Latest / Steve Price / Steve Price | 26 September

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Steve Price | 26 September · Steve Price

0:06
Speaker 1: Welcome to Steve Price. I'm Caroline Marcus filling in for
0:09
Speaker 1: Pricey tonight. The worst crime rate on record, yet few
0:14
Speaker 1: answers from the Victorian government. We speak to a former
0:18
Speaker 1: top cop about what needs to happen to keep Victorians safe.
0:22
Speaker 1: Plus Australia's social media band for under sixteen's lorded at
0:27
Speaker 1: the United Nations. But do we need to be concerned
0:30
Speaker 1: about what it could mean for our freedom of speech?
0:34
Speaker 1: And he's one of the most recognizable faces at Bondi Beach,
0:38
Speaker 1: but after thirty years saving lives.
0:41
Speaker 2: We'll be joined by TV lifeguard Anthony.
0:43
Speaker 1: Harrel's Harris Carroll to discuss his new children's book. But first, surprise, surprise,
0:51
Speaker 1: it looks like Anthony alban Easy's attempts to charm Donald
0:56
Speaker 1: Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations hasn't paid off.
1:00
Speaker 1: Oh you mean this not at all awkward selfie with
1:04
Speaker 1: the US President wasn't the proof Albo hoped it would
1:08
Speaker 1: be that the two leaders are now best mates. Despite
1:12
Speaker 1: the Prime Minister's desperation to show everything is fine and
1:16
Speaker 1: dandy with his relationship with Trump, nothing to see here
1:20
Speaker 1: Today's announcement the US will slap one hundred percent tariffs
1:24
Speaker 1: on our pharmaceuticals proofs it's anything, but after all, friends
1:30
Speaker 1: don't hit friends with crippling tariffs, do they. In classic
1:34
Speaker 1: Trump style, the President made the announcement on his platform
1:38
Speaker 1: Truth Social He said, starting October first, twenty twenty five,
1:43
Speaker 1: we will be imposing a one hundred percent tariff on
1:46
Speaker 1: any branded or patented pharmaceutical product unless a company is
1:52
Speaker 1: building their pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in America. And that's what
1:57
Speaker 1: the Australian government is now urgent trying to work out
2:01
Speaker 1: how many of our companies will be exempt from this,
2:05
Speaker 1: with some already having some capital investment projects underway in
2:09
Speaker 1: the US. Now, one hundred percent is lower than Trump's
2:14
Speaker 1: previous threat to impose two hundred and fifty percent tariffs,
2:18
Speaker 1: though that could still happen down the track. But with
2:21
Speaker 1: a start date of next week, the move comes a
2:24
Speaker 1: lot sooner than anyone thought after Trump first tease tes
2:28
Speaker 1: plan back in July.
2:30
Speaker 3: We'll be announcing something very soon on pharmaceuticals.
2:35
Speaker 4: We're going to give people about a year a year
2:36
Speaker 4: and a half to come in, and after that they're
2:38
Speaker 4: going to be tariffed.
2:40
Speaker 1: In other words, no more one year grace period. Instead,
2:44
Speaker 1: pharmaceutical companies will have just five days to prepare for this.
2:49
Speaker 2: It's a huge blow for.
2:50
Speaker 1: Australia's pharmaceutical industry, which is valued at three billion dollars.
2:55
Speaker 1: The US is our largest market for pharmaceutical exports. Barclay's
3:01
Speaker 1: analysts warn the move could wipe two point eight billion
3:04
Speaker 1: dollars from the economy through lost direct trade and downstreams
3:09
Speaker 1: supply disruptions. And this all stems from US farmer companies
3:14
Speaker 1: taking issue with how our government regulates drug prices through
3:18
Speaker 1: the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, slashing potential profits for those producers.
3:25
Speaker 1: The government has said that PBS is simply not up
3:28
Speaker 1: for negotiation.
3:30
Speaker 5: None of these latest announcements for the US administration make
3:34
Speaker 5: a jot of difference to our determination to protect the PBS.
3:38
Speaker 5: The PBS has served Australians so incredibly well in terms
3:42
Speaker 5: of providing them with affordable access to the world's best medicines.
3:46
Speaker 5: We are determined to do everything to protect that PBS.
3:51
Speaker 1: All this isn't the best omen for Albanese's long awaited
3:55
Speaker 1: meeting with Trump at the White House next month, despite
3:58
Speaker 1: the PMS and CISS, since the two are chums who've
4:01
Speaker 1: spoken on the phone regularly. The chasm between them is
4:05
Speaker 1: only growing the Australians. Johannes Leak illustrated this divide perfectly
4:11
Speaker 1: in this cartoon today, showing Albanizi in a kafea and
4:16
Speaker 1: Hama's headbands drawing a reluctant Trump into a selfie while
4:20
Speaker 1: saying three two one say renewables. Well, the coalition opposes
4:25
Speaker 1: the tariffs. It was also right to attack Albanizi again
4:29
Speaker 1: for failing to even secure a meeting with the president
4:32
Speaker 1: before next month.
4:34
Speaker 2: If that even goes ahead.
4:37
Speaker 6: Well, I would have hoped that he had this meeting
4:40
Speaker 6: eight months ago. I mean, as I said, over thirty
4:42
Speaker 6: leaders have already had a meeting with him, and I
4:46
Speaker 6: would have hoped that a lot of these issues, orcus
4:48
Speaker 6: national security issues as well as these tariff issues would
4:50
Speaker 6: have been dealt with face to face. We know Trump's transactional.
4:55
Speaker 1: From our government's radical emissions targets and recognition of a
4:59
Speaker 1: Palestine in state to our refusal to lift defense spending.
5:03
Speaker 1: What common ground does Albanesi actually have left with Trump
5:08
Speaker 1: to negotiate a better deal for Australians. And if Anthony
5:16
Speaker 1: Albanizi needs reminding exactly who is rewarded by his recognition
5:21
Speaker 1: of a Palestinian state. This today is it Hama's senior official,
5:26
Speaker 1: Ghazi Hammad has sat down for his first US interview
5:31
Speaker 1: since surviving an Israeli strike on the terror group's compound
5:35
Speaker 1: in Qatar, and.
5:37
Speaker 2: Boy was he thrilled about.
5:39
Speaker 1: The international response from useful idiots like our own prime minister,
5:44
Speaker 1: whose validation led him to gloating about how October seven
5:49
Speaker 1: had paid off. Well, we don't have that grab Vi,
5:57
Speaker 1: I'm afraid, but he called it a golden moment. That
6:01
Speaker 1: is how October seven is now being framed by Hermas.
6:04
Speaker 2: But it was always obvious.
6:06
Speaker 1: That this would be the result of this symbolic and
6:09
Speaker 1: reckless move to recognize Palestine while hostages are still underground
6:15
Speaker 1: in terror tunnels, the ones who are still alive and
6:18
Speaker 1: being forced to dig their own graves. This interview shows
6:23
Speaker 1: what the leaders of Australia, the UK, France and Canada
6:27
Speaker 1: have unleashed through their competitive self righteousness. Their recognition of
6:32
Speaker 1: Palestine wasn't just meaningless, it's a real obstacle to peace.
6:38
Speaker 6: These people who want who want Hamas to surrender, lay
6:41
Speaker 6: down its weapons and leave the gazas.
6:45
Speaker 7: We will never servant.
6:49
Speaker 1: In this interview, in Hamad's view, the misery and suffering
6:54
Speaker 1: her Maas has inflicted on its own people was all
6:57
Speaker 1: worth it for this affirmation, so much of the international community.
7:03
Speaker 8: In your view, sixty five thousand deaths is worth it
7:06
Speaker 8: in order to achieve what you've.
7:07
Speaker 7: Look I know the price so high, but I am
7:10
Speaker 7: ask wagon what is.
7:13
Speaker 1: But anyone who has been paying attention knows Hamas has
7:17
Speaker 1: never been interested in a twoesdate solution. It only wants
7:20
Speaker 1: the destruction of Israel. Here's a reminder of what Hammad
7:24
Speaker 1: himself said a month after the October seven attacksbenomenal.
7:35
Speaker 4: So Oktoberer Oktober Forlion October and the limb.
7:40
Speaker 9: It is justified Mulbor.
7:42
Speaker 1: Maybe Alberanize needs to abandon his undergraduate political positions and
7:48
Speaker 1: concerns for Labour's Western Sydney seats and instead listen to
7:52
Speaker 1: the brave Garsans risking their lives to speak out against Hamas.
7:58
Speaker 3: Our message to Hamas is stop gambling with us.
8:01
Speaker 8: This man says, you are disconnected from reality, especially since
8:05
Speaker 8: the Hamas leadership is outside of Gaza.
8:07
Speaker 7: I want to send a message Gohamas, We'll talk to people,
8:11
Speaker 7: talk by people.
8:13
Speaker 1: Stop we are dyeing here, but our government isn't interested
8:19
Speaker 1: in their stories, only demonizing Israel. Now to Victoria, where
8:28
Speaker 1: a surgeon record breaking crime has left exasperated locals asking
8:33
Speaker 1: just how much worse it can get. Police Minister Anthony
8:37
Speaker 1: Carbines came under fire this week for holding a press
8:40
Speaker 1: conference minutes after the release of disastrous crime data which
8:45
Speaker 1: showed spikes across the board. He's been accused of trying
8:49
Speaker 1: to avoid accountability because journalists had just ten minutes to
8:54
Speaker 1: try to troll through the new data.
9:01
Speaker 3: Crimate is unacceptable. It needs to be pulled up, it
9:05
Speaker 3: needs to be brought back.
9:06
Speaker 9: And there needs to be consequences, serious consequences on those
9:09
Speaker 9: who continue.
9:10
Speaker 3: To break the law.
9:13
Speaker 1: Here to discuss the never ending crime spiral. Former homicide
9:17
Speaker 1: detective Charlie Bezina, Charlie, thank you for your time. Police
9:22
Speaker 1: leaders and detectives have publicly expressed frustration at weak court
9:27
Speaker 1: penalties and repeat offenders been continually bailed, saying the system
9:32
Speaker 1: is failing community expectations. Charlie, do you think the minister
9:36
Speaker 1: was dodging accountability there with the timing of this press conference.
9:43
Speaker 7: Very much.
9:43
Speaker 4: So he's been dodging it. And he's the portfolio over
9:47
Speaker 4: the police portfolio that's responsible for it. He is a
9:50
Speaker 4: joke of what is trying to achieve and he's achieving nothing. Now,
9:54
Speaker 4: when do you think about it, You look at these stats,
9:56
Speaker 4: and let's get past the stats. Six thousand plus of
10:02
Speaker 4: incidents or the crimes will call them, not incidents, one
10:05
Speaker 4: hundred and six, four hundred odd. Now tomorrow when you're
10:09
Speaker 4: watching the Grand Final, have a look at the crowd
10:12
Speaker 4: and add another probably ten thousand on that, and they
10:15
Speaker 4: are victims of crime. They are the faces of the
10:19
Speaker 4: stats that we're reading about day in.
10:21
Speaker 8: And day out.
10:23
Speaker 4: And I understand, Chief Commissioner Bush has got a big,
10:28
Speaker 4: big job in front of him. Now he's come out
10:30
Speaker 4: and said he's going to try and reduce crime by
10:33
Speaker 4: prevention five percent every year. But this is not just
10:37
Speaker 4: a police problem. This is a partnership between the government
10:41
Speaker 4: and the courts. They've got to get together and this
10:44
Speaker 4: is where they're going to have the effect. Sure, there's
10:47
Speaker 4: kids out there that need guidance, need that intervention, but
10:53
Speaker 4: there's one that's so recivitist they're committing offenses time and
10:56
Speaker 4: time again, will lock them up. As they're locked up,
11:00
Speaker 4: they can't commit any further crime. That's where we're going
11:02
Speaker 4: to be get tough.
11:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, because police detectives are police officers, they can catch
11:07
Speaker 1: all the crims.
11:08
Speaker 2: In the world.
11:09
Speaker 1: But when courts continue to let these repeat defenders straight
11:12
Speaker 1: back on the streets, surely it is now time for
11:15
Speaker 1: a complete overhaul and Victoria's broken bail and sentencing laws.
11:21
Speaker 4: We must say it, but the government are going to
11:23
Speaker 4: come on board and got to stop hiding behind. To
11:27
Speaker 4: Cindra Allen, you're a minister holding a major portfolio for
11:31
Speaker 4: the safety of this community. Get out and do your
11:34
Speaker 4: job or hand a buddy papers back in and don't
11:38
Speaker 4: get the pay for it. You're not doing your job,
11:40
Speaker 4: You're not assisting the community. You don't care a what
11:44
Speaker 4: is it all about. Join the partnership with the police,
11:48
Speaker 4: the government and the courts. The government give the powers
11:51
Speaker 4: to the courts and the police present the evidence and
11:56
Speaker 4: the coppers before them. Trying to stop the continuing violence
12:01
Speaker 4: against this community in this state. We are a joke.
12:06
Speaker 4: This government should be embarrassed saying they're from Victoria, where
12:09
Speaker 4: a debt ridden crime ridden state and they should be
12:12
Speaker 4: embarrassed and hold their head in shame.
12:14
Speaker 1: You know, the Victorian government, they've introduced things like the
12:17
Speaker 1: machete band. They've got people to bring in their machetes.
12:20
Speaker 1: But is this going to solve the issue of crime there?
12:25
Speaker 1: And we've seen these record highs for the state out
12:27
Speaker 1: of the latest data. What is the part that has
12:30
Speaker 1: concerned you most about the new figures?
12:35
Speaker 4: This is all window dressing. They're going to get the
12:38
Speaker 4: honest person hanging in the machetes and that type of thing.
12:40
Speaker 4: Where we had an attack in broad Meadows, a northern
12:43
Speaker 4: suburb of Melbourne, in broad darlight in the shops, not
12:49
Speaker 4: some meters away from the police station, going at it
12:52
Speaker 4: with a machete and where there's a machete been nearby.
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Speaker 4: Now this is a joke. We don't have enough resources.
12:59
Speaker 4: The police are about absolutely hemorrhaging. We don't have people
13:02
Speaker 4: on the ground. Their resources are being depleted time and
13:06
Speaker 4: time again. And the powers of government come out and say, oh,
13:09
Speaker 4: we've given the police the powers to do things.
13:11
Speaker 9: No, you haven't.
13:12
Speaker 7: I don't know what.
13:13
Speaker 4: These powers are. What the police powers need to be
13:16
Speaker 4: is the ability to stop people in their tracks. And
13:20
Speaker 4: search them without just cause. They will connect and identify
13:24
Speaker 4: those potential offenders before it happens. It's going to be proactive,
13:29
Speaker 4: not reactive. We are a reactive police force. But hopefully
13:33
Speaker 4: Mike Bush was going to put a wedge in between
13:36
Speaker 4: that and become more proactive, put a wedge in between
13:39
Speaker 4: the receivitust offenders and the ones that we can actually
13:43
Speaker 4: help and assist and get them on the right track.
13:46
Speaker 4: But it's not going to be an easy fix. It's
13:47
Speaker 4: not having not This is a legacy of twenty five
13:51
Speaker 4: years of police command mismanagement since the year two thousand
13:56
Speaker 4: and now we are paying the penalty for it.
13:58
Speaker 1: Well, it is definitely a high price so that Victorians
14:00
Speaker 1: are paying that. A lot of people are really terrified
14:04
Speaker 1: over there. Thank you so much for your time, Charlie,
14:06
Speaker 1: appreciate it.
14:07
Speaker 2: Let's take a.
14:08
Speaker 1: Look now at the impact of Australia's looming ban on
14:12
Speaker 1: social media for kids under sixteen. Renowned child safety advocate
14:16
Speaker 1: and author of The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Hite said he
14:21
Speaker 1: believes our new age restrictions are the biggest step ever
14:25
Speaker 1: taken to protect children. He says it could even set
14:29
Speaker 1: the world on a course to win the fight against
14:32
Speaker 1: tech giants causing harm to kids. Here to help me
14:36
Speaker 1: unpack the details child psychologists Claire.
14:38
Speaker 2: Ro Claire welcome. Great to have you here.
14:40
Speaker 10: Thank you very much, Claire.
14:42
Speaker 1: I think most parents, including me, would agree that something
14:46
Speaker 1: needs to be done at this stage.
14:48
Speaker 2: It's frightening what children are exposed to now on the Internet.
14:53
Speaker 1: And I do just want to show viewers at home
14:57
Speaker 1: a clip that Jonathan Hud himself posted online.
15:01
Speaker 8: Take a look, Hey, kiddo, it's about time for bed. Okay, Okay, Well,
15:06
Speaker 8: remember there's a box in the corner over there with
15:09
Speaker 8: all the pornographic material that's ever been made in the world,
15:12
Speaker 8: even the really weird stuff that could scar you for life.
15:16
Speaker 10: I'm trusting you not to look in there, Okay.
15:18
Speaker 3: Okay, feelings are for losers.
15:20
Speaker 8: Oh and this guy's going to be in your corner
15:22
Speaker 8: only just randomly spewing out hateful things.
15:26
Speaker 3: Just ignore them, Okay.
15:28
Speaker 1: I mean such a clever campaign. Every parent should see it.
15:31
Speaker 1: I mean, I personally don't think kids should have access
15:34
Speaker 1: to social media at all, But what do you make
15:36
Speaker 1: of this band?
15:37
Speaker 10: Yeah?
15:38
Speaker 11: Well absolutely, Look I couldn't agree more as a clinician,
15:40
Speaker 11: as a mother of kids.
15:43
Speaker 10: Kids should be off social media.
15:44
Speaker 11: I would actually go further and say that no child
15:46
Speaker 11: under the edge of sixteen years old need's a smartphone.
15:49
Speaker 10: They actually don't.
15:50
Speaker 11: Need to be carried around then in their pockets, right,
15:53
Speaker 11: Get them a dumb phone, guys, get them one that could.
15:55
Speaker 10: Just call if you need to track your kids through that.
15:57
Speaker 11: But look, absolutely the ban has been confronting for me,
16:01
Speaker 11: I think personally because I don't believe in big government.
16:04
Speaker 11: I don't think government should be telling us how to parent.
16:07
Speaker 11: But I have been urging parents to do this for
16:10
Speaker 11: the last five ten years and they haven't been able
16:13
Speaker 11: to do it. No parent hands over social media to
16:16
Speaker 11: their twelve year old happily, willingly. They do it because
16:19
Speaker 11: every single other child has it, and my child will
16:22
Speaker 11: be left out. And so I think, you know, we
16:25
Speaker 11: have to do something, we have to try something, and
16:29
Speaker 11: this band is significant. It's enormous on an international front,
16:33
Speaker 11: it has never been done. We are absolutely leading the
16:37
Speaker 11: way and I do think other countries will watch this
16:40
Speaker 11: for a few years and then we'll follow with what
16:42
Speaker 11: we're doing. So yeah, I totally get the big government
16:47
Speaker 11: overreach telling parents what to do. But at the end
16:51
Speaker 11: of the day, I am seeing the effects of social
16:53
Speaker 11: media on kids, and beyond that just screen addiction. And
16:57
Speaker 11: it's not just so much like that very clever campaign
17:00
Speaker 11: and showed what they're seeing online.
17:02
Speaker 10: It's actually also.
17:04
Speaker 11: Just the pure addictive nature that adults struggle with.
17:07
Speaker 1: Exactly, how can we give hours how to restrain themselves.
17:12
Speaker 11: They're not sleeping, they're not eating sometimes, they're not socializing,
17:15
Speaker 11: they're not they're certainly not doing their schoolwork. So six
17:18
Speaker 11: seven eight hours daily they are spending looking into a screen.
17:22
Speaker 1: You're so right, because I hear this from so many
17:25
Speaker 1: other parents with older children in line, I have little
17:28
Speaker 1: kids and they've struggled because every other parent, they say,
17:32
Speaker 1: has given in, and they're giving in because other parents
17:35
Speaker 1: are giving in. So maybe it does take this big
17:38
Speaker 1: government to actually, let's put a pause on all this reassess.
17:43
Speaker 1: But of course a lot of people have expressed concerns
17:46
Speaker 1: that how is this technology which is essentially going to
17:49
Speaker 1: be used to identify people, how that might be exploited.
17:55
Speaker 1: We've already seen overseas in the UK people being arrested
17:58
Speaker 1: for their opinion. Even in Australia women being taken to court.
18:02
Speaker 1: We're writing things online about trans ideology. Do you have
18:06
Speaker 1: concerns about overreach and this being exploited.
18:10
Speaker 11: Yeah, as the band stands at the moment, I don't,
18:13
Speaker 11: but it's that, you know, the pathway to hell is
18:16
Speaker 11: paved with you know, good intentions, and so yes, I
18:20
Speaker 11: don't think that we need to be careful where this
18:22
Speaker 11: goes from here. And the difficulty in commenting on that
18:26
Speaker 11: is that we are October next week. This is coming
18:28
Speaker 11: in in December, and we still don't have details about
18:32
Speaker 11: how it is actually going to be enforced, and the
18:35
Speaker 11: ernest will go back on the tech companies to be
18:37
Speaker 11: able to do that, and.
18:38
Speaker 10: So I feel like.
18:39
Speaker 11: We'll all just head into December and we still don't
18:42
Speaker 11: really know. But at the end of the day, on
18:44
Speaker 11: a family level, I'm already seeing the benefits of it
18:48
Speaker 11: for any child that's about to turn twelve and have
18:51
Speaker 11: done since this band has come into place, parents have
18:54
Speaker 11: already said no, you're not getting it because it's going
18:56
Speaker 11: to be banned in December anyway, and I'm not going
18:58
Speaker 11: to be able to take it off you in December.
19:00
Speaker 10: I'm already seeing the very.
19:01
Speaker 11: Positive of kids who never got social media this year
19:06
Speaker 11: when they were expecting to get it, and parents already
19:09
Speaker 11: feeling in powered, regardless of how it's monitored by the
19:11
Speaker 11: tech companies, to say no, you're not.
19:14
Speaker 10: Going to have it.
19:14
Speaker 1: So even just the news that is coming in is
19:18
Speaker 1: already having a positive impact.
19:19
Speaker 2: That's interesting.
19:20
Speaker 10: Look.
19:20
Speaker 1: Some critics have also pointed out that teenagers being teenagers,
19:25
Speaker 1: they will find a loophole, a way around it. I mean,
19:28
Speaker 1: does that mean though we shouldn't at least try something.
19:31
Speaker 10: Of course they will will. There will still be teenagers.
19:34
Speaker 11: There will be twelve year olds, There will be ten
19:35
Speaker 11: year olds on social media. After December, there will be
19:39
Speaker 11: at seventeen year olds drink alcohol.
19:41
Speaker 10: Does it mean we change the law? Okay? Then absolutely
19:44
Speaker 10: will be.
19:45
Speaker 11: The thing that this is going to provide parents is
19:47
Speaker 11: to say not every kid has it. I know at
19:50
Speaker 11: least half the class, half a dozen, a couple of
19:53
Speaker 11: you who don't have it. You are now not the
19:56
Speaker 11: only one. And yes, my child will be able to
19:59
Speaker 11: say little Johnny's got at all. This person's you know,
20:01
Speaker 11: found the loophole. Okay, that's for their parents to parent
20:04
Speaker 11: them and work that out for them and their family.
20:07
Speaker 11: But I also know all these other families who don't
20:09
Speaker 11: have it, So I don't think we can use that
20:11
Speaker 11: as a reason to back down from this. I also
20:14
Speaker 11: really don't like the argument that, oh, well, they're growing
20:17
Speaker 11: up in a tech, you know, digital age, they have
20:20
Speaker 11: to learn to know use social media and navigate it.
20:24
Speaker 11: I just think what we're talking here is thirty six months.
20:27
Speaker 11: We're talking a couple of more years of childhood. Don't
20:30
Speaker 11: tell me that you're not going to give a sixteen
20:31
Speaker 11: year old social media and they won't work that out right,
20:34
Speaker 11: within five minutes, They'll be fine.
20:35
Speaker 10: They'll work it out.
20:36
Speaker 11: Okay, we don't need to teach them at ten, eleven, twelve.
20:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, my three year old those hot to s growl
20:41
Speaker 1: and an I pad in a phone.
20:42
Speaker 2: They'll be absolutely fine this generation.
20:45
Speaker 1: But of course people are looking for problems with us
20:49
Speaker 1: as well.
20:49
Speaker 2: And Elon Musk speaking of tech.
20:51
Speaker 1: Giants, well, he's pointed out that that that should this
20:56
Speaker 1: won't isn't a good thing. Of course he has he
20:58
Speaker 1: owns X said that it will curb children's rights to
21:03
Speaker 1: free speech and their right to information. He wants at
21:06
Speaker 1: least a six month delay to the band coming in.
21:09
Speaker 1: He's absolutely blasted it. I mean, what confidence do we
21:13
Speaker 1: really have in tech giants actually sticking to this. And
21:18
Speaker 1: what do you say as a child psychologist to this
21:20
Speaker 1: idea that their rights are being impinged on?
21:23
Speaker 11: Well, well, first of all, you're asking me, do I
21:25
Speaker 11: have confidence in the tech company that.
21:27
Speaker 10: Is solely for profit, solely for profit, that they are
21:31
Speaker 10: going to put consumers well being? First? No, I don't
21:34
Speaker 10: have confidence in that. Would why would we listen to.
21:37
Speaker 11: Someone like Elon Musk sprouting about kids welfare? And second
21:41
Speaker 11: of all, did kids not have rights before, you know,
21:44
Speaker 11: and rights to speak up and rights to express themselves
21:47
Speaker 11: before social media came in? This is a very new
21:49
Speaker 11: phenomenon in human history. And what about the right to
21:53
Speaker 11: have a childhood? What about the child's right to disconnect,
21:58
Speaker 11: go outside, learn to have healthy, proper relationships.
22:01
Speaker 10: I actually think the conversation is.
22:03
Speaker 11: About the right to protect childhood just up until sixteen.
22:07
Speaker 10: That's it.
22:08
Speaker 11: And get back to you know, they're still going to
22:10
Speaker 11: have screens in the classroom.
22:11
Speaker 10: Classrooms are full of screens.
22:12
Speaker 11: They're still going to have their laptops, they're still going
22:14
Speaker 11: to have the smartboards. Their lives will still be very
22:16
Speaker 11: much on screens. Can we just give them a break
22:20
Speaker 11: for a few more years before this.
22:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, very well put, and they can always get their
22:24
Speaker 1: information from.
22:25
Speaker 2: Sky News if they need to go somewhere.
22:27
Speaker 1: Researchers are already preparing to track the impacts of this
22:30
Speaker 1: ban on under sixteens using apps like TikTok. As a psychologist,
22:34
Speaker 1: what are you expecting to see in clinic when the
22:37
Speaker 1: ban actually takes effect? Or maybe you've seen it a
22:39
Speaker 1: little bit already with some parents using it the impending
22:43
Speaker 1: ban as a way of stopping the kids from getting
22:46
Speaker 1: social media. Do you expect to see signs of distress, anxiety,
22:50
Speaker 1: and teens withdrawal symptoms?
22:52
Speaker 10: H peably.
22:53
Speaker 11: But look, I think one of the most encouraging things
22:56
Speaker 11: about this ban is the investment into research.
22:59
Speaker 10: So it's not going to be just.
23:00
Speaker 11: Anecdotal of myself saying what I observed in the clinic
23:03
Speaker 11: any longer. We're going to have a couple of years
23:05
Speaker 11: worth of finding out exactly what happens when we give
23:09
Speaker 11: these kids a break from what I've called digital cocaine.
23:13
Speaker 11: You know, what happens to their sleep, what happens to
23:15
Speaker 11: their focus in the classroom, what happens to their relationships
23:18
Speaker 11: with their friends, And we're going to know that, and
23:20
Speaker 11: I think that is going to ripple globally. People going
23:22
Speaker 11: to watch that, and that's when I think other countries
23:25
Speaker 11: are going to get on board. Look, I do think
23:28
Speaker 11: that there will be I genuinely think that this is
23:30
Speaker 11: a neurological addiction for a lot of adults as well
23:33
Speaker 11: as children. There will be difficulties getting kids off it.
23:36
Speaker 11: If your kids already on social media, will you be
23:39
Speaker 11: able to now take them off in December? I think
23:41
Speaker 11: it's going to be a really hard job. I think
23:43
Speaker 11: this is going to benefit people like us who have
23:45
Speaker 11: younger children just will never have it. The ones who
23:50
Speaker 11: are already on it. Yes, we are already getting calls
23:53
Speaker 11: to my clinic and call outs from parents for asking
23:57
Speaker 11: for advice.
23:58
Speaker 10: If I do want to get them off in December,
23:59
Speaker 10: do I go cold turkey? How do I do it?
24:02
Speaker 10: I mean, even the language around it, it is like
24:04
Speaker 10: a drug.
24:05
Speaker 2: And it is.
24:06
Speaker 11: But you mentioned Jonathan Height before and his research is
24:09
Speaker 11: really interesting and it's been replicated that if you ask
24:12
Speaker 11: a young person how would you feel if we took
24:15
Speaker 11: away social media from you? Their first question is are
24:19
Speaker 11: you taking it away from everyone else? And if the
24:21
Speaker 11: answer is yes, no, one's going to have it. Yeah,
24:24
Speaker 11: they actually say, oh that'd be good. Yeah, actually that
24:26
Speaker 11: would be a lot of them are welcome it.
24:28
Speaker 1: I think it's you know, even as an adult, the
24:32
Speaker 1: doom scrolling and they're set up for you to endlessly
24:36
Speaker 1: scroll on there and you waste hours anything.
24:39
Speaker 2: I didn't want to do it.
24:40
Speaker 10: That's the product.
24:41
Speaker 11: The exactly lays a layers of employees in Silicon Valley
24:44
Speaker 11: where their only job is to tweak that platform to
24:48
Speaker 11: get you to stay on it longer.
24:50
Speaker 1: Clairo, such an interesting conversation, very important one for people
24:53
Speaker 1: at home.
24:53
Speaker 2: Thank you.
24:54
Speaker 1: Coming up after the break. The Communications Minister wants to
24:58
Speaker 1: whole Singtel, the owner of Optus, over the calls, at
25:01
Speaker 1: a Senate hearing next week. But what will the government
25:04
Speaker 1: do to guarantee Australia's emergency services network? Plus, Susan Lee
25:10
Speaker 1: has taken a swipe at Anthony Albanizi, warning his failure
25:14
Speaker 1: to build a strong relationship with Trump has left Australia
25:18
Speaker 1: exposed to the president's shock one hundred percent tariff on pharmaceuticals.
25:23
Speaker 1: That's next, Well, plenty of news around both in Australia
25:30
Speaker 1: and overseas, so let's jump straight into it with Friday
25:33
Speaker 1: Night regular and former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman Campbell.
25:38
Speaker 2: Great to see you.
25:39
Speaker 1: It's been a couple of weeks to forget for Optus
25:43
Speaker 1: and its owner Sinktel, after an outage shut down the
25:46
Speaker 1: emergency services network across South Australia and the Northern Territory.
25:51
Speaker 2: Now the outage has been linked to the.
25:53
Speaker 1: Deaths of three people, including a baby boy.
25:57
Speaker 2: Campbell.
25:58
Speaker 1: The Communications Minister has now summoned the chief executive of
26:02
Speaker 1: SINTEL to a committee hearing on Monday to explain its
26:06
Speaker 1: role in this saga. The last time that happened, the
26:10
Speaker 1: former Optis chief was dragged over the coals and promptly resigned.
26:14
Speaker 2: Do you think we'll see that happen again.
26:18
Speaker 12: Well, Caroline, who knows exactly. I guess the forces are
26:23
Speaker 12: lining up to pressure the CEO to resign. But I'd
26:27
Speaker 12: make this point that not only should Optis be held
26:31
Speaker 12: to account, and it's all very well for them to
26:34
Speaker 12: be hauled down.
26:35
Speaker 10: To Canbra, but what about Akma.
26:37
Speaker 12: I mean, this has happened before with Optis and there
26:41
Speaker 12: were recommendations about how to stop this happening again. But
26:45
Speaker 12: a regulator that was on top of their game would
26:48
Speaker 12: have been down there looking in detail internally in OPTIS,
26:52
Speaker 12: doing it, ordit, making sure the things that they said
26:55
Speaker 12: they were going to do have been done. And I
26:57
Speaker 12: asked the question this evening as AKA done the job.
27:00
Speaker 12: It's all very well for a bit of sort of
27:02
Speaker 12: high theater media performative art by the minister, but the
27:06
Speaker 12: Minister should be asking ACMA the hard questions as well.
27:09
Speaker 12: So yes, let's get to the bottom of OPTIS. Let's
27:12
Speaker 12: make sure that they lift their game. But we need
27:14
Speaker 12: the regulator to be on top of things in the future.
27:17
Speaker 1: So other than more scrutiny for the regulator, what other
27:20
Speaker 1: action do you think the federal government needs to take
27:23
Speaker 1: to ensure more lives and not put at risk if
27:26
Speaker 1: and probably when this happens again.
27:31
Speaker 12: Well, you know, I'm not sure entirely of the powers
27:34
Speaker 12: of AKMA when it comes to this, but surely at
27:37
Speaker 12: the end of the day there's the ultimate sanction about
27:41
Speaker 12: whether they can continue with the current management team and
27:44
Speaker 12: have a license. So I guess that you know the
27:48
Speaker 12: fit between the federal government themselves, the executive and AKMA
27:52
Speaker 12: that they can force change within within OPTIS, and they
27:56
Speaker 12: should also be putting pressure on Sintel to answer some
28:00
Speaker 12: tough questions as well, because there have been stories in
28:03
Speaker 12: the media Caroline that measures that s Intel have imposed
28:07
Speaker 12: on Optus may have compromised the technical capability within Optus.
28:13
Speaker 1: Well, I mean it is the second such outage for
28:16
Speaker 1: OPTAs of course, in two years. In a two year period,
28:19
Speaker 1: I mean, do you think this needs to be the
28:21
Speaker 1: beginning of the end for the telcos? Things were imposed
28:25
Speaker 1: on them previously, this has happened despite that, Should they
28:30
Speaker 1: be allowed to continue to operate?
28:34
Speaker 12: Well, I think it's a very big issue to try
28:39
Speaker 12: and take away their license and shut them down, and
28:42
Speaker 12: that I think is far too complicated to unravel. But
28:45
Speaker 12: impose conditions that sees a proper change.
28:50
Speaker 3: At the top, whether it be the board and.
28:53
Speaker 12: There's a question mark about how much power they really
28:55
Speaker 12: have given Sintel owned them one hundred percent, but also
28:58
Speaker 12: then imposing change in terms of the management team. As
29:01
Speaker 12: I said, let's not let Akma get away from this
29:05
Speaker 12: without query. The regulator needs to be sort of demonstrating
29:10
Speaker 12: to the minister and to the government that they actually
29:14
Speaker 12: have taken steps to really look at what's going on,
29:17
Speaker 12: do a deep dive within the organization. I mean asse
29:20
Speaker 12: for example, when they're doing their job properly. We'll do
29:23
Speaker 12: a deep dive inside financial services organizations to make sure
29:27
Speaker 12: that they are actually complying with the law. And that's
29:30
Speaker 12: what should happen here.
29:32
Speaker 1: Okay, let's move on to something else. Susan Lee has
29:35
Speaker 1: worn to Anthony Albanize's failure to build a strong relationship
29:39
Speaker 1: with Donald Trump has left Australia exposed to the US
29:42
Speaker 1: president's shock one hundred percent tariff on pharmaceuticals, putting local
29:47
Speaker 1: jobs and critical trade at risk. I made a similar
29:50
Speaker 1: similar argument at the top of the show, Campbell, Is
29:54
Speaker 1: she right that the Prime Minister should have built that
29:58
Speaker 1: connection by now, because do you think it would have
30:00
Speaker 1: actually made a difference in relation in relation to this announcement?
30:06
Speaker 12: Well, I think she is right on this one, and
30:09
Speaker 12: I think that building a relationship early, earlier in this
30:14
Speaker 12: Trump administration could have made a difference. I mean, the
30:17
Speaker 12: Labor Party have been running around high fiving the last
30:20
Speaker 12: two or three days. Oh, the PM has got a meeting,
30:23
Speaker 12: How wonderful, and a lot of people in the media
30:25
Speaker 12: have dutifully gone.
30:26
Speaker 2: Oh wow, this is sensational.
30:28
Speaker 12: Well, you know, the relationship needed to be established months ago,
30:34
Speaker 12: and the case that Australia has a unique position as
30:38
Speaker 12: one of America's most reliable allies should have been put
30:43
Speaker 12: on the table. We know that the Trump administration and
30:46
Speaker 12: the President were concerned for a long time about our
30:50
Speaker 12: wonderful pharmaceutical benefit scheme, and that needed to be dealt with.
30:55
Speaker 12: But what's happened over this year, Well, the Albanese administration
31:00
Speaker 12: here has done everything they can to antagonize the US.
31:05
Speaker 12: I mean, really, you know, the recognition of Palestine when
31:09
Speaker 12: there isn't anybody who can take over, you know, it
31:11
Speaker 12: goes on and on and on. You know, there's been
31:13
Speaker 12: so many pokes in the eye. I think he's lucky
31:16
Speaker 12: he's got a meeting. By the way, when he does
31:17
Speaker 12: turn up for the meeting, if he doesn't get sort
31:19
Speaker 12: of auled over the coles publicly by by Dad, you know.
31:26
Speaker 3: Daddy going to be a bit surprised.
31:28
Speaker 10: I know.
31:28
Speaker 1: Well, we've seen what's happened to other world leaders in
31:32
Speaker 1: the Oval Office, so look, they may not be posing
31:35
Speaker 1: for a happy snap selfie by the end of it, Campbell,
31:38
Speaker 1: but look, things aren't.
31:39
Speaker 10: So rosy either.
31:40
Speaker 1: In the Liberal Party federally Shadow Home Affairs Minister Andrew
31:44
Speaker 1: Hasty hasn't been far from the headlines this week with
31:47
Speaker 1: comments about Australia's high levels of migration, and now a
31:51
Speaker 1: lot of Liberal insiders are saying they didn't expect Hasty
31:55
Speaker 1: to agitate this early into the new term. There seems
31:58
Speaker 1: to be a lot of leaking against him and he's
32:01
Speaker 1: come out with some strong words against those leaders. But
32:04
Speaker 1: he still has a lot of support, especially from plenty
32:06
Speaker 1: of Liberals who don't want to show their cards yet,
32:09
Speaker 1: he says, Susan Lee has his support. I'm not sure
32:13
Speaker 1: if we necessarily believe him about that. What have you
32:16
Speaker 1: made of his interventions?
32:20
Speaker 12: Well, someone needed to step up and actually send a
32:24
Speaker 12: message to Australians that there is an alternative, that there's
32:28
Speaker 12: someone who is lining up to defend them. Let me
32:31
Speaker 12: put it like this. When I lost to Anastasia Palachet
32:35
Speaker 12: in twenty fifteen, everyone was surprised we were a first
32:40
Speaker 12: term government. We had a huge majority. But the difference
32:43
Speaker 12: between the ALP in twenty twelve to twenty fifteen in
32:47
Speaker 12: Queensland and the Liberal Party today is that Anastasia Palachet
32:51
Speaker 12: I'm giving credit here and the very small ALP caucus
32:56
Speaker 12: got on and took the fight to my government and
32:59
Speaker 12: me personally, very personally. But they never lay down. They
33:03
Speaker 12: never sort of said, oh, we're going to spend sort
33:05
Speaker 12: of a year thinking about policy. They got on and
33:08
Speaker 12: took a fight up to my government and against all expectations,
33:12
Speaker 12: they won. That's what Hasty is doing here, because I'm
33:16
Speaker 12: afraid the lead of the opposition hasn't and nor have
33:19
Speaker 12: other senior members of the team, apart from of course,
33:24
Speaker 12: just send a price. So it had to be done,
33:28
Speaker 12: you know. And Susan Lee has taken them back in
33:30
Speaker 12: the polls and I think her leadership is right on
33:34
Speaker 12: a knife edge now and there will need to be changed.
33:37
Speaker 12: And for these people who just want to sit around
33:40
Speaker 12: and wait and sort of have this sort of ridiculous
33:43
Speaker 12: view that oh, well we can't win in two and
33:46
Speaker 12: a half years time, that is pathetic. Again, Palachet didn't
33:51
Speaker 12: do that. The Liberal Party shouldn't be doing that. Australia
33:54
Speaker 12: deserves better. There are so many issues they could be
33:57
Speaker 12: taking the government on and they really should get to
34:01
Speaker 12: work right now, not engage in a lot of naval games.
34:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, they cannot afford to coast along. There are just
34:08
Speaker 1: too many seats that they need to try and fight
34:10
Speaker 1: to win back. Campbell Newman always greats a chat thank
34:13
Speaker 1: you after the break, Bondney's most famous lifeguard swaps the
34:18
Speaker 1: rescue board for the Bookshelf. Anthony Harry's Carroll has a
34:22
Speaker 1: new children's book he's written with his family. That's next, Well,
34:30
Speaker 1: my next guest is possibly the world's most famous lifeguard.
34:34
Speaker 1: Anthony Harry's Carol is one of the most recognizable faces
34:38
Speaker 1: off the TV reality show Bondi Rescue, which has aired
34:42
Speaker 1: in more than two hundred countries over the past twenty years.
34:47
Speaker 3: Harry has grabbed a defibrillator and oxygen kit.
34:51
Speaker 7: When I'm running up, the guy says that baby's just
34:54
Speaker 7: been laying there for a fair woe. So you know,
34:57
Speaker 7: I'm just trying to stay calm at this stage. I'm
34:59
Speaker 7: just wanting to take deep breaths. If it is a baby,
35:06
Speaker 7: this is the most important thing ever. Survival of life
35:09
Speaker 7: for a child surpasses anything I've ever done in my career.
35:15
Speaker 1: But after thirty years patrolling Bondi Beach and helping save
35:19
Speaker 1: more than six thousand lives, Harry's has embarked on a
35:22
Speaker 1: new challenge writing a children's book, and I'm pleased to
35:26
Speaker 1: say Harry's joins me now welcome.
35:28
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, and thank you for wearing more
35:30
Speaker 2: clothes than you may usually do on the beach.
35:33
Speaker 1: But before we get to the book, six thousand lives,
35:36
Speaker 1: I mean, that is an incredible statistic and achievement. And
35:39
Speaker 1: we just saw a clip of you that from the
35:41
Speaker 1: show saving an eight week called Baby's Life. Is there
35:46
Speaker 1: a standout story from you over your time as a
35:49
Speaker 1: life god?
35:50
Speaker 2: Was that it?
35:51
Speaker 7: There's been so many defining moments throughout my career bringing
35:55
Speaker 7: people back to life. And you can't save everyone, but
35:58
Speaker 7: to save that eight week old bay that has to be.
36:01
Speaker 3: One of my special moments.
36:03
Speaker 7: The baby was lifeless just laying there, and you know,
36:07
Speaker 7: to be a lifeguard, it's a very simple, mundane task.
36:10
Speaker 7: And all of a sudden, you've got this child in
36:12
Speaker 7: your hands, You've got the parents above you crying, you've
36:15
Speaker 7: got subject matter experts all around you, and it's all
36:18
Speaker 7: on top of you and you have to kind of
36:21
Speaker 7: just get this American touchdown.
36:22
Speaker 3: You have to bring the baby back to life.
36:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you did, And did you ever hear back
36:26
Speaker 1: from the family or find out what happened to that baby.
36:29
Speaker 7: The mother and father come down with a little baby,
36:31
Speaker 7: and I hugged the baby.
36:33
Speaker 3: It was just so special to be able to hold
36:36
Speaker 3: this beautiful little child.
36:37
Speaker 7: It did have a couple of injuries from the accident,
36:42
Speaker 7: but to.
36:42
Speaker 3: Hold the baby, it's amazing.
36:45
Speaker 7: And to me being a father, it's a very changing
36:48
Speaker 7: thing too, because you know that the magnitude of.
36:51
Speaker 3: Saving a child is just huge.
36:53
Speaker 7: So yeah, hopefully I have a relationship with that child
36:56
Speaker 7: one day down the track, or maybe one day he
36:59
Speaker 7: brings his special gear down to Bondi and save someone
37:01
Speaker 7: for me.
37:02
Speaker 2: That would be incredible. What a story.
37:05
Speaker 1: Now you've taken your hand to writing, with the help
37:08
Speaker 1: of your wife, your new children's book called Harry's It's
37:12
Speaker 1: not just a testament to the life saving work that
37:15
Speaker 1: you and all our lifeguards do, but it's also about
37:17
Speaker 1: overcoming your own childhood struggles. You talk about your dyslexia
37:22
Speaker 1: and you're bullying.
37:23
Speaker 2: Why was it important for you to write this book?
37:25
Speaker 7: This is so important to have been part of this
37:29
Speaker 7: incredible journey of putting my life into this book. I
37:32
Speaker 7: couldn't read or write as a kid. I had a
37:35
Speaker 7: twin brother that suffered as well. We had dyslexia, and
37:38
Speaker 7: schooling for us was just so hard. We had a
37:41
Speaker 7: migrant as a mother, and she tried so many things
37:44
Speaker 7: to help us out, you know, and to kids are
37:48
Speaker 7: just kids. They're going to bully you, they're going to
37:50
Speaker 7: write things on wars. And I really found my hearts
37:55
Speaker 7: to kind of create this beautiful book that we've made
37:57
Speaker 7: here to help all the kids there. And I think
38:00
Speaker 7: it's just so important to have a message that everyone
38:05
Speaker 7: has a special gift. You don't have to be the
38:07
Speaker 7: best reader or a writer out there. You know how
38:09
Speaker 7: many professors.
38:10
Speaker 3: Of I saved out there. I've saved politicians, I've saved celebrities.
38:14
Speaker 7: I've saved everyone out in the water, you know. So
38:16
Speaker 7: that's my special gift. And I want to instill that
38:19
Speaker 7: into all the kids that it doesn't matter if they're
38:22
Speaker 7: good at academic, or they're good at sport, or they're
38:24
Speaker 7: good at just.
38:25
Speaker 3: Helping out the family. We all have a special gift. Now.
38:28
Speaker 1: We spent a lot of time on this program talking
38:31
Speaker 1: about the new social media band coming in and back
38:34
Speaker 1: and perhaps our day when we were growing up, we
38:35
Speaker 1: didn't have social media, it was real life bullying. Now
38:39
Speaker 1: it's become a real epidemic. What advice would you have
38:43
Speaker 1: for families who are grappling with this and children who
38:46
Speaker 1: are grappling with us?
38:47
Speaker 7: Yes, social media is it's a crazy whirlwind that we're
38:51
Speaker 7: in now. And before when Bondi Riscue did start, we
38:54
Speaker 7: didn't have social media. So I've had to encompass this
38:57
Speaker 7: amazing brand of putting myself out there and that's that's
39:01
Speaker 7: having my children on social media too, and having that
39:05
Speaker 7: awareness that you know, looking through that lens or a
39:08
Speaker 7: smoking mirror lens, it's not everything. And I really do
39:12
Speaker 7: feel for the children now and to keep the children offen.
39:15
Speaker 3: And have this band, I think it's vitally important.
39:17
Speaker 7: We have beautiful outdoors, we have beaches, go out and
39:21
Speaker 7: enjoy these beautiful places that we have, and you know,
39:24
Speaker 7: and quite bluntly, get off the devices and let's have fun.
39:27
Speaker 1: Well, I think this weekend is going to be lovely
39:29
Speaker 1: whether so, maybe people should join you at Bondi Beach.
39:32
Speaker 2: What is next for the show Bonde I Rescue.
39:34
Speaker 1: It's still airing on television here and overseas. Are then
39:38
Speaker 1: new seasons that are going to be filmed.
39:40
Speaker 7: They're hoping to come back for a new season of
39:42
Speaker 7: Bondi Rescue and yeah, it's become so popular throughout the
39:47
Speaker 7: world now, I think it's reached over a couple of
39:49
Speaker 7: being views on YouTube. And it's like part of the furniture,
39:53
Speaker 7: that feeling of you know, being on the beach and
39:57
Speaker 7: getting filmed by the over twenty five cameras down there.
40:00
Speaker 3: It's incredible looking.
40:01
Speaker 7: Back now after twenty years of been filmed and going wow,
40:05
Speaker 7: I actually say that person and they've walked home off
40:07
Speaker 7: the beach with their family. So we're really giving a
40:10
Speaker 7: beautiful message out there. And this is actually an educating
40:13
Speaker 7: message too that kids should spend time either reading this
40:16
Speaker 7: book or you know, watching Bondererski instead of being on
40:19
Speaker 7: social media.
40:20
Speaker 2: Have a run on the beach.
40:21
Speaker 1: Harry's thank you so much for your time, and I
40:23
Speaker 1: should declare a friend of mine. Carlor Hoffenberger is the
40:25
Speaker 1: illustrator of this beautiful book and Harry's wife, Emily Carol
40:30
Speaker 1: also helped him to write it. Coming up after the break,
40:33
Speaker 1: never mind the spiraling debt, the Victorian state government is
40:37
Speaker 1: plowing ahead with the suburban rail loop. Nobody seems to
40:41
Speaker 1: want now new details about funding concerns. Well, let's get
40:50
Speaker 1: into the latest news now with Mia Schlicht from the IPA.
40:54
Speaker 2: Mia welcome.
40:55
Speaker 1: Confidential documents have revealed senior Victorian bureaucrats were panicking as
41:01
Speaker 1: far back as twenty twenty two over Anthony Albanese's refusal
41:05
Speaker 1: to tip in an extra nine billion dollars for the
41:08
Speaker 1: suburban rail loop infrastructure. Australia has since blasted the project's
41:13
Speaker 1: business case, even warning benefits were overstated.
41:17
Speaker 2: While the Allen government.
41:18
Speaker 1: Insists it's vital for Melbourne's future, meat this project has
41:22
Speaker 1: been described as a financial gamble with taxpayers money. Is
41:27
Speaker 1: this another case of labor over promising and under delivering?
41:34
Speaker 13: Yes, Caroline, I think it is that this project is shocking.
41:37
Speaker 13: It's a shocking project. I mean it's unaffordable, it's unpopular
41:41
Speaker 13: and at this time it's just completely unnecessary as well.
41:45
Speaker 13: And the reality is is the Victorian state is broke,
41:48
Speaker 13: there is no money, there is no way to finance this,
41:52
Speaker 13: and with this state government's history of how they've dealt
41:55
Speaker 13: with major infrastructure projects, there's no doubt there'll be further
41:58
Speaker 13: cost blowouts and timeline blow arts as well. So I
42:01
Speaker 13: think it's no surprise as the Prime Minister is putting
42:03
Speaker 13: up his hands and taking a step back saying I
42:05
Speaker 13: don't want anything to do with this. But what I'm
42:08
Speaker 13: most worried about is that the Premiere is just so
42:11
Speaker 13: dedicated with continuing forward with this project that she wants
42:15
Speaker 13: to just go ahead at all costs, even going as
42:17
Speaker 13: far as to effectively bring back the Belgian Road Initiative
42:21
Speaker 13: on a recent trip to China in order to finance this.
42:24
Speaker 1: I want to bring in now Scarness contributor Joe Hildebrand, Joe,
42:28
Speaker 1: great to have you as well. Infrastructure Australia say these
42:32
Speaker 1: costs don't stack up. But do you think the suburban
42:35
Speaker 1: rail loop is now shaping up to be the biggest
42:37
Speaker 1: white elephant in Australian politics?
42:40
Speaker 9: Yeah, it certainly is. I mean, I'm a huge fan
42:43
Speaker 9: of RALE, I love, I'm a massive train nerd and
42:46
Speaker 9: I think, to be honest, it is something that has
42:49
Speaker 9: to happen, but the government clearly just hasn't made a
42:52
Speaker 9: financial case for it. I mean, firstly, they should have
42:55
Speaker 9: done an airport link first. Secondly, they've budgeted for a
42:59
Speaker 9: third to be funded by the state government. A third
43:03
Speaker 9: to be funded by the federal government which is in
43:04
Speaker 9: forthcoming yet and the third to just sort of fall
43:07
Speaker 9: out of the sky from increased economic productivity whenever and
43:12
Speaker 9: if that happens, So it is a basket case. It's
43:16
Speaker 9: another example of the Victorian State government, which is run
43:20
Speaker 9: by the left of the Labor Party basically just running
43:23
Speaker 9: on fumes instead of actual material economic gains.
43:28
Speaker 1: Well, let's move on now, because it turns out that
43:31
Speaker 1: running a university pays a whole lot better than.
43:34
Speaker 2: Running the country. Who would have thought.
43:36
Speaker 1: A Senate inquiry has revealed thirty eight vice chancellors are
43:40
Speaker 1: now taking home bigger salaries than the Prime minister. Even
43:44
Speaker 1: Bill Shorten is getting eight hundred and sixty thousand dollars
43:48
Speaker 1: a year at Canberra Uni. But I got to say,
43:50
Speaker 1: at least he is willing to crack down on anti
43:52
Speaker 1: Semitism on campus, as he revealed to me in an
43:56
Speaker 1: interview a short time ago. Was pretty impressed with that.
43:59
Speaker 1: But Joe think these salaries are justifiable.
44:03
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think as long as the vcs are doing
44:06
Speaker 9: a good job and actually upholding things like freedom of
44:08
Speaker 9: speech on campus and cracking down some of the terrible
44:12
Speaker 9: anti semitism we've seen at some universities. I think Bill
44:14
Speaker 9: Shorton is actually going to be a really interesting vice chancellor.
44:17
Speaker 9: I've had some private chats about what he plans to
44:20
Speaker 9: do with the University of Canberra and it actually sounds
44:23
Speaker 9: really refreshing and really exciting. But I also worry about
44:28
Speaker 9: kind of constantly say, I mean, these guys are paid
44:31
Speaker 9: not dissimilar to what a lot of top public service
44:33
Speaker 9: mandarins are, the Secretary of Treasury and PM and C
44:36
Speaker 9: and others. I think if you pay peanuts, you do
44:39
Speaker 9: get monkeys, and you do risk losing big brains to
44:42
Speaker 9: the private sector, where you get vastly more remuneration. So
44:46
Speaker 9: I think we want to make sure that these people
44:48
Speaker 9: are held to account and then we're getting value for money,
44:51
Speaker 9: not necessarily just writing off a figure because it looks
44:54
Speaker 9: too high to schmucks like us.
44:56
Speaker 2: Look, hey, we're no schmucks to Hilda round.
45:00
Speaker 1: If you're getting millions of dollars in taxpayer funds, surely
45:02
Speaker 1: there has to be oversight and scrutiny.
45:05
Speaker 2: I'm sure we'd all agree.
45:06
Speaker 1: Let's go to the US now with former FBI director
45:09
Speaker 1: James Comy has been indicted on charges of making false
45:13
Speaker 1: statements and obstruction.
45:15
Speaker 2: Prosecutors say he lied in.
45:17
Speaker 1: Congressional testimony back in twenty twenty about media leagues tied
45:22
Speaker 1: to the Clinton Foundation probe. Now this all comes just
45:25
Speaker 1: days after Trump publicly demanded action. He ousted a US
45:29
Speaker 1: attorney who wouldn't bring the case, and installed one of
45:32
Speaker 1: his own former lawyers to run the prosecution. Mea, Democrats
45:36
Speaker 1: are predictably crying foul about this, But what about Comee's
45:40
Speaker 1: actual testimony. If prosecutors believed he lied under oath, that
45:44
Speaker 1: should be taken seriously, surely, regardless of the politics.
45:50
Speaker 13: Yeah, listen, I don't have a lot of sympathy for
45:52
Speaker 13: James Comy in this one. I mean, he certainly sought
45:54
Speaker 13: to give himself a very high profile whilst he was
45:57
Speaker 13: in the role, and he was constantly inserting himself into
46:00
Speaker 13: public debates. And I also don't have much to say
46:04
Speaker 13: on this claim of the Democrats criticizing Trump's use of
46:07
Speaker 13: the courts to highlight, uh some of the corruption that
46:10
Speaker 13: is going on when his so called enemies certainly weren't
46:13
Speaker 13: afraid of using the courts against him when it suited them.
46:17
Speaker 13: But what I think is really important here because this
46:19
Speaker 13: is an issue not just in the United States, but
46:22
Speaker 13: also in Australia, where we have this trend of bureaucrats
46:26
Speaker 13: who are supposed to be in these roles to serve
46:28
Speaker 13: the public good. However they are frequently using their positions
46:32
Speaker 13: to serve their own political ideals and their own beliefs.
46:36
Speaker 13: So I think it's really important that we start shining
46:38
Speaker 13: the light on who it is who is pulling the
46:41
Speaker 13: levers of power.
46:42
Speaker 1: Such a good point, and the system was weaponized against
46:46
Speaker 1: Trump for so long, so it's a bit rich for
46:49
Speaker 1: people to criticize him for fighting back now. Jimmy Kimmel
46:54
Speaker 1: is back, speaking of people who are back, and his
46:57
Speaker 1: comeback show has smashed recks.
47:00
Speaker 2: Chords with more than six million viewers.
47:02
Speaker 1: But instead of having some humility, he went after Donald Trump,
47:07
Speaker 1: mocking his dismal approval ratings and calling out the form
47:11
Speaker 1: of President's latest threat against the ABC.
47:16
Speaker 3: This was his big closer. Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in
47:18
Speaker 3: his bad ratings, and he does no bad ratings. He
47:22
Speaker 3: has some of the worst ratings.
47:29
Speaker 2: On behalf of all of us.
47:30
Speaker 3: Welcome to the crappy readings club, mister President.
47:35
Speaker 1: I mean Joe, What can you say? I think this
47:37
Speaker 1: was some of the problem with making Jimmy Kimmel a Marto.
47:41
Speaker 1: People were going to always tune in to his big comeback,
47:45
Speaker 1: and now he's shown no humility. It's the second light.
47:50
Speaker 1: He's back just quickly.
47:53
Speaker 2: What are your thoughts?
47:54
Speaker 9: Yeah, well, this is just proof positive that cancel Culture
47:57
Speaker 9: doesn't work. It's wrong when the left does it against
47:59
Speaker 9: the raw, it's wrong when the right does it against
48:01
Speaker 9: the left. The only beneficiary of this whole fiasco, it seems,
48:05
Speaker 9: has been Jimmy Kimmel because he's got his job back
48:08
Speaker 9: and he's rated higher than the show is ever rated
48:11
Speaker 9: in history. And it's just like what the left did
48:14
Speaker 9: when they came after Dave Chappelle or Shane Gillies and
48:19
Speaker 9: off Saturday Night Live and tried to get Chappelle booted
48:21
Speaker 9: from Netflix. It just made them bigger and bigger stars.
48:24
Speaker 9: So I say, let's cancel Cancel Culture.
48:28
Speaker 1: Well, I think he'll go back to his normal low
48:30
Speaker 1: ratings and next to no time, but otherwise I agree.
48:33
Speaker 1: Now that is it from me tonight. Thank you, Mia
48:35
Speaker 1: and Joe. Up next the World. According to Rowentine,