Transcript

Credlin | 1 January · Credlin

0:02
Speaker 1: Peter Kredlin live on Sky News Australia.
0:07
Speaker 2: Good evening and welcome to the program. I'm Jamie Rodgers
0:11
Speaker 2: in the chair for Peter Kredlin. Coming up tonight. Calls
0:16
Speaker 2: for a Royal commission into the Bondaye terror attack and
0:19
Speaker 2: growing louder with the Human Rights Commission joining the voices
0:24
Speaker 2: now demanding answers. Ggping doubles down on plans to reunify
0:29
Speaker 2: China and Taiwan. What are the implications for regional security
0:34
Speaker 2: and what is causing a stir in one of the
0:37
Speaker 2: state's physical education school syllabus. But First Australia has rung
0:44
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty six with a mix of hope, defiance
0:48
Speaker 2: and unanswered questions across the country. Last night, Australians gathered
0:52
Speaker 2: to welcome a new year. Fireworks lit the sky, Families
0:57
Speaker 2: and friends came together. Communities stood shoulder to shoulder. But
1:02
Speaker 2: this was not a carefree celebration. It was one of resilience.
1:07
Speaker 2: We are just weeks after the Bondaie attack and with
1:09
Speaker 2: a visible police presence overnight reminding us that the country
1:13
Speaker 2: is still grappling with shock, grief and fear, Australians showed
1:18
Speaker 2: up anyway, the harbor bridge was lit white to commemorate
1:22
Speaker 2: victims of the massacre, and a manora projected onto the
1:26
Speaker 2: pylons to remember the fifteen people who were killed during
1:29
Speaker 2: the terrorist attack.
1:31
Speaker 3: I think when you have a look at the end
1:33
Speaker 3: of twenty twenty five, we're all being sad and with
1:35
Speaker 3: the tragedy that happened there at Bondai, But I think
1:38
Speaker 3: it's really important that as a community and as a society,
1:41
Speaker 3: we continue to show that we are resilient, we are strong,
1:44
Speaker 3: and we're going to continue to support one another. This
1:48
Speaker 3: was about a showing of the community being there for
1:51
Speaker 3: one another during what has been a very difficult time.
1:55
Speaker 2: And showing up in droves tells you something about this country.
1:59
Speaker 2: We don't retreat, we don't hide, but we do expect answers.
2:04
Speaker 2: Calls for a Commonwealth Royal commission into the terror attack
2:07
Speaker 2: are not fading, they are growing louder. Australia's Human Rights
2:12
Speaker 2: Commissioner Lorraine Finlay has stown her weight behind one, saying
2:16
Speaker 2: the Richardson Review will examine our national security framework, but
2:21
Speaker 2: understanding the deeper causes of violence is critical. The bond
2:25
Speaker 2: Eye terrorist attack was driven by anti Semitism. Confronting that
2:29
Speaker 2: directly must be a national priority. A federal royal commission
2:34
Speaker 2: is essential to fully understand what happened and ensure it
2:38
Speaker 2: never happens again. Yet the Prime Minister continues to refuse
2:43
Speaker 2: to listen. Here he was today when asked whether Miss
2:47
Speaker 2: Finlay would face any repercussions for her comments.
2:50
Speaker 4: No.
2:51
Speaker 5: People are entitled to their opinion. What we have is
2:54
Speaker 5: a four part plan. The first is of course, to
2:57
Speaker 5: deal with the perpetrators. One of those is dead, the
2:59
Speaker 5: other has been charged and needs to go through the
3:02
Speaker 5: legal system. The second issue is the Newshap Whales Royal
3:05
Speaker 5: Commission of the third is the Richeson Review. And the fourth,
3:09
Speaker 5: of course as Jillian Siegel's report the Envoy on Anti Semitism.
3:14
Speaker 5: We have done a range of measures already as a result.
3:18
Speaker 3: Of that work.
3:20
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, it's been revealed that the Australian National Imam's Council
3:25
Speaker 2: has attempted to prevent Israel's President Isaac Hertzog from visiting
3:30
Speaker 2: the site of the Bondai terror attack. President Herzog was
3:34
Speaker 2: asked by Australia to stand with Jewish Australians and honor
3:38
Speaker 2: the victims now that should not be controversial at a
3:41
Speaker 2: moment like this. Efforts to block that show of solidarity
3:45
Speaker 2: deserves to be called out, and the Prime Minister should
3:49
Speaker 2: use this moment to be clear to stand with the
3:51
Speaker 2: Jewish community and condemn the Imam's Council's intervention. The question
3:57
Speaker 2: is whether he will do so. Today Sidney Morning Herald
4:01
Speaker 2: Anthony Albanesi acknowledged the scale of the threat posed by
4:05
Speaker 2: terror and extremism, saying the horrific attack on Australia's Jewish
4:10
Speaker 2: community at Bondai Beach is terrible proof that our nation
4:14
Speaker 2: is not immune from the evils of terrorism and extremism.
4:18
Speaker 2: Our task is to confront and defeat the threat of
4:21
Speaker 2: anti Semitism together as Australians, to meet this test of
4:26
Speaker 2: our national character by holding true to the best of
4:29
Speaker 2: our national character. It is welcome to hear the Prime
4:33
Speaker 2: Minister use words like terrorism and extremism, but words they're
4:38
Speaker 2: not enough. Prime Minister, this moment calls for serious action
4:44
Speaker 2: and that requires more than the Richardson Review alone. That
4:48
Speaker 2: review can and should proceed, but it must work alongside
4:52
Speaker 2: a Commonwealth Royal Commission, not instead of one. Millions of
5:00
Speaker 2: Australians leadership is also being judged in very practical terms
5:05
Speaker 2: by the changes hitting household budgets.
5:08
Speaker 6: As the new year begins.
5:09
Speaker 2: From today, the energy rebate ends, and that will be
5:13
Speaker 2: felt immediately. The three hundred dollars rebate was offered to
5:17
Speaker 2: households during the twenty twenty four to twenty five financial
5:20
Speaker 2: year as temporary cost of living relief, and then extended
5:24
Speaker 2: back in July last year. Writing in The Australian Financial
5:28
Speaker 2: Review Today, economist Stephen Anthony notes that the Australian Energy
5:33
Speaker 2: Market Commission has effectively abandoned its promise that renewables would
5:37
Speaker 2: drive power prices down. It now expects real electricity prices
5:42
Speaker 2: to rise by thirteen percent this decade, and even that,
5:47
Speaker 2: he argues, may be optimistic. We don't need to speculate
5:51
Speaker 2: about where this leads. We only need to look to
5:54
Speaker 2: South Australia. It is the poster child for high renewable penetration,
5:59
Speaker 2: and yet it has the highest power prices in the country.
6:03
Speaker 2: We are a long way away from that two hundred
6:06
Speaker 2: and seventy five dollars reduction and power bills by twenty
6:10
Speaker 2: twenty five that was promised repeatedly by this Labor government.
6:14
Speaker 2: At the center of this policy is Labour's Climate and
6:17
Speaker 2: Energy Minister Chris Bowen, the architect of the government's most
6:22
Speaker 2: ambitious and politically contentious plan to almost entirely replace Australia's
6:28
Speaker 2: aging coal fired power stations with renewal by the end
6:31
Speaker 2: of the decade. Opposition leader Susan Lee had this to
6:35
Speaker 2: say about the Energy minister.
6:38
Speaker 7: We've got a part time energy minister managing a part
6:40
Speaker 7: time energy grid. We've got a prime minister who insists
6:44
Speaker 7: that energy is being managed responsibly and it's the right policy,
6:49
Speaker 7: but it's not. And the effect of those rising energy
6:53
Speaker 7: bills is affecting every single part of the family's budget.
6:59
Speaker 2: And Susan Lee isn't wrong there. And according to the
7:02
Speaker 2: Page Research Center, around ninety five percent of australians emissions
7:06
Speaker 2: reduction since two thousand and five have not come from
7:09
Speaker 2: cleaner energy, but from land use restrictions limiting how farmers
7:14
Speaker 2: can use their own land. At the same time, every
7:17
Speaker 2: major smelter or refinery in Australia is now either subsidized
7:22
Speaker 2: or under review, placing thousands of jobs at risk. Clear
7:26
Speaker 2: evidence the market knows renewables cannot yet replace them. If
7:31
Speaker 2: Australia can't deliver affordable power for heavy industry, we won't
7:35
Speaker 2: just lose those jobs, we'll miss out entirely on the
7:39
Speaker 2: AI revolution and the economic growth it promises. Energy underpins
7:44
Speaker 2: everything in a modern economy, from homes and hospitals to
7:49
Speaker 2: industry and transport. When power is affordable and reliable, living
7:54
Speaker 2: standards rise. When it isn't, productivity falls, investment slows.
8:00
Speaker 6: And households pay the price.
8:02
Speaker 2: Right now, Australia is running a real time experiment.
8:06
Speaker 6: With its energy system.
8:08
Speaker 2: We once enjoyed some of the cheapest electricity in the
8:11
Speaker 2: world because our system was built by engineers, not ideology.
8:18
Speaker 2: Australia still has time to change course, but that responsibility
8:22
Speaker 2: now rests with Anthony Albanzi and his Energy Minister Chris Bowen,
8:26
Speaker 2: and their willingness to confront the truth and change direction
8:30
Speaker 2: before the damage deepens. Well joining me now is the
8:38
Speaker 2: LMPMP Garth, Hamilton Garth, thanks so much for joining me tonight.
8:44
Speaker 2: Anthony Albernizi has written an opinion piece in today's SMH
8:48
Speaker 2: is marking one hundred and twenty five years since federation.
8:52
Speaker 2: There are a few things within this opinion piece that
8:54
Speaker 2: stood out for me. He wrote in there that when
8:57
Speaker 2: the time came to design coat of arms for our
8:59
Speaker 2: new federation, they didn't use the platypusse but instead opted
9:03
Speaker 2: for two other iconic animals unique to our continent, which
9:07
Speaker 2: is the kangaroo and the emu. Neither of them go backwards,
9:10
Speaker 2: they only move forward, just like Australia. And I read
9:14
Speaker 2: that and I thought, he really seems to be doing
9:17
Speaker 2: everything to make Australia go backwards.
9:20
Speaker 6: So I was very.
9:21
Speaker 2: Unsure why he was promoting about us moving forwards using
9:25
Speaker 2: those animals.
9:27
Speaker 4: Well, by any measure, we are going backwards. But what
9:29
Speaker 4: an awful piece it was. I mean, i'd say it
9:31
Speaker 4: was Ai Slot, but it's worse than that. I think
9:33
Speaker 4: he actually wrote it. It's absolutely terrible. He's missing all
9:36
Speaker 4: of the big issues that are affecting Australians. The increased
9:41
Speaker 4: immigration levels we've seen that have impacted our housing, the
9:45
Speaker 4: energy bills that continue to go up after his government
9:47
Speaker 4: promised that they would go down by two hundred and
9:49
Speaker 4: seventy five dollars. No mention of any of that, no
9:51
Speaker 4: mention of the pain we're feeling. Just this undergraduate, almost
9:55
Speaker 4: year ten level essay that he's put together in a
9:59
Speaker 4: desperate attempt, a desperate desperate attempt to divert our attention
10:03
Speaker 4: away from his inept handling of the Bondi massacre.
10:08
Speaker 2: And I must say, when you're just were talking about
10:10
Speaker 2: that two hundred and seventy five power bill reduction, which
10:13
Speaker 2: was almost used on repeat when they were talking about it,
10:16
Speaker 2: there's no mention anymore about the fact that power prices
10:19
Speaker 2: are going through the roof. It's almost just a I know,
10:22
Speaker 2: we're not going to talk about that anymore. Let's just
10:24
Speaker 2: move on. Stop reminding us that that's what we said.
10:26
Speaker 2: It's almost like we frustrate them when we try and
10:28
Speaker 2: bring to light some of the things that they said
10:31
Speaker 2: back in the day that aren't coming to fruition.
10:34
Speaker 4: Well, mister Albanzi and his government are relying upon the
10:37
Speaker 4: Isral and people playing this game of pretend with him.
10:39
Speaker 4: We did it. Unfortunately, during twenty twenty five, we pretended
10:42
Speaker 4: everything was okay. When mister Bowen told us that energy
10:45
Speaker 4: prices were going down, we all pretended we all said okay.
10:48
Speaker 4: When mister Albanesi told us that immigration wasn't impacting housing availability,
10:53
Speaker 4: the media all pretended that was the case. I think
10:56
Speaker 4: twenty twenty six is kind of the year where we
10:57
Speaker 4: stopped pretending and we called mister Albanzi out and on
11:00
Speaker 4: these big issues he's going to be found wanting.
11:02
Speaker 2: And one of these big issues, Garth is this Bondai
11:06
Speaker 2: massacre and calls for a royal commission. We've now seen
11:09
Speaker 2: the former Army chief has joined into the calls.
11:14
Speaker 6: Do you think.
11:14
Speaker 2: Alberzi will actually start to listen and launch this royal commission.
11:18
Speaker 2: He's got people coming from all different angles and he's
11:22
Speaker 2: just being so stubborn about launching one.
11:26
Speaker 4: Mister Albanez, he had the opportunity to lead on this
11:28
Speaker 4: issue and if he had I would have been one
11:30
Speaker 4: of the first behind him. This was an opportunity that
11:32
Speaker 4: Australia looked was Prime Minister to lead us and he
11:34
Speaker 4: chose not to do that. But there is one group
11:35
Speaker 4: of Australians that he will listen to, and that's the
11:37
Speaker 4: seventeen new Labour MPs who came in at.
11:39
Speaker 8: The last election.
11:41
Speaker 4: Nobody wants to be a one term politician, I can
11:43
Speaker 4: assure you, and they've just spent Christmas listening to their electorates.
11:46
Speaker 4: Tell them they are wrong, Tell them that they want
11:48
Speaker 4: a Royal commission. Tell them they are upset. Mister Alberzi
11:51
Speaker 4: is handling this issue terribly. They are the ones who
11:53
Speaker 4: are going to be putting pressure from mister Albanzi, and
11:55
Speaker 4: they're the only people he's going to listen to because
11:57
Speaker 4: he's going to need their support to continue in his role.
12:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're spot on there, because I think at times
12:03
Speaker 2: when the Prime Minister has been avoiding these calls for
12:07
Speaker 2: the Royal Commission, he's putting political reasons instead of national interests.
12:12
Speaker 6: First, is he failing to.
12:14
Speaker 2: Treat this massacre as a national tragedy by not calling one.
12:19
Speaker 4: You just called it out exactly as it is. He's
12:21
Speaker 4: treating the Bondai massacre sadly as a political issue and
12:25
Speaker 4: not an issue of safety or national security, which he
12:28
Speaker 4: should be. He's made this a political issue and he's
12:30
Speaker 4: digging his heels in. And this is a prime minister
12:33
Speaker 4: who has called for every single Royal commission that has
12:36
Speaker 4: gone by in the past, and many of them been
12:39
Speaker 4: justified calls. But on this one, on this particular issue,
12:43
Speaker 4: he's choosing to make it a political issue. And I
12:46
Speaker 4: think we all know why. We know why labor have
12:49
Speaker 4: made a political stance on the basis of immigration, on
12:53
Speaker 4: the basis of religion. They have made that stance and
12:55
Speaker 4: they know that this is going to hurt them.
12:58
Speaker 2: Well, Garth, there was an extremely concerning report in The
13:01
Speaker 2: Australian that National Imams Council attempted to stop Israel's President
13:06
Speaker 2: Isaac Hertzog from visiting the site of Bonzai's terror attack. Now,
13:11
Speaker 2: first of all, when I was reading that, I just thought,
13:13
Speaker 2: what right did they have to dictate who does and
13:17
Speaker 2: doesn't come into this country.
13:20
Speaker 4: Well, the reason that rubbed with you, and it rubs
13:22
Speaker 4: with many Australians, is that a long long time ago
13:25
Speaker 4: in the West we separated church and state. We made
13:28
Speaker 4: that separation for the benefit of all citizens, and we've
13:31
Speaker 4: been very successful at making that separation. I would ask
13:35
Speaker 4: you to consider any situation whether Catholic Church or any
13:38
Speaker 4: other church would make a similar request. I think this
13:42
Speaker 4: is an extraordinary step from the Imam's Council. I think
13:46
Speaker 4: it's a demonstration that we potentially have an issue broader
13:50
Speaker 4: than just radical Islam in Australia. I think that mainstream
13:54
Speaker 4: Islam really needs to consider why we separate church and state,
13:58
Speaker 4: and why we've done so for so much years and
14:00
Speaker 4: why our civilization is so much better for having done so.
14:04
Speaker 2: And I think as well, the timing of this is
14:06
Speaker 2: just beyond shameful. Should the Prime Minister call this out
14:11
Speaker 2: and then that would further highlight that he does support
14:14
Speaker 2: the Jewish community.
14:16
Speaker 4: Well, a leader of some conviction would say some of
14:18
Speaker 4: the words that I just said to you to them
14:20
Speaker 4: and point out to them that they've made a strong mistake.
14:23
Speaker 4: He could do it privately and give them that council,
14:25
Speaker 4: or he could do it publicly. I don't care either way.
14:27
Speaker 4: That's what the Prime ministers should do to lead this country,
14:30
Speaker 4: all Australians, every Australian through this very very difficult period.
14:35
Speaker 6: Garth.
14:35
Speaker 2: There was a remarkable story in today's news. A British
14:39
Speaker 2: hacker has won an Australian visa by infiltrating one of
14:44
Speaker 2: the government's websites.
14:46
Speaker 6: Can you tell us a little bit about this and
14:48
Speaker 6: how on earth it's possible?
14:50
Speaker 4: Look, I'm in the dark as most people are on this.
14:52
Speaker 4: This is an extraordinary story. I mean, the comical side
14:56
Speaker 4: of it is wow, what a great way to get
14:58
Speaker 4: a job. But the other part, goodness me our systems
15:02
Speaker 4: are that vulnerable. I mean, obviously there's always going to
15:06
Speaker 4: be vulnerabilities there to be exploited, but for this to
15:08
Speaker 4: happen so publicly, I think there's a concern here that
15:11
Speaker 4: it sends a message around the world around the nature
15:14
Speaker 4: of our systems that is really troubling. Whether vulnerable or
15:18
Speaker 4: not sending that message, Goodness me, it's not what we
15:21
Speaker 4: should be sending to the world.
15:22
Speaker 6: Well, that's exactly what I was about to ask you.
15:24
Speaker 2: Do you think this will now send off more copycats
15:28
Speaker 2: of this nature who can see that it's quite easy
15:31
Speaker 2: to hack our systems and a way of getting a visa.
15:34
Speaker 4: Well, it does seem like this is setting up a flare,
15:36
Speaker 4: doesn't it, and alerting people that there are vulnerabilities here
15:39
Speaker 4: to be exploited. One would really hope that that's not
15:41
Speaker 4: the case. There is another issue here that I think
15:44
Speaker 4: is important. It probably does show, I know, it's a
15:48
Speaker 4: weird way of showing it, the importance of getting the
15:50
Speaker 4: right skilled people through migration. This is probably one of
15:52
Speaker 4: the cases where this is someone we really need that
15:55
Speaker 4: was what those vulnerabilities are.
15:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're absolutely right there. Thank you so much for
16:01
Speaker 2: your time tonight. We'll speak to you again soon. Well,
16:05
Speaker 2: let's bring in our panel now, and I'm joined by
16:08
Speaker 2: the Institute of Public Affairs Chief Economist and Senior Fellow
16:12
Speaker 2: Adam Crichton and author at The Spectator Terry Barnes. Welcome
16:16
Speaker 2: to you both. Terry, I'll start with you. The ABC's
16:21
Speaker 2: New Year's Eve broadcasts has again come under fire. I
16:24
Speaker 2: always find social media really commentary, but they were criticizing
16:28
Speaker 2: things from the music lineup to the timing of the
16:31
Speaker 2: midnight countdown. What did you make of the coverage?
16:37
Speaker 9: I'm going to have to make a confession here, Jamie.
16:40
Speaker 9: I think I had absolute confidence that the coverage.
16:44
Speaker 8: Was going to be crap.
16:46
Speaker 9: So I went to bed at ten thirty, was asleep
16:48
Speaker 9: by e liv and I didn't wake up till the morning.
16:49
Speaker 9: I saw the highlights of the fireworks, which were spectacular,
16:53
Speaker 9: but in terms of the coverage, I did sort of
16:55
Speaker 9: see snippets online today and look, it's tire. It's just
17:01
Speaker 9: the same old, same old, year after year. A bit
17:03
Speaker 9: of ABC patting on the back self congratulation, but really,
17:07
Speaker 9: I mean, you can see tribute hacks at a pub
17:09
Speaker 9: that are better than what they served up last night.
17:12
Speaker 2: I mean, look, I was a fan of Melanie Ce,
17:15
Speaker 2: so I didn't mind seeing her on there. But people
17:17
Speaker 2: kept saying, am I watching a two thousand version of
17:20
Speaker 2: Welcoming in the New Year?
17:22
Speaker 6: But Adam, I compare.
17:24
Speaker 2: Last night's scenes of our harbor and people camping out
17:28
Speaker 2: overnight or very early in the morning, and I was
17:31
Speaker 2: then watching today's New Year celebration for New York. People
17:36
Speaker 2: in Times Square arrive at four o'clock in the afternoon
17:40
Speaker 2: and they're not allowed passouts, so there's no access to
17:43
Speaker 2: any bathrooms, and the adults are wearing nappies or you
17:46
Speaker 2: just hold on the entire time. I thought, Gee, in
17:49
Speaker 2: Sydney we're quite luxurious. We at least offer porterloose. Would
17:53
Speaker 2: you go on brave freezing conditioners conditions standing in a
17:57
Speaker 2: nappy to bring in the New Year?
18:00
Speaker 10: No, certainly not. I mean I lived in the US
18:02
Speaker 10: for four years and I certainly never bothered to do
18:04
Speaker 10: a New York New Year's Eve.
18:05
Speaker 8: Just the weather, of.
18:06
Speaker 11: Course, is just awful.
18:07
Speaker 10: And you know, of course in Australia we're so spoiled,
18:09
Speaker 10: at least in Sydney with our fireworks, so they just
18:12
Speaker 10: aren't that great. Really, In New York. I think it's
18:14
Speaker 10: much better to stay inside and be warm. But just
18:17
Speaker 10: on the ABC's companies, just just briefly. Also, I thought
18:19
Speaker 10: it was very odd on the spy schools that we
18:21
Speaker 10: had a you know that basically taxpayers were paying for
18:23
Speaker 10: a foreign you know, foreign presenter, a foreign singer. But
18:26
Speaker 10: it should have been Australian acts, I think. But but
18:29
Speaker 10: you know, ratings are falling, I think on the ABC,
18:31
Speaker 10: so it matters less. I think people are using social media,
18:34
Speaker 10: using Sky of course to see what's going on, so yeah,
18:38
Speaker 10: it matters less.
18:39
Speaker 2: Well, still on the coverage, Adam, what did you make
18:42
Speaker 2: that Play School made an appearance?
18:44
Speaker 6: I thought it was odd, especially because it was not
18:45
Speaker 6: about nine forty five, but most kids are asleep.
18:48
Speaker 10: I mean, well, Play School is an Australian institution, I think.
18:52
Speaker 10: I mean, I watched it when I was a kid.
18:54
Speaker 10: Your sixty years is a very impressive milestone. But I
18:57
Speaker 10: don't see why it had to be celebrated on that evening,
18:59
Speaker 10: and certainly not at ten o'clock, so you know, the
19:03
Speaker 10: quality of productions obviously declining there at Please see.
19:07
Speaker 2: Well, Victoria is now officially in its election year and
19:12
Speaker 2: both leaders today we say. They unofficially launched their campaigns
19:15
Speaker 2: on social media. Let's have a look at snippets from both.
19:20
Speaker 11: I'm looking forward to hearing from you on what you
19:23
Speaker 11: want for your future and what it.
19:25
Speaker 6: Means to you to be Victorian.
19:27
Speaker 11: It's going to be a big year and I'm full
19:29
Speaker 11: of hope and excitement on what we can achieve together.
19:33
Speaker 12: We've done so much together in twenty twenty five, delivering
19:36
Speaker 12: real help with the cost of living, opening new schools
19:39
Speaker 12: and hospitals, and transforming the way we move around our
19:43
Speaker 12: great city and state. With the Metro Tunnel and the
19:46
Speaker 12: Westgate Tunnel both now open. There's more to do, so
19:49
Speaker 12: I know that twenty twenty six is going to be
19:51
Speaker 12: another big year.
19:54
Speaker 6: All right, Terry.
19:55
Speaker 2: We've got Jess Wilson who's really looking into the future,
19:58
Speaker 2: and her messaging while just into Alan is reminding voters
20:01
Speaker 2: of what her government has achieved, although probably not surprising
20:04
Speaker 2: that she failed to mention the now high crime and
20:07
Speaker 2: huge budget blowout in her address. But what do you
20:10
Speaker 2: see as the biggest hurdle for Jess to jump over
20:13
Speaker 2: in order to win this year?
20:16
Speaker 9: Well, first thing, I think Jess Wilson is doing really
20:19
Speaker 9: well in presenting herself as a new leader of breath
20:22
Speaker 9: of change to Victoria. And certainly she's talking the right talk.
20:26
Speaker 9: We saw it there in that grab. But certainly it's
20:29
Speaker 9: a big, big hill she has to climb in terms
20:31
Speaker 9: of winning sixteen seats in a ninety odd seat parliament.
20:36
Speaker 8: That's a huge ask.
20:37
Speaker 9: But what I haven't seen from Jess Wilson and particularly
20:40
Speaker 9: from her team, is that they have done and are
20:44
Speaker 9: doing the hard yards on policy, actually coming up with
20:47
Speaker 9: an alternative vision and alternative plan for Victoria. It's one
20:51
Speaker 9: thing to say, as you have to do in opposition,
20:53
Speaker 9: this is what the government has failed to do.
20:55
Speaker 8: At this stage.
20:56
Speaker 9: I think Victorians are crying out to know that there
20:59
Speaker 9: is a noble alternative, that the opposition has some real
21:03
Speaker 9: ideas about fixing the state, but particularly the budget, particularly
21:07
Speaker 9: the economy, but also in small things like fixing the
21:10
Speaker 9: potholes in our roads. And I reckon if Jess Wilson
21:12
Speaker 9: wanted to have a winner, she would have a pothole
21:16
Speaker 9: fixing program that would be actually low cost but high
21:21
Speaker 9: political impact. And look, they really have to work hard.
21:24
Speaker 9: They've spent three years really faffing about fighting each other
21:28
Speaker 9: and tearing each other apart. They're showing signs of unity
21:31
Speaker 9: for the first time in ages. If Jess can actually
21:34
Speaker 9: make them work hard, keep them together, and keep focusing
21:38
Speaker 9: on the government rather than on themselves, she's got a shot.
21:41
Speaker 2: Adam, what are your thoughts going into this year's Victorian election.
21:47
Speaker 10: Well, look, it's certainly a very important election. I mean
21:49
Speaker 10: it's a very important state. It's a quarter of the
21:51
Speaker 10: national economy, and election is still ten months ten months away. Jess,
21:57
Speaker 10: I think has our chance to win. Actually, I think
21:59
Speaker 10: we see so much volatility now in polls in states,
22:03
Speaker 10: in federal elections, and it's quite possible to win back
22:05
Speaker 10: those sixteen seats. The labor government here is very much
22:08
Speaker 10: on the nose. Clearly, they've been in power for twelve years.
22:10
Speaker 10: I think the legacy of Dan Andrews is more and
22:12
Speaker 10: more tarnished as time goes on, and I think more
22:15
Speaker 10: people are realizing that. And of course, the fiscal situation
22:18
Speaker 10: is just diabolical. I mean, we've got debt that's heading
22:21
Speaker 10: to two hundred billion dollars and this is a state
22:24
Speaker 10: of only seven million people or so. That's a huge burden.
22:27
Speaker 10: And that also makes it very hard for the opposition
22:29
Speaker 10: to actually promise anything. So they can't really cut taxes
22:32
Speaker 10: because the debt will blow out even more, but they
22:34
Speaker 10: have to do something to appeal to voters, and Labor
22:36
Speaker 10: is very very good at politics. So I think the
22:39
Speaker 10: biggest challenge for the opposition is that Labour's very good
22:41
Speaker 10: at politics, and they will make the right sounds and noises.
22:45
Speaker 6: Well, Terry, just still on them, are you going, Terry?
22:50
Speaker 9: Yeah, I was just going to say, but I think
22:51
Speaker 9: this is where the opposition really should show that they're
22:54
Speaker 9: prepared to do the Winston Churchill thing. You have nothing
22:57
Speaker 9: to offer blood, toil, tears and sweat. If they're prepared
22:59
Speaker 9: to show that they like Jeff Kennett, are willing and
23:02
Speaker 9: able to clean up the mess that labor is going
23:05
Speaker 9: to leave them, they have a real shot.
23:07
Speaker 10: Just a slight disagreement on that if I make well,
23:09
Speaker 10: I don't think voters really care as much about debt
23:12
Speaker 10: and deficit sadly anymore, and so I think that just
23:15
Speaker 10: doesn't appeal. What I would do is just cut taxes
23:18
Speaker 10: and just let the economy grow out of the debt,
23:20
Speaker 10: or at least try that. But you know that's the call.
23:23
Speaker 10: She's going to have to make in the next six months.
23:25
Speaker 10: We'll see what she.
23:25
Speaker 6: Does well, Adam.
23:27
Speaker 2: Just while we are discussing economy and budget holes, John
23:32
Speaker 2: Howard and Peter Costello have said that the failure to
23:34
Speaker 2: restrain government or federal government spending and a lack of
23:38
Speaker 2: productivity driving economic reform means future generations are going to
23:42
Speaker 2: be saddled with higher debt, slower growth, reduce competitiveness, which
23:46
Speaker 2: is going to ultimately result in living standings balling.
23:50
Speaker 6: What do you make of their comments.
23:53
Speaker 10: Well, they are perfectly right. I mean, the Australian economy
23:56
Speaker 10: is almost a basket case for you at the moment.
23:59
Speaker 8: It's shrunk.
23:59
Speaker 10: In ten of the last thirteen quarters, GDP per capita
24:02
Speaker 10: has shrunk. That's a terrible record and basically unprecedented in
24:05
Speaker 10: Australian history for many decades inflations four percent, real wages
24:09
Speaker 10: are going backwards. And yes, government spending has grown at
24:12
Speaker 10: the fastest rate in recent years since the nineteen seventies,
24:15
Speaker 10: since the Whitler mirror. You know, basically where swapping places
24:18
Speaker 10: with Argentina. If you like, we're becoming the Argentina. We
24:21
Speaker 10: really have to be careful and I think the labor
24:23
Speaker 10: government federally has just spent far too much and they
24:26
Speaker 10: haven't shown enough discipline, especially on the NDIS, which is
24:28
Speaker 10: growing at something like seven or eight percent a year.
24:31
Speaker 10: It's going to cost more than the Armed services soon
24:33
Speaker 10: and no one's really talking about cutting it. So there's
24:36
Speaker 10: far too much social security, far too much welfare. And
24:38
Speaker 10: also tax rates are just so high in this country.
24:41
Speaker 10: You know, forty seven cents is a very high rate
24:43
Speaker 10: at one hundred and eighty thousand dollars a year, and
24:45
Speaker 10: that's not indexed either. So smart young Australians are leaving,
24:49
Speaker 10: so there are many, many things they have to do,
24:51
Speaker 10: and they're right.
24:52
Speaker 6: Well, Terry.
24:53
Speaker 2: The Australian Jewish Association is calling on Jewish groups to
24:58
Speaker 2: block labor ministers from community events, and this is over
25:02
Speaker 2: their decision not to call a federal raw commission into
25:04
Speaker 2: the Bondai massacre.
25:06
Speaker 6: What do you make of this move?
25:10
Speaker 9: Look, I think the AJA is a very sound organization
25:13
Speaker 9: and their CEO, Robert Gregor, is a very decent man.
25:17
Speaker 9: But look, I don't think they should do that. To
25:19
Speaker 9: be honest with you, I think it's important that labor ministers,
25:23
Speaker 9: labor MPs are actually exposed to the grief, the pain
25:29
Speaker 9: of Australia's Jewish community. As a non Jew, I find
25:33
Speaker 9: it easy to understand the anger, but I find it
25:36
Speaker 9: it's a lot harder to understand what Jewish Australians are
25:39
Speaker 9: actually feeling. I think labor MPs need to understand that.
25:42
Speaker 9: Labor ministers need to understand that. A certain Prime minister
25:45
Speaker 9: needs to understand that. But when it comes to this,
25:48
Speaker 9: I think it's a bit like Jackie Kennedy. After President
25:51
Speaker 9: Kennedy was assassinated when she wouldn't change her pink dress.
25:54
Speaker 9: She might remember that when she wanted people, what she
25:57
Speaker 9: said was I want them to see what they have done.
26:01
Speaker 9: I think that's what labor ministers need to see now.
26:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're absolutely spot on there, Terry and Adam. I'll
26:07
Speaker 2: leave it there. Thank you so much for joining me
26:09
Speaker 2: this evening. Well after the break the risk to Australia
26:14
Speaker 2: and shutting down coal fired power stations without building adequate
26:17
Speaker 2: basedload power plus energy rebased end today, what does that
26:21
Speaker 2: mean for households and small businesses?
26:28
Speaker 6: Welcome back.
26:29
Speaker 2: Is great to have your company joining me now is
26:32
Speaker 2: the Australians Environment Editor Graham Lloyd Graham. It's great to
26:37
Speaker 2: see you tonight. Stephen Anthony has written in today's AFR
26:42
Speaker 2: questioning the rush to replace reliable power with intimittent renewables
26:48
Speaker 2: in the name of net zero. Is this the biggest
26:51
Speaker 2: risk right now shutting down coal fire power stations without
26:55
Speaker 2: first building adequate basedload capacity.
27:00
Speaker 13: Yes, well, good evening. Certainly. It was a very informative
27:04
Speaker 13: article which drilled down into the engineering and physics of
27:10
Speaker 13: the transition that we're trying to achieve and really explained
27:15
Speaker 13: why it's not an Apples with Apple's comparison, and there's
27:20
Speaker 13: a lot of unknowns in the transition that are being
27:23
Speaker 13: made that to a large extent, is why things are
27:27
Speaker 13: more difficult and taking longer than was expected. And really
27:32
Speaker 13: that's what you need to understand that these are quite
27:36
Speaker 13: different systems and there's a lot of unknowns about a
27:40
Speaker 13: renewables only setup.
27:42
Speaker 2: Well, I mentioned at the top of the show that
27:44
Speaker 2: the Australian Energy Market Commission has abandon its promise that
27:49
Speaker 2: renewables would drive prices down and it now expects that
27:52
Speaker 2: real prices to rise by thirteen percent in this decade.
27:57
Speaker 2: When you read that, does this mean that the underlying
28:01
Speaker 2: assumptions that we've all been told behind Labour's energy policy
28:06
Speaker 2: have initially been flawed.
28:09
Speaker 13: Well, it certainly tells you that there was a lot
28:11
Speaker 13: of optimism in what they thought would happen and that
28:16
Speaker 13: has collided with reality. We've been promised now for years
28:21
Speaker 13: that increasing the amount of renewables in the system will
28:25
Speaker 13: drive prices down, and that's against the evidence because the
28:29
Speaker 13: places that have the most amount of renewables in the
28:32
Speaker 13: system also have the highest power prices. And that's not
28:36
Speaker 13: only South Australia, that's overseas as well. So yeah, it
28:41
Speaker 13: was all big rosy stuff and it's colliding with reality.
28:47
Speaker 2: Well, I really think as of today, when this energy
28:50
Speaker 2: subsidy now is over and it starts to put more
28:53
Speaker 2: pressure on households and businesses, I feel as though the
28:57
Speaker 2: door is now really going to fly open and to
29:00
Speaker 2: expose just how expensive this energy transition really is.
29:05
Speaker 13: Well, I think that's the case. I think for the
29:08
Speaker 13: past while we've moved the cost of the transition off
29:13
Speaker 13: power bills onto consolidated revenue to try and hide the
29:17
Speaker 13: increase and really in the expectation that things would get
29:22
Speaker 13: better and that bear smooth transition, but that's not proving
29:26
Speaker 13: to be the case. The confidence is dissipating that that
29:30
Speaker 13: is going to be the case. So the future is
29:34
Speaker 13: higher energy costs.
29:36
Speaker 2: Well as these energy prices continue to rise. The Minister
29:40
Speaker 2: for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, has cops and
29:44
Speaker 2: flack for taking on that President of Negotiations role ahead
29:47
Speaker 2: of Cop thirty one. This happened a few months ago,
29:50
Speaker 2: but here is New South Wales Opposition leader Susan Lee
29:53
Speaker 2: talking about this yesterday.
29:55
Speaker 4: We've got a.
29:56
Speaker 7: Part time energy minister managing a part time energy grid.
30:00
Speaker 6: We've got a Prime Minister.
30:01
Speaker 7: Who insists that energy is being managed responsibly and it's
30:06
Speaker 7: the right policy.
30:07
Speaker 6: But it's not.
30:09
Speaker 2: So when you say the federal opposition leader standing there
30:14
Speaker 2: everything she says. I think she has a very good
30:16
Speaker 2: point though. Don't Australians deserve an energy minister who is
30:20
Speaker 2: solely focused on domestic issues, especially when we're going through
30:25
Speaker 2: a cost of living crisis and our prices are just
30:27
Speaker 2: continuing to rise.
30:30
Speaker 13: Well, I think certainly. Before the first Albanese government was elected,
30:35
Speaker 13: there was a big expectation that Australia would take more
30:38
Speaker 13: of a leading role in the international affairs to do
30:41
Speaker 13: with climate change and what have you, and really that's
30:45
Speaker 13: ended with this situation where even though we won't be
30:47
Speaker 13: holding a conference, Chris Bowen is still going to be
30:50
Speaker 13: heavily involved in the international politics. And the point is,
30:57
Speaker 13: at what point does cutting emissions become subsidiary to the
31:04
Speaker 13: price of electricity. We've focused so heavily on reducing emissions
31:09
Speaker 13: at all costs, and the costs are now becoming so
31:13
Speaker 13: great that there may ultimately be a reconsideration of that.
31:18
Speaker 2: Well, and also to that point, should we be also
31:21
Speaker 2: prioritizing perhaps energy security as well over ahead of emissions
31:27
Speaker 2: ambitions as well?
31:29
Speaker 14: Well?
31:29
Speaker 13: I think energy security will trump everything if supplies fail.
31:33
Speaker 13: Politicians really cannot have a situation where the power goes out.
31:39
Speaker 13: We're now looking at ways to put a lot of
31:42
Speaker 13: money towards it to stop that happening. But if it
31:45
Speaker 13: does happen, then there will be no forgiving the politicians
31:48
Speaker 13: that were responsible for it.
31:51
Speaker 6: Graham, I just wanted to get your thoughts on an element.
31:54
Speaker 2: Santos has missed their end of year deadline for the
31:57
Speaker 2: first Barossa LNG cargo. What exactly does this delay mean?
32:04
Speaker 13: Well, it means that like the delivery of big projects,
32:08
Speaker 13: this one's running behind schedule. They had some delays due
32:14
Speaker 13: to law fare and environmental objections that pushed them back
32:18
Speaker 13: about six months. It's now become obvious that they're not
32:22
Speaker 13: going to meet the revised timeline that will happen later
32:26
Speaker 13: in the year. So the big impact will be the
32:29
Speaker 13: amount of gas that the company will be able to sell,
32:33
Speaker 13: and that's bad for the bottom line.
32:36
Speaker 2: And with those interruptions, I guess also impact the offshore
32:40
Speaker 2: production as well.
32:43
Speaker 13: That is, they're looking at actually connecting the production offshore
32:49
Speaker 13: with collection to move it to market, and they're not
32:52
Speaker 13: ready for those things to take place. So they say
32:55
Speaker 13: that they're making sure that they will have better production
33:00
Speaker 13: and that everything will be in a better condition when
33:02
Speaker 13: that happens sometime later this year. But in the meantime
33:06
Speaker 13: there's no guests going out that they were expecting.
33:09
Speaker 2: Well insightful as always at Graham, Thank you so much
33:13
Speaker 2: for your time at this evening. Well after the break,
33:16
Speaker 2: why we should all be concerned about the decline of
33:19
Speaker 2: swimming standards in Australia, plus what has sparked cause to
33:23
Speaker 2: review one states physical education material.
33:31
Speaker 6: Welcome back.
33:31
Speaker 2: It is great to have your company joining me in
33:34
Speaker 2: the studio. Is CEO of Royal Life Saving Australia, doctor
33:38
Speaker 2: Justin Scarr and Justin, thank you so much for coming
33:42
Speaker 2: in and speaking with me.
33:43
Speaker 6: This is a topic that I have.
33:45
Speaker 2: Been following very closely and very passionate about. But can
33:49
Speaker 2: you just talk to us about the decline in swimming
33:52
Speaker 2: standards but coming from children who are no longer participating
33:56
Speaker 2: in lessons. I saw that, you know, they're up fifty
33:59
Speaker 2: six percent of children aren't enrolled, which is up from
34:01
Speaker 2: forty three percent in twenty twenty three. Just starting there,
34:06
Speaker 2: what is the breakdown? Why are children not learning to
34:08
Speaker 2: swim anymore?
34:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've been watching this emerge for many years. In fact,
34:13
Speaker 1: many children get more lessons at a young age, but
34:16
Speaker 1: they leave really early than generations before. So it's really
34:19
Speaker 1: common for parents to get their children into programs from
34:22
Speaker 1: six months of age, and parents do the right thing
34:25
Speaker 1: mostly if they have the funds to afford them.
34:27
Speaker 8: But by about.
34:28
Speaker 1: Three four or five parents are really hanging in there
34:31
Speaker 1: with private lessons and our research SOO is that by
34:34
Speaker 1: the age of seven majority of kids have finished their lessons,
34:37
Speaker 1: and that's well before that they previously were learning swimming
34:40
Speaker 1: and life saving skills. So might know how to swim
34:43
Speaker 1: a few strokes up and down the pool, but perhaps
34:46
Speaker 1: not survival swimming and those sorts of strokes that will
34:49
Speaker 1: help them in emergencies like we're seeing over summer.
34:51
Speaker 2: And is that what's contributing now to I've read this
34:55
Speaker 2: awful stat that half of all children who finish primary
34:59
Speaker 2: school they can't swim far enough or float to be
35:03
Speaker 2: able to save their own life. And that's primary school,
35:07
Speaker 2: so that's twelve year old effectively when you leave that,
35:10
Speaker 2: For me, it should already be having flags and a
35:13
Speaker 2: concern there too.
35:14
Speaker 8: Yeah, absolutely, it should be shocking all of us.
35:16
Speaker 1: Fifty meters is what we would say would be a
35:18
Speaker 1: benchmark for children leaving primary school, and fifty percent can't
35:21
Speaker 1: swim that at all. And I guess what I was
35:23
Speaker 1: really shocked by that research was when we went to
35:26
Speaker 1: year ten, we found about forty percent of year ten
35:29
Speaker 1: students couldn't meet the year six benchmarks. So something's really
35:32
Speaker 1: going wrong. We're finding that many kids are getting many
35:34
Speaker 1: more lessons, but so many children are just completely missing out.
35:38
Speaker 1: And that's where the school system and also the vacation
35:41
Speaker 1: programs that are running across January are really important as
35:44
Speaker 1: a safety net for catch those families that perhaps can't
35:47
Speaker 1: afford to invest in swimming lessons early and often.
35:50
Speaker 2: And is this a problem? Is that the schools that
35:53
Speaker 2: aren't receiving enough fundings. I know the state government does
35:56
Speaker 2: help a little bit, but you know, school carnivals. Back
36:00
Speaker 2: in the day, the school swimming carnival was almost like
36:02
Speaker 2: a rite of passage. All of the kids would be
36:04
Speaker 2: dressed up and cheering from the grand stands and everyone
36:06
Speaker 2: would participate. Even if you just did your one fifty
36:09
Speaker 2: meters and it took you however long to get there,
36:12
Speaker 2: everyone participated and everyone got involved. And I saw recently
36:15
Speaker 2: now it's one in four schools are having swimming carnivals,
36:18
Speaker 2: and those that are having it tend to only restrict
36:20
Speaker 2: it to competitive swimmers.
36:22
Speaker 6: And I just whether, I thought, how has this happened?
36:25
Speaker 2: How have we allowed that in a country like Australia
36:27
Speaker 2: where swimming carnivals are no longer really happening.
36:31
Speaker 8: Yeah, there used to be fantastic fun and a great level.
36:33
Speaker 1: It didn't matter whether you were you know, you were
36:35
Speaker 1: into footy or soccer or anything. You still jumped in
36:38
Speaker 1: and you had at least a lap of swimming and
36:40
Speaker 1: if you couldn't do that, you did the novelty events
36:42
Speaker 1: at the other end, the shallow end of the pool.
36:44
Speaker 8: It's been slipping away.
36:45
Speaker 1: We've had reports from some principles that they're taking a
36:49
Speaker 1: car full of kids to the local pool to long
36:51
Speaker 1: a time for the regional swimming carnivals. So it's really
36:55
Speaker 1: sort of a big division of those who can swim
36:57
Speaker 1: and those who can't. And we've got to do something
37:00
Speaker 1: because you know, usually across the summer period we see
37:04
Speaker 1: horrendous drownings and swimming and swimming skills are really the
37:08
Speaker 1: thing that underpins safety in so many waterways.
37:11
Speaker 6: I wanted to talk to you about some recent changes
37:14
Speaker 6: to the new.
37:15
Speaker 2: South Wales PDHPE syllabus, and I must say I had
37:18
Speaker 2: to reread this quite a few times because I thought,
37:22
Speaker 2: surely this isn't happening. Surely I am completely misreading this.
37:27
Speaker 2: Is it correct that in the curriculum now water safety
37:32
Speaker 2: and swimming skills can now be tested in the classroom,
37:37
Speaker 2: So children no longer have to physically get into the
37:40
Speaker 2: water to display that they are strong enough in their
37:44
Speaker 2: surf life saving skills or water safety awareness, but instead
37:47
Speaker 2: can just verbally say it within the classroom. So the
37:50
Speaker 2: effectively removed the swimming water aspect out of water safety
37:54
Speaker 2: and swimming.
37:55
Speaker 8: Yeah, look, we believe that's the case.
37:57
Speaker 1: The new syllabus came out just in the last couple
37:59
Speaker 1: of months and it's in draft stage. It'll be implemented
38:02
Speaker 1: from twenty twenty seven. We got a few phone calls.
38:04
Speaker 1: I've got phone calls from school teacher friends who said,
38:06
Speaker 1: hold on a second, swimming is no longer required. And
38:09
Speaker 1: we got a phone call from a swim school that
38:11
Speaker 1: already had schools pulling out. I was a little bit
38:14
Speaker 1: gobsmack when I had a look at the syllabus itself.
38:17
Speaker 1: Very clearly water safety is there, and it's really important
38:20
Speaker 1: that people know. You know where to swim and swim
38:22
Speaker 1: between the flags. But knowing is not enough in our country.
38:25
Speaker 1: You really do need to swim. And when we had
38:27
Speaker 1: a little policy, I guess is what you don't prioritize
38:30
Speaker 1: as much as what you do.
38:32
Speaker 8: And what was missing was all those really.
38:34
Speaker 1: Important swimming skills reaststroke, freestyle and also the basic rescue
38:39
Speaker 1: skills that were in the previous syllabus.
38:40
Speaker 8: They were completely missing.
38:41
Speaker 1: And so while I think it's right that they're doing
38:44
Speaker 1: a good thing by encouraging water safety in the classroom.
38:47
Speaker 1: You can't take swimming out of water safety.
38:49
Speaker 8: It's just not possible.
38:50
Speaker 9: No.
38:51
Speaker 2: It just blew my mind because they also still include,
38:55
Speaker 2: you know, fundamental movement skills, which I can understand are
38:57
Speaker 2: also very important.
38:58
Speaker 6: They've included things like.
39:00
Speaker 2: Teaching kids running, hopping, catching, side galloping, which I didn't
39:05
Speaker 2: really think was a thing until it's now in the syllabus,
39:07
Speaker 2: But swimming is not listed amongst those activities.
39:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, they are all physical literacy, basic skills to get
39:13
Speaker 1: kids off the couch, and I think we do have
39:16
Speaker 1: a major issue in getting our young kids moving in
39:19
Speaker 1: the local community or in the local playground. But we
39:21
Speaker 1: would argue that swimming is right up there at the
39:23
Speaker 1: top a key life skill. It really does help with safety,
39:27
Speaker 1: but it also underpins really great enjoyment and some really
39:30
Speaker 1: great jobs and swim instructors and lifeguards, all those wonderful
39:34
Speaker 1: skill building, leadership building things that go on in a
39:36
Speaker 1: local community, and we think swimming is somewhat fundamental to that.
39:40
Speaker 2: Now, before I let you go just quickly, is this
39:44
Speaker 2: a federal government issue now, so that we can have
39:46
Speaker 2: a national standard and a national framework versus it being
39:50
Speaker 2: reliant on individual states.
39:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, Unfortunately, the way the syllabus works is some states
39:54
Speaker 1: have opted into a national curriculum and some states are
39:57
Speaker 1: doing their own thing. And I guess this is why
39:59
Speaker 1: we're reallyocused on the New South Wales PDHB syllabus because
40:03
Speaker 1: they all look at each other.
40:04
Speaker 8: All states look.
40:05
Speaker 1: Over the boundary, over the fence to have a look
40:07
Speaker 1: at what's going on next door. There's really tremendous support
40:10
Speaker 1: and most state governments are doing the right thing in
40:12
Speaker 1: relation to swimming and water safety. There's really great support
40:15
Speaker 1: for vacation programs. The Northern Territory government has just added
40:19
Speaker 1: entitlement for all children in primary school to get swimming lessons.
40:23
Speaker 1: So this is very much swimming against the tide. The
40:26
Speaker 1: New South Wales school swimming program is where I learned
40:28
Speaker 1: to swim. It's a really great program and we don't
40:31
Speaker 1: think government is backing away from that. But at a
40:33
Speaker 1: top level, the syllabus really needs to reinforce the things
40:36
Speaker 1: that matter most and we believe that that's swimming and
40:38
Speaker 1: life saving.
40:39
Speaker 2: Well, justin thank you so much for coming in here
40:41
Speaker 2: this evening. Keep up the incredible flight. Good luck with
40:45
Speaker 2: talking at the New South Wales government regarding fixing that syllabus,
40:48
Speaker 2: because swimming certainly needs.
40:49
Speaker 6: To be included in there. It is a life saving skill. Well.
40:53
Speaker 2: Coming up next, Zora and mum Danny is sworn in
40:55
Speaker 2: as mayor of New York plus Gigiping vows to reunify
41:00
Speaker 2: China and Taiwan.
41:01
Speaker 6: What does this mean for the region. Welcome back. I
41:08
Speaker 6: need to bring you a bit of breaking news now.
41:11
Speaker 2: And several people have been killed in an explosion in
41:14
Speaker 2: a bar in Switzerland. Up to one hundred people were
41:18
Speaker 2: enjoying a New Year's event in the Constellation Bar in
41:21
Speaker 2: the luxury ski resort of Cran's, Montana at the time.
41:25
Speaker 2: Unverified footage on social media shows people fleeing and the
41:28
Speaker 2: venue on fire. Police can't say how the explosion occurred,
41:33
Speaker 2: but a spokesman confirmed that several.
41:35
Speaker 6: People have died.
41:37
Speaker 2: Will bring you more when we get it. It's time
41:41
Speaker 2: now to bring in Sky News contributor Kosher Gada Kosher,
41:46
Speaker 2: thank you so much for coming tonight. I want to
41:49
Speaker 2: get straight into Zoran mum Dani, who was sworn in
41:53
Speaker 2: just a few hours ago, taking his oath on the Quran,
41:57
Speaker 2: making it the first time that a mayor of New
41:59
Speaker 2: York City has done so. I mean, I guess ma'm
42:02
Speaker 2: daney has been quite vocal about his Muslim faith, so
42:05
Speaker 2: probably not surprising that he did this.
42:11
Speaker 14: Not at all a surprise. And you know, it is
42:15
Speaker 14: a historic day for sure. His election was something that
42:17
Speaker 14: captivated the world, and it says a lot about what
42:20
Speaker 14: the country looks like and what the city looks like
42:23
Speaker 14: right now, and what the conditions have been demographically in
42:26
Speaker 14: terms of their sensibilities, in terms of their priorities that
42:29
Speaker 14: led to the election of someone like Zarona Mamdani for
42:32
Speaker 14: New York City.
42:32
Speaker 6: But here we are, well, how much of an impact
42:35
Speaker 6: do you think he actually will have as mayor?
42:41
Speaker 14: So tactically it is a pretty important job. It would
42:45
Speaker 14: certainly be one of the most important mayoral jobs in
42:47
Speaker 14: the world, along the lines of London or other major
42:50
Speaker 14: cities like that. He controls the staff about three hundred
42:53
Speaker 14: thousand people, a budget of one hundred and twenty billion dollars.
42:56
Speaker 14: It's a trillion dollar economy in New York City has
42:59
Speaker 14: a lot of executive already over various departments and bureaus
43:02
Speaker 14: and all of that.
43:03
Speaker 6: But There also are.
43:03
Speaker 14: Limitations to his power and the natural checks and balances
43:06
Speaker 14: of the system. He cannot write laws, he cannot legislate.
43:09
Speaker 14: He does have veto power to veto legislation legislations that
43:12
Speaker 14: come his way, but other than that, there are sort
43:15
Speaker 14: of limitations built in. I think more importantly it's the
43:17
Speaker 14: symbolic value of what this means. As I was just
43:20
Speaker 14: mentioning before to have him in here, and I think
43:23
Speaker 14: what he's going to do without symbolic value, this is,
43:26
Speaker 14: I believe a.
43:27
Speaker 6: Springboard for him.
43:28
Speaker 14: We're seeing the beginnings, not the endings, of Mamdani and
43:30
Speaker 14: American politics, and I think he is going to use
43:33
Speaker 14: this as a springboarder launchpad into greater and bigger political
43:36
Speaker 14: aspirations after his mural tenure is finished.
43:39
Speaker 6: Yeah, he's certainly going to be one to watch.
43:42
Speaker 2: China's President Xijiping has used his news ave speech to
43:47
Speaker 2: vow to reunify China and Taiwan, and this obviously comes
43:51
Speaker 2: after intense Chinese.
43:53
Speaker 6: Military drills that we saw around Taiwan.
43:56
Speaker 2: Surely the world would be concerned about and attack following
44:00
Speaker 2: provocative comments and recent military drills.
44:07
Speaker 14: Yes, I think, if not concerned, certainly the world will
44:10
Speaker 14: not be surprised if he goes there. It could be
44:13
Speaker 14: on the spectrum anywhere from saber rattling to possibly a
44:17
Speaker 14: precursor prelude to an actual move I think he is
44:21
Speaker 14: well aware of the reality of the world right now,
44:24
Speaker 14: which is that China's power is strong and is ascendant. America,
44:28
Speaker 14: which is the only check in balance or has been
44:30
Speaker 14: or could be to China, is at a weaker point,
44:32
Speaker 14: certainly after the heels of the last four years, but
44:35
Speaker 14: really over the past several decades, lots of domestic problems,
44:39
Speaker 14: very stretched as it relates to geopolitical affairs where the
44:42
Speaker 14: US is involved and try to help out with the
44:44
Speaker 14: Middle East and Russia and Ukraine and all of that.
44:46
Speaker 14: He is well aware of that, and this is probably
44:49
Speaker 14: a very strategically significant moment for him to do something,
44:53
Speaker 14: and it will not surprise anybody, I think if we
44:56
Speaker 14: do see that.
44:57
Speaker 2: Well, Donald Trump has announced his twenty two, twenty six
45:00
Speaker 2: New Year's Resolution.
45:02
Speaker 6: Let's take it a quickly, sin do you even your evolution?
45:09
Speaker 4: Yes, Peace.
45:12
Speaker 2: I really feel like his legacy he wants to be
45:15
Speaker 2: known as the pace Mika, doesn't he.
45:21
Speaker 14: It certainly seems that way, and I think, you know,
45:23
Speaker 14: he does really believe it. He had earned this moniker
45:26
Speaker 14: in now the three elections that he has competed in
45:29
Speaker 14: as the president of peace, and he famously talks about
45:34
Speaker 14: how he has started no new wars, wars happened before
45:36
Speaker 14: his watch, after his watch, et cetera. It is one
45:40
Speaker 14: side of the flip corn rush. It's a double d
45:42
Speaker 14: sword for him. Where while that is a great and
45:44
Speaker 14: lofty and laudable ambition, his base and the American people
45:48
Speaker 14: really do want more focus and prioritization of the domestic agenda,
45:52
Speaker 14: just given the times that we're in right now with
45:55
Speaker 14: what's going on in America, and so peace insofar as
45:57
Speaker 14: it helps the American national interest is something that I
46:00
Speaker 14: think he will be remembered for. So hopefully it's both
46:03
Speaker 14: it's peace, but it's also fixing the many problems that
46:06
Speaker 14: are present back home.
46:07
Speaker 2: Well, let's stay with the president because he's facing a
46:11
Speaker 2: bit of grim economic reality going into the midterm election year.
46:14
Speaker 2: Nearly half of the country thinks everyday life is less
46:17
Speaker 2: unaffordable under his watch. Can he afford to ignore these
46:21
Speaker 2: perceptions that are coming through from his leadership.
46:28
Speaker 14: It's going to be tough and it actually picks up
46:30
Speaker 14: on the point that we were just discussing where the
46:32
Speaker 14: economic picture is what really hits people in their everyday life.
46:36
Speaker 14: Other issues like crime as well as a big one,
46:39
Speaker 14: but on economics, the two metrics ultimately the matter for
46:42
Speaker 14: the everyday person, and that is his base is inflation,
46:45
Speaker 14: the cost of the goods and services that we need
46:48
Speaker 14: to buy to live. And jobs, both the competition for
46:51
Speaker 14: jobs and then also the wages and whether or not
46:53
Speaker 14: they're keeping up with inflation. And on those two metrics
46:56
Speaker 14: he's not doing very well right now.
46:58
Speaker 5: Now.
46:58
Speaker 14: He would say that there's a lag time and place.
47:01
Speaker 14: He inherited a very bad economy. The things he's done
47:04
Speaker 14: take a little bit of time to show through in
47:06
Speaker 14: those two metrics, and that may well be true. Time
47:08
Speaker 14: will tell, But the problem is people aren't patient, and
47:11
Speaker 14: politics isn't patient, and with the midterms looming right around
47:15
Speaker 14: the corner, you know that timing just may not be
47:17
Speaker 14: very favorable for him. So I think it is an
47:19
Speaker 14: issue he personally is not on a ballot of course
47:21
Speaker 14: in the midterms, but for the Republican Party, if they
47:24
Speaker 14: lose the House, then we're going to see that set
47:26
Speaker 14: up impeachment and all those things that happened in the
47:29
Speaker 14: first term when he lost control, when Republicans lost control
47:32
Speaker 14: of the House. In that sense, it does affect him
47:34
Speaker 14: and goes back to my point that the more he
47:37
Speaker 14: is able to turn his attention and focus on domestic
47:39
Speaker 14: priorities between now and the midterms, the better politically, I think, strategically.
47:43
Speaker 6: And also for the country.
47:44
Speaker 2: And just really quickly kaushe President Putin has ordered Russia's
47:48
Speaker 2: army to advance into all the Ukraine and it comes
47:51
Speaker 2: though as he urged Russians to believe in victory in
47:54
Speaker 2: Ukraine during his n Ysave address.
47:57
Speaker 6: What do is this tell you about Putin's intentions?
48:02
Speaker 14: You know, it says that he is not going to
48:05
Speaker 14: back down. This is something that he feels is very
48:07
Speaker 14: much in the vital national core existential interests of Russia.
48:12
Speaker 14: He maybe underestimated how difficult it would be and how
48:15
Speaker 14: long it lasts. We're closing it on four years now,
48:17
Speaker 14: but it is something that's very important to him. He
48:19
Speaker 14: does have the advantage of scale in terms of manpower
48:22
Speaker 14: and munitions, and he knows that Ukraine is very much
48:25
Speaker 14: reliant on European allies and the US, and there is
48:28
Speaker 14: a strategic asymmetry there that favors him because it is
48:31
Speaker 14: more in his strategic interest than it is in certainly
48:34
Speaker 14: America's strategic interest.
48:35
Speaker 6: To stick with it.
48:36
Speaker 14: He knows that, and I think he's playing that to
48:38
Speaker 14: his advantage and he is not going to back down.
48:40
Speaker 14: At least it doesn't seem that way right now.
48:42
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Kosher, and thank you everyone at
48:44
Speaker 2: home for watching. Up next, it's the Fault Report with
48:47
Speaker 2: Keil Richards