaker 1: Let me underline that Robert Smith must be presumed innocent,
2:33
Speaker 1: and I'm going to make no comment about his possible
2:35
Speaker 1: guilty or innocence, because that is now for the courts.
2:38
Speaker 1: That is or should be our way. But his arrest
2:42
Speaker 1: is certainly a devastating fall for a man who once
2:45
Speaker 1: walked with prime ministers, who was treated as the very
2:48
Speaker 1: best of Australia. Here is the then Governor General investing
2:51
Speaker 1: Robert Smith with our highest military award, the Victoria Cross.
2:56
Speaker 3: How proud we are of you, how much into us
3:01
Speaker 3: you bring our hearts to soar, and you remind us
3:05
Speaker 3: of the strength and the endurance of the human spirit.
3:10
Speaker 3: I congratulate you, and I wish you all the very
3:14
Speaker 3: best today and always thank you for what you did now.
3:19
Speaker 1: Robert Smith even had his own display the National War
3:22
Speaker 1: Memorial and was recruited to sell pride on Australia Day.
3:27
Speaker 4: We're getting the words of best art of Australia are respect,
3:30
Speaker 4: inclusiveness at home. The but I've found is no how
3:35
Speaker 4: long I spend away, when you get home again, you
3:37
Speaker 4: realize just how lucky we are.
3:41
Speaker 1: And now this so I can understand the anger of
3:45
Speaker 1: many people have heard from today. That is now in jail,
3:49
Speaker 1: awaiting bail perhaps tomorrow and eventually a trial, after risking
3:54
Speaker 1: his own life in fighting in Afghanistan against the Taliman,
3:59
Speaker 1: fighting for Australia and fighting for the West against the tyranny,
4:03
Speaker 1: saving his mates to win that Victoria Cross. The Ausidigger
4:07
Speaker 1: single handedly stormed a nest of Taliban fighters and under
4:12
Speaker 1: heavy machine fire save the lives of fellow soldiers in
4:16
Speaker 1: the Taliban stronghold of northern Kandaharten. I understand also the
4:21
Speaker 1: fury of what will be seen by many as a
4:24
Speaker 1: slur on our entire special Forces and the Waiter Army,
4:28
Speaker 1: and it would be easy for me tonight to join
4:30
Speaker 1: in safer by the way the head of the Federal
4:35
Speaker 1: Police went out of a way today to address exactly
4:38
Speaker 1: that slur against the army. As the Opposition leader Angus Taylor.
4:44
Speaker 2: We understand these charges will have an impact on several
4:47
Speaker 2: communities in Australia. The alleged conduct related to these charges
4:52
Speaker 2: is confined to a very small section of our trusted
4:57
Speaker 2: and respected ADF, which helps keep the country safe. The
5:02
Speaker 2: overwhelming majority of our ADF do our country proud. Today's
5:08
Speaker 2: charges are not reflective of the majority members who serve
5:11
Speaker 2: under the our Australian flag with honor, with distinction and
5:16
Speaker 2: with the values of a democratic nation.
5:18
Speaker 5: Well obviously as a legal praiss and it needs to
5:21
Speaker 5: take its course and it's important we respect that. But
5:24
Speaker 5: we also need to respect the role of our special forces.
5:27
Speaker 5: The vast majority of our special forces do the right thing.
5:30
Speaker 5: They are incredible people, serving this nation and playing an
5:35
Speaker 5: extremely difficult role. I'm proud to support the meat year
5:38
Speaker 5: on polypedal and have done for many years now. This
5:42
Speaker 5: process needs to take its course, but it should not
5:44
Speaker 5: detract from the respect we show for our special forces
5:46
Speaker 5: in this country.
5:49
Speaker 1: That was will, said Anthony Alberinezi, though said nothing at all.
5:53
Speaker 1: The Prime Minister was us three times about the arrest.
5:56
Speaker 1: Not once did he say that, while of course can't
5:59
Speaker 1: come in on the k overwhelmingly our soldiers are honorable.
6:03
Speaker 6: I have no intention of commenting on a matter that's
6:06
Speaker 6: clearly before the courts.
6:08
Speaker 1: But One Nation leader Pauline Hanson went overboard the other way,
6:12
Speaker 1: effectively declaring Robert Smith innocent without showing respect now to
6:17
Speaker 1: the courts, which we'll have to actually decide this. She
6:19
Speaker 1: will post it on X. I remain steadfast and my
6:22
Speaker 1: support Ben Robert Smith. Despite news of his arrest the
6:25
Speaker 1: day Ben his immediate and broader defense. Family need his
6:27
Speaker 1: strained people's support right now and it will not abandon
6:31
Speaker 1: him like so many other politicians. Ben was disgracefully arrested
6:35
Speaker 1: in front of his twin to fifteen year old girls,
6:39
Speaker 1: and like I say, would be easy for me to
6:41
Speaker 1: do his hands and did and seeing patriotic. But here's
6:45
Speaker 1: my problem. It is not in fact patriotic to say that,
6:49
Speaker 1: whatever the charges, whatever the facts, the prosecution may or
6:53
Speaker 1: may not have I defend Robert Smith.
6:57
Speaker 7: Again.
6:58
Speaker 1: He may be innocent. I hope he did risk his
7:02
Speaker 1: life for us. He was placed their enormous pressure in
7:04
Speaker 1: the war zone, pressure almost none of us will ever know,
7:07
Speaker 1: fighting an Islamist army, often out of uniform, obeying no
7:11
Speaker 1: rules themselves. But is Australia really the kind of country
7:17
Speaker 1: which could condone shooting dead unarmed prisoners. If that turns
7:22
Speaker 1: out to be the case, what would we say of
7:27
Speaker 1: Russian soldiers or Taliban fighters or some other terrorist group
7:32
Speaker 1: who shot unarmed captives. What will we say then? Now?
7:39
Speaker 1: I hear people all days saying, oh, those easy for
7:42
Speaker 1: people in their armchairs to judge soldiers on the battlefield,
7:47
Speaker 1: But other essays soldiers who also fought in Afghanistan certainly
7:51
Speaker 1: don't think the army they signed up for is one
7:54
Speaker 1: that kills unarmed prisoners. That's not the values they fought for.
8:00
Speaker 1: Opposition leader, Opposition front bencher might be getting ahead of himself.
8:04
Speaker 1: Andrew Hasty, also served in Afghanistan with the SAS as
8:08
Speaker 1: a captain, also risked his life and he gave evidence
8:12
Speaker 1: against Robert Smith when Robert Smith sued a newspaper for
8:15
Speaker 1: defamation and lost. I won't say what Hasty said not
8:21
Speaker 1: after these charges, but Hasty has since been denounced by
8:24
Speaker 1: Robert Smith's mother as unfit to lead the Liberals. But
8:28
Speaker 1: what Robert Smith defenders, like billionaire Kerry Stokes as West
8:33
Speaker 1: Australian Newspaper also turned against Hasty. What they don't seem
8:36
Speaker 1: to understand is that even if we wanted to ignore
8:41
Speaker 1: the allegations against ben Robert Smith, that would be more
8:46
Speaker 1: dangerous than charging him, as well as being, in my view, disgraceful.
8:52
Speaker 1: If we don't investigate such allegations ourselves, we're opening the
8:57
Speaker 1: doors in the international criminal court to do it for us.
9:00
Speaker 1: And then what And this is of course something warned
9:04
Speaker 1: of whenever we've signed some international agreement with the thought
9:08
Speaker 1: that oh, this is just going to be used against
9:10
Speaker 1: bad guys, only to find out that bad guys will
9:13
Speaker 1: use it against us. We signed up to the International
9:18
Speaker 1: Criminal Court, and that court's prosecutor invests complaints of war
9:22
Speaker 1: crimes after deciding whether there is sufficient evidence of crimes
9:25
Speaker 1: of sufficient gravity and whether there are genuine national proceedings
9:31
Speaker 1: to check them out. So if Australia does not do
9:35
Speaker 1: something genuine investigating our alleged war crimes, unfriendly countries will
9:40
Speaker 1: make sure this activist International Criminal Court does. In fact, Russia,
9:46
Speaker 1: which is itself guilty of horrific war crimes in Ukraine,
9:50
Speaker 1: has already these murderous hypocrites been on our case as
9:54
Speaker 1: Foreign Ministry in twenty eighteen called for an investigation. It's
9:58
Speaker 1: what it claimed as fact, whereas Australia's crimes in Afghanistan
10:02
Speaker 1: Prime Minister of Scott Morrison back then referred to just
10:05
Speaker 1: that danger. This is six years ago after the Breton
10:08
Speaker 1: Report said it found credible information that nineteen unnamed current
10:12
Speaker 1: or former Special Force soldiers here had unlawfully killed thirty
10:18
Speaker 1: nine civilians and prisoners in Afghanistan between twenty oh five
10:22
Speaker 1: and twenty sixteen.
10:24
Speaker 8: We need to ensure that the seriousness of the contents
10:28
Speaker 8: of this report had dealt with under the Australian justice system.
10:31
Speaker 1: By Australians inccordance with our laws. And that's exactly what
10:36
Speaker 1: we've been doing since. As the Office of the Special
10:38
Speaker 1: Investigator General made clear today saying other soldiers were also
10:43
Speaker 1: being investigated.
10:45
Speaker 6: The OSI has in total commenced fifty three investigations involving
10:50
Speaker 6: allegations of war crimes by Australian Defense Force members in Afghanistan.
10:55
Speaker 6: Thirty nine of those matters have now been provisionally finalized.
11:00
Speaker 1: Yes, new evidence emerges.
11:03
Speaker 7: Those thirty nine.
11:04
Speaker 6: Matters have also been comprehensively investigated to the same high
11:07
Speaker 6: standard as today's charges, but we have not gathered sufficient
11:12
Speaker 6: evidence to meet the threshold for the referral of a
11:14
Speaker 6: brief evidence to the Comwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. Other
11:19
Speaker 6: investigations remain ongoing.
11:22
Speaker 1: Okay, now you may complain, You may well complain that
11:26
Speaker 1: this has been dragging on unfairly for years. You may
11:30
Speaker 1: argue that it will be very hard to find enough
11:32
Speaker 1: proof for a court if they're relying on evidence from Afghanistan.
11:36
Speaker 1: Of course, maybe we'll see, we'll see. So this is
11:41
Speaker 1: an ugly time for Australia and divisive an idol charged
11:45
Speaker 1: with war crimes. Our reputation is going to take a hit.
11:49
Speaker 1: Our enemies will exploit it. But we must realize a
11:53
Speaker 1: country is not defined by a few people who have
11:55
Speaker 1: done bad things or not. It is defined by how
12:00
Speaker 1: the rest of us react, whether we say we do
12:03
Speaker 1: not murder the unarmed, or let's sweep such claims under
12:09
Speaker 1: the carpet and claim that that's patriotism. We have values,
12:14
Speaker 1: we must uphold them, and above all, in this matter,
12:17
Speaker 1: we must let our courts, our own courts decide. But
12:25
Speaker 1: Donald Trump has had it with Australia, and we could
12:27
Speaker 1: pay his complaining what kind of ally have we been
12:30
Speaker 1: in this war with the run? And it's not just us, It's.
12:34
Speaker 9: Not just NATO.
12:35
Speaker 1: You know who else didn't help us? South Korea didn't
12:37
Speaker 1: help us.
12:38
Speaker 9: You know who else didn't help us? Or Australia didn't
12:41
Speaker 9: help us.
12:43
Speaker 1: Now that makes me wonder if the US president has
12:45
Speaker 1: been making requests of Australia that our government's turned down.
12:49
Speaker 1: It says no, but who knows what this government says?
12:54
Speaker 1: How much of it's true? Whatever we could now pay
12:57
Speaker 1: because American law makers are deciding of Australia would really
13:00
Speaker 1: be allowed to buy three or more of America's nuclear
13:03
Speaker 1: power submarines to replace our aging diesel ones and report
13:07
Speaker 1: to Congress last year that I told you about warn them.
13:10
Speaker 1: If the US sells these subs, will Australia be there
13:13
Speaker 1: with them with those same subs to help the US
13:16
Speaker 1: in any war? Would say China should keep them for itself. Now,
13:21
Speaker 1: what do you think Trump thinks the odds of all
13:23
Speaker 1: that are now meanwhile is threatening? In all that bombing
13:27
Speaker 1: of Iran From ten am tomorrow Eastern time, if Iran
13:32
Speaker 1: doesn't talk peace or let oil tank US through the
13:34
Speaker 1: Strait of.
13:35
Speaker 9: Humus, every bridge in Iran will be decimated by twelve
13:41
Speaker 9: o'clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will
13:46
Speaker 9: be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be
13:51
Speaker 9: used again. I mean complete demolition by twelve o'clock and
13:55
Speaker 9: it'll happen over a period of four hours if we
13:57
Speaker 9: wanted to.
13:58
Speaker 1: We don't want that to happen. I think that's typical
14:01
Speaker 1: Trump bluff. May be misdirecting Iran. I mean some power
14:05
Speaker 1: stations and bridges may well go if the US and
14:08
Speaker 1: Israel think they're actually helping Iran's military, but the US
14:11
Speaker 1: doesn't want to make the Iranian people suffer as opposed
14:14
Speaker 1: to the regime itself, because many Iranians want that regime
14:17
Speaker 1: gone as well, and could be and have been in
14:19
Speaker 1: some cases, very useful allies. I think the US is
14:23
Speaker 1: going to go for other targets. And on that point,
14:26
Speaker 1: there is a fascinating graphic that might tell you what
14:29
Speaker 1: the strategy has been all along. I know it's a
14:31
Speaker 1: bit too crowded to make out some of the names
14:33
Speaker 1: on the screen, but you look at the pattern. The
14:35
Speaker 1: US in Israel has not been assassinating the leaders of
14:39
Speaker 1: the regular Randian army. No, They've instead been wiping out
14:44
Speaker 1: most of the leaders of the hard line revolutionary Guard Corps.
14:48
Speaker 1: They're the leaders of the regime storm troops, a kind
14:52
Speaker 1: of Islamic SS. So is that the strategy to leave
14:56
Speaker 1: Iran's army strong enough to push out the Guard Corp
14:59
Speaker 1: takeover when the Guard Corps for now sees the effective
15:02
Speaker 1: control of the regime is hiding the so called Supreme
15:05
Speaker 1: Leader watch Tabor Kamini, who the intelligence reports now suggests
15:10
Speaker 1: is actually unconscious, seriously injured in a bombing attack and
15:13
Speaker 1: being kept in the Holy City of Kum. We will
15:16
Speaker 1: see all tomorrow. So the fuel crisis will continue and
15:24
Speaker 1: could get even worse. I was joined a short while
15:26
Speaker 1: ago by regular Tuesday commentator Matt Canavan, the new leader
15:30
Speaker 1: of the Nationals and a former Resources minister. Met Canavan,
15:34
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us. The arrest and
15:37
Speaker 1: charging today of Ben Roberts Smith your reaction.
15:42
Speaker 7: Look, it's significant development.
15:45
Speaker 10: There's not much I can say for a matter before
15:48
Speaker 10: the courts, and I certainly don't want to say anything
15:50
Speaker 10: that we've prejudged this issue. Everybody does deserve their day
15:54
Speaker 10: in quarter. But as I say, it's been used and
16:00
Speaker 10: it's going to be very interesting to see how the
16:02
Speaker 10: case sunfolds.
16:04
Speaker 1: It certainly will. I feel sorry for the other soldiers
16:08
Speaker 1: who have served with distinction and honor in Afghanistan, and
16:11
Speaker 1: I hope that they people remember this is no reflection,
16:16
Speaker 1: whether it's true or not, on them. Donald Trump overnight
16:20
Speaker 1: attacked Australia for not helping the US in this war,
16:24
Speaker 1: but we very much depend on the US helping us
16:27
Speaker 1: in any war. Matt. This is a dangerous moment for US,
16:30
Speaker 1: isn't it. I mean, what would this mean for our
16:32
Speaker 1: self defense?
16:35
Speaker 10: Look, it's a dangerous world right now, Andrew, and I'm
16:40
Speaker 10: not aware of Australia not agreeing to any request from
16:44
Speaker 10: the Trump administration.
16:45
Speaker 7: It'd be good if the.
16:46
Speaker 10: Current government just clarified that and then made clear that
16:49
Speaker 10: they haven't said no to anything. We normally, of course,
16:52
Speaker 10: do work very closely with our friends and allies, and
16:54
Speaker 10: we have provided assistance in this conflict as is right
16:58
Speaker 10: and proper to our ends.
17:00
Speaker 7: But any deployment of Australian.
17:01
Speaker 10: Assets obviously has to be in our own national interest,
17:05
Speaker 10: and while we'll listen to any request, we have to
17:07
Speaker 10: consider that as well. Look, all of this does show
17:10
Speaker 10: Andrew that we have to become more independent as a nation.
17:15
Speaker 10: We can see right now at our petrol stations how
17:19
Speaker 10: vulnerable we are to the floes of ships into Australia.
17:23
Speaker 10: And then on this issue that you've raised, absolutely we've
17:26
Speaker 10: relied too heavily on other countries potentially coming to our
17:29
Speaker 10: aid if the worst were to happen.
17:30
Speaker 7: Now, this is not the worst.
17:32
Speaker 10: As tough as this situation is, as tough as it
17:35
Speaker 10: is for many businesses, I've spoken to many workers, trades
17:39
Speaker 10: people have had their lives upended by the inflation, the
17:42
Speaker 10: lack of availability of basic goods.
17:44
Speaker 7: Over the last few weeks, it's.
17:45
Speaker 10: Been very traumatic, but it's not the worst case. The
17:48
Speaker 10: worst case would be a conflict, obviously that we were
17:50
Speaker 10: involved with directly, and.
17:52
Speaker 7: We aren't prepared for that.
17:54
Speaker 10: We're not prepared for that because for too long we've
17:57
Speaker 10: expected that we could just substitute everything we don't make
18:00
Speaker 10: here for other things that we can trade, be that
18:03
Speaker 10: through economic trade on things like liquid fuels, or, in
18:06
Speaker 10: the case of our military des effectively a trade with
18:09
Speaker 10: a stronger, bigger country. Now, we'll always need other countries.
18:12
Speaker 10: We'll always do better if we can have cooperation with
18:15
Speaker 10: other countries. But we shouldn't we shouldn't be completely depressed
18:20
Speaker 10: about a situation where we have to rely more on ourselves.
18:22
Speaker 10: We have everything we need in this country. We are
18:24
Speaker 10: the only country in the world that has its own
18:26
Speaker 10: continent that's whole. We've got a whole continent to ourselves
18:28
Speaker 10: to exploit. But we've stopped exploiting it. We've stopped extracting resources,
18:31
Speaker 10: we stopped developing it, and hence we've been weaker and
18:34
Speaker 10: more vulnerable and dependent on other countries.
18:37
Speaker 1: Well, let me pick up on that. I mean, I
18:38
Speaker 1: think we should be self sufficient or more self sufficient
18:41
Speaker 1: on many things. I'd like to see a massive investment
18:44
Speaker 1: in missiles and particularly drones, so that we can defend
18:48
Speaker 1: ourselves Ukrainian style if the worst. Thus come to the worst,
18:50
Speaker 1: because I don't know that we can rely now on
18:53
Speaker 1: our allies, but self sufficient economically, perhaps at least a
18:59
Speaker 1: little bit more in fuel, as you suggest, we actually
19:03
Speaker 1: use a believe about ten times more oil than we extract.
19:06
Speaker 1: You've called for more oil exploration, for instance in the
19:10
Speaker 1: Great Australian Bite, but just that with that BP and
19:13
Speaker 1: equinor that's a Norwegian company, they actually quit the BAT
19:17
Speaker 1: saying the oil there didn't pay. Have we actually got
19:20
Speaker 1: enough resources that we can economically exploit? Is this the
19:24
Speaker 1: best way to go about things.
19:28
Speaker 10: I was heavily involved with the Bite and are heavily
19:30
Speaker 10: involved in discussions with those companies. They didn't actually end
19:34
Speaker 10: up drilling, so they have to say things like that
19:36
Speaker 10: so they don't get a bad tick from the government
19:39
Speaker 10: when they leave.
19:40
Speaker 7: That's so I wasn't economic. That's why we walked away.
19:42
Speaker 10: If they walked away and it was economic, then they
19:44
Speaker 10: potentially have less chance of getting acreage in the future.
19:46
Speaker 10: So I just think we should always take with a
19:48
Speaker 10: grain of salt what big corporations say. Currently, apparently this
19:52
Speaker 10: government just takes what those sort of companies are BP.
19:55
Speaker 10: I mean BP good luck. I mean, you know, they're
19:58
Speaker 10: a big company, but they've not always put themselves in
20:03
Speaker 10: the best light. So let's just take a chill pill.
20:05
Speaker 10: There were other reasons why they left. A big reason
20:07
Speaker 10: they left is because they just didn't have the political
20:09
Speaker 10: will of support. There was an active ast campaign against this,
20:13
Speaker 10: and they saw better opportunities in other countries where they
20:16
Speaker 10: would have support and protection.
20:17
Speaker 7: Now.
20:17
Speaker 10: I tried to provide them as much political support as
20:19
Speaker 10: I could at a federal government level, but obviously parties change,
20:23
Speaker 10: elections happened and they could see the riding on the wall.
20:26
Speaker 10: So we may need to take a different approach to
20:29
Speaker 10: that in the future. I've suggested the past that there
20:32
Speaker 10: might be a role, a greater role for governments to
20:34
Speaker 10: fund some of the early stage expiration. We've done that before.
20:37
Speaker 10: In fact, we wouldn't have the Northwest Shelf right now,
20:40
Speaker 10: which is our largest offshore gas and oil production area
20:44
Speaker 10: in the country. We wouldn't have that if it wasn't
20:46
Speaker 10: for the drilling that the federal government did in the
20:50
Speaker 10: nineteen seventies that attracted private investment that crowded it in.
20:53
Speaker 10: So maybe stuff like that, these are our assets, their
20:55
Speaker 10: assets of our commonwealth. Now some crazy people out there
20:58
Speaker 10: think the best idea the best way to get new
21:00
Speaker 10: oil and gases to tax put a tax on it.
21:02
Speaker 10: I don't know if that's going to actually improve things.
21:04
Speaker 10: But when you have an asset, when you own some property,
21:07
Speaker 10: one thing you can do to try and increase its
21:08
Speaker 10: attractiveness is to make it nicer and better and more
21:12
Speaker 10: certain for other people to come and develop.
21:14
Speaker 7: So we should probably look at.
21:15
Speaker 1: That funding oil exploration. That's a big ask, isn't it.
21:20
Speaker 7: We do it all the time. We actually do that
21:22
Speaker 7: all the time.
21:22
Speaker 10: We funded some help fund some exploration in the Bedloo Basin,
21:27
Speaker 10: which is on shore, not a Commonwealth asset currently at
21:30
Speaker 10: least owned by the Northern Territory. That was to support
21:33
Speaker 10: a company called Empire Energy. They're going gangbusters. It's really
21:36
Speaker 10: looking really really perspective. In fact, the Bastrait which helped
21:39
Speaker 10: fuel Australia for a generation, which got us through the
21:42
Speaker 10: nineteen seventies oil crises, that was initially half funded by
21:47
Speaker 10: the Mensis government. They subsidized drilling in the bastrate to
21:49
Speaker 10: the tune of fifty percent at the time.
21:51
Speaker 7: It's very very normal.
21:53
Speaker 10: So we still do it, but maybe there needs to
21:55
Speaker 10: be more concerned effort given the liquid fuels needs of
21:58
Speaker 10: our country, a vulnerability, and the fact that we've scared
22:01
Speaker 10: off a lot of these Pride investors from because of
22:04
Speaker 10: these activist campaigns that are often foreign funded.
22:07
Speaker 1: That's interesting that. What about the You've also want a
22:10
Speaker 1: more ability to refine our own fuel, but that's again
22:14
Speaker 1: hugely expensive, isn't it.
22:18
Speaker 10: Yeah, look, we'll have to look at that again, though
22:20
Speaker 10: given the crisis we face, we have previously looked apart
22:25
Speaker 10: away from a lot of those options because of the cost.
22:28
Speaker 10: I mean, keep in mind, we do need the some
22:30
Speaker 10: kind of raw fuel first to make a refinery make sense.
22:33
Speaker 10: If we just subsidized refineries but still relied on the
22:37
Speaker 10: importation of the feedstock of the oil, we'd be.
22:40
Speaker 7: In exactly the same position were run in now.
22:42
Speaker 10: We'd still be praying and hoping boats made it through
22:45
Speaker 10: the Straate ofmuz to keep our refineries full. We do, though,
22:51
Speaker 10: have lots of other energy sources. The vast majority of
22:54
Speaker 10: our energy in this country is coal. We've also got
22:57
Speaker 10: lots of uranium, by far the largest uranium reserves in
22:59
Speaker 10: the world. There are two things the Labor Party doesn't
23:01
Speaker 10: want to exploit. They're like over ninety percent of our
23:04
Speaker 10: energy reserves are in those two things, and the Labor
23:06
Speaker 10: Party doesn't exploit them. But we've got heaps of cheap coal,
23:08
Speaker 10: especially in your state of Victoria. You can convert that
23:11
Speaker 10: to liquid fuels. South Africa still does to this day
23:14
Speaker 10: get about forty percent of its liquid fuels from coal
23:17
Speaker 10: to liquid transformation, and maybe in light of this crisis,
23:22
Speaker 10: it makes sense.
23:22
Speaker 7: So it definitely makes sense for us to at least look.
23:24
Speaker 10: At that and whether it's something we should have ready
23:26
Speaker 10: to go in the case of a crisis like this,
23:29
Speaker 10: in case of, as I say, a worser, worse outcome
23:32
Speaker 10: where a conflict was actually directly involving us in our region,
23:35
Speaker 10: it'd be better to have that stuff looked at, explored,
23:40
Speaker 10: ready to be off the shelf than when the crisis happens,
23:43
Speaker 10: run around like a headless chok like this governan.
23:45
Speaker 7: Is trying to get oil from every which where in
23:48
Speaker 7: the world.
23:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think South Africa gets about thirty percent of
23:52
Speaker 1: its fuel from liquid made from coal and O love
23:57
Speaker 1: a shocking update on what Victoria thinks to that pro
24:00
Speaker 1: kind of project. Later in the show, Matt Canavan, thank
24:02
Speaker 1: you so much for your time. After the break, we're
24:08
Speaker 1: dangerously short of fuel and fertilizer. I'll talk to an
24:11
Speaker 1: energy entrepreneur had a project ready to go that could
24:14
Speaker 1: turn ourt coal into both. He says it's been forced
24:17
Speaker 1: to go to New Zealand instead because of climate change.
24:19
Speaker 1: Politicians now and be troubled why Ben Robert Smith had
24:28
Speaker 1: to be arrested in public in an airport in front
24:31
Speaker 1: of his daughters. Couldn't they just have sent him, contacted him,
24:37
Speaker 1: say turn up with his solicitor to police station and
24:40
Speaker 1: we'll go through it there and then channel nine there.
24:43
Speaker 1: I'm told it wasn't a tip off both police, but
24:47
Speaker 1: I think there are other ways have done that. But anyway,
24:51
Speaker 1: we're already short, as you know, of diesel in this country,
24:54
Speaker 1: which is used by farmers and miners and truckers, and
24:57
Speaker 1: no diesel means no economy. And we're also short of urea,
25:03
Speaker 1: which is a critical fertilizer for farmers made from gas.
25:08
Speaker 1: But here's the thing, we are actually sitting on hundreds
25:12
Speaker 1: and hundreds of years of supply of brown coal, particularly Victoria.
25:17
Speaker 1: And you can make fuel from coal. South Africa does
25:21
Speaker 1: a third of it's fuel, can you believe it? And
25:24
Speaker 1: you can make urea from coal too by converting it
25:27
Speaker 1: to gas. So why don't we at least look into
25:30
Speaker 1: using our coal for this because of war with China
25:33
Speaker 1: that could cut our shipping lanes completely and then we're
25:37
Speaker 1: really in the stook. Well, one man who did look
25:41
Speaker 1: into exactly this is entrepreneur Alan Blood is the founder
25:44
Speaker 1: of Victorian hundred and Pnemonia Industries. He had a two
25:47
Speaker 1: billion dollar project to strive for years to set up
25:49
Speaker 1: in Victoria's Coal Ridge La trou Valley, and he joined
25:53
Speaker 1: me just before the show to explain what went wrong.
25:58
Speaker 1: Alan Blood, thank you so much for joining me. You've
26:00
Speaker 1: actually given up on this project. Why is that?
26:05
Speaker 11: Oh, we got sick of the silly ideology of Victorian
26:09
Speaker 11: government overriding science, overriding technology. They would not assist we
26:16
Speaker 11: were using coal to convert coal to gas because natural gas,
26:19
Speaker 11: which we'd rather use simply too expensive, was not available
26:22
Speaker 11: in Victoria. So there's a very age old technology to
26:25
Speaker 11: do with converting coal to gas. Goes way back pre
26:28
Speaker 11: World War two, very very tried and proven all over
26:30
Speaker 11: the world.
26:31
Speaker 7: It was the cheapest form of energy we could get.
26:34
Speaker 11: So Victoria holds the most amazing coal reserves of lignetic coal,
26:37
Speaker 11: which is ideally chemically suited for purposes such as making
26:40
Speaker 11: urea fertilizer, ammonia, diesel fuel, aviation fuel, anything you want,
26:44
Speaker 11: any natural gash you can make from this coal.
26:47
Speaker 1: So we've got how were you planning to make.
26:51
Speaker 11: We were going to make five hundred and twenty a
26:53
Speaker 11: year of urea fertilizer four distribution primarily in Victoria. We
27:01
Speaker 11: have an agreement in place to sell it to the
27:05
Speaker 11: Victorian agriculture but the coal's been taken from us. The
27:10
Speaker 11: government would do nothing about it, so they've put their
27:14
Speaker 11: ideology before science and tech. We're asking for no money,
27:18
Speaker 11: just wanted to get on with it and make the
27:19
Speaker 11: jolly project happen.
27:20
Speaker 1: It was great shame, it's a great shape.
27:22
Speaker 11: And now it's gone to New Zealand and the government
27:23
Speaker 11: that have welcomed us with open arms.
27:26
Speaker 1: Now, when you say the ideology got in the way,
27:28
Speaker 1: what was the state government complaining about?
27:33
Speaker 11: The Energy Minister has some interesting views. For example, the
27:37
Speaker 11: state government support carbon capture and storage that's been in
27:41
Speaker 11: use around the world since nineteen eighty six. They're even
27:44
Speaker 11: providing the management team to run a project there in
27:46
Speaker 11: conjunction with the federal government. But Lily Dan stands in
27:49
Speaker 11: the way everything they want to do. It's just crazy.
27:51
Speaker 11: On the one hand they're funding, the other hand they're objecting.
27:55
Speaker 11: So without that, any project which has an excess to
27:58
Speaker 11: COE two have an issue. In our case, it's purely against.
28:03
Speaker 11: It's purely an ideology Andrew against coal, nothing but nothing
28:06
Speaker 11: but that. For example, in our project, we have CSI
28:10
Speaker 11: independent report. By the way, net zero emissions profile a
28:13
Speaker 11: three fifty three thousand, six hundred tons of CO two
28:16
Speaker 11: equivalent per annum. That's some day one of production, not
28:18
Speaker 11: net zero, fifty years net zero from day one. Now
28:22
Speaker 11: that was our environmental footprint, and so how can you
28:25
Speaker 11: go away from that when we're not wanting any manage
28:27
Speaker 11: from the government. All we want is a door open
28:29
Speaker 11: to get things jolly well done with the best environmental
28:31
Speaker 11: outcome in the nation.
28:33
Speaker 1: That's our ideology.
28:34
Speaker 11: Stupid they are in terms of coal.
28:37
Speaker 1: So what was the issue that they wouldn't give you
28:39
Speaker 1: access to the coal or they wouldn't allow you to emit.
28:42
Speaker 11: No, we had an agreement with AGL which was a
28:46
Speaker 11: stage agreement, which is they signed very good agreement and
28:50
Speaker 11: then something happened in AGL and their attitude towards any
28:54
Speaker 11: use of coal changed. Whether it was and I hope
28:57
Speaker 11: not when mister cannon Brooks came aboard board, I don't know,
29:00
Speaker 11: because that shouldn't be allowed to happen, but they just
29:02
Speaker 11: changed their attitude. And so they've gone out of their
29:04
Speaker 11: way to one to the led our agreement lapse. What
29:09
Speaker 11: did to replace it with nebulous bits of paper that
29:11
Speaker 11: meant nothing? And the government owned the coal. The people
29:14
Speaker 11: of Victoria owned the coal, not agent. I'll just have
29:16
Speaker 11: a license to extract it for the power station that
29:18
Speaker 11: they don't own the jolly coal.
29:20
Speaker 7: And the government would.
29:21
Speaker 11: Not get involved to help to assist to give us
29:23
Speaker 11: a coal supply for our projects and others.
29:27
Speaker 1: And if you had this coal access to the coal,
29:31
Speaker 1: is there any doubt that the project would have worked.
29:33
Speaker 1: I noticed you had big backing from a Chinese multinational,
29:38
Speaker 1: so they clearly thought it was worth their money. What
29:42
Speaker 1: would we have got out of it?
29:46
Speaker 11: Well, the troy value would have got a lot of jobs,
29:48
Speaker 11: would have got a two billion dollar plus investment for
29:52
Speaker 11: Stage one pretty much Victoria. It certainly would have been
29:57
Speaker 11: self sufficient in UREA for the next fifty years of
30:00
Speaker 11: project life. There would have been a whole lot of
30:04
Speaker 11: add ons possible, So from a self sustainable standpoint, with fertilizer,
30:09
Speaker 11: with your rear fertilized, which is a key thing for agriculture,
30:13
Speaker 11: a very very key thing. And all that slipped by
30:16
Speaker 11: now are in the mess which we're in, which you
30:17
Speaker 11: know is in the news quite currently because of the
30:19
Speaker 11: Uranian situation.
30:20
Speaker 7: That would have been avoided as simple as that.
30:24
Speaker 1: And you say, you're now going to New Zealand, what
30:26
Speaker 1: are you going to do there? What help have you
30:27
Speaker 1: got from them?
30:30
Speaker 11: Well, there's a similar type of coal there. The government
30:34
Speaker 11: have been unbelievably welcoming. We've already applied for and been
30:38
Speaker 11: given priority over the coal.
30:39
Speaker 1: That we want.
30:41
Speaker 11: We've done more in New Zealand in the last five
30:44
Speaker 11: to six months we did in Victoria in the.
30:45
Speaker 7: Last five to six years.
30:46
Speaker 1: That's just a simple fact of life. Good heavens, how
30:50
Speaker 1: much did you spend in Victoria trying to get this
30:52
Speaker 1: project up?
30:53
Speaker 11: Over forty million and it's gone a lot of shareholders money.
31:01
Speaker 11: Theory me well, welcome to Victoria. Now one of the
31:04
Speaker 11: state is on its knees. Alan Blood, thank you so much,
31:08
Speaker 11: indeed for your time.
31:10
Speaker 7: My pleasure. Thanks Andrew.
31:11
Speaker 1: Bye. So they break the panel and police arrest a
31:15
Speaker 1: second War hero. Australian Federal police didn't just arrest war
31:22
Speaker 1: hero Ben Robert Smith. They've also arrested another hero, Army
31:26
Speaker 1: Reserve as Vincent Tran, who appeared in court today after
31:30
Speaker 1: spending but what's been five nights in the clink or something,
31:34
Speaker 1: charged with fighting without permission for another army, in this
31:37
Speaker 1: case Ukraine. Now, Tran allegedly operated drones to help defend
31:42
Speaker 1: Ukraine from the Russia's invasion. In my view, that's a
31:44
Speaker 1: noble cause. I mean how Russia would now love to
31:48
Speaker 1: see Tran in handcuffs now I get it. Perhaps you
31:53
Speaker 1: should have asked for permission, but is this really a
31:57
Speaker 1: case the Strand Defense Force should have got the Federal
32:01
Speaker 1: police to act on, should have pursued with such effort.
32:05
Speaker 1: It's the first ever time that person has been facing
32:10
Speaker 1: this charge and is anyone seriously thinking Tran is a
32:14
Speaker 1: threat to our security? Ben Robert Smith and this too,
32:18
Speaker 1: I mean joining me Amir Schift, the executive director of
32:22
Speaker 1: the Samuel Griff Society. Michael Danby, former federal labor politician,
32:25
Speaker 1: a chairman of the Joint Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs,
32:28
Speaker 1: Defense and Trade. Michael, I don't want to prejudge other
32:32
Speaker 1: case that I want to say. You know, it's all
32:33
Speaker 1: a bunch of who he let him walk over. But
32:36
Speaker 1: these are two gifts for our enemies, these two instances.
32:40
Speaker 7: I agree with you.
32:41
Speaker 8: You said earlier that we have to judge this case
32:44
Speaker 8: and let it be looked at by the courts, and
32:47
Speaker 8: Australian military can't be involved in killing unarmed civilians. But
32:51
Speaker 8: we don't want to become a society equally of woke
32:54
Speaker 8: legalists too. I thought we were on the side of Ukraine.
32:58
Speaker 8: I'll be complaining to the Ukrainian ambassador about this. I
33:02
Speaker 8: can't understand what's happened to the state apparatus in Australia.
33:06
Speaker 8: We cut up Ukrainian helicopters. We've got a government who's
33:10
Speaker 8: so incompetent. We get criticisms from Trump because they can't
33:14
Speaker 8: explain that we've got a wedgetail defense aircraft over there
33:19
Speaker 8: with eighty staff and one hundred sas what has happened
33:25
Speaker 8: to the Australian state. It's like collapsed and this poor fellow,
33:30
Speaker 8: I agree with you. To me, he's a hero for
33:33
Speaker 8: fighting for freedom with the Ukrainians.
33:38
Speaker 1: It's just the rather puzzling to me. Mia gages and
33:44
Speaker 1: tries to defend Ukraine from a Russian invasion, has now
33:50
Speaker 1: been handcuffed, stuck in jail facing charges. Look, the law
33:54
Speaker 1: is the law. I get all that the rules are rules.
33:57
Speaker 1: We'll see what whether he broke them. But honestly I
34:01
Speaker 1: would be saying, why don't we turn a blind eye
34:04
Speaker 1: to anyone who volunteers for Ukraine? That's me You.
34:11
Speaker 12: Well, look, I understand that there are important processes that
34:13
Speaker 12: we have to follow and nobody is above the law,
34:15
Speaker 12: so in that way it should be applied equally to
34:18
Speaker 12: all people. But I do think that there is a
34:20
Speaker 12: very concerning pattern emerging about the way that we treat
34:23
Speaker 12: our defense personnel. And the longer we go on kind
34:26
Speaker 12: of slandering our defense personnel in this way, the weaker
34:29
Speaker 12: we become, and the more our enemies are likely to
34:31
Speaker 12: capitalize on that weakness. And in this instance we have
34:34
Speaker 12: someone who has risked his own life. He has risked
34:37
Speaker 12: the chance that he may never see his family again
34:39
Speaker 12: to go and invite fight for Western values, to fight
34:42
Speaker 12: for Western freedoms, and to fight for in the same
34:45
Speaker 12: way the freedom of this country by fighting for those
34:47
Speaker 12: values and freedoms. And this is the treatment is receiving.
34:50
Speaker 12: And it's no wonder I think that recruitment numbers are
34:53
Speaker 12: so low for defense here in Australia, when particularly young
34:57
Speaker 12: people are watching the way this is playing out in
34:58
Speaker 12: the media and the pylon, and then his charge is
35:01
Speaker 12: being late.
35:01
Speaker 13: It's just extraordinary to me.
35:03
Speaker 1: I'd like I say, I doubt the federal police said
35:05
Speaker 1: much leeway here. Once he strained defense for says said,
35:09
Speaker 1: hey listen.
35:11
Speaker 13: But.
35:12
Speaker 1: I don't know. We'll see no comment on guilty or innocence.
35:16
Speaker 1: That's for a court. But I'm puzzled the warrant Iran
35:20
Speaker 1: Michael I showed earlier Donald Trump blasting Western allies, naming
35:23
Speaker 1: Australia in particular for not supporting him. I'm not sure
35:28
Speaker 1: what he thinks we should have done. Did he make
35:32
Speaker 1: a request? The government says it's fulfilled. All said, no request,
35:36
Speaker 1: it isn't fulfilled. I suspect many Austrains actually do think
35:39
Speaker 1: we shouldn't do anything at all, would they be right?
35:41
Speaker 8: Well, they probably think that, but at least we've got
35:44
Speaker 8: a defense. I agree with Peter Jennings, we should be
35:46
Speaker 8: on the front foot and explaining that we've sent this
35:49
Speaker 8: wedgetail over to defend the Arab golf states that are
35:53
Speaker 8: under unprovoked attack by the Iranians with eighty defense personnel,
35:57
Speaker 8: and that we've also covertly almost sent that much maligned
36:01
Speaker 8: Sas off to the Gulf as well to protect Australian
36:05
Speaker 8: citizens and other people there. So Elbo and Miles and
36:09
Speaker 8: warm should be on the front foot, at least, you know,
36:12
Speaker 8: saying we support the Americans and this is what we're doing.
36:14
Speaker 8: But if they don't do that, no wonder Trump is
36:16
Speaker 8: in high dudgeon.
36:20
Speaker 1: It's so interesting. You know, I can't help but think, miya.
36:25
Speaker 1: You know, the West is so keen to tell Americans
36:29
Speaker 1: where they should be sending soldiers. You've got to help you.
36:31
Speaker 1: You've got to help there, you've got to help in
36:33
Speaker 1: in Ukraine. You've got to confront Russia and all that.
36:36
Speaker 1: And I agree that I would like them to do that,
36:39
Speaker 1: But we're treating America's army as our own, and when
36:42
Speaker 1: they need some help, we don't cough up. What sort
36:46
Speaker 1: of alliance is that?
36:49
Speaker 12: Well, I think that's the frustration that Trump is starting
36:52
Speaker 12: to express now in this specific scenario.
36:54
Speaker 13: I'm not quite sure what.
36:54
Speaker 12: The request has been for Australia, and I would like
36:57
Speaker 12: to see the Australian government answer that question, so that's
37:00
Speaker 12: cleared up for all of us.
37:00
Speaker 13: But I think certainly Trump is sharing that frustration.
37:03
Speaker 12: I think those the days of allied nations sitting back
37:06
Speaker 12: and thinking they can just rely on America to invest
37:09
Speaker 12: in this defense and therefore defend the rest of US.
37:12
Speaker 13: I think those days are over.
37:14
Speaker 12: I mean, Australia has never been less prepared for a
37:16
Speaker 12: global conflict since World War Two. We're spending about two
37:19
Speaker 12: percent of our GDP on defense that's remained stagnant since
37:23
Speaker 12: twenty twenty one, when we should be spending three percent.
37:26
Speaker 12: So I think whilst the comments here it might be
37:28
Speaker 12: people are wondering whether they come from from Trump. Now,
37:30
Speaker 12: this has been brewing for a long time and this
37:32
Speaker 12: conflict has brought those sentiments to a boiling point where
37:36
Speaker 12: he has said enough is enough.
37:37
Speaker 13: America is not going to continue to.
37:39
Speaker 12: Carry the weight for the rest of the Allied nations,
37:43
Speaker 12: and particularly.
37:44
Speaker 1: When Michael this is actually part of a wider war China, Russia,
37:50
Speaker 1: North Korea and Iran, which are in tidal liance. They're
37:54
Speaker 1: helping each other in the various conflicts. It's against West
37:59
Speaker 1: the West, and it's freedoms. I mean, we've just got
38:01
Speaker 1: the China in the United Nations has warded down a resolution.
38:05
Speaker 1: It's a permanent member China of the Security Council, so
38:09
Speaker 1: it can has a veto vote. It is ordered that
38:12
Speaker 1: the one provision in a resolution proposed by the Gulf
38:16
Speaker 1: States to use force against the Iran if needed to
38:20
Speaker 1: clear the straight up mules and allow the shipping to
38:24
Speaker 1: go in which they also depend. It has said no,
38:27
Speaker 1: that is not coming up for a vote. That's going
38:29
Speaker 1: to be voted on at about one o'clock this morning. I mean,
38:31
Speaker 1: doesn't that shows.
38:34
Speaker 8: I heard that they're supported by the someone called them
38:38
Speaker 8: in a movie cheese eating surrender monkeys.
38:41
Speaker 1: The French.
38:42
Speaker 8: I mean, Trump has got a point in this sense.
38:46
Speaker 8: What has happened to the Western Alliance? How is it
38:49
Speaker 8: that Spain and France do not allow American flights to
38:54
Speaker 8: fly over their countries. What kind of Western alliance is that?
38:58
Speaker 8: Why are the American taxpayers paying to clear out the
39:01
Speaker 8: Strait of Hummuz for oil shipments to go to France
39:04
Speaker 8: and Spain who won't even let other people defend them.
39:08
Speaker 8: It's an upside down world, Andrew when Trump could have
39:12
Speaker 8: done a lot better in getting the Allies on board,
39:16
Speaker 8: but self interest should at least dictate that Australia and
39:19
Speaker 8: England explain themselves that we are actually doing something, and
39:24
Speaker 8: the French and the Spanish should back down. There's going
39:26
Speaker 8: to be hell to pay for this after this war
39:28
Speaker 8: is over.
39:30
Speaker 1: I think so. But it's all very well to say
39:32
Speaker 1: should have been nicer to the Allies and got him
39:35
Speaker 1: on board, But I think they'd never come on board.
39:36
Speaker 1: He just raced the finish line and presumed the worst
39:40
Speaker 1: and was. It's been confirmed. Me and the Victorian Liberals
39:45
Speaker 1: just can't stop fighting each other in public, and now
39:49
Speaker 1: say President Phil Davis's blamed people that he claims are
39:52
Speaker 1: leaking to Sky and uses Peter Credlin, saying that everything
39:55
Speaker 1: that Credlin runs out about what is happening in the
39:59
Speaker 1: party comes from Colin Harken, who's also with the IPA
40:02
Speaker 1: which you used to work for, who's on my board
40:05
Speaker 1: and doesn't understand she should quit. People in the party
40:08
Speaker 1: who are trying to drag us to be one nation
40:09
Speaker 1: light fundamentally do not understand Victorian politics. Look, I actually
40:14
Speaker 1: think that Davis begging his own in the media is
40:17
Speaker 1: just killing the Liberals anyone the liberals is and saying
40:21
Speaker 1: going one nation light, it's not the way for the Liberals.
40:23
Speaker 1: So I have to say that going labor light has
40:26
Speaker 1: been the disaster for the Victorian Liberals. Your response, this.
40:32
Speaker 13: Is just extraordinary to me.
40:33
Speaker 12: I mean, you wonder why Victorian Liberal Party hasn't been
40:36
Speaker 12: very successful at any state elections?
40:38
Speaker 13: Are well? This is why.
40:39
Speaker 12: I mean, we are about just over six months out
40:42
Speaker 12: from the next election and we have a Liberal party
40:44
Speaker 12: who is still arguing about who they are and what
40:47
Speaker 12: they stand for. No wonder their bases flocking are left
40:50
Speaker 12: and right because I think they're sick of sitting here
40:53
Speaker 12: having a party.
40:53
Speaker 13: Still fighting through this day, let alone.
40:56
Speaker 12: If they don't know what their values are, they can't
40:58
Speaker 12: create any policies to actually help Victorians. And Victoria out
41:02
Speaker 12: of all states, desperately needs a change of government. We've
41:05
Speaker 12: had the worst s aid government out of all the
41:08
Speaker 12: states we've seen a very long time, and rather than
41:11
Speaker 12: having a strong opposition that's holding them to account, we
41:13
Speaker 12: have an opposition running around in circles arguing about what kind.
41:17
Speaker 13: Of party they are.
41:18
Speaker 1: It's just extraordinary to me and the presidents who just
41:22
Speaker 1: shut the hell up and stick to the back rooms.
41:25
Speaker 1: Either that or get out run for politics yourself. Phil
41:29
Speaker 1: Mia Schlift and Michael Danby, thank you very much to
41:31
Speaker 1: you both. After the break, Can King Charles go over
41:38
Speaker 1: to the US and calm down Donald Trump on his
41:40
Speaker 1: visit because he's off there to save Britain. It sure
41:48
Speaker 1: was just Australia that Donald Trump had had to go
41:50
Speaker 1: out overnight. He really went for the Prime Minister of
41:54
Speaker 1: Britain again. You know, that's only the country that's been
41:58
Speaker 1: America's greatest Thatllo for his century. He likened Sakias Starmer
42:03
Speaker 1: to former Premise Neville Chamberlain, who thought he might be
42:07
Speaker 1: able to make peace with that our fingler. In fact,
42:09
Speaker 1: he had a piece of paper to prove it.
42:12
Speaker 9: The U care is a long way Togo.
42:14
Speaker 1: We don't want another Neville Chamberlain, do we agree? We
42:17
Speaker 1: don't want we don't want Neville Chamberlain join me from
42:21
Speaker 1: London again. Each week is Samara Gill, Presenter and Talk TV. Samara,
42:25
Speaker 1: great to see you again. I mean, when it comes
42:29
Speaker 1: to British history, that is one of the hugest sledges
42:33
Speaker 1: you could drag out of the history books on a
42:36
Speaker 1: current British leader. Is it deserved?
42:40
Speaker 14: Look, I mean that Donald has gone full Tonto, hasn't he.
42:43
Speaker 14: I mean that much as obvious he was watching those
42:46
Speaker 14: press conferences from yesterday. I was kind of laughing, not
42:50
Speaker 14: just laughing because could you laugh or could you cry?
42:52
Speaker 14: But you know, there was an Easter procession going on
42:55
Speaker 14: at the White House all the while Donald Trump was
42:57
Speaker 14: trying to manage international relates and expectations and holding different
43:02
Speaker 14: press conferences in corners of the Rose Garden. You really
43:05
Speaker 14: couldn't make it up. But yeah, I mean his comparison
43:09
Speaker 14: of Keir Starmer to Neville Chamberlain is not wrong. I mean,
43:13
Speaker 14: this is someone who continues to meet hard power with
43:17
Speaker 14: soft and we're just seeing the consequences of that. And
43:20
Speaker 14: you discussed it with your panel so well earlier. You
43:22
Speaker 14: know this is the issue here. We do not have
43:26
Speaker 14: strong leadership and in a way. I don't blame Europe
43:30
Speaker 14: for not getting involved in this war, but it doesn't
43:33
Speaker 14: mean that the entire special relationship has to be decimated
43:37
Speaker 14: because of it. I mean Donald Trump said it himself.
43:41
Speaker 14: The UK used to be the Rolls Royce of Allies
43:44
Speaker 14: and now it seems like it's not an ally at all.
43:48
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I think the analogy with Chamblain's pretty good
43:51
Speaker 1: because personally, I do think you know that like Chamberlain
43:55
Speaker 1: Stammer and the rest of Europe and seeing that surrendering
44:00
Speaker 1: to control of that part of the Middle East to
44:05
Speaker 1: Iran and its allies China and Russia there will be
44:09
Speaker 1: appressed to pay. They think they can make a deal
44:11
Speaker 1: that they can get through on No o, No, you
44:15
Speaker 1: either fight now or fight much bigger odds later. Listen
44:19
Speaker 1: the king though, from all this, you know, with a
44:22
Speaker 1: relationship being trashed by Donald saying the once great you know,
44:26
Speaker 1: a great Britain, and you know he's got a bust
44:30
Speaker 1: of Winston Churchill in his office and it calls the
44:33
Speaker 1: currently occupant Nevill Chamberlain. The King has a massive job
44:37
Speaker 1: now to do to fix it. He's going to the
44:40
Speaker 1: US at the end of the month to celebrate the
44:42
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty anniversary of American independence from Britain.
44:45
Speaker 1: Trump is a huge fan of the King. Is the
44:49
Speaker 1: King a huge fan of Trump? And can he actually
44:51
Speaker 1: smooth things over for Britain?
44:55
Speaker 14: Look, whether the King is a fan of Trump or
44:57
Speaker 14: not doesn't matter. This is the most important meeting of
45:02
Speaker 14: the King's reign. It's quite clear that Trump will listen
45:05
Speaker 14: to absolutely nobody. I think we've seen that over the
45:09
Speaker 14: last decade. But there is one man in this universe,
45:13
Speaker 14: considering that his father and his late Scottish mother are
45:17
Speaker 14: now dead, that Trump will actually listen to, and that
45:21
Speaker 14: is the King. Now, look, he's got an insane amount
45:24
Speaker 14: of reverence for the royal family. But the King has
45:27
Speaker 14: been instructed by the UK government and essentially try and
45:31
Speaker 14: repair what is left of the obliterated relationship. So we
45:35
Speaker 14: had many here up in arms, many from the Labor
45:38
Speaker 14: government saying, don't go, we shouldn't ingratiate Trump. Well, sorry,
45:43
Speaker 14: this is the King's one job. Dare I say it?
45:46
Speaker 14: It's his one function. This is what he has made
45:49
Speaker 14: to do. And the late Queen was masterful at this
45:52
Speaker 14: diplomatic gymnastics. She was so good at it. She almost
45:56
Speaker 14: never put a foot wrong during her reign, and Charles's
45:59
Speaker 14: going to have to really bring it this state visit.
46:02
Speaker 14: The gravity cannot be overstated here. But my key question
46:07
Speaker 14: is will the King actually understand that and put his
46:10
Speaker 14: sort of dithering and his pleasantries aside for a second
46:14
Speaker 14: and get to business.
46:16
Speaker 1: Oh, I think he'll know. And if he doesn't know,
46:19
Speaker 1: Sakia Stammer will be begging him to make sweet with
46:23
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. It seems that the King, there's no word
46:28
Speaker 1: about it, but I've seen you unsourced reports the King
46:34
Speaker 1: won't actually visit Prince Harry, who's of course living in
46:37
Speaker 1: the United States during this visit. Meanwhile, though Harry's wife,
46:41
Speaker 1: Megan Mark, who you remember fled Britton demanding Moore privacy
46:46
Speaker 1: as released now a video of a children for a
46:50
Speaker 1: reason I can't quite make out. Maybe it's to publicizer
46:53
Speaker 1: famous worldwide privacy tour. What is this about?
47:00
Speaker 13: Quickly?
47:00
Speaker 14: I mean, the King is absolutely not, in one of
47:03
Speaker 14: his more magnanimous moments, going to detour across and see
47:07
Speaker 14: his sort of pridiarchal prince. That's not going to happen.
47:10
Speaker 14: Harry and his Dalist actress wife are not going to
47:13
Speaker 14: be getting in the way of potential world peace and
47:16
Speaker 14: you know, basically showing up to get more content for
47:19
Speaker 14: a Netflix special. The meeting between him and Harry, which
47:22
Speaker 14: is being speculated I will not happen. I really can
47:25
Speaker 14: assure you, I think. But in terms of Megan, Look,
47:28
Speaker 14: this isn't a candid family moment she was sharing. This
47:31
Speaker 14: was a really private family moment which she seems to
47:34
Speaker 14: be sharing more and more of to shift the Jam,
47:38
Speaker 14: which she's completely over ordered and is fast going out
47:41
Speaker 14: of date. It's horrible and it's craven and I know
47:45
Speaker 14: we haven't got much time, but I think she is
47:48
Speaker 14: shifting her pr strategy towards the Girl because that is
47:52
Speaker 14: much more marketable in the future. Lily but is getting
47:55
Speaker 14: all the camera time on her Instagram and I think
47:58
Speaker 14: that's craven and sick.
48:00
Speaker 1: Andrew, are you saying that the jam has had I
48:03
Speaker 1: hadn't thought of that. The Jam is reaching his expiry
48:06
Speaker 1: date and needs to be shifted.
48:09
Speaker 14: Yes, that is a real thing. They have a warehouse.
48:11
Speaker 14: Netflix has said a warehouse full of Jam that they
48:14
Speaker 14: haven't been able to sell. There are credible reports on that.
48:20
Speaker 1: That's incredible. Oh, that's wonderful, all right, No wonder the
48:24
Speaker 1: Netflix officers. They were complaining that their officers were filled
48:27
Speaker 1: with spare jams and they're glad to get rid of her.
48:30
Speaker 1: And anyway, thank you, Samara gil lovely to talk to
48:34
Speaker 1: you again, See you next week. Up next is Sherry
48:38
Speaker 1: But hosted by Krolen Marcus. Good Night,