Latest / The Kenny Report / The Kenny Report | 17 September

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The Kenny Report | 17 September · The Kenny Report

0:02
Speaker 1: This is the Kenny Report. Welcome to the program tonight.
0:07
Speaker 2: The Albanese Labor government finally tackles immigration and they claim
0:12
Speaker 2: it was all their own idea. Economist Leith van Onselen
0:15
Speaker 2: joins me. One year on from Labor's recognition of the
0:19
Speaker 2: non-existent state of Palestine and its leadership there still funds terrorists. Meanwhile,
0:26
Speaker 2: the ABC makes excuses for the Opera House protesters. Shadow
0:30
Speaker 2: Communications Minister Sarah Henderson will join me on that. Which
0:34
Speaker 2: are the best schools in the country and why are
0:37
Speaker 2: most of them single sex? Susie O'Brien on her annual
0:41
Speaker 2: school survey. A huge Labor backflip on veterans' entitlements. Also
0:45
Speaker 2: Alexander Downer on terror plots thwarted. Mark Robinson on footy
0:49
Speaker 2: finals and National Cabinet with Tim and Mark on students
0:53
Speaker 2: protesting against Pauline Hanson.
0:56
Speaker 1: Let's get cracking.
1:01
Speaker 2: It'll be one year this Monday since Anthony Albanese recognised
1:05
Speaker 2: the non-existent state of Palestine.
1:08
Speaker 1: And I'll show you how badly that's turned out.
1:11
Speaker 2: The Prime Minister turned Australian foreign policy on its head,
1:15
Speaker 2: recognising as a country an ill-defined collection of Palestinian.
1:19
Speaker 1: Settlements that has no borders.
1:22
Speaker 2: and no effective government. This appalling decision rewarded terrorism, as
1:28
Speaker 2: I and many others said at the time. Albanese and
1:31
Speaker 2: his Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, were giving Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic
1:36
Speaker 2: Jihad and other terror groups what Labor foolishly thought might
1:40
Speaker 2: placate the terror groups.
1:43
Speaker 1: If only it were so simple.
1:46
Speaker 3: Today, I'm pleased to be here with Minister Wong to
1:48
Speaker 3: announce that effective today, Sunday, the 21st of September, 2025.
1:53
Speaker 3: The Commonwealth of Australia recognises the state of Palestine.
2:01
Speaker 2: The Islamist terrorists of Hamas praised Albanese and claimed another
2:05
Speaker 2: propaganda win while they continued to kill in the Middle East.
2:10
Speaker 2: And three months later, we got the Bondi massacre.
2:15
Speaker 1: So much for appeasement.
2:17
Speaker 2: And so much for failing to understand the difference between
2:20
Speaker 2: Islamist extremist propaganda about wanting statehood and the reality of
2:25
Speaker 2: aiming to eliminate Israel and Jews. But Albanese and Wong
2:30
Speaker 2: were not stupid enough to offer their recognition without conditions.
2:35
Speaker 1: No, of course not.
2:37
Speaker 3: Our act of recognition is based on the commitments received
2:41
Speaker 3: from the Palestinian Authority.
2:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, there were conditions.
2:47
Speaker 2: But Albanese and Wong were naive enough to think their
2:51
Speaker 2: conditions might actually be met by a Palestinian leadership that
2:55
Speaker 2: has never delivered for its people or for peace. Listen
2:59
Speaker 2: to those conditions.
3:01
Speaker 3: Our government has made it clear that there can be
3:04
Speaker 3: no role for the terrorists of Hamas in any future
3:08
Speaker 3: Palestinian state. This is one of the commitments Australia has
3:12
Speaker 3: sought and received from President Abbas's and the Palestinian Authority.
3:18
Speaker 3: The Palestinian Authority has reaffirmed it recognises Israel's right to
3:22
Speaker 3: exist in peace and security. It has committed to demilitarise
3:28
Speaker 3: and to hold general elections. It has pledged to abolish
3:33
Speaker 3: the system of payments to the families of prisoners and
3:36
Speaker 3: martyrs and promised broader reform of governance, financial transparency in
3:42
Speaker 3: the education system including international oversight to guard against the
3:47
Speaker 3: incitement of violence and hatred.
3:51
Speaker 2: Albanese took the Palestinian Authority at its word. Well, Hamas
3:57
Speaker 2: still controls parts of Gaza and has not laid down
4:01
Speaker 2: its arms. Elections have been promised in the West Bank,
4:04
Speaker 2: but they've been promised and postponed many times before.
4:09
Speaker 1: And the last time there was an election in Gaza,
4:11
Speaker 1: Hamas won. But what about pay for slay?
4:15
Speaker 2: What about the abhorrent practice of paying the families of
4:18
Speaker 2: imprisoned terrorists and most repugnantly, paying the families of dead terrorists,
4:25
Speaker 2: including suicide bombers?
4:28
Speaker 1: People Albanese, as you just saw, dubbed as martyrs. How appalling.
4:35
Speaker 4: But.
4:36
Speaker 2: That is still happening. And the education system hasn't been reformed.
4:41
Speaker 2: Children are still taught to hate and kill. So let's
4:46
Speaker 2: go to a US State Department statement issued yesterday. It
4:50
Speaker 2: reimposes sanctions against the Palestinian leadership because it's failed to
4:56
Speaker 2: deliver on diplomatic undertakings and because it continues to pay
5:01
Speaker 2: stipends to terrorists and and to glorify acts of terrorism
5:06
Speaker 2: and terrorists in public pronouncements and school textbooks. Yep, none
5:13
Speaker 2: of the conditions that Albanese and Wong laid down a
5:16
Speaker 2: year ago have been met. Recognising the non-existent state of
5:21
Speaker 2: Palestine has, as I and many others warned, only imperiled
5:26
Speaker 2: Australians and pushed back the chances of peace in the
5:30
Speaker 2: Middle East. it's time for Albanese and Wong to admit
5:34
Speaker 2: their error and rescind their rash, political, ignorant and counterproductive recognition.
5:43
Speaker 2: When the Palestinian leadership and the terror groups it tolerates
5:47
Speaker 2: can demonstrate a commitment to peace, when they stop killing innocents,
5:53
Speaker 2: paying terrorists, brainwashing kids and wreaking havoc upon their own people,
6:00
Speaker 2: well then, And only then could any sensible person.
6:05
Speaker 1: Speak about statehood.
6:11
Speaker 2: So our politicians have failed to show leadership in the
6:13
Speaker 2: face of anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and Islamist extremism.
6:18
Speaker 1: That's clear.
6:19
Speaker 2: And as I showed you last night, the former ASIO Director-General,
6:23
Speaker 2: Dennis Richardson, who's also headed Foreign Affairs and Defence, well,
6:27
Speaker 2: he called out the media for its weakness on these
6:29
Speaker 2: issues too.
6:31
Speaker 5: I tend to agree with those who argue that following
6:35
Speaker 5: 7 October, we dropped the ball and failed to draw
6:39
Speaker 5: a line.
6:41
Speaker 2: As you know, I've long pointed out the reckless and
6:44
Speaker 2: inflammatory role of the national broadcaster on this. And as
6:48
Speaker 2: Shari Markson showed on her program last night, there was
6:51
Speaker 2: another unbelievable example of this yesterday. when radio host Hamish
6:57
Speaker 2: MacDonald interviewed Alex Rivchin about the book he co-authored with Shari,
7:02
Speaker 2: Bondi Terror. Listen to this question that relates to the
7:07
Speaker 2: sickening Opera House protest.
7:10
Speaker 6: There clearly were warnings that went out to the Jewish
7:12
Speaker 6: community telling them not to be in the CBD on
7:15
Speaker 6: that evening. That stood out as an unusual detail and
7:19
Speaker 6: I know there's some discussion about whether that was an
7:21
Speaker 6: explicit warning from police or an interpretation.
7:24
Speaker 1: of a warning.
7:27
Speaker 6: But clearly there were people there that were just expressing
7:30
Speaker 6: a view, you know, exploring their democratic right to take
7:34
Speaker 6: a position, which in itself is not extremist.
7:38
Speaker 2: How could you possibly excuse what was nothing but a
7:42
Speaker 2: celebration of the slaughter of more than 1,200 Israelis by terrorists? Remember,
7:49
Speaker 2: the atrocities in Israel were still unfolding... Hostages.
7:53
Speaker 1: Had only just been taken, including mothers and babies.
7:57
Speaker 2: And Israel's military response had not begun, wouldn't start for weeks. So, no,
8:04
Speaker 2: these weren't protests against Israel. These were celebrations of slaughter.
8:09
Speaker 2: And they also clearly threatened Jews living in Australia. And
8:30
Speaker 2: the ABC, even now, even after all we've seen since,
8:36
Speaker 2: all the way up to the worst terror attack on
8:39
Speaker 2: Australian soil last December, the ABC says this is just
8:44
Speaker 2: people exercising their right to protest.
8:49
Speaker 1: It's unthinkable.
8:50
Speaker 2: These people are so ideological, so hateful towards Israel, that
8:55
Speaker 2: they run constant victim blaming. And a question like this
8:59
Speaker 2: that is dangerously irrational and completely divorced from any.
9:04
Speaker 1: Sense of morality.
9:06
Speaker 2: Here's what Dennis Richardson said about media coverage of the
9:09
Speaker 2: Opera House protest.
9:11
Speaker 5: Much of the media focus on the 9 October demonstration
9:16
Speaker 5: at the Opera House was on the precise words used
9:20
Speaker 5: by the mob instead of on the appalling purpose and
9:24
Speaker 5: nature of the demonstration per se.
9:27
Speaker 2: A gathering with an appalling purpose and nature, yet the
9:32
Speaker 2: ABC still makes excuses for it. If it hadn't been
9:36
Speaker 2: for News Corp, under the leadership of Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch,
9:40
Speaker 2: If it weren't for us here at News 24, the
9:43
Speaker 2: Australian newspaper and papers like the Herald Sun and the
9:46
Speaker 2: Daily Telegraph, who would have stood up for the rights
9:49
Speaker 2: and freedoms of Jewish Australians? Who would stand up for
9:54
Speaker 2: the values of our nation and our national security?
9:58
Speaker 1: No one?
10:00
Speaker 2: Is our wider media really that derelict? Is our country
10:05
Speaker 2: really that devoid of moral fibre?
10:09
Speaker 1: We learned today that.
10:10
Speaker 2: ASIO has thwarted 16 terrorist attacks since the Bondi massacre
10:15
Speaker 2: last December.
10:16
Speaker 1: These are life and death issues in the here and now.
10:22
Speaker 2: So it's not too late for media organisations like the
10:26
Speaker 2: ABC to wake up and start playing their role and
10:30
Speaker 2: start reporting facts and showing some sort of moral compass
10:35
Speaker 2: instead of indulging their ideological and illogical disdain for Israel.
10:45
Speaker 2: Just on the ABC, it's been sanctioned again by the
10:47
Speaker 2: broadcasting regulator over a Four Corners story slamming the upgrade
10:52
Speaker 2: of the Australian War Memorial. The ABC seems to hate
10:56
Speaker 2: anything that celebrates Australia. The reporter was Mark Willisey, the
11:01
Speaker 2: same bloke involved in that story where the ABC was
11:04
Speaker 2: caught out adding extra gunshots and manipulating footage to incriminate
11:09
Speaker 2: our soldiers. Here's some of what I said about the
11:12
Speaker 2: War Memorial story at the time. But now Willesee is
11:16
Speaker 2: facing a complaint from the Australian War Memorial over a
11:20
Speaker 2: Four Corners report about its expansion. The story apparently created
11:24
Speaker 2: the false impression that construction work was going on while
11:28
Speaker 2: The Last Post.
11:29
Speaker 1: Was being played.
11:31
Speaker 2: MUSIC The War Memorial says that has never happened and
11:49
Speaker 2: would never happen.
11:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, so there were.
11:52
Speaker 2: Lots of complaints about that aspect of the report, but
11:55
Speaker 2: strangely enough, the Australian Communication and Media Authority gave the
12:00
Speaker 2: ABC a pass on that part of the report. But
12:05
Speaker 2: it found against the ABC because of the cumulative effect
12:08
Speaker 2: of the program's framing, its use of strong and emotive
12:12
Speaker 2: language and its selection and differing treatment of interviewees unduly
12:17
Speaker 2: favoured critics of the redevelopment. It's bias, in other words.
12:22
Speaker 2: ACMA called out the ABC's bias in this report. But
12:27
Speaker 2: check this out. The ABC has rejected the finding and
12:30
Speaker 2: refused to take any corrective action. ACMA Chair Nerida O'Loughlin
12:36
Speaker 2: says it's disappointing the ABC regularly disputes the regulator's findings.
12:41
Speaker 2: when it stands in place of ordinary, reasonable viewers in
12:44
Speaker 2: its assessments. O'Loughlin says that expect the ABC to take
12:48
Speaker 2: on board the findings and consider any improvements it should make.
12:54
Speaker 1: But the ABC doesn't care. It shrugs it off.
12:58
Speaker 2: It's an ideological organisation, not one interested in objectivity and truth.
13:04
Speaker 1: And there's no one in charge.
13:10
Speaker 2: Now, this program generated a fair bit of heat last
13:12
Speaker 2: night and many of you contacted me pretty unhappy about
13:16
Speaker 2: Justin Smith's attack on Jamie Johnston.
13:18
Speaker 1: It even blew up on radio this morning.
13:21
Speaker 2: Smith attacked Jamie because she was joint hosting the podcast
13:25
Speaker 2: last year when Pauline Hanson said this.
13:28
Speaker 7: They're the most primitive race on earth and we're supposed
13:32
Speaker 7: to be.
13:32
Speaker 8: Holding up and saying what they've achieved. They've achieved nothing.
13:37
Speaker 2: The phrase most primitive race was the problem there. I've
13:41
Speaker 2: got a problem with it, so has most of the country,
13:43
Speaker 2: and Hanson has now apologised for it. Last night I
13:47
Speaker 2: wanted to get Jamie's perspective to see what she thought
13:50
Speaker 2: at the time, but to condemn her for what someone
13:54
Speaker 2: else said, that's a bridge too far because it was
13:57
Speaker 2: only three words in an otherwise reasonable discussion and you
14:01
Speaker 2: don't always pick up on these things as they go
14:04
Speaker 2: live to air. Try telling that to Justin.
14:07
Speaker 1: Jamie, I've got to say this.
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Speaker 9: I don't want you to take this too personally because
14:12
Speaker 9: I'm sure deep down you're a nice person and I
14:15
Speaker 9: like it.
14:15
Speaker 2: Really?
14:15
Speaker 9: But watching you nod along with Pauline there like some
14:19
Speaker 9: kind of dash ornament made me feel sick in the stomach.
14:23
Speaker 9: You should be ashamed of yourself and I think you
14:26
Speaker 9: should be the next apology.
14:27
Speaker 1: Hang on a second, Justin.
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Speaker 4: You're the one.
14:29
Speaker 1: You're the one who's gone with the personal attack here
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Speaker 1: on Jamie.
14:32
Speaker 9: This is not a personal attack. I'm not attacking Jamie personally,
14:35
Speaker 9: but I think she should be apologising.
14:37
Speaker 10: You literally just told me I should be ashamed of
14:39
Speaker 10: myself and now you're telling me.
14:41
Speaker 1: It's not a personal... Yes, you should, and you make
14:42
Speaker 1: me feel sick. You should apologise.
14:43
Speaker 10: But now you're saying it's not a personal attack.
14:44
Speaker 1: At least own up to it.
14:46
Speaker 6: You want to personally attack me, at least own it.
14:50
Speaker 2: On 2GB' s top-rating breakfast program this morning, Ben Fordham replayed
14:54
Speaker 2: bits of the exchange and had this to say.
14:56
Speaker 7: If you're going to rip into someone, own it. And
14:59
Speaker 7: there was some gold-plated gaslighting going on because Justin Smith
15:03
Speaker 7: insisted it wasn't a personal attack while saying that Jamie
15:07
Speaker 7: made him feel sick. Thankfully, Chris Kenny then said what
15:10
Speaker 7: most people were thinking at home.
15:13
Speaker 1: Fair enough. It was a pretty heated exchange.
15:15
Speaker 2: But what I didn't know is that Justin Smith had
15:18
Speaker 2: reached out to Jamie after the show last night. Here
15:22
Speaker 2: she is telling Ben Fordham about it.
15:24
Speaker 9: I just want to let everybody know that after the
15:27
Speaker 9: on-air discussion last night, Justin did actually.
15:31
Speaker 2: Call me and apologise and admit that he took it
15:34
Speaker 2: too far.
15:35
Speaker 4: And I really, really respect that.
15:36
Speaker 3: And I just want to say credit where.
15:38
Speaker 11: Credit is due.
15:38
Speaker 4: Your audience have a right to know.
15:40
Speaker 12: That he did man up and say that he probably
15:44
Speaker 12: shouldn't have made it personal.
15:45
Speaker 2: But when you mentioned.
15:46
Speaker 6: Pauline, he sees red in his words.
15:50
Speaker 1: So interesting.
15:51
Speaker 8: But I really do respect that he did that.
15:54
Speaker 2: Well done, Jamie, and well done, Justin. A lot of
15:57
Speaker 2: you have demanded I dump Justin. That's not happening.
16:01
Speaker 1: I disagree with him on plenty.
16:02
Speaker 2: That's why I have him on. We need to debate
16:04
Speaker 2: these issues. He had a point to make last night,
16:07
Speaker 2: but he got too personal, too nasty there, and at
16:09
Speaker 2: least he recognised that and sorted it out with Jamie.
16:13
Speaker 2: So there you go, going too far and apologising afterwards.
16:17
Speaker 2: Pauline Hanson did it, and so did Justin Smith. They're
16:20
Speaker 2: peas in a pod.
16:22
Speaker 1: He'll hate me for saying that. Just to let you know,
16:28
Speaker 1: Justin won't be on next week. I know he's going away.
16:31
Speaker 1: Just to get in early, it'll be Jamie probably without Justin,
16:34
Speaker 1: but he'll be back eventually.
16:36
Speaker 2: Now, I want to get to the immigration debate. With
16:39
Speaker 2: our net overseas migration rising to record levels in recent
16:42
Speaker 2: years and One Nation and the Coalition pledging drastic cuts
16:46
Speaker 2: to our migrant intake, Labor has been desperately trying to
16:50
Speaker 2: catch up, scrapping an announcement six weeks ago, but today
16:56
Speaker 2: finally announcing its new policy. The Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke,
17:00
Speaker 2: insisted this.
17:01
Speaker 1: Was all Labor's own idea. But no-one, and it's simply
17:07
Speaker 1: demonstrably wrong to.
17:10
Speaker 13: Suspect that somehow this is a recent bit of work
17:14
Speaker 13: done to deal with a political climate.
17:16
Speaker 1: It's not.
17:18
Speaker 2: Sure, if you believe that, you'd believe your power bills
17:20
Speaker 2: are going down. In Parliament, the debate was pretty heated.
17:24
Speaker 13: What we need to make sure is the system is
17:26
Speaker 13: managed as effectively as possible. We need to make sure
17:30
Speaker 13: that it is guided to deliver for the needs of
17:33
Speaker 13: the Australian people.
17:34
Speaker 11: What we don't need.
17:36
Speaker 14: Is random dog whistling of someone wanting to claim that
17:42
Speaker 14: they're against all the numbers. They want all the numbers
17:45
Speaker 14: to be lower except for every visa that might affect
17:48
Speaker 14: their electorate.
17:50
Speaker 2: Already there are concerns that new restrictions on working holiday
17:54
Speaker 2: visas will prove a disaster in the bush. Let's get
17:57
Speaker 2: an expert view now from macro business chief economist Leith
18:00
Speaker 2: van Onselen.
18:01
Speaker 1: He follows this stuff very closely. Thanks for joining us again, Leith.
18:04
Speaker 1: Give us your top of mind assessment of these changes.
18:09
Speaker 10: Look, to be honest with you, I think they're a
18:10
Speaker 10: load of bluster and fanfare for very little. Tony Burke
18:15
Speaker 10: merely outlined a limited set of integrity measures. which are
18:18
Speaker 10: merely aimed at meeting the net overseas migration targets that
18:21
Speaker 10: were already promised in the federal budget. That is $ 245, 000
18:26
Speaker 10: next financial year and then.
18:28
Speaker 3: $ 225, 000.
18:28
Speaker 10: A year thereafter. So they haven't actually announced any immigration cuts.
18:33
Speaker 10: All they've announced is a few integrity measures. And under
18:36
Speaker 10: their policy, we'll still see 1 million net overseas migrants
18:40
Speaker 10: arrive over a four-year period, which is still far too high.
18:44
Speaker 10: And that is during a time when we have an
18:46
Speaker 10: acute housing crisis. So this is really just a whole
18:50
Speaker 10: bunch of nothing to be quite frank. They haven't cut
18:52
Speaker 10: any of the immigration programs. The permanent migrant intake is
18:55
Speaker 10: still going to be 20,000 higher than it was when
18:57
Speaker 10: they got elected at 185,000. The humanitarian intake is still
19:01
Speaker 10: going to be higher than it was than when they
19:03
Speaker 10: got elected. So really this is just a few little
19:06
Speaker 10: nips and tucks around the edges. And, yes, some of
19:08
Speaker 10: the changes are worthwhile. Like, you know, they have copied
19:13
Speaker 10: One Nation's policy and to stop students and graduates, international
19:17
Speaker 10: students and graduates from bringing in family members. That's smart.
19:20
Speaker 10: Some of the integrity measures are wise, but there hasn't
19:23
Speaker 10: actually been any immigration cuts. They're merely just trying to
19:26
Speaker 10: meet the targets that they already set in the budget.
19:28
Speaker 4: That's all it is.
19:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think those student measures are wise. They stop people,
19:32
Speaker 2: will restrict people using their student visas as a pathway
19:37
Speaker 2: to permanent residency. Also, I do note in passing, as
19:41
Speaker 2: you say, that 20,000 humanitarian or refugee intake was supposed
19:46
Speaker 2: to be temporary. They're keeping that at that level. That's
19:49
Speaker 2: a very high number of refugees. But going to these
19:52
Speaker 2: integrity measures that you say are a good thing, Labor
19:55
Speaker 2: has always overshot its estimates on migration. It's always set
19:59
Speaker 2: targets and then blown them. Do these measures.
20:02
Speaker 1: Make it more likely that at least they'll hit those targets?
20:06
Speaker 11: Yeah, I think they do.
20:07
Speaker 10: I think they do make it more likely. And just
20:09
Speaker 10: on that overblowing the numbers, so Australia's... migrant intake. So
20:14
Speaker 10: since Labor got elected, we actually have 340,000 more migrants
20:18
Speaker 10: in the country at the moment than we would have
20:20
Speaker 10: if we just simply followed the pre-pandemic trend. So this
20:23
Speaker 10: whole notion that we're catching up on migration has been
20:26
Speaker 10: well blown out of the water. We've literally got 340,000
20:29
Speaker 10: more migrants in the country than we would have had otherwise.
20:32
Speaker 10: And the net overseas migration number during the Albanese government's
20:36
Speaker 10: term has been just over 1,100 per day. It's 1,100
20:40
Speaker 10: migrants per day, and that compares to just over 600
20:43
Speaker 10: in the previous two governments, if you exclude the pandemic. So,
20:46
Speaker 10: you know, they have completely blown the water out on immigration,
20:50
Speaker 10: and now they're just merely trying to do some nips
20:53
Speaker 10: and tucks to try and meet the numbers that they'd
20:54
Speaker 10: already forecast.
20:55
Speaker 1: Extraordinary stuff.
20:56
Speaker 2: Let me finish off with a double-barrelled question on some
20:59
Speaker 2: economic impacts. I notice the housing industry has welcomed these changes.
21:03
Speaker 1: They think better targeting of skilled.
21:06
Speaker 2: Migrants might help get some more of the the tradies
21:09
Speaker 2: into this country we need. But I'm already hearing from
21:12
Speaker 2: people in the bush saying that the new restriction on
21:15
Speaker 2: working holiday visas, the fact that there's a ballot after
21:18
Speaker 2: the first year, might stop working holiday visa holders, all
21:22
Speaker 2: of them, going into the bush and doing any work.
21:25
Speaker 10: Yeah, yeah, that is complete scapegoat. So my read of
21:29
Speaker 10: that is they want to keep the students coming into
21:30
Speaker 10: the cities, but they're trying to obviously shaft the bush,
21:34
Speaker 10: which tend to not vote for Labor. That's my reading
21:36
Speaker 10: of it. Let's be honest, working holiday maker visas are
21:39
Speaker 10: not behind the huge surge in net overseas migration. Most
21:42
Speaker 10: of them only come for less than a year, which
21:44
Speaker 10: isn't even counted as net overseas migration. Those who stay
21:48
Speaker 10: over a year are counted, but they're not a huge number.
21:51
Speaker 10: So I'm not sure why Labor's targeting that particular area,
21:55
Speaker 10: except to say that, you know, it'll have a minor
21:58
Speaker 10: impact on reducing that overseas migration. But for me, it
22:01
Speaker 10: seems like a way that they can basically shaft the
22:04
Speaker 10: regions while pumping more students into the cities, which is
22:07
Speaker 10: where their constituents are.
22:09
Speaker 1: Leith, thanks for joining us. I appreciate it.
22:11
Speaker 2: Leith Van Onselm there from Macro Business. I want to
22:14
Speaker 2: go to the Shadow Communications Minister. Sarah Henderson, who joins
22:17
Speaker 2: us from Canberra, of course, with Parliament sitting.
22:19
Speaker 1: Good to see you, Senator.
22:21
Speaker 2: Let me firstly get your response, the Coalition's response to
22:24
Speaker 2: these changes on immigration.
22:27
Speaker 12: Well, Chris, good afternoon. Leith is absolutely right. Labor is
22:31
Speaker 12: addicted to mass migration and this does nothing to bring
22:35
Speaker 12: down migration numbers. It is tinkering at the edges. It
22:40
Speaker 12: is bluff and bluster. It is smoke and mirrors. And
22:43
Speaker 12: it just goes to show that Labor is not serious
22:46
Speaker 12: about doing anything about migration.
22:49
Speaker 2: And even on the numbers, I know the Coalition doesn't
22:51
Speaker 2: have an official number out there, but even if Labor
22:54
Speaker 2: met its targets and the Coalition came in where we
22:57
Speaker 2: think your policy is going to come in, you're going
22:59
Speaker 2: to have at least 60,000 fewer migrants from what we
23:03
Speaker 2: know already annually.
23:06
Speaker 12: Well, what we do know is net overseas migration is
23:09
Speaker 12: not going to go down at all. In fact, looking
23:12
Speaker 12: at the numbers, 295,000 in the next year, 245,000. Now,
23:17
Speaker 12: even if Labor gets to that target, that will be
23:20
Speaker 12: a miracle because it continues to not reach its own targets.
23:25
Speaker 12: We're working very hard, of course, on the details of
23:28
Speaker 12: our policy, Chris, so I won't give that No... other
23:31
Speaker 12: than to say we are driving migration down. Migration has
23:35
Speaker 12: got to match housing. We are not going to bring
23:38
Speaker 12: excess migrants into this country and we are going to
23:41
Speaker 12: put Australian values first. We're going to get rid of
23:44
Speaker 12: the illegal migrants who are here. We are going to
23:47
Speaker 12: be very, very tough. And if you look what Tony
23:49
Speaker 12: Burke did, he issued 3,000 visas to people in Gaza.
23:54
Speaker 12: No integrity, no proper process. And, I mean, I saw
23:58
Speaker 12: the grab from Tony Burke talking about, you know, sort
24:02
Speaker 12: of bringing in migrants to match the needs of coalition electorates.
24:06
Speaker 12: What a joke. We have seen Tony Burke lead the
24:10
Speaker 12: charge in, frankly, rorting the system, and we saw that
24:15
Speaker 12: in spades with what he did with those Garzen visas,
24:19
Speaker 12: going out to the airport to welcome those people.
24:21
Speaker 1: Extraordinary stuff.
24:22
Speaker 12: So, Labor... Yeah, Labor has... done nothing to bring down migration.
24:28
Speaker 12: This is just, as I say, smoke and mirrors. And
24:31
Speaker 12: the proof is in the numbers that have been released today.
24:34
Speaker 2: Let's get on to a Labor backflip, a welcome backflip,
24:38
Speaker 2: but one they've been dragged and kicking and screaming to doing.
24:41
Speaker 2: It's a victory for the Coalition. It's a victory for
24:43
Speaker 2: our veterans. It's a victory for some in the media who.
24:46
Speaker 1: Have pushed this. We've pushed this issue ourselves.
24:48
Speaker 2: But dips my lid to Mark Levy on 2GB, who's
24:52
Speaker 2: been absolutely dogged on this. They've rescinded this $ 5, 000 cap
25:00
Speaker 2: on extra medical services for our veterans. Let's have a
25:03
Speaker 2: look at the reaction, some of the reaction in Parliament today.
25:07
Speaker 15: Will the Minister apologise to veterans and their families after
25:11
Speaker 15: putting them through months of mental anguish and stress caused
25:14
Speaker 15: by his plan for cruel cuts, or will he just resign?
25:19
Speaker 1: And we committed to listen, and we did, and we heard,
25:24
Speaker 1: and we have responded.
25:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, how he's still in his job is beyond me,
25:29
Speaker 2: but let me go straight to another grab here. This
25:32
Speaker 2: is from Phil Thompson. the Coalition frontbencher who's also a veteran.
25:38
Speaker 16: I know what it's like to carry a coffin. I
25:40
Speaker 16: know what it's like when your friends are no longer there. So,
25:50
Speaker 16: this is personal for me because it's my family, it's
25:53
Speaker 16: my people. And this minister had failed them continually. This
25:57
Speaker 16: Prime Minister has failed continually. And when the veterans came
26:01
Speaker 16: to Canberra to seek a meeting, they weren't even able
26:04
Speaker 16: to get in the room with Minister Matt Keogh.
26:07
Speaker 1: And it's just disgraceful. He is a good man, is Phil.
26:11
Speaker 2: So that $ 5, 000 cap on allied health services is gone, Sarah.
26:17
Speaker 2: How does Matt Keogh stay in his job after bungling
26:19
Speaker 2: that so badly?
26:23
Speaker 12: Well, Chris, the bottom line is he cannot stay in
26:26
Speaker 12: his job. He has not listened. Together with veterans from
26:29
Speaker 12: around the country, the Coalition has been so proud to
26:32
Speaker 12: have led this campaign. This is life-changing and in some
26:37
Speaker 12: cases life-saving. Our veterans have sacrificed their lives for our country.
26:43
Speaker 12: to fight for our country, and yet they ended up
26:46
Speaker 12: having to fight their own government for a bit of
26:49
Speaker 12: basic compassion and justice. This goes to show, and it
26:53
Speaker 12: comes from the top, this Prime Minister has no compassion,
26:56
Speaker 12: no heart, and we have had to drag the Prime
27:00
Speaker 12: Minister and the government kicking and screaming to this common-sense decision.
27:04
Speaker 2: Just very briefly, Sarah, in your portfolio, the ABC found
27:08
Speaker 2: wanting by ACMA yet again?
27:13
Speaker 12: Yes, another breach is determined by ACMA and very disappointing,
27:17
Speaker 12: like the, frankly, the Fazal case when those allegations first emerged.
27:22
Speaker 12: The Four Corners said there's nothing to see here. And
27:25
Speaker 12: now again, we see the ABC not listening to the
27:27
Speaker 12: regulator about a breach of impartiality. It is a serious
27:32
Speaker 12: finding against the ABC. And frankly, it is time that
27:36
Speaker 12: the managing director and the senior executives of the ABC
27:40
Speaker 12: started to focus on lifting standards because the obligation to
27:45
Speaker 12: report impartially and accurately is is a statutory obligation. And
27:50
Speaker 12: I'm sick to death of having to say over and
27:53
Speaker 12: over again to the ABC, lift your game. And the
27:56
Speaker 12: response today from the ABC is just not good enough.
27:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're just thumbing their nose at it. As you say,
28:01
Speaker 2: it's written into the law, these requirements, but they ignore it.
28:04
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us, Sarah. I appreciate it, Sarah. Henderson
28:07
Speaker 2: there joining us live from Canberra. We'd better get to
28:10
Speaker 2: a break.
28:10
Speaker 1: On the other side, we're going to have a look
28:12
Speaker 1: at a report card on our schools.
28:14
Speaker 2: Which are the best schools right around the country?
28:16
Speaker 1: Susie O'Brien joins me. The debate over.
28:23
Speaker 2: Single-sex versus co-ed schools is back on the agenda following
28:26
Speaker 2: the release of a list of Australia's top 100 private schools.
28:30
Speaker 2: Single-sex schools dominate the top 20, taking out 18 places.
28:35
Speaker 2: For more, let's bring in Susie O'Brien, who crunched the numbers.
28:38
Speaker 2: She's News Corp's national education editor, of course, as well
28:41
Speaker 2: as a regular panellist on this program. Susie, tell us
28:46
Speaker 2: what's going on here with the single-set schools. This is
28:48
Speaker 2: what the advocates for them always say, that you can
28:51
Speaker 2: end up with better academic results.
28:53
Speaker 8: Well, Chris, let me say firstly, it's great to be
28:56
Speaker 8: back on the show. I started today talking to Stephen
28:59
Speaker 8: Senatiempo on 2CC, so it's really nice to complete the
29:04
Speaker 8: day here. Yeah, this has been really interesting. So single-sex
29:09
Speaker 8: schools educate about 1% of the student population, and yet
29:14
Speaker 8: when we crunched the numbers on 1,300 schools around the country,
29:17
Speaker 8: we found that they take out 18 of the top
29:20
Speaker 8: 20 spots. of the top private schools around the country.
29:24
Speaker 8: And just two co-ed schools made the list, Halliburton in
29:28
Speaker 8: Melbourne and Cranbrook in Sydney. And Cranbrook's interestingly interesting because they, well, exactly,
29:36
Speaker 8: they controversially, they sort of are almost not co-ed. and
29:40
Speaker 8: they controversially have made the decision to go co-ed. They're
29:44
Speaker 8: saying they're going to be fully co-ed by 2029. Yeah.
29:48
Speaker 1: So, very interesting. And what do the experts say about this?
29:51
Speaker 1: Why is it the case? Is it just the simple
29:52
Speaker 1: matter of fewer distractions?
29:56
Speaker 4: Well, the.
29:57
Speaker 8: The boys' schools and the girls' schools both say that
30:01
Speaker 8: catering for the different learning needs of boys and of girls.
30:05
Speaker 8: And I really like the way some of the girls'
30:07
Speaker 8: schools in particular talk about their single-sex schools. And they
30:11
Speaker 8: say that... that girls aren't in the background, that girls
30:15
Speaker 8: are always at the forefront. And I think that's kind
30:18
Speaker 8: of a nice way to be for those few years
30:20
Speaker 8: before they have to get.
30:21
Speaker 1: Out into the real world.
30:23
Speaker 8: But it's very interesting. I mean, this is a very
30:26
Speaker 8: elite cohort. I mean, some of the schools at the
30:28
Speaker 8: top of this list have fees in excess of $ 50, 000.
30:32
Speaker 8: So some of those single-sex schools do tend to be
30:36
Speaker 8: at the higher end.
30:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd be interested to know whether we get the
30:39
Speaker 2: same results in the public schools. I know where I
30:42
Speaker 2: grew up and where you grew up in South Australia,
30:44
Speaker 2: most of the government schools are co-ed, but certainly in
30:47
Speaker 2: New South Wales there are a lot of single-sex public.
30:50
Speaker 1: Schools, so I wonder whether they get the same differential there.
30:53
Speaker 2: The only other thing I wanted to check in with
30:55
Speaker 2: you is whether when you're doing this survey, do you...
31:00
Speaker 2: Do you make any compensation for schools that are selective?
31:03
Speaker 2: I notice you've got Sydney Grammar School number one, but
31:05
Speaker 2: that's a selective school.
31:07
Speaker 1: Only the bright kids get in there to start with.
31:10
Speaker 8: Well, look, we base it on the NAPLAN results. So
31:14
Speaker 8: we've got a whole range of matrices. We've been working
31:18
Speaker 8: on this list for months. And so we look at
31:20
Speaker 8: year seven and nine NAPLAN. We look at student-staff ratios.
31:25
Speaker 8: We look at attendance. We look at socioeconomics. And then
31:29
Speaker 8: our state reporters from across the country who have expert
31:33
Speaker 8: knowledge in this area gave the schools an additional rating
31:36
Speaker 8: on the basis of subjects, facilities and prestige. You know,
31:42
Speaker 8: the kind of sizzle that comes from when you find
31:44
Speaker 8: out what school someone went to. This is we're both
31:47
Speaker 8: from Adelaide. Everyone's into private schools in Adelaide. You know,
31:50
Speaker 8: that kind of X factor that some of the big
31:52
Speaker 8: names bring.
31:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, great stuff. Thanks, Susie.
31:54
Speaker 2: That's in all the News Corp papers right around the country.
31:57
Speaker 2: We'll catch you next Tuesday.
31:59
Speaker 1: Appreciate it.
32:00
Speaker 2: Susie O'Brien there from News Corp. As I say, look
32:02
Speaker 2: around your local paper. You'll get the state lists, so
32:05
Speaker 2: they can help you make your own judgements, maybe your
32:07
Speaker 2: own decisions and your own enrolments.
32:10
Speaker 1: We'll take a break. On the other side, we're going
32:11
Speaker 1: to look.
32:12
Speaker 2: At one year on from Labor's recognition of the non-existent
32:15
Speaker 2: state of Palestine. I wonder what Alexander Downer can tell
32:18
Speaker 2: us about that. Just before we go to Alexander Downer
32:25
Speaker 2: in Melbourne, I want to remind you of what I
32:28
Speaker 2: said at the top of the program, noting that this
32:30
Speaker 2: coming Monday, it will be one year since Australia recognised
32:34
Speaker 2: the non-existent state of Palestine.
32:37
Speaker 1: Here's a flashback.
32:39
Speaker 3: Today, I'm pleased to be here with Minister Wong to
32:42
Speaker 3: announce that effective today, Sunday, the 21st of September 2025,
32:46
Speaker 3: the Commonwealth of Australia recognises the state of Palestine. Our
32:54
Speaker 3: act of recognition is based on the commitments received from
32:58
Speaker 3: the Palestinian Authority.
33:01
Speaker 2: Let's go to our longest-serving foreign minister, Alexander Downer, joining
33:04
Speaker 2: us live from Melbourne. And, Alexander, I wanted to replay that,
33:08
Speaker 2: partly for your benefit, because you would have missed the
33:11
Speaker 2: top of the program you were travelling. But I pointed
33:14
Speaker 2: out that Australia made that commitment a year ago. Many
33:17
Speaker 2: of us warned that it was just rewarding terrorism... Three.
33:20
Speaker 1: Months later, we got Bondi.
33:22
Speaker 2: But, importantly, the conditions that Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong
33:26
Speaker 2: laid out of Hamas disarming, of elections occurring, and, importantly,
33:31
Speaker 2: of the Palestinian Authority ceasing the practice of paying terrorists
33:36
Speaker 2: and their families, none of this has happened.
33:39
Speaker 1: A US State Department.
33:40
Speaker 2: Report today has come out and said that the PA
33:43
Speaker 2: is still paying for slaying, effectively.
33:49
Speaker 17: Yes, and what is more, Albanese and the Labor government
33:55
Speaker 17: wanted the Palestinian Authority to take control of the whole
34:00
Speaker 17: of the so-called Palestinian territories. This was just performative. This
34:07
Speaker 17: was just virtue signalling for the purposes of domestic Australian politics.
34:14
Speaker 17: It was never going to make any difference on the ground,
34:17
Speaker 17: of course, other than rewarding Hamas, rewarding terrorists and alienating
34:24
Speaker 17: the Israelis. I mean, the Australian government has virtually no
34:29
Speaker 17: relationship with Israel at all anymore. So I actually think
34:35
Speaker 17: the most serious thing about it was that it played
34:39
Speaker 17: into the national debate. which erupted by hardcore Islamists and
34:49
Speaker 17: far-left activists over Gaza and the whole issue of a
34:57
Speaker 17: two-state solution. And this became a violent issue in our country,
35:03
Speaker 17: culminating with the 14th of December massacre at Bondi Beach.
35:09
Speaker 17: All of this.
35:12
Speaker 17: Was incited by activities of the Australian government. I mean,
35:18
Speaker 17: they're not responsible for the massacre, of course, but they
35:22
Speaker 17: played into all of this sentiment for domestic political purposes.
35:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a policy decision that helps, adds to the
35:31
Speaker 2: demonisation of Israel and that only inflames this hatred. And
35:36
Speaker 2: it's particularly pertinent today because of the anniversary that's looming,
35:40
Speaker 2: but also because we learned today that since Bondi, ASIO
35:44
Speaker 2: have thwarted 16 terror plots in this country.
35:49
Speaker 1: It just reminds us of how vigilant we must be.
35:56
Speaker 17: It goes to this... I mean, we don't know the
35:59
Speaker 17: details of those terror plots, by the way, but it
36:03
Speaker 17: goes to the fact that the government, instead of calming
36:06
Speaker 17: down the national atmosphere post the 7th of October 2023,
36:14
Speaker 17: has played into it. And they've done that because Labor
36:18
Speaker 17: has worried about losing support to the Greens... And so
36:22
Speaker 17: they played footsie with this, you know, pro-Palestinian coalition of
36:29
Speaker 17: hardcore Islamists and far-left activists. And this has created a
36:37
Speaker 17: really toxic national atmosphere. And it has certainly pushed the cause.
36:44
Speaker 17: of anti-Semitism in Australia. I mean, it's extraordinary that these
36:49
Speaker 17: people focused on Israel and Gaza and couldn't give a
36:53
Speaker 17: damn about what's happening to the Iranian people and what
36:57
Speaker 17: the IRGC is doing to the Iranians, massacring them, massacring
37:03
Speaker 17: their democratic activists.
37:07
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this.
37:08
Speaker 2: Obviously, you're a long way out of politics now, but
37:11
Speaker 2: you served on the... As well as being Foreign Minister,
37:14
Speaker 2: you served on the National Security Committee of Cabinet throughout
37:17
Speaker 2: the Howard government, and you served on that committee throughout
37:21
Speaker 2: real security challenges, including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the
37:25
Speaker 2: Bali bombings and terror attacks and plots here in Australia.
37:30
Speaker 2: So with all that experience you have of the domestic
37:34
Speaker 2: terror and global terror environment, have you seen anything that
37:38
Speaker 2: the Albanese government has done since the Bondi terror attack
37:44
Speaker 2: that makes us any safer today than we were before
37:47
Speaker 2: the attack?
37:50
Speaker 17: I haven't seen, but I assume ASIO are now much
37:55
Speaker 17: more vigilant than they were, and no doubt the Australian
37:58
Speaker 17: Federal Police and the state police forces as well. So
38:03
Speaker 17: I'm assuming that, and I think the evidence seems to
38:09
Speaker 17: point to that happening. But as for the politicians, no.
38:13
Speaker 1: I mean, I've seen nothing.
38:15
Speaker 17: And this is because, ultimately.
38:19
Speaker 1: A.
38:19
Speaker 17: Lot of this terrorism or threats of terrorism are linked
38:23
Speaker 17: to the Middle East, and Labor is worried about losing
38:27
Speaker 17: votes to the Greens, so they are very careful not
38:32
Speaker 17: to alienate hardcore Islamists, including Islamist preachers, and, of course,
38:39
Speaker 17: the feral left, left extremist activists. They don't want to
38:46
Speaker 17: alienate those people. They want their votes.
38:48
Speaker 1: They're playing to those people.
38:50
Speaker 2: Now, a band that you work with very closely and
38:53
Speaker 2: you know well, Dennis Richardson, called out the media's role
38:57
Speaker 2: in this the other day. He said the media failed
38:59
Speaker 2: to highlight the threats of anti-Semitism in this country.
39:03
Speaker 1: Your thoughts on his comments?
39:08
Speaker 17: I'm not sure about that. I mean, the media did highlight...
39:14
Speaker 17: For example, the torching of a car in Sydney, the
39:19
Speaker 17: burning of the buildings in Melbourne and so on. A
39:26
Speaker 17: synagogue was burnt down. I went and had a look
39:28
Speaker 17: at it myself.
39:29
Speaker 1: Right.
39:32
Speaker 17: That was all in the media. That got quite a
39:35
Speaker 17: lot of coverage. So, I mean, I'm not sure I do... Normally,
39:41
Speaker 17: I agree with Dennis, but I'm not sure I do
39:44
Speaker 17: agree with that. I think my.
39:46
Speaker 1: Focus is very much.
39:49
Speaker 17: on the government not taking up the cudgels against anti-Semitism way,
39:55
Speaker 17: way long ago, even at the time of that demonstration
39:59
Speaker 17: outside of the Sydney Opera House on the 9th of October, 2023.
40:06
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us, Alexander. I appreciate it. Alexander Downer there,
40:09
Speaker 1: live from Melbourne. I've got to tell you, I was.
40:12
Speaker 2: At Alexander Downer's 75th birthday party last Saturday night.
40:16
Speaker 1: There were plenty of Crows supporters there including Alexandra and myself.
40:20
Speaker 1: And I was a bit miffed. I thought we're not
40:22
Speaker 1: going to be able to watch the game.
40:23
Speaker 2: In the end, it turned out to be a blessing
40:25
Speaker 2: because our beloved Crows didn't do too well.
40:28
Speaker 1: So happy 75th birthday to Alexandra Downer. We're going to
40:32
Speaker 1: take a break.
40:32
Speaker 2: On the other side, we're going to catch up with
40:34
Speaker 2: Tim and Mark in our National Cabinet. We're going to
40:36
Speaker 2: check in on these ugly protests around the country against
40:40
Speaker 2: Pauline Hanson.
40:41
Speaker 1: And One Nation.
40:46
Speaker 2: Well, for various reasons, the National Cabinet hasn't got together
40:49
Speaker 2: for a couple of weeks, so let's have a quorum
40:52
Speaker 2: today and bring in Tim Blair from The Daily Telegraph,
40:55
Speaker 2: of course, and One Nation Victoria candidate Mark Nicholson from
40:58
Speaker 2: StepMate Studios.
40:59
Speaker 1: Good to see you both.
41:01
Speaker 2: Hey, the first topic I wanted to bring up was
41:03
Speaker 2: these immigration changes from Australia. the Labor Party announcing this policy.
41:08
Speaker 2: And as the One Nation candidate, Mark, I've got to
41:11
Speaker 2: get your thoughts because Tony Burke says, oh, look, Labor
41:13
Speaker 2: was doing all this anyway.
41:15
Speaker 1: They were all.
41:15
Speaker 2: They'd been months ago. Late last year, he reckons they
41:18
Speaker 2: were working on these changes. He was at pains to
41:21
Speaker 2: point out they haven't been pushed into this by One
41:24
Speaker 2: Nation or the Coalition toughening things up.
41:27
Speaker 1: Yeah.
41:27
Speaker 3: Yeah.
41:27
Speaker 1: And what a shock. I don't believe him.
41:30
Speaker 4: I don't believe any of them. I've got so many
41:33
Speaker 4: trust issues. I think he also said something today about
41:36
Speaker 4: how the housing crisis is not caused by immigration. It's
41:40
Speaker 4: because you guys want to have more spare rooms in
41:42
Speaker 4: your place.
41:43
Speaker 1: It's our fault. It's our fault. We want we want
41:45
Speaker 1: more room in our house.
41:46
Speaker 4: It's our fault. Come on, mate. How many spare rooms
41:49
Speaker 4: are in the lodge? I wonder if it's all just
41:51
Speaker 4: set up for this bedroom tax. But, yeah, look, for
41:54
Speaker 4: a party that doesn't have any policies, yeah, everyone seems
41:57
Speaker 4: to be copying our homework, mate. I'm looking forward to
42:00
Speaker 4: seeing Penny in the Senate wearing a burqa and Albo
42:04
Speaker 4: talking about how he smoked marijuana 20 years ago. Everyone's
42:07
Speaker 4: just copying One Nation stuff.
42:08
Speaker 1: This is great.
42:11
Speaker 2: Before I come to you, Tim, I want to show
42:12
Speaker 2: you a little of Tony Burke in Parliament because... He
42:16
Speaker 2: did what the lefties can never resist. He chucks in
42:18
Speaker 2: a bit of dog whistling.
42:21
Speaker 1: What we need to.
42:22
Speaker 13: Make sure is the system is managed as effectively as possible.
42:25
Speaker 13: We need to make sure that it is guided to
42:28
Speaker 13: deliver for the needs of the Australian people. What we
42:32
Speaker 13: don't need is random dog whistling of someone wanting to
42:37
Speaker 13: claim that they're against all.
42:40
Speaker 14: The numbers, they want all the numbers to be lower
42:43
Speaker 14: except for every visa that might affect their electorate.
42:47
Speaker 2: Tim, the old dog whistling claim, the racism claim effectively,
42:51
Speaker 2: they can't discuss immigration without trying to accuse other people
42:55
Speaker 2: of racism.
42:57
Speaker 11: It's all dog whistling and smoke screens. Smoke whistling. They're
43:01
Speaker 11: finding new ways to do it all the time. I
43:03
Speaker 11: do love how they're claiming, oh, no, no, it's nothing
43:05
Speaker 11: to do with One Nation, oh, no, no, we were
43:07
Speaker 11: working on this ages ago. Why didn't we hear about
43:10
Speaker 11: it ages ago? Why didn't we have the results ages ago?
43:12
Speaker 11: Why were the numbers down ages ago?
43:14
Speaker 4: Because.
43:14
Speaker 11: They were tied up in factional disputes about which way
43:17
Speaker 11: this was all going to go. And a lot of it,
43:20
Speaker 11: despite what Tony Burke says, was due to working at
43:23
Speaker 11: individual electorates and how they were going to respond to
43:25
Speaker 11: any cuts.
43:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's absolutely no doubt, and I'm certain all
43:29
Speaker 2: of our viewers know this, that nothing would have changed
43:33
Speaker 2: except that One Nation really put immigration front and centre.
43:37
Speaker 1: And then the Coalition... came in behind them and now Labor.
43:40
Speaker 2: Has finally picked up the job because they can see
43:45
Speaker 2: that everybody needs this. They can see the country needs it.
43:48
Speaker 1: Let's go then to One Nation.
43:49
Speaker 2: And I find these students' protests pretty problematic for a
43:54
Speaker 2: lot of reasons.
43:55
Speaker 1: Let's have a look. They protested in Sydney, Melbourne and
43:57
Speaker 1: Brisbane today. Here's a sample of what was said.
44:00
Speaker 3: I don't think workers need a boss or a manager
44:03
Speaker 3: or a parasite like Pauline Hanson to alter them around.
44:06
Speaker 6: The majority of the country here are either queer, immigrants,
44:12
Speaker 6: like all the minorities.
44:14
Speaker 9: I am a foreign student from Indonesia, and I believe
44:17
Speaker 9: that if Pauline gets into power, then I would lose
44:22
Speaker 9: a lot of my rights.
44:25
Speaker 1: Tim, there are claims of racism and all the rest
44:27
Speaker 1: of it.
44:27
Speaker 2: The same sort of stuff makes us worry about what
44:30
Speaker 2: on earth they're teaching these children and whether they can
44:32
Speaker 2: think for themselves.
44:35
Speaker 1: Well, exactly, and.
44:36
Speaker 11: Isn't it interesting that this same protest cohort previously was
44:41
Speaker 11: out there supporting Hamas and claiming that Israel is a
44:45
Speaker 11: genocidal nation, basically slandering the entire Jewish people, and now
44:49
Speaker 11: they're against racism?
44:50
Speaker 1: Seriously?
44:51
Speaker 11: That's how they've switched? This is left-wing indoctrination that shows, again,
44:56
Speaker 11: that if your child is drifting towards the humanities and universities,
45:01
Speaker 11: push them away and get them in trades or get
45:03
Speaker 11: them into anything because this... This sort of university undergraduate
45:08
Speaker 11: culture is poisonous to us.
45:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the worrying thing about it, Mark. I mean,
45:13
Speaker 2: the abuse is one thing. Now, you've signed up for
45:15
Speaker 2: One Nation, so you're used to abuse, but we've had
45:18
Speaker 2: school-age kids and university kids, they all come out with
45:20
Speaker 2: the same slogans.
45:21
Speaker 1: They're all hateful. I just want to hear an original thought.
45:27
Speaker 4: Maybe the person dressed as a dog was.
45:29
Speaker 1: Going to give you an original thought, I guess.
45:32
Speaker 4: I don't know, mate. I've said this before, but I
45:35
Speaker 4: wish these people understood how much Pauline often thinks about
45:39
Speaker 4: these kids. You know, we talk about it and we
45:41
Speaker 4: try and have some empathy with them. They're raised with
45:44
Speaker 4: this idea that they've got, you know, they've got no
45:46
Speaker 4: hope in this world, that AI is going to take
45:48
Speaker 4: their jobs and You know, the rich have everything, so
45:51
Speaker 4: they have to take from them. They've got no vertical
45:53
Speaker 4: mobility in society and all that sort of stuff, which
45:55
Speaker 4: is why we're trying to fix things.
45:57
Speaker 1: That's the thing.
45:57
Speaker 4: We're actually on the same team here. We want the
46:00
Speaker 4: same end. We're just fighting up against a system that's
46:05
Speaker 4: got roots and stems into it, an ideology that's completely
46:08
Speaker 4: poisoned them. I think they'll eventually wake up. They'll take
46:11
Speaker 4: off the dog suits and they'll see the light eventually.
46:14
Speaker 1: We all have.
46:16
Speaker 4: And we'll see that Pauline Hanson is actually just trying
46:18
Speaker 4: to make their lives better.
46:20
Speaker 2: Now, mate, while I've got you there, I've got to
46:21
Speaker 2: get your thoughts on this because you were in the
46:23
Speaker 2: news big time over the past couple of weeks, but
46:26
Speaker 2: not your name.
46:27
Speaker 1: It was all for Pauline Hanson. She's apologised over.
46:31
Speaker 2: A couple of things, taken a few steps backwards, and
46:33
Speaker 2: one of them, of course, was supposedly calling Andrew Hastie
46:36
Speaker 2: a traitor, which she never did.
46:38
Speaker 1: It was actually you who did that. Here's a reminder. Traitor?
46:42
Speaker 1: Why are they calling you a traitor? I don't know.
46:45
Speaker 4: All I did was testify against Ben Robert Smith and
46:47
Speaker 4: support your evil hate speech legislation after promising not to.
46:50
Speaker 4: Yeah right, that is pretty traitorous actually. You know I
46:53
Speaker 4: always dreamed that one day I'd be the chosen one
46:56
Speaker 4: and stab the.
46:56
Speaker 10: Leader in the back and become the leader of the
46:58
Speaker 10: Liberal Party.
46:59
Speaker 4: But now I'll never be the leader and it's all
47:01
Speaker 4: my fault because.
47:01
Speaker 1: I'm a stupid traitor! There we go. It is satire.
47:05
Speaker 2: Now, I'm all against calling Andrew Hastie a traitor because
47:09
Speaker 2: he's not, but the point is it was done in
47:11
Speaker 2: a satirical cartoon.
47:13
Speaker 1: So I've got to ask you, are you sorry? Do
47:15
Speaker 1: you think he's a traitor? Because Pauline Hanson has said
47:19
Speaker 1: she doesn't think so.
47:21
Speaker 4: Well, in the last week we've seen it, we saw
47:23
Speaker 4: it last night with Justin Smith as well. If you
47:26
Speaker 4: take it too far in modern politics now, if you
47:29
Speaker 4: take it too far, it's a good thing. You can
47:30
Speaker 4: turn around and say, hey, I'm sorry. I took it
47:33
Speaker 4: too far and it's a good thing. That's what Pauline
47:35
Speaker 4: Hanson did with some of her remarks. It's the new
47:38
Speaker 4: wave of things. And I'm not going to do that
47:40
Speaker 4: at all because I stand by every single word I've done.
47:43
Speaker 1: I'm not the bigger man.
47:44
Speaker 4: I don't care. I think he, I stand by every
47:47
Speaker 4: word that I did in there. And if you won't
47:49
Speaker 4: watch the episode, which a lot of people have, you'll
47:51
Speaker 4: say that we never said he was a traitor to
47:53
Speaker 4: his nation for his service.
47:54
Speaker 1: We said he was a traitor. to the Liberal.
47:57
Speaker 4: Party and the vision of Menzies and the conservative values
48:00
Speaker 4: that he stood for. So I stand by that. I
48:02
Speaker 4: had a lot of faith in Hasey. I was on
48:04
Speaker 4: his team. I thought he should have been leader. I
48:06
Speaker 4: said it on this show. He let me down big time.
48:08
Speaker 4: He betrayed me big time.
48:10
Speaker 1: I stand by it. Not sorry.
48:12
Speaker 2: Are you standing by it in satirical terms or as
48:15
Speaker 2: a One Nation candidate?
48:16
Speaker 1: You're saying this man who did two tours of.
48:19
Speaker 2: Afghanistan as a special air service.
48:22
Speaker 1: Officer, surely you wouldn't call him a traitor.
48:26
Speaker 4: Not for those things, but for what he did on
48:28
Speaker 4: the hate speech laws?
48:30
Speaker 1: Absolutely. I stand by that.
48:31
Speaker 4: Saying someone's a traitor is very common political parlance. And
48:35
Speaker 4: I'm not a satirist and a candidate. I'm Mark Nicholson.
48:39
Speaker 1: I'm both. You can't separate the two.
48:43
Speaker 4: So, mate, I stand by every single word I put
48:46
Speaker 4: in there and I do that with everything I do.
48:49
Speaker 1: You sell yourself short, mate. You're a satirist. You're Mark Nicholson,
48:52
Speaker 1: but you're also Albo and you're Penny Wong. You tell
48:57
Speaker 1: them all.
48:58
Speaker 2: Most of the voices you hear in those cartoons are
49:01
Speaker 2: Mark Nicholson, believe it or not.
49:02
Speaker 1: Tim, what do you think of all this?
49:04
Speaker 2: And, Pauline, apologising for a couple of comments, walking back
49:08
Speaker 2: a few others, is that the right thing to do
49:11
Speaker 2: or does it make her look like all the other politicians?
49:15
Speaker 11: It is all part of the game. I mean, you
49:17
Speaker 11: are occasionally going to have to, as Mark says, you
49:18
Speaker 11: are going to have to walk things back. especially at
49:21
Speaker 11: the top of the party if things go too far.
49:25
Speaker 11: This is actually one area where the ABC actually has
49:27
Speaker 11: a role, a very expensive role, but it's handy to
49:30
Speaker 11: have people so gnarky and spiteful that it gives you
49:34
Speaker 11: a test for parliament before you even reach it. They're
49:37
Speaker 11: like a training ground. They're like cricketers playing in the nets.
49:40
Speaker 11: So having people like the ABC and what you used
49:43
Speaker 11: to call, Chris, the love media. Having them all the
49:46
Speaker 11: time having a go at you, it'll help you get
49:48
Speaker 11: match fit and bring it on. I think it's going
49:50
Speaker 11: to help. Just on, by the way, the girl who
49:52
Speaker 11: was wearing the dog suit, one of the protesters, I'm
49:54
Speaker 11: all in favour of them wearing those costumes because it
49:57
Speaker 11: makes it so much easier during job interviews.
50:00
Speaker 1: How did you know it was a girl? You're making
50:02
Speaker 1: assumptions there. Why be so binary? Thanks for joining us, gentlemen.
50:09
Speaker 1: Good to have the National Cabinet back together again.
50:11
Speaker 2: Tim and Mark, we'll see you next week. That's all
50:13
Speaker 2: the time I've got for you tonight. Thanks for watching.
50:16
Speaker 2: I'll see you next week. Here's Peter Credlin.