Transcript

Credlin | 6 October · Credlin

0:08
Speaker 1: Good evening and welcome to the show. I'm Jamie Rogers
0:12
Speaker 1: in for Peter Credlin, who's away. Well, here's what's coming
0:15
Speaker 1: up tonight. Fresh polling ahead of the Victorian election shows
0:20
Speaker 1: voters are open to a coalition, one nation deal to
0:24
Speaker 1: take charge, but not so keen on Labor doing the
0:27
Speaker 1: same with the Greens. Either way, the outcome this November
0:31
Speaker 1: will be one for the history books. plus the latest
0:34
Speaker 1: on the investigation into the fly Dubai terror incident and
0:38
Speaker 1: the alleged terrorist links to Australia. And we'll cross to
0:42
Speaker 1: the UK, where the Greens have dumped its long-held opposition
0:45
Speaker 1: to nuclear. So what sort of pressure does a decision
0:48
Speaker 1: like that put on political opponents here in Australia? And
0:52
Speaker 1: the Coalition finally unveils its plan to slash migration to 100,000,
0:57
Speaker 1: setting up one of the defining fights of the next election.
1:01
Speaker 1: But do the figures stack up? Angus Taylor and his team, well,
1:04
Speaker 1: today they were adamant.
1:07
Speaker 2: I've said from day one that there is a better
1:09
Speaker 2: way and that means lowering the numbers and raising the
1:13
Speaker 2: standards and we will do both.
1:18
Speaker 3: Well, the battleground is set.
1:20
Speaker 1: Immigration will be one of the defining policy fights of
1:23
Speaker 1: the next federal election. And ultimately, Australian voters will decide
1:28
Speaker 1: who they trust to fix it. Today, Angus Taylor dramatically
1:32
Speaker 1: shifted the Coalition's position on immigration, promising the biggest cut
1:37
Speaker 1: in Australia's history.
1:39
Speaker 2: And what we are proposing today is the biggest cut
1:43
Speaker 2: to immigration in the history of this country. That is
1:47
Speaker 2: what is necessary right now, given the failures of the
1:51
Speaker 2: Labor government. It will bring what we're announcing today, will
1:56
Speaker 2: bring the numbers down to below the levels they were
1:58
Speaker 2: at under the Howard Liberal National Government. It will be
2:04
Speaker 2: putting Australia first and it will be putting our national
2:08
Speaker 2: interest first.
2:10
Speaker 3: Some strong words, but the numbers announced are even stronger.
2:15
Speaker 2: The net overseas migration numbers will be 100,000 year one,
2:20
Speaker 2: 100,000 year two, going to 160,000 in year four. That
2:26
Speaker 2: will take pressure off roads, off schools, off infrastructure, off houses.
2:32
Speaker 2: And that will ensure that our country has the breathing
2:35
Speaker 2: space it needs after the record levels of immigration under Labor,
2:40
Speaker 2: it got up to 550,000, more than double what we've
2:44
Speaker 2: ever seen before in this country. And our country needs
2:47
Speaker 2: breathing space right now. The biggest cut in our history.
2:52
Speaker 2: Australia should be a home, not a hotel. And right
2:57
Speaker 2: now we're seeing under Labor, a guest worker economy. Well,
3:02
Speaker 2: we want people coming to this country who are committed
3:05
Speaker 2: to the future.
3:07
Speaker 4: Of our country.
3:09
Speaker 1: And Taylor says the Coalition will also cut temporary visas.
3:14
Speaker 2: We will stage a cut of $ 650, 000.
3:17
Speaker 4: To temporary visas.
3:20
Speaker 2: As part of that $ 650, 000 reduction, there will be a $ 100, 000.
3:26
Speaker 4: Increase in skilled visas, temporary skilled visas.
3:29
Speaker 2: This is a focus on the skills we need as
3:32
Speaker 2: a country, which won't be determined by union officials, it'll
3:35
Speaker 2: be determined by the national interest groups.
3:38
Speaker 4: And the interest of our economy and our businesses in
3:40
Speaker 4: this country.
3:42
Speaker 2: Now, part of what we have seen under Labor is
3:47
Speaker 2: our universities selling not education.
3:52
Speaker 4: But visa pathways, migration pathways. And that will end under
3:57
Speaker 4: this policy.
3:58
Speaker 2: We want our universities selling world-class education. So as part
4:05
Speaker 2: of this policy, we will be eliminating temporary graduate visas
4:11
Speaker 2: and focusing instead on those who are qualified to come
4:15
Speaker 2: to this country on a temporary visa, not a temporary
4:20
Speaker 2: graduate visa, ensuring that we have the people we need,
4:24
Speaker 2: not just the people that are coming from the universities.
4:28
Speaker 1: Now, compare that with Labor. Its longer-term target remains $ 225, 000,
4:32
Speaker 1: but they've announced measures to reduce family visas and backpackers.
4:39
Speaker 3: And then there's One Nation.
4:41
Speaker 1: They're pushing migration net negative for three years before moving
4:45
Speaker 1: to a ceiling of $ 130, 000. On 2GB this morning, Barnaby
4:50
Speaker 1: Joyce said he was happy to hear that the coalition
4:53
Speaker 1: was moving in the same direction.
4:55
Speaker 5: Look, I could have told you where their policy is
4:57
Speaker 5: going to be.
4:58
Speaker 6: Somewhere between ours and the Labor Party.
4:59
Speaker 4: That's where their policy was going to be and that's
5:01
Speaker 4: where it's landed.
5:04
Speaker 1: And One Nation has been hammering immigration for years. And
5:07
Speaker 1: while the major parties were terrified of touching the issue,
5:11
Speaker 1: Pauline Hanson wasn't. But either way, finally Australians have a
5:15
Speaker 1: real choice between immigration policies. What serves Australia's interests first?
5:21
Speaker 1: How many people can we actually accommodate? The latest ABS
5:24
Speaker 1: figures show net overseas migration was still under 300,000 in
5:29
Speaker 1: the year to March. At the same time, Australians are
5:33
Speaker 1: struggling to find somewhere to live. Infrastructure is under pressure,
5:37
Speaker 1: hospitals are stretched and schools are growing.
5:41
Speaker 3: And that's ultimately what this election will test.
5:44
Speaker 1: Who we bring in, how many and whether our immigration
5:47
Speaker 1: system is working in Australia's national interest. Angus Taylor says
5:52
Speaker 1: under Labor, it isn't.
5:55
Speaker 2: The reality is that immigration policy under Labor is threatening
5:59
Speaker 2: our way of life alongside threatening our borders. The integrity
6:05
Speaker 2: of our immigration system has been deeply flawed in the
6:10
Speaker 2: time Labor has been in power. And that's why, soon
6:14
Speaker 2: after I came into this role, I announced our Australian
6:18
Speaker 2: Values Immigration Policy, putting Australian values at the centre of
6:22
Speaker 2: our immigration policy, putting up a red light to radicals
6:27
Speaker 2: so that they cannot come to this country and they
6:29
Speaker 2: certainly can't stay in this country if they're here.
6:33
Speaker 4: On a visa.
6:35
Speaker 1: For years, governments have set the migration number first and
6:38
Speaker 1: then expected Australians to absorb the consequences later. Well, at
6:42
Speaker 1: the next election, voters get to decide whether they're prepared
6:46
Speaker 1: to keep doing that. Well, the calls to save Victoria
6:54
Speaker 1: Barracks are no longer just growing, they're becoming impossible for
6:58
Speaker 1: Anthony Albanese to ignore. Labor MPs are breaking ranks. The
7:02
Speaker 1: New South Wales Premier is joining the calls to stop
7:04
Speaker 1: the sale. The opposition is fighting it. And today, one
7:09
Speaker 1: of Australia's most senior former generals, retired Major General Gus McLachlan,
7:15
Speaker 1: says the review recommending the sale was conducted by a
7:18
Speaker 1: bunch of consultants, people who simply knew nothing about defence
7:22
Speaker 1: operationally or culturally. But Defence Minister Richard Marles isn't listening.
7:28
Speaker 1: In fact, he's been downright dismissive of those, warning him
7:32
Speaker 1: not to sell. And let's not forget what he said
7:35
Speaker 1: about former army generals recently.
7:37
Speaker 7: There are a few former generals who liked hanging out there.
7:41
Speaker 7: We don't need it as a defence force. We don't
7:45
Speaker 7: need it as the Australian Army. It is projected that
7:47
Speaker 7: over the next 10 years we will be spending hundreds
7:50
Speaker 7: of millions of dollars on a site that we don't need.
7:55
Speaker 1: And that's an extraordinary way for a defence minister to
7:57
Speaker 1: dismiss those who dedicated their careers to defending this country.
8:02
Speaker 1: But there's another problem with what Richard Miles said. The
8:05
Speaker 1: barracks is still being used and important. Former New South
8:09
Speaker 1: Wales Police Minister David Elliott, himself a veteran who was
8:13
Speaker 1: posted at Victoria Barracks, explained exactly how.
8:17
Speaker 8: There is a parade ground there that is used for
8:20
Speaker 8: operational reasons in the event that there is a terrorist
8:23
Speaker 8: attack in Sydney. We can't have the SAS or the
8:25
Speaker 8: Special Forces or the One Commando Regiment landing.
8:30
Speaker 6: In Hyde Park.
8:30
Speaker 8: There is significant strategic signals capability there. You need queue stalls,
8:38
Speaker 8: you need transport depots.
8:41
Speaker 1: And Defence's own information backs up the broader point. Victoria
8:45
Speaker 1: Barrack still houses Headquarters Forces Command and Headquarters Second Health Brigade.
8:50
Speaker 1: And listen to how Richard Miles justifies selling the site.
8:55
Speaker 7: Every dollar that Defence spends on the heritage of Victoria Barrack, Sydney,
9:01
Speaker 7: is in competition with a dollar that we would spend
9:04
Speaker 7: on Defence capability, on making sure that we are giving
9:07
Speaker 7: our diggers the best protection possible to keep them safe.
9:11
Speaker 7: And that's my first priority. and giving them the best
9:14
Speaker 7: capability in order for them to defend Australia. And that
9:18
Speaker 7: is also the priority. It is not my priority for
9:21
Speaker 7: Defence to be a heritage organisation.
9:24
Speaker 1: The problem is the Defence Minister completely misses the point.
9:28
Speaker 1: Nobody is asking the Australian Army to become a heritage society.
9:32
Speaker 1: We're asking the Australian Government to understand the strategic value
9:36
Speaker 1: of holding on to Defence land. And let's remember, this
9:39
Speaker 1: fight doesn't stop at the gates of Victoria Barracks. HMAS
9:43
Speaker 1: Penguin in Balmoral is also on the government's divestment list.
9:47
Speaker 1: There's a rally on Sunday to save it. The historic
9:51
Speaker 1: Lancer Barracks of Parramatta is also on the list. Sites
9:55
Speaker 1: that carry generations of Australian military history. And once they're sold,
10:00
Speaker 1: We may never get them back. And if Anthony Albanese
10:03
Speaker 1: and Richard Miles still refuses to listen, then perhaps it's
10:06
Speaker 1: time for their political opponents to raise the stakes. The
10:10
Speaker 1: Coalition or One Nation should make a commitment before the
10:13
Speaker 1: March election that if Victoria Barracks is sold, an incoming
10:17
Speaker 1: government will move to compulsory acquire it and return it
10:21
Speaker 1: to defence. Put that commitment on the table before a
10:24
Speaker 1: single contract is signed, because then every developer, investor or
10:29
Speaker 1: prospective buyer looking at those 13 hectares in Sydney knows
10:34
Speaker 1: exactly what they're walking into. They know an incoming government
10:38
Speaker 1: may seek to take the site back. And suddenly buying
10:42
Speaker 1: Victoria Barracks doesn't look quite as attractive.
10:45
Speaker 3: But Anthony Albanese can resolve this today.
10:48
Speaker 1: He can stand up, show some leadership and back defence
10:52
Speaker 1: and stop the sale.
10:54
Speaker 3: He can overrule Richard Miles.
10:56
Speaker 1: But if he won't, then the parties heading to the
10:59
Speaker 1: next election should make it very clear to anyone thinking
11:03
Speaker 1: of buying Victoria Barracks. Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware. Well,
11:13
Speaker 1: let's head to Canberra now for tonight's political headlines with
11:16
Speaker 1: political reporter Cam Redden.
11:18
Speaker 9: Good evening.
11:19
Speaker 10: Opposition leader Angus Taylor is promising a coalition government would
11:23
Speaker 10: deliver the deepest cut to migration in Australian history. Vowing
11:27
Speaker 10: to drive net migration down from 292,000 to 100,000 for
11:33
Speaker 10: two years before settling at 160,000.
11:36
Speaker 5: We're not just a campground.
11:38
Speaker 7: We are a nation of borders.
11:39
Speaker 5: We're not a booking.com site.
11:41
Speaker 10: Those looking to change or reapply for a temporary visa
11:44
Speaker 10: would no longer be able to do so on shore. Instead,
11:47
Speaker 10: they'd have to leave Australia even if there's a job
11:50
Speaker 10: waiting for them.
11:51
Speaker 2: So if someone has graduated here, they can go home
11:53
Speaker 2: and come back again on.
11:54
Speaker 4: A temporary skilled visa.
11:55
Speaker 5: We think that will be problematic.
11:58
Speaker 11: I would have thought where you've got priority issues and
12:01
Speaker 11: priority industries, you would not delay that.
12:04
Speaker 10: The pre-cop summit continues across Fiji and Tuvalu.
12:09
Speaker 12: Climate change must be understood as being something more than
12:13
Speaker 12: about science or targets. It must be understood that effectively
12:17
Speaker 12: it's about people is what it comes down to and
12:20
Speaker 12: the impact on humanity.
12:23
Speaker 10: Cameron Redden, News 24, Canberra.
12:27
Speaker 1: All right, let's dive straight back into the big news
12:29
Speaker 1: of the day, and that's the Coalition's migration policy. Joining
12:33
Speaker 1: us to pull it apart is News24 political editor, Andrew Clennell.
12:38
Speaker 3: Andrew, welcome. You just had.
12:40
Speaker 1: Deputy Opposition Leader Jane Hume on with you during Politics Now,
12:45
Speaker 1: and I think one of the key issues when it
12:47
Speaker 1: comes to policy with the Coalition is their ability to
12:50
Speaker 1: get out there and sell it. What did you think
12:53
Speaker 1: when you were speaking with the Deputy Leader?
12:56
Speaker 6: Well, I'm just not convinced.
12:57
Speaker 13: I mean, I feel like there's a labour shortage in
13:00
Speaker 13: this country and everyone thinks labour's done a terrible job
13:04
Speaker 13: with migration and let too many people in too quick
13:07
Speaker 13: and that there are too many people here on bridging visas.
13:09
Speaker 6: And that's all fair enough.
13:11
Speaker 13: But to have such a drastic cut that Angus Taylor
13:14
Speaker 13: did seems more about grabbing a headline than anything. And
13:19
Speaker 13: I think you raise a good point, actually, because.
13:23
Speaker 6: They have to sell it now. You know, if they're
13:25
Speaker 6: going to take.
13:25
Speaker 13: This gamble, when they went for 100,000 net migration down
13:29
Speaker 13: from three, they could have gone for 150 or 160,
13:31
Speaker 13: for example. They say over four years they'll get to 160,
13:34
Speaker 13: but a couple of years at just 100,000, they've.
13:38
Speaker 6: Got to really go out and sell it.
13:40
Speaker 13: Now, I saw Peter Dutton announce a nuclear policy, kind
13:42
Speaker 13: of just walk away from it.
13:44
Speaker 6: It was a one-day wonder.
13:47
Speaker 13: We saw Angus Taylor announcing his budget reply speech, you know,
13:51
Speaker 13: that they're going to take or do indexation of the
13:54
Speaker 13: tax brackets so that you don't get hit by bracket creep,
13:58
Speaker 13: walked away from it after one day. So he's got
14:01
Speaker 13: to stick on this one, I think, because he's got
14:03
Speaker 13: to sort of justify it. The coalition argument is, OK,
14:06
Speaker 13: we've got less migrants, but we'll have better skilled ones
14:10
Speaker 13: and that'll be better for the economy. But we need
14:13
Speaker 13: people to do those low skilled jobs with an ageing
14:15
Speaker 13: population too, particularly, you know, places like aged care. They
14:19
Speaker 13: say they're going to kick 600,000 people out. Well, I mean,
14:24
Speaker 13: I think it's going to cause a few problems. And
14:26
Speaker 13: wasn't this the problem out of COVID that we didn't
14:29
Speaker 13: have enough workers? So then you have to overcompensate with
14:31
Speaker 13: migration later on. It feels like it's building towards that again.
14:35
Speaker 13: I just don't think it's achievable if they got elected,
14:37
Speaker 13: by the way, either.
14:38
Speaker 6: Why is that? Oh, it just isn't.
14:41
Speaker 13: I mean, you end up with workforce shortages such that,
14:46
Speaker 13: you know, you can't have services. And you end up
14:50
Speaker 13: in a situation where how do you easily kick 650,000
14:54
Speaker 13: people out of the country in four years? You might
14:55
Speaker 13: be able to get rid of a couple of hundred thousand.
14:58
Speaker 13: So I really think it's just politically geared and geared
15:02
Speaker 13: towards tackling One Nation. But if you're anti-immigration, you're voting
15:08
Speaker 13: for One Nation, you're not suddenly going to the Liberal Party.
15:11
Speaker 6: I think they need to get on to other subjects.
15:13
Speaker 1: It is important, though, Andrew, I do agree with you
15:15
Speaker 1: that they should be focusing on other issues like the economy.
15:19
Speaker 1: And they had a great energy policy that came out
15:21
Speaker 1: last week, but they had to come out with an
15:24
Speaker 1: immigration policy.
15:25
Speaker 3: Otherwise, there would be relentless calls saying, what's your policy?
15:28
Speaker 3: What's your policy?
15:29
Speaker 1: And so they needed to come out with something. And
15:31
Speaker 1: they've put a lot of work into this. You can
15:33
Speaker 1: see that they have spent the time. It has been
15:35
Speaker 1: properly costed. But I noticed that one thing that you
15:38
Speaker 1: spoke about earlier today, where You're concerned that this policy
15:42
Speaker 1: is potentially going to fuel inflation. What's your concern around that?
15:47
Speaker 13: Well, this is the thing. So I definitely think they
15:50
Speaker 13: should have put out a policy. But I think I
15:53
Speaker 13: said at the start of this interview, maybe start at 150.
15:56
Speaker 13: I mean, it's still a really significant cut. But then
15:59
Speaker 13: you can argue we can still get the workers in
16:02
Speaker 13: what they've done. when everyone knows that basically you've got
16:06
Speaker 13: employers fighting each other for staff, that drives up wages
16:09
Speaker 13: because you've got to pay more to get staff. You've
16:11
Speaker 13: got to pay more to get staff on construction. That
16:14
Speaker 13: drives up the cost of builds or that flows through
16:17
Speaker 13: to inflation. And this is why Michelle Bullock, the Reserve
16:21
Speaker 13: Bank Governor, is saying we actually kind of need 5%
16:23
Speaker 13: unemployment to get inflation down.
16:25
Speaker 6: That's just sort of the way the world works. And
16:28
Speaker 6: we've got 4%.
16:28
Speaker 11: And.
16:32
Speaker 13: You know, four and a half even, and inflation's just
16:36
Speaker 13: not coming down. So if you take a whole labour
16:39
Speaker 13: force out, then employers are going to be more desperate again,
16:43
Speaker 13: fighting each other, having to pay people more. That puts
16:46
Speaker 13: more money into the economy. That's worse for business. And
16:50
Speaker 13: then you end up with inflation. I think it's pretty straightforward.
16:53
Speaker 13: I'm not saying there aren't other reasons for inflation, like
16:56
Speaker 13: government spending or definitely the oil price and that sort
17:00
Speaker 13: of thing. But a tight labour market is part of
17:03
Speaker 13: the problem. This does nothing to solve that. This is
17:07
Speaker 13: about solving a political problem to me and I'm not
17:09
Speaker 13: convinced it will.
17:11
Speaker 1: Well, it's going to be interesting to see how they
17:13
Speaker 1: now go out and sell it, and to your point,
17:15
Speaker 1: whether they now just quickly move on and leave it
17:18
Speaker 1: and start focusing on other issues like the economy, which
17:21
Speaker 1: is where I think they really need to be honing
17:22
Speaker 1: their focus in on.
17:25
Speaker 3: Let's move on now, because I just want to get
17:27
Speaker 3: your thoughts on this pre-cop event.
17:30
Speaker 1: The Prime Minister is the only cop official in Fiji
17:34
Speaker 1: at the moment, and it just feels like It's almost
17:36
Speaker 1: a bit of an embarrassment, isn't it, Andrew? Taxpayers have
17:40
Speaker 1: forked out what there's, it's rumoured to be around $ 20 million.
17:43
Speaker 3: The government won't tell us. But I want to know.
17:46
Speaker 1: What leaders like Julia Gillard is doing there, former New
17:50
Speaker 1: Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, but also Zali Stegall, the
17:54
Speaker 1: Warringah MP.
17:56
Speaker 3: What are they contributing to all of this?
17:57
Speaker 13: I don't know what Zali Stegall's doing there. I hope
18:01
Speaker 13: she's paying for her own.
18:04
Speaker 6: Obviously you ran against her at a federal election.
18:08
Speaker 4: I did.
18:10
Speaker 13: I hope she paid her own way. That's all I
18:11
Speaker 13: can say about that. I certainly hope there's no taxpayer
18:14
Speaker 13: contribution because I don't see the purpose of her being there.
18:17
Speaker 13: She's got no role in the government or anything like that.
18:21
Speaker 13: Julia Gillard, Jacinda Ardern, well, there was a scribe in
18:23
Speaker 13: The Australian who rather unkindly said it was the cast
18:26
Speaker 13: of a writers' festival, which it kind of is. Yeah.
18:30
Speaker 6: It does seem like a waste of money.
18:32
Speaker 13: It does seem like a bad time for Anthony Albanese
18:35
Speaker 13: to be there because it just sort of plays on
18:38
Speaker 13: that feeling from Australians. He's not that focused on the
18:41
Speaker 13: cost of living. He's got no answers.
18:42
Speaker 6: He's overseas all the time.
18:43
Speaker 13: We're going to see a lot more of that because
18:45
Speaker 13: even though he has to go to the G20 and
18:47
Speaker 13: ASEAN and APEC, I think most of us think that
18:50
Speaker 13: he's going to Chogham, the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting
18:53
Speaker 13: in Antigua and Barbuda, and now he's been to this,
18:56
Speaker 13: and you just sort of think, Really?
18:58
Speaker 1: Why?
18:59
Speaker 6: Haven't you got enough problems at home? So I don't
19:04
Speaker 6: think this is politically going to be a great thing
19:06
Speaker 6: for the government. I don't know what it achieves.
19:07
Speaker 13: I mean, if you got the cop in Adelaide like
19:10
Speaker 13: they were trying, then I'd probably go, oh, okay, well,
19:13
Speaker 13: you sort of have to do this.
19:14
Speaker 6: They didn't.
19:15
Speaker 13: Turkey got it, and they're some sort of weird co-host,
19:18
Speaker 13: even though it's in Turkey, and now they're hosting this thing.
19:22
Speaker 5: It's just.
19:24
Speaker 13: And look, when power bills are up and cost of
19:26
Speaker 13: living is front of mind, this isn't a key concern
19:29
Speaker 13: for people either.
19:30
Speaker 1: And surely wouldn't it have also been cheaper with the
19:34
Speaker 1: amount of people that have ended up going to this
19:37
Speaker 1: summit in Fiji? Surely it would have been cheaper just
19:39
Speaker 1: to fly them to Australia. And then we could also
19:42
Speaker 1: put the money into our hotels and into our economy
19:45
Speaker 1: and into our restaurants. But instead, we're going and spending
19:49
Speaker 1: it over... in the Pacific Islands, which I understand is
19:51
Speaker 1: also really important strategically. But we're on our knees here.
19:55
Speaker 1: Come back and support our economy.
19:57
Speaker 13: That's the argument. It is roughly $ 20 million. We know that,
20:01
Speaker 13: by the way, because Chris Bowen said that. The other
20:04
Speaker 13: day he said something like, I've seen those reports.
20:07
Speaker 6: They're in the ballpark. So maybe it's 30. Who knows?
20:10
Speaker 13: But, yeah, it just jars a bit because you wonder
20:13
Speaker 13: what it achieves. We have a Pacific Islands forum. Most
20:16
Speaker 13: of the leaders are from the Pacific Islands. We just
20:18
Speaker 13: had that. So they were talking about climate there. Then
20:21
Speaker 13: you've got all these low-ranking officials. They're probably just having
20:24
Speaker 13: a nice time in Fiji, to be honest. Sounds nice, actually, Jamie,
20:27
Speaker 13: doesn't it?
20:28
Speaker 14: It does.
20:28
Speaker 3: That's where you and I need to do our next
20:30
Speaker 3: cross front. We'll go to Fiji. I'll leave it there, Andrew.
20:33
Speaker 3: Thanks so much for your time tonight.
20:34
Speaker 11: Cheers.
20:37
Speaker 1: Well, let's take a closer look now on the domestic
20:40
Speaker 1: implications of the FlyJuby terror incident, with Revelations, the co-pilot
20:45
Speaker 1: who allegedly tried to hijack the flight and crash it
20:48
Speaker 1: into a Tel Aviv skyscraper. had been a Melbourne University student.
20:53
Speaker 1: Here to discuss this and more, former AFP detective David Craig.
20:58
Speaker 3: David, welcome.
21:00
Speaker 1: There are some obvious questions here related to Australia's tertiary institutions,
21:05
Speaker 1: and we will get to that in a moment. But
21:07
Speaker 1: when these allegations emerged about the co-pilot's Australian links, what
21:12
Speaker 1: concerns you the most about this case?
21:16
Speaker 15: Well, his online activity and contacts while he was here, obviously,
21:19
Speaker 15: the Victorian JCTT, Joint Counterterrorism Team, will be focusing predominantly
21:24
Speaker 15: on his electronic footprint, associations that he had with people
21:28
Speaker 15: at university. And there is, and I'll just preface this
21:31
Speaker 15: to say, there's nothing to say RMIT is in any
21:33
Speaker 15: way involved with radicalisation or terrorism, but he was certainly,
21:37
Speaker 15: it's been confirmed he's there. He was there for that
21:40
Speaker 15: two-year period between 2015 and 2017. and RMIT are assisting
21:44
Speaker 15: the JCT with TT with their inquiries.
21:48
Speaker 1: Now, noting we don't know whether this man was radicalised
21:52
Speaker 1: in Australia, but do you think Australian universities are doing
21:55
Speaker 1: enough to identify the warning signs of radicalisation amongst students?
22:02
Speaker 15: Well, if recent history, like encampments and stuff like there
22:05
Speaker 15: was at RMIT, you know, a pro-Palestinian encampment that started
22:09
Speaker 15: in the alumni camp, Courtyard, and I'm not sure if
22:12
Speaker 15: it's still there even, but that shows an active student body.
22:18
Speaker 15: Of interest in that timeframe of the 2015-2017, in May 2015,
22:24
Speaker 15: the Age Sydney Morning Herald reported that a person called
22:30
Speaker 15: Koda Saeed was an ISIS sympathiser.
22:37
Speaker 5: Now, that was just in the newspaper. Nothing's been proven.
22:40
Speaker 15: But later that year, he was hosted by the RMIT
22:43
Speaker 15: Islamic Society to give a lecture. Now, we don't know
22:47
Speaker 15: whether Hammami attended that. We don't know what he said
22:50
Speaker 15: at the lecture. And there can't be any allegation against
22:53
Speaker 15: Saweed either. But it does show an active Islamic presence.
22:58
Speaker 15: And in 2016 and 2017, there were also Islamic Awareness
23:03
Speaker 15: Weeks where there were workshops, lectures, stalls and hijab booths
23:09
Speaker 15: and things.
23:10
Speaker 1: And David, what are some of the things that universities
23:13
Speaker 1: and even parents should be keeping an eye out to
23:16
Speaker 1: see to make sure that their children aren't going down
23:18
Speaker 1: that radicalisation path?
23:20
Speaker 15: Oh, I wish there was an easy answer for that.
23:23
Speaker 15: I mean, university students protest. I mean, that's good. That's
23:27
Speaker 15: part of a healthy democracy. It's if you're... your child
23:32
Speaker 15: or your adult child is becoming more isolated from you
23:37
Speaker 15: or voicing anything in particular. But if they're particularly getting radicalised,
23:41
Speaker 15: they may just isolate themselves. And that's where the radicalisation
23:45
Speaker 15: online can happen. And that's where the real danger is.
23:48
Speaker 15: It's not an easy thing for parents or anyone to
23:50
Speaker 15: deal with.
23:51
Speaker 1: Now, I know you've spoken with Peter extensively on this issue,
23:55
Speaker 1: but are our intelligence and law enforcement agencies adequately equipped
23:59
Speaker 1: to be able to monitor all of our domestic security?
24:02
Speaker 5: Well, in a short answer, absolutely not.
24:06
Speaker 15: I mean, clearly, recently it's been reported about the dire
24:09
Speaker 15: shortage of staff in... counter-terrorism in the AFP, and I
24:12
Speaker 15: know that they have been pouring stuff back into that funnel.
24:16
Speaker 15: It's a bit late, but at least they're trying to
24:17
Speaker 15: mend it now. I don't think we have got enough.
24:20
Speaker 15: We have got certainly more than enough radicalised Islamic terrorists
24:26
Speaker 15: on the watch list, and I think there's a lot
24:28
Speaker 15: more to come. I also find it interesting that Hamami
24:34
Speaker 15: left Australia in 2017, then late 2018, He arrives in
24:39
Speaker 15: New Zealand, and this is confirmed by the New Zealand
24:42
Speaker 15: Police Commissioner, for flight training on a six-month visa. So
24:46
Speaker 15: I'd like to know where he was, not just in Australia,
24:49
Speaker 15: but between 2017 and late 2018. That could have been
24:53
Speaker 15: when he was radicalised. We just don't know what the
24:55
Speaker 15: trajectory was for his radicalisation.
24:57
Speaker 1: And I guess to that point, do we need to
24:59
Speaker 1: be seeing more transparency from government and its agency on
25:04
Speaker 1: these sort of issues, or do you think that would
25:07
Speaker 1: compound the problem and ultimately make it worse?
25:12
Speaker 15: I don't think that transparency is an issue that I've
25:15
Speaker 15: come across in relation to this. It's certainly alarming, and
25:21
Speaker 15: active student bodies can go a little bit far left
25:23
Speaker 15: sometimes or to the right. But I don't think there's
25:26
Speaker 15: a transparency issue. The next few days will tell. I
25:30
Speaker 15: would like to see the AFP Commissioner Chrissy Barrett stand
25:34
Speaker 15: up and make a comment about what the JCTT is.
25:36
Speaker 5: This is of national interest.
25:38
Speaker 15: We'll just have to see on the transparency issue.
25:41
Speaker 5: I'll maintain my silence on that.
25:44
Speaker 1: Well, David Craig, I always appreciate your insights. We will
25:47
Speaker 1: chat to you again soon. Well, coming up after the break,
25:50
Speaker 1: the countdown to the Victorian election. And try though as
25:53
Speaker 1: it might, Labor is struggling to distance itself from the
25:56
Speaker 1: shadow of its former leader, Daniel Andrews.
25:59
Speaker 3: That's next. Welcome back.
26:05
Speaker 1: It's great to have your company. Coming up, could UK
26:09
Speaker 1: presenter Jeremy Clarkson be looking to set up a pub
26:13
Speaker 1: in Australia? But now to the front page news that
26:17
Speaker 1: former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, the man who locked down
26:21
Speaker 1: Victorians for almost two years and killed small business, well,
26:25
Speaker 1: now he's reportedly living in a multi-million dollar Mornington Peninsula
26:29
Speaker 1: home that's owned by a wealthy Labor donor. It raises
26:34
Speaker 1: fresh questions about the former Premier's relationship with the party's
26:37
Speaker 1: donor network. So let's bring in now Victorian political reporter
26:40
Speaker 1: Anthony Galloway. Anthony, great to see you. Look, where there's smoke,
26:45
Speaker 1: there's fire. Even without digging into the detail here, the
26:49
Speaker 1: optics just surely aren't good for Labor, are they?
26:51
Speaker 9: Yeah, like with everything with Dan Andrews, it's highly secretive.
26:58
Speaker 6: It's a bit weird.
27:00
Speaker 9: I mean, we're not there's no allegation necessarily of any
27:03
Speaker 9: wrongdoing here. But why are you living in a multimillion
27:06
Speaker 9: dollar opulent mansion on the Mornington Peninsula? If you want
27:10
Speaker 9: to live on the Mornington Peninsula, why aren't you just
27:12
Speaker 9: buying or renting, you know, a normal kind of house?
27:17
Speaker 9: I think the problem with Andrews is, I mean, especially
27:20
Speaker 9: since he's left the premiership, All of his dealings are
27:25
Speaker 9: very secretive. We don't know much about the two companies
27:29
Speaker 9: he's established other than the Pratt family and Fortescue, Andrew
27:33
Speaker 9: Forrest's company, are clients and that, you know, he does
27:37
Speaker 9: a lot of work in China. So like with everything
27:41
Speaker 9: with Andrew's post-political life, it's just a bit weird and
27:45
Speaker 9: the average Victorian who's struggling at the moment would probably
27:49
Speaker 9: just think he wouldn't pass the pub test.
27:52
Speaker 1: And what do you think this says about the relationship
27:55
Speaker 1: between senior labour figures and wealthy donors?
27:59
Speaker 3: I mean, we don't really know.
28:03
Speaker 9: The property developers, they're a rich Melbourne family who own
28:11
Speaker 9: this mansion on the Mornington Peninsula. They've donated thousands of
28:14
Speaker 9: dollars to the Victorian Labor Party in recent years. They've
28:17
Speaker 9: also donated a bit to the Liberals, but much more
28:20
Speaker 9: to Labor. I mean, we can't really make any connections there,
28:23
Speaker 9: other than, as you say, it's just probably not a
28:26
Speaker 9: good look for the former Premier. Given how much money,
28:32
Speaker 9: thousands of dollars, they donated to Victorian Labor at the
28:35
Speaker 9: 2022 election, when he was running for re-election as Premier,
28:39
Speaker 9: for him to then live in their mansion by the beach.
28:44
Speaker 1: All right, well, let's move on now to another front
28:47
Speaker 1: page story, and that's the suburban rail loop in Melbourne.
28:51
Speaker 1: So there's been some fresh revelations about the secretive way
28:54
Speaker 1: that the rail loop was first conceived and funded with
28:57
Speaker 1: a former senior transport bureaucrat comparing it to origins to Labor's.
29:03
Speaker 3: Red shirt scandal.
29:05
Speaker 1: This is costing tens of billions of dollars, and there's
29:08
Speaker 1: a deep accountability issue here, and it's certainly not going away,
29:12
Speaker 1: is it?
29:14
Speaker 9: No, $ 34. 5 billion to be exact. And there's not a
29:19
Speaker 9: lot of economists or infrastructure experts who actually agree with
29:22
Speaker 9: that cost estimate, given it's based on 2019 or 2020 figures.
29:28
Speaker 9: And we know what's happened with the cost of raw
29:30
Speaker 9: materials and just inflation since the pandemic. And the government's
29:35
Speaker 9: refused really to do an updated business case. I mean,
29:39
Speaker 9: we know that the current premier, Ben Carroll, is not
29:42
Speaker 9: a fan of this project. We know he would love
29:46
Speaker 9: to be doing the airport rail, which appears to be
29:49
Speaker 9: a much more popular project in Melbourne and actually is
29:55
Speaker 9: a gaping infrastructure need. You know, Carol wouldn't like to
30:00
Speaker 9: do this, but tunnels are already being bored in the ground.
30:03
Speaker 9: I think there's just an acceptance by Carol and those
30:07
Speaker 9: close to him that too much has already been done.
30:10
Speaker 9: I mean, I've got no doubt that if the Liberals
30:13
Speaker 9: win this election, they will cancel this project. They're just
30:16
Speaker 9: not saying it now, but I think they get into government,
30:19
Speaker 9: they do a thorough review of exactly how much this
30:22
Speaker 9: costs and they will probably abolish it. You know, the
30:26
Speaker 9: Herald Sun's revelations today really underscored how there was never
30:30
Speaker 9: really a plan that this was made up on the run.
30:34
Speaker 9: The costs were upgraded massively over time. And it was
30:40
Speaker 9: it was completely different to what they first envisioned. And
30:43
Speaker 9: they kind of didn't care. I think Andrews and those
30:46
Speaker 9: close to him. The big build then was very popular
30:50
Speaker 9: leading up to the pandemic. It really spurred the huge
30:54
Speaker 9: win in 2018, and I think they just were looking
30:57
Speaker 9: what's next.
30:59
Speaker 1: Well, let's have a look at the latest polling that's
31:02
Speaker 1: now out today. And this is in the Herald Sun.
31:05
Speaker 1: And this suggests that Victorian voters would prefer a coalition
31:08
Speaker 1: one nation government to a Labor Greens government. Now, Premier
31:12
Speaker 1: Ben Carroll has insisted that he won't do a deal
31:15
Speaker 1: with the Greens. How do you see this playing out?
31:20
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's interesting.
31:22
Speaker 9: I mean, I took from that poll that voters don't
31:24
Speaker 9: want a minority government with the Greens or One Nation
31:28
Speaker 9: because it was still, yeah, Moore said they don't want
31:32
Speaker 9: a Labor-Greens one, but you couldn't take from that that
31:36
Speaker 9: a coalition One Nation government is especially popular either. So
31:43
Speaker 9: I just think both leaders are confronting this question in
31:46
Speaker 9: a completely different way. Jess Wilson, the Liberal leader, is
31:50
Speaker 9: refusing to rule out a coalition with One Nation after
31:54
Speaker 9: the election.
31:55
Speaker 6: Ben Carroll is, I think.
31:57
Speaker 9: Quite incredibly completely ruling out a minority government with the Greens,
32:02
Speaker 9: saying he will lock the key away or throw the
32:05
Speaker 9: key away.
32:06
Speaker 3: But do you believe that, though?
32:07
Speaker 6: He's not going to do it.
32:09
Speaker 5: I don't.
32:10
Speaker 9: I think if Labor are a few seats short of
32:15
Speaker 9: majority and all you need is the Greens to guarantee supply,
32:18
Speaker 9: what Labor, you know, What Premier wouldn't entertain those discussions?
32:25
Speaker 9: I think it's a move now to kind of dispel
32:30
Speaker 9: that question and put pressure on Wilson because Labor thinks
32:35
Speaker 9: that this refusal by Wilson to rule out a coalition
32:39
Speaker 9: with One Nation is damaging the Liberals in metropolitan Melbourne,
32:43
Speaker 9: especially those seats in the east and south-east. that she
32:47
Speaker 9: needs to win off Labor. These are kind of seats,
32:50
Speaker 9: mortgage-belty seats, that One Nation's not going to poll especially high,
32:56
Speaker 9: and they're really swinging voters who probably aren't big fans
33:01
Speaker 9: of One Nation. Labor think this applying pressure on Wilson
33:06
Speaker 9: over the One Nation question is working in these seats.
33:10
Speaker 1: Well, certainly one that we're all going to be keeping
33:11
Speaker 1: a very close eye on. Anthony Galloway, thank you. Well,
33:15
Speaker 1: after the break, we will cross to London for the
33:18
Speaker 1: latest on the scandal plagued former prince who's been told
33:21
Speaker 1: to pay his own legal costs in his fight back
33:25
Speaker 1: over his now infamous arrest.
33:27
Speaker 3: That's next. Welcome back.
33:33
Speaker 1: Coming up, we will have more on the migration policy
33:36
Speaker 1: released today by the coalition. But now to London, where
33:40
Speaker 1: King Charles has told his brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, he will
33:45
Speaker 1: have to fund his own legal case against police as
33:48
Speaker 1: scrutiny of the former royal continues to intensify. Let's bring
33:52
Speaker 1: in now News24 contributor and News Corp Australia's European correspondent,
33:56
Speaker 1: Sophie Ellsworth.
33:58
Speaker 3: Sophie, great to see you.
34:00
Speaker 1: The King, he's looking like he's trying to send an
34:02
Speaker 1: important message here, isn't he?
34:06
Speaker 16: He is indeed trying to send an important message because
34:09
Speaker 16: there's no doubt Andrew Mountbatten's reputation in the UK has
34:14
Speaker 16: been totally tarnished since his arrest in February on his birthday.
34:20
Speaker 16: And he has said now that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is taking
34:24
Speaker 16: action against whether or not the police's conduct was lawful
34:27
Speaker 16: that led to his arrest... King Charles has said, you
34:31
Speaker 16: are not to use any funds that I give you
34:33
Speaker 16: to fund your legal case. So I think the King
34:37
Speaker 16: is trying to send a message to the public that
34:40
Speaker 16: while his brother's entitled to do as he wishes, to
34:43
Speaker 16: a certain extent he's not. And that relates to the
34:46
Speaker 16: funding of this legal case. And it is an extraordinary
34:50
Speaker 16: development that he is now fighting back and taking on
34:54
Speaker 16: the police in the High Court where there will be
34:57
Speaker 16: a closed hearing this Thursday at 2pm local time.
35:01
Speaker 1: It does seem, Sophie, there's an element of arrogance to
35:05
Speaker 1: Andrew where he still feels as though the rules don't
35:08
Speaker 1: necessarily apply to him. So you could imagine that there
35:11
Speaker 1: would be outrage by taxpayers if they had to then
35:14
Speaker 1: foot this bill.
35:17
Speaker 16: Absolutely, but we must remind viewers that today he has
35:21
Speaker 16: not been charged with any offences. He's always maintained his innocence.
35:27
Speaker 16: And the arrest was in relation to suspicion of him
35:32
Speaker 16: being involved in misconduct while he was in public office.
35:36
Speaker 16: But today, as I said, no charges have been laid.
35:40
Speaker 16: So this is very important to remind people. While he's
35:42
Speaker 16: in exile up in Sandringham, living a very lonely existence,
35:47
Speaker 16: He has no charges against him.
35:50
Speaker 1: Sophie, I want to move on now to a topic
35:52
Speaker 1: that's a big one here in Australia. And the Greens
35:56
Speaker 1: over there in the UK has voted to end the
35:59
Speaker 1: party's opposition to nuclear power. So they've dropped a commitment
36:02
Speaker 1: to phase out the technology in a major shift in
36:05
Speaker 1: its energy policy.
36:06
Speaker 3: How significant is this?
36:10
Speaker 16: Well, it's very significant because, as we know, the Green
36:12
Speaker 16: Party here have been very anti-nuclear, but they've changed their
36:16
Speaker 16: positioning on this. While they're still not massive fans of
36:20
Speaker 16: nuclear energy, they've said that the process here is to
36:24
Speaker 16: leave existing nuclear power plants in operation, which provide about 12%
36:30
Speaker 16: of electricity here in the U.K., But for future plans
36:34
Speaker 16: for nuclear energy, it should be thought through very, very
36:37
Speaker 16: carefully and solar and wind should be prioritised. So this
36:41
Speaker 16: is a significant shift for the Green Party, who we
36:44
Speaker 16: know in the UK have traditionally been very anti-nuclear.
36:48
Speaker 1: I'll be interested to see if our politicians are paying
36:51
Speaker 1: attention to what's going on over there in the UK today.
36:54
Speaker 3: Let's take a look now at Jeremy Clarkson.
36:57
Speaker 1: So he's reportedly opening a second pub and rumours are
37:01
Speaker 1: that he's looking at Australia. I mean, he's had hurdles
37:04
Speaker 1: at every turn in the UK. Do you think he'd
37:07
Speaker 1: be prepared for business and the pressures it's facing Australian publicans?
37:13
Speaker 16: Well, yesterday I was at the Tory conference in Birmingham
37:15
Speaker 16: where he was the star of the conference. The Tories
37:19
Speaker 16: don't always make headlines here like they used to because
37:22
Speaker 16: they're now in opposition, but they rolled out Jeremy Clarkson,
37:26
Speaker 16: which was a massive win for them. He came out...
37:28
Speaker 16: in support of British farmers, which he's been very vocal about.
37:32
Speaker 16: But he was incredibly scathing of the Labor government here.
37:35
Speaker 16: He was asked by one of the shadow ministers whether
37:39
Speaker 16: he's considering opening a second watering hole because he has
37:43
Speaker 16: the farmer's dog in Burford in Oxfordshire, which has been
37:46
Speaker 16: a roaring success. He said he is considering opening a
37:49
Speaker 16: second pub, but he said there's one thing he can
37:52
Speaker 16: assure people, it will not be in Britain because Britain
37:56
Speaker 16: businesses are really hurting here and the government is not
37:59
Speaker 16: helping with many taxes and red tape that they have
38:03
Speaker 16: to get through. So Australia.
38:04
Speaker 3: Who knows?
38:05
Speaker 16: Could be getting a Jeremy Clarkson pub. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
38:09
Speaker 16: But I can tell you, having been to the Farmer's
38:11
Speaker 16: Dog several times in West Oxfordshire, it books out months
38:15
Speaker 16: in advance. It's very hard to get into. It's hugely
38:18
Speaker 16: popular and everything in the pub is British made. So
38:22
Speaker 16: he's very big on this buy British, support British, and
38:25
Speaker 16: he really is fed up to the back teeth of
38:28
Speaker 16: the British government.
38:29
Speaker 1: I reckon it would be quite popular here too. Now,
38:32
Speaker 1: before I let you go, give us an update on
38:34
Speaker 1: how Harry and Meghan have settled into their new life
38:37
Speaker 1: over in the UK.
38:40
Speaker 16: Well, look, Harry and Meghan, they're still very much on
38:43
Speaker 16: the outer here in Britain. They've come back because I
38:46
Speaker 16: believe they're desperate to try and win back the British public.
38:50
Speaker 16: They've got a long way to go to be doing that.
38:52
Speaker 16: They've been seen out and about a little bit in
38:55
Speaker 16: the Cotswolds where they're now residing. But we haven't really
38:59
Speaker 16: seen a lot of media with them. They've largely been
39:03
Speaker 16: keeping a relatively low profile. But in recent days, there
39:06
Speaker 16: are reports that they've scheduled a meeting with the King.
39:10
Speaker 16: ahead of Christmas but it will be very interesting to
39:14
Speaker 16: see if Meghan and Harry and their two children roll
39:17
Speaker 16: up at Sandringham for that famous Christmas gathering with the
39:20
Speaker 16: Royals because as we know William and Harry sadly do
39:24
Speaker 16: not speak so long way to go for the Sussexes
39:27
Speaker 16: but they are definitely trying to win back the British
39:30
Speaker 16: public and the favour of the royal family.
39:32
Speaker 1: Well Sophie Ellsworth I will leave it there it was
39:35
Speaker 1: great to see you. All right after the break more
39:39
Speaker 1: on the coalition's long-awaited migration plan we'll dig into the
39:43
Speaker 1: numbers with our Tuesday night panel that's next.
39:51
Speaker 3: Welcome back.
39:52
Speaker 1: Well, let's dive straight into those migration numbers that have
39:55
Speaker 1: been released by the coalition. Angus Taylor with his deputy,
39:59
Speaker 1: Jane Hume, and Nationals leader Matt Canavan, as well as
40:02
Speaker 1: Home Affairs spokesman Jono Duniam. It was quite the show
40:06
Speaker 1: of strength on the issue that is going to have
40:08
Speaker 1: to have some significant cut through with voters. It's the
40:11
Speaker 1: largest cut to net overseas migration in Australian history.
40:15
Speaker 3: Now, here to discuss it.
40:16
Speaker 1: Further, Deputy Executive Director at the IPA, Dan Wild, and
40:20
Speaker 1: News24 contributor Lucy Zelich. Welcome to you both. Dan, there's
40:25
Speaker 1: a lot to pull apart here. There's some critics. Andrew
40:28
Speaker 1: Clunell was one of them. He was speaking a bit
40:30
Speaker 1: earlier on the program. And they're warning that cutting migration
40:33
Speaker 1: to 100,000 for the first two years could actually push
40:36
Speaker 1: up inflation due to the lack of worker availability.
40:40
Speaker 3: What's your assessment?
40:43
Speaker 6: Well, that's not correct.
40:45
Speaker 14: Cutting immigration is deflationary because you're going to be taking
40:48
Speaker 14: some demand out of the system. So there's two big
40:51
Speaker 14: causes of inflation at the moment. There's massive government spending
40:55
Speaker 14: at the state and federal levels, and we've heard that
40:56
Speaker 14: from the RBA governor. And then there's been this mass
40:59
Speaker 14: migration surge where we have more people coming into the economy,
41:02
Speaker 14: spending more money, But the economy isn't getting bigger. So
41:05
Speaker 14: we've got per capita growth going backwards. This is why
41:08
Speaker 14: Australians are getting poorer. So cutting immigration will be good
41:11
Speaker 14: for the economy. And it's something that Australians want and
41:14
Speaker 14: Australians need. Now, on the point of skilled immigration, this
41:18
Speaker 14: government is not running a skilled migration program. I'll give
41:21
Speaker 14: you one example of this. If you look at the
41:24
Speaker 14: job vacancy data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, What
41:27
Speaker 14: it shows is that the number of job vacancies are
41:30
Speaker 14: still 80% higher than they were before COVID, even though
41:35
Speaker 14: the government has brought in about 1.5 million migrants on
41:38
Speaker 14: a net basis over that period. So we've had a
41:41
Speaker 14: record influx of people, yet job vacancies are not going down.
41:45
Speaker 14: So there is a mismatch between the people coming in
41:48
Speaker 14: and the skills that businesses need. So clearly cutting immigration
41:52
Speaker 14: from the situation we're in is going to be very
41:55
Speaker 14: good for the economy.
41:57
Speaker 1: And Lucy, that is one thing that Angus was talking
41:59
Speaker 1: about in terms of listing and boosting the skilled migration.
42:03
Speaker 1: And they had some really strong messaging coming out of today.
42:06
Speaker 1: The big question, though, is do you think it'll resonate
42:10
Speaker 1: and will they get the cut through that they need?
42:12
Speaker 11: That is the $ 20 million question. Great to see you
42:16
Speaker 11: filling in there for Peter. Jamie, and be with you
42:18
Speaker 11: once again. I couldn't help but watch all of the reactions.
42:22
Speaker 11: And first and foremost, I will say it seemed to
42:24
Speaker 11: be pretty alarmist, but no different to the reactions that
42:27
Speaker 11: we had over 25 years ago to John Howard's federal
42:30
Speaker 11: election campaign launch when he said, we will decide who
42:34
Speaker 11: comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.
42:37
Speaker 11: The follow up from the then Labor leader, Kim Beazley,
42:40
Speaker 11: was an accusation of playing wedge politics and of fanning Hansonism.
42:46
Speaker 11: It's fascinating to see 25 years later we're still having
42:48
Speaker 11: the same conversations. But the reality is they were damned
42:52
Speaker 11: if they did and they were damned if they didn't.
42:53
Speaker 11: We've accused the coalition of being too soft and spineless
42:56
Speaker 11: for so long. Had they come out today with soft
42:59
Speaker 11: figures and didn't take a hardline approach to this, we
43:02
Speaker 11: would have.
43:02
Speaker 3: Been smashing them again.
43:03
Speaker 11: And now that they have taken a hardline approach, They've been,
43:07
Speaker 11: you know, at the brunt of accusations of now being
43:10
Speaker 11: too hard of appealing to One Nation or at least
43:14
Speaker 11: trying to outdo One Nation.
43:16
Speaker 3: And they're now thrust in a.
43:16
Speaker 11: Situation where what they need to do is stand by
43:20
Speaker 11: this and prosecute these points or they'll end up like
43:23
Speaker 11: their predecessors because the polls haven't been kind to them
43:27
Speaker 11: over the last year in particular. They're sitting in the
43:29
Speaker 11: low 20s. They haven't been able to shift that needle
43:33
Speaker 11: at times, dipping down to the high teens and They
43:36
Speaker 11: have to do something now, otherwise they're going to drift
43:38
Speaker 11: into political irreverency and that's something that they can't risk
43:42
Speaker 11: at this point in time.
43:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're spot on.
43:44
Speaker 1: They really now need to just prosecute, prosecute, prosecute and
43:47
Speaker 1: continue to get their message out there.
43:50
Speaker 3: Let's move on.
43:50
Speaker 1: The Tax Office is facing a showdown with Australia's small
43:54
Speaker 1: business ombudsman, and this is over its controversial decision to
43:57
Speaker 1: ban credit card payments in the wake of the Albanese
44:00
Speaker 1: government's ban on surcharges for card transactions. Now, small business
44:04
Speaker 1: and family enterprise ombudsman Lydia McCarley-Smith will take on the
44:09
Speaker 1: ATO over this move, which threatens to strip struggling businesses
44:13
Speaker 1: of a long-used cash flow line.
44:15
Speaker 3: Dan.
44:17
Speaker 1: This decision has to be reversed, doesn't it? Because there
44:19
Speaker 1: has been so much backlash.
44:23
Speaker 5: Yeah, I agree.
44:24
Speaker 14: And I think you hit the nail on the head
44:25
Speaker 14: the other night when you made the point, which is, well,
44:27
Speaker 14: somebody's got to pay. You know, there's still a cost involved. So,
44:31
Speaker 14: you know, this is fake economics. If you're just going
44:33
Speaker 14: to say, well, you can't put on the surcharge, ultimately,
44:37
Speaker 14: where is the money going to come from? Either it's
44:38
Speaker 14: going to get passed on to customers, so you pay
44:40
Speaker 14: another 10 cents for your cup of coffee, or or
44:42
Speaker 14: it's going to be absorbed by the business itself. And
44:45
Speaker 14: we all know for many businesses, that's not really an option,
44:48
Speaker 14: is it? When you've got massive energy costs, you've got
44:50
Speaker 14: rising staff costs, you've got heaps of red tape and
44:53
Speaker 14: taxes and charges and levies that never seem to end.
44:56
Speaker 14: So the reality is, sure, this is not, we're not
44:58
Speaker 14: talking about sheep stations here. We're not talking about millions
45:00
Speaker 14: of dollars, but it is just another thing that a
45:02
Speaker 14: small business has to deal with. So again, this is
45:05
Speaker 14: an example, I think, of an alluring idea. Yeah, we'll
45:08
Speaker 14: ban the surcharge.
45:09
Speaker 5: Sure.
45:09
Speaker 14: No one likes paying the surcharge.
45:11
Speaker 3: It's a pain in the backside.
45:12
Speaker 14: But when you actually look at the reality of what's
45:14
Speaker 14: happening here, it is going to hurt small businesses. Now,
45:17
Speaker 14: is that deliberate?
45:19
Speaker 4: I don't know.
45:20
Speaker 14: But I do know that this government is not a
45:22
Speaker 14: fan of small business whatsoever.
45:24
Speaker 1: And I think, Lucy, as well, it's also showing what
45:27
Speaker 1: happens when you have people in charge that have never
45:29
Speaker 1: actually run a small business themselves. They don't understand the
45:33
Speaker 1: stress and the pressure that adding a credit card surcharge
45:37
Speaker 1: will do to them. And it's all playing out now
45:40
Speaker 1: in real time.
45:41
Speaker 3: Couldn't agree more, Jamie.
45:42
Speaker 11: This is what happens when you have career politicians running
45:45
Speaker 11: the country and a treasurer whose greatest experience is writing
45:49
Speaker 11: a PhD on the brawn and might of Paul Keating.
45:52
Speaker 11: I mean, that's pretty embarrassing, isn't it, for us as
45:54
Speaker 11: a nation, that that's who is in charge of our economy?
45:57
Speaker 11: And it's quite clear that they are financially illiterate and incompetent.
46:01
Speaker 11: But to give you an example of just how out
46:03
Speaker 11: of touch they are, this surcharge ban, this announcement, it
46:06
Speaker 11: all came into place on the 1st of October.
46:09
Speaker 3: End quote. I mean, Read the room, guys.
46:29
Speaker 11: Clearly, you've seen that small businesses, not only are they
46:32
Speaker 11: on their knees, but that consumers have really railed against this.
46:36
Speaker 11: They've been absolutely pilloried after this announcement. And we've seen
46:40
Speaker 11: several others, not just the ombudsman, come out and criticise this,
46:43
Speaker 11: not just consumers, but also the Master Builders Association, the
46:46
Speaker 11: decision now from the ATO. to pass on credit card payments.
46:51
Speaker 11: You know, the Macquarie Bank with their DEFT program, their system,
46:55
Speaker 11: very popular system used by renters across the country, they're
46:58
Speaker 11: not going to allow credit card payments.
47:00
Speaker 3: This is a disaster of a decision.
47:02
Speaker 11: And as I said before, you can't be surprised because
47:05
Speaker 11: these people are economically illiterate.
47:07
Speaker 12: Mm-hmm.
47:09
Speaker 1: Now, what about these warnings from Anthropic? It's declared that
47:12
Speaker 1: artificial intelligence poses an industrial-scale threat to Australia and could
47:17
Speaker 1: reduce demand for human work. Now, obviously, this is a warning, Dan, but, hey,
47:23
Speaker 1: we can't say they.
47:23
Speaker 3: Didn't warn us.
47:26
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's right.
47:27
Speaker 14: I mean, I think AI, for a lot of people,
47:29
Speaker 14: the concern is the pace of change and that a
47:32
Speaker 14: lot of people don't necessarily feel like they're in control
47:35
Speaker 14: of it or they don't feel comfortable with it. I
47:37
Speaker 14: think it can be very empowering. I mean, many people
47:39
Speaker 14: use it in their jobs, in their personal life, in
47:41
Speaker 14: different ways. So we're going to have to learn how
47:44
Speaker 14: to contend with it and use it for our own benefit.
47:46
Speaker 14: But yeah, I mean, if you're on the chopping block,
47:48
Speaker 14: if your job is one of those jobs that's at
47:50
Speaker 14: imminent risk of being taken over or diminished as a
47:53
Speaker 14: result of AI and other similar technologies, then, yeah, you're
47:57
Speaker 14: going to be pretty worried about it. I think this
47:59
Speaker 14: warning is probably trying to play the politics of it
48:01
Speaker 14: a little bit. Like you say, they want to be
48:03
Speaker 14: able to say that they warned us about this. But, look,
48:07
Speaker 14: as I say, I think it's the pace of change
48:09
Speaker 14: that people get concerned about when it comes to AI.
48:12
Speaker 1: And quickly, Lucy, your thoughts on this inner-west Sydney council
48:15
Speaker 1: that's voted to remove the Aboriginal flag from outside its chambers?
48:20
Speaker 3: I thought it was a great decision.
48:21
Speaker 11: Councillor Bilardi spoke very well when he said virtue signalling
48:24
Speaker 11: should stay out of our government. That flag that you're
48:27
Speaker 11: sitting in front of is the one unifying symbol that
48:30
Speaker 11: we have in our country that represents all Australians, not
48:33
Speaker 11: just one. So less woke and more unity is exactly
48:36
Speaker 11: what we need, Jamie.
48:37
Speaker 1: Well, Lucy and Dan, I'll leave it there. Thanks to
48:40
Speaker 1: you both for coming on. And thank you for your
48:42
Speaker 1: company tonight. You'll see me again right here tomorrow night.
48:46
Speaker 1: The Bolt Report is up next.