Latest / Steve Price / Steve Price | 17 July

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Steve Price | 17 July · Steve Price

0:01
Speaker 1: Live. This is Steve Price.
0:05
Speaker 2: Good evening and welcome to the show. I'm Jamie Rogers
0:09
Speaker 2: filling in for Steve Price. Here is what's coming up
0:13
Speaker 2: on Price. After months of controversy, the Victorian Liberal Party
0:18
Speaker 2: has disendorsed MP more redeeming.
0:21
Speaker 3: We'll have more on that breaking story.
0:24
Speaker 2: Shortly has labor just made it harder for young Australians
0:28
Speaker 2: to get ahead? New analysis suggests the government is pulling
0:32
Speaker 2: up the ladder behind them when it comes to capital gains,
0:36
Speaker 2: tax and US President Donald Trump used a major address
0:41
Speaker 2: to reveal intelligence that shows the twenty twenty election had
0:45
Speaker 2: interference by China. But first, citizenship should be one of
0:52
Speaker 2: the proudest moments in a person's life. It's a commitment
0:56
Speaker 2: to Australia, to our laws, our values and shared future.
1:01
Speaker 3: So let me be very clear from the outset.
1:04
Speaker 2: This is not about attacking people who have followed the rules,
1:08
Speaker 2: earned their citizenship and are waiting.
1:10
Speaker 3: To take the pledge.
1:11
Speaker 2: Today's story raises a much bigger question what are the
1:15
Speaker 2: Albanesi government's priorities? Because while Australian families are struggling to
1:20
Speaker 2: find somewhere to live, the government continues to bring hundreds
1:25
Speaker 2: of thousands more people into the country. Analysis by the
1:29
Speaker 2: Institute of Public Affairs found net permanent and long term
1:33
Speaker 2: arrivals reached more than four hundred and eighty thousand in
1:37
Speaker 2: the twelve months to May. That's the highest figure ever
1:42
Speaker 2: recorded for that period. And despite repeated claims that Australia
1:47
Speaker 2: needs record migration to feel critical skill shortages, the IPA
1:52
Speaker 2: says it's a different story.
1:55
Speaker 4: There are one hundred and eighty five permanent visas granted
1:58
Speaker 4: and of that about seventy one percent are given under
2:01
Speaker 4: the skilled visa program, but only sixty thousand of the
2:05
Speaker 4: total one hundred and eighty five thousand total permanent visas
2:09
Speaker 4: are actually skilled migrants. Now, no one is suggesting that
2:13
Speaker 4: we have a family separation policy when it comes to
2:17
Speaker 4: our migration policy. That's absurd, but the government should at
2:22
Speaker 4: least be honest about what our skilled migration program actually is,
2:27
Speaker 4: particularly when we are having a record net overseas migration
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Speaker 4: program under this Albanesi government.
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Speaker 2: This analysis raises a bigger question. If Australians are being
2:39
Speaker 2: asked to support one of the largest migration programs in
2:42
Speaker 2: our history, then we need transparency around this. Didn't Anthony
2:47
Speaker 2: Alberzi promise to do politics differently.
2:51
Speaker 5: Truth is that we're an open, transparent party. For there
2:55
Speaker 5: needs to be complete transparency. What we need is a
2:58
Speaker 5: prime minister who's prepared to be true, a more honest
3:01
Speaker 5: and transparent a government going forward who will make it transparent,
3:05
Speaker 5: but being transparent.
3:08
Speaker 2: Because today we're learning that local councils are being asked
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Speaker 2: to increase the number of citizenship ceremonies to work through
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Speaker 2: a backlog estimated at around three hundred thousand approved applicants.
3:21
Speaker 2: Liverpool Mayor and ned Manoon says the Department of Home
3:24
Speaker 2: Affairs ask the council to increase the number of these ceremonies.
3:29
Speaker 2: The former Cumberland mayor says ceremonies in his area have tripled,
3:34
Speaker 2: and he says they've been politicized, with state and federal
3:37
Speaker 2: MPs sitting in the front row to win over new voters.
3:41
Speaker 2: An independent New South Wales MP Rod Roberts has accused
3:45
Speaker 2: the government of trying to mint new voters ahead of
3:49
Speaker 2: the next federal election, saying people come into the country,
3:54
Speaker 2: get their citizenship, receive their benefits and feel obliged to
3:58
Speaker 2: repay the government in some way. Now that's a serious accusation.
4:04
Speaker 2: The government denies any political motivation and says it's simply
4:08
Speaker 2: trying to reduce waiting times for approved applicants, But Labor
4:12
Speaker 2: has invited this suspicion. Last year, the Home Affairs Minister
4:16
Speaker 2: Tony Burke faced similar accusations. Weeks before the federal election,
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Speaker 2: a ceremony held at Olympic Park saw the majority of
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Speaker 2: the four and a half thousand new citizens lived in
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Speaker 2: the marginal seats of Paramatta and Read At the time.
4:33
Speaker 2: Home Affairs Department Secretary Stephanie Foster revealed that Tony Burke
4:38
Speaker 2: asked officials to organize ceremonies around his availability.
4:44
Speaker 6: The Minister asked us to share your ceremonies.
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Speaker 4: He gave us a window of availability and we schedulselves.
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Speaker 4: So he directed you to hold these ceremonies when he
4:53
Speaker 4: was available.
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Speaker 1: To attend them.
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Speaker 2: Now, mister Burke has made no apology for accelerating the process,
5:00
Speaker 2: says that if he had his way, citizenship ceremonies would
5:03
Speaker 2: be held every day. But Australians are entitled to ask
5:08
Speaker 2: why does the government move with such urgency on citizenship ceremonies? Now,
5:13
Speaker 2: these don't create the population pressure. They occur at the
5:16
Speaker 2: end of a much longer immigration process, but they expose
5:20
Speaker 2: a government focused on processing migration, not managing its impact
5:25
Speaker 2: on Australians, and perception matters. When ceremonies are expanded before
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Speaker 2: an election, when politicians are seated prominently at the front,
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Speaker 2: and when thousands of potential new voters are being processed
5:38
Speaker 2: in politically important areas, the government should expect questions. The
5:43
Speaker 2: Albanesi government says this is simply about clearing a backlog.
5:47
Speaker 3: If so, it should release the full figures.
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Speaker 2: Tell Australians where the ceremonies are being increased, Explain how
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Speaker 2: the locations were chosen, Revealed how many approved applicants will
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Speaker 2: will become eligible to enroll before the next election. Transparency
6:04
Speaker 2: would help remove any suspicion that politics is influencing the process,
6:10
Speaker 2: but the broader failure remains. Australia cannot keep running a
6:14
Speaker 2: population program disconnected from housing, infrastructure and living standards. You
6:20
Speaker 2: can't add hundreds of thousands of people while holmes remain scarce,
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Speaker 2: and then act surprised when rent surge, roads.
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Speaker 3: Clog, and services buckle.
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Speaker 2: A responsible government would put Australian's quality of life at
6:35
Speaker 2: the center of its population policy. But this looks like
6:39
Speaker 2: votes are being put ahead of people or joining me
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Speaker 2: now is a Victoria political reporter, Georgie Dickerson. Georgie, thanks
6:52
Speaker 2: for jumping on. Let's talk about more redeeming. And she
6:57
Speaker 2: has been disendorsed by the Liberal Party.
7:00
Speaker 3: What can you tell us?
7:03
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, this result came through in around the past
7:05
Speaker 7: fifteen or so minutes, Jamie, and it was a unanimous
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Speaker 7: decision from the party's state executive who met here tonight
7:11
Speaker 7: to vote to disendorse Moira Deeming on the Liberal Party
7:15
Speaker 7: ticket for the Western Metro Region ahead of November's state election.
7:19
Speaker 7: And they have released a statement in the past few
7:20
Speaker 7: minutes or so and I'll read that for you now.
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Speaker 3: It says the.
7:23
Speaker 7: State Executive of the Victorian Liberal Party has resolved that
7:26
Speaker 7: Moirademing will no longer represent the party as a candidate
7:29
Speaker 7: for the Western Metro Region. This matter is now concluded.
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Speaker 7: My singular focus remains on the issues that matter to
7:35
Speaker 7: Victorians and outlining our plan to deliver a fresh start
7:38
Speaker 7: this November. There was also another statement that recently came
7:42
Speaker 7: through in the past minute or so and they did
7:43
Speaker 7: thank Moira for her service to the Liberal Party in
7:46
Speaker 7: saying that the matter is now resolved. But of course
7:49
Speaker 7: this State Party executive meeting was originally meant.
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Speaker 3: To happen a fortnight ago, but it was.
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Speaker 7: Delayed due to the fact that More Redeeming had launched
7:57
Speaker 7: court action as stopping the meeting from actually go ahead.
8:00
Speaker 7: She actually took away that court action on Wednesday evening
8:05
Speaker 7: and that is why now the State Party was able
8:07
Speaker 7: to actually meet tonight. But of course it all stems
8:10
Speaker 7: back from that incident that happened in May of this
8:12
Speaker 7: year where she had accused Matthew Guy, the former Liberal leader,
8:16
Speaker 7: of assault. Police investigated and found no wrongdoing, but she
8:20
Speaker 7: refused to apologize despite calls from Matthew Guy himself and
8:24
Speaker 7: of course the opposition leader Jess Wilson. But it really
8:28
Speaker 7: does and years of turmoil within the Liberal Party that
8:31
Speaker 7: has related to More Redeeming. Of course, there was the
8:33
Speaker 7: defamation case with John Pursudo.
8:35
Speaker 3: Now this there was issues with her.
8:36
Speaker 7: Pre selection as well originally, and now it has come
8:39
Speaker 7: to a closure tonight and it's certainly something the Liberal
8:42
Speaker 7: Party would be hoping has wrapped up. We're just under
8:45
Speaker 7: five months from the state election. Jamie, so that Liberals
8:48
Speaker 7: really want to ensure that their focus remains on the
8:50
Speaker 7: election ahead.
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Speaker 2: Georgie, It's been just so disappointing to watch when all
8:57
Speaker 2: that the party wanted more to do was to apologize
8:59
Speaker 2: to me guy for making a mistake, of which she
9:02
Speaker 2: wouldn't do.
9:04
Speaker 3: What do you are you hearing?
9:05
Speaker 2: What's next for Maura because she can still say a
9:07
Speaker 2: member within the party.
9:09
Speaker 3: But where to from here?
9:13
Speaker 7: Well, essentially now we have to wait to see whether
9:15
Speaker 7: she will remain a member of the Liberal Party. Obviously,
9:19
Speaker 7: Parliament does actually return here on the twenty eighth of July,
9:22
Speaker 7: so it's not known if she will return as a
9:24
Speaker 7: member of the Liberal Party in the Upper House on
9:26
Speaker 7: the twenty eighth of July, or if she'll leave the
9:29
Speaker 7: Liberal Party altogether. And I suppose they will be the
9:31
Speaker 7: next steps and the next steps for the Liberal Party.
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Speaker 7: Will now be holding a third pre selection for the
9:36
Speaker 7: Western Metro ticket. Of course, when she lost the pre
9:39
Speaker 7: selection a few months ago, Danish Garrisetti he was the
9:42
Speaker 7: person chosen.
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Speaker 3: In the top spot.
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Speaker 7: He was later had his pre selection revoked following a
9:48
Speaker 7: character reference he had provided and then we're redeeming had
9:51
Speaker 7: been another pre selection. Then she had been pre selected
9:54
Speaker 7: for the ticket, so they've certainly got to organize that.
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Speaker 7: And of course it is just a few months now
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Speaker 7: to they really starting to get into the campaign mode.
10:02
Speaker 7: They've been touring Victoria, so that is I'm sure what
10:05
Speaker 7: they would want Victorians to be focused on rather than
10:08
Speaker 7: these internal politics playing out.
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Speaker 2: Well, Georgia Dickerson, I appreciate you jumping on tonight, and
10:14
Speaker 2: you're right. Let's hope now they can just focus on
10:16
Speaker 2: the upcoming November election.
10:19
Speaker 3: Enjoy your night.
10:21
Speaker 2: For US President Donald Trump has used a major address
10:24
Speaker 2: to reveal intelligence that shows twenty twenty's election was interfered
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Speaker 2: by China, claiming Beijing wanted him defeated, and mister Trump
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Speaker 2: promised to declassify this intelligent that he says will expose
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Speaker 2: what happened. Former Vice President Kamala Harris posted prior to
10:42
Speaker 2: the speech saying, before the President gets on television tonight
10:47
Speaker 2: to pedal lies and conspiracy theories, here is what you
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Speaker 2: need to know. The twenty twenty election was not stolen.
10:54
Speaker 2: The Save Act is voter suspression and it's part of
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Speaker 2: a large agenda of conservatives trying to steal power from
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Speaker 2: the people. This comes as a report of a bounty
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Speaker 2: that is on the head of the president, with fresh
11:09
Speaker 2: strikes happening in Iran. Or joining me now to unpack
11:12
Speaker 2: this is US political journalist John Fund. John, let's start
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Speaker 2: with President Donald Trump's speech today where he really blew
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Speaker 2: open the lid to interference by China in that twenty
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Speaker 2: twenty two election. But he also said that more than
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Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty thousand illegal voters had registered.
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Speaker 3: What do you make of the claims?
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Speaker 8: Well, first of all, the President was very wise that
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Speaker 8: for once he did not make this about himself and
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Speaker 8: whether or not the twenty twenty election was stolen. I
11:44
Speaker 8: don't think we're ever going to know what really happened
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Speaker 8: in the twenty twenty election, because then competence merged with
11:49
Speaker 8: shenanigans and will never know the final result. What we
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Speaker 8: do know from what the President revealed tonight is declassified
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Speaker 8: documents that apparently had been hidden for several years. They
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Speaker 8: show that the Chinese accessed enormous files of US voters
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Speaker 8: took that personal information. What they did with it, we're
12:08
Speaker 8: not sure of, But we do know from a separate
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Speaker 8: FBI be classified report that apparently they were manufacturing and
12:16
Speaker 8: shipping to the United States fraudulent driver's licenses. Now that
12:21
Speaker 8: FBI report was later withdrawn under someone's order, but it's
12:26
Speaker 8: not been refuted.
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Speaker 1: So I believe we have the early.
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Speaker 8: Signs that the Chinese probably intended to intervene very dramatically
12:33
Speaker 8: in the twenty twenty election. But for whether reasons of
12:37
Speaker 8: prudence or whether reasons of incompetence, they didn't do it.
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Speaker 8: I think what the shows is, regardless of what China
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Speaker 8: did or didn't do, they were trying to knock on
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Speaker 8: the door of US voter integrity. Now where should we
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Speaker 8: go from here. We need to have voter ID in
12:54
Speaker 8: every state. We need to have the voter rolls scrubbed.
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Speaker 8: They're incredibly and competently managed and in error. Something like
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Speaker 8: twenty percent of our water registration roles are out of date.
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Speaker 8: And the President was trying to make a pitch for
13:10
Speaker 8: having Congress do that. I don't think he's going to succeed,
13:13
Speaker 8: but I think this issue puts it is put back
13:15
Speaker 8: squarely on the table by what the President said tonight.
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Speaker 2: Well, let's touch on that, because the President did speak
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Speaker 2: about this Save America Act, and it is to try
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Speaker 2: and avoid voter fraud where you bring ID when.
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Speaker 3: You go to vote.
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Speaker 2: Surely though off the back of this news, well, actually,
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Speaker 2: Kamala Harris did post before the speech saying that this
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Speaker 2: Save Act is about voter suppression.
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Speaker 3: You would think it would.
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Speaker 2: Add an extra element of motivation to be able to
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Speaker 2: pass this just so that there's integrity and confidence when
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Speaker 2: Americans are going to the polls and with their election.
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Speaker 2: Do you think this sort of information will at least
13:53
Speaker 2: make the Democrats start to see things a little bit differently.
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Speaker 8: No, this is everyone is frozen in position. Look, there
14:02
Speaker 8: is an argument against the Save America Act on federalism
14:05
Speaker 8: grounds that the states and local governments should normally handle this,
14:09
Speaker 8: but there's no argument that voter ID is already in
14:12
Speaker 8: use in thirty four states. There has been absolutely no evidence.
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Speaker 8: Let me underline that, no evidence that it leads to
14:19
Speaker 8: voter suppression. In fact, minority voter turnout has gone up
14:22
Speaker 8: in states with voter ID, and in fact, two thirds
14:25
Speaker 8: to seventy five percent of minority voters support voter ID.
14:29
Speaker 8: Many of them live in neighborhoods where there's questionable voter activity,
14:33
Speaker 8: and they know what goes on, and they want it stopped.
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Speaker 8: In addition, the President wants to have a citizenship test.
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Speaker 8: If you're going to vote, you should be able to
14:42
Speaker 8: prove that you're a citizen. And the mail in voting
14:44
Speaker 8: that we have right now is thoroughly inadequate for election security.
14:50
Speaker 8: Millions of votes are waved through with a cursory look
14:53
Speaker 8: at the signature, but anybody can squiggle anything and it's accepted.
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Speaker 8: The voter rolls. The mail in ballots have no security.
15:02
Speaker 8: They in some states, they're mailed out to every registered voter,
15:05
Speaker 8: so they clog mailboxes. They can be picked up by
15:07
Speaker 8: anyone and filled out by anyone. It's a potential disaster
15:11
Speaker 8: winning to happen. That's what the President is talking about tonight.
15:15
Speaker 2: And he also referred to media outlets like the ABC,
15:19
Speaker 2: who he said, refused to show his speech today and
15:23
Speaker 2: accuse them of hiding information.
15:25
Speaker 9: Here he is and others in the media part of
15:28
Speaker 9: a plot. They want to continue this fraud for whatever reason.
15:32
Speaker 9: They want to keep it going. They want to protect
15:35
Speaker 9: the radical left. They can't have a great country. And
15:40
Speaker 9: that's true. You can't have a great country without free
15:43
Speaker 9: and fair elections.
15:46
Speaker 3: Does he make a valid point.
15:47
Speaker 8: There, Yes, and no, Look, the president has a point
15:52
Speaker 8: that the media doesn't want to look at any evidence
15:55
Speaker 8: of voter fraud. They don't they don't want to pursue
15:58
Speaker 8: those cases. And if you don't look for something, you're
16:00
Speaker 8: not going to find it. On the other hand, the
16:03
Speaker 8: president isn't helpful because he constantly uses a rhetoric that
16:06
Speaker 8: is over the top. If the president's goal is to
16:10
Speaker 8: convince independent centrist voters that this is a problem, you know,
16:14
Speaker 8: using that kind of charge language isn't going to get
16:16
Speaker 8: you very far, and it just cements again what I said,
16:19
Speaker 8: everybody stays in their same fixed ideological place.
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Speaker 2: And John, just quickly before I let you go, what
16:25
Speaker 2: about this story today about the man who operates Donald
16:28
Speaker 2: Trump's teleprompter has reportedly been placed on leave after allegedly
16:32
Speaker 2: making more than one hundred and forty thousand dollars on
16:35
Speaker 2: bets around what the President was going to say?
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Speaker 3: What do you make of the allegations.
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Speaker 8: Well, I'm sure there's credible evidence that something was done,
16:45
Speaker 8: because they've already interviewed the fellow and he admitted to
16:48
Speaker 8: making a whole bunch of bets. I think two things. One,
16:51
Speaker 8: I think the White House has to step up its security. Now,
16:55
Speaker 8: nothing was revealed that was sensitive on this. In fact,
16:58
Speaker 8: the bet was a little ridiculous. It was how many
17:00
Speaker 8: times a certain word was going to be used or
17:02
Speaker 8: what words would be avoiding the president's speech. I think
17:05
Speaker 8: there should be a lesson to the prediction market companies.
17:08
Speaker 8: Why don't you have predictions about something that's real and
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Speaker 8: meaningful to people and not some pin the tail on
17:14
Speaker 8: the donkey game. They should drop ridiculous bets like this
17:18
Speaker 8: because there's simply invitations to mischief.
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Speaker 1: So I hope this.
17:22
Speaker 8: I hope this doesn't necessarily lead to further regulation, but
17:25
Speaker 8: it does lead to prediction markets cleaning up their act
17:28
Speaker 8: and realizing their integrity and their credibility is at stake here.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, very good point there, John. I appreciate your time tonight.
17:36
Speaker 1: Thank you.
17:39
Speaker 2: The Prime Minister says superinnuation is a national asset. How
17:43
Speaker 2: concerning are those comments? And later what legacy will circui
17:47
Speaker 2: Sama leaf behind? Welcome back. It's great to have your company.
17:59
Speaker 2: Let's get back to that. Breaking news more Redeeming has
18:02
Speaker 2: been disendorsed by the Victorian Liberal Party as a candidate
18:05
Speaker 2: for November state election. Joining me now is a former
18:09
Speaker 2: Queensland Premier Campbell Newman Campbell, great to see you off
18:14
Speaker 2: the top. What do you make of this move by
18:16
Speaker 2: the Victorian Liberal Party?
18:19
Speaker 1: Great to be with you.
18:20
Speaker 10: Well, look, I guess it's sort of it's not unexpected.
18:25
Speaker 10: I'm afraid events of the last three or four weeks
18:28
Speaker 10: I think have seen more redeeming I think somewhat sadly
18:32
Speaker 10: lose a lot of support. I certainly felt that she'd
18:37
Speaker 10: been badly treated for quite a long time by a
18:40
Speaker 10: couple of successive leaders and many of her party colleagues.
18:44
Speaker 10: But something went on there in that room a few
18:47
Speaker 10: weeks ago at that function. There's only two people who
18:50
Speaker 10: really know whether it was any sort of ill intent
18:54
Speaker 10: or malice.
18:55
Speaker 1: But perhaps it's.
18:59
Speaker 10: Ultimately sort of Mora's career as an endorsed candidate or
19:05
Speaker 10: member of Parliament for the Liberal Party, and I think
19:08
Speaker 10: that's a bit of a pity.
19:09
Speaker 1: But so Bert, that's where it is.
19:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's definitely been sad to watch the decline in
19:16
Speaker 2: her career. Let's turn our focus now to Anthony Albernizi
19:21
Speaker 2: because he made some interesting comments this week at a
19:24
Speaker 2: superannuation round table, where the Prime Minister said superannuation is
19:29
Speaker 2: a national asset, and I think when you hear words
19:32
Speaker 2: like that, questions should be going off in our head.
19:37
Speaker 3: What did you make of it?
19:40
Speaker 10: I was outraged, and I'm outraged because that superannuation sort
19:46
Speaker 10: of nest eig is the nest eig of not the nation.
19:50
Speaker 10: It was the nest eig of millions of individual Australians.
19:54
Speaker 10: Their employers have, under legislation had to contribute into their
19:58
Speaker 10: super fund accounts on many occasions with large industry super funds,
20:04
Speaker 10: and often people have chosen to make supplementary contributions as
20:09
Speaker 10: well to top up.
20:11
Speaker 1: So it's their money.
20:12
Speaker 10: It's not Anthony Albanese's money, it's not Jim Chalmer's money,
20:15
Speaker 10: and it's not there to be deployed for the Labor
20:19
Speaker 10: Party's political projects. It's there to be deployed for the
20:23
Speaker 10: retirement benefits of those members. And I just simply say
20:30
Speaker 10: to anybody who's a trustee of those super funds, if
20:32
Speaker 10: you start cowtowing to the government's wishes on this, you're
20:37
Speaker 10: in very dangerous territory because ultimately, under the law and
20:43
Speaker 10: just trust law in general, you could be in a
20:45
Speaker 10: very difficult personal position.
20:48
Speaker 1: You're there to.
20:49
Speaker 10: Look after the interests of the people saving for their retirement,
20:52
Speaker 10: not the government and what they want to sort of
20:54
Speaker 10: spend money on.
20:56
Speaker 2: And I think Campbell the other issue that we've seen
20:59
Speaker 2: when it comes to do this government, they'll say one
21:02
Speaker 2: thing and do something else, as we've seen with the
21:04
Speaker 2: backflip on capital gains tax and negative gearing. So even
21:07
Speaker 2: if they now say oh no, we won't end up
21:10
Speaker 2: touching the super or treated as a national asset, we
21:13
Speaker 2: can't actually believe what they say or what they're planning
21:16
Speaker 2: to do.
21:18
Speaker 10: Look, you cannot believe anything this government says. There's there's
21:22
Speaker 10: been so many twists and turns and change positions. Like
21:26
Speaker 10: another one in the last week was an issue of
21:30
Speaker 10: artificial artificial intelligence.
21:33
Speaker 1: If you go back, I think it was last year.
21:35
Speaker 10: Only last year the PM was saying that he wasn't
21:39
Speaker 10: inclined to do anything in this space.
21:41
Speaker 1: Suddenly it's a burning issue and once.
21:43
Speaker 10: Again the heavy hand of regulation dictating down on what
21:48
Speaker 10: these companies can do.
21:50
Speaker 1: And I would make the point.
21:51
Speaker 10: On AI by the way, but you know.
21:55
Speaker 1: We close off so many opportunities in this country.
21:58
Speaker 10: We don't like coal and yet pays the wages of
22:01
Speaker 10: our police and emergency services staff. I mean now we
22:07
Speaker 10: want to sort of have another guard another potential economic
22:11
Speaker 10: opportunity in a safe, democratic country to have data centers
22:16
Speaker 10: where people are happy to have their data stored. Well,
22:18
Speaker 10: the data could be I'll give you an example. Data
22:21
Speaker 10: centers could be built in a lot of other jurisdictions
22:25
Speaker 10: New Zealand for example, and there's a thing called the Internet.
22:29
Speaker 10: They don't have to be built in Australia. So like,
22:32
Speaker 10: if you want to meddle again and regulate, you'll actually
22:36
Speaker 10: kill the golden goose before they even arrive on shore.
22:40
Speaker 2: I spoke about it at the top of the program,
22:42
Speaker 2: but I do want to get your thoughts around the
22:44
Speaker 2: news today where the government is pushing for more citizenship
22:48
Speaker 2: ceremonies and within this article they're being accused of trying
22:52
Speaker 2: to mint new voters.
22:54
Speaker 3: What do you make of that?
22:57
Speaker 10: Well, like, I know that's out there and it's been
22:59
Speaker 10: sid by a few different people in the Coalition over
23:02
Speaker 10: the years.
23:03
Speaker 1: I take a different tack on this.
23:05
Speaker 10: The Labor Party love bringing in immigrants, there's no doubt
23:09
Speaker 10: about that.
23:10
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. The Labor Party been really good when.
23:13
Speaker 10: Immigrants arrive new new ethnic groups. They have co opted
23:17
Speaker 10: them if you like, to the Labor Party. Cause give
23:20
Speaker 10: me I'll give you a quick example. In the nineteen seventies,
23:23
Speaker 10: GoF Whitlam didn't want to take South Vietnamese refugees. He
23:27
Speaker 10: called them a bunch of bolts, b alts, you know,
23:30
Speaker 10: Baltic state people who he saw as being sort of
23:33
Speaker 10: anti socialists. Well that group arrived here in Australia and
23:37
Speaker 10: my impression, certainly in Queensland is the Vietnamese have supported
23:41
Speaker 10: the Labor Party pretty strongly.
23:44
Speaker 1: And that's because.
23:45
Speaker 10: When they arrived, the Labor Party embraced them.
23:49
Speaker 1: They shower them with love.
23:52
Speaker 10: With attention, and indeed, you know, grants from government and
23:56
Speaker 10: the like and patronage and they get very strong support.
24:01
Speaker 1: So the Labor Party have been really good at.
24:03
Speaker 10: Co opting those new multicultural sort of ethnic groups who
24:07
Speaker 10: come to Australia.
24:08
Speaker 1: That's really what then happens.
24:12
Speaker 2: And Campbell Pauline Hanson's meeting with Tommy Robinson is back
24:16
Speaker 2: in the headlines again today, but this time it's around
24:19
Speaker 2: One Nation's James Ashbear said, Look, that podcast was arranged
24:23
Speaker 2: by a Channel seven spotlight program because a gap opened
24:26
Speaker 2: up when Nigel Farage was unable to do it. However,
24:30
Speaker 2: Channel of seven then refuted those claims.
24:33
Speaker 3: Do you just think this.
24:33
Speaker 2: Was a bad judgment call for her to do the
24:36
Speaker 2: podcast and the walk around with Tommy and now we're
24:39
Speaker 2: just kind of trying to cover up that mess a
24:41
Speaker 2: little bit.
24:45
Speaker 10: Look, I don't think so. It's sort of at the
24:49
Speaker 10: time scratch bet a little bit about why Pauline Hanson
24:53
Speaker 10: would need to actually sit down with him in particular,
24:55
Speaker 10: because you know, he's certainly got plenty of bad press
25:00
Speaker 10: the years, but he has also pointed out things that
25:04
Speaker 10: she's been saying in Australia.
25:05
Speaker 1: Whether you agree or disagree with her, he's certainly.
25:08
Speaker 10: Been highlighting some of the dark side of the large
25:13
Speaker 10: number of immigrants going to the UK.
25:16
Speaker 1: And I think at the end of the.
25:18
Speaker 10: Day, it was something they actually would have been happy
25:21
Speaker 10: to do. How it plays out for them, who knows,
25:25
Speaker 10: But it's very interesting at the moment. I think there's
25:27
Speaker 10: a lot of media scrutiny now on one nation. Finally
25:32
Speaker 10: that's fair enough in a way, but some of it
25:36
Speaker 10: I think is a bit over the top. For example,
25:38
Speaker 10: asking one nation for their costings, Well, you know, we
25:41
Speaker 10: haven't seen anything ever, I believe that's credible from Jim
25:44
Speaker 10: Charmers or Anthony Albanize about their costings or anything. You know,
25:48
Speaker 10: they've blown the budget to smith areens and need more
25:51
Speaker 10: tax dollars, I mean, you know, and the Coalition probably
25:55
Speaker 10: haven't put their things on the table as well, so
25:58
Speaker 10: I think some of them this is a bit of
26:00
Speaker 10: a pile in terms of what's happening with one nation
26:03
Speaker 10: at the moment.
26:05
Speaker 2: And we've seen just recently two very different sets of
26:09
Speaker 2: data come out around smoking levels in Australia. And the
26:14
Speaker 2: reasonhy I wanted to ask you about it is because
26:16
Speaker 2: they're pretty big difference. The ABS on one side is
26:20
Speaker 2: saying smoking has increased by forty percent between twenty seventeen
26:24
Speaker 2: and twenty twenty five, but then today a government funder
26:27
Speaker 2: report is saying that smoking's actually had.
26:29
Speaker 3: A record low.
26:31
Speaker 2: And I was just curious if you think that this
26:33
Speaker 2: discrepancy could potentially be that it's not quite capturing the
26:36
Speaker 2: illegal market users in the data.
26:41
Speaker 10: Too. Right, Look, look the elephant in the room, well,
26:46
Speaker 10: the emperor has no clothes, whatever sort of thing you
26:50
Speaker 10: want to use here, but look, there is a massive
26:53
Speaker 10: criminal enterprise or number of enterprises across this country now,
26:58
Speaker 10: who are busy making hay while the sun shines. While
27:02
Speaker 10: the idiots in the public health lobby in this country
27:05
Speaker 10: continue like drunks clinging to a lamp paste insists that
27:09
Speaker 10: their policies are good ones.
27:10
Speaker 1: They're stupid policies.
27:12
Speaker 10: They've cranked up the excise to create a massive black market.
27:16
Speaker 10: We've seen gang wars to back on us being torched,
27:19
Speaker 10: particularly in the United Soviet Socialist Republic of Victoria. We've
27:24
Speaker 10: got idiot politicians doubling down, saying tough laws, big fines,
27:28
Speaker 10: you know, cops.
27:29
Speaker 1: On the beat. We're going to do it.
27:30
Speaker 10: Like the way to deal with this is to drop
27:33
Speaker 10: the excise by about seventy percent and guess what government
27:38
Speaker 10: revenues will go up, and overnight the illegal tobacco industry
27:44
Speaker 10: will be killed, and then we'll probably get some decent
27:46
Speaker 10: stats on how many people are smoking.
27:49
Speaker 2: Campbell, you speak too much sense, I will leave it there.
27:53
Speaker 2: A Sydney arts venue inside a former church has shuttered
27:57
Speaker 2: stores following backlash over performances using Catholic themes. Supporters say
28:02
Speaker 2: it's art, Critics say it is offensive. So are Christians
28:06
Speaker 2: expected to tolerate ridicule that other faiths never would. Joining
28:10
Speaker 2: me now is Australian Christian Lobby CEO Michelle Pierce. Michelle, welcome,
28:16
Speaker 2: let's start with this show. Can you please tell our
28:19
Speaker 2: viewers what happened within this church?
28:22
Speaker 1: Yeah?
28:23
Speaker 3: Well, I think the.
28:23
Speaker 6: Point is is that the New South Wales government funded
28:27
Speaker 6: this display of blatant mockery of the Christian faith by
28:32
Speaker 6: the order of one hundred thousand dollars. Now, the event organizers,
28:36
Speaker 6: heaps gay you know they're called, used a deconsecrated church
28:41
Speaker 6: building which they thought would be the perfect venue to
28:44
Speaker 6: have this kind of blatant mockery of Christianity by using
28:49
Speaker 6: highly sexualized images, you know, sexually explicit things that were
28:55
Speaker 6: connected to things sacred and which is like the Lord's Supper,
28:59
Speaker 6: our Holy care Union and depicting the birth of Jesus. Now,
29:04
Speaker 6: the issue isn't so much about the plate self, even
29:07
Speaker 6: though it is shockingly out of state with community standards,
29:10
Speaker 6: but the fact that the New South Wales government funded it.
29:14
Speaker 6: A group of Christians who took offense at this stood
29:16
Speaker 6: outside in protest, but they were singing and praying outside
29:20
Speaker 6: the venue. Another concerned Christian launched a petition got over
29:24
Speaker 6: five two hundred signatures in just eight days, and then
29:28
Speaker 6: the landlord actually responded by threatening eviction and since that
29:35
Speaker 6: the venue has actually closed and the show was canceled
29:38
Speaker 6: over the weekend. But the fact remains the New South
29:40
Speaker 6: Wales government funded it. Chris Mins has said that you know,
29:45
Speaker 6: he has questions over the use of a deconsecrated church
29:48
Speaker 6: for the act, but he didn't question the performance itself,
29:51
Speaker 6: so had it been in a different venue. But still
29:54
Speaker 6: the fact that it was a blatant mockery of Christianity
29:57
Speaker 6: using highly sexualized symbols, was that still okay in his
30:01
Speaker 6: mind for the New South Wales government to fund it
30:04
Speaker 6: by one hundred thousand dollars.
30:05
Speaker 3: I don't think so.
30:07
Speaker 2: And you did just mention the peaceful protests that were
30:10
Speaker 2: held across the road from the church. For anyone that
30:13
Speaker 2: hasn't seen it, take a look.
30:20
Speaker 1: Us for.
30:31
Speaker 2: What was the decision for that group behind singing and
30:35
Speaker 2: praying as a way to protest across the road from
30:37
Speaker 2: the venue?
30:39
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean singing and praying is something that Christians
30:42
Speaker 6: do well and it's part of a sacred tradition that
30:46
Speaker 6: we have, especially in the face of persecution and mockery.
30:49
Speaker 6: And it comes from, you know, the tradition where Paul
30:52
Speaker 6: and Silas prayed and sang when they were heavily persecuted
30:56
Speaker 6: under the Roman Empire. And so when Christians are persecuted
31:00
Speaker 6: or mocked, we often sing, We often pray to show
31:03
Speaker 6: that you know, no matter how bad things get, no
31:05
Speaker 6: matter how badly we're persecuted, we still have victory on
31:09
Speaker 6: the inside because we can still sing and we can
31:12
Speaker 6: still pray. And you know, I think that even the
31:15
Speaker 6: fact that they did stand their kind of defiant of
31:17
Speaker 6: the things that were going on within you know, what
31:19
Speaker 6: they called the or the event was called the Unholy Playhouse.
31:24
Speaker 6: I think their defiance in that and they're singing a
31:27
Speaker 6: peaceful praying actually led to the landlord, you know, standing
31:32
Speaker 6: with them and millions of Christians across Australia to say
31:36
Speaker 6: this is a blatant mockery and what led to him
31:39
Speaker 6: then providing that aviction.
31:41
Speaker 2: Notice, and Michelle, just very quickly before I let you go,
31:45
Speaker 2: do you think there is a double standard when it
31:46
Speaker 2: comes to Christianity, that Christian beliefs are often seen as
31:50
Speaker 2: fair game when it comes to satire.
31:53
Speaker 6: I mean, absolutely, we saw Greens MP Miss Fhearman come
31:57
Speaker 6: out and cry that they were the victim in this
32:01
Speaker 6: in terms of and the event organizer also said that
32:05
Speaker 6: she's now got to look out for the well being
32:07
Speaker 6: of her staff and the audience and the event performers,
32:10
Speaker 6: and Ms Fearman called the protesters dangerous activists and dangerous conservatives.
32:17
Speaker 6: So you know, I think on their side they think
32:21
Speaker 6: that there's power in claiming the victimhood here. They want
32:24
Speaker 6: to regain power in that sense. But clearly the community
32:28
Speaker 6: that has been offended by this is the millions of
32:31
Speaker 6: Christians across Australia who are offended by the fact that
32:35
Speaker 6: the New South Wales government provided one hundred thousand dollars
32:38
Speaker 6: for this kind of display of blatant mockery. If it
32:42
Speaker 6: was Islam, it might have been a different story. Perhaps
32:45
Speaker 6: Premier Chris Mens would have hastened at the opportunity to
32:49
Speaker 6: defend Islam and to condemn the mockery. But with Christianity
32:53
Speaker 6: here there has been no defense from political leaders regarding
32:57
Speaker 6: this blatant mockery.
32:59
Speaker 2: Or Michelle Peers. I appreciate your time tonight, thank you
33:02
Speaker 2: for coming on. Paul coming up should FIFA sanctioned Argentina
33:07
Speaker 2: over the Falklands Islands banner. Following their win over England
33:11
Speaker 2: and later, Pauline Hansen names her daughter Lee as her
33:15
Speaker 2: likely successor to lead one nation.
33:17
Speaker 3: So where does that leave Barnaby Joyce