Transcript

Credlin | 14 May · Credlin

0:02
Speaker 1: Peter Krandland live on Sky News Australia.
0:08
Speaker 2: Good evening, Great to have your company. Here's looks coming
0:10
Speaker 2: up in the program this evening. Were clearly involved by
0:13
Speaker 2: his election win. Chris bowhen Ow wants Australia to go
0:16
Speaker 2: even harder and faster on renewables, a lot more price.
0:19
Speaker 3: Pain to come. What's going on with our.
0:22
Speaker 2: Councils in Melbourne they're giving into violent extremists and in
0:25
Speaker 2: Sydney the banning events to protect the grass from climate change.
0:29
Speaker 2: It's absolutely mad. Plus how preferences played a big hand
0:33
Speaker 2: in the Liberal Party defeat thirteen seats where the number
0:37
Speaker 2: one Liberal on the first preference or primary vote was
0:40
Speaker 2: ultimately defeated by preference flows from the left.
0:44
Speaker 3: So what needs to change more?
0:46
Speaker 2: And that's shortly not even twenty four hours after being elected,
0:50
Speaker 2: Liberal leader Susan Lee already under attack from a Liberal
0:53
Speaker 2: Party vice president. No less, despite the fact if Yonder
0:57
Speaker 2: Scott comes from Lee's own moderate faction.
1:00
Speaker 4: How long do you give her?
1:02
Speaker 5: I don't know. I mean a day's a long time
1:04
Speaker 5: in politics.
1:06
Speaker 3: So that's not exactly a reinforcement. Yeah, well, you know,
1:10
Speaker 3: it could be a day. It might be a done.
1:12
Speaker 3: I mean checkie.
1:14
Speaker 2: I'll come back to that one in a moment, but first,
1:15
Speaker 2: having beating witness protection throughout the election campaign, Chris Bowen
1:19
Speaker 2: has emerged today to claim the result as vindication. Indeed,
1:23
Speaker 2: he's gone as far as to say the result shows
1:25
Speaker 2: the silent majority have clearly rejected any alternative to his
1:30
Speaker 2: renewables only energy plan.
1:33
Speaker 3: He says, in fact, he's now.
1:34
Speaker 2: Got a license from voters to go even harder and
1:36
Speaker 2: faster as he tries to transition us away from base
1:40
Speaker 2: load power.
1:41
Speaker 6: Now zero is just by twenty fifty is not a policy.
1:45
Speaker 6: It's the bare minimum framework you have to work under.
1:49
Speaker 6: And if Susan lay is saying that's up for review,
1:51
Speaker 6: I mean she might as well say the sun coming
1:53
Speaker 6: up tomorrow's upperview or the sky being blue is upproview.
1:57
Speaker 2: Seriously, when almost seventy percent of the biggest around the
2:00
Speaker 2: world have all walked away from net zero, this is
2:05
Speaker 2: the problem with Bowen's mandate theory. Winning an election is
2:09
Speaker 2: no proof of total public endorsement. It's highly likely that
2:13
Speaker 2: more people voted labor to save Many Care. So effective
2:16
Speaker 2: was Labour Scare campaign than voted to endorse Bowen's wind
2:20
Speaker 2: and solar fantasy. In fact, energy policy was hardly central
2:24
Speaker 2: to the pitch from either side. Labor barely campaigned on
2:28
Speaker 2: energy because they didn't want to remind people of their promise,
2:31
Speaker 2: the broken promise to cut power bills by two hundred
2:33
Speaker 2: and seventy five dollars per household per year, and the
2:37
Speaker 2: Coalition too well, it hardly talked energy because it was
2:39
Speaker 2: spooked by the anti nuclear scare campaign and didn't want
2:43
Speaker 2: to explain that coal and particular gas will be a
2:46
Speaker 2: part of our energy mix.
2:47
Speaker 3: For decades to come.
2:49
Speaker 2: In a few seats in the Hunter and the Illawarra,
2:52
Speaker 2: offshore wind farms were a definite issue, but Labour can't
2:56
Speaker 2: take its wins there as an endorsement given the general
2:59
Speaker 2: collapse of the Coalition vote as the campaign wore wrong.
3:03
Speaker 2: What's more, going into the campaign, even before they put
3:06
Speaker 2: Bowen in the freezer, the government deliberately hid its future
3:10
Speaker 2: emissions plans left voters take fright, and they would have
3:14
Speaker 2: only done that if voted resistance was showing up in
3:18
Speaker 2: their internal polling. A good example here is the government's
3:22
Speaker 2: new emissions targets for twenty thirty five under legislation.
3:26
Speaker 3: They were supposed to release.
3:28
Speaker 2: Them in February, only they didn't and the government's new
3:32
Speaker 2: climate mouthpiece, former New South Wales liberal Mat Kean, will
3:35
Speaker 2: he use the excuse of the US pulling out of
3:38
Speaker 2: the Paris Agreement as the reason for holding them back.
3:41
Speaker 2: But Donald Trump, well he was just an excuse. What
3:45
Speaker 2: Labour needed was to bury these new targets that would
3:48
Speaker 2: have cost them votes. Given the targets, when released, will
3:51
Speaker 2: increase our power bills, they'll also likely hurt key industries
3:55
Speaker 2: like agriculture. As Bowen wrote today, Peter udn't describe the
3:59
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five election as a referendum on Australia's energy choices.
4:04
Speaker 2: Fair Enough, in uncertain times, Australians want an affordable plan,
4:08
Speaker 2: he wrote, backed by the experts.
4:11
Speaker 3: But this is wrong.
4:14
Speaker 2: The experts have merely explained the government's plan, saying that
4:18
Speaker 2: this is what's needed if you accept the whole net
4:20
Speaker 2: zero agenda and if you accept lowering emissions without the.
4:24
Speaker 3: Use of nuclear or gas.
4:26
Speaker 2: But they have certainly not endorsed it as the best
4:30
Speaker 2: way to get affordable and reliable energy. I'll see the difference,
4:35
Speaker 2: and of course no less a person than the form
4:37
Speaker 2: of British labor. PM Tony Blair has just declared that
4:41
Speaker 2: running an energy system to achieve.
4:42
Speaker 3: That zero is, he says, doomed to fail.
4:46
Speaker 2: Look at the mirage of green hydrogen billions and billions
4:50
Speaker 2: of your money being spent on this absolute fantasy for
4:54
Speaker 2: most of the private investors, or they are walking away today.
4:58
Speaker 2: More jobs cut by twiggy Forest, meaning the jig's up,
5:01
Speaker 2: the game's up on electric cars. Bowen claims it's not
5:06
Speaker 2: just the inner city greenies who support his plan. He says,
5:09
Speaker 2: quote the top three suburbs in New South Wald's benefiting
5:12
Speaker 2: from our electric vehicle discount of Balkham Hills, mars Did
5:16
Speaker 2: Park and Kellyville. But that's the whole point, isn't it.
5:21
Speaker 2: If these cars really made sense, if people wanted them,
5:25
Speaker 2: they wouldn't need government subsidies.
5:26
Speaker 3: Or discounts to be sold.
5:29
Speaker 2: If wind and solar really was the cheapest form of energy,
5:32
Speaker 2: it wouldn't need subsidies either. But the only reason we
5:36
Speaker 2: have wind and solar is because government rules forced the
5:40
Speaker 2: energy retailers to take it when it's available, and that
5:43
Speaker 2: the whole wind and solar business model is based on
5:47
Speaker 2: subsidy harvesting.
5:49
Speaker 3: Yes, the sun and.
5:49
Speaker 2: The wind are free, but what's not free is the
5:53
Speaker 2: infrastructure to harness it, the transmission lines to get it
5:56
Speaker 2: where it needs to be, and the firming required for
6:00
Speaker 2: the times when the wind doesn't shine and the sun
6:03
Speaker 2: doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. Likewise Bowen's statement,
6:08
Speaker 2: he says Australia has the best wind and sun the best. Really,
6:13
Speaker 2: he reckons our sun's better than moroccos our wind is
6:16
Speaker 2: better than Scotland's. Our gas and coal is certainly better.
6:19
Speaker 2: Our uranium is plentiful, but our wind and our sun. Honestly,
6:24
Speaker 2: this blokes a clown, but he's still peddling that lie
6:29
Speaker 2: dreamt up by the renewable industry lobbyists that seven nuclear
6:33
Speaker 2: power plants would cost Australians six hundred billion. Now, if
6:38
Speaker 2: nuclear is so expensive, why there are thirty countries using
6:42
Speaker 2: it and why are another twenty bringing it in?
6:47
Speaker 3: Yes, the Coalition are.
6:48
Speaker 2: Shell shocked, but they must hold their nerve on energy
6:53
Speaker 2: because if.
6:54
Speaker 3: They can't tear apart.
6:55
Speaker 2: Bowes arguments here, arguments that defy engineering and school reality,
7:01
Speaker 2: as well as the experience of much of the rest
7:04
Speaker 2: of the world, or if they can't be bowen, they
7:07
Speaker 2: might as well pack up and go home.
7:13
Speaker 3: All right, let's get their.
7:14
Speaker 2: Headlines now from Canberra. Skyny's political reporter Trinny Macintosh.
7:19
Speaker 7: Charged up after Labour's election Landslide.
7:22
Speaker 8: Has your battery, inquirers.
7:23
Speaker 7: Now through the roof the Energy and Climate Change Minister
7:26
Speaker 7: is declaring its full steam ahead in the renewables roll out.
7:30
Speaker 6: Silent majority to say, keep going, get on with the job.
7:33
Speaker 7: The wins of change have swept through the Liberal Party.
7:36
Speaker 7: The new look leadership team in Susan Lee and Ted
7:38
Speaker 7: O'Brien is not yet ready to chart the party's path
7:42
Speaker 7: forward on net zero by twenty fifty.
7:44
Speaker 9: There's no captain's call, there's no Vice captain's call.
7:49
Speaker 3: We will not be pre empting any policy stamps.
7:52
Speaker 7: But the junior coalition partner, the Nationals, want the team
7:55
Speaker 7: to dump the bipartisan Climate goal because I.
7:58
Speaker 3: Think we should end this crazy, costly net zero goal.
8:02
Speaker 4: And I wasn't really running to the leadership. I was
8:04
Speaker 4: running to change that policy. And now that's on the
8:05
Speaker 4: chopping block.
8:06
Speaker 3: So mission accomplished.
8:07
Speaker 6: Net zero is the bare minimum. And if Susan Lay
8:10
Speaker 6: is saying that's up for review. I mean she might
8:12
Speaker 6: as well say the sun coming up tomorrow's upreview, or
8:15
Speaker 6: the sky being blue is upreview. It's the basic framework.
8:18
Speaker 7: The government faced some push back to offshore win front
8:20
Speaker 7: projects during the election.
8:22
Speaker 4: We don't want you, don't want them off, get.
8:25
Speaker 8: Out of you.
8:26
Speaker 7: Now it's over, Minister Bowen says. The result justifies proceeding
8:30
Speaker 7: with plans in all six locations.
8:32
Speaker 6: Despite some of the rhetoric and the and the Arji Barji,
8:36
Speaker 6: there was a swing to the Labor Party pretty much
8:39
Speaker 6: in every offshore wind seat. I take that then, that
8:42
Speaker 6: as well as an endorsement.
8:44
Speaker 7: Meanwhile, the Prime Minister made a brief stop this afternoon.
8:47
Speaker 3: In Perth Congregulus Thank You thank.
8:52
Speaker 7: His first return to Wa since his emphatic re election.
8:56
Speaker 7: Labor held all its seats there and gained more.
9:00
Speaker 9: That I wasn't just about holding the seats that we
9:02
Speaker 9: won in twenty twenty two. I was about building on
9:06
Speaker 9: them and build on them.
9:08
Speaker 7: We have the next stop Indonesia.
9:10
Speaker 9: Because there's no more important relationship than we have with Indonesia.
9:18
Speaker 3: Tell you why I'll pay that. That's smart politics.
9:20
Speaker 2: He has to refuel when he leaves Indonesia to get
9:22
Speaker 2: all the way to Italy, but to do it back
9:24
Speaker 2: in Australia, back in Perth, sending a signal to voters
9:27
Speaker 2: in Wa that he meant what he said only two
9:30
Speaker 2: weeks ago, I think is very clever. All right, let's
9:33
Speaker 2: go into all the headlines and more with my panel,
9:36
Speaker 2: senior political reporter Truty Macintosh and senior reporter to Caroenn Markets.
9:40
Speaker 3: Well, day one.
9:42
Speaker 2: She's not even been in the job, Trudy for twenty
9:45
Speaker 2: four hours, and already we've got Susan Lee's leadership being questioned.
9:51
Speaker 2: Not by anyone here, we're talking about the Liberal Party's
9:54
Speaker 2: vice president, I might say, also a moderate in Fiona Scott.
9:59
Speaker 3: Have a look at this. How long do you give her?
10:02
Speaker 10: I don't know.
10:03
Speaker 5: I mean a day's a long time in politics.
10:05
Speaker 1: Also, that's not exactly a reinforcement.
10:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you know, it could be a day.
10:11
Speaker 7: It might be a damn me checky, But I mean, look,
10:14
Speaker 7: you don't know what the political tides will bring.
10:19
Speaker 2: Now, trud She later tried to walk back those comments.
10:22
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you why, very very untidy.
10:26
Speaker 7: It's not the walk back that's going to get all
10:28
Speaker 7: the attention is it's the original comments. It's one of
10:30
Speaker 7: those things when it comes out of your mouth. I
10:32
Speaker 7: imagine if you're Fiona Scott the entire day you've thought,
10:34
Speaker 7: I just should not have said that at all.
10:37
Speaker 3: It's a stupid thing to.
10:38
Speaker 7: Say, I'd have to say pretty early on in the
10:40
Speaker 7: first female leader of the Liberal Party, as you say,
10:42
Speaker 7: she's from the same faction notionally supports Susan Lee. She's
10:45
Speaker 7: gone on to say that publicly, but you can't take
10:48
Speaker 7: back what you said in jest on the Today Show
10:50
Speaker 7: a lesson probably.
10:50
Speaker 2: For a lot of people, and Carol, of course, we
10:55
Speaker 2: remember for Fiona Scott she lost her seat in Penrith.
10:59
Speaker 2: I think this is not helpful at all. The Liberal
11:02
Speaker 2: Party's got to pull together. Particularly I have to say
11:05
Speaker 2: as a former or current sorry vice president of the
11:08
Speaker 2: party federally, she also deserves her share of blame for
11:12
Speaker 2: the result two weeks ago.
11:15
Speaker 5: Well, I think that's fair as well, and she wouldn't
11:18
Speaker 5: really be able to argue with that.
11:19
Speaker 4: Look.
11:20
Speaker 5: I get on with Fanna Scott really well. Haven't spoken
11:23
Speaker 5: to her for some time. I think this was a
11:25
Speaker 5: real misstep and she realized she'd put her foot in
11:28
Speaker 5: her mouth. It was probably meant to be a joke,
11:31
Speaker 5: and she did say that. However, there's usually a kernel
11:35
Speaker 5: of truth in jokes, aren't there. And I do get
11:37
Speaker 5: this sense that a lot of people, whether it's in
11:41
Speaker 5: the party or out of it, do feel like perhaps
11:45
Speaker 5: Susan Lee is a placeholder in this or has been
11:49
Speaker 5: appointed because she is a woman. And that's what so
11:52
Speaker 5: much of the criticism of the party has been about.
11:55
Speaker 5: Whether it's true or not, you can't escape the perception
11:58
Speaker 5: that there's a bit of a token woman feel about
12:01
Speaker 5: this disappointment this vote in for her, and that there's
12:08
Speaker 5: more serious contenders in the long term as potential prime
12:13
Speaker 5: minister material like Andrew Hasty, like just Enterprise, like even
12:18
Speaker 5: Josh Freiderberg if he returns. So while whatever it's true
12:23
Speaker 5: or not true, I think that is the perception out
12:25
Speaker 5: there for a lot of people, but certainly very unhelpful
12:28
Speaker 5: for Scott to maybe point that out.
12:31
Speaker 3: Yeah.
12:31
Speaker 2: Look, I'll be pretty blunt here. She's been in the
12:34
Speaker 2: Parliament for twenty four years. Most punters wouldn't have an
12:37
Speaker 2: idea who she is. I mean, most most journalists I'm
12:40
Speaker 2: listening to them don't know whether to call her Susan
12:42
Speaker 2: Lee or Susan Leigh. I mean, such as her cut
12:45
Speaker 2: through in that time. Now she is a placeholder. Her
12:50
Speaker 2: challenge is to demonstrate as she hits the ground, as
12:53
Speaker 2: she goes through the work with colleagues on rebuilding and
12:56
Speaker 2: policy review, work her jobs, to show that she isn't
12:59
Speaker 2: a placeholder, that she can be there for the longer term,
13:03
Speaker 2: that she can go to the next election, that she
13:04
Speaker 2: can have a good showing and be there potentially for
13:08
Speaker 2: a second term and win at a second election. But
13:12
Speaker 2: she's got people like Andrew Hasty on her tails. I mean,
13:15
Speaker 2: he ruled himself out truly very early on, didn't he.
13:18
Speaker 2: But he's done a podcast and you know, fair enough,
13:21
Speaker 2: it's been pretty open about his ambitions.
13:23
Speaker 3: Have a listen.
13:24
Speaker 10: I'd be foolish to say I don't have a desire
13:28
Speaker 10: to lead. I do have a desire to lead, but
13:31
Speaker 10: the timing was all out for personal reasons.
13:36
Speaker 2: I mean, no one in the lower House would rule
13:38
Speaker 2: out an ambition to lead Trudy.
13:40
Speaker 3: But he's smart.
13:42
Speaker 2: He's realized to go now after such a smashing, comprehensive loss,
13:47
Speaker 2: not the right time.
13:50
Speaker 3: And actually rated to Peter, here's reason.
13:52
Speaker 7: I've listened to a lot of that podcast a very
13:55
Speaker 7: interesting discussion with Andrew Hasty. He talks about his three
13:59
Speaker 7: young kids the long commute from WA. I think that's
14:02
Speaker 7: noble to say as a father, you want to actually
14:04
Speaker 7: spend formative time with your young kids. But he also
14:07
Speaker 7: goes on to say Peter that it's important that MP's
14:10
Speaker 7: like him actually determine what the problem is before he
14:14
Speaker 7: put his hand up to lead. He says and spoke
14:16
Speaker 7: about young voters who he says are activist voters, but
14:21
Speaker 7: he says he understands why, but because they feel so
14:23
Speaker 7: frustrated with the system. He says, the Liberal Party needs
14:26
Speaker 7: to find a way to address the central challenge of
14:29
Speaker 7: home ownership. I think important to put your hand up
14:32
Speaker 7: and say yes, I have ambition, but ultimately, as a party,
14:35
Speaker 7: we all need to diagnose the problem.
14:37
Speaker 3: Before we were able to get out of it. I
14:38
Speaker 3: thought fascinating discussion.
14:42
Speaker 2: A real push Caroline on religious protections they were promised
14:47
Speaker 2: prior to the twenty sixteen election. Well we're nine years
14:52
Speaker 2: on now they still haven't been dealt with. I know
14:56
Speaker 2: that the new Attorney General, Michelle Roland, has received already
14:59
Speaker 2: deputation from religious leaders, and of course you know the
15:03
Speaker 2: Prime Minister's refound his Catholicism, doesn't like the Bible, but
15:06
Speaker 2: certainly doesn't mind a trip to the Vatican this might happen.
15:09
Speaker 3: Do you think, Well, it's difficult to say. You're right.
15:13
Speaker 5: He has made a lot of his Catholic faith, but
15:17
Speaker 5: it seems only when it suits him. I mean, he
15:20
Speaker 5: talked about how proud his mother would be to see
15:25
Speaker 5: to have been able to see him off to this
15:27
Speaker 5: inauguration of Pope Leo, and I did check with the
15:31
Speaker 5: Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and they've just confirmed
15:34
Speaker 5: with me. This is actually the first time an Australian
15:36
Speaker 5: Prime Minister has attended a pope's inauguration, so it is
15:42
Speaker 5: a huge step that he's taking here. He talks about
15:47
Speaker 5: his Catholic faith a lot, but then on other occasions
15:50
Speaker 5: like his swearing in, he didn't.
15:53
Speaker 3: Even put his hand on the Bible.
15:55
Speaker 5: And I know a lot of politicians don't do that anymore,
15:58
Speaker 5: But if the Catholic faith is so important to him,
16:01
Speaker 5: I thought it was an interesting choice. He also, despite
16:05
Speaker 5: making it an issue religious protections at the twenty twenty
16:09
Speaker 5: two election, didn't shide away from it ahead of this
16:14
Speaker 5: election and in fanness. So did the opposition, because I
16:17
Speaker 5: guess the country was more concerned about cost of living.
16:19
Speaker 5: But certainly what we're hearing from a lot of faith
16:22
Speaker 5: leaders across the board, all different kinds of faiths, is
16:24
Speaker 5: that it is still very important for a lot of
16:26
Speaker 5: people and a lot of their communities.
16:29
Speaker 3: I mean, the.
16:30
Speaker 5: Catholic Church has warned that if protections like which teachers
16:35
Speaker 5: they're able to hibe if they can only hire Catholic
16:40
Speaker 5: teachers if they're a Catholic school, for instance, if those
16:43
Speaker 5: aren't protected, they may have to even shut down Catholic schools,
16:47
Speaker 5: and so many children attend these schools it would be
16:51
Speaker 5: overwhelming for the public system if that were to happen.
16:53
Speaker 5: So I do think they need to revisit it. And
16:56
Speaker 5: if he really is genuine about his religious beliefs, the
17:01
Speaker 5: Prime Minister, than when he returns from this trip, then
17:04
Speaker 5: that's what he should have a look at.
17:08
Speaker 2: I would also say that in the Parliament occasionally he
17:10
Speaker 2: needs to give people in the Labor Party a conscience vote.
17:13
Speaker 2: There was a number of those conscience votes denied in
17:15
Speaker 2: the last parliament, particularly in relation to some Senate legislation. Truty,
17:19
Speaker 2: let's go to the coalition agreement. Now I've been there
17:22
Speaker 2: three times. I think it is when it's been negotiated.
17:24
Speaker 2: I tell you what, it's a lot easier to negotiate
17:27
Speaker 2: it in government than it is in opposition, particularly because
17:31
Speaker 2: the National Party in recent times they have held ground
17:34
Speaker 2: where the Liberals have lost it. So I reckon they've
17:37
Speaker 2: got the whipan They've already come out very strongly on nuclear.
17:40
Speaker 2: The Libs are saying, well, nuclear's on the table for
17:43
Speaker 2: the review. There's quietly, you know, plenty of support inside
17:47
Speaker 2: the National Party to scrap net zero. Not just look
17:51
Speaker 2: at net zero. The Libs, you know, they're all at sea.
17:54
Speaker 2: I think on this vexed issue. Kevin Hogan today he's
17:57
Speaker 2: the Deputy National Party leader, he had this to say,
18:01
Speaker 2: we'll go in.
18:02
Speaker 11: I will go in. We as the leadership will come
18:04
Speaker 11: with the intention to sign a coalition agreement. But if
18:07
Speaker 11: that doesn't happen, so over it. But that will be
18:09
Speaker 11: our intention.
18:09
Speaker 3: So chance it won't be signed, chance that you split.
18:13
Speaker 11: Yeah, I think there's always a chance for that, and
18:15
Speaker 11: I don't think that's necessarily unhealthy. But our intention is
18:19
Speaker 11: to sign it. Our intention is to do a deal.
18:23
Speaker 2: And I might add too true to give them a
18:25
Speaker 2: seat deferential now the Racio they would be able, I
18:30
Speaker 2: presume to argue for more front bench positions.
18:36
Speaker 7: Yeah, Bridget mackenzie making that point earlier today on Sky
18:38
Speaker 7: News that the proportionality needs to be taken into account
18:41
Speaker 7: when you look at how well the Nationals did in
18:43
Speaker 7: holding their lower House seats compared with the bloodbath we
18:47
Speaker 7: saw for the Liberals. This is now a task for
18:49
Speaker 7: Susan Lee and David Little Proud to come together and
18:52
Speaker 7: see if they can strike an agreement. I think crucially
18:55
Speaker 7: that issue with front bench seats is a big one.
18:58
Speaker 7: There's going to be demands the Nationals to get more,
19:01
Speaker 7: but the defection of just Enter Price to the Liberal
19:04
Speaker 7: Party complicates that in terms of a slight shift in
19:06
Speaker 7: the numbers. So fascinating to watch how this plays out,
19:09
Speaker 7: and also that the NAT's getting a little loud too
19:12
Speaker 7: about maybe they want better portfolios, Bridget mackenzie pointing out
19:15
Speaker 7: in the past there's been a president that has been
19:17
Speaker 7: a Treasurer from the National Party, so shadow treasurer from
19:20
Speaker 7: the National Party.
19:21
Speaker 3: So watch this space.
19:24
Speaker 2: Wow, that'll be interesting because of course the deputy Liberal
19:27
Speaker 2: leader gets to choose their portfolio, but so too does
19:30
Speaker 2: the National Party leader. So you know, I if Ted
19:33
Speaker 2: O'Bryan doesn't want to be the shadow treasurer, arguably David
19:37
Speaker 2: Little Proud could have it if you wanted it. Hey,
19:39
Speaker 2: what's the story too, treated before we go, AEC ballots?
19:42
Speaker 3: What some booth.
19:44
Speaker 2: Worker took home a box of ballots and they've just
19:47
Speaker 2: been discovered.
19:50
Speaker 7: Yeah, this is a lengthy statement from the AEC. It
19:52
Speaker 7: was actually a container full of votes that had already
19:55
Speaker 7: been counted. It was an authorized transport officer who somehow
19:59
Speaker 7: inadvertent it wasn't taken out of the vehicle and put
20:02
Speaker 7: to the official counting center. The AEC went through the processes,
20:06
Speaker 7: they knew something was missing, they managed to find it.
20:08
Speaker 7: They say their initial investigation is this was inadvertent, not
20:12
Speaker 7: deliberately done. But obviously they're still working through this. The
20:15
Speaker 7: fact that our system can figure out where things were.
20:18
Speaker 7: They say, the seal wasn't tampered with, so there was
20:20
Speaker 7: no issue. They say with the votes, I think, you know,
20:23
Speaker 7: it's a system that relies on people. People make mistakes.
20:26
Speaker 7: But the AEC saying they deeply forget.
20:28
Speaker 3: What happened, all right, ladies, I leave it there, thank
20:32
Speaker 3: you very much.
20:33
Speaker 2: I'll say it again, not a quota needed for a wonderful,
20:36
Speaker 2: talented panel like that. To this quota debate's got really
20:40
Speaker 2: under my skin. Let's go down to Greg Sheridan for
20:42
Speaker 2: an editor at The Australian. We want to talk about
20:44
Speaker 2: a couple of things. Most importantly, though, of course, the
20:47
Speaker 2: Prime Minister's trip to Indonesia. Greg, I think it's a
20:51
Speaker 2: very good look that the first time he goes overseas
20:53
Speaker 2: is to Indonesia. Issues there of course, with the move
20:57
Speaker 2: of China through our region, the move now of Russia
21:00
Speaker 2: through our region.
21:01
Speaker 3: What do you want to see come out of this trip?
21:05
Speaker 12: Well, Peter, great to be with you. Great to be
21:08
Speaker 12: with you, and I'm glad you're going to maintain your
21:10
Speaker 12: quota for senior short sighted bearded foreign affairs commentators. Look,
21:17
Speaker 12: it's an important trip. It's right that the first trip
21:21
Speaker 12: every time should be to Indonesia. The Indonesia relationship is
21:26
Speaker 12: nowhere near as good as we think it is. It's
21:29
Speaker 12: not disastrously bad, but you know, Indonesia signed a strategic
21:34
Speaker 12: partnership with the Albanesi government and so on, but that
21:37
Speaker 12: has not had any meaning, it means nothing. We're getting
21:41
Speaker 12: increasing defense cooperation, but we don't have a defense force
21:44
Speaker 12: to spit with, so you know, they're very limited cooperation
21:48
Speaker 12: exercises we can do because we have such limited defense assets. Meanwhile,
21:53
Speaker 12: Indonesia joined the Bricks Group, which is a group you know, Brazil, Russia,
21:59
Speaker 12: Indi Jana, South Africa designed really to contain America, and
22:04
Speaker 12: it is having a very very intimate strategic relationship with
22:07
Speaker 12: Russia and increasing influence of China. So its strategic partnership
22:11
Speaker 12: with Australia means nothing. The economic relationship is still wildly underdone.
22:16
Speaker 12: We still have fewer students studying indonesiaan than we did
22:19
Speaker 12: during the wide Australia policy. Now Alberanezi is right to
22:22
Speaker 12: go there, but putting some flesh on the bones of
22:26
Speaker 12: this relationship has not really has not really yet come
22:30
Speaker 12: to fruition.
22:33
Speaker 2: I'll get into President Trump's trip to the Middle East,
22:36
Speaker 2: but of course I want to make bench of the
22:37
Speaker 2: fact that after Indonesia, of course the Prime Minister goes
22:40
Speaker 2: to Rome, he'll attend the inauguration of the Pope. Caroline
22:44
Speaker 2: just makes a point there. She contacted PM and C
22:47
Speaker 2: and they said There's never been another Australian Prime minister
22:49
Speaker 2: in history go to inauguration of a pope. And I
22:53
Speaker 2: noticed it all the way through the campaign. The Prime
22:56
Speaker 2: Minister was in and out of the Catholic Church. He
22:58
Speaker 2: had cameras follow him at a lot of major events.
23:01
Speaker 2: Now you know, for a long time Labor has pillaried
23:05
Speaker 2: people of faith. They went after Scott Morrison and very
23:08
Speaker 2: famously for a very long time pillar read mad monk
23:12
Speaker 2: and all other sort of terms thrown at Tony Abbott
23:14
Speaker 2: about his Catholicism.
23:17
Speaker 3: Fair enough for the PM, right.
23:18
Speaker 2: Fair enough, but then when he is sworn in, takes office,
23:23
Speaker 2: he makes an affirmation and doesn't want to hold up
23:26
Speaker 2: a Bible, doesn't want to swear an oath, which makes
23:29
Speaker 2: me instinctively say, this is playing the politics here and
23:34
Speaker 2: nothing else.
23:37
Speaker 3: Well, Peter, I.
23:40
Speaker 12: Wouldn't question the sincerity of Anthony Alberneze's religious beliefs. And
23:45
Speaker 12: oddly enough, I've done a verbal the PM on TV.
23:48
Speaker 12: But I've discussed this with him once or twice in
23:50
Speaker 12: the past when I wasn't so critical of his performance
23:53
Speaker 12: on defense, and I believe, I believe that his religious
23:58
Speaker 12: belief is quite sincere and I think it's good that
24:01
Speaker 12: he's going to the inauguration of the Pope's It's not
24:04
Speaker 12: only a terrific opportunity to meet world leaders that he
24:07
Speaker 12: hasn't met yet, like Mark Carney from Canada and so on.
24:10
Speaker 12: So it's fully justified in terms of the diplomatic opportunities,
24:13
Speaker 12: but it is showing respect for the institution of the papacy,
24:16
Speaker 12: in the institution of the Catholic Church. And remember the
24:19
Speaker 12: new pope. He voted in Republican primaries in Chicago. Not
24:23
Speaker 12: many Republicans have ever been elected Bible oath?
24:30
Speaker 3: Why no Bible? Well, I have asked the prime ministers,
24:32
Speaker 3: lack of consistency.
24:33
Speaker 12: I've asked a prime minist. I've asked a Prime minister
24:37
Speaker 12: about that in the past in non nono official conversations.
24:40
Speaker 12: They weren't interviews or anything. He has a view about
24:45
Speaker 12: keeping religion private, the separation of church and state, and
24:48
Speaker 12: so on. Now I don't believe that that view requires
24:51
Speaker 12: you not to take an oath on a Bible. If
24:54
Speaker 12: I had to take an oath, I'd take it on
24:55
Speaker 12: a Bible in a minute. But I don't. I don't
24:59
Speaker 12: question his good will over that. But of course Labour
25:01
Speaker 12: plays its politics very hard. But I'm not really in
25:05
Speaker 12: a mood to cry any crocodile tears for the Coalition
25:07
Speaker 12: because that was the worst campaign I've ever seen the
25:09
Speaker 12: history of the world. And they weren't rugged by unfair forces.
25:14
Speaker 12: They just produced a shockingly terrible campaign. I agree. So,
25:21
Speaker 12: I mean, you know, I have no taste for criticizing
25:24
Speaker 12: the PM on matters of religion.
25:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll just make the point. If his faith was private,
25:31
Speaker 2: I wouldn't bring up the Bible.
25:33
Speaker 3: But all the way through the.
25:34
Speaker 2: Campaign he took cameras into churches and as Kevin Rudd did,
25:38
Speaker 2: and I was critical of Kevin Rud when he did
25:40
Speaker 2: that as well. I think that's where he crossed the line.
25:42
Speaker 2: Talk to me about the lifting of sanctions against Syria.
25:47
Speaker 3: We had some images.
25:48
Speaker 2: I think I've got to grab there now to play
25:50
Speaker 2: President Trump in Saudi Arabia.
25:52
Speaker 3: Saudi Arabia just a moment ago, have a listen.
25:55
Speaker 13: After discussing the situation with Crown Prince Muhamad and President
26:01
Speaker 13: Hurdigan of Turkey, I'm also ordering the cessation of sanctions
26:07
Speaker 13: against Syria to give them a fresh start. It gives
26:09
Speaker 13: them a chance for greatness. The sanctions were really crippling,
26:13
Speaker 13: very powerful.
26:16
Speaker 3: Greg What do you make of all of this?
26:19
Speaker 12: Look, I think this is a very perplexing trip from
26:23
Speaker 12: the president, very perplexing. Trump is a combination of good
26:26
Speaker 12: and bad. He does some very good things. He does
26:28
Speaker 12: some things no one else that ever guts to do.
26:30
Speaker 12: But there is now a weird instability about American policy.
26:34
Speaker 12: He's back and forth on China every minute. I think
26:37
Speaker 12: that played into our campaign. Very hard to take a
26:40
Speaker 12: sensible hardline on national security for US if our big
26:44
Speaker 12: superpower partner is flip flopping all the time, his organization,
26:49
Speaker 12: his commercial organization, has got a million deals going with
26:53
Speaker 12: all these Arab dictatorships, and this idea of taking the
26:57
Speaker 12: donation of a seven four seven jet from Qatar, which
27:01
Speaker 12: backs Al Jazeera and has backed Humas is just frankly unbelievable. Now,
27:06
Speaker 12: there is a case for trying to ease in the
27:09
Speaker 12: new Syrian government into the Community of Nations. There is
27:13
Speaker 12: a case for that, but you'd have to be very cautious.
27:17
Speaker 12: I mean, the new authorities there have killed a lot
27:20
Speaker 12: of innocent people. They're not as murderous as some of
27:23
Speaker 12: the previous Syrian Syrian governments. But Trump's speeches since he's
27:28
Speaker 12: been in the Gulf have had nothing to do with
27:31
Speaker 12: democracy or human rights or anything else. He likes a dictatorship,
27:35
Speaker 12: which gives him a lot of money. And now, if
27:38
Speaker 12: this helps domesticate Syria, that's great. If, on the other hand,
27:43
Speaker 12: it just enables the latest batch of Islamists to come
27:48
Speaker 12: more quickly to power, that's a worry. And if there's
27:53
Speaker 12: alleged to be American investment going into Syria that could
27:56
Speaker 12: be a force for stabilization, that might be a good thing.
28:00
Speaker 12: But you know, everything that Trump does at the moment
28:02
Speaker 12: is so entwined with his own personal interests that this
28:07
Speaker 12: is an extremely fraught, difficult moment for Western strategic policy
28:12
Speaker 12: because it's impossible to be consistent because Trump keeps changing,
28:18
Speaker 12: changing his position, because it's all a negotiating position, and
28:21
Speaker 12: it's impossible to identify any values that go with it.
28:25
Speaker 12: Having said all that, if you can turn the Gulf
28:29
Speaker 12: into pro American actors and solidify them against Iran. But
28:34
Speaker 12: on Iran, Trump looks like he's going to get a
28:36
Speaker 12: worse deal than Barack Obama did, and he's notably snubbing
28:39
Speaker 12: Israel on this trip, although he's been very pro Israel
28:42
Speaker 12: up till now. But honestly, it's a bit of a
28:45
Speaker 12: it's a bit of a witch has brew this trip, Peter,
28:48
Speaker 12: and it's very hard to interpret at this stage.
28:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was thinking maybe he has not publicly flagged
28:55
Speaker 2: that he would go to Israel for security reasons, and
28:58
Speaker 2: he'll do what leaders off do. They'll drop into places
29:01
Speaker 2: that are a little bit more dangerous at the last
29:03
Speaker 2: minute than the media is told.
29:05
Speaker 3: At that time.
29:06
Speaker 2: Just on the luxury jet, I've got some comments he
29:08
Speaker 2: made today whilst he was on Air Force one.
29:11
Speaker 3: Let's have listen.
29:12
Speaker 14: The plane that you're own right now is almost forty
29:15
Speaker 14: years old. It's much smaller, it's much less impressive. As
29:18
Speaker 14: impressive as it is, some people say, oh, you shouldn't
29:21
Speaker 14: accept gifts for the country. My attitude is, why wouldn't
29:26
Speaker 14: they accept the gift?
29:28
Speaker 8: Now?
29:29
Speaker 3: A few things here.
29:29
Speaker 2: Of course, when he leaves the Oval office, he's taking
29:32
Speaker 2: that plane. You wonder what other strings come with the aircraft.
29:37
Speaker 2: You wonder how it'll be bugged to its eyeballs. You know,
29:40
Speaker 2: there'll be bugs on there and things on there that
29:42
Speaker 2: they will not know and not be able to take out.
29:45
Speaker 2: It'll potentially have tracking devices to know exactly where the
29:48
Speaker 2: US president is at any given time.
29:51
Speaker 3: But I mean those comments.
29:52
Speaker 2: He made about just the bravado have been on the
29:54
Speaker 2: tarmac and having the biggest plane in the lineup.
29:57
Speaker 3: I once heard a US.
29:58
Speaker 2: Secretary of State will remain nameless say I'm just really
30:02
Speaker 2: embarrassed at our plane is so ordinary, and I just
30:05
Speaker 2: think this is ridiculous, this sort of stuff.
30:09
Speaker 12: Yeah, Perdie, you're one hundred percent right. I mean, you
30:11
Speaker 12: bang on, It's just incredible. I mean, if you put
30:15
Speaker 12: this in the script of a comic novel, I wouldn't
30:17
Speaker 12: believe it. So there is the United States, you know,
30:20
Speaker 12: responsible for more than a quarter of the world's GDP,
30:23
Speaker 12: the most powerful nation the world has ever known, and
30:27
Speaker 12: it needs to go cap in hand begging to an
30:29
Speaker 12: Arab dictatorship which supports Hamas and supports al Jazeira, in
30:34
Speaker 12: order to get a plane for the president to fly in.
30:36
Speaker 12: And then the president is so indifferent to even the
30:39
Speaker 12: most elementary rules of ethics that after he leaves office,
30:43
Speaker 12: he plans to keep the plane theoretically not in his
30:47
Speaker 12: private possession, but in the possession of his own presidential Library,
30:50
Speaker 12: So a gift worth about six hundred million dollars six
30:53
Speaker 12: hundred million Australian dollars. Now he wanted, you know, rightly
30:57
Speaker 12: in my view, to prosecute Joe Biden for some dodgy
31:02
Speaker 12: deals with China where his son may have made half
31:05
Speaker 12: a million dollars or something. This is just sort of
31:09
Speaker 12: an in another ballpark. And then even at the practical level,
31:12
Speaker 12: apparently it's going to take months, if not years for
31:15
Speaker 12: American security to fix up the plane to make it habitable,
31:20
Speaker 12: properly usable as air Force one. And the President of
31:24
Speaker 12: America has to fly in a plane donated by Katar.
31:28
Speaker 12: I mean, I can understand that if he was the
31:30
Speaker 12: president of Sudan, but it's it's it's beyond beyond.
31:35
Speaker 3: Paradim Plane envy. Plane envy.
31:40
Speaker 2: Planes are made in Washington, in the state of Washington
31:43
Speaker 2: and Seattle anyway, So it's just nuts.
31:45
Speaker 3: I'll live it there, greeg. Thank you all.
31:47
Speaker 2: Arthur rak Why the Left is winning the battle and
31:49
Speaker 2: preferences and the impact this is having on the coalition's
31:52
Speaker 2: electoral fortunes. It wouldn't have saved them in the election,
31:56
Speaker 2: but it's making the job even harder. Plus, if you
31:58
Speaker 2: thought Boen was bad in the first term, think again,
32:01
Speaker 2: is pushing even harder and harsher emissions targets.
32:10
Speaker 3: Welcome back.
32:10
Speaker 2: Still to come the clear capitulation from one Malbourne council
32:14
Speaker 2: over the removal of a Captain Cook memorial. At the
32:16
Speaker 2: same time city signers are being locked out of their
32:19
Speaker 2: parks in the name of climate change. But first I
32:22
Speaker 2: want to have a look at some analysis in The
32:24
Speaker 2: Australian which points out that over the last two elections,
32:27
Speaker 2: preference flows from Labor and the Greens and other minor
32:30
Speaker 2: parties have cost the Liberal Party half a ministry's worth
32:34
Speaker 2: of talent. In this year's election alone, there were thirteen
32:38
Speaker 2: seats where the Coalition was leading on primary votes, so
32:42
Speaker 2: these were the first choice of the greatest number of
32:45
Speaker 2: voters in that seat. They then went on to lose
32:49
Speaker 2: due to preference flows from candidates which were eliminated earlier
32:52
Speaker 2: in the count In a first past the post system
32:56
Speaker 2: such as we have in the United Kingdom, the Coalition
32:58
Speaker 2: would have won all of these six. As I said,
33:01
Speaker 2: it wouldn't have saved them, but it would have made
33:03
Speaker 2: things very different. Let's discuss this more with my panel
33:06
Speaker 2: Deputy Executive director at the IPA Daniel Wild and return
33:10
Speaker 2: Liberal MP the victor Aaron Violi, Well Jens Welcome Dan
33:15
Speaker 2: two really tight contests where it just went against the Liberals.
33:20
Speaker 2: Despite the Liberals getting most of the votes were Mensies
33:23
Speaker 2: and Cou Yong. The Coalition lost both on preferences. Even
33:27
Speaker 2: Peter Dutton Seed of Dixon that was one by labor
33:30
Speaker 2: on preferences. This system hits the Coalition far harder than
33:34
Speaker 2: other parties on the left, and they really work the numbers,
33:37
Speaker 2: don't they.
33:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're right, Peter.
33:39
Speaker 1: I think the left place of game a lot better
33:41
Speaker 1: when it comes to preferencing and preference deals. And I
33:44
Speaker 1: think it goes to a point and I can say
33:46
Speaker 1: this as having been a candidate on the ground, which
33:48
Speaker 1: is that the community really doesn't understand preferencing a great deal.
33:52
Speaker 1: It can be quite confusing as to where your vote
33:54
Speaker 1: is going to end up as well. Having said all that,
33:58
Speaker 1: the Liberals and the Liberals solely at to blame for
34:00
Speaker 1: their performance in the election, as you identify, even with
34:03
Speaker 1: a UK style first past the post, Liberals still would
34:06
Speaker 1: have lost. The other point that I would make, Peter, is.
34:09
Speaker 3: The only way.
34:10
Speaker 1: The only way that the Liberals and the Coalition can
34:12
Speaker 1: get back into government is by dramatically increasing their primary vote.
34:16
Speaker 1: That's the only way they can get back. And I
34:19
Speaker 1: can tell you I think that voter apathy is at
34:21
Speaker 1: an all time high. Even though Labour's primary went up
34:25
Speaker 1: a little bit, only three in ten, Just over three
34:28
Speaker 1: in ten Australians were willing to put Labor first. Just
34:31
Speaker 1: over three in ten Australians were willing to put the
34:33
Speaker 1: Liberals first. And I think that this structural decline and
34:36
Speaker 1: challenge of the major parties is going to continue.
34:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's so good to remind people.
34:40
Speaker 2: Seven out of ten Australians did not vote for the
34:43
Speaker 2: Labor Party.
34:44
Speaker 3: That's huge.
34:45
Speaker 2: And yet he has been delivered, the Prime Minister's been
34:48
Speaker 2: delivered a seat hall that's greater than any other Labor
34:52
Speaker 2: leader in history. Yet on primary vote terms, in his
34:56
Speaker 2: ninety three to ninety four now, in primary vote terms,
35:00
Speaker 2: Bill Shortens primary when he lost in twenty sixteen was
35:03
Speaker 2: higher than Albanesi's when he's one in a landslide. Now, Aaron,
35:09
Speaker 2: you bucks the trend in Victoria. You survived, in fact
35:12
Speaker 2: that you increased your margin. Do we need to have
35:15
Speaker 2: a look of preference flows. Is that does the Liberal
35:17
Speaker 2: Party in particular need to better understand and better work
35:20
Speaker 2: the system.
35:21
Speaker 3: I can't see, you know.
35:23
Speaker 2: The left voting out preferences, but do you and your
35:27
Speaker 2: party need to do more to beat labor at this game?
35:33
Speaker 8: Well, you're right, Peter.
35:33
Speaker 15: It's a really interesting discussion. It's something that we're aware
35:36
Speaker 15: of as a party, and I think you and Daniel
35:38
Speaker 15: both made a really important point.
35:40
Speaker 8: But I just want to emphasize it.
35:41
Speaker 15: You know, in no way are we saying that the
35:42
Speaker 15: voting system is the reason that we're in opposition and
35:45
Speaker 15: we got the result that we got, So I think
35:47
Speaker 15: it's really important as a member of Parliament to recognize that.
35:50
Speaker 8: But it is an important discussion and we.
35:51
Speaker 15: Hear and we see on the ground this gaming of
35:55
Speaker 15: the system of labor volunteers literally handing out Labor how
35:59
Speaker 15: to vote cards and Greens how to vote cards at
36:01
Speaker 15: the same time. So there is an unofficial agreement between
36:05
Speaker 15: both parties, definitely at the grassroots level. Now, the Prime
36:08
Speaker 15: Minister will never admit that, and he always plays the
36:11
Speaker 15: line that he's not involved in preference deals, although he's
36:13
Speaker 15: involved in everything else in the Alp.
36:16
Speaker 8: It's something we're aware of.
36:17
Speaker 15: We need to ultimately, as Daniel said, put forward great
36:20
Speaker 15: policies that are going to increase our primary that's the
36:22
Speaker 15: best thing that we need.
36:23
Speaker 8: We need people.
36:24
Speaker 15: Voting for the Liberal Party first, but we need to
36:27
Speaker 15: understand that some people, many people are frustrated with both
36:31
Speaker 15: major parties, our primaries at both levels at record low,
36:35
Speaker 15: so we need to address that first.
36:37
Speaker 8: But it has been an ongoing challenge for us.
36:39
Speaker 15: I think it becomes very interesting in the Senate that
36:42
Speaker 15: the Labor Party in the Greens can now have a
36:44
Speaker 15: majority in the Senate. So whether that unofficial coalition becomes
36:48
Speaker 15: more of a coalition in the next three years will
36:50
Speaker 15: be detrimental to the Australian public, I believe, but it'll
36:53
Speaker 15: be interesting to watch. So primarily we have to get
36:56
Speaker 15: the primary up, but we do have to look at
36:58
Speaker 15: is there other parties that we can work with to
37:01
Speaker 15: get those preference flows.
37:02
Speaker 8: But as you both know, unless.
37:04
Speaker 15: You've got people on the booze handing out how to
37:06
Speaker 15: vote cards and the infrastructure out there, it doesn't matter
37:09
Speaker 15: because as Daniel said, many people struggle to understand the
37:12
Speaker 15: system or follow those how to vote cards and that's
37:14
Speaker 15: their choice. Obviously in a democratic system.
37:19
Speaker 2: I'd also urge civics education. When I went to school
37:21
Speaker 2: in the United States, I had to do a whole
37:23
Speaker 2: subject about how their voting system worked, the electoral college
37:27
Speaker 2: and everything else. In Australia, I mean, I did politics
37:30
Speaker 2: in year twelve, but up until then never learnt about
37:33
Speaker 2: our voting system or our democracy. And I think that's
37:35
Speaker 2: a great shame. I think the left profit off that.
37:38
Speaker 2: And you know, we've got an intelligence audience here on
37:41
Speaker 2: Sky News. But I was inundated with emails going through
37:44
Speaker 2: the campaign of people wanting to preference the Liberal Party
37:48
Speaker 2: or stay or vote with the Liberal Party, but ensure
37:50
Speaker 2: their preferences didn't somehow and go back to the Green
37:53
Speaker 2: and they couldn't follow the system, you know. So that's
37:55
Speaker 2: also part of the problem. Hey, Daniel, Chris bow and
37:58
Speaker 2: out a witness protection. He's running around now saying he
38:02
Speaker 2: has a mandate from the silent majority, not just backing
38:05
Speaker 2: wind and solar, but going harder and faster. In particular
38:09
Speaker 2: today it was pushing on about offshore wind.
38:13
Speaker 3: What do you make of this?
38:15
Speaker 1: This is really the height of arrogance, Peter, This is
38:18
Speaker 1: dramatic over each and I think it suggests that this
38:20
Speaker 1: government will overreach when it comes to energy policy and
38:24
Speaker 1: it's misreading the room. I mean, you've led the charge
38:26
Speaker 1: on this when it comes to regional communities, whether it's
38:29
Speaker 1: offshore wind, whether it's the massive solar and wind projects
38:32
Speaker 1: on prime agricultural land.
38:34
Speaker 3: Many communities in.
38:35
Speaker 1: Regional Australia completely and totally oppose these projects, or at
38:39
Speaker 1: best they are deeply deeply divided. And I would say
38:44
Speaker 1: if Chris Bowen was so confident as to his position,
38:47
Speaker 1: if he's so confident that net zero and his vision
38:50
Speaker 1: of net zero was a vote winner, why wasn't he
38:52
Speaker 1: on the ground in Illawarra campaigning every single day on
38:56
Speaker 1: this matter. Because Labor knows it's a vote loser, not
38:59
Speaker 1: a vote win. It might help them win seats like
39:02
Speaker 1: Brisbane and win the Greens voters, but it does not
39:05
Speaker 1: help them without a suburban Australian's much less those in
39:08
Speaker 1: regional Australia. So this is the attitude of Chris Bowen
39:12
Speaker 1: when it comes to net zero, then I think you're
39:14
Speaker 1: right we are in for a very challenging couple of years.
39:17
Speaker 3: And it's right across the board too.
39:19
Speaker 2: We've got a major fertilizer plant in northeast Queensland. This
39:23
Speaker 2: is near Mount isser dinanoble its phosphate Hill plant looks
39:27
Speaker 2: like it might have to close because high power prices
39:31
Speaker 2: make it just untenable to process phosphate in Australia. Five
39:37
Speaker 2: hundred workers will lose their jobs. You've got the Northwest Shelf,
39:41
Speaker 2: a thirty billion dollar project, the extension sitting on the
39:44
Speaker 2: desk of the new Minister Murray Watt. Labors kick that
39:47
Speaker 2: one around for the last four or five years. It
39:50
Speaker 2: has not made a decision. And this boondoggle of green
39:53
Speaker 2: hydrogen that poor old taxpayers are wasting billions and billions
39:56
Speaker 2: and billions of dollars on Aaron you know, Twiggy for
39:59
Speaker 2: us today up to another ninety jobs. Everyone's walking away
40:02
Speaker 2: from it, everyone but Chris Bowen.
40:06
Speaker 8: Yeah, absolutely, I mean Chris Bowen.
40:08
Speaker 15: It's not surprising they put him in witness protection giving
40:11
Speaker 15: his previous campaign performances. But they didn't want to talk
40:14
Speaker 15: about their energy plans during the campaign at all. So
40:17
Speaker 15: it is galling that he claims a mandate And this
40:20
Speaker 15: is the reality. Cheap, reliable power is the lifeblood of
40:24
Speaker 15: our economy, and really importantly in this fertilizer example is
40:27
Speaker 15: a heartbreaking example. It's the life blut blood of manufacturing
40:31
Speaker 15: and rural and regional communities. We cannot have the standard
40:34
Speaker 15: of living that we deserve in this country without cheap
40:37
Speaker 15: and reliable power.
40:38
Speaker 8: Last election, as we all know, Anthony.
40:40
Speaker 15: Abernezi and Chris Bowen promised that two hundred and seventy
40:43
Speaker 15: five dollars reduction that never happened. This time they weren't
40:46
Speaker 15: promising that, but they wouldn't even commit to keeping prices
40:49
Speaker 15: down or lower. So at least this time they didn't
40:51
Speaker 15: lie to us, but they still wouldn't claim any way
40:54
Speaker 15: to get cheap, reliable based low power for the Australian people.
40:57
Speaker 15: And we're going to unfortunately see more busins. This is
41:00
Speaker 15: struggling in this chase for something that is unachievable at
41:04
Speaker 15: this moment. Green hydrogen, which the Prime Minister used to
41:06
Speaker 15: talk about, he will not mention anymore because he knows
41:09
Speaker 15: it's not sustainable, it's not economical, and it doesn't stack up.
41:12
Speaker 15: That's why we're seeing even twiggy Forrester and others, as
41:15
Speaker 15: you said, pulling out of green hydrogen. There is a
41:18
Speaker 15: lot of gaps in the Prime Minister and the government's
41:20
Speaker 15: plans and they have no answers to it, and unfortunately
41:23
Speaker 15: it's the Australian people that are going to pay the
41:25
Speaker 15: price in Australian businesses and Australian jobs.
41:30
Speaker 2: Just before we go our and you're willing to do
41:31
Speaker 2: a front bench job if you get a call up
41:33
Speaker 2: from the leader.
41:35
Speaker 15: Well, Peter, as you know, we serve in the Liberal Party,
41:38
Speaker 15: not at the will of the factions.
41:39
Speaker 8: But the will of our leader.
41:41
Speaker 15: I was really honored to be re elected with an
41:43
Speaker 15: increased margin as the Member for Casey. I fundamentally believe
41:47
Speaker 15: that for my community to be strong, the country needs
41:49
Speaker 15: to be strong. For the country to be strong, we
41:52
Speaker 15: need a strong Liberal Party, first in opposition and then
41:55
Speaker 15: in government.
41:55
Speaker 8: So I want to play a positive role in.
41:57
Speaker 15: That as the leader, and obviously I'd love to have
42:01
Speaker 15: a big voice, whether on the backbench or in a
42:04
Speaker 15: shadow ministry position. But I'll keep working hard for my community,
42:07
Speaker 15: keep putting a positive suggestions forward and hopefully.
42:11
Speaker 8: That results in a bigger role in the future.
42:14
Speaker 15: But I always appreciate our processes and that we do
42:17
Speaker 15: serve at the will of the leader.
42:20
Speaker 2: You might have to do a bit of a lecture
42:21
Speaker 2: series for all your colleagues up there and show them
42:24
Speaker 2: how it's done. In fact, you increased your margin. Let
42:26
Speaker 2: you be the only one in the Parliament on your
42:28
Speaker 2: side of politics who did that.
42:29
Speaker 3: Well done.
42:30
Speaker 2: After the break, what's going on with our councils Melbourne
42:34
Speaker 2: and Sydney.
42:35
Speaker 3: It is madness.
42:41
Speaker 2: Coverage is coming out, but first let's go to some
42:43
Speaker 2: issues in council land. Activists have chalked up a win
42:46
Speaker 2: in Melbourne after the City of Viarra Council unanimously ruled
42:50
Speaker 2: it a historic plank commemorating Captain James Cook at Edinburgh
42:54
Speaker 2: Gardens be removed once and for all. The memorial has
42:57
Speaker 2: been repeatedly targeted by activistsals seeking to destroy markers dedicated
43:02
Speaker 2: to recognizing the achievements of founding explorers. Local government activists
43:07
Speaker 2: and president of Council Watch Dean Hurlston joins me, now, Dean.
43:12
Speaker 3: I just think this is terrible.
43:14
Speaker 2: In defending its decision, the City of Yarra said that
43:16
Speaker 2: this memorial to Cook was quote of little or no significance.
43:22
Speaker 2: They say it's because they had to spend all this money,
43:25
Speaker 2: you know, protecting it or repairing it.
43:28
Speaker 3: But basically this green lights vandals.
43:30
Speaker 2: If you damage something enough, eventually the council will just
43:35
Speaker 2: let you have your way.
43:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, Peter, this is really a or form.
43:40
Speaker 16: We understand what Yara is saying around not wanting to waste,
43:43
Speaker 16: you know, hundreds of thousands of great payer dollars.
43:46
Speaker 4: But what this really reveals.
43:48
Speaker 16: Is that councils are caving into these criminal activists who
43:53
Speaker 16: are running the mark with council assets and council property
43:56
Speaker 16: across the state.
43:57
Speaker 4: And what we're now seeing.
43:59
Speaker 16: Is an action because underneath all of this is a
44:03
Speaker 16: lawlessness and a lack of policing from the state.
44:06
Speaker 4: And so instead of taking.
44:08
Speaker 16: The fight to the actual problem, which is the state government,
44:11
Speaker 16: what we're seeing is councils say, we throw our hands
44:14
Speaker 16: in the air.
44:14
Speaker 4: We can't do anymore.
44:18
Speaker 3: Yeah chucking.
44:19
Speaker 2: You know, when I read a book about Cook and
44:21
Speaker 2: his achievements as an explorer and a navigator, a bloke
44:26
Speaker 2: that had really not a lot of formal education, and
44:29
Speaker 2: his maps even today with all of our GPS and everything,
44:32
Speaker 2: are within meters in terms of coastline accuracy. And the
44:37
Speaker 2: endeavor was about the size of a tennis court and
44:39
Speaker 2: it you know, got around the world and the way
44:41
Speaker 2: it did and all the other things he did.
44:43
Speaker 3: It just hurts me. It really hurts me that.
44:45
Speaker 2: We're not teaching young Australians our history because honestly, if
44:50
Speaker 2: we did, I do not think that they would be
44:52
Speaker 2: kicking down these statues that they'd been demanding these things
44:56
Speaker 2: are removed.
44:56
Speaker 3: I think we're ignorant.
44:58
Speaker 2: And it shows told me about what's happened in the
45:00
Speaker 2: Sydney Council because in order to protect us from climate change,
45:05
Speaker 2: to protect the grass.
45:07
Speaker 3: Apparently now the parks are off limits the premier.
45:11
Speaker 2: Though the Premier Chris Mins, he's not happy about this.
45:14
Speaker 3: Have a listen.
45:16
Speaker 10: I think she's made a big mistake here. And these,
45:20
Speaker 10: particularly closer to the city, open spaces, night markets, noodle markets,
45:26
Speaker 10: places for the community to come together are exactly what
45:28
Speaker 10: big cities should be doing.
45:32
Speaker 2: But basically Clevermore is saying, Dean, just keep off my lawn.
45:36
Speaker 3: You have no right to your parks. O.
45:39
Speaker 4: Well, let's be honest.
45:40
Speaker 16: Over More is some sort of lefty hippie council activist
45:44
Speaker 16: who really doesn't get but inner city the most important
45:49
Speaker 16: thing that density requires to be offset against is open space.
45:55
Speaker 16: You know, there are many councilors who are starting to
45:58
Speaker 16: turn the tide. Here saw the City of morning to
46:01
Speaker 16: Peninsula Shire just this week passed to abandon the majority
46:07
Speaker 16: of their climate activism and their money that they've been
46:10
Speaker 16: throwing out the door towards climate grants. I mean, what
46:14
Speaker 16: a wonderful thing to see a responsible bunch of counselors
46:18
Speaker 16: saying we need to stop the activism and do the basics.
46:23
Speaker 16: The same council that cut staff wages by five million
46:28
Speaker 16: dollars because that's what the community wants them to do.
46:31
Speaker 16: And here we have these counsels in Sydney asking for
46:35
Speaker 16: twenty thirty, forty and seventy percent increases because they've got
46:39
Speaker 16: to pay for their activism whilst they're banning Mew from
46:43
Speaker 16: going on the green grass. I mean, you just can't
46:46
Speaker 16: write this stuff. You can't make it up. Pether, It's
46:49
Speaker 16: absolute idiocy. These people need to be thrown out of office.
46:55
Speaker 8: Spot Iron.
46:56
Speaker 2: Of course, the game Marti gras allowed. You know, all
46:59
Speaker 2: the other protests for Palestine are allowed. But families going
47:03
Speaker 2: along to a Chinese noodle market that's banned got to
47:07
Speaker 2: go see you again soon. That's it we'll come back
47:10
Speaker 2: after the rak with Kel Richards welcome back joining me
47:17
Speaker 2: now Kel Richards and Kel we've got an important one today.
47:20
Speaker 3: It's often, raises me on email.
47:22
Speaker 2: The misunderstanding of the term liberal in the Australian tradition politically,
47:28
Speaker 2: I mean it's two philosophies, isn't it, small liberal and
47:32
Speaker 2: the conservative tradition.
47:34
Speaker 17: Well, liberal goes back in the English language for about
47:37
Speaker 17: thirteen to eighty four, comes from a classical Latin word liberalist,
47:41
Speaker 17: meaning freedom and freedom has always been the central concept
47:46
Speaker 17: in the liberal political philosophy. So that's why the word
47:49
Speaker 17: liberal freedom was chosen by people like John Locke, Adam Smith,
47:54
Speaker 17: John Stewart Mill as they formulated their philosophy of political
47:59
Speaker 17: philosophy based on freedom, a freedom from excessive government interference,
48:04
Speaker 17: free speech, free people, free markets, free trade, free pres
48:08
Speaker 17: and so on. The conservative strain comes from probably from
48:12
Speaker 17: Edmund Burke in his book about the French Revolution, in
48:15
Speaker 17: which he was concerned about tradition because in the French tradition,
48:19
Speaker 17: in the French Revolution they were destroying everything, and he said, no,
48:22
Speaker 17: let's conserve what is good in tradition. Now, So the
48:25
Speaker 17: Conservatives and the liberals stand together in that Conservatives will
48:29
Speaker 17: try to defend classical liberalism, the freedom and the responsibility,
48:34
Speaker 17: because free people are responsible people. That is classical liberalism.
48:39
Speaker 17: The other use of liberalism smaller liberalism, making it a
48:42
Speaker 17: bit like socialism or something. I don't understand, because the
48:46
Speaker 17: only linguistic justification is that this is a freedom word.
48:51
Speaker 17: And so a party based on freedom and responsibility is
48:54
Speaker 17: a real liberal party. And maybe we should use conservative
48:58
Speaker 17: a bit less and freedom of it more. I don't know.
49:03
Speaker 2: Of course, the Canadians, their labor equivalent is the Liberal Party,
49:07
Speaker 2: and there are anything but liberal in our liberal tradition.
49:11
Speaker 2: I will say too, with conservatives. We should get into
49:13
Speaker 2: that word next week. Because people often think conservatives do
49:18
Speaker 2: not want to change.
49:19
Speaker 3: That's wrong.
49:20
Speaker 2: They just believe there are things worth conserving, so that
49:23
Speaker 2: you hasten slowly, you change only when it's shown to
49:28
Speaker 2: be needed.
49:29
Speaker 17: I'll unpack that a bit more next week. But if
49:31
Speaker 17: we can see the liberals as representing freedom as against dependency,
49:36
Speaker 17: which is what the Labor Party offers people, then you've
49:38
Speaker 17: got a real contrast, haven't you.
49:42
Speaker 3: And that's what they need.
49:43
Speaker 2: Cal I'll tell you what you don't win elections by
49:45
Speaker 2: being a mirror image of your opponent.
49:48
Speaker 3: That's it for me. I'm off tomorrow night.
49:51
Speaker 2: Someone else will be sitting in this chair, Caleb Bond,
49:53
Speaker 2: but I'll see you Monday at six