Latest / Credlin / Credlin | 9 September

Transcript

Credlin | 9 September · Credlin

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Peter Kranbland live on Sky News Australia.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Good evening, Welcome to the program. Here is what's coming
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: up tonight on Credline. Yes, Center prices comments on Indian
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: migration were clumsy, but let's not be fooled. This pylon's
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: about a whole lot more than immigration, and it exposes
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: a decade of more than lazy liberals who talk a
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: big game on community campaigns but actually do very little.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: It was all smiles at the annual Business Council dinner
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: last night, but the specter of higher taxes loomed heavy.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: In the room.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: And that's before our economies hit with yet another tsunami
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: of higher costs as we raced towards net zero. While
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: all the bigger miitters are walking away. There's a showdown
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: too on the way at the upcoming United Nations meeting
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: in New York. Bus After days of silence with Victorian Premier,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: we finally get a weak, excuses ridden response today. Following
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: another weekend of killer crime and taking her on, Brad
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Baton got himself kicked out of the Parliament today. The
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Opposition leader joins me shortly and speaking of madness in
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Victoria today, we finally got details of what the Victorian
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: voice that no one wants will look like as treaty
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: legislation begins to move through the Parliament and Federal Labor
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: applauds this as quote a great first step.
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: This has been identified by the Productivity Commission as the
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: best mechanism to close the gap.
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: It's still a voice to Parliament.
• 1:30
  Speaker 6: The government are trying to put through a voice to
• 1:32
  Speaker 6: Parliament without taking it to the Victorian community.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: The first The ongoing storm over is into averaging for
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: prices immigration comments shows that the progressive elites have never
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: forgiven her for defeating the Voice. She was the perfect
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: person to lead that campaign, a passionate, committed Wollprix woman
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: who rightly saw the Voice as reinforcing the victimhood and
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: separatism that's at the heart of Indigenous disadvantage. Well, hell,
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: hath no fury like the progressive classes scorned, and that
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: includes all the coalition MPs too who supported the Voice
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: or who don't like Price's robust conservatism or her independent mind.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: As an Aboriginal Celtic woman, Price is a classic case
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: of intersectionality.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: Yet she's always refused to pan at the.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Leftist stereotypes, hence the lineup of liberals to disagree with
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: her and to apologize on her behalf to the Indian
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: community that was supposedly insulted by her remarks last Thursday.
• 2:38
  Speaker 7: Look, my view is as just ongoing harm.
• 2:40
  Speaker 8: I think it'd be better to have an apology now.
• 2:42
  Speaker 9: For me, my decision was to participate in the conversation
• 2:47
  Speaker 9: with the community yesterday and actually say I disagree with
• 2:49
  Speaker 9: those comments. I believe that they are factually incorrect.
• 2:54
  Speaker 10: Said something is with so I will apologize unreserved.
• 2:59
  Speaker 11: Julian and Lisa apologe on to send a Price's behalf.
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: So are you doing that as well?
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: Well?
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: If necessary?
• 3:05
  Speaker 12: Sure, because at the end of the day, I want
• 3:07
  Speaker 12: this conversation to move on.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Alex Hawk, who Price says called her office and berated
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: her staff, said quote she wasn't being racist, but it
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: came out that way.
• 3:20
  Speaker 8: I think if an apology was offered early on and
• 3:22
  Speaker 8: just a quick walk back, that would have helped. But
• 3:24
  Speaker 8: there's still time, and I think the community should hear
• 3:27
  Speaker 8: from her, because I've heard from her and I believe her.
• 3:30
  Speaker 8: She didn't mean these comments. She wasn't being racist, but
• 3:34
  Speaker 8: it came out that way.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's really a bit rich, a white blow
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: claiming that an average at a woman is coming across
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: as racists. Price has admitted her original marks were clumsy.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: She should not have suggested that the Labor Party was
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: deliberately bringing in migrants because they vote Labor And yes,
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: she should have dealt with it immediately on the Wednesday
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: and moved on. But a real point was right that
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: overall immigration is currently too high and that the Labor
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: Party is good, very good out appealing to minority groups,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: a point that was validated Befomer Labor polster CAUs Samarus.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Eighty five percent of the Indiandian aspect voted for the
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Labor Party at the last election. There abounds, it varies
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: across the country. What was the number so cause about
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: eighty five percent?
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: And factually the number of Indian born people living in
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: Australia has more than doubled over the decade, as the
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Australian Bureau of Statistics confirms as of June twenty twenty four,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: nine hundred and sixteen thousand Indian born people are living
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: in Australia and that's from just four hundred and eleven
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: ten years ago. As the ABS notes, after the United Kingdom,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: the Indian born population is the second largest largest migrant
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: community in Australia. Now, again, this is a statement of fact.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Immigration is too high, and it's not wrong to hold
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: that view, and it's not wrong to factually report the statistics.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: What is wrong is to somehow imply though that Indians
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: are imported into Australia by labor because many of them
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: vote labor.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: That's not accurate.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: We have a non discriminatory immigration policy in Australia. They
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: come because they meet our migration criteria and once here,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: the reason they vote for labor, as the Labor pollster
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: has just confirmed they do in drives, is basically because
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: labor reaches out to them and not enough Liberals do.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: That's the truth of it.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Labor invests in a relationship with migrant communities that stretches
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: for years and years, not just the six weeks of
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: an election campaign. Now, the Libs used to do this,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: particularly when Philip Roddick was the Immigration Minister in the
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Howard era, and I saw it firsthand working for one
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: of Ruddock's junior ministers. But not anymore, in my experience,
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: not enough liberals get out and about amongst migrant communities
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: will turn up to their events. For all the talk
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: from those MPs demanding the Price apologize, I want to
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: know how many ethnic events you attended in the last
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks, because I suspect it's far less than
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: your labor counterparts. The conundrum is that the Liberal Party
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: should be the natural party of migrants, because it's a
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: party of a small business, the family, education and aspiration.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: And while the Limbs are jumpy over their poor vote
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: amongst migrants, the real problem is the party's poor vote generally.
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: What's needed is.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: For the Liberal Party to improve its standing with all voters, frankly,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: and the way to do that is, I keep saying,
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: it's not to set out specifically to win over minority
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: groups by making a special and discreete pitch to them
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: all women, young people. It's to make a strong pitch
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: to the whole community, because in the end, women and
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: young people and migrants too well. We all vote as
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: citizens at least as much as we do as minorities.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: And sure Price could have and should have handled this better,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: but this is a collective failure by a party that's
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: lost its way. Why was it Susan Lee's powerbroker who
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: called Price to try and bully her into an apology,
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: rather than the leader herself. I mean, if she wanted
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: an apology, if she believed one it was warranted, why
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: didn't she call? Because leaders are the ones that need
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: to pick up the fight. Why did it take five
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: days for lead to even speak with Price? Comments were
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: made on Wednesday afternoon, and I know for a fact
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: she didn't speak with Just Enterprise until Monday morning. What
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: possessed Alex Hawk or someone on his behalf to call
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: my colleague, Andrew Clenell and a bit to get a
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: story out of that event on Wednesday and make it
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: critical of Price that happened on Sunday? And this has
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: kick this whole thing along. What possessed a congoline of
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: liberals to join a pylon against the colleague? Even when
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: asked again today, the liberal leader declined to say that
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: she expected an apology from Price.
• 8:24
  Speaker 13: I know that the Senator is listening to the Indian
• 8:29
  Speaker 13: community and hearing their words directly in many instances, and
• 8:34
  Speaker 13: I think that's important because where feelings are hurt, there
• 8:37
  Speaker 13: needs to be a two way dialogue and there needs
• 8:39
  Speaker 13: to be an understanding.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Okay, So if she's not demanding an apology from Price today,
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: why are all these other colleagues demanding one? For almost
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: a week now, no Liberal or National MPs been able
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: to go into the media without being asked about Price,
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: and almost none of them have had the inclination or
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: the ability Franks lead to change the subject.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: And that's also part of the problem.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: I mean, clumsy comments last Wednesday afternoon should have been
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: sorted out by Wednesday night, only they weren't. And because
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: the party doesn't have any other strong policies to put
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: on the table, because it's at everything in the year,
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: as you know, for a review, because they havn't created
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: any sort of contest with labor, they end up talking
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: about themselves. Prior to the last election, the Liberal said
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: that immigration was too high and that permanent migration numbers
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: should be reduced, but had nothing to say about temporary migration,
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: which is a big part of the problem.
• 9:36
  Speaker 7: Now.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: They needed to start talking intelligently about the issues that
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: are troubling Australians'll be that energy, education, crime, national security,
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: or immigration, but in a way that's working towards solutions
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: rather than just a critique of the other side. I mean,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: do the homework, take a position, I argue about what's
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: right for the country, not just what's best for the
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Liberal Party, and you won't actually start winning votes, including
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: migrant votes too. Today, in Victoria, legislation for a state
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Aboriginal Voice was introduced into the parliament, even though fifty
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: four percent of Victorians voted against a federal Aboriginal voice
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: the referendum. Now, this is yet another example of the
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: left wing political establishment's total contempt for ordinary voters. The
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: left says it supports democracy, but only when people vote
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: the way they want them to vote. When they vote
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: the wrong way or the other way, the left just
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: ignores voters and presses on regardless. Ensure the Victorian voice,
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: to be called gelong Wari, will be legislated, not constitutionally entrenched,
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: but it will have essentially the same role and essentially
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: the same drawbacks as a federal voice would have. It'll
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: be voted on exclusively by Aboriginal people and comprise exclusively
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: of Aboriginal people. It will reportedly have a right to
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: make decisions and rules about specific matters that directly impact
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Aboriginal people. Now that sounds even stronger than the Federal Voice. Likewise,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: the voice's powered to make appointments to the Heritage Council,
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: for example, will be with the Voice naturally. The Victorian
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Voice was welcomed by the Albanesi government, with Indigenous Affairs
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Minister Melandiru McCarthy describing it ominously as a great first step.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: In the short term, Victorian schools will be required to
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: roll out an Indigenous history curriculum as if it doesn't
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: have it anyway, and the whole other place names will change.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: In other words, things will start to change for all
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: seven million Victorians on the basis of decisions made by
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: people representing just sixty five thousand of those aim to
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: be Aboriginal. I figure that's up nearly forty percent over
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: the last five years. Not that this was even taken
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: to the last election. It's something else that Labour's foistoo
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: upon people and that they'll ram through the Parliament for
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: next year's state election. Today a Premier just Into Alan
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: was demanding that the state opposition support this voice, claiming
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: wrongly that it was only lies that defeated the federal one.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: What I would hope as we take this incredibly important
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: bill through the Victorian Parliament is that political political opponents
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: or indeed opponents to this bill do not go down
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: the path that we saw in twenty twenty three, a
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: path of deliberate misinformation at times just outright lies that
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: were being peddled about what this actually was.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: Well got on Brad Batten's opposition for opposing this legislation
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: that defies the verdict of Victorian voters. But he and
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: his opposition have got a promise to repair it if
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: they form government. All right, let's go to Caban now
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: for the headlines. Political reporter Scarnese, Reporter Rubn Spargo.
• 13:22
  Speaker 14: The Prime Minister is beginning a significant tour of the
• 13:25
  Speaker 14: Pacific Islands, starting in Vanuatu. The nation is central to
• 13:29
  Speaker 14: australia struggle to secure the region. Talks have been underway
• 13:33
  Speaker 14: for Canberra to commit five hundred million dollars over the
• 13:36
  Speaker 14: next decade to support Vaniwatu's climate security and economic priorities.
• 13:41
  Speaker 14: That deal was widely expected to be sealed during the
• 13:44
  Speaker 14: Prime Minister's visit.
• 13:46
  Speaker 15: Some of my ministers and my MBus they feel that
• 13:50
  Speaker 15: it's quite more discussions through, particularly on some of the
• 13:55
  Speaker 15: specific wordings in the India.
• 13:57
  Speaker 16: I respect the processes us that Prime Minister Nepat needs
• 14:03
  Speaker 16: to go through.
• 14:04
  Speaker 14: Anthony Alberizi will next travel to the Solomon Islands. China's
• 14:08
  Speaker 14: growing influence and climate change will dominate the agenda. The
• 14:12
  Speaker 14: tour is aimed at shoring up Australia's ties and strengthening
• 14:16
  Speaker 14: security partnerships across the region.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: All right, johnymen our scars Political Leeditor Andrew Cleannell Andrew, welcome.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: Will go to the fallout regarding those comments from Senator
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Price last Wednesday night, and I guess your pivotal role
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: in exposing on Sunday and exchange that occurred between her
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: and Alex Hawk, which then prompted a response from her
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: that's kicked on into this week. Give us your take
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: on where things are at tonight.
• 14:47
  Speaker 17: Well, I think it highlights what's been bubbling under the
• 14:50
  Speaker 17: service for quite some time, and that's a real heavy
• 14:53
  Speaker 17: division in the federal parliamentary Liberal Party. And as one
• 14:58
  Speaker 17: former Liberal figure said to me last night, you've got
• 15:01
  Speaker 17: to be unified in this situation. They're in dire straits.
• 15:06
  Speaker 17: They've only got I think about forty three people across
• 15:08
  Speaker 17: both houses the Liberal Party, and after the two thousand
• 15:12
  Speaker 17: and seven road result, they had forty three in the
• 15:14
  Speaker 17: House of Reps. So I think this is very concerning
• 15:20
  Speaker 17: where all this is going. Susan Lee, I don't think
• 15:22
  Speaker 17: has a great deal of authority. She's decided to put
• 15:26
  Speaker 17: a whole series of people from the right in portfolios
• 15:29
  Speaker 17: that they don't want. Peter Andrew Hasey didn't particularly want
• 15:33
  Speaker 17: home affairs. I don't think James Patterson didn't want finance,
• 15:36
  Speaker 17: he wanted foreign. Jane Hume got dumped. I know she's
• 15:41
  Speaker 17: not in the right McKay cash got foreign. Not sure
• 15:45
  Speaker 17: if she was up for that. So Angus Taylor Defense, well,
• 15:49
  Speaker 17: perhaps he just has to wear that after being part
• 15:52
  Speaker 17: of that disastrous election campaign. But just enterprice as well
• 15:56
  Speaker 17: defense industry. So you see my point here, which is
• 16:00
  Speaker 17: Susan Lee started the job by putting people in jobs
• 16:03
  Speaker 17: that putting all the people who voted against her in
• 16:06
  Speaker 17: jobs they don't want. And what you should be doing,
• 16:11
  Speaker 17: I think is putting them in jobs which they want
• 16:15
  Speaker 17: to do. So you almost if you can. You have
• 16:20
  Speaker 17: to reward your own supporters, of course, but so you're
• 16:22
  Speaker 17: almost bringing them with you and encouraging them to support you,
• 16:27
  Speaker 17: And I think it's right to say that Alex Hawke
• 16:32
  Speaker 17: calling just Center Prices as a powerbreaker for Susan Lee
• 16:36
  Speaker 17: instead of Susan Lee is a mistake because that would
• 16:42
  Speaker 17: have been a worthwhile conversation for Susan Lee to have,
• 16:44
  Speaker 17: even if she and just Center Price didn't agree in
• 16:48
  Speaker 17: that conversation that you can't conflict avoid these things, you know,
• 16:53
  Speaker 17: and you've got to you know, you can ring and say, look,
• 16:57
  Speaker 17: you know, if you don't apologize, I'm going to go
• 16:59
  Speaker 17: out and so let's see what you do after that.
• 17:03
  Speaker 17: And you know, you could even say, let's see if
• 17:05
  Speaker 17: you're in shadow cabinet if you oppose me publicly on this.
• 17:08
  Speaker 17: But that's what leadership is, that's what strength is. So
• 17:12
  Speaker 17: we've had this crazy situation where just Center Price makes
• 17:15
  Speaker 17: the comment, won't apologize, and then Susan Lee kind of
• 17:19
  Speaker 17: is out there making all these videos apologizing for her.
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: How does that work? That doesn't work right?
• 17:25
  Speaker 17: And that's why we're six days down the track and
• 17:27
  Speaker 17: we're still on the story.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: I guess the concern is here too. And you make
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: the point about factional bobber boy Alex Hawk making the call.
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: I think if the.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: Leader had called her on Wednesday, there was concern with
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: those comments. On Wednesday, a call from the leader saying,
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: pull your head in and apologize. I've been there when
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: those calls have been made, they tend to get the
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: result you want, right, and it nipped in the bard early.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: This has gone on and on and on, and of
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: course when you get a call from another colleague who's
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: not even in the senior leadersh is not deputy leader,
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: he doesn't hold any sort of rank beyond just being
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: you know, the opposition manager of Business in the Parliament
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: on a sitting day. That then falls away in terms
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: of importance. And then when the leader doesn't ring her
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: at all until Monday, and even when asked today he
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: wanted to apologize, fudges the response. You can see why
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: this will just drag on and on and on, and
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: of course the risk here is.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: Out there in the community.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: There's legitimate concern about the pace of Australia's immigration and
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: in the statistics it's clear those numbers are borne out
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: to back up that contention. So you know, you're not
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: dog whistling or anything like that. This is absolute fact.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: What this might do, I fear Andrew is spook the
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Libs into running away from the issue when it is
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: a legitimate issue, like they were spooked in the campaign,
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: couldn't even touch work from Home because they'd stuff that
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: one up as well.
• 18:57
  Speaker 17: Yeah, well it's a very messy situation. But I have
• 19:01
  Speaker 17: to be honest with you. A lot of people in
• 19:03
  Speaker 17: the Liberal Party that I talk to don't think Susan
• 19:06
  Speaker 17: Lee will last the term, and that's because of this
• 19:09
  Speaker 17: division that exists. And I guess you often see opposition
• 19:13
  Speaker 17: leaders after a defeat like that not make the three years.
• 19:17
  Speaker 17: And it was a close vote, and there's just a
• 19:21
  Speaker 17: feeling about this is kind of an example of maybe
• 19:24
  Speaker 17: some of the issues there.
• 19:26
  Speaker 7: You know you've.
• 19:27
  Speaker 17: Got you know, you can't you can't educate someone who's
• 19:33
  Speaker 17: been a minister in a cabinet how to be a leader.
• 19:36
  Speaker 17: They've got to have an innate sense of what's required.
• 19:40
  Speaker 17: Does Susan Lee is the question? Susan Lee seems quite personable,
• 19:45
  Speaker 17: personal stories come along, well, she's been responded to well
• 19:50
  Speaker 17: in the polls. But that's not your only job, medior etcetera.
• 19:54
  Speaker 17: Isn't your only job. You've got to.
• 19:56
  Speaker 7: Lead the party.
• 19:58
  Speaker 17: And people like John Howard, it was the most successful
• 20:02
  Speaker 17: of it, were always conscious that to keep the backbench
• 20:07
  Speaker 17: happy was really important, let alone your shadow ministry.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: I'll leave it there.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: There's shrewd comments. Andrew, thank you. Now we'll move to
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: the Victorian Parliament where today Liberal Leader Brad Batten was
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: suspended after you pursue the Premiere over her state's broken
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: bar laws and what she was doing or not doing,
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: as the case might be, to help victims of crime.
• 20:29
  Speaker 7: Leader of the.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: Opposition, you will have to leave the chamber for an hour.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: I will not tolerate this kind of disrespect to the
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: chair the attorney to continue order.
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: Make that an hour and a half and you want
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: to silence.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: The Leader of the Opposition.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: Is named, I'm pleased to say the Leader of the Opposition,
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: Brad Batton, joins me. Now, well, I could see you
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: were booted from question time today, brad Batten, but you're
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: clearly still at the Parliament. You're still working. The Premier
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: turned up today and made comments. For the first time
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: since the horror weekend of young boys killed by machete attacks,
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: she made some comments this morning. It was the first
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: time she had dealt with these comments. Let's have a
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: listen to what she had to say.
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: Been working with Victoria Police for some time now, to
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: strengthen Victoria police powers, to strengthen to tough in laws,
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: to for example, give Victoria police stronger knife search powers.
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: Bringing about the machete band which is making an impact.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: Bad and these kids were hacked to death. The machete
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: band didn't save them. The million dollar bins didn't say them.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: Victorians are furious and she can't from the camera she
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: turned up today because of the Aboriginal Treaty legislation. Where
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: is the leadership from Victoria and if you're not in
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: the Parliament at the moment, and how on earth he
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: tried to hold them to account? How do Victorians hold
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: them to account?
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: Thanks Peter, and good evening.
• 22:13
  Speaker 6: If the Premier has no answers for the crime crisis,
• 22:16
  Speaker 6: she should just admit that the reality in Parliament is
• 22:19
  Speaker 6: we're continuously asking questions on behalf of half of the victims.
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: You've described some of them perfect there. These are kids
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: who have been killed on the street.
• 22:27
  Speaker 6: Twenty five young men under the age of twenty five
• 22:31
  Speaker 6: years old have been killed in the last five years
• 22:34
  Speaker 6: in Victoria because of the knife crime here in our state.
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: When the Premier comes.
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: Out and says publicly, I'm working with the police for
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: new powers. They have been desperate for these new powers
• 22:44
  Speaker 6: for a long time and the Allen Labor government have
• 22:47
  Speaker 6: refused to work with them. The former Chief commissioner ended
• 22:50
  Speaker 6: up being kicked out and the current Chief Commissioner is
• 22:53
  Speaker 6: speaking out. We need to make sure that we are
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: listening to them because they're the ones that are seeing
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: the victims every day, have solutions. We know we can
• 23:01
  Speaker 6: fix this. It's about time the Allen Labour government start
• 23:04
  Speaker 6: to listen to the facts and stop putting their head
• 23:07
  Speaker 6: in the sand because the victims are piling up here
• 23:10
  Speaker 6: in this state and it's simply not good enough.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: I'll listen to a press conference today, Brad and she
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: said that the police have never had more resources than
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: they have now, than never had more laws than they
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: have now. So is she blaming the police here?
• 23:26
  Speaker 6: Yeah, this is a problem when the Premier starts to
• 23:28
  Speaker 6: believe her own press releases rather than actually seeing what's
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: happening on the street, to say that they have the
• 23:34
  Speaker 6: resources that they need when there's over eleven hundred vacancies
• 23:37
  Speaker 6: across Victoria, forty three police stations are closed or reduced hours.
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: Just last week I went out to Murnda.
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: I went to the police station to do a video
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: with one of those machete bins you spoke about because
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: of the ridiculous cost of those bins. Murnda is a
• 23:52
  Speaker 6: twenty four hour police station supposed to be open for
• 23:55
  Speaker 6: the community twenty four hours a day, doors locked close,
• 23:58
  Speaker 6: sign on the window in the community, particularly out in
• 24:02
  Speaker 6: those areas like Dorien where they saw the car jacking
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: the other day. Two kids were in that car when
• 24:07
  Speaker 6: that car was stolen. I can't even imagine how it
• 24:09
  Speaker 6: would feel as a mother or father watching your car
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: drive away, knowing your kids are in there. How can
• 24:15
  Speaker 6: the premier not be seeing the same things we're seeing.
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: We're all seeing it on media, We're seeing it.
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: On social media. I'm not sure where the premier is looking.
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: And the fear is here exactly I said at the start,
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: she's believing her own media releases.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: Okay, so you mentioned the police are breaking ranks.
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: They are.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: We saw that over the weekend and we've seen other
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: comments from the new Chief commissioner. They are speaking out
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: and the police really do that. They are demanding that
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: the judiciary, the magistrates in particular, do more that we
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: don't have this revolving door of bail. Okay, say you're
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: the premier on day one, what can you do that'll
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: fix the crisis.
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: I'll be honest with you, Peter.
• 24:56
  Speaker 6: If it was day one and I was a premier tomorrow,
• 24:59
  Speaker 6: the first thing I'd do as I bring up Detective
• 25:01
  Speaker 6: Inspector Banks and say to him, how can we work
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: with you to make sure the laws are tougher. Because
• 25:06
  Speaker 6: obviously he knows what he's talking about, and the Chief
• 25:08
  Speaker 6: Commissioner has backed him in and said, that is what
• 25:11
  Speaker 6: Victoria Police are saying. That's what my former colleagues are
• 25:14
  Speaker 6: saying to me each and every day. The first thing
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: we do is introduce break bail, face jail, because we
• 25:19
  Speaker 6: know many of these crimes are being committed by people
• 25:22
  Speaker 6: who are on bail under the weaken bail.
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: System of the Allen Labor government.
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: The second thing we do is we ensure we get
• 25:28
  Speaker 6: those resources in to give the police the powers they
• 25:31
  Speaker 6: need and the staffing they need backfill those eleven hundred
• 25:34
  Speaker 6: vacancies as soon as possible. And most importantly, Peter, we
• 25:38
  Speaker 6: need to make sure that we've got this serious consequences
• 25:41
  Speaker 6: for the serious crimes that are happening on the streets
• 25:43
  Speaker 6: in Victoria.
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: That's what the police are calling for.
• 25:46
  Speaker 6: That's what we deliver so people can be safe in
• 25:48
  Speaker 6: the community.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: Okay, just quickly, because I know you have to go.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: I've talked to the top of the show about the
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: treaty legislation and the Victorian Voice legislation arriving in the
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: past Solomon, and the many hundreds of billions of dollars
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: that will be spent every single year for this indigenous body,
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: let alone compensation that may come down the track. They
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: tell me that you are opposing it, but will you
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: repeal it if you form government.
• 26:20
  Speaker 6: We are definitely opposing this legislation, and Peter, I know
• 26:23
  Speaker 6: that your listeners are well and truly aware of that,
• 26:25
  Speaker 6: and we'll be working through There's got to be an
• 26:27
  Speaker 6: alternative to close the gap here in Victoria without a
• 26:30
  Speaker 6: treaty and without a voice that the Victorians didn't commit
• 26:32
  Speaker 6: to or didn't have put to them for a mandated
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: the election.
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: But we do need to focus.
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: In the fact there is serious issues when it comes
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: to health, when it comes to the conditions for many
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: young Aboriginal kids who end up in government care or
• 26:44
  Speaker 6: those that end up in the justice system or committing suicide.
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: Our government will ensure that we can deliver the services
• 26:50
  Speaker 6: to close the gap.
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: That will be our absolute priority.
• 26:52
  Speaker 6: But no, Peter, we will not be supporting the treaty
• 26:55
  Speaker 6: here in Victorian Parliament.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Okay, but that's not the question. I'm asking you wh
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: you will repeal it. If you're not going to repeal it,
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: tell me that. If you're only thinking about whether you're
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: appealing it, let me know that as well. But give
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: me an answer on the question of whether you would
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: repeal it if it passes the parliament.
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 27:13
  Speaker 6: Yeah, As I said, Peter, and I only can say
• 27:15
  Speaker 6: we will have an alternative in there.
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: That is the best way to describe.
• 27:18
  Speaker 6: We'll have an alternative that says what can we do
• 27:21
  Speaker 6: to ensure we're delivering the outcomes for Aboriginal people here
• 27:24
  Speaker 6: in Victoria, because that'd be the priority. This government's been
• 27:27
  Speaker 6: in for ten years and haven't done it. So to
• 27:29
  Speaker 6: have the alternative, my instinct that would be that it
• 27:31
  Speaker 6: wouldn't be there in the future.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Right, I like that instinct. Let's make that reality. I'll
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: leave it there, Brad Batton, thank you all right. Just
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: before the break, not long ago. Before I came to
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: it, it was revealed that Brittany Higgins has been ordered by
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: the courts to pay eighty percent of Linda Reynold's legal
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: costs after she was found to have defamed the former minister.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: Now we don't know exactly how much this means Higgins
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: will have to pay, but it's thought to be in
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: the high hundreds of thousands of dollars. I have to
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: say on previous defamation actions I am aware of it's
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: potentially millions of dollars. What this means for her commonwealth payout, well,
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: that'll be interesting to see. Right after the break, the
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: panel joins me to analyze a whole lot of things,
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: including more on senator prices, migration comments, plus business leaders
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: said a pretty blunt busish to labor last night when
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: it comes to new taxes.
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: Welcome back to the courrent.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: Business leaders warned the Albanezer government against introducing any new taxes.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: The first let's bring in my panel former Liberal MPNA
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: Coole Flint and broadcaster Lucy Zelik.
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: Welcome.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: Let's start with a controversy about your Internet pajipa price
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: and those comments about migration Indian migrants in particular Lucy.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: Moving on from the substance of what she had to say,
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: how do you regard Susan Lee's leadership here and what
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: do you make of Alex Hawk's treatment of his colleague.
• 29:02
  Speaker 18: Well, to your first question, her leadership is really weak,
• 29:06
  Speaker 18: and I think that's been highlighted by various other people.
• 29:09
  Speaker 18: In this instance, I agreed very much so with the
• 29:11
  Speaker 18: comments that you made in your editorial earlier. It just
• 29:15
  Speaker 18: shows that she should have been the one to pick
• 29:18
  Speaker 18: up that phone. And in fact, you made that comment
• 29:20
  Speaker 18: off the back of your interview with Senator Price last
• 29:24
  Speaker 18: night where you said, say what you like about Julia Gillard.
• 29:27
  Speaker 18: At least she picked up the phone and called people directly.
• 29:30
  Speaker 18: In this instance, Susan Lee, who has of course said
• 29:34
  Speaker 18: that the comments that Senator Price made were wrong, didn't
• 29:38
  Speaker 18: have the courage or the nouns to make that phone
• 29:40
  Speaker 18: call herself. She set up her attack dog in Alex Hawk,
• 29:44
  Speaker 18: to do the dirty work for her. As to your
• 29:46
  Speaker 18: question about what do I make about his behavior, Well,
• 29:49
  Speaker 18: it's a he said, she said, issue, isn't it, Because
• 29:52
  Speaker 18: he's saying that he didn't break one of her staff,
• 29:54
  Speaker 18: as she's saying, well, yes, he did, and that the
• 29:56
  Speaker 18: conversation didn't just last for one to two minutes, it
• 29:59
  Speaker 18: went on for five six But the part Peter that
• 30:01
  Speaker 18: really rubbed me up the wrong way was when he said,
• 30:04
  Speaker 18: and this is probably why this also rubbed just into
• 30:07
  Speaker 18: Price Nampa, jimper Price up the wrong way because he
• 30:10
  Speaker 18: had the goal to say, very condescendingly, I thought she
• 30:13
  Speaker 18: should think about the advice I've given her. How about
• 30:17
  Speaker 18: the leader of the opposition call her and tell her
• 30:19
  Speaker 18: what she thinks of it herself. And what we're seeing
• 30:22
  Speaker 18: here is a very clear display in not just the
• 30:25
  Speaker 18: divide within this liberal party, but also the factions, the
• 30:29
  Speaker 18: moderates and the bedwetthers versus the conservatives.
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: It's all on show for us to see.
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: Well, Neck, you know the back room of politics in
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: camera better than anyone, you know, knowing what we've heard publicly,
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: knowing what you know goes on behind the closed doors.
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: What's your take?
• 30:50
  Speaker 11: Well, I wish that I was stayed behind closed doors, Peter, and.
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: I have no further comment.
• 30:56
  Speaker 11: On all of the personality is involved. What I would
• 30:59
  Speaker 11: like to say, and again you touched on this in
• 31:01
  Speaker 11: your introduction this evening. We need to see every single
• 31:05
  Speaker 11: sitting MP state teams far better engaging with all of
• 31:10
  Speaker 11: our multicultural communities. But not just that, we need to
• 31:14
  Speaker 11: see them better engaging with our suburbs, rule and regional areas.
• 31:17
  Speaker 11: If there's been any failure here, and we know what
• 31:20
  Speaker 11: the failure was at the last federal election, it was
• 31:22
  Speaker 11: our complete, almost complete lack of policy, particularly that spoke
• 31:26
  Speaker 11: to the Australian people to convince them that they should
• 31:30
  Speaker 11: vote us.
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: Back into government.
• 31:31
  Speaker 11: Now, what's really most disappointing about this particular issue is
• 31:35
  Speaker 11: that we have a migration crisis. We spoke about it
• 31:38
  Speaker 11: last week. Nothing's changed. Five hundred thousand migrants coming in
• 31:42
  Speaker 11: a year Peter under the Urban Eese Labor government, and
• 31:46
  Speaker 11: our nation cannot cope with these sorts of numbers. We
• 31:49
  Speaker 11: have the record housing crisis, health system in crisis across
• 31:53
  Speaker 11: the nation, a law and order crisis as we're tragically
• 31:56
  Speaker 11: seeing on a day by day basis, and infrastruct under pressure.
• 32:00
  Speaker 11: So these are the issues that should be focused on.
• 32:04
  Speaker 11: One engaging with all Australians, but particularly with our multicultural
• 32:09
  Speaker 11: communities from the Liberal Party perspective, and also formulating policy
• 32:14
  Speaker 11: that speaks to Australians so that they vote for us
• 32:17
  Speaker 11: at the next federal election.
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's go to just into Alan two issues here.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: I'll come to you Nicole in a moment on the treaty.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: But the machete crisis in Victoria. Two young boys, I
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: have to say it. They were hacked to death. It
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: is that brutal. In the description Lucy, things have gotten
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: so bad. Reports today in the front page of the
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: Herald Sign that migrant families, some of them are saying
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: they are sending their children back to boarding schools in
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: Africa rather than risk them turning up as gang members
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: in Australia.
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: What do you make of that?
• 32:53
  Speaker 18: I think it's just devastating and it's clearly an indictment
• 32:56
  Speaker 18: on what's happening in Victoria at the moment. Is that
• 32:59
  Speaker 18: these African communities feel as though it's safer to go
• 33:02
  Speaker 18: back to these particular countries over there where. Don't forget
• 33:06
  Speaker 18: there are also very high rates of organized crime that
• 33:09
  Speaker 18: exist there. But they feel safer within these countries and
• 33:13
  Speaker 18: that what they do in Australia. I mean, how many
• 33:15
  Speaker 18: years ago were we ever talking about machete crimes?
• 33:19
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 33:20
  Speaker 18: When were we talking about this, and it seems to
• 33:22
  Speaker 18: be that it's a rising issue and a topic that
• 33:25
  Speaker 18: nobody wants to touch on when it comes to just
• 33:27
  Speaker 18: exactly what ethnic and nationalities are involved in these organized
• 33:32
  Speaker 18: crime gangs. It seems to be the political kryptonite that
• 33:36
  Speaker 18: neither party want to touch. But it's a very important
• 33:38
  Speaker 18: issue because we need to highlight the fact that this crime,
• 33:41
  Speaker 18: this machete crime in particular, is on the rise. Why
• 33:44
  Speaker 18: and we need to be able to call this out
• 33:46
  Speaker 18: for what it actually is, and it is organized gangs
• 33:49
  Speaker 18: that haven't been dealt with. We've got a situation with
• 33:52
  Speaker 18: our police who are feeling very frustrated and underresourced.
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: A lot of these offenders are known to police.
• 33:58
  Speaker 18: And then on the other end of the spectrum, we
• 34:00
  Speaker 18: have terrible bail laws that are just seeing these reoffenders
• 34:03
  Speaker 18: back out on the streets within a couple of months
• 34:06
  Speaker 18: or not even at all and walking out on bail.
• 34:08
  Speaker 18: So this is a real problem that they need to address.
• 34:11
  Speaker 18: And you know, it just goes to show you that,
• 34:14
  Speaker 18: you know Victoria, which used to be this once great
• 34:17
  Speaker 18: state that was known for so many things, including the
• 34:19
  Speaker 18: social cohesion that existed amongst a multicultural state, as well
• 34:24
  Speaker 18: as the beautiful vibe and the energy and the opportunity
• 34:27
  Speaker 18: that was available there. Well, now all we know that
• 34:29
  Speaker 18: it's good for is Kredlin and good coffee.
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: And crime, funny of crime and debt.
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: I could go on and on and on. It's been
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: running to the ground. The very controversial treaty Billing Victoria
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: was introduced to the Parliament today. Nicole a whole lot
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: of forums in there. There's talk of a formal apology.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: I thought we had one with Kevin Rudd, but we're
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: back at it again, reframing the school curriculum with a
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: whole so called truth telling, but also this voice style body.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: It will pick up some seventeen million a year to
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: run its bureaucracy, and it was revealed in The Australian today,
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: will also have the power to decide who can and
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: who cannot claim to be aboriginal. Now we have a
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: High Court decision a Marbo test about indigenity. How does
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: Victorian legislation upend the High Court?
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: That's right, Peter.
• 35:27
  Speaker 11: So the Marbo test was to prove your aboriginality. You
• 35:31
  Speaker 11: have to be of aboriginal dissent. You have to self
• 35:34
  Speaker 11: identify as an Aboriginal and be accepted by the community
• 35:38
  Speaker 11: as well. It is very concerning that bureaucrats, let's assume,
• 35:43
  Speaker 11: may try to override a high court judgment. The spin
• 35:49
  Speaker 11: that has been put on this is that there's been
• 35:52
  Speaker 11: a very high level of self identification without the other
• 35:55
  Speaker 11: factors of proof, and also that this new test or
• 35:59
  Speaker 11: body or rules may have the ability to prosecute people
• 36:03
  Speaker 11: who falsely self identify. So maybe it could work, but
• 36:08
  Speaker 11: I think this is one that we need to watch
• 36:10
  Speaker 11: very very closely.
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: Peter.
• 36:11
  Speaker 11: I was quite surprised by the statistics just from Victoria
• 36:14
  Speaker 11: alone that showed that in a five year period and
• 36:18
  Speaker 11: an extra eighteen thousand people had identified as Aboriginals. So
• 36:24
  Speaker 11: let's keep a very close eye on this one and
• 36:26
  Speaker 11: see how it unfolds.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't for a minute think that the Victorian
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: labor government is going to take people out of those
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: Aboriginal numbers as opposed to get more people in. But
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: I'm pretty cynical down here in Victoria. I'll leave it there, girls,
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: thank you very much. After the break inside the top
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: of the town, the business didner last night at the PM, desperate,
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: desperate to plug his climate targets and what Australia is
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: your trillion dollar debt bill means for you. Welcome back
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: to the Coom Labour's overhaul of environmental laws. They can
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: see them set up so called green zones for go
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: for renewables. The first last night, the who's who at
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: the business world gathered in Sydney if the annual Business
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: Council of Australia dinner. Now all very affable between the
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: p and the Treasurer and the business leaders, but it
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: was made abundantly clear from those in the room that
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: they want no more taxes.
• 37:26
  Speaker 10: Any increases in taxes on business doesn't pass the test. Indeed,
• 37:30
  Speaker 10: even the specter of an increase in taxes makes it
• 37:33
  Speaker 10: very hard to underwrite long dated projects that require certainty.
• 37:38
  Speaker 10: We need to close down that conversation as quickly as possible.
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: Johnnyman Now for his analysis. Former Treasury Assistant Secretary David Pearl. David,
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: welcome to the program. I'm sure you've done this as well.
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: But I read the PM's speech. No real economic depth
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: in there, A big push obviously on those climate targets,
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: plenty of platitudes and yet to a roomful of our
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: bigguse corporates. There was no talk of reform. I mean
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: he's just mining the shop. I reckon economically mining the shop,
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: is Margaret that you would say. And if we stand
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: still in the current environment, I mean globally, we just
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: go backwards.
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: Don't we?
• 38:19
  Speaker 12: Yes, indeed we are. I thought it was an incredibly arrogant,
• 38:22
  Speaker 12: patronizing and delusional speech. It suggested to me, Peter that
• 38:27
  Speaker 12: the Prime Minister's suffering from post election hubris. I would
• 38:31
  Speaker 12: have thought that the business representatives would have responded with
• 38:34
  Speaker 12: hostility to him the way that farmers did a few
• 38:37
  Speaker 12: weeks ago, but they seem to lap it all up.
• 38:40
  Speaker 12: We're not only standing still, as you know, Peter. Our
• 38:42
  Speaker 12: living standards are going backwards at the fastest rate in
• 38:45
  Speaker 12: the OECD, proactivities back at twenty sixteen levels, and the
• 38:49
  Speaker 12: RBAS recently said that the economy can't grow by more
• 38:52
  Speaker 12: than two percent with that an inflationary crisis, and we've
• 38:56
  Speaker 12: got the government ratcheting up costs across the economy, so
• 38:59
  Speaker 12: we're actually going back backwards.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: So help me out here, because if there's no reform,
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: all is really pitching is heavy climate agenda, which is
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: paying for consumers and paying for business. He had something
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: to say on tax changes, but basically said they'll been
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: ongoing dialogues. We don't really know where the government stands.
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: They had the so called productivity round table, will nothing
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: much has come of that when companies in Australia are
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: paying well above the OCD average when it comes to
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: corporate tax. So why keep your business here if you
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: can take it overseas? I mean, where do we go
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: from here? Because right now the government's got this term
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: and potentially the next term, you would think they might
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: be a little more brave.
• 39:47
  Speaker 12: Well, I don't know whether i'd want them to be
• 39:49
  Speaker 12: brave because they believe Peter in big government, high taxation,
• 39:53
  Speaker 12: universal welfare and a green utopia. So effectively they're trying
• 39:59
  Speaker 12: to imp clement the failed Biden administration agenda, which was
• 40:02
  Speaker 12: rejected by the Americans, and I think if the Australian
• 40:04
  Speaker 12: people had had a real alternative in March, they would
• 40:08
  Speaker 12: have perhaps been interested in alternative here. So I don't
• 40:13
  Speaker 12: know where the bravery is what we want. I think
• 40:17
  Speaker 12: Albanezi is very committed to taking the economy down that track,
• 40:21
  Speaker 12: and we're seeing in Western Europe today Peter with the
• 40:24
  Speaker 12: French government falling and Kirs Starmer's government in deep trouble
• 40:29
  Speaker 12: with bond markets. What happens if we pursue this path.
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: Let's pick up some comments are pmade about so called
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: climate walls last night.
• 40:41
  Speaker 16: The damage done to Australis international relationships and to our
• 40:45
  Speaker 16: economy by the ideological conflict of the climate wars, a
• 40:50
  Speaker 16: decade in which energy policy became uncthered from reality.
• 40:54
  Speaker 7: This is an industry.
• 40:55
  Speaker 16: Don't have that luxury of pretending.
• 40:57
  Speaker 7: That change is not occurring.
• 41:00
  Speaker 18: To deal with the real world.
• 41:01
  Speaker 16: And you have to be able to plan for the
• 41:04
  Speaker 16: long term.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: How can we talk about the damage to our international
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: relationships when almost seventy percent of the world's biggermitters are
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: not even in half of these climate agreements. No one
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: telling the United States, or India or China, indeed Russia
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: that they've got damage to their international relationships because of
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: lack of cow tawing to climate targets. Did the room
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: buy stuff like that or will they buy stuff like that?
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: Well?
• 41:34
  Speaker 12: I thought the only person on tethered from reality was
• 41:36
  Speaker 12: the Prime Minister and in fact his whole government. They
• 41:39
  Speaker 12: continue with the life frankly that the entire world is
• 41:42
  Speaker 12: committed to net zero and you've just made a clear Peter,
• 41:44
  Speaker 12: and anybody that read the newspaper internationally knows that most
• 41:49
  Speaker 12: of the world is not signed up. And even in
• 41:52
  Speaker 12: countries like Britain, which we're pursuing that agenda with more determination,
• 41:57
  Speaker 12: Kistarm is now admitting that emission austerity comes at the
• 42:02
  Speaker 12: cost of growth, and he's actually restructured his ministry to
• 42:05
  Speaker 12: reflect that. So why is business lapping this up? It's
• 42:11
  Speaker 12: a good question. The Business Council of Australia in the
• 42:14
  Speaker 12: early nineties was actually very skeptical about cutting emissions in Australia.
• 42:19
  Speaker 12: It was aware that there was a big economic cost.
• 42:22
  Speaker 12: Now they're lapping it up. Now they're supporting it. And
• 42:25
  Speaker 12: having read some of the Business Council's papers, including its
• 42:29
  Speaker 12: costings on netzero investment, it's clear that they are looking
• 42:33
  Speaker 12: for subsidies, renewable subsidies for their members. They see the
• 42:38
  Speaker 12: opportunity of massive guaranteed returns over decades and that's behind
• 42:45
  Speaker 12: their core for more climate ambition. Their modeling report did
• 42:49
  Speaker 12: not acknowledge any economic or competitive versus cost of emissions reduction,
• 42:55
  Speaker 12: which is scandalous when you think about it. Doubling down
• 43:00
  Speaker 12: on supporting ripping up the Environment Protection Act, which is
• 43:03
  Speaker 12: going to disempower rural communities, and they're quite happy for
• 43:07
  Speaker 12: our energy system to be rendered even more unreliable and expensive.
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: I'll leave it there, David. I'll remind people at home
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: you are a former senior bureaucrat and Assistant secretary in
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: the Department of Treasury. It doesn't get more senior than that,
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: and you were speaking out as frankly as you are
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: on the program.
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: Thank you for that. I think Australia needs more of it.
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: Thanks David Pearl.
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: After the rate the RBA, the Reserve Bank pushes demand
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: credit card charges. I love that, but the banks aren't
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: happy and there's talk there will soon cop charges if
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: we want to pay with cash.
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: Welcome back, laurish Is.
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: I want to get you across before we end the
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: night tonight. But to do that, I'll bring in my
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: panel senior fellow and chief economists now the Institute of
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: Public Affairs out of Crichton, and the CEO of the
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: Page Recess Center, Jared Holland.
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: Welcome, gentlemen. Put your economics hat.
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: On here for me, if you can, please, Adam, I
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: want to go to this report today, we're all tapping,
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: as you know, open your wallet.
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: Not many of us have got cash in there.
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: So the Reserve Bank says it wants to ban the
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: practice of these surcharges on credit and debit cards. Banks
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: are not happy. Well, we're not surprised about that. I
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: think it's ridiculous that we hit with surcharges on a
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: debit card. But there's also this talk yesterday that if
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: you start to pay, or if you pay with cash,
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: you will start to face a fee for that.
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: What the heck's going on?
• 44:38
  Speaker 19: Well, Peter, I would say that this is a good
• 44:39
  Speaker 19: example of bureaucrats not really knowing what they're doing. This
• 44:42
  Speaker 19: is a young grad. Back in two thousand and three,
• 44:44
  Speaker 19: I was actually working on the first round of credit
• 44:46
  Speaker 19: card reforms, and of course they allowed merchants to searcharge
• 44:48
  Speaker 19: for the first time, and so this is basically a
• 44:51
  Speaker 19: complete reversal. The thinking then was that there should be
• 44:53
  Speaker 19: some sort of surcharge because credit cards are an expensive
• 44:56
  Speaker 19: form of payment, debit cards are very cheap, and the
• 44:59
  Speaker 19: cheapest of all is cash, and there had been a
• 45:01
  Speaker 19: subsidy going from cash users to credit card users, basically
• 45:04
  Speaker 19: so that was the thinking behind what happened back in
• 45:08
  Speaker 19: two thousand and three.
• 45:08
  Speaker 7: So now this is a complete reversal.
• 45:10
  Speaker 19: The problem was, of course, some merchants had been massively
• 45:13
  Speaker 19: overcharging you know, three percent, four percent, things like that,
• 45:16
  Speaker 19: and that was crazy.
• 45:16
  Speaker 7: That was unfair.
• 45:18
  Speaker 19: So look, I think this is this is unusual, and
• 45:20
  Speaker 19: I think what the Reserve Bank should have done really
• 45:22
  Speaker 19: is just to put a cap on the charge that
• 45:25
  Speaker 19: merchants can charge, say for credit cards.
• 45:28
  Speaker 7: But they haven't done that. They have banned it. And
• 45:29
  Speaker 7: as you pointed out.
• 45:31
  Speaker 19: There could be a charge for cash, which was the
• 45:33
  Speaker 19: cheapest form of payment back in two thousand and three.
• 45:36
  Speaker 19: So I don't know why there should be a surcharge
• 45:39
  Speaker 19: for cash. And in fact, the conspiracy theorist in me
• 45:41
  Speaker 19: says that they don't want people using cash because they
• 45:43
  Speaker 19: want to get everyone over to digital currencies.
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: I think you're right there. I think you're absolutely right there.
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: Let's go to these green go zones, Jared. The government
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: pushing its eighty two percent renewable power target about twenty
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: thirty is pulling out all stoff. So they're going to
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: go harder and faster to get done in the next
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: four or five years. That they haven't done in the
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: last ten And I want to create these regional go
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: zones and no go zones for these big renewable projects. Well,
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: i'll tell you what, you would hate to have your
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: farm in one of these go zones because I suspect
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: out goes all the planning restrictions and you'll just have
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: to live with what they put on your land.
• 46:28
  Speaker 5: That's exactly right, Peter.
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: And I was listening to your conversation with David Pearl earlier,
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: and nothing could log jam productivity more than subsidizing and
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: underwriting projects that are unproductive, huge sinks of cash between
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: the renewables, between these transmission lines as well. But to
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: add to that, exactly as you've mentioned, farmers don't want it.
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: You just have to look at your center Allen's reception
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: at the Bush Summit last week to get the kind
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: of feeling and sentiment that we are feeling out here
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: in the Bush. The fact is communities aren't being consulted.
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: When communities are consulted and they say we don't want it,
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: they get bulldozed over. There's no plan for reathability this land.
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: There is no plan for recycling these like quite toxic
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: and dirty elements that are in these panels. There's no
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: plan for what to do with these massive concrete plints
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: that hold these wind turbines when they're done. The only
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: plan is to pull those over the bush. I think
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: they factored well, there's no boats in the regions. They
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: all vote National and so this is what's happening to
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: our regional communities and it's devastating and we have to
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: stop it at any.
• 47:24
  Speaker 7: Way we can.
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: And I'm talking about the revelations the last couple of
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: days about the booming tobacco black markert the impact obviously
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: those really steep tax hipes, and also I guess my concern.
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: I don't smoke, but it's a legal product until such time.
• 47:42
  Speaker 3: As it's ever banned.
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: Then you know, all these restrictions to me seem crazy.
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: It's either in or it's out. But we're making it
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: harder for ourselves with the crims.
• 47:55
  Speaker 7: Yeah, look, that's certainly right.
• 47:56
  Speaker 19: I think this is the biggest, basically the biggest public policy.
• 47:59
  Speaker 7: I would say in Australian history.
• 48:01
  Speaker 19: The federal government's lost nine billion dollars a year of revenue.
• 48:04
  Speaker 19: I think smoking rates have probably gone up. You'd actually
• 48:07
  Speaker 19: say there's criminal cartels now throughout the country, which are
• 48:10
  Speaker 19: going to be very hard to dislodge.
• 48:13
  Speaker 7: It's just a disaster.
• 48:13
  Speaker 19: Basically, the government should be harving i think roughly the
• 48:16
  Speaker 19: excise rate to drive the crims out of business, but
• 48:20
  Speaker 19: because of their arrogance and hubris, they are very unlucky
• 48:22
  Speaker 19: to do that. They're probably going to spend more money
• 48:23
  Speaker 19: on enforcement, but it's not going to work.
• 48:25
  Speaker 7: So you're sure.
• 48:26
  Speaker 19: In the prohibition in the United States in the twenties,
• 48:28
  Speaker 19: you know, basically once these games are established, they are
• 48:31
  Speaker 19: extremely hard to dislodge and you just basically have to
• 48:33
  Speaker 19: get you have to get rid of the prohibition, which in.
• 48:35
  Speaker 7: This case is extremely high excise rates.
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's shocking. You're right, public policify, youre rit large.
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: Oliver There, gents, Adam and Jarreed, thank you. That's it
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: for me, see you tomorrow night. Here's James uc Ferson.