Latest / Steve Price / Steve Price | 28 August

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Steve Price | 28 August · Steve Price

0:01
Speaker 1: Live, this is Steve Price.
0:06
Speaker 2: Good evening and welcome to the program. I'm Jamie Rogers
0:10
Speaker 2: in the chair for Steve Price. Coming up tonight, One
0:14
Speaker 2: Nation set for a rousing reception as they head to
0:18
Speaker 2: central Victoria in the fight against Labor's renewable transmission lines.
0:23
Speaker 2: One Nation's Barnaby Joyce joins me ahead of a major
0:27
Speaker 2: rally tomorrow. Rescuers race against time after the devastating floods
0:33
Speaker 2: in Nepal, with reports dozens of Australians remain missing. News
0:38
Speaker 2: 24 contributor Adrian Hayes joins me.
0:41
Speaker 3: With the latest.
0:42
Speaker 2: And taxpayers slugged for a $ 650 a night luxury hotel
0:48
Speaker 2: room for the New South Wales small business minister in
0:52
Speaker 2: breach of her own spending rules. We'll have all the details.
0:57
Speaker 2: And a dead veteran is a cheap veteran. Distressing words
1:01
Speaker 2: from veteran Chris May OAM. Tonight, the dedicated former soldier
1:06
Speaker 2: who risked his life in Afghanistan tells me why he
1:10
Speaker 2: believes Australia is failing the people who served it. Well,
1:17
Speaker 2: One Nation has just made it very clear they're coming
1:21
Speaker 2: for New South Wales. Today, Pauline Hanson unveiled Mike Newman
1:26
Speaker 2: as the party's New South Wales leader ahead of next
1:29
Speaker 2: year's state election. And if the message wasn't already clear
1:33
Speaker 2: from the polls, it is now that One Nation is
1:37
Speaker 2: up for the fight. The choice of Mike Newman, it's interesting.
1:41
Speaker 2: He's an investment banker, spent more than 25 years living
1:45
Speaker 2: and working in Japan and fluent in Japanese, and he
1:49
Speaker 2: served as New South Wales Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner
1:53
Speaker 2: for North Asia. Mr Newman plans to contest the Labor-held
1:57
Speaker 2: seat of Cessnock. And today, rather than leading with immigration,
2:02
Speaker 2: he came out talking about the economy and making it
2:06
Speaker 2: easier to do business.
2:08
Speaker 4: What we're trying to do is, like Flora in Texas,
2:11
Speaker 4: make New South Wales so competitive that we have companies
2:14
Speaker 4: move here. 3,000 businesses under Minns have left our state
2:18
Speaker 4: and moved interstate to set up businesses. Ask yourself why
2:21
Speaker 4: you need 25 licences to open a cafe. I can
2:25
Speaker 4: think of three. Food safety, hygiene and maybe fire regulations.
2:31
Speaker 2: And that tells you something about One Nation's ambition. They
2:35
Speaker 2: want voters to believe they can govern. And I think
2:39
Speaker 2: that's significant. because One Nation is trying to broaden its appeal,
2:44
Speaker 2: telling voters, we're not just the party you vote for
2:46
Speaker 2: when you're angry with the major parties, we're a party
2:50
Speaker 2: that can run the economy. Newman wants to halve payroll
2:54
Speaker 2: tax across New South Wales and abolish it altogether in
2:57
Speaker 2: regional areas. He's talking about freezing the size of the
3:01
Speaker 2: public service and introducing private sector-style KPIs for senior bureaucrats.
3:07
Speaker 2: The argument about making it easier to employ people and
3:10
Speaker 2: run a business is worth having. Payroll tax is effectively
3:15
Speaker 2: a tax on employing people. It is worth noting here
3:19
Speaker 2: that New South Wales opposition leader Kelly Sloan has been
3:23
Speaker 2: campaigning to also cut payroll tax since her Budget in
3:26
Speaker 2: Reply speech in June.
3:29
Speaker 5: But the Treasurer's answer is to make that up in
3:31
Speaker 5: payroll tax. And that's not the answer to everything. So,
3:35
Speaker 5: you know, we need to have policies that will drive
3:38
Speaker 5: our economy forward and not cost us jobs and not
3:41
Speaker 5: cost us hope.
3:43
Speaker 2: But here's where the scrutiny begins for One Nation. It's
3:47
Speaker 2: very easy to promise tax cuts. The harder question is
3:51
Speaker 2: how you're going to pay for it. Newman was asked
3:54
Speaker 2: exactly that today.
3:55
Speaker 4: $ 14 billion is what we currently collect from payroll tax.
4:00
Speaker 4: But that is 10% of the entire revenue that we
4:04
Speaker 4: get from the New South Wales government, right? We would
4:06
Speaker 4: expect to lose half of that. So let's just call
4:09
Speaker 4: it seven. So it's 5% of the budget, right? This
4:11
Speaker 4: is like you not choosing connoisseur ice cream and buying
4:14
Speaker 4: home brand.
4:16
Speaker 3: But that's not really an answer.
4:18
Speaker 2: And this is the challenge now confronting One Nation. It's
4:21
Speaker 2: easy to point out everything that's wrong. But when you're
4:24
Speaker 2: polling at levels that rival and at times surpass the
4:27
Speaker 2: major parties, people are entitled to start asking how your
4:31
Speaker 2: policies will work in practice. So where are the savings?
4:35
Speaker 2: What gets cut? And what does your budget look like?
4:38
Speaker 2: And this is an important question to ask of a
4:41
Speaker 2: party that has never had to prepare one. Because if
4:44
Speaker 2: One Nation wants to be treated as a serious alternative
4:47
Speaker 2: to the major parties, it must withstand scrutiny. But Newman
4:51
Speaker 2: did say something today that I think will resonate with
4:54
Speaker 2: a lot of people.
4:56
Speaker 4: What we're saying is we're going to be very, very
4:58
Speaker 4: intelligent and sensible and use proper business acumen because when
5:01
Speaker 4: you give businesses predictability, you give them confidence. And what
5:07
Speaker 4: this economy federally and state lacks is confidence. That's why
5:11
Speaker 4: businesses are not opening. That's why businesses are closing. That's
5:13
Speaker 4: why you're feeling pressure in your household budgets. We're getting
5:16
Speaker 4: rid of all that crap, right? Because it's focused on
5:19
Speaker 4: our government wants to give power back to you.
5:23
Speaker 3: Confidence.
5:24
Speaker 2: He's right about that. Business confidence to invest. confidence to
5:29
Speaker 2: employ another person without being buried in tax and regulation,
5:33
Speaker 2: and confidence that government isn't going to change the rules
5:36
Speaker 2: every five minutes. Newman even drew on his years in
5:40
Speaker 2: Japan today.
5:41
Speaker 3: Excuse me.
5:51
Speaker 6: I think everyone else might.
5:52
Speaker 4: I'll translate after. I'll translate straight after.
5:55
Speaker 1: Basically, what I've told.
5:57
Speaker 4: Her is that what One Nation will be doing is
5:59
Speaker 4: providing predictability, which is the one thing that Japanese investors crave,
6:02
Speaker 4: and make sure that we ring-fence things and make sure
6:05
Speaker 4: when they invest in this state, they are not going
6:08
Speaker 4: to be jacked up with new royalties to help pay
6:11
Speaker 4: for governments that can't stop their spending addiction.
6:15
Speaker 3: Predictability. Businesses crave that too.
6:18
Speaker 2: They need to know what their taxes will be, what
6:20
Speaker 2: their energy costs will be, what regulations they'll face and
6:24
Speaker 2: whether an investment that makes sense today will still make
6:27
Speaker 2: sense in five years. Pauline Hanson was asked about Mr
6:31
Speaker 2: Newman's vision around investment in New South Wales through deals
6:34
Speaker 2: with Asia.
6:36
Speaker 3: We've lost a.
6:37
Speaker 6: Lot of industries in manufacturing. We used to make a
6:39
Speaker 6: lot in Australia, even footwear, clothing. We had the car industry.
6:43
Speaker 6: We made glass, fertiliser. All this is gone. And a
6:46
Speaker 6: lot of it's gone under the current Albanese Labor government.
6:50
Speaker 6: Over 1,400 industries.
6:51
Speaker 7: And manufacturing is gone.
6:52
Speaker 6: And that's due to rules and regulations, compliances, and especially
6:57
Speaker 6: the climate change department. That's why we want to get
6:59
Speaker 6: rid of it.
7:01
Speaker 2: And that brings us to another part of One Nation's
7:03
Speaker 2: economic pitch, energy. Barnaby Joyce argues Australia has sacrificed industries
7:10
Speaker 2: that once relied on cheap and reliable power.
7:13
Speaker 1: Right down the road here, Tomago.
7:15
Speaker 8: Tomago never needed a rescue package when they used coal-fired power.
7:18
Speaker 8: When we had that evil coal-fired power, we had a
7:20
Speaker 8: plastics industry, we had a urea industry, we had a
7:24
Speaker 8: glass industry, we had no problems in an aluminium industry.
7:28
Speaker 8: This is how lost and bereft of ideology the socialists...
7:33
Speaker 8: They're not labourers. There's no labourers in the Labour Party.
7:35
Speaker 8: Forget that idea. They're all ex-university students with a chip
7:38
Speaker 8: on their shoulder. Now the socialists, with no Laborers in
7:41
Speaker 8: their party, are closing them all down because that works
7:45
Speaker 8: so well on Sydney Harbour when they're having a knees-up
7:48
Speaker 8: with their mates in the Enlightened Club. Now, I just
7:51
Speaker 8: want to close this because you got me on a
7:53
Speaker 8: raw point.
7:55
Speaker 2: Barnaby joins me later in the program. But there's a
7:58
Speaker 2: serious economic question within Barnaby's response. How does Australia rebuild
8:03
Speaker 2: confidence in manufacturing and industry when some of our most
8:07
Speaker 2: energy intensive businesses are struggling with the cost and reliability
8:11
Speaker 2: of power? One Nation says it has the answer, scrap
8:15
Speaker 2: net zero, keep coal in the energy mix and build
8:18
Speaker 2: new coal-fired powered stations. Now One Nation must show Australians
8:23
Speaker 2: the economics stack up, the policies have substance and the
8:26
Speaker 2: team is ready to deliver. One Nation has shown it
8:30
Speaker 2: can disrupt Australian politics. Now it must prove it can govern.
8:39
Speaker 2: Immigration has become one of the biggest political issues in Australia.
8:43
Speaker 2: And yet the Albanese government still can't tell us what
8:46
Speaker 2: its immigration policy is. Yesterday we got another extraordinary example.
8:51
Speaker 2: Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke's office confirmed Australia's refugee intake
8:56
Speaker 2: would fall from 20,000 places a year to 13,750 from
9:02
Speaker 2: next financial year. The department had reportedly already told the
9:06
Speaker 2: refugee sector to prepare for it. Then the Prime Minister
9:09
Speaker 2: stepped in and killed it. Australia refugee intake will remain
9:14
Speaker 2: at 20,000 following Anthony Albanese's intervention. The Prime Minister declared
9:19
Speaker 2: the intake would remain at that level.
9:21
Speaker 3: So what on earth is going on?
9:24
Speaker 2: This isn't just some junior minister freelancing on the sidelines.
9:28
Speaker 2: Tony Burke is the Home Affairs Minister. He's the man
9:31
Speaker 2: responsible for immigration. And this isn't the first time his
9:35
Speaker 2: plans have hit trouble. Let's not forget, Burke was supposed
9:38
Speaker 2: to deliver a speech outlining the government's immigration crackdown at
9:42
Speaker 2: the National Press Club, but was postponed following disagreements within
9:46
Speaker 2: the government about the economic and political consequences of cutting migration.
9:51
Speaker 2: And as the AFR's Phil Currie put it on News
9:54
Speaker 2: 24 today.
9:55
Speaker 3: That's right.
9:56
Speaker 9: This is what's freaking out the government because they don't
9:59
Speaker 9: want to be talking about migration every time it's being
10:02
Speaker 9: spoken about.
10:02
Speaker 1: It's not good for them.
10:04
Speaker 9: And one of the reasons after they cancelled Tony, or
10:07
Speaker 9: Tony Burke cancelled his speech was when it was to
10:10
Speaker 9: be announced, they wanted to announce it comprehensively with no loopholes,
10:13
Speaker 9: no flaws, no needing to come back and revisit it
10:16
Speaker 9: because they just wanted to announce it and never talk
10:18
Speaker 9: about it again. And that's clearly not going to plan,
10:21
Speaker 9: that's all we seem to be talking about.
10:25
Speaker 2: And I think he's nailed the political problem. Labor knows
10:28
Speaker 2: immigration has become a major vulnerability. Net overseas migration is
10:32
Speaker 2: still running well above the government's projections. One Nation is
10:36
Speaker 2: surging in the polls. Housing remains desperately tight. And Australians
10:41
Speaker 2: are increasingly asking whether our infrastructure, housing and services can
10:45
Speaker 2: keep pace with population growth. But every time the government
10:49
Speaker 2: tries to confront the issue, it seems to run head
10:52
Speaker 2: first into its own internal politics. And here's the other
10:56
Speaker 2: problem with yesterday's intervention. The government wants net overseas migration
11:00
Speaker 2: down to 225,000 by 2028. Its budget assumptions factored in
11:05
Speaker 2: a lower humanitarian intake.
11:08
Speaker 3: But that's now not happening.
11:09
Speaker 2: So if the government is serious about hitting its own
11:12
Speaker 2: migration target, those reductions have to come from somewhere else.
11:16
Speaker 7: Where?
11:17
Speaker 3: Australians deserve to know.
11:19
Speaker 2: And New South Wales Premier Chris Minns made an important
11:22
Speaker 2: point this week. For too long, Australia has relied on
11:26
Speaker 2: simply turning up immigration to drive economic growth.
11:30
Speaker 10: We have to be broader than that. Now, that means
11:33
Speaker 10: reducing red tape. It means building new housing. It means
11:36
Speaker 10: being more efficient with energy and infrastructure.
11:39
Speaker 4: But I think that.
11:41
Speaker 10: For too long, the country has relied on flicking the
11:44
Speaker 10: switch for inbound migration to juice up the productivity numbers
11:48
Speaker 10: Australia's got to get more creative than that.
11:51
Speaker 3: And he's right.
11:52
Speaker 2: Population growth can make the headline GDP number look better.
11:56
Speaker 2: But governments also have to build the houses, roads, hospitals
12:00
Speaker 2: and schools to accommodate that population. Immigration policy shouldn't be
12:04
Speaker 2: determined by panic over One Nation. It should be determined
12:08
Speaker 2: by one very simple question. What level of immigration is
12:13
Speaker 2: in Australia's national interest? Because at the moment, I'm not
12:17
Speaker 2: convinced the government knows the answer. All right, I want
12:24
Speaker 2: to shift gears now to an important discussion that has
12:28
Speaker 2: been playing out federally, and that's the support of our veterans.
12:32
Speaker 2: The treatment of Australian veterans has come under scrutiny in
12:36
Speaker 2: recent weeks with the veteran affairs minister, Matt Keogh, facing
12:39
Speaker 2: intense criticism. over his failure to meet with veterans on
12:43
Speaker 2: key concerns, including.
12:45
Speaker 3: The $ 5, 000 annual cap on allied health services.
12:49
Speaker 2: Australian veteran Chris May OAM is one of the thousands
12:53
Speaker 2: of former soldiers impacted by this policy change, and he
12:56
Speaker 2: joins me now.
12:58
Speaker 3: Chris, welcome. First of all, tell us your story.
13:02
Speaker 2: You entered the armed forces at just 18, your first
13:05
Speaker 2: deployment to Afghanistan, but your life was turned upside down
13:09
Speaker 2: after your return to Afghanistan.
13:12
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's correct. Thanks for having me.
13:14
Speaker 11: Yeah, I joined the army at the age of 16
13:16
Speaker 11: and nine months at the youngest possible age you can join.
13:18
Speaker 7: And I signed the dotted line with mum and dad's approval.
13:21
Speaker 11: And only, you know, 18 months later, I found myself
13:25
Speaker 11: as part of the government's response to reinforce troops in Afghanistan.
13:29
Speaker 11: And we were sent to Afghanistan on my first tour.
13:31
Speaker 11: So at 19 years of age, I did my first
13:34
Speaker 11: deployment to Afghanistan, returned home. And during that trip, that
13:38
Speaker 11: was where Private Ben Maraudo was killed and Paul Warren
13:42
Speaker 11: lost his leg in that incident as well. I came home,
13:45
Speaker 11: did some more training, redeployed the second time. This time
13:48
Speaker 11: I was a lead vehicle. On the 23rd of September 2011,
13:51
Speaker 11: the vehicle that I was commanding drove over an improvised
13:54
Speaker 11: explosive device, which rendered me medically returned back to Australia
13:59
Speaker 11: with a traumatic brain injury as well as issue to
14:03
Speaker 11: my back, a lot of issues with my back and
14:05
Speaker 11: obviously psychological issues that relate to that, including post-traumatic stress disorder,
14:10
Speaker 11: anxiety and depression. And as a result of those injuries,
14:15
Speaker 11: my career in the military degraded. I missed out on
14:18
Speaker 11: promotion opportunities and essentially left the army in 2017, some
14:22
Speaker 11: six years after being wounded. But that whole time that
14:25
Speaker 11: I was still in the military and the time from
14:27
Speaker 11: 2011 to 2019, I was battling DVA trying to get
14:32
Speaker 11: my injuries accepted through their system.
14:36
Speaker 2: So you spent eight years trying to prove to DVA
14:39
Speaker 2: that the injuries you suffered after being blown up by
14:43
Speaker 2: an IED were service related. It just feels like ignorance
14:48
Speaker 2: of the highest order. How frustrating has this process been
14:51
Speaker 2: for you?
14:54
Speaker 11: For me personally, it's taken an absolutely massive toll. I mean,
14:58
Speaker 11: every veteran knows it. I've received hundreds of messages in
15:01
Speaker 11: the last couple of weeks about my current predicament, and
15:04
Speaker 11: the messages are... It's exactly the same. The issue hasn't changed.
15:07
Speaker 11: The system hasn't changed. Every veteran has a story. But
15:10
Speaker 11: for me personally, it's cost relationships, friendships, a career, change
15:15
Speaker 11: in careers, moving into state, and obviously mental health battles
15:20
Speaker 11: have come along with that. I've gone in and out
15:21
Speaker 11: of some pretty big slumps in my life You know,
15:24
Speaker 11: it's a well-known fact, and I've spoken about this with
15:27
Speaker 11: the veteran charity work that I've done. It was at
15:29
Speaker 11: one point there I was standing over the edge of
15:31
Speaker 11: a balcony with the idea of jumping off because it
15:34
Speaker 11: was easier.
15:36
Speaker 7: So it does have a massive toll on the veteran itself.
15:39
Speaker 11: But just because the claim gets approved doesn't mean the
15:42
Speaker 11: system's any easier to navigate when you.
15:44
Speaker 7: Have to get appointments to keep that treatment cycle up.
15:47
Speaker 3: Well, just tell us a bit about this system.
15:50
Speaker 2: You know, what does it say that veterans are forced
15:53
Speaker 2: to navigate such a complicated system after going and putting
15:57
Speaker 2: your lives on the line for your country?
16:02
Speaker 7: Yeah, so I heard a really good analogy.
16:03
Speaker 11: It was the first rule of repatriation is if you
16:06
Speaker 11: send them and you bend them, you must mend them.
16:07
Speaker 11: And I think it's a really good way to an
16:09
Speaker 11: analogy for that system.
16:11
Speaker 7: So when I had my claims approved.
16:14
Speaker 11: I was issued with a DVA gold card and that
16:16
Speaker 11: gold card was told to me, what was told was
16:19
Speaker 11: that that can be used to essentially pay for any
16:22
Speaker 11: treatment that I need for my injuries that were accepted.
16:25
Speaker 11: And being a gold card, I have quite a few
16:26
Speaker 11: injuries that have been accepted. However, in October of last year,
16:30
Speaker 11: I had a pretty severe lapse in memory, forgetting my
16:34
Speaker 11: young child's name. And that triggered me to have a
16:38
Speaker 11: bit of a mental health crisis. And I reached out
16:42
Speaker 11: after my wife told me to get some help to
16:44
Speaker 11: get an appointment. January, I actually went and spoke to
16:48
Speaker 11: my GP who wrote a referral for me to go
16:50
Speaker 11: see a neuropsychologist and get an assessment done to see
16:52
Speaker 11: if my brain injury had worsened. I sent that off
16:56
Speaker 11: and had an appointment booked and DVA failed to pay
16:58
Speaker 11: the bill for that, citing no clinical justification for it.
17:03
Speaker 11: 150 days later, after I essentially had enough and put
17:07
Speaker 11: my story on social media and it had over 500,000 views,
17:11
Speaker 11: magically DVA flipped on their decision and denied that claim
17:16
Speaker 11: initially and then 23 hours later back flipped and approved
17:20
Speaker 11: the claim to have that appointment.
17:22
Speaker 7: So now I've got the appointment.
17:23
Speaker 11: However due to the time that it takes to get
17:26
Speaker 11: into one of these providers I won't have that appointment
17:28
Speaker 11: until 200 days after the referral. From there I have
17:31
Speaker 11: to go see a neurologist and that won't be for
17:34
Speaker 11: another 30 days after. So from step one to essentially
17:38
Speaker 11: where I need to be to step two it's nearly
17:39
Speaker 11: 230 days. And that's just indicative that the system isn't
17:44
Speaker 11: as efficient as it could be because it's broken and fragmented.
17:48
Speaker 2: It's just so frustrating, Chris, when I hear your stories
17:52
Speaker 2: and so many other veterans that have been voicing what
17:55
Speaker 2: is happening to them under this government. And you actually
17:57
Speaker 2: said something during the week which stopped me in my tracks.
18:01
Speaker 3: You said a.
18:02
Speaker 2: Dead veteran is a cheap veteran and you were referring
18:05
Speaker 2: to the way that the government has been treating veterans
18:09
Speaker 2: like yourself.
18:11
Speaker 3: Just tell us a bit about those.
18:12
Speaker 2: Comments because, for me, that was a moment where that
18:16
Speaker 2: was gut-wrenching.
18:18
Speaker 7: Yeah, so I've seen far too much of.
18:23
Speaker 3: It.
18:23
Speaker 11: It's one of those things that we have seen so
18:25
Speaker 11: many veterans take their own lives. Personally, I know of
18:29
Speaker 11: more than I can count on both my hands, people
18:32
Speaker 11: that were in crisis mode, and I know those people
18:35
Speaker 11: needed help and they reached out for help to DVA.
18:38
Speaker 7: And they didn't get the help.
18:40
Speaker 11: It seems like, and my personal feeling is that to
18:44
Speaker 11: some people who are pushing pens and counting numbers, that
18:48
Speaker 11: a cheap veteran is one that doesn't cost anything and
18:51
Speaker 11: it doesn't cost anything to put them in the ground.
18:53
Speaker 11: And it's a horrible sentiment to have and it's a
18:56
Speaker 11: horrible idea to have in the back of your head
18:58
Speaker 11: that when I was younger and I thought of joining
19:01
Speaker 11: the military and taking on this noble career that I
19:04
Speaker 11: could go off and, you know, look after the people
19:07
Speaker 11: that I love, my country that I love and everything
19:09
Speaker 11: that I love about this country, to come back and
19:12
Speaker 11: essentially be denied what is essentially service-related issues, to be told, sorry.
19:20
Speaker 7: Mate, no dice, and then have people take their own lives.
19:24
Speaker 11: And it is a genuine feeling that I have, that
19:26
Speaker 11: it just feels like the government would rather have dead
19:29
Speaker 11: veterans than ones that are alive and costing money.
19:33
Speaker 2: And, Chris, before I let you go, how do you
19:36
Speaker 2: and other veterans feel when you went and fought in
19:39
Speaker 2: countries like Afghanistan and we're bringing back the so-called ISIS
19:45
Speaker 2: brides to Australia? And I don't want this to sound offensive,
19:49
Speaker 2: but I... I honestly felt at times that the ISIS
19:53
Speaker 2: brides were receiving better treatment upon their arrival in the
19:56
Speaker 2: country than what our veterans are getting.
19:58
Speaker 11: Yeah, look, that's an extremely hot topic that a lot
20:03
Speaker 11: of veterans would have in their chats or catch-ups when
20:07
Speaker 11: they have their coffee.
20:08
Speaker 7: Catch-ups or the like.
20:09
Speaker 11: A lot of people feel very disenfranchised at the notion
20:13
Speaker 11: that people that love this country, people that would do
20:16
Speaker 11: anything for the people in this country and have gone
20:19
Speaker 11: out of their way to make sure that the freedoms
20:21
Speaker 11: that we enjoy in a day-to-day basis can.
20:24
Speaker 7: Be imparted in other parts of the world.
20:28
Speaker 11: We were sent by a government, you know, that sent
20:30
Speaker 11: us across and we did what we were told to
20:31
Speaker 11: do and we followed those orders in the hopes it
20:33
Speaker 11: was for.
20:33
Speaker 7: The best possible outcome.
20:35
Speaker 11: To hear that there are people that don't love this country,
20:38
Speaker 11: that have gone across to try and fight wars in
20:41
Speaker 11: other places and essentially despise us as an Australian community.
20:46
Speaker 11: We all come from great backgrounds. However, there are some
20:48
Speaker 11: people and bad eggs that want us hurt. To hear
20:51
Speaker 11: that those people are getting looked after better than our veterans,
20:56
Speaker 11: it's pretty disheartening as a veteran. And I know that
20:59
Speaker 11: a lot of other people have just given up with
21:01
Speaker 11: the process and the system because they just feel like
21:04
Speaker 11: the system isn't going to look after them in any way,
21:05
Speaker 11: shape or form.
21:07
Speaker 2: Well, Chris, I really appreciate you coming on tonight. We
21:10
Speaker 2: will continue to back you in. Please stay in touch
21:13
Speaker 2: and we'll get you on again soon.
21:14
Speaker 1: Thank you, Jamie.
21:16
Speaker 7: I really appreciate it.
21:19
Speaker 2: But now to the fight to save lives following the
21:22
Speaker 2: devastating floods in Nepal. Australia has committed $ 5 million towards
21:27
Speaker 2: the aid effort as rescuers race against time to save
21:30
Speaker 2: those trapped and reports that 39 Australians are still missing
21:34
Speaker 2: in the carnage. Here to discuss it further, somebody who
21:37
Speaker 2: has spent plenty of time in the region as an
21:40
Speaker 2: adventurer and mountaineer, News24 contributor Adrian Hayes.
21:45
Speaker 3: Adrian, welcome.
21:47
Speaker 2: The Nepalese who live in the region would be used
21:50
Speaker 2: to dealing with severe weather and events associated with the
21:54
Speaker 2: high terrain, but certainly nothing like this.
21:57
Speaker 12: Yeah, good evening, Jamie, and to all your listeners. Look,
22:02
Speaker 12: Nepal's no stranger to natural disasters. There's floods, landslides every year.
22:07
Speaker 12: in the monsoon season, which we're on now, and, of course,
22:10
Speaker 12: glacial flows as well. But this was really unprecedented. I mean,
22:14
Speaker 12: I don't think anyone's seen anything like it since the
22:16
Speaker 12: 2004 tsunami in Asia Pacific. Unprecedented. I've been to the valley,
22:22
Speaker 12: the other side of the valley where this disaster happened,
22:27
Speaker 12: and to climb out one mountain there.
22:29
Speaker 1: But part of the reason.
22:31
Speaker 12: Is because the big mountain that sort of started this
22:35
Speaker 12: catastrophe It's a very steep, very technical and a huge mountain.
22:40
Speaker 12: And when you get a glacier falling off that height,
22:42
Speaker 12: it's going to cause some damage, whatever happens.
22:45
Speaker 2: And when you describe that region, what are some of
22:49
Speaker 2: the main barriers that rescuers would be facing at the moment?
22:54
Speaker 12: Yeah, I mean, this one's so impressive because obviously you've
22:57
Speaker 12: got this steep side of valley. The river is life.
23:01
Speaker 12: It's water for the crops. It's water for drinking, all
23:03
Speaker 12: these things. So you've got all these villages lined up
23:05
Speaker 12: along this steep side of gorge. Now, but this, the
23:09
Speaker 12: flood sort of washed away bridges down 40 kilometers down river.
23:13
Speaker 12: And so getting to the region is a huge crisis.
23:17
Speaker 1: It's a remote area. It's high up.
23:20
Speaker 12: You know, bad roads in any case, and if your
23:22
Speaker 12: bridges are washed away, you're relying on helicopters. So I
23:25
Speaker 12: spoke to one of my Dubai-based emergency relief friends this
23:29
Speaker 12: morning and said, look, it's very difficult. And, of course,
23:32
Speaker 12: they do not want people going into the area, media
23:34
Speaker 12: or other reporters, because that just adds to the difficulties.
23:38
Speaker 3: You just mentioned how it's remote and high up.
23:41
Speaker 2: You know, obviously this is very early days, but when
23:45
Speaker 2: a region is so remote like this, how long do
23:48
Speaker 2: you think it's going to take for it to recover?
23:55
Speaker 12: You know, it will take years, but the Nepalese are
23:58
Speaker 12: very resilient people. I was there in the 2015 earthquake.
24:02
Speaker 12: Was involved with some of their relief efforts there at
24:04
Speaker 12: the time. And they were already getting on with their life,
24:07
Speaker 12: tarpauling huts to sleep under and getting crops sort of done.
24:10
Speaker 12: So they are very, very resilient people. And they will recover.
24:14
Speaker 12: As I said, as you said, they are very used
24:17
Speaker 12: to natural disasters. But this one is going to take
24:21
Speaker 12: a little bit longer to recover.
24:22
Speaker 13: From, obviously.
24:24
Speaker 2: And Adrian, a change of pace. Those rogue royals are back.
24:28
Speaker 3: In the UK. Harry and Meghan have returned to England.
24:32
Speaker 2: But they're doing it as private citizens. But honestly, how
24:35
Speaker 2: private could their lives possibly be?
24:37
Speaker 5: Yes.
24:40
Speaker 12: Look, there are some people who will welcome them coming
24:42
Speaker 12: back to the UK. There are others who will want
24:46
Speaker 12: nothing to do and think they should stay abroad. And
24:48
Speaker 12: I think most people will just say they don't care.
24:52
Speaker 12: Because you've got news like this, the Nepal disaster, puts this... Frankly,
24:56
Speaker 12: soap opera, it's a real perspective. And, you know, nothing
25:00
Speaker 12: is private with the couple, unfortunately. They live on the publicity.
25:04
Speaker 12: They live because it's their brand. It's their PR. So
25:07
Speaker 12: you have to take a little bit of a critical
25:08
Speaker 12: thinking look about why this move has happened, which there's
25:11
Speaker 12: a lot of speculation. I don't know any more than
25:13
Speaker 12: anyone else, but lots of alternatives doing the rounds.
25:18
Speaker 2: What are some of those backstories that you're hearing as
25:21
Speaker 2: to why they have returned? There's some speculation I've heard
25:25
Speaker 2: that Harry wanted to be near the King because of
25:28
Speaker 2: his health, but then there's also those rumours around Meghan
25:32
Speaker 2: getting an acting deal. What do you think is the
25:35
Speaker 2: reasoning behind this?
25:38
Speaker 12: You know, I think Meghan's sort of really dictated what,
25:43
Speaker 12: where and how they do things. But I think perhaps
25:45
Speaker 12: on this occasion, Harry has stepped in. He's obviously, it
25:49
Speaker 12: just shows his body language. She's not very happy in California.
25:52
Speaker 12: It's not his home. And I think he's really missing
25:54
Speaker 12: this royal connection and the military ties, the charity ties,
25:58
Speaker 12: all the things he's done before. So it was a
26:01
Speaker 12: surprise they've come back. Meghan has already said she's going
26:03
Speaker 12: to be living in an international role. So it'll be
26:06
Speaker 12: Harry and Maid's looking after the children, I'm sure, while
26:09
Speaker 12: Meghan does her international acting career. But it'll be interesting
26:12
Speaker 12: to see how.
26:12
Speaker 1: It plays out.
26:15
Speaker 3: Well, Adrian Hayes, I appreciate your time tonight. We'll see
26:17
Speaker 3: you again soon.
26:19
Speaker 2: Alright, after the break, the push for data centre reforms
26:23
Speaker 2: and renewable energy rules as Queensland and the Northern Territory
26:27
Speaker 2: get a carve-out to use power projects of coal and gas.
26:31
Speaker 3: But will the other states get the memo? Welcome back.
26:38
Speaker 3: It's great to have your company. Now to the.
26:41
Speaker 2: Exemption secured by both the Queensland and Northern Territory governments,
26:46
Speaker 2: which will allow them to dodge renewable-only rules for AI
26:50
Speaker 2: data centres, powering the projects with coal and gas. And
26:55
Speaker 2: for more on the data centre push across the nation,
26:57
Speaker 2: Friday Night Regular and former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman.
27:02
Speaker 3: Campbell, it's great to see you.
27:04
Speaker 2: I'll get to those carve-outs for coal and gas in
27:06
Speaker 2: a moment, but I wanted to first go to the
27:09
Speaker 2: push to regulate data centres across Australia. The Prime Minister
27:13
Speaker 2: hosted premiers and chief ministers in Sydney for a national
27:16
Speaker 2: cabinet meeting on Wednesday, and of course data centres were
27:20
Speaker 2: high on the list. A national agreement on regulation, including
27:24
Speaker 2: that contentious mandate for developers to provide renewable energy, This
27:29
Speaker 2: is set against that backdrop in recent weeks where China
27:33
Speaker 2: has gone into this push into AI and robotics and
27:36
Speaker 2: it just knows no bounds.
27:38
Speaker 3: What's your take here?
27:42
Speaker 14: Well, it is a quite contrasting story. There's People's Republic
27:47
Speaker 14: of China, which is going all in on artificial intelligence
27:50
Speaker 14: and robotics. And, you know, it's ultimately going to be
27:56
Speaker 14: an instrument of state influence and power In contrast, in
28:01
Speaker 14: this country, we have a bunch of Luddites, small-minded politicians who,
28:07
Speaker 14: the moment something big comes along, they want to regulate it.
28:12
Speaker 1: This is the same mob... This is the same.
28:14
Speaker 14: Sort of mentality that would have had You know, back
28:18
Speaker 14: 120 years ago, the proverbial person with the red flag
28:21
Speaker 14: in front of the brand new motor car. You know, look,
28:24
Speaker 14: why the push to regulate data centres? I mean, I've
28:29
Speaker 14: really got to question that because we haven't seen much
28:31
Speaker 14: of it in the commentary in the last few weeks.
28:35
Speaker 1: Now, why the need?
28:37
Speaker 14: You know, we don't... Like, we seem quite happy, Jamie,
28:40
Speaker 14: to put, say, $ 2 billion on the table to bail
28:44
Speaker 14: out Tomago aluminium, which uses vast amounts of power and
28:49
Speaker 14: vast amounts of water. What about if I was some
28:54
Speaker 14: overseas billionaire, came to Australia and said, look, I'm going to...
28:57
Speaker 14: Great news, I'm going to build the biggest solar panel
29:00
Speaker 14: factory in the world and I need to build it here. But,
29:03
Speaker 14: by the way, it's going to use lots of power
29:05
Speaker 14: and lots of water. What would the attitude be then?
29:07
Speaker 14: You know, or any business. Why should data centres be
29:12
Speaker 14: required to bring their own electricity and own water supply?
29:15
Speaker 14: It's really quite odd. And I make the point as well.
29:19
Speaker 14: that data centres can be put in a whole range
29:22
Speaker 14: of other places. There are competitors to this.
29:26
Speaker 1: New Zealand, for.
29:27
Speaker 14: Example, it would be a great place for data centres,
29:30
Speaker 14: a free Western democracy. And so I don't know if
29:34
Speaker 14: these politicians have heard of the internet.
29:37
Speaker 1: You can plonk these things in all range of places.
29:39
Speaker 14: You could put them in the Antarctic, have them connected
29:42
Speaker 14: via Elon Musk's Starlink and powered by nuclear reactors.
29:47
Speaker 1: You don't have to have them in Australia.
29:49
Speaker 14: So I think we need perspective here and we need
29:53
Speaker 14: politicians to start seeing we are in a global race that,
29:58
Speaker 14: that's going to play out this century to be technically
30:02
Speaker 14: agile and to be at the forefront of this stuff
30:05
Speaker 14: rather than, again, as I said a few moments ago,
30:07
Speaker 14: to be the blooming.
30:08
Speaker 1: Luddites of the world.
30:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very well said because that is something that
30:13
Speaker 2: concerns me, Campbell, is that we will legislate and make
30:16
Speaker 2: it so tricky to come and open up a data
30:19
Speaker 2: centre that all of these enormous billionaire companies are going
30:23
Speaker 2: to go, no, we're not going to go to Australia,
30:24
Speaker 2: it is way too hard, and we will miss out
30:27
Speaker 2: on this energy revolution, which will be so important for
30:30
Speaker 2: our economic future. I think this has got a really
30:33
Speaker 2: big role to play in it and we potentially might
30:35
Speaker 2: miss out.
30:38
Speaker 14: Look, we really do stand the prospect here with silly regulation,
30:44
Speaker 14: which is a knee-jerk reaction to, frankly, there is some
30:47
Speaker 14: sort of campaign going on out there behind the scenes
30:50
Speaker 14: that suddenly these things are being, again, singled out because
30:53
Speaker 14: they use power and water.
30:56
Speaker 1: By the way, I do need to declare a conflict.
30:58
Speaker 14: Of interest in that I'm involved with a green energy
31:02
Speaker 14: data centre in northern Tasmania. We're the property owner and
31:05
Speaker 14: we're trying to facilitate the people who want to build that.
31:08
Speaker 14: It's quite a small one in a relative sense. And
31:11
Speaker 14: they have actually already secured approval. So I just want
31:14
Speaker 14: to be very clear about that.
31:16
Speaker 1: But I would have.
31:17
Speaker 14: But this argument remains, why do data centres get singled
31:21
Speaker 14: out versus a whole range of other energy-intensive or water-intensive
31:26
Speaker 14: businesses that could be contemplated?
31:28
Speaker 1: It just doesn't make sense.
31:30
Speaker 14: And the more we interfere with the market, the more
31:33
Speaker 14: we create these distortions and we have to have subsidies
31:36
Speaker 14: and the taxpayer gets involved.
31:38
Speaker 1: It's not for the politicians in this.
31:40
Speaker 14: Country to work out, you know, which, you know, are
31:44
Speaker 14: the favourite industries they're going to back. That leads, I'm afraid,
31:49
Speaker 14: ultimately to an economy in crisis. And, you know, one
31:52
Speaker 14: minute they're talking about regulation crushing the economy, and here
31:56
Speaker 14: we go again.
31:57
Speaker 1: Let's crush the next opportunity for Australia.
32:01
Speaker 2: And the Prime Minister gave quite the speech at that
32:04
Speaker 2: Business Council meeting this week.
32:06
Speaker 3: Take a quick listen.
32:08
Speaker 15: After decades of relative calm, our world is indeed turbulent,
32:14
Speaker 15: is beset by major military conflicts, most notably in Ukraine
32:20
Speaker 15: and the Middle East, that are causing trade restrictions and
32:24
Speaker 15: global inflation.
32:27
Speaker 2: Now, business leaders seemed largely unimpressed. What did you make
32:32
Speaker 2: of Anthony Albanese's comments?
32:36
Speaker 14: Well, I think he's, as usual, along with Jim Chalmers,
32:40
Speaker 14: making excuses for the very big mistakes they've made. They
32:44
Speaker 14: have put a wrecking ball through the residential property market.
32:48
Speaker 14: They have put a wrecking ball through aspiration. They've put
32:52
Speaker 14: a wrecking ball through the ability of young Australians, you know,
32:57
Speaker 14: 30 and 40-somethings who want to have a go and
33:00
Speaker 14: start up a company. It doesn't just have to be
33:02
Speaker 14: a tech company through their new tax changes and the like.
33:05
Speaker 14: And we have an economy that is now sinking. Our
33:09
Speaker 14: standard of living is going backwards. Our competitiveness is going backwards.
33:13
Speaker 14: And I was just talking about data centres. And he's
33:16
Speaker 14: living in a parallel universe. And the only thing I
33:21
Speaker 14: can say, and I take cold comfort with this, is
33:23
Speaker 14: by the time we get to the 2028 election, they
33:26
Speaker 14: will reap what they have sowed over the last two years.
33:31
Speaker 1: And it's coming.
33:32
Speaker 14: And finally, we're hearing media reports about Dr Jim Chalmers
33:36
Speaker 14: starting to look harried or worried, supposedly at the BCA dinner.
33:41
Speaker 14: And that's a good thing, because he's got a lot
33:43
Speaker 14: to worry about, because he's created these problems. He's served
33:48
Speaker 14: up this stuff to a gullible Labor caucus, and I
33:51
Speaker 14: think they're now starting to work out that he is
33:53
Speaker 14: the last person that should ever be considered to be
33:56
Speaker 14: the next Labor Prime Minister.
34:01
Speaker 2: I know his confidence has absolutely blown me away, Campbell,
34:06
Speaker 2: when it comes to Jim Chalmers, when he's in question time.
34:10
Speaker 2: And he is, despite warnings from different finance groups and economics,
34:15
Speaker 2: economists have all said that his unintended consequences that were
34:18
Speaker 2: going to come from his budget, he still pushed it
34:21
Speaker 2: through and stood there so confident. So it's good that
34:23
Speaker 2: perhaps now he's starting to realise that what he's put
34:27
Speaker 2: in place has had some very severe after effects.
34:33
Speaker 14: Jamie, I would just issue a challenge I've issued before
34:36
Speaker 14: to any member of the media who's actually watching this
34:39
Speaker 14: show this evening and just say, put on the pressure
34:42
Speaker 14: on this guy.
34:44
Speaker 1: He is 5,000 miles wide and, you know, half an
34:49
Speaker 1: inch deep.
34:50
Speaker 14: He actually doesn't know his stuff and he's got by
34:55
Speaker 14: for quite a few years now He's skated through because
34:58
Speaker 14: he hasn't had the tough questions.
35:00
Speaker 1: It is unravelling.
35:01
Speaker 14: He is being found out. And I think the more
35:05
Speaker 14: that the media challenge and.
35:06
Speaker 1: Question him, the more we'll see of that.
35:08
Speaker 14: And we need that because we have to see, hopefully,
35:12
Speaker 14: this ALP government work out that a lot of the
35:15
Speaker 14: things they've got in that budget are really hurting Australia.
35:18
Speaker 1: Right now.
35:19
Speaker 14: but will continue to be even worse in the next
35:22
Speaker 14: two years. They're the ones going for re-election. It could
35:26
Speaker 14: be pretty bad by the time we get there.
35:28
Speaker 2: You're spot on, Campbell. Thank you so much for your
35:30
Speaker 2: time tonight. We'll see you next week. Now to the
35:34
Speaker 2: ongoing campaign across regional Victoria and the fight to support
35:38
Speaker 2: farmers impacted by the V & I West Renewables Transmission Project.
35:43
Speaker 2: One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and MP Barnaby Joyce will
35:46
Speaker 2: tomorrow headline a major fundraiser. Here to tell us more
35:50
Speaker 2: is former Deputy Prime Minister turned One Nation MP, Barnaby Joyce.
35:54
Speaker 3: Barnaby, thanks for coming on. These farmers, they're fed up.
35:58
Speaker 2: We hear stories at News 24 and One Nation has
36:02
Speaker 2: promised to scrap this renewables project. Just tell us about
36:07
Speaker 2: this policy position that is aimed at supporting farmers.
36:11
Speaker 16: But we're not going to scrap that, Jamie. We're going
36:13
Speaker 16: to get rid of the whole climate change department. The
36:15
Speaker 16: whole thing's rubbish.
36:16
Speaker 13: It's a massive swindle. It's ripped off Australians from the.
36:20
Speaker 16: Pensioners who can't afford their power. Deindustrialised Australia. You hear
36:25
Speaker 16: about the rescue package for Tomago. That's a severance package.
36:27
Speaker 16: Unless you've got cheaper energy, it's going to go broke again.
36:30
Speaker 16: We've lost our plastics industry and our... a urea industry,
36:35
Speaker 16: a glass industry with a record involvement in small business.
36:38
Speaker 16: And these are just the arterial roads to the spindle
36:41
Speaker 16: factories owned by foreign and domestic billionaires and foreign companies.
36:46
Speaker 13: It is an outrage that this has happened to Australia.
36:49
Speaker 16: And not only are we going to shut it down,
36:51
Speaker 16: at the end of this, we'll have a Royal Commission
36:53
Speaker 16: so they can explain to us how they managed to
36:56
Speaker 16: get away with these outrageous deals.
36:59
Speaker 2: Why do you think Labor is so determined to pursue
37:03
Speaker 2: this project when we can see the impact it's having
37:06
Speaker 2: and likely to have on hardworking farming communities?
37:11
Speaker 17: Well, it's fun because it's either just a cultural zeitgeist,
37:17
Speaker 17: almost like a cult-like approach they have, a pride that
37:20
Speaker 17: they refuse to accept that what they've done is a
37:22
Speaker 17: ridiculous idea and hurting so many people.
37:25
Speaker 13: But to your listeners, I would say.
37:26
Speaker 16: This is the complete defrauding of people's private property rights.
37:31
Speaker 16: People arrive with security guards to come onto your place.
37:36
Speaker 16: but they threaten to send you to jail if you,
37:38
Speaker 16: you know, prohibit somebody from going onto your private land.
37:42
Speaker 16: It is something that just has absconded from what we
37:46
Speaker 16: believed Australia was about.
37:48
Speaker 13: And now we have the state reigning supreme.
37:51
Speaker 16: And enforcing that supremacy with their belligerence over farmers' rights,
37:56
Speaker 16: over shop owners' rights, over pensioners' rights, so that they
38:00
Speaker 16: can say that they're going to change the weather. I mean...
38:02
Speaker 16: When you just get in your logic helicopter and fly
38:06
Speaker 16: above that, about 10 feet and look down and say,
38:09
Speaker 16: Chris Bowen is going to change the weather and Jacinda
38:11
Speaker 16: Allen is going to change the weather and Dan Andrews
38:13
Speaker 16: is going to change the weather.
38:15
Speaker 13: I mean, I don't know. If I paid that much
38:17
Speaker 13: for a.
38:18
Speaker 16: Meal as much as we paid for weather changing and
38:21
Speaker 16: nothing had happened, I'd want my money back.
38:24
Speaker 2: Barnaby, One Nation announced today the New South Wales leader
38:28
Speaker 2: in Mike Newman. And I must say, I thought that
38:31
Speaker 2: was a very good appointment. What will he bring to
38:34
Speaker 2: the role?
38:35
Speaker 13: Well, we'll see.
38:37
Speaker 16: So often we get these tropes, you know, these bromides
38:40
Speaker 16: thrown our way. We're racist, we're homophobes, you know, we're knuckle-draggers.
38:45
Speaker 16: And it's great to see yet another One Nation candidate
38:49
Speaker 16: coming forward, incredibly high calibre, was asked questions by the
38:52
Speaker 16: Japanese media, responded to them in Japanese.
38:57
Speaker 13: Absolutely top shelf, because.
38:58
Speaker 16: We're going to prevent the Australian people, not only people
39:01
Speaker 16: who are truly patriotic, who there's no BS about us,
39:05
Speaker 16: we won't put up a sort of BS policy, but
39:07
Speaker 16: also top shelf and capabilities. And Mr Newman, Mike Newman,
39:13
Speaker 16: is a classic example of that. And it goes to
39:16
Speaker 16: show to you and everybody that people from the top
39:19
Speaker 16: shelf are attracted to One Nation. And so people can
39:24
Speaker 16: dispense with their former river fuel.
39:27
Speaker 13: Of One Nation and understand that we're running on first.
39:30
Speaker 16: Grade players because we're going to play a first grade
39:32
Speaker 16: game and take Australia to a first grade outcome.
39:36
Speaker 3: You've got a finance background.
39:37
Speaker 2: How important was it to get someone like Mike Newman,
39:40
Speaker 2: who also comes with that economic experience?
39:44
Speaker 13: Oh, well, we need it. We're a trillion dollars in debt.
39:47
Speaker 13: If I said I was going to hang around, if you'd.
39:48
Speaker 16: Wait for me for a trillion seconds, you'd be waiting
39:51
Speaker 16: 31,700 years. This portion, our interest payments are one of
39:58
Speaker 16: the fastest increasing.
39:59
Speaker 13: Things, portions of the budget. We have got to learn
40:02
Speaker 13: how to exercise the asset section of the nation's balance sheet.
40:06
Speaker 13: One of the biggest asset sections is small business.
40:09
Speaker 16: Can we hope, not only of paying a step back,
40:12
Speaker 16: but just of stopping and increasing?
40:14
Speaker 13: And so we need very.
40:16
Speaker 16: Competent, tough-minded people to take control of the natural water
40:20
Speaker 16: of its nation. Tonight we hear even Minister Bowen saying
40:24
Speaker 16: that he's going to have data centres running on even
40:26
Speaker 16: more wind towers and solar panels and somehow.
40:29
Speaker 13: Without any new water infrastructure, without any.
40:32
Speaker 16: Coal-fired power, he's going to miraculously make some of the
40:35
Speaker 16: dearest energy and those lacklustre investments in water stack up
40:39
Speaker 16: into data centres. And you need people with financial experience
40:43
Speaker 16: who run a business, and I've run a business and
40:45
Speaker 16: still run one, to try and breathe common sense into
40:49
Speaker 16: people who, quite frankly, have never done anything but gained
40:53
Speaker 16: a degree in shoulder chin from the relevant university with
40:58
Speaker 16: a sociology major.
40:59
Speaker 15: Yeah.
41:01
Speaker 2: And you did just touch on it before about how
41:03
Speaker 2: Mike Newman is fluent in Japanese. How critical do you
41:07
Speaker 2: think this is going to be in terms of the
41:10
Speaker 2: relationship between Australia and Asia? I know that he's the
41:14
Speaker 2: leader of the New South Wales Party, but surely this
41:16
Speaker 2: is going to come in handy if, you know, Pauline
41:19
Speaker 2: does go on to become Prime Minister, that you've got
41:21
Speaker 2: someone in your ranks that is able to deal with
41:25
Speaker 2: the Asian nations so well.
41:27
Speaker 13: Well, I think it's important.
41:29
Speaker 16: I mean... In a very much more minor way, my
41:31
Speaker 16: own family, not me, my sister and her husband, his
41:36
Speaker 16: name was Yili Cong.
41:37
Speaker 13: They were import-exporters into China.
41:39
Speaker 16: Other sister-in-laws from Shanghai and other sister-in-laws from Manila and
41:43
Speaker 16: other sister-in-laws from Thailand. It's a trope when people say
41:48
Speaker 16: One Nation are racist. We're not.
41:50
Speaker 13: We're pragmatists. And we believe in the Australian culture.
41:53
Speaker 16: We believe in the guardrails that you have to act
41:55
Speaker 16: within to make sure that Australia is a harmonious place
41:58
Speaker 16: with a unity of purpose to give people the best
42:02
Speaker 16: prospects of an advancement in our national purpose.
42:07
Speaker 13: We're not racist. We're pragmatists.
42:09
Speaker 16: In fact, we've got more experience in the multiplicity of
42:13
Speaker 16: ethnicities that make up this globe on all than I
42:16
Speaker 16: would say most parties. And I looked at my own
42:19
Speaker 16: personal experience of that, and Michael will be an excellent,
42:23
Speaker 16: an excellent conduit into how we make more money out
42:26
Speaker 16: of our negotiations with Asia, as well as being, most importantly,
42:32
Speaker 16: a great representative for the people of Cessnock, because, you know,
42:35
Speaker 16: that's job number one.
42:36
Speaker 13: He'll be looking after the people of Cessnock. I hope
42:39
Speaker 13: he becomes the Premier of New South Wales.
42:41
Speaker 17: If the people of New South Wales go in that direction,
42:44
Speaker 17: you will be incredibly well served.
42:47
Speaker 2: Barnaby, before I let you go, I do want to
42:49
Speaker 2: look at the by-election that is tomorrow for Secret Harbour.
42:54
Speaker 2: What are you feeling? What are you hearing on the ground?
42:57
Speaker 2: This seems like a very big test for One Nation.
43:00
Speaker 13: Well, I never get hubristic.
43:02
Speaker 16: You know, hubristic, the false nemesis, and we'll let the
43:05
Speaker 16: people of Secret Harbour make that decision.
43:07
Speaker 13: I think Lou Hurtigen's an.
43:08
Speaker 16: Incredibly good candidate, and I know it's going to be
43:12
Speaker 16: an incredibly tight race, but it's over to the people
43:14
Speaker 16: of Secret Harbour. They'll make their choice, and whatever choice
43:17
Speaker 16: they make is the right one. That's the wonderful thing
43:19
Speaker 16: about democracy. What it shows, though, is the game is on.
43:23
Speaker 16: People are over this idea that the status quo of
43:26
Speaker 16: political alternatives was all that was required and was satisfactory.
43:33
Speaker 13: People have broadened the economic......
43:35
Speaker 16: Not just the economic alternative policies, but the political alternatives
43:39
Speaker 16: of delivery of the suite of political parties that can
43:43
Speaker 16: do it.
43:44
Speaker 13: And One Nation, to the absolute chagrin of the Labor
43:48
Speaker 13: Party and the socialists....
43:50
Speaker 16: We're in there and we're going to play an incredibly
43:53
Speaker 16: good game because if we don't, our nation is in
43:56
Speaker 16: an incredibly dire position. So Australia needs One Nation and,
44:01
Speaker 16: of course, One Nation is there to serve Australia.
44:05
Speaker 2: Well, Barnaby, we will all be watching tomorrow's by-election on
44:08
Speaker 2: News 24. I appreciate your time tonight. We'll speak to
44:11
Speaker 2: you again soon. Well, coming up, all the news.
44:14
Speaker 3: Of the week with our Friday night panel. Welcome back.
44:23
Speaker 2: Well, let's jump straight into what's making news around the
44:26
Speaker 2: nation with our News 24 contributor, Jo Hildebrand, and national
44:30
Speaker 2: news editor and drive news reader at Nova Radio, Michelle Stevenson.
44:34
Speaker 3: Welcome to you both.
44:35
Speaker 2: It's great to see you both in here on a
44:37
Speaker 2: Friday night.
44:38
Speaker 8: In the cage, Matt.
44:39
Speaker 3: Yes. I know. It's got a good vibe on a Friday.
44:42
Speaker 18: This is my Friday night out.
44:42
Speaker 7: This is exciting.
44:44
Speaker 3: It's raging. Where else would you want to be, Jo?
44:45
Speaker 1: You almost managed to.
44:46
Speaker 7: Bring the kids.
44:47
Speaker 1: That's right.
44:47
Speaker 13: I've got the kids.
44:48
Speaker 18: I just hope someone else takes them home.
44:50
Speaker 12: That's OK.
44:51
Speaker 2: Now, Joe, I do want to start with you because,
44:53
Speaker 2: yet again, a politician has made headlines for the wrong reason,
44:57
Speaker 2: and this time it's New South Wales Small Business Minister
44:59
Speaker 2: Janelle Saffin.
45:00
Speaker 3: Yep.
45:01
Speaker 2: She has put to the taxpayer $ 650 per night for
45:05
Speaker 2: a hotel room as part of a $ 4, 400 stay at
45:09
Speaker 2: the Sofitel Wentworth. When are politicians going to learn that
45:14
Speaker 2: this is just so unacceptable, and especially in a cost-of-living crisis,
45:18
Speaker 2: when everyone is doing it so tough?
45:19
Speaker 18: Do you know the most amazing thing is that the
45:21
Speaker 18: reason Janelle Saffron is a minister is because she was
45:23
Speaker 18: put in there to replace the ministerial spot left by
45:26
Speaker 18: Joe Haley, who was done doing, what was it, 700
45:29
Speaker 18: bucks on the high car winery tour. So, look, it
45:32
Speaker 18: is obviously ridiculous. There is a lesson for politicians. Everyone,
45:35
Speaker 18: of course, is tempted to say, oh, I can put
45:37
Speaker 18: this on work, I can make work pay for this.
45:39
Speaker 18: If you were happy for it to be read about
45:41
Speaker 18: on the front page of the Daily Telegraph, Go for it,
45:44
Speaker 18: because that is where it is going to end up.
45:46
Speaker 18: And incidentally, I want to know what the 500 bucks
45:49
Speaker 18: on the incidentals were.
45:50
Speaker 19: Yes, but also the best part.
45:51
Speaker 1: You're hitting the minibar.
45:52
Speaker 19: The best part, just quickly, halfway through her stay, she
45:55
Speaker 19: upgraded to a king.
45:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's it.
45:57
Speaker 3: Wasn't having a room.
45:59
Speaker 2: It just makes me so frustrated that meanwhile all of
46:02
Speaker 2: us are having to tighten our belts and count our pennies.
46:05
Speaker 3: Now, one person who has.
46:06
Speaker 2: Been very vocal is in your world, Michelle, and that's...
46:10
Speaker 2: Dave Hughes.
46:10
Speaker 3: Love him.
46:11
Speaker 2: He has had to defend himself against bias, but he's
46:14
Speaker 2: been getting cancelled and he's just copping a lot on
46:17
Speaker 2: social media.
46:18
Speaker 5: Yep.
46:19
Speaker 3: He deserves some gratitude for calling out this Labor governor. Oh,
46:22
Speaker 3: my God. In both federally and in Victoria.
46:24
Speaker 19: He, like, welcome to my side, Dave.
46:26
Speaker 3: Yeah.
46:27
Speaker 19: He has red-pilled his way into the Liberal Party. We
46:29
Speaker 19: are happy to have you. I am so happy that
46:32
Speaker 19: he is calling it out. It's so interesting that the
46:34
Speaker 19: left are losing their goddamn minds over him because I
46:37
Speaker 19: think they like to think that comedians and people in
46:39
Speaker 19: the arts and everything that belong to the left. So
46:43
Speaker 19: when someone kind of strays to the right, they're like, Oh,
46:45
Speaker 19: my God. And they get so worked up and so agitated,
46:48
Speaker 19: but he's just calling it out for what it is.
46:50
Speaker 19: He lives in Victoria. Victoria is a hot mess. We
46:54
Speaker 19: know it's a hot mess. It's like he just automatically
46:56
Speaker 19: woke up one day and just went, oh, hang on
46:58
Speaker 19: a minute.
46:59
Speaker 3: This isn't great.
47:01
Speaker 2: It has been so interesting to watch him. What do
47:03
Speaker 2: you make of the day of Hughes?
47:04
Speaker 18: I just... Look, again, I mean, obviously, I'm sympathetic to
47:08
Speaker 18: the Labor Party, but Hughes is not wrong about what
47:10
Speaker 18: he says.
47:11
Speaker 13: No.
47:11
Speaker 1: about what's going.
47:12
Speaker 18: On in Victoria. But more important... And, again, the new
47:15
Speaker 18: Premier himself is talking about the corruption. He's launched a
47:18
Speaker 18: royal commission into it. But, you know, where are the
47:20
Speaker 18: comedians who vote for the Greens... being raked over the
47:23
Speaker 18: coals by their peers.
47:25
Speaker 13: No-one.
47:25
Speaker 1: True.
47:26
Speaker 5: No-one.
47:26
Speaker 2: We can hold that thought because we're going to take
47:28
Speaker 2: a very quick break here on Steve Price, but after,
47:31
Speaker 2: it's all about Dolly Parton.