Transcript

Credlin | 1 October · Credlin

0:08
Speaker 1: Good evening and welcome to the show. I'm Jamie Rogers
0:11
Speaker 1: sitting in for Peter Credlin, who is unwell tonight. Here's
0:15
Speaker 1: what's coming up on Credlin. Another smelter bailout, this time
0:20
Speaker 1: in Tasmania. The federal and state government have committed $ 200
0:24
Speaker 1: million to keep Rio Tinto's aluminium smelter running. So what
0:29
Speaker 1: does this tell us about the state of Australia's energy system?
0:33
Speaker 1: Extraordinary new details have emerged from yesterday's attempted hijacking of
0:37
Speaker 1: a plane en route to Israel. A pilot stabbed by
0:41
Speaker 1: his own co-pilot with passengers and crew fighting back. Well,
0:46
Speaker 1: they were told the renewable rollout was coming, whether they
0:49
Speaker 1: liked it or not. But New England farmers fought back
0:53
Speaker 1: and now a major wind farm developer has pulled out.
0:57
Speaker 2: Tonight, what it means for the battle in the bush.
1:01
Speaker 1: And small businesses hit at every turn yesterday's historic cash
1:05
Speaker 1: rate rise and today forced to absorb a surcharge ban.
1:10
Speaker 3: We seem to be the punching bag for the state
1:12
Speaker 3: and federal government in terms of increasing taxes.
1:15
Speaker 4: They say we are the backbone of the economy, the
1:17
Speaker 4: small business owner.
1:19
Speaker 5: Why are we being punished?
1:21
Speaker 1: Was your coffee a little more expensive this morning? Well,
1:25
Speaker 1: you have the Government to thank for that. As of today,
1:28
Speaker 1: businesses can't pass on the cost of credit card payments
1:31
Speaker 1: through a surcharge. Australians have been paying around $ 1. 6 billion
1:36
Speaker 1: a year in card surcharges, so getting rid of them
1:40
Speaker 1: sounds like a win. Except There's one problem. The cost
1:44
Speaker 1: hasn't disappeared. Someone still has to pay it. And once again,
1:49
Speaker 1: that someone is the business or the consumer. The Reserve
1:53
Speaker 1: Bank itself says those costs can instead be reflected in
1:57
Speaker 1: a business's overall prices. So, in other words, the surcharge
2:02
Speaker 1: may have disappeared from your receipt, but the cost hasn't
2:05
Speaker 1: disappeared from your coffee. Australian Restaurant and Café Association Chief
2:10
Speaker 1: Executive Wes Lambert has warned that prices, they're going to rise.
2:16
Speaker 6: Well, I don't think that consumers are going to save
2:18
Speaker 6: a bomb. In fact, I think they're likely going to
2:21
Speaker 6: pay more. And that's the unfortunate side effect, because typically
2:25
Speaker 6: you'd pay about eight or nine cents when you tap
2:29
Speaker 6: to pay the merchant fee on a coffee. But since
2:33
Speaker 6: we don't have eight, nine cent coins, it's got to
2:36
Speaker 6: be at least 10 cents. or 20 cents or 50 cents,
2:39
Speaker 6: depending upon the business. And so consumers around Australia on
2:43
Speaker 6: Thursday are going to wake up and realise that the
2:46
Speaker 6: RBA stung them.
2:50
Speaker 1: And Mr Lambert also went on to explain where the
2:53
Speaker 1: surcharge even began.
2:55
Speaker 6: Since cards were introduced into the system for people to
3:01
Speaker 6: tap and go, we've always passed on the merchant fees.
3:05
Speaker 6: So businesses have never... had to absorb those merchant fees
3:10
Speaker 6: in their margins. Starting Thursday, they're still going to be
3:14
Speaker 6: charged those merchant fees by the bank, and those fees
3:18
Speaker 6: will still be pretty close to what was being passed
3:22
Speaker 6: on before. We expect between 80 basis points and 1%,
3:27
Speaker 6: and businesses just can't afford to absorb that margin, so
3:30
Speaker 6: they're going to have to put their prices up. Nobody
3:32
Speaker 6: won out of this RBA announcement.
3:35
Speaker 1: Well, if the cost doesn't disappear and businesses can't afford
3:39
Speaker 1: to absorb it, where exactly is the saving going to
3:42
Speaker 1: be for consumers? Whether it's called a surcharge or simply
3:45
Speaker 1: buried in the price, you're still paying. And this morning
3:49
Speaker 1: on 2GB, James Willis put that very point to Labor
3:52
Speaker 1: MP Jerome Laxale.
3:54
Speaker 2: Let's be clear.
3:55
Speaker 7: Why didn't you pick a fight with the banks properly
3:58
Speaker 7: instead of doing the real job, which would have been
4:00
Speaker 7: to say to the banks, stop charging this fee altogether...
4:04
Speaker 7: Small businesses have to wear this fee today.
4:06
Speaker 8: You've just acknowledged that.
4:08
Speaker 7: Now, these businesses are on their knees. They're really struggling
4:11
Speaker 7: to stay afloat.
4:14
Speaker 1: And the government, they just don't understand the impact changes
4:17
Speaker 1: like this will have.
4:19
Speaker 2: But here's another question.
4:21
Speaker 1: Could this push Australia back towards cash if every tap
4:25
Speaker 1: of a card costs a small business money and that
4:27
Speaker 1: can't be recovered through a surcharge? What's the incentive to
4:31
Speaker 1: encourage customers to tap? Could we start seeing more cafes
4:34
Speaker 1: and restaurants offering discounts for cash? Mr Lambert says that's
4:39
Speaker 1: exactly what some operators are now considering.
4:42
Speaker 6: Oh, look, cash is king, and that's not my saying.
4:44
Speaker 6: Someone came up with that a long time ago. We
4:47
Speaker 6: expect that businesses around Australia will begin to add ATMs
4:51
Speaker 6: and CTPOSs, which is like the cash out facility. We
4:55
Speaker 6: expect that cash will make a comeback. Right now, it's
4:59
Speaker 6: about 10% of restaurant and cafe takings. It could go
5:04
Speaker 6: back to 15% or 20%, which would be seismic.
5:09
Speaker 1: We've spent years being told Australia is moving towards a
5:12
Speaker 1: cashless economy, but this is where I have a problem
5:16
Speaker 1: with what the government is celebrating. If payment fees are
5:19
Speaker 1: too high, then why wasn't the fight taken directly to
5:23
Speaker 1: the bank and payment providers? And on top of that,
5:27
Speaker 1: today came an extraordinary twist. While small businesses are being
5:31
Speaker 1: told to absorb the cost of card transactions, the it
5:36
Speaker 1: won't accept credit cards at all from November. The Australian
5:40
Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce and Industry said small businesses were given
5:44
Speaker 1: just eight hours' notice before the change was announced. So
5:48
Speaker 1: what about this contradiction? The government tells a cafe owner,
5:52
Speaker 1: you absorb the cost. But when the tax office is
5:55
Speaker 1: faced with the fee of accepting credit cards, it removes
5:58
Speaker 1: the option altogether. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
6:02
Speaker 1: has called it utter hypocrisy.
6:05
Speaker 9: On the one hand... You have government saying to small business,
6:09
Speaker 9: you have to take on board this ban, you have
6:13
Speaker 9: to work out whether you are going to absorb that
6:16
Speaker 9: cost or try to pass it on to your customers.
6:19
Speaker 9: On the other hand, we have the tax office saying
6:23
Speaker 9: that they will not wear it, they will deprive their
6:29
Speaker 9: customers of that facility because they don't want to have
6:32
Speaker 9: to absorb the cost of the surcharge.
6:35
Speaker 1: So once again, the rules being imposed on businesses isn't
6:39
Speaker 1: the rules the government is prepared to live by itself.
6:42
Speaker 1: And Tuesday's interest rate rise has added more pressure on
6:45
Speaker 1: businesses carrying debt. And let's not forget the environment these
6:49
Speaker 1: businesses are already operating in. Insolvencies are running at record levels.
6:53
Speaker 1: In 24-25, more than 14,000 companies went under. And that
6:55
Speaker 1: was a 33% rise from the previous year. Then today,
6:57
Speaker 1: we got another warning sign. job vacancies have fallen again.
7:07
Speaker 1: Private sector vacancies dropped 2% in the August quarter, but
7:11
Speaker 1: public sector vacancies rose by 7.8%. So while private businesses
7:18
Speaker 1: are pulling back on hiring, vacancies in the public sector
7:21
Speaker 1: are growing. And ultimately, it's private enterprise that generates the wealth,
7:26
Speaker 1: employs Australians and pays taxes that funds the government. We
7:31
Speaker 1: should be making it easier to run a business in
7:33
Speaker 1: this country.
7:35
Speaker 2: Not harder.
7:36
Speaker 1: So call this what you like, a surcharge, a price rise,
7:39
Speaker 1: or another cost of doing business.
7:42
Speaker 2: But in the end, someone pays. And the reality is,
7:46
Speaker 2: it's you.
7:47
Speaker 1: Well, they say the internet never forgets.
7:54
Speaker 2: And tonight, Treasurer Jim Chalmers... might wish that it did.
7:58
Speaker 1: Four years ago, when the Reserve Bank lifted interest rates
8:01
Speaker 1: from 0.1% to 0.35%, Chalmers had plenty to say about
8:06
Speaker 1: who should take responsibility for rising rates and a so-called
8:10
Speaker 1: cost of living crisis.
8:12
Speaker 2: His target then? Prime Minister Scott Morrison. And, well, his
8:17
Speaker 2: words have come back to haunt him.
8:19
Speaker 10: This is a full-blown cost of living crisis on Scott
8:22
Speaker 10: Morrison's watch, and now interest rate rises are about to
8:26
Speaker 10: be part Now, this Prime Minister has an excuse for
8:32
Speaker 10: everything and a plan for nothing. When things are going
8:35
Speaker 10: well in the economy, he takes all of the credit.
8:39
Speaker 10: And when times are tough in the economy, he takes
8:42
Speaker 10: none of the responsibility.
8:44
Speaker 1: So the Treasurer was asked about those comments today by
8:47
Speaker 1: News24 and, you guessed it, he managed to blame the
8:51
Speaker 1: former government.
8:53
Speaker 10: Well, I take responsibility for all aspects of my part
8:57
Speaker 10: of the fight against inflation. And that means continuing to
9:01
Speaker 10: manage the budget responsibly and also dealing with some of
9:04
Speaker 10: these longer-term challenges that Scott Morrison and his colleagues left
9:08
Speaker 10: neglected for too long when they gathered for.
9:12
Speaker 1: Well, Treasurer, the cash rate is now 4.6%. It's at
9:16
Speaker 1: a 15-year high. It's funny how responsibility looks different from
9:21
Speaker 1: the other side of government. The Treasurer isn't short of
9:24
Speaker 1: excuses as to why inflation is high and the cash
9:28
Speaker 1: rate keeps rising.
9:30
Speaker 10: Rates will go up around the world, including in Australia.
9:33
Speaker 10: We see much more pressure on inflation from developments in
9:37
Speaker 10: the Middle East in particular. Our inflation challenge is being
9:41
Speaker 10: turbocharged by a war on the other side of the world.
9:45
Speaker 1: What we haven't heard much of is Chalmers accepting responsibility
9:49
Speaker 1: for the decisions his own government has made here at home.
9:53
Speaker 1: Motley Fool Chief Investment Officer Scott Phillips said Mr Chalmers
9:57
Speaker 1: was politically spinning and it's frustrating. He said it doesn't
10:01
Speaker 1: matter what the previous government did. They're completely irrelevant. You're
10:06
Speaker 1: taxing $ 10, but you're spending $ 11. That simply means you're
10:11
Speaker 1: adding to demand. And if you're doing that while the
10:13
Speaker 1: RBA is trying to cool demand, you're going to put
10:16
Speaker 1: pressure on prices.
10:19
Speaker 2: According to the.
10:20
Speaker 1: Latest News 24 Pulse poll, roughly two-thirds of voters blame
10:24
Speaker 1: the federal government in some capacity for Tuesday's rate decision. 30%
10:29
Speaker 1: said the federal government was most to blame, while another 34%
10:33
Speaker 1: blamed the government and RBA equally. And that's what makes
10:37
Speaker 1: those comments from 2022 so revealing. Back then, Chalmers argued
10:42
Speaker 1: that the government couldn't wash its hands of responsibility when
10:45
Speaker 1: Australians were hurting. Well, four years later, with rates at
10:49
Speaker 1: a 15-year high, shouldn't the standard Jim Chalmers set for
10:53
Speaker 1: Scott Morrison still apply now that he's the Treasurer? Well,
11:01
Speaker 1: let's head to Canberra now for tonight's political headlines with
11:04
Speaker 1: political reporter Cam Redden.
11:06
Speaker 2: Good evening.
11:07
Speaker 11: A call from the New South Wales Premier to rein
11:09
Speaker 11: in government spending has Treasurer Jim Chalmers on the defensive.
11:13
Speaker 12: I think every government has a responsibility to do what
11:17
Speaker 12: it can to take demand out of the economy.
11:19
Speaker 10: Chris, as I understand it, was talking about demand. He
11:22
Speaker 10: was talking about the role that every government has to
11:25
Speaker 10: make sure they're managing the budget in the most responsible
11:28
Speaker 10: way they can and that's what we're doing.
11:30
Speaker 11: Surcharges on credit cards are now banned, but with unintended consequences.
11:34
Speaker 11: The Tax Office has decided that because it can no
11:37
Speaker 11: longer impose the surcharge, businesses will no longer be able
11:40
Speaker 11: to pay their bills by credit card.
11:42
Speaker 9: It's an act of complete hypocrisy.
11:45
Speaker 13: The hypocrisy and the insensitivity of this government knows no bounds.
11:50
Speaker 10: I mean, Daniel Molina has been explaining these issues today
11:54
Speaker 10: and we'll keep explaining those.
11:56
Speaker 11: Cameron Redden, News 24, Canberra.
12:00
Speaker 1: All right, let's bring in the panel for tonight. News24
12:03
Speaker 1: contributor Carolee Katzenbarnes and Women's Forum Australia's Stephanie Bastian.
12:08
Speaker 2: Welcome to you both.
12:10
Speaker 1: The Albanese government has now partnered with the Tasmanian government
12:14
Speaker 1: to bail out Rio Tinto's Bell Bay smelter.
12:18
Speaker 2: This is in the.
12:19
Speaker 1: Tune of $ 200 million. Here was the response from opposition
12:22
Speaker 1: leader Angus Taylor.
12:24
Speaker 13: This is an example of Labor's failed energy policy. Smelters,
12:28
Speaker 13: whether it's Bell Bay or Boyne or Tomago across this country,
12:33
Speaker 13: are suffering because electricity prices are too high. So what's
12:36
Speaker 13: the answer? Scrap net zero.
12:38
Speaker 6: It's simple.
12:39
Speaker 13: Get rid of the carbon taxes that are embedded in
12:42
Speaker 13: our energy system right now that are making it too
12:46
Speaker 13: expensive to make things in this country.
12:49
Speaker 2: Well, Stephanie, Angus Taylor was right there.
12:52
Speaker 1: You know, we're seeing another bailout. And it just poses
12:55
Speaker 1: the question that when does the government stop and say,
12:57
Speaker 1: you know what, our energy policy simply isn't working. We
13:01
Speaker 1: don't have the funds to keep bailing out smelters. Let's
13:04
Speaker 1: change the energy policy so we don't have to go
13:06
Speaker 1: down that path.
13:09
Speaker 14: Absolutely.
13:09
Speaker 15: I mean, net zero has had a huge impact on industry.
13:12
Speaker 15: It has driven up the cost of electricity and our
13:14
Speaker 15: energy and it's.
13:15
Speaker 14: Made Australia uncompetitive. in the industry market. It's a failure.
13:21
Speaker 8: And so they should be pulling it out, including the
13:23
Speaker 8: Paris Agreement.
13:25
Speaker 15: They should be, you know, looking at clean baseload power,
13:29
Speaker 15: reopening coal plants, getting them up and going until they
13:32
Speaker 15: can bring in something like nuclear. But until that happens,
13:36
Speaker 15: we're going to see these continuous failures. I mean, look
13:39
Speaker 15: at South Australia. We've just spent $ 2. 4 billion to bail
13:43
Speaker 15: out the Wyala Steelworks plant And now we're going to
13:46
Speaker 15: be funding its closure and the cost of off-boarding all
13:49
Speaker 15: the staff with their.
13:50
Speaker 8: Leave and entitlements and so on and so forth.
13:52
Speaker 14: This is just another policy failure.
13:54
Speaker 15: We're now spending tax-funded money where inflation is sky-high and.
13:59
Speaker 14: The government doesn't seem to care.
14:00
Speaker 8: It's just another day, another bailout, and it's atrocious.
14:03
Speaker 1: Carolee, what's your view on this? Because I just think
14:06
Speaker 1: it doesn't cost a cent to lift the moratorium on
14:09
Speaker 1: nuclear so that we can at least start having a
14:11
Speaker 1: discussion about another source of energy as a way to
14:14
Speaker 1: try and save these smelters without needing the taxpayer dollar.
14:20
Speaker 16: Well, I think slowly but surely the Australian public are
14:22
Speaker 16: realising that the wool has been pulled out of our
14:25
Speaker 16: eyes for many, many years, that net zero really is
14:27
Speaker 16: not achieving anything.
14:29
Speaker 17: But the thing is, you've got.
14:30
Speaker 16: Chris Bowen in one corner, always promoting these green hydrogen
14:34
Speaker 16: and these renewable schemes. But every time a bill lands
14:38
Speaker 16: in an Australian householder's letterbox, whether they rent or whether
14:42
Speaker 16: they own a property, our power bills are not $ 275 cheaper,
14:47
Speaker 16: are they?
14:48
Speaker 17: The penny is slowly dropping to everybody and.
14:51
Speaker 16: It is folly because the thing is, we're always saying
14:53
Speaker 16: that we're comparing ourselves to the rest of the world.
14:56
Speaker 16: The rest of the world has actually agreed that net
14:59
Speaker 16: zero is just not achievable and they've pivoted. Now, I
15:02
Speaker 16: don't like the word pivoted, but it's applicable in this case.
15:05
Speaker 17: That they're going on another tack.
15:07
Speaker 16: They're actually realising that they need reliable baseload power.
15:11
Speaker 17: I mean, it is ridiculous.
15:12
Speaker 16: We have all these natural resources in Australia, whether it's uranium,
15:16
Speaker 16: whether it's gas, whether it's coal. We're more than willing
15:20
Speaker 16: to dig it up and ship it offshore, but we're
15:22
Speaker 16: not willing to use it to make Australians' lives better.
15:26
Speaker 16: And it's a bit of a hypocritical stance by the government.
15:29
Speaker 16: But of course, they're not wanting to suffer the backlash
15:32
Speaker 16: from people because it's an admission that these renewable schemes
15:35
Speaker 16: and hydrogen schemes and wind power and things really aren't working.
15:40
Speaker 16: But as we say, if the nuclear question comes up again,
15:43
Speaker 16: we know that the Labor Party will go on and
15:45
Speaker 16: on about three headed fish and three headed people instead
15:49
Speaker 16: of actually looking at the reliable Western economies around the world.
15:52
Speaker 16: that have sensibly embraced nuclear energy and actually realising that
15:56
Speaker 16: the world has moved on from the scare campaigns.
15:59
Speaker 17: Of 40 or 50 years ago.
16:00
Speaker 16: So I do think that the moratorium should definitely be listed,
16:04
Speaker 16: but I think it needs to be.
16:05
Speaker 17: Made front and centre.
16:06
Speaker 16: I've said once before, Peter Dutton, when he was the
16:09
Speaker 16: opposition leader, he was giving something for people to actually
16:13
Speaker 16: look and think, and then it just whittled away, and
16:15
Speaker 16: we know how all that went. But I think really
16:17
Speaker 16: now Angus Taylor should be bringing it up again and
16:20
Speaker 16: giving Australians, mapping it out as to how our country
16:23
Speaker 16: could be, because our standard of living is going backwards
16:27
Speaker 16: and it is not good.
16:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're absolutely spot on there.
16:29
Speaker 1: And I think it'd be really important that the Coalition
16:32
Speaker 1: includes an education piece as part of their wider energy
16:35
Speaker 1: policy that Dan Teen announced last week, which I think
16:38
Speaker 1: was really good.
16:39
Speaker 2: Let's move on now.
16:40
Speaker 1: Steph, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has added to
16:43
Speaker 1: the calls for the federal government to cut back on spending.
16:45
Speaker 1: And this is following Tuesday's inflation hike.
16:49
Speaker 2: Here he was yesterday.
16:51
Speaker 12: I think every government has a responsibility to do what
16:54
Speaker 12: it can to take demand out of the economy. We've
16:57
Speaker 12: said many times, the Treasurer, New South Wales Treasurer and
17:00
Speaker 12: myself have said many times that we have heard the
17:03
Speaker 12: advice from the RBA over the last two years that
17:08
Speaker 12: we need to be careful with public funds.
17:11
Speaker 1: How significant is that, that we now even have a
17:14
Speaker 1: Labor Premier wanting spending to be reined in?
17:17
Speaker 2: Surely the federal government will start listening.
17:21
Speaker 14: Well, you'd hope so. I mean, New South Wales is
17:22
Speaker 14: obviously going to an election.
17:24
Speaker 8: Chris Minns is clearly.
17:26
Speaker 15: Very concerned about that because One Nation's popularity is driving
17:30
Speaker 15: off the back of all the cost of living pressures
17:32
Speaker 15: and the failure of both major parties to answer to them. But,
17:35
Speaker 15: I mean, you look, Australian households are tightening their belt
17:38
Speaker 15: wherever you look, yet we still have NBIS blowouts, public
17:41
Speaker 15: services growing. Everywhere you look, this government is spending and
17:46
Speaker 15: inflation is going up and people are suffering as a result.
17:50
Speaker 15: You've got people who are now at the risk of
17:53
Speaker 15: having homes that are going to be mortgaged higher than
17:56
Speaker 15: they're worth their value. The Australian people are suffering. And
18:01
Speaker 15: you've got these sort of global junkets about climate change
18:04
Speaker 15: where they're spending millions of dollars here. The government is
18:07
Speaker 15: spending like there's no tomorrow. So I imagine Chris Minns
18:10
Speaker 15: is very nervous. I do hope Albanese, for the sake
18:12
Speaker 15: of Australian people, actually take heed and listen.
18:15
Speaker 8: But, yeah, the government spending is out of control.
18:20
Speaker 2: Let's look at AI now.
18:21
Speaker 1: And Australia's eSafety Commissioner has rejected Donald Trump's push for
18:26
Speaker 1: AI companies to police themselves and has declared that the
18:29
Speaker 1: era of self-regulation by.
18:31
Speaker 2: Tech giants is over.
18:33
Speaker 1: It comes as South Australian Premier Peter Malinowskis revealed the
18:37
Speaker 1: details of the state's Royal Commission into AI. And the
18:40
Speaker 1: Royal Commission will be led by former federal court judge
18:43
Speaker 1: Dr Ian Ross.
18:44
Speaker 2: Here he is.
18:46
Speaker 18: We know that AI is already changing. the way that
18:50
Speaker 18: people live, but most critically, the way they work. Ian
18:54
Speaker 18: has a fuller appreciation of how government policy can have
19:00
Speaker 18: an impact on the way we work and in turn
19:03
Speaker 18: the way we live.
19:04
Speaker 1: And then on top of all of this, Neighbours veteran
19:07
Speaker 1: Stefan Dennis has slammed plans for a so-called AI micro episodes.
19:13
Speaker 1: And this is going to be made using archived footage
19:17
Speaker 1: of Margot Robbie.
19:19
Speaker 2: What's your take on this?
19:23
Speaker 15: Look, I have reservations about the future of AI and
19:26
Speaker 15: I do think we need some safeguards around them. It's
19:29
Speaker 15: certainly an It's an uncertain future with how it will go,
19:32
Speaker 15: particularly with the Medicare.
19:34
Speaker 14: So I support the Royal Commission. I think it's a
19:37
Speaker 14: good thing.
19:38
Speaker 15: I don't necessarily want the eSafety Commissioner anywhere near it
19:41
Speaker 15: because she'll just use it for her own agenda. But
19:44
Speaker 15: in terms of the Margot Robbie issue, I think that
19:47
Speaker 15: I hope they've consulted with her before using her MSP.
19:50
Speaker 15: And I think the arts is another area where AI
19:53
Speaker 15: could potentially replace genuine talent. So there's just so many
19:57
Speaker 15: different facets to this issue. I think some safeguards would
20:01
Speaker 15: be good, but I do think this is also a
20:02
Speaker 15: global conversation because a lot of the AI companies.
20:05
Speaker 8: Are based in America or through international.
20:08
Speaker 15: Companies and And we do need to have some safeguards
20:10
Speaker 15: in place to protect people. Otherwise, Australians are going to
20:13
Speaker 15: be suffering or footing the bill in the event of
20:16
Speaker 15: a catastrophic event.
20:17
Speaker 14: So I think the Royal Commission is a good thing.
20:21
Speaker 1: Carolee, there's only two months to go until the Victorian
20:24
Speaker 1: election and opposition leader Jess Wilson Has a comfortable lead
20:29
Speaker 1: as preferred Premier if you look at the latest freshwater polling, 45%
20:34
Speaker 1: and Ben Carroll's on 33%. Labor's primary vote has also
20:38
Speaker 1: dropped down to 24% and it's a full five points
20:41
Speaker 1: behind the Coalition. It really appears that the change of
20:44
Speaker 1: leader hasn't been enough to turn the polls around.
20:50
Speaker 16: Well, Jamie and also Stephanie, absolutely. November the 28th is
20:54
Speaker 16: the day that Victorians will go to the polls. They've
20:57
Speaker 16: had a very incompetent Labor state government for 12 years
21:01
Speaker 16: with three different leaders, Dan Andrews, Jacinta Allen and, of.
21:05
Speaker 17: Course, now Ben Carroll.
21:07
Speaker 16: And they're really realising the two most important issues, 48%
21:10
Speaker 16: of them, is.
21:12
Speaker 17: Youth crime and bail laws.
21:14
Speaker 16: Law and order and youth crime is massive in this state.
21:17
Speaker 16: We've covered a lot on potholes and you have on
21:20
Speaker 16: your show and the general degradation of road maintenance and
21:23
Speaker 16: budgets for a lot of other.
21:25
Speaker 17: Areas in Victoria.
21:27
Speaker 16: But it really is a very serious situation because it's
21:30
Speaker 16: now getting to the stage in Victoria and it's.
21:32
Speaker 17: Been like this for the last couple of years.
21:34
Speaker 16: It's what do you have to do not to get
21:37
Speaker 16: bail in Victoria? What do you have to do not
21:41
Speaker 16: to get bail? Because we have a revolving door of
21:45
Speaker 16: about 1,200 recidivist young youth offenders aged between 11 and
21:50
Speaker 16: 17 that have committed all sorts of crimes and are
21:54
Speaker 16: just continually bailed. And we've had murders of people and
21:58
Speaker 16: attacks on many people.
22:01
Speaker 17: And it is just this revolving door. And Victorians have
22:04
Speaker 17: had enough.
22:05
Speaker 16: It is fair to say that there is not one
22:07
Speaker 16: person in Victoria that hasn't either been affected by crime
22:11
Speaker 16: in some way, whether they're a business owner or personally,
22:15
Speaker 16: or whether.
22:15
Speaker 17: It's a relative or a friend of theirs that has
22:17
Speaker 17: been affected.
22:18
Speaker 16: And now we have Ben Carroll, who is doing backflips
22:21
Speaker 16: all over the place, You remember Jacinta Allen, her SRL
22:25
Speaker 16: 17-kilometre train to nowhere for $ 35 billion for the first stage. Well,
22:31
Speaker 16: now he wants to do this airport rail link and
22:34
Speaker 16: he's hanging his hat on that, another pet project. The
22:37
Speaker 16: rail link was going to be done by Melbourne Airport
22:39
Speaker 16: and done underground, but the state government didn't want it.
22:42
Speaker 17: But the bottom line is.
22:44
Speaker 16: We've paid $ 600 million in compensation.
22:46
Speaker 17: Not to host the Commonwealth Games.
22:48
Speaker 16: There are carjackings where the most highest taxing state in Australia.
22:52
Speaker 16: It is not safe in Victoria. And all we hear
22:56
Speaker 16: day and day is being gaslit by things. Victoria and
22:59
Speaker 16: Melbourne is not a safe place and people are really hurting.
23:03
Speaker 16: I mean, I do have to say, and I'll probably
23:05
Speaker 16: be criticised for attacking something personally, but when Ben Carroll
23:08
Speaker 16: was first installed as leader, there was a puff piece
23:11
Speaker 16: done on him. And he said he got his wife
23:13
Speaker 16: a takeaway coffee every morning from the local takeaway shop
23:17
Speaker 16: to support a local business and And he was not
23:19
Speaker 16: going to give up his things on Saturday morning, taking
23:22
Speaker 16: his daughter to ballet. That's wonderful and good on him.
23:25
Speaker 17: But you know what?
23:26
Speaker 16: Five days a week of a takeaway coffee at $ 6 each,
23:29
Speaker 16: that's $ 30 a week, $ 120 a month.
23:32
Speaker 17: You do the maths.
23:34
Speaker 16: I know families that can't even afford to put food
23:37
Speaker 16: on the table, that have been driven to the edge,
23:39
Speaker 16: that have had to cut sport and even other things
23:43
Speaker 16: from their kids' lives because It's not living in a
23:46
Speaker 16: real world. When have any of our politicians ever actually
23:48
Speaker 16: gone down to Centrelink, sat there at Services Australia, mulled
23:52
Speaker 16: outside and find out what is really important to Victorians?
23:55
Speaker 17: I've done it.
23:56
Speaker 16: I'm not even a politician, but I've done it to
23:58
Speaker 16: be able to tell you what Victorians think and they're
24:01
Speaker 16: not happy and change will hopefully be coming because this
24:04
Speaker 16: has been a disgrace in the last 12 years and
24:07
Speaker 16: the gaslighting and the safety of Victorians has been chucked
24:11
Speaker 16: out of the window by all three of them.
24:14
Speaker 1: Well, Steph, we can end on a more positive, lighter note.
24:18
Speaker 1: And this was something that caught my attention today. And
24:21
Speaker 1: Target has now joined forces with Uber Eats. So basically
24:24
Speaker 1: you can now get fashion or everyday essentials delivered to
24:28
Speaker 1: yourself in under an hour. And I saw that and
24:31
Speaker 1: I thought, you know what, that's genius because there's nothing
24:34
Speaker 1: like a last-minute birthday party present or something. You don't
24:37
Speaker 1: have time to get to the shops and now you
24:38
Speaker 1: can go and do that on Uber Eats and get
24:40
Speaker 1: it delivered.
24:41
Speaker 2: What do you think?
24:42
Speaker 17: I'm all on board.
24:44
Speaker 15: I mean, I would often order from Amazon if I
24:46
Speaker 15: had a last-minute party that I'd forgotten. I think it's
24:48
Speaker 15: great that we can now support local businesses by getting
24:51
Speaker 15: things from local shops with local people putting that together.
24:54
Speaker 8: I think it's great. Well done.
24:56
Speaker 1: And, Carolee, will you be jumping on to Uber Eats
24:58
Speaker 1: to get some items from Target?
25:03
Speaker 16: No, I must admit I'm a bricks and mortar person.
25:05
Speaker 16: I'll actually walk in there with my kids. I like
25:07
Speaker 16: to teach them the cost of money, but I do
25:09
Speaker 16: shop at Target. But, no, I won't be doing the
25:11
Speaker 16: Uber Eats thing.
25:13
Speaker 1: Carolee, just quickly before you go, can you just quickly
25:15
Speaker 1: tell us about the story of Annika Wells, been named
25:19
Speaker 1: Times 100 Rising Star List around her social media ban?
25:24
Speaker 9: Yes.
25:25
Speaker 16: Yeah, look, she's been named on the rising star list
25:29
Speaker 16: for the top 100 that Time has done for her
25:31
Speaker 16: influence in protecting children, you know, from the digital age
25:35
Speaker 16: with Australia's regulations. But this is ridiculous because they fail
25:40
Speaker 16: to actually say that, you know, she went to New York,
25:43
Speaker 16: she billed the taxpayer $ 100, 000 for herself and two staffers
25:48
Speaker 16: because she had to be delayed because of the Optus
25:50
Speaker 16: outage that happened in September 2025 and She was delayed
25:54
Speaker 16: by two days. She was communications minister then. She got
25:57
Speaker 16: criticised at the time, and rightly so, and people do
26:00
Speaker 16: conveniently forget about it. But she doesn't deserve this award,
26:03
Speaker 16: because what she should have done was actually address the
26:06
Speaker 16: United Nations via Zoom. Her six-and-a-half-minute speech with three staffers
26:11
Speaker 16: cost the Australian taxpayer more than $ 100, 000.
26:15
Speaker 17: And what's she really doing?
26:16
Speaker 16: Because the interviews that I've seen, like Peter Cretton, like
26:18
Speaker 16: you on your show have pointed out, is she's conflating
26:22
Speaker 16: the digital duty of care with actual regulation. And it's dangerous.
26:26
Speaker 16: It's absolutely dangerous what they're doing. And no, she doesn't
26:29
Speaker 16: deserve the award at all. She should have done her
26:31
Speaker 16: job as communications minister and got to the bottom of
26:34
Speaker 16: the triple zero outage before jetting off to New York
26:37
Speaker 16: just because it's a fun place to be.
26:39
Speaker 1: You know, it's coming at the same time that Albo's
26:41
Speaker 1: off getting his Global Citizen Award in New York. Annika
26:44
Speaker 1: Wells is a Times 100 most influential up-and-coming rising people. Meanwhile,
26:50
Speaker 1: back here, it's not going that well. Caroline, Stephanie, thank
26:53
Speaker 1: you so much for your time. Well, after the break,
26:57
Speaker 1: just two months remain until Victorians go to the polls.
27:00
Speaker 2: The election could.
27:00
Speaker 1: Come down to the most basic of issues, potholes and
27:03
Speaker 1: street maintenance.
27:05
Speaker 2: More on that next. Welcome back. It's great to have
27:11
Speaker 2: your company.
27:12
Speaker 1: Let's look now at this ongoing fight by farmers in
27:15
Speaker 1: New England against the New South Wales government's renewable energy
27:19
Speaker 1: zone and the transmission lines that come with it. The
27:22
Speaker 1: proposed zone is centred around communities, including Wolka, with residents
27:26
Speaker 1: raising concerns about the scale, cost and impact of the
27:30
Speaker 1: wind and transmission infrastructure Its planned capacity has ballooned from
27:35
Speaker 1: an initial four gigawatts to eight gigawatts of network capacity,
27:39
Speaker 1: requiring vastly more wind generation and much larger transmission infrastructure.
27:45
Speaker 1: Critics say the project has been pushed ahead despite warnings
27:48
Speaker 1: about its scale and cost. with a mandatory electricity cost
27:52
Speaker 1: report now potentially exposing the true price to New South
27:56
Speaker 1: Wales consumers. But today we can reveal Sky Ridge Wind
28:00
Speaker 1: Farm has withdrawn from the plans.
28:02
Speaker 2: Here to tell us what.
28:03
Speaker 1: That means is campaigner and member of the Walker Guardians,
28:07
Speaker 1: Anna Young.
28:08
Speaker 2: Anna, welcome. What does this exit mean now for the
28:12
Speaker 2: future of the proposal?
28:14
Speaker 19: Yeah, look, there was a huge collective celebration and sigh
28:17
Speaker 19: of relief when Origin Energy announced pulling out of Sky Ridge.
28:22
Speaker 19: You know, at a big level, it shows us that
28:24
Speaker 19: the writing's been on the wall. The generation for electricity
28:28
Speaker 19: up here, wind and solar, has absolutely fallen out in
28:31
Speaker 19: the New England region. And, you know, it begs the
28:35
Speaker 19: question now why the Minns Albanese Labor Government are continuing
28:39
Speaker 19: with a $ 20 billion transmission project and renewable energy zone,
28:44
Speaker 19: on a concept of a field of dreams, because they
28:47
Speaker 19: keep saying, we build this line, the projects will come.
28:50
Speaker 19: And we just know as landowners around this region, that
28:53
Speaker 19: is absolutely not the case. You know, we did a
28:56
Speaker 19: recent survey of our landowners and 350 plus landowners said,
29:03
Speaker 19: we do not want any part in this with only
29:05
Speaker 19: 22 in our whole area saying that they did. And
29:08
Speaker 19: so with only one project left of 14 originally proposed
29:12
Speaker 19: by Welker and energy back when this was declared, it
29:15
Speaker 19: begs serious questions why the Minsk government are continuing with
29:19
Speaker 19: this rollout.
29:21
Speaker 1: Now, acquisition letters have already been sent to property owners,
29:25
Speaker 1: but how can that be happening when the findings of
29:28
Speaker 1: environmental impact studies haven't even been returned yet?
29:32
Speaker 8: Yeah, this is a case of cart before the horse.
29:36
Speaker 17: Absolutely.
29:36
Speaker 19: You know, before they've released the studies to show whether
29:39
Speaker 19: this project stacks up environmentally, financially, socially, they're now trying
29:45
Speaker 19: to force hundreds of farmers along this line to sign
29:49
Speaker 19: acquisition agreements to take parts of our land, And so,
29:53
Speaker 19: you know, again, absolutely backwards processes. They haven't even done
29:58
Speaker 19: the costings of this thing, which is just ludicrous. When
30:01
Speaker 19: you think about the fact that yesterday you had Premier
30:04
Speaker 19: Minns out there spruiking that people need to tighten their belt,
30:07
Speaker 19: the government is going to tighten their belt because it's
30:09
Speaker 19: a cost of living crisis. And here they are trying
30:12
Speaker 19: to spend money acquiring land when they don't even know
30:16
Speaker 19: if a project.
30:17
Speaker 8: Stacks up at all.
30:20
Speaker 2: It just, it beggars belief, doesn't it?
30:22
Speaker 1: It just blows my mind every time I dig into
30:26
Speaker 1: what's going on out in, you know, country areas about
30:30
Speaker 1: the land. I went out to Crookwell and saw for
30:32
Speaker 1: myself the renewable projects But the issue as well is
30:36
Speaker 1: that if anything goes wrong, who's then responsible? So some
30:40
Speaker 1: of the roads were starting to fall apart due to
30:42
Speaker 1: the big trucks driving through and no one is accepting
30:45
Speaker 1: responsibility on.
30:46
Speaker 2: How to fix it.
30:47
Speaker 1: So there's so many other ongoing issues to the wider
30:50
Speaker 1: renewable projects, isn't there?
30:52
Speaker 14: Yeah, absolutely.
30:53
Speaker 19: The cost to communities is exponential. And, you know, I
30:57
Speaker 19: think the government never initially told people how big the
31:01
Speaker 19: projects would be. And then you've got developers who don't
31:04
Speaker 19: tell individual farm owners how big their impacts are going
31:07
Speaker 19: to be on their communities, because if they did, no
31:09
Speaker 19: one would ever sign up to this. And, you know,
31:11
Speaker 19: with the transmission infrastructure, this New England res, they're talking
31:14
Speaker 19: about an a thousand percent increase on our water resources
31:17
Speaker 19: up here.
31:18
Speaker 8: We do not have the water.
31:19
Speaker 19: And so, you know, it really is shocking how big
31:24
Speaker 19: this all is and how much we need to rethink
31:26
Speaker 19: our energy policy all around us, our country.
31:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you did, you launched the Walker Declaration back
31:33
Speaker 1: in June and that was exactly what you just said,
31:35
Speaker 1: calling for a national rethink of Australia's energy policy because
31:39
Speaker 1: it is much bigger.
31:41
Speaker 2: It's bigger than in Walker.
31:42
Speaker 1: It's literally happening right across the country. What else are
31:45
Speaker 1: you hearing from farmers right around Australia?
31:48
Speaker 19: Yeah, look, I think farmers all around Australia are reaching out,
31:52
Speaker 19: talking about how disappointed they are in this government, how
31:56
Speaker 19: disappointed they are in this, you know, this government absolute
32:00
Speaker 19: commitment to something that was proposed years and years ago.
32:04
Speaker 19: And it's like they don't want to do any due
32:05
Speaker 19: diligence of up-to-date information and pivot at all.
32:08
Speaker 8: So it's just headstrong running a train into a brick wall.
32:12
Speaker 19: And when every other party, the Nationals, the Liberals, every
32:17
Speaker 19: other party is saying we need to rethink the policy,
32:19
Speaker 19: why is the Minsk, Albanese, other state premiers.
32:23
Speaker 8: Why are they not actually doing the same?
32:26
Speaker 19: And so this Walker Declaration is can be signed by
32:28
Speaker 19: anyone in Australia that says we need to rethink our
32:31
Speaker 19: energy policy because we have an abundance of resources and
32:35
Speaker 19: we need to make sure that we are not irreversibly
32:38
Speaker 19: damaging our whole country in terms of economically. We can't
32:42
Speaker 19: come back from this if they keep going down this path.
32:47
Speaker 1: Anna, has Chris Bowen or anyone from within the Labor
32:51
Speaker 1: government actually come out to Wolka and seen firsthand what's
32:55
Speaker 1: going on?
32:56
Speaker 19: We have asked Premier Minns to come here four, five
33:00
Speaker 19: plus times.
33:02
Speaker 8: Considering this is a $ 20.
33:04
Speaker 19: Billion project and there are so many issues with it,
33:08
Speaker 19: and we got 22,000 signatures with the help of you guys,
33:12
Speaker 19: you would really think that he would want to show
33:14
Speaker 19: fiscal responsibility.
33:15
Speaker 8: And so he keeps refusing. He said he's too busy
33:18
Speaker 8: in New South Wales.
33:19
Speaker 19: And considering we are actually part of New South Wales,
33:21
Speaker 19: that was a really concerning comment. But we're not too
33:24
Speaker 19: surprised because You know, Premier Minns, Albanese, they really don't
33:28
Speaker 19: care about regional people.
33:30
Speaker 8: But without us, there's no food. And so I think
33:32
Speaker 8: that the tides are turning.
33:34
Speaker 19: And, you know, I do hope that Premier Minns comes
33:37
Speaker 19: out and looks at this disaster because it's his disaster.
33:40
Speaker 19: He's had three and a half years to do the
33:42
Speaker 19: investigations and he hasn't.
33:44
Speaker 8: And now he's rushing ahead with a really problematic project.
33:49
Speaker 1: Well, Anna, I appreciate your time tonight. Keep up the fight.
33:52
Speaker 1: We will chat to you again soon. After the break,
33:56
Speaker 1: we'll dive into the issues that really matter for Victorian voters.
33:59
Speaker 2: And it might not be what you think. Welcome back.
34:07
Speaker 1: Coming up, we'll take a look at that extraordinary hijack
34:10
Speaker 1: attempt on a flight en route to Israel. But now
34:13
Speaker 1: to Victoria, where just two months remain until Victorians go
34:17
Speaker 1: to the polls and what is looking to be a
34:19
Speaker 1: showdown decided on bread and butter issues, potholes and street maintenance.
34:25
Speaker 2: Welcome to Victoria's newest national park.
34:28
Speaker 4: Just kidding, this is a traffic island in the middle
34:30
Speaker 4: of a busy intersection.
34:34
Speaker 2: If someone runs.
34:35
Speaker 4: That red light and you're waiting here, you'd never see
34:38
Speaker 4: them coming. The government's own rules say that these plants
34:43
Speaker 4: can't be taller than 60 centimetres.
34:46
Speaker 2: These plants should have been cut years ago.
34:47
Speaker 4: But because the government refuses to do their gardening, our
34:50
Speaker 4: locals are less safe on the roads and that's what
34:53
Speaker 4: 12 years of labour gets you. And if you can't
34:55
Speaker 4: get the little things right, you can't get the big
34:57
Speaker 4: things right either.
34:58
Speaker 2: It starts with a bush and it ends with $ 15
35:01
Speaker 2: billion lost to corruption.
35:03
Speaker 4: Victorians need a government that actually gets the basics right
35:06
Speaker 4: and with Jess Wilson as Premier, that's exactly what we'll do.
35:10
Speaker 5: It's time for a fresh start.
35:12
Speaker 1: Nicole Werner is the garden inspector, MP for Warrandyte and
35:16
Speaker 1: the shadow minister for home ownership and housing affordability.
35:19
Speaker 2: And she joins me now. Nicole, welcome.
35:22
Speaker 1: That is another cracker of a social media video from you.
35:26
Speaker 2: They're certainly getting real cut through.
35:28
Speaker 1: And I think it's because it just highlights the kind
35:31
Speaker 1: of issues that are really starting to make Victorians angry.
35:35
Speaker 2: And you're right.
35:36
Speaker 1: If this government can't get the simple things done, you've
35:40
Speaker 1: got a problem.
35:42
Speaker 5: Absolutely we do and this is what 12 years of
35:44
Speaker 5: neglect under Labor looks like. Ben Carroll was the roads
35:48
Speaker 5: minister and this is just one example of neglect whether
35:51
Speaker 5: it be roads or potholes or graffiti or like that
35:54
Speaker 5: video roadside vegetation it is time for them to go.
35:59
Speaker 1: How is it that we have a looming election that's
36:03
Speaker 1: likely to be decided on issues like potholes and street maintenance.
36:08
Speaker 1: That would seem like a normal campaign for council elections,
36:12
Speaker 1: not state, but it just goes to show the situation
36:15
Speaker 1: Victoria's in.
36:17
Speaker 5: Well, again, after 12 years of Labor who have failed
36:20
Speaker 5: to get these core responsibilities right, it's now become an
36:24
Speaker 5: election issue, these basics that they failed to get right
36:27
Speaker 5: for Victorians. And I must say, Jamie, that if you
36:31
Speaker 5: spend $ 15 billion on corruption, then you will run out
36:34
Speaker 5: of money for basic road maintenance and otherwise, like potholes.
36:38
Speaker 5: So that just is an example of how broken this
36:42
Speaker 5: state has become under Labor.
36:45
Speaker 1: Well, let's go to that latest polling now. So this
36:47
Speaker 1: is a freshwater strategy poll that was conducted in September,
36:51
Speaker 1: and it shows Labor's primary vote is down one point,
36:54
Speaker 1: and if those numbers were replicated at November's election, Labor
36:58
Speaker 1: would face certain defeat. Jess Wilson is riding high as
37:02
Speaker 1: the preferred Premier. I must say, though, Nicole, when I
37:06
Speaker 1: looked at the polling and the situation that Victoria's in,
37:09
Speaker 1: I thought that the Liberals and Coalition would be further
37:12
Speaker 1: ahead in the polls, So I guess it shows there's
37:15
Speaker 1: still plenty of work to do.
37:17
Speaker 8: Absolutely.
37:17
Speaker 5: And every poll is a reminder of that to us,
37:20
Speaker 5: that there is plenty of work to do on the ground.
37:23
Speaker 5: And I know that myself and my colleagues, we are
37:25
Speaker 5: working hard every single day to earn the trust of
37:28
Speaker 5: the Victorian voters.
37:30
Speaker 8: And we don't take it.
37:31
Speaker 5: For granted going into this election. We know that we've
37:33
Speaker 5: got to get out there and win hearts and minds.
37:36
Speaker 5: And so that's on us. So I'd encourage all of
37:39
Speaker 5: your viewers to go and look online. We have a
37:41
Speaker 5: comprehensive policy that we're taking to this election, whether it
37:45
Speaker 5: is on home ownership, whether it is on community safety,
37:49
Speaker 5: we've got a 10-year economic plan and real change that
37:52
Speaker 5: Victorians are so desperate for after 12 years of labour,
37:57
Speaker 5: it needs to have a plan and we've got a plan.
37:59
Speaker 5: So can I encourage you viewers, go and look online.
38:01
Speaker 5: That plan is there. Our team is ready to govern
38:04
Speaker 5: and we will work every single day to make sure
38:07
Speaker 5: that Victorians know that we can govern but also to
38:11
Speaker 5: earn their trust.
38:12
Speaker 1: Well, just on that plan, within that same poll that
38:16
Speaker 1: I just mentioned, youth crime and bail laws is one
38:19
Speaker 1: of the number one key issues with voters, and that's
38:22
Speaker 1: closely followed behind by housing affordability. But we're seeing horrendous
38:27
Speaker 1: examples of street crime across Melbourne in recent days. So
38:30
Speaker 1: just tell us about the Coalition's plan on how you
38:34
Speaker 1: plan to clean up the place when it comes to crime.
38:37
Speaker 1: I know Brad Batten is out there promoting it really well,
38:40
Speaker 1: but just tell us, what are you guys going to do?
38:43
Speaker 8: Absolutely.
38:44
Speaker 5: And I think, you know, it's something that is such
38:46
Speaker 5: a core issue, this election. And we know that every
38:50
Speaker 5: 50 seconds a crime is committed here in Victoria, we
38:53
Speaker 5: have all time high crime.
38:56
Speaker 8: In our state.
38:57
Speaker 5: And that's why we've got a comprehensive plan for community safety.
39:01
Speaker 5: And that's talking about a variety of things that we
39:04
Speaker 5: have brought out already with more to come. first being
39:07
Speaker 5: 3,000 more police on our streets. We're going to recruit them,
39:11
Speaker 5: as well as opening the 40-plus police stations that Labor's
39:15
Speaker 5: either closed or reduced the hours of. We've got a
39:19
Speaker 5: plan for a one-strike rule for bail, that if you
39:22
Speaker 5: break bail, you face jail. We've got a plan for
39:24
Speaker 5: real adult time for adult crime. We've also got a
39:27
Speaker 5: plan for early intervention and prevention for young young offenders
39:31
Speaker 5: to get them out of a life of crime and
39:34
Speaker 5: it's an issue that we take so seriously only our
39:37
Speaker 5: team has this comprehensive plan to tackle crime here in
39:40
Speaker 5: our state.
39:42
Speaker 1: And, Nicole, before I let you go, I do want
39:44
Speaker 1: to just ask you about a story that you highlighted
39:46
Speaker 1: this week on your socials, and it's just that heartbreaking
39:49
Speaker 1: case of an eight-month-old baby girl who died just days
39:53
Speaker 1: after being returned to her biological parents. And her foster
39:56
Speaker 1: parents have rightly criticised the system which should have been
39:59
Speaker 1: set up to protect this child, but it failed her.
40:02
Speaker 1: And then you've said three children... in child protection have
40:06
Speaker 1: died in Ballarat this year alone. It's just devastating.
40:11
Speaker 2: What can you tell us?
40:16
Speaker 8: It is absolutely a tragedy.
40:17
Speaker 5: And if you speak to any kinship carer, foster carer,
40:20
Speaker 5: permanent carer, they will tell you that the system is broken.
40:23
Speaker 5: And so that's why we as the Victorian Coalition have
40:25
Speaker 5: committed to conducting a whole of system review to look
40:29
Speaker 5: at this and to address what is a system that
40:33
Speaker 5: is broken. And what we'll look at in this review
40:37
Speaker 5: is also the thousands of recommendations that have not been implemented,
40:41
Speaker 5: that have been ignored. We're talking about Victoria's most vulnerable children,
40:45
Speaker 5: and it is absolutely the responsibility of the government to
40:49
Speaker 5: get this right for them.
40:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're absolutely spot on. Well, Nicole, keep up the
40:55
Speaker 1: great work. You're on the countdown now. I appreciate your
40:57
Speaker 1: time tonight. Well, after the break, more on that dramatic
41:01
Speaker 1: attempt at hijacking over Israel. And the UK Prime Minister
41:04
Speaker 1: says Iran could be to blame for that foiled plot
41:08
Speaker 1: targeting the Fairfield base.
41:09
Speaker 2: Our international panel is next. Welcome back.
41:17
Speaker 1: Well, let's dive straight into the international headlines with Weekly
41:20
Speaker 1: Regular's News 24 contributor, Kosha Gada, and former Labor MP
41:24
Speaker 1: and Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee.
41:26
Speaker 2: Chair, Michael Damby. Welcome to you both.
41:30
Speaker 1: There's been more details on that extraordinary hijacking with reports
41:34
Speaker 1: the captain managed to open the cockpit door after being
41:37
Speaker 1: stabbed by his co-pilot, and that allowed passengers and crew
41:41
Speaker 1: on the Dubai to Tel Aviv flight to rush in
41:43
Speaker 1: and overpower the attacker. Michael, this is extraordinary stuff, but
41:49
Speaker 1: is this any surprise?
41:51
Speaker 3: Jamie, it is a surprise because security in the UAE
41:56
Speaker 3: is good. I've been on that flight, which is run
42:01
Speaker 3: by the Jetstar version of Emirates, and it flies over
42:07
Speaker 3: Saudi Arabia and no problems for the last three years
42:12
Speaker 3: while it's been running. So we've got spice air Indian
42:18
Speaker 3: pilot hero. We've got an Israeli plumber who watched air
42:24
Speaker 3: investigations for years on TV and managed to pull the
42:28
Speaker 3: stick up. Uh, we've got a Fijian reserve pilot and
42:32
Speaker 3: we've got a Russian Israeli dentist who bound up the
42:36
Speaker 3: wounds of the, uh, very badly injured captain. It was
42:41
Speaker 3: almost certainly Jamie, uh, a terrorist imitation of 9-11 because
42:47
Speaker 3: the hijacker didn't attack the captain until two and a
42:53
Speaker 3: half hours into a three-hour flight when the plane turned
42:58
Speaker 3: from Jordan to descend towards Tel Aviv.
43:02
Speaker 1: And, Kosha, Benjamin Netanyahu has called for tighter checks on
43:06
Speaker 1: aircraft travelling to Israel, which I thought they probably should
43:10
Speaker 1: have been doing that before.
43:11
Speaker 2: Do you think this will be enough?
43:14
Speaker 14: You know, this certainly evokes memories of 9-11 and those stories.
43:19
Speaker 14: And we have had more security, not less security since then.
43:22
Speaker 14: And yet. this example and other things like that happening suggest.
43:26
Speaker 14: I don't know if there's ultimately more that can be
43:28
Speaker 14: done because in this case, the co-pilot was somebody with
43:31
Speaker 14: the airline, presumably had done all his background checks. I
43:34
Speaker 14: think he was of Omani nationality. That's what they're reporting
43:37
Speaker 14: and got radicalized at some point and did this. So
43:40
Speaker 14: it wasn't even an outsider such as was the case
43:43
Speaker 14: with 9-11. So yes, I think there should be better security.
43:46
Speaker 14: Everybody would agree with that, but it's hard to see
43:48
Speaker 14: how you can have 100% fail-safe methods over here. And unfortunately,
43:52
Speaker 14: in a dangerous world with jihadism and all this stuff spreading,
43:56
Speaker 14: I hate to say it, but I think there will
43:59
Speaker 14: always be a percentage or a possibility that these kinds
44:01
Speaker 14: of things will happen.
44:03
Speaker 1: Michael, let's head over to the UK now, where Andy
44:06
Speaker 1: Burnham has said that the government believes the Iranian state
44:10
Speaker 1: was likely behind the recent incident at RAF Fairford.
44:13
Speaker 2: Here he is.
44:15
Speaker 9: There are strong indications that Iran has played a part
44:19
Speaker 9: in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford.
44:24
Speaker 1: If that's the case, is there still more to it?
44:28
Speaker 1: What do you make of this situation?
44:31
Speaker 3: Jamie, things can be what they appear to be. In
44:35
Speaker 3: other words, letting those five blokes out on bail is madness.
44:40
Speaker 3: The UK has become the land of the woke. The
44:44
Speaker 3: courts and the institutions seem to have such a benign...
44:49
Speaker 3: attitude towards perpetrators and overseas people who come to the
44:54
Speaker 3: UK and have no right to be there. I can't
44:59
Speaker 3: understand how they let them out. It's the Iranian pattern
45:03
Speaker 3: to hire local crims to do bad work like they
45:07
Speaker 3: did here in Australia, here in Melbourne, around the corner
45:10
Speaker 3: from me, and firebomb a synagogue. They were criminals employed
45:14
Speaker 3: by the Iranian Security Service, as ASIO has proved.
45:19
Speaker 1: And Kosha, if we stay over in the UK, though,
45:22
Speaker 1: one of their top security services in MI5 has issued
45:26
Speaker 1: an interesting rare espionage alert to UK universities. And they've
45:31
Speaker 1: said that China's intelligence services are using a front company
45:36
Speaker 1: to fund research by British academics and then obtaining sensitive
45:40
Speaker 1: information from these high tech projects. But there's been suggestions
45:44
Speaker 1: that this is also happening here. So why haven't we
45:48
Speaker 1: gone down the same path and issued a similar alert?
45:53
Speaker 14: I think, you know, it feels like the government and
45:55
Speaker 14: the agencies that are meant to monitor this stuff are
45:57
Speaker 14: always behind the eight ball. And it sort of connects
46:00
Speaker 14: to the previous story as well, just the world that
46:02
Speaker 14: we live in and with immigration and so many people
46:05
Speaker 14: from all over the place with different allegiances. You don't
46:07
Speaker 14: know who they are. You don't know really what their
46:10
Speaker 14: root ideology is. All across society, including... They could be students,
46:15
Speaker 14: they could be funders, such as this French company that
46:18
Speaker 14: creates an incentive for researchers and academics to use them.
46:22
Speaker 14: And they're sort of everywhere. So I do think that
46:25
Speaker 14: government frameworks need to catch up, but the answer will
46:27
Speaker 14: never be from government as well. I think the universities themselves, professors,
46:31
Speaker 14: all of that, there has to be tighter controls in
46:33
Speaker 14: terms of where you're taking funding from, what you're getting
46:36
Speaker 14: in exchange for that, because nothing comes for free. And
46:39
Speaker 14: the Chinese are certainly very savvy at infiltrating in a
46:43
Speaker 14: friendly way. Many sectors and tech and research and academia
46:47
Speaker 14: is at the top of the list.
46:50
Speaker 1: Michael, I want to get your thoughts around the US
46:52
Speaker 1: military that's now left Iraq, and this has ended its
46:55
Speaker 1: 12-year mission fighting ISIS, with critics saying the move could
46:59
Speaker 1: strengthen Iran's hand. Given the longstanding influence of Iranian-backed militants
47:05
Speaker 1: inside Iraq, how much do you think that this is
47:08
Speaker 1: now going to pretty much open up a vacuum and
47:11
Speaker 1: allow the other powers to come through within the Middle East.
47:15
Speaker 3: That's a valid concern, Jamie, but Trump and Hegseth have
47:20
Speaker 3: made the judgment that the new Iraqi government is sufficiently
47:24
Speaker 3: anti-Iranian for the Americans to be able to withdraw in
47:29
Speaker 3: a decent and non-Afghanistan-like way that happened under that poor
47:35
Speaker 3: man Biden, who's now, it seems, fully sick. The good
47:41
Speaker 3: news is... Iran is weaker because they're getting 18 to
47:48
Speaker 3: 22 million barrels of oil out via Hormuz every day
47:53
Speaker 3: of this last week, and that means regional powers like
47:58
Speaker 3: Iraq are noticing the weakening of Iran, and that may
48:02
Speaker 3: be one of the bases for the safe withdrawal of
48:05
Speaker 3: American forces.
48:07
Speaker 1: And, Kosha, just really quickly, Andy Burnham wants to rejoin
48:11
Speaker 1: the EU again What do you make of that?
48:14
Speaker 14: I think as the conservative reform store said, it's a
48:17
Speaker 14: big breach of the public's trust and what they voted
48:20
Speaker 14: for as a referendum. So they're going to make political
48:22
Speaker 14: hay out of it. The machinations of, you know, what
48:25
Speaker 14: that actually means and how that would work given the
48:28
Speaker 14: withdrawal happened and the EU has their own rules for
48:31
Speaker 14: reentry and how they would even pass that. I think
48:34
Speaker 14: a lot of wood to chop, but it is interesting
48:36
Speaker 14: that he put that out there and he obviously made
48:38
Speaker 14: a political calculation that that's a wise statement for his
48:41
Speaker 14: side of the political aisle to make.
48:43
Speaker 1: Well, Kosha and Michael, I appreciate your time tonight. Up next,
48:46
Speaker 1: it's The Bolt Report with James McPherson.