Transcript

Sharri | 10 September · Sharri

0:06
Speaker 1: Good on you, James. Thank you very much for that. Indeed,
0:09
Speaker 1: welcome to Shari. Steve Price with you. As tonight, Shari
0:12
Speaker 1: and Alex Rivkin are launching their book on the Bondi
0:15
Speaker 1: massacre that has already provided so much debate around what
0:19
Speaker 1: happened that Sunday on Bondi Beach. I'll have more to
0:21
Speaker 1: say on that shortly. Coming up tonight, though, on Shari,
0:24
Speaker 1: a brutal week in Canberra and in Melbourne for One
0:27
Speaker 1: Nation and their leader, Pauline Hanson. after Liberal front-bencher Andrew
0:32
Speaker 1: Hastie stared Pauline down over a satirical cartoon labelling the
0:37
Speaker 1: former SAS commando a traitor. I'll get the former Deputy
0:41
Speaker 1: Prime Minister Michael McCormack's view on all of that. And
0:44
Speaker 1: still in Canberra, a sensitive glass-jawed reaction from our Prime
0:48
Speaker 1: Minister Anthony Albanese over a $ 6 million so-called sporting grant
0:54
Speaker 1: to his local golf club, the Marrickville Golf Club. Clearly,
0:58
Speaker 1: these community grants... They're pork barrelling of the worst kind.
1:02
Speaker 1: I'll ask our panel for their view on that. And
1:04
Speaker 1: we will check in with US correspondent for News 24,
1:07
Speaker 1: Jonathan Kersley. As we know, we are on the eve
1:11
Speaker 1: of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attack
1:15
Speaker 1: on the Twin Towers in New York. First, though, tonight.
1:20
Speaker 1: A News 24 poll this week, explained in detail by
1:23
Speaker 1: our own Tom Connell, showed the surge in popularity of
1:27
Speaker 1: One Nation, with the Pauline Hanson-led Conservative Party outpolling all
1:32
Speaker 1: of the major parties. Now, off the back of the
1:35
Speaker 1: One Nation victory in Western Australia's by-election in that seat
1:39
Speaker 1: of Secret Harbour in recent weeks was added to that
1:42
Speaker 1: victory in Farah in southern New South Wales, the anger
1:46
Speaker 1: being aimed at state Labor governments, especially in Canberra, and
1:50
Speaker 1: in Victoria continues to grow. Now, a question I am
1:53
Speaker 1: asked wherever I go, is the support for One Nation real?
1:58
Speaker 1: And can it last through until the November state election
2:01
Speaker 1: here in Victoria and indeed to the New South Wales
2:04
Speaker 1: state election in the first quarter of next year and
2:07
Speaker 1: go all the way to the federal election in 2028,
2:09
Speaker 1: whenever that might be held? Well, the answer, as it
2:13
Speaker 1: turns out, changes, I think, almost hourly. In the space
2:18
Speaker 1: of three days this week, we've seen the new Victorian
2:21
Speaker 1: One Nation leader, Warren Pickering, deny a front page story
2:24
Speaker 1: in The Australian, quoting his ex-partner who detailed Pickering's history
2:29
Speaker 1: of heavy drug taking and in her words, the partner,
2:32
Speaker 1: sexual deviancy. Pickering said the claims were false. Well, the
2:37
Speaker 1: next day, Mr Pickering called a news conference and which
2:40
Speaker 1: was emceed by One Nation's National Secretary, James Ashby. Now,
2:45
Speaker 1: in Pickering's defence, and presumably at the urging of Ashby,
2:50
Speaker 1: the Victorian leader fronted up to an all-in media conference,
2:54
Speaker 1: and it was carried live right here on News 24,
2:56
Speaker 1: and he bluntly talked about his colourful past.
3:00
Speaker 2: I had utilised illegal drugs in my 20s.
3:04
Speaker 3: Never would I have ever said that I was somebody
3:07
Speaker 3: that was a drug addict.
3:08
Speaker 4: I did use them.
3:10
Speaker 5: As a young man, Joanne has said many things and
3:14
Speaker 5: made many allegations, and they're all over the internet, and
3:17
Speaker 5: we are working with the lawyers to have them taken down.
3:20
Speaker 1: Watched it live. It was emotional stuff, and you can
3:23
Speaker 1: see in that shot there, he had his daughter standing
3:25
Speaker 1: behind him, and his stepson was also present and spoke.
3:31
Speaker 6: Look, if I stood here talking about my mother, I'd
3:33
Speaker 6: be here for a week, let's be honest. I'll paint
3:35
Speaker 6: a bit of a picture for you, and then you
3:36
Speaker 6: can run with that.
3:38
Speaker 2: Throughout my childhood.
3:41
Speaker 6: My mum would go to bed with a bong sitting
3:43
Speaker 6: next to her bed, a can of Woodstock and Cola
3:46
Speaker 6: and a box of Bally. That was my childhood and
3:48
Speaker 6: Jet's childhood.
3:50
Speaker 1: Look, this was all very raw stuff. And politically, though,
3:54
Speaker 1: I think it was a smart move. And the public
3:57
Speaker 1: reaction after that media conference, and it was then run
4:00
Speaker 1: on other news services later in the day, was, look,
4:04
Speaker 1: at least one nation, and this is people who support
4:06
Speaker 1: the party I'm talking about here, at least one nation candidates,
4:09
Speaker 1: they are saying, and their leadership front up when things
4:12
Speaker 1: get tough. Now, that might have been the end of it.
4:16
Speaker 1: But leader Pauline Hanson stumbled, talking to our own Chris
4:20
Speaker 1: Kenny last night, either mistakenly or clumsily, saying, re-pickering, that, quote,
4:26
Speaker 1: there was more to come. She then withdrew that comment. Now,
4:31
Speaker 1: in the wider context, I don't think One Nation supporters
4:34
Speaker 1: are going to reverse their support of One Nation over
4:37
Speaker 1: Pickering's bad choices as a younger man. In fact, I
4:40
Speaker 1: think more people are likely to vote for them because
4:43
Speaker 1: of his honesty. Now, Andrew Hastie, the Liberal frontbencher and
4:47
Speaker 1: ex-SAR commando, Afghanistan veteran and liberal leadership contender is a
4:54
Speaker 1: completely other matter. So let's put aside pickering for the moment.
4:58
Speaker 1: The hasty issue has bubbled along for a few weeks
5:01
Speaker 1: after One Nation's wildly popular animated political cartoon series, Please Explain,
5:07
Speaker 1: made by StepMate Studios, featured a segment labelling Hanson, Hastie,
5:13
Speaker 1: I should say, a traitor. Now, in the end, Andrew
5:15
Speaker 1: Hastie decided, look, enough was enough, and he chose News
5:20
Speaker 1: 24 yesterday to verbally attack Hanson and her deputy, Barnaby Joyce,
5:25
Speaker 1: calling them lying cowards, and then everything exploded.
5:30
Speaker 4: I would say that Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce are
5:33
Speaker 4: lying cowards. And I'll say it again, so there's no ambiguity,
5:36
Speaker 4: they are lying cowards. And in that cartoon, I'm called
5:39
Speaker 4: a traitor eight times, along with gutless maggot, that I
5:43
Speaker 4: don't really care about. But when you start calling me
5:45
Speaker 4: a traitor to my own country, then we have a big,
5:47
Speaker 4: big problem.
5:49
Speaker 1: Barnaby Joyce indeed appeared with James McPherson on the program
5:52
Speaker 1: before this, and we'll get some of that. I mean,
5:55
Speaker 1: Barnaby looked like he was shell-shocked tonight. I mean, he
5:58
Speaker 1: sat there.
6:00
Speaker 1: Unlike any Barnaby I've ever seen before, quietly talking about
6:05
Speaker 1: his regret about all of this. We'll show some of
6:07
Speaker 1: that to you shortly. But look, I'm also going to
6:09
Speaker 1: talk to former Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack about this shortly.
6:13
Speaker 1: But both Pauline and Barnaby deny they have ever called
6:16
Speaker 1: Hastie a traitor, which is technically correct. And Pauline defended
6:20
Speaker 1: the cartoon, saying it was just satirical comment. By the way,
6:25
Speaker 1: the trailer, the traitor episode was driven by by One
6:29
Speaker 1: Nation's support of VC recipient Ben Robert Smith as he
6:33
Speaker 1: battles to clear his name over allegations of war crimes,
6:36
Speaker 1: a very popular support with One Nation supporters. So in
6:40
Speaker 1: a week, we have two One Nation stumbles, one with
6:43
Speaker 1: the candidate, one with the party mistake in labelling a
6:47
Speaker 1: brave soldier in the very worst of terms a traitor.
6:51
Speaker 1: Hastie could very easily sue, but he's made no legal
6:55
Speaker 1: move in that direction. Instead, using the slur against him
6:58
Speaker 1: to highlight what he believes are dangerous loose cannons inside
7:02
Speaker 1: One Nation with no political radar in attacking a war hero.
7:06
Speaker 1: Hastie is, of course, also playing a political game against
7:10
Speaker 1: the popular One Nation voter surge because his seat of
7:13
Speaker 1: canning overlaps the now One Nation held state seat of
7:17
Speaker 1: Secret Harbour in Perth. And One Nation has vowed to
7:21
Speaker 1: run a well-funded campaign against the next potential leader of
7:24
Speaker 1: the Liberal Party. High stakes indeed. The pickering history will,
7:28
Speaker 1: unless there is actually more, won't come to affect One Nation.
7:32
Speaker 1: I don't believe the vote in Victoria. The hasty issue, though,
7:35
Speaker 1: is more complicated. If One Nation has, as everyone says,
7:39
Speaker 1: matured as a political force, they should take the offensive
7:43
Speaker 1: cartoon down now and front up to apologise to Hastie
7:48
Speaker 1: face to face. Otherwise, this, I believe, will haunt them. Australians,
7:54
Speaker 1: and many of these Australians who support One Nation, don't
7:58
Speaker 1: like brave military figures, especially anyone who served with the SAS,
8:04
Speaker 1: to be insulted, let alone called traitors. This will cost
8:08
Speaker 1: One Nation dearly. Just before I go to the panel,
8:14
Speaker 1: the Victorian Labor government's ridiculous work-from-home laws have failed to
8:18
Speaker 1: pass Parliament today. They ended up in the Upper House
8:20
Speaker 1: and they now probably won't be passed before the November election. Now,
8:25
Speaker 1: it followed news earlier this morning that the bill, albeit
8:28
Speaker 1: a watered-down version by Premier Ben Carroll, could pass the
8:33
Speaker 1: Upper House. Have a listen.
8:35
Speaker 7: To qualify from work from home, you've got to be
8:38
Speaker 7: able to work from home. So it is a right,
8:42
Speaker 7: but we know it's not something that everyone can do.
8:46
Speaker 7: So we do believe we have the balance right with
8:48
Speaker 7: what can be achieved.
8:50
Speaker 1: Well, that made no sense. I mean, who would be surprised?
8:53
Speaker 1: But a few hours later, it turns out the balance
8:55
Speaker 1: wasn't right. So what happened? Well, the coalition, they had
9:00
Speaker 1: said they would probably support the bill. They were sniffing
9:02
Speaker 1: the wind knowing come November in an election, you can't,
9:05
Speaker 1: as the federal coalition did say, we don't want to
9:08
Speaker 1: support work from home. But they instead decided instead to
9:12
Speaker 1: team up with several crossbenchers to refer it to an
9:14
Speaker 1: inquiry for further scrutiny. In fact, it was former Labor
9:19
Speaker 1: turned independent MP, Adam Semirek, who torpedoed it, returning to
9:24
Speaker 1: Parliament to cast his deciding vote. That means it's highly
9:27
Speaker 1: unlikely to pass before the state election. And with any luck,
9:31
Speaker 1: Labor will get the boot then. And this nonsense bill
9:34
Speaker 1: where you have to, as an employer, allow your staff
9:38
Speaker 1: members to work from home for two days a week
9:40
Speaker 1: will end up in the bin where it belongs. Okay,
9:46
Speaker 1: joining me now, IPA Chief Economist Adam Crichton and former
9:49
Speaker 1: Liberal Senator, now One Nation member, Holly Hughes, and pub owner,
9:53
Speaker 1: of course. Welcome to you both. I'm going to start
9:56
Speaker 1: with you. I'll start with you, Holly. You're a One
9:59
Speaker 1: Nation member. now. Why would Pauline, or if not her,
10:03
Speaker 1: the party, pick a fight with an SAS commando?
10:07
Speaker 8: Look, I actually re-watched the cartoon this morning because it's
10:10
Speaker 8: been out now in excess of a month. And the
10:14
Speaker 8: trade reference that was made was in regards to the
10:16
Speaker 8: free speech legislation that Andrew was very strong that he
10:19
Speaker 8: was going to oppose and then voted for. I mean, look,
10:21
Speaker 8: I just think in a satirical campaign cartoon, if you
10:24
Speaker 8: don't want people to watch it, don't draw attention to
10:27
Speaker 8: it a month after it's been released. But the other
10:29
Speaker 8: point that I'd like to make, and this is the
10:32
Speaker 8: what is happening on the reality in the ground. The
10:34
Speaker 8: electorate is angry and they are angry at Albanese and
10:37
Speaker 8: his government and the lies and the dropping standard of living.
10:41
Speaker 9: And quite frankly, if you are.
10:42
Speaker 8: A non-Labour MP and your priority is not defeating Labour.
10:47
Speaker 9: Then you're in the wrong game.
10:49
Speaker 8: And the fact that there are some within the Liberal
10:51
Speaker 8: Party at a federal level who.
10:53
Speaker 9: Are still absolutely obsessed, especially One.
10:56
Speaker 8: Nation around the place, their eye is on the wrong ball.
11:00
Speaker 8: This is the problem here because they are going to
11:02
Speaker 8: enable potentially Albanese to skate in for a third term
11:06
Speaker 8: because if every, and I'll say it again, if every
11:09
Speaker 8: non-Labour MP is not focused on defeating Labour and wants
11:13
Speaker 8: to pick fights with other parties, then they're missing them.
11:19
Speaker 1: It was a mistake, though, surely. I mean, someone should
11:21
Speaker 1: have picked it up. I mean, Adam... Whoever, and I
11:25
Speaker 1: know the people who make that satirical cartoon, they're very
11:28
Speaker 1: popular and one of them appears on Chris Kenny's show
11:31
Speaker 1: on a regular basis. Surely someone in the leadership group
11:34
Speaker 1: could have sort of said, well, should we really be
11:37
Speaker 1: calling a war hero a traitor?
11:41
Speaker 10: Well, look, that's probably right, but I broadly think Holly's right,
11:45
Speaker 10: that I don't think this will do too much damage
11:47
Speaker 10: to One Nation. I mean, look, it was mentioned eight times,
11:50
Speaker 10: the word traitor. These are popular cartoons. It's been out
11:52
Speaker 10: for a month, as she said. If it was genuinely
11:54
Speaker 10: very offensive, surely you would have, you know.
11:56
Speaker 2: Called it out right away.
11:58
Speaker 10: But then again, I can understand why Andrew Hastie personally
12:00
Speaker 10: would be very upset by being called a traitor, as
12:02
Speaker 10: anyone would be. But then again, this sort of language,
12:06
Speaker 10: you know, harsh language is used by ordinary people down
12:08
Speaker 10: at the pub on Friday and Saturday night all the time.
12:11
Speaker 10: Far worse than that. And it's just let go. I
12:15
Speaker 10: don't think this is helping either side. I think it's
12:18
Speaker 10: taking up far more media attention than it should be. So, look,
12:23
Speaker 10: was it a mistake? I mean, should someone have picked up?
12:25
Speaker 10: The One Nation team is very small. As I pointed
12:27
Speaker 10: out in a viral tweet recently, I think the total...
12:30
Speaker 10: One Nation staff is four, just at least in terms
12:35
Speaker 10: of taxpayer funded, compared to about 492 for the government.
12:38
Speaker 10: So there are fewer people to cast their eyes over
12:41
Speaker 10: these things. And, you know, it's a satirical cartoon, like
12:45
Speaker 10: in the style of South Park or Family Guy or
12:47
Speaker 10: something like that. I mean, you know, I just don't
12:51
Speaker 10: think it's a big issue. But maybe, you know, my
12:53
Speaker 10: skin is just very thick because during COVID I was,
12:56
Speaker 10: you know, called a murderer multiple times. So, you know,
12:59
Speaker 10: I was used to that.
13:01
Speaker 2: Can I.
13:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, we all have.
13:02
Speaker 8: Lydia Thorpe actually gave her family copies of the photos
13:07
Speaker 8: of One Nation when they developed the... Very, very funny,
13:11
Speaker 8: and I can say this because Lydia said to me
13:13
Speaker 8: how hilarious they are, and I've sent them to my
13:15
Speaker 8: family and they've all got them on their cars, of
13:17
Speaker 8: the cartoons that made fun of Lydia Thorpe. And that
13:20
Speaker 8: was probably a lot more, and probably if you have
13:23
Speaker 8: thin skins, more offensive. But Lydia saw that it was hysterical, funny,
13:27
Speaker 8: and her family had them stuck on their cars.
13:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would just say that Barnaby looked shocked tonight.
13:34
Speaker 1: He looked shell-shocked. He was a very tame Barnaby. Maybe
13:37
Speaker 1: he's had a hard day and he's tired. But I
13:40
Speaker 1: should say that we can't downplay the war service of Hastie,
13:47
Speaker 1: Andrew Hastie. We have to all, you know, thank him
13:50
Speaker 1: for what he did. He went to Afghanistan. He suited up,
13:53
Speaker 1: put his life at risk. I just think, and, you know, Adam,
13:57
Speaker 1: you and I have been in the media a long time.
13:58
Speaker 1: You've got to have a better radar than that. And
14:01
Speaker 1: I've said over and over and over again when I
14:03
Speaker 1: talk about One Nation and, you know, their surge in
14:07
Speaker 1: popularity is quite understandable. But they have these candidates, and
14:13
Speaker 1: we'll get on to Warren Pickering in a moment, and
14:15
Speaker 1: when they choose these people, they don't have the staff,
14:19
Speaker 1: you make the point, but they have a potential to
14:22
Speaker 1: blow themselves up.
14:23
Speaker 9: Warren Pickering was in the Defence Force, so we're ignoring
14:26
Speaker 9: that now because it's not convenient.
14:29
Speaker 1: What's that?
14:29
Speaker 8: Warren Pickering served in the Defence Force, so are we
14:32
Speaker 8: ignoring his service?
14:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, no. Well, let's get to Pickering. I mean,
14:36
Speaker 1: this is a guy, obviously, who turned his life around. And, Adam,
14:40
Speaker 1: I think all Australians like to see, you know, a
14:43
Speaker 1: story where somebody is in a bad place and they
14:46
Speaker 1: come out a better person. I've interviewed Pickering on my
14:49
Speaker 1: Friday show and he comes across as pretty impressive. But
14:52
Speaker 1: once upon a time, you know.
14:55
Speaker 1: Go back a few decades, Adam, how could you possibly
14:59
Speaker 1: be a political candidate and then get up and confess
15:01
Speaker 1: to using heavy drugs, amphetamines? I mean, the world has changed.
15:06
Speaker 10: Yeah, well, look, I think it's, you know, it's a
15:08
Speaker 10: more honest world now. And I think all the journalists
15:11
Speaker 10: and politicians who are tut-tutting over, you know, over his behaviour,
15:14
Speaker 10: they'd probably have dubious things in their own past that
15:17
Speaker 10: they wouldn't like to be broadcast to the whole world. And,
15:20
Speaker 10: you know, I think it started out as a very
15:22
Speaker 10: bad story. But as you suggested earlier, I think the
15:24
Speaker 10: response to it by Pauline and especially James Ashby has
15:28
Speaker 10: been a real masterclass, really, in political politics.
15:31
Speaker 1: Response.
15:32
Speaker 10: They've turned it into a positive story. And I think
15:34
Speaker 10: there are so many Australians out there, millions, I would say,
15:37
Speaker 10: who've done terrible things, who regret them. And some have
15:40
Speaker 10: turned their lives around and some haven't. And those who
15:42
Speaker 10: have turned their lives around, people.
15:44
Speaker 2: Are proud of.
15:45
Speaker 10: And they're shiny examples. I mean, wouldn't you rather have
15:48
Speaker 10: people in Parliament who, you know, who understand, you know,
15:51
Speaker 10: the ravages and damages of temptation in youth than have
15:54
Speaker 10: people who are born with silver spoons in their mouth
15:57
Speaker 10: who have no idea? So I think this could end
16:00
Speaker 10: up a positive story. And just like you, I don't
16:02
Speaker 10: think it's really going to affect the primary vote. And
16:05
Speaker 10: in terms of the poll that I think we're just
16:06
Speaker 10: about to talk about, it certainly has not.
16:10
Speaker 1: I've got to give some the gold medal of question
16:14
Speaker 1: asking today to Ruben Spargo from News 24. Kevin Rudd,
16:18
Speaker 1: and I watched the Press Club appearance by He insists
16:23
Speaker 1: on being called Dr Kevin Rudd. So Dr Rudd's up
16:26
Speaker 1: there and Ruben Spargo stands up and asks this question,
16:31
Speaker 1: which I thought was delightful.
16:33
Speaker 11: Last time I looked, all politicians were human, some more
16:37
Speaker 11: human than others. Because they're human, they have frailties and failures.
16:43
Speaker 11: We simply don't need to have a reasonable attitude to
16:46
Speaker 11: bring to bear, a common sense attitude to bring to
16:49
Speaker 11: bear and ask ourselves this question. Is the matter at
16:52
Speaker 11: stake fundamentally compromising of the person's ability to discharge effectively
16:57
Speaker 11: their public responsibilities? That's where the issue lies.
17:01
Speaker 1: Sadly, we cut Ruben's question, which was, Dr Rudd, you
17:05
Speaker 1: were once caught in a strip club in New York,
17:09
Speaker 1: and that's why he starts talking about human frailties, Holly.
17:12
Speaker 1: Over to you.
17:13
Speaker 8: Look, we actually were talking about in the front bar
17:16
Speaker 8: tonight that Kevin Rudd being caught in a strip bar
17:19
Speaker 8: made him seem.
17:20
Speaker 1: Slightly more human.
17:22
Speaker 8: And I've got to say, though, that wooden response he
17:25
Speaker 8: gave really takes us back to why we didn't think
17:28
Speaker 8: he was.
17:28
Speaker 9: Human in the first place.
17:30
Speaker 8: But, look, I think the story of redemption, being human,
17:33
Speaker 8: I mean, are we going to say to our kids
17:35
Speaker 8: in their 20s, listen, you've stuffed up, you've done this,
17:38
Speaker 8: now go hide in a cave for the rest of
17:40
Speaker 8: your life because you're no good to anyone anymore? And
17:42
Speaker 8: the reality is, more and more kids coming through in
17:45
Speaker 8: their 20s and 30s now.
17:47
Speaker 9: Have had so much of their lives on social media.
17:50
Speaker 9: We're all going to know.
17:51
Speaker 8: You know, I'm very pleased there's very little, if any,
17:54
Speaker 8: footage of me dancing on a podium in my 20s,
17:56
Speaker 8: but it may or.
17:57
Speaker 9: May not have happened.
17:58
Speaker 10: Yes, me too, Holly.
17:59
Speaker 12: Yes, definitely.
18:00
Speaker 9: May have been at the same club, Adam.
18:03
Speaker 1: I'm glad they didn't have mobile phones when I was 25.
18:07
Speaker 1: I want to talk quickly about golf. I've played a
18:10
Speaker 1: few courses in Sydney, sadly not Marrickville. The Prime Minister, though, Adam,
18:14
Speaker 1: is desperately trying to laugh off a $ 6 million grant
18:18
Speaker 1: to what to me looks like a busted down goat track,
18:22
Speaker 1: not a golf course. And he has such a glass
18:26
Speaker 1: jaw about these things. Came up in question time again today.
18:29
Speaker 1: Have a look.
18:31
Speaker 10: How did the Daily Telegraph know in 2019, you remember,
18:35
Speaker 10: and you didn't? In 2019, the Marrickville Golf Course was
18:41
Speaker 10: not in my electorate.
18:42
Speaker 5: It was actually in the electorate of Barton between 2016
18:46
Speaker 5: and 2025.
18:53
Speaker 1: Adam, I don't know if you caught Peter Credlin tonight,
18:55
Speaker 1: but she had extraordinary detail about the number of times
18:58
Speaker 1: that the Prime Minister had actually appeared at this golf club.
19:02
Speaker 1: He actually originally, you know, 10 years ago when he
19:06
Speaker 1: was opposition leader or in opposition, tried to raise $ 300, 000
19:10
Speaker 1: for the golf club. He's described as their most powerful
19:14
Speaker 1: patron and he owns real estate not far from that
19:18
Speaker 1: golf course. And there he is trying to say, I
19:21
Speaker 1: don't have a card, it costs $ 5, nothing to see here.
19:24
Speaker 1: Here we go again, Adam.
19:27
Speaker 10: No, look, it certainly sounds like misuse of taxpayers' money
19:29
Speaker 10: to me. And the double standard is just extraordinary. I
19:32
Speaker 10: think Bridget McKenzie had to resign over a similar situation
19:35
Speaker 10: over just $ 36, 000. And to her great credit, she did resign.
19:39
Speaker 10: By that standard, the Prime Minister should also resign, as
19:42
Speaker 10: I understand the facts. But the broader constitutional point is
19:45
Speaker 10: federal government shouldn't be doing this sort of nonsense anyway.
19:48
Speaker 10: It's got nothing to do with the federal government. It's
19:51
Speaker 10: a state government, local government responsibility, and this sort of
19:54
Speaker 10: stuff just ruins the whole constitution, frankly. But the political point,
19:58
Speaker 10: it just reinforces people's cynicism of the uni party, if
20:01
Speaker 10: you like, the political class. I think Holly will like
20:03
Speaker 10: I said that.
20:04
Speaker 2: I love that. I mean....
20:07
Speaker 1: Holly, this is classical Albanese. He does it all the time.
20:12
Speaker 8: Mate, if the Labor Party didn't have double standards, they
20:15
Speaker 8: wouldn't have any standards at all. And this Prime Minister
20:18
Speaker 8: is a prime example of an out-and-out hypocrite.
20:22
Speaker 9: I read in the paper today that.
20:24
Speaker 8: He may have actually lost two games whilst he won.
20:27
Speaker 9: The match against that guy that brought him at the
20:29
Speaker 9: press club.
20:30
Speaker 8: He can't even tell the truth about a bloody tennis match.
20:35
Speaker 1: That can't be true, Kenneth. That can't be true, Kenneth.
20:39
Speaker 9: He got trounced, but he said he won two games
20:42
Speaker 9: in one set.
20:43
Speaker 8: If that turns out to be true, not that Albanese
20:46
Speaker 8: would let him have a witness.
20:47
Speaker 9: I mean, seriously, if you can't even admit a tennis
20:50
Speaker 9: score in a friendly match, what else can we expect
20:53
Speaker 9: for this.
20:53
Speaker 8: Guy who didn't fall off the stage, who promised Australia $ 275, 000,
20:57
Speaker 8: who was only talking about fruit?
20:58
Speaker 9: Like, seriously.
21:05
Speaker 1: Adam, Holly, thank you very much for that. Appreciate it.
21:07
Speaker 1: Good luck with the pub, Holly. I must drop in
21:09
Speaker 1: there for a beer one day. Let's go to housing
21:11
Speaker 1: now and the tax changes from Labor fuelling Australia's housing shortage.
21:15
Speaker 1: I mean, we've got homeowners holding onto properties longer now
21:18
Speaker 1: and buyers reconsidering jumping into the market. Westpac chief Anthony
21:23
Speaker 1: Miller has urged... the government to subsidise construction costs of
21:27
Speaker 1: all things now, rather than focusing on first home buyer grants, saying, quote,
21:31
Speaker 1: there are definitely going to be challenges with the cost
21:34
Speaker 1: of certain materials and inputs. Joining me now, auctioneer and
21:38
Speaker 1: real estate expert, regular on this program. Tom Pannas. Tom,
21:42
Speaker 1: as we both know, the real estate market depends on mood,
21:46
Speaker 1: and normally it depends on confidence. I see AMP chief
21:50
Speaker 1: economist Shane Oliver tipping we are just at the start
21:54
Speaker 1: of a housing collapse. Tell me that's not true.
21:57
Speaker 12: So, Steve, we've got multiple markets in Australia. Some of
22:02
Speaker 12: those markets have already gone down 10%, 15%. The amounts
22:05
Speaker 12: that we're talking about, Shane Oliver... predicting other markets have
22:11
Speaker 12: gone down five, seven percent. There's not just one market.
22:14
Speaker 12: But the truth is we've got headwinds, Steve. There's no
22:17
Speaker 12: question about it. And we've got interest rates supposedly going
22:21
Speaker 12: up in September and maybe then again in November or December.
22:26
Speaker 12: So there's no confidence.
22:29
Speaker 1: AMP went on to say there could be another 10%
22:32
Speaker 1: drop to come. I mean, Victoria's median house price now
22:36
Speaker 1: is off by $ 160, 000. And don't I know that, given
22:40
Speaker 1: I own property in Victoria, my own house. Surely we
22:44
Speaker 1: couldn't see a 20% decline. I mean, you've been around
22:48
Speaker 1: like I have a long time. This could potentially, what,
22:52
Speaker 1: be worse than the GFC even?
22:55
Speaker 12: OK, yes, absolutely. It can be worse than the GFC.
22:58
Speaker 12: The price points that are the most impacted, Steve, are
23:03
Speaker 12: the higher price points, and they're between 15% and 20%.
23:08
Speaker 12: Other price points have gone down five to 10%. Now, ironically, ironically,
23:13
Speaker 12: the government said that they wanted to make it easier
23:16
Speaker 12: for first home buyers. The one price point that we
23:18
Speaker 12: can say hasn't really changed too much has been that
23:22
Speaker 12: lower price point because cost of things become so difficult.
23:25
Speaker 12: So ironically, I don't know how the government's done it.
23:28
Speaker 12: They somehow have put an architectural plan together that has
23:33
Speaker 12: not helped the group of people they wanted to help
23:35
Speaker 12: the most. In fact, Steve, 30 percent first home buyers
23:39
Speaker 12: lower this year than last year. 30 percent. And part
23:43
Speaker 12: of that part of that comes from the fact that
23:45
Speaker 12: the wealth effect parents and I run an auction company
23:48
Speaker 12: on the weekends and I would see parents next to
23:51
Speaker 12: their kids bidding. But a lot of these parents now, Steve,
23:54
Speaker 12: are saying, hang on a second, we're poorer. We've got
23:57
Speaker 12: to look after ourselves. We're not going to go and
23:59
Speaker 12: outlay a deposit or a stamp duty for our children.
24:02
Speaker 12: So that's taken first home buyers out of the market
24:04
Speaker 12: as well.
24:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just can't see how the Labor Party is
24:11
Speaker 1: going to go, you know, to the next election, albeit
24:15
Speaker 1: it's in 2028, and say, vote for us because we
24:18
Speaker 1: made the value of your house cheaper.
24:21
Speaker 12: Yeah, I think what the government will be hoping is
24:24
Speaker 12: by then things are different. However, I think people aren't
24:29
Speaker 12: going to forget and they're not going to forget because
24:31
Speaker 12: every day they go to Coles and Woolies and they're
24:34
Speaker 12: paying for things. Every day they're going in to pay
24:35
Speaker 12: the rent. Every time they're paying their mortgage, it's going
24:38
Speaker 12: to be a reminder of how hard life is. So
24:41
Speaker 12: unless things were to change before the election, I don't
24:46
Speaker 12: think that the government is going to be looking too
24:49
Speaker 12: good at the moment. Obviously, a lot's got to do
24:51
Speaker 12: with the Victorian election coming up in 12 weeks is
24:54
Speaker 12: going to tell us really what Australians are thinking about
24:57
Speaker 12: at the moment.
24:59
Speaker 1: Hell, I have a lot of anger in suburban and
25:00
Speaker 1: outer suburban parts of Melbourne. Let me tell you about that. Look,
25:04
Speaker 1: Jim Chalmers keeps saying, well, look, our impact has been
25:07
Speaker 1: and is minimal. I've just got to ask you, Tom,
25:10
Speaker 1: how did the boffins in Treasury, who are all very
25:14
Speaker 1: well paid and very well educated, get this all so wrong,
25:19
Speaker 1: tipping not a 10% decline in home values, but they
25:22
Speaker 1: said it might be around two?
25:25
Speaker 2: Look.
25:26
Speaker 12: What's become very clear now is people are very sceptical
25:29
Speaker 12: at when the government makes reference to Treasury because the
25:32
Speaker 12: two numbers that came out of Treasury was that rents
25:34
Speaker 12: would go up by $ 2. And I've worked in real
25:38
Speaker 12: estate long enough, Steve, to know that no landlord gives
25:41
Speaker 12: a tenant a $ 2 increase, right? So we can forget
25:44
Speaker 12: about that. And then the second one was that property
25:48
Speaker 12: prices would slow down. and slow their growth by 2%. Well,
25:52
Speaker 12: that didn't happen. After the budget, we're seeing five months
25:55
Speaker 12: in a row, and this has been validated by all
25:58
Speaker 12: the data companies, that prices are going down. Now, I'm
26:03
Speaker 12: hoping that that run rate of them going down, which
26:06
Speaker 12: is roughly 5% in these last four or five months,
26:09
Speaker 12: and that's how you're getting this 20% number, I'm hoping
26:13
Speaker 12: that that's not going to continue and that we've just
26:16
Speaker 12: had a shock. But at the moment, we need a
26:18
Speaker 12: circuit breaker, whether it's a change in interest rates, whether
26:21
Speaker 12: the government comes out and says, listen, we probably got
26:24
Speaker 12: this wrong. It's an unintended consequence. We might, you know,
26:27
Speaker 12: revert this back. But at the moment, there is nothing
26:31
Speaker 12: in the short term horizon that's going to sort of say, hey,
26:35
Speaker 12: things are going to change.
26:38
Speaker 1: Just quickly and finally, Tom, pick your brain. What's your
26:42
Speaker 1: advice to sellers? I mean, I guess if you're selling
26:45
Speaker 1: and buying in the same market, that's not such a problem.
26:48
Speaker 1: But if you're selling to, you know, downsize or you're
26:51
Speaker 1: selling because you're going to go into nursing care, what's
26:54
Speaker 1: your advice? Sell or hang on?
26:56
Speaker 12: OK, so if you're selling and you're not going to
26:59
Speaker 12: buy again and you don't have to sell, I'd wait
27:02
Speaker 12: because you'll probably get a better price when rates start
27:05
Speaker 12: coming down middle of next year. On the other hand, Steve,
27:08
Speaker 12: if you're selling a home, let's assume you're selling in
27:12
Speaker 12: Cobourg in Melbourne and you're going to upgrade to Brighton,
27:15
Speaker 12: which I don't think actually happens. That's not a normal trend.
27:20
Speaker 12: What I'd say is for an upgrader, they're probably going
27:25
Speaker 12: to benefit out of this market because if you think
27:27
Speaker 12: about it, if the higher price points have dropped more...
27:31
Speaker 12: than the lower price points you're probably good doing an
27:34
Speaker 12: upgrade in this marketplace but if you don't have to
27:37
Speaker 12: actually buy again you'd probably not sell now but if
27:41
Speaker 12: you're buying and selling in the same market make a
27:43
Speaker 12: decision based on your life not based on the market.
27:47
Speaker 1: Always great advice, Tom. Good to catch up with you, mate.
27:49
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Now, coming up, Donald Trump is
27:52
Speaker 1: offering thousands of dollars to adults if the Republicans, yeah, money,
27:56
Speaker 1: are successful in the midterm elections. But how much is
27:59
Speaker 1: it actually going to cost? Well, he didn't tell us.
28:01
Speaker 1: Plus some good news in the fight to scrap the
28:04
Speaker 1: Allied health cap. Michael McCormack, join me next. Welcome back,
28:11
Speaker 1: Steve Price in for Shari. Busy day also in the
28:14
Speaker 1: Victorian Parliament today where the worst government in Australia decided
28:17
Speaker 1: it would be a good idea to change the law
28:20
Speaker 1: that currently makes it illegal to beg on the streets
28:23
Speaker 1: of Melbourne. They've decided to take that law away. You
28:27
Speaker 1: no longer can be arrested for begging and local businesses
28:32
Speaker 1: are not happy. I'll have some more to say on
28:34
Speaker 1: that on my own show tomorrow night. Joining me now
28:37
Speaker 1: in the streets of Sydney, the Shadow Veteran Affairs Minister,
28:40
Speaker 1: Michael McCormack, who's been kind enough to join us.
28:44
Speaker 2: Welcome.
28:45
Speaker 1: You sit near Andrew Hastie in Parliament when I'm watching
28:50
Speaker 1: Question Time on the front bench there. I know you've
28:52
Speaker 1: got enormous respect for our veterans and we'll get into
28:56
Speaker 1: this appalling cap on veterans health visits in a sec.
28:59
Speaker 1: But should One Nation take down that cartoon which referred
29:03
Speaker 1: to Andrew Hastie as a traitor?
29:05
Speaker 2: Oh, 100% they should.
29:06
Speaker 5: I mean, what a disgrace to think that One Nation
29:12
Speaker 5: can even accuse him of being such a thing. I
29:15
Speaker 5: don't even want to use the word because that word
29:19
Speaker 5: and Andrew Hastie do not belong in the same sentence.
29:22
Speaker 5: They simply do not. And to accuse him of that
29:25
Speaker 5: is just disgraceful, Steve. I cannot believe that Pauline Hanson
29:31
Speaker 5: would stoop so low for a political advantage.
29:36
Speaker 1: She won't take it down. It's still on her social media.
29:40
Speaker 12: Feed.
29:40
Speaker 1: Barnaby Joyce, who's a mate of yours, he was on
29:43
Speaker 1: News 24 earlier. He looked shell-shocked tonight. I think he
29:47
Speaker 1: does regret that he's been dragged into this by being
29:51
Speaker 1: named by Andrew. Hastie's very angry. Here he was at
29:54
Speaker 1: a doorstop in Parliament this morning.
29:59
Speaker 4: I think that shows Pauline Hanson to be weak and glass-jawed.
30:02
Speaker 4: I asked a simple request, either own your words, own
30:06
Speaker 4: the fact that you've called me a traitor, or take
30:08
Speaker 4: down the cartoon.
30:09
Speaker 2: She's done neither. This isn't Agro's cartoon connection.
30:13
Speaker 4: This is Parliament House with serious people.
30:16
Speaker 1: Michael, he's right, isn't he?
30:17
Speaker 2: 100% he's right.
30:19
Speaker 5: 100% he's right. And look, it's okay in the robust
30:23
Speaker 5: world of politics to have a bit of a go
30:26
Speaker 5: and you know, and to accept some of the criticism
30:29
Speaker 5: that comes your way. But this is too far. This cartoon,
30:34
Speaker 5: or for want of a better expression or term about it,
30:37
Speaker 5: it's not a cartoon, it's offensive, and it should be
30:40
Speaker 5: taken down. An apology should be offered. Absolutely, 100%, an
30:44
Speaker 5: apology should be offered. And Barnaby, he must be getting
30:48
Speaker 5: sick of defending the indefensible. He's been out there trying
30:52
Speaker 5: to mop up for Warren Pickering in Victoria. And he
30:57
Speaker 5: knows that Andrew Hastie is anything but what Pauline Hanson
31:02
Speaker 5: is alleging that Andrew Hastie is. He's a former SAS
31:07
Speaker 5: decorated hero, quite frankly.
31:10
Speaker 2: He's a hero.
31:11
Speaker 5: And I cannot understand for the life of me why
31:13
Speaker 5: Pauline Hanson wants to denigrate him in such a way
31:17
Speaker 5: to get a political advantage. It's disgraceful. It's disgusting. And
31:21
Speaker 5: it should come down.
31:24
Speaker 1: It comes, of course, at a time when veterans' issues
31:27
Speaker 1: are high on the agenda. I'm a massive supporter of
31:29
Speaker 1: Australian veterans. I've done some work for veterans' charities and,
31:33
Speaker 1: you know, I had an uncle who was one of
31:37
Speaker 1: the rats at Tobruk, so, you know, it goes way
31:39
Speaker 1: back for me. But this issue of veterans' cap that
31:42
Speaker 1: you've been very vocal on, why is the government actually
31:48
Speaker 1: deciding to do this?
31:51
Speaker 5: Well, because some bright spark in the bureaucracy has thought
31:54
Speaker 5: that we can save three quarters of a billion dollars
31:56
Speaker 5: over the next three years. That same bright spark should
31:59
Speaker 5: be put over the obstacle course at Kapuka, home of
32:01
Speaker 5: the soldier near Wagga Wagga, every day at dawn for
32:04
Speaker 5: a month. That's what should happen. Matt Keogh should make
32:08
Speaker 5: good what is really bad. He should right this wrong
32:12
Speaker 5: for our veterans. They do not deserve to have a
32:14
Speaker 5: cap on their allied health. They do not deserve to
32:18
Speaker 5: have this placed on their service and sacrifice and duty
32:21
Speaker 5: for this nation. And if he can't do that, and
32:23
Speaker 5: if he can't do the right thing, then he needs
32:26
Speaker 5: to go as well. And what needs to happen then
32:29
Speaker 5: is somebody who replaces him be put around that cabinet
32:32
Speaker 5: table and have some empathy and a listening ear, not
32:35
Speaker 5: a tin ear, to our veterans' needs and wants and expectations.
32:39
Speaker 5: They deserve better than this. I just seem to think
32:42
Speaker 5: that the Prime Minister can't admit that he's wrong. He
32:46
Speaker 5: doesn't like when he is wrong. But his minister is
32:49
Speaker 5: palpably wrong on this occasion. And if Anthony Albanese can't
32:53
Speaker 5: see that, well, I tell you what, there's a lot
32:56
Speaker 5: of veterans and they've got white-hot anger at the moment, Steve,
32:59
Speaker 5: right across the nation. I visited every state and territory
33:02
Speaker 5: over the two-week break that we had and not one
33:06
Speaker 5: veteran came up to me and thought that this cap
33:08
Speaker 5: was a good idea. It's not in the 122 recommendations
33:11
Speaker 5: of the Royal Commission and it should be scrapped.
33:16
Speaker 1: I tell you what, with Keogh, I mean, we hear
33:19
Speaker 1: from the veterans who went into these meetings. I mean,
33:22
Speaker 1: the first meeting apparently sat there with his arms folded and,
33:25
Speaker 1: you know, didn't really look all that connected with what
33:29
Speaker 1: was going on. What are you hearing from these vets
33:32
Speaker 1: who went into these meetings? Are they being treated as
33:36
Speaker 1: badly as what they are? Because Keogh stands up in
33:39
Speaker 1: question time and refutes that.
33:42
Speaker 5: Well, I know who I'd believe when you've got a
33:45
Speaker 5: group of veterans who've got great service for our country,
33:49
Speaker 5: who put our country first, who protected our people when
33:52
Speaker 5: our people needed protection, or the Minister Matt Keogh, with
33:57
Speaker 5: whom I've dealt with. He can be a decent bloke,
34:00
Speaker 5: but I tell you what, he's just belligerent. And that
34:03
Speaker 5: medallic recognition time limitation that he put in place where
34:06
Speaker 5: Teddy Sheehan and Richard Norton would never have received a
34:09
Speaker 5: posthumous Victoria Cross, There was the Doug and Kay Baird's travel,
34:13
Speaker 5: just a few thousand dollars to talk about the legacy
34:16
Speaker 5: of their wonderful son, Corporal Cameron Baird v. CMG. And then,
34:20
Speaker 5: of course, we had the Invictus Games, $ 3 million, just
34:24
Speaker 5: quite frankly, loose change in the overall veterans budget. And
34:27
Speaker 5: he didn't want to budge on any of those things. Well,
34:30
Speaker 5: the time has come, the veterans are angry, and they're right,
34:33
Speaker 5: and Matt Keogh's wrong. And if he can't see that, well,
34:36
Speaker 5: he needs to go and do something else, quite frankly.
34:40
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us. I know it's a bit of difficulty.
34:42
Speaker 1: Your flight was delayed and you're standing there in the
34:44
Speaker 1: middle of a street in Sydney. But good on you, Michael.
34:46
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again soon. Michael McCormack there. What
34:49
Speaker 1: a champion he is doing that for us. Coming up,
34:51
Speaker 1: the South Australian Premier, Peter Malinowskis, in a speech in
34:55
Speaker 1: Sydney last night, says it's a race to the bottom
34:58
Speaker 1: if the major parties try to appease Pauline Hanson over immigration.
35:02
Speaker 1: We'll find out what that's all about. Plus, tomorrow, of course,
35:05
Speaker 1: is the 25th anniversary of the 9-11 attack terrorist disaster
35:10
Speaker 1: in New York, marking one of the darkest days in history.
35:13
Speaker 1: Our US correspondent, Jono Kersley, will join me live from Washington.
35:21
Speaker 1: Welcome back. Steve Price with you for Shari. And I'll
35:23
Speaker 1: be back tomorrow night, of course, at six o'clock with
35:26
Speaker 1: the Friday night show. Now, tomorrow, speaking of tomorrow, marks
35:29
Speaker 1: the 25th anniversary of one of the darkest times in
35:33
Speaker 1: our recent history. We had two hijacked planes, hijacked by al-Qaeda,
35:38
Speaker 1: flew into the Twin Towers in New York, causing catastrophic damage.
35:43
Speaker 1: The buildings collapsed. The health of the first responders and
35:48
Speaker 1: people who survived that collapse was just extraordinary. Another passenger
35:54
Speaker 1: plane then, of course, crashed into the Pentagon and John
35:58
Speaker 1: Howard was holding a media conference in a hotel across
36:01
Speaker 1: the road. with the third plane crashing in a field
36:04
Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania after passengers on board that plane, and you
36:07
Speaker 1: will have seen the documentary made on that, overpowered the hijackers.
36:11
Speaker 1: Listen to this number. 2,977 people died. You have any
36:17
Speaker 1: wonder why the Americans wanted to retaliate? Made it the
36:20
Speaker 1: deadliest terror attack in history. Across the world, memorials will
36:25
Speaker 1: be held in memory of that day. Back then, I
36:28
Speaker 1: was on Radio 3AW. I went from my bed at
36:33
Speaker 1: home fast asleep before midnight on air, live and broadcast
36:39
Speaker 1: for 14 hours straight. It was the most gut-wrenching thing
36:42
Speaker 1: I've ever reported on. It was horrific. Joining me now
36:46
Speaker 1: is News 24 Washington correspondent, Jono Kersley, who's been kind
36:50
Speaker 1: enough to get up very early in the morning. Jono,
36:53
Speaker 1: you've been covering the Republican midterms convention in Dallas. But
36:58
Speaker 1: let's talk about September 11 first. 25 years ago, what
37:03
Speaker 1: is actually planned tomorrow for New York City itself?
37:10
Speaker 13: Right about 24 hours or so from now, Steve, the
37:12
Speaker 13: commemoration services will begin. There will be a flag unfurling
37:17
Speaker 13: at the Pentagon before the service there where President Trump
37:21
Speaker 13: is due to attend and due to speak. Normally presidents
37:24
Speaker 13: would go to the Ground Zero memorial service. That will
37:27
Speaker 13: be taking place. Vice President J.D. Vance will be going
37:30
Speaker 13: in President Trump's place. The other living presidents, Joe Biden,
37:34
Speaker 13: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama will all
37:38
Speaker 13: be there. So too will Zoran Mamdani, the New York
37:41
Speaker 13: City mayor, who has faced calls for him not to
37:43
Speaker 13: attend this 25-year anniversary service And as is tradition, Steve,
37:48
Speaker 13: we have seen it now for so many years, is
37:51
Speaker 13: the names of those who have fallen will be read
37:54
Speaker 13: out one after another. 2,977 lives, as you mentioned, lost
37:59
Speaker 13: on that day across the attacks on the World Trade
38:01
Speaker 13: Center towers, the Pentagon and Flight 93 coming down in.
38:05
Speaker 2: Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
38:07
Speaker 13: We've already been told to watch for the body language
38:09
Speaker 13: between Vice President Vance and Joe Biden after a comment
38:12
Speaker 13: the Vice President made earlier this week. But it is
38:15
Speaker 13: going to be somewhat of a sombre event. Obviously, it's
38:18
Speaker 13: 25 years since the events that, well, forever changed the world.
38:21
Speaker 13: You talked about going into radio late night. I was
38:23
Speaker 13: a high school student back in that day, lying in
38:26
Speaker 13: bed listening to the radio as it was at that
38:27
Speaker 13: time of, the events that were unfolding and we knew
38:32
Speaker 13: then that this was going to be a moment that
38:33
Speaker 13: would forever change the lives and the world in which
38:36
Speaker 13: we lived in and it was these commemoration service they're
38:39
Speaker 13: going to be important they're going to be dignified across
38:43
Speaker 13: both ground zero and the pentagon a chance for americans
38:47
Speaker 13: to remember those events the atrocities the lives lost but
38:53
Speaker 13: also reflect on where the world is now. President Trump
38:56
Speaker 13: has already pointed to the Iran conflict when he spoke
38:59
Speaker 13: on the ellipse at the White House just a matter
39:00
Speaker 13: of a couple of days ago, citing the United States
39:03
Speaker 13: as essentially still at war in some regards, particularly given
39:08
Speaker 13: that conflict with Iran.
39:09
Speaker 2: So, look, it's going to be an important service.
39:11
Speaker 13: It's going to be a special service, particularly for the
39:14
Speaker 13: family members who are still grieving. New York City this
39:17
Speaker 13: week released a whole bunch of government records related.
39:19
Speaker 2: To health and air quality around that time.
39:23
Speaker 13: It's taken 25 years to get to that point of
39:26
Speaker 13: having this information now made public. But come 24 hours
39:30
Speaker 13: from now, it's all going to be about those lives lost,
39:33
Speaker 13: the first responders who went into those World Trade Center
39:36
Speaker 13: towers to try and save the lives that.
39:39
Speaker 2: They could, and how 9-11 changed America and the world.
39:44
Speaker 1: Our Prime Minister, John Howard, of course, John, I was
39:46
Speaker 1: in Washington about to do a media conference. He was
39:49
Speaker 1: actually standing in a hotel which had a view of
39:52
Speaker 1: the Pentagon when that plane went in, when the third
39:56
Speaker 1: plane hit the Pentagon. John Howard this week recalls that,
40:02
Speaker 1: you know, his wife Jeanette and his son were wandering
40:04
Speaker 1: around the streets of New York and.
40:10
Speaker 1: Sorry, of New York. And they were grabbed off the
40:13
Speaker 1: street and driven into an underground car park. And John
40:16
Speaker 1: Howard was the first... Air Force Two was given to
40:20
Speaker 1: him by George W Bush and it was the first
40:23
Speaker 1: plane back in the air in the whole of the
40:25
Speaker 1: United States.
40:28
Speaker 13: Jeanette and Tim were doing sightseeing around that time and
40:32
Speaker 13: were ushered back to the hotel very, very quickly indeed.
40:36
Speaker 13: John Howard later doing another press conference, essentially inside what
40:40
Speaker 13: was a bunker of the Australian embassy almost. And you
40:44
Speaker 13: remember the ashen look on his face as he was
40:47
Speaker 13: answering questions, realising.
40:49
Speaker 2: What this moment would mean. Yes, he's playing.
40:52
Speaker 13: He went back on what was Air Force Two, leaving
40:56
Speaker 13: the United States to get back towards Australia.
41:00
Speaker 2: George W. Bush would later refer to John Howard.
41:02
Speaker 13: As a man of steel in response to his support
41:06
Speaker 13: for the United States. It was the first time the
41:07
Speaker 13: ANZUS Treaty had been invoked, a treaty and a pact
41:11
Speaker 13: that we have recently marked 75 years of. John Howard,
41:15
Speaker 13: as we heard on News 24 earlier this week, has reflected, yes,
41:19
Speaker 13: on that moment, that time, and how he thought it
41:22
Speaker 13: would change everything, being in a position of power that
41:25
Speaker 13: he was, saying it was important to invoke that treaty,
41:28
Speaker 13: thinking that it would be the United States coming to
41:30
Speaker 13: Australia's aid when that was first invoked, not necessarily the
41:35
Speaker 13: other way around, but obviously adamant that it was right
41:38
Speaker 13: to be at America's side for the response for the
41:41
Speaker 13: war in Afghanistan and then later to Afghanistan the war
41:44
Speaker 13: in Iraq. It would take years before Osama bin Laden,
41:48
Speaker 13: the man that was the head of al-Qaeda, that was
41:51
Speaker 13: responsible for planning, coordinating, financing the September 11 attacks, would
41:56
Speaker 13: eventually be brought to justice and be found and shot
41:59
Speaker 13: dead by a SEAL team under Barack Obama's leadership. And
42:03
Speaker 13: we all remember that press conference late at night in
42:04
Speaker 13: the US as Barack Obama spoke.
42:07
Speaker 2: To the world.
42:07
Speaker 13: But look, this is a time of reflection, I think,
42:10
Speaker 13: for everybody, because 25 years, look, it's a quarter of
42:13
Speaker 13: a century.
42:14
Speaker 2: It's a long time. There are people around today who obviously.
42:16
Speaker 13: Weren't alive then, but it is an important time to
42:18
Speaker 13: remember not just, as I say, the lives lost, but
42:22
Speaker 13: the world in which we now live in.
42:23
Speaker 2: George W. Bush reflected on that.
42:25
Speaker 13: Very issue just a matter of 12 hours or so ago,
42:28
Speaker 13: saying he does not believe that in some instances and
42:31
Speaker 13: in the United States in particular, that the lessons of
42:34
Speaker 13: 9-11 have been learned, saying that what happens on foreign
42:38
Speaker 13: shores matters to the national security of the United States
42:42
Speaker 13: of America. That's obviously looking into issues around concerns where
42:46
Speaker 13: there's conflict and tension in other parts of.
42:49
Speaker 2: The world and the need to be able to monitor.
42:51
Speaker 13: These individuals and terror groups and acting abroad.
42:55
Speaker 2: And how that could impact the security of the Western world.
42:58
Speaker 13: So 24 hours from now, the commemoration services will be underway.
43:02
Speaker 2: It will be, as I say, it'll be a sombre moment,
43:04
Speaker 2: but a chance for reflection, too.
43:08
Speaker 1: Look forward to seeing your coverage of that. Doing a
43:10
Speaker 1: fantastic job there in the US. Thank you very much.
43:13
Speaker 1: Getting up early for us, Jonathan. That'll be covered, of course,
43:16
Speaker 1: on News 24 across the next 24 hours. 25 years
43:19
Speaker 1: since September 11. That does not seem that long ago. OK,
43:23
Speaker 1: coming up after the break, I want to explain why
43:25
Speaker 1: Peter Malinowskis, the South Australian Premier, in a speech last
43:28
Speaker 1: night urged the major parties, including presumably federal Labor, to
43:33
Speaker 1: resist following One Nation down a migration rabbit hole, as
43:37
Speaker 1: he put it. Welcome back. Massive event in Melbourne tomorrow.
43:44
Speaker 1: Sold out MCG. Two NFL teams are playing. The 49ers
43:49
Speaker 1: from San Francisco and the LA Rams. Starts, I think,
43:52
Speaker 1: around about 10.30, 10.45, something like that. What they've done
43:58
Speaker 1: behind the scenes to make this happen is just extraordinary.
44:02
Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll see some coverage of that tomorrow as
44:04
Speaker 1: it unfolds. I want to go back to the South
44:07
Speaker 1: Australian Premier, Peter Malinowskis, who I've got a lot of
44:09
Speaker 1: regard for, I think, He's the sort of centre-right Labor
44:13
Speaker 1: politician we need in Canberra. He's accused the major parties,
44:17
Speaker 1: including the Labor Party, presumably, of pandering to One Nation
44:21
Speaker 1: over migrant numbers. This was in a speech last night
44:24
Speaker 1: that he made, the case that cutting international student numbers
44:27
Speaker 1: was madness and, quote, this is a direct quote, there
44:31
Speaker 1: could be no greater act of national economic self-harm at
44:34
Speaker 1: this time than to slash migration numbers for political purposes.
44:39
Speaker 1: I should point out he lives in Adelaide. and not
44:41
Speaker 1: the migrant cities of choice like Melbourne and Sydney, and
44:44
Speaker 1: what that is doing, of course, to the quality of
44:46
Speaker 1: life in those two places. Joining me now, EQ Economics
44:49
Speaker 1: Managing Director, regular on News 24, Warren Hogan. Good to
44:53
Speaker 1: see you again. We're in the middle of this economic
44:57
Speaker 1: benefit or harm with immigration, staying at the current numbers, Warren.
45:01
Speaker 1: Who's actually right in this issue?
45:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, good evening, Steve, and thanks for having me on
45:06
Speaker 3: the show. I was at the South Australian Premier's speech
45:09
Speaker 3: last night and it was an impassioned plea not to
45:11
Speaker 3: give up on immigration. And I agree with him and
45:14
Speaker 3: I agree with your comments about where he is in
45:17
Speaker 3: our political scene. But he's got to be careful. You know,
45:20
Speaker 3: there is a lot of economic benefit over the long
45:22
Speaker 3: run and we are going to remain a strong migrant nation.
45:25
Speaker 3: But using the economic arguments right now, it's nuanced. We
45:29
Speaker 3: have overcooked it with the surge in immigration and We've
45:32
Speaker 3: got an economy that's fundamentally changed in its balance from
45:35
Speaker 3: one where we had too many workers, not enough jobs
45:38
Speaker 3: for the last 50 years. Unemployment was a problem. Now
45:40
Speaker 3: we've got labour shortages and immigration doesn't solve it. The
45:43
Speaker 3: Europeans are now learning that when they tried to deal
45:46
Speaker 3: with their problems of labour shortages prior to the pandemic
45:49
Speaker 3: through immigration. because you get immigrants in to do the jobs,
45:53
Speaker 3: but they also need houses and hospitals and roads, et cetera,
45:57
Speaker 3: et cetera. So we do need to ease back in
45:59
Speaker 3: the short term. Angus Taylor and the Liberal Party have
46:02
Speaker 3: got a very sensible approach to this. I think they
46:04
Speaker 3: came out with a number of about 170. Compared to
46:07
Speaker 3: 230 as our benchmark, this is not a draconian cut
46:11
Speaker 3: to immigration. It's a short-term ease back. But the thing
46:14
Speaker 3: I warn all politicians is, Immigration is not going to
46:17
Speaker 3: solve our labour shortage problems. The only thing that's going
46:20
Speaker 3: to solve it is more productivity, the use of technology
46:23
Speaker 3: and a better organised economy.
46:26
Speaker 1: You're right to say, Warren, that it's a nuanced conversation,
46:30
Speaker 1: but too often it does get torn apart and the
46:33
Speaker 1: nuance disappears. I mean, we had the Farmers' Federation, I
46:37
Speaker 1: think it was last week, saying, well, hang on a minute,
46:39
Speaker 1: if you change these backpacker rules, which is what Labor
46:42
Speaker 1: apparently behind the scenes is thinking about doing, who's going
46:45
Speaker 1: to pick the fruit? Who's going to pick the grapes
46:47
Speaker 1: and the apples and the pears and the oranges? I mean,
46:50
Speaker 1: you can't just pull people out of nowhere and Australian
46:53
Speaker 1: people don't want to do those picking jobs.
46:56
Speaker 3: He's exactly right. And again, I think this is where
46:59
Speaker 3: the Liberal Party is going with their policy is we
47:02
Speaker 3: have to be more clear on the kind of immigration
47:05
Speaker 3: we're going to do, more controlled and targeted. And of course,
47:09
Speaker 3: you know, just saying we're going to cut it and
47:11
Speaker 3: this is what the South Australian Premier was saying for
47:14
Speaker 3: political reasons is misguided. But it's sort of the cat's
47:19
Speaker 3: out of the bag, so to speak, because, you know,
47:21
Speaker 3: our politicians have been pretty good at keeping this unpoliticised
47:24
Speaker 3: for much of the last sort of, you know, two
47:27
Speaker 3: or three generations. It's now in the front. There's a
47:30
Speaker 3: lot of issues to it, social and economic. But the
47:33
Speaker 3: economic story in our economy is that we just need
47:36
Speaker 3: to ease back. But we are an immigrant nation and
47:39
Speaker 3: it's going to continue over the decades ahead. And we
47:42
Speaker 3: just need to control it and target it a bit better.
47:46
Speaker 1: What do you make of, just briefly before you go, Warren,
47:49
Speaker 1: the Queensland bracing itself for a credit rating downgrade? First
47:52
Speaker 1: one in 20 years.
47:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, and this is a government that's got long-standing fiscal credibility.
47:59
Speaker 3: Christopher has made some tactical errors, but the reality is
48:02
Speaker 3: it's a growth state. They're investing in infrastructure and they
48:05
Speaker 3: will be able to deal with this over the longer term,
48:08
Speaker 3: unlike Victoria, which isn't investing in are the right thing,
48:11
Speaker 3: or other states. So I'm not too concerned about it.
48:14
Speaker 3: I think we're on the right track still in Queensland.
48:17
Speaker 1: You'll be pleased to know, mentioning Victoria, that the dreadful
48:20
Speaker 1: working from home legislation got held up in the Upper
48:23
Speaker 1: House today. It's going to be sent off to a committee. Hopefully,
48:26
Speaker 1: fingers crossed, they might get rid of it.
48:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, we've got to stop this fantasy economics.
48:32
Speaker 3: We've got to get on and face the facts of
48:33
Speaker 3: what we're dealing with here. And if we don't, we're
48:36
Speaker 3: in trouble.
48:38
Speaker 1: Nice to catch up with you, Warren. Thank you very
48:40
Speaker 1: much for that, Warren Hogan there. As I said, mentioning Melbourne,
48:43
Speaker 1: that big game at the MCG tomorrow, the LA Rams
48:46
Speaker 1: playing the San Francisco 49ers, something that's never been done
48:49
Speaker 1: in this country. And guess what? It's a sellout. MCG,
48:53
Speaker 1: 100,000 people. My old mate, Paul Murray, he's up next.