Latest / The Bolt Report / The Bolt Report | 13 January

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The Bolt Report | 13 January · The Bolt Report

0:11
Speaker 1: It's the Fault Report.
0:14
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Vault Reports. See Price with you this week.
0:17
Speaker 2: Andrew Bolt will be back with you next Monday Night.
0:19
Speaker 2: Coming up tonight on the program, reaction to the sudden
0:22
Speaker 2: decision by Anthony Albaneasy to accept the early departure of
0:27
Speaker 2: US Ambassador Doctor Kevin Rudd, a year short of his
0:30
Speaker 2: full term. I'm not sure I wear the explanation. I'll
0:34
Speaker 2: give you some of my history with Kevin Rudd. Shortly
0:37
Speaker 2: still on politics, twenty four hours on from the Prime
0:39
Speaker 2: Minister's recall of Parliament and his multi pronged hate speech
0:44
Speaker 2: and gun bill. Reaction has at best been mixed, and
0:48
Speaker 2: chances of a two day reading, a debate and a
0:51
Speaker 2: question time passing the new laws, well, it looks pretty
0:54
Speaker 2: slim to me. Plus tonight the shocking statistics, and they
0:58
Speaker 2: are absolutely shocking, emerging around Victoria's ongoing bushfire emergency as
1:04
Speaker 2: the heartbreaking cleanup gets under weigh and some of the
1:08
Speaker 2: red tape which is delaying feed for starving livestock. But
1:12
Speaker 2: first up on the Bolt Report tonight, the Prime Minister
1:15
Speaker 2: is either a supreme optimist or a deluded, damaged leader
1:20
Speaker 2: post his near death experience mishandling our country after the
1:24
Speaker 2: worst terrorist attack on Australians soil at Bondi just over
1:28
Speaker 2: a month ago. It's impossible to unsee those pictures of
1:32
Speaker 2: the Prime Minister turning up the day after the shootings
1:35
Speaker 2: that claimed fifteen lives Jewish lives on his own gripping
1:40
Speaker 2: a cheapy bunch of flowers, or to unhear if that's
1:44
Speaker 2: even a word, the booze that greeted him, the jeers
1:47
Speaker 2: that greeted him at that Bondi memorial. If he thinks
1:50
Speaker 2: four or so weeks on that a national day of
1:53
Speaker 2: mourning that he announced today for an obscure day in
1:56
Speaker 2: the middle of next week, or what will now be
1:59
Speaker 2: a heavy scrutinized hate law bill and Gun's bill will
2:03
Speaker 2: cause people to somehow forget a month of weakness. Well,
2:07
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, Prime Minister, you are delusional. Here was today's
2:11
Speaker 2: announcement about the day of morning.
2:14
Speaker 3: This will have a theme of light, will win a
2:18
Speaker 3: gathering of unity and remembrance which has been determined by
2:24
Speaker 3: the Rabbi. He has shown extraordinary leadership for someone who
2:28
Speaker 3: has lost family members in that community.
2:33
Speaker 2: I'm sure he's genuine, but is he inspirational. No he's not.
2:36
Speaker 2: You watch Prime Minister now, and for me it just
2:38
Speaker 2: signals I'm watching a weak man. I hate to say it.
2:42
Speaker 2: Once the mob is Paul Keating liked to call voters
2:44
Speaker 2: the electorate wakes up to your character flaws, you are
2:47
Speaker 2: in big trouble. I couldn't count the number of people
2:50
Speaker 2: who came up to me over summer and ask me
2:52
Speaker 2: what was going on with our prime minister. They were
2:55
Speaker 2: asking questions about leadership. He was, i said, rattled by
2:58
Speaker 2: the reception he got it Bondai Memorial Service. His ego
3:02
Speaker 2: was completely fractured. His confidence was gone, and that's why
3:06
Speaker 2: we see this week his attempt to recover. Yesterday it
3:10
Speaker 2: was the recall of Parliament and this so called hate
3:13
Speaker 2: speech bill that a day later is seen to be
3:16
Speaker 2: full of holes.
3:18
Speaker 3: The motion will unequivocally condemn the terrorist atrocity perpetrated at
3:23
Speaker 3: Bondo Beach and commit our Parliament to eradicating the evil
3:27
Speaker 3: of anti Semitism, and I'm hopeful that it can deliver
3:31
Speaker 3: a powerful statement by all members and Senators voting for
3:35
Speaker 3: the condolence motion.
3:39
Speaker 2: Look, the problem for the Prime Minister here is obvious.
3:41
Speaker 2: The decision to jam together hate speech and gun buyback
3:44
Speaker 2: schemes on one piece of legislation. Has it set up
3:47
Speaker 2: to fail? I'm sure he doesn't want it to, but
3:50
Speaker 2: it probably will. Here was the former Deputy Prime Minister
3:53
Speaker 2: and National MP Michael McCormack on this program talking about
3:57
Speaker 2: the gun issue last night.
4:00
Speaker 4: As yet seen as I understand the legislation, we don't
4:03
Speaker 4: know how many pages as it is, and to pack
4:07
Speaker 4: both the anti semitism hate speech laws and the gun
4:11
Speaker 4: buyback laws into one bill, they.
4:15
Speaker 1: Need to be separated. They're two totally different issues.
4:18
Speaker 2: McCormack's right. Any fool could see that this will not pass.
4:22
Speaker 2: Muster with the NATS, and yesterday in the Northern Territory,
4:25
Speaker 2: their Chief Minister, Leo Fanocchiaro told Matt Cunningham from Sky
4:30
Speaker 2: that her government would not support limits on gun ownership.
4:34
Speaker 5: We've seen New South Wales pull ahead and do their
4:36
Speaker 5: own gun reform already and we deeply respect that, Matt.
4:40
Speaker 5: But I've been very clear the territory has different considerations
4:43
Speaker 5: of different circumstances.
4:45
Speaker 2: Then you have the get out of jail free card,
4:48
Speaker 2: as someone has put it, of exempting exempting views express
4:52
Speaker 2: when they are quoted direct from a religious text for
4:55
Speaker 2: the purpose of teaching or discussion. And you don't need
4:59
Speaker 2: according to the Australian newspaper today and I'm quoting them
5:02
Speaker 2: unnamed coalition sources, you don't need to be an expert
5:05
Speaker 2: on the Quran to work out how that's going to go.
5:08
Speaker 2: Of course, the government in the lower House doesn't need
5:10
Speaker 2: coalition support for the bill, but how will that look
5:13
Speaker 2: when this is supposed to all be about restoring social
5:17
Speaker 2: cohesion in Australia, which was a key plank of the
5:20
Speaker 2: Bondo Royal Commission. But when you get to the Senate,
5:24
Speaker 2: look at this is going to be even worse. Will
5:26
Speaker 2: the Greens pass it through? What about one nation? The
5:29
Speaker 2: two days next week will have a massive role to
5:32
Speaker 2: play around whether I think the weekend leader of Anthony Albanesi,
5:36
Speaker 2: already on the nose publicly, can actually survive within labor
5:40
Speaker 2: until the next election. And on top of that, the
5:42
Speaker 2: PM pops out this morning with another unpopular member of
5:46
Speaker 2: his ministerial team, Penny Wong, and the pair would have
5:49
Speaker 2: us believe laughingly that doctor Kevin Rudd has chosen to
5:54
Speaker 2: quit as US Ambassador to the US a year early
5:57
Speaker 2: on his terms. Now, anyone with any examination of Kevin
6:01
Speaker 2: Rudd's ego would find that very hard to believe. But
6:04
Speaker 2: here was the Prime Minister answering a question from Sky's
6:07
Speaker 2: cam Redden.
6:09
Speaker 1: This entirely Kevin Rudd's decision to go.
6:11
Speaker 3: Yes, it was entirely Kevin Rudd's decision.
6:16
Speaker 2: Look on, please Kevin Rudd's getting out a year into
6:19
Speaker 2: his team. Now, I wrote this paragraph at the end
6:22
Speaker 2: of my weekly Herald Sun column a year into his
6:27
Speaker 2: ambassadorial job. I said, at the end of that article,
6:30
Speaker 2: good luck, Prime Minister, you have installed a ticking time
6:33
Speaker 2: bomb in the Cleveland Avenue Embassy in Washington. That was after,
6:37
Speaker 2: of course, UK reformed lea to Nigel Faraj asked Donald
6:41
Speaker 2: Trump if he knew what Rudd had been saying about him.
6:45
Speaker 2: Two years on from that column, we then had this
6:47
Speaker 2: delicious exchange during a meeting between the Prime Minister and
6:52
Speaker 2: President Trump, prompted by a question from our very own
6:56
Speaker 2: Andrew Clenell.
6:57
Speaker 6: Taken nine months to get this meeting.
7:00
Speaker 7: If you had any concerns with this administration with a
7:02
Speaker 7: stance on Palestine, climate change, or even things the ambassador
7:06
Speaker 7: said about you in the past, is strained ambassador.
7:09
Speaker 2: I don't know anything about him, and if he said bad,
7:12
Speaker 2: then maybe he'll like to apologize. I really don't know
7:15
Speaker 2: did an ambassador to say something bad about it?
7:18
Speaker 1: Don't tell me where is he is he started working for?
7:21
Speaker 6: Yeah, you said bad before I took his positions to prison.
7:28
Speaker 6: But I don't like you either, Probably never will.
7:32
Speaker 2: That was the political question of the year in by
7:38
Speaker 2: view from Andrew Clannell. There and look at Prime Minister Abeneasi.
7:41
Speaker 2: I mean, sitting there laughing as the leader of the
7:43
Speaker 2: free will Donald Trump belittles his own ambassador right there
7:47
Speaker 2: in front of him. Now, just a couple of months later,
7:50
Speaker 2: we are now to believe, apparently that Kevin Rudd decided
7:53
Speaker 2: that he'd had enough. He won't be missed in my view.
8:00
Speaker 2: First up tonight, Senator alec Antique joins us for thanks
8:05
Speaker 2: for joining me. I could not resist Alex playing that
8:09
Speaker 2: exchange again. I mean, it does show you the danger,
8:11
Speaker 2: doesn't of having a captain's pick from an ambassadorial job
8:16
Speaker 2: as a political appointment. I mean, it was never the
8:18
Speaker 2: right thing to do, was it.
8:20
Speaker 8: Yeah?
8:21
Speaker 9: Look, I mean it's just sort of almost an inevitability
8:23
Speaker 9: that it was going to go that way. Really, I mean,
8:25
Speaker 9: they just they didn't have the relationship. Things that a
8:28
Speaker 9: lot of people think I've said about the President over
8:30
Speaker 9: the last ten years have come back and haunted them,
8:32
Speaker 9: and that we saw that play out very much in
8:36
Speaker 9: the White House with that.
8:37
Speaker 1: Clip you just showed. Yeah.
8:39
Speaker 9: Look, I just don't think there is any way that
8:41
Speaker 9: the government couldn't continue to have this fractured relationship. You know,
8:45
Speaker 9: we saw during the Morrison government that the importance of
8:50
Speaker 9: Ambassador Hockey's import into saving the el minim industry and
8:53
Speaker 9: the importance of the relationship between the Trump administration and
8:57
Speaker 9: the government and how critical it can be for Australia
9:00
Speaker 9: and Australian's interests. So it just simply could not go on.
9:04
Speaker 9: The people have been talked about, I think good choices,
9:08
Speaker 9: people like Joel Fitzgibbon and Stephen Conroy. I think has
9:11
Speaker 9: been flown around as a choice. It might be one
9:14
Speaker 9: of the two of them. Joel would be excellent, of
9:16
Speaker 9: course as well, So let's see where it goes. But
9:19
Speaker 9: I just I think there was just a certain eir
9:21
Speaker 9: of inevitability about this, and I think we all saw it.
9:26
Speaker 2: Pauline Hanson suggested today, either Brendan Nelson perhaps or even
9:30
Speaker 2: Peter Cosgrove, the former Governor General. I mean, you couldn't
9:33
Speaker 2: get to better names than those two people.
9:35
Speaker 9: Definitely, definitely both would be excellent. Of course they'd be
9:38
Speaker 9: more from my side of the coin as well, But
9:40
Speaker 9: I mean, you know, historically we know that these appointments
9:43
Speaker 9: you might go a different way. But look, any of
9:45
Speaker 9: those four names I think will do a pretty good job.
9:48
Speaker 1: Honestly.
9:51
Speaker 2: Alex Prime Minister, alongside Tony Burke and Michelle Roland yesterday
9:54
Speaker 2: I'm sure you were watching it announced a raft of
9:57
Speaker 2: new hate speech laws put into ledgers, which the opposition's
10:01
Speaker 2: now just got their hands on. They called them the
10:04
Speaker 2: toughest ever. But as I said, though, I mean the
10:07
Speaker 2: holes you could drive a truck through with this legislation already,
10:10
Speaker 2: what did you make of it? Of what you know already?
10:14
Speaker 9: Yeah, look, well it's one hundred and forty pages of
10:16
Speaker 9: pretty heavy going. I mean, the first observation I'd make
10:19
Speaker 9: is how quickly did these get put together? I mean,
10:22
Speaker 9: this is a very very significant piece of legislation that
10:26
Speaker 9: just seemed to be rattled out straight off the cuff.
10:28
Speaker 9: Now that is interesting in itself. But let's have a
10:32
Speaker 9: look at what we're actually looking at here, and that
10:34
Speaker 9: is I think if this bill was to pass, arguably
10:38
Speaker 9: the biggest change in Australian domestic law in twenty five
10:42
Speaker 9: to thirty years. I mean we're talking huge and significant
10:45
Speaker 9: changes to areas like the criminal law, to customs law,
10:50
Speaker 9: to migration law, firearms again you know, as a sub
10:54
Speaker 9: subject to the whole thing. This is an extraordinary bill,
10:58
Speaker 9: omnibus style bill that's been ram through and the government
11:02
Speaker 9: are looking to pass it all in one block. So
11:03
Speaker 9: that's the first observation. It shouldn't be done in one
11:06
Speaker 9: hit like that. From where I sit though, it makes
11:08
Speaker 9: life a lot easier because rather than voting no to
11:11
Speaker 9: four separate bills like I intend to be doing, I'll
11:13
Speaker 9: be voting no to one block. I have absolutely no intention,
11:17
Speaker 9: regardless of the position adopted by the Coalition frankly, of
11:21
Speaker 9: supporting this bill and all of the hate crime stuff
11:24
Speaker 9: that goes with it. We have enough laws on the
11:25
Speaker 9: books in this country as it is. Firearms owners in
11:28
Speaker 9: this country do not need any more imposts on them.
11:32
Speaker 9: And look there are there are. I mean, look, we
11:34
Speaker 9: could go on for an hour about the holes in
11:36
Speaker 9: this legislation and the concerns it opens up new categories
11:39
Speaker 9: of crimes. It gives the AZIO director the ability to
11:43
Speaker 9: recommend that certain groups be dictated to be hate crimes groups.
11:47
Speaker 9: Now you know where that leads to is anyone's guess.
11:50
Speaker 9: But I'm concerned about the slippery slope on this and
11:53
Speaker 9: what are the next groups. I mean, obviously we all
11:55
Speaker 9: have a problem with the hate crime, that sort of
11:59
Speaker 9: the hate reaching and whatever else. But once the door's
12:02
Speaker 9: open to this, this becomes a very difficult precedent for
12:05
Speaker 9: freedoms in this country and free speech. I just don't
12:07
Speaker 9: support any of it, and I hope that that is
12:09
Speaker 9: the position adopted by the coalition.
12:14
Speaker 2: I made the point last night that I mean it's
12:16
Speaker 2: a bit rich for the government now to try and
12:19
Speaker 2: convince us that they're going to crack down and have
12:21
Speaker 2: these very tough hate laws. They had hate laws in
12:24
Speaker 2: place already, and for all of the period after the
12:28
Speaker 2: Gaza terror attacks in Israel they didn't use them. I mean,
12:32
Speaker 2: we have in Melbourne, we've had over one hundred and
12:34
Speaker 2: twenty Palestinian protest marches in the streets, people carrying, you know,
12:39
Speaker 2: flags for all sorts of terror organizations talking about infan Tata,
12:43
Speaker 2: but nothing happened.
12:45
Speaker 9: Well, I mean, you're exactly right, And of course that
12:47
Speaker 9: leads us into the subcategory of conversation about this issues.
12:51
Speaker 9: How often is this selectively enforced? I mean, this is
12:54
Speaker 9: the problem with this.
12:54
Speaker 1: I mean, you're right.
12:55
Speaker 9: We did have twelve months ago extremely what we were told
12:59
Speaker 9: were extremely strong hate crimes laws, by the way, which
13:02
Speaker 9: I crossed the floor to object to at the time
13:04
Speaker 9: and vote against, and which I would do so again,
13:07
Speaker 9: mainly because these laws largely already exist. The police have
13:11
Speaker 9: the powers already to take action against the sorts of
13:14
Speaker 9: things we're talking about here. Australia already, by the way,
13:17
Speaker 9: has some of the most arduous and significantly controlled firearms
13:21
Speaker 9: laws anywhere in the world, and we're now seeking to
13:24
Speaker 9: expand them. In most cases, I think we could say
13:27
Speaker 9: that none of the things in this bill would have
13:29
Speaker 9: done anything to stop the tragedy of the Bondai attacks.
13:32
Speaker 1: In any event.
13:33
Speaker 9: So what are we talking about here and what is
13:35
Speaker 9: this Prime Minister doing with these laws? This is just
13:38
Speaker 9: simply doesn't pass the pub test on any level.
13:44
Speaker 2: What in your world would we be doing to and
13:49
Speaker 2: this seems to be the aim of what's going on
13:51
Speaker 2: here to try and stamp down on if it is
13:54
Speaker 2: the aim on anti Semitism, and what in your world
13:56
Speaker 2: would you use to try and stop that from happening.
14:00
Speaker 9: And I think you've got to look at the problem
14:02
Speaker 9: as it stands, and that is the importing of this
14:07
Speaker 9: sort of ideology into the country. That is really the
14:09
Speaker 9: thing that started this ball wrong. That's the thing that
14:12
Speaker 9: has the most important in terms of the overall pushing
14:15
Speaker 9: back on this issue, not putting further impults on lawabiding Australians. Frankly, so,
14:20
Speaker 9: I think you begin an end there, and the problem
14:23
Speaker 9: becomes very very controllable if you simply stem the flow
14:27
Speaker 9: of radical ideology coming into this country.
14:30
Speaker 1: It's as simple as that.
14:33
Speaker 2: I mean, we've seen Sky's run the vision over and
14:37
Speaker 2: over again of radical immans in mosques celebrating what happened
14:42
Speaker 2: on in Israel when those people were slaughtered. I mean,
14:47
Speaker 2: in my simpleton's view, those people ought to be rounded
14:51
Speaker 2: up and if possible, thrown out of the country.
14:54
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, I think one of the things that
14:56
Speaker 9: we would say about this suite of laws is it
14:59
Speaker 9: does seek to put further powers in the hands of
15:02
Speaker 9: immigration to send people home in those circumstances, which I
15:05
Speaker 9: think is a good thing, but wrapped up with the
15:07
Speaker 9: broader context of imposts on free speech, I mean, there
15:10
Speaker 9: is a certain chilling effect that happens here. They're also
15:13
Speaker 9: introducing a brand new category of offenses relating to racial discrimination,
15:19
Speaker 9: and it lends into this sort of concept of serious harm,
15:22
Speaker 9: which can be mental anguish or intimidation. So you know,
15:26
Speaker 9: you're sort of opening the killing field, so to speak,
15:28
Speaker 9: of possible offenses that people can just stumble into. I
15:33
Speaker 9: just don't we have so much impost on free speech
15:37
Speaker 9: in this country already. This is simply going to add
15:40
Speaker 9: further layers to it. And look, I mean, of course
15:43
Speaker 9: there is more to be done on this. I think
15:44
Speaker 9: the more you read this one hundred and forty pages
15:47
Speaker 9: of laws they're trying to ram through in two days
15:49
Speaker 9: with very little consultation, the worse it gets.
15:53
Speaker 2: Frankly, as a very strong supporter of free speech, I
15:59
Speaker 2: want to get your opinion given like me from Adelaide,
16:02
Speaker 2: South Australia, and you know we've we've celebrated the arts
16:06
Speaker 2: and the festivals in Adelaide forever. This Writer's Week thing
16:10
Speaker 2: that's been now canceled. Week of controversy surrounding that decision
16:14
Speaker 2: to drop Palestinian Australian author Dr Randa abdel Fata.
16:19
Speaker 1: What do you make of all of this?
16:21
Speaker 9: Well, look, I mean, look, I would say a little bit,
16:23
Speaker 9: you know, in trying to keep a consistent theme on this,
16:26
Speaker 9: I don't like anyone being canceled for anything that's not
16:29
Speaker 9: calling for death and mayhem, and that's not what not
16:33
Speaker 9: was the case here that that was not what was
16:34
Speaker 9: happening here. So I mean I will make the observation
16:37
Speaker 9: though that I personally would just like to hear people speak.
16:41
Speaker 9: When we have people like candas Owen's or other commentators
16:45
Speaker 9: that want to come to this country and speak their minds,
16:48
Speaker 9: I don't have to agree with those people, but I
16:50
Speaker 9: want to hear what they say. And the market of
16:52
Speaker 9: free thought, free opinion should have been determined whether or
16:55
Speaker 9: not we think those people are saying good things or
16:57
Speaker 9: bad things. So as long as it's not hurting people,
17:00
Speaker 9: so be it. But what I would say is this,
17:03
Speaker 9: have a look at the way the left rally around
17:06
Speaker 9: issues like this. I mean, they've had a total walkout
17:09
Speaker 9: of the board now they've all resigned basically except for
17:11
Speaker 9: one appointee, as I understand it, and the right in
17:15
Speaker 9: this country, the right of politics, could take a lot
17:18
Speaker 9: of lessons from the manner in which the left of
17:19
Speaker 9: politics fight their battles and the sort of unity that
17:22
Speaker 9: they show when it comes to these sorts of fights.
17:25
Speaker 9: If only we'd seen more of this during the COVID period,
17:28
Speaker 9: we may not have had the calamity that we had.
17:31
Speaker 9: So I think that's the takeaway for me. I don't
17:33
Speaker 9: want to see anyone canceled for their opinions. I think
17:36
Speaker 9: we need to hear them. But let's sit back and
17:39
Speaker 9: have a look at the way the left of center
17:41
Speaker 9: in this country fight their fights. I think the right
17:45
Speaker 9: could take a lot of lessons from that.
17:48
Speaker 2: Well, one hundred and eighty of the authors walked away
17:51
Speaker 2: as well, So I mean the event, I mean, it's
17:53
Speaker 2: no surprise that it's had to be canceled because most
17:55
Speaker 2: of the people that were going to appear at it
17:57
Speaker 2: have decided they're not going to turn up.
18:00
Speaker 9: That's right, that's right, and that is the very nature
18:02
Speaker 9: of collective action, isn't it. I mean it's sort of
18:04
Speaker 9: you know, if we'd had a similar approach from you know,
18:07
Speaker 9: sports people during the mandate period, or indeed any of
18:11
Speaker 9: the professions who you know who were being mandated vaccination
18:14
Speaker 9: during the COVID period, we wouldn't have had the calamity
18:16
Speaker 9: we did. So they do it very well and you know,
18:20
Speaker 9: but what a shame that when the shoes goes on
18:23
Speaker 9: to the other foot soon, I'm sure that there'll be
18:25
Speaker 9: someone from the United States who wants to come here
18:27
Speaker 9: and share ideas, who have a visa canceled or whatever else,
18:30
Speaker 9: and there won't be a peep out of the right.
18:34
Speaker 2: It's interesting you say that, I mean, because post what
18:37
Speaker 2: happened in Bondi, there was a gathering of groups everybody
18:42
Speaker 2: from you know, victims families you know understandably to former
18:48
Speaker 2: politicians to sports people to business leaders. They all did
18:52
Speaker 2: get together in groups and make the point very strongly
18:55
Speaker 2: to Anthony Albernisi that he needed to be a more
18:58
Speaker 2: of a leader and have a royal commission. And in
19:01
Speaker 2: fact we've ended up with one.
19:03
Speaker 9: In one month's time too, showing once again the need
19:07
Speaker 9: I think for everyday Australians to start rallying around these issues.
19:11
Speaker 9: I mean, look, I've said for a long period of
19:12
Speaker 9: time to people. It's no longer enough in this country
19:15
Speaker 9: trajectory to simply sit back and say, well, someone else
19:19
Speaker 9: has got this. You know, the institutions that we've trusted
19:22
Speaker 9: are going to continue to protect us every day. Ordinary
19:24
Speaker 9: Australians who have a view about what's happening in their
19:27
Speaker 9: country need to be as involved as they can be.
19:29
Speaker 9: Now that might be at local government level. That might
19:32
Speaker 9: be in their professional bodies, you know, voting for the
19:35
Speaker 9: right candidates there. It might be in politics generally, but
19:38
Speaker 9: you're absolutely right. In a short amount of time, a
19:40
Speaker 9: relatively small number of people managed to force the Prime
19:43
Speaker 9: Minister's hand into a Royal commission and make a real difference.
19:46
Speaker 9: So I think our side of politics needs to start
19:48
Speaker 9: learning those lessons.
19:51
Speaker 2: Alex Atik, good to catch up with you. Thank you
19:53
Speaker 2: very much for joining us tonight. Now, Australia Day this
19:56
Speaker 2: year falls on a Monday, so it is a true
19:58
Speaker 2: blue Aussie long weekend that we all love. But get
20:02
Speaker 2: said for the annual winging and whining about the date,
20:05
Speaker 2: the flag.
20:05
Speaker 1: You know, the routine.
20:06
Speaker 2: Let's now bring in two C hosts, Stephen Senter Tempo
20:11
Speaker 2: and former Liberal MP Jason Flinski, Thanks for your time, Stephen.
20:15
Speaker 2: To you first, I mean, are you surprised with this
20:17
Speaker 2: poll released from the IPA today that shows young people
20:21
Speaker 2: are for Australia Day on the date of the twenty sixth,
20:24
Speaker 2: and in ants asking that question, it doesn't surprise me
20:27
Speaker 2: at all.
20:29
Speaker 7: I'm going to say I'm a little bit surprised because
20:31
Speaker 7: it tends to be the younger demographic that goes along
20:33
Speaker 7: with all of these left wing woke ideals. So I'm
20:37
Speaker 7: pleasantly surprised that young people are standing up for our
20:40
Speaker 7: own nation.
20:41
Speaker 6: Again.
20:41
Speaker 7: Look, it does my head in that the flag changes.
20:44
Speaker 7: As I like to call them, seem to come out
20:45
Speaker 7: earlier and earlier every year and try to find some
20:48
Speaker 7: offense with the date of the twenty sixth of January.
20:50
Speaker 7: Most of them don't actually understand what the twenty sixth
20:52
Speaker 7: of January represents, but good on I think it was
20:56
Speaker 7: eighteen to thirty four year olds in that demographic ending
21:00
Speaker 7: up for our own country.
21:01
Speaker 2: Good on them, Jason. The other part of this pole
21:05
Speaker 2: is that these youngsters are against companies allowing staff to
21:09
Speaker 2: take an alternative day to the twenty sixth of January
21:13
Speaker 2: that can be only good news for everybody.
21:15
Speaker 10: I think that's absolutely right, Steve.
21:17
Speaker 11: I mean, I think what this pole reflects is that
21:20
Speaker 11: younger Australians still believe that we are stronger together, not separated.
21:25
Speaker 11: They reject and really object to all these people in
21:29
Speaker 11: our community who are trying to divide us, who are
21:32
Speaker 11: trying to get us to hate each other, and they
21:34
Speaker 11: realize that while we are not a perfect nation, that
21:37
Speaker 11: our mission is towards being a perfect one. And that's
21:41
Speaker 11: why this date is so important.
21:43
Speaker 10: It doesn't represent everything that's good in the world, but it.
21:48
Speaker 11: Represents something that is incredibly important, which is that we
21:52
Speaker 11: are trying to create a perfect nation.
21:56
Speaker 2: Well, Jason, I mean, given we're having a national debate
21:59
Speaker 2: about cohesion, which is in the background of this Royal
22:04
Speaker 2: commission that we're now having after that horrible terror attack
22:07
Speaker 2: in BONDI I mean, what better day than the twenty
22:10
Speaker 2: sixth of January Monday week which to celebrate and say, look,
22:16
Speaker 2: we do need to come back together and we need
22:19
Speaker 2: to come back together in loud voices.
22:22
Speaker 10: Steve, I couldn't have said it better myself.
22:24
Speaker 11: I mean, that is the one day when we can
22:26
Speaker 11: reaffirm our commitment that we are not a perfect people,
22:29
Speaker 11: but we are committed to creating a perfect nation. And
22:33
Speaker 11: the tit and division that directly led to Bondai comes
22:38
Speaker 11: from all these omni causes. The same people who are
22:42
Speaker 11: protesting the downfall of Madeiro and the Venezuelan government are
22:47
Speaker 11: the same people who are protesting or celebrating what happened
22:53
Speaker 11: on October sevent in Israel.
22:55
Speaker 10: It doesn't matter.
22:56
Speaker 11: What the cause is, just as long as they are
22:58
Speaker 11: protesting something that creates hate and division in our society.
23:02
Speaker 10: And I think younger people have had a gutful of it.
23:05
Speaker 11: They're sick of it, they're educated on it, and they
23:07
Speaker 11: just want to move on and come together to create
23:10
Speaker 11: a better world for them and those who come after us.
23:14
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the news of today, and that's doctor
23:17
Speaker 2: Kevin Rudd announcing that he's going to resign as our
23:20
Speaker 2: ambassador to the United States. I almost felt about laughing when
23:22
Speaker 2: it was suggested that it was Kevin's idea. Stephen, Look,
23:26
Speaker 2: I've had my run ins with Kevin. He wants and
23:29
Speaker 2: I've written about this so I can talk about it.
23:31
Speaker 2: He once wrote a letter to an editor of mine,
23:34
Speaker 2: calling me a gutlass coward, so I'm no fan of
23:37
Speaker 2: Kevin's but he should never have been made ambassador in
23:40
Speaker 2: the first place, should he?
23:42
Speaker 1: No, of course not.
23:43
Speaker 7: But now we need to look at who his replacement's
23:45
Speaker 7: going to be, and the two candidates have seemed to
23:48
Speaker 7: be floated to Joel Fitzgibbon and Stephen Conroy. If Stephen
23:51
Speaker 7: Conroy is selected, it'll be just as disastrous of Rudd,
23:54
Speaker 7: and I think FITZI would probably be the best option,
23:56
Speaker 7: given that he's a former Defense and Agriculture minister, the
24:00
Speaker 7: two portfolios that we really need help with when it
24:02
Speaker 7: with regards to our relationship with the United States, and fits.
24:05
Speaker 7: He's one of those kinds of blakes that can get
24:06
Speaker 7: away with everyone. So if they do tap him on
24:09
Speaker 7: the shoulder, I think he'd be a perfect replacement. But
24:12
Speaker 7: you know they're saying Kevin runs going a year early. Well,
24:14
Speaker 7: I reckon three years too late.
24:18
Speaker 2: What about Jason Felinsky. He's a good diplomat. We could
24:21
Speaker 2: put him. We could put him in Washington.
24:24
Speaker 11: Listen, I think anywhere you put me like you really
24:28
Speaker 11: have run out of names. He's mighty, here's mighty. If
24:32
Speaker 11: Albo has been really, really Macabelian, he'd offer it to
24:36
Speaker 11: Josh Friedenberg. I think there would be a number of
24:41
Speaker 11: upsides for him to do that.
24:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, you've been thinking long and hard about that today.
24:47
Speaker 2: I wish I'd come up with that. What a fantastic
24:49
Speaker 2: idea and removes him for three years. He's not back
24:52
Speaker 2: in charge of the Liberal Party. He's not standing against
24:55
Speaker 2: Albo at the next election. You see why Jason Felinsky
24:58
Speaker 2: was such a good MP.
24:59
Speaker 1: Steven.
25:00
Speaker 2: That's a really good idea, isn't it.
25:03
Speaker 11: Yeah.
25:03
Speaker 7: I don't think Josh Fridenberg's silly enough to take the position.
25:05
Speaker 7: I think he's got his eye on something else at
25:07
Speaker 7: the moment, so I don't think that's going to be
25:08
Speaker 7: an option.
25:11
Speaker 2: Well, Stephen Conroy is not a bad option because he plays.
25:14
Speaker 2: He is a goal fanatic. He plays a pretty good
25:16
Speaker 2: golfer and maybe that's what you need with with Donald
25:20
Speaker 2: Trump now. Jason the Promini is announced today a National
25:22
Speaker 2: Day of Morning after the Bondi Terror DAC will be
25:25
Speaker 2: held next week on Thursday, January twenty two, flags flown
25:29
Speaker 2: at half mass on all Comworth buildings around Australia. He
25:32
Speaker 2: says he's been in talks with a rabbi about this
25:36
Speaker 2: I'm not sure about Australia and days of national mourning.
25:40
Speaker 2: I know what happens in a lot of other countries,
25:42
Speaker 2: and yes, we all feel very strongly about Bondai, but
25:46
Speaker 2: I would have thought that perhaps the day to do
25:48
Speaker 2: that might have been Australia Day.
25:51
Speaker 10: Instead. I think that's right.
25:53
Speaker 11: And look, my greater fear here is that we are
25:57
Speaker 11: actually exchanging substance been so we.
26:01
Speaker 7: Don't want to do anything, but we don't want to
26:04
Speaker 7: look like we're not doing anything.
26:06
Speaker 11: So we'll have a day of mourning, you know, to
26:09
Speaker 11: miss quite Abraham Lincoln.
26:10
Speaker 10: What he does here will not be long.
26:13
Speaker 11: Remembered, but what we do here can surely make a difference.
26:16
Speaker 11: And really the key to this is.
26:20
Speaker 10: The hate and.
26:21
Speaker 11: Division for which too many politicians of Australia have written
26:25
Speaker 11: their way to power needs to come to an end.
26:28
Speaker 11: The sources that fund it, that allow it to happen,
26:31
Speaker 11: that make it possible, these are the things that need
26:35
Speaker 11: to be definitively investigated and stopped. So if the day
26:39
Speaker 11: of morning, whether it be the twenty six or some
26:41
Speaker 11: other day, can be the start of us rooting out
26:44
Speaker 11: that evil in our society that I'm in favor of it,
26:47
Speaker 11: but I fear what this is actually about is a
26:50
Speaker 11: cover up for the fact that that is not going
26:52
Speaker 11: to happen.
26:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, I suspect you're right, Stephen, good idea or bad idea.
26:59
Speaker 7: Look the concept itself, I'm not opposed to, but I
27:02
Speaker 7: think it should be the fifteenth of December next year,
27:05
Speaker 7: on the anniversary of the day after the anniversary to
27:08
Speaker 7: say never again. I think the day of morning is
27:10
Speaker 7: an important symbol, but I think Jason's right that all
27:13
Speaker 7: of the other things have got to be gotten right.
27:16
Speaker 1: You know, this legislation that's.
27:17
Speaker 7: Been rushed through. I mean, why do we recall parliament
27:19
Speaker 7: when it could have been handled on the third of
27:21
Speaker 7: February After there's been more scrutiny of the legislation. Why
27:24
Speaker 7: didn't we call a royal commission within days rather than weeks?
27:28
Speaker 7: There were many things that needed to be done, but
27:30
Speaker 7: more importantly, we need to investigate why this government sat
27:32
Speaker 7: on a tans for two and a half years and
27:35
Speaker 7: allowed antisemitism to fester that led to this massacre. On
27:38
Speaker 7: the fifteenth that it's all the fourteenth of December, I
27:40
Speaker 7: should say, I've got no problem with the day of Mourning,
27:43
Speaker 7: but let's make sure that as a symbol of never
27:45
Speaker 7: forgetting what happened and never letting it happen again.
27:49
Speaker 2: One hundred percent. Jason Stephen, thank you very much for
27:51
Speaker 2: joining us. Now coming up after the break, the delusional
27:54
Speaker 2: Chris Buppen believes he can sway the world's biggest fluters
27:58
Speaker 2: to join his net zero fight at this year's COP
28:02
Speaker 2: thirty one Summer But as if that's going to work.
28:05
Speaker 2: Aiden Morrison from the Center for Independent Studies joins me
28:08
Speaker 2: after the break. Welcome back to the Price in for
28:14
Speaker 2: Andrew Bold. Andrew back with your next Monday Now. Natural
28:18
Speaker 2: disasters of course, and the Bondo Royal Commission. They've been
28:20
Speaker 2: dominating the news right now as they should, the unrealistic
28:25
Speaker 2: net zero ambitions and to visit push on rural communities
28:29
Speaker 2: to put vast renewable projects in them. Well, I reckon
28:32
Speaker 2: that's going to set to dominate discussions early in this
28:35
Speaker 2: new year, especially in the states that are due for
28:37
Speaker 2: state elections. Now some people may not know there's a
28:41
Speaker 2: state election in South Australia early this year, and Victoria
28:44
Speaker 2: will go to the polls in November. Now, both of
28:46
Speaker 2: those states and New South Wales and Queensland obviously are
28:49
Speaker 2: going to host large numbers of these solar and win
28:53
Speaker 2: turbine projects. I couldn't help thinking at the weekend what
28:56
Speaker 2: might have happened if the Victorian bush fires or the
28:59
Speaker 2: Queensland floods that happened where these things were actually cited.
29:03
Speaker 2: Joining me now is the Center for Independent Studies Director
29:06
Speaker 2: of Energy Research, Aiden Morrison, who knows more about this
29:09
Speaker 2: stuff than anyone else, aidan, thanks for talking to us again.
29:14
Speaker 2: I'll get to Chris Bowen in a moment and his delusion.
29:17
Speaker 2: But we saw those deadly fires in Victoria. Farmers there
29:21
Speaker 2: have been warning me for ages that they fear that
29:25
Speaker 2: these things, turbines, transmission lines and panels could actually start
29:29
Speaker 2: bush fires of their own. I mean, God help us
29:31
Speaker 2: if that happens.
29:34
Speaker 12: Look, there's already been a number of turbine fires in Victoria,
29:37
Speaker 12: so this does happen. It's not an unknown event. So
29:41
Speaker 12: occasionally turbine's catch fire. There's been a wind farm that
29:43
Speaker 12: had a number of its turbines, about five percent of
29:45
Speaker 12: them taken out of service for quite some time because
29:49
Speaker 12: of concern about the safety. So I think overall, in
29:52
Speaker 12: the long term it's a question of when, but not if,
29:54
Speaker 12: and what do they contribute. I know a lot of
29:56
Speaker 12: farmers are concerned about how little setback there is around
30:00
Speaker 12: wind turbines as well, to try to make sure that
30:02
Speaker 12: if a fire starts, it.
30:03
Speaker 1: Doesn't spread very far.
30:05
Speaker 12: So yeah, I think farmers are right to be concerned
30:07
Speaker 12: about this, the aerial fire fighting implications, inability to move
30:11
Speaker 12: machinery or drive trucks underneath lyned transmission lines. There are
30:14
Speaker 12: huge concerns that they have in terms of the fire
30:17
Speaker 12: safety of their regions.
30:20
Speaker 2: And when you look at the size of some of
30:23
Speaker 2: these projects, I mean, I'm sure you're aware of it,
30:25
Speaker 2: but you know, just off the Hume Highway going north
30:28
Speaker 2: from Melbourne up near Angerada, there's a massive soul of farm.
30:33
Speaker 2: And I went west in Victoria the other day and
30:36
Speaker 2: went past one of the biggest turbine sites I'd ever seen.
30:42
Speaker 2: If a fire gets into there, I mean, it's bad
30:45
Speaker 2: enough when it gets into dry bush, I can only
30:47
Speaker 2: imagine what happens when it starts igniting a massive solar farm.
30:53
Speaker 12: Yeah, that's right, And there's a lot of requirements now.
30:56
Speaker 12: And some solo farms in Victoria were shut down because
30:59
Speaker 12: they hadn't kept the grass neatly trimmed. If you do
31:02
Speaker 12: keep the grass very trimmed, hopefully the fire is cool
31:05
Speaker 12: and doesn't do too much damage. But this is just
31:07
Speaker 12: starting to happen quite frequently at scale. In New South
31:10
Speaker 12: Wales has been a couple of solar farms that have
31:12
Speaker 12: had grass fires go underneath them.
31:14
Speaker 1: Still not clear exactly.
31:15
Speaker 12: How much damage was done to the main solar panels
31:18
Speaker 12: over there. But a hot fire, you're right, similar with
31:21
Speaker 12: like bad hail. We don't know because we haven't rolled
31:24
Speaker 12: this stuff out at the scale that it's been done
31:26
Speaker 12: at the moment, just what the implication might be if
31:29
Speaker 12: we do get a worse disaster and this has breaks
31:33
Speaker 12: up the integrity of the solar panel.
31:34
Speaker 1: So huge concern from rural communities for that, I know.
31:39
Speaker 2: Aid. Let's talk about the delusion of Chris Bowen. He's
31:41
Speaker 2: gone out and claimed he's going to try and negotiate
31:44
Speaker 2: with big admitters like Saudi Arabia at COP thirty one.
31:48
Speaker 2: Asked how that would be achieved, Bowen said, quote engagement, engagement, engagement, Aiden.
31:54
Speaker 2: I mean, seriously, Bowen, I mean he's kidding himself, isn't he.
32:00
Speaker 12: Yeah, you can't imagine what that sort of engagement would
32:02
Speaker 12: look like if you go to a place like Saudi Arabia,
32:05
Speaker 12: who like us, make a lot of money by exporting
32:09
Speaker 12: their very rich natural resources, and they have a lot
32:11
Speaker 12: of oil in particular, and they also burn, like us,
32:14
Speaker 12: some of their own fossil fuels, supply their own electricity
32:17
Speaker 12: oil in particular.
32:19
Speaker 1: But the reality is is that you can't remove.
32:21
Speaker 12: Fossil fuels from the system unless you find a good
32:23
Speaker 12: substitute and a good alternative. And Saudi Arabia would probably
32:27
Speaker 12: say to Chris Bowen, look, we're actually investigating nuclear to
32:30
Speaker 12: reduce our own consumption of some of those fossil fuels.
32:34
Speaker 12: Why don't you do the same, Or how's that renewable
32:36
Speaker 12: project of yours going. So I just can't imagine how
32:40
Speaker 12: that negotiation plays out. But the reality is that even
32:43
Speaker 12: aside from electricity, there's just no way to phase out
32:47
Speaker 12: fossil fuels without a catastrophic living standard collapse. Basically because
32:51
Speaker 12: if you want to have things like steel, like cement,
32:54
Speaker 12: like plastics, like ceramics, they're essential for so many things
32:57
Speaker 12: we do, like global cold shaine, international shipping, overseas, air travel,
33:02
Speaker 12: the things that make a prosperous society. None of these
33:05
Speaker 12: things have good solutions outside of fossil fuels at the moment.
33:08
Speaker 12: So the idea we can somehow flick a switch with
33:10
Speaker 12: a bit of political will and engagement eliminate fossil fuels
33:14
Speaker 12: is really quite high in the sky. And we will
33:16
Speaker 12: keep selling them as we do as long as people
33:18
Speaker 12: keep buying them, which will be for the foreseeable future
33:21
Speaker 12: because all the green hydrogen hype around replacing things like
33:25
Speaker 12: plastics and air travel with hydrogen has not come to pass.
33:32
Speaker 2: Reality. Spoken well, Aide Morrison, thank you very much for
33:34
Speaker 2: joining us, and I'd love to be a fly on
33:36
Speaker 2: the wall when Chris Bowen has that conversation coming out
33:39
Speaker 2: after the break. Victorian Premier just Cinder Allen. Now she's
33:42
Speaker 2: been heckled like the Prime Minister was at Bondai. She
33:45
Speaker 2: was visiting one of the towns in Victoria hit by
33:48
Speaker 2: those deadly bushfires. She's been gas lighting Victorians over funding
33:52
Speaker 2: for the CFA. But ever, I'll get to that after
33:55
Speaker 2: the break. Welcome back to Steve Price with you. Look,
34:02
Speaker 2: I think whenever a politician gets heckled in public like
34:06
Speaker 2: Anthony Alberanez, he did when he attended the Bondai Memorial service,
34:10
Speaker 2: or as I said, Victorian Premier to Cindra Allen, she
34:13
Speaker 2: was heckled today. And you remember Scott Morrison of course
34:16
Speaker 2: where he said I don't hold a host mate and
34:19
Speaker 2: he was heckled during the bushfires of twenty nineteen in
34:22
Speaker 2: southern New South Wales. Well to Cinda Allen had a
34:24
Speaker 2: repeat performance of that today she was heckled visiting one
34:27
Speaker 2: of the bushfire affected towns. Alexandra, have a look shame.
34:31
Speaker 13: When you're shame where you were done and taking for
34:33
Speaker 13: what you've done caused the situation.
34:36
Speaker 6: What you're not doing that happens.
34:37
Speaker 13: Out the policies of this government is what's caused the situation.
34:42
Speaker 13: And to see even this morning, the statement issues are
34:45
Speaker 13: denying that that funding had been cut to our services
34:49
Speaker 13: when we had firefighters on our doorstep crying, apologizing for
34:54
Speaker 13: not being able to get trucks to us sooner.
34:57
Speaker 2: Well, there's no doubt to Cindra Allen is playing tricky
35:00
Speaker 2: with those funding questions and how much money has been
35:03
Speaker 2: or has not been cut from the CFA, I mean
35:06
Speaker 2: the union itself. The firefighters Union have made the point
35:09
Speaker 2: that half the trucks that are out there on the
35:11
Speaker 2: CFI fire grounds are some of them are thirty years old,
35:15
Speaker 2: they don't even have air conditioning and some of them
35:18
Speaker 2: hardly even work. Joined me now the Australian's Associated at Graham,
35:21
Speaker 2: Lloyd and Page Research Center CEO Jared Holland, Great to
35:25
Speaker 2: see you both. Jared. The premier went on to deny
35:29
Speaker 2: the claims by their local You know, once a politician,
35:34
Speaker 2: when they go out in public, the public turn on them.
35:37
Speaker 2: That's a real problem for that politician in my view.
35:41
Speaker 1: Well, the thing is we actually have the numbers.
35:43
Speaker 14: So we know from the CFA's annual report that there
35:46
Speaker 14: is ten million dollars less and that was meant to
35:49
Speaker 14: be allocated that never arrived in their coffers in the
35:51
Speaker 14: twenty three twenty four financial year. And we know from
35:54
Speaker 14: the government's most recent budget papers that eighty million dollars
35:58
Speaker 14: has been pulled out of funding towards these firefighting services.
36:02
Speaker 1: So she's flat out.
36:03
Speaker 14: Lying and to claim that of course there's nothing, and
36:06
Speaker 14: I think she said there was an increase in funding
36:08
Speaker 14: of eighty million. I think that's the gap that she's
36:10
Speaker 14: taken out that she might be referring to and of
36:13
Speaker 14: course remember this is off the back of the government
36:15
Speaker 14: introducing the ESVF legislation which came into effect in July
36:19
Speaker 14: of last year, which slugged regional communities, particularly farmers, the
36:22
Speaker 14: people who meant to be out here fighting these fires,
36:25
Speaker 14: with massive increases in levies and spreading that funding more
36:29
Speaker 14: thinly across the sees and other emergency services because they
36:33
Speaker 14: weren't willing to put the funding forward themselves. And ultimately
36:36
Speaker 14: it's these communities who are bearing the brunt of this
36:38
Speaker 14: and to see that woman's comments are just absolutely devastating,
36:41
Speaker 14: and to see how much land has been destroyed, the
36:43
Speaker 14: livestock that's been lost, and quite frankly, the Victorian Premier
36:47
Speaker 14: absolutely has account It has to have accountability for her
36:50
Speaker 14: role and the lack of funding that the CFA had
36:53
Speaker 14: in trying to fight these fires.
36:56
Speaker 2: And Graham, you know, this is a broke state government.
36:58
Speaker 2: And ironically she's done. The Premiere is she's introduced what
37:02
Speaker 2: she calls an emergency services levy, which is levied on
37:06
Speaker 2: everybody's property. It used to be called a fire levee,
37:09
Speaker 2: now it's an emergency services levee. She tries to pretend
37:12
Speaker 2: all of that money raised will go into the hands
37:15
Speaker 2: of those very brave people who are outfighting those fires
37:18
Speaker 2: still tonight. You can't play tricks with people when you
37:22
Speaker 2: have natural disasters like this, which we've got unfolding across Victoria.
37:28
Speaker 15: That's right, Stephen, And to your first point, I think
37:31
Speaker 15: whenever a politician is out in public with real people
37:34
Speaker 15: getting heckled, that's a good thing. They need to see
37:38
Speaker 15: what's really happening on the ground.
37:40
Speaker 6: And the truth is that since.
37:43
Speaker 15: Those terrible fires of twenty nineteen twenty, we've had a
37:46
Speaker 15: series of relatively.
37:48
Speaker 6: Wet years, but now this year we're.
37:51
Speaker 15: Back into fire season and those savings that have been
37:56
Speaker 15: put in the bank are starting to become apparent. Need
38:00
Speaker 15: to go through and see what recommendations were made in
38:04
Speaker 15: the raw commission into those last terrible fires, how many
38:08
Speaker 15: of those recommendations have been delivered, particularly with regard to
38:12
Speaker 15: things like fuel loads and what have you, and funding
38:15
Speaker 15: for the actual on the ground services that fight the
38:19
Speaker 15: fires rather than the backroom that sit around and talk
38:22
Speaker 15: about it.
38:25
Speaker 2: Jared, if there's one thing that's come out of these
38:27
Speaker 2: most recent fires that we can actually sit around and say, boy,
38:31
Speaker 2: that is a miracle and that is that we've tragically
38:34
Speaker 2: lost one life. If you go back to the Black
38:37
Speaker 2: Saturday bush fires of two thousand and nine, seventy three
38:41
Speaker 2: people died. So it is a miracle of what happened
38:46
Speaker 2: on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Victoria that not more
38:49
Speaker 2: people died.
38:50
Speaker 14: Well, the people on the ground, meaning the hoses, they've
38:52
Speaker 14: been absolutely incredible and I've been that quite sincerely. My
38:56
Speaker 14: mild man's member of the RFS in rural New South
38:59
Speaker 14: Wales and he's been out to plenty of fires in
39:01
Speaker 14: his time.
39:02
Speaker 1: I've been on a couple of fires with him.
39:03
Speaker 14: It is brutal, horrific conditions that these men and women
39:07
Speaker 14: brave to face to protect lives, to protect property, to
39:10
Speaker 14: protect livestock, and they are nothing but absolute Australian heroes.
39:14
Speaker 14: And it's a shame to the earlier point that they
39:16
Speaker 14: haven't had the funding that they needed. They were promised,
39:19
Speaker 14: but there has been some real displays of valiance and courage.
39:23
Speaker 14: And to your point, Steve, as devastating as that one
39:27
Speaker 14: life lost is, it could have been so much.
39:29
Speaker 2: Worse, Graham, I mean, starting with the fires of Victorian
39:33
Speaker 2: Farmers Federation, I heard on local radio Today, Brett Hosking
39:37
Speaker 2: estimated that the live stock losses over those three days
39:40
Speaker 2: will hit more than fifteen thousand, mainly through sheep and cattle.
39:45
Speaker 2: I mean, this is just horrendous. There were farmers begging
39:50
Speaker 2: people to donate ammunition to them so that they could
39:54
Speaker 2: put their animals out of their misery. I mean, what
39:56
Speaker 2: these people have gone through is just horrible.
40:00
Speaker 15: It sets terrible stuff, and you just have to really
40:02
Speaker 15: feel for the animal suffering in these things.
40:06
Speaker 6: They're really helpless, trapped in it.
40:09
Speaker 15: They're sort of left to the walls of the fires,
40:13
Speaker 15: and then of course once the fires have burnt through,
40:15
Speaker 15: they're left with no feed stock in the paddocks.
40:19
Speaker 6: So the rush is on to get supplies to them.
40:23
Speaker 15: And the human thing is to really use the asos
40:28
Speaker 15: that are either entered or on the brink of starvation
40:31
Speaker 15: and not going to make it.
40:35
Speaker 2: Jared, I want to talk about One Nation. I mean,
40:37
Speaker 2: I keep reading these polling numbers from this outfit called
40:40
Speaker 2: Fox and Hedgehog, which I have no knowledge of what
40:43
Speaker 2: they or who they are, but it's revealed support for
40:46
Speaker 2: One Nation's tripled to twenty one percent since the last election.
40:49
Speaker 2: Pauling Hanson has said to have picked up two million
40:52
Speaker 2: votes in that same time. Do you believe those polling
40:56
Speaker 2: numbers and what do you put it down to why
40:58
Speaker 2: that's happening?
41:00
Speaker 1: Look, I probably do, to be honest.
41:02
Speaker 14: I mean their message has been quite consistent and quite
41:05
Speaker 14: clear for a long time now, scrapnet zero and mass migration.
41:09
Speaker 14: And I think, particularly in the wake of the bond
41:11
Speaker 14: Ei tragedy, the cost of living pressures that are impacting
41:14
Speaker 14: Australians all across the country, people are realizing that the
41:17
Speaker 14: government that we have at the moment is simply not
41:19
Speaker 14: up to the job.
41:20
Speaker 6: Now.
41:20
Speaker 14: The question is what is the opposition's response to this?
41:23
Speaker 14: The official opposition, the coalition and forming government is not
41:27
Speaker 14: just about slogans. It's about having that policy depth and
41:30
Speaker 14: that personnel depth in order to prosecute an agenda.
41:33
Speaker 1: And so this is the thing.
41:34
Speaker 14: You know, one nation, they have very compelling policy narrative
41:37
Speaker 14: on those couple of issues.
41:38
Speaker 1: But who will be.
41:39
Speaker 14: Their health their health minister, who will be their treasurer,
41:43
Speaker 14: who will be.
41:43
Speaker 1: In front of education?
41:45
Speaker 14: There are a whole range of issues and the coalition
41:47
Speaker 14: needs to likewise come out with real clarity on these
41:50
Speaker 14: couple of issues they already have on energy.
41:53
Speaker 1: We need to hear a little bit more clear.
41:55
Speaker 14: And more succinct on migration and their plans to reign
41:59
Speaker 14: in the mess that Albanzi has given us. But I
42:02
Speaker 14: do think there is a lot of truth to these numbers.
42:04
Speaker 14: People are fed up and Pauline has really, I think
42:07
Speaker 14: come through as a bit of a champion in this season.
42:08
Speaker 14: And the question is can that maintain momentum to the
42:12
Speaker 14: next election or is there still some fight in the coalition?
42:14
Speaker 2: Benures Life, Good on you, Jared, good on your Graham,
42:18
Speaker 2: thank you for that. And of course we had last
42:20
Speaker 2: night where we were talking to James Ashby from One Nation,
42:24
Speaker 2: who made the point that it's not only Barnaby Joyce
42:26
Speaker 2: that they've recruited, but he says that they've got two
42:29
Speaker 2: or three high profile names from around the country they're
42:32
Speaker 2: going to join them before the next election coming up.
42:34
Speaker 2: After the break, the London Mayor continues his water of
42:37
Speaker 2: words with President Trump, as if Trump would care, what
42:40
Speaker 2: did he call him this time? Sophie Ellsworth joins me
42:42
Speaker 2: next to let us know, welcome back to Suprice with
42:49
Speaker 2: you the late debate coming up shortly now, joining me
42:51
Speaker 2: from Europe Is News Corps Europe correspondent Sophie Ellsworth. Sophie,
42:55
Speaker 2: great to see you again. I want to talk about
42:58
Speaker 2: the London mayor city. This brooke seems to love trying
43:03
Speaker 2: to upset Donald Trump. He's now called the US President.
43:08
Speaker 2: I think he's branded him jealous in an interview with
43:10
Speaker 2: the BBC. What's that all about?
43:15
Speaker 8: Well, Steve, great to be with you.
43:16
Speaker 16: Look, these two have been fighting like cat and dog
43:18
Speaker 16: for many years, going tick for tat, hurling abuse at
43:23
Speaker 16: each other, mister Trump. President Trump has labeled Sidik Khan horrible, incompetent.
43:29
Speaker 8: Vicious, a disgusting.
43:31
Speaker 16: He's very critical of him and has been for some time,
43:36
Speaker 16: particularly after that terror attack on London Bridge some years ago.
43:40
Speaker 16: But this has been going back and forth. They can't
43:43
Speaker 16: stand the side of each other. But Sadik Khan came
43:45
Speaker 16: out yesterday. Sadeit Khan came out yesterday and hit back
43:49
Speaker 16: and said Donald Trump is jealous of London. He's jealous
43:52
Speaker 16: of how great it is here. But I can assure you, Steve,
43:56
Speaker 16: this city, as marvelous as it is, it has a
43:58
Speaker 16: lot of problems at crime problems.
44:01
Speaker 8: And there's many issues in this city.
44:04
Speaker 16: And Sadiq Khan is definitely under siege from a lot
44:08
Speaker 16: of people in the British public here who are concerned
44:11
Speaker 16: about the state of London.
44:14
Speaker 10: Yeah.
44:14
Speaker 2: Look, I've got a daughter who lives there and she
44:16
Speaker 2: makes the point that many obviously it's bleedingly expensive. But
44:20
Speaker 2: I mean there is the issue too of the problem
44:23
Speaker 2: with the illegal migrants. I mean that's not just disappeared
44:26
Speaker 2: and gone away, has it?
44:30
Speaker 8: Well, Steve, Really that's only one issue here.
44:33
Speaker 16: There's a lot of concern around safety here. Thefts, phone
44:38
Speaker 16: snatching is surging here. I mean there was ninety thousand
44:42
Speaker 16: phone snatches in the past twelve months alone. I've seen
44:47
Speaker 16: bag snatches in front of me. Everyone has some sort
44:50
Speaker 16: of tale to tell here, unfortunately, of some crime they've
44:54
Speaker 16: seen or they've been a part of, they've been a
44:57
Speaker 16: victim of. While it is a wonderful city live, Steve,
45:01
Speaker 16: it definitely has a lot of issues, and Sadiq Khan
45:04
Speaker 16: has largely been blamed for many of these, including by
45:08
Speaker 16: President Trump.
45:11
Speaker 2: Let's talk royals and the Palace. Apparently, Buckingham Palace is
45:16
Speaker 2: reportedly on high alert. Apparently, Andrew, I think we have
45:20
Speaker 2: to call him Andrew mount Baton winsor. Now just Andrew
45:23
Speaker 2: Windsor will do me and Sarah Ferguson. There's a story
45:27
Speaker 2: in the Express. I think it is saying they're rumored
45:30
Speaker 2: to be considering selling royal valuables. I mean, surely they're
45:34
Speaker 2: not going to have a garage sale when he clears
45:36
Speaker 2: out of that massive mansion he's living in, is he?
45:41
Speaker 8: Oh look, Steve, this will be a very.
45:43
Speaker 16: Sad tale if it gets to this level of desperation
45:48
Speaker 16: by the former a Duke and Duchess of York.
45:51
Speaker 8: But we know that Andrew.
45:53
Speaker 16: Baton Windsor is packing his suitcases this year. He's being
45:57
Speaker 16: turfed out of Royal Lodge and he he has to
46:00
Speaker 16: go up to Sandringham Estate in exile. There's a lot
46:04
Speaker 16: of possessions that are obviously very special historic pieces that
46:10
Speaker 16: the reports are The royal family and their minders are
46:14
Speaker 16: watching very closely with concerns that they might open up
46:18
Speaker 16: the garage door, roll out these items and try and make.
46:21
Speaker 8: Some quick cash. Steve, this is a real worry.
46:24
Speaker 16: But you've got to remember their two daughters are still
46:27
Speaker 16: heavily involved with the royal family. So the moves by
46:32
Speaker 16: Sarah Ferguson and Andrew Mountain, Batton Windsor can also harm
46:36
Speaker 16: their daughters, so they need to be very careful with
46:38
Speaker 16: what they do, because we know these two are very
46:41
Speaker 16: much now on the outside after they got stripped to
46:44
Speaker 16: their titles.
46:47
Speaker 2: Sophie, if you get the chance today, see if I'm
46:50
Speaker 2: getting contact with Nigel Farage and let him know some
46:52
Speaker 2: good news from this part of the world, Kevin Rudd.
46:55
Speaker 2: And it's in no part to Nigel Farag's great honor
47:00
Speaker 2: that he's played a part in this Kevin Rudd's leaving
47:02
Speaker 2: as the US ambassador. We have to remember, of course,
47:04
Speaker 2: that it was Nigel Faraj in an interview Sky who
47:08
Speaker 2: actually said to Donald Trump, do you know what the
47:10
Speaker 2: ambassador to Australia has been saying about you all these years?
47:16
Speaker 8: Well?
47:16
Speaker 16: That was an infamous interview, wasn't it. Seed that went
47:19
Speaker 16: around the world. There's a lot of criticism about it,
47:22
Speaker 16: but Nigel Fras was right on the money. And isn't
47:25
Speaker 16: it interesting to see now Kevin Rudd depart early? But
47:29
Speaker 16: definitely I think Nigel fra will be very interested to
47:32
Speaker 16: learn this news, if he hasn't already waking up here
47:35
Speaker 16: in London.
47:38
Speaker 2: And he's also celebrating the fact that Tory Chancellor, former
47:41
Speaker 2: Tory Chancellor nade Him Zahawi has become the latest Conservative
47:45
Speaker 2: to actually jump ship to Faraj's Reform Party.
47:50
Speaker 16: He is indeed, Steve, there's been quite a few x
47:54
Speaker 16: Tory MP's jump ship to Reform. Reform are the flavor
47:58
Speaker 16: of the month, the flavor of the year, no doubt.
48:01
Speaker 16: But unfortunately for the former Tory Chancellor, like in many
48:05
Speaker 16: of these cases, the media have dug up some old
48:08
Speaker 16: tweets and there's been some pretty shocking ones where he's
48:11
Speaker 16: hit out at Nigel Farrage criticizing him, and he says
48:16
Speaker 16: Frage has run for political office six times in fifteen
48:20
Speaker 16: years and he's criticized him.
48:22
Speaker 8: He said he's worried if he was running the country.
48:25
Speaker 16: Now these are historic tweets, but he's really been disparaging
48:29
Speaker 16: of him online and yesterday they were closing up together.
48:32
Speaker 8: So this is a big win for Nigel Frash to
48:36
Speaker 8: have him on the team.
48:37
Speaker 16: But this is what happens, Steve, when people troll through
48:39
Speaker 16: your social media.
48:42
Speaker 2: Absolutely you've got to remember what you're saying. It's going
48:44
Speaker 2: to come back and haunt you. So for yours, great
48:46
Speaker 2: to catch up with you. Thank you very much for that,
48:49
Speaker 2: So for ELL's worth and our reminder at the top
48:51
Speaker 2: of the hour, tonight we have the great debate. Make
48:54
Speaker 2: sure you stick around for them. I'll see you tomorrow
48:56
Speaker 2: night