Latest / Steve Price / Steve Price | 10 May

Transcript

Steve Price | 10 May · Steve Price

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Live. This is Steve Price. Good evening, Welcome to Fridays.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I'm Steve Price. Great to have you with us. Coming
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: up on the program tonight. A horror Victorian budget this week,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and we can't expect too much good news. I wouldn't
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: think when Jim Chalmers gets to his feet next Tuesday.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Inflation is still too high, cost of living crippling, I
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: don't need to tell you that, and labor governments spending
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: well beyond their means. The shadow of Victorian Treasurer brad
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: at Rosewelt will be in the studio up next. And
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: as the state government still refuse to cut spending on
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: public servant numbers to save money, they are instead stupidly
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: hollowing out CBD officers and selling off space as those
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: same public servants still refuse to come back to the office.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: I'll catch up with the property counsel and find out
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: about that. And imagine losing a loved one at the
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: hands of a murderer. To have the killer refuse to
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: reveal what they did with the body forman new South
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Wales to Detective Damien Lohn and the case that inspired
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: the global hit podcast Teachers Pet. He'll join us tonight
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: as well. But first, what does a state government with
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: the highest debt in Australia and a daily interest bill
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: of over twenty five million dollars every day of the week.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: What does a dysfunctional government like that do to rein
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: in spending. Now, you'd think they trim the public service,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: get rid of some back office time servers. Those seat
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: warmers dressed in their leisure were working from home refusing
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: to come back to the office. They could do that,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: or you could wake up and scrap the bloated, unwanted
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: suburban rail loop in Melbourne, a training from somewhere you
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: don't want to be going to, somewhere you don't want
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: to go to. But no, the Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: who has presided now incredibly over ten budgets now instead
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: has pulled out his red pen and inexplicably he started
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: slash funding for cancer research. You can't make this stuff up. Now,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: listen to the numbers. Medical research investment, largely being spent
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: on world leading cancer research, was one hundred and eight
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: point one million dollars in twenty twenty two twenty three
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: so last financial year, so one hundred and eight million dollars.
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  Speaker 1: Pallas stands up on Tuesday in the Victorian Parliament and
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: without any hint of embarrassment, reveals that funding into cancer
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: will this financial year be fifty seven point three million dollars,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: almost halved. It gets worse though, the Comprehensive Cancer Center's Alliance,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: which is a group of cancer researchers, will this financial
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: year receive twenty million dollars less than they did last
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: financial year. As I said, you can't make this stuff up.
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  Speaker 1: This center run by Professor Graham Clark, by the way,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: they use that funding in the past to develop, among
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: other things, the Coculiar Year implant. Now that's the cuts
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: to cancer research. Then what else to the people who
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: locked up Victorians for longer than anyone else in the
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: world during COVID, what else do they do? Well? They
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: slashed spending which was already inadequate. In the mental health area,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: they delayed great word in budgets that delayed, delayed the
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: role out of thirty five local mental health and well
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: being hubs. Listen to this. Given the impact of COVID
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: had on mental health, funding for the bed based mental
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: health services of that state will go from six point
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: three million to just one point three million, a five
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  Speaker 1: million dollar cut. Incredible, it's mean and it's dangerous. Oh
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: and by the way, while Tim Pallas took an ax
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: to mental health, he left in that same budget four
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: million dollars. And what was that four million dollars for.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: It was for a wealthy football club, an AFL club, Geelong,
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  Speaker 1: And that money has set aside to build a new
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: scoreboard at their football ground. That's a venue, by the way,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: already showered with state and federal taxpayers money. Why it's
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: surrounded on all sides by marginal state and federal seats
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: that labour needs to hold. What a disgrace. So what
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: can the coalition the opposition do in Victoria to convince
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: voters in Victoria that they would do a better job.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Let's break down Victoria's horror budget, as I mentioned, cuts
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  Speaker 1: some mental health at the beginning of the program. Let's
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  Speaker 1: break it down with the state's shadow treasurer, Brad Rosewell,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Brad got to see you again. What did you make
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: We've spoken about what you're expecting. What did you make
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  Speaker 1: of the reality of the budget.
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  Speaker 2: It was a very disappointing budget that actually tax Victorians more.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: The cut programs that cut services, but at the same time,
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  Speaker 2: debt is skyrocketing one hundred and eighty eight billion dollars
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  Speaker 2: in debt at the hands of Labour's tenth budget, Tim
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Pellas's tenth budget. I actually was hoping. I was hopeful
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: that they would act tax, that they would make life
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: easy for Victorians in this budget, Steve. But no such
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: story from Labor, the same old labor. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: November twenty twenty six is frankly just around the corner.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: If Victorians want to change the government and don't like
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: what's currently happening, they've got an opportunity to do so.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Then I had to look at it, and I was
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: waiting for Tim Pallace that I've given a bit of
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: a touch up into in there tomorrow to announce that
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: they were going to trim back office numbers in the
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: public service because that's become bloated under ten years of labor.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: And I don't see that. Well.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: The public sector wage bill in this budget is about
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: forty billion dollars. Their entire tax takes about forty five
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: billion dollars, so they're effectively taxing Victorians to pay for
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: the public service. The public service in this state has
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: doubled since they were elected ten years ago. The public
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: sector wage bill has almost doubled in ten years since
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: labor and the questions Victorians need to ask themselves is
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: do they feel like they're being better served by this
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: state government and by the state government's public sage service
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: because they're.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Paying for it. All these are public servants, many of
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: them still work from home. I mean, we're going to
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: talk to the Property Council and the program in a
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: moment about how the part of the budget was to
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: sell off least office space that the government has in
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: the CBD. How does that help regenerate I don't think
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Australia's second biggest setting.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: Look, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect someone who's
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: working in the public service, who by the very definition
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: of their role serves the public, to be available to
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: the public. You know, it was took far too long
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: for the Office of Birth Test of Manement Marriages to reopen.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: It still takes far too long to get your certificates,
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: to get your liquor licensing registration through the system. You know,
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: the state is investing so much more in the public service,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: but Victorians are poorer for it am.
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  Speaker 1: I too cynical in suggesting that we're one of the
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: reasons why the public service gets bigger and bigger and bigger.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Labour knows that those people who are dependent on them
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  Speaker 1: for a salary and I vote.
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  Speaker 2: For them, but that doesn't act well. I don't think
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: it is. But here's the thing. You know, Victorians want
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: their government to run a lean, mean, tight ship to
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  Speaker 2: frankly get out of their way so that the Victorians
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: can get on with their lives. And at the moment
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  Speaker 2: you've got one hundred and eighty eight billion dollars of debt,
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  Speaker 2: more debt than coins in they New South Wales and
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: tassimated twenty six.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Million dollars a day to pay for the interest.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: That's exactly right, and that twenty six million bucks a day,
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  Speaker 2: Steve could pay for one hundred and twenty five ambulances
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: today tomorrow of a school following to modernize the hospital,
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: it's three hundred and seven nurses like this is the
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: opportunity cost of Labour's economic mismanagement over the last decade,
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: and Victorians are poor for it. I'm going to talk
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: about families in the moment because the leak on the
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: budget was that families will get a cash payment through
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: their school to help pay for school expenses. But on
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: the debt, how are you going to get it down?
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: I mean, have you got a target, a figure, a plan. Well,
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: a massive part of that debt has been cost over runs,
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  Speaker 2: cost blowouts on major prochaps stop.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: That were we unionized costs.
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  Speaker 2: But we learn in the budget that before the budget
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  Speaker 2: it was more than thirty eight billion dollars in cost blowouts.
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  Speaker 2: Now we learn that it's more than forty billion dollars
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  Speaker 2: in cost blowouts. So the first thing that I do
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  Speaker 2: as the state's incoming treasurer in November twenty twenty six
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  Speaker 2: is to end the waste and to wind the blowouts.
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  Speaker 2: And frankly, if the state's procurement systems are spitting out
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  Speaker 2: cost over runs of forty fifty sixty seventy percent, it's
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  Speaker 2: not good enough and it's got to end. So do
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  Speaker 2: you have to pause those projects to an order on
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  Speaker 2: what's happening where the money is being wasted.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not saying cancel them all.
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  Speaker 2: It's like you've been reading our policy It's like you've
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  Speaker 2: been reading our policy papers.
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  Speaker 1: That's exactly what we'll do. Well, that's sensible, that's smart.
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  Speaker 1: The family package. Is that real or is that just
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  Speaker 1: a headline?
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  Speaker 2: Victoria's Victorian labor. Their budget was all about helping families,
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  Speaker 2: but their debt for the last year of this budget
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  Speaker 2: is more than nine billion dollars. Their entire budget for
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: helping families in this budget is about five million dollars.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: So they say it's about helping families, but they're spending
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  Speaker 2: about double on debt incurred by them over the last
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  Speaker 2: ten years and they are actually spending on supporting families
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  Speaker 2: in this state. Don't believe the spin, don't believe the lies.
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  Speaker 2: Have a look at what they do, and they're not
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  Speaker 2: helping families.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things that I focused on and I
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  Speaker 1: found it really interesting, they had announced that they were
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  Speaker 1: going to build a new medical research center at a
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  Speaker 1: place called Ardern which for our non Melbourne audiences in
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: North Melbourne, and they were going to put the Royal
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Women's Hospital and the Royal Children's Hospital there. But they
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: found out that they can't do that because the imaging
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: machines that are required in a hospital have to be
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: bolted to the ground, which they can't do in that precinct.
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  Speaker 1: So they have to scrap the whole thing, Steve.
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  Speaker 2: They didn't find out write that they didn't find out
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  Speaker 2: about this a week before the budget. They found out
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  Speaker 2: about this many years ago, three for.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: The year's election that would happen.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: They went to the election line ever was going to happen.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: They went to the election knowing that there were issues
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: with this project. And it took this budget a week
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: before the budget for the truth of this matter to
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: come out. And again, what is the cost of Victorians
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: of canceling that project and rescaping that project? Another cost
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: blowout at the hands of a labor government.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: And the most disgraceful thing I thought was the cutting
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: of funding to mental health research. Now, the medical industry
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: had been scathing during the week about that. We all
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: lived through the longest lockdowns in the world during COVID
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: under Daniel Andrews. The mental health, particularly of our youngsters,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: those in that sort of you know, ten to sixteen
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: year old bracket group. You know this, I'm not telling anything.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: You don't know. Why in the hell would you cut
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Melbourne is seen as a medical leader, right and particularly
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: in things like cancer research. One of the institutes that's
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: losing funding was responsible for the invention of the cochlear
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: ear implant.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: So why would they do that? Are they so broke?
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: Budgets aren't just numbers on a page, Steve. They're not
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: just graphs. They're not just you know, the printed word.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: They reveal the DNA of a government, the priorities of
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: a government. And when you're prioritizing a new school board
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: at a Geelong stadium over twenty four million bucks to
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: the v Triple C, the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Center, that
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: tells you everything that you need to know about this
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: government's priorities. And frankly, after ten years of labor, they've
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: lost touch with reality, They've lost touch with what actually
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: matters of Victorians, and they've got to go.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: And the problem is a lot of them have gone.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: They've just walked away without any punishment. Dan Andrews walks out,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: James Malino walks out. Will Tim Pallace do you think
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: walk away? Look? I think this will be the budget.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: I think this will be Tim's last budget. I think
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: the next Treasurer in this state is a bloke named
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Danny Pearson. You know, whether Tim's in charge or Danny's
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: in charge, whether Daniel's in charge or just Center Allen's
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: in charge of Victoria.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: What we've learned from this.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Budget is it's Labour's tenth budget and it'll just be
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: more of the same until they boot it out in
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty six.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: And we still can't catch a train to the airport. Indeed,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: again the priorities are wrong. I reckon on airport rail.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: They're just going to be fair inking with us, right
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Sotan is not to.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Do it, Palla, not the operators of the airport, suggesting look,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: if you don't, if you don't put the station where
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: we want to put it, we might go to Avalon,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: which is a whole there currently loaded whilst they're currently
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: in a formal mediation process. You know, that's what you do.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: That's a signal you see it. Well, that's arrogance. It
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: is a problem, and it's hubris and that's ten years
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: of labor. Red Roosevelt, thank you for joining us. We'll
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: talk to you Againcent. Okay. We want to tackle the
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: state budget from another angle now, and that is the
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: thing called office space is now the Treasure of Tim
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Pallace announced that government owned office space will be offloaded
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: as employees continue to work from home Now it's twenty
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: twenty four. I didn't think we'd still be talking about
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: working from home, seeing as the pandemic ended years ago,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: but here we are. Many public servants still not willing
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: to go into the office. And this week it was
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: revealed Melbourne's CBD office occupancy is the lowest in the
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: country and if you walk through the CBD of the city,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: that wouldn't surprise you. For more, I'm joined by the
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Deputy Executive Director of the Property Council of Victoria, Andrew
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Late Locock. Andrew, great to speak to you. I just
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: want to get your take on the state budget. What
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: did you make of it in general terms from the
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Property Council's point of view?
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks Steve. Well, Yeah, this week's state budget was
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: probably more of a status quo budget for the property industry.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: We've been working pretty closely with the government since the
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: release of the Housing Statement in September last year, but
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: we were hoping to see more in this budget, certainly.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Around tax and investments.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: We know speaking with our member as they're finding it
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: very difficult at the moment to cut through the taxation
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: and investment settings in Victoria, and ultimately this budget really
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: didn't outline any positive measures, so we're hopeful we'll continue
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: to advocate to the government for some positive changes soon.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Are you noticing businesses wrapping up in Victoria Melbourne and
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: moving into state? Are the government taxes, particularly on property investment,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: driving people out of the state.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: Well, it is a competitive federation, of course, Steve. So
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: what we're seeing right now is that Victorian property owners,
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: whether they're commercial property owners such as office owners, or
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: of course people in the investment market for housing, looking
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: at increased land tax bills for instance, they're looking at
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: the COVID debt levy, They're looking at things like the
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: absentee owner surcharge and the vacant residential land tax. The
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: combination of settings is making it more complex to cut
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: through for people who are looking to attract capital, looking
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: to attract money to come into Victoria. What they're reporting
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: back to us at the moment is that people are
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: finding it too complicated and ultimately that's adding.
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: To the risk of investing in Victoria.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately. Would I be surprised if I took a tour
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: with someone like yourself through the CBD to find how
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: many office spaces are still vacant or are vacant.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: Well, we meet an office vacancy every six months, and
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: going back to before the pandemic, Melbourne's office vacancy rate
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: was actually the lowest in the country. We were about
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: three percent four years ago and that's increased steadily to
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: sixteen point four percent in January this year, which is
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: the second highest in the country, only behind Adelaide. Now,
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: so that has been steadily increasing every six months. And
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: I think an announcement like the one we saw in
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: the federal in the state putchet this week sorry, where
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: the government indicated that they would be looking at cutting
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: back on their office space, means that that's probably likely
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: to continue upward, at least for a little bit longer.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: And those vacant offices we heard Tim Pallis say that
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: the government is going to offload unwanted office space that
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: they presumably own rather than lease. Does the state government
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: own a lot of office space in the CBD itself.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: They would own some and lease some, so it'd be
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: a combination, of course, and that office space wouldn't exclusively
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: be in the CBD. They're in the suburbs, they're in
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: regional centers as well. But of course the bulk of
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: that would be in and around the CBD. We know
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: they lease from several of the larger office developer members
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: that we have, so that will impact the CVD in
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: a few different ways.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: How much of a problem is hollowing out a big
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: city like Melbourne. I mean, if I was owning in
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: the Melbourne CBD a coffee bar, a sandwich shop, a
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: dry cleaning firm, you know, a small business that relies
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: on foot traffic, I mean, that's clearly going to impact
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: badly on me.
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: Right, Certainly, those types of businesses do rely pretty heavily
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: on Monday to Friday nine to five foot traffic, so
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: when people aren't in offices, there is a reduction, and
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: of course there is an impact on those types of
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: small businesses. Of course, the CBD is more than office workers,
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: and you do see that. In fact, on weekends we're
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: actually seeing increased visitation at the moment. But for a
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: lot of those types of businesses, they do really rely
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: on the Monday to Friday trade to get by, so
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: there is a big impact on them.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Melbourne and Sydney, you are about the same size population,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: now give a take a few hundred thousand. When you
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: talk to your colleagues in places like New South Wales
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: or in Brisbane and Queensland. Are there more people back
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: in the office, backworking in the city centers of those
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: two places than there is in Yeah.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: I can point you to some stats for least actually
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: earlier this week CBRE who are now measuring office occupancy,
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: so they are finding that Melbourne still has the lowest
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: rate of office occupancy, that's people in buildings during the week.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: So we're averaging sixty two percent of our pre COVID
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: levels on that front, whereas cities like Sydney and Brisbane
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: are in the seventies and eighty. So there is still
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: a bit of a lag. There's still that prolonged effect
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: of a longer lockdown period in Melbourne and what that
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: meant for the CBD. So it is slightly more noticeable
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: in Melbourne, but it has actually been improving over the
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: last six months, and I think more people are actually
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: seeing the benefits of coming back to the office a
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: little bit more. Hybrid work in flexible work is clearly
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: here to stay, but there are clearly defined and tangible
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: benefits around being in the office more and that's starting
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: to be seen in some of those stats.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: That came out this week just finally. I guess that
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: means that rents get driven down, do they? So if
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: you're you're an investor or an owner of city property,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: you're getting less rent. It all translates for sure.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: So we're finding increased subleasing space, So that's tenants who
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: have got excess space that they're now looking to sublease.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: So we know again from our Office Market Report data
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: earlier this year, Melbourne's got the highest level of subleasing
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: in the country. And yes, it does certainly put downward
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: pressure on rents. Of course, creates some opportunities for those
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: who are looking to get into the city, and we
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: do have a growing population and strong business growth still.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: But yes, it certainly does put downward pressure on rents
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: compared to some of the other capitals.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Andrew Locock, thank you very much for joining us. Thanks
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: for having me still to come tonight on Steve Price.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Immigration Minister Andrew Giles, as we know it's been very
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: quiet in recent weeks, but he's come out to take
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: a swipe out of all people. Peter Dutton, as the
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: High Court made decision today on releasing more detainees. I
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: have some more on that shortly when we're joined by
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Campbell Newman in Queensland plus old body no parole laws
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: will now be named in honor, I'm pleased to say
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: of the murdered mother Lynette Dawson in New South Wales.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: A former detective who's been heavily involved in that case
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: is up with us Live next. Steve Price with you
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: just in some late breaking news and Sky will be
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: across this right through the night. The UN or vote
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: tonight on whether or not to recognize Palestine as a state.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Now we are hearing information from our colleague here at
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: Sky News, host Shari Markson. She understands that Australia is
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: all set to vote in favor of that motion. Now
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: that is going to upset a lot of people across
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: this country, I hope. Any long earlier in the day,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: the Foreign Minister was unwilling to say whether we were
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: going to abstain or not. It now appears, and this
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: is what Shari's hearing that in fact, Australia in the UN,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: and I think that votes around eleven o'clock tonight, will
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: indeed vote in favor of recognizing Pallace Steyne as a state.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: That is going to be a huge news story through
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: the night and again tomorrow morning. Will keep you up
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: to date as that unfolds. Now you might have heard
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: of the Teacher's Pet. Now it's a crime podcast that
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: has been downloaded by the millions. It was presented by
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: a very good friend of mine, Headley Thomas, who works
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: with The Australian. I mean that podcast has been so
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: popular it brought to attention the case of a murdered
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: mother by the name of Lynnette Dawson. Now Lynde has
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: appeared from her family home on Sydney's Northern Beaches way
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: back in nineteen eighty two, leaving behind two young daughters. Now,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two, Lynnette's husband, Chris Dawson, was convicted
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: of her murder. Her body, however, has never been found.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Now there's going to be nobody, no parole laws. They
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: will be officially known, we believe as Lynne's Law in
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: New South Wales after emotion was passed in the state's
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: upper house. That happened this week and that's in memory
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: of the murdered mother. I think it is outstanding news
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: and the New South Wales Parliament, if this happens, is
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: to be commended. Now joining me to talk about this
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: is the former New South Wales detective sergeant who has
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: lived and breathed this case from the very beginning, Damien learned. Damien,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: great to see you. You came pained very hard to
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: have these laws changed, changed to be recognized as Lynn's law.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: How do you feel now that that looks like it's happened?
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: Ok so A look fantastic because now we have a
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: voice now for Lynn Dawson. Sean ever be forgotten and
• 22:34
  Speaker 5: that was our aim from the day that after Chris
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: Dawson was found guilty by Justice Jane Harrison and Supreme
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: Court on the thirtieth of August twenty twenty two. And
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: I don't want anybody to believe that, you know, a
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: loved one can't be found. I think now this is
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: a carrat that's been week we can dangle over. Someone said,
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: who's doing it time? And I'm very pleased, not only
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: particularly for just for the memory of Ben Dawson, her family,
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: her daughters, her friends or colleagues, her siblings, and particularly
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: her parents and her brother that went to their grave
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: not knowing what happened to her.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Has Dawson ever hinted to anybody about where the remains
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: may be.
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: No. No, And I believe his appeal is being hurt
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: next week in the Supreme Court for his convictions. So
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: he's denied it from day one and he's never made
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: any suggestion that he's been involved.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: You and Headly did a great job on the podcast.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: I saw Hedley a few days ago and he was
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: just telling me about the number of people who now
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: downloaded and listened to it. When I think back about
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: listening to it, I am right to remember, an't I
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Damien that at one point New South Wales police excavated
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: around the swimming pool in the backyard of the house
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: that she shared with Dawson.
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: Yes, that's right, I did it back in the early
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: two thousands, and then again and back in I believe
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: two thousand and eighteen have been that they did a
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: very large excavation at the property at Bayview of Heights
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: and Sydney s Norton Beaches and spent a considerable week
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: doing that and didn't find anything.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Was that an exercise in well, if the body was
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: going to be put somewhere, maybe it was close to home.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Is that what you're thinking was or did you have
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: some information from I think, am I right to remember
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: a neighbor talked about some unusual activity in the backyard
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: at one point.
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: I think it came about from a weakness or a
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: person that used to live at the property called on
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: upon an area called the soft ground behind the house
• 24:40
  Speaker 5: in the yard, and I don't believe it was ever excavated.
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: Back in the time, I concentrated around the pool area
• 24:48
  Speaker 5: because you know, it was either damn if you do,
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: damned if you don't. And we did that, and interesting enough,
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: we found a cardigan that was in a number of
• 24:59
  Speaker 5: pieces which we held onto and years later it went
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: over to the States some mitochondrial DNA testing. But in
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: two aden they did a very very good job, a
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: thorough job, and however nothing was found.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: I just admire so much your passion on this case.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: I just want to ask you, when you're a police
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: officer involved in a murder, two young children left behind,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: I get the sense that you want to do something
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: for that family, and that's what this law will do.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, I hope it goes national Lynn's Law, because
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: you know, we've got a high profile case in Victoria
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: at the moment where there is still a lack of
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: a body that has been found. I just hope that
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: what the law does is someone goes OK, I do
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: want to get parole, So I'll finally tell you. But
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: what would happen then in that case, Damian, if the
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: person confessed and said right, yep, this is where I
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: put it, the body then gets found, will the parole
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: still be granted? I don't understand that.
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: Well. Under the legislation now, and prior to this legislation
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: lation being introduced, there was only an option for the
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: parole board to consider early release without a body being
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: located or assisted by the person who was convicted of
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: that crime. Now it's law known as Lenn's law. So
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: now if you are convicted of a homicide and you
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: haven't disclosed on where the body is located or the remains, etc.
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: Then if you get a head sentence and a bottom sentence.
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: So this doesn't apply to those that get a sentence
• 26:30
  Speaker 5: of never to be released. It's only those who get
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: a hidden and a bottom sentence. It's a parole sentence.
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: So Chrys Daalson has branded he was given twenty four
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: years on top and eighteen years on the bottom. So
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: you know, if everything goes to plan and eighteen years
• 26:47
  Speaker 5: and he tells the authorities where Lean is or any
• 26:50
  Speaker 5: other person in that sort of scenario predicament, then parole
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: may be granted under their instructions after whether you can
• 26:59
  Speaker 5: find that owns.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Damian Lun Congratulations and again, thank you very much for
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: helping us, and well done on all of that. It's
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: just an outstanding job that you've done. Thanks for joining us.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Now let's turn our attention to immigration. Hundreds of immigration
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: detainees now will remain behind bars. We had that High
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Court decision. You would have seen that on Sky here today,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: extending a landmark ruling. So this is around an Iranian
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: man known as ASF seventeen, who's not been cooperating with
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: immigration officials. He's now failed in his bid for freedom.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Thank goodness. Immigration Minister Andrew Giles, who has kept quiet
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: in recent weeks over the government's detainee Debarcley, welcomed the
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: High Court decision and couldn't help taking a swipe at
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: the opposition. Have a look at this.
• 27:45
  Speaker 6: Next week, Peter Dutton will have a choice to make.
• 27:50
  Speaker 6: He will be able to support a bill that strengthens
• 27:53
  Speaker 6: our ability to remove people from Australia who have no
• 27:57
  Speaker 6: right to remain here. That gives us the two rules
• 28:00
  Speaker 6: to both strengthen our borders and our refugee protection framework.
• 28:05
  Speaker 6: So far, though, mister Dutton has shown that he is
• 28:08
  Speaker 6: only interested in playing politics with this issue.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: Not sure how it's Peter Dutton's problem, to be honest.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Joining me to discuss this and more is our Friday regular.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: We always enjoy catching up with former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Campbell seems that this current Labor government, the Albanezy government
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: in particular, a couple of his ministers are never willing
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: to admit they make a mistake or to say sorry.
• 28:33
  Speaker 7: Absolutely, Steve and I found an extraordinary that he is
• 28:36
  Speaker 7: amarily throwing.
• 28:37
  Speaker 8: Brickbats at Peter Dutton.
• 28:41
  Speaker 7: I mean, this is a minister who has been hiding
• 28:44
  Speaker 7: I don't know, in a broom closet or perhaps the
• 28:46
  Speaker 7: bathroom's of Parliament House, and hasn't been prepared to do
• 28:50
  Speaker 7: any media conferences and fess up to some of the huge.
• 28:55
  Speaker 8: Issues in his portfolio.
• 28:57
  Speaker 7: And yet he comes out today has this go by
• 29:00
  Speaker 7: the way I look at his body language though, I
• 29:02
  Speaker 7: mean he looked like the proverbial dear in the headlights
• 29:05
  Speaker 7: because he knows that he really.
• 29:07
  Speaker 8: Is on borrow time here.
• 29:10
  Speaker 7: And for some viewers who don't know this, I mean
• 29:12
  Speaker 7: this Blake Giles was, prior to politics, a lawyer who
• 29:19
  Speaker 7: was busy trying to let all sorts of people into
• 29:22
  Speaker 7: this country. I mean that was his job. I mean
• 29:24
  Speaker 7: he was a champion, if you like, of the Tampa people.
• 29:27
  Speaker 7: As I recall that guy over twenty years ago. So
• 29:30
  Speaker 7: you know, it's interesting now he's sort of somehow got
• 29:33
  Speaker 7: to be the protector of our borders.
• 29:35
  Speaker 8: He hasn't done a very good job, that's clear.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it seems like a very strange choice to
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: have him as the minister and just show again the
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: weakness of Anthony Albanesi as a leader. Let's talk about
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: the government and social media giants. I mean, the government's
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: saying they're going to put those media giants on notice,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: announcing a large scale while ranging probe into its harm
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: to Australians. A committee it's going to look into the
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: in packed and influence of Twitter and Meta and TikTok as.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: If those big media companies offshore actually care, I don't
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: think they would care at all.
• 30:12
  Speaker 8: Well, I guess I don't care.
• 30:14
  Speaker 7: Mate, But I've got very mixed feelings about this as well.
• 30:18
  Speaker 7: I mean, I don't have any time for the way
• 30:21
  Speaker 7: that Meta has been behaving, but I'm a fan of
• 30:26
  Speaker 7: Musk and what he has chosen to do in terms
• 30:28
  Speaker 7: of X and you know, when it comes to misinformation,
• 30:33
  Speaker 7: I mean, in the last and this is a bipartisan
• 30:36
  Speaker 7: across the political divide set of comment, I mean, there's
• 30:39
  Speaker 7: been all sorts of misinformation coming out from government.
• 30:43
  Speaker 8: Dare I say it?
• 30:44
  Speaker 7: You know a vaccine that we were told was perfectly
• 30:47
  Speaker 7: safe and there were no problems and no side effects.
• 30:50
  Speaker 7: In the last week we've learned that it does have
• 30:52
  Speaker 7: side effects. It's been withdrawn from sale, and indeed, someone
• 30:56
  Speaker 7: who I love dearly has suffered ongoing health impact since
• 31:01
  Speaker 7: she took that vaccine. But that was the governm misinformation.
• 31:06
  Speaker 7: So what we need here is we need open discourse,
• 31:10
  Speaker 7: we need free media, and we need social media to
• 31:15
  Speaker 7: be generally unfettered. And the idea of government coming in
• 31:19
  Speaker 7: and telling us what we can and can't see gives
• 31:22
  Speaker 7: me a really cold cold shiver.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: A very Queensland issue. Bruce Highway, I haven't driven it
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: for many years. You may have budgets up next week
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: we've got a leak saying that the Bruce Highway is
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: on track for a four hundred and sixty seven million
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: dollar boost. I would have thought four to six seven
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: million on the Bruce Highway wouldn't get too much done.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: I don't imagine you're getting too excited about that yet, mate,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: Look I just went.
• 31:52
  Speaker 7: You probably can't say this is a trip down memory lane.
• 31:54
  Speaker 7: This is from twenty twelve and it's from it's actually
• 31:59
  Speaker 7: on the High Minister's website, person website, Newman and the Bruce.
• 32:03
  Speaker 8: Highway all spin, no can do.
• 32:06
  Speaker 7: And so this was in twenty twelve, and he was
• 32:08
  Speaker 7: talking back then about the then labor government spending two
• 32:12
  Speaker 7: point eight billion dollars over seven years.
• 32:15
  Speaker 8: That was back then.
• 32:16
  Speaker 7: Think about the escalation of construction costs. Tony Abbott then
• 32:21
  Speaker 7: got in the year after it actually put in significantly
• 32:24
  Speaker 7: more money. In fact, there was a under my leadership
• 32:28
  Speaker 7: in Queensland, there was a state federal deal that was
• 32:30
  Speaker 7: going to spend ten billion.
• 32:32
  Speaker 8: Dollars on the Bruce Highway over ten years.
• 32:35
  Speaker 7: And that's the sort of money we need, you know, Steve,
• 32:38
  Speaker 7: this is a one thousand and seven hundred kilometer road.
• 32:41
  Speaker 7: And parts of it are critically dangerous. For example, between
• 32:44
  Speaker 7: Rockampton and Mackay it's a really dangerous bit of road
• 32:49
  Speaker 7: with far too many accidents and sadly deaths. And similarly
• 32:53
  Speaker 7: from Townsville North to Ingham and I drove that actually
• 32:56
  Speaker 7: just in the last four months. That's quite dangerous as well.
• 33:00
  Speaker 7: So we need a concerted effort. Sydney Melbourne have a
• 33:04
  Speaker 7: good road. Now we have Sydney to Brisbane. It's a
• 33:07
  Speaker 7: good road. Really, the highway through to Cans has to
• 33:10
  Speaker 7: be fixed up. We need a national commitment, state and
• 33:13
  Speaker 7: federal over the next decade to fix this rate up
• 33:16
  Speaker 7: and make it safe.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: Just for you go. I see Stephen Miles is going
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: to give you one thousand dollars before the election. And
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: guess what, you don't have to use it to pay
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: off your power bill. You can go and get yourself
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: a new flat screen TV, or you could treat yourself
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: to a weekend on hamil Nyland. You can do whatever
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: you like with it.
• 33:36
  Speaker 8: This is this is a kin mate. This is a kinmate. Yeah.
• 33:40
  Speaker 7: Well, just so the viewers understand, basically they're going to
• 33:42
  Speaker 7: put on a thousand dollars against your electricity account and The
• 33:47
  Speaker 7: point is if you then canceled your account, and you're
• 33:51
  Speaker 7: entitled to then actually withdraw that credit if you like,
• 33:54
  Speaker 7: as you go to the new electricity provider, So you
• 33:57
  Speaker 7: essentially have got a thousand dollars check. I mean they
• 33:59
  Speaker 7: might will just stand there in George Street and Brisbane
• 34:03
  Speaker 7: and encourage Bill to walk past and hand out one
• 34:06
  Speaker 7: thousand dollars worth of cash.
• 34:07
  Speaker 8: It's outrageous.
• 34:08
  Speaker 7: But meantime, and another prop I've got this evening, Steve.
• 34:12
  Speaker 7: This is my power price, my unit price of power
• 34:15
  Speaker 7: May twenty two. It was twenty it was twenty eight,
• 34:18
  Speaker 7: twenty nine cents a killer whate hour including Jesse.
• 34:21
  Speaker 8: You know what it is now, mate, it's forty eight.
• 34:24
  Speaker 7: It's got up seventy six point four percent the unit
• 34:28
  Speaker 7: cost in two years.
• 34:30
  Speaker 8: So the government giveth and the government taketh away.
• 34:32
  Speaker 7: And in Queensland, the network, the power stations are.
• 34:37
  Speaker 8: All owned by the government.
• 34:40
  Speaker 7: And yes, retailers are there at the margins, but most
• 34:44
  Speaker 7: of the costs of this network in queens And are
• 34:47
  Speaker 7: the costs of the queens And government. So my bill
• 34:50
  Speaker 7: is a wealth transfer back to the queens And government.
• 34:53
  Speaker 7: So one thousand bucks will fantastic non moons tested fantastic,
• 34:58
  Speaker 7: but it is an outrageous sort of splash of cash
• 35:03
  Speaker 7: in an election year is nothing short of vote buying.
• 35:06
  Speaker 8: I'm afraid.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: One hundred percent correct, Campbell Newman. All was a pleasure
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: to catch up with you. I'll see you next week.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: Now it's been another big few days of news. There's
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: no one better to break it down for us than
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: with a cartoon cartoonist, Mark Knight, he joins us. He
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: will show us his best work from the week that
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: was plus plenty to cover with my Friday panel, including
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: the Australian city that has topped the list when it
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: comes to well being. Welcome back.
• 35:37
  Speaker 9: Now.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: We've talked a lot on the program tonight about horror budgets.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: With a federal budget, as you know, due on Tuesday
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: night special budget coverage on Sky from five Australia Eastern
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: Standard time. That'll be handed down by Jim Charmers. You'll
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: hear the full budget speech on Sky now. Our cartoonist
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: friends always have great fun with budgets, going all the
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: way back to remember when you used to have budget
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: headlines that said SIGs up. We'll joining us now our
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: favorite cartoonist, the cartooning genius, Mark Night Mark, great to
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: see you again in that studio. How much do you
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  Speaker 1: love the budget? Night And have you got something in
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: your mind already.
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  Speaker 4: For the federal budget?
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  Speaker 9: Well, look, I know I could pre empt them, but
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  Speaker 9: they do leak little things out for it. I guess
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  Speaker 9: this is one of those budgets where Jim's got to
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  Speaker 9: try and give us something on one hand, but not
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  Speaker 9: wake the inflation dragon, which will burn him to a
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  Speaker 9: cinder if it gets a little bit too stimulated.
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  Speaker 1: Shall we say, I can see it now, dragon fire,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Jim Boom. I don't give too much away, though, but
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: I get your theme now. My favorite cartoon of the week,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: and I thought what you did with the Victorian budget
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: was absolutely outstanding. Take us through my favorite cartoon of
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: the week, the black Hole cartoon with the suburban rail loop.
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  Speaker 4: Well, we we've axed a lot of things.
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  Speaker 9: We axed the airport rail, we've axed hospitals, we've acxed,
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  Speaker 9: of course, the Commonwealth games before we even started with
• 37:14
  Speaker 9: the budget process.
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  Speaker 7: But we've kept the suburban rail loop, which is this
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  Speaker 7: sort of mystery.
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  Speaker 9: Hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars cost this rail
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  Speaker 9: line which goes from Cheltenham, I think to somewhere a
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  Speaker 9: couple of stops down the line, and we can't understand.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, Box, that's right.
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  Speaker 9: Yes, I don't know why we're keeping it, but it's
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  Speaker 9: a pet project and it is costing billions. And so
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  Speaker 9: I thought, well, we're all going to be on this
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  Speaker 9: beautiful little train, the suburban rail Loop, but we're going
• 37:47
  Speaker 9: to be going down that dark tunnel of debt to
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  Speaker 9: who knows where we'll end up.
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  Speaker 4: But it's it's dark, and it's endless, bottomless.
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  Speaker 1: Genius. Genius, genius work. Now a couple of Internet national
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  Speaker 1: flavors to your cartoons. This week you managed to even
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: get Met Gala into your cartoon. He explain. These two
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: people who've turned up in New York at Met Gala.
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  Speaker 9: Well, Met Gala, it's one of the most glamorous events
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  Speaker 9: of the year, and who's who the world in right.
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  Speaker 9: I'm surprised you weren't on the steps, mate, But there
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  Speaker 9: were a lot of assies there.
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  Speaker 4: There was Nicole and Keith Kylie was there.
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  Speaker 9: Of course leam Hen's Worth looking as handsome as ever.
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  Speaker 4: And I thought, well, why wouldn't.
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  Speaker 9: Our treasurer and our premier have been there because they're
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  Speaker 9: doing such a wonderful job.
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  Speaker 4: The only trouble was.
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  Speaker 9: Their invitation was to the Debt Gala, not to the
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  Speaker 9: met gala, and they were politely refused him absolutely outstanding.
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  Speaker 1: Now we've got Donald Trump. He's in a court case
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  Speaker 1: with the deliciously called Stormy Daniels, the former pawn star.
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  Speaker 1: You've got him sitting in court. He seems to have
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: a bit of trouble seeing Mark.
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  Speaker 4: Well, children, if you're watching now, please turn away. It
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  Speaker 4: was one of the great.
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  Speaker 9: Testimonials of our time, Steve to hear Dormy a Stormy
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  Speaker 9: give her account, so help me God, of her night
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  Speaker 9: with Donald and it was. It was uncut and I
• 39:18
  Speaker 9: think it's actually available on her only fans page as well.
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  Speaker 4: That's how Steenia was. So I think as she delivered.
• 39:25
  Speaker 9: This this, this, this I guess testimony of her name
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  Speaker 9: with Donald, she was demonstrating it in my cartoon by bits.
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  Speaker 4: Of clothing sort of coming off, if you know what
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  Speaker 4: I mean.
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  Speaker 1: It was very colorful testimony, no doubt about that. We
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: just talked about Andrew Giles and Claire O'Neil. Hasn't been
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: a great month for those two. How do they feature
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: this week clowns.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, bring in the sending the clowns.
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  Speaker 9: Steve for this cartoon, I just sat there and I
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  Speaker 9: thought to myself, what does it mean to have to
• 40:00
  Speaker 9: do these days to actually get sacked? And at what
• 40:03
  Speaker 9: point does a minister take responsibility for their actions?
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  Speaker 4: Will? It appears neither and none, So.
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  Speaker 9: I thought, well, their performance is on par with something
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  Speaker 9: from Barnum and Bailey, So let's draw them as a
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  Speaker 9: couple of clowns who were coming in to hopefully cheer
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  Speaker 9: up this poor woman, miss Simon and missus Simon's who
• 40:24
  Speaker 9: was so.
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  Speaker 4: Allegedly terribly assaulted. But I don't think they would cheer
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  Speaker 4: her up.
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  Speaker 1: Sadly, Mark, it's been in another outstanding week from you.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you mate. We'll catch up with you soon. That's
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: Mark Night, Australia's best cartoonist. Now come up after the
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: break Surprise, Surprise, and decisions made by premiers during COVID
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: were not based on medical advice, so will they be
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: held to accountable account? I should say, I'll put that
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: to my panel up next. Welcome back to Steve Price
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: with you. I just mentioned that breaking news again on
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: the UN vote to decide whether Palestine will be recognized
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  Speaker 1: as a state. We now understand that the Foreign Minister,
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: Penny Wong will speak tomorrow and she will say that
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: this does not constitute full bilateral recognition of Palestine. She
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: will say that Hamas doesn't have any role in the
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: Palestinian leadership, and she will condemn the October seven attacks
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: and call for the release of all of the hostages.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: The UN vote may be delayed, we're now told until Tuesday.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: But welcome back you with Steve Price, plenty more to
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: get through, so let's waste no more time. I want
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: to bring in my Friday panel. Joining me is radio
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  Speaker 1: legend d d doun Leedy and small business Woman Australia
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  Speaker 1: CEO Amanda Rose. Welcome to you both, great to see you.
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  Speaker 1: Now we've got one Australian city two that has topped
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  Speaker 1: the list when it comes to quote well being, and
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  Speaker 1: I'm sad to say it's not Melbourne. It is Sydney.
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  Speaker 1: According to this report, the Harvest city has taken a
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  Speaker 1: clean sweep of the nation's top ten areas to live in.
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  Speaker 1: It takes into account the economy, housing, health, in the environment. Amanda,
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  Speaker 1: you're kidding you are a Sydney girl. But surely the
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  Speaker 1: only people polled in this survey were the people who
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  Speaker 1: live in Pott's Point or in the eastern suburbs of Sydney.
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  Speaker 10: Well, that's actually a very good point. So when you
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  Speaker 10: look at the data, they're saying it's the North and
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  Speaker 10: the East and all the places where people actually have
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  Speaker 10: the money to be able to look after their well being.
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  Speaker 10: What I'd be interested in to actually compare the whole
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  Speaker 10: Greater Sydney, including Western Sydney, because surveys like this give
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  Speaker 10: people the wrong impression. They're pretty much saying that if
• 42:32
  Speaker 10: you live in an area that is not you know,
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  Speaker 10: the North, then you know you're poor, you're not doing well.
• 42:38
  Speaker 10: What they need to take into consideration that people are
• 42:41
  Speaker 10: doing it tough because of the cost of living and
• 42:43
  Speaker 10: they've got to decide on where they're going to spend
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  Speaker 10: their money. And it also should highlight to the government,
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  Speaker 10: state and federal if there are areas where well being
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  Speaker 10: is an issue, that they need to focus on those
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  Speaker 10: areas in the budget and say what can we do
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  Speaker 10: to help that?
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely? Yeah, well so DT, you and I lived through
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  Speaker 1: COVID in Melbourne. Is there any surprise to you that
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  Speaker 1: we're not now considered the center of well being in
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: the country.
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  Speaker 11: Not only are we not considered the center of well being,
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  Speaker 11: we're number fifteen. Melbourne is number fifteen on the list.
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  Speaker 11: And look, Brisbane didn't get off to well either there.
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  Speaker 11: I think only had one city. Sorry Queensland not only had
• 43:18
  Speaker 11: one city in the top ten. But the interesting thing
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  Speaker 11: when they're judging the well being, and that would be
• 43:23
  Speaker 11: the happiness and the contentedness of people. Nowhere does it
• 43:28
  Speaker 11: say that it's being judged on how many roads they've
• 43:31
  Speaker 11: got to drive on. So I hope that the Victorian
• 43:33
  Speaker 11: government will have a look at this survey you're kidding
• 43:36
  Speaker 11: and see that all these big things they're building, it's
• 43:39
  Speaker 11: not contributing to the quality of life.
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  Speaker 8: I don't think of Melbourne.
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  Speaker 1: No, it's not an Amanda. I mean, if you've got
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: to drive from Penrith down the M four every day
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  Speaker 1: to go to work in central Sydney, you wouldn't be
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  Speaker 1: saying that your well being was a lot great.
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  Speaker 10: No, you would and especially with the tolls that you
• 43:55
  Speaker 10: have to pay and the fuel price that have gone
• 43:58
  Speaker 10: up and away from family, which means you spend more
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  Speaker 10: money on your children in childcare and people don't realize
• 44:05
  Speaker 10: that all these additional factors of people living in Western Sydney.
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  Speaker 10: And mind you, no one really cares about the West
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  Speaker 10: until election time.
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  Speaker 1: Dedie. I know you've done some great work on radio.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: In the area of mental health. We had to go
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  Speaker 1: through COVID and we had the longest lockdowns in the world. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: you're staggered that the Labor government would come out with
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: a budget on Tuesday in Victoria and cut funding to
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  Speaker 1: mental health.
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  Speaker 11: I find this so deeply concerning. And I don't know
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  Speaker 11: about you, whether you have anyone in your life who
• 44:34
  Speaker 11: has come up against a mental health crisis. And let's
• 44:37
  Speaker 11: be clear, this is not people who are necessarily running
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  Speaker 11: down the street with their underpants on their head. There's
• 44:42
  Speaker 11: all different degrees of people who are in need of
• 44:44
  Speaker 11: mental health care and there is nowhere for them to go.
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  Speaker 8: And the state government, the Royal.
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  Speaker 11: Commission into Mental Health here in Victoria five years ago,
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  Speaker 11: said that we needed fifty or they committed to building
• 44:57
  Speaker 11: fifty of these centers. These hubs don't go to fifteen
• 45:01
  Speaker 11: out of fifty. These would be free and these would
• 45:05
  Speaker 11: sort of remove the need for a GP for a
• 45:08
  Speaker 11: visit to a GP and they're just not there. So
• 45:10
  Speaker 11: there are people in our community who are screaming for
• 45:13
  Speaker 11: help and they're not getting it, and it's being put
• 45:15
  Speaker 11: once again onto the shop. I think just into Alis
• 45:18
  Speaker 11: said we'll work on it and we'll come back because
• 45:21
  Speaker 11: there's enough help.
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah'gance delayed, Amanda, a small business, you represent them. The
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: amount of mental health issues that came out of COVID.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: I keep going back to COVID, but you must have
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: seen so many people who lost their small businesses who
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: are now struggling mentally to survive.
• 45:38
  Speaker 10: Absolutely, they were so distressed. People lost their livelihoods, and
• 45:41
  Speaker 10: you could have had a small business owner that lost
• 45:43
  Speaker 10: their business and then their partner lost their job, and
• 45:46
  Speaker 10: then they're in debt and they're still paying off a
• 45:49
  Speaker 10: lot of debt, mind you, which then adds to the
• 45:52
  Speaker 10: mental health issues. And what the government has done. They
• 45:55
  Speaker 10: so quickly dismiss it. They even say, we don't want
• 45:57
  Speaker 10: to talk about that anymore. Let's move forwardocus on the future.
• 46:00
  Speaker 10: I'm like, people can't focus on a future when they
• 46:03
  Speaker 10: don't see a future. So the whole point is we
• 46:05
  Speaker 10: need to give people someone to listen to, someone to
• 46:08
  Speaker 10: map out a plan to help them get through what
• 46:10
  Speaker 10: they see is a very dark time. We need to
• 46:12
  Speaker 10: bring back hope and the government. Dismissing people and their
• 46:16
  Speaker 10: problems which the government cause is offensive.
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: I was very impressed to see we're starting to get
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: down into the weeds about our approach on COVID. Greg
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: Hunt was the Health minister at the time. Now I
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: personally think he did a pretty good job. He has
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: written a large report about this. I'll get your view
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: on this in a sect. Here's Greg Hunt what he
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: had to say.
• 46:38
  Speaker 12: I highlighted in the submission that I was not aware
• 46:43
  Speaker 12: of medical advice for curfews in Victoria or for the
• 46:47
  Speaker 12: five kilometer rule, and I believe there was some discussion
• 46:50
  Speaker 12: at the time that there was not a medical basis
• 46:53
  Speaker 12: and it was not If you had to have medical advice,
• 46:58
  Speaker 12: then those elements would arguably never have occurred, and I
• 47:01
  Speaker 12: think that would have been a good OUTCUP.
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: Believe that no medical advice on shutdowns, on five kilometer
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: curfews and curfews at all.
• 47:11
  Speaker 11: There would be a lot of people saying dirt. Greg Hunt,
• 47:14
  Speaker 11: Although I'm glad that he's pointed this out. We were
• 47:17
  Speaker 11: screaming for this information. Think of some of the ludicrous
• 47:20
  Speaker 11: things we were made to go through. Don't go in playgrounds.
• 47:23
  Speaker 11: Where was the data that were told us, Where was
• 47:26
  Speaker 11: the data that told us if you go more than
• 47:28
  Speaker 11: five kilometers you're at more risk of COVID. We wanted
• 47:31
  Speaker 11: to hear this information. They never provided it, and I
• 47:34
  Speaker 11: hope that in future there will be a requirement for
• 47:37
  Speaker 11: governments to have to show why they are imposing things
• 47:41
  Speaker 11: like they did with the lockdowns.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: Well, it was arresting people in their pajamas in the
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: kitchen and children, I mean Amanda in I don't know
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: about in Sydney, but in Melbourne they roped off playgrounds
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: and wouldn't let children go on a slide. You couldn't,
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: I mean his self interest coming out here, of course.
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: It couldn't go and play golf on your own on
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: a golf course with no one within five hundred meters
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: of you.
• 48:02
  Speaker 10: The biggest issue here is the lack of accountability. A
• 48:05
  Speaker 10: lot of people made some shocking decisions that impacted people's
• 48:08
  Speaker 10: entire livelihoods, and now they're saying, maybe we shouldn't have
• 48:11
  Speaker 10: done it, Maybe this shouldn't have happened. They need to
• 48:13
  Speaker 10: be held to account for what they have done to
• 48:16
  Speaker 10: families and businesses.
• 48:19
  Speaker 11: But there's the rub Daniel Andrews and a Stasi walked
• 48:24
  Speaker 11: away no accountability.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: Absolutely walks away with a pension for life accountability did
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: he leve be fantastic to see you, Nice to see Amanda.
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: Always pleasure to see you. Thank you both very much.
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: Coming up straight after me on the program, of course
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: we have Danika to Giorgio. Have a great night.