Latest / Steve Price / Steve Price | 2 October

Transcript

Steve Price | 2 October · Steve Price

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Live, this is Steve Price. Welcome to Friday nights as
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: we creep ever closer toward two of the most history-making,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I think, state elections in Australians' history. Victoria on November
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: 28th this year and New South Wales on the 13th
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: of March next year. Tomorrow, we'll see what I am
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: told will be the biggest campaign launch in the history
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  Speaker 1: of the One Nation Party as they unveil policy and
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  Speaker 1: candidates tomorrow. for the Victorian poll. Expect heavy security, fireworks,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: both kinds, as the slick One Nation team get one
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: up on the traditional parties, Labor and the Coalition. And meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: New South Wales Premier Chris Mintz makes it clear his
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  Speaker 1: Labor Party is not the Labor Party of Anthony Albanese.
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  Speaker 1: and Jim Chalmers. But first, here is what we have
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: in store for you on this Friday night. How many
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: soldiers in the ADF does it take to change a lightbulb? Well,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the answer is none. We'll explain just why when we
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  Speaker 1: speak to Senator Jess Collins in a moment about the
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: senseless waste of taxpayers' money inside the Defence Department. Retail theft,
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  Speaker 1: especially from our major supermarkets in Victoria, is at an
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: all-time high. It's a crisis for retailers big and small.
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  Speaker 1: I'll talk to Chris Garneau, who's an expert in this field,
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  Speaker 1: a major investor. He's labelled Victoria as a criminal's dream state.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: He'll join us first up. plus the latest on that
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: terrifying attempted hijack terror attack over Saudi Arabia on the
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: plane bound for Tel Aviv, plus the latest on that
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: British airfield thwarted terror attack as well. And with our
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: panel tonight, what is this tap-and-go change? What's it mean
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: for your annual spend on that morning coffee? But first,
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  Speaker 1: I'll talk to Liberal Senator Jess Collins shortly. She has
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: been doing an outstanding job as she and other MPs
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: and thousands of patriotic Australians try and get the Albanese
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  Speaker 1: government and their Defence Minister, the ineffective Victorian Richard Marles,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: also our Deputy Prime Minister, to see some common sense.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: No more than that. More than that. Some spine and
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  Speaker 1: cancel the rampant trashing of our proud military history. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Marles on the weekend agenda here on News 24 with
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Andrew Connell last week. made a complete goose of himself
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  Speaker 1: trying to justify selling, among other assets, Victoria Barracks in Paddington, Sydney.
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  Speaker 2: There's no possibility of any of these sites being impacted
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  Speaker 2: in terms of their heritage value. They are protected by law.
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  Speaker 2: And that is why, when you look at the overall
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  Speaker 2: value of all the 67 properties that are being disposed of,
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  Speaker 2: it's actually... not a significant amount of money, as one
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  Speaker 2: might imagine. I mean, just take a step back and
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  Speaker 2: think about this for one second. Every dollar that Defence
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  Speaker 2: spends on the heritage of Victoria Barracks, Sydney, is in
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  Speaker 2: competition with a dollar that we would spend on Defence capability,
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  Speaker 2: on making sure that we are giving our diggers the
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  Speaker 2: best protection possible to keep them safe, and that's my
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  Speaker 2: first priority, and giving them the best capability in order
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  Speaker 2: for them to defend Australia. And that is also the priority.
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  Speaker 2: It is not my priority for Defence to be a
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  Speaker 2: heritage organisation.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Well, that's Richard Marsden. He went on to have a
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  Speaker 1: crack at Australia's retired generals. I mean, this from a
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  Speaker 1: bloke who obviously has never served his nation, hangs out
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  Speaker 1: in Geelong and loves to pack his golf bag on
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  Speaker 1: national and international trips. Having a go at retired military personnel.
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  Speaker 1: Give me a break. Now, a government in a Western
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  Speaker 1: democracy that doesn't get how Australians feel about their military
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  Speaker 1: historically does not understand a core belief most of us
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  Speaker 1: hold dear. We are a proud military nation. We've put
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  Speaker 1: our hands up ever since the Boer War to commit
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  Speaker 1: Australian lives to defend our allies, our friends, our colonial links. Anyone,
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  Speaker 1: as I have, that's walked the battlefields of the Western
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  Speaker 1: Front in France and Belgium or set foot on the
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  Speaker 1: beach at Anzac Cove, well, we get it. Those Australians
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  Speaker 1: who have trekked Kokoda, they get it. Those Australians who
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  Speaker 1: have visited the Burma Railway and read of Weary Dunlop,
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  Speaker 1: they get it. Or those who have crawled through those
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  Speaker 1: Viet Cong tunnels in Vietnam, they get it too. Now,
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  Speaker 1: these vandals in Canberra, including the passive bureaucrats in defence,
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  Speaker 1: should be ashamed of themselves. The Senator in a moment,
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  Speaker 1: but here she was at Senate estimates questioning some of
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  Speaker 1: those faceless men and women.
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  Speaker 3: We have the situation where qualified Sparkies, trained by the Army,
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  Speaker 3: are escorting private contractors to a lightbulb that needs changing.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: Which private contractor will come onto a base to change
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  Speaker 3: a deadbulb when Australia is under attack. The Base Services
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  Speaker 3: Transformation Program is the name given by Defence bureaucrats for
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  Speaker 3: the $ 14 billion of contracts relating to the management of
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  Speaker 3: the Defence estate. It includes things like garrison services, catering,
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  Speaker 3: project management, many of the capabilities that Defence used to do,
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  Speaker 3: except now we outsource it to multinationals and it costs more.
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  Speaker 3: That we don't even allow our Defence members to provide
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  Speaker 3: security on their own bases is a gross failure of
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  Speaker 3: the system. So our best troops are packing up and
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  Speaker 3: leaving to find a job where they can do the
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  Speaker 3: work that they're trained to do.
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  Speaker 1: As I said, outstanding. So how did we get here? Well,
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  Speaker 1: the government is so broke, they intend to sell our
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: history down the drain. That's a simple point. Victoria Barracks
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  Speaker 1: in Sydney and in Melbourne are on prime real estate,
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  Speaker 1: perfect to flog off to developers and let those developers
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  Speaker 1: throw up another couple of 30-storey apartment towers too expensive
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  Speaker 1: for most people to buy. Peter Jenkins in the Daily
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Telegraph today makes a fantastic point that combat engineers who
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: are trained to blow up bridges are prevented from changing
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: light bulbs on their bases because of the Defence Department. Yep,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: them again. Because they outsource maintenance, as the Senator was
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: just talking about, to outside contractors. What a sad state
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: of affairs that is. In that Upper House inquiry... A
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: deputy secretary of the Defence Department, in answer to a
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: question about light bulbs and why a trained engineer would
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: have to fill out an order form for a new
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: light bulb, said, quote, where would they buy the light
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: bulbs from? Where would they store them? Well, what about
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: in a light bulb holder, which is called a light?
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is your Defence Department. Public servants at work, folks.
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  Speaker 1: Coalition defence spokesman James Patterson has waded into the argument
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: and he says the opposition will oppose those sales. He
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: told the Daily Telegraph, quote, I am going to keep
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: fighting to stop Labor from selling Victoria Barracks, Sydney and
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  Speaker 1: every other piece of priceless military heritage around Australia. Good
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  Speaker 1: on him. He has a petition circulating with more than
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: 100,000 signatures already. As you scroll through the comments attached
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: to that Jenkins article, you get the flavour of the
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: anger directed at this heritage sale vandalism. One correspondent revealed,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: after having worked in a job processing defence repair work,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: that a simple tiling job, say, two tiles, would cost $ 2, 500,
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  Speaker 1: and a basic plumbing repair, $ 5, 000, and the leak not
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  Speaker 1: even fixed.
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  Speaker 3: I mean.
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  Speaker 1: This latest cash grab stumble by Labor has to be stopped.
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  Speaker 1: And if we should keep making... And we all should
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: keep making a noise about it. Senator Collins, up soon.
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  Speaker 1: But now, as we mentioned last week, the warnings over
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Victoria's crime crisis, retail crime in particular, and how it's
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: having a direct impact on business investment, this state is
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  Speaker 1: in a real mess. Now, one of those warnings was
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: issued by shopping centre retail manager... and Faulkner Properties, who
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: labelled Victoria a, quote, criminals' dream state after topping the
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  Speaker 1: latest crime stats that showed, can you believe this figure,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: more than 263 offences being notched up every single day.
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  Speaker 1: Not many Victorians would be surprised about that. Now, Chris
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  Speaker 1: Garno is a retail fund manager and chief investment officer
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: of Faulkner Property. He says he's so concerned about theft levels,
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  Speaker 1: he's put investment plans in Victoria on hold which is
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  Speaker 1: bad news for all of us. Victoria leads the state
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  Speaker 1: on retail crime stats, and I've talked before of witnessing
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  Speaker 1: thieves loading up shopping trolleys, walking out of the door,
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  Speaker 1: challenging security to do anything about it. Bottle shops are
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  Speaker 1: forced to lock high-end liquor behind glass display cabinets. But
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  Speaker 1: if you think that's bad, a trip to Woolworths on
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  Speaker 1: the morning to Peninsula I had last week, I bought
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  Speaker 1: a two-pack of sirloin steak. It had security stickers on
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  Speaker 1: it because people are stealing meat. Chris Garneau has put
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  Speaker 1: this on the agenda. I'm pleased to say he's joined us.
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  Speaker 1: You've described, Chris, Victoria as uninvestable. I mean, that's a
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  Speaker 1: pretty depressing state for all of us who live here.
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  Speaker 5: Thanks, Stephen.
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  Speaker 6: Thanks for having me on your show. It's absolutely spot on, mate,
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  Speaker 6: your introduction. Mate, in short, the lunatics are running the asylum.
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  Speaker 6: You know, I've been in financial services for 41 years
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  Speaker 6: and I've never seen it so bad. And actually, to
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  Speaker 6: your point, what you just said about the stake on
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  Speaker 6: the morning to Peninsula, I noticed last night my wife
• 9:33
  Speaker 6: bought home some chops from Woolworths, you know, just the
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  Speaker 6: three-in-a-pack little lamb chops, and they had the security pass
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  Speaker 6: on them. I mean, it's extraordinary that you could think
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  Speaker 6: this is now the new normal.
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  Speaker 1: It's actually embarrassing, isn't it? I mean, it really is.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, look, you can go back to COVID and,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Dan Andrews locked Victoria down longer than anyone
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  Speaker 1: else in the world, but I just don't think this
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  Speaker 1: place has ever really recovered. I, like you... travel to
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Sydney and to Brisbane and my old hometown of Adelaide.
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  Speaker 1: They all seem back on track. Melbourne clearly is not.
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  Speaker 7: Oh, absolutely spot on, mate.
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  Speaker 6: And if you think about it, you know, when they
• 10:10
  Speaker 6: spoke about COVID being a pandemic, There is only one pandemic.
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  Speaker 7: Going on in Victoria. It's crime.
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  Speaker 6: And they ain't locking the joint down because of crime.
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  Speaker 6: It's just absolutely out of control. And if you think
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  Speaker 6: about the worst thing, Steve, who I feel the most
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  Speaker 6: sorry for is two actual groups.
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  Speaker 7: Police are demoralised. So you think about a policeman.
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  Speaker 6: You know, a young guy, a young girl joins the
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  Speaker 6: police force because they're generally good citizens, aren't they?
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  Speaker 7: They're trying to do the right thing.
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  Speaker 6: Yep.
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  Speaker 7: In their hometown or their home state, wherever they're from.
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  Speaker 7: Police are generally very good people. They're demoralised.
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  Speaker 6: The police force they're leaving in droves because they're so demoralised.
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  Speaker 6: And the second group is kids. All these kids under
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  Speaker 6: 18 that work at Coles, Woolworths, you know, Kmart, Big W, McDonald's,
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: all these places, but the supermarkets, mainly the majors, these
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  Speaker 6: kids are abused, You know, at the counters, the security
• 11:09
  Speaker 6: guards can't take the blokes, you know, on. There's Woolworths, 50% of.
• 11:16
  Speaker 7: Coles' theft. So Coles has about 1,100 stores nationally.
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  Speaker 6: 50% of their theft happens here in Victoria. So let's
• 11:27
  Speaker 6: assume that we've got a third of the country's population here, right? 50%
• 11:33
  Speaker 6: of it happens in one place. Victoria, that's absolutely outrageous.
• 11:37
  Speaker 6: There's one store of Woolworths in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.
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  Speaker 7: It has $ 20, 000.
• 11:41
  Speaker 6: Per week, $ 1 million per year of theft out of
• 11:51
  Speaker 6: one store. One store, $ 1 million a year. Now, you
• 11:54
  Speaker 6: know who pays for that, Steve? All the innocent citizens
• 11:57
  Speaker 6: pay for that because ultimately... The corporation, that pilfery, that, sorry, theft,
• 12:05
  Speaker 6: the Woolworths can't afford to, you know, keep decreasing their profit.
• 12:09
  Speaker 6: They pass that on to the consumer in higher prices
• 12:13
  Speaker 6: because of theft. It's absolutely out of control. It is
• 12:17
  Speaker 6: mayhem here and I will not invest one more cent
• 12:21
  Speaker 6: in Victoria until there's a change of government.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Well, I can't blame you. I mean, this example won't
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: surprise you. I've got a producer of mine who's got
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: a teenager working in a Boost Juice store in a major,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: and I mean major, Melbourne shopping centre. He had to
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: go down there with her and work out an escape
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: route if some lunatic comes into the centre brandishing machetes
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: because getting under the counter wouldn't be safe enough. I mean,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: how can you possibly even talk about something like that?
• 12:51
  Speaker 7: I mean, it's just extraordinary. Like, we're a bit older, right?
• 12:53
  Speaker 7: We're over 60.
• 12:55
  Speaker 6: And you think, imagine in our day if this sort
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  Speaker 6: of stuff was going on, and it's now actually become normal.
• 13:01
  Speaker 6: And what you've got is this soft, labour, ideological, woke legislation, and.
• 13:08
  Speaker 7: Then enabled by the judiciary.
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: And if you want to actually fix this crap, either
• 13:16
  Speaker 6: change the government, which is my first.
• 13:18
  Speaker 7: Preference, change the legislation.
• 13:21
  Speaker 6: And get all of these lefty judiciary, you know, these
• 13:26
  Speaker 6: Labor blokes, they love a conference.
• 13:28
  Speaker 7: Get them all in the conference room.
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: And actually, rather than cheering themselves with martinis and demoralising
• 13:35
  Speaker 6: police and under-18-year-olds, show them the effects of their weakness
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: to these absolute criminals. And the epitome you think about,
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: I don't smoke cigarettes, is the greatest... organised crime going
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: on in the state is in the illegal tobacco business
• 13:50
  Speaker 6: being run out of the Middle East, for goodness sake.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: When you talk to your mates who are also investors,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: do they have a similar mindset about putting their capital
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: on the table to do anything in Melbourne?
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  Speaker 7: Oh, absolutely.
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  Speaker 6: I mean, what you actually get, we own all the
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  Speaker 6: shopping centres, you know, the major part of the shopping
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: centres in Queensland and Western Australia. So basically we own,
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  Speaker 6: you know, Brisbane, Gladstone, Mackay, Townsville.
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  Speaker 1: Erina and all those places.
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: Erina Fair on the Central Coast, et cetera, right? They're
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: so easy, Steve, to put away capital into those. Erina
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: Fair was the biggest raise in Australia last year, the
• 14:27
  Speaker 6: biggest shopping centre transaction in Australia in the last 15 years.
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: We put away the money in 24 hours. It was
• 14:33
  Speaker 6: the largest raise, right? If I had an Erina Fair
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: equivalent in Victoria... I tell you what, I'd really.
• 14:39
  Speaker 7: Struggle to put the money away. I wouldn't get it away.
• 14:43
  Speaker 7: There's no one from interstate that would invest with us.
• 14:45
  Speaker 7: Put it that way. Do you know what I mean?
• 14:47
  Speaker 7: There's no New South Welshman. And you're like me. You
• 14:49
  Speaker 7: travel the nation.
• 14:50
  Speaker 6: So we're the laughingstock of the nation in many regards,
• 14:53
  Speaker 6: not just crime, right? So you couldn't put the dough away.
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  Speaker 6: And as a fund manager, you are the custodian of
• 14:59
  Speaker 6: someone else's capital. So you wouldn't put it to risk anyway.
• 15:02
  Speaker 6: And in my company, I'm the largest single investor in
• 15:04
  Speaker 6: all the syndicates that we run. So I'm not going to,
• 15:06
  Speaker 6: you know, pee my money up against the wall, so
• 15:08
  Speaker 6: I'm sure as hell I'm not going to pee yours.
• 15:10
  Speaker 7: Up the wall, Steve, either.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Wise words and strong words. I really appreciate you joining us,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Chris Garno. Thank you very much, mate.
• 15:18
  Speaker 7: Thank you for having me, Steve. I really appreciate it, mate.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Nice to speak to someone who speaks the truth. As
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: I said, we're creeping up toward that state election. the
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: coalition who want to get elected could do worse than
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: use Chris Garno to help them out. OK, I want to...
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Sticking on politics, I want to go now to the
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: federal government's controversial fire sale, and that's what it is,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: of defence assets, but also the efforts of our next guest,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: who has taken measures to call out the ridiculous waste
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: of your money, taxpayers' money, when defence should be tightening
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: its belt. I'll give you some examples at the top
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: of the program. Liberal Senator Jess Collins has exposed military
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: bases paying hundreds of dollars for basic maintenance jobs, including $ 500,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: wait for it, to change a lightbulb, despite qualified tradies
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: already being on site. Have a look.
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: If I'm a combat engineer on a base and a
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: lightbulb goes, what do I do?
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: You would log a.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: Job on Service Connect, which is an app that we have,
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: or on the intranet, the defence.
• 16:24
  Speaker 8: Intranet, and somebody would come out and change your lightbulb
• 16:27
  Speaker 8: for you.
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  Speaker 2: Why can't I change it myself.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: If I am a combat engineer?
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: Where would they buy the lightbulb from?
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: Where would they store the lightbulb?
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: Or the ordering of things like lightbulbs? How much does
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: it cost to change a lightbulb?
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: I couldn't tell you.
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: The whole part of the rationale for selling somewhere like
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: Victoria Barrack, Sydney..... the heart and soul of the army
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: is because things like changing a lightbulb cost too much.
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: A combat engineer can blow up bridges, go behind insurgent lines,
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: but he can't change his own lightbulb.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Those two public servants sitting there shouldn't have a job today.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: And if there is ever... a change of government at
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: the top level from Labor to the Coalition, they need
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: to do a complete audit on people like that who
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I am guessing, I don't know for sure, but I'm
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: guessing would be earning middle six-figure salaries. Senator Jess Collins
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: joins us now. I can't believe how calm you were there.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: How possibly could you stay calm with those answers?
• 17:44
  Speaker 9: Yeah, well.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: We just have to. I mean, this is the absurdity
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: that keeps getting thrown at us. It is $ 500 to
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: change a light bulb. I can't tell you how wild
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: my inbox went after that, everybody telling me exactly how
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: much these things cost. I've heard $ 22, 000 just to tighten
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: a couple of screws. It is phenomenal, the waste that
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: we see, and yet this Labor government continues to bureaucratise
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: and centralise the maintenance services. Now, I heard in your intro, Steve,
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: the Defence Minister, Richard Miles, say that every dollar spent
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: on heritage is a dollar not spent on capability. Well,
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: he's got a couple of big things wrong there. He's
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: spending billions of dollars on the maintenance services that could
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: be done in-house. It used to be done in-house. 20
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: years ago, I've had thousands of people write to me, say,
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: we used to guard our own bases, change our own lightbulbs.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: They actually stored the lightbulbs down in the Q store.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: Very simple thing to do. Takes 30 seconds to change
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: a lightbulb, and yet now we're looking at $ 500 to
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: do those basic tasks, and the government is paying billions
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: of dollars now. They're not interested in turning those contracts
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: upside down and returning control back to the bases.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: How has defence and the bureaucracy over time got to
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: this point? I mean, we all know that public servants
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: like to, you know, contract stuff out. They don't think
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: that anyone can do anything, so they pay other people
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: to do it. I mean, you know, taxpayers are paying
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: billions of dollars to contractors. How long has this been
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: going on for? And, you know, we've got two issues here,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: haven't we? We've got the disgraceful sell-off of assets that
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: shouldn't be touched, and then we've got a bloated bureaucracy
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: behind our frontline troops doing stuff that they could quite
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: easily do.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: That's exactly right. Look, it has been progressively happening over
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: 20 years. I think it started when the East Timor
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: conflict kicked off. We just didn't have enough personnel, and
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: so they had to move maintenance personnel across into the
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: front lines over there. But, look, we are in peacetime
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: at the moment. We are trying to prepare for war.
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: We must be solely focused on that. The fact that
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: this government is selling places like Victoria Barracks, Sydney, metropolitan
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: sites that are there to protect people the metropolitan populations, Sydney,
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: the biggest population in all of Australia, and all those bases,
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: and Lancer Barracks and Parramatta as well, where we can
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: mount counter-terrorism operations. It's not just about wars that come
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: to our shore. They will be leaving us vulnerable, and
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: their sole is not to fix that maintenance problem and
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: fix the outsourcing problem, but it's to sell the silverware,
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: and it just doesn't make sense.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: You're doing an outstanding job.
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: How.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Disappointed were you when Miles turned up on News 24
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: on Sunday with Andrew Clunell and started taking pot shots
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: at people he called retired generals who want to protect
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: the most valuable wine cellar in the country?
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I still can't believe it. Every time I see
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: that clip, I just feel so disappointed for all the
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: military personnel, the veterans that had to sit there and
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: listen to that absolute garbage. I mean, he's supposed to
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: be leading the defence community and instead he punches down
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: on them. And I just, for the life of me,
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: cannot understand why If you do not want to lead
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: your constituency, move aside. He is the deputy leader. He
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: could choose any portfolio that he wishes. So I can't
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: understand why he continues on doing what he does. He
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: needs to look at, instead of doubling down on the
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: defence estate and look at the real problems as to why,
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: first of all, he can't get the funding that he
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: needs for the capability and looking at the outsourcing problem that,
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: of course, is, you know, the bureaucracy that is collapsing
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: the defence estate.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Labor's capable of having a good Defence Minister. I mean,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: you know, Joel Fitzgibbon was fantastic, but this bloke's just
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: in absolutely the wrong job. I'll urge all of our viewers,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: as Peter Credlin has been doing, to sign that petition.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: You keep up your fantastic work. You're doing a brilliant job.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Thank you for talking to us tonight, Senator. Senator Jess
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Collins there, I mean, she's doing a fantastic job. Coming
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: up after the break, more on Victoria's youth crime crisis,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: which we've been talking about already tonight, and why a
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: $ 40 million Labor program, state Labor, is under fresh scrutiny
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: after a report finds that the majority of the participants
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: went on to reoffend. That's up next. Welcome back. Great
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: to have you with us. I'll take you to the
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: UK in a moment. Latest on that foiled terror plot
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: that happened, unfolded during the week. But first... Coalition Energy
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: spokesman Dan Tehan, I had him on while I was
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: filling in for Chris Kenny last night, is urging Queensland
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Premier David Christopher to lift the state's ban on uranium mining.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: It makes sense. Arguing that Australia is missing out on
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: billions of dollars in potential export. It comes as the
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: debate over that energy policy continues to intensify. Origin Energy
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: will have abandoned their massive Sky Ridge wind farm. Another
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: one bites the dust. Friday night, regular former Queensland Premier
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Campbell Newman joins us now. It's a no-brainer, isn't it,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: to open up uranium mining in Queensland?
• 23:03
  Speaker 10: Certainly a no-brainer, Steve, because the state is blessed with
• 23:08
  Speaker 10: great uranium reserves, as I understand it. It's a no-brainer
• 23:12
  Speaker 10: because Prime Minister Albanese signed a deal recently with Prime
• 23:16
  Speaker 10: Minister Modi of India, to actually export uranium.
• 23:20
  Speaker 9: From Australia there.
• 23:22
  Speaker 10: So you've got Labor Party political top coverage, if you like.
• 23:25
  Speaker 10: And the interesting thing is that Christopher Lee and another
• 23:28
  Speaker 10: probably six members of his cabinet were in my cabinet
• 23:32
  Speaker 10: back in 2012, when at Gundawindi, they all voted unanimously
• 23:37
  Speaker 10: to overturn the ban on uranium mining in this state.
• 23:41
  Speaker 10: I don't know why they won't get behind Dantoon. It
• 23:44
  Speaker 10: is a no-brainer, and Queensland and its economy and its
• 23:49
  Speaker 10: budget finances would be better off if they overturned the
• 23:52
  Speaker 10: Labor Party ban that's been in place for some years now.
• 23:56
  Speaker 10: So let's get on and exploit this resource for the
• 23:58
  Speaker 10: good of Queenslanders and Australians.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: So our only uranium mines are, what, South Australia and
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory?
• 24:08
  Speaker 10: Northern Territory, which are coming down in terms of production
• 24:11
  Speaker 10: and the NT.
• 24:12
  Speaker 9: And so, you know, Queensland mined uranium.
• 24:15
  Speaker 10: But, yeah, we mined uranium back in the 50s at
• 24:18
  Speaker 10: Mary Kathleen up near Mount Isa and Cloncurry.
• 24:22
  Speaker 9: So let's get on with it.
• 24:23
  Speaker 10: And, by the way, the rank and file of the LNP,
• 24:25
  Speaker 10: I'm very confident, support this.
• 24:28
  Speaker 9: That's the vibe that's out there.
• 24:31
  Speaker 10: And I don't think it's politically controversial.
• 24:33
  Speaker 9: And the government needs to show more ambition and be
• 24:36
  Speaker 9: more courageous... Well, hardly courageous.
• 24:38
  Speaker 10: Because, again, I don't think it's a big political issue,
• 24:41
  Speaker 10: given the Prime Minister wants to sell uranium to India.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Another interest rate rise this week. You talk to a
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: lot of people, so do I. I have never heard
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: so much pain from so many people. And, you know,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: I'm talking across a broad spectre of income earners with
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: the state of the country at the moment. People are
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: sitting around... And, you know, people keep saying about kitchen tables,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: not many people sit around a kitchen table anymore, but
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: they're sitting around saying, well, what are we going to cut?
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: What streaming service goes out the window? When are we
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: going to start, you know, buying cheaper cuts of meat? Sorry, kids,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: the Christmas holiday in the caravan park, that's not happening
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: this year. Can you remember us being in such a
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: pressured space than we are right now?
• 25:28
  Speaker 10: Look, it is back to 1989, 1990, where we saw
• 25:31
  Speaker 10: interest rates of 17%, and then that led into the
• 25:35
  Speaker 10: recession that Paul Keating said we had to have.
• 25:38
  Speaker 9: And Jim Chalmers... is repeating, I'm afraid, that same thing,
• 25:43
  Speaker 9: and we're on that trajectory.
• 25:44
  Speaker 10: And Lisa and I noticed, my wife Lisa and I noticed,
• 25:47
  Speaker 10: we both sort of were comparing notes the other day,
• 25:49
  Speaker 10: you know, we've been in the supermarket when we were
• 25:51
  Speaker 10: doing the shopping on a weekend, and you see people
• 25:55
  Speaker 10: actually going, look, I don't want that now, and putting
• 25:59
  Speaker 10: stuff aside because they know they can't afford what they
• 26:02
  Speaker 10: piled on the belt. That's really telling, Steve, and we
• 26:06
  Speaker 10: both were... You know, we've both been quite shocked to
• 26:08
  Speaker 10: see that. So things are getting quite bad out there
• 26:11
  Speaker 10: for people and there's a real anger out there as
• 26:13
  Speaker 10: well that's building.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: I want to tap into your time as the next Premier.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: Christopher Minns is doing an OK job, I think, in
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: New South Wales and so is Malinowskis in South Australia.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: We've talked about those two before. Minns, for some strange reason,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: went on with Kyle Sanderlands today on his... I think
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: it's a... You have to pay money to listen to it,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: but here's what he had to say... about the national government?
• 26:40
  Speaker 11: The years after COVID, too many people came into the
• 26:43
  Speaker 11: country in too short a space of time.
• 26:45
  Speaker 9: With no skills. A lot of them had no skills.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean, skills, no skills.
• 26:50
  Speaker 11: We had more than half a million people inside 12
• 26:52
  Speaker 11: months in that space of time. Now, I know what
• 26:56
  Speaker 11: was happening... At the time, the federal government was trying
• 26:58
  Speaker 11: to juice up the economy, get the joint rolling because
• 27:01
  Speaker 11: we'd just gone through COVID. But it put massive pressure
• 27:04
  Speaker 11: on the housing market, on our hospitals, on our emergency departments.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: When you were Queensland Premier, I can't remember if the
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: same brand of politics was in charge in Canberra as you.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: But if they were, would you have ever spoken out
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: against a federal government like that?
• 27:23
  Speaker 10: I certainly would have, and I did when I was
• 27:25
  Speaker 10: the Lord Mayor of Brisbane. You know, I had to
• 27:29
  Speaker 10: take John Howard on an issue for the infrastructure of
• 27:33
  Speaker 10: the city. I also had a few stashes with the
• 27:37
  Speaker 10: Abbott government. And I think it's great to see Chris
• 27:40
  Speaker 10: Minns doing it. I don't know about the internal dynamic
• 27:43
  Speaker 10: of the politics of the Labor Party, but, look, I
• 27:48
  Speaker 10: think he's taking the stand on important issues. The other
• 27:51
  Speaker 10: one in recent times was he was talking about high
• 27:54
  Speaker 10: government spending leading to, you know, driving inflation.
• 27:58
  Speaker 9: And it's true. And so good on him.
• 28:01
  Speaker 10: And the more I see of Chris Minns, the more
• 28:02
  Speaker 10: I feel like he's the Labor Premier that I'd be
• 28:05
  Speaker 10: voting for if I was in New South Wales, that's
• 28:07
  Speaker 10: for sure.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I rate him as well, Campbell. Always good to
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: see you. See you next Friday night, Campbell Newman there.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: And that is quite remarkable from Chris Minns. Minns in
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Malinowska School to go to Canberra. Let's go to the
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: UK now, where relations between Britain and Israel have hit
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: another low, despite Israel having tipped off the British government
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: about that foiled terror plot at RAF Fairford. Israel has
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: accused the Labor government of being, quote, hell-bent on destroying
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: the relationship between the two countries. Adrian Hayes is our
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: regular out of the UK on a Friday night. Adrian, welcome.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: We'll get to that in a moment, but I just
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: want to get your view on that attempted aircraft hijacking
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: and the stunning efforts of the co-pilot and the passengers.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: You're an adventurer, you're a fit man, you're a brave guy.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: What would you have done when that aircraft started diving,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: you know, toward the ground? Would you get up and
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: try and intervene?
• 29:02
  Speaker 9: Yes. Good evening, Stephen.
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: Why I can say that is because I've stepped up
• 29:07
  Speaker 5: regularly before, usually to diffuse the situation. And I think,
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: you know, a lot of people, whether it's on the
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: streets of London or something else, many people are there
• 29:15
  Speaker 5: happy to film things, but actually step out. Obviously, you've
• 29:18
  Speaker 5: got to be very careful of knife crime, of knives,
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: but on an aircraft, there's no second chances.
• 29:22
  Speaker 7: You've got to get and take into action.
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: And as these brave passengers certainly did.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: Israel and Britain, I mean, why is Britain picking fights
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: with Israel, given they are a member of the intelligence
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: group that all works together? I mean, sure. that ally
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: in the Middle East is something that you would want
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: to protect. Is Andy Burnham not interested in Israel?
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: Look, no matter the rights and wrongs of Israel and Palestine,
• 29:54
  Speaker 5: I think there's many people in the UK... who are
• 29:56
  Speaker 5: no supporter of Hamas, but no supporter of the Netanyahu
• 29:59
  Speaker 5: government either. But I think when you look at the
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: Labour government, and it's a criticism that you can level
• 30:05
  Speaker 5: at all politicians, but they are playing to their voter base,
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: the large Muslim bloc, and also critically to their backbenchers.
• 30:13
  Speaker 5: So what you hear coming out of the Labour government
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: is very much for.
• 30:16
  Speaker 7: These two big audiences.
• 30:18
  Speaker 6: And, you know.
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: And unfortunately, it's putting the nation's safety at risk for
• 30:23
  Speaker 5: the sake of politics, which I don't think many people
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: find acceptable.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: What do you make of what happened outside that airbase?
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: You've got a farmer on her way home from dinner.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: She sees three white vans, blokes running through a paddock,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: five of them, got balaclavas on. At one point, we've
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: got the robot wondering whether it's got explosives in the
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: van or not. Then they're all out on bail. What's
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: going on?
• 30:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah, this is the plot. you know, the twists every day,
• 30:51
  Speaker 5: the new twist of the plot every day. I mean,
• 30:52
  Speaker 5: five men in black balaclavas and hoodies. I mean, they
• 30:56
  Speaker 5: weren't from the UK's bird-watching society trying to find the
• 30:59
  Speaker 5: lesser-spotted great Gloucestershire Owl.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, come on.
• 31:03
  Speaker 5: They were released, they were arrested, obviously, released less than
• 31:06
  Speaker 5: 36 hours, which makes a mockery... of two examples, an
• 31:10
  Speaker 5: activist who slashed an illegal immigrant boat in the channel
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: being bailed for about six weeks, being held in remand
• 31:17
  Speaker 5: for six weeks, things like this. And then, you know,
• 31:20
  Speaker 5: and then the next day there's a COPRA meeting. That's
• 31:23
  Speaker 5: the Emergency Response Committee held by the Prime Minister. So
• 31:26
  Speaker 5: nothing to see here, folks, but we've got an emergency meeting. Israel,
• 31:29
  Speaker 5: as you said, tipped off the UK back in early
• 31:31
  Speaker 5: September about this. And then a new Iranian has been
• 31:35
  Speaker 5: arrested in just yesterday's in London.
• 31:39
  Speaker 7: Connected with this plot.
• 31:41
  Speaker 5: Look, I get that governments don't always want to release
• 31:45
  Speaker 5: operational details of big terrorist investigations. However, I think the
• 31:50
  Speaker 5: majority of people just don't think we're being told the truth.
• 31:53
  Speaker 5: And people, not for the first time, government is hiding
• 31:56
  Speaker 5: things for whatever vested interests that may be prevalent in
• 32:00
  Speaker 5: their day-to-day thinking.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: See, the arrest of the Iranian probably takes it to
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: another level, but You know, in this country, Adrian, we've
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: had evidence and the Iranian ambassador was booted out of
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Australia because of this. You've got the IRGC using money
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: and encrypted devices to hire common criminals in Australia to
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: go and bomb, you know, synagogues, which we know that
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: that has happened. And so perhaps these clowns that were
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: running around with the balaclavas might have just been some
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: local crooks and It could have been perhaps, I'm guessing here,
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: could have been a dummy run for something that they
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: wanted to do more seriously later.
• 32:40
  Speaker 5: Well, yeah, let me take the last point first, because
• 32:43
  Speaker 5: one of the five actually apparently phoned the police to
• 32:46
  Speaker 5: tip them off. So this all points to a dummy run,
• 32:50
  Speaker 5: as you rightly say. Look, the IRGC, the Iranian government,
• 32:54
  Speaker 5: they all say, look, they have nothing to do with us, folks,
• 32:57
  Speaker 5: but their use of proxies, and this is how a
• 33:00
  Speaker 5: lot of these rather nasty regimes across the world, whether
• 33:03
  Speaker 5: it's Iran or Russia or anything, using these proxies to
• 33:05
  Speaker 5: do their dirty work. And as you rightly say, trying
• 33:09
  Speaker 5: to attack synagogues or military bases, it is a threat
• 33:13
  Speaker 5: that we've got, and yet again... You know, and I
• 33:16
  Speaker 5: know you're going to come on to Burnham in a second,
• 33:18
  Speaker 5: but are the government doing everything they can to keep
• 33:21
  Speaker 5: the British citizens, American bases, our interests safe?
• 33:24
  Speaker 7: I don't think they are.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: Well, so, Burnham, for another time, we're running out of time.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Good to catch up, Adrian. I'll talk to you shortly.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: After the break, our Friday night panel joins me to
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: dissect a week of economic pain, political spin, and what
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: are they spending a week on coffee? Welcome back. As
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: I said all week this week, it's been a tough
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: week for Australians who've got a mortgage and it's been
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: a pretty tough week too for the Albanese government. Jim
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Chalmers has been copying it. Interest rates 15-year high. And Labor,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: there's starting to be some rumblings in the background. Some
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: Labor MPs, unnamed in the Herald Sun this morning, are
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: reportedly questioning Chalmers' ability, his economic messaging. One accusing him of, quote,
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: sounding like a used car salesman. which I take great
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: umbrage at because my father was a used car salesman.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Here to unpack the week's big stories, News 24 contributor
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: Joe Hildebrand and Executive Director of the Samuel Griffith Society,
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: Mia Schlitt. Welcome to you both. I defend used car salesmen, Joe.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: Good on you. That's right. It's a typical tactic of
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: tabloid newspapers, of which you and I both have worked extensively.
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: You get some unnamed behind-the-scenes backbenchers, guarantee you won't name them,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: and say, what do you think of Jim Chalmers? I
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: think that's a legitimate story. Of course. Is there rumblings
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: in the background, do you reckon?
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, certainly from plenty of people I've spoken to in
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: the party. They're very, very nervous. I think there is
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: a sense that the government does not perhaps.
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: Or the top of the government, Albo and Jim, don't
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: really appreciate just how toxic the mood is out there.
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: The anger... is white hot. I see it and hear
• 35:18
  Speaker 4: about it all the time. I speak to figures in
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: the Labor Party who are just sort of scratching their
• 35:26
  Speaker 4: heads and going, what the, you know, there is a
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: sense that the party's kind of being let off a
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: cliff and that the left of the party in particular is,
• 35:36
  Speaker 4: and Jim's kind of behaving like a member of the left, strangely,
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: even though he's from the right faction, but that there
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: is this kind of refusal to accept reality. Often you
• 35:46
  Speaker 4: find with people on the left, they're so sort of
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: ideological and convinced that their way is the right way, like,
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: for example, axing negative gearing and CGT, that when the
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: whole thing blows up, they don't actually accept the reality.
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: They think there must be something wrong with the world
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: because there can't possibly be anything wrong with the policy.
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: And I think it's that kind of denialism that we're seeing.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: Mia, there's a real disconnect. I mean, small businesses are
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: so angry. We find out yesterday that the ATO has decided,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: you know, off the top of their head, small businesses
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: can no longer pay their tax bills, the BAS, with
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: a credit card. I mean, this is going to really
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: come back and slap the Labor government. I mean, that's
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: a stupid thing to do.
• 36:30
  Speaker 8: Yeah, and small businesses in particular are particularly feeling it
• 36:33
  Speaker 8: pretty hard at the moment. And we've got the Albanese
• 36:35
  Speaker 8: government who just refuses to take any responsibility for any
• 36:39
  Speaker 8: of it. I mean, we had Jim Chalmers out there
• 36:41
  Speaker 8: blaming the current inflation rates on the conflict overseas. Well,
• 36:45
  Speaker 8: that's a line he's run many times. In 2023, it
• 36:48
  Speaker 8: was Ukraine's fault that in 2024 he was blaming Russia.
• 36:53
  Speaker 8: And now it's always somebody else's fault with this government
• 36:55
  Speaker 8: when really if they wanted to improve things for small businesses,
• 36:58
  Speaker 8: for families... It's pretty simple. Stop spending, yet they're willing
• 37:02
  Speaker 8: to keep taxing everybody else when they're the ones who
• 37:06
  Speaker 8: don't have to rein in their own spending. It's ridiculous,
• 37:08
  Speaker 8: and I think Australians are.
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: Sick of it.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: Joe, your mate Anthony Albanese obviously was in the UN
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: in New York a week or so ago, got a
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: tin badge from the UN for something or other. That
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: was bad enough. We've now got Federal Communications Minister Annika
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: Wells being named in Time magazine... as one of the
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: 100 next list of influential rising stars. She's certainly a
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: rising star in how to use her ministerial position to
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: take freebies and go to sporting events around the globe,
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: but what the hell is the Time magazine putting an
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: award on her head for?
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: Look, Annika Wells is someone who might sound funny to
• 37:50
  Speaker 4: people on the other side, but has always been seen
• 37:52
  Speaker 4: as one to watch, always been seen as a rising star.
• 37:55
  Speaker 4: She's very bright.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: I like her.
• 37:57
  Speaker 4: She's obviously had some pretty major missteps and the travel
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: raw stuff was pretty bloody foolish. But having said that,
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: she's got a really difficult portfolio and she's been able
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: to drive through and pick up important things like the
• 38:12
  Speaker 4: social media reforms that this company very extraordinarily campaigned for
• 38:19
  Speaker 4: and won. And so, look, she's got a tough job.
• 38:23
  Speaker 4: You know, ministers make mistakes, especially when they're sort of relatively...
• 38:26
  Speaker 4: new to the senior portfolios. And I think Time magazine
• 38:30
  Speaker 4: actually probably is on the money.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: Mia, can you sort Jo out? I mean, seriously. Annika Wells,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: for about six months, she went into hiding because she
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: didn't want anyone to see her sitting in a plane
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: because she'd claimed all these trips for her family around Australia.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is the disconnect I'm talking about. These
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: people get elected, they get made a minister, they get
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: a ministerial car, they get a ministerial seat on a
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: plane and they forget about the people they're representing.
• 39:02
  Speaker 8: Yeah, look, I've got to disagree with Jo on this one.
• 39:05
  Speaker 8: I'll accept that people sometimes make mistakes, but I'm not
• 39:08
  Speaker 8: sure Annika Wells has a history of making mistakes. I
• 39:11
  Speaker 8: think she's got a history of very, very poor judgment.
• 39:14
  Speaker 8: And at the end of the day, these ministers, that
• 39:16
  Speaker 8: is their job, is to show good judgment and make
• 39:19
  Speaker 8: good decisions on the behalf of Australians. And if they're
• 39:21
  Speaker 8: not up to making those good decisions, then perhaps they
• 39:23
  Speaker 8: shouldn't be in that role. The only thing I will
• 39:26
  Speaker 8: agree with Jo on is that she should be on
• 39:27
  Speaker 8: this list because she is incredibly influential when it comes
• 39:30
  Speaker 8: to the social media world with these new laws that
• 39:33
  Speaker 8: the Albanese government's trying to ram through. It will see
• 39:37
  Speaker 8: Annika Wells have complete influence over what we all see
• 39:40
  Speaker 8: and say on the internet. So in that way, she's
• 39:42
  Speaker 8: the complete right person to be on that list.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: Joe, we spent the week after October 1 working out
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: what we can and can't do with tap and go.
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: We have learned some very interesting things. How much our
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: cup of coffee has gone up. I just want to
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: check with you two how much coffee you drink. I
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: want to start with Mia because I understand she's got
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: a very, very bad habit when it comes to caffeine. Mia,
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: how much do you reckon you're spending a year on?
• 40:13
  Speaker 8: Well, yes, I was asked to do this calculator against
• 40:16
  Speaker 8: my will, I will say, because I do not want
• 40:18
  Speaker 8: to apologise for my coffee habit. I have two coffees
• 40:20
  Speaker 8: a day and it's a small luxury in life that
• 40:23
  Speaker 8: I think as a young person, you know, there's a
• 40:25
  Speaker 8: lot we're facing in this country right now and I
• 40:27
  Speaker 8: enjoy my two coffees. But apparently I've now found out
• 40:30
  Speaker 8: that that habit is costing me $ 3, 000 a year, which
• 40:34
  Speaker 8: is a fact that honestly I never needed to know.
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: I would immediately forget that stat. Now, Joe, you strike
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: me more of a schooner down the pub after work
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: than a coffee guy.
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: Very much both, although I try not to have the
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: schooners until after 9am in the morning.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, no, I do.
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: I love my coffee, but we've got a little coffee
• 40:58
  Speaker 4: machine I got from Aldi at home.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: I know what's going on here.
• 41:02
  Speaker 6: We make our own.
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: So I actually came in. I probably get one a
• 41:07
  Speaker 4: week and I came in at $ 260, which is what.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: Joe gets free coffee at News Limited. Thank you both.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: Rowan Dean's up next.