Latest / The Bolt Report / The Bolt Report | 8 September

Transcript

The Bolt Report | 8 September · The Bolt Report

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: This is The Bolt Report. Thanks for joining me on
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: The Bolt Report. I'm James McPherson. Here's what's coming up tonight.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: The Albanese government announced today it would force social media
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: companies to comply with what it calls a digital duty
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: of care. But is it a duty of care for
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: us or a duty of care for Albanese and his
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: left-wing ideologies? Nationals leader Matt Canavan will join me on
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: that and much more shortly. Plus, Chris Bowen has set
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: his sights on becoming the world's longest serving climate minister. Meanwhile,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: his department refuses to reveal how much taxpayers have been
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: slugged to send his hand-picked youth climate champion on fully
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: funded trips around the world. And former White House press
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: secretary to Donald Trump, Sean Spicer, will join us with
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: his reflections on the 9-11 terrorist attacks and why so
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: much American media coverage as we approach tomorrow's 25th anniversary
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: has been focused on how Muslims fear A backlash. We'll
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: get to that shortly. But first, One Nation's Victorian leader,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Warren Pickering, fronted the media today to address allegations made
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: by his ex-partner about things he was involved in more
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: than 10 years ago. I've got to say, it was
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: a brutal press conference. Pickering admitted that he'd used speed,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: ecstasy and marijuana in his 20s. He also admitted he'd
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: been in an open relationship where he'd explored his sexuality.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: And he admitted he'd had drink-driving offences. All of this
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: was bad and all of this was well over a
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: decade ago.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: I've never made the suggestion that I'm any type of angel.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Not unlike everybody else that has ever been a young
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: man in their 20s. I made mistakes. I was trying
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: to be the father of four kids and a woman
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: that was suffering mental illness and depression and substance abuse
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: and various other things. I made mistakes. I didn't do
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: it as good as I could have, and.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: I'll carry that regret forever.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: What I did since then was change my life dramatically
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: for the benefit of not only my children, but for myself.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: The Victorian One Nation leader was careful in the way
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: he spoke about his ex-partner, who's made the allegations. But
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: when his ex-partner's son addressed the media, well, the gloves
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: were off.
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: Throughout my childhood, my mum would go to bed with
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: a bong sitting next to her bed, a can of
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: Woodstock and Tola and a box of Bally. That was
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: my childhood and Jett's childhood. She's a narcissistic, compulsive liar
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: and she's mentally ill. Now, we're still suffering trauma today
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: from her actions. Now, without Warren there through my young
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: age as the eldest, our childhood would have been a
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: lot worse than what it was.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: So here's what I think we learned today. It seems
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: like Australian politics has now reached the point where the
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: worst thing you can possibly have in your past is
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: a past. None of this was edifying, and I'm not
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: sure that any of it should have been necessary. Had
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: there been any suggestion Warren Pickering was on drugs now
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: or last year, well, then it would have been a story.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: But this wasn't. It became a story because, well, it
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: was salacious. And I can't help but think it became
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: a story because it involved a One Nation candidate. So
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the man who wants to be Premier of Victoria has
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: a past and a messy one at that. Does that
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: disqualify him from holding office today? If it does, we
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: should expect a lot of MPs around the nation to
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: be packing up their offices this evening. This might come
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: as a shock, but most people aren't born as politicians.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: They're born as human beings. And human beings make mistakes.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: They do dumb things. They occasionally behave very badly. And
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: some politicians even have the extraordinary misfortune of having been
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: young before they became politically useful. That's neither shocking nor
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: is it a national story. And one more thing. If
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: this is the new morality test for political candidates, how
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: they behaved 10 or 20 years ago, Well, we should
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: expect a lot of fantastic people who would themselves make
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: great MPs to be wondering tonight why they'd ever bother
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: putting themselves out there. Labor government ministers are worried. They're
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: very worried. Not about housing prices, which have plummeted, despite
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: promises they would not. And they're not worried about power prices,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: which have skyrocketed despite promises to the contrary. They're not
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: even worried about capital gains tax, which has changed despite
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: promises there'd be no change. No, Labor government ministers are
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: worried that Australians just don't believe them anymore. The Australian
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: public has started treating government promises the same way most
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: sensible people treat emails from Nigerian princes, and that's a
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: real problem. In fact, my heart went out to Communications
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Minister Annika Wells, who revealed yesterday what it's like to
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: be a member of the Albanese government in the current environment.
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: A lady came to talk to me about her various grievances,
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: and I was struck by how I could say to her,
• 5:20
  Speaker 5: I'm a member of the cabinet, That's not true. We're
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: not doing that. That's a scare campaign from online. I
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: look you in the eye and I tell you that
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: will never happen in this government. And she didn't believe me.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: I did think it was kind of cute that Annika
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Wells thought explaining how she was a member of the
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: federal Labor cabinet would suddenly make her more believable. That's
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: an interesting theory of credibility. But I shouldn't make a
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: joke about this because it is a serious problem. I mean,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: imagine not being able to trust a Labor politician when
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: they look you in the eye and make a promise.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: I've got a young daughter at home and I couldn't
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: be more proud to make sure she grows up knowing
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: that I supported Jacinta Rowland. Are you going to ask
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: her to step aside?
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: No.
• 6:04
  Speaker 6: Can you look her in the.
• 6:04
  Speaker 7: Eye and say that?
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: I can look you in the eye and say that, Premier.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: So what's led to this breakdown of trust between the
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Albanese government and the Australian public? Now, I know what
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: you're thinking. You're thinking that a lot of people have
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: stopped trusting Labor because Labor keep telling bald-faced lies on
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: everything from power prices to Japanese melons. But here's what
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: you need to understand. You're only thinking that Labor's lies
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: are Labor's problem because you've been hanging out with Elon
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Musk rather than watching the ABC. The real problem, as
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Anika Wells explains quite brilliantly, is not Labor's lies but
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: social media algorithms.
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: The power of online is so strong, the power of
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: the algorithm is so strong that it is overwhelming our
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: public institutions and the decline of trust is problematic for everybody.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Well, there's an algorithm at play, that's for sure. It's
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: the algorithm in people's heads where they expect others to
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: do what they say instead of the exact opposite. But
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Labor ministers seem never to have been exposed to that
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: particular algorithm. They're blaming social media algorithms, which they announced
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: today they would seek to restrict. It's amazing. People are
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: losing faith in the government and so the government's solution
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: isn't to apologise for its lies. No, no, they're going
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: to restrict the flow of information. Now, of course, they
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: say it's not about limiting free speech, but here's the problem.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: They would say that, wouldn't they? Here's the Prime Minister
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: earlier today and I need to warn you, his mouth
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: is moving.
• 7:39
  Speaker 8: My government is determined to make sure that people are
• 7:43
  Speaker 8: in control and that is what today is all about.
• 7:47
  Speaker 8: This is not about giving government control. It's about giving
• 7:52
  Speaker 8: people control.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: The PM announced that the government would force social media
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: companies to allow people to choose whether they want to
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: only see the people they follow or whether they're happy
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: to be shown other content via algorithms based on what
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: their viewing history shows they're interested in. Annika Wells looked
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: journalists right in the eye and said this. Let me
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: be clear.
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: The digital duty of care is not about controlling adults online.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: It is about giving.
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: Adults a choice.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Well, hang on a second. I thought I already had
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: a choice. I mean, sometimes when I'm on social media,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: if something pops up that I don't want to look at, well,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: I just flick straight past it. Didn't need Annika Wells
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: to help me do it. I just did it all
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: by myself. Australians have possessed this extraordinary technology for centuries.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: It's called a thumb. But alas, the algorithm must have
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: been working overtime in Canberra today because the press pack, well,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: they seemed sceptical. In fact, they asked Albanese repeatedly whether
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: his My Feed, My Way legislation was really about the
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: government trying to restrict what Australians see. It's not about censorship.
• 9:02
  Speaker 8: It's about giving people control themselves over what they see.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Well, here's the uncomfortable truth for Labor. I think most
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Australians trust social media algorithms more than they trust this
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Labor government. Here's a question for you. Do you reckon
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: if the poll showed the far left was rapidly growing
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: in support rather than One Nation, that the government would
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: suddenly care about your human right to opt out of
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: the Instagram algorithm? Here's Assistant Productivity Minister Andrew Lee.
• 9:36
  Speaker 9: We're seeing that in politics, where the algorithms are weaponising
• 9:39
  Speaker 9: anger and outrage, and I think that's been one of
• 9:41
  Speaker 9: the factors in the rise of right-wing populists around the world.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Oh, hang on a moment. I thought this was about
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: giving people choice, but did Andrew Lee say the problem
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: with algorithms is that they've helped the rise of right-wing parties?
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Here's Andrew Lee again, this time on the ABC. at
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: first suggesting that digital duty of care legislation is simply
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: about giving people a choice.
• 10:06
  Speaker 10: Isn't it reasonable to raise questions about issues around freedom
• 10:10
  Speaker 10: of speech, how it will work, all of those issues?
• 10:12
  Speaker 9: But this isn't going to affect adults' freedom of speech.
• 10:15
  Speaker 9: It's simply the ability to opt out of an algorithm
• 10:17
  Speaker 9: which we know has been polarising people.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: But when he's asked if this is really about trying
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: to stop people from seeing right-wing content, here's how he replies.
• 10:28
  Speaker 9: We're seeing polarisation right across the spectrum, but we do
• 10:31
  Speaker 9: know that the angertainment model is a model which favours
• 10:34
  Speaker 9: right-wing angry populists.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: I get it now. It's all about giving Australians choice,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: and the most important choice Australians can choose is the
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: choice to not see right-wing populists. angry or otherwise. Here's
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: some more of Andrew Lee talking about algorithms and the
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: importance of choice.
• 10:54
  Speaker 9: We've seen a significant divergence in attitudes of young men
• 10:58
  Speaker 9: and young women on gender issues, for example, with young
• 11:01
  Speaker 9: men now having more conservative gender attitudes than my generation
• 11:06
  Speaker 9: of Gen X.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Oh, well, God forbid young men be exposed to conservative attitudes.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Next thing you know, they'll be voting conservative. And then
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: where will the algorithm be? It's a digital duty of care,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: all right. But I suspect it's less about a digital
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: duty of care for you and much more about a
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: digital duty of care for Elbow. Why do I think
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: that's the case? Well, because Anthony Albanese looked me in
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: the eye and said that wasn't the case. Joining me
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: now is Nationals leader Matt Canavan. Matt, welcome to the program.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: What do you trust more and why? Do you trust
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: your social media algorithm or Annika Wells?
• 11:50
  Speaker 11: Well, I think Annika herself has answered that question. That
• 11:55
  Speaker 11: was a wonderful editorial you just played there, James, which,
• 11:59
  Speaker 11: as I'm suggesting here, in the words of Labor ministers themselves,
• 12:03
  Speaker 11: the reason they're seeking to censor what you can see
• 12:07
  Speaker 11: is because they're very worried that people aren't buying what
• 12:11
  Speaker 11: they're selling. And so they just can't be trusted here
• 12:15
  Speaker 11: to be given an enormous amount of power. Keep in mind,
• 12:20
  Speaker 11: this legislation would give the Minister the power to decide
• 12:22
  Speaker 11: what's harmful, and clearly they think what's harmful, Andrew Lee
• 12:26
  Speaker 11: said it, what's harmful are his political opponents. And you can't,
• 12:31
  Speaker 11: in a free and open and democratic society, give... the
• 12:33
  Speaker 11: executive government, that kind of power to silence and gag
• 12:36
  Speaker 11: their political opponents, which clearly he wants to do. They're
• 12:41
  Speaker 11: just not a good faith party here, the Labor Party,
• 12:44
  Speaker 11: on this issue. Supporting or going forward with this digital
• 12:48
  Speaker 11: duty of care legislation would be like putting Anthony Albanese
• 12:53
  Speaker 11: in charge of refereeing a South Sydney Rabideaus game. He's
• 12:57
  Speaker 11: a big Rabideaus fan. He can't be trusted to be
• 12:59
  Speaker 11: the umpire, the referee of such a game. whereas what
• 13:05
  Speaker 11: we need to have is to give people more choice,
• 13:07
  Speaker 11: more opportunity to decide what they see online without the
• 13:11
  Speaker 11: government interfering in a political and partisan way.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've got to admit, I would probably opt out
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: of the algorithm personally. However, whenever the government starts tinkering
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: with social media and what we can and can't do
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: on the internet, you're right, we just don't believe this
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: government acts in good faith. And so even though I
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: personally might actually like that option, I just don't trust
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: the government to be anywhere near determining what we can
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: and can't access online. I want to talk about Warren Pickering,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: the One Nation leader in Victoria. You would have heard
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: my comments at the top of the show about the
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: allegations levelled from more than 10 years ago. Angus Taylor
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: had said earlier this week that One Nation had questions
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: to answer. Do you think those questions were answered satisfactorily
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: today and that we can now move on?
• 14:03
  Speaker 11: Look, I didn't see all of the interview there. However,
• 14:09
  Speaker 11: I still think there are questions here about how One
• 14:11
  Speaker 11: Nation does vet not just candidates here, keep in mind
• 14:14
  Speaker 11: this is the person One Nation is putting up as
• 14:17
  Speaker 11: an alternative Premier. So I agree with a lot of
• 14:19
  Speaker 11: what you said earlier, James, and people deserve a second
• 14:23
  Speaker 11: chance in their life and we all can't say that
• 14:28
  Speaker 11: anyone's perfect and he who is cast the first stone.
• 14:31
  Speaker 11: At the same time, Warren Pickering, who I don't know
• 14:34
  Speaker 11: from a bar of soap and I don't think I'd
• 14:36
  Speaker 11: ever seen him speak before until I just watched some
• 14:38
  Speaker 11: of that, Warren's not just running as a Member of Parliament.
• 14:42
  Speaker 11: He's not running to get into politics and prove himself.
• 14:45
  Speaker 11: He's the alternative Premier. And, you know, for someone that
• 14:50
  Speaker 11: I think most people don't know, the question I think
• 14:53
  Speaker 11: is legitimate to ask for the Victorian people is, is
• 14:57
  Speaker 11: Warren Pickering ready to be the alternative Victorian Premier? The
• 15:00
  Speaker 11: allegations here, which I don't think have been denied, involve
• 15:02
  Speaker 11: court cases, court appearances, potentially unpaid fines, allegedly unpaid fines.
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: Um.
• 15:09
  Speaker 11: There's some serious allegations, and if you're going to be
• 15:12
  Speaker 11: the alternate Premier, I would sort of... When I was
• 15:13
  Speaker 11: listening to your editorial, I was thinking, well, James, would
• 15:15
  Speaker 11: you have been so generous if these allegations came out
• 15:18
  Speaker 11: about Dan Andrews or Julia Gillard back in the day, right?
• 15:23
  Speaker 11: So I reject this idea that somehow there's a double
• 15:25
  Speaker 11: standard being applied here. Any political candidate, particularly one going
• 15:29
  Speaker 11: to be the Premier of Australia's second-largest state, would have
• 15:33
  Speaker 11: legitimate questions about this past conduct to be asked. And
• 15:38
  Speaker 11: I do think it's legitimate to ask, well, what process
• 15:40
  Speaker 11: did One Nation go through to put Mr Pickering up
• 15:43
  Speaker 11: as the alternative Premier, notwithstanding this history that's come out?
• 15:48
  Speaker 12: All right.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Last night, I spoke with former primary school principal Janelle Rowe,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: who says she was forced out of her job for
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: refusing to support a gay, lesbian and trans awareness day
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: known as Wear It Purple Day. Here's a little of
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: what she told me last night.
• 16:04
  Speaker 10: We're told in our codes of conduct not to talk
• 16:07
  Speaker 10: about the sexual nature or sexual intimacies. And so I
• 16:12
  Speaker 10: was attempting to support my staff and also protect children
• 16:17
  Speaker 10: from the content.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: And for that, she says she was forced out of
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: the school. Matt, will you commit to getting this stuff
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: out of our schools if elected? I don't see any
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: reason why something like Wear It Purple Day should be
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: in a school. That's a thing for parents to talk about,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: not teachers. Will you get rid of this?
• 16:36
  Speaker 11: Well, I'll do everything I can to get rid of it, James. Obviously,
• 16:39
  Speaker 11: a lot of this is done at the state and
• 16:40
  Speaker 11: territory level, so it's not something directly always that the
• 16:42
  Speaker 11: federal government can control. But I did see that interview
• 16:45
  Speaker 11: with Ms Power last night, and I think it was
• 16:47
  Speaker 11: very powerful and Well done to you for conducting that.
• 16:51
  Speaker 11: It is absolutely absurd and ridiculous, as I've said, that
• 16:57
  Speaker 11: a principal of 34 years standing and experience has been
• 16:59
  Speaker 11: forced out of her position for not agreeing to teach four-year-olds, four-year-olds,
• 17:07
  Speaker 11: about alternative lifestyles. It's inappropriate content. What I can commit to, Jane,
• 17:14
  Speaker 11: what I really want to commit to is support people
• 17:16
  Speaker 11: like Miss Power. I mean, I'm not you know, the
• 17:18
  Speaker 11: expert about everything that happens in schools, and as I say,
• 17:21
  Speaker 11: it's not a federal government responsibility, but we should be
• 17:24
  Speaker 11: supporting 34-year veterans in our school system and listening to
• 17:27
  Speaker 11: them and putting aside some of the left-wing academics that
• 17:33
  Speaker 11: seem to have taken over control of our nation's curriculum.
• 17:38
  Speaker 11: We should be trusting the experienced teachers more and empowering
• 17:41
  Speaker 11: them and taking away the power and influence from people
• 17:44
  Speaker 11: who often have never set foot in a classroom.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Indeed. Matt Canavan, I appreciate you joining me on the
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: program tonight. Thanks so much. All right, stick around. After
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: the break, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer will
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: join me to recount his memories of that horrible day
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: on 9-11. He's going to see how the media's coverage
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: of the attacks has changed as we approach the 25th anniversary.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Stick around. That's coming up after this. Well, this week,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: the world marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: terrorist attack, a day that changed the world forever. On
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: that bright September morning, 19 Islamic terrorists hijacked four passenger
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: aircraft and turned them into weapons. Two crashed into the
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: World Trade Centre in New York and a third struck
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: the Pentagon. Passengers aboard Flight 93 fought back before the
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: plane crashed in Pennsylvania, killing all on board. Almost 3,000
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Americans were murdered that day by Islamist terrorists. jihadis. But
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: on the 25th anniversary, you wouldn't know it was Americans
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: who were targeted. Consider these headlines from the USA Today.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: 25 years after 9-11, many Muslims fear a backlash. Or
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: what about this from Newsday? Being Muslim on Long Island
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: after 9-11 and now stories of hatred and healing. And
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: then there was this from Yahoo News. New York's Muslims
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: reclaim their city after 9-11 backlash. Now, I could go
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: on and on reading 20 similar headlines from various news
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: outlets if we had the time. Of course, no-one blames
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: all Muslims for what happened on 9-11. That would be ridiculous.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: But it does strike me as incredibly strange that on
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: the anniversary of a shocking attack on Americans by Islamic extremists...
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: So much of the focus is on the welfare of Muslims,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: almost as if Muslims were the victims of 9-11. Earlier today,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: I spoke with former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: and asked him why, 25 years after 9-11, so much
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: of the American media coverage is focused on Muslims fearing
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: a backlash rather than on the Americans who were murdered
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: by Islamic terrorists.
• 19:57
  Speaker 12: I think it's another indictment on the American media. Once again,
• 20:02
  Speaker 12: trying to make a victim out of the people, or
• 20:05
  Speaker 12: not the victim, a victim out of those folks, instead of,
• 20:08
  Speaker 12: as you rightly point out, The true victims of this,
• 20:10
  Speaker 12: the families that are still without loved ones who deal
• 20:15
  Speaker 12: with the health consequences, who deal with the memories of
• 20:19
  Speaker 12: their loved one being gone, the financial consequences of it
• 20:23
  Speaker 12: in so many cases.
• 20:25
  Speaker 13: You don't have to look far.
• 20:26
  Speaker 12: I sit here now about a mile from the Pentagon
• 20:29
  Speaker 12: where that third plane struck that you mentioned. I remember
• 20:34
  Speaker 12: exactly where I was on 9-11. And I remember us
• 20:38
  Speaker 12: coming up with a slogan, a hashtag, and it was
• 20:41
  Speaker 12: never forget. And I've been talking about this on my podcast.
• 20:45
  Speaker 12: In fact, I'm going to have Rudy Giuliani on this week.
• 20:47
  Speaker 12: Because sadly, James, I think too many Americans already forgot.
• 20:52
  Speaker 12: But beyond just forgot, you look at the headlines that
• 20:55
  Speaker 12: you just.
• 20:55
  Speaker 13: Put up on the screen.
• 20:57
  Speaker 12: They went from beyond forgetting to now kind of pointing
• 20:59
  Speaker 12: a finger back at some of the other folks and saying, well,
• 21:03
  Speaker 12: let's feel aggrieved for the people who are feeling a
• 21:06
  Speaker 12: backlash because they.
• 21:08
  Speaker 13: Belong to a religion versus the folks who.
• 21:12
  Speaker 12: That actually are to blame for this, and the families that,
• 21:16
  Speaker 12: as I mentioned, still real for this.
• 21:18
  Speaker 13: So it's amazing to me.
• 21:20
  Speaker 12: Rudy Giuliani, as I mentioned earlier, called on Mondami not
• 21:25
  Speaker 12: to go to these events because he said, you know,
• 21:29
  Speaker 12: the terrorists were one thing, but Mondami's open in his
• 21:32
  Speaker 12: hatred of America and willingness to embrace so many of
• 21:35
  Speaker 12: these factions that want to hate America.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I want to get to Mamdani in a moment,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: but just sticking with the media for a second, is
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: there a danger that in trying to make absolutely clear
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: that Muslims as a whole were not responsible for 9-11,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: The media has gone too far in the other direction,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: effectively making Muslim sensitivities the story on the anniversary about
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: American victims.
• 21:58
  Speaker 12: No question about it. I mean, look, George Bush, the
• 22:00
  Speaker 12: president at the time, made it very clear. In fact,
• 22:02
  Speaker 12: he visited a mosque, I think, within hours or days
• 22:05
  Speaker 12: of the tragedy that occurred, wanting to send a very
• 22:08
  Speaker 12: strong signal that in no way did we blame an
• 22:11
  Speaker 12: entire religion for what several did. But I think, to
• 22:15
  Speaker 12: your point, the idea that the media's focus is on that,
• 22:19
  Speaker 12: there's plenty of time for that. I mean, like, you
• 22:21
  Speaker 12: can write about that on September 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th.
• 22:25
  Speaker 12: This is the 25th commemoration of that horrible day. And
• 22:29
  Speaker 12: I think the idea that that's where they choose to focus,
• 22:31
  Speaker 12: as I said a moment ago, is an indictment. It's
• 22:33
  Speaker 12: another example. They always have to find the lowest common
• 22:36
  Speaker 12: denominator and figure out who's a victim. But that's who
• 22:42
  Speaker 12: the media largely are. And I will say this. If
• 22:44
  Speaker 12: there's an upside, it's that that group is becoming less influential.
• 22:49
  Speaker 12: They're becoming marginalized themselves. I mean, they're almost victims themselves.
• 22:53
  Speaker 12: They put themselves out of business. The profession is dying.
• 22:57
  Speaker 12: And so I think if there's any solace in it,
• 22:59
  Speaker 12: it's that hopefully when we come around to the 30th anniversary,
• 23:03
  Speaker 12: many of those outlets that you showed have gone into,
• 23:05
  Speaker 12: you know, demise.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Well, Sean, it's certainly a problem in the media, but
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: it's also a problem in the education system. The New
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: York Post has pointed out that some US schools are
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: teaching 9-11 through a lens of Islamophobia, racism and civil liberties,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: while giving almost no attention to the Islamist group Al-Qaeda,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: its motivations, all the American victims. In fact, the New
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: York Post says a number of young people in America,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: many of this current generation, know very little about what
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: actually happened on 9-11.
• 23:37
  Speaker 12: Yeah, it's funny that you mention this because when you
• 23:41
  Speaker 12: look at the media, corporate America, big tech and the
• 23:45
  Speaker 12: education system, you start to see so many things evolve.
• 23:48
  Speaker 12: Like right now, there's a reason that socialism and communism
• 23:52
  Speaker 12: in America is being embraced by so many young people
• 23:54
  Speaker 12: because they don't learn the dangers of it. There's a
• 23:56
  Speaker 12: reason I just watched a clip on the local news here.
• 24:00
  Speaker 12: in Washington, D.C., where they were asking young people about
• 24:03
  Speaker 12: 9-11 and most of them had no clue.
• 24:05
  Speaker 13: Think about that. No clue that there was a big
• 24:08
  Speaker 13: hole in the Pentagon.
• 24:09
  Speaker 12: No clue that all of the firefighters and first responders
• 24:12
  Speaker 12: from Arlington, Alexandria, Washington, D.C.
• 24:15
  Speaker 14: Rushed.
• 24:15
  Speaker 12: The idea that that's not part of their school's education
• 24:19
  Speaker 12: curriculum is a sad, sad state of being. But again,
• 24:23
  Speaker 12: we can't go through and talk about you know, not
• 24:26
  Speaker 12: just what happened that day, but celebrate the amazing acts
• 24:29
  Speaker 12: of heroism. You mentioned Flight 93, where Todd Beamer led
• 24:33
  Speaker 12: a group of passengers and tackled them so that that
• 24:36
  Speaker 12: flight went down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, not the U.S.
• 24:39
  Speaker 13: Capitol.
• 24:39
  Speaker 12: It was that brave heroism that we should be celebrating,
• 24:42
  Speaker 12: the heroism of so many people who I watched rush
• 24:45
  Speaker 12: into the Pentagon, grab victims and pull them out and
• 24:48
  Speaker 12: render aid. The number of first responders in New York
• 24:51
  Speaker 12: City that rushed towards the World Trade Center knowing that
• 24:54
  Speaker 12: their own lives could be at stake because of falling
• 24:56
  Speaker 12: debris or health concerns, but they literally embodied the American spirit.
• 25:00
  Speaker 13: And instead of focusing on.
• 25:01
  Speaker 12: Them and the greatness that came out of that day
• 25:03
  Speaker 12: and the American spirit that came out of that day
• 25:05
  Speaker 12: and the resolve that came out that day, they want
• 25:07
  Speaker 12: to find the marginalized victim groups.
• 25:09
  Speaker 13: This is just, it's so sad, but unfortunately so predictable.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Sean, if you told Americans in the wake of 9-11
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: that 25 years later, the city would have a Muslim mayor,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: I think there probably would have been some raised eyebrows.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: But if you told them that on the eve of
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: the 9-11 anniversary, the Muslim mayor would sign 9-11 executive
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: orders and then hand the ceremonial pen used to sign
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: those documents to an attorney who had defended an al-Qaeda terrorist,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: I reckon there would have been complete disbelief. And yet
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: that's exactly what happened this week.
• 25:42
  Speaker 13: Well, not only that, James, but let's go back to
• 25:44
  Speaker 13: the media for a second.
• 25:45
  Speaker 12: You've probably covered that more now in Australia than the
• 25:48
  Speaker 12: entire U.S.
• 25:49
  Speaker 13: Press corps combined, right?
• 25:51
  Speaker 12: The idea, I watched that video of the mayor handing
• 25:54
  Speaker 12: the pen back to his aide and thought to myself,
• 25:56
  Speaker 12: you've got to be kidding me.
• 25:58
  Speaker 13: Who's that tone deaf? Who's that stupid?
• 26:00
  Speaker 12: Regardless of what he personally believes, I thought to myself,
• 26:02
  Speaker 12: just as a staffer, maybe he really likes that person.
• 26:05
  Speaker 13: Maybe he doesn't care. Who knows?
• 26:07
  Speaker 12: But the idea that you do that in public, in
• 26:09
  Speaker 12: front of television cameras, shows you how brazen they are.
• 26:12
  Speaker 12: You've got Mondami in New York. You've got El Saeed
• 26:15
  Speaker 12: in Michigan. in a dead heat running for the United
• 26:18
  Speaker 12: States Senate after hanging around with the guy that says
• 26:20
  Speaker 12: America deserved 9-11. What is going on in our politics
• 26:25
  Speaker 12: that our people don't look at that and say that's
• 26:27
  Speaker 12: utterly disqualifying?
• 26:29
  Speaker 13: Think about that. You mentioned the mayor of New York
• 26:33
  Speaker 13: and potentially the next U.S.
• 26:34
  Speaker 12: Senator from Michigan who openly hangs out with a guy
• 26:37
  Speaker 12: that says Americans deserve 9-11, and it's.
• 26:39
  Speaker 13: Not an outrage. I just, you know, you asked me
• 26:42
  Speaker 13: what I thought 25 years ago.
• 26:43
  Speaker 12: I would have told you this, that's something even Hollywood
• 26:45
  Speaker 12: couldn't have even concocted.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was, of course,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: in power on 9-11 when New York was attacked. He
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: says the current mayor should stay right away from 9-11
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: memorial events this week. Do you agree with that? And
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: how realistic is that? And what does that say about
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: the state of New York, where many people want the
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: mayor to abstain himself from the commemorations?
• 27:11
  Speaker 13: So, first of all, I'm glad that he's being called out.
• 27:14
  Speaker 12: I'm glad that Mayor Giuliani has lent his voice to
• 27:16
  Speaker 12: this cause, because so many families have said the same thing, again,
• 27:20
  Speaker 12: to virtually no media coverage. But Mayor Giuliani has an
• 27:24
  Speaker 12: ability to raise an issue because of the voice that
• 27:27
  Speaker 12: he has and the attention that he garners. So I'm
• 27:29
  Speaker 12: glad he's doing that. But make no mistake, Mondami would
• 27:33
  Speaker 12: never not go.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: He is all about himself.
• 27:36
  Speaker 13: This is, you know, he, like.
• 27:37
  Speaker 12: There's no chance that he's not going to go. But
• 27:40
  Speaker 12: I am so glad that people are calling him out
• 27:43
  Speaker 12: for it because it's a reminder. If we don't do that,
• 27:46
  Speaker 12: then they get away with it. And that's an important
• 27:48
  Speaker 12: lesson that I think we've learned on the right in
• 27:51
  Speaker 12: the MAGA world, et cetera, is that if we just
• 27:53
  Speaker 12: allow them to do things without calling him out, they
• 27:56
  Speaker 12: get away with it. We are then somewhat complicit in this.
• 27:59
  Speaker 12: When corporations screw up, we need to call it out.
• 28:01
  Speaker 12: When people like Mondami do things, we need to call
• 28:03
  Speaker 12: it out. So I'm glad that it's being done, and
• 28:05
  Speaker 12: I hope that Mayor Giuliani keeps repeating it.
• 28:08
  Speaker 13: So that people hear about it.
• 28:10
  Speaker 12: And the thing, James, is that when you don't get
• 28:12
  Speaker 12: coverage of it, a lot of people might not even know,
• 28:15
  Speaker 12: for example, or seen that video of him handing the
• 28:18
  Speaker 12: pen back to the staffer that defended the terrorists. So
• 28:21
  Speaker 12: I think the more that we can call attention to
• 28:23
  Speaker 12: it in the next 24, 48 hours, that's great.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: OK, stick around. Coming up after the break, the King
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: lays down the law with Harry and Meghan as they
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: adjust to life back in the UK. Russell Myers joins
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: me with all the details after this. Well, King Charles
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: has confirmed that Harry and Meghan's geography may have changed.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: They're back in the UK, but their status has not.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: They left the UK because they didn't want to be royals.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: And now they're back in the UK, they're still not royals.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: The king sent his son an official letter, also forwarded
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: to the UK government and to the military, reminding Harry
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: that he and Meghan will not take part in any
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: royal duties and nor are they to use their royal titles.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: It's a rather remarkable reminder of the consequences of getting
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: exactly what you asked for. Harry and Meghan wanted out.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: They wanted independence from the institution, freedom from royal obligations
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: and the ability to live their lives on their own terms.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: And Charles appears to be saying, absolutely. You're free to
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: come home, live here, do as you please, but there's
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: no need to do a Netflix series about how shocked
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: you were to discover your reserved parking space is now gone.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Joining me is Royal Editor for the Daily Mail, Russell Myers. Russell,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: thanks for coming on the program. What does it say
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: that King Charles felt the need to put all of
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: this in writing to his son?
• 29:49
  Speaker 14: Well, hi there, James.
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me on. Well, it's certainly a line
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: in the sand, isn't it?
• 29:54
  Speaker 6: And I think it's quite extraordinary that the King felt
• 29:56
  Speaker 6: so moved to make this so public because it's something
• 30:00
  Speaker 6: that we wouldn't have expected from the King. You know,
• 30:03
  Speaker 6: we understand from sources close to him and Buckingham Palace,
• 30:06
  Speaker 6: who we speak to regularly, that, of course, the King
• 30:09
  Speaker 6: and the Prince of Wales were very, very united in
• 30:11
  Speaker 6: the fact that Harry and Meghan would have no chance
• 30:15
  Speaker 6: of being working royals again, as you said in your intro,
• 30:18
  Speaker 6: that is exactly what they asked for. So what else
• 30:21
  Speaker 6: could they expect, however? I think it's still a grey
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: area as to why Harry and Meghan have come back.
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: Certainly, they haven't.
• 30:28
  Speaker 6: Explained themselves to the King or the rest of the
• 30:31
  Speaker 6: royal family. They haven't said anything publicly. We've heard lots
• 30:34
  Speaker 6: of rumours about Meghan coming back for a big starring
• 30:37
  Speaker 6: role in a future Netflix.
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: Series, but that hasn't necessarily come to fruition yet.
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: So it seems to be a lot of clouded in mystery.
• 30:46
  Speaker 6: So I think the king was very, very correct in
• 30:49
  Speaker 6: making sure that everybody knew where the royal family stand
• 30:53
  Speaker 6: and certainly where Harry and Meghan stand, which is very
• 30:55
  Speaker 6: firmly outside the camp at this stage.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: I imagine it gets a bit confusing because Harry and
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: Meghan like to do royal kind of things, don't they?
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, they've gone on international tours and behaved very
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: much like royals. Is that the King's concern, that they'll
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: keep doing that? And so maybe in the public's mind,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: it starts to get a bit muddied, if not in
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: Harry and Meghan's minds.
• 31:20
  Speaker 6: Without a shadow of a doubt, there would be intense
• 31:22
  Speaker 6: nervousness at the Palace. I mean, certainly, since we heard
• 31:26
  Speaker 6: the news that Harry and the family were coming back
• 31:29
  Speaker 6: to Britain, I mean, this is a place where they've
• 31:31
  Speaker 6: spent the last six years absolutely riding roughshod over it,
• 31:34
  Speaker 6: not only their relationships with the royal family, but saying
• 31:37
  Speaker 6: that Britain wasn't safe enough to bring his wife and children,
• 31:41
  Speaker 6: that he couldn't ever see a time where he would
• 31:45
  Speaker 6: be able.
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: To bring his wife and children here. I mean, this
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: was just last year, so.
• 31:49
  Speaker 6: It's been an incredible turnaround for not just Harry to
• 31:51
  Speaker 6: be here, but after losing very, very high profile cases
• 31:56
  Speaker 6: against the British government, asking for security, that he's now
• 32:00
  Speaker 6: moved all his family here. I mean, we've told this
• 32:03
  Speaker 6: is an extended stay, but we still don't know how long.
• 32:05
  Speaker 6: They intend to stay here. So for Harry and Meghan,
• 32:08
  Speaker 6: I think there's still so.
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: Much up in the air.
• 32:10
  Speaker 6: And they have been accused of using their titles for
• 32:15
  Speaker 6: commercial gain. This is absolutely against the agreement that they
• 32:18
  Speaker 6: first had in 2020. So certainly to put them on
• 32:22
  Speaker 6: notice and to put anyone else on notice who's going
• 32:24
  Speaker 6: to be dealing with them.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: In the future. This letter from the King, as I said,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: made public. Does it make reconciliation between the King and
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Harry more difficult? Or perhaps by removing the question completely
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: of royal duties, does it make things easier between them?
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: Well, it certainly, perhaps it makes it a little more awkward.
• 32:44
  Speaker 6: I'm told that Harry didn't even tell his father ahead
• 32:50
  Speaker 6: of time. I mean, only three days before he was
• 32:52
  Speaker 6: due to arrive in the UK.
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: It's extraordinary. It's only three days before the news broke.
• 32:58
  Speaker 6: I mean, but he'd seen him with Meghan and the
• 33:00
  Speaker 6: children at his home, you know, having a very nice
• 33:04
  Speaker 6: couple of hours with all the family for the first
• 33:07
  Speaker 6: time in years. And how he didn't think to tell
• 33:09
  Speaker 6: him You know, we're thinking of moving back to the
• 33:12
  Speaker 6: country where your head of state is truly extraordinary. So
• 33:15
  Speaker 6: I think that the Royal Family is still picking their
• 33:17
  Speaker 6: jaws up. off the floor of that process in Harry's mind.
• 33:21
  Speaker 6: Does it make reconciliation harder? I think this is still
• 33:24
  Speaker 6: a long way off. The king is a man of forgiveness,
• 33:28
  Speaker 6: much more so than his other son, Prince William. He
• 33:31
  Speaker 6: wants nothing to do with his younger brother, but certainly
• 33:34
  Speaker 6: the king is a man of advancing years and certainly
• 33:38
  Speaker 6: wants to have more of a cordial relationship with his
• 33:41
  Speaker 6: estranged son at this time.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: Well, it's certainly going to be fascinating to watch. Russell Myers,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you coming on the program tonight. Thank you.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: All right, stick around after the break. Chris Bowen is
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: happy to spruik his COP31 passion project, but when it
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: comes to the eye-watering price tag, I've got to tell you,
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: he's a lot less enthusiastic about sharing the details. My
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: fired-up panel will join me to discuss that and a
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: whole lot more after this. Welcome back to the program. Now,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: you know, when it comes to fighting climate change, you
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: can't have too many people flying around on the public purse.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: That's why we not only have a climate minister, sorry,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: president of climate negotiations in Chris Bowen, we also have
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: a climate ambassador. But I bet you didn't know this.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: We apparently have a youth climate champion. Sally Higgins is
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: our government's youth climate champion. The Queensland farmer was selected
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: from a field of 84 applicants and is, according to
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: the Department of Climate Change, quote, exactly the kind of
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: real-world voice that should be influencing global climate conversations and
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: shows Australia is interested in practical climate action, to which
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: I say, good for her. But the Department of Climate Change... Well,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: they've been rather coy when asked about how much taxpayers
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: have spent flying the youth climate champion around the world.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: When asked, a department spokesperson offered this illuminating response. All
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: travel is approved by the department, which is fascinating. It's
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: also not an answer. It's a bit like asking how
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: much your Uber cost and being told the driver was
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: approved to pick you up. Anyway, it's a great thing
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: that the Albanese government has a youth climate champion. Imagine
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: if we had a lower interest rates champion or a
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: veterans champion or a cheaper energy champion. Why don't we? Well, simple.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: You champion the things you do. you care about. Joining
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: me now is the panel, my co-host on The Late
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: Debate and host of The Bond Report, 5pm on Fridays,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Caleb Bond and former Labor MP and Chairman of the
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Michael Danby.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: Welcome to you both. Caleb, why do we need a
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: youth climate champion?
• 35:59
  Speaker 14: Well, look, first, may I say thank you for having
• 36:01
  Speaker 14: me on, champion. And I do wonder... whether when Freddie
• 36:04
  Speaker 14: Mercury was singing, you know, we are the champions, this
• 36:07
  Speaker 14: is exactly what he had in mind. You were right
• 36:10
  Speaker 14: when you said, I bet you didn't know that we
• 36:12
  Speaker 14: had a youth climate champion. I went to my local
• 36:15
  Speaker 14: SP bookie and tried to get a market on it
• 36:17
  Speaker 14: and he refused to offer one because he knew that
• 36:19
  Speaker 14: everyone didn't know that we had one. When I read
• 36:21
  Speaker 14: this this morning, I opened the paper this morning... And
• 36:23
  Speaker 14: I read that we've got some youth climate champion who's
• 36:26
  Speaker 14: been flying around the world doing God knows what. And
• 36:29
  Speaker 14: they won't even tell us how much they've spent, which
• 36:32
  Speaker 14: generally means they don't want us to know how much
• 36:34
  Speaker 14: they've spent because it won't look good. I was flabbergasted.
• 36:39
  Speaker 14: What exactly is the role of the youth climate champion?
• 36:43
  Speaker 14: What can a youth climate champion do? that Chris Bowen
• 36:47
  Speaker 14: can't do.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: Actually, it's probably a stupid question.
• 36:49
  Speaker 14: There's a lot of things that anyone else could do
• 36:50
  Speaker 14: that Chris Bowen couldn't do, to be frank. But seriously,
• 36:54
  Speaker 14: what is the point of this? What are we spending
• 36:57
  Speaker 14: on it? What are we getting for it? It would
• 37:00
  Speaker 14: seem to be yet another vanity project of some kind
• 37:03
  Speaker 14: that this government has... invested in, investment in inverted commas,
• 37:08
  Speaker 14: to look like it's doing something about climate change and
• 37:12
  Speaker 14: energy and all these other things without actually doing anything? Because,
• 37:16
  Speaker 14: of course, we know looks are the main game.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: I've got to tell you, Caleb, in your answer, the
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: word investment was doing a lot of heavy lifting. Michael,
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: what does it tell us that the government won't tell
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: us how much all of this is costing?
• 37:30
  Speaker 7: Well, to their knees up in Fiji... They've got the
• 37:34
  Speaker 7: leaders of Antigua, the Mad Maldives and a couple of
• 37:41
  Speaker 7: other countries. So these youth climate ambassadors are probably there
• 37:48
  Speaker 7: with the youth delegation to boost the numbers because despite
• 37:51
  Speaker 7: spending 25 mil on this virtue signalling, they can't get
• 37:56
  Speaker 7: people there. I mean, this bloke, Bowen, is not only
• 38:01
  Speaker 7: going to lead to future blackouts.
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: But.
• 38:04
  Speaker 7: He's leading his poor old leader, Albo, into the valley
• 38:07
  Speaker 7: of electoral death. I mean, he's got all of these
• 38:11
  Speaker 7: failed oceanic windmill schemes, green hydrogen that goes bust all
• 38:16
  Speaker 7: the time. And now we've got, in New South Wales,
• 38:21
  Speaker 7: power stations and aluminium plants that need vast subsidies because
• 38:25
  Speaker 7: of the higher electricity prices he's forcing everyone. And that's
• 38:28
  Speaker 7: not even considering the plight of consumers, particularly... older people,
• 38:33
  Speaker 7: pensioners and poor people who the Labor Party used to
• 38:36
  Speaker 7: stand for.
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: It's a good point. Maybe we need a seniors climate champion.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: How about that? While we're talking about climate change, Chris Bowen,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: this is great news for everybody. He's announced he wants
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: to remain climate change and energy minister for a third term. Boy,
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: for boy. So I knew you'd be excited, Michael. Caleb,
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: that would make Chris Bowen... Among the longest serving climate
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: change ministers in history. He's practically the Scott Pendlebury of
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: climate action.
• 39:03
  Speaker 13: Very true.
• 39:04
  Speaker 14: I think he's actually about to become the longest serving
• 39:06
  Speaker 14: energy minister in Australian history, which is just extraordinary. I mean,
• 39:11
  Speaker 14: it does prove, I suppose, that you can fail upwards.
• 39:14
  Speaker 14: And one thing I've perhaps enjoyed about the fact that
• 39:17
  Speaker 14: he's been this, you know, cop negotiator, whatever it is,
• 39:22
  Speaker 14: is that he has spent less time in the country.
• 39:24
  Speaker 14: And I know that has cost us money, but I
• 39:26
  Speaker 14: think on the whole it's been good for us to
• 39:28
  Speaker 14: have him out of the joint for as long as possible.
• 39:31
  Speaker 14: But I think it really speaks to the warped priorities
• 39:34
  Speaker 14: of this government and the fact that the Albanese government,
• 39:38
  Speaker 14: despite the fact it won 94 seats at the last
• 39:41
  Speaker 14: federal election, is really failing to grapple with the political
• 39:47
  Speaker 14: climate at the moment, climate boom-boom. But I don't think
• 39:51
  Speaker 14: they can really understand just how much things have shifted
• 39:55
  Speaker 14: and how things have changed in the last 12 months,
• 39:58
  Speaker 14: let alone the last nine months, and that all of
• 40:00
  Speaker 14: this stuff might have worked a year or two years ago,
• 40:04
  Speaker 14: or at least helped them to some degree with their base.
• 40:07
  Speaker 14: But even a lot of the Labor base now is
• 40:09
  Speaker 14: looking elsewhere towards outfits like One Nation, particularly the working
• 40:13
  Speaker 14: class base, because they say, you are not doing anything
• 40:17
  Speaker 14: for me. And so having people like Chris Bowen hanging
• 40:21
  Speaker 14: around doing what they're doing is is not going to
• 40:23
  Speaker 14: do anything to arrest that perception.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: No, but changing the algorithms, that will fix everything, Caleb.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: So it's all going to be fine for Labor. They
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: just need to get a bit more control of social media. Michael,
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: Chris Bowen also confirmed Anthony Albanese will go to his
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: first ever COP conference as Prime Minister later this year
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: in Turkey. It seems to me like Chris Bowen is
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: being very careful to make sure Elbow is well and
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: truly fastened to him. They are in this climate crisis together.
• 40:54
  Speaker 7: Chris Bowen is representing the New South Wales Right in
• 40:58
  Speaker 7: the Labor Caucus. They were the people who meant to
• 41:01
  Speaker 7: inject realism into Labor Party politics. And it's proof of
• 41:07
  Speaker 7: the degeneracy of the modern Labor Party that the New
• 41:10
  Speaker 7: South Wales Right are the most extreme on migration issues
• 41:15
  Speaker 7: or on climate change issues. As I said, he's leading
• 41:19
  Speaker 7: Al Bowen to the valley of death. Maybe he's going
• 41:22
  Speaker 7: to sort of refight Gallipoli there with Elbow over in Turkey.
• 41:27
  Speaker 7: Just you cannot imagine sort of a minister that's led
• 41:31
  Speaker 7: to so many energy and environment disasters and trying to
• 41:37
  Speaker 7: sort of cling desperately on to our socialist left prime
• 41:40
  Speaker 7: minister in the hope that if Labor scrapes back that
• 41:44
  Speaker 7: he might be kept on.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: Well, Maureen Faruqi, the Greens deputy leader, is very concerned
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: about climate change. I think. It's hard to tell what
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: she's more concerned about, climate change or white people. Here
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: she was in the Senate. Have a listen.
• 41:58
  Speaker 15: And where colonialism is involved, racism is lurking right there.
• 42:02
  Speaker 15: And it is writ large in impacts of climate change.
• 42:05
  Speaker 15: While billionaire lists dominated by white men get richer and
• 42:09
  Speaker 15: richer and protect themselves from the worst consequences of climate breakdown,
• 42:13
  Speaker 15: black and brown communities across the global south are being flooded, burned, displaced,
• 42:18
  Speaker 15: starved and buried.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: Help me, Caleb, are white people to blame for climate change?
• 42:23
  Speaker 14: No more than anyone else. I'm quite concerned that she
• 42:27
  Speaker 14: didn't decide to call out Chinese people for contributing to
• 42:30
  Speaker 14: climate change. I mean, they keep building coal-fired power stations
• 42:34
  Speaker 14: at a rate of knots, one of the biggest emitters
• 42:37
  Speaker 14: in the world. Are they part of this as well,
• 42:39
  Speaker 14: or is it only white people? Because there are a
• 42:42
  Speaker 14: number of white people at the top of the global
• 42:45
  Speaker 14: rankings in terms of wealth.
• 42:47
  Speaker 13: Seriously... And Maureen Faruqi, of.
• 42:50
  Speaker 14: Course, is an immigrant from Pakistan who came to Australia,
• 42:54
  Speaker 14: presumably because she thought this country would give her a
• 42:58
  Speaker 14: better life. And I think it has given her a
• 43:00
  Speaker 14: better life. It has embraced her. It has allowed her
• 43:03
  Speaker 14: to be a representative of Australia in the Senate, which
• 43:07
  Speaker 14: is one of the greatest privileges you could possibly ask for.
• 43:11
  Speaker 14: And yet here she is in a white majority country
• 43:14
  Speaker 14: that she chose to move to, blaming white people for
• 43:18
  Speaker 14: what is happening to black and brown people, as she
• 43:20
  Speaker 14: puts it, in other parts of the world.
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: Well, she didn't have to move here.
• 43:24
  Speaker 14: I just find it rather odd that she now decides
• 43:28
  Speaker 14: in a country like Australia she's going to lecture the
• 43:30
  Speaker 14: white people about what they're doing to the rest of
• 43:32
  Speaker 14: the world. If you're worried about what's happening in the
• 43:33
  Speaker 14: rest of the world, well, go and help them in
• 43:36
  Speaker 14: the rest of the world instead of lecturing us in
• 43:39
  Speaker 14: the Australian Senate.
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: When I was listening to what she said about, you know,
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: white people have caused all these problems... I couldn't help
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: but think, imagine a senator standing up and saying blacks
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: are responsible for all the world's ills. I mean, Michael,
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: it would never happen because no one would dare say that.
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: And yet Marine Faruqi blames whites and everyone goes, meh.
• 44:01
  Speaker 7: Exactly, James. It's plainly bigoted to say that one's skin
• 44:08
  Speaker 7: pigment determines one's virtue or, in this case, the terrible
• 44:14
  Speaker 7: tragedy in Nepal. Doesn't Marine Faruqi notice all of these
• 44:18
  Speaker 7: reservoirs that have been drilled into the Tibetan plateau by
• 44:23
  Speaker 7: the Chinese communists? Great friends of Pakistan, by the way.
• 44:27
  Speaker 7: It's outrageous that the poor Tibetan people are being arrested
• 44:32
  Speaker 7: all over Tibet tonight, the last few days, by the
• 44:36
  Speaker 7: Chinese communists for even showing videos of the disaster that
• 44:40
  Speaker 7: happened from the Tibetan side, unless you do the approved Beijing...
• 44:45
  Speaker 7: a video you're subject to arrest. Honestly, it couldn't be
• 44:51
  Speaker 7: further from the truth that Maureen Faruqi is representing the
• 44:55
  Speaker 7: oppressed brown people of the world. This is, you know,
• 44:59
  Speaker 7: a tragedy for the Tibetan people, a tragedy for the
• 45:01
  Speaker 7: Nepalese people, and for her to turn it into some
• 45:04
  Speaker 7: reverse racism is sickening.
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: All right, very quickly, killer mushroom cook Erin Patterson has
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: been given the green light to receive taxpayer-funded Ozempic in prison.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: The Herald Sun said today she is a binge eater,
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: but she started using the weight loss jabs in solitary confinement.
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: Just real fast, Caleb, is that a compelling argument or
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: you don't think this is a good idea?
• 45:27
  Speaker 14: Look, I thought in prison you lost your rights and
• 45:29
  Speaker 14: surely that should mean that you don't get free Ozempic
• 45:31
  Speaker 14: because people on the outside don't get free Ozempic.
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: But two things.
• 45:34
  Speaker 14: Maybe it'll prevent her from cooking ever again because she
• 45:38
  Speaker 14: won't be hungry and that's probably a good thing for
• 45:39
  Speaker 14: the world. And number two, I know that they have
• 45:41
  Speaker 14: problems in Victoria getting people into prison cells and so
• 45:45
  Speaker 14: maybe putting her on Ozempic will free up some space
• 45:47
  Speaker 14: for another prisoner.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: Caleb Bond, this is why you're my friend.
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: He's a very funny man.
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: You never fail to entertain and amuse. Michael, I don't
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: know if you can top that, and we've run out
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: of time anyway, so we're going to leave it there.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: Thank you to you both. Really enjoyed that chat. Thanks
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: for joining me on The Bolt Report tonight. I'll see
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: you again tomorrow night, but don't go anywhere. Coming up
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: right now is the brilliant Shari Marks.