Transcript

Credlin | 19 May · Credlin

0:02
Speaker 1: Peedo Krandland live on Sky News Australia.
0:08
Speaker 2: Good evening, welcome to the program, Lovely to have your company.
0:11
Speaker 2: Here's what's coming up on the show tonight. A lot
0:12
Speaker 2: of red faces in the Alberneza government today. Confirmation that
0:16
Speaker 2: the controversial new tax grab on super will exempt a
0:20
Speaker 2: whole class of MPs. Not to mention growing fears. This
0:24
Speaker 2: might start with super but it'll grow over time to
0:26
Speaker 2: hit more and more Australians. More on that shortly with
0:29
Speaker 2: Ross Greenwood in a grubby deal with fringe parties in
0:33
Speaker 2: the Greens, The Victorian Labor Party rammed its fire services
0:36
Speaker 2: high through the Parliament late last week, but as it
0:39
Speaker 2: prepares to bring down the budget tomorrow, farmers will be
0:42
Speaker 2: protesting loudly out the front of Parliament House, refusing to
0:45
Speaker 2: cop this massive hike because these are the very same
0:49
Speaker 2: people who also volunteer to fight the fires that they're
0:52
Speaker 2: being taxed over. Another very angry farmer joins me tonight
0:57
Speaker 2: class an exclusive look at an upcoming documentary that looks
0:59
Speaker 2: to frame the experience of our special forces troops in
1:03
Speaker 2: Afghanistan and Iraq, many of which have been living in
1:06
Speaker 2: a state of limbo ever since the release of that
1:09
Speaker 2: Brereton report, which still almost five years on, has not
1:13
Speaker 2: been resolved, and as the battle over the future of
1:16
Speaker 2: the coalition agreement heats up, energy policy is fast becoming
1:20
Speaker 2: one of the key points of contention between the Liberals
1:23
Speaker 2: and the Nationals.
1:25
Speaker 3: The election has sent us a very clear message what
1:27
Speaker 3: it is that they want in their government. Abandoning that
1:30
Speaker 3: zero I don't necessarily think is consistent with that.
1:33
Speaker 4: You cannot do an all renewables approach and keep the
1:37
Speaker 4: economy going, and we're starting to feel that way.
1:41
Speaker 2: But first, just short of a week character assuming the
1:44
Speaker 2: Liberal leadership, Susan Lee published an essay in The Australian
1:48
Speaker 2: this morning spelling out how she will spend the next
1:51
Speaker 2: few months. She says, listening to the community and rebuilding
1:55
Speaker 2: our movement. Our policies, she said, are not for review,
2:00
Speaker 2: are up for review, but our values are not. We
2:03
Speaker 2: will always stand, she said, for lower, simpler and fairer taxes,
2:08
Speaker 2: not as an economic ideology, but because we trust people
2:11
Speaker 2: to spend their own money more than we do the government.
2:15
Speaker 2: Now all very sound lines from Lee. That lower, simpler,
2:20
Speaker 2: farer line about tax was one that Tony Abbott himself
2:23
Speaker 2: came up with in the twenty ten election campaign and
2:26
Speaker 2: trusting people with their own money. Well that's classic Thatcher,
2:30
Speaker 2: so she's not put a foot wrong here in that sense.
2:33
Speaker 2: Lee also wrote about reviewing the party's commitment to its
2:37
Speaker 2: other core equity along with sound economic management, and that's
2:41
Speaker 2: namely national security. Remaining steadfast in support of ORCAS and
2:46
Speaker 2: the Yaucus agreement because we must have an urgent, honest
2:50
Speaker 2: conversation with Australians about the deteriorating geopolitical environment in our region.
2:56
Speaker 5: Now good, what else?
2:58
Speaker 2: Lee also talked today about choice an education, and two
3:02
Speaker 2: things here that are important. Education absolutely, but it's worth
3:07
Speaker 2: restating the obvious that the Coalition the Commonwealth doesn't run
3:11
Speaker 2: a single school.
3:12
Speaker 5: The Commonwealth doesn't.
3:13
Speaker 2: Employ principles or teachers. So if it wants to get
3:18
Speaker 2: education right and get into.
3:20
Speaker 5: The fight about education, well.
3:23
Speaker 2: The Coalition is going to have to be willing to
3:24
Speaker 2: take on the issue about what our children are taught
3:28
Speaker 2: in school. And it's been a decade since the Coalition
3:31
Speaker 2: was willing to do that. It should be willing to
3:33
Speaker 2: do that, but that's not been the experience today. Also
3:37
Speaker 2: on choice, again, a good starting point for the coalition,
3:41
Speaker 2: But where were they un choice in childcare? For instance,
3:44
Speaker 2: in the campaign rolling over and just rubber stamping Labour's
3:47
Speaker 2: annually eighteen billion dollars spend in this area, but doing
3:51
Speaker 2: nothing to give parents choices other than unionized childcare. As
3:57
Speaker 2: a former childcare minister herself, Lee should be willing to
4:00
Speaker 2: look at all the models that let parents choose the
4:03
Speaker 2: best sort of care for them, including options that allow
4:07
Speaker 2: them to use this funding to care for their own
4:09
Speaker 2: children in their own home, and then adjust taxpayer support accordingly.
4:14
Speaker 2: Maybe that's what she hopes she'll do or will do.
4:18
Speaker 2: We can have fingers crossed on that one. Two weeks
4:21
Speaker 2: on though, it's pretty clear now why the Liberals sank.
4:24
Speaker 5: To such a catastrophic loss.
4:26
Speaker 2: It wasn't because they were too right wing or too
4:29
Speaker 2: left wing, but because over the three year term it's
4:32
Speaker 2: hard to say exactly where they stood on anything other
4:35
Speaker 2: than opposing the Voice and supporting nuclear power now. Both
4:39
Speaker 2: are great positions to have, but not nearly enough to
4:43
Speaker 2: be a clear alternative to a bad government taking the
4:47
Speaker 2: government's greatest vulnerability.
4:48
Speaker 5: This is energy policy. Now.
4:50
Speaker 2: It was the government's epic failure to deliver on that
4:53
Speaker 2: promised to two hundred and seventy five dollars cut to
4:56
Speaker 2: power bills. That was a big part of the cost
4:58
Speaker 2: of living crisis. To meet it's emission's obsession, Labor mandated
5:04
Speaker 2: a renewables roll out that some experts have costed at
5:08
Speaker 2: some one point five trillion dollars by twenty thirty. Part
5:12
Speaker 2: of the Lib's problem was that they could never really
5:15
Speaker 2: decide whether they were four renewables or against them, so
5:19
Speaker 2: more importantly, whether they were four or against subsidizing renewables.
5:24
Speaker 2: Because they've they really are as cheap as the government claims,
5:28
Speaker 2: then why do they have to be subsidized. Then there's
5:31
Speaker 2: a whole vexed question of net zero, which was Scott
5:34
Speaker 2: Morrison's captain's call before he flew off to the Glasgow
5:38
Speaker 2: Climate Conference in twenty twenty one. Now, I know some
5:41
Speaker 2: will argue that there is a reasonable long term objective
5:46
Speaker 2: in net zero, But what's more important now, now in
5:50
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, getting emissions down further and faster than
5:54
Speaker 2: anywhere else or delivering affordable and reliable power. Now I
5:59
Speaker 2: reckon this one's brainer for the Libs. The immediate policy
6:03
Speaker 2: objective has got to be getting power prices down and
6:06
Speaker 2: ending the threats of blackouts, getting more gas into the
6:10
Speaker 2: system and keeping our call five powerstations open and operating
6:14
Speaker 2: so that industry stays in Australia and with the jobs.
6:18
Speaker 2: The National Party, well they're moving to scrap net zero
6:22
Speaker 2: given the view of former UK Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair,
6:25
Speaker 2: who says that net zero is doomed to fail.
6:27
Speaker 5: Well that's how they a radical position.
6:30
Speaker 2: The Liberals though, or they've got a range of views.
6:35
Speaker 6: There's no question emissions reduction is an important part of
6:39
Speaker 6: policy going forward, because I mean, energy is the economy
6:41
Speaker 6: and we need to get energy policy right. But there's
6:44
Speaker 6: no secret there is a divergence of views in our
6:47
Speaker 6: party room about how we achieve that.
6:50
Speaker 3: The electric has sent us a very clear message what
6:52
Speaker 3: it is that they want in their government. Abandoning net zero.
6:56
Speaker 3: I don't necessarily think is consistent with that.
6:59
Speaker 7: We don't believe in group think. We believe in thrashing
7:02
Speaker 7: things out and everybody should have a voice.
7:07
Speaker 2: Then there's Labour's new tax on unrealized gains. Right now,
7:11
Speaker 2: it's quarantine to superannuation accounts over three million dollars, but
7:16
Speaker 2: it's not indexed, so eventually the number of people hit
7:18
Speaker 2: with this tax will be much greater than the eighty
7:21
Speaker 2: thousand that labors say are impacted now.
7:24
Speaker 5: But that's not the real issue.
7:26
Speaker 2: If this policy becomes law, it will be first time
7:29
Speaker 2: in this country that people are taxed on the increased
7:32
Speaker 2: value of their asset, rather than the profit they might
7:35
Speaker 2: make when.
7:36
Speaker 5: The assets sold.
7:38
Speaker 2: As every liberal should know, Taxing a profit as hasn't
7:41
Speaker 2: actually been made. Taxing money that's not in people's pockets, well,
7:46
Speaker 2: that's wrong in principle. Again, it staggers me that the
7:49
Speaker 2: libers didn't make more of this during the election. But
7:52
Speaker 2: even now, it shouldn't be that hard to work out
7:54
Speaker 2: a campaign against a tax that retail magnet Jerry Harvey
7:58
Speaker 2: calls quote stupid hidity of the highest order. If a
8:02
Speaker 2: grassroots campaign would have forced the government to back down
8:05
Speaker 2: and junk this tax, well that would clearly establish the
8:08
Speaker 2: opposition's come back potential. Now if it didn't, it would
8:12
Speaker 2: at least be a stick to beat the government with
8:14
Speaker 2: for the whole of this term. What Lee needs to
8:17
Speaker 2: do now is get her front bench announced, get the
8:20
Speaker 2: names out there, the portfolios allocated, and get them working.
8:24
Speaker 2: Get the party related reviews underway as well, and start
8:28
Speaker 2: to establish her own political personality. Despite twenty four years
8:32
Speaker 2: in the Parliament. Most Australians couldn't pick her in a lineup.
8:36
Speaker 2: Most journalists don't even know how to pronounce her name.
8:39
Speaker 2: It's Lee as in key. Even a whole stack of
8:42
Speaker 2: MPs get that wrong. So she's got to get moving
8:46
Speaker 2: and not allow a despondency to overwhelm the party. As
8:49
Speaker 2: big as the PM's majority is in the lower House,
8:52
Speaker 2: and it's a Labor record, the reality is that seven
8:57
Speaker 2: out of ten Australians did not vote for him him
9:01
Speaker 2: given the government's shocking record last term, never underestimate Labour's
9:05
Speaker 2: propensity to stuff things up. As I always say, Labor
9:10
Speaker 2: is brilliant at the politics but hopeless at government. So
9:15
Speaker 2: Susan Lee, we'll see.
9:22
Speaker 5: Look to another issue.
9:23
Speaker 2: I want to make some comments on Friday's decision in
9:26
Speaker 2: the Federal Court. This is in relation to the costs
9:29
Speaker 2: order in the more redeeving John Berzuto defamation case.
9:32
Speaker 5: As we know, I Deeming.
9:34
Speaker 2: Won this case on all five aspects in December last year,
9:39
Speaker 2: and in addition to a three.
9:40
Speaker 5: Hundred thousand dollars damages order.
9:43
Speaker 2: Berzutos now have the costs orders awarded against him. And
9:47
Speaker 2: what that's meant in practical terms is that since December,
9:51
Speaker 2: the court's registrar has been in the background going through
9:53
Speaker 2: all the legal bills to decide what the loser must
9:57
Speaker 2: pay the winner. And so on Friday that figure was
10:00
Speaker 2: announced by the court and it's a massive two point
10:04
Speaker 2: three million dollars. Class Don't forget Pozuito has his own
10:08
Speaker 2: legal bills to pay. This is just the more redeeming component,
10:12
Speaker 2: so you'd have to assume his own bills were close
10:16
Speaker 2: to the same amount. Meeting all up, the whole exercise
10:18
Speaker 2: has been a five million dollar career killer for this bloke,
10:23
Speaker 2: a five million dollar display of arrogance and poor judgment
10:27
Speaker 2: from a man who, as a lawyer, should have known
10:30
Speaker 2: better than anyone that apologizing and cunning his losses would
10:35
Speaker 2: have been the best option.
10:37
Speaker 5: Now.
10:37
Speaker 2: I don't wish him ill, but it's not up to
10:39
Speaker 2: the Liberal Party or any of its fundraising affiliates to
10:43
Speaker 2: bail him out and save him from bankruptcy.
10:47
Speaker 6: I'm suggesting that the Liberal Party probably has an obligation
10:51
Speaker 6: in some way to support somebody who led the party.
10:57
Speaker 2: An obligation on what grounds. The bloke's a lawyer. He
11:03
Speaker 2: rejected countless attempts to settle, one for as low as
11:06
Speaker 2: nine ninety thousand dollars. I know I personally tried to
11:10
Speaker 2: get settlements up. So it's morally wrong for money Earmark
11:14
Speaker 2: to fight the upcoming state campaign in Victoria to be
11:17
Speaker 2: spent bailing out the former leader for poor judgment. Can
11:21
Speaker 2: you imagine these same people calling for Moira Deeming to
11:25
Speaker 2: be bailed out had she lost. And let's not forget
11:28
Speaker 2: where we are on this whole issue. Remember, Deeming was
11:31
Speaker 2: expelled into fame because of a stance on the rights
11:33
Speaker 2: of women and girls. That's a position that's just been
11:36
Speaker 2: upheld emphatically by the UK Supreme Court ruling that single
11:41
Speaker 2: sex spaces belong solely to biological women and girls.
11:45
Speaker 1: Now.
11:45
Speaker 2: For too long, the Liberal parties have been scared of
11:47
Speaker 2: its own shadow and sending on this very issue contradictory messages.
11:53
Speaker 2: When the party says we need to do better with women,
11:55
Speaker 2: some even are demanding we have quotas, and yes we
11:59
Speaker 2: do need more strong women in our ranks, but when
12:02
Speaker 2: we have them, we don't.
12:04
Speaker 5: Always support them.
12:05
Speaker 2: Now it should not be controversial to defend the rights
12:08
Speaker 2: of women, for women who want to be advanced in
12:11
Speaker 2: our own.
12:11
Speaker 5: Merit, not because of our gender.
12:13
Speaker 2: The debate about quotas actually reinforces the old sexis stereotype
12:17
Speaker 2: that women need some sort of special treatment to succeed
12:22
Speaker 2: A century after the first women were elected to parliament.
12:24
Speaker 2: It perpetuates the myth of female inadequacy. Now, women on
12:29
Speaker 2: the center right they don't want a leg up, they
12:31
Speaker 2: just want a fair go. It should be fairness inside
12:34
Speaker 2: the party, not special treatment, because it's at odd with
12:37
Speaker 2: the very principles of opportunity, merit and hard work that
12:42
Speaker 2: the Liberal Party normally believes in. The Liberal Party must
12:46
Speaker 2: promote more women, sure, but based on our talent, not
12:49
Speaker 2: our chromosomes. For women succeeding only because of a sex
12:53
Speaker 2: based handicap candicap would be demeaning and bailing out a
12:58
Speaker 2: bloke that lost because of his own appalling judgment, let
13:02
Speaker 2: it be the end for many Liberals. PM is still
13:10
Speaker 2: away or get the headlines now though with our skyn
13:12
Speaker 2: is political reporter Junny Macintosh, the alban Easy government is
13:15
Speaker 2: refusing to budge despite growing criticism of its controversial superannuation tax.
13:21
Speaker 8: The government about any changes to the supergax, well, we've
13:26
Speaker 8: seen a smear campaign.
13:27
Speaker 9: The plan would see the tax on earnings for superbalances
13:30
Speaker 9: above three million dollars jump from fifteen to thirty percent.
13:34
Speaker 4: Once the principle of unrealized gains is a feature of
13:37
Speaker 4: Australian tax law.
13:39
Speaker 5: I think it's a very dangerous position for the country.
13:43
Speaker 10: No, it's not a policy of ours in any other respects.
13:47
Speaker 9: The tax hike in stalled in the last parliament due
13:49
Speaker 9: to a lack of Senate support. After the election landslide,
13:53
Speaker 9: the government argues it has a mandate to press ahead.
13:56
Speaker 11: I think in terms of honesty, if we didn't proceed
14:00
Speaker 11: with this then I think people would say, well, what's
14:02
Speaker 11: going on.
14:02
Speaker 12: You said you were going to do this.
14:04
Speaker 9: According to government analysis, around eighty thousand superbalances will be impacted,
14:09
Speaker 9: but that number will climb given the three million dollar
14:12
Speaker 9: threshold is an index for inflation.
14:14
Speaker 13: The coalition is grappling with its path forward on energy
14:18
Speaker 13: policy in the wake of the election defeat. One senior
14:21
Speaker 13: Liberal is urging colleagues to stick with net zero, arguing
14:25
Speaker 13: to dump the target would be to ignore the message
14:27
Speaker 13: sent by voters.
14:29
Speaker 3: You know, the election has sent us a very clear
14:31
Speaker 3: message what it is that they want in their government.
14:35
Speaker 3: Abandoning net zero I don't necessarily think is consistent with that.
14:38
Speaker 9: The Nationals are the most vocal opponents of net zero.
14:41
Speaker 9: The party also wants to push ahead with nuclear power,
14:45
Speaker 9: but Leader David little Proud has signaled there may be
14:47
Speaker 9: a compromise position.
14:49
Speaker 4: I think you can't get to net zero without nuclear energy. Now,
14:52
Speaker 4: whether it's specifically the policy that we took around government
14:56
Speaker 4: owned or whether it's simply removing the moratorium, I think
14:59
Speaker 4: you have to be pragged run.
15:00
Speaker 9: Trudy Macintosh Sky News Canberra.
15:05
Speaker 5: Today.
15:05
Speaker 2: As I said, Susan Lee has released her plan to
15:07
Speaker 2: say the Liberal Party. It includes smaller taxes, better schools
15:12
Speaker 2: and national security. Joining me now to discuss this and more.
15:15
Speaker 2: Political contributor Chris Juelman. I welcome the focus Chris on
15:19
Speaker 2: national security. Clearly that was left way too late in
15:21
Speaker 2: the campaign. But with regards to better schools, she's got
15:25
Speaker 2: that there as a foundation piece. I make the point
15:27
Speaker 2: that Commonwealth doesn't run a single school, it doesn't hire
15:30
Speaker 2: a single principle or a teacher, so I presume this
15:35
Speaker 2: means she's willing to get into the culture fight that
15:36
Speaker 2: none of the rest of the liberals have been today.
15:39
Speaker 5: Good if that's the case.
15:40
Speaker 2: Smaller taxes, she says, well, I just want smaller taxes.
15:43
Speaker 5: It's a liberal. I want lower taxes, not a smaller
15:46
Speaker 5: in number. I want lower taxes.
15:48
Speaker 2: But I think the real glaring a mission here was energy.
15:51
Speaker 2: I mean you often say energy is the economy. The
15:54
Speaker 2: economy is energy. How that is missing from her list?
15:59
Speaker 5: Staggers me.
16:02
Speaker 10: Yeah, Peter, and a lot of people are saying it now,
16:04
Speaker 10: but few people seem to understand it. Because when we
16:06
Speaker 10: talk about net zero, which is the policy that they're
16:09
Speaker 10: fighting over at the moment, that's just not the electricity sector, right.
16:12
Speaker 10: The electricity sector is the easy part. That's twenty percent
16:14
Speaker 10: of the equation. The other eighty percent is how do
16:17
Speaker 10: we make concrete, steel, plastic, and ammonia. That's eighty percent
16:20
Speaker 10: of all of our energy. It's essentially buried in everything
16:22
Speaker 10: around us. Fossil fuel is part of the modern world
16:26
Speaker 10: in which we live, and trying to get to net
16:28
Speaker 10: zero means basically trying to invent an enormous number of
16:32
Speaker 10: processes which yet to which are yet to be done
16:35
Speaker 10: at an industrial scale, So this is a massive project.
16:38
Speaker 10: Most of the world is not doing this, So the
16:40
Speaker 10: United States is not now doing this, and Russia is
16:43
Speaker 10: not doing it, in China's not doing it, in India's
16:45
Speaker 10: not doing it. That's sixty percent of the world's emission.
16:47
Speaker 10: So in the end this thing will fall over all
16:50
Speaker 10: by itself. Physics will make sure that's the case. But
16:55
Speaker 10: unfortunately for the coalition along the way, they're going to
16:58
Speaker 10: tear themselves apart on this on a policy position, because
17:02
Speaker 10: clearly the Nationals or the large part of the Nationals,
17:04
Speaker 10: have a different view to the Liberal Party. I assume
17:06
Speaker 10: now they'll spend the next three years fighting over this
17:09
Speaker 10: over a policy position which should reasonably should be reasonably easy,
17:14
Speaker 10: because from a liberal point of view, what will be
17:16
Speaker 10: required to try without succeeding, to hit net zero will
17:21
Speaker 10: be permanent COVID level intervention in your lifestyle. We've only
17:27
Speaker 10: just begun to see the tip of this iceberg.
17:32
Speaker 5: Yeah, I will make the point too.
17:34
Speaker 2: Net zero isn't just as we've discussed energy, and energy
17:38
Speaker 2: isn't just electricity. It's all those other things you talk about.
17:40
Speaker 2: But net zero is also agriculture, it's transport. I mean,
17:44
Speaker 2: if we go down this path, and yes, you're right,
17:46
Speaker 2: we'll get to twenty fifteen, we will not be the
17:49
Speaker 2: world will not be at net zero, Australia will not
17:52
Speaker 2: be at net zero. But along that way we'll have
17:55
Speaker 2: sent farmers off the land. We will have radically changed
17:59
Speaker 2: our national herd for.
18:01
Speaker 5: Meat, livestock.
18:03
Speaker 2: We will have radically changed the way we move around
18:06
Speaker 2: this country, where we will have changed the dynamic of
18:08
Speaker 2: the cars and the choices people have. All of that
18:12
Speaker 2: will go because we'll have all the policies in place.
18:14
Speaker 2: We'll be setting ourselves over cliff. We will not get
18:17
Speaker 2: to where we want to be, and we'll damage ourselves
18:20
Speaker 2: and our economy in a way I think that we
18:23
Speaker 2: will not be able to repair though, Chris, in that
18:25
Speaker 2: same timeframe. That's why you've got to call it out
18:27
Speaker 2: now and bring it to an end.
18:31
Speaker 10: And the Coulution has done a terribly bad job at
18:33
Speaker 10: trying to explain this to people, and it shouldn't necessarily
18:36
Speaker 10: be that difficult. And they can point to international examples,
18:39
Speaker 10: and I'll give you the latest one, which is Mark Carney,
18:42
Speaker 10: the very liberal, small liberal leaning Prime Minister of Canada,
18:47
Speaker 10: has said that he wants Canada to be an energy superpower,
18:51
Speaker 10: not a green energy superpower, but an energy superpower. And
18:55
Speaker 10: he's talking about oil and gas exploration and pipelines as
18:59
Speaker 10: the first things off his lips when he was talking
19:02
Speaker 10: about that. So not even Canada now is signed up
19:05
Speaker 10: to net zero.
19:08
Speaker 2: And if you look down in Victoria, and this is
19:11
Speaker 2: the counter argument that the sense we're seeing in Canada,
19:13
Speaker 2: even from the left leaning Carni, You've got the state
19:17
Speaker 2: there wanting to move to ninety five percent renewable power
19:20
Speaker 2: by twenty thirty five. And this was put out in
19:23
Speaker 2: some detail on the weekend ahead of the budget tomorrow night.
19:25
Speaker 2: They want renewable energy zones covering about seven percent of
19:29
Speaker 2: the state's land, five point two million solar panels, one
19:32
Speaker 2: thousand onshore wind turbines, countless of them offshore, as well
19:37
Speaker 2: four new transmission projects. Their own documents saying, I quote,
19:41
Speaker 2: wind and solar generation are inherently variable. It's not uncommon
19:46
Speaker 2: to experience periods when there's little wind and sunshine. So
19:50
Speaker 2: if they know all of that, Chris, why are they
19:51
Speaker 2: persisting with the madness?
19:54
Speaker 10: Well, one can only wonder, and they only have to
19:57
Speaker 10: look back to last year in April. We're across April,
19:59
Speaker 10: and over a period of about three or four weeks,
20:02
Speaker 10: there were long periods of time when there was no
20:04
Speaker 10: soul of power and there was eventually essentially no wind.
20:07
Speaker 10: And when that happens, you need one hundred percent backup
20:12
Speaker 10: of all of that stuff. You simply cannot do that
20:14
Speaker 10: with batteries. So you need some sort of firm, dispatchful
20:18
Speaker 10: source of energy to keep the lights on. Now that's
20:21
Speaker 10: got a big gas But of course the same people
20:23
Speaker 10: in Victoria who want this ridiculous system. I note now
20:25
Speaker 10: they say that they're going to have more transmission lines,
20:27
Speaker 10: that's going to fix it.
20:28
Speaker 14: Well, guess what.
20:28
Speaker 10: The whole of Victoria was covered in that system last year.
20:31
Speaker 10: The whole of Victoria was down. So is South Australia
20:34
Speaker 10: and so is New South Wales. So where do they
20:36
Speaker 10: imagine the energy will come from. This is deliberate self
20:40
Speaker 10: harm by the Victorian government and that's what the Victorian people,
20:43
Speaker 10: and that's what the Australian people want. Then we will
20:45
Speaker 10: have a real world demonstration of what can go catastrophically
20:49
Speaker 10: wrong sometime in the near future.
20:54
Speaker 2: This is where too, that Victorian liberal party will face
20:56
Speaker 2: an election in November next year. I can't hide and
21:00
Speaker 2: ten that these issues are not on the gender at
21:02
Speaker 2: a state level, because they will be absolutely germane to
21:04
Speaker 2: the election. They can't say it's just an issue for
21:08
Speaker 2: debate in Canberra. They're actually going to have to get
21:10
Speaker 2: off the fence where they've sat for too long with
21:13
Speaker 2: barbed wire. Get off the fence and put some of
21:15
Speaker 2: this to the electric before people vote next year.
21:19
Speaker 5: Hey, Joe Biden diagnosed.
21:21
Speaker 2: Today very sadly with a very aggressive form of prostate cancer.
21:24
Speaker 2: Chris as sad as that is the timing of it.
21:29
Speaker 2: I think is pretty sad for his family. Of course,
21:31
Speaker 2: he's in the twilight of his years. He's trying to
21:34
Speaker 2: protect what little is left of his legacy. Outcomes a
21:37
Speaker 2: book though, that says, you know, the administration conspired to
21:41
Speaker 2: hide his cognitive failures while he was in office. Do
21:44
Speaker 2: you think we'll ever really know who was running the
21:47
Speaker 2: country during his presidency?
21:50
Speaker 10: No, Peter, and it was terrifying, And there was a
21:53
Speaker 10: conspiracy of silence, not just in his office but through
21:56
Speaker 10: a lot of the mainstream media, some of whom now
21:59
Speaker 10: I notice writing books and apologizing for the fact that
22:02
Speaker 10: they helped essentially to cover this up. And can I
22:05
Speaker 10: say that after Scott Morrison lost the last election in
22:08
Speaker 10: twenty twenty two, Anthony alberoniz he made a flying visit
22:11
Speaker 10: to Japan to the quad and that was the first
22:13
Speaker 10: time I had seen Joe Biden in the flesh. And
22:17
Speaker 10: when I saw him walking, it was obvious to me
22:20
Speaker 10: that this was a man who was in physical decline
22:22
Speaker 10: and looked to be in cognitive decline. And that was
22:25
Speaker 10: from seeing him from a distance for a short period
22:28
Speaker 10: of time. Now, if that wasn't screamingly obvious to every
22:32
Speaker 10: single journalist who was covering that particular beat, then I
22:37
Speaker 10: don't know what else what to take from it. That
22:40
Speaker 10: it was complete failure of them to bring to the
22:43
Speaker 10: public's attention something which was of real importance to the
22:47
Speaker 10: American people. And god knows who was running that country
22:51
Speaker 10: over the course of the last four years.
22:55
Speaker 2: And of course he wanted to go around again. And
22:57
Speaker 2: if he wanted to go around again and he had
22:58
Speaker 2: been elected, we would have been contemplating Kamala Harris becoming
23:03
Speaker 2: the president should he get any sicker. So thank goodness
23:06
Speaker 2: that one didn't happen. Thank you Chris, all right, let's
23:09
Speaker 2: go now to the super anger that is growing. This
23:12
Speaker 2: is around Labour's plans to tax unrealized gains and superannuation accounts.
23:17
Speaker 5: Over three million.
23:18
Speaker 2: But those revelations today that have really concerned a lot
23:21
Speaker 2: of people, state MPs and high ranking officials. When our
23:24
Speaker 2: told will be exempt from the tax. Joining in our
23:27
Speaker 2: business editor Ross Greenwood. We'll get to the exemptions in
23:30
Speaker 2: a moment. But I don't think Ross, we can explain
23:32
Speaker 2: this tax enough because I think more people understand, the
23:36
Speaker 2: angrier they get. This isn't like any other tax in
23:40
Speaker 2: our system, is it? Because we're not actually taxing a
23:42
Speaker 2: profit that people have, say, sold an asset and put
23:45
Speaker 2: in their bank account. This taxes the increase in value only,
23:50
Speaker 2: meaning you'll pay tax even though you have not yet
23:53
Speaker 2: received a cent.
23:55
Speaker 5: There's it.
23:56
Speaker 14: So the whole premise of our tax system is that
23:58
Speaker 14: you are taxed on profits that you are cashed. You
24:02
Speaker 14: are taxed when you receive an income. So the idea
24:05
Speaker 14: of a capital gains tax is that you choose when
24:08
Speaker 14: you will sell and as a result, when you get
24:10
Speaker 14: the cash, you pay the tax as you should. Right,
24:14
Speaker 14: But in this particular case, what they're saying for people
24:16
Speaker 14: with more than three million their superfunds, it's not index.
24:19
Speaker 14: So more and more people each and every day, because
24:22
Speaker 14: their earnings will rise, I'll make profits will drop into
24:26
Speaker 14: this pool of people. They will actually be taxed when
24:29
Speaker 14: and if every year the price of their assets has
24:33
Speaker 14: gone up. Now, if they invest in a small business,
24:36
Speaker 14: say for example, they can't sell that small business, but
24:39
Speaker 14: they're going to be given a tax bill. If they
24:42
Speaker 14: invest in a piece of venture capital, it rises very
24:44
Speaker 14: rapidly in price. They could be given a tax bill
24:47
Speaker 14: that they can't pay, and at the same time they
24:51
Speaker 14: can't sell the business because the business is not for sale,
24:55
Speaker 14: it's not por traded on the public markets. In many ways,
24:58
Speaker 14: it almost seems though this tax strategy is a strategy
25:01
Speaker 14: to try and stop people accumulating too much in their
25:04
Speaker 14: super funds and secondly to try and divert people with
25:08
Speaker 14: self managed super funds to put the money into industry funds.
25:12
Speaker 14: And of course industry funds is where you've got many
25:15
Speaker 14: unions that have more control over that and as a result,
25:18
Speaker 14: the government has more control over where that money is
25:21
Speaker 14: allocated as well. So this all seems to be not
25:24
Speaker 14: just one thing, but almost several moving parts at the
25:27
Speaker 14: same time.
25:28
Speaker 5: Richard Marles I heard said.
25:30
Speaker 14: This is really a scare campaign. Well, of course it's
25:33
Speaker 14: a scare campaign because this basically undoes the basic principles
25:38
Speaker 14: of Australia's tax system.
25:42
Speaker 2: I couldn't get a straight answer when I rang a
25:44
Speaker 2: few people on this today. What happens when you sell
25:46
Speaker 2: assets out of the fund to say, it comes in
25:49
Speaker 2: and you're court and you're paying for an increase in
25:51
Speaker 2: your share values that you've got Commwealth Bank shares, they
25:54
Speaker 2: go up and you hit for tax even though you
25:56
Speaker 2: haven't sold the shares, and you pay that over a
25:58
Speaker 2: period of time, and four or five years down the
26:01
Speaker 2: track you sell those come Wealth Bank shares. Are you
26:04
Speaker 2: hit for capital gains on those shares as well? Then?
26:08
Speaker 14: Look to be honest, I don't think you will be.
26:10
Speaker 14: I think that would really be taken the mickey because
26:12
Speaker 14: the fact of the matter is once you sell and
26:15
Speaker 14: you've paid that tax, your tax base comes down. The problem,
26:19
Speaker 14: could I explain to you is this it's about cash again,
26:22
Speaker 14: Say for example, your Commonwealth Bank shares they go up
26:25
Speaker 14: from one hundred to two hundred, so you basically pay tax.
26:28
Speaker 14: You haven't sold on that one hundred, so you've paid
26:31
Speaker 14: the tax and you've still got your shares. The problem
26:34
Speaker 14: is if they come down the following year back to
26:36
Speaker 14: one hundred, the tax office doesn't give you any cash back,
26:40
Speaker 14: and there is your problem. So all of a sudden,
26:42
Speaker 14: your asset can go up and come back down. You've
26:46
Speaker 14: paid the tax, but the tax office and the government
26:48
Speaker 14: don't give you any money back. You have to sell
26:51
Speaker 14: the asset to be able to get a tax credit
26:53
Speaker 14: based on capital gains tax. And that again is where
26:56
Speaker 14: this system really fails, very very badly, not just common sense,
27:01
Speaker 14: but in pure tax history as well.
27:05
Speaker 5: And what about the exemptions. It doesn't seem fair.
27:07
Speaker 2: Of course, it's the politicians and the judges and the
27:10
Speaker 2: officials who will not have to pay it.
27:13
Speaker 14: Well, that's because it's all become just too hard. This
27:15
Speaker 14: is the reality of it. Because they're in defined benefit
27:19
Speaker 14: superannuation funds, which is really not a fund like you
27:22
Speaker 14: and I have got, which is your employer gives your
27:24
Speaker 14: money into your super fund. You've basically got some small
27:28
Speaker 14: control over that fund and you can see it there
27:31
Speaker 14: so that they can tax it. The problem with the
27:33
Speaker 14: defined benefit superannuation fund is it's a promise to pay
27:36
Speaker 14: you a pension for a certain period of your life.
27:39
Speaker 14: So say, for example, in the Prime Minister's case, from
27:42
Speaker 14: now until he was ninety, we the taxpayer will pay
27:45
Speaker 14: him approximately twelve million dollars or even more, maybe even
27:50
Speaker 14: out the fifteen million dollars with indexation attached to it.
27:54
Speaker 14: But the real issue is you can't value that as
27:56
Speaker 14: a defined benefit super fund. As a result, you don't
27:59
Speaker 14: know what capital gains tax have taken place inside there,
28:02
Speaker 14: so you can't tax those people. So again it fails
28:05
Speaker 14: on a fairness test as well, because you're treating one
28:08
Speaker 14: group of our population in one way from a tax
28:12
Speaker 14: point of view, and another group of people in a
28:14
Speaker 14: totally different way, and so there is a lack of fairness,
28:17
Speaker 14: which is the fundamental principle of our tax system, that
28:21
Speaker 14: is that it should be fair for all people.
28:25
Speaker 2: Just before we go rate cunt tomorrow, do you think
28:28
Speaker 2: we'll get one.
28:29
Speaker 5: One hundred percent? We'll get one.
28:31
Speaker 14: Markets say there will be another one in August and
28:33
Speaker 14: another one in December this year, so pretty much lock
28:36
Speaker 14: it in tomorrow. But then after that it depends on
28:39
Speaker 14: what happens in the economy. As to whether we get
28:41
Speaker 14: those other two rate cuts later this year. But the
28:44
Speaker 14: Reserve Bank has got a tough really act to follow,
28:47
Speaker 14: because especially if prices do start to rise in the
28:49
Speaker 14: Australian economy, it might just test them a little bit
28:52
Speaker 14: later in terms of their language later this year.
28:56
Speaker 5: Thank you as always, Ross.
28:57
Speaker 2: Yes, I'll bank you tomorrow, but I don't know that
28:59
Speaker 2: I trust them for the other two.
29:01
Speaker 5: Thanks Ross.
29:01
Speaker 2: After the break, the new tax said to be imposed
29:04
Speaker 2: on Victorian regional farmers and it will send them to
29:07
Speaker 2: the brink more than that. In a moment, class will
29:09
Speaker 2: be joined by a former commando to discuss a new
29:12
Speaker 2: documentary that looks to set things straight in relation to
29:15
Speaker 2: what really happened in Afghanistan in Iraq as soldiers remain
29:18
Speaker 2: in limbo since the release of the Breton Report.
29:25
Speaker 5: Welcome back still to came.
29:26
Speaker 2: I'll give you an exclusive preview or a new documentary
29:28
Speaker 2: that highlights the true experience of the sas soldiers in
29:32
Speaker 2: Afghanistan and Iraq sitting at the scene squaring things off
29:37
Speaker 2: from that Breton Report. But first farmers across Victoria say
29:40
Speaker 2: they have been abandoned. The un labor government has done
29:43
Speaker 2: to deal with the grands and minor fringe parties to
29:46
Speaker 2: run through some sweeping changes to the Emergency Services Volunteer levy.
29:51
Speaker 2: These are changes that will see the annual bills from
29:53
Speaker 2: some farmer served to around four thousand dollars to more
29:56
Speaker 2: than thirty thousand dollars. In a bit of twist, any
30:00
Speaker 2: of those being slugged are the very same volunteers who
30:02
Speaker 2: risked their lives every fire season on the back of
30:05
Speaker 2: their CFA trucks. John Bennett is a grain and livestock
30:08
Speaker 2: farmer from the West Wimra area. He's also the chairman
30:11
Speaker 2: of the West Wimra Action Group and over the weekend
30:15
Speaker 2: he posted an emotional message online about the toll that
30:18
Speaker 2: these changes will have on rural communities.
30:23
Speaker 8: In January this year, a lightning strike started the fire
30:26
Speaker 8: in the Little Desert National Park. It had a catastrophic
30:29
Speaker 8: effect on the local biodiversity and due to prior poor
30:33
Speaker 8: forest fire management, burnt ninety thousand hectares out of the
30:37
Speaker 8: one hundred and thirty two thousand hectare park. It burned
30:40
Speaker 8: for eight days and threatened the towns of Timbulla and
30:42
Speaker 8: Garoque and during that time countless CFA volunteers and brigades
30:48
Speaker 8: fought the fire. Volunteering and a cooperative approach are deeply
30:54
Speaker 8: embedded in farming based country communities. The Emergency Services Volunteer
30:59
Speaker 8: LEVY and it's proposed changes severely threatened to undermine that
31:04
Speaker 8: culture of volunteering.
31:08
Speaker 5: John, thank you for joining me.
31:10
Speaker 8: Thanks madam.
31:12
Speaker 2: I think what people can't understand is that in many instances,
31:18
Speaker 2: farmers at the front line on our fires in regional Australia,
31:22
Speaker 2: in Victoria, you're not just on the CFA truck.
31:24
Speaker 5: You're often using your own equipment.
31:27
Speaker 2: You'll fight these fires as you did in Little Desert
31:29
Speaker 2: in other areas recently, and someone's got to run your
31:32
Speaker 2: farm while you're doing all of that. And yet you're
31:34
Speaker 2: going to cop almost two hundred percent increases in these levees.
31:39
Speaker 5: How's that fair.
31:41
Speaker 8: It's not fair in any way, shape or form. Actually,
31:44
Speaker 8: it's it's asking country people, where there's an enormous culture
31:49
Speaker 8: of volunteering to take a disproportionate share of something that
31:55
Speaker 8: all Victorians capture equally through emergency services when they actually
32:03
Speaker 8: need help. So not in any way, shape or form,
32:06
Speaker 8: there's I think that there'll be four point five million
32:10
Speaker 8: dollars leave our small shire every year. Ninety percent of
32:15
Speaker 8: that'll be funded by local farmers. That's four point five
32:19
Speaker 8: million that doesn't walk down the island the local IgA
32:22
Speaker 8: or doesn't support a local business that is providing work
32:27
Speaker 8: for our young people. And also at a time when
32:30
Speaker 8: we've never we've never our roads, public health, our schools,
32:35
Speaker 8: we've never needed that money to stay in regional Victoria
32:38
Speaker 8: more than we do now.
32:39
Speaker 2: So if you live in the city, I might pay
32:41
Speaker 2: one thousand dollars a year on my levee, but I
32:43
Speaker 2: need fire to fire. If it comes to my front
32:46
Speaker 2: door the fire brigade turn up, you'll pay the levee
32:50
Speaker 2: and you'll still have to do all the work. They
32:52
Speaker 2: say this is about cost recovery.
32:54
Speaker 5: What does that mean? Well, I don't think it's that
32:56
Speaker 5: at all.
32:56
Speaker 8: I think it's it's really a tax on land. As
33:00
Speaker 8: a farmer, land is our tool of trade. If you're
33:03
Speaker 8: a doctor or you're an accountant, your degree is your
33:05
Speaker 8: tool of trade. So we need we need land to
33:09
Speaker 8: do what we need to do. It's that's just part
33:13
Speaker 8: of the job. And so we are being unreasonably taxed
33:16
Speaker 8: because we've got that land. So most of The other
33:20
Speaker 8: work that we actually do in the country is the
33:23
Speaker 8: emergency services that we actually provide are nearly always on
33:28
Speaker 8: public land, that's the other thing. So most of it
33:32
Speaker 8: is either on a railway line or a car or
33:35
Speaker 8: in a state forest or a park. So the demands
33:38
Speaker 8: on our skills are actually basically to actually assist the government.
33:44
Speaker 5: Just saving your.
33:45
Speaker 2: Own farm in a fire, is it you're saving the community,
33:47
Speaker 2: you saving all these state owned assets.
33:50
Speaker 8: Absolutely, and so basically we're paying a disproportionate amount to
33:54
Speaker 8: fund a job that we're basically doing for free.
33:57
Speaker 5: Currently, how do people cop this?
33:59
Speaker 2: Because down your way and my sister's on a dairy
34:01
Speaker 2: farm near Terrang, I know, southwest Victoria. Western Victoria is
34:07
Speaker 2: basically on the bones of its backside in terms of drought.
34:10
Speaker 2: You've got farmers selling whatever stock they can for whatever
34:13
Speaker 2: price they can, and yet you've got to cop this levy.
34:16
Speaker 8: Yes, I don't think it's come at a good time.
34:19
Speaker 8: I think there's probably a little bit of a lack
34:20
Speaker 8: of understanding what's going on in regional Victoria at the
34:23
Speaker 8: moment in the way of drought. Like it's actually that
34:25
Speaker 8: is it's the second year of second year of quite
34:28
Speaker 8: desperate times regionally, and so that's probably the timing couldn't
34:33
Speaker 8: be worse really in that regard. I think probably a
34:35
Speaker 8: lot of people are thinking that they're a little bit
34:37
Speaker 8: dispossessed and not listen to I think probably a voice
34:41
Speaker 8: has been greatly diminished recently. Look, we rely on common
34:45
Speaker 8: sense and common sense and good judgment to win the day,
34:48
Speaker 8: but that's not the case anymore. There's no accountability in
34:52
Speaker 8: government to actually listen to us. And I think probably
34:54
Speaker 8: the last time we had we had a minister come
34:57
Speaker 8: out to the country regions, to our region which is
35:00
Speaker 8: closer to Adelaide the Melvine, so it's properly western Victoria
35:03
Speaker 8: and listened to us was Yarla Pulford about ten years
35:05
Speaker 8: ago and she was a very good listen And because
35:07
Speaker 8: of that, there's some really good policy rolled out around
35:09
Speaker 8: how to handle those times, which was tough time at
35:11
Speaker 8: the time as well. But you really need to come
35:14
Speaker 8: and listen to actually be able to do that, and
35:16
Speaker 8: nobody's listening at the moment.
35:18
Speaker 2: And we know, I mean I know in your area,
35:21
Speaker 2: but I know other communities as well. You've got farmers
35:24
Speaker 2: taking their own lives, you've got people in regional communities
35:26
Speaker 2: taking their own lives.
35:27
Speaker 8: Yes, there's been some disturbing news recently and look, and
35:30
Speaker 8: no one would be insensitive and enough to think that
35:32
Speaker 8: that was the promotere to promote an argument. But it
35:35
Speaker 8: certainly puts us on watch to be absolutely aware of
35:39
Speaker 8: any change of behavior in any of our neighbors or friends,
35:42
Speaker 8: and to be really conscious of that. And I think
35:44
Speaker 8: it also probably.
35:45
Speaker 5: It does reflect.
35:46
Speaker 8: It probably does reflect a little bit of where we
35:49
Speaker 8: are in the country at the moment it is.
35:51
Speaker 5: It is a little bit of tough time.
35:53
Speaker 8: Look, it's also a tough time for businesses in the
35:54
Speaker 8: city and other people. I'm told that businesses in Horshrom
35:58
Speaker 8: our regional center are very so it's not just farming,
36:02
Speaker 8: but it's a community thing generally.
36:04
Speaker 5: But it means we need.
36:04
Speaker 8: To actually come together and watch out for each other.
36:07
Speaker 2: I think Agent would have thought when it got through
36:08
Speaker 2: the Parliament last week, when they rammed this through, that
36:12
Speaker 2: you just cop it and walk away. But you've got
36:14
Speaker 2: a protest tomorrow, you're clearly up for the fight.
36:17
Speaker 8: I think they've grossly misunderstood or misjudged the depth of
36:22
Speaker 8: feeling there is around This will turn up to an incident.
36:27
Speaker 8: We never ask you how much money you've got, where
36:29
Speaker 8: you're from, what your ethnicity, ethnicity is. We just help
36:34
Speaker 8: you and we ask for nothing in return. But this
36:37
Speaker 8: time I think we should be asking. But the depth
36:40
Speaker 8: of feeling is great, and I think that the government's
36:42
Speaker 8: also misjudged the sentiment around that branding of trusted professions
36:48
Speaker 8: like farming and the CFA and those yellow overalls and
36:52
Speaker 8: tried to counch the language around the levy about volunteering.
36:55
Speaker 8: It's actually not about volunteering at all. It actually could
36:57
Speaker 8: be one of the most inequords things that's been done
37:01
Speaker 8: to volunteers that I can actually remember.
37:03
Speaker 2: Well, good luck tomorrow and keep up the fight, John,
37:05
Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Peter, John Bennett there all right
37:08
Speaker 2: after the break, we're going to talk to a former
37:10
Speaker 2: SAS soldier about this documentary that will set the record straight.
37:21
Speaker 2: Welcome back in militant union threatens to shut down the
37:24
Speaker 2: nation's transport sector. Is this just a taste of things
37:27
Speaker 2: to come now that the government's got such a big majority.
37:31
Speaker 2: But first ever since the Brereton Report into alleged war
37:33
Speaker 2: crimes in Afghanistan was released in twenty twenty, Australian's Special
37:37
Speaker 2: Air Service troops have felt betrayed by the way the
37:40
Speaker 2: allegations have been handled by politicians, senior defense leaders and
37:44
Speaker 2: parts of the media too. Almost five years on from
37:47
Speaker 2: the release of the report, they called into question the
37:50
Speaker 2: integrity of every soldier.
37:52
Speaker 5: Only one man's been.
37:53
Speaker 2: Charged and there have been no convictions, and yet troops
37:57
Speaker 2: who risk their lives overseas feel that they've been treated
38:00
Speaker 2: like criminals and abandoned.
38:02
Speaker 5: Well.
38:02
Speaker 2: Now a new documentary titled Bravery and Betrayal is giving
38:07
Speaker 2: the essays their chance to tell their story of what
38:11
Speaker 2: actually happened in Afghanistan and Iraq.
38:14
Speaker 5: Here's a little bit of the trailer.
38:17
Speaker 12: I never witnessed anything that could come close to being
38:20
Speaker 12: considered a war crime.
38:21
Speaker 15: But while see soldiers are still being pursued. You've got
38:25
Speaker 15: politicians on the on the generals who led the war,
38:28
Speaker 15: who are retired, terrorists have been ladder at prison, ladder
38:31
Speaker 15: to get on their on their lives. Yet the soldiers
38:33
Speaker 15: who fall for their country are still being chased by
38:38
Speaker 15: the courts. Doesn't pass the pub test.
38:43
Speaker 12: When you lay down your head at night and your
38:46
Speaker 12: rest easy, it is because there's guys out there on
38:49
Speaker 12: the gate. Those guys out there smanning the wall and
38:52
Speaker 12: they don't care, don't do whatever it takes to keep you.
38:55
Speaker 10: See, and it must be set right by the nation.
39:00
Speaker 10: Will be of great confidence the strands were tolerated.
39:06
Speaker 5: Such a powerful doco.
39:07
Speaker 2: Joining me now is Brett Sangster, a former Commando Special
39:11
Speaker 2: Operations Task Group lawyer and he is also the chairman
39:14
Speaker 2: now the Veterans support charity Wandering Warriors. Brett, welcome to
39:18
Speaker 2: the program. I know your organization, Wondering Warriors help fund
39:23
Speaker 2: this documentary. Why is it so important for you that
39:27
Speaker 2: the story is told?
39:31
Speaker 11: Thank you, Peter, thank you for having me on tonight.
39:33
Speaker 11: It's very important that this story is told because firstly,
39:39
Speaker 11: Wandering Warriors is a charity that looks that supports veterans
39:42
Speaker 11: in their families in times of need, and I can't
39:44
Speaker 11: think of a time when there's that need is more
39:47
Speaker 11: permanent than today. Secondly, and most importantly, the Australian people
39:53
Speaker 11: or to hear the stories of Afghanistan and our campaign,
39:58
Speaker 11: our twenty year campaign in a complex counterinsurgent environment from
40:02
Speaker 11: the actual operators, the soldiers themselves, and so we think
40:06
Speaker 11: that's very important that the story is rebalanced. The narrative
40:11
Speaker 11: has been so negative in the last few years that
40:14
Speaker 11: we believe that this brings some rebalancing. It gives a
40:17
Speaker 11: perspective from the operators on the ground, but also very emotionally,
40:22
Speaker 11: it provides a perspective from the families who are in
40:26
Speaker 11: sitting back in Australia. So we get a very balanced
40:29
Speaker 11: perspective of the bravery, not only of the soldiers, but
40:32
Speaker 11: also of those families who were deeply affected by the
40:36
Speaker 11: Afghanistan campaign.
40:40
Speaker 5: Yeah.
40:40
Speaker 2: I've spoken to a number of people that were in
40:42
Speaker 2: the Special Forces sas, in particular some commandos though, and
40:47
Speaker 2: they feel that the Breton Report is hanging over their heads.
40:50
Speaker 2: They're discharged, they're no longer in the military, but they
40:54
Speaker 2: feel that this taint about the report, the fact that
40:57
Speaker 2: it's not being resolved by government, that it hangs overhead.
41:00
Speaker 2: They say, of every soldier is unacceptable. I have to
41:04
Speaker 2: say I completely agree with them. We've only had one
41:08
Speaker 2: soldier charged in all of this time. This is just
41:12
Speaker 2: not good enough, is it.
41:16
Speaker 11: It's not good enough. Peter and our ask is that
41:19
Speaker 11: people would watch the documentary and form their own opinions
41:24
Speaker 11: on the bravery and Betrayal documentary, but their own opinions
41:28
Speaker 11: on what went on in Afghanistan. We're talking about a
41:30
Speaker 11: twenty year campaign with thousands of operations undertaken in a
41:36
Speaker 11: complex military environment. So we would like that investigations, inquiries
41:44
Speaker 11: are brought it to an end or a conclusion as
41:47
Speaker 11: expeditiously as possible. And we think that that's a form
41:51
Speaker 11: of natural justice. To have these things hanging over people's
41:55
Speaker 11: heads indefinitely is profoundly impactful on an individual and on
42:01
Speaker 11: their families.
42:04
Speaker 5: And of course I have to say this again.
42:05
Speaker 2: You know the politicians bred who sent them there, and
42:08
Speaker 2: I work for a Prime minister when you were all
42:10
Speaker 2: in Afghanistan. I went there three times. The governments of
42:14
Speaker 2: all persuasions who send them, the politicians in Canberra, they
42:19
Speaker 2: must be accountable.
42:21
Speaker 5: So much the top military.
42:22
Speaker 2: Brass for resolving this Brereton report, putting it behind Australia
42:28
Speaker 2: and allowing these men and our country and all the
42:32
Speaker 2: many millions of Australians who support you to move on.
42:37
Speaker 11: I think that's entirely right, Peter. It is a scourge
42:43
Speaker 11: on Australia that we, as Andy put it in the
42:47
Speaker 11: short that we saw that everybody else has moved on
42:50
Speaker 11: with their life. But these soldiers who fought so bravely
42:54
Speaker 11: for Australia and with such bravery. Every Australian ought to
42:59
Speaker 11: be proud of what we did in Afghanistan, and it's
43:03
Speaker 11: a real shame that these soldiers don't feel that prior
43:08
Speaker 11: they ought to do. They deserve it and we need
43:11
Speaker 11: to move on. Have these investigations resolved as expeditiously as
43:17
Speaker 11: is possible. We understand that they are complex investigations, but
43:21
Speaker 11: let's move on. Let's get these things moving and if
43:24
Speaker 11: there is something to be moved through the courts, then
43:30
Speaker 11: get it to the courts and let's move on.
43:34
Speaker 5: Couldn't agree more. Thank you, Brad.
43:36
Speaker 2: If you want to learn more about this documentary Bravery
43:39
Speaker 2: and Betrayal, you've got a QR code on the screen
43:42
Speaker 2: right now.
43:44
Speaker 5: Have look at that. Follow it up.
43:45
Speaker 2: But there'll be a special screening of the film Australian
43:48
Speaker 2: War Memorial in Canberra on Thursday. There'll be other dates
43:51
Speaker 2: around the country. But please I encourage you as Australians
43:55
Speaker 2: to hear directly from these men. After the break concerning science,
43:59
Speaker 2: militant Union have been emboldened by Labour's big win, plus
44:02
Speaker 2: calls for national inquiry into what went wrong.
44:05
Speaker 5: For the coalition. Well, welcome back.
44:11
Speaker 2: The Milton unions are back in town following Labour's election win.
44:15
Speaker 2: The Transport Union Workers Union threatening to seize the moment,
44:19
Speaker 2: they say, and shut down Australian transport. The union's national secretary,
44:23
Speaker 2: Michael Kaine has said this will be the largest coordinated
44:26
Speaker 2: industrial campaign in Australian transport history. Joying me now, James Squared,
44:31
Speaker 2: I call it Tonight's Senator, James McGrath, Queensland LMP senator
44:36
Speaker 2: and of course James Ashby, Colln Hanson's chief of staff.
44:39
Speaker 5: Well, James McGrath. They're back in town.
44:42
Speaker 2: I think they feel pretty embolden that your mob's out
44:44
Speaker 2: for a two term period.
44:46
Speaker 5: How damaging could this be?
44:50
Speaker 1: Are really damaging? And what we've seen today with the
44:53
Speaker 1: TWU is the moose bousch. It's the entree of what's
44:57
Speaker 1: going to happen over the next three or six years.
45:01
Speaker 1: All these union fat cats, all these union thugs want
45:04
Speaker 1: to get their payback for the money and resources they
45:07
Speaker 1: put into the Labor Party, and so productive in Australia
45:11
Speaker 1: is going to go backwards. You're going to see union
45:13
Speaker 1: warfare across the country as they want to get their
45:17
Speaker 1: money back. But it gets worse because Labor and the
45:20
Speaker 1: Greens control the Senate, and who are friends with the Greens,
45:23
Speaker 1: the c IF, him AU and the ETU. So we
45:27
Speaker 1: are going to have industrial mayhem for the next three
45:31
Speaker 1: from down woods until we get back in power with
45:34
Speaker 1: some three years or six years time. Good luck Australia.
45:39
Speaker 2: What do you make of this whole net zero debate,
45:42
Speaker 2: James Ashby amongst the coalition partners, because you know now
45:46
Speaker 2: that you've got someone like Tony Blair out there saying
45:49
Speaker 2: that zero is basically madness. It's hardly a radical right
45:53
Speaker 2: wing position to say it should be on the table,
45:56
Speaker 2: it should be debated, it should be reviewed.
46:00
Speaker 7: Well, it's hardly for me to play marriage counselor between
46:02
Speaker 7: the Liberal and National Party coalition here, But if I
46:06
Speaker 7: was to point one thing out, Peter Donald Trump has
46:10
Speaker 7: proven that countries can remove themselves from this Paris agreement.
46:14
Speaker 7: But out of the one hundred and ninety five countries
46:16
Speaker 7: that have signed up, only a few more than half
46:19
Speaker 7: have actually committed to net zero, which says to me
46:22
Speaker 7: that Australia should be able to go in and at
46:25
Speaker 7: least renegotiate the Paris Agreement that we signed up too
46:29
Speaker 7: many years ago, and I might just add it was
46:30
Speaker 7: a coalition government that signed us up to this. Now
46:33
Speaker 7: that might be the compromise that the Liberal Party and
46:36
Speaker 7: the National Party can go into a room and commit to.
46:39
Speaker 7: How do you sell that to the Australian public is
46:41
Speaker 7: another thing, because clearly people have an interest in the
46:44
Speaker 7: climate in this country. I don't necessarily agree with the
46:47
Speaker 7: arguments that have been put forward, but if you are
46:49
Speaker 7: to find a compromise position, that might be one step
46:53
Speaker 7: that the Coalition can take, because if we don't do something,
46:56
Speaker 7: we're going to drive this economy into the ground. And
46:59
Speaker 7: we're already seeing people struggle. We've got the sixth highest
47:01
Speaker 7: wages in the world here, but people cannot afford to
47:04
Speaker 7: live on them. And the greatest issue that I see
47:07
Speaker 7: is if we don't fix the net zero policy that
47:10
Speaker 7: has been undertaken by both the Coalition and the Labor Party,
47:14
Speaker 7: we will drive this economy into the ground, will hurt
47:17
Speaker 7: home owners, will hurt the investment that comes into this country,
47:20
Speaker 7: and more importantly, we're going to hurt the businesses that
47:22
Speaker 7: employ the bulk of the people in this country. So
47:25
Speaker 7: that's perhaps a solution the Coalition can look towards.
47:31
Speaker 2: Net zero happened after my time. It happened under Scott
47:34
Speaker 2: Morrison though, but I do remember the Paris Agreement debate
47:36
Speaker 2: and the Cabinet I'm.
47:37
Speaker 5: Not speaking out of school.
47:38
Speaker 2: I've got Tony Abbts' permission on this one, James mcgrave.
47:42
Speaker 2: But there was an annotation to the Cabinet minute that
47:43
Speaker 2: made it very clear if the world's circumstances changed, if
47:47
Speaker 2: other countries didn't sign up as they'd promised, or they withdrew,
47:51
Speaker 2: then we've got the Australia reserves the right to renegotiate
47:54
Speaker 2: everything from scratch.
47:56
Speaker 5: I mean, where are you on net zero?
48:01
Speaker 1: I'm with everybody else in the coalition. We've just had
48:03
Speaker 1: our second landslide loss. All of our policies are up
48:07
Speaker 1: for review, all of our our positions that we took
48:10
Speaker 1: for election after review, and we need to take a
48:13
Speaker 1: careful and considered response to all of those.
48:18
Speaker 2: Someone who your colleagues are showing their hand the hand
48:23
Speaker 2: where are you?
48:24
Speaker 5: No, I won't where are you.
48:29
Speaker 1: In terms of leaving Paris? Where I'm on climate change
48:33
Speaker 1: is climates both Paris and that is happening Nez is
48:38
Speaker 1: something we will want to reduce our emissions. We will
48:40
Speaker 1: want to make sure we get there, and we don't
48:42
Speaker 1: want to destroy the economy, and we don't we don't
48:45
Speaker 1: want to destroy the environment at the same time. But
48:48
Speaker 1: it's something Peter that that I, as a member of
48:50
Speaker 1: the Liberal Party team, want to make sure we have
48:52
Speaker 1: a team based approach to this, and I don't.
48:55
Speaker 5: I'll leave it there.
48:56
Speaker 2: But if you're any doubt why you're last, mate, if
48:58
Speaker 2: you're any if you're in any doubt why you're lost,
49:01
Speaker 2: not being able to get up a clear line and
49:03
Speaker 2: something as critical as that tells you everything, I'll leave
49:05
Speaker 2: it there. We'll speak to you both next week. That's
49:08
Speaker 2: it for me and your bot's up next