Latest / Credlin / Credlin | 14 November

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Credlin | 14 November · Credlin

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Peter Kranland live on Sky News Australia. Good evening and
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: welcome to the show. I'm Caleb Bond filling in for Peter.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Here's what's coming up on the program. Labor looks intent
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: on ramming through its social media ban with only two
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: sitting weeks left. But it's not a good sign when
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the Minister responsible can't really explain how it will all work.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I'll show you that in a moment. Another flurry of
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: senior appointments within Trump's new look cabinet, with at least
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: one causing consternation amongst Republican ranks, will get into all
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: of that in a moment. Plus it was only a
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: matter of time, but one commuter has decided enough is enough.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: This bloke is a legend. He's taken a stand against
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: extinction rebellion activists who brought peak hour traffic to a
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: standstill in Melbourne, and tax cuts could be off the
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: table at the next election with Peter Dutton not being
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: drawn on his commitment to reinstate tax changes that Labor
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: renegged on earlier this year.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Party will always be the Party of lower taxes and
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: lower interest rates because we manage the economy more efficient. Well,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: we'll see how much money there is in the bank.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Labour's great at spending, they're great at taxing, but they're
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: not good at spending money efficiently. And I want to
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: make sure that we provide our policies in a responsible way.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Well, the federal government's plan to ban kids from social
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: media looks like more of a mess by the day.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: As I've said before, i am sympathetic to the idea.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: The dangers of social media to children are well known.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: It's bad for mental health, it's bad for physical health.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: That's created a more disconnected generation of children than we've
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: ever seen before, despite the fact that they are arguably
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: more connected than they've ever been before. But the problem
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: is they're not connected to the real world. They're connected
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: to a warped world, a fake view of the world.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: But this proposed legislation simply isn't up to scratch. It's
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: the worst, or perhaps the best, exact sample of populist
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: policy on the run. It's rushed, it's full of holes,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: and as architects don't even know how it will work. Now,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: we learned last week that YouTube may be included in
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: the band, not that it will, not that it won't
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: that it may because Communications Minister Michelle Roland doesn't actually
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: have any concrete idea yet of how this would work
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: or what it would mean. And then this morning she
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: was asked by Ben Fordham on two GB, well you
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: say messaging and gaming services won't be included in this band,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: so what about Snapchat now. Snapchat, for the sake of
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the uninitiated, is a social media app where you can
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: send messages and photos that either self destruct straight after
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: they've been sent or after a certain timeframe. So the
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: idea is that you can send things without them hanging
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: around forever, Messages that you might not want to be
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: permanent in a text message or email or Facebook message, etc.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: It also sends a notification to the sender of a
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: message or photo if the recipient screenshots it to try
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: to evade the automatic deleting feature. And as well as
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: all of this, a bit like Instagram, you can post
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: stuff that stays up for longer, a bit like an
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Instagram story that lasts for twenty four hours, and you
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: can post things publicly, not just for your friends. It
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: kind of walks a line between a messaging app and
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: a proper social media platform. It started thirteen years ago
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: when I was at school. It quickly became popular with
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: kids and it's still very popular with kids today. So
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: the Communications Minister is asked, what about Snapchat? This is
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: how it went.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: You say, messaging and gaming services will not be in
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: scope of this definition. So where does Snapchat fall?
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: Well, Snapchat under the Online Safety Act, depending on how
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: it's defined, could for within that definition. But we will
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: go through in a methodical way through having these criteria
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: and the East Safety Commissioner applying what will be a
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: very transparent process.
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: If you're banning Instagram, Facebook and TikTok and Twitter, you've
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: got a band Snapchat right, Well, that.
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: Is an argument that has been put. We are very
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: prepared to go through having a process of criteria and
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: seeing how this sits against it. Also, as your listeners,
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: I think we'll understand some of these platforms do present
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: themselves in different ways. They will argue, for example, that
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: they are messaging services and not social media services, but
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: we need to assess that objectively against a transparent set
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: of criteria.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: She doesn't know. I mean, this bill is meant to
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: be put forward next week and the Communications Minister doesn't
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: know the basics of how this thing would actually work.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, what does she mean will go through the process. Well,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: if you're going to put the legislation forward, surely the
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: process should be done. How are we meant to trust
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: that it would work at all or that it won't
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: have unintended consequences if the Minister hasn't worked out finer
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: points of what the band would even apply to. She
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: was also asked how age hourification would work in her
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: answer was just as clear.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: How will children prove their age?
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: This is why we're conducting the age assurance trial at
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: the moment. Age assurance is an area that is rapidly
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: developing in technologies, and there's a number of methods that
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: part of our trial has been looking at the effectiveness,
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: so the willingness of the platforms to take them up,
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: the willingness of people to be able to use them,
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: and how they fit within really solid privacy criteria.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: Okay, a lot of detail yet to be sorted out.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Again, no idea. I mean, this trial hadn't even begun
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: in September when the Prime Minister flagged that there would
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: be age restrictions on social media, and as far as
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: I was aware, it hadn't even begun last week, but
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: now the Minister says it's underway, but they want to
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: rush this on through without any concrete plan for how
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: it would work. You know, it could be biometric scanning,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: whereby artificial intelligence would scan your face to assess what
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: age thinks you are. But I mean, you can have
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: an eighteen year old it looks like a twelve year old,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: and a twelve year old it looks like an eighteen
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: year old. It could be a government database. It could
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: be that all social media users, including adults, have to
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: go through some form of identification process. The only thing
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: that MSS Roland has said is that it'll be up
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: to tech companies to come up with their own ideas.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: And of course the federal government this year created a
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: centralized digital ID system, which for now is voluntary, but
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: who knows. At some point maybe having a digital ID
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: managed by the government and to which everything is linked
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: could be a requirement to set up a social media
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: account in Australia. I mean it could be. I can't
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: tell you anything for certain, because the Communications Minister won't
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: tell you anything for certain. Like I said before, it
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: is classic policy on the run, and I'll reiterate I
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: am sympathetic to the idea of kids being banned from
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: social media, but somehow I don't think this is the
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: way to go about it. The reason Anthony Albanezi dropped
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: this plan when he did, and now plans to rush
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: it through Parliament, is because he was having a chakra
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: of a time with his other fight against social media,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: which is of course, the Misinformation and Disinformation Bill, and
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: so to clawback some back, he decided to link an
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: unpopular proposal, the Misinformation and Disinformation Bill, the MAD or
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: MAD Bill as it's now being called, quite aptly, to
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: a much more popular proposal, the ban of kids from
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: social media. Suddenly, it's all part of the same fight.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: You know, we're taking on big tech companies to protect
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: your kids, yepee, but also quietly we're taking them on
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: to protect you, by which we mean controlling what you
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: can say and can't say online. It's not like this
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: band needs to be rushed through. We didn't just discover
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: the dangers of social media. Yes, today, We've known for
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: a long time and done essentially nothing. We could have
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: waited a little longer to actually have a water tight
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: plan to look at before any decisions were made, but
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: of course, you know, long after the Misinformation and Disinformation
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Bill came along, the Prime ministers hadn't even worse. Shocker,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: he needs a win before we go to Christmas. I mean,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: that's what this is really about. The aim of protecting
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: kids from social media is noble, but in this case
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: it's more about saving face for the Albanezy government than
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: it is about saving the kids. Now I have to say,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: who raid to Jared Blay in the new LNP government
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: in Queensland for standing up to the bullies at the CFMU.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: The Deputy Premier announced today that he would be suspending
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: the best Practice Industry Principles, which give construction workers extraordinary
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: privileges on major government work sites. He was, mister Blay,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: this small.
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: We know through Treasury forecasts and the incoming Government Brief
• 9:04
  Speaker 6: that if things did not change, then Treasury forecast said
• 9:08
  Speaker 6: that these sweetheart deals with the CFMU between now and
• 9:11
  Speaker 6: twenty thirty would cost Queenslanders seventeen point one billion dollars.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Now, these best Practice Industry principles are amazing. It gives
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: CFMU members one hundred bucks a week if they have
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: to use their own phone or tablet a week. I
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: mean most people don't even pay that in a monthly
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: phone bill. Let alone for a week. Gives them double
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: time when it rains, which in Queensland is quite a bit.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Lets them down tools if the temperature reaches thirty five
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: degrees or twenty nine degrees with seventy five percent humidity,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: which again in Queensland is quite a bit. There's triple
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: time for working over Easter and Christmas. One hundred dollars
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: a day if you live more than fifty kilometers from
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: the work site. Double time and a half for metal
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: and engineering workers if they work through their annual Metal
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: and Engineering picnic day. What a gay old time. That
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: sounds like five days leave for Aboriginal workers to participate
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: in cultural and ceremonial activities, and on and on it goes.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: You can understand why the CFMEU would be upset about this,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: and they are a couple of goons. Tried to interrupt
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: the Deputy Premier speech today. I mean, this is the
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: best deal of all time, but the Chrysofooley government have
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: stamped their mark and said no, we're not going to
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: allow this route to keep going on. Ever since the
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: Building and Construction Commission was dismantled by the Albanesi government.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: The CFMU has been allowed to ride roughshod over the
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: construction industry and you've seen the consequences of that in
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: the allegations of infiltration by criminal gangs and the federal
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: government's consequent attempt to intervene. Now, maybe they wouldn't have
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: needed to do that if they hadn't killed the ABCC
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: and bragged about doing so. But all the other states
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: need to get a dose of Queensland and stand up
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: to these thugs. After all, it's our money that they're spending.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Let's head to canber Now for tonight's political Headlines with
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: skar New's political reporter cam Redden Good evening.
• 11:17
  Speaker 7: Past comments about President elect Donald Trump are haunting both
• 11:21
  Speaker 7: sides of politics, as the government stands by Kevin Rudd
• 11:24
  Speaker 7: as its ambassador to the United States.
• 11:27
  Speaker 8: Kevin Rudd has done a massive job in building connections
• 11:31
  Speaker 8: not just with the Biden administration, but also working with
• 11:34
  Speaker 8: Republicans as well.
• 11:35
  Speaker 7: The Opposition supports doctor Rudd remaining in the role, but
• 11:39
  Speaker 7: says the government bears responsibility for any complications.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: This was a captain's call, as we know from Prime
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: Minister Urbanezi.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: Kevin Rudd has distinguished himself as ambassador. He's widely recognized
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: as one of the world's pre eminent experts on China.
• 11:55
  Speaker 7: The Prime Minister has arrived in South America ahead of
• 11:58
  Speaker 7: two major global summits, first APEC in Peru, where leaders
• 12:02
  Speaker 7: will discuss the impact of Donald Trump's election in the
• 12:06
  Speaker 7: United States, from tariffs to wider trade relations.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Australia will always support free and fair trade.
• 12:13
  Speaker 9: We're trading nation.
• 12:15
  Speaker 7: From Lima, it's then off to Brazil for a meeting
• 12:17
  Speaker 7: of the G twenty. High levels of migration have seen
• 12:20
  Speaker 7: employment numbers rise while the jobless rate remains steady. For
• 12:24
  Speaker 7: the month of October, almost sixteen thousand jobs were created
• 12:28
  Speaker 7: in the past month, while participation fell slightly due to
• 12:32
  Speaker 7: migration numbers rising faster than the number of people that
• 12:36
  Speaker 7: are joining the workforce. Cameron Reddin's Sky News Canberra.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: For more on today's top stories. Let's bring in senior
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: writer and columnist for News court Patrick Carline and from
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: the great City of Adelaide, Deputy Executive Director of the
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Institute of Public Affairs Daniel Wilde. Gentlemen Peter Dutton appears
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: to be playing down the idea of taking tax cuts
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: for workers earning more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: To the election, he previously indicated that he'd looked to
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: address bracket creep and get closer to the original Stage
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: three tax cuts, but now he says he'll only consider
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: further relief if there's room in the budget. Well Patrick,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: to that, I would simply say make room in the budget.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Surely we can cut a bit of government spending to
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: give people who have actually seen their wages essentially go
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: backwards because of bracket creep, the tax break that they
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: were promised, not only by the Coalition but labor.
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: That's right.
• 13:34
  Speaker 8: Look, today's a backflip for Peter Dutton. And look you
• 13:37
  Speaker 8: can argue that it's a sensible thing to do. We
• 13:40
  Speaker 8: didn't go through an election. In the next six months
• 13:42
  Speaker 8: we're going to have. It's going to be about cost
• 13:45
  Speaker 8: of living, it's going to be about inflation.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: If he gave these.
• 13:48
  Speaker 8: Tax cuts, that would be putting pressure or on inflation
• 13:51
  Speaker 8: in those sorts of ways. But you look, but at
• 13:54
  Speaker 8: the start of the year, as you were saying he
• 13:56
  Speaker 8: was going to tackle bracket creep, Now both sides of
• 13:58
  Speaker 8: government for decades have let it slide and every Australian
• 14:03
  Speaker 8: taxpayer gets ripped off by bracket creep. So I look,
• 14:06
  Speaker 8: it's probably the politically prudent thing to do, but it's
• 14:09
  Speaker 8: also rather uninspiring given how strongly he was speaking at
• 14:13
  Speaker 8: the start.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Of the year.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it seems like a pretty simple thing
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: to stick to it. I mean, if you look at
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: the income tax take that the federal government has derived
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: over the last five years compared to the five years
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: previous to that, it has gone through the roof because
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: of bracket creep. Sorry, it is an absolute disgrace. It
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: robs people of money. It should be dealt with immediately
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: as far as I'm concerned. Let's go to the US
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: President elect, Donald Trump. He met with the current president
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Joe Biden at the White House earlier today. I kind
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: of feel a bit sorry for both of them having
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: to sit through that. But I got to say Biden
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: actually looked really happy. I think he was perhaps rather
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: glad it was Trump sitting next to him and not
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: the woman who deposed him from his candidacy. But they promise,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: you know, they'd be the peaceful transfer of power, and
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Trump of course has been busy preparing for that transfer
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: on the twentieth of January. He's piecing together his dream
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: team of staffers. We've had some new ones overnight. Florida
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Congressman Matt Gates is going to be his attorney general.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: A former Democrat presidential hopeful Tulsey Gabbard is going to
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: be Director of National Intelligence. We had a few others
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: yesterday for former Fox News host Pete Heigseth is going
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: to be a Defense secretary. We've got Elon Musk, Vivic Ramaswami,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: a couple of extra ones today. Daniel, though the appointment
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: of Matt Gates seemed to have ruffled a few feathers,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: particularly within the Republican Party. Yeah, that's right.
• 15:46
  Speaker 10: Look, Americans voted for change, and they're certainly going to
• 15:48
  Speaker 10: get change. This is going to be a very energetic presidency.
• 15:53
  Speaker 10: One of the things that Donald Trump said on the
• 15:55
  Speaker 10: Joe Rogan podcast was that one of the mistakes he
• 15:57
  Speaker 10: made in twenty sixteen was appointing too many establishment Republicans
• 16:02
  Speaker 10: who may have been competent and capable, but certainly we're
• 16:05
  Speaker 10: not on board with the Trump policies. So look, he's
• 16:07
  Speaker 10: not going to die wondering. That's for sure. If you
• 16:10
  Speaker 10: look at Elon Musk or Vivek Ramaswami, you mention Matt Gates,
• 16:14
  Speaker 10: and look, I think the media and the establishment are
• 16:17
  Speaker 10: going to going to have to get used to it,
• 16:19
  Speaker 10: because in America, the president has very wide ranging powers
• 16:23
  Speaker 10: and capabilities to appoint people that he wants to appoint.
• 16:26
  Speaker 10: And Donald Trump's wasting no time whatsoever. He's got every
• 16:29
  Speaker 10: right to do this. And look, I think America is
• 16:31
  Speaker 10: going to be a much different place in four years time,
• 16:34
  Speaker 10: and I suspect him many ways a much better place.
• 16:37
  Speaker 10: And clearly these key personnel are going to play a
• 16:40
  Speaker 10: vital role in this administration.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Indeed, that's what people voted for. They want a different America.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Hopefully we get it. But so one bloke, as we've
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: been talking about all week, I think might be a
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: little bit worried that he could be drained from the swamp.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Is our US Ambassador Kevin radd There's more and more
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: clips of him criticizing Trumpet his administration coming to the surface,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: including this one today.
• 17:03
  Speaker 11: But for those of us who are allies the United States,
• 17:07
  Speaker 11: never take a backward step in saying where allies the
• 17:09
  Speaker 11: United States. You know, for all the American predisposition for
• 17:13
  Speaker 11: episodic craziness. Look at Trump, how did that happen? Okay,
• 17:19
  Speaker 11: that was a walk on the wild side for.
• 17:21
  Speaker 12: All of us.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Interestingly, Patrick, even the opposition today says, look, he should
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: probably remain in the job. But it's on Albanize's head
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: if anything goes wrong, surely we should just pull the
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: pin on him. I mean, do we really want to
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: send Kevin Rudd in to deal with Donald Trapp?
• 17:38
  Speaker 8: I think it depends on how many more of these
• 17:40
  Speaker 8: clips are going to emerge, Caleb. I mean, there's been
• 17:43
  Speaker 8: so many of them, and Kevin Rudd is so strident
• 17:46
  Speaker 8: in his criticisms at a certain point, it's going to
• 17:49
  Speaker 8: become untenable, you would think. And look, the administration is
• 17:53
  Speaker 8: aware of it. I think Trump's daughter in law has
• 17:55
  Speaker 8: referred to it. Dan Scavino, he's the new Deputy chief
• 17:59
  Speaker 8: of staff about it online. It is a big issue,
• 18:03
  Speaker 8: and it is a massive distraction for Anthony Albanezi and
• 18:07
  Speaker 8: a question of judgment if it keeps playing out. I'm
• 18:10
  Speaker 8: sure there's a lot of lobbying going on behind the
• 18:13
  Speaker 8: scenes in Washington, and probably quite a bit of groveling
• 18:15
  Speaker 8: as well. Look, Kevin Rudd can bring things to the table.
• 18:19
  Speaker 8: It's just whether he can bring them to the table
• 18:21
  Speaker 8: or he can serve Australia's best interest for a Trump
• 18:24
  Speaker 8: administration to whom he has been so hostile to. It
• 18:28
  Speaker 8: depends how long it keeps on playing out.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: I think, well, look, I think there's two sides to this,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: because of course, you know, I'd rather Kevin Rudd wasn't
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: in the country. But I'm not sure that he's the
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: best bloke to send off to talk to Donald Trump.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: But he's widely regarded as an expert on China. Let's
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: send him over there. I don't care where he goes,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: as long as he's not here to lecture us in Australia.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Coming back to Australia, I thought we'd largely moved on
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: from these extinction rebellion natcases blocking roads and gluing themselves
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: to the road and all this sort of nonsense. But
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: they decided to get out there and do it again.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: You had about thirty protesters standing in front of vehicles
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: on Punt Road in Richmond in Melbourne this morning peak hour,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: very busy. They caused delays of up to half an hour.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: I saw people in cars being interviewed saying they're trying
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: to get to exams at eight thirty et cetera. The
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: poor buggers, I mean, these motorists, as you can understand,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: absolutely furious, shouting at the group, beeping their horns. It's
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: the typical stuff we see. But there was one bloke
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: who actually got out and ripped a banner out of
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: the hands of one of these protesters because he had
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: had enough. You can see him there. He's just get
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: out of my way. I'm trying to go to work
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: or whatever it is he wanted to do. Daniel, this
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: bloke is a national hero. I mean he's just done
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: what I think all of us would like to do
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: in this situation. Yep.
• 19:54
  Speaker 10: Well, if Daniel Andrews gets a bronze statue, this bloke
• 19:57
  Speaker 10: should get a gold medal. He certainly read the mood
• 20:01
  Speaker 10: of the meeting, so to speak. And look, I think
• 20:04
  Speaker 10: Australian has had a gupful of this, particularly Melbournian's. Look,
• 20:08
  Speaker 10: you've got a right to protest and have your say,
• 20:10
  Speaker 10: of course, but you don't have a right to be
• 20:12
  Speaker 10: a public nuisance. Day in day out.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: You mentioned.
• 20:16
  Speaker 10: The students trying to get to an exam. There was
• 20:19
  Speaker 10: also that issue some months ago of a pregnant mother
• 20:22
  Speaker 10: that was caught up in one of these blockades. It
• 20:25
  Speaker 10: was on the West Gate, about what might happen if
• 20:26
  Speaker 10: an emergency vehicle. Yeah, that's right. If you're trying to
• 20:30
  Speaker 10: get to an emergency situation, there can be real consequences.
• 20:34
  Speaker 10: So these kind of people that are blockading, they're very
• 20:36
  Speaker 10: much an end's justified the means type operation, and that's
• 20:40
  Speaker 10: very dangerous when people think that way. So look, we're
• 20:43
  Speaker 10: going to have to get the police out there and
• 20:44
  Speaker 10: start clearing these people out because you know, enough is
• 20:46
  Speaker 10: enough and just let people get on with their lives.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Well, sometimes I wonder where the water cannons went. The
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Victorian police certainly weren't afraid to take on protesters during
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: the pandemic, were they quickly? Before we go? Patrick later,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: of course, I've been saying for a while that they're
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: trying to get migration under control. But we have new
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: numbers revealed today that the number of foreigners on student
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: related bridging visas has soared by more than one hundred
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: thousand in the past year. And you've got new numbers
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: from the abs showing that labor is just failing to
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: hit its own migration targets. They've said they're going to
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: do something, they're not doing anything. Meanwhile, they go, oh,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: we've got a housing crisis, etc. Well, how do they
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: think we end up in these situations?
• 21:31
  Speaker 8: Well, I think Caleb lot Dan teen was saying, I
• 21:33
  Speaker 8: think earlier today, where all these people are going to live,
• 21:35
  Speaker 8: we don't have enough houses. You have a government that
• 21:39
  Speaker 8: doesn't seem to be in control of the numbers. It
• 21:42
  Speaker 8: doesn't seem terribly worried about the consequences of what this
• 21:46
  Speaker 8: will mean. The numbers are bad simply because they're they're
• 21:50
  Speaker 8: much bigger than we can carry at the moment. We
• 21:54
  Speaker 8: don't have the infrastructure, we're not equipped to take these
• 21:58
  Speaker 8: sort of numbers. This is an ongoing sore for the
• 22:02
  Speaker 8: Albanesi government. I think because they don't seem to be
• 22:05
  Speaker 8: in control of it. They're not in charge, and that
• 22:08
  Speaker 8: really it's the perception as much as the numbers. Why
• 22:10
  Speaker 8: can't they control it? Why can't they do better? I
• 22:13
  Speaker 8: think a lot of people are asking those questions.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: I think we all are. You'd think it'd be pretty
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: simple to issue fewer visas anyway, I'm just an idiot,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Daniel Patrick, thank you for your time. All right, let's
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: go to the Northern Territory now, because yet again, Alice
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Springs is back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Another brawl broke out in the town center on Tuesday.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Police said it involved up to twenty five people with
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: various weapons, and in response, the police have brought forward
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Operation Ludlow, which was supposed to start mid next month.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: The hope is that they will now crack down on
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: the violence with increased patrols during peak times. But it
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: kind of feels like groundhog Day. We just keep going
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: round and round in circles with this stuff. Joining me
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: now is the mayor of Alice Springs, Matt Patterson. Matt,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: what do you make of this police operation being sorry
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: brought forward? Will it actually turn the dial at all?
• 23:07
  Speaker 6: Yeah?
• 23:07
  Speaker 9: Look, I'd say I'm happy to be here again, but
• 23:10
  Speaker 9: I'm not really to talk about the same things, mate.
• 23:12
  Speaker 12: Look I think it will.
• 23:15
  Speaker 9: You know, we welcome more police presence here and it's
• 23:18
  Speaker 9: certainly not something that people say you can't please your
• 23:21
  Speaker 9: way out of it, but it's the visual presence that
• 23:24
  Speaker 9: the police provide and so you know, bringing it forward,
• 23:27
  Speaker 9: hopefully is a breath of air for the people who
• 23:31
  Speaker 9: continually getting broken into and continually you know, cause carnage
• 23:37
  Speaker 9: in the streets of our springs.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: They're not ruling out a curfew, though it's certainly not
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: front of mind at the moment. Is that something that,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: given they've brought this operation forward by nearly a month,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: they should look at again.
• 23:53
  Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, the curf is a double edged sword.
• 23:55
  Speaker 9: It's certainly something that we welcomed a couple of times
• 23:58
  Speaker 9: this year. It's not something that we want to say
• 24:00
  Speaker 9: celebrate though, but there's a few unintended consequences about the curfew.
• 24:03
  Speaker 9: You know, people cancel trips and all of these other things,
• 24:06
  Speaker 9: and we don't want to get to that point again.
• 24:08
  Speaker 9: So I think that this is a good first step
• 24:12
  Speaker 9: to make sure that there are more resources here. I've
• 24:14
  Speaker 9: said till I'm blue in the face, we don't have
• 24:16
  Speaker 9: enough resources, and hopefully, you know, the increase.
• 24:22
  Speaker 12: Gives a bit of calm to the rest of the community,
• 24:24
  Speaker 12: because we certainly need a breath.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: I mean, quite frankly, I am sick of talking about this,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: as I'm sure you are sick of talking about this.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Because we keep having the same discussions over and over
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: and over again. We've been doing it for the better
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: part of two years here on Sky News now pointing
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: out what is going on, and nothing changes. I mean,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: you can have another police operation, you can have another curfew,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: but nothing is changing. Yeah.
• 24:55
  Speaker 9: Well, there's been one change and that's the government and
• 24:57
  Speaker 9: hopefully that does make some changes.
• 24:59
  Speaker 12: They've made some changes through legislation that won't hit the.
• 25:03
  Speaker 9: Ground till next year, but that is one change and
• 25:05
  Speaker 9: time will tell whether that works or not.
• 25:08
  Speaker 12: Caleb. They need to order the social services.
• 25:11
  Speaker 9: You know, there's so much money from Canberra and Darwin
• 25:14
  Speaker 9: spending our springs. What we're doing is we're basically filling
• 25:18
  Speaker 9: up a bucket of money, but we don't know where
• 25:20
  Speaker 9: to spend it or what the right things are, and
• 25:22
  Speaker 9: we just keep throwing money at organizations who aren't delivering
• 25:25
  Speaker 9: on what they're paid to do. And we'll never fix
• 25:27
  Speaker 9: it until we have that grown up conversation about keeping
• 25:31
  Speaker 9: people accountable. If it was in construction, if it was
• 25:34
  Speaker 9: in mining, everyone would be screaming that these organizations needed
• 25:38
  Speaker 9: to be ordered. But when it comes to social services,
• 25:42
  Speaker 9: everyone's too scared to talk about it. That's what needs
• 25:44
  Speaker 9: to happen first, so we can see where the gaps
• 25:47
  Speaker 9: are and then things may change because what we're doing
• 25:50
  Speaker 9: isn't working.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Yep, you did right, and it's so typical of government,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: isn't it. Matt Patterson, Marbella Springs. Thank you so much
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: for your time and good luck after the break. The
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: radical change is on the cards when it comes to
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: cases of sexual assault. That has leading legal minds fearful.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: It's tipping the scales of justice. Plus labor ramps up
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: their attacks on the tech giants as they push to
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: get their dangerous misinformation laws through. Don't Go Away, Welcome Back,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: Caleb bond In for Peter Well. Senior legal minds are
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: sounding the alarm on a proposal being pushed by the
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Victorian government that would stop rape complainants from being cross
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: examined prior to trial. The president of the Australian Bar
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: Association has come out now and questioned these changes, saying
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: that the proposal would mean an accused person did not
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: get a quote full opportunity to investigate the case being
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: put against them. Now, I think everyone is sympathetic to
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: the sensitivities around cases involving sexual assault. But the idea
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: of making changes that tip the scales of justice and
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: jeopardize the right to affair trial is really what's at
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: stake here. Joining me now to discuss this and more
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: legal affairs contributor at The Australian Chris Merrit Chris welcome. Now,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: what we're talking about here is changing what happens in
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: the committal stage, which is where the court decides what's
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: going to happen before a potential trial. Just explain what
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: the committal stage is and why cross examination at that
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: point is important.
• 27:15
  Speaker 13: It's very important. It's a preliminary hearing where the prosecution's
• 27:20
  Speaker 13: case is tested. The goal is to weed out weak
• 27:24
  Speaker 13: cases before they get to a full court a superior court.
• 27:29
  Speaker 13: So it's designed for two things. It protects defendants from
• 27:34
  Speaker 13: the expense of having to defend a hopeless case, but
• 27:38
  Speaker 13: it also protects the superior courts from being clogged with
• 27:42
  Speaker 13: hopeless cases. It's a very important protection for human rights.
• 27:49
  Speaker 13: The most ridiculous thing about this whole affair is that
• 27:54
  Speaker 13: the Statement of Compatibility that was introduced to the Victorian
• 27:58
  Speaker 13: Parliament along with this bill, the Statement of Compatibility with
• 28:02
  Speaker 13: Human Rights was introduced by the police minister who said
• 28:06
  Speaker 13: nothing to see here, everything's fine, this will actually protect
• 28:10
  Speaker 13: human rights. I think it'll do exactly the reverse. And
• 28:13
  Speaker 13: for barristers who are the experts in running criminal trials
• 28:18
  Speaker 13: to express concerns, I think we should all be very
• 28:21
  Speaker 13: worried about this.
• 28:22
  Speaker 9: Well.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: I can't see a way in which it doesn't affect
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: the rights of the accused, and in some ways I
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: think it actually could be detrimental to an accuser because
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: of course the committal stages you say can decide whether
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: something is worthy of going on to a higher court,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: and so you've potentially got cases that wouldn't have any
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: chance of prosecution that will then move through to a
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: higher court, and an alleged victim has to go through
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: that process for a case that will eventually end up
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: with a not guilty verdict when they could have worked
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: out much earlier that that's what is going to happen.
• 29:00
  Speaker 13: Yeah, it's not good for either side. It's wrong to
• 29:05
  Speaker 13: see this as a benefit for complainants in sexual assault cases.
• 29:12
  Speaker 13: The benefit would be a result a final outcome where
• 29:17
  Speaker 13: it's clear that a fair trial has resulted in a
• 29:20
  Speaker 13: conviction against someone accused of which is one of the
• 29:24
  Speaker 13: most serious offenses. That's possible.
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: But to tilt the.
• 29:29
  Speaker 13: Scales of justice like this, I think it will erode
• 29:32
  Speaker 13: the standing of subsequent convictions. It will clog the courts,
• 29:37
  Speaker 13: it will increase legal costs, it will reduce efficiency of
• 29:41
  Speaker 13: the trial process, all bad things.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: And you know, I understand the desire to make things
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: easier for alleged victims, but we have a legal system
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: that is based on the premise of innocent, proven guilty
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: for a very good reason. It's much better to have
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: ten guilty men wal free than one innocent man be
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: locked up, and I worry that increasingly we're walking away
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: from that. You will remember a norm which was this
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: encrypted app that back in twenty twenty one, the police
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: pounced on all of these criminals across the country because
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: this app that all the crims were using to do
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: drug deals and hits on people's heads and whatever they
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: thought was all encrypted and safe, it had actually been
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: set up by the police. So the police had all
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: the messages that they'd ever sent and in one fell
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: sweep across the country went through and arrested the whole
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: lot of them. A couple of the people who were
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: involved in this the alleged crime figures have had a
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: legal win. They've been granted leave to challenge the fact
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: that these messages are actually admissible in court. They're alleging
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: that these messages were illegally intercepted. Now if that would happen,
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: there are a lot of cases that would fall over
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: across the country. What's the legality around this?
• 31:00
  Speaker 13: So this case is right on the edge of technology
• 31:04
  Speaker 13: and law. Is the law is the Telecommunications Interception Acts,
• 31:10
  Speaker 13: which is designed for phone taps. Basically, what we've got
• 31:14
  Speaker 13: is an app. It's not a phone tap, it's APT
• 31:18
  Speaker 13: at which the police, the AFP had very cleverly enticed
• 31:23
  Speaker 13: bad people to shaw their hands.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: I mean it was brilliant work.
• 31:27
  Speaker 4: It certainly was.
• 31:28
  Speaker 13: It certainly was. But the question is has this gone
• 31:32
  Speaker 13: beyond the scope of the law. So at the moment,
• 31:36
  Speaker 13: this has been bouncing around the courts in South Australia.
• 31:38
  Speaker 13: It went to the Court of Appeal and after a
• 31:41
  Speaker 13: three hundred and seventy page unanimous decision, the learner judges
• 31:47
  Speaker 13: said this is kosher, this is fine. I'm glad it's
• 31:50
  Speaker 13: going to the High Court because not because I side
• 31:54
  Speaker 13: with the bad guys, but I want to see what
• 31:56
  Speaker 13: the High Court makes of this. Is this within the
• 32:00
  Speaker 13: scope of the Telecommunications Interception Act? That will provide a
• 32:03
  Speaker 13: certainty if it is, and if it is not, it
• 32:07
  Speaker 13: will provide guidance for the Federal government on what needs
• 32:10
  Speaker 13: to be done so that the next time there won't
• 32:13
  Speaker 13: be any doubt about it.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: Yes, it's certainly worth testing, because it is, as you say,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: uncharted waters. Speaking of the High Court, we've got another
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: case involving the n z YQ carry on. Some foreign
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: drug dealers are basically arguing that they should be put
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: in the same cohort, and if that were to be successful,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: you've got potentially hundreds more people who should be removed
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: from detention, foreigners removed from detention. Is there anything that
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: can be done about this?
• 32:45
  Speaker 13: The Federal government should have responded some time ago. It's
• 32:49
  Speaker 13: crystal clear that the High Court considers incarceration and even
• 32:55
  Speaker 13: the wearing of ankle bracelets and curfews to be a
• 32:59
  Speaker 13: punity acts a penalty, and that can only be imposed
• 33:03
  Speaker 13: by a court in our system. Anything else is a
• 33:06
  Speaker 13: breach of the separation of powers. Now, this is right
• 33:09
  Speaker 13: on the boundary here. There are two principles. The separation
• 33:12
  Speaker 13: of powers. But the Court has also I think they
• 33:15
  Speaker 13: said it in ENZYQ. The Court has also made the
• 33:19
  Speaker 13: point that it's quite permissible to incarcerate people for administrative purposes,
• 33:24
  Speaker 13: but that administrative. When it becomes impossible to expel people
• 33:31
  Speaker 13: to port them, then that becomes punitive. So I think
• 33:35
  Speaker 13: this is right on the borderline. I think the answer
• 33:38
  Speaker 13: to this should have been addressed some time ago. After ENZYQ,
• 33:44
  Speaker 13: it was clear that there needed to be some form
• 33:46
  Speaker 13: of judicial intervention. So an amendment that would make it
• 33:51
  Speaker 13: possible for people in this case to be incarcerated pending
• 33:57
  Speaker 13: processing after a court's ruling, but not by a bureaucrats ruling.
• 34:02
  Speaker 13: That's the problem.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, quickly before we go, Michelle Roland, the Communications Ministers,
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: spoke at the Sydney Institute dinner last night. You were there.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: She talked about the fact that social media companies have
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: a responsibility to protect people. Take a look.
• 34:17
  Speaker 14: C of care is a common law concept and statutory
• 34:20
  Speaker 14: requirement that place is a legal obligation to take reasonable
• 34:24
  Speaker 14: steps to protect others from harm. This, as part of
• 34:28
  Speaker 14: a growing global effort, will deliver a more systemic and
• 34:32
  Speaker 14: preventative approach to making online services safer and healthier.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: From a legal standpoint, what is she actually suggesting there?
• 34:42
  Speaker 13: It sounds well, we don't have any detail.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: Not unusual with the Michelle Roland.
• 34:48
  Speaker 13: But it sounds a lot like what she's talking about
• 34:51
  Speaker 13: is creating what's known as a statutory taught, which is
• 34:56
  Speaker 13: legal speak for a way of suing people. Point here
• 35:01
  Speaker 13: is that if that's what she's getting at, this would
• 35:03
  Speaker 13: be a bonanza for plaintiff law firms, class action law firms,
• 35:08
  Speaker 13: and their friends, the litigation funders. It would seem to
• 35:12
  Speaker 13: be designed to get the government off the hook. So
• 35:15
  Speaker 13: instead of the Safety Commissioner pursuing Elon Musk and the
• 35:19
  Speaker 13: international American based social media company, the government could stand
• 35:25
  Speaker 13: back and say, not us, it's those class action law
• 35:28
  Speaker 13: firms using a statutory tourt based in Australia. But I
• 35:32
  Speaker 13: can't see this flying. Can you actually imagine Elon Musk,
• 35:37
  Speaker 13: the new president of America's Best Powell sitting Pat Well,
• 35:41
  Speaker 13: an Australian based litigation funder and class action law firm,
• 35:46
  Speaker 13: tried to drag him back into the jurisdiction.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean it's ridiculous, but I'd kind of like
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: to see it happen just for the entertainment. Chris Merritt,
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for your time. After the break,
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: the newly minted Queensland government, as I was talking about earlier,
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: already cracking down on the Miller and CFMU. They're not happy.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: I'll show you what happened today, plus the push to
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: drug test polleyes. The panel, including a current National Senator,
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: will weighing on whether that's a good idea. Don't go away,
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: welcome back. Let's bring in the panel LNP Senator James
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: McGrath and Spectator columnist Terry Barnes. Let's start with the
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: Queensland government's decision to suspend the cfmu's best practice industry principles,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: a move that they say we'll save the taxpayer billions.
• 36:34
  Speaker 6: We know through Treasury forecasts and the incoming government brief
• 36:38
  Speaker 6: that if things did not change, then Treasury forecast said
• 36:42
  Speaker 6: that these sweetheart deals with the CFMU between now and
• 36:45
  Speaker 6: twenty thirty would cost Queenslanders seventeen point one billion dollars.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: Now, as you can imagine, the CFMAU members weren't happy
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: with that decision. I went through earlier some of the
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: stuff that's included in all of these rules. It's just
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: extraordinary the stuff they get. You can see a couple
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: of blokes there who busted in on Jared Blay's speech today.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: I mean they're saying that it'll lead to more deaths
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: on work sites. The police had to take those two
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: men out of the room. But James, this is just
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: common sense stuff from the CHRISO. Fooley government. I hope
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: every other state follows suit.
• 37:24
  Speaker 15: Oh, this is what Queensland voted for in October twenty six.
• 37:27
  Speaker 15: They voted for change. They voted for a government that's
• 37:30
  Speaker 15: going to be on the side of Queenslanders rather than
• 37:32
  Speaker 15: a labor government who was on the side of union
• 37:35
  Speaker 15: thug like bosses. And it's not just what we've seen
• 37:39
  Speaker 15: in terms of that bad behavior on work sites, it's
• 37:42
  Speaker 15: the cost to everyday Queenslanders. Twenty two thousand homes will
• 37:47
  Speaker 15: not be built under this particular sweetheart deal. Rents would
• 37:52
  Speaker 15: go by an extra seven percent under the sweetheart deal,
• 37:55
  Speaker 15: an extra one hundred and eighty one million dollars blowout
• 37:58
  Speaker 15: on the Olympic in structure. This deal costs Queensland as
• 38:03
  Speaker 15: money and it's all about the sweetheart deal between the
• 38:05
  Speaker 15: Labor Party and the CFU, who are their financial packers.
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: Terry, I wish, I bet you wish you could be
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: having a bit of that down in Victoria where you are.
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: I mean, you just got to look at the big
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: build that Daniel Andrews instituted all over the state and well,
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: it's just a classic example of government money being pissed
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: up the wall for the CFMU and their mates.
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: Yes that's a technical term, isn't it. But you're absolutely right,
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: and certainly I think the CFME me you down here
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: in Victoria is notwithstanding everything that happened in terms of
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: the investigation, and you know, the Paul of John Setka,
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: they're still here. They're flags everywhere. Clearly, they're running building
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: sites and especially the big build sites. I mean, one
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: of the reasons Victoria is in such financial trouble is
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: that CPMU has its fingers in every government pipe.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: Indeed, and I mean, you know, I only lived there
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: for a year and a half, but the work that
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: was going on down there, and it is still going
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: on and we'll go on for the next three decades
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: because they can't do it with any speed. It's just amazing.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: Now Labor and the Coalition have struck an in principle
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: deal to crack down on big money donors ahead of
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: the next federal election. Basically, the idea is to cap
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: the influence of billionaires. Now the details are still being discussed,
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: but the legislation is expected to include limits on how
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: much a party can spend it in individual's seat, how
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: much a candidate can receive each year. James, I know
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: that this will not be liked by perhaps some independents
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: who think that they rely on donation money to get
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: over the line, but there is definitely an argument that
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: the less influence of outside forces in politics, the better.
• 39:51
  Speaker 16: Look.
• 39:52
  Speaker 15: It's very difficult for me to comment on this in
• 39:54
  Speaker 15: terms that we in the coalition are yet to see
• 39:58
  Speaker 15: the final bill it hasn't been introduced into the Parliament
• 40:01
  Speaker 15: and or need to go through our shadow comment processes
• 40:04
  Speaker 15: and go through the processes of the party room. But
• 40:08
  Speaker 15: any change to how we govern our elections in Australia
• 40:12
  Speaker 15: need to ensure that neither side has advantaged. We need
• 40:15
  Speaker 15: to make sure there is transparency and we need to
• 40:18
  Speaker 15: make sure that the voters are empowered and that those
• 40:22
  Speaker 15: secret interests, especially mister Simon Holmes at Court and all
• 40:26
  Speaker 15: those secret backers of the Till movement are certainly held
• 40:29
  Speaker 15: to account.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: Do you think, Terry that it does have the potential
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: to disadvantage independence and small parties.
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: Well, I agree with James about not having the detailed caleb,
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: but yes, look, I think there is an issue here.
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: I think one of the issues that we have to
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: have a conversation about as a country, I think is
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: the cost of our election campaigns, the cost of standing
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: for parliament, the cost for good people to stand for parliament,
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: whether they're in a party or independence. Look, I think
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: the real issue here for me is I don't really
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: care about brilliannaires a pull of their money are often
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: soon parted as long as there is full transparency and
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: disclosure in real time and that effectively we know where
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: that money is coming from. But the other thing, and
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: James is right about getting the balance right, because while
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: the Labor Party is unions and their mates, I still
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: being able to funnel money into the Labor Party into
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: Labor campaigns. There's always going to be that disadvantage there
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: that the College and has a struggle to even try
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: and match.
• 41:31
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: Correct, Why don't we just swap out donations for just
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: quotus upgrades for everyone. Let's see how that goes. Now.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: You might remember former South Australian Opposition leader David Spears.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: He had to resign from politics recently after he was
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: charged with supplying drugs. Well, the Liberal candidate who's running
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: to replace him at a by election this weekend says
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: that we should have mandatory drug testing for politicians, Amanda Wilson.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: She believes that random drug testing would increase people's confidence
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: in politicians. She says a lot of other people in
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: the workforce have to submit to drug testing, and politicians
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: are making legislation, they should be held to a higher standard. James,
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: would you be happy to subject yourself to random mandatory
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: drug tests?
• 42:18
  Speaker 15: I would be happy to submit myself to random drug tests.
• 42:22
  Speaker 15: But actually what we do need is politicians with common sense.
• 42:25
  Speaker 15: So we should have a test for common sense because
• 42:28
  Speaker 15: I'm pretty sure Anthony alban Easy is neither drunk nor
• 42:31
  Speaker 15: high on drugs, but that a lot of the decisions
• 42:33
  Speaker 15: he makes look like they made by someone who is
• 42:36
  Speaker 15: drunk or high on drugs. So we need more politicians
• 42:39
  Speaker 15: with common sense.
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: What do you reckoned, Terry? I mean, you know you
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: might have to if they actually if they had, like
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: an alcohol test, you'd have half the parent ban from
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: ever entering the building. But I had drug tests.
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: Well, certainly on Wednesday night when Parliament gets up early,
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: but certainly my day working in parliament, there is never
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: time outside of that for drinking or drugging. But certainly
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: I think if other occupations, other industries that need drug
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: testing or have random dug testing, and politicians who make
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: legislation with them at state or federal actually mandate these
• 43:16
  Speaker 3: sorts of things, they should be subject to it themselves.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: Now, you'd like to think that the people administering Year
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: twelve exams would know what they're doing. But how bad
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: is this story? Out of Victoria? At least three exams
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: have been compromised. The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority has
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: admitted that entire parts or at least very similar parts
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: of the exams were accidentally included in the instruction booklets
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: for Business Management, Specialist, Maths and Legal Studies exams, which
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: has effectively allowed students to cheat there. Old Sun reported
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: that the authority discovered the issue in mid October after
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: being alerted that students had been sharing online how they
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: were able to highlight blank spaces on pages of booklets, which,
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: when pasted into word documents, revealed hidden questions and case studies. Terry,
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: you're down in Victoria. Who's running the show? I mean,
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: if the people who administer the exams can't even get
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: the exams right, how bad is that?
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: Well, there's a choice between a cockup and a conspiracy.
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: Go for a cockup in Victoria every time, because we
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: have cockups left, bright and center, and this is just
• 44:24
  Speaker 3: one of them. Look, and I'm not tech savvy, so
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: I'd never be able to get away with actually trying
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: to do that. But the fact that the kids were
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: able to do that in preparing for their BC or
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: HC exam just beggars belief. I mean, back in my day,
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: I mean, we didn't have all this fancy stuff. I mean,
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: we had to use old HSC exam papers to practice on.
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: It wouldn't have happened. But certainly, I think when it
• 44:50
  Speaker 3: comes to Victoria, it's not a state of excitement anymore.
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: It's a state of absolute cock up.
• 44:56
  Speaker 12: Yep.
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: And you know, even though we've had a laugh about it,
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: it is actually serious because they're a kid now who
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: potentially could have their exams thrown out because of all
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: of this. You know, this is serious stuff for a
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: kid trying to leave at the end of year twelve.
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: James Terry, thank you so much for your time after
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: the break, the author of a new book which makes
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: the case for celebrating Western civilization as the culture of freedom.
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: Here here, don't go away. A little heads up for
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: those of you who follow my nags and dogs. I've
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: got fear of the dragon going around at seven twenty
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: eight pm at Angle Parks, and I think he's paying
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: a dollar twenty two or something, so good luck, gamble
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: responsibly Joining me now is someone you'll be familiar with.
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: He's the author of a new book which makes the
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: case for celebrating the best things about Western civilization, including
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: our parliamentary, legal, and education systems. The book is called
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: Defend the West the Culture of Freedom, and author doctor
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: Kevin Donnelly joins me now. Kevin, welcome. You've titled it,
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: as I said before, the culture of Freedom. What is
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: it about Western culture that uniquely promotes these freedoms that
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: you and I get to enjoy?
• 46:05
  Speaker 16: Well, Caleb, there are so many, and I must admit
• 46:08
  Speaker 16: I edited the book, so there are ten other people
• 46:12
  Speaker 16: who contributed. But it's a bit like Monty Python. We
• 46:16
  Speaker 16: all remember that skit where I think it was the
• 46:19
  Speaker 16: Palestinian Freedom Party. The question was what did the Romans
• 46:24
  Speaker 16: give to us? And there were so many things that
• 46:27
  Speaker 16: in the end they had to realize they were very lucky.
• 46:30
  Speaker 16: We've inherited each generation of young people, whether it's in
• 46:33
  Speaker 16: Australia or America, Europe, the United Kingdom, we've inherited a heritage,
• 46:39
  Speaker 16: a patriminy which goes back to the Reformation, the Enlightenment,
• 46:44
  Speaker 16: back to ancient Greece and Rome, to Christianity, Judea Christianity,
• 46:49
  Speaker 16: and all the things we now take for granted, especially
• 46:52
  Speaker 16: our political freedom, whether it's the Westminster parliamentary system which
• 46:57
  Speaker 16: we inherited in Australia, whether it's our common law system
• 47:01
  Speaker 16: which is based on the idea of natural law that
• 47:04
  Speaker 16: goes back to Greece. All of these things, as well
• 47:07
  Speaker 16: as our literature, our art and our music. And what
• 47:10
  Speaker 16: troubles all of us who contributed to the book is
• 47:14
  Speaker 16: it's no longer taught in schools, it's no longer acknowledged
• 47:17
  Speaker 16: or celebrated. It's actually admonished, attacked, vilified, by critics who
• 47:25
  Speaker 16: argue there's nothing of value.
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: Well, and this is part of the problem, right, because
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: you see these constant attacks on Western civilization, and it's
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: easy sometimes to feel like we've lost the fight. But
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: we haven't lost the fight. We have to keep up
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: the fight.
• 47:42
  Speaker 16: You did, right. And one of the chapters in the
• 47:45
  Speaker 16: book by Jared Holland talks about the rise of the
• 47:50
  Speaker 16: digital media and the impact that's had. And we only
• 47:53
  Speaker 16: have to look at what's happened in America with the
• 47:56
  Speaker 16: election of Trump to see that a lot of the
• 47:58
  Speaker 16: people who supported him, we're young people who use the
• 48:02
  Speaker 16: internet to get their news, so we also have to
• 48:06
  Speaker 16: understand that. And I reviewed the national curriculum a couple
• 48:09
  Speaker 16: of years ago. In our schools, there are hundreds of
• 48:12
  Speaker 16: references to Aboriginal culture. There are very few to what
• 48:17
  Speaker 16: makes Western culture, our western liberal democratic culture, so worthwhile.
• 48:23
  Speaker 16: And whether it's to go back a couple of years
• 48:26
  Speaker 16: to Brexit in England, whether it's the move to conservative
• 48:30
  Speaker 16: parties in Europe, whether it's the sixty to forty vote
• 48:34
  Speaker 16: in Australia against the Voice, the good news is more
• 48:38
  Speaker 16: and more people are saying enough is enough. We have
• 48:41
  Speaker 16: to acknowledge and celebrate what we've achieved.
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: One hundred percent and we've only got a minute left, Kevin.
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: But in a nutshell, how do we reverse this rot?
• 48:52
  Speaker 16: Well, I could say by the book, and we have
• 48:56
  Speaker 16: to be we have to be critically informed. One of
• 49:00
  Speaker 16: the things that and I have to admit, my father
• 49:02
  Speaker 16: was a Communist, mother was a Catholic. But what my
• 49:06
  Speaker 16: father taught me was that you take the medium to
• 49:09
  Speaker 16: long term view. And that's why Russia, China, that's why
• 49:13
  Speaker 16: these communist revolutions are so successful. So we have to
• 49:18
  Speaker 16: be knowledgeable. We have to know what the issue is,
• 49:22
  Speaker 16: what we can do about it, and we need to
• 49:24
  Speaker 16: take action. And it's very important that all of us,
• 49:27
  Speaker 16: especially with our children when they go to school in particular,
• 49:31
  Speaker 16: that we don't let them be indoctrinated by this woke ideology.
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: Could not agree more, Kevin Donnelly, Thank you so much
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: for your time. And of course the book is called
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: Defend the West the Culture of Freedom. I recommend you
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: get your hands on a copy and do not stop
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: with that far. Thank you for your company. Tonight up
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: next to Boult Report.
• 49:49
  Speaker 3: Good Night,