Latest / The Kenny Report / The Kenny Report | 22 September

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The Kenny Report | 22 September · The Kenny Report

0:02
Speaker 1: This is The Kenny Report.
0:06
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining me tonight.
0:07
Speaker 3: How the government is driving inflation up with wild spending
0:10
Speaker 3: and stalled productivity, but it's you who'll pay with another.
0:14
Speaker 2: Interest rate hike.
0:16
Speaker 3: The Palestinian videographer who chose not to show Gazans attacking
0:20
Speaker 3: and tormenting Israeli hostages. An update on our national energy
0:25
Speaker 3: self-harm and whether the intergenerational report is having a lend
0:29
Speaker 3: of us. Also, Kristen Tate and Tim Blair on Donald
0:32
Speaker 3: Trump's media bans. And the panel with Stephen Senatiempo and
0:36
Speaker 3: Michelle Stevenson.
0:37
Speaker 2: Let's get cracking.
0:43
Speaker 3: If the cost of living crisis isn't bad enough already,
0:46
Speaker 3: all expectations are that interest rates will be bumped up
0:50
Speaker 3: again when the Reserve Bank board meets and announces its
0:53
Speaker 3: decision a week from today.
0:56
Speaker 2: And there could be another rise the following month. Merry Christmas.
1:01
Speaker 3: Inflation remains a problem, sticky, as the economists say, or
1:05
Speaker 3: as the Reserve Bank Governor Michelle Bullock has put it,
1:09
Speaker 3: the inflation risks are skewed to the upside. In fact,
1:13
Speaker 3: the Governor told a business gathering today that the current
1:16
Speaker 3: economic crunch is her crisis moment.
1:19
Speaker 4: I remember previous Governors saying you'd be lucky to get
1:24
Speaker 4: through your term without something going badly pear-shaped. For Ian McFarlane,
1:28
Speaker 4: that was the Asian financial crisis. For Glenn, it was
1:31
Speaker 4: the GFC. And for Phil, it was COVID. So I'm
1:37
Speaker 4: getting my share now.
1:39
Speaker 3: Well, when it comes to interest rates, we know who
1:42
Speaker 3: pays for them. Homeowners and small business people. But the
1:47
Speaker 3: question is who's to blame for the inflation that's fuelling them?
1:51
Speaker 3: Who's skewing the risk to the upside? In other words,
1:55
Speaker 3: who's spending too much? Because it sure ain't you and me. Well,
2:01
Speaker 3: this is where we've seen a cut-through contribution from former
2:04
Speaker 3: Breakfast TV host now business commentator and Port Adelaide AFL
2:09
Speaker 3: Club chairman, David Kosh. Koshy has written a public letter
2:13
Speaker 3: to the RBA governor that outlines the economic challenges and
2:17
Speaker 3: notes that households are not fuelling the spending growth.
2:22
Speaker 2: So who did the growing? Government, and not by a little,
2:26
Speaker 2: says Kosh.
2:27
Speaker 3: Government spending has climbed to 26.8% of GDP, the highest
2:32
Speaker 3: outside the pandemic since 1986.
2:36
Speaker 2: State governments aren't helping either, and.
2:38
Speaker 3: Public sector wages grew by more than the private sector.
2:43
Speaker 3: Not only that, but there's more of them. Labor's added
2:46
Speaker 3: more than 40,000 extra federal public servants, can you believe?
2:51
Speaker 2: And for what gain?
2:53
Speaker 3: Anyway, with the Reserve Bank board about to meet, Koch
2:57
Speaker 3: underlines the point. A meaningful slice of the inflation your
3:01
Speaker 3: board is trying to contain, he writes, is not being generated...
3:06
Speaker 3: In a shopping centre, it's being set in a cabinet room.
3:10
Speaker 2: That's the killer point, isn't it?
3:12
Speaker 3: The RBA will use its blunt instrument of interest rates,
3:15
Speaker 3: the only tool it's got, and working families will feel
3:19
Speaker 3: the pain. It's families struggling to balance the books over
3:22
Speaker 3: the kitchen table that feel the pain when the problem
3:26
Speaker 3: is wild spending from the Albanese Labor government. And Kosh's
3:31
Speaker 3: letter goes to this. He knows that Bullock can't set
3:34
Speaker 3: government policy... But when she speaks after increasing interest rates again,
3:39
Speaker 3: she can be frank with people about what's driving the
3:43
Speaker 3: board's decision. You've been dealt an economy in which the
3:47
Speaker 3: sector most responsive to your interest rate lever, that is
3:51
Speaker 3: the private sector, is the one least responsible for the.
3:55
Speaker 2: Problem, he says.
3:56
Speaker 3: That's not your failing, but it is within your responsibilities
4:00
Speaker 3: to make sure Australians know it.
4:04
Speaker 2: Spot on.
4:05
Speaker 3: The bank shouldn't run protection for the government. It should
4:09
Speaker 3: be frank about who's driving inflation and therefore pushing interest
4:14
Speaker 3: rates up.
4:15
Speaker 2: It's not average Australians. It's Albanese of Australia.
4:20
Speaker 3: The only other way out of our economic bind, apart
4:22
Speaker 3: from cutting spending, is to push up productivity, which has
4:26
Speaker 3: gone backwards under Labor. And the RBA governor was at
4:30
Speaker 3: least able to gently focus on the government's tardiness there.
4:35
Speaker 4: People often turn to the government for that. And look,
4:38
Speaker 4: there are things governments can do. They can remove red tape.
4:41
Speaker 4: They can make it easier for businesses to invest. They
4:45
Speaker 4: can make it rewarding for businesses to innovate. So they're
4:51
Speaker 4: the sorts of things that government can do. But businesses
4:55
Speaker 4: also have to step up to the plate as well.
4:57
Speaker 4: So there's something about needing to make sure that when
5:01
Speaker 4: we're thinking about competition, things governments could be doing is
5:05
Speaker 4: how do they encourage competition as well? So that will
5:09
Speaker 4: also help to possibly spur productivity.
5:13
Speaker 3: Well, the government could do much more besides, like freeing
5:17
Speaker 3: up the labour market instead of kowtowing to its union masters.
5:21
Speaker 3: It could deliver reliable and affordable energy instead of pretending
5:26
Speaker 3: that it's saving the planet. And it could stop employing
5:29
Speaker 3: more and more public servants to do less and less.
5:33
Speaker 2: usually from home.
5:34
Speaker 3: David Koch, by the way, will join me here on
5:37
Speaker 3: the program tomorrow night. I'm really looking forward to hearing
5:40
Speaker 3: his insights and his recommendations. Now to the latest media
5:48
Speaker 3: attack on Pauline Hanson and One Nation. This time, Channel
5:53
Speaker 3: 9 in the US interviewed... Can you believe it? A
5:56
Speaker 3: grand wizard.
5:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what they call them.
6:00
Speaker 3: A grand wizard of the hateful, racist, white supremacist Ku
6:04
Speaker 3: Klux Klan.
6:05
Speaker 2: And Nine shared his endorsement with viewers.
6:10
Speaker 5: The Ku Klux Klan director brought Hanson up, unprompted, as
6:14
Speaker 5: we were preparing for our interview.
6:16
Speaker 6: She is demonised by the same element of people that
6:19
Speaker 6: wants to demonise us. What I understand of her is
6:22
Speaker 6: she's concerned about the especially from Asia, China, and so on,
6:27
Speaker 6: coming into Australia and changing the racial complex of Australia,
6:31
Speaker 6: changing the culture, changing all the things that the people
6:34
Speaker 6: love and hold dear, and changing to something different.
6:37
Speaker 2: And she wants to restrict that.
6:38
Speaker 7: Is it heartening for you to see someone like anti-immigration
6:41
Speaker 7: Pauline Hanson doing well in Australia?
6:43
Speaker 2: Is it heartening? Yeah, yeah, it's encouraging, absolutely.
6:48
Speaker 3: Pretty loathsome stuff, hey? And no doubt the Green Left
6:50
Speaker 3: will use that to bolster their hateful attacks on Hanson
6:54
Speaker 3: and One Nation, as if they need any encouragement. Pauline
6:58
Speaker 3: Hanson described this as disgusting.
7:00
Speaker 2: And a new low for the media.
7:03
Speaker 3: She rightly condemned the Ku Klux Klan as white supremacists
7:06
Speaker 3: with a history of racial hate, terror and violence. She
7:11
Speaker 3: condemned Channel 9 for sending a journalist to interview the
7:14
Speaker 3: Klan and share their views. As for Nine, they defended
7:17
Speaker 3: their journalism, saying the Ku Klux Klan leader raised One
7:20
Speaker 3: Nation unprompted, which only raises the question of why you'd.
7:25
Speaker 2: Interview the Klan anyway.
7:28
Speaker 3: I mean, didn't Nine flick Karl Stefanovic, at least in part,
7:32
Speaker 3: for interviewing Tommy Robinson, who's not quite the Ku Klux Klan?
7:37
Speaker 3: And all this leaves one other sidelight about One Nation
7:41
Speaker 3: hanging over all of this with its media relations. Controversially,
7:45
Speaker 3: of course, One Nation have a ban in place against
7:49
Speaker 3: the ABC, keeping the national broadcaster out of their private
7:53
Speaker 3: media events. So the next question is whether they'll ban
7:56
Speaker 3: Channel 9 too.
7:58
Speaker 2: Where could it end? Now, I'm no defender of.
8:02
Speaker 3: The ABC or interviews with the Ku Klux Klan, But
8:06
Speaker 3: surely One Nation would be better off just talking to
8:09
Speaker 3: all media and setting them straight when needs be. And
8:14
Speaker 3: to all the Labor and Greens politicians out there nodding
8:17
Speaker 3: in agreement to that point, how about you grow a
8:20
Speaker 3: spine and show the courage of your convictions and turn
8:23
Speaker 3: up here for a chat sometime. I need to share
8:31
Speaker 3: with you a fascinating and controversial.
8:34
Speaker 2: Interview given by a videographer.
8:37
Speaker 3: Famous for showing the world the suffering in Gaza over
8:41
Speaker 3: the past three years. Motaz Azaya has been feted around
8:45
Speaker 3: the world for bravely sharing footage of Palestinian suffering at
8:49
Speaker 3: the hands of Israeli attacks in the war triggered by
8:53
Speaker 3: the horrific Hamas terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.
8:59
Speaker 3: But he's now given an interview in which he admits
9:02
Speaker 3: that while filming on that day, he saw Israeli hostages
9:06
Speaker 3: being attacked, but he chose not to share that vision
9:10
Speaker 3: with the world. This interview is in Arabic, so follow
9:14
Speaker 3: the subtitles.
9:15
Speaker 2: It's illuminating and perhaps damning.
9:20
Speaker 8: In Israel. I would stand in the area, people would
9:25
Speaker 8: look at me, I would hit them, I would hit them,
9:26
Speaker 8: and I would walk.
9:27
Speaker 2: And I was behind them, I was filming.
9:29
Speaker 8: So I was filming, but there was no danger that
9:37
Speaker 8: I would hit them, or hit them, or curse them,
9:39
Speaker 8: or do anything. You didn't publish it? I didn't publish it, no.
9:42
Speaker 8: I didn't publish it.
9:44
Speaker 4: Why?
9:47
Speaker 8: I'm not worth it. I'm wasting my family and my
9:49
Speaker 8: family so that people can watch my videos and things
9:51
Speaker 8: like that. There's a condition with.
9:54
Speaker 2: You're scared.
9:56
Speaker 8: I mean, I'm careful with things. Now, Aziza says he
9:51
Speaker 8: was trying to protect himself and others from Israel, from
9:54
Speaker 8: revenge targeting by Israel. But remember, this was long before
9:58
Speaker 8: Israel had even started retaliating, so that's an important context.
10:00
Speaker 8: But also, ask.
10:02
Speaker 2: Yourself whether.
10:19
Speaker 3: He might have self-censored because this is not what Hamas
10:25
Speaker 3: wanted the world to see. Still, as this discussion continued,
10:29
Speaker 3: listen or read what it tells you about the oft-repeated
10:35
Speaker 3: lie about Israel indiscriminately targeting Gazan civilians. Here, from the
10:41
Speaker 3: mouths of Palestinians, we hear the opposite is true.
10:46
Speaker 8: They will bring their faces Because Israel has all our
10:48
Speaker 8: faces All our faces On ID On identity So it's
10:53
Speaker 8: easy So It's very easy So easy So.
10:57
Speaker 9: And this is actually what happened later I mean The
10:59
Speaker 9: level of attacks You know There is something in the
11:03
Speaker 9: beginning At the beginning It was being talked about On
11:06
Speaker 9: the randomness Like the narrative Or our narrative That Israel
11:09
Speaker 9: attacks Without I mean Like this By chance You kill
11:12
Speaker 9: people But you come and see that And just one
11:16
Speaker 9: more clip I want to show you, again, because it
11:21
Speaker 9: puts the lie to the anti-Israel narrative. Remember, Aziza is
11:24
Speaker 9: a Palestinian who supports so-called resistance, even armed resistance.
11:43
Speaker 3: But he has had the courage to criticize Hamas. And
11:46
Speaker 3: he criticizes also the lack of will from other Palestinians
11:50
Speaker 3: to call out Hamas's violence.
12:14
Speaker 8: Even if it's open, it's not a place of honor.
12:17
Speaker 8: They want it to be open, for example. Those who
12:20
Speaker 8: were martyred on the top, those who were killed on
12:22
Speaker 8: their feet, those who were burned, those who were murdered,
12:25
Speaker 8: those who were killed in injustice.
12:28
Speaker 2: Really, why don't we hear their names in the streets?
12:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, not just from Fatah and those in the West Bank,
12:36
Speaker 3: I would say. Why, from the rest of the world,
12:38
Speaker 3: is there no focus on Gazans killed by Hamas? Why
12:43
Speaker 3: is Hamas not condemned, even when it kills its own?
12:49
Speaker 3: When you get depressed about where all this is heading
12:51
Speaker 3: in public debate, and believe me, that's where I end
12:54
Speaker 3: up a lot of the time, when you worry about
12:57
Speaker 3: the rise of anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and Islamist extremism in this
13:01
Speaker 3: country and around the world, It is interviews like this
13:04
Speaker 3: that do give you some hope.
13:07
Speaker 2: Why?
13:08
Speaker 3: Well, because slowly but surely the truth is exposed. Even
13:13
Speaker 3: for those who barely pay attention and just mouth hateful slogans,
13:18
Speaker 3: eventually they'll have to confront the truth.
13:27
Speaker 2: Now, briefly to AI. It's all the rage at the moment,
13:30
Speaker 2: of course.
13:30
Speaker 3: The Albanese government wants us to believe it'll save us
13:34
Speaker 3: from their economic recklessness on one hand, and on the other,
13:38
Speaker 3: they want us to be scared of AI and place
13:41
Speaker 3: our faith in the Albanese government to guard against excesses.
13:46
Speaker 3: The Prime Minister's been talking about this in New York.
13:50
Speaker 10: Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve lives, to strengthen
13:54
Speaker 10: our economy and productivity... and to massively advance science and
14:00
Speaker 10: medical breakthroughs. But humans need to be in control of it.
14:05
Speaker 10: If it's going to be successful, then we need to
14:08
Speaker 10: make sure that humans are at the centre of everything
14:11
Speaker 10: that occurs.
14:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, all the fear mongering and the calls for more
14:17
Speaker 3: regulation do remind me a bit of the old Terminator movies,
14:22
Speaker 3: you know, when the AI humanoids are trying to kill
14:25
Speaker 3: us all, even coming back from the future to wipe
14:28
Speaker 3: us out. It can't be reasoned with.
14:32
Speaker 4: It doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear, and it
14:37
Speaker 4: absolutely will not.
14:38
Speaker 2: Stop, ever.
14:42
Speaker 3: Sounds like he's describing the Veterans Affairs Minister, doesn't he?
14:45
Speaker 2: Only joking. But it would be.
14:47
Speaker 3: Useful, I reckon, to go back in time and warn
14:50
Speaker 3: everyone about all the promises Labor was going to break.
14:58
Speaker 2: Let me bring in the Shadow Energy Minister, Dan Tehan,
15:01
Speaker 2: who happens to be in town. He's in the studio
15:03
Speaker 2: with me. Good to see you, Dan.
15:04
Speaker 1: Good to be with you, Chris.
15:05
Speaker 3: I've got to focus on the economy. All eyes on
15:09
Speaker 3: a week from today, Tuesday week, we're going to get
15:12
Speaker 3: another interest rate rise, aren't we?
15:13
Speaker 2: And it's the government spending, undoubtedly, that's fuelling it.
15:17
Speaker 11: Everything points to that and everything points to Jim Chalmers'
15:22
Speaker 11: addiction to spending. And it does seem to be an addiction.
15:25
Speaker 11: He doesn't seem to be able to control it. And
15:28
Speaker 11: the problem we saw with the intergenerational report, which was released,
15:31
Speaker 11: is as far as the Labor Party and Anthony Albanese
15:34
Speaker 11: is concerned, that spending is just going to continue. And
15:38
Speaker 11: this is really going to hurt Australians at this time.
15:40
Speaker 11: They're struggling as it is, and the last thing they
15:44
Speaker 11: need is another interest rate rise.
15:46
Speaker 3: This is what I kicked off the program on last night.
15:48
Speaker 3: What really worried me about that intergenerational report and Labor's
15:52
Speaker 3: approach to it was that we've got... spending still running amok,
15:56
Speaker 3: deficits as far as the eye could see, and the
15:58
Speaker 3: only hope Labor offered wasn't that they're going to boost
16:01
Speaker 3: productivity through normal means, it wasn't that they're going to
16:04
Speaker 3: reduce spending and outlays or trim the size of government.
16:08
Speaker 3: Their only hope was, oh, AI will fix this eventually,
16:10
Speaker 3: boost productivity and fix it all.
16:12
Speaker 11: That's right, and AI's going to do it. by making
16:15
Speaker 11: sure it's powered by renewables only.
16:17
Speaker 2: Yes, I forgot about that.
16:19
Speaker 11: What a complete and utter joke. I mean, Chris Bowen
16:22
Speaker 11: is going to make sure wind farms and solar farms
16:24
Speaker 11: power AI. The rest of the world, of course, are
16:27
Speaker 11: taking an energy abundance approach, but he's going.
16:29
Speaker 2: To do that.
16:30
Speaker 11: That won't enhance productivity when it comes to AI. So
16:33
Speaker 11: the fact that they're hanging their hats on AI once
16:35
Speaker 11: again shows we're in a lot of trouble unless we
16:38
Speaker 11: get a very different approach.
16:39
Speaker 3: And to be frank, of course, AI will boost productivity.
16:42
Speaker 3: We can look forward to it boosting productivity in the private.
16:45
Speaker 2: Sector as it already is.
16:47
Speaker 3: It should enable governments to shrink their public service size
16:50
Speaker 3: over time as well. But just to say it's all
16:52
Speaker 3: going to happen while they sit back and do nothing
16:56
Speaker 3: is what I think is absolutely wrong. I want to
16:58
Speaker 3: go to your leader, Angus Taylor. I thought he gave
17:00
Speaker 3: a very good answer today when he was asked whether
17:02
Speaker 3: it was pretty unfair, that question.
17:04
Speaker 2: To the Prime Minister in New York yesterday, calling him
17:07
Speaker 2: a fraud.
17:09
Speaker 1: Just on Prime Minister Albanese's recent trips to the US,
17:13
Speaker 1: I mean, he's been accused of being fraudulent. Do you
17:15
Speaker 1: believe that will be the case?
17:16
Speaker 5: Well, I do.
17:17
Speaker 1: I do. I think he's been fraudulent.
17:18
Speaker 5: To Australians in saying 50 times before the last election
17:23
Speaker 5: that he wasn't going to impose additional capital gains tax
17:27
Speaker 5: and get rid of negative gearing.
17:29
Speaker 3: It's the key point here, isn't it? You fire the
17:31
Speaker 3: liar and all of that, and this is Angus Taylor
17:34
Speaker 3: taking what people... They're expecting sympathy for the Prime Minister,
17:36
Speaker 3: but there are just so many broken promises, you guys
17:39
Speaker 3: can't point to them often enough, surely?
17:41
Speaker 2: No, absolutely.
17:42
Speaker 11: I mean, you go back to the $ 275, which were
17:45
Speaker 11: promised to people off their power bills... negative gearing, capital gains, trusts,
17:51
Speaker 11: you name it. You know, even to the comical where
17:54
Speaker 11: he didn't fall off a stage. And there's the footage
17:56
Speaker 11: of him, you know, falling off a stage. All these
17:59
Speaker 11: things are building up and up. You know, we were
18:01
Speaker 11: asking the parliament last week whether he provided a reference
18:05
Speaker 11: to that friend of his, the, you know, so-called comedian,
18:08
Speaker 11: Rhys Muldoon.
18:09
Speaker 2: Yeah.
18:09
Speaker 11: And, you know, we couldn't get a straight answer. It
18:11
Speaker 11: seems like he didn't provide one for his Australian ambassadorial role,
18:16
Speaker 11: but he probably has done for other things, and, you know,
18:19
Speaker 11: he won't even be straight about that. Everything is just
18:22
Speaker 11: a pattern of behaviour now with this Prime Minister where
18:24
Speaker 11: he can't be honest.
18:25
Speaker 2: With the Australian people.
18:27
Speaker 11: We absolutely owe it to the Australian people now to
18:30
Speaker 11: keep pointing that out.
18:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, but this has real-world outcomes too because we started
18:33
Speaker 3: off talking about the cost of living and, of course,
18:36
Speaker 3: productivity comes into it. But this promise to lower electricity
18:40
Speaker 3: prices by $ 275 a year.
18:42
Speaker 2: That would have been massive for this country.
18:44
Speaker 3: It would have boosted productivity across the country and eased
18:47
Speaker 3: the cost of living pressure. Instead, he's increased prices by
18:50
Speaker 3: three or four times that amount. So it's really helping
18:54
Speaker 3: to fuel what we're seeing now.
18:55
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
18:56
Speaker 11: I mean, every time the Prime Minister isn't honest with
18:59
Speaker 11: the Australian people, they pay. You know, we've seen it
19:02
Speaker 11: through electricity prices. We've seen it now through taxes. Three
19:06
Speaker 11: types of taxes which he said wouldn't be introduced are
19:10
Speaker 11: now being introduced in the budget. And that's going to
19:13
Speaker 11: have real-world consequences to Australians. And that's why we need
19:17
Speaker 11: to keep saying it loud and clear. You know, when
19:20
Speaker 11: he lies, you pay. When he lies, you pay. And
19:23
Speaker 11: we're not going to let up on this.
19:25
Speaker 2: I tell you what, I think the opposition.
19:27
Speaker 3: I've been critical at times for the opposition sometimes being
19:30
Speaker 3: a little bit invisible... Angus Taylor again today on a
19:33
Speaker 3: question about whether Australia should be going for a Security
19:37
Speaker 3: Council place turned it around into a really cogent and
19:41
Speaker 3: plausible attack on the Albanese government.
19:43
Speaker 2: Have a look.
19:44
Speaker 5: We've always supported in recent years the.
19:50
Speaker 5: Australia playing a role on the Security Council and having
19:52
Speaker 5: a position on the Security Council. But can I say,
19:55
Speaker 5: security starts at home. And this Prime Minister should start
19:59
Speaker 5: by making sure Australians are secure here in our own country.
20:05
Speaker 3: Again, this is something I'm hot on for so long
20:07
Speaker 3: because Anthony Albanese never did enough, in my view, to
20:11
Speaker 3: respond to the rising levels of Jew hatred in this country.
20:15
Speaker 3: And even as we look at this UN Security Council
20:17
Speaker 3: bid now... When he recognised Palestine, that was clearly, in
20:21
Speaker 3: the words of myself and many others, a reward for terrorism.
20:26
Speaker 3: Does it look now, a year on, that part of
20:28
Speaker 3: the reasoning of this government was to recognise Palestine, to
20:32
Speaker 3: play into that UN crowd, to help them in this
20:35
Speaker 3: bid to get onto the Security Council?
20:37
Speaker 11: It's a very good question, and I think it will
20:39
Speaker 11: depend on what happens as to whether there's any other
20:42
Speaker 11: candidates or not, because at the moment... there's only two
20:45
Speaker 11: for two spots. So my hope is we don't see
20:49
Speaker 11: any of the lavish spending on this bid that we've
20:52
Speaker 11: seen from Chris Bowen. I mean, if there's $ 150 million splurge,
20:56
Speaker 11: if they set up an office of the presidency, well,
20:59
Speaker 11: we'll all know that they're just completely taking the mickey.
21:03
Speaker 11: Who knows what their rationale was, but you're right, Chris.
21:06
Speaker 11: Real leadership and real focus on security back home would
21:10
Speaker 11: have been the Prime Minister appearing at that Royal Commission.
21:13
Speaker 2: That should have been the minimum.
21:15
Speaker 3: Just very quickly, is it unfair to draw links to
21:18
Speaker 3: point out to people that a bloke from the Ku
21:19
Speaker 3: Klux Klan is endorsing Pauline Hanson?
21:22
Speaker 11: I mean, what are they doing, wasting their time going
21:24
Speaker 11: over and sending a reporter to do that?
21:27
Speaker 2: You know.
21:28
Speaker 11: none of the Australian media should be going out and
21:30
Speaker 11: putting a spotlight on the Ku Klux Klan at the moment.
21:33
Speaker 1: I think it's just reprehensible.
21:35
Speaker 11: Leave them in the US, leave them alone, don't give
21:38
Speaker 11: them any publicity and just focus on what the real
21:41
Speaker 11: issues are back here in Australia.
21:43
Speaker 3: Thanks for joining us, Dan. We'll catch you next time.
21:45
Speaker 3: Dan Tehan in Sydney with us at the moment. His
21:48
Speaker 3: neck of the woods is Western Victoria and we're going
21:51
Speaker 3: to go there now and catch up with Tim Blair.
21:54
Speaker 2: As we often do. He's in the Wimmera of Victoria.
21:57
Speaker 3: I want to talk to him about something he's written
21:59
Speaker 3: in today's Daily Telegraph.
22:00
Speaker 2: Good to talk to you again, Tim. You've highlighted the shocking.
22:04
Speaker 3: State of the roads, even the major roads in Western Victoria.
22:09
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
22:10
Speaker 12: The road between Horsham and Ballarat, the Western Highway, it's
22:13
Speaker 12: a significant road, heavily used by trucks, as is obvious
22:16
Speaker 12: when you're driving along it, and you actually need a
22:18
Speaker 12: truck to get through a lot of it. It's an
22:21
Speaker 12: abysmal situation, much of regional Victoria, much of regional New
22:25
Speaker 12: South Wales for that matter, is poorly, I mean, look
22:29
Speaker 12: at that. That's from Peter Credlin's show from yesterday when
22:33
Speaker 12: she highlighted that's about 20 minutes from where I live
22:36
Speaker 12: right now. That's what we're used to driving on. And, yeah,
22:40
Speaker 12: I was in common with so many people put off
22:44
Speaker 12: the road by a flat tyre the other day. And
22:48
Speaker 12: there's one positive out of this. While I was stuck there,
22:52
Speaker 12: four different drivers pulled over to offer to help. I
22:55
Speaker 12: didn't need them. The RACV were on the way. But
22:58
Speaker 12: everyone here, when they see a car at the side
23:00
Speaker 12: of the road in that sort of circumstance, everyone wants
23:03
Speaker 12: to pitch in because they've been in the same situation.
23:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, now, I've driven through that part of the world
23:08
Speaker 2: quite a bit. I'll probably go through there next week.
23:10
Speaker 2: I might pop in and see you, Tim. Good luck, yeah. But, yeah.
23:15
Speaker 3: Now, those pictures, as you rightly say, Peter Credlin took
23:18
Speaker 3: them on the weekend. She showed them on social media
23:20
Speaker 3: and ran them on her program last night. Is that
23:22
Speaker 3: actually on the main Melbourne to Adelaide road or is
23:25
Speaker 3: that a less significant road?
23:28
Speaker 12: That's on the way to Ballarat out of Horsham. So
23:31
Speaker 12: that's at a place called Dancewalls Bridge. which is where
23:34
Speaker 12: everyone in Horsham, there's a little place there nearby where
23:37
Speaker 12: you get your Christmas turkeys. So maybe it's high, you know,
23:41
Speaker 12: we're coming up to Christmas, it's a bit of turkey
23:43
Speaker 12: traffic calling, but.
23:44
Speaker 2: Look at how rapidly it's even put together.
23:46
Speaker 3: That is no pothole. That's just a major road hazard.
23:51
Speaker 3: It's a hell of a problem for Ben Carroll. He's
23:54
Speaker 3: got to get on to that. And I know, speaking
23:56
Speaker 3: to senior politicians in Victoria, they say this is going
23:59
Speaker 3: to be crucial. Some parts of the state, this is
24:01
Speaker 3: the number one issue, despite all the other problems.
24:04
Speaker 5: Oh, yeah.
24:05
Speaker 3: I want to go to data centres because he's had
24:07
Speaker 3: a bit to say about this, Ben Carroll. He reckons
24:10
Speaker 3: Victoria wants them, but they've all got to be powered
24:13
Speaker 3: by windmills.
24:13
Speaker 1: Have a look.
24:15
Speaker 13: They'll be required to power themselves with their own renewable
24:20
Speaker 13: energy and supply. They'll be required to protect homes. We
24:26
Speaker 13: will be the first jurisdiction in Australia... to make sure
24:29
Speaker 13: there is a buffer zone of 150 metres between a
24:33
Speaker 13: data centre and a home, the width of the Melbourne
24:37
Speaker 13: cricket ground.
24:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, in other words, they want these investments, but they're
24:41
Speaker 3: going to scare them away.
24:42
Speaker 2: They're not going to happen. Exactly.
24:44
Speaker 12: We want the future, but we're going to power it
24:45
Speaker 12: with the past. And I do kind of... I mean,
24:50
Speaker 12: that sort of two-handed approach is classic, isn't it? It's
24:53
Speaker 12: when you want to indicate that you're all in favour
24:55
Speaker 12: of something while at the same time putting up barriers
24:58
Speaker 12: to it. Well, I'd also point out that data centres
25:03
Speaker 12: in the US, they are providing their own power.
25:06
Speaker 14: Nuclear.
25:06
Speaker 2: In the form of nuclear, exactly.
25:08
Speaker 12: So we know how it's done. It's just that we
25:11
Speaker 12: want to build those things, those mega consumers of energy.
25:15
Speaker 12: We want to power them with things that are dandelions
25:20
Speaker 12: and nice summer breezes. It's all a bit folk music-y,
25:23
Speaker 12: isn't it?
25:24
Speaker 2: It is.
25:25
Speaker 3: We'll get back to your AI query when the wind
25:27
Speaker 3: picks up a little in.
25:29
Speaker 2: The next couple of days.
25:30
Speaker 3: And now I want to focus on something that you've
25:33
Speaker 3: brought our attention to. We've shown a bit of this
25:35
Speaker 3: CNN interview before with the Californian Governor Gavin Newsom, everyone
25:39
Speaker 3: waiting to see whether he's going to be... Democrat contender
25:42
Speaker 3: for the next presidential election. We saw, we ran the
25:45
Speaker 3: grab the other week where he was saying he wouldn't
25:47
Speaker 3: run against Kamala. If Kamala runs her, he lets her go.
25:51
Speaker 3: But there's this other segment of this fishing video where
25:54
Speaker 3: he expresses his regrets for COVID overreach.
25:58
Speaker 2: Have a look. I mean, the idea that we closed
26:01
Speaker 2: beaches was insane in hindsight. Obviously, the schools taking too long.
26:06
Speaker 2: A lot of districts were open, but the big ones weren't.
26:09
Speaker 2: LA refused. And I regret that, obviously.
26:16
Speaker 3: Man, what kills me about this, Tim, and you'll be
26:18
Speaker 3: hot on this because you were ringing the bell at
26:21
Speaker 3: the time as well. You don't need hindsight to know
26:24
Speaker 3: that these were mistakes and absurd.
26:26
Speaker 2: People were screaming from the rafters at the time. Absolutely.
26:29
Speaker 12: You just need a touch of insight. It's fascinating what's
26:32
Speaker 12: happening here is that the likes of Newsom and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
26:38
Speaker 12: they're walking back from their positions of only a few
26:41
Speaker 12: years ago. We saw AOC a few days or weeks
26:44
Speaker 12: ago talking about how, oh, it wasn't woke crazy. Oh,
26:48
Speaker 12: didn't we all go nuts with that woke stuff? Oh, yeah,
26:50
Speaker 12: like she led it. She led it internationally. And now
26:53
Speaker 12: you've got Newsom saying that closing the beaches in one
26:56
Speaker 12: of the most powerful economies, forget just the state, One
26:59
Speaker 12: of the most powerful economies in the world. Shutting that
27:02
Speaker 12: all down was– that was just a bit goofy. This
27:05
Speaker 12: is a sign that they are trying to drive towards
27:07
Speaker 12: the centre again and they're trying to place themselves in–
27:11
Speaker 12: in a potential frame to be prime presidential. I don't
27:16
Speaker 12: think it's going to happen with those guys.
27:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, it's safe to vote for them now because
27:19
Speaker 3: they regret closing down beaches.
27:21
Speaker 2: Give me a break. Thanks for joining us, Tim. We'll
27:23
Speaker 2: catch up with you on Thursday. Tim Blair there.
27:25
Speaker 3: Don't forget to read his stuff through the Daily Telegraph or.
27:28
Speaker 2: The other News Corp websites. We're going to take a break.
27:32
Speaker 3: On the other side, a lot more on our national
27:35
Speaker 3: energy self-harm from expert Aidan Morrison.
27:38
Speaker 2: Don't go away.
27:43
Speaker 3: Joining me next is the Director of Energy Program at
27:46
Speaker 3: the Centre for Independent Studies, Aidan Morrison, and he's issued
27:49
Speaker 3: a dire warning on the state of the New South
27:51
Speaker 3: Wales energy system after attending the state budget estimates.
27:57
Speaker 12: Where the heck is the opposition?
28:00
Speaker 1: Like, if there is a moment in political history where
28:03
Speaker 1: you need the opposition to just do their job, this
28:07
Speaker 1: is it. We literally have a situation where the lights
28:10
Speaker 1: are going to go out. And there is silence. The
28:13
Speaker 1: key bit of obfuscation here is the questions and the
28:16
Speaker 1: buck passing around whether the government once intends will commit
28:20
Speaker 1: to closing a RARing in 2029.
28:24
Speaker 3: Well, the New South Wales energy system is right in
28:26
Speaker 3: the middle of the national electricity grid, so it matters
28:29
Speaker 3: to everyone.
28:30
Speaker 2: And Aidan joins me now on the desk. Good to
28:33
Speaker 2: talk to you again, Aidan.
28:34
Speaker 3: What is it that so worries you about the lack
28:37
Speaker 3: of focus on the energy system at the moment?
28:40
Speaker 1: Well, at the moment, our biggest power station, Araring, is
28:42
Speaker 1: scheduled to close in 2029.
28:44
Speaker 2: Coalfied.
28:44
Speaker 1: Coalfied power station, easily the largest in the country, scheduled
28:48
Speaker 1: to close because the New South Wales government has required
28:51
Speaker 1: it to be closed at that point. So when they
28:54
Speaker 1: took office in 2024, they looked at the plan to
28:57
Speaker 1: close it in 2025 and concluded that was wildly naive.
29:00
Speaker 1: And they set a deadline in 2029 and forced them
29:03
Speaker 1: to close. But at the moment, the latest reports from
29:05
Speaker 1: the market operator show that soon after that point, Assuming
29:09
Speaker 1: everything goes perfectly with Snowy 2.0, by the way, we're
29:12
Speaker 1: going to have a takeoff in the unserved energy, which
29:14
Speaker 1: means rolling blackouts. And at that point, we're going to
29:17
Speaker 1: have basically the dams are going to run out of water.
29:20
Speaker 1: The gas power plants are not going to have compressed
29:22
Speaker 1: gas in their pipelines. So batteries won't solve this problem.
29:26
Speaker 1: We actually won't have the energy to charge the batteries.
29:29
Speaker 1: It is happening and yet there is total silence and
29:32
Speaker 1: obfuscation from the government and nothing at all from the opposition.
29:34
Speaker 2: Not enough from the opposition.
29:35
Speaker 3: You've got to remember that the Liberal opposition and New
29:38
Speaker 3: South Wales Coalition opposition... and also around the country, so
29:41
Speaker 3: often they've been forward-leaning on net zero as well. So
29:45
Speaker 3: they're only just starting to wake up to all this stuff.
29:47
Speaker 3: What will happen, though, is they'll keep a rowing open longer.
29:51
Speaker 3: There'll be taxpayer subsidies to make sure it sticks around
29:54
Speaker 3: and upgrades it.
29:54
Speaker 2: We've seen that elsewhere.
29:56
Speaker 1: That's exactly right. And so we're just one more rollout
29:59
Speaker 1: of another couple of years. It's going to be inevitable,
30:01
Speaker 1: but they might sneak through the next election waving their
30:04
Speaker 1: hands around saying that everything's all right and then announce
30:07
Speaker 1: they're taking out the garbage once they've been re-elected on
30:09
Speaker 1: this totally naive promise that they can somehow have their
30:12
Speaker 1: renewable energy fantasy come true, when in fact it will
30:15
Speaker 1: be that case, that we have to extend it again.
30:17
Speaker 2: Because otherwise there'd just be blackouts.
30:19
Speaker 1: There will be rolling blackouts if we do not extend
30:21
Speaker 1: Araring beyond 2029. Absolutely sure of it.
30:24
Speaker 3: Now, another case of absolute delusion on this really struck
30:27
Speaker 3: me yesterday when I read through the intergenerational report. This
30:30
Speaker 3: is supposed to be the blueprint for this country over
30:33
Speaker 3: the next 40 years. And it tells us that at
30:35
Speaker 3: the end of that 40 years, we're going to be
30:37
Speaker 3: a country running almost entirely on renewables, including offshore wind,
30:43
Speaker 3: with the tiniest sliver of gas power as a backup.
30:46
Speaker 2: No coal.
30:47
Speaker 3: I mean, this is just not going to happen, and
30:49
Speaker 3: especially not going to happen with cheaper prices.
30:53
Speaker 1: That's exactly right. Where else in the world has this
30:55
Speaker 1: ever worked before? That's the question. That's a burning question.
30:58
Speaker 1: And so if you look at Germany, if you look
31:00
Speaker 1: at the UK, you look at Spain, look at prices
31:03
Speaker 1: going up, industry fleeing and reliability coming down. So all
31:07
Speaker 1: these exceptions, we've told ourselves we can do better because
31:10
Speaker 1: we're such a large country, but the cost of the
31:13
Speaker 1: transmission and the cost of the batteries to try to
31:15
Speaker 1: throw a web over that huge sort of country has
31:18
Speaker 1: not yet been grappled with, and that's going to come
31:20
Speaker 1: out as we see more and more of these cost
31:22
Speaker 1: blowouts in the transmission network.
31:23
Speaker 3: This is the critical point that's too seldom asked, and
31:26
Speaker 3: that is if this is such a wonderful solution and
31:28
Speaker 3: if Australia can do it, how come not only has
31:32
Speaker 3: no other country done it, no other country is trying
31:36
Speaker 3: to do it? You know, Spain had a bit of
31:38
Speaker 3: a crack yesterday, The UK had a bit of a crack.
31:40
Speaker 2: They've both got nuclear. Yes, Spain has got nuclear as well.
31:44
Speaker 14: Yes.
31:44
Speaker 3: Germany was forward-leaning on this, then hit the crunch, and
31:47
Speaker 3: now they're winding back.
31:48
Speaker 2: And they're lucky too, those European countries. They usually have.
31:51
Speaker 3: interconnection with other countries. So Germany gets nuclear power in
31:54
Speaker 3: from France. So no one's actually doing this. Why do
31:58
Speaker 3: we think we're going to be able to do what
31:59
Speaker 3: no one else is ever even trying to do?
32:02
Speaker 1: Well, they're still having a wild crack, but the industrial
32:06
Speaker 1: situation in Germany is really catastrophic. They're absolutely losing all
32:09
Speaker 1: their industry to Eastern European countries at the moment. And absolutely,
32:13
Speaker 1: we are basing our assumption that we will do something
32:15
Speaker 1: that no one else has been able to achieve before.
32:17
Speaker 1: So it just seems like a wild ambition with no
32:20
Speaker 1: precedent and no clear plan. Even our own authorities now
32:23
Speaker 1: are not claiming that prices are going to go down
32:25
Speaker 1: in the next 10 years. So before it was going
32:27
Speaker 1: down fast. Now they're saying it's going to creep up
32:29
Speaker 1: a little bit. Where do you think this actually ends?
32:32
Speaker 2: Cheap power is a thing of the past now.
32:34
Speaker 3: And that's highlighted again by reports about Victoria's transmission link.
32:39
Speaker 3: This is the, the Western Renewables Link in Victoria, where
32:43
Speaker 3: the cost has blown out from $ 1. 5 billion, they said,
32:47
Speaker 3: to $ 4 billion. And why this matters is these are
32:50
Speaker 3: all regulated assets. Whatever they spend, they're allowed to get
32:54
Speaker 3: a return of whatever it is, 7% or 10% on that.
32:57
Speaker 1: Forever.
32:58
Speaker 2: Forever.
32:59
Speaker 1: That's right.
32:59
Speaker 2: So that's a.
33:00
Speaker 3: Built-in cost for all consumers forever, right?
33:02
Speaker 1: Yep. That's exactly right. And this is just a little
33:05
Speaker 1: taste of what there is going to be much more
33:07
Speaker 1: of to come, because that one into Melbourne called Western
33:09
Speaker 1: Renewables Link was originally estimated at only a few hundred million.
33:13
Speaker 1: Then it went to 1.5, but still 1.5. If you
33:16
Speaker 1: look at how long it is, nearly 200 kilometres, looks
33:18
Speaker 1: completely naive. The one that's only 100 kilometres at a
33:21
Speaker 1: draft report in New South Wales called Sydney Ring South,
33:24
Speaker 1: I follow all these things, sorry. It's been estimated at
33:26
Speaker 1: $ 3. 5 billion for 100 kilometres. So where do you think
33:29
Speaker 1: Western Renewables Link is actually going to end up? It's
33:31
Speaker 1: a a tale of withholding the cost, withholding the cost,
33:35
Speaker 1: it'll leak out eventually.
33:36
Speaker 2: This is the big cost, right? Storage and batteries and transmission.
33:40
Speaker 2: When the windmills are turning, we all know it's cheap energy.
33:44
Speaker 2: But without this stuff, it gets nowhere and that's where
33:47
Speaker 2: the cost is. Thanks for joining us, Aidan. Appreciate it.
33:49
Speaker 2: Aidan Morrison there.
33:49
Speaker 3: We're going to get to a break. On the other side,
33:51
Speaker 3: we'll go to the US. We'll catch up with Kristen Tate.
33:53
Speaker 3: Donald Trump's banning the media and he's about to meet
33:56
Speaker 3: China's leader, Xi Jinping.
33:58
Speaker 2: Don't go away.
34:02
Speaker 3: So, US President Donald Trump is banning the media, getting
34:05
Speaker 3: ready to meet China's Xi Jinping, and he's talking up AI.
34:10
Speaker 3: The President has slammed concerns over the pace of AI
34:14
Speaker 3: development and calls for a slowdown. He says all that
34:17
Speaker 3: is a hoax. On the weekend, he announced on Truth
34:21
Speaker 3: Social that he would be forming the AI force, much
34:25
Speaker 3: like I did Space Force... which has been a tremendous success,
34:29
Speaker 3: he says, over his first term. And to that end,
34:33
Speaker 3: he says he'll be announcing in the near future the
34:36
Speaker 3: AI czar, and only high-IQ individuals need apply. AI is
34:42
Speaker 3: the next industrial revolution, says Trump, or internet, but it'll
34:46
Speaker 3: be even larger and more impactful, possibly as much as 25%
34:49
Speaker 3: of America's GDP. We are leading China and the rest
34:55
Speaker 3: of the world and I intend to keep it that way,
34:57
Speaker 3: says President Donald J.
34:59
Speaker 4: Trump.
35:00
Speaker 3: Now, I put to US24 contributor Kristen Tate that for
35:05
Speaker 3: all the bluster, Trump is right, that America needs to
35:08
Speaker 3: stay ahead of China on this.
35:11
Speaker 14: Of course, and I think there's a serious point underneath
35:14
Speaker 14: the branding of AI force, right? You know, AI, it's
35:17
Speaker 14: not just the next smartphone app or something. This is
35:20
Speaker 14: going to impact our economy, our military, our cybersecurity industry.
35:24
Speaker 14: So yes, the United States definitely needs a coherent strategy.
35:27
Speaker 14: We still don't know what AI force is going to
35:31
Speaker 14: actually do, and that's an important question. We don't want
35:34
Speaker 14: to regulate ourselves out of the AI race, but winning
35:38
Speaker 14: also can't just mean letting Silicon Valley do whatever it wants,
35:42
Speaker 14: because this can be a very dangerous technology potentially as well.
35:47
Speaker 2: So it'll be interesting to see.
35:49
Speaker 14: How this plays out and what President Trump has in
35:51
Speaker 14: mind as the specifics are revealed.
35:54
Speaker 3: And especially this week, given he says it's an AI
35:56
Speaker 3: race between the US and China, which it clearly is,
36:00
Speaker 3: but he's having the summit this week with President Xi
36:03
Speaker 3: Jinping in Washington.
36:05
Speaker 2: But have a look at this.
36:06
Speaker 3: This is Scott Besant, the Treasury Secretary, and he's talking
36:10
Speaker 3: about cooperating with China. What we discussed was setting up
36:15
Speaker 3: a mechanism, so it's going to be called the US-China
36:19
Speaker 3: AI Dialogue.
36:21
Speaker 2: We've agreed to... meet again. So this is quite extraordinary, Kristen.
36:26
Speaker 3: You've got the Trump-Xi meeting about to happen, the summit
36:30
Speaker 3: about to happen. Trump's setting up this competition with China
36:34
Speaker 3: over AI, but officially the government's looking to work together.
36:38
Speaker 2: Which is it? Well, I think it's a little bit
36:41
Speaker 2: of both.
36:42
Speaker 14: I think the Trump administration understands something that Washington has
36:45
Speaker 14: ignored for a really long time, which is that China
36:48
Speaker 14: is simultaneously a trading partner, a really important trading partner,
36:52
Speaker 14: but also our largest competitor on the global stage. And
36:55
Speaker 14: you have to be willing to negotiate with China, but
36:57
Speaker 14: you also have to understand that China is going to
36:59
Speaker 14: be looking out for its own interests. So, you know,
37:02
Speaker 14: Trump's approach to China has always been transactional. He's not
37:06
Speaker 14: going to meet with any leader from China trying to
37:09
Speaker 14: be their friend. He's asking, what can America get out
37:12
Speaker 14: of this relationship? And I think rare earths is also
37:16
Speaker 14: going to be a big topic of discussion as we
37:20
Speaker 14: navigate our relationship with this other global power. China still
37:25
Speaker 14: has leverage over these critical minerals. And then AI as well.
37:30
Speaker 2: Fascinating stuff.
37:31
Speaker 3: And, of course, the eyes of the world will be
37:33
Speaker 3: on this summit this week. But it comes at a
37:35
Speaker 3: time when Trump has got a media ban in place.
37:39
Speaker 2: Is this going to affect the coverage of what goes on?
37:43
Speaker 14: I don't think so, Chris. You know, these media outlets,
37:46
Speaker 14: they have a love-hate relationship with Donald Trump. They claim
37:51
Speaker 14: to dislike him and he claims to dislike them. But they,
37:54
Speaker 14: you know, in the end, they both meet each other
37:56
Speaker 14: and actually love each other. So no, I don't think
37:58
Speaker 14: it will impact it too much.
38:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a symbiotic relationship for sure. Yes. They both
38:04
Speaker 2: need each other and feed off each other. Let's talk
38:07
Speaker 2: about the midterms.
38:08
Speaker 3: You've been watching what's happening in the lead-up to the
38:10
Speaker 3: midterms and there is a sense that there are going
38:14
Speaker 3: to be more Republican seats in play than.
38:16
Speaker 2: Had been expected. Give us your assessment of where things
38:20
Speaker 2: are looking just at the moment.
38:22
Speaker 14: Yeah, you know, I've been writing about some interesting races
38:25
Speaker 14: for the Boston Globe, even here in New England, where,
38:29
Speaker 14: you know, we're seeing Republicans who are doing well in
38:31
Speaker 14: the polls. They're kind of taking an interesting approach to
38:35
Speaker 14: Donald Trump. They're running really locally. They're making these races
38:39
Speaker 14: about their specific states while trying to tie the Democrats
38:43
Speaker 14: to the National Democratic Party and the crazy, loony stuff
38:47
Speaker 14: that we saw under the Biden administration. And that seems
38:50
Speaker 14: to be working really well for Republicans. But what's hurting
38:53
Speaker 14: Republicans right now, obviously, are the gas prices, the continuing
38:57
Speaker 14: wars overseas that are unpopular. But Republicans are still finding
39:01
Speaker 14: ways across the country, even in blue places like here
39:04
Speaker 14: in New England, to make inroads with those voters. And
39:07
Speaker 14: it's all about localizing the races.
39:10
Speaker 3: Does that mean keeping Donald Trump right out of their campaigns?
39:14
Speaker 14: It depends where. It's a really interesting cycle. So in
39:17
Speaker 14: some places, that is what it means. In other places
39:20
Speaker 14: where Trump is polling better, Republicans are kind of stitching
39:23
Speaker 14: together an interesting message where sometimes they'll pull things from
39:27
Speaker 14: Trump and embrace the Trump administration. But we're seeing Republicans
39:30
Speaker 14: in this cycle be bold about being vocal when they
39:33
Speaker 14: don't necessarily agree with certain things this administration has done.
39:37
Speaker 14: It's not necessarily an all or nothing situation when it
39:40
Speaker 14: comes to Donald Trump. Candidates have to be very careful
39:43
Speaker 14: and pay attention to what the polls are telling them
39:46
Speaker 14: about what voters think. feel in their specific areas and
39:50
Speaker 14: kind of forget the national polls.
39:52
Speaker 2: Fascinating stuff, Kristen. Thanks for joining us again.
39:55
Speaker 14: Thank you, Chris.
39:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, those midterms only six weeks or so away are
40:00
Speaker 3: going to be fascinating. We'll go to a break again.
40:03
Speaker 3: After that, my panel will join me. And one of
40:05
Speaker 3: the things we'll talk about is how Australians all, well,
40:09
Speaker 3: almost all of us want fewer migrants.
40:17
Speaker 2: Let's get on to the panel now.
40:18
Speaker 3: And joining us, as ever, from Canberra, is Stephen Senatiempo,
40:23
Speaker 3: 2CC Breakfast host. And here on the set with me
40:26
Speaker 3: is Waverley Liberal Councillor Michelle Stevenson.
40:29
Speaker 2: Good to have you on the program, Michelle. I'm so
40:30
Speaker 2: happy to be here. Great staff.
40:32
Speaker 3: Let's talk about some polling of late, because I think
40:34
Speaker 3: this is very instructive.
40:36
Speaker 2: It goes to the big issues.
40:38
Speaker 3: And is anyone surprised by the news poll result on
40:41
Speaker 3: immigration that shows that two-thirds of Australians, even almost.
40:45
Speaker 2: Half of Labor voters... want migration numbers cut?
40:49
Speaker 10: 100%.
40:49
Speaker 15: No one's surprised at this. I mean, migration is going
40:52
Speaker 15: to be the big topic when we head into the
40:53
Speaker 15: next federal election and also in New South Wales, the
40:56
Speaker 15: state election.
40:56
Speaker 2: I think people are mostly talking about it.
40:58
Speaker 15: At the end of the day, there is no housing,
41:01
Speaker 15: and that's why I think the Liberal policy is going
41:02
Speaker 15: to be a good one because it's tied into that
41:04
Speaker 15: housing cap. because I think when we do look at migration,
41:08
Speaker 15: we have to look at the bigger picture of it.
41:10
Speaker 15: We can't just be shutting down Australia because we do
41:13
Speaker 15: need that skilled migration, we do need those skilled workers.
41:16
Speaker 15: I think where Labor has really got it wrong is, like,
41:19
Speaker 15: getting rid of the backpackers, because the backpacker visas, particularly
41:23
Speaker 15: in my neck of the woods, in Bondi Beach, Waverley,
41:25
Speaker 15: they drive the economy, they spend the money, they do
41:27
Speaker 15: the jobs. So I think, you know, we need thoughtful
41:30
Speaker 15: policy around migration.
41:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think there's too many people in the
41:33
Speaker 3: country at all who want... immigration done away with. We
41:36
Speaker 3: all know this is an immigrant nation. But, Stephen, this
41:39
Speaker 3: just shows why One Nation has become popular, why the
41:43
Speaker 3: Coalition has gone down this path as well, and why
41:45
Speaker 3: Labor now is even trying to catch up with its
41:47
Speaker 3: sort of belated half-hearted attempts to rein in its out-of-control migration.
41:53
Speaker 7: Yeah, look, Chris, I'm not surprised by the polling, but
41:55
Speaker 7: I still think we're having the wrong conversation. And this
41:57
Speaker 7: is why I've got to disagree with Michelle on the
41:59
Speaker 7: Liberal policy, because it's missing the point. And it's not
42:02
Speaker 7: just about numbers. It's about make-up. And it's all well
42:05
Speaker 7: and good to say you're going to tie migration to
42:07
Speaker 7: housing numbers, but that ignores the level of homelessness we've
42:10
Speaker 7: got in the country at the moment and the people
42:12
Speaker 7: that can't put a roof over their head now. Housing
42:14
Speaker 7: has to be a completely separate... that needs to be
42:17
Speaker 7: addressed in a completely different manner. But what we need
42:20
Speaker 7: to do is get the right people into the country
42:22
Speaker 7: in the right numbers that we need. And I was
42:24
Speaker 7: at the Hotels Association Awards here in Canberra last night.
42:27
Speaker 7: Half the room are migrants that are working in pubs
42:29
Speaker 7: and clubs and restaurants and all of those kind of
42:31
Speaker 7: hospitality industries. venues, much the same as what Michelle's saying
42:34
Speaker 7: about Bondi, but it's about bringing those people in. We're
42:38
Speaker 7: still not bringing builders in. We're still not bringing any
42:40
Speaker 7: of the trades that we need in. We're getting the
42:43
Speaker 7: make-up wrong. Let's not focus on numbers for a little
42:45
Speaker 7: while and get the right people into the country so
42:47
Speaker 7: we can actually build some of these houses we need.
42:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the key. You need the right people.
42:51
Speaker 3: Just by the way, if you're wondering where the Prime
42:53
Speaker 3: Minister is on these issues, here's some pictures just to
42:56
Speaker 3: remind you what he's up to at the moment. He's
42:57
Speaker 3: at the UN in New York trying to solve the
43:00
Speaker 3: problems of the world. And of course, he's had some
43:04
Speaker 3: rude questions while he's been there, Stephen.
43:07
Speaker 2: How does this look for him?
43:08
Speaker 3: We've got a housing crisis here, a cost of living crisis,
43:12
Speaker 3: energy crisis.
43:14
Speaker 2: And this bloke's over.
43:15
Speaker 3: In the UN talking about a UN Security Council seat
43:18
Speaker 3: and AI and how he's solving the social media problems
43:22
Speaker 3: of the world.
43:24
Speaker 7: Look, I feel a little bit sorry for him after
43:26
Speaker 7: that question. I think it was Latika Burke that asked
43:28
Speaker 7: the question about whether he felt like a bit of
43:30
Speaker 7: a fraud, and he said no. So clearly there's no
43:33
Speaker 7: mirrors in the lodge. But, look, that aside, I just
43:36
Speaker 7: think this is absolute madness that he's out there crowing
43:38
Speaker 7: about a whole bunch of failed policies. Our social media
43:41
Speaker 7: policy here, the social media ban, and I've been banging
43:43
Speaker 7: on about this for two years now, is an abject failure.
43:46
Speaker 7: And we're now doubling down on it, and he's trying
43:48
Speaker 7: to sell it to the rest of the world. I mean,
43:50
Speaker 7: we must look like absolute clowns on the world stage.
43:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, every kid from 10 years and up knows how
43:56
Speaker 3: to get around this ban and I don't think it's
43:58
Speaker 3: affected things at all. It's classic, really, leftist policy because
44:02
Speaker 3: it's virtue signalling, lots of money, lots of legislation, lots
44:06
Speaker 3: of effort to show that you're against a problem.
44:09
Speaker 2: But not actually an effective way of resolving it. I
44:13
Speaker 2: want to go back to another policy... Well, you've got
44:14
Speaker 2: to understand the problem first, Chris.
44:15
Speaker 14: Yeah.
44:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, now, the thing here is, on polling, there's a
44:20
Speaker 3: One Nation policy out there that really is a..... is
44:23
Speaker 3: a copy of policy the Coalition took at the last
44:26
Speaker 3: election in allowing people to get more of their super.
44:28
Speaker 3: They've taken it further, that you could get your super
44:32
Speaker 3: contributions down to 9% and take the other.
44:35
Speaker 2: 3% as part of your wage. A lot of people
44:39
Speaker 2: supporting this too, according to this polling, Michelle.
44:42
Speaker 15: Well, I think that this is just inflation, inflation, inflation.
44:46
Speaker 15: This is not going to do anything for the economy,
44:48
Speaker 15: anything good for the economy, I should say. At the
44:50
Speaker 15: end of the day, of course people are going to
44:51
Speaker 15: want that extra 3%, but it is there for a reason.
44:55
Speaker 15: I understand why the Coalition took that policy, that you
44:59
Speaker 15: should be able to use it if you're investing into
45:01
Speaker 15: a home, if you're investing into something that you can
45:04
Speaker 15: then cash back out should you need it at that time.
45:07
Speaker 15: But we should not be taking 3% or 4% or 5%
45:11
Speaker 15: to have that cash put into your wage because at
45:14
Speaker 15: the end of the day, that's what an employer should
45:16
Speaker 15: be doing, paying you a living wage and not relying
45:19
Speaker 15: on the superannuation because we need that for when we retire.
45:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've got a problem with this.
45:25
Speaker 3: I'm not in favour of compulsory superannuation at all. I
45:29
Speaker 3: know people say, oh, this will look after us when
45:31
Speaker 3: we retire. It hasn't shown that's the case so far,
45:35
Speaker 3: just as many people are.
45:36
Speaker 2: Retiring onto the pension. And, Stephen, this is my wage.
45:39
Speaker 3: This is the government saying 12% of my wage has
45:43
Speaker 3: to go into their union-dominated super funds in most cases.
45:47
Speaker 2: Sure, you can manage it elsewhere if you can.
45:49
Speaker 3: I might prefer to have that money to either pay
45:52
Speaker 3: my mortgage, which looks after me in my retirement, or
45:55
Speaker 3: also I might use that money to invest in property
45:58
Speaker 3: or some such.
45:59
Speaker 2: What do you think?
45:59
Speaker 14: Yeah.
46:00
Speaker 7: Look, I supported the Coalition's policy of being able to
46:03
Speaker 7: use superannuation for a house deposit initially because I thought, well,
46:06
Speaker 7: it makes more sense to invest in an appreciating asset.
46:09
Speaker 7: But under this government, it's not an appreciating asset anymore,
46:12
Speaker 7: so I don't know that it's still sold.
46:14
Speaker 2: But the One Nation policy is great.
46:15
Speaker 7: It's all well and good to say you want to
46:17
Speaker 7: save for your retirement, but if you freeze the death
46:19
Speaker 7: in the dark in the meantime, what good is it
46:20
Speaker 7: to you? So an additional 3% in most Australians' pockets
46:25
Speaker 7: is going to help now... Because it's all well and
46:27
Speaker 7: good to say employers need to pay a living wage.
46:29
Speaker 2: They are.
46:30
Speaker 7: But the cost of living keeps going up because of
46:32
Speaker 7: government spending. We need to do something to combat that
46:35
Speaker 7: in at least the short term.
46:36
Speaker 15: And the only person who's paying a living wage is
46:38
Speaker 15: the government to the people who work for the government.
46:41
Speaker 15: I think if you work in the private sector, you're not.
46:43
Speaker 2: Getting paid that much.
46:45
Speaker 3: I've got to rip through a couple of things because
46:48
Speaker 3: they're too amusing not to show.
46:49
Speaker 2: One of them is Trump's media ban. It's got out
46:52
Speaker 2: of control.
46:53
Speaker 3: Of course, he wanted to ban CNN and a couple
46:55
Speaker 3: of others, so the other media are now not covering
46:57
Speaker 3: his stuff. They've gone out in solidarity. So here's an
47:01
Speaker 3: exchange about this with the New York mayor.
47:04
Speaker 2: Have a look. I told the president that we're going
47:07
Speaker 2: to have all of the members of the press here
47:09
Speaker 2: on the lawn, and that is something that I believe
47:12
Speaker 2: in as... is everyone, no matter the opinion or the critique,
47:15
Speaker 2: that we engage. Mr President.
47:17
Speaker 10: It's interesting because they said they.
47:20
Speaker 5: Were going to boycott me, but they never boycott me.
47:23
Speaker 2: So I wasn't very worried about that. Look at all
47:25
Speaker 2: that press. These outlets have an obligation to be fair.
47:29
Speaker 3: And if they're fake news, I really think I have
47:31
Speaker 3: an obligation not to allow them into another very special house.
47:36
Speaker 2: It is a love-hate relationship, Stephen.
47:38
Speaker 3: Do you think Pauline Hanson's going down the same path
47:40
Speaker 3: here with the ABC ban?
47:43
Speaker 2: Well, I think she's going down the exact same path.
47:45
Speaker 2: It's the same playbook.
47:46
Speaker 7: You know, US politics brought you together, brought you to
47:49
Speaker 7: you by Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus. I mean,
47:51
Speaker 7: it's absolutely ridiculous. Look, you've got to answer the hard questions.
47:55
Speaker 7: And look, we know it here on News 24. I
47:57
Speaker 7: know it on my program. The Labor Party federally won't
48:00
Speaker 7: come and answer hard questions. There's a few that will.
48:03
Speaker 7: But the reality is that it's happening on both sides
48:05
Speaker 7: of politics here in the in the nation.
48:07
Speaker 2: It's just not an open ban.
48:09
Speaker 7: They just won't talk to the media they don't like to,
48:11
Speaker 7: and Albo snaps at anyone that asks him a hard question.
48:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't get Labor or the Greens or those
48:16
Speaker 2: types on this program. Love to talk to them. I
48:19
Speaker 2: don't bite. I'm not scary, but they don't turn up.
48:22
Speaker 2: I've got to show you this. This is too funny.
48:24
Speaker 3: Our old mate, Piers Morgan, the show that he has
48:26
Speaker 3: in the UK, he is had as a guest at
48:29
Speaker 3: AI Bot.
48:29
Speaker 2: This is, you know, a Terminator-type person as a guest.
48:33
Speaker 2: But watch this clip as something goes awry.
48:37
Speaker 14: You're asking about the other actors in Misaligned?
48:40
Speaker 2: They're all digital twins, just like me.
48:42
Speaker 15: It's a hybrid production, which means.
48:46
Speaker 12: Did you get that, Pierce?
49:06
Speaker 2: They didn't quite get that. She just switched to Chinese Mandarin,
49:09
Speaker 2: I presume. I mean, you can't even make this up.
49:11
Speaker 15: There was an absolute glitch in the matrix right there.
49:14
Speaker 14: But this person is an actor.
49:16
Speaker 15: She's, you know, booking gigs and they're promoting her as, like,
49:19
Speaker 15: you know.
49:19
Speaker 2: the new future. I'm sorry, I want my future back.
49:23
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us, Stephen and Michelle. I appreciate it.
49:26
Speaker 1: We're all real.
49:27
Speaker 3: We're all real people on here. None of us speak
49:29
Speaker 3: Chinese either. Just a very quick bit of feedback from
49:31
Speaker 3: last night. A few of you had a lot to
49:33
Speaker 3: say about Albo and the UN. Eric says Anthony Albanese
49:37
Speaker 3: is using taxpayers' money to feather his own nest.
49:39
Speaker 2: Just like the last two Labor PMs. Thanks very much.
49:43
Speaker 2: I'll be back.
49:44
Speaker 3: Tomorrow night, and coming up next is Jamie Rogers. He's
49:47
Speaker 3: filling in for Peter Quidlin.
49:49
Speaker 2: Enjoy the evening.