Latest / Steve Price / Steve Price | 17 April

Transcript

Steve Price | 17 April · Steve Price

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Live.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: This is Steve Price. Good evening, Welcome to the show.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Great to have you with us on this Friday night.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: With news breaking around lunchtime today that Australia's most decorated
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: modern soldier, Ben Roberts Smith has been veiled and he
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: has now walked from silver Water Jail in Sydney about
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: a half an hour ago. I'll talk to our Friday
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: regular Campbell Newman about that shortly he is. What else
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: is coming up on the program tonight? Federal Liberal Mary Aldred,
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: the Member for Monash, calling for action on the fertilizer
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: crisis and that's what it is impacting farmers in her electorate.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: As the Prime Minister turns up at the Viava refinery
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: in Geelong with his sidekick Chris Bowen in tow my
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: view on that photo opportunity up next and talking of
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: the farming sector. A week of tension out in the
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: North Central region of Victoria as renewable energy developers' circle
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: properties attempting to map the root of a massive transmission line.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Farmer Ben Duckson is on the front line and will
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: join us. Plus, the crime crisis continues out of control
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: in Melbourne with the failed machete, amnesty having no impact,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: and fire bombings and carjackings happening. Nightly we catch up
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: with the oppositions, Richard ridden on this week's promise from
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: the Opposition on law and order. But first tonight is
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: anyone else getting sick and tired of political photo opportunities
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: dressed up as serious announcements in the middle of a crisis,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: rather than our leaders getting on with fixing the issue
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: at hand. I talk of our Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: and his visit to the Viva fuel refinery on the
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: edge of Geelong today. Viva, as we know and this
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: is still being investigated, had a massive fire breakout in
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: part of the operation early Thursday morning, and experts of warning,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: according to the Australian newspaper, of an increased risk of
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: petrol and diesel rationing because of the thirteen hour blaze.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Now Viva produces half of Victoria's petrol and ten percent nationally.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: But why, exactly, apart from footage for us here at
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Sky and the nightly TV news services, did the Prime
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Minister think he needed to cut short a visit to
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Malaysia get his Air Force jet to log a new
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: flight plan and instead of arriving back in Sydney this
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: morning fly overnight Director Melbourne. Why I mean the deputy
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Prime Minister at the time of the fire was the
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: local federal member of Parliament, Richard Miles. Viva is actually
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: in his electorate, and Males, as you will see in
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: a sec stood sternly behind the Prime Minister, nodding away
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: saying nothing. Labour even wheeled out the Member for Karrangamite,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Libby Koka, to stand to Albanese's left, also nodding in
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: time with Males. As Albanese spoke, here was the Prime
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Minister trying to convince us all that while the fire
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: was damaging, it would not really have a major impact
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: on supplies.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: This is an incident that obviously is regrettable, particularly given
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: the timing in which it has occurred. But the advice
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: that we've received today is that eighty percent of diesel
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: production is continuing, eighty percent of aviation fuel is continuing ongoing.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: It's been sowed down just slightly because of the circumstances
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: which are there, but sixty percent of petrol production is
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: proceeding today as well.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Well we'll see about that. So there they were lined
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: up with Viva bosses and a few other nodding heads
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: and all at one point I am sure I spotted
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Bungling Bowen the Energy minutes. Sure enough he was there
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: to tell us all what a great job he is
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: doing and how he updates the nation every Saturday on supply.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Thanks very much for Prime Minister. Well, the world's showing
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: a lot at fuel supply in Australia in particular at
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: the moment, and this has been a very negative incident
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: that we've had to manage. As you know, every Saturday
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: I hold a press conference I announce an update the
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Australian people on how much stock we have in hand.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: And the workers here who are the most difficult circumstances
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: have responded in a really Australian way, rising to the
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: challenge and making sure that the best interests of Australians
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: are put first.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Now, as our timer showed us, Chris spoke for a
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: little over three minutes, three minutes and twenty one seconds actually. Now,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: unless minster Bonne was already by coincidence in Melbourne last
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: night or this morning, and he may well have been,
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: but if not, he either used one of the raft
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: smaller VIP planes to get to Geelong, probably landing at
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Avalon Airport, or he jumped on a commercial flight to
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: be part of the nodding head brigade at Viva. As
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: I showed you on Shari's program last night, part of
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: the Prime Minister's trip or should I say trips to
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Southeast Asia in the past week. Remember he went to
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: sing A, came home, then he went back to Brunei.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Then he flew over the top of Singapore to Malaysia,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: and then he flew down to Melbourne and back either
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: to Campbell or Sydney. But as I showed you for
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: things like this, have a look at this photograph of
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: the Prime minister. It is absolutely embarrassing. He's holding up
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: a jar of urea. A jar of urea. Now I'll
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: talk with the libs Mary Aldron a sec re fertilizer.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: But seriously, all of this could have been done from
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: his office. And as the News Limited papers reported today,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: the Prime Minister has since the start of the Iran War,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: burnt through more than three hundred thousand liters of jet
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: fuel on thirteen official trips into state and overseas, all
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: during a fuel crisis. While he spends twenty million dollars
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: on an ad telling us all to pump up our tires,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: take off a root, roof racks to save petrol and
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: diesel for essential service. It is madness. I mean can
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Bowen and Albaneze he not see the irony of all
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: of this and all our statium peas all infected with
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: the same photo opportunity bug. It started in Victoria with
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Dan and his puffer jacket during COVID and the current
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: premier to sender allan well, she surrounds herself with a
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: background of normally women wearing a variety of colored glasses,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: nodding along and smiling. Australians want genuine politicians doing genuine things,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: showing leadership, not talking heads rabbiting on about how great
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: they are. And just a footnote to all of that,
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Viva pumps out ten percent of Victoria's petrol ten percent.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: It's not insignificant if getting there was so important for
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: the politicians. I asked the question, where was the state Premier?
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: I mean maybe her comments about the National Fuel Plan yesterday,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: negative comments had her struck off the list. Let's stay
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: with the fuel land fertilizer crisis and to my point,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: crying out for more action and less posturing and media events.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: The federal Liberal member for my on ash Mary Aldred,
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: an area that covers La Trobe Valley in Victoria, rich
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: in brown coal, as we know, the heart of electricity
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: generation in this steech state. She wrote an opinion piece
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: for The Herald Sun Today that sums up action versus
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: photo opportunities. Welcome, good to see.
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: You again, Thanks very much for having you on, Steve.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Fertilizer, How important is regular and reliable supply of that
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: to your constituent?
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: Hugely important, Stephen. Right now, many of my farmers are
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: having to make a choice between fuel and fertilizer because
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: they either can't afford both or they can't get both.
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: April is Canola sewing season. I've got potato farmers onion grollers.
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: We've got twenty three percent of Victoria's beef product, twenty
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: three percent of Australia's milk production from my regent, Yeah,
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: twenty six percent of Victoria's beef production. So it's very
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: important and we could be making more.
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: Of it right here.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Well, give us an idea about what is happening on
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: the ground. You say people are either buying fuel or
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: buying feedlers. Can they get it, and can they get enough?
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: And do they have guaranteed supplies? Because once you put
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: I speaking to a farmer last night on the program,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: once you put the product, the seed into the ground,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: you need to be guaranteed you can fertilize the stuff
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: you do.
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: And I was talking to a farmer the other day
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: and she said, look at my invoice for my fertilizer.
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: It's gone up eighteen thousand dollars in the last couple
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: of months. And so for farmers, they can't wear that.
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: And on top of that, you've got farmers needing diesel
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: for tractors and diesel to be able to feed their cattle.
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: And so if they can't afford that or they pull
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: back on that, that's going to affect the yield that
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: they get twelve months later. So it's not just right now, Steve,
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: it's in twelve months time, on and on. It's a
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: really big issue right on the ground.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Here. You point out Mary that I think two thirds
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: of Australia's fertilizer comes out of the Middle East. Why
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: can't we produce your rear fertilizer here?
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: Well, it got me thinking the Prime Minister's trip to
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: all around the world, and this morning he's put out
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: a media release saying it's great. We're going to be
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: getting two hundred and fifty thousand tons of fertilizer from Indonesia.
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: We could have been making five hundred and thirty thousand
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: tons in the Latrobe Valley. Steve, we've got, as you said,
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: the largest deposit of brown coal in the Southern Hemisphere.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Talk to me about the link between coal and fertilizer production.
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: So we're using what we've always used that brown coal resources,
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: we're using it in a different way. It's basically a
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: gasification process which separates the CO two, so we're doing
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: it in a more environmentally friendly, lower emissions manner. There's
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: highly skilled, highly paid jobs, which I'm ambitious for in
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: the Latrobe Valley and the discussion that we're having at
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: the moment around sovereign capability, we'd be making more of
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: the stuff here. And we had a project proposed for
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: so this.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Was actually an organized plan. You had investors, you had
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: people who wanted to do it.
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: What happened the Victorian government, that's what happened. And Lily Diambrosio,
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: who's got I'll give you convictions over. But she's been
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: in that role now for ten years, and Jacinta Ellen
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: had the opportunity at her reshuffle to move her out,
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: and she's left her there. What Lily Diambrosio has done
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: to jobs and investment in my region is an absolute to.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: This project, the specific project she you thought they could
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: get up to turn brown coal into fertilizer.
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: The proponents spent millions of dollars and six years getting
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: strangled in red tape and green tape and disinterested and
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: to be honest, steve incompetence. And so after six years
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: they took the project to New Zealand and got done
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: in six months what they couldn't get done in six
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: years here and now New Zealand, which has got less
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: brown cole in the South Island. Then we've got in Victoria,
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: but it's got some. And the New Zealand government, Christopher Luxen, said, you, beauty,
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: Yes we want jobs, Yes we want investment, Yes we
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: want to be evaluating and making things in our country.
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: And so we've lost that project.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: We could be sending a boat over there to pick
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: up our own fertilizer that we could have made in
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: you you're electric.
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: It'll be a lot closer than the Middle East or
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: other places that we're having to import all of our
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: fertilizer from.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: We have had a big argument in this country in
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: the last few weeks about how we used to have
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: seven or eight oil refineries, now got two. One that
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: caught fire yesterday. You've got you've had four brown coal
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: power plants in the latrope, now down to two, three, three.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: You're fearful you're going to be down to two or
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: one or none.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: Well, we had four, we had Hazelwood, we had Loyang A,
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: we had Loyang B, and we've got your lawn. Hazelwood
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: of course closed. Your lawn is scheduled to close in
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty eight. Now, that is about twenty three percent
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: of Victoria base electricity. It's hundreds of jobs. And it's
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: not just those hundreds of jobs. Well, they're planning to
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: the Victorian state government and the operator looking at a
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: transition plan there. But that will be a big chunk
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: of our electricity, and I just don't think the Victorian
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: government have got a plan to replace it with At
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: the moment.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: How many jobs with that cost Well.
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: Directly, I think there's a few hundred people that work there.
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: Many of them are in my electric The power station
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: itself is in my colleague, the fantastic Darren Chester is electric.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: But it's that quantum of jobs and heavy industry that's
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: really important to our region.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: And the technology where you could use the resource. But
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: because it's coal, the labor green government, whether it be
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: federal or state, runs a million miles the other way.
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: And we've got Japan knocking at our door wanting to
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: set up a coal to hydrogen project in the Latrobe Valley. Again,
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: jobs investment, lower missions, technology, and I'm really fearful that
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: we'll have a flight of investment because there.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: Was a change of state government in Victoria in November.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: Would do they have a plan? Have you spoken to
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: them about what could happen?
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: Jess Wilson's got a strong plan for jobs, investment and
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: to make sure that we've got that sovereign capability, that
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: we've got energy security, and that regions like mine have
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: a job's focused future. And that's why we desperately need
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: a change of government in November this year. I desperately
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: want to see Jess Wilson leading our state because I
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: know I've got absolute confidence that she will get us
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: through this.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: Keep at it, Mary, thanks for coming in and seeing
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: us again. Thanks to Mary aldred There now to an
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: issue that we've been following closely, and Peter Kredlin also
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: has been following this in the past year. The plight
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: of schools of Victorian farmers opposed to this seven point
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: six billion dollar transmission tower project rammed right through the
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: middle of many of their properties. Last year, the Victorian
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: government passed legislation granting power companies and you can't believe
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: this power to access private land in the path of
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: the project and if you resist ultimately they could put
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: you in jail. In February, farmers who blocked representatives from
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: V and I West from conducting those surveys on their
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: land were given thirty days to allow them access or
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: copper Fine, Well, yesterday was d day for those farmers.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: The thirty days was up. One of them joins me,
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Now I've spoken to him again, Benducks. Good to see
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: you again mate. What happened up there yesterday and again today?
• 14:02
  Speaker 6: Steve, Thanks for taking a call. And you must be
• 14:04
  Speaker 6: the hardest working reporter on Sky News.
• 14:07
  Speaker 7: You're everywhere.
• 14:07
  Speaker 6: But no, they've started to come at us again, so
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: as previously before Christmas in December last year, they tried
• 14:15
  Speaker 6: to get access to our farm's compulsory access to do
• 14:19
  Speaker 6: ees study so the environmental studies to where the line
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: of the Van I West line is going. So we
• 14:26
  Speaker 6: were pretty resolute. We had between thirty and fifty people
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: at every gate last year and will do the same
• 14:34
  Speaker 6: again this year. This coming week we've got quite a few,
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: so we'll just keep pushing back. We know the projects
• 14:43
  Speaker 6: no good for Australians. We've said that the governments need
• 14:47
  Speaker 6: to go back and certainly get a pair and energy
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: policy that's going to suit for the next one hundred
• 14:53
  Speaker 6: two hundred years.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: I spoke to one of your colleagues last night when
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: I was filling in for Shari and talked about this
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: major transmission line going through about five k of his property.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: He's going to keep his gate locked. What's going to
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: end up ultimately going to happen? Ben? I mean they
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: can force their way onto your land, can they not?
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: Yeah, So this is a David glythe battle. So we've
• 15:20
  Speaker 6: got to get it back on the argument that this
• 15:22
  Speaker 6: project's no good for Australia. We can't afford it it's
• 15:25
  Speaker 6: socially not appropriate and environmentally it's bad for Australia as well,
• 15:31
  Speaker 6: So we need to really hone in on those things,
• 15:34
  Speaker 6: make sure that everyone is aware of what's going to
• 15:37
  Speaker 6: happen if these sort of projects go ahead, and if
• 15:41
  Speaker 6: we're pushed into the corner, we'll be still at our
• 15:43
  Speaker 6: farm gates, will be certainly fighting until the bitter end.
• 15:47
  Speaker 6: You only have to look at what's happening in Ireland
• 15:49
  Speaker 6: at the moment.
• 15:50
  Speaker 7: You know you just can't keep pushing people.
• 15:52
  Speaker 6: We think it's an education thing at the moment, so
• 15:55
  Speaker 6: we've started the Farmer's Fight Back campaign. We've got over
• 15:59
  Speaker 6: twenty six now and people signed up, so we're pretty
• 16:02
  Speaker 6: keen to get as many people on board to actually
• 16:05
  Speaker 6: show that there's a grassroots movement out here. And this
• 16:09
  Speaker 6: is irresponsible for government to try and increase the prices
• 16:15
  Speaker 6: of electricity and as you've just been talking a fuel
• 16:19
  Speaker 6: and fertilize a crisis as well. We simply can't afford
• 16:23
  Speaker 6: these This is blowing up the economy in a rapid
• 16:26
  Speaker 6: rate and it's certainly not good for Australia to be
• 16:28
  Speaker 6: able to do these things. So we've worked on that.
• 16:31
  Speaker 6: We know that it's no good for Australia, and we'll
• 16:33
  Speaker 6: certainly play our part and keep pushing back.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Explain for me if you can, Ben, I mean, is
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: this a federal government project or is it a state
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: government project? Or is it both of them? And if
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: it's both of them, you know we might have a
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: change of government in Victoria in November, or you've got
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: confidence that an incoming coalition government would somehow reroot this
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: thing or cancel it.
• 17:00
  Speaker 6: We don't yet it cancel it's the thing, yes, Steve, exactly.
• 17:03
  Speaker 6: So this is, as I said, no good for Australia.
• 17:06
  Speaker 6: It's only going to increase energy prices, it's only going
• 17:09
  Speaker 6: to decrease our reliability. This project that we're talking about
• 17:14
  Speaker 6: here is being built by is going to be built
• 17:16
  Speaker 6: by a Spanish multinational company. So the project doesn't suit.
• 17:24
  Speaker 6: And this goes back to our EMO trying to link
• 17:27
  Speaker 6: Tasmania to Townsville with power lines. This is a real
• 17:30
  Speaker 6: disaster for Australia and in the renewables as well. When
• 17:34
  Speaker 6: we're an energy rich country, we don't need to be
• 17:37
  Speaker 6: doing this. And Alistair Parker of Vicgrid keeps telling us
• 17:41
  Speaker 6: that this is a critical infrastructure that's going to say
• 17:45
  Speaker 6: Victoria from the lights going out, Well, that's the biggest
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: light of crap that I have ever heard.
• 17:49
  Speaker 7: We have reliable power. That's what they're going now.
• 17:54
  Speaker 6: Not only that, Alistair Parker really needs to take a
• 17:56
  Speaker 6: real good look.
• 17:57
  Speaker 7: At himself because what he is doing is lying as well.
• 18:00
  Speaker 6: So he's saying there's only twenty six people against his
• 18:02
  Speaker 6: project at the moment, we know there is over one
• 18:04
  Speaker 6: hundred and fifty kilometers of two hundred kilometers that are
• 18:08
  Speaker 6: resistant to this, and then he's saying he's got so
• 18:10
  Speaker 6: many signed up to it, they're not even people on
• 18:12
  Speaker 6: the line. So their whole bag of trickery is starting
• 18:16
  Speaker 6: to wear a thin with the farmers out our way.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Keep fighting, mate, We'll keep fighting with you. Well done, Ben, Thanks,
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: good to join you again. Good on your mate. Unbelievable
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: that now if you just switched on the program tonight,
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: you are watching the breaking vision here of Ben Robert Smith.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: Now he's leaving Silver Water Prison. That happened about thirty
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: minutes ago. We'll have more on this as the developing
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: story as we go to it next. But news tonight,
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: after being bailed, Ben Robert Smith is out of jail.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Price with you Friday nights a
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: regular and former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman joins us each
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: Friday night and joins us. Now we took last week, Campbell,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: and you actually wanted to have your say about the
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: case of VC recipient Ben Roberts Smith freed on bail today,
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: as we now know, under strict bail conditions. He across
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: to the court from in prison greens from silver Water
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: to jail. We now know that he has walked free
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: from the prison where We've got no idea where he
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: might be headed. We need to now let the court
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: case obviously, whatever that might be, take its course. But
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: it struck me, Campbell. There's been a huge groundswell now
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: support for him from the veteran community, we had the
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: wider community, including One Nation. Pauline Hansen put out a
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: statement on his release. As we know Saturday weeks Ansac Day.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think that's the most emotional day in
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: our calendar and your ex military there's no way that
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: he could have been in jail on that day, surely.
• 19:52
  Speaker 8: Gid Hope not Steve and I just have to echo
• 19:56
  Speaker 8: what I said last week. Firstly, of course, these are alligaations.
• 20:00
  Speaker 8: They have not been proven in a trial, and he's
• 20:06
  Speaker 8: presumed to be innocent, and that is the whole basis
• 20:10
  Speaker 8: of our legal system. And you know, while we more
• 20:13
  Speaker 8: might have a view about what happened many many years ago,
• 20:18
  Speaker 8: that has to play out. Having said that, I echo
• 20:22
  Speaker 8: what I said last week, which is that I just
• 20:24
  Speaker 8: think this has been handled really badly and terribly with
• 20:31
  Speaker 8: a real hint of political a political whiff about it.
• 20:35
  Speaker 8: I mean, again, why was he arrested in front of
• 20:38
  Speaker 8: his family? Why was he sort of hauled off an
• 20:43
  Speaker 8: aeroplane basically in front of people. Why were the media alerted?
• 20:47
  Speaker 8: Why were there camera crews there to film this? I
• 20:51
  Speaker 8: just wish other criminals, other people accused of criminal offenses,
• 20:58
  Speaker 8: were treated in the same way. I mean, I've seen
• 21:01
  Speaker 8: people who committed pretty bad crimes in this country of
• 21:04
  Speaker 8: the alleged have committed really bad crimes, who haven't been
• 21:08
  Speaker 8: sort of subjected to this sort of trial by media,
• 21:12
  Speaker 8: should I say, or walk of shame as they call
• 21:15
  Speaker 8: it in America. So look, this thing does have a
• 21:18
  Speaker 8: big whiff about it. I employees that he does have
• 21:21
  Speaker 8: that veteran support, and I hope that continues because again
• 21:27
  Speaker 8: he is an innocent man until such time as the
• 21:30
  Speaker 8: court finds otherwise.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Yes, watching him on that final stretch out to Silver
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: Water Joe, when they handcuffed him, when they put him
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: in that prison van, I just never thought i'd see
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: something like that in Australia. Let's move on to the
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: fuel crisis. I mean, obviously Anthony Alberanezi and our friend
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: Chris Bowen keep telling us there's no drama. But we've
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: seen the prices coming down slightly in most states. I
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: saw diesel under three dollars at one station in Victoria. Today.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: They're at the early stages of this. I mean the
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: straits of ems are being what closed now for ten
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: days or so. This is not going to get better.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: It's going to get worse, and supply is going to
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: start to shrink. And I think the public want to know. Look,
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: if we go to stage three, what is it? I mean,
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Albanezi keeps saying we're on We've got four stages and
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: we might go to stage three. Well, if that's rationing,
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: how's it going to work.
• 22:26
  Speaker 8: I think it's time for straight talk. And you know,
• 22:29
  Speaker 8: we saw those of us sort of a bit older
• 22:31
  Speaker 8: than the sort of the meeting age experienced perhaps as kids.
• 22:37
  Speaker 8: You know what it was like with the all shock
• 22:39
  Speaker 8: of the seventies, and we've seen that, and you know
• 22:41
  Speaker 8: there was rationing, andy odds and even systems and things
• 22:44
  Speaker 8: like that. But we got through that, and I think
• 22:47
  Speaker 8: people would welcome the Prime Minister and Bowen tell I
• 22:50
  Speaker 8: get straight and saying that's what might have to happen.
• 22:54
  Speaker 8: I am concerned about that fire at Geelong. It looked
• 22:57
  Speaker 8: terrific in terms of the scope, and I'm glad that
• 23:01
  Speaker 8: nobody was killed or seriously injured. But I just feel
• 23:06
  Speaker 8: that we'll probably find out that it has some very
• 23:10
  Speaker 8: significant downstream effects as the days move on, because it
• 23:15
  Speaker 8: was a very big, big blaze.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: And it goes back to that point we were talking
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: about last week. I mean, we're down to two oil refineries.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: I mean that is crazy. We had seven or eight,
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: we're now down to two. We have Cris bow and
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: running around all saying, oh, well, they all shut down
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: under the former Liberal Coalition government. Well that's not quite right.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: I think some of them shut down at the dying
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: days of the Gillard Rudd Gillard government for a start,
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: and this government's been in power now for four years.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: It takes a crisis in the Middle East for anyone
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: to even talk about whether we should keep the two
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: we've got open. I mean they're running around shouting about
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: green energy and windmills and solar panels, not saying, okay,
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: are any of those seven or eight that shut? Are
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: they still around? Are they able to be renovated and
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: start running again. I mean, that's the sort of practical
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: stuff we want to hear, isn't it.
• 24:15
  Speaker 8: Well, it is we need to hear that sort of
• 24:18
  Speaker 8: being talked about. We also need, for example, the Premier
• 24:21
  Speaker 8: of Queens and David Christophfoole's proposals with the Tarum Trough
• 24:26
  Speaker 8: to be backed. I mean, what did the government do
• 24:29
  Speaker 8: when Christo Fally started talking about this. They essentially played
• 24:32
  Speaker 8: this political game about well, you know, they send us
• 24:36
  Speaker 8: a ladder, you.
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: Make a submission.
• 24:38
  Speaker 8: You know, if you were fair dicer about this as
• 24:41
  Speaker 8: a Prime minister, perhaps you'd fly to the Tarum Trough,
• 24:44
  Speaker 8: stand beside Christophfall and say we will take this seriously.
• 24:49
  Speaker 8: We will have legislation into the Parliament within a few weeks.
• 24:53
  Speaker 8: We will make sure that environmental considerations are moved aside
• 25:00
  Speaker 8: we back the queens and government to get oil out
• 25:02
  Speaker 8: of the ground here as soon as possible. You know,
• 25:04
  Speaker 8: there was Bowen of course then sort of talks about, oh,
• 25:08
  Speaker 8: back it if it stacks up. Well, I've seen the
• 25:12
  Speaker 8: Labor Party say that in the past. That is code
• 25:15
  Speaker 8: for we will kill it downstream with bureaucracy and red
• 25:18
  Speaker 8: tape and the machinations of the public service. They're very
• 25:22
  Speaker 8: good at that. Faired income people who are about solutions
• 25:26
  Speaker 8: would actually go straight to the nub of the problem
• 25:29
  Speaker 8: and actually make clear statements about what they intend to do.
• 25:33
  Speaker 8: And that's what I expect of my government right now.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and look, we just had Mary Aldred in here,
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: who's covers the La Trope Valley. They had a project
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: down there at the start of the ten year reign
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: of the Labor government in Victoria where they were going
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: to turn brown coal into urea and fertilizer, and it
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: was all too hard. There was green tape, red tape,
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: and so the people who were putting the money up
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: said see you later, we're off to New Zealand. They're
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: now running. That took them six months. They set it
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: up on the South Island of New Zealand. And they're
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: now making their own fertilizer. We are crazy, Campbell. Good
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: to see you again, my friend. See you next Friday night.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: We are nuts. You're quite right about that. Not a
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: truer word said. Let's dive into Victorian politics now in
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: the Liberal opposition, they have seems to have taken a
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: break from their own internal troubles, thank goodness, to focus
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: on this policy work about law and order.
• 26:25
  Speaker 7: Now.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: Jess Wilson has been out in the media four or
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: five times the opposition leader in the past week, pledging
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: to expand the government's adult time for adult violent crime.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: She's talking about an increased number of police up around
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: three thousand, and a one strike bail rule. She's also
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: back to new offense for offenders who initiate police pursuits.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: All great ideas, I believe. And you know, just last
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: night we had a sixteen and a seventeen year old
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: in a stolen car armed with machetes. Victorian voters want
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: to hear this stuff. I just want to hear it
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: here to talk about it. As Victorian Liberal MP Richard
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: Reid in Fronday Night regular Richard, welcome, you know, there
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: you go. We had a machette bin idea where we
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: expected the government expected, you know, sixteen year olds to
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: turn up outside of police station with a security camera
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: and put a machete in a bin. How ridiculous that was.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: And we've still got them running around machetes.
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: Are you not wrong, Steve? Thanks for the invite tonight.
• 27:27
  Speaker 9: I think the accounts have come in on the machete
• 27:30
  Speaker 9: bin and I think the machete bin program cost about
• 27:34
  Speaker 9: thirteen hundred dollars per machete. It would have been easy
• 27:37
  Speaker 9: to go around the wild streets of most of Melbourne
• 27:39
  Speaker 9: and just pay the kids twenty bucks to get the
• 27:42
  Speaker 9: machete off them. They would have been happy with that.
• 27:44
  Speaker 9: It would have been cheaper and a better program. Look
• 27:47
  Speaker 9: that the crime attempts, that the attempts by this government
• 27:51
  Speaker 9: to curb the out of control crime that's affecting people's insurance,
• 27:55
  Speaker 9: their safety, their well being, the economic.
• 27:57
  Speaker 5: Prosperity of businesses.
• 27:58
  Speaker 9: I heard on the radio today a bottle shop own
• 28:02
  Speaker 9: brand new into the business ten thousand dollars worth of shutters.
• 28:05
  Speaker 9: He's needed to put on his windows of his business
• 28:08
  Speaker 9: otherwise he can't get insurance and operate his business. This
• 28:11
  Speaker 9: is the type of stuff going on in Victoria and
• 28:13
  Speaker 9: the government keeps talking tough, but no one believes them. Steve,
• 28:16
  Speaker 9: the police don't believe them. The people out working with
• 28:20
  Speaker 9: the young people and the youth don't believe them. And
• 28:23
  Speaker 9: certainly the voters of Victoria are beyond taking any notice
• 28:26
  Speaker 9: of this government's attempt to be tough on crime.
• 28:28
  Speaker 5: It just simply hasn't worked.
• 28:29
  Speaker 9: And what we as the Liberal Party will be saying
• 28:32
  Speaker 9: to people life never used to be like this. We
• 28:34
  Speaker 9: can have a safe, functioning Victoria that we can work with,
• 28:39
  Speaker 9: work in and feel safe in. It's just a matter
• 28:41
  Speaker 9: of giving the police the laws that they need, supporting
• 28:45
  Speaker 9: the police so we don't have fourteen hundred vacancies. Can
• 28:48
  Speaker 9: you believe that the Police Minister's out in Parliament all
• 28:51
  Speaker 9: the time? Oh we have the biggest police force in Australia. Yeah, mate, sure,
• 28:55
  Speaker 9: but fourteen hundred of them aren't prepared to come to
• 28:58
  Speaker 9: work because you're not looking after You're making them feel despondent.
• 29:02
  Speaker 9: You're making the poor police they have flat out, flat
• 29:05
  Speaker 9: out on paperwork, flat out rearresting the same criminals day
• 29:09
  Speaker 9: in day out. It's like a revolving door here in
• 29:12
  Speaker 9: Victoria and these things can be fixed. Jess Wilson and
• 29:15
  Speaker 9: Brad have done a great job this week. Brad Baton,
• 29:18
  Speaker 9: that is the police spokesman. The two of them have
• 29:20
  Speaker 9: been out. They're talking about you know, adult time, adult crime,
• 29:23
  Speaker 9: talking about giving police natural powers that the community expects
• 29:28
  Speaker 9: them to have. And that's what we need here in Victoria,
• 29:30
  Speaker 9: and it can't come soon enough in November.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: How are you going to convince the judiciary, the magistrates
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: in particular, that they've got to go down this road
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: with you. I mean, obviously we have a separation of powers.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: You can make all the tough crime laws you want,
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: but unless the magistrates are on board, it's going to
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: be very hard to make it happen.
• 29:52
  Speaker 9: That's right, and that's why one of the parts of
• 29:54
  Speaker 9: our program is a good one hundred million dollars investment
• 29:59
  Speaker 9: into youth di usion programs. We're going to try and
• 30:02
  Speaker 9: do what the courts have failed to do, which is
• 30:04
  Speaker 9: to work with those that keep coming into the system
• 30:07
  Speaker 9: to try and keep them out. The fact is around
• 30:09
  Speaker 9: the judiciary, that's a twenty year labor legacy that's been
• 30:13
  Speaker 9: gifted to Victoria.
• 30:14
  Speaker 5: You know, Victorians now under.
• 30:16
  Speaker 9: A increasingly socialist labor government have insisted on putting people
• 30:21
  Speaker 9: that want to put high for looting concepts and theories
• 30:25
  Speaker 9: in place in the court system. And I don't know
• 30:27
  Speaker 9: what they do when they rock up to the courts
• 30:29
  Speaker 9: each week and see these stories of woe and but
• 30:34
  Speaker 9: tied here in Victoria, of the revolving door of crime.
• 30:37
  Speaker 9: They must know something's not right. So we will work
• 30:40
  Speaker 9: with the judiciary to the levels that we can and
• 30:43
  Speaker 9: over time, with better laws, with more powers to the police,
• 30:49
  Speaker 9: much better wrap around services at work with young people,
• 30:52
  Speaker 9: young families, get to the crime before it starts. These
• 30:55
  Speaker 9: are the things. These are the investments that a good
• 30:57
  Speaker 9: government will make, Not fifteen billion dollar investments in the CFMU,
• 31:02
  Speaker 9: not one hundred billion dollar investments in train stations and
• 31:05
  Speaker 9: train tunnels to nowhere. This is what this government's done
• 31:07
  Speaker 9: with our money. And as a liberal under under Jess Wilson,
• 31:12
  Speaker 9: Brad bat and David Southwick, all our team that are
• 31:15
  Speaker 9: out there, we will bring a government to Victoria that
• 31:18
  Speaker 9: spends money and taxes in a way that rewards benefits
• 31:22
  Speaker 9: and grows the state, not dragging it down to this
• 31:25
  Speaker 9: cesspit that we're finding at the moment.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: Absolutely and just leaving you. I've got a seven eleven
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: store on the corner of a street near where I live.
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: When I'm in Melbourne. The door is locked when I
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: go there at seven o'clock in the morning to buy
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: the newspapers. The reason it's locked, Richard, is that the
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: poor young woman behind the counter can't afford to have
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: the door open, because if she does, people just walk
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: in and steal stuff. I mean, that's where we're at,
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: in a seven eleven shop, Steve.
• 31:55
  Speaker 9: But Steve, it's not only the seven elevens. It's not
• 31:58
  Speaker 9: only the funny little shops downside Alley's out and now
• 32:01
  Speaker 9: out of suburbs at risk. Colin Street, right, I don't
• 32:04
  Speaker 9: have much to do with Colin Street, but I have
• 32:06
  Speaker 9: to walk down it to get to you tonight. Colin Street,
• 32:08
  Speaker 9: the most the premier shopping strip in Melbourne, has bollards
• 32:12
  Speaker 9: in front of its shops. Every shop is full of
• 32:14
  Speaker 9: security guards. The seven eleven down near Elizabeth Street, and
• 32:17
  Speaker 9: all those little convenience stores all like you said, they're locked.
• 32:20
  Speaker 9: I mean, this is insane. This is Melbourne, a first
• 32:24
  Speaker 9: world super city, and yet you can't even go down
• 32:27
  Speaker 9: your premier street, in your premier city and not just
• 32:31
  Speaker 9: be surrounded by guards and bollards to protect people. I mean,
• 32:35
  Speaker 9: we've seen all these shops attacked and drive throughs and
• 32:39
  Speaker 9: crime games coming into me. It's time to change, Steve,
• 32:42
  Speaker 9: it really is, and people cannot trust this government to
• 32:45
  Speaker 9: do it, No, they can't.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: Good on you, Richard. Thank you. All's pleased to catch
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: up with you. Richard's absolutely right now coming up the
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: Ginger and the wind Jar. Of course. That's Harry and Meghan.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: Their Australian tour comes to an ensuretly. They're in Sydney tonight.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: What did everyone think about that? We'll find out. Next.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: Joining me now from London is Sky News contributor Adrian Hayes.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: Joins us from regularly on a Friday night. Good to
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: see you again, my friend. The Sussexes, the Duke and Duchess.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: They've made the big trip down Under this week. They've
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: been in Melbourne, they've now gone to Sydney. I got
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: out on the road this morning, Adrian. I went to
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: Fitzroy Gardens where the royal couple. Yes that they're not
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: a royal couple anymore, are they the grifters? They went
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: to this scarred tree which apparently Indigenous Australians used to
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: cut bark off this tree and make canoes. I went
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: and had a look at it and took a picture.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: It just looked like an old, cutdown tree to me.
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: But I did point out to my readers Adrian, that
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: about one hundred yards down the path was Captain Cook's cottage,
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: which was rebuilt here in Melbourne from the original house
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: that he was born at in England. They didn't go there.
• 34:02
  Speaker 7: Do we have to talk about Harry and Meghan? Yeah, Look,
• 34:06
  Speaker 7: it's I mean everything. I think that the reaction in
• 34:10
  Speaker 7: Britain is very very few people who support them anymore
• 34:13
  Speaker 7: because you know, this, this tour is that all the
• 34:15
  Speaker 7: characteristics of a royal tour, but it's for complete commercial gain.
• 34:20
  Speaker 7: Her wardrobe, she's been sponsored by a clothing company. You've
• 34:24
  Speaker 7: got this dinner and meet Meghan for about three thousand
• 34:27
  Speaker 7: Australian dollars, as I understand, and all these things, and
• 34:31
  Speaker 7: you know, it's just you know, but it's just a
• 34:35
  Speaker 7: lady who has very driven. Everything is for publicity, sadly,
• 34:38
  Speaker 7: and I try to be chatable with everybody, but it
• 34:41
  Speaker 7: is the what are the motives of this visit? You've
• 34:44
  Speaker 7: just got asked with a critical thinking eye.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: She went to a homeless women's refuge two days ago
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: wearing a twelve hundred dollars dress. I compare that with
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: Queen Mary of Denmark, who was an Australian born in Tasmania,
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: who when she goes to a function or a media event,
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: she dresses appropriately. She would have gone there in a
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: pair of jeans and sneakers and a jumper probably, But no,
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: Megan turns up in an address from the company that
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: she's being sponsored by. It were twelve hundred bucks.
• 35:22
  Speaker 7: Yeah, you've gotta laugh. And quite by the way, great
• 35:24
  Speaker 7: respect for Queen Mary and King Frederick of Denmark. Yeah,
• 35:27
  Speaker 7: this is the hypocrisy that sadly this couple sort of
• 35:31
  Speaker 7: speak about. And I'll take something else. I mean, one
• 35:34
  Speaker 7: thing she spoke about yesterday about was being the most
• 35:37
  Speaker 7: trolled woman in the world. Well, Megan, or should I
• 35:40
  Speaker 7: say me again? As the word spells that comes with
• 35:43
  Speaker 7: going on a public stage, it comes with the territory.
• 35:46
  Speaker 7: Keir Starmer will be trolled, Andy and Albanisi will be
• 35:49
  Speaker 7: Nigel Farage is part and past the course. You don't
• 35:52
  Speaker 7: become a victim for it. So As I said, there's
• 35:55
  Speaker 7: whole very unsetting things, and the royal family find this
• 35:58
  Speaker 7: tour very very disturbing ways, So I understand.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: Spring of your Prime Minister, Keir Starmer. We seem to
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: talk about him every time we join each other. He's
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: blamed the British Foreign Office for allowing Peter Mendelssohn to
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: service the ambassador to the US despite failure in security checks.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, didn't he personally hand pick Mendelssohn.
• 36:20
  Speaker 7: He did, indeed, And look, I come on every two
• 36:22
  Speaker 7: weeks and leadership is the lens through I look at everything.
• 36:26
  Speaker 7: It's my work, it's my expertise, and I see this
• 36:29
  Speaker 7: lacking appalling leadership, not just with Starber but around the
• 36:32
  Speaker 7: world for viewers who don't know the most sensitive diplomatic
• 36:37
  Speaker 7: person in the country to the US ambassadorship. He was failed.
• 36:43
  Speaker 7: He failed the vetting. You want to have to answer
• 36:45
  Speaker 7: why did Kirs Starmer know about it? I find it
• 36:50
  Speaker 7: very hard to believe that he didn't. But even if
• 36:53
  Speaker 7: he did know about it, that speaks of incompetence. How
• 36:57
  Speaker 7: is this system? How has this been allowed to go through?
• 37:00
  Speaker 7: And you also have to ask what was the desperation
• 37:03
  Speaker 7: to get Mandusson back in. What has Mandleson got on
• 37:06
  Speaker 7: Starma and the Foreign Office that causes this rush through
• 37:10
  Speaker 7: vetting procedure.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: Have to be something. I want to talk to you
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: just before you go about. Our Prime minister at ten
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: o'clock tonight it's going to join some sort of global
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: zoom meeting to talk about what they're going to do
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: about the Straits of Hormus. It's largely driven I think
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: by the Brits. Is there an appetite within Britain for
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: your navy to get involved in getting that straight reopened
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: or would you prefer Do you think the UK population
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: would think to leave it to the Americans?
• 37:40
  Speaker 7: Look, I think whatever UK does is our prime minister
• 37:43
  Speaker 7: trying to appear a statesman like on the world stage. Can't.
• 37:47
  Speaker 7: He finds it very difficult to make decisions on his own,
• 37:49
  Speaker 7: so he goes with the safety of the group. Think.
• 37:51
  Speaker 7: So look, if they do come about getting a sort
• 37:54
  Speaker 7: of opening up the streets, which I know very well
• 37:57
  Speaker 7: by the way, I kayake up there regularly, but not
• 37:59
  Speaker 7: in recent months too much know, but look, it will
• 38:02
  Speaker 7: be good. But I think, look, there's olive branches. It's
• 38:06
  Speaker 7: looking like you know, things could settle down in the
• 38:09
  Speaker 7: next few weeks and let's hope it does.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: Absolutely good to see you again, my friend. I'll see
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: you in a couple of weeks time now. Speaking of
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: the war, Donald Trump has taken aim at Anthony Alberanezi
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: on our very own sky News over not joining the
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: Iranian war. The Prime Minister's reply, it's going to make
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: you angry. That's up next. Welcome back word, according to Rondine,
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: coming up just after us joining me now. Though Friday
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: Night panel time, Sky News contributed to Joe Hildebrown. We
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: love having Joe witheruson City and Mia Schlipt, executive director
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: of the Samuel Griffiths Society here in Melbourne. Welcome to
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: you both. I woke up this morning to vision of
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: a Sky News microphone held by Jonathan Kurzley being thrust
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: into the face of the US President Donald Trump. Good
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: on Jonathan World Exclusive. He got to ask him about
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: Australia's involvement in the Iranian War. Donald Trump wasn't all
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: that happy with what we were not doing. Have a
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: look at what he said on Australia.
• 39:13
  Speaker 8: Mister President, you asked for three and a half percent
• 39:16
  Speaker 8: increase like five percent.
• 39:17
  Speaker 7: You did with NATO. Australia has only gone for three percent.
• 39:21
  Speaker 10: Are you satisfied with that precision?
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: Would you?
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: I'm not happy with Australia because they were not because
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: they were not there when we.
• 39:28
  Speaker 7: Asked them to be there.
• 39:28
  Speaker 5: So Australia you asked for.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: Australia was another one.
• 39:31
  Speaker 7: They were not there.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: Happy to do with Harmon's harmless? What do you mean?
• 39:36
  Speaker 7: I'm not happy.
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: I'm not happy.
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: Very brave of Jonathan Ursy to do that. And this
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: is Anthony Albanez. He was down at the Viva Oil
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: refinery fire today, jetted in from I think he was
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: in Malaysia. Here's what he had to say when asked
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: about it.
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: I've seen the sky near his footage and the way
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: that the question was asked and the way that the
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: follow up was asked as well. Wasn't an answer given.
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: So I refer to my previous answers, day after day
• 40:05
  Speaker 3: after day when I've been asked, they're exactly the same.
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: There's been no new requests at all.
• 40:10
  Speaker 7: The quote from the US President is we asked them
• 40:12
  Speaker 7: to be their prime minister. That's a direct quote. Well,
• 40:15
  Speaker 7: a US president, that's pretty black and white.
• 40:17
  Speaker 5: What he said, Well, I've answered the question, Joe.
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: I note that he said there's been no new requests. Now,
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: I mean, I know you can get into the nuance
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: of language, but does that mean there was an older
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: request at the start that we've never been told about.
• 40:35
  Speaker 10: I think what's probably the most likely is that there
• 40:37
  Speaker 10: were sort of informal feelers put out. I mean, you
• 40:40
  Speaker 10: never get a formal in a relationship like that between
• 40:43
  Speaker 10: Australia and the US. You would never ever get a
• 40:45
  Speaker 10: formal request unless you knew in advance that the answer
• 40:49
  Speaker 10: was going to be a full throated yes. And so
• 40:52
  Speaker 10: what you would do is you would have lower level
• 40:54
  Speaker 10: diplomats talking to each other all the time, feeling each
• 40:58
  Speaker 10: other out, saying, look, do you think that you know
• 41:00
  Speaker 10: so if we asked this, or if we did this,
• 41:02
  Speaker 10: that Australia would do this, and then there would be
• 41:04
  Speaker 10: feedback saying, look, we could probably do this, but not this,
• 41:06
  Speaker 10: and blah blah blah blah blah. So, just hypothetically, for example,
• 41:10
  Speaker 10: it may well be that you know, Donald Trump asked
• 41:12
  Speaker 10: for Australia to join, you know, the offensive capacity against Iran,
• 41:16
  Speaker 10: and Australia said look, we can't really go that far,
• 41:19
  Speaker 10: but we'll back your campaign and we'll send you a
• 41:22
  Speaker 10: defensive capability in the form of the RAF Wedgetail and
• 41:26
  Speaker 10: some sas troops. So it looks like we're they're with you,
• 41:29
  Speaker 10: but we can't take part in the offensive. We can
• 41:31
  Speaker 10: just do defensive work and that way we can play
• 41:33
  Speaker 10: it back home and you can be happy and people
• 41:35
  Speaker 10: shake hands on it. Donald Trump maybe interpreted that as
• 41:38
  Speaker 10: Australia not doing enough, and that's why he's still got
• 41:42
  Speaker 10: his nickers in or not. But he's been saying this
• 41:44
  Speaker 10: about pretty much every country in the world. That's the
• 41:46
  Speaker 10: other thing we hear it in Australia because it's about us.
• 41:48
  Speaker 10: He's saying about you know, South Korea. Japan is given
• 41:51
  Speaker 10: an absolute bollocking to the UK, which is America's so
• 41:55
  Speaker 10: called special relationship, you know, France, you name it. So
• 41:58
  Speaker 10: I think we can take it with a grain of salt.
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: But Mia, I mean, the Prime Minister seems unusually uncomfortable
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: every time he's asked about this. And we are dealing
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: with our greatest ally without the Americans. And we saw
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: what Richard Miles talked about in the Press Club yesterday
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: on defense spending without the Americans. We're sitting duck. Why
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: doesn't the Prime Minister just come clean to us, tell
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: us exactly what happened, and why doesn't he picked the
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: phone up to Donald Trump and say, look, I saw
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: you saying that that we've not done enough.
• 42:30
  Speaker 5: What would you like us to do.
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: Well?
• 42:35
  Speaker 11: I think that's right, Steve. It seems pretty obvious the
• 42:37
  Speaker 11: Prime Minister is getting his back up each time this
• 42:39
  Speaker 11: question comes up, and it's not the first time that
• 42:42
  Speaker 11: Australia has been rebuked by President Trump. If I was
• 42:46
  Speaker 11: a Prime minister, I would be doing anything I could
• 42:49
  Speaker 11: to sort this out. Because the reality is America is
• 42:52
  Speaker 11: our most important ally, it is our most important defense asset,
• 42:56
  Speaker 11: and now it's not the time for the Prime Minister
• 42:57
  Speaker 11: to be playing games in the media. If he wants
• 43:00
  Speaker 11: to play games, and Australia needs to get pretty fair
• 43:02
  Speaker 11: dicome about getting our own defense system up to scratch.
• 43:06
  Speaker 11: I know they've committed to three percent by twenty thirty three,
• 43:09
  Speaker 11: but that is not nearly soon enough. The advice has
• 43:11
  Speaker 11: always been that we need to be at three percent
• 43:13
  Speaker 11: by twenty twenty eight, and that commitment hasn't been made
• 43:16
  Speaker 11: so unless Australia wants to start getting serious about our
• 43:19
  Speaker 11: own defense system, than the Prime Minister really needs to
• 43:22
  Speaker 11: sort out this confusing mess with the President Trump.
• 43:26
  Speaker 7: Yeah he does.
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: I mean I think the public would like him to
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: be a bit more upfront, Joe. We mentioned earlier in
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: the program that the former soldier Ben Roberts Smith, he's
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: now been granted bail. That happened in Sydney court this
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: morning and we've now seen vision of him leaving the
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: silver Water Prison and obviously he's been alleged to have
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: committed these war crime offenses. There's a very big debate
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: going on in this country and I can't go anywhere
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: without someone coming up to me and saying, well, what
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: are we doing to Ben Robert Smith? And what do
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: we expect of our soldiers. He was in a war,
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: a war over in Afghanistan. You know, it's a very
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: tough one. I mean, it would have been a dreadful
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: look if he'd been sitting in a jail cell on
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: Anzac Day, Yeah, it would have been.
• 44:20
  Speaker 10: I think they definitely did the right thing by making
• 44:22
  Speaker 10: sure that he was out on bail so he could
• 44:24
  Speaker 10: commemorate Anzac Day. If he wants to or spend the
• 44:28
  Speaker 10: time with his family. Look, I'm not one. I'm conflicted
• 44:31
  Speaker 10: about this as well. I actually just the other day
• 44:33
  Speaker 10: watched a two hour video of two former commandos, very
• 44:38
  Speaker 10: very stridently defending Ben Robert Smith. He was a comrade
• 44:42
  Speaker 10: of theirs and a hero to them. But I still
• 44:45
  Speaker 10: have to say that I think a lot of the
• 44:48
  Speaker 10: sort of defenses of Ben Robert Smith, and we'll see
• 44:51
  Speaker 10: they's all tested out. But you know, the civil trial
• 44:54
  Speaker 10: did raise a lot of concerns. We'll see if that
• 44:57
  Speaker 10: actually meets the criminal standard. I know there's a lot
• 44:59
  Speaker 10: of people who are saying that it won't. But I
• 45:01
  Speaker 10: think even someone as extraordinary as Ben Robert Smith, even
• 45:05
  Speaker 10: someone who has received our highest military honor, is not
• 45:10
  Speaker 10: above the law. And you know, if they have indeed
• 45:13
  Speaker 10: committed the crimes that have been alleged, then they need
• 45:17
  Speaker 10: to be prosecuted. For them to say that, you know,
• 45:20
  Speaker 10: he's a war hero, is I'm afraid not an excuse.
• 45:23
  Speaker 10: Having said that, I think if anyone deserves the benefit
• 45:26
  Speaker 10: of the doubt and more dignity in the way that
• 45:29
  Speaker 10: they were arrested, it is Ben Robert Smith. I think
• 45:32
  Speaker 10: he could have simply gone and handed himself in as
• 45:35
  Speaker 10: he'd offered to, and done that in a more discrete
• 45:37
  Speaker 10: and dignified way, and the authorities obviously didn't allow that.
• 45:40
  Speaker 10: I thought that was a shame. And of course again
• 45:43
  Speaker 10: the very least is that he should be released to
• 45:46
  Speaker 10: to commemorate ANZAC Day.
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: Just staggers me, who've spent over three hundred million dollars
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: on this case. Here's something we can all agree on,
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: Senator Jackie Lambe and Senator David Pocock not to people
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: I would normally agree with saying that Australia's top bureau
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: credits are overpaid, should have their salaries cut by half.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: Now on this show, we don't always agree, but you'd
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: have to say we shouldn't be paying people in those
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: positions near up to and some cases over a million
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: dollars a year.
• 46:17
  Speaker 11: No, some of the salaries and these top jobs are
• 46:19
  Speaker 11: really just extraordinary. They just beggar belief. And particularly in
• 46:22
  Speaker 11: times like these, where you've got many Australians suffering from
• 46:25
  Speaker 11: the cost of living crisis, it's hard to justify some
• 46:28
  Speaker 11: of these salaries. And look, I understand there's an argument
• 46:30
  Speaker 11: that these are difficult positions are important roles and therefore
• 46:33
  Speaker 11: they need to attract top talent. However, many of the
• 46:36
  Speaker 11: times are the people who get put in these positions.
• 46:38
  Speaker 11: It's just jobs for mates. And there's been a report
• 46:40
  Speaker 11: that's been released on that, and there are some recommendations
• 46:42
  Speaker 11: made to the Albanezi government to prevent that from happening,
• 46:45
  Speaker 11: and the Albernezi government refused to take up any of
• 46:47
  Speaker 11: those recommendations, so I'm sure that will continue. But on
• 46:50
  Speaker 11: top of reducing some of these exorbitant salaries, I also
• 46:54
  Speaker 11: think we need to look at the size of the
• 46:56
  Speaker 11: public service. I mean, the size of public service has
• 46:59
  Speaker 11: grown at an extra ordinary rate. It has grown at
• 47:01
  Speaker 11: three percent, whilst the population has grown by just one
• 47:04
  Speaker 11: point five percent. So I think we really want to
• 47:07
  Speaker 11: reduce things like red tape and improve our economy. Let's
• 47:10
  Speaker 11: cut down the sides of the public service as well
• 47:13
  Speaker 11: as many of these top salaries.
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: Joe, you could get forty public servants on half a
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: million dollars a year for one year of Kyle Sandaland's contract. Mate,
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: That's right, and wouldn't that be worth it.
• 47:25
  Speaker 10: We should actually probably get Kyle in there himself and
• 47:27
  Speaker 10: he could just run a broom through the place. I think, look,
• 47:30
  Speaker 10: mea is right. I think on the really the problem
• 47:33
  Speaker 10: in the headline about how much they earn. I mean, god,
• 47:35
  Speaker 10: I you know several people I'd kill to earn that
• 47:38
  Speaker 10: much money. But the real problem is not necessarily how
• 47:41
  Speaker 10: much these guys are earning, but how good they are
• 47:44
  Speaker 10: at their jobs, and how well they are running a
• 47:47
  Speaker 10: public service, so it is as efficient as it can be,
• 47:50
  Speaker 10: of little cost of the taxpayer as it can be,
• 47:53
  Speaker 10: and as of much benefit to the taxpayer as it
• 47:55
  Speaker 10: can possibly be. And so I would much rather have
• 47:58
  Speaker 10: a public servant paid million dollars who was running a
• 48:01
  Speaker 10: really slick streamline department that was keeping a lit on
• 48:05
  Speaker 10: expenses and delivering more efficient services to the public than
• 48:08
  Speaker 10: sort of you know, split hairs about whether it's you know,
• 48:11
  Speaker 10: a million or eight hundred thousand or five hundred thousand
• 48:14
  Speaker 10: or whatever.
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: Now, except if you're running the Prime Minister's office. Mea.
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: But some of these sellers are being paid to people
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: who are running local councils, for God's sake, and so.
• 48:28
  Speaker 11: Many of these local councils and other industries are just
• 48:31
  Speaker 11: strangling the economy with red tape.
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: Red tape green tape, black tape, whatever take you like.
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: Thank you both. It's always a pleasure to catch up
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: with you on a Friday. I mean that's true. There
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: are local government CEOs who are being paid up to
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: and including million dollars well it, according to Roundin Up
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: Next