Latest / Steve Price / Steve Price | 5 December

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Steve Price | 5 December · Steve Price

0:00
Speaker 1: Live.
0:01
Speaker 2: This is Steve Price.
0:05
Speaker 1: Friday Night's Steve Price with You. A massive weekend for
0:07
Speaker 1: Australian sport. Nothing more exciting than the last F one
0:11
Speaker 1: race of the year. Oscar Piastre is still a chance
0:14
Speaker 1: to become Australia's third World champ. Will all depend on
0:17
Speaker 1: whether his team at McClaren really want Oscar to win
0:20
Speaker 1: or will they favor his teammate Norris. Disgraceful the way
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Speaker 1: Oscar has been treated. Coming up over the next hour.
0:26
Speaker 1: As Australia's housing crisis deepens, with neither state or federal
0:30
Speaker 1: governments going anywhere near their targets, the Victorian government announces
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Speaker 1: planning changes that will allow developers to build apartment towers
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Speaker 1: with no car parking. Opposition Housing spokesman David Southwick will
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Speaker 1: join me straight up tonight. The other sporting highlight this
0:47
Speaker 1: weekend the Ashes Day night at Brisbane's Gabba ground. But
0:50
Speaker 1: news this week that posts the twenty thirty two Olympics
0:53
Speaker 1: cricket will move to the new Olympic Stadium, as will
0:56
Speaker 1: AFL Not everyone is happy about it. Campbell Newman, ex
1:00
Speaker 1: Queensland Premier and Lord Mayor of Brisbane, with his view
1:03
Speaker 1: on that, plus the Great Mark Knight with his week
1:06
Speaker 1: in cartoons, boy has had. He had plenty to work
1:10
Speaker 1: with all this week, including the Prime Minister's wedding. First, though,
1:15
Speaker 1: as taxpayers are becoming well aware, state and federal governments
1:19
Speaker 1: of all colors seem immune to any criticism of the
1:22
Speaker 1: creation of massive debt that will fall to all Australian
1:26
Speaker 1: children and grandchildren to pay it off. Not us our
1:30
Speaker 1: children and our grandchildren. Not since responsible fiscal management like
1:34
Speaker 1: that of Peter Costello and John Howard, has any government
1:37
Speaker 1: in this country made any effort to pay down borrowing,
1:41
Speaker 1: I mean federally. The mad dash to renewables. That is
1:44
Speaker 1: not a disaster waiting to happen, it's an actual disaster
1:47
Speaker 1: happening right now. Imagine what that's going to cost. The
1:50
Speaker 1: rewiring of Australia will cost trillions. But it's the Victorian
1:55
Speaker 1: state government that has been on a twelve year long
1:58
Speaker 1: spending spree continues today. The Premier to Cinder Allen and
2:03
Speaker 1: her Treasurer Jacqueline Simes, who famously once asked her staff
2:07
Speaker 1: not to use economic terms around her because she didn't
2:10
Speaker 1: understand them provided and it was a disaster. They tried
2:14
Speaker 1: to paint like lipstick on a pig. New words about
2:18
Speaker 1: the debt. They use words like an improved result, and
2:22
Speaker 1: they've got to be kidding themselves. Here's the improvement debt predictions.
2:26
Speaker 1: Note that word predictions. They've been revised down for to
2:30
Speaker 1: wait for it, one hundred and ninety two point six
2:33
Speaker 1: billion dollars in debt by twenty twenty eight twenty twenty nine,
2:38
Speaker 1: an improvement they bragged of one point four billion dollars. Now, okay,
2:42
Speaker 1: sounds not bad, but guess what those lucky Victorians are
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Speaker 1: going to be slugged over that time. Well, Victorian taxpayers
2:50
Speaker 1: are going to be slugged an extra one point seven
2:53
Speaker 1: billion dollars in taxes. Funny that as usual all Victorians pay.
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Speaker 1: Now that same update today, hold your breath for this
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Speaker 1: included a prediction that word again, of an annual interest
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Speaker 1: bill in twenty twenty nine which our kids will be paying,
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Speaker 1: an interest bill of ten point five billion dollars. Well,
3:15
Speaker 1: why not work out the daily predicted interest bill of
3:19
Speaker 1: twenty eight point eight million dollars a day, every day,
3:23
Speaker 1: seven days a week, three hundred and sixty five days
3:26
Speaker 1: a year. I mean, this is criminal stuff. And let's
3:29
Speaker 1: not forget the massive suburban rail loop that no one
3:32
Speaker 1: has a clue of the final cost, including the premiere,
3:36
Speaker 1: the builder, or anyone else. One figure suggests fifty four billion,
3:39
Speaker 1: but who knows because it's an off budget item and
3:43
Speaker 1: the latest costings are based on year's old figures. Add
3:47
Speaker 1: to that the Metro Tunnel, the Westgate Tunnel and the
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Speaker 1: Northwest Link. Forget our grandchildren. We'll be lucky if our
3:53
Speaker 1: great grandchildren get the debt paid off. I mean, God
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Speaker 1: help us if the state's credit rating is ever down graded.
4:00
Speaker 1: You wait for what will happen. Then it will be
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Speaker 1: a disaster. Joining me now, Victorian Shadow Housing and Planning
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Speaker 1: Minister David Southwick. I mean, seriously, let's start with those numbers.
4:15
Speaker 1: I mean they are I watering, David, and you can't
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Speaker 1: even trust them, can you? No, Look, you can't.
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Speaker 3: A dead crisis, a crime crisis, a housing crisis. Welcome
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Speaker 3: to Victoria. They were caught out only a few days
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Speaker 3: ago in the Glass Report with five billion dollars of
4:34
Speaker 3: an overspend. That five billion dollars could build twelve thousand
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Speaker 3: affordable homes across the state. The government doesn't spend money
4:44
Speaker 3: like it's like it's anything but just their own and
4:47
Speaker 3: they just throw money like it's confetti, and we're all
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Speaker 3: paying for it. We're paying for it forever in debt.
4:53
Speaker 3: And you're absolutely right in your introduction. We've got to
4:57
Speaker 3: get the budget under control. This is general rational debt
5:00
Speaker 3: that will never recover from unless we're more financially responsible.
5:06
Speaker 1: Do you think you as an opposition can convince victorians
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Speaker 1: that are not necessarily particularly engaged in politics about how
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Speaker 1: bad this debt situation is and what it might mean
5:19
Speaker 1: for as what I've said here our grandchildren and great grandchildren.
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Speaker 3: Well, again, we've got to equate what the millions and
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Speaker 3: billions actually pay for when people can't afford a home,
5:31
Speaker 3: when people can't get hospitals and schools built because there's
5:36
Speaker 3: just no money to do that. And they see the
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Speaker 3: close on two million dollars a day just in interest
5:43
Speaker 3: to pay off it's not to pay off the debt,
5:46
Speaker 3: it's just to pay the interest on the debt. These
5:49
Speaker 3: are figures that they're eye watering, as he said, But
5:52
Speaker 3: it's got to come down to what does that mean
5:54
Speaker 3: when you can't get a hospital bed, when police because
5:57
Speaker 3: we can't pay for enough police services are slashed because
6:01
Speaker 3: we don't have the money. That impacts all Victorians. And
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Speaker 3: that's what we as the opposition need to remind people
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Speaker 3: each and every day. You can't get a hospital bed,
6:10
Speaker 3: you can't get police when you need them, you can't
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Speaker 3: get homes built because the government's not managing your money properly.
6:17
Speaker 1: David, I heard your leader just us on this afternoon
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Speaker 1: talking about what might happen if we got a credit downgrade,
6:23
Speaker 1: god forbid by one of those ratings agencies. When you
6:26
Speaker 1: look at the numbers I just talked about and the
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Speaker 1: forward estimates, I mean, there's no guarantee that's not going
6:32
Speaker 1: to happen. How much worse would the situation be if
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Speaker 1: suddenly we had to start paying more interest on the
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Speaker 1: debt that we already have.
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Speaker 3: And that's exactly right, I think again, taxpayers understand when
6:45
Speaker 3: the bank starts to charge you more interest, it only
6:48
Speaker 3: causes more problems refinancing for some. In some instances, people
6:55
Speaker 3: are a bad credit risk and can't get another credit card.
6:57
Speaker 3: That's Victoria. That's what Victoria is at the moment. We're
7:02
Speaker 3: an unreliable place to be able to lend any money
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Speaker 3: to because of the bad management, the poor fiscal responsibility.
7:12
Speaker 3: It's a real warning sign that we have a government
7:15
Speaker 3: because they don't understand money. As you said, the treasure
7:18
Speaker 3: has no idea about treasury economics. So we're all in
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Speaker 3: a really bad situation as a result of it, and
7:25
Speaker 3: we've got to get this under control. It is so
7:27
Speaker 3: important for the future. We've got to build the future.
7:29
Speaker 3: We've got to get Victoria back to where it was.
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Speaker 3: We won't do that unless we ensure we pay down
7:35
Speaker 3: debt and we balance the books and start to build
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Speaker 3: confidence back in our great state.
7:41
Speaker 1: Let's talk housing, your new responsibility. We saw this week
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Speaker 1: the Allen gouvernment unveiled plans well to scrap minimum car
7:48
Speaker 1: park rules for apartment block developments. Now this is they
7:53
Speaker 1: say you've got to be close to public transport, to
7:56
Speaker 1: trains or trams. Do we have any evidence of how
8:00
Speaker 1: close they say you have to be before you can
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Speaker 1: buy a block of land as a developer throw up
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Speaker 1: a twenty story high apartment blocker, not for car parks
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Speaker 1: in it. How close do you need to be to
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Speaker 1: the train station?
8:13
Speaker 3: Well, government hasn't released that day detail. All they're saying
8:17
Speaker 3: is build it as high as you like, don't worry
8:20
Speaker 3: about putting your car parks in it because people will
8:23
Speaker 3: either use public transport or get a pushbike. I mean,
8:26
Speaker 3: this is ridiculous. People rely on cars. We don't go
8:30
Speaker 3: unidirectional from one place into the city. We go across town.
8:34
Speaker 3: And all that's going to happen is it won't make
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Speaker 3: housing more affordable, and it will push more cars into
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Speaker 3: the streets and where you can't get a car park anyway.
8:46
Speaker 3: We have one of the most congested cities when you
8:49
Speaker 3: see you can't just keep doing that by saying we
8:52
Speaker 3: won't build car parks because people won't need them, it's ridiculous.
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Speaker 3: It doesn't take into account the need for cars and
9:00
Speaker 3: desire for cars and choice and the other thing this
9:02
Speaker 3: government has no idea when it comes to the high
9:04
Speaker 3: rise that they want to build in these fifty precincts
9:07
Speaker 3: is some people may want to live there, but most
9:09
Speaker 3: Victorians want choice where they want to live. Here is
9:12
Speaker 3: the government telling you where to live, telling you that
9:14
Speaker 3: you can't drive or use a car, and again taxing
9:18
Speaker 3: you as a result of it by eleven thousand dollars,
9:21
Speaker 3: which they want a tax on every new apartment that
9:24
Speaker 3: they're going to build as a result of it, which
9:25
Speaker 3: will again push up prices.
9:27
Speaker 1: Yea, I want to ask you about that. Developers will
9:29
Speaker 1: be hit with an infrastructure contribution charge jury. I love
9:32
Speaker 1: these terms that these spin doctors come up with. This
9:36
Speaker 1: is this infrastructure contribution charge three hundred and fifty dollars
9:41
Speaker 1: per dwelling in targeted areas to help pay for key amenities.
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Speaker 1: Now I immediately think, well, is that per car park? That
9:49
Speaker 1: amount of money is that per dwelling? How does that
9:51
Speaker 1: all work? And what guarantee is there that any of
9:55
Speaker 1: that money is going to go to the local council
9:58
Speaker 1: for what they say are local.
10:00
Speaker 3: Yes, well that's exactly right. We're told it's per unit.
10:05
Speaker 3: We have a growth area it's called the GAATE Fund,
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Speaker 3: which currently gets collected for the growth regions. The government's
10:14
Speaker 3: clawed that and hasn't put that into roads and schools
10:18
Speaker 3: and other amenity in our growth codors. This will be
10:20
Speaker 3: exactly the same. The government's going to take the eleven
10:23
Speaker 3: thousand dollars per unit. They're going to put it to
10:26
Speaker 3: try and repair the budget disrepair that we're in at
10:29
Speaker 3: the moment, and you won't get the local amenity that
10:31
Speaker 3: you need. Every dollar that is collected in these areas
10:35
Speaker 3: should go to service those areas. And the government in
10:38
Speaker 3: the way they do this is thinking to themselves, well,
10:42
Speaker 3: oh this is great, this is just something that developers
10:45
Speaker 3: will pay. Well, we know that developers will pass this
10:48
Speaker 3: on to the very first home buy that's already struggling.
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Speaker 3: And the thing about this, Steve, is many of these
10:55
Speaker 3: projects don't stack up right now because they're just not viable.
11:00
Speaker 3: We know in the CBD of Melbourne you're close to
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Speaker 3: eighteen thousand homes that have got permits for them, but
11:06
Speaker 3: they're not being built right now because the numbers don't
11:08
Speaker 3: stack up. It's no use doing all of these things
11:12
Speaker 3: when you can't get the numbers across the line. People
11:15
Speaker 3: can't live in a permit. They need to live in
11:18
Speaker 3: a home, and you can grant as many permits as
11:21
Speaker 3: you like. If it's not affordable, then ultimately you're not
11:24
Speaker 3: providing any new housing.
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Speaker 1: Just a couple of other quick things for we go.
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Speaker 1: The adult time for auto violent crime laws went through
11:32
Speaker 1: last night through the Parliament. They say children as young
11:35
Speaker 1: as forteen could go to jail for life. Well, that's
11:37
Speaker 1: seriously not going to happen here was the premier're talking
11:39
Speaker 1: up those changes.
11:41
Speaker 4: Taking these crimes into the adult courts means that jail
11:45
Speaker 4: is more likely and sentences are longer. There needs to
11:49
Speaker 4: be consequences for this sort of offending, which is why
11:52
Speaker 4: we have acted. But also too we know there are
11:55
Speaker 4: no easy solutions here. The best approaches are to make
11:58
Speaker 4: sure that we prevent crime before it starts.
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Speaker 1: Does she really think anyone's going to believe that? Does
12:04
Speaker 1: she think anyone, any young person's going to be handed
12:06
Speaker 1: a life sense?
12:07
Speaker 3: I mean seriously, no, it's maximum life. No one's getting life,
12:12
Speaker 3: So it's all spin, no detail. There are five five
12:18
Speaker 3: particular areas in here that they're dealing with. Unlike Queensland
12:22
Speaker 3: that has thirty three. We don't have kidnapping, we don't
12:25
Speaker 3: have rape, we don't have robbery as the kinds of
12:29
Speaker 3: things that they have in the Queensland laws. This is
12:31
Speaker 3: adult crime, adult time light, labor light. And what the
12:35
Speaker 3: government should do, if they were serious is contact David
12:39
Speaker 3: Christopholey and say can we have your laws and just
12:41
Speaker 3: copy what Queensland's done. If they were serious about tackling
12:45
Speaker 3: the youth crime crisis we're have in Victoria.
12:48
Speaker 1: Just finally something very personal for you. Tomorrow will mark
12:50
Speaker 1: one year since that horrific fire bombing of the Adas
12:54
Speaker 1: Israel Synagogue in Melbourne. Yesterday, Jewish leaders, i think from
12:59
Speaker 1: seven nations visited the site to stand in solidarity. How
13:03
Speaker 1: did you feel yesterday and today? Yeah?
13:06
Speaker 3: Well I went past today just to have a look.
13:09
Speaker 3: I was there when it all happened. Traumatic time, something
13:13
Speaker 3: that we will never forget. I was also at the
13:15
Speaker 3: Holocaust Center today as well with a number of politicians
13:18
Speaker 3: reminding them that we talk about never again, you know,
13:21
Speaker 3: when all of this happened in Germany that we're seen
13:23
Speaker 3: repeat itself here. It's been traumatic times. Only last week,
13:28
Speaker 3: Steve just quickly, we had one of our local councils,
13:31
Speaker 3: Stonington Council, that wouldn't allow Minora to be put up
13:35
Speaker 3: as part of celebrating Hunuka because they don't want to
13:38
Speaker 3: allow the Jewish community to be able to do that.
13:40
Speaker 3: I mean, that's happening in an area that has ten
13:44
Speaker 3: thousand Jews living at in Stonington, and that's happening now.
13:47
Speaker 3: So I mean, no one's learning from any of this,
13:50
Speaker 3: and I think the Jewish community have had enough and
13:54
Speaker 3: unfortunately it's been pretty tough. But at the same time,
13:57
Speaker 3: as I've said before, I want to shout out to
13:59
Speaker 3: many of the listeners on your program and throughout Sky
14:01
Speaker 3: because there've been a lot of good support from those
14:05
Speaker 3: reasonable people out there that just know what a tough
14:09
Speaker 3: tough time the Jewish community have had over the last
14:11
Speaker 3: couple of years.
14:12
Speaker 1: They sure have. David, thank you very much, it's great
14:14
Speaker 1: to catch up with you. Let's bring in my Friday
14:16
Speaker 1: Night regular now from a Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, also
14:20
Speaker 1: former Lord Mayor of the City of Brisbane, of course,
14:23
Speaker 1: a former campaign manager for Tony Abbott. Campbell and Mike
14:27
Speaker 1: bed Quit The Liberals planning to launch a Nigel Farage
14:32
Speaker 1: style Reform Australia parties names Walter Villatura. He's told The
14:37
Speaker 1: Daily Telegraph there are plans to register the party in
14:39
Speaker 1: coming weeks, with the hopes of running candidates in all
14:42
Speaker 1: of the next federal election seats. He said Reforms Mantra
14:46
Speaker 1: will be issues based, not ideologically based, and focus purely
14:50
Speaker 1: on what Australians are worried about at the kitchen table.
14:53
Speaker 1: Pretty easy words. What do you make of all of that?
14:57
Speaker 5: Well, I wonder how much support he's he's actually gotten.
15:01
Speaker 5: He's hinting at that, Stephen, through the through the article
15:04
Speaker 5: that you just mentioned in the Telegraph, it's becoming a
15:08
Speaker 5: very fragmented space and then all crowded space. And then
15:11
Speaker 5: you know one Nation Libertarian Party, which I'm a member of,
15:15
Speaker 5: and various other minor parties of the right.
15:18
Speaker 6: So I just don't know how this goes.
15:22
Speaker 1: Now.
15:22
Speaker 5: I'm terribly conflicted, as I just said, being a member
15:25
Speaker 5: of one of those minor parties.
15:27
Speaker 6: But I think more of the point.
15:30
Speaker 5: Of this is, this is the frustration that's out there
15:33
Speaker 5: amongst people with the Liberal Party and the so called
15:38
Speaker 5: moderates of the Liberal Party who have been so labor light.
15:41
Speaker 6: That's what's happening.
15:42
Speaker 5: The Liberal Party has fragmented, has spawned defections, and you
15:50
Speaker 5: know this is this is more of that, and it
15:52
Speaker 5: will keep it will keep happening until finally the Liberal
15:55
Speaker 5: Party reclaims the real values of the party has published
16:00
Speaker 5: on their website in all their materials, which you don't
16:03
Speaker 5: hear them generally talking about anymore support for small business,
16:07
Speaker 5: private enterprise, the rights of the individual, sort of putting
16:12
Speaker 5: the family as a fundamental building block of our society
16:16
Speaker 5: on a pedestal. You just don't hear that from the
16:20
Speaker 5: Liberal Party, and that's the problem with.
16:23
Speaker 1: Your political smarts. I mean, it's pretty lazy just to go, Okay,
16:28
Speaker 1: Nigel Farage is doing very well in the UK. I
16:30
Speaker 1: mean he's doing very well because the Conservatives are useless
16:34
Speaker 1: and the Labor government's hopeless. But you can't just say,
16:37
Speaker 1: rodo it works there to work here. I mean they're
16:40
Speaker 1: completely different countries, completely different issues, and you're not going
16:46
Speaker 1: to get support simply by doing that. I mean this
16:48
Speaker 1: just sounds to me like an extension of One Nation.
16:51
Speaker 1: I mean, Pauling Hampton's One Nation currently is polling somewhere
16:55
Speaker 1: around eighteen percent. I mean, I would have thought it
16:57
Speaker 1: was possibly the worst time to launch a party like
17:01
Speaker 1: the one this bloke's talking about.
17:05
Speaker 5: It could well be that that you could view that
17:07
Speaker 5: the horse has already bolted, and that's what I was
17:09
Speaker 5: alluding to before that there are large numbers of people
17:13
Speaker 5: who've crossed the rubicon and have got behind say One Nation,
17:18
Speaker 5: as you've just said. The other thing about it, of course,
17:22
Speaker 5: is that the UK has first passed the post as
17:24
Speaker 5: opposed to preferential voting, so it is much harder to
17:30
Speaker 5: do this in Australia.
17:32
Speaker 6: Another point I'd make is just the issue of the media.
17:34
Speaker 5: You know, I have been a candidate for the Libertarian
17:37
Speaker 5: Party and much to my surprise, it was really surprised.
17:43
Speaker 6: It was very hard even.
17:44
Speaker 5: For a former political figure from the right in Queensland
17:47
Speaker 5: to get coverage is a member of a minor party.
17:51
Speaker 5: The media very focused on sort of just the major
17:54
Speaker 5: parties and so just another small party really will be
17:59
Speaker 5: pushing the proverb go uphill to get coverage.
18:03
Speaker 1: No issue here, you know, this whole idea. Do you
18:09
Speaker 1: believe the surgeon popularity for one nation? Do you think
18:12
Speaker 1: that's real?
18:15
Speaker 6: Absolutely, one hundred percent.
18:18
Speaker 5: You know, I've got very mixed feelings about it, because
18:21
Speaker 5: you know, I think One Nation have to do a
18:23
Speaker 5: lot better in terms of being a truly democratic party.
18:26
Speaker 6: And I don't want to.
18:27
Speaker 5: Insult and upset Paul and Hanson or James Ashby, but
18:31
Speaker 5: I'm afraid you know, there are some real issues about
18:34
Speaker 5: the way that one nation conducts.
18:36
Speaker 6: Itself like that. I think they're out.
18:39
Speaker 5: There saying and putting forward issues that you know that
18:43
Speaker 5: many people who have now chosen to support them are
18:47
Speaker 5: plays that they're doing. The way they go about it,
18:50
Speaker 5: I think has been at times quite quite good in
18:54
Speaker 5: terms of getting coverage. On other occasions, you know, quite
18:58
Speaker 5: quite I suppose, almost destructive. I mean, take the Burker
19:03
Speaker 5: thing in the last few weeks. I think it's a
19:06
Speaker 5: real issue. I think though that what needed to happen
19:10
Speaker 5: is as Matt Canavan has argued, I think very effectively
19:13
Speaker 5: on this network with Andrew Bolton a recent interview, is
19:16
Speaker 5: that Paulin Hansen, she was really serious about trying to
19:19
Speaker 5: get something on this issue, she should have wielded into
19:22
Speaker 5: the Senate as emotion and actually tried to get a debate,
19:27
Speaker 5: as opposed to doing stuff that had, you know, perhaps
19:31
Speaker 5: many negative consequences.
19:33
Speaker 6: It is a real issue.
19:34
Speaker 5: She's put it on the table, but there are better
19:37
Speaker 5: ways to actually run the business of trying to get change.
19:41
Speaker 5: I hope that makes sense because because that's what I'm
19:45
Speaker 5: saying about the way that they go about things. But anyway,
19:48
Speaker 5: people are noticing and people are getting behind them, and
19:51
Speaker 5: that should not go unnoticed by the Liberal Party.
19:55
Speaker 6: They'll keep losing and does they deal with these things?
19:59
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I got to do that. I mean, yes, you
20:01
Speaker 1: do make a lot of sense it's after Sky. Last night,
20:04
Speaker 1: after filling in for Peter, I watched a fair bit
20:07
Speaker 1: of the Pink Ball Test at the Gabba in Brisbane.
20:09
Speaker 1: I thought the atmosphere was outstanding. I mean, watching Test
20:15
Speaker 1: match cricket at night. Some people don't like it. I
20:17
Speaker 1: thought it was brilliant. Now it's being played at the Gabba.
20:20
Speaker 1: You and I've talked about the state of the Gabba before.
20:23
Speaker 1: I haven't been there probably for two or three years now.
20:26
Speaker 1: The head of Cricket Australia has made it very clear
20:29
Speaker 1: that cricket will move to the new Victoria Park Olympic Stadium,
20:32
Speaker 1: which you're opposed to. But it seems like it's going
20:35
Speaker 1: to go to head after the twenty thirty two Olympic Games.
20:39
Speaker 1: Would there be still support among sports fans to have
20:44
Speaker 1: the Gabba operate as it is currently? I mean, I
20:47
Speaker 1: can't see from a television point of view. It seems
20:51
Speaker 1: fine to me.
20:55
Speaker 5: They say that it's clapped out at his end of life,
20:58
Speaker 5: and I say, well, Laney finished sort of building it
21:01
Speaker 5: in its current form in the end of the nineties,
21:03
Speaker 5: so we should be asking for our money back from
21:06
Speaker 5: the contractors.
21:06
Speaker 6: If it's no good.
21:08
Speaker 5: I think it's preposterous to say that it's a knockdown,
21:11
Speaker 5: and I think it's a hideous waste of money. I
21:14
Speaker 5: also point out that if there's a location in the
21:16
Speaker 5: entire state of Queensland that is best served by public transport,
21:20
Speaker 5: it's the Gabba. They're just in the process of building
21:23
Speaker 5: a heavy rail station. They're the new Cross Ofver rail station,
21:27
Speaker 5: which takes people directly into the CBD but right across
21:31
Speaker 5: the region. It's also got a busway station and high
21:34
Speaker 5: capacity metro and they're going to DeCamp and go to
21:37
Speaker 5: Victoria Park where they've got to start again to build
21:40
Speaker 5: that public transport infrastructure. That's one of the reasons I
21:43
Speaker 5: think the whole Victoria Park decision is.
21:45
Speaker 6: Just so colossally bad.
21:48
Speaker 5: And for a government who's equally under pressure in terms
21:53
Speaker 5: of revenues and the state's finances on the expenditure side,
22:00
Speaker 5: I just sort of shake my head and wonder, well,
22:03
Speaker 5: where's the money coming from from all this stuff, because
22:07
Speaker 5: you know, the state's finances aren't as bad as Victoria,
22:11
Speaker 5: but they're not in good shape either, and we seem
22:13
Speaker 5: to have suddenly got limitless amounts of money when it
22:17
Speaker 5: comes to the Olympics and new stadiums, which the premier
22:20
Speaker 5: promised he wasn't going to do even in the early
22:24
Speaker 5: days of him being premier, not just as an opposition leader.
22:28
Speaker 5: In the early days of being a premier, he said
22:29
Speaker 5: there'd be no new stadium.
22:33
Speaker 1: Yep. Well he certainly changed his mind on that. Once
22:36
Speaker 1: they build that thing, they're going to have to use it,
22:37
Speaker 1: because that's how it's going to pay for itself. So
22:40
Speaker 1: there you go, cavin you. But it was great to
22:42
Speaker 1: catch up with you on a Friday. I'll talk to
22:43
Speaker 1: you next weekend coming up after the break. More on
22:46
Speaker 1: that letter of appeal to the federal government signed on
22:49
Speaker 1: behalf of more than eighty community groups calling for a
22:52
Speaker 1: halt on the operation of wind turbines with fears over
22:55
Speaker 1: that asbestos contamination. Plus the week in Cartoons with my
22:59
Speaker 1: favorite cartoons, Mark Knight, Welcome back, Mark Knight. Cartoon's coming
23:07
Speaker 1: up shortly, But I want to go to this extraordinary
23:09
Speaker 1: letter of appeal from more than eighty regional action and
23:13
Speaker 1: awareness groups representing farmers right around our great country. Landholders
23:17
Speaker 1: and residents have all got really deep concerns, as we
23:20
Speaker 1: all have, about these reports that asbestos has been found
23:23
Speaker 1: inside operating wind turbines across regional communities in Australia. Now.
23:28
Speaker 1: The request for an immediate stop order from impacted communities
23:32
Speaker 1: was sent to the Labor to Labor Cabinet Minister this week,
23:35
Speaker 1: Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and Energy Minister Chris Bowen
23:39
Speaker 1: among them. Here to tell us a little more about
23:42
Speaker 1: what we think we can achieve is someone I've spoken
23:45
Speaker 1: to a couple of times on the program, Andrew Whedham.
23:47
Speaker 1: And Andrew, good to see you again this stop order.
23:52
Speaker 1: Have you had any response, Well, look, not at.
23:55
Speaker 7: This dage, Steve, but we're hoping to of course in
23:59
Speaker 7: Duke we would get some sort of a response back
24:02
Speaker 7: from Minister Burke and Minister bow And about this. But yeah, look, seriously,
24:06
Speaker 7: the groups are very very concerned about the impacts potentially
24:11
Speaker 7: in the community, the workers that are actually working around
24:14
Speaker 7: and inside of these structures. We've been saying for quite
24:18
Speaker 7: a while, Steve, that these things just are absolutely being
24:22
Speaker 7: rolled out without any real checks and balances, and that's
24:24
Speaker 7: what's concerning us and continues to and this is just
24:28
Speaker 7: another one of those examples of where products that are
24:31
Speaker 7: banned overseas and here in Australia as well have now
24:34
Speaker 7: been allowed into the country and now putting potentially putting
24:38
Speaker 7: exposure to workers.
24:41
Speaker 1: Andrew, is there a particular brand or a particular destination
24:46
Speaker 1: of where these things are made and reach us? I mean,
24:49
Speaker 1: are they from China or are they from somewhere else?
24:51
Speaker 7: Do we know most of these products that are brought
24:54
Speaker 7: in from China essentially, Steve, But at the end of
24:59
Speaker 7: the day the and passed through our custom services where
25:02
Speaker 7: they really should have been picked up and this should
25:04
Speaker 7: have been picked up a long long time ago. But
25:07
Speaker 7: you know those prefats products that are also used which
25:11
Speaker 7: concerns us also in these manufacturing of these particular wind
25:15
Speaker 7: turbines as well, so products like bisphenol, which is you know,
25:20
Speaker 7: it's not biodegradable by any means and it.
25:21
Speaker 8: Just stays in the soil.
25:23
Speaker 7: So we're really concerned about a lot of that type
25:27
Speaker 7: of manufacturing and the fact that this manufacturing process and
25:31
Speaker 7: our government has through their protocols, allowed these into Australia.
25:36
Speaker 8: And so we've asked quite clearly for government to.
25:39
Speaker 7: Put a workstop to this, make an assessment because there
25:42
Speaker 7: could be potentially putting human health.
25:45
Speaker 1: At risk, Andrew, your mechanical I'm not. I mean, for
25:49
Speaker 1: most of us who see these wind turbines, and I've
25:51
Speaker 1: seen them up close, you just see a massive tube
25:54
Speaker 1: with the blades on top of the turn or don't turn,
25:56
Speaker 1: depending on the wind. How much mechanical machinery is involved
26:02
Speaker 1: in one of these things, and what do they I
26:04
Speaker 1: presume they use the brake system where the Especios has
26:08
Speaker 1: been found to shut these things down when it gets
26:11
Speaker 1: too windy. Is that what happens?
26:12
Speaker 8: Well, it is, Steve.
26:13
Speaker 7: It's like the brakes in your car around our truck,
26:16
Speaker 7: where the brake pads themselves are made of a product
26:19
Speaker 7: or with an asbestos product in them, and of course
26:22
Speaker 7: then that flakes off when they are applied to slow
26:26
Speaker 7: the turbine down or stop it all together.
26:29
Speaker 8: We also understand, Steve.
26:30
Speaker 7: That there's a lift inside of a lot of these
26:33
Speaker 7: particular turbines as well, where the cages have wheel bearings
26:37
Speaker 7: in them as well with brakes, and that's also has
26:39
Speaker 7: the potential for it to flake off and obviously become
26:43
Speaker 7: exposed to the workers. But look, at the end of
26:45
Speaker 7: the day, Steve, it's a pretty clear ask for these
26:48
Speaker 7: things to be checked proper planning, and the process is
26:53
Speaker 7: broken down, and poor government policy is clearly leading this
26:57
Speaker 7: because there's just been this massive push into pushing it
27:01
Speaker 7: into open farmland, prime agricultural land right up and down
27:04
Speaker 7: the East Coast and now in Wa as well without
27:07
Speaker 7: anybody really taking a good hard look at this. And
27:10
Speaker 7: some of these big investors must be starting to get
27:12
Speaker 7: very nervous because they're investing into these things.
27:16
Speaker 8: And the only way we've been told.
27:19
Speaker 7: Of course, is you are well aware and spoken about
27:21
Speaker 7: on this program before. The only true cost of energy
27:25
Speaker 7: is these things are subsidized to the back end, and
27:28
Speaker 7: I think a lot of people are now started to
27:30
Speaker 7: investigate just how much. And here in Victoria, I was
27:32
Speaker 7: just talking to Chap today and he said there was
27:35
Speaker 7: nearly forty five percent of the returns on one of
27:38
Speaker 7: the wind farms has come from subsidy.
27:41
Speaker 1: Where you know we're about to head into if we're
27:44
Speaker 1: not already there into the fire season. There's already been
27:47
Speaker 1: some bushfires around the place. When you have moving parts,
27:49
Speaker 1: you got the potential for sparking. How much does that
27:53
Speaker 1: worry you when you might have these things plowed straight
27:56
Speaker 1: through the middle of a farm where you know, there's
27:59
Speaker 1: there's there's bush, there's grass, and then there's crops. How
28:03
Speaker 1: much of a worry is.
28:04
Speaker 7: That, Well, it's massive, and that's actually our biggest concern
28:07
Speaker 7: with all this transmission line process that's been going on
28:11
Speaker 7: through which we spoke about as well. That's why we're
28:13
Speaker 7: stopping at the gate these people trying to ender the properties,
28:16
Speaker 7: because we know all we're doing is increasing our fire
28:18
Speaker 7: risk potential.
28:19
Speaker 8: We already know that ninety percent.
28:21
Speaker 7: Of the fires come from parks as well, so the
28:24
Speaker 7: ten percent is the.
28:25
Speaker 8: Area that we're out there. We're just going to.
28:27
Speaker 7: Increase that potential exponentially and all the big fires. You'll
28:30
Speaker 7: be old enough to remember the Black Saturday bush fires
28:33
Speaker 7: back in the early eighties, and that was all started
28:36
Speaker 7: by as most are, by power lines, and that is
28:40
Speaker 7: a real concern for us that we're just going to
28:41
Speaker 7: increase the potential for that.
28:44
Speaker 1: I go back to ash Wednesday. I mean, every time
28:46
Speaker 1: we've had a major disaster fire like these, I mean
28:50
Speaker 1: it's power lines sparking and you know, lines sparking off
28:53
Speaker 1: each other that cause death and destruction. I mean, we
28:57
Speaker 1: just can't have something. I mean, I would have thought
29:00
Speaker 1: the argument should be how we're making things safer, not
29:02
Speaker 1: how I'm making things more risky.
29:05
Speaker 8: Well that's the age that I've sort of grown up in, Steve.
29:07
Speaker 7: But we've been trying to do exactly what you just said,
29:10
Speaker 7: is to move and progressively move forward. And I think
29:12
Speaker 7: at the moment, look, we're only this is only stop gap.
29:14
Speaker 7: They're only a replaceable setup. This is not something that's
29:17
Speaker 7: long term build. I mean, this is like buying a
29:19
Speaker 7: car and trading it in in fifteen years time and
29:21
Speaker 7: you know it's a wreck. So the reality is we've
29:24
Speaker 7: got to try and move forward and come up with
29:26
Speaker 7: a much better plan for energy determination here and energy
29:32
Speaker 7: provision here in Australia than we are at the moment,
29:35
Speaker 7: and it will include.
29:36
Speaker 8: A bit of renewable.
29:37
Speaker 7: But the reality is there's only a short term gap
29:40
Speaker 7: because we need to make sure we get further on
29:42
Speaker 7: with it.
29:43
Speaker 1: Andrew, a little bit of a smile on your face today,
29:46
Speaker 1: a bit of a win. The Allen government, as bad
29:49
Speaker 1: as they are, they've been forced into a back down
29:51
Speaker 1: freezing that unpopular and useless emergency services taxike for farmers.
29:56
Speaker 1: They are now going to leave that until at least
29:59
Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven I guess the fact that in November
30:03
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, Andrew there's going to be an election,
30:05
Speaker 1: I wonder if that's got any coincidence or not.
30:08
Speaker 8: Look, there's no doubt.
30:09
Speaker 7: I mean the pressure that we've been able to apply
30:11
Speaker 7: through the across Victoria Alliance which I chair, that's got
30:14
Speaker 7: thirty groups involved in it, and you know.
30:17
Speaker 8: The power of the people.
30:18
Speaker 7: But really, I mean, we took eight thousand people the
30:20
Speaker 7: steps of Parliament back in July and we've had other
30:23
Speaker 7: protests since, and I think the weight of numbers saw
30:26
Speaker 7: these politicians in the back bench want to get elected,
30:29
Speaker 7: and you know, I think there's a lot of pressure
30:31
Speaker 7: coming to bear on just ciner Alum at the moment
30:33
Speaker 7: Jacqueline signs about their philosophies of how they're leading the party,
30:36
Speaker 7: and the reality is the places going broke, and now
30:40
Speaker 7: they've obviously woken up that they're not going to get
30:43
Speaker 7: votes out of the country and out of CFA volunteers
30:45
Speaker 7: as well, because the reality is we just can't afford
30:49
Speaker 7: this and it's going to break everybody. But we're still
30:52
Speaker 7: calling for a parliamentary inquiry. But it doesn't matter who
30:56
Speaker 7: gets in in November twenty sixth. We need to know
30:59
Speaker 7: and understand the money that we're putting in to support
31:01
Speaker 7: our emergency services and volunteers is actually getting to that
31:06
Speaker 7: emergency services and volunteers back in because at the moment
31:11
Speaker 7: we're really concerned about the lack of investment. We talk
31:14
Speaker 7: about the United fire Fighters Union, who we've teamed up
31:17
Speaker 7: with in Melbourne, the lack of you know, machinery that
31:20
Speaker 7: they're getting in their space, and it's the same for
31:23
Speaker 7: us to see if the volunteers and this year they've
31:25
Speaker 7: dug up a whole heap of old trucks because the
31:28
Speaker 7: CMA has run out.
31:30
Speaker 8: The DSc.
31:31
Speaker 7: Sorry, we're going to have many different changes, but the
31:34
Speaker 7: ones that look after the parks and gardens or their units,
31:36
Speaker 7: they are actually off the road, so you know, we're
31:39
Speaker 7: out of here. We're trying to make sure that we've
31:41
Speaker 7: got a work force ready to fight fires. Luckily here
31:45
Speaker 7: on the farm, we've got three of our own units
31:47
Speaker 7: and we'll be deploying them to local fires. But nobody's
31:51
Speaker 7: going to the parks and gardens this year because the
31:53
Speaker 7: equipment's just going to fail.
31:55
Speaker 1: That's what happens when the states broke. Andrew thank you
31:57
Speaker 1: keep the pressure up. I know you will catch up
31:59
Speaker 1: with you again soon coming up after the break the
32:02
Speaker 1: lighting up the week Cartoons of the Week with Mark
32:04
Speaker 1: ninety has had some beauty this week back top of
32:12
Speaker 1: the Hour of course the world according to Rowan Dean
32:15
Speaker 1: and also I have our panel coming up shortly plenty
32:18
Speaker 1: to talk to them about. But welcoming into the studio now,
32:21
Speaker 1: the magnificent Heraldson cartoonist Mark Night. You've had a big week, Pricey.
32:26
Speaker 1: Was it Sunday that I woke up to a drawing
32:29
Speaker 1: that you did magnificently of our great leader Anthony?
32:32
Speaker 2: Oh, the joy wedding, the joy.
32:35
Speaker 1: Of the wedding. Let's have a look at the wedding joy.
32:37
Speaker 1: But well look at that, I just think the bride. Yes,
32:41
Speaker 1: what's Pauline doing there?
32:42
Speaker 2: Well?
32:43
Speaker 9: I wanted to draw something, draw something joyous, you know,
32:46
Speaker 9: to celebrate the occasion, but I had to bring politics
32:48
Speaker 9: into it, and I thought, you know, lovers in the
32:50
Speaker 9: air in Canberra, and not just with the Prime Minister,
32:53
Speaker 9: but you know Pauline and Barnaby they will hit it off,
32:56
Speaker 9: There's no doubt about that.
32:57
Speaker 1: And so you're not suggesting Pauline and Barnaby going to
33:00
Speaker 1: get together.
33:01
Speaker 2: Well in a political sense, political sense, Stephen.
33:04
Speaker 9: So you know that the old tradition of throwing the bouquet, well,
33:07
Speaker 9: Pauline would love to get hold of that because she
33:09
Speaker 9: wants her man.
33:11
Speaker 1: I love your elbow there and Jody, I reckon, she'd
33:14
Speaker 1: be happy with that. I think that I've been kin
33:16
Speaker 1: evan't I They will get that cartoon and they'll crop
33:19
Speaker 1: it and get rid of Pauline and Varnaby and hang
33:23
Speaker 1: it up at home. I wouldn't it. I got my
33:26
Speaker 1: pulldog cartoon that you drew all those years ago. Melbourne Metro,
33:29
Speaker 1: we've been having fast roaring trains because the Melbourne Metro
33:33
Speaker 1: opened last weekend. I was staggered at the tens of
33:36
Speaker 1: thousands of people who thought it would be a good
33:38
Speaker 1: idea on a Sunday, you go riding on a train
33:40
Speaker 1: with j Cinda Allen through the backstreets of Melbourne, down
33:44
Speaker 1: through the tunnel.
33:45
Speaker 2: I nearly did it.
33:46
Speaker 1: I nearly went.
33:47
Speaker 9: I nearly went down and got on it, but I
33:49
Speaker 9: had to mow the lawns unfortunately.
33:51
Speaker 2: But you know she's sent to Alan.
33:53
Speaker 9: I mean she was cocker hoop this this project that's
33:56
Speaker 9: over budget and over time, but there she was the
33:59
Speaker 9: center of a instant.
34:00
Speaker 2: So I thought, let's have.
34:01
Speaker 9: Her riding on top of the train, on top of
34:04
Speaker 9: the train, in all her glory.
34:07
Speaker 1: I have to go and look at those stations. Apparently
34:08
Speaker 1: they're pretty impressive. You also drew her riding the metro
34:12
Speaker 1: as well, did you.
34:13
Speaker 9: Well, that's right, you know we had all these shots
34:14
Speaker 9: of her and all her apparatchicks on the train, all
34:18
Speaker 9: taking their selfies.
34:20
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, what spoilt the day was.
34:22
Speaker 9: That the opinion pole assaults came out and they are
34:26
Speaker 9: a real stinker. So as you can see the well,
34:29
Speaker 9: he's the opinion poles getting on, he's getting on and
34:33
Speaker 9: he's absolutely ruining the selfie.
34:35
Speaker 1: Do you believe they all go around wearing those red jackets?
34:37
Speaker 1: I mean the thing that you must when you when
34:39
Speaker 1: you're compiling a cartoon. Whenever de Cidra Land does a
34:43
Speaker 1: media conference, she stands out front and there's about three
34:46
Speaker 1: or four normally women standing behind it, all nodding with
34:50
Speaker 1: colored glasses and stuff on them, all the nootties.
34:53
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, I love drawing them.
34:55
Speaker 9: Now that cartoon I did last week of Yeah, you
35:00
Speaker 9: just put a collection of people in the background and
35:02
Speaker 9: they're all nodding their heads like those things that dip
35:05
Speaker 9: into the water.
35:06
Speaker 1: I remember those things. I think they're more like those
35:08
Speaker 1: clowns at the Melbourne Show. Bruce Limb a serious issue.
35:15
Speaker 1: He's caught appeal, he was not successful. He's now suggesting
35:18
Speaker 1: he's going to seek leave to go to the High Court. Yes,
35:24
Speaker 1: I wish I could remember the quote from Justice Lee.
35:27
Speaker 9: Justice Michael Lee said you escape the lines, Den, but
35:31
Speaker 9: then you went back and got your hat.
35:34
Speaker 1: And one of the great lines.
35:35
Speaker 2: Ever, one of the great lines. And so I brought
35:38
Speaker 2: the line back.
35:39
Speaker 9: And as he's saying in the cartoon, what have I
35:41
Speaker 9: got to lose by sticking my head in its jaws?
35:44
Speaker 1: That is a beautiful piece of cartoon.
35:46
Speaker 9: It's good to draw Bruce Lamb, and I love him as.
35:48
Speaker 1: A character around it. While yes he's completely broke. Now,
35:53
Speaker 1: that was a great quote from Justice Lee. Fantastic public service. Apparently,
35:57
Speaker 1: just said is going to take the axe to everybody. Everybody.
36:01
Speaker 2: Look, this story came out darpening world.
36:03
Speaker 9: Yes, you know, I figured I'd conflate a few stories
36:06
Speaker 9: here together. You know, she's just collected all these these
36:10
Speaker 9: machetes and access from her machete disposal bins. What she's
36:14
Speaker 9: what is she going to do with them? Well, let's
36:16
Speaker 9: cut a few public servant heads off.
36:18
Speaker 1: I suppose that's what she's going to do. Is she
36:20
Speaker 1: ever going to be drawn in anything but the red suit?
36:23
Speaker 10: Now?
36:23
Speaker 1: Is that sort of the uniform?
36:25
Speaker 2: I give her a little hard hat with the big
36:28
Speaker 2: bill on it.
36:28
Speaker 9: You know, I've taken her out of high vis because
36:32
Speaker 9: she wears red now and that's you know, that's as
36:34
Speaker 9: high vis as you can get, so she'll.
36:38
Speaker 1: Be in red. That's a great cartoons. So you do
36:40
Speaker 1: at the end of the year every year in the
36:42
Speaker 1: Herald Sun your cartoon of the year. When what I
36:46
Speaker 1: always I put it aside. It takes me days like
36:49
Speaker 1: doing a jigsaw, and you have all of the major
36:53
Speaker 1: characters and events that have taken place in twenty twenty five. Yeah,
36:57
Speaker 1: how advanced are we on? I am drawing it now.
37:01
Speaker 9: I'll give you a little a little a scoop.
37:05
Speaker 2: It's of course we've got the Ashes here this year.
37:08
Speaker 9: It's going to be set at the MCG and it's
37:12
Speaker 9: going to be an Ashes theme.
37:14
Speaker 1: When does it come out?
37:16
Speaker 9: It comes out actually after the after the boxing day
37:18
Speaker 9: test it comes out on.
37:19
Speaker 1: New Year's Eve, and how many characters do we normally have?
37:22
Speaker 1: Does it?
37:23
Speaker 2: Very gets bigger every year every do you looking up.
37:27
Speaker 1: And lobby you and say.
37:29
Speaker 2: Can I be in it? They do do a bit
37:31
Speaker 2: of that. They do do a bit of that.
37:33
Speaker 9: Yes, I said, there's one way you'll appear in it.
37:36
Speaker 9: Either if you drop dead and we pay respect to
37:40
Speaker 9: you when you get the angel's wings, or you do
37:42
Speaker 9: something stupid.
37:43
Speaker 1: We've had a few said passings this year. Yeah, there's
37:46
Speaker 1: a few in there. Oh yeah, yeah, and the wedding
37:48
Speaker 1: might play some sort of a role.
37:51
Speaker 2: Albo and Jody are in there.
37:52
Speaker 1: Of course, Donald is in there, will be there somewhere.
37:56
Speaker 2: The red Suit.
37:57
Speaker 9: The former premier Daniel Andrews makes it in there, and
38:00
Speaker 9: he's sitting with some of his dictator mates.
38:03
Speaker 1: I'm Chinese. Perhaps don't give too much away. I won't
38:09
Speaker 1: make Mark Knight. Great to see you. I'll see you
38:10
Speaker 1: in a couple of weeks time, Mark Knight, make sure
38:12
Speaker 1: you get your heralds on. Those cartoons are absolutely fantastic.
38:15
Speaker 1: After the break, if an Adelaide teenagers being able to
38:17
Speaker 1: trick Snapchat into thinking he's twenty five, what hope is
38:22
Speaker 1: there that the government's social media ban will actually work? Plus,
38:26
Speaker 1: we're discontent with the Liberals are at record lows. Are
38:29
Speaker 1: there moves now to create a new conservative movement in Australia.
38:33
Speaker 1: We'll find out with our panel up next. Welcome back
38:39
Speaker 1: Rondine coming up at the top of the AI. Let's
38:41
Speaker 1: get into some of the other news from right around
38:42
Speaker 1: Australian overseas all this week with our Friday night panel.
38:45
Speaker 1: We love talking to gt Communications Demotron Uni and Sky
38:50
Speaker 1: News contributor Joe Hildebrand. Welcome to you both. I don't
38:55
Speaker 1: know how to work Facebook, so you imagine what I'm
38:57
Speaker 1: going to be like when we get into this area
38:59
Speaker 1: of having to work out social media. But I heard
39:02
Speaker 1: today a fourteen year old kid in Adelaide has tricked
39:06
Speaker 1: the global messaging platform Snapchat whatever that might be their
39:11
Speaker 1: facial age verification system into approving him as a twenty
39:16
Speaker 1: five year old. I mean, how obviously, Jima, this raises
39:19
Speaker 1: some pretty serious doubts about the effectiveness of the under
39:23
Speaker 1: sixteen social media band that's about to start. That's got
39:27
Speaker 1: to set alarm bell was off for some people, doesn't it.
39:29
Speaker 10: I mean, I don't know why anyone is surprised by this.
39:31
Speaker 10: Everyone in my immediate so no, genuinely. All of my
39:35
Speaker 10: friends with teenage children who are affected by this band
39:39
Speaker 10: have been saying their kids have been saying since it
39:41
Speaker 10: was announced, don't worry about it, mum, We'll get away.
39:43
Speaker 10: We'll find a way around it. Because kids are smart
39:46
Speaker 10: and they're more tech savvy than the people who brought
39:47
Speaker 10: this legislation in, so clearly they're sort of sitting back
39:51
Speaker 10: doing the equivalent of smoking a cigar and having a
39:54
Speaker 10: scotch on the rocks and just kind of laughing to
39:56
Speaker 10: themselves because they are smart, and they live in a
39:58
Speaker 10: tech world, and the they are well able to navigate
40:02
Speaker 10: these things. And I just don't believe as well intentioned
40:05
Speaker 10: as this legislation is, and despite how much everybody is
40:11
Speaker 10: lauding it, it is so poorly thought out and it's
40:14
Speaker 10: poorly executed, and it doesn't actually factor in real world
40:17
Speaker 10: circumstances like kids being smart enough to get around it.
40:21
Speaker 1: Joe I saw on Senate Estimates this week Senator Matt Canavan,
40:25
Speaker 1: who was grilling one of the heads of the department
40:29
Speaker 1: that's supposed to monitor this stuff and set it up
40:32
Speaker 1: and make sure it works, and he asked the question
40:35
Speaker 1: of his if he allows one of his children to
40:40
Speaker 1: use his website, which is supposed to only be available
40:44
Speaker 1: to over sixteens, would the social media giant potentially shut
40:49
Speaker 1: down his account.
40:51
Speaker 11: The answer was yes, I mean seriously, yeah, I mean
40:55
Speaker 11: obviously that's ridiculous, and I don't think you are going
40:57
Speaker 11: to see any sort of draconian response to like that.
41:00
Speaker 11: As much as they might exist on the statute books,
41:02
Speaker 11: as soon as anyone tried to enact a penalty like that,
41:05
Speaker 11: there would be an instant uproar and revolt.
41:07
Speaker 1: And that's in no way.
41:09
Speaker 11: I don't think the intent of the legislation or the
41:12
Speaker 11: campaign that News Corp Did which prompted the government to
41:17
Speaker 11: introduce this world leading ban. Oprah Winfrey has just endorsed it. Incidentally,
41:21
Speaker 11: there's a little bit of breaking news pace. But I
41:25
Speaker 11: think there's perhaps a sort of misunderstanding as to what
41:28
Speaker 11: that nature of the ban actually is. It's kind of
41:31
Speaker 11: it's not going to even if it could completely stop
41:36
Speaker 11: all kids under the age of sixteen from ever accessing
41:39
Speaker 11: social media, that would be impossible. What it does do
41:43
Speaker 11: is send a signal to kids and put an important
41:46
Speaker 11: tool in the toolkit of parents to be able to
41:49
Speaker 11: say you're not allowed to do this, this is against
41:51
Speaker 11: the law, and that just provides a kind of circuit
41:54
Speaker 11: breaker that I think every parent I know it, myself included.
41:57
Speaker 11: My kids are on YouTube all the time as well.
41:59
Speaker 11: They're still going to be watching it. They're allowed to,
42:01
Speaker 11: they're just not allowed to have accounts. So it's kind
42:03
Speaker 11: of like think of it as shark nets at beaches,
42:06
Speaker 11: where there's not a big net around the beach that
42:09
Speaker 11: stops all sharks getting in, there's nets out there that
42:12
Speaker 11: provide barriers that disrupt the sharks, that disincedivise and make
42:16
Speaker 11: it harder and harder and not worth their while for
42:19
Speaker 11: them to come in and take a little Chompo took
42:22
Speaker 11: some sense in looks.
42:25
Speaker 10: I'm always really nervous talking about things about parenting because
42:28
Speaker 10: I didn't get to be a mum, but I am
42:29
Speaker 10: a really good auntie and I've got god children and
42:32
Speaker 10: very many of my friends are parents, obviously. And the
42:34
Speaker 10: one thing that I gently say here and I genuinely
42:38
Speaker 10: met it because I'm I'm not suggesting it's easy, but
42:40
Speaker 10: nothing worth having comes easily. Parents can say no, my
42:43
Speaker 10: parents certainly did. And I didn't grow up in the
42:45
Speaker 10: social media age. Obviously I'm an old person these days.
42:49
Speaker 10: But I have friends and they know who they are
42:51
Speaker 10: if they're watching. Who parented their children to the extent
42:55
Speaker 10: that their children weren't allowed to have smartphones? How because
42:57
Speaker 10: they are the bank of mom and dad and thirteen
43:00
Speaker 10: year olds don't earn money and can't go and buy
43:02
Speaker 10: a smartphone and.
43:03
Speaker 3: All of that sort of stuff.
43:04
Speaker 10: They parented and it wasn't easy, absolutely not. Did it
43:07
Speaker 10: cause chaos at some points? I think so, But it's
43:10
Speaker 10: the you know, that's what I'm told parenting is making
43:13
Speaker 10: hard decisions. And I don't mean to say that to
43:15
Speaker 10: be disparaging. It's just that I don't think we should be.
43:18
Speaker 10: It's a fine line. It's a fine line, is what
43:21
Speaker 10: I'm trying to say here.
43:23
Speaker 11: It's a little bit more complicated and is like, for example,
43:26
Speaker 11: if you want to talk about social media, it's fine
43:29
Speaker 11: to say no, but if every other kid is allowed
43:33
Speaker 11: to do it, and they're.
43:34
Speaker 10: Every other kid jumped off the harbor bridge, would you
43:36
Speaker 10: jump with them?
43:37
Speaker 6: No?
43:37
Speaker 11: But every other kid is not. But every other kid,
43:39
Speaker 11: for example, in my son's class, did have a smartphone
43:42
Speaker 11: and he did it, and that means he was being
43:43
Speaker 11: left out on social occasions. He wasn't being invited to
43:47
Speaker 11: go and hang out in the park. So it is
43:50
Speaker 11: actually much more complicated than that.
43:52
Speaker 1: I acknowledge.
43:54
Speaker 11: You want to be happy and included in a friendship group,
43:57
Speaker 11: you have to be all on the same page with
43:59
Speaker 11: his peers, and that's why you have to have a
44:01
Speaker 11: kind of one rule for everybody.
44:04
Speaker 1: I always worry when Australia is the first country in
44:07
Speaker 1: the world to be doing something.
44:09
Speaker 10: Because Oprah Winfrey, seriously, the thing is not exactly you know, next.
44:14
Speaker 1: Stop the book club exactly. Well, I just worry when
44:17
Speaker 1: we're the first ones doing something. Let's talk about Anika Wells.
44:21
Speaker 1: She's had a great week. She's been out spooking this
44:24
Speaker 1: social band. Today she's been called out for billing taxpayers
44:27
Speaker 1: more than three thousand dollars for a trip. I think
44:30
Speaker 1: it was to Adelaide to go to a friend's birthday party.
44:33
Speaker 1: This is the same Minister Gemma who's been under fire now.
44:36
Speaker 1: I can't believe this. She and two others took a
44:39
Speaker 1: trip to New York I think to sell our social
44:42
Speaker 1: media revolution to the UN and build the taxpayers for
44:47
Speaker 1: ninety four thousand dollars for flights alone for herself, a staff,
44:52
Speaker 1: and a public servant. Now, I'm lucky enough to be
44:55
Speaker 1: able to travel business class internationally and I know what
44:59
Speaker 1: it costs. Yeah, there is no way you should be
45:02
Speaker 1: paying ninety four thousand dollars for three people to go
45:05
Speaker 1: return to New York. Well, they must have been in
45:07
Speaker 1: first class.
45:08
Speaker 10: That they had to have been in first class and
45:10
Speaker 10: then some because like you, Steve, I'm fortunate enough to
45:14
Speaker 10: fly business class internationally from time to time and I
45:17
Speaker 10: don't know how it costs that much. But the thing
45:19
Speaker 10: that bothers me the most, well, there's a lot that
45:21
Speaker 10: bothers me about this, But the minister's response has been
45:25
Speaker 10: one of obfuscation. It has not been transparent. She needs
45:29
Speaker 10: to remember that she works for us primarily, and she's
45:31
Speaker 10: there because the Australian people put her there, for sure.
45:34
Speaker 10: But what I feel like there are elements of this
45:36
Speaker 10: government that doesn't really understand there is a conger line
45:39
Speaker 10: of minure sandwiches in an economic sense, going around and
45:42
Speaker 10: around that there's only one place for them to land,
45:45
Speaker 10: and that is the current federal government. The current federal
45:47
Speaker 10: Treasurer and the Prime Minister. And when you have ministers
45:50
Speaker 10: so completely disconnected from the day to day financial challenges
45:54
Speaker 10: that everyday Australians are having and refusing to answer the question.
45:58
Speaker 10: Refusing to answer, please is to explain, how did you
46:01
Speaker 10: spend one hundred grand on three people going to New York?
46:04
Speaker 10: How did you spend it?
46:06
Speaker 1: Ruben Spargo, our reporter in Canberra, He tried to get
46:09
Speaker 1: an answer his what the minister said.
46:12
Speaker 5: How do you justify spending this amount of taxpayers dollars?
46:17
Speaker 3: Well, the reason' you know all those things is because
46:19
Speaker 3: we're transparent about them.
46:20
Speaker 11: You don't think that was expensive for airfares over ninety
46:23
Speaker 11: four thousand dollars.
46:25
Speaker 2: I've answered your question, Joe.
46:29
Speaker 1: I mean this is ridiculous, Joe, I mean this is
46:32
Speaker 1: this is where if anything's going to trip this crowd up,
46:35
Speaker 1: it's going to be Hubris like that. That was more muneasy.
46:38
Speaker 1: He should drag her into his office and say, listen,
46:41
Speaker 1: we're not doing this anymore. You get out there and apologize.
46:44
Speaker 1: I mean that that is that is someone so out
46:47
Speaker 1: of touch with the real world. It's not funny.
46:50
Speaker 11: Yeah, Look, it's obviously been a pretty awful week for
46:53
Speaker 11: Anika Wells. The first rule is if you are going
46:58
Speaker 11: to be spending taxpayer money, you have to imagine it
47:02
Speaker 11: as your own and think would I think that this
47:04
Speaker 11: was a reasonable thing if I was paying for it.
47:07
Speaker 11: So that's the first test that needs to go through
47:09
Speaker 11: your head. The second test that needs to go through
47:11
Speaker 11: your head is everybody is going to know this sooner
47:15
Speaker 11: or later. Every single travel wrought or every single expenses claim,
47:19
Speaker 11: or every every single you know, upgrade to business class
47:22
Speaker 11: or whatever it may be. It is as regular as clockwork.
47:25
Speaker 11: You can set your watch to it. The Daily Telegraph
47:28
Speaker 11: will find out, somebody will find out, and you will
47:31
Speaker 11: be made to look elite and out of touch. And
47:35
Speaker 11: if you know, and so you have to make sure
47:37
Speaker 11: you have to be thinking. You have to be thinking
47:39
Speaker 11: when you are, you know, going to that fancy hotel,
47:42
Speaker 11: or thinking you might slip an extra person in on
47:44
Speaker 11: business class or whatever, or deciding whether to go business
47:47
Speaker 11: if you're going into bess And I think politicians should
47:48
Speaker 11: be able to fly business classes nationally and they need
47:51
Speaker 11: to be at their best. Whether they need a huge
47:54
Speaker 11: entourage for a six minute speech is another question, but
47:57
Speaker 11: you need to be you just need to think. There's
47:59
Speaker 11: all a human temptation to think, oh I can get
48:01
Speaker 11: this little bit extra, I can get this thing that's human.
48:04
Speaker 11: But you need to always, if you're an MP or
48:06
Speaker 11: a politician, think what is this going to look like
48:08
Speaker 11: on the front page of the Daily Telegraph? Because that
48:11
Speaker 11: is where it's going to end up. And that's clearly
48:13
Speaker 11: what I think the Minister failed to do in.
48:14
Speaker 1: This case, Jemma, I did some research for this panel. Today.
48:18
Speaker 1: I dragged myself out to the Royal Melbourne golf Course
48:20
Speaker 1: to watch Rory McElroy playing in the Australian Open. I
48:24
Speaker 1: tried my hardest, both of you, seriously to find Daniel Andrews,
48:29
Speaker 1: who bought this great tournament to Victoria, is a member
48:32
Speaker 1: of Kingston Heat just down the road. Guess what, gang,
48:34
Speaker 1: I couldn't find Dan Andrews anywhere. I'm going to go tomorrow.
48:38
Speaker 1: I'll go tomorrow and see if I can have another
48:40
Speaker 1: chance of trying to find him. Thank you both very much.
48:42
Speaker 1: It's great to catch up with you on a Friday,
48:45
Speaker 1: coming up after me. The world, according to Rondine