Latest / Credlin / Credlin | 19 October

Transcript

Credlin | 19 October · Credlin

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Good evening. Welcome to the program. Here's what's coming up
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: on Credlin. Tonight, Europe on its knees as violent riots
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: erupt across major cities and political leaders again calling for calm.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: But most are willfully blind as to the real cause
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: of the chaos. I'll have the latest for you shortly.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: The Albanese government comes unstuck as it's revealed that ministers
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: knew about the ATO credit ban months before they told
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: you and small business. As left-leaning think tank the Grattan
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Institute joins Josh Frydenberg in arguing for an increase to
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: the GST. From Mao's communist China to the world stage,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: the extraordinary Li Shunzhen joins me tonight. For the next
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: remarkable chapter in his story, this is the sequel to
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: that much-loved bestseller, Mal's Last Dancer. And Victoria, the billion-dollar
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: basket case says the true extent of the state's debt
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: is revealed. The opposition leader joins me on her plans
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: to turn the state around. We'll also discuss her tough
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: comments today not to fund mosques or preachers that spew hate.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: And under a government I lead, there will be no
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: taxpayer money that goes to organisations where hate preachers are
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: saying it is OK to rape and beat your wife.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Jess Wilson joins me shortly, but first to those violent
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: scenes that we witnessed over the weekend in Paris, Marseille,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Le Mange, right across France. in Milan and Bologna, in
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: northern Italy as well. Now, it's hard to overstate the
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: significance of these events, not just to Europe, but the
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: wider Western world. These were not scenes of democratic protests
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: or demonstrations of justifiable grievance. They were riots, violent riots,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: pure and simple, and there is a difference.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: APPLAUSE Stop! Stop! Stop! Freeze! Freeze!
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Although whether or not you were told the truth depended
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: very much on who you read or listened to, like this.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Last night's lead news story on the taxpayer-funded SBS in Australia. Well,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: to SBS, these riots were just mere protests about cost
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: of living and general student anger.
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: At least 1,200 people were arrested. It follows three weeks
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: of student-led protests... now broadened into action over soaring cost
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: of living and declining public services. And widespread political discontent
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: is spreading across Europe, where hundreds of thousands of people
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: have protested against the rising cost of living and calling
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: for the toppling of their leaders.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Cost of living? Cost of living? Nothing screams cost of
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: living more than balaclava-wearing pro-Palestinian thugs looting high-end stores like
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Christian Dior and Hermes. At the time, the riots began
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: on Saturday night. Emmanuel Macron and his wife, well, they
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: were on the balcony to watch Celine Dion's last concert
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: in Paris. And I can't be the only one struck
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: by his complete detachment from the cultural implosion playing out
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: across the French capital. In the morning, amidst the smouldering rubble,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Macron spoke to the French people for the first time.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: And while saying he would not tolerate the violence, he
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: said he understood the grievance of the students and and
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: wanted people to know that they only lashed out because
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: they were so fearful about their future.
• 4:13
  Speaker 5: Nothing can justify their actions, nothing can explain their actions
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  Speaker 5: and nothing.
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  Speaker 6: Will excuse their actions.
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: We all tonight feel angry, we feel shame as well,
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: seeing the disasters that have unfolded in our streets. We
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: should never mix up those People, those men and women
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: who protested peacefully with looters and rioters, the youth of
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: our nation are expressing great anguish and concern about the future,
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: the conditions of where their careers will take them.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the reality is a long way from Macron's spin.
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  Speaker 1: By and large, the people out on the streets of
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: France over the weekend were anarchists. They were activists. They
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: were looters and they were Islamists, far more than they
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: were upset students. An entire population that's now in France
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: who quite literally want to burn the country down. Shops
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: were sacked, cobblestones were dug up from roads and thrown
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: at police and buildings, reports of synagogues trashed, statues defaced
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: and the Palestinian flag flown from monuments across France and
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: across Europe. And the anger and dismay of Parisians, well,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: come Sunday morning, that was palpable.
• 5:30
  Speaker 7: Like always, always similar situations, you know.
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: It's the people who pay the cost, all the costs.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: I think Macron lost totally his trail, really.
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  Speaker 8: Have no idea.
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  Speaker 1: Weak Macron's only himself to blame because he's long failed
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  Speaker 1: to tackle decades of unrest amongst Muslim migrants from the
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  Speaker 1: former French colonies in North Africa that have metastasised behind
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: the pro-Palestinian cause into the sort of mobs we saw
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: on the weekend. Now, this is not just Macron's fault.
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  Speaker 1: It goes back decades in France, but he has made
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: it so much worse than ever before. In recent years,
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  Speaker 1: there have been Christian churches burned down across France Priests
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: beheaded while saying mass. In 2020, we had the French
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: teacher Samuel Patti beheaded outside a school near Paris by
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: an 18-year-old Islamist radical. And who can ever forget the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: 200 people killed in those two Islamist attacks in Paris
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: and Nice in 2015 and 2016, respectively. It was only
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: a mere decade ago that French citizens took to the
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  Speaker 1: street chanting Je suis Charlie in solidarity with the murdered
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: journalists who worked for the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
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  Speaker 6: Je suis Charlie!
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: Je suis Charlie! Je suis Charlie! Je suis Charlie!
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Nous sommes Charlie!
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: Nous sommes Charlie!
• 7:05
  Speaker 6: Nous sommes Charlie!
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: Nous sommes Charlie!
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Eleven years ago, And yet look where France is now,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: gangs of violent thugs, mainly men, dressed in black, wearing balaclavas,
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  Speaker 1: determined to tear down any symbol of French civilisation. How
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: quickly a country can turn on itself. Much of what
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: we are watching play out in Paris. was sadly predicted
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: by the journalist and author Douglas Murray in his 2017 book,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: The Strange Death of Europe. A deep analytical book, Murray
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: chronicled the issues of immigration, identity and Islam across the
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: countries of Europe. And if you haven't read this book,
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  Speaker 1: I urge you, get a copy. Because if you think
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Islam as terror and loss of cultural identity is just
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: a problem for Europe, then think again. as the events
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: of Bondi last year show us all too well. In
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: six months time, France will hold its presidential elections and
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  Speaker 1: Macron is term limited. meaning he can't run again. Without
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: a doubt, the events of the weekend will make an
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: already tinderbox election race ignite. And as we've seen already
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: in recent German elections with the elevation of AFD, polarisation
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: of politics between the far left and the far right
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: will continue now at pace. Many years ago, our geography
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: here was seen as a problem. That famous line, the
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: tyranny of distance, left many fearing we would be a
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: cultural backwater. But for many decades, this in fact was
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: our salvation. It meant that the troubles elsewhere either never
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: made it to Australia, or when they did, we had
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: sufficient time and notice to avoid the worst of them.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Not so anymore, given the huge unfettered immigration numbers allowed
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: in under the Albanese government. Four years now of record
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: high immigration from areas of the world where our values
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: are not shared. Again, it's staggering that Australia took in
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: over 3,000 people from war-torn Gaza with scarcely any security vetting,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: with the vast bulk of them having never returned despite
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: the war ending. Worse still, the government reports now that
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: the majority of them have lodged refugee applications to stay
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: in Australia permanently. Whistleblowers are now telling me that the
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Albanese government's rapidly approving citizenship in many cases, within 12
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: to 18 months. The city committee says this has nothing
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: to do with good process and everything to do with
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: trying to lock in a new pro-Labour voter base before
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the next federal election. Whatever it takes is the Labor motto.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: And with increasing pressure from Muslim political groups like Muslim
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Votes Matter and Muslim Voice in key seats in Melbourne
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: and Sydney, capitulation and appeasement now appears to be the
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Labor way. And yet when I speak to Muslim leaders overseas,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: their message is precisely the opposite. It's one of warning,
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  Speaker 1: not appeasement. as it was in June when I sat
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: down with Amjad Tahir, an expert in Middle Eastern politics
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  Speaker 1: and strategy, a Muslim man based in the United Arab Emirates.
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  Speaker 6: This is a problem.
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  Speaker 9: Some people in Australia, they're trying to be more Muslim
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  Speaker 9: than I. You will not be more Arab than I.
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  Speaker 9: You will not be more Muslim than me. And I'm
• 10:43
  Speaker 9: telling you, ban the Muslim Brotherhood.
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  Speaker 1: So is the long game to take over these Western countries,
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  Speaker 1: is that the long game? for the Muslim Brotherhood?
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  Speaker 9: Yes, there will come a point right now where I
• 10:55
  Speaker 9: believe we're going to be in the time of action.
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  Speaker 9: The next step is action, which means they're already recruited,
• 11:01
  Speaker 9: especially after the 7th of October. He gave them enough
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  Speaker 9: place to recruit people and use that emotion and grab
• 11:09
  Speaker 9: on them.
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  Speaker 6: And then they went through the education system also.
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  Speaker 9: So now they have enough fund in terms of the
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  Speaker 9: charities that they use and the umbrella of the charities.
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  Speaker 6: And they have enough imams, and they have enough recruitments.
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  Speaker 6: The next is action. They will carry terrorist attacks.
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  Speaker 9: More terrorist attacks are coming to Australia, more coming to
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  Speaker 9: the United Kingdom. There will be terrorist attack. And you
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  Speaker 9: will go back into this interview that we're having to
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  Speaker 9: remind people, we did warn about this. It's not because
• 11:41
  Speaker 9: we're very smart and clever about this, and we have,
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  Speaker 9: it's because the Middle East understand that these terrorists.
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  Speaker 6: Because we suffer.
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  Speaker 1: What's your message to Australia?
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  Speaker 6: Ban the Muslim Brotherhood.
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  Speaker 9: Do not tolerate people who do not tolerate you. And
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  Speaker 9: treat your country like your home.
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  Speaker 6: And treat the citizens like your children. Care about them.
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  Speaker 9: Future is really dark if you're going to allow these
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  Speaker 9: guys to be the elites, the Muslim Brotherhood to be
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  Speaker 9: the elites of your society.
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  Speaker 6: You have a great history. Protect your civilization.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: And this, a seminal speech in 2017 from the UAE's
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  Speaker 1: foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahan, who gave
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  Speaker 1: the politicians of Europe a massive wake-up call. Speaking at
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: an event in Saudi Arabia, he predicted that Europe would
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: eventually see a greater number of radical extremists and terrorists
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  Speaker 1: emerging from its own borders than from the Middle East.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: And he blamed this on the lack of decisive political
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  Speaker 1: action from Western leaders, and their obsession with political correctness,
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  Speaker 1: calling out Muslim organisations in the West who he described
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: as acting as incubators of terror. And to make sure
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: his message was heard loud and clear, the UAE foreign
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: minister deliberately switched from Arabic to English mid-speech so that
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: his message could be directly understood without translation drift or ambiguity.
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  Speaker 10: And let me say this in English so you can
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  Speaker 10: understand what I'm saying.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: I have translation.
• 13:22
  Speaker 10: No, I know you have translation, but I just want
• 13:24
  Speaker 10: to make sure you get it right. There will come
• 13:30
  Speaker 10: a day that we will see far more radical extremists
• 13:36
  Speaker 10: and terrorists coming out of Europe because of lack of
• 13:42
  Speaker 10: decision making, trying to be politically correct, or assuming that
• 13:49
  Speaker 10: they know the Middle East and they know Islam and
• 13:52
  Speaker 10: they know the others far better than we do. And
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  Speaker 10: I'm sorry, but that's pure ignorance.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: There you go. That's a warning from a Muslim leader
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  Speaker 1: there that could not have been any clearer. Import the
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: third world and those values that hate who you are
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: and don't be surprised by what happens. All right, let's
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: head to Canberra now for tonight's political headlines with our reporter,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Ken Redden. Good evening.
• 14:24
  Speaker 11: A beef over meat exports is threatening to derail a
• 14:27
  Speaker 11: free trade agreement with Europe.
• 14:29
  Speaker 6: We've called this the worst trade deal ever from day one.
• 14:32
  Speaker 11: The agreement was inked in March after eight years of negotiation.
• 14:36
  Speaker 11: But to take effect, it has to first pass the parliament.
• 14:39
  Speaker 8: We get one opportunity to reach an agreement with the Europeans.
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: This is it.
• 14:44
  Speaker 11: The nationals are withholding support, arguing it's a dud deal
• 14:48
  Speaker 11: for farmers.
• 14:49
  Speaker 8: In particular, dairy industry will face massively unfair competition from
• 14:53
  Speaker 8: European cheesemakers.
• 14:54
  Speaker 6: It's not perfect. But we don't think there's a reason
• 14:57
  Speaker 6: there to say that this should be held back. We
• 14:59
  Speaker 6: want the parliament to get behind it.
• 15:02
  Speaker 11: One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is refusing to apologise for
• 15:05
  Speaker 11: the latest cartoon controversy, this time for an episode mocking
• 15:09
  Speaker 11: the private health battles of independent Senator Jackie Lambie.
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: Decent leaders don't stir up hatred, pushing us towards bloody anarchy,
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: because that's exactly what she's doing.
• 15:18
  Speaker 11: Have a bit of a laugh, Jackie, and lighten up.
• 15:22
  Speaker 6: I physically can't care. It's called satire. That's what we do.
• 15:26
  Speaker 11: Cameron Redden, News 24, Canberra.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: All right, let's go now to the latest controversy surrounding
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: the Melbourne Muslim organisation, My Centre, and its leader, Samir
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Abu Hamza Mokhtari. We discussed this at length, as you know,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: last week. The Premier has today contemned the comments from
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: this imam regarding family violence and rape. but stopped short
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: of ruling out further community funding for the group, in
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: particular to expand their current facilities out in Melbourne's northern suburbs.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: They want, of course, to build Australia's largest Islamic centre
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: in the Melbourne area of Mickleham. Now, a reminder here,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: the site in question has been promised some $ 600, 000 in
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: funding from state governments, but when pressed on the matter,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: the Premier said it was McTardy's leadership that was under question...
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: but that the centre itself did good work. He then
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: said that the opposition leader, Jess Wilson's comments about the issue,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: which included her saying that the Liberals would stop funding
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: my centre, were, quote, loose with the truth.
• 16:32
  Speaker 10: That's, again, her being very loose with the truth.
• 16:38
  Speaker 6: I caution her.
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: To be very careful about the accusations she has made
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: on social media today.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: All right, we'll get into that in a moment, but
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: I'll bring in the opposition leader because we've got some
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: really disturbing, worrying news just breaking now in relation to
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Helen Haynes, who, of course, is the independent MP in
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: the seat at Indi, a federal seat up near sort
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: of Wangaratta Way. Reports are this afternoon, Jess, that she
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: has been struck by a car. What we're hearing is
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: she may have lost a limb, lost a leg, and
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: there is some suggestion, unconfirmed, but a suggestion that she
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: may have been targeted.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Well, my thoughts are with Helen and her family. This
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: sounds like an absolutely shocking incident. I cannot imagine the
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: fear and the trauma that her family is going through
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: right now and my.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Thoughts are with her and as this incident unfolds. Yeah,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: I just think it's just a reminder, isn't it, that
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: when the hurly-gurly of politics, whatever the circumstances here, you
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: all wish each other well. Of course you do. Of
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: course you do.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: We're all people at the end of the day and
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: my best wishes are with Helen and her family right now.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: So the Premier says today when you speak out about
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: the sermon from Abu Hamza, the Imam, and his comments
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: in relation to, you know, it's okay to rape a
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: wife in marriage, it's okay to beat your wife, provided
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: there's no blood and no bruising. When you speak out
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: in relation to that, you're loose with the truth.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: I think it is appalling by the Premier, his comments today.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: This man, this hate preacher, to your point, has said
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: that it's OK to rape your wife or to beat
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: your wife in Victoria. That is disgusting behaviour. And I
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: will call that out, Peter. I will always call that out.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: And to see Victorian taxpayer money go and fund this
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: centre where this man is the preacher is unacceptable. And
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: I will be direct. I will not allow that to
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: happen under my leadership. I will not allow there to
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: be further permit approvals when it comes to the expansion
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: of this site because I will always ensure that we
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: are putting people's safety first and we are standing up
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: for our Australian values.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: So these comments were made I think in about 2003,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: but they resurfaced in 2007. They drew the attention of
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Kevin Rudd. He was Prime Minister at the time. Plenty
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: of headlines. You go from 2007 to a whole series
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: of payments made by to this organisation and organisations connected
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: to Samir Moqtadi, after he says that.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: How does that happen? How does that happen? And this
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: was raised with the government. We have raised this in
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: the parliament here, our concerns about this organisation and this
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: individual receiving taxpayer funding. And yet the government has continued
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: to allow it to happen. And I think Victorians have
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: had enough of this. They've had enough of the Premier
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: standing up and saying one thing, but then continuing to
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: see taxpayer dollars fund this, funding this type of behaviour,
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: and it is unacceptable.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Okay, he wants to build, my centre has an offshoot
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: called My College, he wants to build a largest ever
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Islamic centre. There'll be a huge mosque, primary schools for
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: girls and boys, primary schools, high schools for boys and girls,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: all segregated, of course. And he wants to do this
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: There's about $ 11 million already raised by the organisation. He
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: put an application in earlier this year, Jess. It is
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: on the desk of Sonia Kilkenny, the Planning Minister. We've
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: got an election, what, a month away now. How does
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: that get stopped or do you inherit that? this Islamic
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: centre involving this man?
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: Well, we say to the planning minister, do not approve
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: this planning permit. Do not do so before the election.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: We have an election in 40 days. There is no
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: need to approve this now. But as I said this morning,
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: and I will be very direct again with your viewers tonight,
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: I will not allow this to proceed. I will not
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: approve this planning permit and we will not see another
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: taxpayer dollar go to this centre.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: So if you wake up On the Sunday after the
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: election and you're the Premier, will you tear it up
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: if it's been made?
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 20:57
  Speaker 6: You will?
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Yes. That simple.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: We are not seeing hate preachers, people talking about the
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: fact that it is OK to rape your wife or
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: to beat your wife. That is disgusting. And at a
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: time in Victoria when we are seeing community safety put
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: at the end of the priorities from this government, but
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: also the amount of family violence increasing It is not
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: good enough and I will put an end to it.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: This would make the first premier, in fact, first political
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: leader in the country right now to do more than just,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: you know, decry hate speeches, Jess, if he actually took
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: a stand against them.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: I've always said, Peter, that, you know, people can stand
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: up and they can say that anti-Semitism has no place.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: They can stand up that hate speech has no place.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: But words are cheap.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: You actually need to take action and that is the
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: exact type of premier that I will be.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Well, let's go to other issues. Debt obviously is a
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: huge focus. Reports out today the Victoria situation is worsening
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: by the moment. We know we have concerns from rating agencies.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: A lot of people are saying you've got to get tough,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: you've got to deliver sort of an austerity budget and
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: turn things around. There's no more taxes Victorians can pay.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: I mean, the most taxed individuals and businesses in the
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: country are Can you turn this around and can you
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: turn this around and not make it even harder for Victorians?
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: We have to turn this around. And when I became
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: the leader, I said my number one priority was repairing
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: the budget. Because unless we repair the budget, we cannot
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: fund the essential services that Victorians rely on. Our healthcare services,
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: investing in more police, making sure that kids here have
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: the best possible education. That is what is at stake here.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: And that's why we have outlined our 10-year economic vision
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: for this state. We have committed to a cash surplus
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: by 2032. And in simple terms, Peter, you know what
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: this means. That means that there is more money coming
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: in than what is going out. And only then can
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: you stop borrowing and start to reduce the debt and
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: reduce the interest repayments so we can guarantee the essential services.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Can you cut the back end, Jess? Because everyone wants
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: more police. We want more ambulances so we don't have ramping.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: But I've never seen a more bloated public servants bureaucracy
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: class in Victoria. And we saw from that IBAC report
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: last week, you know, $ 300 million given to people who
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: were never eligible for those business loans and then covered
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: up by this very same bureaucracy.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: Well, we've seen Victoria's public service grow by 60% over
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: the past decade, while population growth has only been 19% here.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: And that's exactly why we announced that we will put
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: a hiring freeze on the back end of the public service. Now,
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: that doesn't affect our teachers, our fireys, our nurses, our doctors,
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: our police officers, but it stops the growth of the
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: back end, the bureaucrats in the public service. so that
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: we can actually invest in those frontline and essential services.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: That delivers us a $ 22 billion saving over the next decade.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: They are the disciplined and responsible decisions that we must
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: make to repair the budget. But most importantly, to your
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: first point, we can't keep taxing Victorians. We need to
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: grow our economy here. We need to attract investment back
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: to this state. And that's why we've made a number
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: of announcements around reducing taxes of businesses on individuals. to
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: put more money back into the pockets of Victorians, to
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: grow our economy here. But most importantly, we need to
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: ensure that we repair the budget so we can guarantee
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: the essential services. I have the team, I have the plan,
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: and I have the experience to get this done. And
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: we are absolutely determined that we can see all Victorians
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: share in a growing economy.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: I like that. Thank you, Jess. Thanks, Peter. All right,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: let's go back to the issue of the rights. Breaking
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: out across Europe, of course, and ramifications for here at home.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Joining me now, our political contributor, News24, Chris Ullman. Chris
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Ullman coming to us from Canberra, of course. Chris, you know,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: I played a bit earlier in the program some comments
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: from Macron. basically saying it was wayward students and who
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: can be upset with them given their cost of living anger.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: But you've seen the footage, we've all seen the footage,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: plenty of Palestinian flags in the crowd. I mean, if
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: you want to globalise the intifada, Chris, this is what
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: it looks like.
• 25:18
  Speaker 7: Yeah, well, isn't it interesting, Peter, how the Palestinian flag
• 25:21
  Speaker 7: has kind of become the flag of convenience for all
• 25:23
  Speaker 7: the grievances of the left and it just bobs up everywhere.
• 25:26
  Speaker 7: And when you combine all of those grievances together, it
• 25:29
  Speaker 7: appears to be a grievance... with the West in general.
• 25:32
  Speaker 7: Let's not sugarcoat this. Those protests, the ones that turned violent,
• 25:38
  Speaker 7: are being driven by the far left in France. The
• 25:41
  Speaker 7: French government has no doubt that that is certainly the case. Now,
• 25:45
  Speaker 7: if this was a far right protest, I know how
• 25:47
  Speaker 7: those protests would be being reported at the moment as
• 25:50
  Speaker 7: the streets of Paris burned. What we're seeing at the
• 25:53
  Speaker 7: moment is an uprising inside France the French community. There's
• 25:57
  Speaker 7: an enormous amount of debt there.
• 25:58
  Speaker 6: There are enormous amount.
• 25:59
  Speaker 7: Of problems there, but nothing can justify the violence that
• 26:01
  Speaker 7: we've seen on the streets as we head towards a
• 26:03
  Speaker 7: presidential election. And this may be just a taste of
• 26:06
  Speaker 7: things to come.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: And we saw this with AFD in Germany. I think this,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: the events of the last few hours, the weekend, are
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: really going to play into what is already a tinderbox,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: as we know, with Le Pen and others in France.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: And we know, obviously, that Macron can't run again. I
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: think it's going to be a very troublesome six months
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: for France.
• 26:34
  Speaker 6: Oh, absolutely.
• 26:34
  Speaker 7: And I think that we'll see more violence from the
• 26:37
  Speaker 7: left in particular as we head towards that election. And
• 26:41
  Speaker 7: let's not forget the fact that we have seen violence
• 26:44
  Speaker 7: from the left on the streets around the world, dismissed
• 26:47
  Speaker 7: by leaders from the left forever let's go back to
• 26:50
  Speaker 7: 2000 the city of melbourne you'll remember that when we
• 26:52
  Speaker 7: had the s11 protesters against the trade meeting that was
• 26:55
  Speaker 7: held there i can go back into the 1990s and
• 26:58
  Speaker 7: know that there was a conference an adex defense conference
• 27:00
  Speaker 7: that used to be held in canberra and the recourse
• 27:03
  Speaker 7: to violence that we saw there so yeah i think
• 27:05
  Speaker 7: it's very troubling time ahead for france as it heads
• 27:08
  Speaker 7: towards that next election and don't forget too that what
• 27:11
  Speaker 7: normally happens if they end up in a runoff and
• 27:13
  Speaker 7: that's le pen up against the a leader of the
• 27:15
  Speaker 7: far left, then usually what happens is there is a
• 27:18
  Speaker 7: firewall where everyone votes and gangs up against the right. Now,
• 27:22
  Speaker 7: if Le Pen gets a fairly significant percentage of the
• 27:25
  Speaker 7: vote in France, I don't know that things are going
• 27:28
  Speaker 7: to settle down after that election.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: All right, I'll leave it here and I'll come back
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: to it a bit later in the program. I want
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: to go to those comments from... Our former Finance Minister,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: of course, now OECD Secretary-General, Mathias Cormann in Australia, warning
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: the country about Australia's stalled productivity, highlighting it as a
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: key factor in the nation's cost of living crisis. These
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: are remarks over the weekend. He told The Australian, you
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: either produce more or you borrow from your children. When
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: competition weakens, as it has, prices rise faster than they should.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: When productivity stalls, says Matthias Cormann, as it has, wages
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: rise more slowly than they should. Well, all of that's right,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: but who's doing anything about it, Chris?
• 28:14
  Speaker 7: Yeah, Peter, and Matthias really didn't tell us anything that
• 28:16
  Speaker 7: we didn't know. And, you know, I know and respect him.
• 28:19
  Speaker 7: I think he's doing a very good job where he
• 28:21
  Speaker 7: is at the moment. But the one thing that I
• 28:22
  Speaker 7: will say, Wes, was A glaring absence from his speech
• 28:25
  Speaker 7: is any talk about what's happening to our energy system
• 28:28
  Speaker 7: and net zero. Now, he seems to embrace that since
• 28:31
  Speaker 7: he got the top job at the OECD. It's doing
• 28:34
  Speaker 7: us no favours. And if he wants to do us
• 28:35
  Speaker 7: a favour, then he could actually draw a big circle
• 28:38
  Speaker 7: around that and say that that might be part of
• 28:40
  Speaker 7: the problem that we have with productivity. Until we fix that,
• 28:43
  Speaker 7: we won't fix the rest of it. So I thank
• 28:45
  Speaker 7: him for his observation. I think it could have been
• 28:47
  Speaker 7: a bit broader.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I do think he has drunk the clean energy Kool-Aid,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: but I think that's the blood price for getting these
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: sort of international appointments. But it's all going to be
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: sorted out by Chris Bowen. Apparently we will be told
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: by the end of the week on what it really
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: will cost for Snowy Hydro 2.0. Malcolm Turnbull said it
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: would be $ 2 billion and done in about six years. Well,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: we're way over budget. We're way over time. Where do
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: you think it's going to land?
• 29:17
  Speaker 7: I can tell you, Peter, I have it on very
• 29:18
  Speaker 7: good authority that the Snow Hydro project itself, let's leave
• 29:21
  Speaker 7: aside the transmission lines, but that $ 2 billion project that
• 29:25
  Speaker 7: you talked about when Malcolm Turnbull first raised it, which
• 29:27
  Speaker 7: was going to be done in four years, well, it's
• 29:30
  Speaker 7: now going to be $ 22 billion.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: To cost of completion.
• 29:33
  Speaker 6: $ 22 billion. That is 10 times the initial....
• 29:40
  Speaker 8: Cost.
• 29:41
  Speaker 7: I don't know what the date of completion is now,
• 29:43
  Speaker 7: but we do know that that has blown out to
• 29:46
  Speaker 7: 2027 in their official plan. And by the way, this
• 29:48
  Speaker 7: is an estimate of that total cost. It's not the
• 29:51
  Speaker 7: actual total cost. We'll only know that when this project
• 29:54
  Speaker 7: is completed. This is a farce. And let's not forget, too,
• 29:58
  Speaker 7: that when this project is completed, if it is ever completed,
• 30:02
  Speaker 7: this will be a net consumer of electricity. What you
• 30:05
  Speaker 7: do with pumped hydro is you pump water uphill when
• 30:08
  Speaker 7: it's cheap and let it flow downhill when it's not.
• 30:10
  Speaker 7: It does not generate electricity. It shifts electricity in time.
• 30:15
  Speaker 7: That's its process. As Malcolm Turnbull said, the battery of
• 30:18
  Speaker 7: the nation. Well, this is One hell of a cost
• 30:20
  Speaker 7: for a great big battery. And by the way, even
• 30:23
  Speaker 7: looking at the CSIRO's report, it would be cheaper to
• 30:27
  Speaker 7: build a gigantic nuclear power plant which would generate power
• 30:31
  Speaker 7: 24-7 and run for 100 years.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness, Chris. It gets worse and worse. And
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: if Bowen says it's $ 22 billion, you reckon it'll be
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: double that before it is ever built if, as you say...
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: that ever happens. Chris Yeoman, thank you. All right, quick break.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: After the break, more on the carnage in Europe. Open
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: borders are a big problem for the West. How is
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: Australia faring, though? That's next. Welcome back. Coming up, the
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: wonderful story of Mal's last dancer. You'll know that. Well,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: you're going to meet the man, my good friend, the
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Brisbane dance legend, Lee Swingsen. He's got a new book,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: the sequel to that global bestseller. He'll join me at
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: the desk in a moment. But let's return to Europe.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: But before I do, I just want to update you.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: There's been a press conference alert put out by the
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: Prime Minister and Tony Burke, and Tony Burke's inclusion is interesting.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: It's for 7 o'clock tonight at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: in Sydney. We have been told it has something to
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: do with Helen Haynes. I have not seen confirmed reports
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: of that earlier claim that she was targeted, but we
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: do know it's a terrible injury that looks like it
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: has been suffered by the independent member for Indi. If
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: there's more, I will alert you straight away. But let's
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: now bring in Peter Jennings, our Defence Secretary, expert here
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: on News24 to discuss Europe and a bit more than that,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: if I can. Peter, you know, on one hand, you've
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: got Macron who's saying, don't confuse these legitimate demands of
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: the young people. They're right to be upset about a
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: cost of living. But in every image I saw over
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: the weekend... This wasn't student protests. This wasn't, you know,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: French flags flying. It wasn't the stuff we've seen before
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: from French students or even the yellow vest crowd from
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: a few years ago. This was violence. It was thuggery.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: And there was a sea of Palestinian flags everywhere I looked.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: This looked more like Gaza, to be honest, Peter, than Paris.
• 32:48
  Speaker 12: Yes, Peter, there's a coalition group known as the Black Bloc,
• 32:52
  Speaker 12: which has been active in the violent end of these protests.
• 32:56
  Speaker 12: And it brings together anarchists, communists and socialists of all
• 33:00
  Speaker 12: different stripes. They're also active in Belgium, by the way.
• 33:04
  Speaker 12: And these are the people who are particularly attacking government
• 33:08
  Speaker 12: buildings and seeking to pick fights with the police. And
• 33:13
  Speaker 12: they're there in significant numbers.
• 33:16
  Speaker 6: We're all used.
• 33:16
  Speaker 12: To riots in France, I guess, over the decades. But
• 33:20
  Speaker 12: this is different, I think, for a number of reasons.
• 33:22
  Speaker 12: It's much bigger. It's hundreds of thousands of people. It's
• 33:26
  Speaker 12: much more widespread across the country. It's not just in France.
• 33:31
  Speaker 12: And the extent of the violence is very significant. I
• 33:35
  Speaker 12: believe hundreds and hundreds of police injured and several thousand
• 33:39
  Speaker 12: people arrested, Peter. So, you know, I think this is something,
• 33:44
  Speaker 12: if it continues for a few more days, we will
• 33:46
  Speaker 12: be talking about the security of the Fifth Republic and
• 33:49
  Speaker 12: wondering if it's going to somehow change as a result
• 33:52
  Speaker 12: of this. And clearly, one final point, it's been an
• 33:55
  Speaker 12: intelligence failure. Domestic security has failed to anticipate that this
• 33:59
  Speaker 12: was going to happen, that it was going to be
• 34:01
  Speaker 12: as directed and violent as it was. And I think that,
• 34:05
  Speaker 12: you know, this is going to be a serious political
• 34:07
  Speaker 12: crisis for France all the way up to the next election.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: A reference at the top to 2015, 2016. the Batalan attacks,
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: Jali Abdo. I mean, there's been a terrible history over
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: the last 20 years of Islamist attacks in France. We've
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: seen smaller attacks on priests and churchgoers. We've seen, obviously,
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: the attacks against teachers. Any mere mention of Muhammad and
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: there is a risk of life. There's that saying, Peter,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: you know, that demography is destiny. I look at France
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: and I've gone there for many, many years. I look
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: at France now and I wonder whether it's too far gone.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: What do you think?
• 34:55
  Speaker 12: Yes, it's changed so dramatically and very quickly, frankly, in
• 34:59
  Speaker 12: the last 10 years or so because of the pickup
• 35:03
  Speaker 12: in the pace of migration. And the same is true
• 35:06
  Speaker 12: in Belgium. We're all aware of the significant problems that
• 35:10
  Speaker 12: has been created in Germany with Angela Merkel bringing in
• 35:14
  Speaker 12: so many people from Syria. So there's a massive problem
• 35:18
  Speaker 12: all across Europe And it certainly feeds into the political
• 35:23
  Speaker 12: crisis that we see on the streets of French cities today.
• 35:28
  Speaker 12: One synagogue, by the way, I notice, destroyed in Paris
• 35:32
  Speaker 12: as well. So there's a strong anti-Semitic element to it
• 35:35
  Speaker 12: as well. This is the left turning on the European
• 35:38
  Speaker 12: political system. and goodness knows how far it's going to
• 35:43
  Speaker 12: go because the immediate challenge is for the police to
• 35:45
  Speaker 12: get the streets back under control, and that doesn't seem
• 35:48
  Speaker 12: to be happening easily in France.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we saw a little outbreak in northern Italy that
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: has been quashed pretty quickly in Milan and elsewhere. I
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: think it was Bologna, and Giorgio Bologna doesn't muck around.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to see whether it, you know, finds
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: its way to Spain with the left government there has
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: basically opened the door, as you know, to a whole
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: lot of of undocumented migrants. Just quickly, this story out
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: of London. There's a man on the screen I'll show you,
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Mohammed Yassin, part of al-Qaeda, part of the unit that
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: beheaded the British man Ken Bigley. He joined ISIS, ended
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: up in Germany, then made his way to Britain illegally.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: He was locked up for six months of a two-year
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: sentence and now is reportedly out free and living in
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: a taxpayer-funded hostel in Britain. How absurd is this?
• 36:41
  Speaker 6: It's just outrageous.
• 36:42
  Speaker 12: I understand he also did a five-year term in Germany
• 36:46
  Speaker 12: convicted of the most heinous terrorist crimes. And then the
• 36:51
  Speaker 12: Germans tried to deport him to Iraq and he was
• 36:55
  Speaker 12: not allowed to be deported for fear of his safety
• 36:58
  Speaker 12: if he went back to Iraq. Now he's managed to
• 37:01
  Speaker 12: end up in the UK. And, you know, we have
• 37:04
  Speaker 12: a situation here where so often it seems the legal
• 37:07
  Speaker 12: systems of Western democracies is being used against us to
• 37:11
  Speaker 12: privilege the interests of people who should not be in
• 37:14
  Speaker 12: our societies.
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: It's outrageous.
• 37:16
  Speaker 12: And I think this will just add to the sense
• 37:18
  Speaker 12: of political anger that exists in the UK right now. And, again,
• 37:22
  Speaker 12: let's not underestimate the potential for the sort of violence
• 37:25
  Speaker 12: we've seen on the streets in France. to cross over
• 37:28
  Speaker 12: to the Channel and potentially start to impact in the UK.
• 37:32
  Speaker 12: There's an awful lot of copycat violence in these circumstances.
• 37:35
  Speaker 12: So it's something we should be concerned about, I think,
• 37:38
  Speaker 12: also in Australia.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's shocking. It's a shocking weekend of news, I
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: have to say. Thank you, Peter Jennings. After the break,
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: we'll have a bit of hope, a change of pace.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: One of my favourite authors, the wonderful man Lee Shwing Sen,
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: the author of Mao's Last Dancer, joins me in the studio.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome back. Seven o'clock, press conference, Prime Minister and Tony
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: Burke in relation to a horrific accident today suffered by
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: Helen Haynes, the independent MP in the city of Indi
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: in Victoria. We'll know more about that in a moment.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: But now, hope. We need some hope, don't we? It's
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: been a pretty tough show tonight. Let's go to the
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: remarkable story of Li Shui-Shen. Born into utter poverty in
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: Mao's communist China, he was selected as a child to
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: train at Madame Mao's Beijing Dance Academy, beginning a journey
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: that would take him from that brutal seven-year training regime...
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: to becoming one of the world's great ballet dancers. It's
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: an extraordinary story. And it, of course, was the book,
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: Mao's Last Dancer, that he authored. It's an autobiography, but
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: was also made into that award winning international film. He's
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: a much loved Australian. He left dance, went to finance
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: and then came back to lead the Australian ballet for
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: 12 years, transforming it into a world-class dance company. But
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: there's more. He's got a new book out now. It's
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: the sequel to Mal's Last Dancer. It's called The Lucky Son.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: I'm pleased to say I'm proud to call him a
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: friend and he joins me now in the studio. This
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: is a fantastic book. coming into Christmas, but not least
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: of all, you are now part of the Australian migrant story.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: And I think around the country, particularly after your first book,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: everyone's just taken you to Hartley. You know, you are,
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: you and that book and the story you told is
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: something we hold very dear. What prompted you to write
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: this next, I guess I can call it a chapter
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: of your life story? Yes.
• 39:56
  Speaker 13: Miles Last Dancer's story finished in 1988. So it's been
• 40:01
  Speaker 13: really 38 years ago. And ever since then, of course,
• 40:06
  Speaker 13: readers from all around the world have been asking me
• 40:09
  Speaker 13: to write a follow-up. They want to know more about
• 40:12
  Speaker 13: my life, my wife's life, my parents, six brothers and
• 40:16
  Speaker 13: all the people involved that they really cared deeply about
• 40:21
  Speaker 13: in My Last Answer. But it really took me 23
• 40:24
  Speaker 13: years since the publication of My Last Answer to really
• 40:29
  Speaker 13: decide what I was going to write next. And the
• 40:33
  Speaker 13: time feels right. Yes. After I retired from the Queensland Ballet,
• 40:37
  Speaker 13: I felt a follow-up, a sequel, is the right thing
• 40:42
  Speaker 13: to write.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: Well, I've got a copy of it here. It's called
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: The Lucky Son. I mean... That's a beautiful title. Why
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: do you regard yourself as the lucky son?
• 40:52
  Speaker 13: My mother always called me her lucky son because the
• 40:57
  Speaker 13: luck comes with responsibility. Ever since a child living in China,
• 41:04
  Speaker 13: my aspiration, my dream was to help my family, my
• 41:07
  Speaker 13: parents and six brothers, to help them to improve their
• 41:11
  Speaker 13: living standard because we were born in such poverty. peasants
• 41:17
  Speaker 13: even at tree blocks to survive in some of the years.
• 41:21
  Speaker 13: So for me, that willingness and that desire to help
• 41:25
  Speaker 13: my family always motivated me to try harder in life.
• 41:31
  Speaker 13: And also, I count myself very fortunate. Along the journey,
• 41:35
  Speaker 13: some special people have helped me to reach my potential
• 41:40
  Speaker 13: and to become one of the top dancers in the world.
• 41:42
  Speaker 13: So I feel so grateful for all the things happened
• 41:47
  Speaker 13: to me in my life and to be grateful to
• 41:49
  Speaker 13: be in this beautiful country.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: They say, though, don't they, that people sort of make
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: their own luck as well. I mean, don't underplay your
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: own sense of drive and doggedness, resilience and those things.
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: Do you think we've lost that a little bit in humanity,
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: particularly in a wealthy country like Australia? Do you think
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: we are determined enough to make our success or do
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: we think it's got to be handed to us.
• 42:15
  Speaker 8: On a plate.
• 42:16
  Speaker 13: Well, I think things came quite easily for the young generation.
• 42:21
  Speaker 13: And I do worry about my own children as well,
• 42:25
  Speaker 13: because by going through very tough experiences in my early
• 42:29
  Speaker 13: childhood had made me more resilient, more determined to make
• 42:34
  Speaker 13: things work. And when opportunity came my way, I tried
• 42:38
  Speaker 13: my best to make something out of it. So I
• 42:41
  Speaker 13: think you do create your own luck. And I think
• 42:44
  Speaker 13: the harder I work, the luckier I got. I truly
• 42:47
  Speaker 13: feel that way. And then the more success emerge from
• 42:51
  Speaker 13: the hard work.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you weren't just a world-class dancer. I mean, you
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: go from nothing to that. Then you take on finance.
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: You become incredibly successful in that world. And then you
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: take on the Queensland Ballet and take it from a
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: relatively provincial organisation to to a world-leading dance company. I mean,
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: what makes you special to touch all these different things
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: and make such a success of them?
• 43:19
  Speaker 13: I guess I can put down to the thirst to learn,
• 43:24
  Speaker 13: to improve, to have an open mind with new opportunities
• 43:29
  Speaker 13: and to be adaptable, willing to reinvent yourself along the way.
• 43:34
  Speaker 13: Because I always get excited when opportunities come my way.
• 43:38
  Speaker 13: I'm always thinking, how could I make the very best
• 43:42
  Speaker 13: of these opportunities? And because they are rare.
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: I look at someone with your upbringing and the country
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: that you came from, and I sometimes think that we
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: in Australia don't cherish our democracy and our freedoms as
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: we should. What are your lessons for Australia?
• 44:05
  Speaker 13: Oh, I value freedom above anything. For me to have
• 44:10
  Speaker 13: gained freedom, I nearly.
• 44:11
  Speaker 6: Sacrificed my life over it.
• 44:14
  Speaker 13: But it was worth that sacrifice. Freedom have given me
• 44:20
  Speaker 13: boundless opportunities and to give me such freedom to pursue
• 44:26
  Speaker 13: my dreams, whatever I want to do in the world,
• 44:30
  Speaker 13: in a country like Australia. So there's no excuse for
• 44:34
  Speaker 13: young generation can't really achieve their best and make their
• 44:38
  Speaker 13: own contributions to our country.
• 44:42
  Speaker 8: Thank you, Lee.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: Beautiful book. Can't wait to get into it. Thank you
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: for joining me tonight.
• 44:46
  Speaker 6: Thank you.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: Lee Shwing-San, you're looking for Christmas gift. There it is.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: Penguin Books. Get in and buy it. If it's like
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: the first one, it'll sell out fast. He's a magnificent
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: human being. All right, quick break. After the break, we'll
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: get into an update. If I've got you for something
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: on Helen Haynes and my panel, Nicole Flint and James Morrow.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: Welcome back. I was going to bring in my panel
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: to run through a whole lot of other issues, but
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: I think we'll bring in Andrew Clennell, who joins us
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: in a moment. He's our political editor, of course, here
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: at News24 for an update today. In relation to an
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: incident involving the Indi independent MP, Helen Haynes, she's 65
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: years of age. She has been that member, first elected
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: in 2019, re-elected in 2022. So this is her second
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: term in parliament. It seems that she was struck by
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: a car this afternoon in Wangaratta. That's the main... a
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: provincial town of the seat of Indi. But as to
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: details from that on, from then on, there's very little around.
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: But the man who will know is my colleague, Andrew Clennell,
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: who joins me now live on the phone. Andrew, shocking news.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: It broke just as I went to air and I
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: spoke to Jess Wilson about it, of course, here at
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: the desk. What can you tell us?
• 46:04
  Speaker 8: Well, good evening, Peter. It is shocking news and it's horrifying.
• 46:08
  Speaker 8: And look, there's no doubt in the minds tonight of
• 46:13
  Speaker 8: the Prime Minister or Home Affairs Minister that it's a
• 46:15
  Speaker 8: targeted attack. And the situation was Helen Haynes, the reports
• 46:22
  Speaker 8: have been she was loading up the boot of her
• 46:24
  Speaker 8: car outside her Wangaratta electorate office just before 4pm and
• 46:28
  Speaker 8: a man's in an SUV. He's driven past her, seen her.
• 46:34
  Speaker 8: These are reports that are coming in tonight, I should say.
• 46:36
  Speaker 8: They're not verified, but and done a U-turn and targeted her.
• 46:42
  Speaker 8: And at a nearby barber shop, it's been reported, some
• 46:48
  Speaker 8: people there came out and restrained the man until police arrived.
• 46:52
  Speaker 8: And he was found to have a pocket knife in
• 46:54
  Speaker 8: his pocket. So who knows what would have happened if
• 46:57
  Speaker 8: he wasn't restrained. But this is a significant moment in
• 47:01
  Speaker 8: Australian political history in my book. just confirming again that
• 47:05
  Speaker 8: senior government sources telling me this is a targeted attack,
• 47:09
  Speaker 8: and that's what I believe the Prime Minister will talk
• 47:11
  Speaker 8: about shortly. And you think to Joe Cox or David
• 47:15
  Speaker 8: Amess in the UK, you think to attacks in the US,
• 47:18
  Speaker 8: and it's finally come here. And, look, I've had Tony Burke,
• 47:21
  Speaker 8: the Home Affairs Minister, warn that this is coming on
• 47:24
  Speaker 8: my program. The PM's also had fears this is coming.
• 47:27
  Speaker 8: The level of threats against politicians in this country have
• 47:30
  Speaker 8: tripled in recent years. There's now said to be three
• 47:33
  Speaker 8: a day. And, you know, Helen Haynes, a very nice
• 47:37
  Speaker 8: person from my dealings with her, there are reports, again,
• 47:41
  Speaker 8: these are just reports, that she may have lost a
• 47:46
  Speaker 8: limb and she may be in serious strife in hospital there.
• 47:51
  Speaker 8: Her family put out a statement a short time ago
• 47:53
  Speaker 8: where they said that she was being cared for and
• 47:58
  Speaker 8: their privacy be respected at this time.
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: Yes, I've got the family statement here. Yeah, I've got
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: the family statement here and it gives us very little information.
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: It says, this afternoon our beloved Helen was involved in
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: an incident outside her electorate office in Wangaratta receiving medical care.
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: Thanks bystanders and others for swift assistance provided to her.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: They then say no further comment at this stage. I
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: will say the Herald Sun is reporting that police are
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: investigating the incident, Andrew. I'll leave it there if I can.
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: We'll go now, of course, to Andrew Bolt and await
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: this press conference scheduled for 7 o'clock involving the Prime
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: Minister and Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke, who has carriage
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: of the issues in relation to the security of parliamentarians and,
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: of course, ASIO. That's it for me. See you tomorrow.