Latest / The Bolt Report / The Bolt Report | 29 December

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The Bolt Report | 29 December · The Bolt Report

0:11
Speaker 1: It's the Gold Report, and good evening and welcome to
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Speaker 1: the Bold Report. Thanks for joining us. Really nice to
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Speaker 1: have your company. I'm Kel Richardson for Andrew this week,
0:21
Speaker 1: and yes I agree with you, I for she was
0:23
Speaker 1: on holidays either. Really glad to have your company tonight.
0:26
Speaker 1: And there's a lot to talk about, some really big
0:28
Speaker 1: things making news tonight. For example, calls for a Royal
0:32
Speaker 1: commission into the terrorist attack at bond I grow ever louder,
0:36
Speaker 1: but even a direct appeal from the heartbroken family members
0:39
Speaker 1: of the victims seems to have fallen on deaf e.
0:41
Speaker 2: Is more on that in just a tick.
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Speaker 1: Also tonight, we'll speak to the mother of a young
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Speaker 1: Victorian who died as a result of a one punch attack,
0:50
Speaker 1: a coward attack, a coward punch on New Year's Eve,
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Speaker 1: more than thirteen years ago. Now it's an important message
0:56
Speaker 1: because Australians, as they prepare for end of year revelry,
1:00
Speaker 1: need to be aware of this danger and what they
1:03
Speaker 1: can do not to be part of it. Plus, with
1:05
Speaker 1: more than three hundred and fifty people dying from car
1:07
Speaker 1: crashes in New South Wales this year, what should state
1:11
Speaker 1: governments be doing differently to bring down the road toll
1:15
Speaker 1: and a Sky News regular tells us how he almost
1:18
Speaker 1: died just below the summit of the world's first, first,
1:22
Speaker 1: third highest mountain. All of that is coming up, but firstly,
1:27
Speaker 1: there is really only one topic of conversation tonight. Everyone's
1:31
Speaker 1: talking about it. I'm sure you talked about the dinner
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Speaker 1: table tonight. The calls for a Commonwealth Royal commission, a
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Speaker 1: federal national royal commission into both the worst terrorist attacks
1:41
Speaker 1: on Australian soil and on the anti Semitism that drove it.
1:46
Speaker 1: Those calls are now becoming deafening. The families of the
1:49
Speaker 1: Bondai victims have written a joint letter to the Prime
1:52
Speaker 1: Minister to Albanezi pleading for a Commonwealth Royal commission, a
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Speaker 1: letter described by The Daily Telegraph as blistering and by
2:00
Speaker 1: other commentators as scathing.
2:02
Speaker 2: And they're not alone. I mean many.
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Speaker 1: Conservative commentators, a lot of politicians a former Commissioner of
2:09
Speaker 1: Australian Federal Police mc kelty have called for a Commonwealth
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Speaker 1: Royal commission. And more importantly, the entire Jewish community of
2:18
Speaker 1: Australia has been clamoring for a Commonwealth Royal Commission almost
2:22
Speaker 1: since the day of the atrocity a couple of weeks ago. Now,
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Speaker 1: there are around one hundred and seventeen thousand Jews in Australia.
2:30
Speaker 1: That's around one hundred and seventeen thousand Australians. The Prime
2:33
Speaker 1: Minister is turning his back on Now. You may have
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Speaker 1: noticed that whenever the question of a Commonwealth Royal Commission
2:41
Speaker 1: is raised at a conference, Anthony Albinezi looks uncomfortable, would
2:46
Speaker 1: you say, or even frightened. I'll let me suggest that
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Speaker 1: he is frightened and in fact more than frightened, close
2:53
Speaker 1: to panic stricken at the thought of a royal commission.
2:56
Speaker 1: But he did his best to push back at it.
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Speaker 2: Today. Take a look at what he said.
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Speaker 3: Well, my heartbreaks for the families of the victims of
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Speaker 3: the Bondai terrorist atrocity. My job as the Australian Prime
3:12
Speaker 3: Minister is to act in the national interest. It is
3:17
Speaker 3: in the national interest for us to do the Richardson
3:20
Speaker 3: Review on National Security, on any gaps which are there
3:26
Speaker 3: in the conduct of our agencies, including the AFP, Asiaasis,
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Speaker 3: the interaction between the commorth and state jurisdictions, any gaps
3:37
Speaker 3: which are there, and to then make sure that we
3:42
Speaker 3: act on the recommendations which are there. The government is
3:48
Speaker 3: responding quickly. We have had as well, the Envoy on
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Speaker 3: Anti Semitism's report that we are busy implementing, and we're
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Speaker 3: working with her and working with the community on these issues.
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Speaker 1: He just keeps deflecting, doesn't he. He deflects away from
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Speaker 1: the possibility of a royal commission.
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Speaker 2: If you were watching that.
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Speaker 1: Media conference he gave today, you would have heard him
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Speaker 1: talk about looking at all the agencies, all the Commonwealth agencies.
4:17
Speaker 1: Nothing about looking at the Commonwealth government. Alberiz he gives pretending, oh,
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Speaker 1: there's no need for a royal commission. He's asked a
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Speaker 1: former ASIO chief, Dennis Richardson, to do this review, but
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Speaker 1: a review of what a review of policing and intelligence.
4:33
Speaker 1: It will not be a review of policy failures. That
4:37
Speaker 1: is beyond his remit. He'll tell us what ASO and
4:40
Speaker 1: the AFP might have done better, But he can't subpen
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Speaker 1: the documents in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
4:46
Speaker 1: That's what Anthony Alberizi doesn't really wants you to know.
4:49
Speaker 1: He doesn't want you to find out how many warnings
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Speaker 1: he had of a risk of violence to Australian Jews.
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Speaker 1: And how long those warnings sat on his desk while
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Speaker 1: he did well, let's face it, nothing about them. Well, now,
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Speaker 1: finally shocked out of his inaction, Alberize is finally talking
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Speaker 1: about taking decisive action. Now, what all twenty seven million
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Speaker 1: of US Australians can see plainly because it's common sense,
5:15
Speaker 1: is that what he is doing now he could have
5:18
Speaker 1: done two years ago. If he had done that, If
5:22
Speaker 1: after the disgraceful display of due hatred on the steps
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Speaker 1: of the Sydney Opera House on October the ninth, twenty
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Speaker 1: twenty three, if then, Albaneze he had taken swift, strong,
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Speaker 1: decisive action, would those fifteen Bondaie victims still be alive?
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Speaker 2: Now? Of course no one can know that.
5:40
Speaker 1: We can't know the answer to that, but I suspect
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Speaker 1: that Alberize is terrified that a Royal Commissioner might dare
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Speaker 1: to ask that question, even if just as speculation that
5:52
Speaker 1: can never be answered. Albanize he did, is, you know,
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Speaker 1: finally appoint an envoy to investigate anti Semitism. But when
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Speaker 1: Jillian Siegel submitted her report, ALBERIZI let it sit on
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Speaker 1: his desk. The gathering dust for six months without taking
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Speaker 1: significant action. He doesn't want a Royal commissioner to ask
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Speaker 1: questions about that. You can be certain of that. You
6:14
Speaker 1: have to admit how deeply embarrassing that would be for
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Speaker 1: our prime minister. We can see why Alberizi continually stone
6:22
Speaker 1: walls digs in his heels whenever anyone dares to mention
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Speaker 1: a proper Royal commissioner, Commonwealth Royal Commission. The families of
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Speaker 1: the victims in there, let us say this. They say,
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Speaker 1: we need to know why the warning signs were ignored.
6:38
Speaker 1: We need to know how anti Semitic hatred and Islamic
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Speaker 1: extremism were allowed to dangerously grow unchecked. We need to
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Speaker 1: make sure this does not happen again. Now that's exactly
6:50
Speaker 1: what Albanze doesn't want you to know. Soor what excuse
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Speaker 1: is Albanese backed up by other labor minister's offer towards
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Speaker 1: the same excuse the Royal Commission would take too long.
7:02
Speaker 1: I suppose you and I could reply, well, that's all right,
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Speaker 1: Prime minister, where patient people as long as it finally
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Speaker 1: gets to the truth. But in giving this excuse, this
7:12
Speaker 1: oh it would take too long excuse.
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Speaker 2: He is giving the game away.
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Speaker 1: He knows every public hearing of such a Royal Commission
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Speaker 1: would be covered by the media. He knows that talkback
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Speaker 1: radio led his columns to the newspaper. Social media would
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Speaker 1: be full of outrage at what the Royal Commission was uncovering.
7:30
Speaker 1: And he knows this coverage, this outrage would continue for
7:34
Speaker 1: the rest of this parliamentary term. Now, Albermeese knows that
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Speaker 1: this constant coverage would keep painting him as a failure,
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Speaker 1: as the bumbling, fainthearted bureaucrat who failed to provide any leadership,
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Speaker 1: who failed to protect one hundred and seventeen thousand Australians
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Speaker 1: from hatred, danger, vilification, fire bomb attacks and finally from
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Speaker 1: a terrorist onslaught. So you and I can rest assured
8:01
Speaker 1: that Anthony ALBINIZI is feeling desperate about survival, his own survival,
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Speaker 1: and so he will block a Commonwealth Royal Commission with
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Speaker 1: every breath in his body. So it's up to us,
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Speaker 1: all of us, all Australians, to have put so much
8:17
Speaker 1: pressure on the Prime Minister and on his government that
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Speaker 1: he is forced to finally crumble and give us the
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Speaker 1: Royal Commission he fears, Well, we deterned to take a
8:31
Speaker 1: look at what's in the news today. That is what
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Speaker 1: is leading the news, that's what's dominating the headlines. Joined
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Speaker 1: by the panel now Liberal MP for mon Ash, Mary
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Speaker 1: aldred Sky, news contributor and one of my fellow writers
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Speaker 1: at the Spectator of Australia, Terry Barnes.
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Speaker 2: Welcome to both of you. Mary, can I begin with you?
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Speaker 1: What would a Royal Commission be able to do that
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Speaker 1: Dennis Richardson's review can't do well.
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Speaker 4: Dennis Richardson is a fine Australian, He's an eminent Australian,
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Speaker 4: but he is not able to look at all questions
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Speaker 4: that we need answered right now every day to the
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Speaker 4: Prime Minister is hiding behind that podium. He is showing
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Speaker 4: all Australians that he is failing at the task of leadership.
9:08
Speaker 4: We need to look at and Susan Lee and the
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Speaker 4: Opposition have put out some suggested terms of reference. We
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Speaker 4: need to look at the catastrophic rise of anti Semitism
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Speaker 4: in the last two years. I note that the Executive
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Speaker 4: Council of Jury have said they've seen a three hundred
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Speaker 4: and fourteen percent increasing antisemitism in twelve months alone. We
9:27
Speaker 4: need to look at the migration at nineteen fifty eight,
9:29
Speaker 4: particularly around visa refusals and some of the issues that
9:33
Speaker 4: we've had there. We need to look at our national
9:36
Speaker 4: security agencies. We need to look at the media. We
9:39
Speaker 4: need to look at the Human Rights Commissioner's failure to
9:43
Speaker 4: really stamp out antisemitism in the way that it should
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Speaker 4: have been. So this needs to be far broader than
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Speaker 4: the review that the Prime Minister has set forward. And
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Speaker 4: this is not just me saying this, cal It's not
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Speaker 4: just the opposition saying this. We've had Peter Cobsgrover, a
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Speaker 4: former Governor gen and Chief of the Defense Force. We've
10:01
Speaker 4: had former Labor Premier Peter Beaty say that we need
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Speaker 4: a royal commission. Josh Freedenberg. Of course, they're families of
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Speaker 4: the victims of the Bondai terror attack. Today we've had
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Speaker 4: Federal Court, former Federal Court justices say there needs to
10:16
Speaker 4: be a royal commission, the parents of Katrina Dawson, the
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Speaker 4: victim of the Lint Siege cafe attack. So this is
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Speaker 4: widespread and I think the majority of Australians are demanding
10:27
Speaker 4: nothing less right now.
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Speaker 1: Yes, And you're right when you say it's not just
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Speaker 1: the opposition, but it is the opposition.
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Speaker 2: I mean.
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Speaker 1: One of the things that Anthony Ibanez he does of
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Speaker 1: these news conferences to say, well, look at what the
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Speaker 1: opposition is calling for, seventy three different topics they want
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Speaker 1: to looked at. Susan Lee talked about the court need,
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Speaker 1: the desperate need for a common auth Royal commission.
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Speaker 2: Today. Here's part of what she said.
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Speaker 5: Members of the community believe this attack was not inevitable,
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Speaker 5: but preventable. Yeah, instead of listening to those most affected,
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Speaker 5: the Prime Minister has decided to speak over them. By
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Speaker 5: speaking over victims and their families and declaring that his
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Speaker 5: pathway forward is the right one, the Prime Minister has
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Speaker 5: actually insulted those who have endured the unimaginable.
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Speaker 1: Terry Bonnes, one of the things that some of the
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Speaker 1: newspaper colum must have been saying is that by attacking
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Speaker 1: Alberizi and saying he's not doing the right thing, we're
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Speaker 1: politicizing a national tragedy. We're not doing that, Terry Shirley.
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Speaker 6: No, I don't think we are.
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Speaker 7: Kill I mean, basically, Susan Lee's right, we have to
11:36
Speaker 7: look at the bigger picture. We have to look at
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Speaker 7: the underlying causes, the underlying effects of this cancer that
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Speaker 7: is anti Semitism that has been in our country, in
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Speaker 7: our nation for a long long time. We thought it
11:48
Speaker 7: was gone, that it was done and dusted, but it's back,
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Speaker 7: and I think the last couple of years have been
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Speaker 7: a big part of that. And the way that you know,
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Speaker 7: as you pointed out, really the time to direct the
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Speaker 7: Act on anti Sepotism was after the outrage that sent
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Speaker 7: the opera House in the nineth'clock over twenty twenty three,
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Speaker 7: after fifteen instant people died fortnight ago.
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Speaker 8: But the thing is a.
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Speaker 7: Royal Commission can call witnesses that can compel evidence, that
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Speaker 7: can actually look at the wider picture. And then the
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Speaker 7: way I see it tell is that when Josh Fridenberg
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Speaker 7: called for it straight after the outrage, he was saying,
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Speaker 7: as a former treasurer in the Morrison government, you can
12:29
Speaker 7: look at what we did in our time.
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Speaker 8: So if the Prime Minister is worried.
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Speaker 7: About the politics of it, I mean he's got the
12:36
Speaker 7: previous government to look at as well. I just don't
12:38
Speaker 7: understand where he's going. But when the families came out
12:41
Speaker 7: as they did in that open letter today, you can't
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Speaker 7: ignore that, Prime Minister, You simply cannot ignore it.
12:48
Speaker 1: Yes, he ends up just founding defensive, defending himself and
12:51
Speaker 1: nothing else. Meanwhile, turnity to another topic, an interesting story
12:55
Speaker 1: which I think the Albelize government has used this terrible
12:59
Speaker 1: tragedy to bear, because the Albelize government has quietly increased
13:03
Speaker 1: gender targets for barristers who represent the commonwealth and an
13:07
Speaker 1: expanded range of diversity measures that must be taken into account.
13:12
Speaker 1: It's worth noting these changes were made just one day
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Speaker 1: after the Bondie attack. Mary, tell me what the Attorney
13:18
Speaker 1: General is proposing here, Well.
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Speaker 4: It's extremely cynical and it's looking at putting quotas attached
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Speaker 4: to barristers to receive briefings on commonwealth matters. Unfortunately, it's
13:30
Speaker 4: not the only case that we've got of the federal
13:33
Speaker 4: government being opportunistic. Straight after the Bondi terrist attack, we've
13:37
Speaker 4: had Chris Bowen rolling out gas industry policies and media
13:42
Speaker 4: releases about renewable energy, and now we've got this announcement
13:46
Speaker 4: from the Attorney General Michelle Roland, where of course there
13:50
Speaker 4: are a range of things that you want to be
13:52
Speaker 4: able to take into account in briefing barristers for Commonwealth issues.
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Speaker 4: That's already encapsulated in those tigrements. But you know, we've
14:02
Speaker 4: got to make sure that the best person is awarded
14:04
Speaker 4: the job of those briefings. And I just think this
14:07
Speaker 4: is cynical and it's certainly not an isolated example unfortunately either.
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Speaker 1: Yes, Terry, are we just being a bit cynical, a
14:14
Speaker 1: bit skeptical when we say dropping this kind of thing
14:18
Speaker 1: in the middle of this kind of trauma for the
14:20
Speaker 1: nation is exploitative.
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Speaker 2: It's just not a good thing, is it.
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Speaker 6: I actually don't think it is opportunistic.
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Speaker 7: I just think it is a warped sense of priorities
14:31
Speaker 7: that the government has shown the time to do this
14:34
Speaker 7: was not now the rightness of doing it.
14:37
Speaker 6: I agree with Mary.
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Speaker 7: I don't think it's it's necessary at all. You want
14:40
Speaker 7: the best person to do the brief and do the
14:43
Speaker 7: best for the taxpayers of Australia.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, but I just think.
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Speaker 8: Of it was absolutely appalling.
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Speaker 7: It was absolutely titty it and really the government is
14:52
Speaker 7: just all over the shop on well everything. But we're
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Speaker 7: now seeing this incredible shrinking Prime Minister doing this incredible
15:00
Speaker 7: shrinking governing.
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Speaker 2: It's just awful and insensitive.
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Speaker 1: Surely terry insensitive because it's saying no, no, our priorities
15:06
Speaker 1: are not the Jewish community. Our priorities are not the suffering.
15:09
Speaker 1: Our priorities are these policies we have over here.
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Speaker 7: What the Prime Minister should have done six forty nine
15:17
Speaker 7: on the fourteenth of December was basically drop everything, absolutely everything,
15:24
Speaker 7: and so to actually carry on with what he would
15:26
Speaker 7: consider the normal business of government when a crisis of
15:29
Speaker 7: this scale has to be dealt with is just inexplicable.
15:34
Speaker 1: Now, the Syrian Australian ShopKeep aarkmed Anakhmed has given his
15:38
Speaker 1: first interview since the attack.
15:39
Speaker 2: He was the hero of the attack. Take a look
15:42
Speaker 2: at this.
15:43
Speaker 9: My target was just just to take the gun from
15:47
Speaker 9: him and to stop him from killing a human being,
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Speaker 9: life and not killing anything people. I jumped to in
15:59
Speaker 9: his work to him and hold him was my right
16:06
Speaker 9: hand and starts seeing awarding all luck to warn him
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Speaker 9: drop your gun. I feel something a power in may
16:17
Speaker 9: for the.
16:19
Speaker 2: Now.
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Speaker 1: Mary, We've all seen the video. We saw what he did.
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Speaker 1: It was breathtaking, wasn't it.
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Speaker 10: It was just unbelievable, And I think how at a
16:27
Speaker 10: time when our nation's heart is breaking to listen to Ahmed,
16:31
Speaker 10: whose name in Arabic I think means highly commendable, to
16:34
Speaker 10: be highly praised.
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Speaker 4: So he's certainly lived up to his name. But that
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Speaker 4: active courage and then the beautiful way. I encourage you
16:41
Speaker 4: viewers to actually watch that interview in full because there's
16:44
Speaker 4: a moment there where he says his soul compelled him
16:46
Speaker 4: to go and do everything with his mind and body
16:49
Speaker 4: to to try and disarm that terrorist, which which he
16:53
Speaker 4: was able to do so well. I think Australia needs
16:56
Speaker 4: a few heroes right now, and he certainly lives up
16:58
Speaker 4: to that.
17:00
Speaker 2: Terry.
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Speaker 1: I sometimes suspect that when US blokes take a look
17:03
Speaker 1: at the video of what he did so heroically, we
17:06
Speaker 1: like to think to ourselves, oh, yes, I would have
17:08
Speaker 1: done that. But that's just the why chromosome speaking. The
17:11
Speaker 1: reality is what he did was very very special, wasn't it.
17:15
Speaker 4: Oh?
17:15
Speaker 8: Absolutely, I've got a yellow street right down my back.
17:18
Speaker 7: Ke could never never have the courage to do what
17:21
Speaker 7: he did, and you have to admire it and you
17:24
Speaker 7: have to praise him. And I think the recognition he's
17:27
Speaker 7: had from around the world, including from Donald Trump, I
17:30
Speaker 7: think highlights that. But the thing that really sticks out
17:33
Speaker 7: for Mekel is let's let's remember what our arkbed our
17:38
Speaker 7: Arkbed's faith is. He is a Muslim, He's a devout Muslim.
17:41
Speaker 7: He jumped in to save the lives of Jews. Now
17:44
Speaker 7: there's there's a message.
17:45
Speaker 8: There for all of us.
17:47
Speaker 7: But I think it's also important that we remember when
17:50
Speaker 7: we look at these as Lamist fanatics that you can't
17:55
Speaker 7: all Muslims with their brush, because our Arkbord shows that
18:00
Speaker 7: there are men and women of good heart in all faiths,
18:02
Speaker 7: including the Muslim.
18:04
Speaker 2: Yes.
18:04
Speaker 1: So there's an expert I know about is Mark Durry.
18:06
Speaker 1: He keeps saying, never make prejudice judgments about any Muslim,
18:10
Speaker 1: just meet them as they are.
18:11
Speaker 2: They're all different. That's right.
18:13
Speaker 1: Very quickly, the road toll is always terrible at this
18:16
Speaker 1: time of year, New South wasn't a very bad shape
18:18
Speaker 1: highst a road toll for years. The NMA is warning
18:22
Speaker 1: that governments are just going to simple solutions like cutting
18:25
Speaker 1: speed limits. What can seriously be done, Mary, to actually
18:28
Speaker 1: cut the death toll in our roads?
18:31
Speaker 4: Well, start bus fixing the Rhades. Cal I represent a
18:34
Speaker 4: regional area and I can tell you here people were very,
18:38
Speaker 4: very angry at the federal government's attempts to just set
18:43
Speaker 4: lower the default speed limit on regional roads to as
18:47
Speaker 4: low as seventy kilometers an hour, when really the practical
18:50
Speaker 4: thing would be just to fix the rides. We've seen
18:53
Speaker 4: the federal government very dubiously sign off on ten billion
18:57
Speaker 4: dollars more to divert into the Victorian Labor government suburban
19:01
Speaker 4: rail loop, which anyone that sees that delivered on time
19:04
Speaker 4: or on budget will be I think pretty shocked. But
19:07
Speaker 4: that's ten billion dollars that we're not investing in fixing
19:11
Speaker 4: regional roads, and if we fix our crumbling roads, I
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Speaker 4: think that's the best way to address the road.
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Speaker 1: Told Mary Terry, thank you very much for your time tonight. Now,
19:21
Speaker 1: shortly before Christmas, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott released his
19:24
Speaker 1: one volume history of Australia.
19:27
Speaker 2: I was a beautiful book.
19:28
Speaker 1: I was given a copy of the book as a
19:30
Speaker 1: Christmas gift and I have just finished it, already finished it.
19:34
Speaker 1: This is by why of being a book review, but
19:36
Speaker 1: also an encouragement for you to seek out your own copy.
19:39
Speaker 1: The book is called Australia a History, and the first
19:43
Speaker 1: thing I have to tell you it is a great
19:44
Speaker 1: read years ago have.
19:46
Speaker 2: Been called a ripping yarn.
19:48
Speaker 1: It's a story told grippingly, swiftly, extremely well. Tony doesn't
19:53
Speaker 1: perhaps want me to put it quite like this, because
19:56
Speaker 1: he was doing a very carefully researched, seriously written book
20:00
Speaker 1: about Australian history. But Australia's history is a wonderful story,
20:04
Speaker 1: and that story is told so well by Tony Abbot.
20:07
Speaker 1: It's an enthralling read. Now, I confess I'm a fan
20:10
Speaker 1: of the book. As a language person, I can tell
20:12
Speaker 1: you Tony Abbott uses language very well, and he writes
20:15
Speaker 1: clearly and in such a way the story flows. The
20:18
Speaker 1: book is a rapid as well as a rewarding read. Now,
20:21
Speaker 1: to make the vast landscape of Australian history fit into
20:25
Speaker 1: a compact one volume book, there needs to be a
20:28
Speaker 1: main theme in Toni Abbot's book. That theme is how
20:31
Speaker 1: Australia is governed and has been governed, starting with Arthur
20:34
Speaker 1: Philip and coming up to the present age. He writes
20:37
Speaker 1: about how the decisions were made that shaped Australia. Now,
20:41
Speaker 1: of course, that doesn't mean that he ignores the rest
20:43
Speaker 1: of the story. The narrative remains anchored in the events
20:46
Speaker 1: of our nation's story. We see it like a passing parade,
20:49
Speaker 1: the cultural, sporting, human events that are part of our nation.
20:53
Speaker 1: But the linking theme that holds it all together is
20:56
Speaker 1: what our governments have been getting up to while our
20:58
Speaker 1: lives of Australians have been running on.
21:00
Speaker 2: Which is what I.
21:01
Speaker 1: Guess you'd expect from a former Prime Minister Tony Abbotzy's
21:05
Speaker 1: Australian government as having been formed primarily on the classical
21:08
Speaker 1: notions of a liberal society. Even Arthur Phillip all those
21:12
Speaker 1: years ago seventeen eighty eight was determined not to let
21:15
Speaker 1: the early New Southwest Colony be merely an open air prison.
21:19
Speaker 1: His focus on the rehabilitation of convicts and forming good
21:23
Speaker 1: relationships with local Indigenous Australians were shaped by his view
21:27
Speaker 1: of classical liberalism and that theme of a liberal society.
21:31
Speaker 1: Abbot sees as continuing throughout our history. But if there's
21:35
Speaker 1: a qualification that he makes, it's because of the nature
21:38
Speaker 1: of this place, the sometimes hostile landscape and climate, the
21:43
Speaker 1: very sparseness of the population spread over such a wide area.
21:47
Speaker 1: And he makes the point that because of that, government
21:50
Speaker 1: has always been expected to take a large share of
21:52
Speaker 1: the burden when it came to caring for providing for
21:55
Speaker 1: the people. He implies that the sort of liberalism that
21:58
Speaker 1: will triumph in Australia will not be the sort of
22:02
Speaker 1: non intervention as small government liberalism beloved by the libertarians
22:06
Speaker 1: on the right, but rather a genuinely liberal government that
22:10
Speaker 1: still sees the need for a government that steers the
22:12
Speaker 1: ship and works in the engine room. But whether or
22:15
Speaker 1: not I have read him correctly, you'll have to decide
22:18
Speaker 1: for yourself, and the way to do that is read
22:20
Speaker 1: the book. It's a first class, possibly the very best,
22:23
Speaker 1: one volume history of Australia, and we all need to
22:26
Speaker 1: know where we've come from and what produced the Australia
22:29
Speaker 1: we live in today. Australia A History by Tony Abbott
22:32
Speaker 1: does that. I recommend it, And let me quickly remind
22:35
Speaker 1: you that the two part documentary based on the book
22:38
Speaker 1: is still available to stream from Sky News. Coming up
22:44
Speaker 1: with Australians around the country preparing for a very big
22:47
Speaker 1: night out at New Year A warning tonight from a
22:49
Speaker 1: mother whose son died as a result of a punch
22:52
Speaker 1: at a New Year's celebration, A coward punch. More than
22:55
Speaker 1: thirteen years later, David Casseire's death. Is the message about
22:59
Speaker 1: unprovoked vile and is it getting through?
23:01
Speaker 2: That? Is next.
23:07
Speaker 1: And welcome back Victorian man. David Cassi went out to
23:11
Speaker 1: celebrate New Year's Eve and.
23:13
Speaker 2: Never came back home again.
23:15
Speaker 1: The twenty two year old died in a coward punch
23:18
Speaker 1: attack outside a pub in Ryan, Victoria's Morning Peninsula, Mornington Peninsula.
23:23
Speaker 1: His death sparked anger across the nation and led to
23:26
Speaker 1: a campaign led by his mother, Katerina Paliti, who was
23:30
Speaker 1: not only successfully raised awareness about the dangerous senseless, unprovoked violence,
23:36
Speaker 1: but also led the campaign to introduce Victoria's historic coward
23:41
Speaker 1: punch legislation, which allows magistrates to apply a ten year
23:45
Speaker 1: minimum to anyone found guilty of a one punch attack.
23:49
Speaker 1: Can I just say the language has changed on this.
23:51
Speaker 1: We always used to years ago, before this happened, before
23:54
Speaker 1: David's death, we used to talk about a one puncher attack.
23:58
Speaker 1: We're now calling it a coward punch attack. And the
24:01
Speaker 1: language makes a difference in the way we see these things.
24:04
Speaker 1: I think it's excellent, pleased to say. Katerina Poalii joins
24:07
Speaker 1: me right now, Katerina, welcome to the program.
24:10
Speaker 2: Look it's you.
24:11
Speaker 1: Is this I hate to raise this, but is it
24:14
Speaker 1: still a difficult time of the year for you? Yeah?
24:18
Speaker 11: Thank you for having me. It's still a really difficult
24:21
Speaker 11: time leading up to Christmas and then up to New
24:27
Speaker 11: Year's Eve, and then obviously the aftermath of into the
24:31
Speaker 11: New Years. It's like I just want to hibernate for
24:35
Speaker 11: this time and come out, you know, end of January.
24:39
Speaker 11: It's it's still very, very difficult, the grief. You know,
24:46
Speaker 11: if you're not in this situation, you wouldn't even even
24:49
Speaker 11: imagine that the grief could be so difficult, you know,
24:52
Speaker 11: coming up to thirteen years without David.
24:56
Speaker 1: I'm a father and a grandfather, and my heart just
24:58
Speaker 1: goes out to you. It must go on being difficult.
25:01
Speaker 1: Is it too painful or can you tell us a
25:03
Speaker 1: bit about the circumstances that led up to his death.
25:09
Speaker 11: Yeah, it's always painful, but sharing the message might help
25:12
Speaker 11: save someone else. And David was out celebrating their best
25:16
Speaker 11: friend's birthday down at the Port Sea Hotel. They decided
25:21
Speaker 11: to catch the bus home. They were staying at a
25:23
Speaker 11: camping ground and nine friends, including David, caught the bus.
25:30
Speaker 11: He actually paid for a stranger's bus fair the minutes
25:33
Speaker 11: before he got on the bus, a young boy didn't
25:36
Speaker 11: have any money, so they got off at Rye. They
25:39
Speaker 11: wanted to get off at Rosebud or Caple Sound, but
25:44
Speaker 11: the bus didn't go that far. They even offered the
25:46
Speaker 11: bus driver extra money, but so they got off at Rye.
25:49
Speaker 11: Across the road walking in a scattered group, and someone
25:55
Speaker 11: from across the road came over and hip and shouldered
26:00
Speaker 11: David for no reason. It was almost he just had
26:03
Speaker 11: ticked over midnight and he the perpetrator went into a
26:09
Speaker 11: boxing stance and called out to David, and David kept
26:14
Speaker 11: walking with his friends, not wanting to engage, and then
26:17
Speaker 11: that thug chased David down, threw a punch but missed,
26:24
Speaker 11: and then punched two of David's friends. And in that moment,
26:28
Speaker 11: two of the thug's friends crossed the road and instead
26:32
Speaker 11: of stopping him, and as David's friends ran back to
26:36
Speaker 11: to see what was going on, the two perpetrators attacked
26:42
Speaker 11: four other friends and.
26:45
Speaker 6: David.
26:47
Speaker 11: After David's killer punched two friends, chased David down and
26:52
Speaker 11: then the video you could see that's David retreating with
26:56
Speaker 11: his hands up in you know, not any threat to
27:00
Speaker 11: the perpetrator and he threw an almighty punch which actually
27:05
Speaker 11: lifted David slightly off the ground. He was knocked out
27:09
Speaker 11: before even hitting the ground.
27:12
Speaker 2: It's a horrible story, yeah, it is.
27:16
Speaker 11: Yeah, And he was revived at the scene. He started
27:21
Speaker 11: breathing again. They airlifted him to the hospital, but the
27:25
Speaker 11: damage was just too great and he passed away courageously.
27:31
Speaker 1: One of the things you've done is to help lead
27:33
Speaker 1: the stop one Punch Can Kill campaign, raising awareness of this,
27:37
Speaker 1: particularly in schools.
27:38
Speaker 2: Is it having an impact? Do you think?
27:43
Speaker 11: Look, we'll never know how many people's attitudes we've helped change.
27:49
Speaker 11: You know, I don't think anyone's going to come up
27:51
Speaker 11: to us and say, you know, I stopped someone or
27:54
Speaker 11: I stopped myself throwing a punch.
27:58
Speaker 2: We hope.
27:59
Speaker 11: I think we have made a difference, you know, just
28:03
Speaker 11: sharing the message. And you know we're a part of
28:06
Speaker 11: sharing the message through stop one Punch Can Kill. But
28:10
Speaker 11: it's up to every everyone, every citizen of Australia, of
28:13
Speaker 11: everyone in Victoria, everyone to share the message, to tell
28:18
Speaker 11: our children, our grandchildren, our husbands, our boyfriends, whoever it
28:24
Speaker 11: might be. That you know, violence is never any excuse
28:29
Speaker 11: for violence. You know, the message is pretty simple is
28:33
Speaker 11: just keep your fist down and walk away. And if
28:37
Speaker 11: we can do that, maybe we've got half a chance
28:39
Speaker 11: in saving lives.
28:41
Speaker 2: There are many many.
28:43
Speaker 11: Assaults throughout Victoria, throughout Australia, but the difference between it
28:47
Speaker 11: being lethal could be just a matter of millimeters. And
28:51
Speaker 11: you know, someone, I've seen people being punched fall straight
28:55
Speaker 11: to the ground and they've survived. But for some the
28:59
Speaker 11: way that they they're punched, in the way that they fall,
29:02
Speaker 11: it just does all the damage and you can't do
29:05
Speaker 11: anything to save them. But we all play a part
29:08
Speaker 11: in them.
29:10
Speaker 1: Everyone has to be aware, is what you're saying. That
29:12
Speaker 1: awareness is what you're talking about. Quick final question. You've
29:15
Speaker 1: got that legislation through the Victorian Parliament. Are there any loopholes?
29:19
Speaker 1: Is there any way it could be made better than
29:21
Speaker 1: it is?
29:23
Speaker 7: Yeah?
29:24
Speaker 11: Definitely was introduced in twenty fourteen and we were blown
29:29
Speaker 11: away that the government listened. They took action and introduced
29:33
Speaker 11: a coward punch law. But it's failed. Only one person's
29:37
Speaker 11: been convicted to that tenure manditory minimum because it was
29:41
Speaker 11: all caught on CCTV and not every assault is caught
29:45
Speaker 11: on CCTV. So for the prosecution to get it across
29:50
Speaker 11: the line, they have to prove four points, but two
29:53
Speaker 11: of them are that the victim wasn't expecting the punch
29:56
Speaker 11: moments before they were punched, and that the perpetrator knew
29:59
Speaker 11: that they weren't expecting the punch. So the victim's not
30:02
Speaker 11: here to tell us that they weren't expecting the punch.
30:05
Speaker 11: They've passed away, and the perpetrator is not going to
30:07
Speaker 11: tell us I knew that they weren't expecting the punch,
30:10
Speaker 11: So we need to change that to make it more usable.
30:16
Speaker 11: Obviously it was intended to be used and hopefully also
30:21
Speaker 11: as a message of deterrence. But also you know, you're
30:26
Speaker 11: not a little bit dead, you're not half dead.
30:28
Speaker 2: You're dead. You've taken a life.
30:30
Speaker 11: Random acts of violence have got to stop, and it's
30:34
Speaker 11: all within us to make those changes. And I urge
30:39
Speaker 11: the government. I've met with three Attorney generals and nothing's happened.
30:44
Speaker 11: Now with Jess Wilson as opposition leader, she's in my electorate.
30:50
Speaker 11: I've spoken to her about this a number of times.
30:54
Speaker 11: If the government current government doesn't change the law, I
30:58
Speaker 11: expect the Liberals under Jess Wilson to make those changes
31:03
Speaker 11: and for it to be used and there's no ambiguity,
31:07
Speaker 11: and victims and families aren't let down because the law
31:12
Speaker 11: can't be applied.
31:13
Speaker 1: Katrina, we admire what you've done. You've done well, and
31:16
Speaker 1: I hope that if there is a new government next
31:19
Speaker 1: time in the following the next Victoria State election, what
31:21
Speaker 1: you want happens and the law is fixed and that
31:24
Speaker 1: loophole is closed. So thank you very much for your time,
31:26
Speaker 1: and a quick reminder, if you're going out on New
31:28
Speaker 1: Year's Eve, what you need to do is to be sensible.
31:31
Speaker 1: You will not only destroy the lives of the family
31:34
Speaker 1: of whoever you kill, you'll destroy your own life. You
31:36
Speaker 1: need to remember that as well. Now, coming up, after
31:39
Speaker 1: another year of seeing our power bills zoom up, more
31:42
Speaker 1: and more excuses coming from the federal government, what does
31:45
Speaker 1: Labour's relentless pursuit of the notorious net zero really mean
31:50
Speaker 1: for family struggling to make ends meet in a moment,
31:53
Speaker 1: the man who has researched this whole area coming up later,
31:56
Speaker 1: the man who almost died on the world's third highest mountain,
31:59
Speaker 1: stay with us, Welcome back, nice to heavy company. Kelbridge's
32:07
Speaker 1: filling in for Andrew Bolt. Now this year the Liberal
32:10
Speaker 1: Party abandoned net zero, and you don't have to look
32:13
Speaker 1: far to find people who are convinced that's the right
32:15
Speaker 1: thing to do, because cost of living matters more than
32:18
Speaker 1: net zero. Net zero as a goal is hurting all
32:21
Speaker 1: of us. They'll argue that the Albanizi government's net zero
32:25
Speaker 1: strategy is driving up power bills. We all know what
32:28
Speaker 1: our power bills are doing. No, we are hollowing out
32:31
Speaker 1: heavy industry. Heavy industry is closing, putting regional livelihoods at risk.
32:35
Speaker 1: We know what's happening to farms now. The Page Research
32:39
Speaker 1: Center has been central to much of the research released
32:42
Speaker 1: in Australia this year which has debunked the hype coming
32:45
Speaker 1: out from Crisbonne and the rest of the renewable's cult.
32:48
Speaker 1: One report points out points to the degradation of farmland
32:52
Speaker 1: and bush land while leaving Australia strategically exposed. This report
32:57
Speaker 1: calls for a reset that it calls a high energy
33:00
Speaker 1: Australia focused on affordability, sovereignty and stewardship of the land.
33:06
Speaker 1: Gerard Henderson is the author of the report and chief
33:08
Speaker 1: executive at the Page Research Center and he joins me. Now, Gerard,
33:12
Speaker 1: welcome to the program. Power prices we were told we're
33:15
Speaker 1: going to go down two hundred and seventy five dollars.
33:18
Speaker 1: Instead they've got up nearly forty percent since net zero
33:21
Speaker 1: was adopted.
33:23
Speaker 2: Do we have to keep paying that sort of money?
33:27
Speaker 12: Well, that's exactly right, Kel, And unfortunately, prices are only
33:30
Speaker 12: going to continue to increase under Labour's plan, and there's
33:33
Speaker 12: two key reasons for that. The first is that we
33:36
Speaker 12: are building a lot of polls and wires out across
33:39
Speaker 12: our nation, especially in the regions, thousands of kilometers of
33:43
Speaker 12: these things, and most of that which is currently underway
33:46
Speaker 12: or has yet to be built, hasn't even hit our
33:48
Speaker 12: bills yet. So that is going to be a huge
33:50
Speaker 12: slug that you can expect over the next couple of years.
33:53
Speaker 12: But the second reason under Labour's plan we are guaranteed
33:56
Speaker 12: to see continued higher prices is this obsession on the
33:59
Speaker 12: cost to rate electricity without thinking about the price of
34:03
Speaker 12: the electricity that we consume at the other end, and
34:05
Speaker 12: weather dependent energy is very very cheap when the weather
34:08
Speaker 12: works for you, but very very expensive when the weather doesn't.
34:13
Speaker 12: And we've seen price spikes above three hundred dollars a
34:16
Speaker 12: megawa hour increase by two hundred percent over the last
34:20
Speaker 12: five years. And this is because when the sun goes
34:22
Speaker 12: down and the wind doesn't blow, you need that energy
34:25
Speaker 12: into the grid to meet demand fast and if you
34:28
Speaker 12: haven't got it, it's very, very expensive.
34:30
Speaker 8: It doesn't matter where you get that from coal, gas,
34:32
Speaker 8: or batteries.
34:34
Speaker 12: It's the volatility and the price spikes which is driving
34:37
Speaker 12: ever increases in your power bills.
34:40
Speaker 1: I had an engineer explained to me once on my
34:42
Speaker 1: radio show that in fact, demands on the system have
34:44
Speaker 1: to weak what is coming into the system. And surely
34:47
Speaker 1: that is the problem with renewables. You can't control when
34:51
Speaker 1: the power comes in. The power will come in in
34:53
Speaker 1: the middle of the day when the sun is high
34:54
Speaker 1: in the sky, whether that's when the demand is or not.
34:57
Speaker 1: Is there a basic engineering problem in renewable energy.
35:02
Speaker 8: Yeah, that absolutely is.
35:04
Speaker 12: And what we talk about when we look at the
35:06
Speaker 12: way that this plays out is what we call the
35:08
Speaker 12: duck curve. So during the day, when you have that
35:10
Speaker 12: big rush of solar electricity, because there's obviously a lot
35:14
Speaker 12: of sun and oftentimes you get a lot of wind
35:16
Speaker 12: as well, that's actually when demand is lowest because no
35:18
Speaker 12: one's at home. People are in their offices. Oftentimes they're
35:22
Speaker 12: not putting on a thousand appliances all at once. You
35:24
Speaker 12: have that industrial o it's fairly steady, but you have
35:27
Speaker 12: this massive rush of electricity into the grid, which can
35:29
Speaker 12: often push prices into the negative. Now that sounds like
35:32
Speaker 12: it's a good thing, but it's not because you have
35:34
Speaker 12: to do something with that electricity, which means that it
35:37
Speaker 12: has to be shed, which means that there's wastage and
35:39
Speaker 12: that comes at a cost as well. But then when
35:41
Speaker 12: everyone gets home, they turn on the telly, they start
35:43
Speaker 12: microwaving dinner, they put the washing on, the sun goes down.
35:48
Speaker 12: You haven't got that electricity in the grid, and this
35:50
Speaker 12: is when you need to crank up your gas, turn
35:53
Speaker 12: on the batteries, crank up your coal, which is pretty
35:55
Speaker 12: damaging on these machines. It should be running twenty four
35:57
Speaker 12: to seven, and you have that price bike because you
36:00
Speaker 12: have that mismatch between the supply and the demand. And
36:04
Speaker 12: it's this engineering fundamental which means that nowhere anywhere in
36:08
Speaker 12: the world have they been able to sort this out
36:10
Speaker 12: and have a renewable dependent grid.
36:12
Speaker 8: That is also cheap for consumers Jered Holland.
36:15
Speaker 1: Is it also the case that Australians are starting to
36:18
Speaker 1: wake up to what this is doing to our landscape?
36:20
Speaker 1: We have a beautiful country here and we are starting
36:23
Speaker 1: to see these terrifying pictures of huge towers like Triffid's
36:28
Speaker 1: striding across the land, huge amounts of landscape cleared for
36:31
Speaker 1: farmland being lost to it. Is it doing something to
36:34
Speaker 1: our landscape which we were not warned would happen.
36:38
Speaker 6: Yeah?
36:38
Speaker 12: Absolutely, And I don't think people truly appreciate the scale
36:41
Speaker 12: of what's being built.
36:43
Speaker 2: Very regret though they're enormous.
36:46
Speaker 12: They are interest to give a bit of context, right,
36:48
Speaker 12: So if you just take New South Wales and it's
36:50
Speaker 12: similar for most of the states, but just New South Wales,
36:52
Speaker 12: eighty percent of our electricity demand is within the ring
36:56
Speaker 12: between the Hunter and Sydney. So you have the vast
36:58
Speaker 12: majority of households in that area, and you have the vast.
37:01
Speaker 8: Majority of our industry in that area as well.
37:03
Speaker 12: And historically the vast majority of our electricity was generated
37:06
Speaker 12: in that ring.
37:07
Speaker 8: You either got it from Lithgo, you got it from
37:09
Speaker 8: the Hunter.
37:10
Speaker 12: You have all that coal region there and it's no
37:12
Speaker 12: coincidence that our industry spotted up around where we have
37:16
Speaker 12: the cheap, abundant electricity. But what we're doing now is
37:19
Speaker 12: we're building this vast, sprawling network all across the state,
37:22
Speaker 12: which then has to bring the power back into the
37:25
Speaker 12: city where it's consumed, and then it also has to
37:27
Speaker 12: send the power down to the storage be snowy hydro
37:30
Speaker 12: or batteries, and that relies on quite complex engineering capabilities
37:36
Speaker 12: even just to.
37:36
Speaker 8: Get the power where it needs to be at any
37:38
Speaker 8: given time.
37:39
Speaker 12: Because you come back to that where the dependency that
37:41
Speaker 12: we were talking about before. So we've taken a system
37:43
Speaker 12: that was quite dense, quite reliable, and very cheap, and
37:47
Speaker 12: we've built this vast, sprawling, sort of interdependent system. We've
37:52
Speaker 12: got lots and lots of machines only working some of
37:54
Speaker 12: the time, fighting against the rules of physics and engineering
37:58
Speaker 12: to get that power where it needs to be when
38:00
Speaker 12: it's needed.
38:01
Speaker 2: And very quickly. What can be different?
38:04
Speaker 1: I mean, if an opposition is elected, if a coalition
38:07
Speaker 1: government is elected, what are the alternatives? What can they
38:10
Speaker 1: do that can make this better quickly?
38:13
Speaker 12: Well, so this is what we wanted to layer in
38:15
Speaker 12: our delivering a high Energy Australia report, and the GNATS
38:18
Speaker 12: and the Libs have really taken this on board, and
38:21
Speaker 12: I think it's really informed. They're thinking in the short term,
38:24
Speaker 12: we need to make sure that we're investing in base
38:26
Speaker 12: load reliable power, which in the short term means coal,
38:30
Speaker 12: either fixing up the aging plants that we have that
38:33
Speaker 12: haven't had the maintenance done on them that was really
38:35
Speaker 12: needed because governments keep on promising to shut them down
38:37
Speaker 12: as soon as possible. In the midterm, it probably means
38:40
Speaker 12: investing in new units to make sure that we're getting
38:43
Speaker 12: enough energy into the grid. Bear in mind that we
38:46
Speaker 12: want ai we want data centers, we want to increase
38:49
Speaker 12: our energy usage in this country. We don't just want
38:51
Speaker 12: to be staying flat and then looking for the longer
38:54
Speaker 12: term something like nuclear power, which you can have a
38:56
Speaker 12: plant ninety one hundred years into the future, extremely reliable,
39:00
Speaker 12: you can store the fuel rods in country, giving energy security.
39:03
Speaker 12: A baseload system is always going to be cheaper and
39:05
Speaker 12: more reliable than an intermittent weather dependent system that we're
39:10
Speaker 12: building right now. So get off the renewables train as
39:13
Speaker 12: quick as possible. Invest in your reliable base load power
39:16
Speaker 12: and you will see down with present this price.
39:18
Speaker 1: Here, would you actually advocate new coal fired power stations,
39:21
Speaker 1: perhaps heavy stations the hgl E high efficiency low emissions
39:25
Speaker 1: power stations. Should we actually be I mean it would
39:28
Speaker 1: be politically daring to propose that, but is it possible.
39:32
Speaker 8: I think it will be a necessity.
39:34
Speaker 12: And I think if we want to particularly for an
39:35
Speaker 12: industry just parking households aside, and obviously want cheaper power
39:39
Speaker 12: for mums and dads, but for us to maintain any
39:42
Speaker 12: heavy industry in this country, we are going to need
39:44
Speaker 12: cheap baseload power and more of it as quick as possible,
39:48
Speaker 12: and that will mean new cal firepower plans. I'm a
39:50
Speaker 12: big advocate for nuclear, but there is a longer horizon
39:53
Speaker 12: before we can get that online and maintaining our fleet
39:57
Speaker 12: as is currently that keeps us treading water. It does
40:00
Speaker 12: get the new energy in the system that we are
40:02
Speaker 12: going to need to compete in the twenty first century. Now,
40:05
Speaker 12: if you were to do it at the mind mouth,
40:06
Speaker 12: like is commonplace in Queensland or in Victoria, you could
40:09
Speaker 12: get very very cheap electricity, especially if you look to
40:12
Speaker 12: a long term off take agreement with a mind to
40:15
Speaker 12: make sure you're baking in a price that's good for Australians.
40:18
Speaker 12: If we were just to pluk one down in the
40:19
Speaker 12: Hunter and leave it to the international spot price, well
40:22
Speaker 12: then you're leaving yourself very vulnerable.
40:24
Speaker 8: So it's not just about building.
40:26
Speaker 12: A plant, it's about the long term policy setting and
40:28
Speaker 12: giving security to these generators. But absolutely I would advocate
40:32
Speaker 12: for that with some careful political planning to really secure
40:35
Speaker 12: our prosperity into the future.
40:37
Speaker 1: Jered holand pleasure talking to you. Thank you for all
40:39
Speaker 1: of that information given to us so rapidly. I've got
40:42
Speaker 1: a friend of mine who did own an electric vehicle.
40:45
Speaker 1: I have to say she gave it up because it
40:46
Speaker 1: caused her such stress very quickly.
40:49
Speaker 2: Is there a future for evs?
40:52
Speaker 12: Look, I'm pretty skeptical on from the regions myself and
40:55
Speaker 12: the amount of infrastructure that's needed seems unlikely. Hybrids, if
40:59
Speaker 12: you want to low carbon option, they make a lot
41:01
Speaker 12: more sense. They have all the great principles of fossil
41:03
Speaker 12: but if it's not cheap, I'm pretty happy with my
41:05
Speaker 12: diesel you.
41:05
Speaker 1: Personally, Jeerhard hold a nice talking to you and I'm
41:09
Speaker 1: sure you are happy with your diesel ute. Coming up,
41:11
Speaker 1: we go across to the UK for a remarkable story
41:14
Speaker 1: of survival on one of the world's highest and most
41:17
Speaker 1: dangerous mountains.
41:18
Speaker 2: That's next. Welcome back.
41:24
Speaker 1: Now we go to a familiar face, one who's become
41:27
Speaker 1: very familiar to is a regular contributor on Sky News
41:30
Speaker 1: and on the Bolt Report for the past year from
41:33
Speaker 1: the UK. But Adrian Hayes is not tonight go to
41:36
Speaker 1: talk about the news out of Britain. He has a
41:39
Speaker 1: skill that sets him well beyond the reach of most
41:42
Speaker 1: media commentary. Earlier this year he was lucky to survive
41:46
Speaker 1: and experience on the world's third highest mountain, and he
41:50
Speaker 1: joins us now to tell us more about it. Adrian,
41:52
Speaker 1: welcome to the program. Now, this is a mountain in
41:56
Speaker 1: the Himalayas. Actually a friend of mine who lived there said, no, Kel,
41:59
Speaker 1: it's the hymn Alas. So you can tell me which
42:01
Speaker 1: is correct, if you like Himalayas or him Alias, which
42:05
Speaker 1: should it be.
42:07
Speaker 6: I've always called it Himalayas, and I think most people do.
42:09
Speaker 13: But anyway, but yeah, Mount canchin Jungle, which is the
42:12
Speaker 13: mouthful in itself, but the world's third highest mountain, which
42:16
Speaker 13: is even harder than K two and Everest, and I've
42:18
Speaker 13: climbed them both before, twice as just as Steve as
42:21
Speaker 13: K two and twice as long.
42:23
Speaker 1: Ok, how far did you get up the mountain before
42:25
Speaker 1: the trouble began?
42:28
Speaker 6: I got the summit.
42:29
Speaker 13: We had a ruling climb twenty hours or so from
42:32
Speaker 13: the top camp and another nine out. We just had
42:34
Speaker 13: an hour break at camp four, so twenty nine hours
42:39
Speaker 13: in total, so pretty exhausting, full stop. But it was
42:42
Speaker 13: just just below the summit that all hell broke loose, unfortunately.
42:47
Speaker 1: For me, so as I understand what you had to
42:50
Speaker 1: fall into a precipice, is that correct?
42:52
Speaker 6: Yeah?
42:53
Speaker 13: For the teammate behind me, and he was pretty I
42:55
Speaker 13: think it was out of it. He tripped on a
42:57
Speaker 13: very precarious traverse, me, crashed into me, winded me, sent
43:02
Speaker 13: me flying over a ledge. Now you know in the process,
43:06
Speaker 13: fracturing my right wrist. I only knew that months later,
43:09
Speaker 13: but also even more importantly, breaking my regulator on my
43:13
Speaker 13: oxygen mask. So we were eight, I was eighty five
43:16
Speaker 13: hundred and sixty meters and I lost oxygen.
43:20
Speaker 6: That is a ticking time bomb because and.
43:22
Speaker 13: Of course it about an hour later, you know, I
43:25
Speaker 13: started get hallucinations I was out of oxygen, and I
43:27
Speaker 13: got started get what's called hiltitude cerebral edemer fluid on
43:31
Speaker 13: the brain, which is a very very serious and life
43:34
Speaker 13: threatening condition.
43:36
Speaker 6: And I actually.
43:38
Speaker 13: Aggressively just telling him to just to you know, get
43:41
Speaker 13: down the mountin all these things, just to more choice
43:45
Speaker 13: words actually I was using. But basically eventually I passed
43:48
Speaker 13: out and was left for dead, as most people who
43:51
Speaker 13: get HACE as it's called that high altitude suffer.
43:55
Speaker 1: So that would have surely the deprivation of oxygen would
43:58
Speaker 1: have eventually killed you.
44:00
Speaker 2: Why aren't you did? Why are you still with a
44:01
Speaker 2: side room?
44:03
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm good.
44:04
Speaker 13: Question kel, It's something I mean, I've somehow managed to
44:08
Speaker 13: wake up, you know, just you know, completely disorientated, and
44:12
Speaker 13: and I was, you know, start you again to process.
44:16
Speaker 13: I suppose it sex military background, just thinking right, even
44:19
Speaker 13: though I'm just thinking my mind, I'm out of my mind,
44:21
Speaker 13: just getting process right.
44:22
Speaker 6: How we got to get down?
44:24
Speaker 13: And the reason of my life is I managed to
44:26
Speaker 13: get down over the next sort of thirty six hours
44:29
Speaker 13: on my own, with suffering horrendous hallucinations.
44:33
Speaker 6: So that's one reason.
44:35
Speaker 13: And you know, in a small avalanche and precarious technical climb.
44:39
Speaker 13: The second reason is one gallant sherper who saw me
44:42
Speaker 13: coming down. He came up and saw me at seven
44:46
Speaker 13: six hundred meters lying right next to a massive crevasse
44:50
Speaker 13: and sort of basically rescuing me.
44:51
Speaker 6: So I owe him my life.
44:54
Speaker 1: So he helped you get further down the mountain. How
44:56
Speaker 1: far down did he get you? How did you get
44:58
Speaker 1: to hospital care? How did that happen?
45:00
Speaker 13: We got down to seven thousand, six two hundred meters
45:04
Speaker 13: and then from there I got a helicopter lift to
45:08
Speaker 13: Katman New Hospital's a week in hospital and then of
45:11
Speaker 13: course treatment back in the UK since I've been back.
45:14
Speaker 1: When you have that kind of oxygen deprivation, does it
45:17
Speaker 1: do any permanent damage or do you recover completely?
45:22
Speaker 6: I hope they're not repair them.
45:24
Speaker 2: I mean, look, it's you look okay. I better say
45:27
Speaker 2: you sound okay?
45:29
Speaker 13: Yeah, And I think that's a mindset thing. Cal it's
45:31
Speaker 13: you know, far from going the PTSD route. And my
45:34
Speaker 13: fingers are very they're still suffering from frostbite.
45:37
Speaker 2: There's that.
45:38
Speaker 6: My guitar playing has suffered greatly.
45:40
Speaker 13: But you know, from all my coaching work, I've twenty
45:43
Speaker 13: odd years, you know, rather than going down the victimhood route.
45:47
Speaker 13: Look at the gift in every circumstance. I'm alive and
45:50
Speaker 13: celebrating being alive. So bad things happen in life to
45:53
Speaker 13: all of us, and I think that's one of the
45:55
Speaker 13: lasting lessons, and we just got to get that mindset,
45:57
Speaker 13: just be prepared for it.
45:59
Speaker 6: So unfortunately the hate.
46:00
Speaker 13: Hasn't shouldn't have any long lasting effects, but the fingers
46:04
Speaker 13: and toes will.
46:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, it looks as though God intended you to survive,
46:07
Speaker 1: so there must be things you've got to achieve in
46:10
Speaker 1: life here, don't you think.
46:12
Speaker 13: Yeah, look, I mean doing this adventuring side of things
46:15
Speaker 13: since I was seventeen years of age. That twenty three
46:18
Speaker 13: years has just flown by. Yeah, I'm obviously still suffering
46:21
Speaker 13: from delusion, but you know, I think next year will
46:27
Speaker 13: be over sort of recovery. I always do a bit
46:28
Speaker 13: of an end of a year review myself and then
46:30
Speaker 13: set my goals the next year. No big things next year,
46:34
Speaker 13: but yeah, you wait till twenty twenty sent We're going
46:36
Speaker 13: to do some other things, not sure yet what they
46:39
Speaker 13: will be.
46:40
Speaker 1: In other words, you're telling us you are still a
46:42
Speaker 1: serious mountain EO.
46:45
Speaker 6: Yeah, Well, I'm an all round adventure.
46:46
Speaker 13: I do mountains, deserts, jungles, polar ice caps, the lot.
46:50
Speaker 13: So you know, when the time's right, look and think,
46:53
Speaker 13: well what do I want to do?
46:54
Speaker 6: But you know I do it.
46:56
Speaker 13: You've got to ask the why why are you doing
46:57
Speaker 13: this thing? It's not for sort of social media face or.
47:00
Speaker 6: Anything like this.
47:01
Speaker 13: It's my only authentic pursuit of excellence, experience, growth and
47:05
Speaker 13: all these sort of more deeper things.
47:08
Speaker 6: To be honest.
47:08
Speaker 1: On that mountain that you you had your accident on
47:11
Speaker 1: and nearly died on K three, have people died on
47:14
Speaker 1: that mountain?
47:16
Speaker 12: Oh?
47:16
Speaker 6: K two? K two, Many people have died on K two.
47:20
Speaker 13: That's you know, sort of getting out near it about
47:23
Speaker 13: ninety or so at about four hundred and fifty summitters
47:26
Speaker 13: can Chin Junga has got probably the high the lowest
47:30
Speaker 13: success rate of any of the Himalayan big mountains, and
47:34
Speaker 13: a pretty high fatality rate as well. Many people on
47:38
Speaker 13: that mountain people die of exhaustion, cerebral adema, pomea deema,
47:41
Speaker 13: all these things.
47:42
Speaker 6: It's not from avalanche or rock falls.
47:44
Speaker 13: That's why they die because it's such a brute of
47:47
Speaker 13: a such a long subment and a descent as well.
47:51
Speaker 1: Okay, quick find a question. Did anyone die on that
47:53
Speaker 1: trip you were on?
47:55
Speaker 13: Yeah, a french woman tragically died. She didn't get to
47:58
Speaker 13: the summit. She died on the way down. That I
48:00
Speaker 13: would have passed her body on the way down. But sadly,
48:05
Speaker 13: you know, these things happen and it's a tragic occurrence.
48:09
Speaker 6: But I'm just, you know, finishing off.
48:11
Speaker 13: I'm lucky to be alive and looking for the gift
48:13
Speaker 13: in every circumstance.
48:14
Speaker 2: Adrian, we are glad you're alive.
48:16
Speaker 1: We love your reports from the UK and we will
48:19
Speaker 1: see you all through night twenty twenty six.
48:21
Speaker 2: Thank you very much for your time.
48:23
Speaker 6: Thanks girl, and I've been near to you all and
48:25
Speaker 6: to you too.
48:26
Speaker 1: And they what an amazing man Adrian Hayes. He will
48:29
Speaker 1: be back next year in twenty twenty six, reporting on
48:31
Speaker 1: the amazing things that are happening in the UK. One
48:33
Speaker 1: of the most unpopular prime ministers they have ever had
48:36
Speaker 1: is there.
48:37
Speaker 2: At the moment.
48:37
Speaker 1: Well that's all in this edition of the Bolt Report.
48:39
Speaker 1: Now it's time for the not so late debate. Here
48:42
Speaker 1: is Frail Leitch