Transcript

Sharri | 27 August · Sharri

0:07
Speaker 1: Thanks, James. Good evening.
0:08
Speaker 2: Well, grey fears tonight for 34 Australians, including two young
0:12
Speaker 2: boys missing in Nepal after a devastating flash flood.
0:16
Speaker 1: We'll have those unbelievable images in a moment.
0:20
Speaker 2: Plus the Prime Minister's frosty reception.
0:22
Speaker 1: At the Bush Summit.
0:23
Speaker 2: This tells you just how unpopular Labor has become in
0:26
Speaker 2: the regions. Matt Canavan had a fiery confrontation with Pauline
0:30
Speaker 2: Hanson and he'll be here soon. And Malcolm Roberts' latest
0:35
Speaker 2: comments about the White Australia Party are indefensible. Paul Sackle,
0:39
Speaker 2: who broke the story, will be on the program a
0:41
Speaker 2: little later. Plus why groceries are rising at twice the
0:45
Speaker 2: rate of inflation.
0:48
Speaker 1: But let's start with the devastation in Nepal.
0:51
Speaker 2: And tonight, 34 Australians are missing after catastrophic floods killed
0:56
Speaker 2: hundreds of people. Nepal police have just announced they've recovered
1:00
Speaker 2: 270 bodies. But there are many, many hundreds more still
1:06
Speaker 2: unaccounted for. This includes two brothers, Arush and Ashwin Marilitharan,
1:13
Speaker 2: just 11 and 14 years old. and their parents, Shailaja
1:18
Speaker 2: and Chatterjee, who had also joined thousands of pilgrims to
1:23
Speaker 2: Mount Kailash, a sacred site in Hinduism. The Australian reports
1:29
Speaker 2: that friends say this family are the kindest people you'll
1:33
Speaker 2: ever meet, that they're spiritual and attend many Hindu events.
1:38
Speaker 2: Friends say they'd spent the weekends leading up to the
1:40
Speaker 2: trip going on hikes to prepare for this pilgrimage. And
1:45
Speaker 2: the brothers are reportedly very talented athletes. Now they're missing
1:51
Speaker 2: after this natural disaster.
1:55
Speaker 3: Included in those 34, 15 travelling with Himalayan Glacier Adventures,
2:00
Speaker 3: the US-based travel company confirming it has lost contact with
2:04
Speaker 3: the group, including Umesh and Krishna Sharma, The Ayers family
2:09
Speaker 3: and Chitra and Balakrishnan Ventrakarman. The group also includes two
2:13
Speaker 3: young boys aged 11 and 14 believed to be travelling
2:18
Speaker 3: with their parents.
2:19
Speaker 4: We are urgently seeking to confirm the welfare and whereabouts
2:23
Speaker 4: of Australians.
2:24
Speaker 3: The disaster struck along the border between Nepal and Tibet.
2:29
Speaker 3: Initial reports said an earthquake, now officials believe it was
2:32
Speaker 3: caused by an enormous chunk of ice from a glacier,
2:36
Speaker 3: which fell more than a kilometre to the valley below,
2:38
Speaker 3: a phenomenon known as an ice avalanche collecting everything in
2:43
Speaker 3: its path.
2:46
Speaker 2: And these deadly floodwaters have swept away entire villages, as
2:50
Speaker 2: you saw near the border between Nepal and Tibet. This
2:54
Speaker 2: unfolded at 8.37am local time, and it started with a
2:58
Speaker 2: 4.4 magnitude earthquake near Tibet. Satellite imagery indicates that this
3:04
Speaker 2: sparked a collapsing glacier, which at this stage is believed
3:08
Speaker 2: to have triggered the floodwaters. It's been described by those
3:11
Speaker 2: who witnessed it as a powerful inland tsunami.
3:16
Speaker 1: And this is the shocking moment.
3:18
Speaker 2: People were trying to run for their lives before they
3:23
Speaker 2: were just consumed by the waves. Mud, rubble, water and debris,
3:31
Speaker 2: as you see now, all washing over them.
3:35
Speaker 1: Unbelievable, shocking images.
3:39
Speaker 2: And as you can see on your screen, In a moment,
3:43
Speaker 2: it caused buildings and bridges to collapse. Even buses went flying.
3:50
Speaker 2: And there's an aerial view as well. In this clip,
3:52
Speaker 2: you can see people.
3:53
Speaker 1: Scrambling up a hill and yelling as the.
3:56
Speaker 2: Floodwaters rush past. The scale of this tragedy is rising fast.
4:14
Speaker 2: At least 270 have now been killed, but hundreds more missing.
4:19
Speaker 2: And among them, 15 Australians travelling with an American tour group,
4:22
Speaker 2: Himalayan Glacier. The Prime Minister spoke about all the Australians.
4:27
Speaker 1: Who are missing.
4:29
Speaker 5: Nepal, you know, is a developing country. It doesn't have
4:33
Speaker 5: the resources that an event like that would have in Australia.
4:39
Speaker 5: So information is trivial. Now, our thoughts are with all
4:42
Speaker 5: those who will be concerned about their loved ones today.
4:46
Speaker 2: There are also 33 British citizens missing, along with 65
4:51
Speaker 2: Americans and 177 Indians. There are some miraculous stories of survival.
4:58
Speaker 2: Watch this heartwarming moment. A man stranded on a rooftop
5:02
Speaker 2: is rescued by a helicopter. And in this next clip,
5:16
Speaker 2: this man that you're about to see was rescued, but
5:19
Speaker 2: his wife was swept away.
5:22
Speaker 6: I was at the terrace and the flood hit the
5:24
Speaker 6: top floor as well. It only subsided after an hour
5:27
Speaker 6: or so. My wife was already buried in the mudslide
5:34
Speaker 6: while we stayed on the terrace for safety. After four
5:37
Speaker 6: to five hours, I was rescued by a helicopter.
5:41
Speaker 1: Four to five hours.
5:43
Speaker 2: Now, search and rescue and medical teams are working overtime
5:46
Speaker 2: to try and locate any survivors. And we'll bring you
5:49
Speaker 2: more news as it becomes available. Well, to local politics,
5:56
Speaker 2: and it seems like Albanese can't step foot in regional
6:00
Speaker 2: Australia without being heckled. The Prime Minister was in Dubbo
6:04
Speaker 2: today for the Daily Telegraph's Bush Summit when he was
6:07
Speaker 2: asked about his policies and how they're impacting farmers, families
6:12
Speaker 2: and business owners, destroying their way of life, impacting their
6:16
Speaker 2: bottom line and stripping away their land. Now, have a
6:20
Speaker 2: listen to these brilliant questions by Gemma Jones, the editor
6:23
Speaker 2: of the Adelaide Advertiser. And listen to the Prime Minister's
6:26
Speaker 2: weak responses and, importantly, the crowd reaction.
6:32
Speaker 7: I met Robyn in the wool shop.
6:33
Speaker 8: I think she's here.
6:33
Speaker 7: She was protesting with our most polite protesters, the most
6:36
Speaker 7: unlikely protesters.
6:37
Speaker 8: But.
6:41
Speaker 7: She was telling me that her property will be sandwiched
6:43
Speaker 7: on three sides by a solar farm where the panels
6:45
Speaker 7: are five metres high. They're foreign-owned projects here. They're built
6:49
Speaker 7: mostly by foreign workers. They're a work camp, she says,
6:52
Speaker 7: so that people aren't even coming into town to spend money.
6:54
Speaker 7: What message do you have for people here whose lives
6:57
Speaker 7: and livelihoods are being upended and they can't understand why?
6:59
Speaker 5: That I get it. We need to do better than that.
7:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was more of the same throughout that interview.
7:14
Speaker 2: Gemma Jones asked him another question, got a similarly weak
7:18
Speaker 2: answer and more heckling from the crowd.
7:22
Speaker 7: I spoke to the managing director of Nippies in South Australia,
7:25
Speaker 7: it's an iconic brand, Ben Nitzel. He said, every day
7:27
Speaker 7: you come to work, there's more costs, more regulation. You
7:29
Speaker 7: wake at night wondering what rule it is that you
7:31
Speaker 7: don't know about that's going to trip you up tomorrow.
7:33
Speaker 7: Does it bother you that in regional communities, farmers see
7:36
Speaker 7: the Albanese government as the enemy?
7:38
Speaker 5: Well, what worries me is over-regulation. I wouldn't care. And
7:44
Speaker 5: we need to do something about it.
7:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, clearly the audience just believes that Albanese doesn't understand
7:52
Speaker 2: what they're going through. He might have come from humble beginnings,
7:55
Speaker 2: but he's entirely lost touch with reality. His values are
7:59
Speaker 2: aligned with the left ideology of the Canberra bubble, Sydney's
8:03
Speaker 2: inner west too. He travels in a private jet or
8:06
Speaker 2: chauffeur-driven car, and it's why his government's policies are so
8:10
Speaker 2: divorced from reality. And as this interview went on, Albanese's
8:15
Speaker 2: answers were no better. But this sort of reaction is
8:18
Speaker 2: clearly why the Prime Minister prefers sitting down with podcasters
8:23
Speaker 2: and influencers than exposing himself to regular Australian voters who
8:28
Speaker 2: are just so disappointed with how he's running or ruining
8:34
Speaker 2: the country. Eventually, the heckling became so bad that Gemma
8:38
Speaker 2: Jones had to intervene out of respect for the office
8:42
Speaker 2: of Prime Minister.
8:43
Speaker 7: Hey, look, we appreciate the audience involvement too, but I
8:45
Speaker 7: think when you've got the Prime Minister here to talk
8:47
Speaker 7: to you, I think it's best to let him speak
8:49
Speaker 7: because we won't shy away from asking the hard questions
8:52
Speaker 7: and obviously we'll hear what you say.
8:55
Speaker 1: And she did a terrific job. She's a brilliant editor.
8:58
Speaker 2: You'd notice Ben English sitting beside her. He's our regular
9:01
Speaker 2: guest here on a Tuesday as well. But if this
9:04
Speaker 2: is the sort of reception Albanese is getting, I mean,
9:07
Speaker 2: it's no wonder One Nation is surging in support. And
9:10
Speaker 2: Pauline Hanson yet again had a rock star reception today.
9:14
Speaker 2: The Sunday and Saturday Telegraph editor, Anna Cordwell, pressed opposition
9:18
Speaker 2: leader Angus Taylor on this point. She asked him whether
9:22
Speaker 2: he was worried that in these regional areas, Pauline is
9:25
Speaker 2: the one getting overwhelming praise.
9:29
Speaker 1: You are a country boy. These are your people.
9:33
Speaker 4: And yet One Nation is outpacing you, just taking.
9:36
Speaker 1: Labor out of it for a second. What is there?
9:38
Speaker 1: You say a strong plan. Can you identify.
9:41
Speaker 9: Three things that you want to do that One Nation
9:44
Speaker 9: can't or won't do and that Labor can't or won't do?
9:47
Speaker 10: Look, I'll tell you what our plan is because that's crucial.
9:51
Speaker 2: Taylor is working hard, but the reality is One Nation
9:55
Speaker 2: has the momentum. Pauline has managed to cut through to
9:59
Speaker 2: voters mercilessly. her authenticity and conviction. And there was a
10:04
Speaker 2: tense interaction between her and Matt Canavan, my next guest,
10:07
Speaker 2: and she accused Matt of not taking her seriously.
10:10
Speaker 8: Do you raise it, Senator Hanson?
10:15
Speaker 1: It just annoys me.
10:17
Speaker 4: You know, to make me as if I'm irrelevant in this,
10:21
Speaker 4: as if I've got nothing to offer politics. Our enemy now,
10:25
Speaker 4: and I'm telling you who's ruining this country, is the
10:28
Speaker 4: Labor Greens. That's why we, as a conservative side, have
10:32
Speaker 4: to start working together, stop knocking me, having to go
10:35
Speaker 4: at me, and start saying, it's not about us, Matt.
10:39
Speaker 1: It's about the people out there.
10:40
Speaker 7: The people they want to have.
10:45
Speaker 9: We put in place the Sugar Code of Conduct, right?
10:48
Speaker 9: We put in place that. We put in place the
10:49
Speaker 9: Dairy Code of Conduct.
10:50
Speaker 4: Do you want to go and talk to Alan Parker?
10:52
Speaker 8: Yeah, I talk to Alan Parker all the time.
10:54
Speaker 4: You didn't get the Code of Conduct. I actually got
10:56
Speaker 4: that implemented. Matt, don't glide at the people.
10:59
Speaker 7: I'm always on the people.
11:01
Speaker 8: I think we know why you're not on the same side.
11:03
Speaker 8: I think we've worked this out.
11:06
Speaker 2: Now, when immigration is the biggest issue, and it is,
11:10
Speaker 2: this is why Pauline Hanson is surging in support. We
11:13
Speaker 2: saw that in Chris Kenny's documentary this week, right after
11:17
Speaker 2: the Bondi terror attack in the first news poll of 2026.
11:21
Speaker 2: Her numbers soared past the coalition's. It's down to that
11:25
Speaker 2: issue of radical Islamism, of extremism, of terrorism. And that
11:30
Speaker 2: is translated into concern about immigration. And when immigration is
11:34
Speaker 2: the big issue, it's You just can't understand why the
11:38
Speaker 2: Coalition isn't getting their policy out there quickly. It's why
11:42
Speaker 2: Labor is working on their policy and they're going to
11:45
Speaker 2: be finally reducing numbers, all in response to the threat
11:49
Speaker 2: of Pauline Hanson. And right now, on that note, Matt
11:52
Speaker 2: Canavan joins me live from Dubbo.
11:54
Speaker 8: Matt.
11:54
Speaker 1: Good to see you.
11:56
Speaker 2: Look, firstly, to that interaction that we just saw between
11:58
Speaker 2: you and Pauline Hanson, you and her had a few
12:02
Speaker 2: pretty heated moments. Is the relationship becoming frosty between you two?
12:07
Speaker 8: Well, not from my perspective.
12:12
Speaker 9: Look, of course, I'm going to defend my team and... Yeah,
12:15
Speaker 9: Pauline's got her own views about the former government and
12:18
Speaker 9: what wasn't done. But I'm going to stick up for
12:22
Speaker 9: the fact that it was the Liberal and National parties
12:24
Speaker 9: that put in place a sugar code of conduct to
12:26
Speaker 9: protect the returns to cane growers. It was a Liberal
12:30
Speaker 9: and National government that put in a dairy code of
12:31
Speaker 9: conduct to protect dairy farmers. And, yes, Pauline, I had
12:35
Speaker 9: some nice things to say about farmers today, and I
12:38
Speaker 9: said she did, but, you know, when she had an
12:40
Speaker 9: opportunity at a press club a few months ago, didn't
12:43
Speaker 9: even mention farming.
12:44
Speaker 7: And.
12:45
Speaker 9: All I know is that the Nationals, we are backing,
12:49
Speaker 9: we've always backed our nation's farmers. We've built dams, we've
12:51
Speaker 9: built the Rookwood Weir. Barnaby Joyce was taking credit for
12:53
Speaker 9: that yesterday. Well, that was done by a Liberal and
12:56
Speaker 9: National government.
12:56
Speaker 8: We built that.
12:57
Speaker 9: This government, the Labor Party, has stripped $ 7 billion from
13:01
Speaker 9: dams funding, restricting the opportunities for our farmers, hurting our productivity,
13:06
Speaker 9: and we'll restore that. We are going to make sure
13:08
Speaker 9: that we build dams in this country, that we support farming,
13:11
Speaker 9: and I'm very proud to be the Leader of the
13:13
Speaker 9: Nationals doing that.
13:15
Speaker 2: Matt, today Pauline said that she'd support the coalition to
13:19
Speaker 2: form government if the coalition had more seats. But when
13:23
Speaker 2: that situation is reversed, you said, well, you wouldn't say
13:26
Speaker 2: that you'd consider a governing alliance.
13:28
Speaker 1: Why not?
13:31
Speaker 9: Well, all I said, I'll work with the parliament that
13:33
Speaker 9: people give us, but what I am seeking to do
13:36
Speaker 9: is elect a majority Liberal and National Party government, because
13:40
Speaker 9: I think that's the best option for Australia. That's what
13:42
Speaker 9: I'll be fighting to do. But obviously, then it'll be
13:45
Speaker 9: up to the people. Obviously, up to the people. I
13:48
Speaker 9: won't be supporting the continuation of a Labor government either.
13:50
Speaker 9: That will not be happening, because we need a change.
13:52
Speaker 9: Desperately need a change in this country.
13:53
Speaker 1: But if it is the case that One Nation... And
13:54
Speaker 1: that's what I'm fighting to do.
13:55
Speaker 2: If it is the case that One Nation has more
13:58
Speaker 2: seats in the coalition, would you support them to form
14:01
Speaker 2: a governing coalition?
14:03
Speaker 9: I won't be supporting Labor. I won't support a Labor government, Shari.
14:06
Speaker 9: That will not be happening, of course, because we need
14:08
Speaker 9: it to.
14:08
Speaker 1: But I was asking about One Nation, if One Nation
14:11
Speaker 1: has more seats.
14:12
Speaker 8: Well, as I said, I am.
14:13
Speaker 9: Look, Shari, I'm fighting to get 76 at least, hopefully more,
14:17
Speaker 9: Liberal and Nationals parties.
14:19
Speaker 1: I'm not.
14:20
Speaker 9: I mean, Pauline today did want to make it all
14:22
Speaker 9: about One Nation and all about... herself and whether she
14:25
Speaker 9: was relevant or something or whatever.
14:27
Speaker 8: I don't care about that. I care about getting change
14:29
Speaker 8: for our country.
14:30
Speaker 9: I care about fighting to take the opportunities we have
14:33
Speaker 9: in farming, to use our energy resources again to bring
14:36
Speaker 9: power prices down, to scrap net zero so we can
14:39
Speaker 9: bring industry back to this country and to bring migration
14:42
Speaker 9: numbers down as well. And look, today I still can't
14:45
Speaker 9: make heads and tails of what One Nation's policy.
14:48
Speaker 8: Is on migration.
14:50
Speaker 9: It would appear now that the only major political party
14:53
Speaker 9: in a country that wants to see and has a
14:56
Speaker 9: plan to see migration numbers fall is a Liberal and
14:59
Speaker 9: National Coalition.
15:01
Speaker 8: Just to challenge you on.
15:02
Speaker 2: That, Matt, they do have a figure out there. They've
15:04
Speaker 2: got the figure of $ 130, 000 for net overseas migration.
15:07
Speaker 1: What's your figure?
15:10
Speaker 9: Well, no, that's not true, Shari, because today Pauline effectively
15:15
Speaker 9: agreed with David Farley They've got that figure and then
15:19
Speaker 9: there's a bunch of hundreds of thousands of visas on
15:21
Speaker 9: top of that.
15:21
Speaker 8: Who knows what that figure is? They don't give a
15:23
Speaker 8: precise amount, but that's what Pauline said.
15:26
Speaker 9: She said that after just a few days ago that
15:27
Speaker 9: Barnaby Joyce said that David Farley got it wrong. So
15:30
Speaker 9: it's not clear to me at all what their policy is.
15:33
Speaker 9: And so what we've said about the figure we'd like
15:36
Speaker 9: to see is it should be calibrated to the.
15:38
Speaker 8: Number of homes we build.
15:39
Speaker 9: That's currently about $ 170, 000, $ 180, 000.
15:42
Speaker 8: We'd like to see it below that for the first
15:44
Speaker 8: few years. And we'll have more to say about that
15:47
Speaker 8: ahead of the next.
15:47
Speaker 9: Election when we know the exact budget, when we know
15:50
Speaker 9: the numbers.
15:51
Speaker 2: Is it frustrating for you that your Liberal colleagues aren't
15:54
Speaker 2: putting out the migration policy?
15:57
Speaker 8: No, not at all.
15:58
Speaker 9: Of course it's sensible and responsible to make sure we
16:00
Speaker 9: know what the situation is before we make that commitment.
16:03
Speaker 8: I think we've seen the folly of.
16:06
Speaker 9: thinking you have a plan or going out like you
16:09
Speaker 9: have a plan like One Nation has and they don't
16:11
Speaker 9: understand their own policy now and no one else can
16:12
Speaker 9: understand it. We've got a clear set of frameworks here
16:15
Speaker 9: that we'll work under and of course what we'll also do, Shara,
16:18
Speaker 9: is make sure it's fully costed. Make sure all of
16:20
Speaker 9: our plans are fully consulted and costed and calibrated and
16:27
Speaker 9: most importantly consistent. That we'll have a plan that people
16:30
Speaker 9: can trust that we'll put in place and we won't
16:32
Speaker 9: be chopping and changing like we've seen from our political
16:36
Speaker 9: competitors this week.
16:37
Speaker 2: I mean, it looks like Tony Burke's going to be
16:39
Speaker 2: releasing his immigration plan next month. Wouldn't it be a
16:44
Speaker 2: really unthinkable set of circumstances if Labor has their migration
16:47
Speaker 2: plan out before the Coalition does? You know, voters want
16:50
Speaker 2: to know what you're going to do on migration.
16:52
Speaker 8: Shari, well, we've got a clear plan, as I've just described.
16:56
Speaker 8: We're not in government, of course.
16:57
Speaker 2: No-one knows the number. I know you're saying you're going
16:59
Speaker 2: to match it with housing, but no-one knows the number.
17:02
Speaker 8: But, Shari.
17:03
Speaker 9: Yeah, but that number, we can't put the number in
17:05
Speaker 9: place until 2028.
17:06
Speaker 8: But that's the first opportunity we'll have.
17:08
Speaker 1: To do that.
17:08
Speaker 2: Surely it's not feasible for you to go through the
17:10
Speaker 2: next two years and the election campaign without telling voters
17:14
Speaker 2: what you're going to bring net overseas migration down to.
17:18
Speaker 9: Well, how's it any different, Shari, to the costings? That
17:21
Speaker 9: always comes out, right, at the end of the campaign,
17:23
Speaker 9: of course. Of course that comes out towards the end
17:25
Speaker 9: because we don't know what the budget will look like
17:27
Speaker 9: in two years. Likewise, we don't know what the migration
17:30
Speaker 9: numbers will be in two years. We don't know what
17:31
Speaker 9: the budget will be in two years. This has cost implications,
17:35
Speaker 9: this decision. We'll work through all of those things, as
17:37
Speaker 9: I say, in a responsible way. And we've seen, as
17:41
Speaker 9: I say, that One Nation can't seem to put a
17:43
Speaker 9: consistent number out there.
17:44
Speaker 8: Now, I would like to see, Shari, I would love
17:47
Speaker 8: to see.
17:48
Speaker 9: The government to take action here and bring migration numbers
17:51
Speaker 9: down because that would be the best.
17:52
Speaker 8: Thing for our country. I want that. I want that.
17:54
Speaker 8: I don't want to see a political win or a political.
17:57
Speaker 9: Score over the government. I want to see our government
18:00
Speaker 9: of our nation both make a decision that's in our
18:03
Speaker 9: national interest, which is clearly to reduce numbers, and also
18:06
Speaker 9: to listen to the Australian people.
18:07
Speaker 8: Two-thirds of Australians want migration to come down.
18:10
Speaker 9: This government has not been listening to them, which is
18:12
Speaker 9: not a good thing in a democracy to have a
18:14
Speaker 9: government not be listening to its own people. And so
18:17
Speaker 9: I hope that happens. And if they do that, then,
18:19
Speaker 9: of course, we have to make sure that our plans
18:22
Speaker 9: are calibrated.
18:22
Speaker 8: To what is in place at the time.
18:25
Speaker 9: And that's why we'll do something responsible and consistent when
18:28
Speaker 9: that time is in place.
18:29
Speaker 2: OK, I want to move on to the Prime Minister
18:31
Speaker 2: and how he was heckled for claiming he understands what
18:34
Speaker 2: farmers are going through when Gemma Jones put to him
18:37
Speaker 2: that situation of people having.
18:40
Speaker 1: Renewables forced on them, forced on their property. What did
18:43
Speaker 1: you make of his answer?
18:47
Speaker 8: Look, I wasn't in there to see that.
18:49
Speaker 9: But, look, if the Prime Minister did want to listen
18:53
Speaker 9: to the people here in Western New South Wales, he
18:56
Speaker 9: would stop providing taxpayer support to a bunch of these
19:00
Speaker 9: projects that are only living off that support, support going
19:03
Speaker 9: to overseas companies. I met with people this afternoon with
19:06
Speaker 9: Angus Taylor. It's actually my second meeting with him. I
19:08
Speaker 9: was here just before Christmas with these people campaigning against
19:11
Speaker 9: these projects. But you can see the Boree Solar Farm,
19:14
Speaker 9: the Hampton Park Solar Farm just.
19:17
Speaker 8: Completely inappropriate places.
19:19
Speaker 9: They're putting massive amounts of glass within metres of people's homes,
19:24
Speaker 9: their dream homes that they've.
19:26
Speaker 8: Worked hard for.
19:27
Speaker 9: They're effectively destroying their backyard ambience by these projects. No
19:32
Speaker 9: taxpayer money should go to institutional investors, international investors, sorry,
19:36
Speaker 9: to destroy people's livelihoods like is happening here in Western
19:40
Speaker 9: New South Wales. And if the Prime Minister was serious,
19:42
Speaker 9: he'd meet people like Peter and Tamara and lots of
19:45
Speaker 9: others that we met this afternoon. But he came here
19:48
Speaker 9: to give a lecture.
19:49
Speaker 8: To tick a.
19:50
Speaker 9: Box and I don't think the Prime Minister and his
19:53
Speaker 9: government are listening.
19:54
Speaker 8: To people right now.
19:55
Speaker 2: I mean, it's amazing just how unpopular he is when
19:57
Speaker 2: he gets out there with voters, you know, when he
19:59
Speaker 2: doesn't sit with a comedian influencer or a podcaster, you know,
20:04
Speaker 2: making crass jokes. When he's actually in front of people,
20:08
Speaker 2: the reception is brutal.
20:11
Speaker 8: Well, it's not surprising. It seems to be the mood
20:13
Speaker 8: of the country right now.
20:14
Speaker 9: There's, again, two thirds of people don't just think migration
20:17
Speaker 9: should come down. They also think that the country's headed
20:19
Speaker 9: in the wrong.
20:20
Speaker 8: Direction under his leadership.
20:22
Speaker 9: And That's not surprising given that under the Prime Minister's
20:25
Speaker 9: leadership real wages have gone down, interest rates have gone
20:29
Speaker 9: up 15 times, we have the highest inflation and interest
20:32
Speaker 9: rates in the developed world and for the first time
20:34
Speaker 9: in our history our productivity as a nation has gone
20:37
Speaker 9: backwards over a four-year period. It's never been negative over
20:41
Speaker 9: a four-year period and under this government it's actually gone
20:44
Speaker 9: down to five percent. It's a shocking economic record and
20:48
Speaker 9: that's I think now evident in the reaction the Prime
20:51
Speaker 9: Minister gets on the streets.
20:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it looks like we might be having another
20:54
Speaker 2: rate rise next month as well. I'll get to that
20:56
Speaker 2: a bit later. Matt Canavan, thank you so much for
20:58
Speaker 2: joining us from Dubbo.
20:59
Speaker 1: Really appreciate it.
21:01
Speaker 2: And speaking of One Nation, it looks like they might
21:04
Speaker 2: be on track to win a Labor seat at the
21:06
Speaker 2: Secret Harbour by-election in WA this weekend. And this would
21:10
Speaker 2: be a defining moment in Australian politics and a true
21:13
Speaker 2: test of the party's popularity. Because state Labor currently holds
21:17
Speaker 2: the seat by an 11.5% margin. Joining me now to
21:22
Speaker 2: discuss this and other big stories today, the IPA's chief economist,
21:25
Speaker 2: Adam Crichton, and the Australian's associate editor, Jenna Clark.
21:29
Speaker 1: Great to see you both.
21:31
Speaker 2: Adam, if One Nation does win this safe Labor seat,
21:34
Speaker 2: do you think the Albanese government will start to readjust
21:37
Speaker 2: their attitude towards the threat of Pauline Hanson?
21:42
Speaker 11: Well, certainly they will, and they obviously already have with
21:44
Speaker 11: the immigration policy. There's going to be very big changes there.
21:47
Speaker 11: I mean, it will certainly be a political earthquake if
21:50
Speaker 11: there's a One Nation victory in this election. I mean,
21:52
Speaker 11: you've got the Victorian election around the corner and people
21:55
Speaker 11: like to back winners, so... If there's a One Nation
21:58
Speaker 11: win in Secret Harbour, that's obviously going to have a
22:00
Speaker 11: major effect on the Victorian election, which in turn has
22:02
Speaker 11: other effects. Look, it's hard to tell. There's 16 candidates.
22:08
Speaker 11: Labor's not tracking that well. They had a 25% sweep
22:11
Speaker 11: against them in the last state election, yet they still
22:13
Speaker 11: held it. So this historically is a very Labor seat.
22:16
Speaker 11: But at the last election, the state election, I think
22:18
Speaker 11: One Nation got 8.4%, which for that time was a lot,
22:22
Speaker 11: certainly a lot more than they got statewide. So You know,
22:25
Speaker 11: the One Nation candidate's very popular. I hear he's already
22:27
Speaker 11: trying to sell his gym chain. So, you know, let's
22:31
Speaker 11: just see what happens.
22:32
Speaker 1: Jenna, you're in Perth. Can you tell us a bit
22:34
Speaker 1: more detail about this?
22:36
Speaker 2: And I also think it's interesting that I understand this
22:38
Speaker 2: state seat covers the same geographic territory as Andrew Hastie's
22:43
Speaker 2: federal seat. Now, we know that One Nation supporter and
22:47
Speaker 2: donor Gina Reinhart is said to dislike Hastie because of
22:50
Speaker 2: his role in giving evidence against Ben Robert Smith.
22:53
Speaker 8: So.
22:53
Speaker 2: should Hastie also be worried that he might lose his
22:56
Speaker 2: seat of canning to One Nation?
22:59
Speaker 12: You're right, Shari, that overlaps. A secret harbour in the
23:02
Speaker 12: state election will overlap with the seat of canning federally.
23:05
Speaker 12: And I think Andrew Hastie... has already made it pretty
23:08
Speaker 12: clear that he feels he is like Labor in the
23:10
Speaker 12: fight for his life at this point in time because
23:12
Speaker 12: he's copying it from both the One Nation aspect and
23:15
Speaker 12: also the Gina Reinhart funding, you know, a One Nation
23:18
Speaker 12: branch in his electorate. And I think it's really interesting
23:21
Speaker 12: because this is the outer metropolitan seat. So when you
23:25
Speaker 12: speak to people like Andrew Hastie and a lot of
23:27
Speaker 12: people on foods and in those areas around Mandurah, like
23:31
Speaker 12: Lakelands and Golden Bay and things like that, they feel forgotten.
23:35
Speaker 12: And I think that's, you know, it's harking back to 2019,
23:37
Speaker 12: you know, the forgotten Australians, those quiet Australians. And then
23:40
Speaker 12: I see that the West Australian is reporting today where
23:43
Speaker 12: it's looking to be a one nation victory, which is
23:46
Speaker 12: going to be quite historic considering we're only just a
23:48
Speaker 12: year from a state election where Roger Cook is still
23:52
Speaker 12: quite popular. The knives are not out for him yet.
23:55
Speaker 12: This is a referendum on Anthony Albanese and the cost
23:59
Speaker 12: of living and immigration as both Matt and Adam have
24:02
Speaker 12: just said.
24:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be fascinating to see how this One Nation
24:06
Speaker 2: trend plays out at the Victorian election in November and
24:08
Speaker 2: then New South Wales in March and whether it, you know,
24:12
Speaker 2: does take seats away from Labor but probably more likely
24:16
Speaker 2: from the Coalition.
24:16
Speaker 1: All right, let's turn to.
24:18
Speaker 2: This other story, the Daily Telegraph revealing today that a
24:21
Speaker 2: violent transgender criminal... who was born male, has now been
24:27
Speaker 2: transferred to a women's prison. Now, Adam, this comes despite
24:30
Speaker 2: the New South Wales government outright promising that this wouldn't happen,
24:34
Speaker 2: that transgenders born biologically as men would not be.
24:38
Speaker 1: Put in women's prisons.
24:41
Speaker 11: Yeah, well, my understanding is the New South Wales government
24:43
Speaker 11: is somewhat apologetic for this, and I understand the acting Premier,
24:46
Speaker 11: or at least the relevant Minister, has said that this
24:48
Speaker 11: is going to change, and they do believe in the
24:51
Speaker 11: biological definition of women, the New South Wales government, as
24:53
Speaker 11: I understand it, and they're going to rectify this situation.
24:57
Speaker 11: I think there's 45 out of 46 trans prisoners, and
25:00
Speaker 11: I think 45 of them, except this one that you
25:02
Speaker 11: just mentioned, are in the correct prison. So I think
25:05
Speaker 11: it's great that The Telegraph has highlighted this, and as
25:08
Speaker 11: far as I understand it, it's going to be fixed.
25:11
Speaker 2: I mean, Jen, I think people are very Australians are
25:13
Speaker 2: very tolerant. But, you know, this flies in the face
25:16
Speaker 2: of women's rights and could be a safety issue.
25:19
Speaker 12: Absolutely. And as we're seeing this happen in New South Wales,
25:22
Speaker 12: it's also happened in Perthshire. We've had a West Australian
25:25
Speaker 12: have reported just a couple of weeks ago, their senior reporter,
25:27
Speaker 12: Ben Harvey, had this incredible exclusive that a violent murderer,
25:32
Speaker 12: I believe, transitioned whilst in prison and now wants to
25:36
Speaker 12: transfer out of the men's prison into the female prison.
25:39
Speaker 12: due to their safety. So you can imagine the public
25:42
Speaker 12: response to that and the letters to the editor. As
25:44
Speaker 12: you say, Australians are very tolerant until it comes to
25:47
Speaker 12: things like this.
25:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
25:49
Speaker 2: Look, turning to Victoria, Adam, where you're living now, businesses
25:53
Speaker 2: are furious at Premier Ben Carroll over these controversial laws allowing.
25:57
Speaker 1: Employees to work from home up to two days a week.
26:00
Speaker 2: Now, the Business Council of Australia has come out against this,
26:04
Speaker 2: They said that they thought they had this constructive meeting
26:07
Speaker 2: with the Premier, but now they've been left in the dark. Now, Adam,
26:11
Speaker 2: I thought he was trying to neutralise this issue by
26:13
Speaker 2: pushing it back to mid-2027.
26:14
Speaker 13: Hmm.
26:17
Speaker 11: Well, so did I. And look, he has kicked it
26:18
Speaker 11: off to next year, but not the legislation. It's still
26:21
Speaker 11: going to go forth in this current parliament and be passed.
26:24
Speaker 11: And of course, as you know, once things are passed,
26:25
Speaker 11: they're very hard to reverse. And so I've personally been
26:28
Speaker 11: very disappointed with the new premier. I thought he was
26:31
Speaker 11: a sensible right faction Labor guy who was going to
26:34
Speaker 11: listen to business because this legislation is obviously ridiculous. There's
26:38
Speaker 11: nothing else like it in the world. I mean, 36
26:41
Speaker 11: per cent of workers already work from home in some form,
26:44
Speaker 11: according to the ABS. And there's just absolutely no need
26:47
Speaker 11: for this legislation. I mean, Victoria is already the worst
26:50
Speaker 11: state in the Commonwealth to do business. Multiple surveys have
26:53
Speaker 11: said that. The payroll tax is the highest. The regulation
26:56
Speaker 11: is the highest. The tax rates are the highest by far.
26:59
Speaker 11: And then you introduce this as well. I mean, it's
27:02
Speaker 11: just the opposite of what the state needs right now.
27:04
Speaker 11: So I think he's done himself a real disservice.
27:07
Speaker 2: I mean, Jen, a lot of people are working flexibly,
27:10
Speaker 2: but the point is this should be an arrangement between
27:13
Speaker 2: an employer and an employee because not everyone in all
27:17
Speaker 2: businesses can work from home. It shouldn't be something that
27:20
Speaker 2: the government is getting involved in.
27:22
Speaker 12: Yeah, once again, this is legislators who probably should work
27:25
Speaker 12: from home because this is absolutely ridiculous and a waste
27:27
Speaker 12: of taxpayers' and legislators' time. I think the only thing
27:30
Speaker 12: that it's adding is being productive in this type of
27:33
Speaker 12: legislation is, you know, someone like myself doing my washing
27:36
Speaker 12: and my lunch break.
27:36
Speaker 1: It's ridiculous. I hope you got your washing done today, Jenna.
27:42
Speaker 1: You're probably working from home.
27:44
Speaker 2: No, but in all seriousness, you know, I do support
27:46
Speaker 2: working from home for mothers, but it's got to be
27:49
Speaker 2: an arrangement between an employer and an employee, because that
27:54
Speaker 2: can help keep many women in the workforce, whereas they'd
27:57
Speaker 2: otherwise have to quit. And then, you know, you have
27:59
Speaker 2: companies without women because you Often women need to pick
28:02
Speaker 2: kids up from.
28:03
Speaker 1: School, et cetera.
28:04
Speaker 2: Anyway, Jenna, I think this one might just be for you,
28:07
Speaker 2: this topic, although I will get your thoughts in it, Adam,
28:09
Speaker 2: so don't go tuning out over there. Now, there are
28:12
Speaker 2: two competing podcasts with the women involved in this Lockie
28:17
Speaker 2: Neal cheating scandal. The first podcast was Neal's ex-wife Jules,
28:21
Speaker 2: and it was a tell-all, and now the second, her
28:24
Speaker 2: former best friend Tess Crosley, who.
28:26
Speaker 1: Had the affair with Neal. She then did her own podcast.
28:31
Speaker 2: Now, Jenna, far be it from me to give an
28:33
Speaker 2: opinion on this, but, hey, I give one on everything else,
28:35
Speaker 2: so why not? Surely there's only one victim here, the wife, Jules.
28:40
Speaker 1: Yes, indeed.
28:42
Speaker 12: But I think hats off to Jules. She has played
28:44
Speaker 12: a blinder. Look, her ex-husband has won two Brownlow medals,
28:48
Speaker 12: but she is a real star of this situation because
28:50
Speaker 12: she signed with a brand-new manager. And so basically what
28:53
Speaker 12: they have done, they have teamed up with someone else
28:55
Speaker 12: that is in her talent table and So it's basically
28:59
Speaker 12: promoting this, you know, not a very well-known podcast. It's
29:02
Speaker 12: being sponsored by a beauty product as well. It is just,
29:05
Speaker 12: she has, it's chef kiss.
29:07
Speaker 8: It's perfect.
29:07
Speaker 12: She has played this like the Princess of Wales, Catherine Middleton.
29:12
Speaker 12: And look, I think everyone is waiting with bated breath
29:14
Speaker 12: to see the alleged mistress's side of the story when
29:18
Speaker 12: she speaks to a tabloid news outlet when that drops
29:21
Speaker 12: later tonight. But this coming on the, after the Sydney
29:24
Speaker 12: Swans saga and just before the finals kicks off, It
29:28
Speaker 12: just goes to show just how much of a cultural
29:30
Speaker 12: issue there is at the AFL at this point in time.
29:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think people didn't really realise the extent
29:36
Speaker 2: of the cultural issues at the AFL and maybe often
29:38
Speaker 2: thought it was an NRL issue.
29:40
Speaker 8: Issue.
29:40
Speaker 1: Adam, your expert opinion on this, the podcast wars?
29:43
Speaker 11: Well, look, no, look, I must confess I'd not actually
29:45
Speaker 11: heard of any of these people until 35 minutes ago,
29:48
Speaker 11: but I do understand one of the aggrieved parties has
29:51
Speaker 11: moved to Western Australia, which was quite a savvy move
29:53
Speaker 11: given the GST deal, so she'll be enjoying all of
29:55
Speaker 11: that largesse for many years to come.
29:58
Speaker 1: You just weave a cheating footballer into a GST productivity
30:03
Speaker 1: commission Albanese government war.
30:05
Speaker 6: That's right.
30:05
Speaker 8: Why not?
30:06
Speaker 1: Wonderful. All right, Jenna Clark, Adam Crichton, great to see you.
30:08
Speaker 2: All right, still to come, the families of Bondi terror
30:12
Speaker 2: victims demand the Royal Commission drastically expand its remit and
30:17
Speaker 2: Labor's immigration policy leaked. The journalist who has the details
30:21
Speaker 2: will join me after this quick break.
30:27
Speaker 1: Welcome back.
30:28
Speaker 2: Well, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is set to finally
30:31
Speaker 2: announce his immigration policy next month after cancelling at the
30:35
Speaker 2: 11th hour a month ago. As part of the package,
30:38
Speaker 2: Labor will reportedly restrict family members on student visas and
30:42
Speaker 2: crack down on foreigners shifting university courses.
30:46
Speaker 2: And the Fin Review, meanwhile, reports that the Albanese government
30:49
Speaker 2: will cut Australia's annual refugee intake by a third in
30:53
Speaker 2: a bid to cut net overseas migration. But inside Labor,
30:57
Speaker 2: this is a highly controversial move and the PM is
31:00
Speaker 2: already downplaying it. Well, joining me now to discuss is
31:03
Speaker 2: Chief Political Correspondent for the City Morning Herald, Paul Sakal. Paul,
31:07
Speaker 2: great to see you again. Look, surely they're not going
31:10
Speaker 2: to cut back refugees by a third. I mean, this
31:13
Speaker 2: would spark internal unrest in Labor, wouldn't it?
31:18
Speaker 10: Well, for such an orderly government, Shari, which prides itself
31:22
Speaker 10: on proper process, this is turning into a real schmuzzle.
31:25
Speaker 10: And it was sparked by a messy starting point a
31:29
Speaker 10: few weeks ago now, Tony Burke's press club speech, your
31:33
Speaker 10: viewers will remember, was cancelled abruptly. They wanted to do
31:36
Speaker 10: more work on the policy. But what that meant is
31:38
Speaker 10: that for weeks, the space has been vacated with speculation
31:42
Speaker 10: on all different kinds of measures that could be in
31:44
Speaker 10: this policy package. We reported two weeks ago at the
31:47
Speaker 10: SMH that the government was going to put more money
31:49
Speaker 10: into deportations to go and find the now growing number,
31:53
Speaker 10: 80,000 plus people who have stayed in the country without
31:56
Speaker 10: any type of visa and find them in the farms
31:59
Speaker 10: or sweatshops or illegal brothels where they exist and actually
32:02
Speaker 10: force them to leave. And we don't know if that
32:04
Speaker 10: will be part of the package now or whether the
32:05
Speaker 10: government's got cold feet. And now this element about refugees
32:09
Speaker 10: is also the subject of funny buggers behind the scenes,
32:12
Speaker 10: because a few weeks ago, I heard the same thing,
32:14
Speaker 10: that they were going to cut the number, but was
32:16
Speaker 10: assured that this was already baked into the non-figure and
32:19
Speaker 10: baked into the budget. And then my excellent colleague, Phil
32:22
Speaker 10: Currie at the AFR, reports this figure today. And the
32:25
Speaker 10: Prime Minister in the afternoon is forced to backtrack and
32:27
Speaker 10: tell the ABC that the number's not going to be touched.
32:29
Speaker 10: So it's looking increasingly messy.
32:33
Speaker 2: Look, the fact that they're looking at cutting back on migration,
32:36
Speaker 2: is this the Albanese government realising that it is under
32:39
Speaker 2: pressure from One Nation on immigration?
32:43
Speaker 10: Well, they've been looking at measures across the board to
32:46
Speaker 10: tighten up on international students for the best part of
32:48
Speaker 10: a year now. They've increased the price of partner visas.
32:52
Speaker 10: They've been processing onshore applications much more quickly than offshore
32:55
Speaker 10: ones for a range of temporary visas to try and
32:58
Speaker 10: bring the NOM down because it's been really sticky at
33:00
Speaker 10: that 300,000 point, which is way, way above Labor's target.
33:05
Speaker 10: So if you talk to Labor people, they would say
33:07
Speaker 10: they've been on this endeavour for a while now, but
33:10
Speaker 10: there's no doubt at all that the surge for One
33:12
Speaker 10: Nation and the increased salience of the migration issue is
33:15
Speaker 10: colouring this whole debate and infecting the debates inside Labor.
33:21
Speaker 2: We don't know much about what their total figure will be,
33:24
Speaker 2: what they'll actually reduce it to, do we?
33:28
Speaker 10: They want to bring it down from $ 300, 000 to about $ 225, 000.
33:31
Speaker 10: The coalition's figure, as you just went through with Matt Canavan,
33:35
Speaker 10: at this stage is somewhere around the $ 170, 000 to $ 180, 000.
33:38
Speaker 10: And now we know that One Nation's figure, after previously
33:41
Speaker 10: arguing for a position that would have net negative migration,
33:45
Speaker 10: so about negative $ 100, 000, is now something about $ 230, 000 because
33:50
Speaker 10: it's $ 130, 000 plus a lot more. So this policy argument
33:55
Speaker 10: is becoming messy on a bunch of different fronts.
33:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is. It's messy for all of the parties.
34:00
Speaker 2: I want to get onto this story that I think
34:03
Speaker 2: you broke today. One Nation's Malcolm Roberts has defended the
34:06
Speaker 2: White Australia Party in his latest controversial podcast appearance. Now,
34:11
Speaker 2: this time it's with a self-described Australian nationalist.
34:15
Speaker 1: Have a look.
34:16
Speaker 8: Should the White Australia Party have the right to exist?
34:19
Speaker 14: I'm opposed to racism and making decisions based on race
34:23
Speaker 14: or calling one race superior to another. But of course
34:26
Speaker 14: it should have a right to exist because if there's
34:29
Speaker 14: free speech and freedom of association, you have to have
34:32
Speaker 14: these things. You've got to let people freely express themselves
34:35
Speaker 14: and freely associate.
34:37
Speaker 1: OK, let's be clear.
34:38
Speaker 2: He's saying they have a right to exist. My understanding is,
34:41
Speaker 2: and correct me if I'm wrong, that the White Australia
34:43
Speaker 2: is a neo-Nazi hate group that's been outlawed by the
34:46
Speaker 2: Australian government.
34:47
Speaker 1: Is that right, Paul?
34:50
Speaker 10: That's absolutely right, Shari. And just to remind people why
34:53
Speaker 10: this group has been banned, as you would know well,
34:56
Speaker 10: given your campaigning on this issue, the federal government, along
34:59
Speaker 10: with the coalition, passed laws after the Bondi massacre to
35:02
Speaker 10: outlaw two different groups. One was the National Socialist Network.
35:06
Speaker 10: These are not people who are, you know, allegedly white
35:09
Speaker 10: supremacists or allegedly racist. They are, by their own words, neo-Nazis,
35:15
Speaker 10: avowed Hitler supporters and neo-Nazis by their own words. The
35:18
Speaker 10: other group that was outlawed was Hizb ut-Tahrir, radical Islamists
35:22
Speaker 10: who have supported terrorism across the world.
35:25
Speaker 1: Only two groups.
35:26
Speaker 8: And.
35:27
Speaker 10: Malcolm Roberts is now going out there on podcasts with
35:30
Speaker 10: people who support, who have also lent support to the
35:32
Speaker 10: White Australia Party, which is the new name that the
35:34
Speaker 10: National Socialist Network has given itself to try and circumvent
35:38
Speaker 10: these laws and said that they say they have a
35:40
Speaker 10: right to exist. Now, this Malcolm Roberts issue is turning
35:43
Speaker 10: into a very serious one for One Nation because outside
35:46
Speaker 10: of Pauline Hanson, if you're James Ashby, it doesn't matter
35:49
Speaker 10: how many mops he rocks up with on Sky News programs,
35:53
Speaker 10: He would love to effectively put a bandage across the
35:59
Speaker 10: mouths of half his party room except for Pauline Hanson.
36:02
Speaker 10: They want David Farley to stop speaking. They want Malcolm
36:05
Speaker 10: Roberts to stop speaking. And Roberts might seem like a
36:07
Speaker 10: bit of a sideshow, but his increasingly zany views raise
36:11
Speaker 10: the question of how he's maintained such status in One
36:16
Speaker 10: Nation for so many years. He's not a fringe member.
36:19
Speaker 10: He's a long-serving senator and ally of Pauline Hanson.
36:22
Speaker 2: It's not the first time he's made offensive or controversial
36:26
Speaker 2: remarks and Pauline Hanson keeps defending him.
36:28
Speaker 1: She's defended him.
36:29
Speaker 2: You know, she said, I think she told Laura Jay
36:32
Speaker 2: she'd have a chat with him. We didn't hear what
36:34
Speaker 2: happened after that. But she has been defending him. Surely
36:37
Speaker 2: she can't defend this.
36:40
Speaker 10: Well, I suspect that she will because One Nation's approach
36:44
Speaker 10: to date has been not to resile from any of
36:48
Speaker 10: its contentious positions or the more oddball kind of freak
36:53
Speaker 10: show elements of its show because admitting fold is not
36:57
Speaker 10: the party's style. It's not playing by the normal rules.
37:00
Speaker 10: But if this were closer to an election campaign and
37:03
Speaker 10: there were stories about One Nation senators holding views such
37:06
Speaker 10: as Roberts, these would be leading the 6pm bulletins every day.
37:10
Speaker 10: So One Nation's in a moment where there's very little
37:12
Speaker 10: scrutiny on some of these elements of its party. But
37:15
Speaker 10: Barnaby Joyce, who'll be maybe in his lounge room watching
37:18
Speaker 10: this tonight... No, he won't be watching my show... looking
37:20
Speaker 10: at this debate on Malcolm Roberts.
37:21
Speaker 1: He won't be watching my show. Trust me, he will
37:24
Speaker 1: not be watching my show. Paul Sakal, it's great to
37:27
Speaker 1: have you on. Thank you so much for your insights
37:29
Speaker 1: and great reporting as always. And I should just point
37:31
Speaker 1: out that Paul wasn't criticising us at.
37:33
Speaker 2: News 24 when he said James Ashby turning out with
37:36
Speaker 2: a mop. James did actually turn up with a mop
37:39
Speaker 2: here on Sunday night. He held up a mop and
37:41
Speaker 2: he said he had to clean up the mess that
37:42
Speaker 2: David Farley had made that day. All right, still to come,
37:45
Speaker 2: the documents shedding light on Sajid Akram's three-year bid for
37:49
Speaker 2: a gun licence, plus how grocery prices are rising at
37:52
Speaker 2: double the rate of inflation.
37:54
Speaker 1: That's next. Thanks for tuning in.
38:00
Speaker 2: Well, a new analysis by The Australian reveals that essential
38:03
Speaker 2: household costs have outpaced headline inflation at almost twice the
38:08
Speaker 2: rate since 2021. Things like milk and coffee have jumped 35%,
38:13
Speaker 2: while services like gas, insurance and electricity are up nearly 50%.
38:19
Speaker 2: And to discuss with me now is investor and entrepreneur
38:22
Speaker 2: Steve Baxter.
38:23
Speaker 1: Welcome to the program.
38:24
Speaker 8: Steve.
38:25
Speaker 2: Steve, so why are, I mean, I think this is
38:27
Speaker 2: something many of us have noticed. Why are grocery items
38:30
Speaker 2: and services rising higher than inflation?
38:34
Speaker 15: Thanks for having me on, Shari. Inflation, it's a pretty
38:38
Speaker 15: evil tax, to be honest. So a whole bunch of
38:40
Speaker 15: reasons in there. From my perspective, we can start from
38:44
Speaker 15: the ground up. I think that whilst we continue to
38:46
Speaker 15: pursue One of the cost inputs to rising inflation, I think,
38:50
Speaker 15: is our ruinous energy policy. Energy inputs affect absolutely everything
38:54
Speaker 15: in there at the same time. So if you're adding
38:57
Speaker 15: base costs at energy, then you have that issue. Then
38:59
Speaker 15: you're also adding base costs at labour, for example, and
39:02
Speaker 15: we're seeing inflation in labour costs because of excess government
39:05
Speaker 15: spending pushing up the demand for people and therefore the
39:09
Speaker 15: wages for people, which ricochets or reverberates all the way.
39:13
Speaker 8: Through the economy.
39:14
Speaker 2: I mean, when you look at this data, it shows
39:16
Speaker 2: just how severe the cost of living crisis is on
39:20
Speaker 2: the ground.
39:21
Speaker 8: Yeah, look, it's not very pleasant, that's for sure.
39:23
Speaker 15: So I suppose to me the government always has excuses
39:28
Speaker 15: because there are worse off other places.
39:30
Speaker 8: To be honest.
39:31
Speaker 15: So but lots of things also go into that. So
39:34
Speaker 15: you have obviously the energy inflation, not just through the
39:37
Speaker 15: energy policy, but the foreign war that was started there,
39:39
Speaker 15: they're putting up petrol prices, despite the government trying to
39:42
Speaker 15: paper over that with various subsidies in there as well.
39:46
Speaker 15: So everything flows through. But, you know, energy is such
39:49
Speaker 15: a large input, as is labour. And to some respects,
39:53
Speaker 15: the things we can control.
39:56
Speaker 2: Economists are now warning that we could see another rate
39:58
Speaker 2: rise as early as next month because of this inflation issue,
40:02
Speaker 2: because we saw the figures didn't come down again this week.
40:05
Speaker 1: What are you expecting?
40:09
Speaker 15: I think that I'm in the really good spot where
40:12
Speaker 15: I don't actually have a.
40:12
Speaker 8: Mortgage, Shari.
40:14
Speaker 1: Well, that's lucky for you. What about everyone else?
40:17
Speaker 15: Well, I'm not saying it's a good thing, believe me,
40:19
Speaker 15: you know what I mean, but let me know that
40:21
Speaker 15: the mortgage rates aren't something that I uniquely follow. The
40:23
Speaker 15: real estate market is something I follow because where real
40:25
Speaker 15: estate goes, Australia goes. Let's face it, we're a nation
40:28
Speaker 15: that buys and sells houses to each other and we
40:30
Speaker 15: buy and sell money to buy and sell houses to
40:32
Speaker 15: each other. So that's where you go with the interest
40:35
Speaker 15: rate thing. So we have lots of people in our
40:37
Speaker 15: lives who are special to us that do have mortgages
40:39
Speaker 15: and are feeling that stress. So there is competition for
40:43
Speaker 15: money in the world as well. So you're seeing in
40:46
Speaker 15: many places interest rates rise. You're seeing that phenomenon in
40:49
Speaker 15: the US at the same time. So it's not just
40:51
Speaker 15: related to here. But when inflation goes up, the central
40:55
Speaker 15: bank has one horrible course lever, which is to screw
40:59
Speaker 15: over everybody with a mortgage.
41:02
Speaker 2: You're an investor, so you must be worried about attracting
41:05
Speaker 2: capital to businesses in Australia, given the tax changes.
41:10
Speaker 15: Oh, they're diabolical. I still think I'll wake up and
41:12
Speaker 15: it won't be true, to be honest. It is actually
41:15
Speaker 15: that bad. So I think that when they do come
41:20
Speaker 15: into play from July 1 next year, I think they'll
41:23
Speaker 15: be in play for a very short period of time
41:25
Speaker 15: because In a few short quarters, the government will wake
41:28
Speaker 15: up and realise the wasteland they've created in this country
41:30
Speaker 15: for investment and realise they have to change it. So
41:33
Speaker 15: in the medium term, I know it will go back
41:34
Speaker 15: to something sensible. But in getting to that medium term,
41:37
Speaker 15: we're going to have nothing but carnage along the way.
41:40
Speaker 15: So the capital gains tax changes and the general attitude
41:45
Speaker 15: of the government towards investors. So this isn't a once-off case.
41:48
Speaker 15: They've enacted various inquiries to try and change things like
41:52
Speaker 15: employee share rules and sophisticated investor rules. They have a
41:56
Speaker 15: very investor unfriendly policy. It's not hidden. It's just what
41:59
Speaker 15: they do.
42:00
Speaker 1: Well, it's because they don't understand business, right?
42:03
Speaker 2: I mean, you look around the cabinet table and pretty
42:05
Speaker 2: much none of them, except for Andrew Charlton, none of
42:08
Speaker 2: them have business experience.
42:11
Speaker 15: He had a consulting business too, I'm sorry, Shara, in
42:13
Speaker 15: a government.
42:14
Speaker 8: Give me a break.
42:16
Speaker 1: Well, it's his own business. It's his own business.
42:18
Speaker 2: He built it from the ground up, made a lot
42:20
Speaker 2: of money from it. I mean, he is very, you'd
42:23
Speaker 2: have to say he's very successful, but putting him aside.
42:25
Speaker 15: I'm not denying his success. I'm basically, I'm questioning the
42:28
Speaker 15: industry relevant to the average Australian, to be honest. It's
42:32
Speaker 15: a consulting business based on consulting the government. He's done
42:35
Speaker 15: very well, a very successful man. He's great to listen to.
42:37
Speaker 15: I think the reporters need to be better armed when
42:40
Speaker 15: they talk to him because he talks a lot of
42:41
Speaker 15: fluff that talks past reporters and they don't have enough
42:44
Speaker 15: fine information to actually take him on. I actually find
42:46
Speaker 15: it embarrassing at times.
42:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, but the point was broadly, you know, your greater
42:51
Speaker 2: point that this is an anti-business government because they don't
42:55
Speaker 2: understand it, they don't experience it and they're killing investment.
42:58
Speaker 15: Yeah, I think the way that they actually link earnings
43:01
Speaker 15: through risk, through risk-taking, through entrepreneurship and capital essentially... to
43:05
Speaker 15: the same as they're being earned as a wage, you know,
43:07
Speaker 15: given the various protection that wage earners have in the
43:09
Speaker 15: market as well as somewhat equal. And you can only
43:13
Speaker 15: have that opinion if you've never operated a business. So
43:15
Speaker 15: I think one follows the other. It's very plain to
43:17
Speaker 15: say their lack of, I think their policies, they get
43:20
Speaker 15: their lack of business experience.
43:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, indeed. All right. Steve Baxter, thank you very much
43:25
Speaker 1: for your time.
43:26
Speaker 8: Thanks, Charlotte.
43:27
Speaker 2: Still to come, the backstory behind Bondi shooter Sajid Akram's
43:31
Speaker 2: three-year bid for a gun licence and why Bondi victims
43:35
Speaker 2: and Holocaust survivors are disappointed in the Royal Commission.
43:39
Speaker 1: That's after the break.
43:44
Speaker 2: Welcome back with the Royal Commission wrapped up public hearings yesterday,
43:47
Speaker 2: despite the long list of political and leading national security
43:51
Speaker 2: figures urging the Albanese government to extend it. And today,
43:55
Speaker 2: the voices of those expressing their disappointment in the Royal
43:59
Speaker 2: Commission grew. As reported in this front page story in
44:02
Speaker 2: The Australian. One of the criticisms is that we haven't
44:06
Speaker 2: seen an interrogation of government ministers. Now, it is possible
44:12
Speaker 2: that Albanese government cabinet ministers have been called behind the
44:16
Speaker 2: scenes in confidential hearings. But if this is the case,
44:19
Speaker 2: then it's a cover-up. They needed to be confronted publicly
44:23
Speaker 2: about their lack of action on anti-Semitism over the past
44:27
Speaker 2: few years. Joining me now to discuss is the Australian's
44:30
Speaker 2: National Chief of Staff, Ellie Dudley. Ellie, wonderful to have
44:33
Speaker 2: you here. Now, the calls are growing today in your
44:36
Speaker 2: front page story. You had Holocaust survivors, victims and their
44:40
Speaker 2: families of the Bondi terror attack.
44:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, we did.
44:43
Speaker 13: And it's so interesting, Shari, you make a really important
44:47
Speaker 13: point in that intro, I think, about the important work
44:51
Speaker 13: of the Royal Commission and whatever's going on behind the scenes.
44:54
Speaker 13: But Of a Royal Commission that has been this highly
44:57
Speaker 13: demanded and is this important to Australians, you almost think
45:01
Speaker 13: what goes on in public is as important as what
45:05
Speaker 13: is going on in private so that people can truly
45:08
Speaker 13: be held accountable for their actions in this instance. Now,
45:11
Speaker 13: what we've seen is that all summer we saw Australians
45:14
Speaker 13: campaigning for a Royal Commission. This is something that they
45:17
Speaker 13: desperately wanted, not just after Bondi, but after the rise
45:21
Speaker 13: of anti-Semitism that we've seen since October 7, 2023 and
45:25
Speaker 13: before that. And history is sort of repeating itself here
45:29
Speaker 13: because now that the Royal Commission has wrapped its public hearings.
45:32
Speaker 1: There are a.
45:32
Speaker 13: Lot of members of the community who are feeling really,
45:35
Speaker 13: really dissatisfied by the way that it's been conducted and
45:39
Speaker 13: witnesses who have been called. And so there have been very,
45:42
Speaker 13: very stern calls, as you mentioned, now in our paper
45:45
Speaker 13: from Holocaust survivors, the families of Bondi victims. We had
45:50
Speaker 13: two prime ministers as well, John Howard, sorry, former prime ministers,
45:53
Speaker 13: John Howard and Tony Abbott. Earlier this week, we had
45:56
Speaker 13: 30 national security experts, including former Governor-General David Hurley, saying
46:02
Speaker 13: that this probe needs to be extended.
46:04
Speaker 1: More time needs to be allowed to it.
46:06
Speaker 13: But it also needs to be expanded because it would
46:08
Speaker 13: be a huge lost opportunity if we didn't have government
46:12
Speaker 13: ministers properly interrogated and also the rise of extremist Islam
46:17
Speaker 13: properly interrogated.
46:18
Speaker 1: Exactly.
46:18
Speaker 2: And I think we can all agree that it has
46:20
Speaker 2: done really well in putting into the public domain the
46:24
Speaker 2: lived experience of Jewish Australians.
46:26
Speaker 1: But in a sense, I mean, that's very easy to
46:29
Speaker 1: hear about the.
46:30
Speaker 2: Terrible stories and to feel sympathy with what the community
46:33
Speaker 2: is going through. What is much harder and what they
46:36
Speaker 2: haven't done is publicly call people like university chancellors and
46:40
Speaker 2: interrogated them about their action.
46:43
Speaker 1: Hate preachers as well.
46:44
Speaker 2: Any of the perpetrators of offensive behaviour or those who
46:48
Speaker 2: allowed it to continue without taking action.
46:50
Speaker 1: And the point you made before, part of a Royal
46:53
Speaker 1: Commission's role is to.
46:55
Speaker 2: basically publicly shamed so that there is a change in behaviour.
46:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely.
47:00
Speaker 13: And something that was an extremely good point that was
47:03
Speaker 13: made to me by one of our reporters, James Dowling,
47:06
Speaker 13: is that how is it that we've had all of
47:09
Speaker 13: these witnesses, and as you mentioned, the lived experience witnesses
47:11
Speaker 13: have given extremely telling and devastating testimony about the experiences
47:17
Speaker 13: of Jewish Australians. But how is it that we've hardly
47:20
Speaker 13: seen any witnesses before the Royal Commission who didn't willingly
47:24
Speaker 13: want to be there? You know, they haven't... The Royal
47:27
Speaker 13: Commission has extraordinary powers, some of the greatest powers that
47:31
Speaker 13: you can see, and yet we haven't seen anybody hauled
47:33
Speaker 13: before there to be properly dragged over the coals.
47:36
Speaker 8: Exactly.
47:37
Speaker 1: I agree with you. This will be a lost opportunity,
47:40
Speaker 1: a missed opportunity.
47:41
Speaker 2: Look, I want to turn to this other front-page story
47:43
Speaker 2: you had today, which is looking.
47:46
Speaker 1: At the three-year bid... by Sajid Akram.
47:50
Speaker 2: He's the shooter who was killed, the father at Bondi,
47:53
Speaker 2: his three-year bid to obtain a gun licence.
47:57
Speaker 1: Tell us the key points here.
47:59
Speaker 13: Yeah, so the key points here in what has been
48:01
Speaker 13: a fantastic investigation by one of the Australian's reporters, Michael McKenna,
48:05
Speaker 13: is that it took three years for Sajid Akram to
48:08
Speaker 13: have his gun licence approved. And at the time of
48:13
Speaker 13: the Bondi shooting, there was a lot of interrogation about
48:16
Speaker 13: this afterwards. You know, why did he have a gun
48:17
Speaker 13: licence in the first place? And this delay was brought
48:20
Speaker 13: up and the reason that was given, the excuse that
48:22
Speaker 13: was given by government was that there was a backlog
48:24
Speaker 13: and that's what took so long. Well, what Michael McKenna
48:27
Speaker 13: has uncovered is actually the backlog that existed that meant
48:31
Speaker 13: that Sajid Akram took so long to get his gun
48:33
Speaker 13: licence was actually cleared 16.
48:35
Speaker 1: Months before he got that gun licence.
48:39
Speaker 13: And so something like that raises huge and serious questions about,
48:43
Speaker 13: so what was the delay about then? And the Royal
48:47
Speaker 13: Commission did start to focus on some of this in
48:50
Speaker 13: its public hearing, not that specifically, but the fact that,
48:52
Speaker 13: you know, that division had lost intelligence analysts and there
48:56
Speaker 13: were a lot of problems going on in that division,
48:58
Speaker 13: which meant that there wasn't proper scrutiny of those applying
49:01
Speaker 13: for licence.
49:03
Speaker 2: But then, unfortunately, they did go into closed hearings. So
49:06
Speaker 2: there's more on this front. surely to come out and
49:09
Speaker 2: I'm sure Michael McKenna's onto it.
49:11
Speaker 1: Definitely. Ellie, been great having you on the show. Thank
49:14
Speaker 1: you very much.
49:15
Speaker 7: Thank you, Shari.
49:15
Speaker 1: Thank you.
49:17
Speaker 2: And thanks so much, everyone, for your company this week.
49:20
Speaker 2: I'll see you on Monday at eight o'clock. And I've
49:22
Speaker 2: got a great guest on Monday. So don't miss the show.
49:25
Speaker 2: It's a former hostage, Daniela Gilboa. Don't miss it right now.
49:29
Speaker 1: Paul Murray.