Latest / The Kenny Report / The Kenny Report | 1 September

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The Kenny Report | 1 September · The Kenny Report

0:02
Speaker 1: This is The Kenny Report. Thanks for joining me tonight.
0:07
Speaker 2: I'll show you how Anthony Albanese is turning the lucky
0:09
Speaker 2: country into the lazy country, undermining our future prosperity. The
0:15
Speaker 2: housing market tipped to keep falling as rents continue to
0:19
Speaker 2: rise as well. Labor's budget pain spreads. The Coalition's Zoe
0:23
Speaker 2: McKenzie will join me. Another Labor minister says it's Pauline
0:27
Speaker 2: Hanson who's driving the animosity in our political debate. And
0:31
Speaker 2: Hanson fires back. Tim Blair is back and has strong
0:34
Speaker 2: views on all of that. In the US, the latest
0:38
Speaker 2: crop of Democrat candidates is trying to put distance between
0:42
Speaker 2: themselves and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Kristen Tate on
0:47
Speaker 2: that situation. And a fascinating global project documenting Jewish lives,
0:52
Speaker 2: as well as the Tuesday panel with Stephen Sanatiempo and
0:55
Speaker 2: Susie O'Brien.
0:56
Speaker 1: Let's get started. We ought to be deeply worried about
1:02
Speaker 1: the direction of this country.
1:04
Speaker 2: I want to show you how the Prime Minister is
1:06
Speaker 2: deliberately undercutting this country's can-do attitude at the behest of
1:11
Speaker 2: the unions. He's turning us into a lazy and unproductive country.
1:16
Speaker 2: I've spoken loud and often about our national energy self-harm,
1:21
Speaker 2: which continues apace, turning our natural cheap energy advantage into
1:26
Speaker 2: a burden of expensive and unreliable energy. I've also explained
1:31
Speaker 2: often how I believe Anthony Albanese and Labor have put
1:35
Speaker 2: us at risk by being weak on Islamist extremism and anti-Semitism.
1:41
Speaker 1: They've actually rewarded.
1:43
Speaker 2: The terrorists of Hamas with their foreign policy decisions as well.
1:47
Speaker 2: Then there's immigration and the unsustainable numbers of migrants, not
1:51
Speaker 2: to mention whether we're bringing in people with the right
1:54
Speaker 2: skills and values. But what about hard work making us
1:58
Speaker 2: productive and prosperous? Well, just listen to Albanese.
2:04
Speaker 3: Happy Friday.
2:05
Speaker 4: It's now been one whole year since every worker had
2:09
Speaker 4: the right to disconnect. Enjoy your weekend.
2:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's one of his big boasts.
2:16
Speaker 2: He's actually passed laws to make sure that workers can
2:20
Speaker 2: refuse to take a call from their boss after work hours.
2:24
Speaker 2: What an innovation, hey? What a can-do country. Well, can-do
2:30
Speaker 2: after the long weekend, perhaps. That's all Albanese talks about
2:34
Speaker 2: and enacts. Laws to give stuff away, as he would
2:38
Speaker 2: have it, to workers. As if he's still a university activist,
2:42
Speaker 2: convinced that all workers are being exploited by the evil capitalists.
2:47
Speaker 1: Your penalty rates?
2:48
Speaker 5: Protected. Your right to disconnect?
2:50
Speaker 1: Locked in. Wage theft? Now a crime.
2:54
Speaker 4: Same job, same pay? Minimum wages up, fair work caught,
2:58
Speaker 4: on the way. We're backing you at work because that's
3:01
Speaker 4: what Labor governments do.
3:04
Speaker 2: Maybe, but they also spend wildly, wreck the budget, rack
3:08
Speaker 2: up the debt, put inflation higher so that higher wages
3:12
Speaker 2: are actually worth less, crash the economy and then reduce
3:16
Speaker 2: the chances of productive jobs and industry and hamper our
3:20
Speaker 2: prosperity into the future. But for Albanese and Labor, it's
3:24
Speaker 2: all about giving away taxpayers' money to buy votes while
3:29
Speaker 2: pretending it's to improve the nation.
3:32
Speaker 4: Studying to be one of these?
3:34
Speaker 5: We've got good news.
3:35
Speaker 4: You'll now get paid while you do your prac because
3:37
Speaker 4: we know that unpaid placements make it hard to graduate
3:41
Speaker 4: and we're helping you get there.
3:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, always handing out other people's cash, even borrowing billions
3:48
Speaker 2: more on our behalf so all of us, some of
3:51
Speaker 2: us can have a lower student debt. Labor seems to
3:55
Speaker 2: be happy borrowing more money to hand out more cash
3:59
Speaker 2: all the time, except for veterans. Why do they draw
4:03
Speaker 2: the line at spending on veterans alone?
4:08
Speaker 1: Go figure.
4:09
Speaker 4: Liberals, nationals and one nation... are already a coalition. They
4:15
Speaker 4: all want to cut wages. They all want to scrap
4:20
Speaker 4: paid parental leave. They all want to make it easier
4:23
Speaker 4: to sack workers. They all want to make it harder
4:27
Speaker 4: for young Australians to buy a home.
4:31
Speaker 2: It's just so idiotic, apart from anything else. The nasty
4:35
Speaker 2: right-of-centre parties, he says, they want to wreck the country
4:38
Speaker 2: and make life worse for everyone. Except that when the
4:42
Speaker 2: Coalition's been in power, the country has thrived, people have
4:45
Speaker 2: been prosperous.
4:47
Speaker 1: And it was always easier to buy a house.
4:50
Speaker 2: Under Labor, it's harder to get a home, but easier
4:53
Speaker 2: to stay in it all day.
4:55
Speaker 4: Just a quick reminder, Labor will always protect your right
5:00
Speaker 4: to work from home.
5:02
Speaker 2: That's Albanese and Labor in a nutshell, boosting union power,
5:06
Speaker 2: bringing in new worker courts, helping workers avoid their bosses
5:10
Speaker 2: out of hours, making sure they have the right to
5:12
Speaker 2: work from home rather than a duty to go to work,
5:16
Speaker 2: offering a bunch of other rights to protect people from
5:19
Speaker 2: problems real or imagined, making our workforce and economy less
5:24
Speaker 2: productive and boasting about minimum pay rises, which Labor's inflation
5:29
Speaker 2: swallows up in a second. The point is that the
5:32
Speaker 2: only way to make the country more prosperous, to make
5:36
Speaker 2: all of us who work for a wage better off
5:39
Speaker 2: without just fuelling inflation, is to boost productivity. And just
5:44
Speaker 2: about everything Labor does pushes in the other direction. They're
5:48
Speaker 2: making the Labor market less flexible and employing people more
5:51
Speaker 2: expensive and difficult, and they're increasing the cost of all
5:55
Speaker 2: the inputs so that productivity is tanking. You only have
5:59
Speaker 2: to look at this graph from the government's Productivity Commission
6:03
Speaker 2: to see how our performance is dropping off as a nation.
6:08
Speaker 2: When we increase wages without improving productivity, we get inflation.
6:12
Speaker 2: And with high inflation, wages aren't worth as much and
6:15
Speaker 2: interest rates rise and.
6:17
Speaker 1: Working families suffer.
6:19
Speaker 2: Here's the Reserve Bank governor making this point just last month.
6:24
Speaker 6: Productivity outcomes have been weak for some time and continued
6:27
Speaker 6: weakness will constrain the economy's ability to grow without generating
6:31
Speaker 6: high inflation.
6:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, if we don't boost productivity, we can't grow the
6:36
Speaker 2: economy without fuelling inflation. Without improving productivity, we don't get
6:41
Speaker 2: higher standards of living.
6:43
Speaker 1: We're in a mess. Labor is out of its depth.
6:47
Speaker 2: We have an energy crisis, so they force out the cheap,
6:50
Speaker 2: reliable energy and subsidise and mandate expensive, unreliable renewables. We
6:56
Speaker 2: have a cost of living crisis, so instead of lowering costs,
6:59
Speaker 2: they hand out more borrowed government money to help people
7:02
Speaker 2: pay their power bills. We have an inflation problem, so
7:05
Speaker 2: they keep spending at record levels, pushing inflation higher. We
7:09
Speaker 2: have a productivity problem, so they pass laws to say
7:13
Speaker 2: that you don't have to go into work And you
7:15
Speaker 2: don't have to answer your phone or emails when you're
7:18
Speaker 2: not there either. And Albanese gets around like the sorcerer's apprentice,
7:24
Speaker 2: handing out more of your taxes to more and more
7:27
Speaker 2: people and telling them all that they're getting something for nothing.
7:32
Speaker 4: Workers aged 18, 19 and 20 are finally being paid
7:36
Speaker 4: like the adults that they are. Penalty rates and overtime
7:40
Speaker 4: pay are protected by law.
7:43
Speaker 1: Super is paid on payday. And wage theft is now
7:46
Speaker 1: a crime.
7:48
Speaker 2: So where does this lead? Well, it leads to a
7:50
Speaker 2: hell of a lot of debt. Try a trillion dollars.
7:53
Speaker 2: That's $ 1, 000 billion of your debt. And it leads to
7:57
Speaker 2: a sluggish economy and fewer jobs and economic activity and
8:02
Speaker 2: lower real wages. And if you look at this next table,
8:06
Speaker 2: it tells the depressing story. This table shows that the
8:10
Speaker 2: respective economies of the states and the territories are not
8:14
Speaker 2: doing too well. All the states and territories grew around 1%
8:19
Speaker 2: last year, except Queensland doing better, doing double that. But
8:23
Speaker 2: blowing them off the charts, the only place with decent
8:27
Speaker 2: economic growth was the Australian Capital Territory on 3.5%. Yep,
8:34
Speaker 2: Labor is taxing the rest of us, running the rest
8:38
Speaker 2: of the country into the ground with its interventionist ways,
8:42
Speaker 2: and we're paying for an extra 45,000 federal public servants
8:46
Speaker 2: so that at least in Canberra things.
8:49
Speaker 1: Will tick along OK.
8:51
Speaker 2: The only economy with decent growth is the one that
8:55
Speaker 2: feeds off our taxes. Says it all about this Labor government,
9:00
Speaker 2: doesn't it? They're turning a lucky country into... into a
9:03
Speaker 2: lazy country and we'll all pay the price. Related to
9:11
Speaker 2: all of this, of course, is the housing crisis and
9:14
Speaker 2: Labor's cack-handed plan to fix it is already coming undone.
9:18
Speaker 2: I mean, Labor axed negative gearing in the 1980s. Rents
9:22
Speaker 2: soared and the market fell, and so they realised their
9:25
Speaker 2: mistake and reversed the decision. But that wasn't enough to
9:29
Speaker 2: convince Jim Chalmers and Anthony Albanese. They've tried the exact
9:33
Speaker 2: same thing and they expect different results. Instead, we get
9:38
Speaker 2: housing companies collapsing, housing sales falling, housing values heading south,
9:45
Speaker 2: with some estimates telling us Sydney prices will drop by
9:48
Speaker 2: close to 20% over the year, and the Commonwealth Bank
9:51
Speaker 2: this afternoon declaring it is a correction, meaning the fall
9:55
Speaker 2: will be at least 10%. And all the while, with
9:59
Speaker 2: higher interest rates and rents rising, it's still too hard
10:02
Speaker 2: for first home buyers.
10:04
Speaker 1: Two thirds.
10:05
Speaker 7: Of Australians own a home with or without a mortgage
10:09
Speaker 7: and their wealth is being impacted.
10:11
Speaker 1: And sadly, we're not seeing any.
10:13
Speaker 7: Benefit from first home buyers. In fact, the evidence is
10:17
Speaker 7: that there are less first home buyers applying for loans
10:21
Speaker 7: than they were before these taxes came in as part
10:24
Speaker 7: of the budget.
10:25
Speaker 1: So this is not working. But don't worry.
10:29
Speaker 2: The geniuses of this Labor government, the devotees of democratic
10:33
Speaker 2: socialism rather than market economics, they've got it all under control.
10:39
Speaker 8: To fix that problem and increase supply, at the last budget,
10:42
Speaker 8: Labor told housing investors, or ushi collectors, you can keep
10:46
Speaker 8: using the tax system to buy ushis, but only new ones.
10:50
Speaker 8: In turn, that means more new ushis to rent and
10:53
Speaker 8: more existing ushis for first-time buyers.
10:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Minister for Sports Rorts, the Member for Ooshies, she's.
11:03
Speaker 1: All over it.
11:04
Speaker 2: Like a lot of Labor politicians, she's gone from one
11:07
Speaker 2: Ooshie job to another.
11:09
Speaker 1: Don't panic. We're all in safe hands.
11:16
Speaker 2: Let's go to Victoria and catch up with Shadow Cabinet
11:18
Speaker 2: Secretary Zoe McKenzie.
11:20
Speaker 1: Zoe, good to talk to you.
11:21
Speaker 2: This productivity issue is the big challenge for our economy.
11:25
Speaker 2: How would a coalition government boost productivity in this country?
11:29
Speaker 3: Oh, well, you know, Chris, this is something we have
11:31
Speaker 3: been talking about for a long time. And, you know,
11:33
Speaker 3: we have an excellent plan... to get rid of Labor's
11:36
Speaker 3: hideous taxes that are anti-productivity. They are anti-aspiration. They are
11:41
Speaker 3: anti-getting ahead and having a go in this country. We
11:43
Speaker 3: want to get rid of all their burdensome red tape
11:46
Speaker 3: and bureaucracy that is holding the country back. So it's
11:49
Speaker 3: all set out here, and we want cheaper electricity, because electricity, energy,
11:54
Speaker 3: is the fuel of the country. So it's all set
11:57
Speaker 3: out here, Chris.
11:58
Speaker 9: I'm sure you've already read it, and your listeners should too.
12:01
Speaker 2: We're getting to see it quite often, but that was
12:04
Speaker 2: quite the presentation, that one right up close to screen.
12:07
Speaker 2: Right on that topic, though, I was staggered last week
12:10
Speaker 2: to see Anthony Albanese at the Bush summit take a
12:14
Speaker 2: question from the audience about over-regulation, stymieing business and farmers
12:18
Speaker 2: and the like.
12:19
Speaker 1: And he said, yeah, we know it's a problem, we're
12:21
Speaker 1: going to get on to it. I mean, he's been
12:23
Speaker 1: in power for four years. When's he going to get
12:25
Speaker 1: on to it?
12:25
Speaker 3: I remember they had a productivity roundtable or some kind
12:28
Speaker 3: of a shindig a while ago now where but you
12:31
Speaker 3: weren't allowed to talk about industrial relations and you weren't
12:33
Speaker 3: allowed to talk about AI, I think, at the time, right?
12:36
Speaker 3: So two of the biggest levers you've got to boost
12:39
Speaker 3: productivity in this country was, you know, don't want to
12:41
Speaker 3: talk about it, blah, blah, blah, blah, because the unions
12:43
Speaker 3: don't like it, therefore not doing it. But I am
12:46
Speaker 3: so tired of this Prime Minister, and indeed his Treasurer,
12:49
Speaker 3: talking your liberalite language, oh, you know, balancing the budget,
12:53
Speaker 3: responsible economic management, productivity, whilst kind of ploughing through a
12:58
Speaker 3: Whitlam-esque agenda of socialism... to kind of annihilate the Australian economy.
13:03
Speaker 3: Any township I'm in in my electorate at the moment,
13:06
Speaker 3: It's endless empty and or closing shops.
13:10
Speaker 9: You know, each day now I'm dropping in on a couple.
13:12
Speaker 3: Of small businesses just basically as a health and morale
13:15
Speaker 3: check to see how they're going. Thank heavens today is
13:18
Speaker 3: the first day of spring. Good weather brings good business
13:20
Speaker 3: to my electorate. So fingers crossed for a better summer
13:23
Speaker 3: than they've had for the last few because people cannot
13:26
Speaker 3: cope with constantly expanding red tape and constantly expanding cost.
13:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, the red tape and industrial relations, I noticed you
13:33
Speaker 1: mentioned that.
13:34
Speaker 2: Let's have a listen to Anthony Albanese again on this
13:37
Speaker 2: right to disconnect.
13:39
Speaker 3: Happy Friday.
13:40
Speaker 4: It's now been one whole year since every worker had
13:45
Speaker 4: the right to disconnect. Enjoy your weekend.
13:49
Speaker 1: Now, these are big changes.
13:50
Speaker 2: He's actually enacting laws to have the right to disconnect
13:54
Speaker 2: and the right to work from home. Now, we know
13:56
Speaker 2: Labor's going to attack anybody who criticises this as being anti-flexibility, anti-worker.
14:02
Speaker 2: But it's all about the onus, isn't it? I mean,
14:04
Speaker 2: of course workers should have flexibility. to work from home
14:08
Speaker 2: when it suits the job, when it suits the enterprise.
14:11
Speaker 1: And, of course, they should not.
14:12
Speaker 2: Be hounded at home by their boss unless it's reasonable.
14:17
Speaker 2: But where was the problem with this? Where was the
14:19
Speaker 2: problem with workers and bosses working this out? Instead, they've
14:23
Speaker 2: enshrined it in law and it puts all the power.
14:26
Speaker 1: Out of the hands of the person who's actually running
14:28
Speaker 1: the business.
14:29
Speaker 3: But not just the power to run the business, the
14:31
Speaker 3: power to communicate with your staff, right? Because everyone's like
14:35
Speaker 3: talking about their rights as opposed to what they do
14:38
Speaker 3: to work together as a team to support the business.
14:41
Speaker 3: And remember, so many young people, right? So many people
14:43
Speaker 3: under 30, they're used to portfolio-based work. They like platform-based work.
14:49
Speaker 3: And all of a sudden, like it's sort of the
14:50
Speaker 3: 1970s and you could just, you know, take the phone
14:53
Speaker 3: off the hook.
14:53
Speaker 9: Remember what we used to do? My kids would take
14:55
Speaker 9: the phone off the hook so no one.
14:56
Speaker 5: Could ring you.
14:57
Speaker 3: That's not the world in which we live anymore. But
15:00
Speaker 3: they keep trying to drive us back to these 70s
15:02
Speaker 3: and 80s IR settings and then telling Australians how lucky
15:07
Speaker 3: they are to have this Labor government in power. Well,
15:10
Speaker 3: I can tell you, no business on my peninsula feels
15:13
Speaker 3: like they are lucky. They are hanging on by the
15:16
Speaker 3: edge of their skin. Between electricity prices, between 15 interest
15:20
Speaker 3: rate rises, between productivity crashing by half a percent in
15:23
Speaker 3: the last year alone, no one is getting ahead. Wages
15:27
Speaker 3: aren't getting ahead. Profitability isn't getting ahead. Productivity isn't getting ahead.
15:32
Speaker 3: It's all going backwards. And yet, Albo and Jim will
15:36
Speaker 3: keep telling you how lucky you are.
15:37
Speaker 10: To have them.
15:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a hell of a worry. Chalmers is very
15:41
Speaker 2: smug for a bloke who's presiding over this mess.
15:43
Speaker 6: Yep.
15:43
Speaker 2: Let's go to foreign affairs because the Prime Minister is
15:46
Speaker 2: at the Pacific Island Forum at the moment in Palau. And,
15:50
Speaker 2: of course, China has said there will be consequences for
15:54
Speaker 2: the Pacific Island Forum countries because they allowed Taiwan to
15:58
Speaker 2: send a delegate.
15:59
Speaker 1: Here was Anthony Albanese when he was asked about that.
16:02
Speaker 4: The Pacific Islands Forum determines what happens here, not any
16:07
Speaker 4: other country. This is a well-attended meeting of the Pacific
16:10
Speaker 4: Islands Forum and I don't think it's productive to talk
16:14
Speaker 4: it down.
16:16
Speaker 1: I'm talking it up. Now, you've got a background in
16:19
Speaker 1: these sorts of meetings. Has he said enough there?
16:22
Speaker 2: Was that the right thing, just to basically stay out
16:25
Speaker 2: of it? Or should he have admonished China for sticking
16:28
Speaker 2: its nose in?
16:30
Speaker 9: But isn't this the approach the Prime Minister has taken
16:32
Speaker 9: to everything in relation to China, and particularly what I
16:36
Speaker 9: might see as front-footed moves in the Pacific, whether it
16:40
Speaker 9: was missiles in the South Pacific or various trade actions
16:45
Speaker 9: to make it harder for Australians.
16:46
Speaker 3: To sell their products? Consistent, may I say, with the
16:49
Speaker 3: terms and conditions of our free trade agreement with China,
16:52
Speaker 3: the Prime Minister is very reluctant to just frankly have
16:55
Speaker 3: a man-to-man conversation with the President of China.
16:58
Speaker 5: And say, hey.
16:59
Speaker 9: here are the rules, here's what we are doing in
17:01
Speaker 9: good faith, here's what we expect of you.
17:02
Speaker 3: Now, if you're going to do war exercises in the Pacific,
17:05
Speaker 3: tell us you're going to do it, right? These are
17:07
Speaker 3: not unreasonable expectations from powers who want to get along together.
17:13
Speaker 3: So he's in Palau, he's got a chance to talk
17:15
Speaker 3: to the Chinese directly and he should do it, not
17:17
Speaker 3: just about who needs to be around the table.
17:19
Speaker 11: If he's all optimistic and in favour of the Pacific
17:22
Speaker 11: Islands Forum, as he should be, well, let's make sure
17:25
Speaker 11: everyone who wants to be there to contribute to the
17:28
Speaker 11: future of the Pacific Islands, feels welcome in doing so.
17:31
Speaker 1: Good stuff, Zoe. Thanks for joining us. Appreciate it. Have
17:33
Speaker 1: a good weekend. I'm talking like it's Friday.
17:36
Speaker 2: How about you have a good and busy week talking
17:39
Speaker 2: about productivity?
17:40
Speaker 1: Zoe McKenzie there in Victoria. I've got Friday on my mind.
17:44
Speaker 1: Good God.
17:46
Speaker 2: Now, I showed you yesterday how Pauline Hanson hit back
17:49
Speaker 2: at the Prime Minister and the Treasurer. They're calling One
17:53
Speaker 2: Nation dangerous, a threat and divisive. Against a backdrop of
17:58
Speaker 2: graffiti saying, kill Pauline Hanson, the One Nation leader said
18:02
Speaker 2: the demonisation of her party could lead to political violence.
18:07
Speaker 5: Yes, he is.
18:08
Speaker 12: You know, he's never called anyone else out as being dangerous,
18:12
Speaker 12: you know, and, you know, a lot of people are
18:14
Speaker 12: in fear of what they don't understand and they've been...
18:18
Speaker 12: Misled about the truth about One Nation. It's happening constantly
18:21
Speaker 12: all the time in the schools and universities. And the
18:24
Speaker 12: incitement that is happening is through our educational system and
18:28
Speaker 12: a Prime Minister who should know better than that.
18:32
Speaker 1: So that was yesterday.
18:33
Speaker 2: Here's how the government responded today via the Attorney-General.
18:37
Speaker 6: When you go on and you entertain some of the
18:41
Speaker 6: individuals whom she has been entertaining, who are not only
18:45
Speaker 6: convicted criminals, when you admit that you have a party
18:49
Speaker 6: that has been infiltrated by extremists and neo-Nazis, this is
18:53
Speaker 6: exactly the kind of dangers to which politicians are being.
18:57
Speaker 3: Put in this country.
18:59
Speaker 6: I don't wish ill on Ms Hanson in a physical way,
19:01
Speaker 6: but I think sometimes when comments like this are made,
19:04
Speaker 6: one needs to look at oneself and one's behaviour and
19:07
Speaker 6: and the kinds of standards that they accept into their
19:12
Speaker 6: own party and their own ideology.
19:15
Speaker 2: Let's welcome back our regular guest, The Daily Telegraph's Tim Blair. Tim,
19:19
Speaker 2: we'll get to where you've been in just a moment,
19:21
Speaker 2: but you've written about these issues today.
19:24
Speaker 1: Tell us about that.
19:25
Speaker 2: That sounds like the government again saying Pauline Hanson's the problem.
19:29
Speaker 13: It's an extraordinary misstep, I think, from Anthony Albanese to
19:34
Speaker 13: start it off. And it's compounded by Michelle Rowland's extraordinary thing.
19:38
Speaker 13: Let's just break it down a little bit. Anthony Albanese
19:41
Speaker 13: knows what he's saying. He knew what he was telling
19:44
Speaker 13: his delegates in Queensland. He knew that he was putting
19:47
Speaker 13: a big target, he would say, metaphorically, on Pauline Hanson.
19:52
Speaker 13: But we've seen how this works in a place I've
19:54
Speaker 13: just been, in the United States. We've seen multiple assassination
19:57
Speaker 13: attempts against Donald Trump and successful ones against people like
20:03
Speaker 13: the Charlie Kirk massacre, or the Charlie Kirk murder. These
20:07
Speaker 13: have been driven by a left-wing condemnation of conservative figures, demonisation. So,
20:14
Speaker 13: you know, Albo's got to know that. He's got to
20:17
Speaker 13: be able to pick up papers. He's got to be
20:18
Speaker 13: able to read. He knows. But also, it's tactically stupid
20:22
Speaker 13: because Trump won after he was shot. Demonisation doesn't work,
20:27
Speaker 13: and I don't think it's working with Pauline Hanson. As
20:29
Speaker 13: much as Albo wants to smash her... Every time he
20:33
Speaker 13: does it, she goes up in the polls.
20:35
Speaker 14: Yeah.
20:35
Speaker 13: Work it out, Albo.
20:36
Speaker 1: Come on.
20:37
Speaker 2: And it's not surprising because by demonising her, he's effectively
20:40
Speaker 2: demonising anybody who supports her and so it just galvanises them.
20:44
Speaker 2: Let's have a look at the way Pauline Hanson has
20:46
Speaker 2: responded on social media today.
20:48
Speaker 1: To Michelle Rowland.
20:50
Speaker 2: She said that Michelle Rowland should retract her comments and
20:53
Speaker 2: apologise for slandering One Nation and its supporters while appearing
20:57
Speaker 2: to excuse the violent threats.
20:58
Speaker 1: Directed against them. She says millions of Australians support One Nation.
21:02
Speaker 1: They're not extremists. They're not dangerous.
21:05
Speaker 2: Ministers shouldn't use language that encourage others to.
21:08
Speaker 1: Treat them that way.
21:09
Speaker 2: No minister, especially the Attorney-General, should suggest there's any justification
21:14
Speaker 2: for threats against Australians because of the political party they support.
21:19
Speaker 2: Labor should be asking why Australians are abandoning them for
21:22
Speaker 2: One Nation, not demonising those Australians for how they vote and.
21:26
Speaker 1: Putting them in danger. These are desperate acts from a
21:29
Speaker 1: government of liars. It seems to be a reasonable point.
21:33
Speaker 5: 100%.
21:34
Speaker 13: I'd draw particular attention to a comment from Michelle Rowland about...
21:39
Speaker 13: you know, One Nation is platforming people who are convicted criminals. Well,
21:43
Speaker 13: talk to Tanya Plibersek about it. You know, she's married
21:46
Speaker 13: to a convicted criminal. Everyone got over it. He's had
21:48
Speaker 13: a very successful subsequent career in the New South Wales
21:51
Speaker 13: Public Service. But if you're going to write people off
21:53
Speaker 13: for life and if you're going to paint them as
21:55
Speaker 13: wicked by association, well, Rowland's on very thin ice here,
22:00
Speaker 13: very thin and ridiculous ice. She's proving more of a
22:04
Speaker 13: liability than an elbow at the moment, which is really
22:06
Speaker 13: saying something.
22:07
Speaker 1: Well, it fits a pattern, though, doesn't it?
22:08
Speaker 2: Albanese says and does ridiculous things with melons or whatever
22:12
Speaker 2: and then they have to trot out the Labor women
22:14
Speaker 2: to back him and they surrender their own credibility by
22:18
Speaker 2: backing him instead of actually taking a strong and independent line.
22:22
Speaker 13: Yeah, they're independent right up to a certain point. I mean,
22:24
Speaker 13: this is always the Labor way, though, isn't it? You know,
22:27
Speaker 13: Penny Wong was against gay marriage because it was Labor
22:30
Speaker 13: was against gay marriage until it turned around and she
22:32
Speaker 13: suddenly found her true calling. The party is incredibly hypocritical
22:36
Speaker 13: and dishonest to people and it serves mainly to feed itself.
22:40
Speaker 13: You'll notice that in his comments to the Queensland State
22:44
Speaker 13: Conference yesterday or the day before that Albo said... you know,
22:48
Speaker 13: it's terrible times right now or dangerous times for the movement.
22:51
Speaker 13: He didn't say for our country, he said for our movement.
22:53
Speaker 1: Yes, exactly.
22:54
Speaker 13: It's always Labor first with this bloke and it always
22:56
Speaker 13: will be.
22:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's always about Labor first.
22:58
Speaker 2: So let's revisit what he said on the weekend because
23:01
Speaker 2: I found this comment astounding on a couple of levels.
23:05
Speaker 4: Across the world, hard-right populists are on the march, peddling
23:09
Speaker 4: politics that is dangerous, divisive and downright dishonest.
23:14
Speaker 2: Now, we've just covered the dangerous and divisive, and that's
23:18
Speaker 2: one of the reasons it's astonishing.
23:20
Speaker 1: But tell me about this bloke calling others dishonest.
23:24
Speaker 13: This is a guy who famously has redefined lying as
23:27
Speaker 13: merely changing position. You know, this is a guy, he
23:31
Speaker 13: actually said, I think, later on in the same speech,
23:34
Speaker 13: something about, you know, we owe it to history to
23:37
Speaker 13: get things right. Well, he also owes us 275 bucks
23:40
Speaker 13: for our power bills that he was going to cut.
23:42
Speaker 13: He owes us, in short, a great deal more honesty
23:45
Speaker 13: than he's ever given us.
23:47
Speaker 2: I've never seen a bloke before in my life fall
23:49
Speaker 2: off a stage and then people tell people he didn't
23:52
Speaker 2: fall off a stage, hold his hands like this and
23:55
Speaker 2: say he's not making a melon joke.
23:57
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just extraordinary. And they're stuck with him.
24:00
Speaker 1: Just quickly, Chris Bowen's still out there banging on about
24:03
Speaker 1: home batteries. Have a look.
24:05
Speaker 15: Now I know I talk a lot about people who
24:07
Speaker 15: put in cheaper home batteries. Today I'm going to do
24:09
Speaker 15: something a bit different and talk about people who haven't
24:10
Speaker 15: put in a cheaper home battery. They're benefiting from cheaper
24:13
Speaker 15: home batteries as well as the people who put them in.
24:16
Speaker 1: Why?
24:16
Speaker 15: Well, because energy prices are at their most expensive at
24:19
Speaker 15: night when we're using the most coal and gas, which
24:22
Speaker 15: are expensive. Every single house that puts in a home
24:25
Speaker 15: battery means that bit less gas being used at night.
24:28
Speaker 15: which bit by bit reduces wholesale prices for everyone. Did
24:31
Speaker 15: you know that Australia is one of the very, very
24:33
Speaker 15: few countries in the world that's cut wholesale prices in
24:36
Speaker 15: the last year? They're going up everywhere else because of
24:38
Speaker 15: the energy crisis, but they're coming down in Australia.
24:42
Speaker 1: Talk about dishonest. Who cares about wholesale prices?
24:45
Speaker 2: Everybody knows that the retail prices they're paying precisely because
24:49
Speaker 2: of these renewable strategies are going up. How can you
24:52
Speaker 2: tell Australians to be grateful for increasing prices?
24:56
Speaker 13: It's an entirely irrelevant figure. It's like going on about
25:00
Speaker 13: the wholesale price of oil when you're paying a huge
25:03
Speaker 13: amount more at the pump because of taxes and transport
25:07
Speaker 13: and other issues. By the way, if you were watching
25:10
Speaker 13: that message from Bowen, on battery-powered electricity, you probably might
25:14
Speaker 13: have got halfway through it before it cut out.
25:16
Speaker 1: Indeed. Now, I mentioned where you've been and you mentioned
25:19
Speaker 1: you've been in the States. I love your holidays.
25:21
Speaker 2: I'm envious of them because I love a road trip
25:23
Speaker 2: and I love an American road trip as well. And
25:27
Speaker 2: you take yourself off the beaten track and sample, test
25:31
Speaker 2: the temperature of the nation.
25:32
Speaker 1: How are they going in the Great Republic?
25:34
Speaker 13: It's a cheerful place right now. I think the World
25:36
Speaker 13: Cup has done a lot to boost American spirits. They've
25:40
Speaker 13: had a lot more visitors than they've had since the
25:43
Speaker 13: COVID times. And I think a lot of those visitors
25:46
Speaker 13: were cheered and thrilled by what they saw. And it's
25:50
Speaker 13: done a lot for American Things. But yeah, it was
25:52
Speaker 13: a bit of a journey. I think it was, in
25:54
Speaker 13: the end, 12 states, 17 hotels, three rental cars, three
25:59
Speaker 13: internal flights, and a very sore bunch of leg muscles
26:03
Speaker 13: after all of that, mate.
26:04
Speaker 1: And how many burgers?
26:06
Speaker 13: I'm very health conscious these days, so only about 80.
26:10
Speaker 1: And you got up to Maine. I'd love to get up.
26:12
Speaker 2: Into that corner of the country. I'll mark that off
26:16
Speaker 2: the next time I get there. Thanks for joining us, Tim.
26:17
Speaker 1: We'll catch up with you on Thursday. Tim Blair, reading
26:20
Speaker 1: stuff in the Daily Telegraph as ever. We'll go to
26:24
Speaker 1: a break.
26:25
Speaker 2: On the other side, I want to share with you
26:26
Speaker 2: a fascinating global project documenting Jewish lives around the world,
26:31
Speaker 2: particularly in Australia at the moment. Now, the other day
26:38
Speaker 2: I was asked to take part in a fascinating project,
26:40
Speaker 2: so I thought I'd share it with you. It's interesting
26:42
Speaker 2: because of the content matter and the technology involved. It
26:46
Speaker 2: originates from a project funded by film director Steven Spielberg's
26:49
Speaker 2: Charity Foundation. Spielberg's famous, of course, for Schindler's List as
26:54
Speaker 2: well as many other films. And this project created a
26:57
Speaker 2: video archive of Holocaust survivors.
27:00
Speaker 1: Now, a new archive, all hosted on a phone app, has.
27:04
Speaker 2: spread that further by compiling stories of Jewish people and
27:08
Speaker 2: their communities around the world.
27:11
Speaker 16: Welcome to Our Jewish Story, the new storytelling app that
27:15
Speaker 16: gives a face, a name, a story to Jewish people
27:20
Speaker 16: wherever they are in the world.
27:23
Speaker 1: Let's talk to Gabby.
27:25
Speaker 10: Hi, I'm Gabby.
27:26
Speaker 1: Hi, Gabby.
27:27
Speaker 16: Is being Jewish a religion or an ethnicity?
27:29
Speaker 10: It means different things for different people.
27:34
Speaker 2: Now, the man asking the questions in that video is
27:37
Speaker 2: the LA-based project director of Our Jewish Story, who's filming
27:42
Speaker 2: episodes and interviews here in Australia.
27:44
Speaker 1: Stephen Smith joins me in the studio. Good to see
27:46
Speaker 1: you again, Stephen.
27:47
Speaker 5: Hello, Chris.
27:47
Speaker 10: Hi.
27:48
Speaker 1: Let's get into this project.
27:49
Speaker 2: Let me start off, though, with the Stephen Spielberg connection.
27:53
Speaker 2: What's his role been in this project that involves the library.
27:57
Speaker 1: The National Library in Israel, and, of course, what you're
28:00
Speaker 1: doing from LA?
28:01
Speaker 16: Yeah, so for many years, I was the director of
28:03
Speaker 16: something called the Shoah Foundation at the University of Southern California.
28:07
Speaker 16: This was started by Steven Spielberg immediately following Schindler's List
28:11
Speaker 16: when he realized there were tens of thousands of stories
28:14
Speaker 16: to be told from that tragedy that befell the Jewish people.
28:17
Speaker 16: And so I was very honored to be part of
28:19
Speaker 16: collecting those interviews and making sure they were disseminated around
28:22
Speaker 16: the world.
28:24
Speaker 5: Once I left the Shoah Foundation.
28:26
Speaker 16: Where the archive had been permanently placed in the National
28:29
Speaker 16: Library of Israel as a part of its preservation for
28:32
Speaker 16: the future, we began to realize that in addition to
28:35
Speaker 16: the Holocaust stories, there were thousands of Jewish stories around
28:39
Speaker 16: the world that could be told as a part of
28:41
Speaker 16: telling the story of the Jewish people as a whole,
28:44
Speaker 16: hence our Jewish story.
28:46
Speaker 2: And all these interviews are available for people to see,
28:50
Speaker 2: but they're also stored for posterity, so it's a living history.
28:54
Speaker 2: As part of that project, you've been in Australia for
28:56
Speaker 2: the last few weeks interviewing people.
28:59
Speaker 1: About what?
29:00
Speaker 5: About their lives, about their heritage.
29:02
Speaker 16: I mean, Jewish people have been living in Australia since
29:05
Speaker 16: the early 1800s, probably from the very first settlement. Some
29:08
Speaker 16: of the families we talked to had families arriving in
29:11
Speaker 16: 1817 and 1819 and can trace their family all the
29:14
Speaker 16: way back to those that arrive maybe coming from the
29:17
Speaker 16: Soviet Union or from apartheid South Africa. So people have
29:21
Speaker 16: arrived in the Jewish community over a number of phases.
29:24
Speaker 16: We've been digging into that heritage, learning about why they
29:28
Speaker 16: came and think about it, the connection to the Shoah,
29:30
Speaker 16: to the Holocaust. many, many families came following the Holocaust
29:35
Speaker 16: in order to find refuge after their families had been decimated.
29:39
Speaker 16: And so we've been hearing about how they rebuilt their lives,
29:42
Speaker 16: how Australia became their home, and all the values that
29:45
Speaker 16: Australia offered as a place of refuge was there for
29:48
Speaker 16: them and their families, which they have built this beautiful
29:50
Speaker 16: community in.
29:51
Speaker 2: I'll follow up on that in just a moment. But
29:53
Speaker 2: before we do, let's just show a sample of some.
29:55
Speaker 1: Of these interviews.
29:58
Speaker 17: The absolute miracles it took for any of us to
30:01
Speaker 17: sit here in 2025 and say I'm a Jew. So
30:04
Speaker 17: this Megendavid Star of David that I'm wearing is very
30:08
Speaker 17: special to me.
30:08
Speaker 10: It was actually my grandfather's.
30:11
Speaker 6: We have a worldwide anti-Semitism brewing all over the place.
30:17
Speaker 6: Now I am more Jewish than ever before.
30:19
Speaker 1: We're upholding like everything that they survived for.
30:23
Speaker 16: You're recording Jewish values, Jewish beliefs, Jewish commitments all over
30:29
Speaker 16: the world.
30:29
Speaker 1: OK, that's obviously some of the American interviews there.
30:33
Speaker 2: And, Stephen, I've got to ask you then, you've done
30:36
Speaker 2: dozens of interviews in Australia in the past couple of weeks.
30:40
Speaker 2: You talk about that promise, immigrants coming here post-Holocaust, the
30:45
Speaker 2: blameless lives they've led here. I've spoken to Holocaust survivors
30:49
Speaker 2: in Australia myself who couldn't.
30:50
Speaker 1: Believe the freedom and liberty... and lack of.
30:53
Speaker 2: Discrimination they experienced growing up in Australia. But that's been
30:57
Speaker 2: crushed in recent years, subsequent to October the 7th, and
31:02
Speaker 2: especially now since Bondi. You're doing these interviews within nine
31:05
Speaker 2: months of Bondi occurring. What's your experience been through these
31:09
Speaker 2: interviews of the trauma of Jewish Australians?
31:12
Speaker 16: Yeah, Jews living in Australia today are absolutely crushed by
31:17
Speaker 16: what's occurred. They did not see this coming.
31:20
Speaker 5: Maybe they had that.
31:22
Speaker 16: some signs in the past, but this has really been
31:26
Speaker 16: a breaking of the social contract between the Jewish community
31:29
Speaker 16: and Australia. They feel confused, they feel left, they've been
31:34
Speaker 16: left and excluded outside of their own society. I will
31:39
Speaker 16: say one thing though. Australian Jews feel proud to be Australian.
31:45
Speaker 16: They feel that they are deeply, deeply committed to this country.
31:49
Speaker 16: They are resilient, not in a tough way, but in
31:51
Speaker 16: the way of feeling that this is their country, that
31:55
Speaker 16: they're going to.
31:56
Speaker 5: Continue to contribute to it.
31:58
Speaker 16: One person said to me today, I'm just going to
31:59
Speaker 16: continue to bring light to my country and continue to
32:02
Speaker 16: be committed to it.
32:04
Speaker 5: That, to me, was the most amazing thing.
32:06
Speaker 1: It's incredible.
32:07
Speaker 2: But they thought they would never have to confront this
32:09
Speaker 2: sort of thing in Australia.
32:10
Speaker 1: They never. Some have left.
32:12
Speaker 16: Some have left. Some have told me we have a
32:14
Speaker 16: plan B. But one person yesterday said, we have a
32:17
Speaker 16: plan B, but we're committed to plan A, which is
32:19
Speaker 16: to make this country better, to heal it, to make bridges,
32:23
Speaker 16: to find a way forward together. And that was what,
32:26
Speaker 16: as an outsider to this country, that was the most
32:28
Speaker 16: surprising thing. I heard the trauma. We spoke to Bondi survivors.
32:33
Speaker 16: We spoke to those who'd been witness to this continual
32:37
Speaker 16: Jew hatred that's been persistent over the last few years.
32:41
Speaker 16: And yet I came away with the impression that Australian
32:44
Speaker 16: Jews are committed to Australia and to their own community.
32:48
Speaker 2: Your outside perspective will be interesting because, of course, anti-Semitism
32:51
Speaker 2: and Islamist extremism are global problems. You know America and
32:56
Speaker 2: the UK and probably Europe well. Is anti-Semitism worse in
33:00
Speaker 2: Australia than other parts of the world?
33:02
Speaker 16: I think wherever Jew hatred occurs, there's no better or worse.
33:06
Speaker 16: What you've got, though, is a community that was so
33:08
Speaker 16: protected and so grateful for the Australian experience and for
33:14
Speaker 16: being welcome in this country and for being able to
33:17
Speaker 16: flourish in this country. But one of the people I
33:19
Speaker 16: work with, Lee Lieberman in Melbourne, told me something very
33:22
Speaker 16: important at the beginning of this project, the global project.
33:25
Speaker 16: She says, whenever there is anti-Semitism, you watch, Jews will flourish.
33:31
Speaker 5: And I think I.
33:32
Speaker 16: See that in Australia, in spite of everything. It's now
33:35
Speaker 16: up to Australia, I think, to keep its contract with
33:38
Speaker 16: the Jewish people and allow them to flourish the way
33:41
Speaker 16: they should.
33:41
Speaker 2: Great to hear your optimism, Stephen. Congratulations on the project.
33:45
Speaker 2: I hope you had a good time in Australia. Safe
33:46
Speaker 2: travels home.
33:47
Speaker 1: Thank you. Stephen Smith there from Our Jewish Story. Have
33:50
Speaker 1: a look around. You can download the app and look
33:52
Speaker 1: at it. It's amazing technology.
33:54
Speaker 2: You can actually ask questions of the video app and
33:57
Speaker 2: people will respond more or less to the questions you've asked.
34:01
Speaker 1: We'd better take a break. On the other side.
34:03
Speaker 2: We're going to talk about how the latest crop of
34:04
Speaker 2: Democrat candidates in the US is trying to put distance
34:07
Speaker 2: between themselves and Joe Biden.
34:09
Speaker 1: And even Kamala Harris. Kristen Tate will join me.
34:16
Speaker 2: I'll have Kristen Tate in the US in just a
34:18
Speaker 2: moment because some Democrats are now distancing themselves from former
34:23
Speaker 2: President Joe Biden and his veep and presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
34:27
Speaker 1: Have a look at this exchange.
34:29
Speaker 14: Some Democrats in red states are sending a clear message
34:32
Speaker 14: to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, stay out of the race.
34:36
Speaker 14: Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rob Sand is making that message clear.
34:41
Speaker 10: Would you want to have Joe Biden here campaign for you?
34:45
Speaker 7: No.
34:46
Speaker 1: Can he even do that right now? I'm sorry. How
34:47
Speaker 1: about Kamala Harris?
34:48
Speaker 7: No, thanks.
34:50
Speaker 1: Let's move on. We need some new leadership. You don't
34:53
Speaker 1: think Harris should run in 2028?
34:54
Speaker 10: Nope.
34:56
Speaker 2: As I put to Kristen, this next generation of Democrats
34:59
Speaker 2: might be turning their backs on recent political history, but
35:02
Speaker 2: it's understandable.
35:04
Speaker 18: I am not shocked by this, but it is kind
35:07
Speaker 18: of astounding.
35:08
Speaker 10: I mean, think about it. Usually a losing presidential nominee
35:11
Speaker 10: kind of remains a major figure in the party.
35:14
Speaker 18: Kamala went from the future of democracy to please don't
35:18
Speaker 18: campaign with me in less.
35:19
Speaker 10: Than two years. And that is quite shocking. An extraordinary
35:22
Speaker 10: political disappearing act.
35:24
Speaker 18: I will say, though, Chris, that this is actually pretty
35:27
Speaker 18: smart Democrat strategy here. They're trying to nationalize Republicans and
35:31
Speaker 18: localize Democrats. What Sand and others are doing is they're
35:34
Speaker 18: trying to kind of run against Trump and the national
35:37
Speaker 18: Republicans while kind of localizing Democrats by distancing themselves from
35:43
Speaker 18: national Democrats and the issues that are polarizing to voters
35:47
Speaker 18: in red states.
35:48
Speaker 10: So it's kind of smart strategy.
35:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's clever politics, but, of course, one of the
35:52
Speaker 2: stumbling blocks for them is Kamala Harris herself, who still
35:55
Speaker 2: seems to like to draw attention to herself, and especially
35:58
Speaker 2: when the Democrats try and demonise Donald Trump for claiming
36:01
Speaker 2: that he was robbed of an election. I don't think
36:05
Speaker 2: it suits the Democrats too well to hear Harris going
36:07
Speaker 2: on like this.
36:09
Speaker 10: Hey, everybody.
36:10
Speaker 19: Just this week, the United States Supreme Court backed up
36:14
Speaker 19: the President's agenda.
36:16
Speaker 10: He's trying to make it more difficult for you to
36:18
Speaker 10: vote by mail.
36:19
Speaker 19: By the way, he votes by mail from Mar-a-Lago, but
36:23
Speaker 19: he doesn't want you to vote by mail because he
36:25
Speaker 19: knows you're paying attention.
36:26
Speaker 10: We are two months away from the midterms.
36:28
Speaker 3: Get out and vote. Let's get everyone out to vote.
36:31
Speaker 10: They are cheating. They are trying to cheat.
36:33
Speaker 19: And we have got to turn out in big numbers
36:36
Speaker 19: and be too big to rig.
36:38
Speaker 3: I'll see you out there.
36:40
Speaker 1: Here we go.
36:40
Speaker 2: The Republicans and the Democrats both saying that the other
36:43
Speaker 2: side is cheating.
36:46
Speaker 10: It is just completely ridiculous.
36:48
Speaker 18: You know, the Democrats have gone from, oh, it was
36:51
Speaker 18: the most secure election.
36:53
Speaker 10: There's no fraud ever.
36:54
Speaker 18: Don't you ask any questions or your conspiracy theorists to
36:57
Speaker 18: now saying that we can expect fraud and that, you know,
37:01
Speaker 18: Trump and the Republicans and Republicans want to cheat. These
37:04
Speaker 18: people are complete jokers. Nobody listens to a thing they
37:08
Speaker 18: say anymore, takes them seriously.
37:10
Speaker 2: So if not Kamala Harris, if she's not to be
37:12
Speaker 2: taken seriously at all, who are the likely types starting
37:16
Speaker 2: to emerge on the Democrat side for the next presidential campaign?
37:21
Speaker 18: Well, you know, Chris, everyone's saying Gavin Newsom is the
37:24
Speaker 18: guy who's going to be the nominee.
37:25
Speaker 10: But I don't know if I agree with that.
37:27
Speaker 18: I actually believe that we don't even know the name
37:31
Speaker 18: necessarily of the person who will be the nominee.
37:33
Speaker 10: People in America are really hungry.
37:35
Speaker 18: For outsiders, for business people, for non-politicians to come in
37:41
Speaker 18: and shake things up. And we could very much see
37:43
Speaker 18: that in a Democrat position. primary so Gavin Newsom would
37:47
Speaker 18: definitely be the obvious choice but I am not convinced
37:51
Speaker 18: that he is a shoo-in for the nomination I think
37:54
Speaker 18: we could see a wild card.
37:57
Speaker 2: We'll see we will see just for laughs though we've
37:59
Speaker 2: got to talk about the comedians some of them will
38:03
Speaker 2: want Kamala Harris to run again have a look at this.
38:07
Speaker 19: Doug, do you know how to work the copy machine?
38:10
Speaker 19: We're gonna need it if we're gonna run in 2028.
38:12
Speaker 3: Right?
38:15
Speaker 19: Grab some stamps and envelopes, okay? Get a list of
38:19
Speaker 19: everybody at the cemetery.
38:22
Speaker 3: Right, right?
38:24
Speaker 19: We're gonna do it this time. We're gonna rig it big. Oh, Doug,
38:31
Speaker 19: don't forget some more wine.
38:33
Speaker 5: Okay.
38:37
Speaker 10: See you in 2028. Okay.
38:43
Speaker 1: It's so good, Kristen.
38:44
Speaker 2: The trouble is that she speaks in coherent sentences and
38:48
Speaker 2: Kamala Harris doesn't actually do that.
38:50
Speaker 10: Yes, that's exactly right.
38:52
Speaker 18: And by the way, just because I don't think Kamala
38:54
Speaker 18: will be the nominee doesn't mean that she's not going
38:56
Speaker 18: to run. I have heard from many people in the
39:00
Speaker 18: Beltway that there are actual discussions going on right now
39:04
Speaker 18: with Democrat insiders about potentially having Kamala run again.
39:08
Speaker 10: So that could very well happen. And I wish it
39:11
Speaker 10: It would be so entertaining.
39:13
Speaker 1: It sure would.
39:14
Speaker 2: We would all be entertained, although we'd despair, really, if
39:18
Speaker 2: that's the best that the Democrats and Americans have got
39:21
Speaker 2: to offer.
39:22
Speaker 1: Let's bring it back to the deadly.
39:23
Speaker 2: Serious and the ongoing war in Iran. And the president
39:27
Speaker 2: has actually been asked a bizarre question. really, about the
39:31
Speaker 2: potential of using nuclear weapons.
39:33
Speaker 1: Have a look.
39:34
Speaker 17: The answer is yes.
39:35
Speaker 5: I ruled out.
39:36
Speaker 17: I ruled out... There's no reason for it. What a
39:40
Speaker 17: stupid question that.
39:41
Speaker 4: Is, actually.
39:42
Speaker 1: Here they are.
39:42
Speaker 17: They're... They're totally defeated militarily. So now I defeat him
39:49
Speaker 17: and now I should use a nuclear weapon on top
39:51
Speaker 17: of him? What a stupid question.
39:54
Speaker 2: It is a pretty stupid question, but good that he
39:56
Speaker 2: ruled it out in such a clear way.
39:59
Speaker 10: Of course, there's no reason to use a nuclear weapon here.
40:02
Speaker 18: Doing that would transform basically a regional war into something
40:06
Speaker 18: potentially very catastrophic. But Trump's next sentence is what raises
40:11
Speaker 18: the question. He said Iran is totally defeated militarily. Why
40:15
Speaker 18: would he say that if we're still there fighting and
40:18
Speaker 18: if they are defeated, then what's the end game here?
40:21
Speaker 10: That's what people are going to ask.
40:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's declared victory on this one many, many times,
40:25
Speaker 2: yet still the conflict continues.
40:28
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us, Kristen. Appreciate it.
40:30
Speaker 10: Thank you as always, Chris.
40:33
Speaker 2: Now, after the break, we'll catch up with Susie O'Brien
40:35
Speaker 2: and Stephen Senatiempo.
40:36
Speaker 1: We'll talk about how the smokers are being hit by
40:39
Speaker 1: government taxes again. Good for the criminals.
40:47
Speaker 2: Let's get into the Tuesday panel with the News Corp
40:49
Speaker 2: National Education Editor, Susie O'Brien, joining us from Melbourne, and
40:52
Speaker 2: Radio 2CC Breakfast host Stephen Senatiempo in Canberra. And even
40:56
Speaker 2: in different states, they've been able to fashion coordinate for the.
41:00
Speaker 1: First day of spring. Well done, guys. Looking resplendent. We've
41:04
Speaker 1: got a WhatsApp group. WhatsApp group.
41:07
Speaker 10: What are we wearing?
41:09
Speaker 1: Now, I want to start off on the first day
41:11
Speaker 1: of spring. Not a happy day for smokers.
41:13
Speaker 2: A pretty good one, though, for the criminal vendors of
41:18
Speaker 2: illegal cigarettes because another excise increase. It brings the total
41:24
Speaker 2: tax on an individual cigarette, Stephen, to.
41:27
Speaker 1: More than $ 1.
41:28
Speaker 10: 55.
41:28
Speaker 2: Now, when I was a kid, I could get four
41:32
Speaker 2: packets of 20 for $ 1. 55. Now you pay that as
41:36
Speaker 2: tax on a single cigarette.
41:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know.
41:39
Speaker 20: I remember going down to the local servo and buying
41:42
Speaker 20: my dad a carton of senior service for, I think,
41:44
Speaker 20: about 70 bucks for the whole carton. But now it's
41:47
Speaker 20: nearly that for a packet. Look, it's just ridiculous that
41:50
Speaker 20: we haven't quite worked out the basic mathematics of this.
41:53
Speaker 20: And it doesn't surprised me that this government can't get
41:55
Speaker 20: their head around the maths, that if you make a
41:58
Speaker 20: legal product too dear for people to buy, they'll buy
42:01
Speaker 20: a black market illegal version of it, and it is
42:03
Speaker 20: so easy to get.
42:04
Speaker 1: Now, I know there's been a.
42:06
Speaker 20: Lot of work on enforcement with regards to cracking down
42:08
Speaker 20: on illegal cigarettes, but I spoke to somebody from the...
42:11
Speaker 20: I think it's called the Illegal Tobacco Disruption Group within
42:16
Speaker 20: Border Force, and they said they're confiscating a million illegal
42:19
Speaker 20: cigarettes a day and they reckon more than that's getting through.
42:22
Speaker 20: So they're not even touching the sides of this. And
42:25
Speaker 20: they're basically creating a market for illegal tobacco. And, you know,
42:30
Speaker 20: we've seen here in Canberra, you can go into any tobacconist,
42:32
Speaker 20: they won't even offer you legal tobacco anymore. They have
42:35
Speaker 20: cracked down on a few servos, but we've gone from
42:37
Speaker 20: one bikey gang operating here in town to now five.
42:40
Speaker 1: And people think, jeez, there's no... That's just a coincidence.
42:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, every smoker I speak to says they're smoking the
42:46
Speaker 2: illegal cigarettes. So the tax revenue, even though they're putting
42:50
Speaker 2: it up, Susie, the haul they get is going to
42:52
Speaker 2: go down. It's so obvious they're creating a black market,
42:56
Speaker 2: creating crime, and in Melbourne that's manifested itself in all
42:59
Speaker 2: sorts of violence and fires.
43:02
Speaker 10: Oh, absolutely.
43:02
Speaker 21: I mean, I don't know anyone who's smoking real cigarettes anymore.
43:07
Speaker 10: Even.
43:07
Speaker 3: You know, even people.
43:08
Speaker 21: In their 60s and 70s, who shall be nameless, who
43:11
Speaker 21: I know are smoking, know exactly where to go so
43:15
Speaker 21: they can spend like 20 bucks a packet or 15
43:19
Speaker 21: bucks a packet instead.
43:20
Speaker 3: Of 60 or 70.
43:21
Speaker 21: I mean, when an individual cigarette is $ 1. 50, thanks to
43:26
Speaker 21: this tax. Look, I do understand that it was all
43:29
Speaker 21: about giving people an incentive to quit. But all it's
43:32
Speaker 21: done is given them incentive to go to the black market.
43:35
Speaker 5: Absolutely.
43:37
Speaker 21: And then you look at something like Victoria where there's
43:40
Speaker 21: all these fights, sometimes violent, all the fires, because the
43:44
Speaker 21: black market are trying to get a bigger share of
43:47
Speaker 21: the cut of the industry, a very lucrative industry.
43:50
Speaker 2: Well, listen to our genius and smug treasurer. He sounds
43:53
Speaker 2: like he's smoked a hell of a lot of something.
43:56
Speaker 20: We don't believe that cutting taxes on tobacco will stop
44:01
Speaker 20: illegal activity in this market.
44:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, the same bloke who believes that putting additional taxes
44:10
Speaker 2: on housing will increase the supply reckons taking off taxes won't.
44:14
Speaker 1: Actually help people buy the legal product, Stephen. It's extraordinary.
44:20
Speaker 20: This is why I call him the federal passenger rather
44:22
Speaker 20: than the federal treasurer, because he seems to think running
44:24
Speaker 20: the economy is somebody else's job.
44:25
Speaker 1: But, you know, it just stands to reason that.
44:28
Speaker 20: And the problem is, though, you've got all these health
44:30
Speaker 20: experts out there who say, oh, smoking.
44:31
Speaker 1: Rates are falling. Well, how do you know?
44:33
Speaker 20: Because people who are buying illegal tobacco aren't telling you
44:36
Speaker 20: that they're out there smoking illegal tobacco.
44:39
Speaker 1: Exactly. Alright, let's go to the housing market.
44:41
Speaker 2: It's pretty grim news around today about how far prices
44:45
Speaker 2: are going to fall.
44:46
Speaker 1: Here's Louis Christopher.
44:49
Speaker 22: It's been an abrupt turnaround in the market. So we
44:52
Speaker 22: wind back to February this year. Most capital cities were
44:57
Speaker 22: recording rising housing prices, including Sydney and Melbourne. But the
45:01
Speaker 22: change came when we had the first interest rate rise
45:05
Speaker 22: in February, followed by further interest rate rise. And then
45:08
Speaker 22: I would add that the outbreak of the US-Iran war
45:12
Speaker 22: also created a lot of uncertainty for the future. Then
45:17
Speaker 22: the market was absolutely hammered by the property taxation changes,
45:20
Speaker 22: creating a lot of uncertainty in terms of where people
45:24
Speaker 22: stood on capital gains.
45:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, and, Susie, in this area, you always get a
45:28
Speaker 2: lot of claims and counterclaims, but the nation's largest bank,
45:32
Speaker 2: the Commonwealth Bank, has today said that they expect prices
45:35
Speaker 2: to fall by more than 10% in both Sydney and Melbourne.
45:38
Speaker 2: So that's a big hit to people's net worth.
45:42
Speaker 21: Oh, it's just an extraordinary jump. I mean, one of
45:44
Speaker 21: the things, the certainties that we've grown up with is
45:47
Speaker 21: that house prices continue to go up, you know, that
45:50
Speaker 21: it gets more, that you put your money into this
45:53
Speaker 21: one big massive asset and.
45:54
Speaker 10: It will grow over time.
45:56
Speaker 21: Now, that's absolutely not the case. And so in the
45:59
Speaker 21: middle of Sydney and Melbourne, we're looking at drops of 13%.
46:05
Speaker 1: And you know what?
46:05
Speaker 21: If it's okay, oldies like me, you know, we've got
46:08
Speaker 21: our houses and we're not selling, can't afford.
46:10
Speaker 1: To sell anytime soon.
46:12
Speaker 21: But if you've just bought a house and you bought
46:14
Speaker 21: it with the government's own 5% scheme, then that house
46:19
Speaker 21: might be worth less than what you paid for it
46:22
Speaker 21: and too bad if you need to sell.
46:24
Speaker 1: That's a problem.
46:25
Speaker 2: Everyone would wear it if it was helping people get in.
46:27
Speaker 2: But because of that uncertainty, Stephen, we're not getting first
46:30
Speaker 2: home buyers into the market. And on top of that,
46:34
Speaker 2: rents are going up because they're clamping down on supply.
46:37
Speaker 17: Yeah.
46:38
Speaker 20: But it's affecting every sector of the market, and the
46:40
Speaker 20: reality is that any Year 10 economics student could have
46:43
Speaker 20: worked out what was going to happen here. So, you know,
46:45
Speaker 20: you want people to downsize, older people to downsize. The
46:48
Speaker 20: market's tanked, so they can't afford to sell their property
46:50
Speaker 20: and won't downsize, so there's a bit of supply that's
46:52
Speaker 20: not in the market for young families to get into.
46:55
Speaker 20: You've now put rents up through the roof so that
46:57
Speaker 20: those saving to get into the market can't afford a
47:00
Speaker 20: deposit anymore, even if property prices are coming down. You've
47:03
Speaker 20: told investors, we're going to make it impossible for you
47:06
Speaker 20: to actually create more rental properties... so that these people
47:09
Speaker 20: can rent affordably. Somehow, well, we'll encourage you to build
47:13
Speaker 20: new houses. We'll make it too expensive for you to
47:15
Speaker 20: build a new house. And because most investors, 80-something percent,
47:19
Speaker 20: are mums and dads who are going to try and
47:20
Speaker 20: buy the cheapest property they possibly can, they're just cut
47:24
Speaker 20: out of the market. Every single section of the market
47:26
Speaker 20: has been trodden on by this government, and it's because
47:29
Speaker 20: we've got a bunch of muppets that don't understand basic economics.
47:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a hell of a worry, and all the
47:34
Speaker 2: indications are it's going to get worse before it gets better.
47:37
Speaker 1: Very, very grim news indeed.
47:39
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us, Stephen and Susie. I appreciate it.
47:41
Speaker 2: We'll catch you next week. I just want to finish
47:43
Speaker 2: up the show, as usual, with sharing some of your feedback. Tonight,
47:47
Speaker 2: we'll look at what you had to say in response
47:49
Speaker 2: to my editorial about the Prime Minister and his dishonesty.
47:54
Speaker 2: One viewer says, it's safe to assume that this totally
47:57
Speaker 2: untrustworthy Labor government is really on a tightrope now.
48:00
Speaker 1: With One Nation exposing their lies today. and hypocrisy. Brad says,
48:04
Speaker 1: I agree.
48:05
Speaker 2: We must stop peddling dangerous, divisive and downright dishonest policies. Yeah,
48:10
Speaker 2: Albanese is guilty of that, of what he accuses others of.
48:14
Speaker 2: And another viewer says, I'm so sick of this guy
48:16
Speaker 2: representing our country. The damage he's done is atrocious.
48:20
Speaker 1: That's the case. We'll keep on it. Thanks for watching.
48:22
Speaker 1: Here's Peter Credlin.