Latest / Steve Price / Steve Price | 30 October

Transcript

Steve Price | 30 October · Steve Price

0:01
Speaker 1: Live, this is Steve Price.
0:05
Speaker 2: Welcome to Friday nights on News 24. Steve Price with
0:08
Speaker 2: you at the end of a pivotal week in Canberra with,
0:10
Speaker 2: can you believe it, just one more sitting week for
0:13
Speaker 2: the year. Gee, they work hard, that mob. Here's what's
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Speaker 2: coming up on the program tonight. Mushroom killer Erin Patterson
0:20
Speaker 2: loses her appeal for a retrial and in the process
0:23
Speaker 2: had her original sentence extended to life without parole. The
0:28
Speaker 2: Australian newspaper's associate editor and the reporter who broke the
0:32
Speaker 2: original story, John Ferguson, in the studio with me first up.
0:36
Speaker 2: Canberra has lost its appetite, they say, for saving. What
0:39
Speaker 2: a joke. and seems incapable of stopping the spending, with
0:42
Speaker 2: calls for an urgent commission of audit to rein in
0:46
Speaker 2: government debt before the bill gets even bigger. We'll have
0:48
Speaker 2: more on that for you tonight. Plus, One Nation is
0:51
Speaker 2: proposing sweeping changes to gun ownership laws, including scrapping ownership
0:56
Speaker 2: caps and the National Gun Buyback Scheme. Former Queensland Premier
1:00
Speaker 2: Friday night regular Campbell Newman joins us to unpack the proposal.
1:04
Speaker 2: and its implications, plus European eyes and ears for us,
1:08
Speaker 2: Adrian Hayes, on that horrendous fast train accident in Spain,
1:12
Speaker 2: a service that many Australians, me included, have used, and
1:15
Speaker 2: the latest on the Israel election outcome. First, though, with
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Speaker 2: four weeks to go until Victorians go to the most
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Speaker 2: eagerly anticipated state election, probably since the shock loss by
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Speaker 2: Geoff Kennard in 1999, an increasingly desperate short-term Labor leader,
1:32
Speaker 2: Ben Carroll, continues to make a fool of himself while
1:35
Speaker 2: presumably thinking we are all idiots. I mean, how else
1:39
Speaker 2: can you explain his two latest campaign stunts, which if
1:43
Speaker 2: you saw them online, you would think they were an
1:45
Speaker 2: AI-generated hoax to make him actually look stupid. Trust me,
1:50
Speaker 2: it was not AI. Carroll is perfectly equipped to do
1:53
Speaker 2: that himself. He and his Labor team have so much
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Speaker 2: union-generated campaign funds that they have been able to hire
2:01
Speaker 2: a big red campaign bus. emblazoned with slogans and pictures
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Speaker 2: of the Premier to transport the Labor team and the
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Speaker 2: media around Metro Melbourne and to various at-risk seats. Now,
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Speaker 2: let's start with his cringeworthy stunt this week where he
2:15
Speaker 2: dropped into a McDonald's takeaway with his wife in tow,
2:19
Speaker 2: members of his campaigning staff and the media. Have a
2:23
Speaker 2: look at the Premier of the nation's soon-to-be most populated
2:27
Speaker 2: state thinking it was a cool dad-like thing to dip
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Speaker 2: Macca's fries... into a soft serve ice cream. Now, at
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Speaker 2: the same campaign stop, Carroll made a big deal out
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Speaker 2: of fronting up to the counter with a tray of
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Speaker 2: quarter pounder hamburgers and drinks to pay for the meals. Now,
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Speaker 2: as it turns out, Carroll, who last week was found
2:47
Speaker 2: to have filled his personal car with petrol and drove
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Speaker 2: off without paying, he later fixed up the bill, couldn't
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Speaker 2: find his credit card to fix up for the burgers
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Speaker 2: and had to borrow his wife's. I mean, the irony
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Speaker 2: of this pathetic stunt should be lost on no one,
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Speaker 2: Victorian or not. Here we have a Labor politician using
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Speaker 2: a borrowed credit card to pay a bill for giving
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Speaker 2: stuff to other people for free. Can you believe it?
3:13
Speaker 2: Ring any bells, Jim Chalmers? I mean, what a perfect
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Speaker 2: mini example of how out of touch with the real
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Speaker 2: world state and federal politicians are. I mean, in a
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Speaker 2: cost of living crisis, in a state with an interest
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Speaker 2: bill topping $ 900, 000 an hour, the bloke running the joint
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Speaker 2: mistakenly thinks you can fill your car with petrol and
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Speaker 2: drive off and pay for hamburgers with someone else's money.
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Speaker 2: I mean, what a perfect metaphor for what's gone wrong
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Speaker 2: with politics. and politicians in this country. The stunts got
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Speaker 2: even more cringeworthy, if you can believe it, the longer
3:45
Speaker 2: the week went on. I mean, the big red bus
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Speaker 2: then headed off to regional Ballarat on a road like
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Speaker 2: all roads in Victoria, littered with potholes of various sizes,
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Speaker 2: causing at least one death of a motorcyclist on the
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Speaker 2: other side of Ballarat. Can you imagine the anger of
4:02
Speaker 2: that family who lost their father and husband to a
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Speaker 2: pothole watching what happened next at this stunt? Carroll got
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Speaker 2: off the bus to put on a hard hat and
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Speaker 2: a fluoro vest with a shovel in hand, attempted to
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Speaker 2: convince voters he was fixing the state's catastrophic lack of
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Speaker 2: funding to fix crumbling roads. This joke of an election
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Speaker 2: promise dressed up as the Premier staging a stunt with
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Speaker 2: a shovel is not only an insult to that family,
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Speaker 2: it's an insult to everyone who has struck one of
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Speaker 2: these labour-induced road traps. He handled the shovel just as
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Speaker 2: you would expect an arts law graduate to handle it,
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Speaker 2: filling the hole with hot black bitumen. Can someone put
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Speaker 2: this bloke out of his misery, please? The way Carroll
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Speaker 2: filled that hole is exactly why every time it rains
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Speaker 2: in Victoria, these traffic hazards just reappear. I mean, what
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Speaker 2: about this nonsense from Carroll? Have a listen to this
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Speaker 2: rubbish about it being a bad day to be a pothole.
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Speaker 3: How does that feel, Premier?
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Speaker 4: Feels good filling them. Fixing them?
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Speaker 5: It's a bad day to be a pothole, OK?
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Speaker 1: Right across the state.
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Speaker 2: He actually said that. Bad day to be a pothole, seriously.
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Speaker 2: One squared-up media stunt in a hole and he wants
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Speaker 2: us to believe he has crews all over the place
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Speaker 2: fixing the roads. I can tell you he doesn't because
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Speaker 2: I could take him to a dozen or more within
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Speaker 2: a five-minute drive of my place and nothing is being
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Speaker 2: done to fix them up. These things have become a
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Speaker 2: beacon for anger, a living hell for drivers, and every
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Speaker 2: time you see one, you remind yourself that you live
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Speaker 2: in a broke state with a corrupt big builds, hijacked
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Speaker 2: by rogue unions and outlaw motorcycle gangs. I mean, four
5:48
Speaker 2: weeks to go. Thank God. Before I go to John Ferguson,
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Speaker 2: the reporter who first broke the mushroom killer story, a
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Speaker 2: message to potential Premier Jess Wilson. Agree to a debate.
6:02
Speaker 2: Agree to debate anyone who leads a legitimate political party
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Speaker 2: in the lead up to the state election in a month. Look,
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Speaker 2: I don't care if it's the Greens, the Libertarians or
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Speaker 2: even Animal Justice, all those independents, because this standoff with
6:18
Speaker 2: our News 24 and Herald Sun debate and others planned
6:22
Speaker 2: debates on other networks over the attendance of Warren Pickering
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Speaker 2: from One Nation, it's going to cost you dearly if
6:28
Speaker 2: you keep going with it. Here was the current Premier
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Speaker 2: pulling yet another student Net another stupid stunt yesterday, standing
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Speaker 2: before three lecterns using your refusal, Jess, I should say,
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Speaker 2: stubborn refusal as political capital.
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Speaker 5: We were all invited to a debate next week. I've RSVP'd,
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Speaker 5: as has Warren Pickering. The only person who hasn't RSVP'd
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Speaker 5: is Jess Wilson. So what does Jess Wilson have to hide?
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Speaker 4: People are saying that you're running scared, not willing to
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Speaker 4: debate Jess Wilson.
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Speaker 6: What do you say to that?
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Speaker 5: The only person who hasn't RSVP'd to a debate with
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Speaker 5: me is Jess Wilson. The only person who's running scared
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Speaker 5: in her own community and in the whole of the
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Speaker 5: state is Jess Wilson.
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Speaker 2: He doubled down and he did pull a stunt where
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Speaker 2: he was standing behind a Labor lectern with One Nation
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Speaker 2: One and a Coalition One on the other side. Now, look,
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Speaker 2: I know he sees a wedge here, Jess, but you
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Speaker 2: are allowing him to paint you as someone who is
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Speaker 2: afraid to be aligned with One Nation. Here was Jess
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Speaker 2: Wilson's reasoning as to why she won't turn up.
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Speaker 7: This isn't about any other party. This is about the
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Speaker 7: two people who can be Premier after this election. The
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Speaker 7: two people who have different plans for this state and
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Speaker 7: I think it's only right that we have a debate,
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Speaker 7: that tough questions are put, that we're asked to defend
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Speaker 7: our policies. I think it speaks to volumes about Ben
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Speaker 7: Carroll not prepared to do that with me.
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Speaker 6: As I said, Ben, I'm ready any day.
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Speaker 2: Jess, you and your advisers are playing a very dangerous
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Speaker 2: game here and I suspect some political adviser in the
8:01
Speaker 2: background is telling you this is a good idea. It
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Speaker 2: is not. I can't count the number of times this
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Speaker 2: week alone that I have been asked by Liberal voters,
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Speaker 2: do you think, Jess Wilson will do a deal with
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Speaker 2: One Nation to get rid of Labor. Everyone who stops
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Speaker 2: me in the street who is a Liberal supporter says
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Speaker 2: that to me. My answer to that question is always,
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Speaker 2: let's hope so. Let's say on the Sunday after the election,
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Speaker 2: for example, you need One Nation winning candidates to form
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Speaker 2: the numbers to actually go to the Governor with the
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Speaker 2: message that you can deliver supply. You are not going
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Speaker 2: to get the support of the Greens, we know that,
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Speaker 2: or the Marijuana Party. You might get some of the
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Speaker 2: Shooters Party. But if you need One Nation, just say
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Speaker 2: it now. Let Pickering, who was impressive on Melbourne Radio today,
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Speaker 2: I must say, let him have his moment in the
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Speaker 2: sun at the debate. Otherwise, we might see Carroll and
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Speaker 2: Pickering going at each other in an empty chair. I mean,
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Speaker 2: what a disaster that would be for you. The Premier
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Speaker 2: sees two scared lines. will resonate with some voters. So
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Speaker 2: just cauterise the issue. Show you can deliver against anybody.
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Speaker 2: To not do that leaves the impression with many voters,
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Speaker 2: I think, that you look down on One Nation and
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Speaker 2: you don't think they're worthy of turning up at the debate.
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Speaker 2: That's a dangerous impression for you to leave out there. Interestingly,
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Speaker 2: the opposition leader seems to have gone missing this afternoon.
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Speaker 2: A scheduled media appearance was cancelled. And even the Shadow Attorney-General,
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Speaker 2: James Newbury, counselled an interview with this program at very
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Speaker 2: late notice. Strange tactics a week out from polling day.
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Speaker 2: All right, let's go to that dramatic court appeal story
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Speaker 2: out of Melbourne today. Mushroom killer Erin Patterson's hopes of
9:52
Speaker 2: securing a retrial have not only been crushed with the
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Speaker 2: Court of Appeal not just rejecting her appeal, but today
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Speaker 2: increasing her sentence and describing her murders as cruel and calculated.
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Speaker 2: John Ferguson joins us in the studio. Good to see
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Speaker 2: you again. Yeah, good, Steve. She wouldn't be happy with
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Speaker 2: that result.
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Speaker 8: No, I'm told that she was seething and that I
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Speaker 8: think she still... I think she has convinced herself that
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Speaker 8: she's innocent... But clearly the courts don't think that. And
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Speaker 8: the Court of Appeal, as you say, crushing because she's
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Speaker 8: not getting out ever.
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Speaker 2: So it was a damning judge. What did the Court
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Speaker 2: of Appeal give as their reasons why she should not
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Speaker 2: be allowed to have a retrial? I mean, part of
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Speaker 2: her argument was that the whole process was... interfered with
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Speaker 2: because of arrangements where jurors were staying in hotels and
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Speaker 2: all of that stuff?
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Speaker 8: It was just comprehensively thrown out. The main sticking point
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Speaker 8: was that in the trial, which was in Morwell, but
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Speaker 8: the jury stayed in Turalgon and there was the police
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Speaker 8: informant and a couple of prosecution staff were there and
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Speaker 8: this was the claim that basically improperly sequestered jury. That
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Speaker 8: was just knocked out. The other six points were knocked
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Speaker 8: out as well. And there were two appeals. The prosecution,
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Speaker 8: they had their day in court because the Court of
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Speaker 8: Appeal decided that the 33-year non-parole sentence imposed by Justice
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Speaker 8: Beale in Morwell last year was not enough because of
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Speaker 8: the gravity of what she'd done, the lies.
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Speaker 9: And most of all, Steve, it's about intent.
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Speaker 8: The intent, three weeks, she planned, she got the mushrooms,
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Speaker 8: she wanted to kill those people and she went after
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Speaker 8: them for three weeks.
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Speaker 2: You broke this story, obviously. It was a tremendous scoop
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Speaker 2: for you. If she had just served out the original sentence,
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Speaker 2: she would have been 81 or 82 anyway. I mean,
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Speaker 2: whether she could have survived that long in custody, who knows?
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Speaker 2: But it was a long way off. But now she
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Speaker 2: becomes only the second woman, as I understand it, in
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Speaker 2: legal history in Australia to be jailed with no release
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Speaker 2: date at all. She's there for life. She's there till
12:18
Speaker 2: she dies. Correct.
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Speaker 8: I mean, she has one option, and that is to
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Speaker 8: try the High Court out. The feedback I'm getting is
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Speaker 8: that she's got very low odds, but I suspect she'll
12:28
Speaker 8: have a go. If she's got enough money left, she'll
12:31
Speaker 8: have already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. I suspect
12:34
Speaker 8: that she will try the high court route, but I
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Speaker 8: don't think, realistically, I don't think she's got much hope.
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Speaker 2: Have we heard anything at all in how life in
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Speaker 2: jail for her is?
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Speaker 8: Well, what we know is that she was in isolation
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Speaker 8: and she was next door to a high-profile terrorist, that
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Speaker 8: there were concerns about her not having enough access to
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Speaker 8: things like a priest or pastor. She's a Baptist, although
13:04
Speaker 8: she's tried other religions. You know, prison is prison. It's
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Speaker 8: not easy, Steve, and it's not meant to be. And
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Speaker 8: this was part of the reason, the isolation that she was...
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Speaker 8: She was under 22 hours a day. It was part
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Speaker 8: of the reason why she got, Justice Bill gave her
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Speaker 8: the lower sentence. But the Court of Appeal has just
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Speaker 8: thrown that out. I go back to intent. Nearly three
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Speaker 8: weeks she hunted down these three elderly people, effectively four,
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Speaker 8: and over that period, and the Court of Appeal just didn't,
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Speaker 8: weren't going to cop it. She's one of the gravest
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Speaker 8: murderers in Australian criminal history. You've got the New South
13:46
Speaker 8: Wales woman, a woman by the name of Catherine Knight.
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Speaker 9: I won't go into the details, horrible details, what she did.
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Speaker 2: Killed her husband.
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Speaker 8: She killed her husband 25 years ago, did terrible things.
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Speaker 8: But she's up there with people like the Russell Street bomber,
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Speaker 8: Craig Minogue, you remember?
14:00
Speaker 7: Yep.
14:00
Speaker 9: You were there for Russell Street, I remember.
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Speaker 8: Very disturbing. Constable Angela Taylor was blown up, basically. It's
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Speaker 8: the Julian Knight murdered seven people... Still in jail... in
14:12
Speaker 8: Holden Street, still in jail. You know, Peter Dupas, among
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Speaker 8: the worst of the worst.
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Speaker 2: Port Arthur killer. Yes.
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Speaker 9: Erin Patterson is amongst the worst of the worst.
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Speaker 2: So you broke the story and you've been on this
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Speaker 2: whole journey right through. I hate the word journey, but
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Speaker 2: you've been there from the beginning to now. Is she evil? Yes.
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Speaker 9: I have no doubt she is.
14:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, she has.
14:37
Speaker 9: Evil's an interesting word, but, yes, she.
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Speaker 8: Deliberately went out, she hunted these people down, elderly church-going
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Speaker 8: people from Corumbara and.
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Speaker 9: Gippsland, she hunted them down.
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Speaker 8: One of the most deliberate crimes ever being committed in Australia, and.
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Speaker 9: That's what the Court of Appeal has found.
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Speaker 2: I didn't sit through the trial. I read it, you know,
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Speaker 2: read all of your reporting and all the reporting of it.
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Speaker 2: What was... What motive did the prosecution... settle on during
15:05
Speaker 2: the court hearing. Why did she do this?
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Speaker 8: Well, they didn't opt for proving a motive. But, look,
15:17
Speaker 8: to me, let's talk about what I think because I
15:19
Speaker 8: listened to the whole thing and I know it inside out.
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Speaker 8: I think it was completely payback against her husband. I
15:27
Speaker 8: think she hated her husband that much that she went
15:30
Speaker 8: out and killed his mum and dad and his auntie
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Speaker 8: and tried to kill his uncle.
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Speaker 9: I think it was all about that.
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Speaker 2: Inflicting pain on those people. I mean, do you, and
15:39
Speaker 2: we may never be able to know the answer to this,
15:42
Speaker 2: do you think she just wanted to make them very
15:45
Speaker 2: sick and feel that she'd inflicted pain on these people? Or,
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Speaker 2: I mean, the court obviously thinks that she intended to
15:53
Speaker 2: kill them.
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Speaker 8: Well, that's one of the many questions, but I suppose
15:57
Speaker 8: if you go out and source death cap mushrooms, go
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Speaker 8: through this, you know, great process and then you end
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Speaker 8: up killing them, it's a bit like saying, you know,
16:07
Speaker 8: you shoot someone in the thigh just to send them
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Speaker 8: a warning but they bleed out. I mean, the reality
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Speaker 8: is she went after them and I'm pretty convinced in
16:16
Speaker 8: my mind she did it to get back at her
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Speaker 8: estranged husband.
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Speaker 9: I think she hated her husband that much. She would
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Speaker 9: do anything.
16:23
Speaker 8: To put him through pain and the personal agony that
16:28
Speaker 8: he's clearly been through for over three years.
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Speaker 2: The survivor, Simon, the ex-husband, intends to write a book.
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Speaker 2: Is that still on track? Will that still happen, John?
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Speaker 8: There's a book next year, Steve. I'm told it'll be
16:40
Speaker 8: next year. We don't know the publisher. We don't even
16:43
Speaker 8: know the contents. He, obviously, having lost... So many relatives
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Speaker 8: and he.
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Speaker 9: Was targeted, we believe, the police believe that he was targeted.
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Speaker 8: And she tried to kill him several times. I mean,
16:57
Speaker 8: he's gone through a lot of emotional angst. I mean,
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Speaker 8: he's got a, you know, let's just talk loose publicity terms,
17:04
Speaker 8: he's got an amazing story to tell.
17:06
Speaker 9: I hope that he doesn't wander down.
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Speaker 8: burrows of, you know, the media being bad people and
17:11
Speaker 8: all this.
17:11
Speaker 2: Sort of stuff. He's not keen on the media, is he?
17:13
Speaker 8: No, he hates the media and that's okay, but that's
17:16
Speaker 8: not the story. The story is who was this person
17:20
Speaker 8: that killed his parents and his auntie and why did
17:24
Speaker 8: she do it? Because we still don't know categorically why.
17:27
Speaker 8: I think it's to get back at him. What does
17:30
Speaker 8: he think? And what positives can he introduce, I suppose,
17:35
Speaker 8: to the criminal justice system? Because he feels that because
17:38
Speaker 8: the charges that related to him didn't continue were dropped,
17:44
Speaker 8: he feels let down.
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Speaker 9: I want to hear about all of that.
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Speaker 2: What was the first piece of information you got on this?
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Speaker 8: Well, just a phone call on a Saturday morning saying that,
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Speaker 8: you know, you need to have a look at this.
17:59
Speaker 8: These four people are probably going to die. It was
18:01
Speaker 8: then four Ian Wilkinson survived. They're probably going to die.
18:05
Speaker 8: It was a dinner party, I was told. There's something
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Speaker 8: really wrong with it. And so.
18:12
Speaker 2: Being the good reporter you are, you said, OK, I'd
18:15
Speaker 2: better chase this, but did you ever think you were
18:16
Speaker 2: going to end up breaking a story about a woman
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Speaker 2: who's tried to killed three of and tried to kill
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Speaker 2: a fourth member related to her by making a dish
18:26
Speaker 2: out of mushrooms?
18:28
Speaker 3: Well, how could you?
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Speaker 9: It was one of those things. I was told it
18:31
Speaker 9: was large-scale food poisoning.
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Speaker 8: And I suppose, interestingly, when I contacted Victoria Police, almost
18:39
Speaker 8: instantly I got a very detailed statement. And as soon
18:42
Speaker 8: as I got that back, I thought, that's really unusual.
18:44
Speaker 8: There's something much more to this. And, of course, three
18:47
Speaker 8: years later it's It's had global attention.
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Speaker 2: Well, you did a great job on it, John. Thanks
18:53
Speaker 2: for coming in and talking to us.
18:54
Speaker 9: Thank you, Steve.
18:55
Speaker 2: Amazing story there. All right, after the break, fresh calls
18:57
Speaker 2: for the federal government to rein in their spending, doubts
19:00
Speaker 2: over whether the Prime Minister and the Treasurer can actually
19:04
Speaker 2: do that and quit spending on the National Credit Card.
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Speaker 2: We'll have that up next.
19:11
Speaker 3: Welcome back.
19:11
Speaker 2: Great to have you with us. Now, One Nation, or
19:13
Speaker 2: at least the New South Wales branch, They were out
19:16
Speaker 2: talking bold moves on gun ownership today. But now to
19:21
Speaker 2: the front page story of the Australian newspaper and calls
19:24
Speaker 2: for an urgent new commission of order to rein in
19:27
Speaker 2: what we all know now is excessive government spending, with
19:30
Speaker 2: the former commissioners warning that Canberra has lost its commitment
19:35
Speaker 2: to saving rather than spending. I mean, it's a disease.
19:39
Speaker 2: They just can't help themselves. And I've got to say,
19:41
Speaker 2: as a few of the state governments are about the same,
19:43
Speaker 2: particularly the one I'm sitting in in Victoria. Joining me
19:47
Speaker 2: is the Chief Economist for Optimal Economics. Stephen Walters. Stephen,
19:52
Speaker 2: nice to see you. I mean, whenever we hear economic
19:57
Speaker 2: news now, it seems to be very bad. And I
20:00
Speaker 2: think a lot of people in this country are starting
20:03
Speaker 2: to feel really under financial stress and pressure. How bad
20:09
Speaker 2: is it?
20:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, we've had a bit of a run, haven't we?
20:13
Speaker 10: Just in recent weeks, we had the unemployment rate going
20:15
Speaker 10: up to a five-year high. This week, we had inflation
20:20
Speaker 10: accelerating again. And next week, I think on Cup Day,
20:24
Speaker 10: just before the big race, I think you're likely to
20:26
Speaker 10: get the fifth interest rate hike for the year. And
20:29
Speaker 10: that'll take interest rates to an 18-year high. So all
20:33
Speaker 10: the while, as you know, we've got the housing market
20:36
Speaker 10: in parts of the country in virtual freefall.
20:38
Speaker 4: So.
20:39
Speaker 10: That's a really unusual combination that the Reserve Bank's raising
20:43
Speaker 10: rates as growth in the economy is barely 2%, unemployment's
20:48
Speaker 10: going up and house prices are tanking. That's not a
20:50
Speaker 10: great combination.
20:53
Speaker 2: If you're sitting there as the PM or the Federal
20:55
Speaker 2: Treasurer and you've got the commissioners of the last national
20:58
Speaker 2: audit are calling for another one, I mean, and the
21:01
Speaker 2: Reserve Bank, of course, has made it pretty obvious in
21:04
Speaker 2: many of their their meetings and the minutes of their
21:07
Speaker 2: board meetings, that they are concerned about the level of
21:10
Speaker 2: spending that the federal government in particular is doing and
21:15
Speaker 2: the state government, especially Victoria. When are they going to
21:18
Speaker 2: listen and actually come out and say, righto, we realise
21:21
Speaker 2: this is a problem, we're going to stop. We're going
21:24
Speaker 2: to stop spending and we're going to stop and have
21:26
Speaker 2: a look at this stuff.
21:28
Speaker 10: Well, it doesn't sound like they will, Steve, from the
21:30
Speaker 10: comments this week. And by the way, it's not just
21:33
Speaker 10: the Reserve Bank who's been saying this in the various
21:36
Speaker 10: ways Michelle Bullock talks in code, frankly. She hasn't called
21:39
Speaker 10: out explicitly government spending. She said aggregate demand is too strong.
21:44
Speaker 10: But a big driver of that, we all know, is
21:46
Speaker 10: public spending. But we've had the IMF make it pretty
21:49
Speaker 10: explicit from as far away as Washington that spending here
21:53
Speaker 10: is too strong. We've had the OECD in Paris say
21:55
Speaker 10: the same thing. And we've had many, many economists like
21:59
Speaker 10: me say government spending is way too strong. It's the
22:02
Speaker 10: highest level of GDP since Paul Keating was treasurer. It's
22:07
Speaker 10: growing faster than the economy. And it's really adding to
22:10
Speaker 10: the inflation pressures out there alongside other things like, sure,
22:14
Speaker 10: petrol prices are up because of the war in Iran.
22:16
Speaker 10: That's absolutely true. But essentially, our productivity is so bad
22:21
Speaker 10: that we can't grow the economy fast enough. So whenever
22:23
Speaker 10: there's a spurt of demand, all it means is prices
22:26
Speaker 10: go up. So a big part of that is government spending.
22:30
Speaker 10: But look, I'd be very surprised if a government midway
22:33
Speaker 10: through its second term suddenly blew the whistle and said, hey,
22:36
Speaker 10: you know what, we need some help here. It's usually
22:39
Speaker 10: something that it's done on a new government, albeit the
22:41
Speaker 10: Victorian government did it last year. You may remember the
22:44
Speaker 10: Silver Report in Victoria did a big review of the
22:47
Speaker 10: spending in Victoria and those results are out in the
22:50
Speaker 10: public domain. So it can be done, but it's a
22:53
Speaker 10: big call to get this government to do that.
22:55
Speaker 2: Didn't stop them spending, though. I mean, that's the problem.
22:58
Speaker 2: I mean, politicians like to convince themselves that the voters
23:04
Speaker 2: actually don't much care about the level of debt that
23:08
Speaker 2: governments get themselves into. I mean, in Victoria, we've got
23:11
Speaker 2: this awful statistic where the hourly interest rate payment on
23:15
Speaker 2: the debt, on the gross debt, is somewhere over $ 900, 000
23:19
Speaker 2: an hour. And, you know, the public go, well, that's
23:23
Speaker 2: a big figure, but It's their debt. It's not my debt.
23:26
Speaker 2: But when you then start to get on the ground
23:30
Speaker 2: impacts of that stuff, whether it be in health, whether
23:32
Speaker 2: it be in the, you know, road constructions, potholes, whether
23:36
Speaker 2: it's all of those things that are services government should
23:39
Speaker 2: be providing, suddenly the public go, oh, hang on a minute.
23:43
Speaker 2: They have spent too much money. I'm tightening my belt.
23:45
Speaker 2: Why can't they?
23:47
Speaker 10: Yeah, you do get to a point, Steve, where, like
23:50
Speaker 10: you said, it's $ 20- odd million every single day in Victoria
23:55
Speaker 10: that's being paid out in interest, not paying down the debt.
23:58
Speaker 10: That's just paying the interest to service the debt. Think
24:01
Speaker 10: about what you could do with $ 20 million each and
24:04
Speaker 10: every day. You'd fill in a few potholes to start with,
24:08
Speaker 10: but also how many schools you could build, how many
24:11
Speaker 10: additional hospitals, how much more services you could provide to
24:15
Speaker 10: Victorian taxpayers. And at the federal level, of course, it's
24:18
Speaker 10: much bigger because we're looking at a trillion dollars of
24:21
Speaker 10: debt now at the federal level. And if you looked
24:24
Speaker 10: at the intergenerational report that the Treasurer released about a
24:27
Speaker 10: month ago, that predicted no return to budget surplus in
24:31
Speaker 10: Australia for the next 40 years. I found that quite
24:35
Speaker 10: gobsmacking that at the federal level, We have the government
24:39
Speaker 10: predicting that they'll be running deficits for the next four
24:42
Speaker 10: decades and therefore debt has to become higher, not lower. So, yeah,
24:46
Speaker 10: I think people do really focus on the interest bill eventually.
24:49
Speaker 10: But I think the bigger challenge for any government is
24:54
Speaker 10: once you give people money funded by the taxpayer, it's very,
24:58
Speaker 10: very difficult to take it off them. And I think
25:00
Speaker 10: that's what the government's now finding with the NDIS, for example.
25:04
Speaker 10: is that people have had this support, and much of
25:06
Speaker 10: it's valid, I'm sure, but there is a lot of
25:09
Speaker 10: waste in the NDIS. There's a lot of rorting that
25:11
Speaker 10: we know about. But even then, the government's finding it
25:14
Speaker 10: extraordinarily difficult to wind back growth in the NDIS, which
25:19
Speaker 10: already is bigger than Medicare.
25:22
Speaker 2: And I'll tell you, just finally, I'll tell you where
25:24
Speaker 2: the next one of that NDIS-type financial drain is going
25:28
Speaker 2: to be, and I've been dealing with it with my
25:30
Speaker 2: own mother last week. where they've come up with this
25:33
Speaker 2: idea of older Australians staying at home and then delivering
25:36
Speaker 2: these packages to providers who then provide cleaning and transport
25:42
Speaker 2: and medical care at home, that is also going to
25:44
Speaker 2: end up being like an NDIS scheme.
25:47
Speaker 10: Steve, I've got the same issue with my mum as well.
25:50
Speaker 10: So a lot of us are going through that. There's
25:52
Speaker 10: also childcare. The government's throwing gazillions of dollars at childcare.
25:56
Speaker 10: Right across the economy, the government is providing a lot of,
26:00
Speaker 10: what we used to call middle-class welfare. None of this
26:03
Speaker 10: is means tested. There's ways you can do this that
26:05
Speaker 10: aren't really related to a commission of audit. And a
26:08
Speaker 10: commission of audit to me sort of sounds like, oh,
26:11
Speaker 10: we've blown the whistle. We know we've made a mistake.
26:13
Speaker 10: We better actually bring in some independents to help us here.
26:15
Speaker 10: That's why I don't think it will happen. But there's
26:18
Speaker 10: certainly other things you can do. You can cut out
26:20
Speaker 10: the waste. You can bring in means tests. And it
26:22
Speaker 10: can stop bailing out smelters and other parts of the
26:25
Speaker 10: country that are going out of business because our energy
26:28
Speaker 10: costs are so high.
26:28
Speaker 2: You can stop doing that as well. Stephen Walters from Optimal,
26:32
Speaker 2: good to see you, mate. Thank you very much for
26:34
Speaker 2: your help today. Thanks a lot. OK, I want to
26:35
Speaker 2: go now to the announcement from One Nation. This sort
26:37
Speaker 2: of came out of the blue in New South Wales today.
26:39
Speaker 2: I hadn't been following the gun issue in that state
26:42
Speaker 2: very closely. The One Nation want to scrap the ownership
26:46
Speaker 2: caps on the number of firearms that you can have. Now,
26:49
Speaker 2: this debate came up, of course, after the Bondi massacre,
26:53
Speaker 2: and they want to scrap the gun buyback scheme. They
26:56
Speaker 2: also want to look at the way that gun licences
27:00
Speaker 2: are used actually managed. Joining me Friday night, regular former
27:03
Speaker 2: Queensland Premier Campbell Newman. I'm not sure the One Nation
27:08
Speaker 2: candidates who are standing in the Victorian election would be
27:12
Speaker 2: all that enamoured with One Nation New South Wales today
27:16
Speaker 2: coming out and saying we don't want to limit the
27:19
Speaker 2: number of guns people have.
27:23
Speaker 3: Well, Steve, look, frankly, I'm going to surprise you.
27:27
Speaker 11: I think the real issue around gun laws is that
27:31
Speaker 11: you ensure that only people who are fit and proper
27:34
Speaker 11: and of sound mind and have valid sort of reasons
27:39
Speaker 11: for owning a gun get guns. As to limits on
27:43
Speaker 11: the level of ownership, I suppose, as a matter of principle,
27:46
Speaker 11: I don't know that that really impacts too much.
27:50
Speaker 3: I mean.
27:50
Speaker 11: The bottom line, Steve, is that, in my view, that
27:54
Speaker 11: generally criminals have guns and criminals don't care about the law.
27:58
Speaker 3: And criminals have unlicensed firearms.
28:01
Speaker 11: And we had a terrible tragedy here in the last
28:03
Speaker 11: week where there was a drive-by shooting and a young
28:06
Speaker 11: woman is paid with her life, an innocent bystander, and
28:10
Speaker 11: that was a crime.
28:11
Speaker 4: And.
28:12
Speaker 11: I'm sure the people who had that gun, you know,
28:17
Speaker 11: I'd be pretty sure anyway that they didn't have a licence.
28:20
Speaker 3: Correct.
28:21
Speaker 11: So, you know, I think this is the trouble with
28:24
Speaker 11: regulation in Australia.
28:26
Speaker 3: You could look at.
28:26
Speaker 11: You know, we've got regulators all around the place calling
28:30
Speaker 11: for regulations that... have law-abiding people saddling a great big
28:35
Speaker 11: burden of regulation, but the Krims, the Crooks, the Shonks,
28:40
Speaker 11: the Shysters, they just go and do what they damn
28:42
Speaker 11: well like. And I think we need to sort of
28:44
Speaker 11: have a bit of a reality check. So I might
28:46
Speaker 11: surprise you with that, but I don't have huge objections
28:50
Speaker 11: to what One Nation are saying.
28:52
Speaker 2: You don't surprise me. I mean, don't get me started
28:55
Speaker 2: on regulation and tobacco shops. Here's... I think it's Mike Newman,
28:59
Speaker 2: the New South Wales One Nation leader... Here's what he
29:02
Speaker 2: said in making this announcement today. We want to scrap
29:05
Speaker 2: the cap. We want to end this buyback.
29:14
Speaker 12: And instead of legal firearms owners being the first punished
29:18
Speaker 12: and last considered, we're going to go after the criminals
29:20
Speaker 12: where the problem lies and we're not going to waste
29:22
Speaker 12: billions of dollars on buying back guns which will solve
29:25
Speaker 12: absolutely nothing.
29:28
Speaker 2: I don't know if I've missed it, but, I mean,
29:29
Speaker 2: the gun issue doesn't seem to be an issue yet,
29:32
Speaker 2: at least in the Victorian election.
29:36
Speaker 3: Well, I haven't heard that it is, mate. But I
29:38
Speaker 3: will also add one other thing.
29:40
Speaker 2: Too.
29:41
Speaker 3: And again, I'm often critical about regulators.
29:44
Speaker 11: And frankly, Bondi, in my view, is a clear case
29:49
Speaker 11: of the regulators being the police and perhaps intelligence agencies
29:55
Speaker 11: letting us down And the calls for a gun buyback
29:58
Speaker 11: scheme and limits on firearms was a classic bureaucratic smoke
30:04
Speaker 11: and mirrors distraction. It was, look over here, look over here.
30:08
Speaker 11: There's the problem. We'll do that when their own, bluntly,
30:12
Speaker 11: sort of omissions, sins are the things that should have
30:16
Speaker 11: been scrutinised.
30:19
Speaker 4: Yeah, you're quite right.
30:20
Speaker 2: I mean, what you're pointing out, of course, is that
30:22
Speaker 2: one of the Bondi, one of the alleged Bondi shooters...
30:26
Speaker 2: had been tagged by ASIO, but his father, his dead father,
30:31
Speaker 2: was able to have gun licences, which means the system
30:35
Speaker 2: didn't work.
30:38
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
30:39
Speaker 3: Anyway, I think, you know, we've got tough gun laws now.
30:43
Speaker 11: I think they need to be administered properly.
30:46
Speaker 3: Fairly, but strictly. And I think that's the best way
30:50
Speaker 3: to keep the community safe.
30:53
Speaker 2: You had to, as Premier, you know, hold the purse
30:56
Speaker 2: strings of the Queensland budget. You had a treasurer and
31:00
Speaker 2: you had to try and make things add up. We
31:02
Speaker 2: just were talking there with the economist about what appears
31:06
Speaker 2: to be a lack of financial, you know, in Canberra,
31:14
Speaker 2: financial not spending money when they don't have it. Would
31:20
Speaker 2: an audit help? Financial discipline was what I was trying
31:23
Speaker 2: to look for. Oh, I absolutely would.
31:26
Speaker 11: But, I mean, in the current context, let's be clear,
31:28
Speaker 11: it's a bit of a political tactic from people, quite rightfully,
31:32
Speaker 11: who are trying to put pressure on the government, exposing
31:36
Speaker 11: them again as not having financial acumen and spending without
31:40
Speaker 11: any regard to the problems they're creating.
31:43
Speaker 3: So it is a tactic.
31:44
Speaker 11: And, of course, you know, Jim Chalmers and Anthony Albanese,
31:47
Speaker 11: they will have nothing of any way.
31:51
Speaker 3: Shape or form, a bar of this. They won't be there.
31:54
Speaker 11: But it exposes the fact that they're really not doing
31:58
Speaker 11: the right thing and they're not prepared to actually look
32:01
Speaker 11: for savings. There are massive savings to be made in
32:04
Speaker 11: the federal bureaucracy. There are all sorts of agencies and
32:08
Speaker 11: quongos that, you know, I'd be quite happy to see
32:11
Speaker 11: shut down and so would probably half the country. You know,
32:16
Speaker 11: we'd probably see the unemployment figure spike, by the way,
32:18
Speaker 11: I'm afraid. But, look, you know, the savings are there
32:21
Speaker 11: to be had and we can take the pressure off
32:25
Speaker 11: the upward trajectory of inflation. And you also made the
32:27
Speaker 11: point before earlier, Steve, that state governments aren't helping here
32:31
Speaker 11: at the moment. And here in Queensland, I'm just going
32:34
Speaker 11: to say it again, we're going to see state debt
32:37
Speaker 11: per capita.
32:40
Speaker 11: Double in the next four to five financial years. State
32:43
Speaker 11: debt per capita doubling in Queensland, and we have an
32:46
Speaker 11: LNP government.
32:47
Speaker 3: Go figure.
32:49
Speaker 2: Well, imagine if you were Jess Wilson, Campbell Newman suddenly,
32:53
Speaker 2: you know, your front runner to win the next election
32:56
Speaker 2: in four weeks time. And you keep hearing that, I mean,
33:00
Speaker 2: they want to crack open the books and have a
33:02
Speaker 2: look at the real picture. But we know that the
33:05
Speaker 2: paying off the interest, not any of the principal, is
33:08
Speaker 2: costing $ 900, 000 an hour every day of every week of
33:14
Speaker 2: every month. How the hell does someone like Jess Wilson
33:18
Speaker 2: fix that problem, given she's got very little state assets
33:21
Speaker 2: to be able to sell?
33:24
Speaker 11: Well, this was the problem I was confronted with in
33:26
Speaker 11: 2012 when I became Premier, and we did have a
33:29
Speaker 11: commission of audit, and we got in none other than
33:32
Speaker 11: Peter Costello, former Liberal Party, you know.
33:38
Speaker 11: Sort of leader and Treasurer of Australia. And he handed
33:43
Speaker 11: down a report, I'm afraid, which called for very tough medicine,
33:46
Speaker 11: called for asset sales. And, you know, I suppose we
33:50
Speaker 11: tried to implement that and arguably went a bit too
33:54
Speaker 11: hard and too far and we paid the political price.
33:57
Speaker 11: So that's the challenge for the Victorian Liberal leader, Jess Wilson.
34:04
Speaker 11: But I'd say to her... Don't be discouraged from my experience.
34:08
Speaker 11: You're going to have to do this. You're going to
34:10
Speaker 11: have to take tough decisions. Just be careful and measured
34:14
Speaker 11: about it and proceed perhaps more slowly than we did.
34:18
Speaker 3: But it has to be done.
34:20
Speaker 11: We do need political leaders to show leadership, not just
34:23
Speaker 11: the quest for power, getting into the position like a
34:26
Speaker 11: dog that traced the ute and then don't know what
34:28
Speaker 11: to do when they got there.
34:30
Speaker 3: So I hope that she wins.
34:32
Speaker 11: And I hope that some great libertarian candidates, by the way,
34:36
Speaker 11: get up in the Victorian parliament as well. And, you know,
34:41
Speaker 11: but that would, I think, stiffen the resolve of a
34:43
Speaker 11: Liberal National Party government to do the right thing by Victorians.
34:48
Speaker 2: Good to catch up with you, Campbell. Thank you for that.
34:50
Speaker 2: I mean, I think the problem is for Jess Wilson,
34:52
Speaker 2: the cupboard's pretty bare. After the break, we'll take you
34:54
Speaker 2: to Dubai for the latest international news, including that train
34:58
Speaker 2: tragedy in Spain. That's up next. Welcome back. Rowan Dean
35:05
Speaker 2: coming up, top of the hour. Also, our panel coming up.
35:08
Speaker 2: Apologies in advance. I'm going to have to show you
35:10
Speaker 2: again the Victorian Premier, Ben Carroll, dipping a McDonald's french
35:15
Speaker 2: fry into a soft squash. A soft ice cream. I
35:19
Speaker 2: can barely speak about it. It's that disgusting. Now, to
35:23
Speaker 2: the UK, can you believe it that Andy Burnham, the
35:25
Speaker 2: UK PM, has been in the top job for 100
35:29
Speaker 2: days already? Well, that would beg the question, wouldn't it?
35:32
Speaker 2: What does the public make of Burnham's performance so far?
35:36
Speaker 2: Let's bring in News 24 contributor, our old mate Adrian Hayes,
35:39
Speaker 2: who's tonight back in Dubai. Adrian, 100 days done. What's
35:44
Speaker 2: his greatest achievement so far in 100 days?
35:49
Speaker 13: Well, the budget that took place two days ago, Steve,
35:53
Speaker 13: the biggest headline act was four pence off.
35:55
Speaker 1: A jar of gherkins. which also sums up what he's done.
36:00
Speaker 13: You know, I mean, we are in a right pickle,
36:02
Speaker 13: excuse the pun, but, you know, look, to be fair,
36:05
Speaker 13: some people, a lot of people, depending who you speak to,
36:07
Speaker 13: say he's done a great job. He's very personable. He's
36:09
Speaker 13: got good communication skills. But others would say, well, he
36:14
Speaker 13: hasn't actually done anything yet. He promised radical change, did
36:17
Speaker 13: nothing on the unsustainable debt, the bludgeoning welfare bill, illegal immigration,
36:22
Speaker 13: and above all, installing growth. There's been nothing on this
36:26
Speaker 13: to date so far.
36:29
Speaker 2: So, I mean, he replaced Keir Starmer, who obviously was
36:32
Speaker 2: not up to the job, and everybody thought this, you know,
36:35
Speaker 2: bright young bloke, relatively, from the north of England was
36:39
Speaker 2: going to bring all of that pizzazz that he had
36:42
Speaker 2: where he was running that city. It doesn't seem to
36:47
Speaker 2: have manifested itself, does it?
36:50
Speaker 1: It doesn't. And look, it's simple. Classroom economics, you get growth,
36:56
Speaker 1: which is what they all say they want.
36:58
Speaker 13: Growth you get by low tax, by low regulation, high
37:01
Speaker 13: stimulus innovation, and really empowering.
37:06
Speaker 1: Businesses to expand.
37:08
Speaker 13: But of course, the Labour Party can't do this because
37:10
Speaker 13: they're so committed to so many ideologies and projects and
37:15
Speaker 13: such like.
37:15
Speaker 1: So I can't see where it's going to come from.
37:18
Speaker 13: All Burnham is going to promise is more state, more spending,
37:22
Speaker 13: more taxes to pay for the spending, more regulation.
37:25
Speaker 1: And so on, so on. So time will tell.
37:27
Speaker 4: I think.
37:28
Speaker 13: But the jury seems to be that he's playing for
37:30
Speaker 13: time to get an early election so he can get
37:33
Speaker 13: a mandate and then sort of put all the doubters
37:35
Speaker 13: to bed for five more years.
37:37
Speaker 1: But we'll wait and see what happens on that one.
37:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, presumably he goes on this, you know, global
37:44
Speaker 2: trip like Anthony Albanese is about to do G20s and
37:48
Speaker 2: meetings with Donald Trump in the United States and they
37:50
Speaker 2: all get together and talk a lot. He doesn't appear
37:54
Speaker 2: from this distance to be particularly engaged in foreign affairs.
38:00
Speaker 4: Well, no.
38:00
Speaker 13: Well, actually, British prime ministers traditionally do like to appear
38:05
Speaker 13: on the world stage. It makes the statesmanship unpowerful. But
38:12
Speaker 13: he doesn't seem to have a grasp of the foreign
38:14
Speaker 13: affairs industry. Sorry, I think we lost you.
38:17
Speaker 1: We're back again. Foreign affairs or domestic affairs, Steve? So
38:20
Speaker 1: we do.
38:21
Speaker 6: We do.
38:21
Speaker 1: Sorry, I think you've lost me there.
38:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, we've still got you. It's a bit of
38:29
Speaker 2: a dodgy signal out of Dubai. But let's talk about
38:32
Speaker 2: the Middle East. That's where you are. Benjamin Netanyahu, I mean,
38:35
Speaker 2: it appears that he's not going to get the numbers
38:38
Speaker 2: that he wants. There's going to have to be some
38:40
Speaker 2: sort of compromise to get a prime minister back into
38:45
Speaker 2: power of one sort or another. Do you think they
38:47
Speaker 2: will do one of these parties? Well, not Netanyahu, but
38:50
Speaker 2: his opponent, a deal with the Arab parties to form government?
38:58
Speaker 13: In Dubai, there's a bit of despair with what's going on,
39:01
Speaker 13: a feeling of AOB, not any other business, but anyone
39:06
Speaker 13: but Bibi. Look, Gadi Eisenkot, the opposition leader, is no
39:09
Speaker 13: sort of wet, tree-hugging liberal. I mean, he's a former
39:13
Speaker 13: head of the IDF. But he does have what is
39:16
Speaker 13: called a strategy to ending this war and, you know,
39:18
Speaker 13: this conflict in the Middle East. And this is where Netanyahu,
39:21
Speaker 13: you know, I asked my Jewish friends, Is Israel any
39:24
Speaker 13: safer after 20 years of Bibi being in power?
39:27
Speaker 1: And I'd argue not.
39:28
Speaker 13: He may win all the battles, but like America found
39:30
Speaker 13: in Vietnam, he will probably lose the war.
39:33
Speaker 1: And say, I think Israel's never been less safe.
39:37
Speaker 2: Just finally, mate, I mean, when I woke up to
39:39
Speaker 2: that fast train disaster in Spain, one running into the
39:42
Speaker 2: back of the other, it was a signal problem, we think.
39:45
Speaker 2: 68 or so people tragically died. A lot of Australians,
39:48
Speaker 2: a lot of POMs use those fast trains. It's put
39:52
Speaker 2: me off. I think I might be hiring a car
39:54
Speaker 2: next time I'm in Europe.
39:57
Speaker 13: Yeah, Spain's got the second largest high-speed rail network after China.
40:01
Speaker 13: Automatic signaling failure, but it's a human error, as so
40:05
Speaker 13: many air crashes, train crashes, so many things are. Human
40:07
Speaker 13: error overrided the signaling failure and ordered the high-speed train
40:12
Speaker 13: to carry on.
40:13
Speaker 1: Absolute catastrophe. Look, we're used to it in this part
40:15
Speaker 1: of the world, in.
40:15
Speaker 13: India and Bangladesh and Pakistan, but in Europe, two massive
40:19
Speaker 13: train crashes in one year is a rather big blow
40:23
Speaker 13: to the Spain trail network.
40:26
Speaker 2: Absolute tragedy. Good on you, Adrian. I'll catch up with
40:28
Speaker 2: you shortly. Now, coming up next, campaign aiming not to
40:31
Speaker 2: just get Australia back on its feet, but to stop
40:33
Speaker 2: relying on the rest of the world to get by
40:37
Speaker 2: on oil. We'll get into it with our panel next.
40:39
Speaker 2: We'll be back Friday night, panel time. Let's get stuck in.
40:46
Speaker 2: with News24 contributor Joe Hildebrand and co-founder of PR agency
40:51
Speaker 2: Palm Public, Jen Fleming. Welcome to you both. Great to
40:54
Speaker 2: see you. Just before we get to Jen, Joe, you've
40:57
Speaker 2: been the face of, can you believe they've used you
41:00
Speaker 2: as a face of anything, but you have been the
41:02
Speaker 2: face of.
41:02
Speaker 4: Mostly radio, mostly radio.
41:05
Speaker 2: News Corp Australia campaign this week aimed at recognising the
41:09
Speaker 2: strengths of our nation. It's called Back Australia. What can
41:13
Speaker 2: you tell us about it?
41:15
Speaker 4: Mate, it's been just an incredible success. We first launched
41:19
Speaker 4: this campaign 12 months ago. I think it's been the
41:21
Speaker 4: most successful campaign we've done in partnership with the Australian government,
41:25
Speaker 4: all sorts of great Australian businesses and industries. And it's
41:29
Speaker 4: basically getting Australia back to self-sufficiency, back to economic sovereignty,
41:35
Speaker 4: back to being able to make all the things that
41:37
Speaker 4: we need here, right here, so that we don't get
41:40
Speaker 4: caught short of like we did in COVID with not
41:42
Speaker 4: having enough medical equipment, like we did with the war
41:45
Speaker 4: in Iran just this year, not having enough fuel to
41:49
Speaker 4: get the food that our farmers produce onto the plates
41:52
Speaker 4: where we eat it. So it's basically just encouraging people
41:55
Speaker 4: to buy Australian wherever they can. and also encourage investment
42:01
Speaker 4: in the Australian manufacturing sector. And we've got the federal
42:05
Speaker 4: and state governments to invest more than $ 5 billion since
42:08
Speaker 4: we launched last year. And that was the milestone on
42:12
Speaker 4: which we relaunched the campaign just this month. And we've
42:16
Speaker 4: also got calls from industry for further steps to reduce
42:22
Speaker 4: red tape, to lower tax impediments to investment and most importantly,
42:28
Speaker 4: get energy prices down.
42:31
Speaker 2: Jen, I know one place we could start. I saw
42:34
Speaker 2: a banana farmer on News 24 today. He was having
42:37
Speaker 2: to defend the banana industry because someone in government somewhere
42:41
Speaker 2: wants to import bananas. Can you believe it? From the Philippines.
42:46
Speaker 4: No, it's crazy.
42:47
Speaker 6: And we have so many incredible resources here in Australia.
42:50
Speaker 6: We should be making it easier for Australians to succeed
42:53
Speaker 6: and to be able to grow businesses and for Australians
42:56
Speaker 6: to buy Australian. It's more than putting a green and
42:58
Speaker 6: gold sticker on as a label. It's a mindset and
43:02
Speaker 6: we need to get back to it.
43:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, more power to the scheme itself. Good on you, Joe.
43:07
Speaker 2: Well done. Now, I know you two are in New
43:09
Speaker 2: South Wales and Queensland, but Look, I can't go past
43:13
Speaker 2: this footage of Ben Carroll, the Victorian Premier, yesterday launching
43:18
Speaker 2: into a Macca's ice cream with hot chips. Now, here
43:22
Speaker 2: he is wandering into a McCafe. Why he wouldn't go
43:25
Speaker 2: to a local bakery and support a local businessman in
43:29
Speaker 2: small business instead of going to a major international fast
43:32
Speaker 2: food outlet is completely beyond me. But dipping chips, Jen,
43:38
Speaker 2: into soft serve ice cream? Really?
43:43
Speaker 6: Do you know, Pricey, my favourite show is Sex and
43:45
Speaker 6: the City. I'm pretty sure it's yours too. And there's
43:47
Speaker 6: an episode on there where they talk about something called
43:51
Speaker 6: secret single behaviour, the stuff you do that you don't
43:54
Speaker 6: want anyone to know about. Dunking a French fry into
43:57
Speaker 6: a 50-cent cone is 100% behaviour that no one needs
44:00
Speaker 6: to know about. It doesn't make you relatable, it just
44:02
Speaker 6: makes you weird.
44:04
Speaker 2: Joe, I mean, to the point we started this discussion with,
44:07
Speaker 2: I mean, my point, if you're going to take the
44:09
Speaker 2: media into a local business in your local seat, and
44:13
Speaker 2: you and I have covered enough election campaigns, go to
44:16
Speaker 2: the local bakery, which employs about five or ten people
44:20
Speaker 2: making doughnuts and bread. And I went to a wonderful
44:23
Speaker 2: place in Adelaide at Jetty Road Brighton the other day.
44:27
Speaker 2: Why go to Macca's, for God's sake?
44:29
Speaker 4: Well, look, it is his local Macca's in Nidri in
44:32
Speaker 4: North West Melbourne. And so it's good. It's a good
44:35
Speaker 4: working class area. Good. I think it's to show that
44:38
Speaker 4: unlike the sort of, you know, la la left of
44:41
Speaker 4: the Labour Party in Victoria, he's more of a working
44:45
Speaker 4: class guy. He's salt of the earth. He's a man
44:48
Speaker 4: of the people. As for the dipping the French fry
44:52
Speaker 4: in the soft serve ice cream, it is a thing.
44:55
Speaker 4: I can tell you it is a thing. It's not
44:57
Speaker 4: a thing. It's like pineapple on pizza, though. It's the
44:59
Speaker 4: sort of thing that some people think is normal and
45:03
Speaker 4: the rest of the population think is just a crime
45:07
Speaker 4: against God. That's right.
45:09
Speaker 2: It is disgusting.
45:10
Speaker 4: And so this is why I say to politicians, just
45:12
Speaker 4: never eat. Never, never. Just don't eat anything ever.
45:17
Speaker 2: Well, speaking of that, I'll remind you, Tony Abbott thought
45:20
Speaker 2: it was OK to eat a raw onion when he
45:23
Speaker 2: was out on an election campaign. I know no-one who
45:26
Speaker 2: bites into a raw onion. I mean, he hadn't even
45:30
Speaker 2: peeled the bloody thing. And then you've got, of course,
45:34
Speaker 2: Scott Morrison. Forget about food. He decided to go out
45:37
Speaker 2: and lay out a kid while trying to pretend he
45:40
Speaker 2: could play soccer.
45:42
Speaker 4: At least he didn't eat him.
45:42
Speaker 9: I mean, seriously.
45:44
Speaker 2: I mean, Jen, the thing that I can't stand with
45:48
Speaker 2: this Ben Carroll bloke, last week he drove off after
45:52
Speaker 2: not paying for the petrol to fill up his car.
45:55
Speaker 2: The irony of all this stuff's incredible. Then when he
45:57
Speaker 2: lined up to pay for the Maccas so he could
45:59
Speaker 2: then buy the ice cream and the French fries... He
46:02
Speaker 2: couldn't find his credit card in his wallet and had
46:05
Speaker 2: to borrow his wife's credit card. What does that say
46:08
Speaker 2: about a government that's lost its way, that just spends
46:11
Speaker 2: other people's money and takes it from other people to
46:14
Speaker 2: do it? I mean, the irony is unbelievable.
46:18
Speaker 6: Yeah, and I mean the biggest debt in the country too,
46:21
Speaker 6: and we're talking about this guy with his Macca's order. Really,
46:24
Speaker 6: we should be having a conversation around how we're going
46:27
Speaker 6: to get Victoria back to a better place. And, like,
46:30
Speaker 6: we've got David Christopher in Queensland who is focused on
46:34
Speaker 6: real issues. You know, this week we had the strongest
46:37
Speaker 6: bail laws in the country passed in Queensland, and we're
46:39
Speaker 6: talking about that up here, and you guys are talking
46:41
Speaker 6: about Macca's. It's sort of pretty sad.
46:45
Speaker 2: Well, I think Ben Carroll would like to talk about
46:47
Speaker 2: anything but the debt because he can't talk about the debt,
46:50
Speaker 2: $ 900, 000 an hour to pay off the interest. I mean, Joe,
46:55
Speaker 2: the Herald Sun have gone back into the great scandal
46:58
Speaker 2: of the Daniel Andrews statue. Has it been built? Is
47:02
Speaker 2: the bronze already poured? Where is it being hidden? Can
47:06
Speaker 2: we find it? I know they've had a reporter snooping
47:08
Speaker 2: around a warehouse trying to find it, but there's now
47:11
Speaker 2: a real push to replace... the statue of, I don't
47:15
Speaker 2: know if they're going to change the way it looks,
47:17
Speaker 2: of Andrews with the city's spiritual leader and social worker,
47:20
Speaker 2: the late father, Bob McGuire. What do you reckon?
47:24
Speaker 4: I think it's an absolutely fantastic idea. And I think
47:26
Speaker 4: it's also worth noting that pretty much all the problems
47:29
Speaker 4: that not just Ben Carroll... inherited, but also the hapless
47:33
Speaker 4: Jacinda Allen, and she only made them worse, were the
47:37
Speaker 4: result of Dan Andrews. I mean, this was a real
47:39
Speaker 4: case where as soon as Andrews stepped down, someone pulled
47:42
Speaker 4: back the rug and it was just a bowl of spaghetti.
47:45
Speaker 4: It was a bit like sort of Pyongyang where there's
47:47
Speaker 4: nothing behind the skyscrapers. They're just cardboard cutouts. And so
47:52
Speaker 4: I think I don't think Daniel Andrews deserves a statue.
47:56
Speaker 4: I think he's sort of broken the spirit of the
47:58
Speaker 4: state and the economy and And I was lucky enough
48:01
Speaker 4: to know Bob Maguire in his life. I interviewed him.
48:03
Speaker 4: I did a feature on him for a magazine. So
48:05
Speaker 4: I wholeheartedly endorse it.
48:08
Speaker 2: Yes, it's a much better idea, although Dan Andrews' statue
48:12
Speaker 2: for pigeons and people like me to go and give
48:16
Speaker 2: it a slap every now and then would be a
48:18
Speaker 2: much better idea, I think. Yeah, but we're not going
48:20
Speaker 2: to get it. Good on you guys. Thank you very
48:21
Speaker 2: much for joining us. I also repeat what I said
48:24
Speaker 2: about Jess Wilson. Please just go and do that debate,
48:27
Speaker 2: no matter who's on. I mean, Rowan Dean's up next.