Latest / The Bolt Report / The Bolt Report | 1 January

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The Bolt Report | 1 January · The Bolt Report

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Good, it's the report.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Good evening, welcome to the show. Nice to have your company,
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us. I'm Kel Richards in for
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Andrew Bolt. And here's what's coming up tonight on the show.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Welcome to twenty twenty six. And for Victorians, I'll long
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: run up to a November election ten months away, but
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: both the premiere and the opposition leader will have their
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: work cut out in what looks to be a tough
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: race to the finish, and we'll have more on that shortly.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Plus we'll look under the bondard of Australia's education system,
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: where it's missing on many cylinders, with both parties promising
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: reforms but classroom standards are still slipping. And finally an
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: outcome in the campaign to reopen a stunning national park
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: walking track in northern New South Wales. But don't put
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: your working boots on just yet. More on a says
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: to Mount morning shortly. And the newly released cabinet documents
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: from twenty years ago from two thousand and five show
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: that our leaders were concerned about Islamic extremism way back then.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: So what have we learned? But first tonight, starting from
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: October seventh, twenty twenty three, Australia has seen an explosion
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: of vitriolic, vicious and even violent antisemitism. It's that antisemitism
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: that burst into lethal violence on December fourteenth, twenty twenty five,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: killing fifteen, wounding forty two and tearing the heart out
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: of the nation. That's what antisemitism can do when it's
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: allowed to run unchecked. So this is probably a good
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: time to unpack this word antisemitism. The Oxford English Dictionary
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: lists the first appearance of antisemitism as occurring in eighteen eighty. Now,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: in that year it was used widely in Germany, and
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: from German newspapers has made its way into English. Was
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: used to label the vitriolic attacks on Jews coming from
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: the pen of a German politician, journalist and editor, a
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: bloke named Vilhelm mah And he labeled Jews anti Semites.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: When he was being verbally violent against anti Semites, against
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Semites meaning Jews, it made sense to label his attacks antisemitism.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: And how can we define the word well. An open
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: line caller to my radio show who had lived in
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Germany said to me that Germans, because of their history,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: are very sensitive about this and they regard antisemitism as
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: too soft word. Instead, they insist on labeling this ugly
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: phenomenon jew hatred. The International Holocaust Alliance has a long,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: detailed debt definition and excellent definition which I think can
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: be summed up in those same two words, jew hatred.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: So that's what it is. Where does it come from?
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: It's important to understand that anti Semitism jew hatred is
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: not native to Australia. Let me illustrate what I mean.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: But I was very young. I had a job as
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: a junior clerk in the Sydney CBD. I worked at
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: the Waterboard briefly waiting for a job opening in journalism
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: to appear. Now you'll understand what I used the words
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: When I was very young, We're talking about decades ago.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: One lunch hour, I and another young bloker, a fellow
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: junior clark, were walking down Pitt Street when we passed
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: the Great Synagogue and the front door was wide open,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: and we decided, out of young curiosity to go inside. Inside,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: we found a young man he would have been my guess,
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: in his twenties, and we explained we were a couple
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: of gentiles interested in the Great Synagogue. He gave us
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: a kipper each to wear and he gave us a
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: short guide to tour. He was very welcoming, very nice. Now,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: this was in the late nineteen sixties. I repeat, I
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: was very young at the time. But at that time
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: there was no threat of violence to Jewish Australians. There
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: were no guards in front of the synagogue, there were
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: no locked doors. When we went in, we were welcomed
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: with no hint of concern or suspicion. And looking back
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: on that moment from this year, it looks remarkable, almost unbelievable.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: That's because vicious jew hatred was simply unknown in my
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: younger years. So if jew hatred antisemitism is not native
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: to Australia, where did it come from? How is it
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: imported here? How is it allowed to grow in fester here?
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: And the answer is I don't know, and we need
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: to know. That is why we need a federal National
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Royal Commission that looks into anti semitism, how it came here,
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: how it grew, and how the different levels of government
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: have responded since Dennis Richardson's Review of Intelligence and Policing
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: is specifically banned from looking at or reporting on anti Semitism,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: which is why Australians are demanding Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: give up on his stubborn, narrow minded refusal to hold
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: a common Wealth Royal Commission on anti Semitism, its causes
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: and responses. By refusing a legally powerful and public inquiry
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: to antisemitism, Albanize he is actually guilty of politicizing the
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: worst act of terrorism ever committed on Australian soil. Albanze
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: has turned a national tragedy into well a political football
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: to be honest by making an intensely political decision to
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: oppose a Commonwealth Royal commission and politically attacking his critics.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: In his stubborn refusal to properly investigate publicly antisemitism, he
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: has several times mocked the opposition's detailed proposals. He says
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: he wants unity, but then he himself divides the nation
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: along political lines by giving political excuses for ignoring the
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: national clamor for a royal commission. By refusing a royal commission,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Albanese is damaging the Labor brand. Now that's a big deal.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Damaging the Labour brand. The vast majority of Labor members
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: of the Federal Parliament know that unless they publicly distance
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: themselves from the Albanese in position and add their voices
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: to the call for a royal commission. If they don't
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: do that, they will be in serious trouble at the
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: next election. Prime Minister. I know you're watching, Prime Minister.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: The people of Australia don't want anti Semitism to be
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: politicized in the way you've done. It's not too late.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: You will look like a much bigger man, Anthony. If
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: you call a news conference and say I was wrong,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: I am calling a Royal commission, Australia will think better
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: of you if you have the courage to do that.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: That's the simple truth. But will allow Prime Minister give
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: in do the right thing? I fear not. He has
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: backed himself into a corner and his pride is overweening pride.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: His hubris will not allow him to back down and
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: take politics out of the equation. John Howard once coined
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: the expression political ticker, by which he meant political heart
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: or political courage. Well, sadly, clearly, Albanese doesn't have the
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: political ticker to do what people are calling for. That
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: means we're all in trouble because we're stuck with the
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Prime Minister who doesn't have the political ticker to lead
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: our nation. He doesn't have the political ticker to stop
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: anti Semitism in Australia. Well, twenty twenty six is a
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: big year for Victorians because this is an election year
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: for them. They don't get to vote until November. But
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: you can bet your boots that Labor Premier Jasia Allen
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: and the Victorian Coalitions new leader Jess Wilson have started
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: campaigning from January one. It will be a big election
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: with national implications and we will cover every move and
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: every counter move here on Sky News to preview what
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: we can expect as the shadow of facing the voter's
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: looms close up. I'm joined by Sky News contributor Caroli
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: kats And Barnas and broadcaster and producer of the hit
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: podcast The Boy in the gold Mine DD Done Leave Him.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Welcome to both of you. Let's start off with taxes
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: because Victorians from today, from January first, are facing twenty
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: one new or increased taxes. Chargers that have kicked in
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: transport fares, tolls, steep CBD parking fines and a weird
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: thing which are vacant land taxes. Now it's all going
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: to drive up cost of living. I'man at a time
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: when cost of living is doing badly, this won't help. Caroly.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: Are Victorians falling steeply out of love with this Labor Party?
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: Well, I do hate to say that. You said that
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: this is the election year three years ago. Victorians actually
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: voted for this. So I hope their New Year resolution
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: is come November that they're wanting change and Jess Wilson
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: and the coalition will actually provide that opportunity. At the moment,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: Victoria's state debt is one hundred and fifty six billion
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: dollars and within a couple of years it's tipped to
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: go to one hundred and eighty seven billion dollars. They're
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: astronomical numbers. And to break that down, Victorian taxpayers are
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: repaying one million dollars a day in interest payments, so
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: one million dollars an hour, I should say, but twenty
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: four million dollars a day. I just want to say
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: that to you again. Cal And for the listeners are
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: million dollars an hour, and that's twenty four million dollars
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: a day, and this will just keep rising. It's a
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: current state government that is just addicted to debt and
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: to spending and to projects that just go nowhere. You know,
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: there's a toy train that's being built as part of
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: a loop which is just going nowhere. And it's not
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: a good crown for Victoria to where to be the
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: highest taxing state state government in the country. So, as
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: you say, is election year and Victorians have got a
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: choice to make, and let's hope that they choose the
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: right choice.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Well DD. The vacant land tax, which sounds weird to me,
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: is meant to I think, to make more land available
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: for home own. But with new taxes coming on, new
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: cost coming on, is anything going to happen to make
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: affordability in housing supply any better?
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: No, I don't think it is. And you know many
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: people are already on their knees trying to afford daily life.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: And some of these new taxes include Mikey fares going up,
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: as you mentioned that parking, the tax on congestion, tax
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: on parking up seventy three percent in the CBD for
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: money to be spent on bicycle lanes and pedestrian crossings.
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: These are essential city link fees going up. These are
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: things that everyday people need to use. The roads to
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: park their car, and it's just going to add to
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: the burden on people who are already struggling to afford
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: to pay their day to day expenses. The obvious thing
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: would have been, you know, curriently just alluded to the
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: toy train, the suburban rail lead thirty two billion dollars.
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: The obvious thing would have been to scrape that. But
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: such as the ineptness of this Labor government that they've
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: already had the contracts signed and so to try and
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: back out of that now is going to be almost
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: prohibitively expensive.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: So we're backed into a corner.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: It's just a giant mess. It's hard to see our
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: way through at the moment.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Well, looking at the two leaders and what their pictures
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: will be, Jess Wilson is picturing a fresh start for
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty six, which after what you've just said, sounds
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: very attractive, focusing on safety and responsible spending. Jasida Allen
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: is leaning on Labour's record. I'm not sure that that's wise,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: and she's leading on that record at a time of
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: as caroly said, massive debt and rising crime. There was
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: another machete attack in the city overnight. The crime crisis
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: has got to be an election issue.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: Surely, Kell It's not just an election issue, and as
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: Deanie pointed out, it's a daily issue here in Victoria.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: There is always a machete attack. I mean, all that
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: money wasted on these ridiculous machete bins. They actually expected
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: people to go down with machetes young teenagers. We know
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: that at the moment there are eleven hundred repeat youth
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: for thiers where the police are catching them, they're being
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: bailed by judges and then they're reoffending within hours and
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: the cycle is continuing. Actually expected these machetes to be
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: handed in. I mean their CCTV. What do they expect,
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: you know, the parents to do, walk down with a
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: machete for these young offenders. It's ridiculous, but you know
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: what that was another fourteen million dollars of Victorian tax
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: taxpayer dollars wasted on these bins. The Allen Labor government
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: was told two years ago they were the ones that
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: watered down the bail laws. They were warned by Victoria police,
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: they were warned by the Victorian Liberal opposition that this
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: was going to actually be the consequence. And as we say,
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: we have had two children hacked to death only a
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: couple of months ago walking home from a basketball game.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: We've had a man highly featured on Sky News by
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: Steve Price with his hand hanging on by a thread
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: at severed. There's no victim crime compensation for that. Machete
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: attacks are a real, real threat, and there are daily occurrens,
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: and you know what, very sadly, I think people just
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: have a talent. People are expecting this, that there's a
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: machete attack a day in Victoria. It's literally got to that.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: And as well as that crime problem, Victoria under labor
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: is also an economic basket case. But the Liberals have
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: managed to lose in the past to equally ham fisted
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: labor government. SODDI have they finally got their act together? Well?
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: I think Jess Wilson is a start. I think we
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: have to bear in mind she's only been in this
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: new role as Liberal leader here in Victoria for six
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: weeks or so.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: She's got a long way to go.
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: I think in far a recognition amongst the electorate, she's
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: far less well known than just into alan Is, so
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: she needs to get her face out there more. She's
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: doing a good job of that already, she's facing the
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: cameras on every issue and getting a lot of media coverage.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: Her social media is really good and I think that's
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: going to be one of her strengths in that she'll
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: appeal to a younger audience. She seemed to have a
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: very direct and seemingly honest way of approaching things, which
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: is a very nice contrast for us here in Victoria.
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: We're used to being kept in the dark by our government.
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: But the challenges she faces, as I said, voter recognition
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: and as yet we haven't actually heard what the Liberal
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: Party policies are going to be. But I do believe
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: that she is the person who's going to be able
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: to challenge this government, take the challenge up to them,
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: and possibly offer us some new leadership, leadership that we
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: can actually respect.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: Well, we'll find out in November sharp we atturny the
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: national matters. Now, pressure continues to build on the Prime
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Minister to hold a Royal commission into the Bondi terror attack.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: He's holding firm. Caraly, Do you think Albinizi might back
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: down or has he painted himself into a corner where
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: he just can't do anything except dig in.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: Look, he does dig in. Cal in your editorial early
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: you said it's his pride that won't let him do.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: But I just think that every day that goes by
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: paints him more and more into a corner. We've now
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: had the Human Rights Commissioner arn Finlay coming out saying
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: we need a royal commission. We've had former labor front
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: benches come out as well. My issue is quite simple.
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: Politics should not be difficult. What is there to hide?
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: A Royal commission has the ability to go to places
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: where an internal inquiry can't. It can or it can
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: report back incrementally as well. It can compel agencies to
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: be able to give evidence. If there is nothing to hide,
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: why not hold one? And those excuses? That is ridiculous
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: that you know, mister Albaneazy wants to spare victims from
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: giving evidence. That is ridiculous because people are wanting it.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: The other question that we need to also press him
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: on and keep the pressure on, is is who are
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: these experts that he consulted not to hold a royal commission?
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: Is it Penny Wong, is it Tony Burke, is it
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: Chris Bowen? Who are these experts that he consulted? And
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: Dennis Richardson has been around for a very long time.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: He was head of ASIO, But why has he suddenly
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: been appointed? You know, the pressure needs to build. We
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: need a Royal commission to find out the answers for
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: the victims, the fifteen innocent victims of the Bondai massacre.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: They're families, but also to protect all Australians and those
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: of the Jewish faith living here in particular.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Yes, look, you're quite right. Quick final question DD thirty seconds.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: Has this Prime minister lost the good will of the
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: Australian people.
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: He's absolutely failed us from the very beginning. He's allowed
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: people to die on his watch. He has been pathetic
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: in his response. He's been mocked the world over. If
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: you've looked at any of the international media, if you
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: were an outsider looking in in the aftermath of the
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: Bondaie attacks, you would have thought that Josh Friedenberg or
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: Chris Mins were our prime minister, not the actual Prime Minister.
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: I think he's been lame and pathetic and I feel
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: so so disappointed and let down by him, and I
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: know a lot of people do.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: Yes, indeed, thank you very much for your time and
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: we will chat again in the new year. I would
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: think now let me turn to another topic, which is
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: an important one. Education. It's no secret that over the
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: past two decades or so, Australia's school system has suffered
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: as sharp and sustained decline in standards. The OECD's Program
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: for International Student Assessment, which is known by the acronym PISA,
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: A shower in Australia are declining flat lighting in outcomes
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: across maths and science, while our own napline results show
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: one in three children is failing to meet basic proficiency levels.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: Here to discuss the outlook for the year ahead, the
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: education editor of The Australian Natasha byte Up. Natasha, welcome
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: to the program. What needs to happen to improve the
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: education standards in our system.
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: Hallo cal I think, first of all, we need to
• 17:46
  Speaker 5: get screens out of the classrooms in primary schools because
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: they're distracting children and children aren't learning the basics which
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: they need is a platform to think for themselves and
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: to absorb knowledge in high school. So our problem is
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: that too many children just haven't been grasping the basics
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: of reading, writing and maths, and they just fall further
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: and further behind as they go through school. I personally
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: think screens have got a lot to do with that.
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: And in high school as well, probably at least ten
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: percent of the class using their laptop a gaming on
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: it or hot spotting something off their phone and not
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: paying attention to the teacher who's trying to teach.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Have a got a problem in this year? I will
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: be it, yes, if we've got a problem in that
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: we've now got a generation of teachers who weren't taught
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: the basics themselves because it wasn't happening twenty years ago,
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: and now they don't have the skills to do that
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: for this generation of kids.
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: That's precisely that's why twenty twenty six is a game changer.
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: This is the year that universities have to start or
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: they've had to change their curriculum for teaching teachers. So
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: they have to ensure that their trainee teachers know how
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: to teach children to read from scratch using phonics based methods.
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: They need to know how to manage classrooms. They need
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: to have mastered mathematics themselves so they can then teach
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: children confidently. So this has been a long time coming,
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: probably ten years since the politicians started talking about it.
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: This year, I think we'll start to see some really
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: good changes in the education system.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: Majorie there was a problem with the whole profession because
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: it was a study recently showing something like two thirds
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: two thirds of Australian teachers are suffering from anxiety or depression.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: And this seems to expose a whole teaching profession which
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: is buckling under a combination of the workload and departmental
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: red tape. And the result is that a whole lot
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: of teachers are quitting or talking about quitting teaching altogether.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: So how do we ease the pressure on the teachers
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: and shift the focus back to the classroom.
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: I think the behavior of a lot of students is
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: also a major problem, particularly in the public schools where
• 20:02
  Speaker 5: they are really bearing the brunt of teaching children with
• 20:07
  Speaker 5: learning disabilities or very extreme disadvantage that might affect their learning,
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: and because the other parents are choosing private schools, so
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: this puts a lot of pressure on the teachers to
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: be social workers as well as teachers. Again, this year,
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: the states and territories have agreed to include student well
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: being as an issue in their funding agreements, so we
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: will be seeing more counselors and nurses psychologists in schools
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: to support teachers, so teachers aren't doing this.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: All on their own.
• 20:43
  Speaker 5: The other issue is the curriculum is just way too complicated.
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: It's much more complicated than it needs to be. A
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: lot of it should not be that difficult. So I
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: think the ministers have said they will review the curriculum
• 20:56
  Speaker 5: for mathematics in year three, so at the start of
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: a primary school, which is a good start for teachers.
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: And the other thing is a lot of the red tape.
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: Everything has to be reported to five different authorities, and
• 21:09
  Speaker 5: teachers are spending their evenings, you know, typing data into
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: their laptops or trying to send workout who hasn't returned
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: their form for the excursion. This should be done by
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: administrative staff, not teaching.
• 21:21
  Speaker 6: That's not their job.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Let's turn to the tertiary level and have a
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: look at the universities because a real emphasis in twenty
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: twenty five was for universities to rain in their foreign
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: student intake. Foreign students make up nearly half of all
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: the enrollments across many of the top eight group of universities.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: At the University of Sydney alone, it's foreign student revenue
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: sits at around one point four billion b for billion dollars.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: They've ceased to be communities of scholars Natasha, they've become businesses.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: Now there is a cap on students in place, and
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: because there's now going to be a cap, these big operators,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: the big universities are looking to set up offshore campuses
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: to keep the river of gold flowing for them. What
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: can you tell us about that?
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: Well, they're doing this because any students they enroll in
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: an offshore campus is on top of their quota, so
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: they can enroll as many international students as they want offshore,
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: which is a good thing for Australia. It's good soft diplomacy.
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: It's a win win. The university gets more money. Australia
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: is educating people internationally, which is good for us. But
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: it's not putting pressure on an infrastructure and the housing
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: because that's been the inherent problem is that we've had
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: this massive growth in immigration without our infrastructure keeping up,
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: especially housing, which is causing a bit of community disquiet.
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: So Monash University recently announced they've got a new campus
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: in Jakarta. The University of New South Wales is setting
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: up in India. R mit I think one third of
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: their international students are already offshore. So that's a trend
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: we'll be seeing. And it is all about the money,
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: but also also about a soft plomacy for Australia.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Yes, of course, and the business model doesn't come into
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: it just quickly, Natasha. In the wake of the Bondi
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: terror attack, a lot of focus on the role of
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: universities looked at how they were allowing anti Semitism to fester.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Now you've argued that universities were using free speech as
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: just a fig leave to try to hide what was
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: going on. Might things change on that front?
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: Well, this is why we must have a Royal commission,
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: because these universities, which received twenty billion dollars a year
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: of public funding, need to be called to account for
• 23:41
  Speaker 5: what happened on those campuses. You know, I was covering
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: this back in after the Hamas attacks in twenty twenty three.
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: All into twenty twenty four, we had encampments, We had
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: protests that were very intimidating for other students on campus.
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: Jewish students were saying that they were afraid to go
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: to campus. They're afraid to wear any Star of David.
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: Imagine if someone said I'm afraid to wear.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: A cross as you're a Catholic.
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: I can't go to university because someone's going to give
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: me a hard time, intimidate me, attack me. I mean,
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: we saw at Monash University, named after that great Jewish
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: Australian general, and they had some very intimidating characters coming
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: in from outside and Jewish students.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, look look fifteen seconds. Will it get better?
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: They're all tripping over themselves now to talk about how
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: terrible anti Semitism is. I wish they'd set it back
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: at the time and done something about it when it
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: was at its peak, instead of turning a blind eye.
• 24:51
  Speaker 5: But now they're getting on board. Of course because of
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: that awful massacre. I think that will be held to account.
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: The government will link funding to student safety, which includes
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: Jewish and Muslim students.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: Natasha bid, thank you very much for your time. Now.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: In fact, as the government says at the moment, the
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: way to stop anti Semitic violence is not to stop
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: any Semitism on but to stop the violence. And one
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: critic has warned the nation that we are becoming too
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: reliant on soldiers when it comes to national security. We'll
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: explain that right after this some breaking news. Now, this
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: is the first footage coming through of what's being reported
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: as an explosion at a ski resort in Switzerland. To understood,
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: several people have been killed. Up to one hundred people
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: were enjoying a New Year's Eve event at the Constellation
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: Bar in the luxury ski resort of cram Montana at
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: the time. Unidentified footage on social media shows people fleeing
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: and the venue on fire. A police can't say how
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: the explosion occurred, but a spokesman has confirmed there have
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: been several fatalities and will bring you more details on
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: that when they come to hand. Now we turn to
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: the questions today around the deployment of the Australian Defense
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: Force for domestic security. Chris Men's has talked about this,
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: The Prime Minister has talked about this. In a piece
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: in Today's Australian, former senior military officer Ian Langford argues
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: that while confronting anti Semitism is essential, using the ADF
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: is a cost driven shortcut. He says it risks blurring
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: the constitutional lines, weakening civilian policing and distracting the military
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: from its core mission, which is defense. But I'm pleased
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: to say and joined us now from Rome Ian thank
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: you for your time. If governments keep reaching for soldiers
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: the ADF because it's politically easier, isn't that a failure
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: to properly fund the civilian side of policing.
• 26:55
  Speaker 7: Well, thanks for your time and happiness year to your viewers.
• 26:58
  Speaker 8: Yes, I think in many respects, this latest tragedy in
• 27:01
  Speaker 8: Australia and the testing of our counter terrorism and public
• 27:05
  Speaker 8: Security framework just reminds us of whether or not the
• 27:10
  Speaker 8: question as it relates to learning from these incidents and
• 27:14
  Speaker 8: being able to generate the kind of effective public safety
• 27:18
  Speaker 8: and law enforcement response is appropriate.
• 27:21
  Speaker 7: We've had multiple instances since the nineteen sixties.
• 27:25
  Speaker 8: We've had the Hope Raw Commission, the Marks Report into
• 27:28
  Speaker 8: counter terrorism, we have high risk events where defense and
• 27:32
  Speaker 8: law enforcement cooperate together. We have the twenty nineteen bushfires,
• 27:36
  Speaker 8: we've got the twenty twenty twenty three COVID emergency, and
• 27:39
  Speaker 8: then this tragedy in Bondi last week or so. And
• 27:44
  Speaker 8: every time it seems to me that we recognize that
• 27:47
  Speaker 8: we are under resourced in many respects of our public
• 27:50
  Speaker 8: safety and law enforcement, and too often it's tempting for
• 27:53
  Speaker 8: politicians to point to the military as a labor force,
• 27:56
  Speaker 8: which is essentially seen as a sub cost on the
• 27:58
  Speaker 8: ballot sheet, which can be used to fill these law
• 28:01
  Speaker 8: enforcement gaps.
• 28:01
  Speaker 7: And I think that's a mistake.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: Now, because of your background, you understand that the role
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: of our defense force is to be a lethal force,
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: so that when our enemies look at us, they see
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: a lethal, powerful force. That's their role. Does it distract
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: them from that role if they then have to turn
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: around and provide domestic security and look after people domestically,
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: does it distract from the main role.
• 28:26
  Speaker 8: The short answer is yes, and I should carry it
• 28:28
  Speaker 8: that by saying there are sudden and extraordinary instances where
• 28:31
  Speaker 8: it is appropriate to use the military in counter terrorism,
• 28:34
  Speaker 8: for instance, where a situation beyond the capabilities of law
• 28:38
  Speaker 8: enforcement requires a high level response, and that's appropriate and
• 28:42
  Speaker 8: the constitution allows for that. But using soldiers as security guards,
• 28:48
  Speaker 8: using soldiers as a replacement for a domestic humanitarian response
• 28:55
  Speaker 8: where civil agencies and others have that responsibility, and I
• 28:58
  Speaker 8: might add in certain instances resource to do that really
• 29:02
  Speaker 8: is a distraction for the ADF.
• 29:03
  Speaker 7: And this comes at a time where.
• 29:05
  Speaker 8: We have exercises off Taiwan by the People's Liberation Army
• 29:08
  Speaker 8: in these DAGSA just this week talking to how dangerous
• 29:11
  Speaker 8: are period we're moving in. So the ADF needs to
• 29:13
  Speaker 8: focus on defending the nation. Police and law enforcement need
• 29:17
  Speaker 8: to focus on public safety. There are instances where military
• 29:20
  Speaker 8: force is appropriate, but they are very exceptional and the
• 29:23
  Speaker 8: constitution allows for that. But we cannot reach for the
• 29:26
  Speaker 8: ADF as a first resort every time as a labor force,
• 29:29
  Speaker 8: because their role is to protect and serve the nation,
• 29:32
  Speaker 8: and frankly, it's against enemies that are hostile and foreign
• 29:36
  Speaker 8: and not criminals that live on shore here.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: Now, in the light of what you've just said, how
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: do we draw the line? How do you draw the
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: line between you the special circumstances that you refer to,
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: the exceptional circumstances where ADF deplointment is okay? How do
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: we draw the line so that that doesn't just quietly
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: become the norm every time we need a bit of
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: support in security domestically will bring in the ADF. Do
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: we draw the line so that doesn't happen? Ian? Can
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: you hear me? I think we might have lost her
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: in Langford? Ian? Can you hear me now? I think
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: we've lost her? In Langford. This so we might have
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: to leave him just for a moment. If we can
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: get back to him a bit later in the program,
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: we will do. But in the moment, but at this
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: moment we'll take a break. Welcome back. As you saw,
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: we did lose our link to Rome. It might have
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: been a satellite that had a little blink. That can happen.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: But because I have so many Italian friends, I'd like
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: to blame the Italians. I think they never mind being
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: blamed for anything. Ian Langford, Welcome back. Ian is a
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: military expert and a security expert. The question I was
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: asking you when we lost the link was how do
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: we draw the line. You've made it clear that there
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: is a place for the defense force, and there's the
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: occasional place for them to be used in domestic situations.
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: So how do we draw the line so that exceptional
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: circumstances don't happen so often that it just becomes the
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: norm and happens often.
• 31:13
  Speaker 8: That's right, and that question is one that's dog policy
• 31:17
  Speaker 8: makers since the early nineteen seventies.
• 31:19
  Speaker 7: I think, you know, having.
• 31:21
  Speaker 8: Very strict processes in terms of handover and handback these
• 31:24
  Speaker 8: situations between the Commonwealth and the state, really understanding the
• 31:28
  Speaker 8: constitutional reforms that need to happen under various aspects of
• 31:32
  Speaker 8: what sudden and extraordinary means in terms of when the
• 31:35
  Speaker 8: states can seek support from the commonwealth. Also recognizing that
• 31:39
  Speaker 8: there is resourcing and opportunities available for states to work together.
• 31:45
  Speaker 8: There are some cross jurisdictional challenges, but I'd be more
• 31:48
  Speaker 8: comfortable in instances where there is an incident in one
• 31:53
  Speaker 8: state to leverage capacity from another state.
• 31:56
  Speaker 7: And I only it will as well.
• 31:57
  Speaker 8: It's up to premiers and our leaders to resources our
• 32:00
  Speaker 8: police and public safety agencies appropriately.
• 32:03
  Speaker 7: So not only do we have a minimum.
• 32:05
  Speaker 8: Baseline capability, but we've got the opportunity to surge in
• 32:09
  Speaker 8: these instances where we need more capacity.
• 32:11
  Speaker 7: But it's not appropriate for military to be involved.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: Yes, so they do need to have alternatives. That's a
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: really helpful answer. So I'm really glad we got the
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: linebacker we were able to talk to you, Ian Langford.
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much for your time. Now we turn
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: to the long fight to reopen a popular hikers trailer
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: in northern New South Wales. It was initially closed in
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty by the state Liberal government actually in COVID
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: as part of the pandemic under the Environment Ministers Matt
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: Kean and James Griffin, and then it was kept closed
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: by the Labor government when the Men's government was elected
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: to do with cultural reasons. Now it's been five years
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: now and after a five year closure, the government says
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: the Wollumbun Mount Warning Track will reopen to hikers, but
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: not for eighteen months, not until July twenty twenty seven.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: Support us. This long delay just raises fresh questions about
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: access costs where the reopening will be tightly restricted.
• 33:08
  Speaker 6: Now.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: Mark hen Rix is the president of Save our Summits
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: and he's been a major player in the campaign for
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: the trail to reopen and George us now, Mark, when
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: you look at this decision, do you feel triumphant or
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: do you feel cautious.
• 33:23
  Speaker 9: Look, it's the first bit of good news we've got
• 33:25
  Speaker 9: out of the government on wanting public access to the
• 33:27
  Speaker 9: summit for coming up for six years in March next year.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: So it's the first bit of good news that the
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: government's given.
• 33:34
  Speaker 9: And look credit to Minister Penny Sharp for actually making
• 33:38
  Speaker 9: this announcement. Announcement not quite enough details at the stage
• 33:43
  Speaker 9: about what's going to happen with reopening and the time
• 33:46
  Speaker 9: frame that she's outlined eighteen months, given the departments have
• 33:51
  Speaker 9: well over five years to look into the how they
• 33:53
  Speaker 9: might go about reopening.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: So we're we're cautiously optimistic.
• 33:56
  Speaker 9: This is good news, but we want to keep up
• 33:58
  Speaker 9: the pressure on the government so they go through with
• 34:00
  Speaker 9: this announcement and we see Mount Warning opened again.
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: Let's talk Mark about the need for balancing opening up
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: the Australian landscape to all Australians and whatever the cultural
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: concerns of the Indigenous communities in the area may be.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: I heard an interview sometime ago with one Indigenous leader
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: from Mount Warning who said they wanted to share the
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: beauty of their landscape and their country with the other Australians.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: So how do you balance these things? How do you
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: work this out?
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: Well, it's a complicated issue.
• 34:29
  Speaker 9: I suppose for the government to sort of try and
• 34:31
  Speaker 9: balance those competing issues. What's been missing I think in
• 34:36
  Speaker 9: relation to access to our natural wonders and looking at
• 34:39
  Speaker 9: its aas rock Mount Warning, and there are a couple
• 34:42
  Speaker 9: other summits around the country that are also similarly impacted
• 34:45
  Speaker 9: by the views held by small groups of Indigenous people,
• 34:49
  Speaker 9: which are sometimes conflicting with other Abaginal groups as well.
• 34:52
  Speaker 9: So at Mount Warning we've had a long history up
• 34:55
  Speaker 9: until the year two thousands of quite strong support from
• 35:00
  Speaker 9: the indigenous groups up there for people to access the summit,
• 35:02
  Speaker 9: and then we saw this complete backflip and turn around
• 35:06
  Speaker 9: around the time of the millennium and National Parks authorities
• 35:11
  Speaker 9: favoring one view over the other. But what really has
• 35:14
  Speaker 9: been missing, I think across all these issues is the
• 35:16
  Speaker 9: views of the general Australian public about these issues. And
• 35:19
  Speaker 9: we saw you know, if we had a referendum on
• 35:22
  Speaker 9: access to Airs Rock or Mount Warning, I'd say you'd
• 35:25
  Speaker 9: find the numbers going very similar to what we see
• 35:27
  Speaker 9: for the Voice. So the views of the ordinary people,
• 35:30
  Speaker 9: and I include you know everyday original people in that
• 35:34
  Speaker 9: as well, have been ignored by the government on this
• 35:36
  Speaker 9: and they're focusing on small groups and that's really costing
• 35:38
  Speaker 9: the community and the economy you know a lot of
• 35:42
  Speaker 9: money as well.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: Now you've been involved in these talks, have you been
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: given any of the details, any clarity about what the
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: parameters will be when it does reopen.
• 35:52
  Speaker 9: Look, there's been absolutely no detail at all provided by
• 35:54
  Speaker 9: the Minister or the Department on how they see reopening.
• 35:57
  Speaker 9: There's a lot of speculation about introduction of fees, the
• 36:02
  Speaker 9: potential for compulsory cultural tours or some sort of induction
• 36:07
  Speaker 9: before going up to the summit. None of these details
• 36:10
  Speaker 9: have been main clear. So as I said, we're very
• 36:13
  Speaker 9: cautiously optimistic. We welcome the decision that Mount Morning will
• 36:16
  Speaker 9: be reopened, but we're just waiting to see how that's
• 36:18
  Speaker 9: going to play out, and we really hope to be
• 36:20
  Speaker 9: involved in making those.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: Decisions as well.
• 36:23
  Speaker 9: So as part of SOS, we've actually offered our assistance
• 36:26
  Speaker 9: to the minister in the department to clarify positions and
• 36:30
  Speaker 9: get to a compromise solution that that's acceptable to everyone.
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: In the light of what you've just said, is there
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: a risk that, in fact that the walking trail might
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: be closed to ordinary punters It might just become too
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: difficult or too costly.
• 36:46
  Speaker 9: There's quite a few walks around the state now in
• 36:48
  Speaker 9: New South Wales where fees have been introduced for what
• 36:51
  Speaker 9: were once free to access walks and trails and camping areas.
• 36:56
  Speaker 9: So one of our concerns would be the introduction of
• 36:59
  Speaker 9: fees that become then quite unrealistic for families and you know,
• 37:06
  Speaker 9: people who don't have enough money to pay them. So
• 37:09
  Speaker 9: this is an incredible concern for us, and we hope
• 37:14
  Speaker 9: to see that the mountains reopened again in the way
• 37:16
  Speaker 9: that it was prior to this ridiculous closure.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: Mark why the strange delay, I mean, why eighteen months?
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: Why can't the trail just be reopened January? Second?
• 37:27
  Speaker 9: Look in our view, look, the mount warning Stummit track
• 37:30
  Speaker 9: is a Grade five track and in its current condition,
• 37:33
  Speaker 9: you know, it's been affected by a couple of severe
• 37:35
  Speaker 9: rainfall events and some storm damage. In its current condition,
• 37:38
  Speaker 9: it's really meets that Grade five criteria. So there's really
• 37:43
  Speaker 9: no reason why it couldn't be opened. There are some
• 37:47
  Speaker 9: safety issues that I'm sure National Park staff or rays,
• 37:49
  Speaker 9: but in its current conditions it's completely walkable and for
• 37:54
  Speaker 9: experienced hikers it's a safe climb to do.
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: Okay, you talk about Grade five walk quickly, can you
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: explain what that means to those of us who are
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: amateurs when it comes to this thing.
• 38:06
  Speaker 9: So national walking tracks are graded between one and five.
• 38:09
  Speaker 9: In New South Wales. Grade five is that upper end
• 38:12
  Speaker 9: of things. So it's not it's not like it's an
• 38:15
  Speaker 9: easy walk, it's it's something that you really need to
• 38:18
  Speaker 9: sort of respect and prepare for.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: So, you know, it's walk.
• 38:22
  Speaker 9: We'd expect to wear hiking boots, for instance, and not
• 38:24
  Speaker 9: go up with thongs, which has been a problem in
• 38:26
  Speaker 9: the past. So it's yeah, it's it's it's a four
• 38:30
  Speaker 9: and a half k hike to the summit, and near
• 38:32
  Speaker 9: the summit is a rock scramble, so it's not not
• 38:34
  Speaker 9: the easiest walk to do, so you need to take
• 38:39
  Speaker 9: respect the mountain and take adequate and proper preparations to
• 38:43
  Speaker 9: go up there. But it's nothing, you know, that's that's
• 38:46
  Speaker 9: out of the realm of people going up there. When
• 38:49
  Speaker 9: it was opened in nineteen twenty nine, over two hundred
• 38:51
  Speaker 9: people attended, including quite a big group of local school kids,
• 38:55
  Speaker 9: and that was without the chain of the summit, and
• 38:57
  Speaker 9: there were no incidents at that stage. So it's something
• 39:00
  Speaker 9: that's perfectly possible for everyone. But you need to respect
• 39:04
  Speaker 9: the walk and not take it lightly, that's all.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: So it's doable, Mark Hendrix, thank you very much for
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: your time, Mark Hendrix. There from Save our Summits now
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: coming up. Newly released Cabinet documents, released after twenty years
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: by the National Archives revealed that back in two thousand
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: and five, just after the London Tube bombings, the Howard
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: government expanded the definition of terrorism in the face of
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: deep concerns about homegrown Muslim extremism. So what has changed,
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: you might well ask. Our panel is next welcome back,
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: Nice to have your company. Let's bring in our panel.
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: Two Double C Radio has Stephen Sangiamo and Sky News
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: contributor Tim Blair. Now, gentlemen, welcome to the program. Nice
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: to have you with us tonight. Thanks the news that's
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: come out with the release of these new Howard documented
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: Cabinet documents, which are released after the twenty year period
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: which they have to be held for by the National Archives.
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: The Howard government expanded Australia's terrorism laws amid fears of
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: homegrown Islamic terrorism and warnings about his book to Rea
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: that concerns that radical groups are exploiting gaps in the
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: legal definition of terrorism. Now, Stephen, given that his Book
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: to Rea was identified as a concern in two thousand
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: and five, and who were still around and were part
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: of that campus in Camp and at Sydney University, We've
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: had twenty years when governments of all political colors have
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: simply failed to close the legal loopholes. What's going on here.
• 40:36
  Speaker 6: Political expediency. Kel. It's as simple as that.
• 40:38
  Speaker 10: We've got politicians that aren't leaders, they're followers, and unfortunately
• 40:43
  Speaker 10: they're more interested in winning votes in certain parts of
• 40:46
  Speaker 10: Western Sydney than they aren't protecting our nation. I mean,
• 40:49
  Speaker 10: the federal government only exists. Really if you think about
• 40:52
  Speaker 10: why federation was brought about in the first place, it
• 40:55
  Speaker 10: was to protect the nation on a national level, and
• 40:58
  Speaker 10: our politicians for the last twenty years failed to do
• 41:00
  Speaker 10: that in this regard. I mean, hisbrid career is an
• 41:03
  Speaker 10: organization that has prohibited in so many countries around the world,
• 41:06
  Speaker 10: including Islamic nations. I mean, it's even Muslim nations know
• 41:11
  Speaker 10: how bad this mob is because their stated aim is
• 41:13
  Speaker 10: that they want an international Islamic caliphate. Their view is
• 41:16
  Speaker 10: they want to take over the entire world with an
• 41:19
  Speaker 10: Islamic caliphate, and for some reason, our politicians are more
• 41:22
  Speaker 10: interested in a few votes in Western Sydney than they
• 41:25
  Speaker 10: aren't protecting the whole nation.
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: Now, Tim, we've pick up on that theme that Stephen
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: talked about votes in Western Sydney. We have a government
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: apparently prioritizing community sensitivities, and dare I say, such as
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: the community in Tony Burk's electorate over decisive national security
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: measures is that's what? Is that what we're seeing to.
• 41:46
  Speaker 11: It's not only what we're seeing now and what we
• 41:48
  Speaker 11: plainly have been seeing for the last twenty years. I'll
• 41:50
  Speaker 11: give you just a you know, maybe we should make
• 41:52
  Speaker 11: a small bet on the panel today that in twenty
• 41:54
  Speaker 11: years from now we'll be hearing the same sort of thing.
• 41:58
  Speaker 6: We'll be hearing that.
• 41:59
  Speaker 11: Seriously, we'll be here exactly the same. Oh you know,
• 42:02
  Speaker 11: it's a bit of a worry out there in Western Sydney.
• 42:04
  Speaker 11: Oh well, look out, because it's not just the hisbies
• 42:07
  Speaker 11: who are bad enough. People forget that at the height
• 42:10
  Speaker 11: of the peak of the Isis atrocities, that per capita,
• 42:14
  Speaker 11: Western Sydney was donating more soldiers I guess you'd call
• 42:19
  Speaker 11: them to that cause than just about any place on earth.
• 42:22
  Speaker 11: And that was the most obvious example I can think
• 42:24
  Speaker 11: off on the top of the head of just how
• 42:26
  Speaker 11: deep and how perverse and how destructive things were allowed
• 42:30
  Speaker 11: to get. And we're still largely in that situation.
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: Stephen, surely we must leave that behind now now that
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: there has been this atrocity at BONDI, surely that must
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: put pressure on the government to do something.
• 42:45
  Speaker 10: Well, I said this on my program the day after
• 42:48
  Speaker 10: BONDI that this has to be the lion in the sand,
• 42:50
  Speaker 10: it has to be the turning point. Unfortunately, we seem
• 42:53
  Speaker 10: to have a government that is still dilly dallying and
• 42:56
  Speaker 10: putting those votes ahead of national security. I mean, look
• 43:00
  Speaker 10: look at the situation with the Royal Commission now, Dennis Richardson.
• 43:04
  Speaker 10: You won't find a person with more integrity than Dennis Richardson.
• 43:07
  Speaker 10: But the scope of what he is allowed to look
• 43:09
  Speaker 10: at is what the problem is here.
• 43:11
  Speaker 6: A Royal Commission is going to look.
• 43:12
  Speaker 10: At the failures of this government, and that's why our
• 43:15
  Speaker 10: government doesn't want to go anywhere.
• 43:17
  Speaker 6: Near Royal That's exactly so. I mean, your reality is
• 43:20
  Speaker 6: that Bondai is not going to change anything.
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: Well, that's a fairly oblique view. Let's hope you're not right.
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: The same cabinet papers of laid bare how the Howard
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: government's rather ill fated work choices policy was developed, and
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: how it led to the government coming unstruck tim it
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: became a bit of a dumpster fire. Was the problem
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: the policy or was it the communication.
• 43:42
  Speaker 11: Look, I'm gonna lert to all the issues over work
• 43:44
  Speaker 11: choice and so on. I think a lot is made
• 43:46
  Speaker 11: of work Choices because it ticks so many lefty boxes.
• 43:49
  Speaker 11: You know, it was against the workers and they could
• 43:51
  Speaker 11: make a bit of a celebration out of it. I'm
• 43:53
  Speaker 11: still more of the mind that how government lost, because
• 43:57
  Speaker 11: how governor been in charge, had been around for a
• 43:59
  Speaker 11: long long time time. And when a population votes for
• 44:04
  Speaker 11: Kevin Rudd, you know it's not just one policy. You know,
• 44:06
  Speaker 11: there's sort of run out of patients that its time
• 44:09
  Speaker 11: factor is real. And I think also there was probably
• 44:13
  Speaker 11: the world's greatest record of buyers. Regret may have followed
• 44:16
  Speaker 11: Kevin Rud's election, especially from within his own own cabinet,
• 44:20
  Speaker 11: But when a party has gone for three elections, and
• 44:23
  Speaker 11: when the last last of those multiple elections was such
• 44:26
  Speaker 11: a such a colossal victory, it's kind of like a
• 44:29
  Speaker 11: breaking wave. And I think Baby work Choices was a
• 44:32
  Speaker 11: part of that for sure, but not the overwhelming part.
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: Now, you two gentlemen have don't live in Sydney, so
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: you don't have the experience of every second time you
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: drive down the road, the little machine goes beat, beep, beep,
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: because we're told all over the place. Now the Wind's
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: government has got a cap. They run a trial on
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: a sixty dollars cap on tolls for certain people in
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: certain suburbs. And what you need to do is you
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: can then reclaim the money that you've overpaid over that toll.
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: But doing it, million thousands of people are not doing it.
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: There's one hundred and eighty eight million dollars in toll
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: relief unclaimed. So what's actually going on here, Steven? I mean,
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: is it the case that there's this large portion of
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: money unclaims? Is it just wasting money? Is it's setting
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: up a bureaucracy? Is it giving drivers three more forms
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: in duplicate to fill in?
• 45:22
  Speaker 10: Look, the claiming process isn't that difficult. I mean I've
• 45:26
  Speaker 10: done it myself because I spent most of my life
• 45:28
  Speaker 10: in Sydney and I do go there regularly. But I
• 45:32
  Speaker 10: think the problem is is that people are just too
• 45:34
  Speaker 10: lazy to.
• 45:35
  Speaker 6: Go and do it. I mean, all you've got to
• 45:36
  Speaker 6: do is go on to.
• 45:37
  Speaker 10: Your toll provider's website and fill in a couple of
• 45:40
  Speaker 10: dates and they basically refund you the money. I think
• 45:43
  Speaker 10: the issue here is though, is that the way these
• 45:45
  Speaker 10: toll roads have been set up, the government has no
• 45:47
  Speaker 10: choice but to do some sort of claimback process here
• 45:51
  Speaker 10: because they don't own these roads. I mean, it's ridiculous
• 45:53
  Speaker 10: that we have roads in this country that aren't owned
• 45:56
  Speaker 10: by our very own people, that are owned by private companies.
• 45:58
  Speaker 10: So the government's a little bit I am strung as
• 46:00
  Speaker 10: to how they're actually going to give the money back,
• 46:02
  Speaker 10: and I just know I'd encourage it. It's a little
• 46:04
  Speaker 10: bit like making sure your super is all in the
• 46:07
  Speaker 10: one account.
• 46:08
  Speaker 6: It's pretty easy to do. You've just got to go
• 46:10
  Speaker 6: and do it. YEP.
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: A quick file of question to both of you, Stephen
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: and Tim. Are you new Year's resolution peoples? Here we are,
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: first day of the new year. Tim, do you ever
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: make New year resolutions? And do you ever keep them?
• 46:24
  Speaker 11: I made a big one a few years ago. I
• 46:26
  Speaker 11: quit smoking and drinking on the same day after New Years.
• 46:29
  Speaker 11: And I did it by the simple method of having
• 46:31
  Speaker 11: a massive heart attack. I don't recommend it for other people,
• 46:34
  Speaker 11: work for me, haven't spoked or had a drink since.
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: So a heart attack is a heart attack is nature's
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: way to tell you to stop smoking and drinking, isn't it?
• 46:42
  Speaker 10: Yes, Stephen, Look, I don't usually make resolutions, but I
• 46:48
  Speaker 10: lost a significant amount of weight this year. I'm just
• 46:50
  Speaker 10: hoping to continue that on. I've got about another forty
• 46:52
  Speaker 10: kilos I need to go.
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: So look, the regular viewers of Sky and News think
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: you're doing brilliantly. Keep it up, Stephen and Tim, thank
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: you very much for your time. Now before we go tonight.
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: A final thought, and this one is for parents and
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: grandparents in particular, when you're in the presence of your
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: kids or your grandkids, why not put down your smartphone
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: and instead focus on the kids. Wouldn't that be a breakthrough.
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: We've seen you in public wheeling a pram down the
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: street with a k little bundle in the pram, or
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: an adorable little toddler beside you, and you have been
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: glued to the screen of your smartphone. Now as a
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: riveting and engrossing as the little screens on our phones are,
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: the kids need us. Put down the phone, turn off
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: the phone, Listen, Listen to what they're saying, take an interest,
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: respond with affection. If you have a habit of saying
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: kids before phones, your kids or your grandkids will benefit.
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: They will do better at school, they'll do better in life.
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: It's the start of a new year, good time for
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: taking a new path. But putting kids before phones is
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: not just a new year's resolution. It's more important than that.
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: There's a kind of major intersection in your life and
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: in their little lives. It's a turning point when the
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: kids really matter and they know they matter. It's when
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: kids feel loved and listen to. Now, there are great
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: intersections in life which you need to choose which way
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: to go, and I think this is one of them.
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: Take the right turn. Make kids before phones are principle,
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: a guiding principle. They won't thank you as they get older,
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: they won't even notice. All they don't know is they
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: feel loved and they feel listened to, and they will
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: grow up to be great Aussie kids. Isn't that just
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: a brilliant idea, A great idea for putting the kids
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: first and putting the phones down. Good idea to do that. Now,
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: thank you for your company tonight. We'll be back tomorrow
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: night at the same time. Now, Frey Leach and the
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: Late Debate