Transcript

Sharri | 15 October · Sharri

0:07
Speaker 1: Well, good evening. Thanks for joining me on the program.
0:08
Speaker 1: Here's what's coming up tonight. Anika Wells tried to spruik
0:11
Speaker 1: her digital duty of care bill today, but was anyone
0:14
Speaker 1: buying what she was selling? Plus, veterans have banded together
0:18
Speaker 1: to demand more legal protection when accused of misconduct on
0:22
Speaker 1: the battlefield. Former Special Forces veteran Heston Russell will join
0:25
Speaker 1: me later in the program. And Mike Newman tells all
0:28
Speaker 1: about his eviction from the floor of the New South
0:31
Speaker 1: Wales Parliament. That's all coming up. But first... This is
0:35
Speaker 1: the most shameless political promise I think I can ever remember.
0:40
Speaker 1: Six weeks out from the Victorian state election, Premier Ben
0:43
Speaker 1: Carroll has promised that if people vote for him, Labor
0:46
Speaker 1: will make abortions free. Not just the abortion itself, which
0:51
Speaker 1: can cost around $ 1, 000, a re-elected Labor state government would
0:55
Speaker 1: also pay fuel and accommodation expenses to make sure that
0:59
Speaker 1: pregnant women in regional areas can access what the Premier
1:02
Speaker 1: euphemistically calls health care. The only thing Ben Carroll hasn't
1:07
Speaker 1: promised is to pick expectant mums up in his own car. Now,
1:11
Speaker 1: I know people watching tonight will have different views on abortion,
1:15
Speaker 1: and that's fine, but boy, oh, boy, I'm old enough
1:18
Speaker 1: to remember when the then opposition leader, Tony Abbott, said
1:22
Speaker 1: that abortion should be, what were his words, safe, legal
1:26
Speaker 1: and rare. Now we have a state premier promising free
1:29
Speaker 1: travel to the abortion clinic, free accommodation when visiting an
1:33
Speaker 1: abortion clinic and a free abortion. Have a listen to
1:37
Speaker 1: how his health minister, Ingrid Stitt, described the policy.
1:42
Speaker 2: It gives cost of living relief, which is important.
1:46
Speaker 1: Did she seriously just say that? How can we help
1:51
Speaker 1: people with the cost of living? We could reduce the
1:54
Speaker 1: fuel excise.
1:55
Speaker 3: Nah.
1:56
Speaker 1: We could lower taxes. Nah. What about paying doctors to
2:00
Speaker 1: perform abortions? Yes. To help with the cost of living,
2:04
Speaker 1: they're providing free abortions. I suppose fewer mouths to feed
2:08
Speaker 1: does help to ease the cost of living, doesn't it?
2:10
Speaker 1: Of course, nothing's free and the Victorian government doesn't have
2:14
Speaker 1: enough money to fill potholes, let alone hand out abortions
2:17
Speaker 1: like candy. So effectively, they'll be putting the abortion of
2:21
Speaker 1: the next generation on the state credit card to be
2:24
Speaker 1: paid off at some later stage by the next generation.
2:29
Speaker 1: You see the irony there, don't you? Luckily, we've got
2:32
Speaker 1: record high immigration or we'd be in real trouble. There
2:35
Speaker 1: are more ironies, however. If this is such an important
2:39
Speaker 1: health care issue, Why has Ben Carroll waited until six
2:43
Speaker 1: weeks before an election to raise it? Labor's been in
2:47
Speaker 1: government 12 years, but never once promised to make abortions
2:51
Speaker 1: free because this is very, very important. But now, trailing
2:55
Speaker 1: badly in the polls and with just 44 days to
2:58
Speaker 1: save their political skin, they suddenly come up with this idea.
3:02
Speaker 1: What if we promise to make it free for women
3:04
Speaker 1: to terminate their pregnancies?
3:07
Speaker 2: It can be up to $ 1, 000 for a surgical.
3:11
Speaker 2: Abortion, the costs involved, there are costs associated with medical
3:18
Speaker 2: abortion as well in terms of medication, scans and the like.
3:22
Speaker 2: If we're re-elected after the election, Labor will make sure
3:28
Speaker 2: that all of those out-of-pocket expenses are covered, whether you're
3:32
Speaker 2: having an abortion in the public or with participating private providers,
3:38
Speaker 2: up to 16 weeks.
3:40
Speaker 1: Can we be honest? The Victorian Labor Government is not
3:43
Speaker 1: doing this because it cares about women. To be clear,
3:46
Speaker 1: they steadfastly refuse to even say what a woman is.
3:50
Speaker 1: and they certainly can't be accused of caring about the unborn.
3:53
Speaker 1: There's now no doubt, as if there ever was, that
3:57
Speaker 1: the Victorian Labor government will do absolutely anything if it
4:01
Speaker 1: helps them cling to power. Far from a sincere attempt
4:04
Speaker 1: to help pregnant women not be pregnant anymore, the promise
4:07
Speaker 1: of free abortions is a shameless attempt to wedge the
4:11
Speaker 1: Liberals and One Nation. That much is plain to see,
4:13
Speaker 1: even without an ultrasound. If the Libs and One Nation
4:17
Speaker 1: oppose free abortion, then Labor will scream, they're anti-women and anti-abortion.
4:22
Speaker 1: But if the Libs and One Nation support free abortion, well,
4:25
Speaker 1: they'll upset their conservative base. So this isn't about women's health.
4:31
Speaker 1: It's a political trap using an estimated 23,000 unborn babies
4:36
Speaker 1: as bait. This was put to the Victorian health minister today.
4:41
Speaker 1: She insisted the Labor Party was not using free abortions
4:43
Speaker 1: in a bid to kill her political opponents before immediately
4:47
Speaker 1: using the issue of free abortions in a bid to
4:49
Speaker 1: kill her political opponents.
4:51
Speaker 2: We are not playing politics with this at all. What
4:54
Speaker 2: I would say to you all is the question here
4:58
Speaker 2: is what will Jess Wilson's response to this policy announcement be? Well,
5:03
Speaker 2: I think that women in Victoria have a right to
5:06
Speaker 2: know what Jess Wilson, who is seeking to be the
5:09
Speaker 2: alternative premier of this state, thinks about this policy announcement today.
5:15
Speaker 1: But she's not using abortion in a bid to wedge
5:18
Speaker 1: her political opponents. No, no, not at all.
5:22
Speaker 2: I want to also point you to One Nation's stated objective.
5:27
Speaker 2: They're on the public record saying they want to wind
5:30
Speaker 2: back abortion care and rights for Victorian women.
5:35
Speaker 1: Seriously. Liberal leader Jess Wilson rightly called all of this
5:39
Speaker 1: out as disgusting, though in my view she didn't go
5:42
Speaker 1: anywhere near far enough. Here she was today.
5:45
Speaker 5: And I think it's incredibly disappointing to see Labor playing
5:49
Speaker 5: politics with women's reproductive rights five minutes before an election.
5:54
Speaker 5: And I just think it is incredibly disappointing to see
5:57
Speaker 5: Ben Carroll choosing to play political football with women's reproductive rights.
6:03
Speaker 1: Now, I know the subject of abortion makes some people uncomfortable,
6:06
Speaker 1: which is why we use the phrase reproductive rights as
6:09
Speaker 1: if the life of the mother is the only life involved.
6:11
Speaker 1: But isn't the Labour Party playing politics not only with women,
6:16
Speaker 1: but with the unborn? Are we allowed to say that?
6:19
Speaker 1: I would have thought not saying that is also playing politics. Well,
6:26
Speaker 1: while the Victorian Labor government is providing free abortions to
6:29
Speaker 1: help with the cost of living crisis, federal Labor politicians
6:33
Speaker 1: are behaving like there's a magical money tree. And the
6:35
Speaker 1: magical money tree, of course, would be you. We learned
6:38
Speaker 1: today that Minister for Small Business Anne Arley has spent
6:41
Speaker 1: more than $ 150, 000 on international travel, visiting nine different countries
6:47
Speaker 1: in 17 months. Her foreign adventures included, get this, a
6:52
Speaker 1: week in Spain where she signed a memorandum to deepen
6:56
Speaker 1: cooperation on gender equality. And for that, we paid $ 42, 907.
7:00
Speaker 1: I've got some questions. Why does Anne Arley need a
7:03
Speaker 1: week in Spain? to sign a document? Why does Anne
7:12
Speaker 1: Arley need to fly to Spain at all to sign
7:14
Speaker 1: a document? Come to think of it, why are Australian
7:17
Speaker 1: taxpayers spending 42 grand to agree with the Spanish government
7:22
Speaker 1: that gender equality is important? Help me understand how that
7:26
Speaker 1: helps Australians. Can you see the problem here? The government
7:30
Speaker 1: is pissing our taxes against the wall. And when we
7:33
Speaker 1: say we can't afford to pay our bills, they say,
7:35
Speaker 1: have a free abortion. a week and $ 42, 000 to sign
7:39
Speaker 1: a memorandum on women's equality. Okay, so I'm an optimist, right?
7:45
Speaker 1: So I'm trying to look for the silver lining in
7:47
Speaker 1: this story. So I came up with this. If the
7:51
Speaker 1: Labour government is sending Anne Arley at a cost of
7:54
Speaker 1: $ 42, 000 for a week in Spain to sign a document
7:58
Speaker 1: about women's equality, well, at least we know they really
8:02
Speaker 1: care about women's equality. Well, not so fast. Have a
8:06
Speaker 1: listen to self-appointed women's equality czar Anne Arley on the
8:09
Speaker 1: ABC in May when she was asked if Labor would
8:13
Speaker 1: properly define what a woman is in the Sex Discrimination
8:16
Speaker 1: Act to stop men who identify as women using women's toilets.
8:21
Speaker 3: I think that if we want to talk about equality
8:24
Speaker 3: and if we want to talk about improving the lives
8:26
Speaker 3: of women, there are much more important things for us
8:28
Speaker 3: to talk about.
8:30
Speaker 1: Ah, right, apparently protecting women's privacy and preserving female-only spaces
8:34
Speaker 1: are not important enough to interrupt the conversation about how
8:38
Speaker 1: important women's equality is. And women who raise the concern? Well,
8:42
Speaker 1: they're not women defending their privacy, no, no, they're far-right
8:45
Speaker 1: bullies picking on minorities, or so the minister suggests.
8:50
Speaker 3: Quite frankly, these kinds of punching down on people, finding
8:53
Speaker 3: scapegoats in minorities is not something that our government is
8:57
Speaker 3: interested in. That's something that's the opposition in the far-right's territory.
9:02
Speaker 1: To her credit, ABC host Patricia Cavallis pushed back, telling
9:06
Speaker 1: the minister that many women in the community are concerned
9:09
Speaker 1: about preserving female-only spaces. Now, remember, Ann Arley is giving
9:13
Speaker 1: this interview after having spent $ 42, 000 of your money in
9:17
Speaker 1: a week in Spain brushing up on her gender equality.
9:21
Speaker 1: And what did we get for it?
9:23
Speaker 3: I'm not sympathetic with any argument that seeks to scapegoat
9:26
Speaker 3: or demonise or other people.
9:30
Speaker 1: So women who would prefer not to share a bathroom
9:33
Speaker 1: with biological men are scapegoating men who identify as women.
9:37
Speaker 1: They're demonising them. I agree they are othering them. That's
9:42
Speaker 1: kind of the point. Biological men, even when wearing a dress,
9:44
Speaker 1: are other than female. Then comes Ayn Ali's attempt to
9:49
Speaker 1: explain equality, which somehow manages to make the concept sound
9:53
Speaker 1: more complicated than quantum physics.
9:56
Speaker 3: It's very simple. I'm not sympathetic with any of you.
10:00
Speaker 3: doesn't have the perspective that equality applies equally to everyone.
10:07
Speaker 3: I'm not sympathetic with any view that doesn't treat every
10:11
Speaker 3: human being on the same.
10:14
Speaker 1: I'm not sympathetic to you spending 42 grand of our
10:17
Speaker 1: money to go to Spain for nothing. Yes, equality means
10:20
Speaker 1: you treat people the same, but equality doesn't mean people
10:23
Speaker 1: are the same. Allowing a biological man to use the
10:26
Speaker 1: female toilets because he believes himself to be a female
10:29
Speaker 1: is not an example of equality. It's an example of
10:32
Speaker 1: inequality for women. Maybe another week in Spain at a
10:36
Speaker 1: cost of 42 grand might help Anne Arley get it.
10:39
Speaker 1: I'm sure it wouldn't, but I'm equally sure she wouldn't
10:42
Speaker 1: say no. After all, you are picking up the tab. Well,
10:49
Speaker 1: last night, Shadow Home Affairs Minister John O'Donoghue gave his
10:52
Speaker 1: final speech to Parliament, bringing the curtain down on a
10:56
Speaker 1: political career that's seen him play a vital role in
10:58
Speaker 1: the coalition and in Canberra more broadly. As he prepares
11:02
Speaker 1: to leave the job, the outgoing frontbencher made an impassioned
11:05
Speaker 1: plea to his colleagues to unite behind the Liberal Party
11:09
Speaker 1: which is facing an exodus of voters.
11:12
Speaker 6: This challenge is not insurmountable. We have a history and
11:15
Speaker 6: we should be proud of it. My party can give
11:19
Speaker 6: Australians what they need, not by pretending to be someone
11:22
Speaker 6: else or seeking to appease certain actors, but by returning
11:25
Speaker 6: to our roots, by backing in with conviction what our
11:29
Speaker 6: values framework, the We Believe Statement, offers and explaining why
11:33
Speaker 6: it is better than the alternative.
11:36
Speaker 1: With One Nation threatening to erode the coalition's support, Dunham
11:40
Speaker 1: also urged his colleagues not to abandon the party's long-term mission.
11:45
Speaker 6: My party has been around for decades. It isn't populist.
11:49
Speaker 6: It isn't flashing the pan.
11:50
Speaker 1: It is here to stay.
11:51
Speaker 6: And sure, we may have spent some time in the wilderness,
11:54
Speaker 6: but we have our bearings now. And I know we
11:56
Speaker 6: will be able to get back over there into government.
12:00
Speaker 1: I've got to say, Jono Dunham is without doubt one
12:02
Speaker 1: of the Liberals' top performers. His retirement is a huge
12:06
Speaker 1: loss to the party, I think, and I'm pleased to
12:08
Speaker 1: say he joins me now. Jono, welcome to the program.
12:11
Speaker 1: You've been in politics since 2003 as a staffer and
12:15
Speaker 1: since 2016 as a senator. I've got to ask you first,
12:19
Speaker 1: are you going to miss it? Well, no, not at all,
12:24
Speaker 1: can I say. Look, I mean, it's a serious job.
12:28
Speaker 1: It is a serious job. What we do.
12:30
Speaker 6: If you go back to your opening remarks, your editorial there, James,
12:35
Speaker 6: the reality is the decisions made in this place have
12:38
Speaker 6: massive consequences for people. And I think part of the
12:41
Speaker 6: problem with politics is people often become institutionalised. And part
12:46
Speaker 6: of the reason, a small part of the reason why
12:48
Speaker 6: I'm going is because I actually think turnover is good.
12:52
Speaker 6: to get back out into the real world so that
12:54
Speaker 6: someone else can come in who's come in from the
12:56
Speaker 6: real world to make decisions that are done with the
12:59
Speaker 6: interests of Australians at heart. So there are great things
13:03
Speaker 6: about being here. It's an amazing privilege. It is a
13:06
Speaker 6: blessing beyond any belief to stand in the Parliament make
13:10
Speaker 6: your case and stand for what you believe in. It
13:12
Speaker 6: is a cathartic process to do that, especially as a Christian.
13:16
Speaker 6: But look, I've done my bit and I think it
13:20
Speaker 6: is now time for someone else. And I truly believe
13:23
Speaker 6: that whoever comes in to fill the roles I occupy
13:25
Speaker 6: currently in the parliament will do their bit and God
13:28
Speaker 6: bless them in what they do.
13:30
Speaker 1: OK, well, now you've done your bit in politics and
13:32
Speaker 1: you don't have to worry about offending anyone. And besides,
13:34
Speaker 1: it's just you and I talking. Tell me, what's the
13:37
Speaker 1: uncomfortable truth about why the Liberals have lost so many votes?
13:40
Speaker 1: You can be honest now.
13:43
Speaker 6: Yeah, look, as I've said to you previously, James, I
13:47
Speaker 6: have always been honest with you and every time I've
13:49
Speaker 6: appeared on News 24, along with ABC too, for that matter,
13:52
Speaker 6: and I often get a great swathe of emails as
13:55
Speaker 6: a result.
13:55
Speaker 1: But where did we go wrong?
13:58
Speaker 6: I think in about 2015 we went wrong and we
14:01
Speaker 6: started walking away from.
14:04
Speaker 1: what we.
14:04
Speaker 6: Actually believed in and doing what was convenient to hang
14:07
Speaker 6: on to government, following the zeitgeist rather than following conviction.
14:12
Speaker 6: And I often reflect, you know, John Howard, was he
14:16
Speaker 6: universally popular? Was he someone everyone agreed with? No. and
14:23
Speaker 6: the fact that he would say, this is the course
14:25
Speaker 6: we've charted, this is what we are doing and why,
14:28
Speaker 6: and we are following through with it, even in the
14:30
Speaker 6: face of immense criticism, it meant that people respected him. That, sadly,
14:37
Speaker 6: since about 2015 has been frittered away over time and
14:40
Speaker 6: people have stopped thinking, or had for a period of time,
14:43
Speaker 6: stopped thinking this party is the party of Howard, the
14:46
Speaker 6: party of conviction, the party of freedom of choice, the
14:49
Speaker 6: party of reward for effort. and started thinking we were
14:52
Speaker 6: the party of the neg or net zero and a
14:55
Speaker 6: range of things that actually weren't part of our values framework.
14:58
Speaker 6: So what I said last night, and thank you for
15:00
Speaker 6: playing parts of my valedictory, it was all about getting
15:04
Speaker 6: back to that base ground, our convictions, our beliefs. When
15:08
Speaker 6: we're doing that and framing our policies up in that
15:11
Speaker 6: way to Australians and explaining why they'll be better off
15:14
Speaker 6: as a result, that's when people will come back to us.
15:16
Speaker 6: They haven't written us off completely, I'm sure of that,
15:20
Speaker 6: but we've got to give them a reason to.
15:21
Speaker 1: Vote for us. Very good. Well, Jono, while I've still
15:25
Speaker 1: got you, we've got you for a few more weeks
15:28
Speaker 1: and we're certainly going to need you around because Labor
15:30
Speaker 1: has still not adequately explained how or, more importantly, why
15:34
Speaker 1: an Islamic centre with alleged links to the alleged fly-to-buy
15:37
Speaker 1: hijacker got a $ 68, 000 grant from you and I. The taxpayers,
15:43
Speaker 1: the controversial Melbourne preacher who runs the centre, has issued
15:46
Speaker 1: another defiant video saying he had nothing to do with
15:49
Speaker 1: the hijacker's radicalisation. Take a look.
15:52
Speaker 7: As for the utterly disgusting false accusation, first of all,
15:58
Speaker 7: I've never met the person who's been accused of hijacking
16:02
Speaker 7: the plane. He himself, according to the report, he met
16:07
Speaker 7: a few people from the Multicultural Youth Centre at RMIT
16:11
Speaker 7: University here in Melbourne.
16:14
Speaker 1: Jono, I'm really worried about the rise of Islamic extremism
16:18
Speaker 1: in this country. And speaking generally, not specifically about that gentleman,
16:22
Speaker 1: because these are allegations, but the seeming inability of the
16:25
Speaker 1: government to deal with it, either through lack of desire
16:28
Speaker 1: or simply because some of these characters seem quite slippery.
16:32
Speaker 1: Am I right to be worried?
16:35
Speaker 6: Yeah, James, we have to be worried. What concerns me
16:38
Speaker 6: most about the lack of ability to deal with this
16:41
Speaker 6: issue is is that this replicates almost identically the road
16:46
Speaker 6: to Bondi. The fact that we had instances from October 7, 2023,
16:53
Speaker 6: instances of behaviour in this country, a pattern of public
16:56
Speaker 6: behaviour which was alarming, the anti-Semitic proliferation we saw across
17:01
Speaker 6: the country, and the government did nothing. They sort of, oh, well,
17:05
Speaker 6: you know, it's all very hard and we've got to
17:06
Speaker 6: deal with this anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in equal measure and
17:11
Speaker 6: let's all be nice and No, sorry, you can't deal
17:15
Speaker 6: with it that way. We're having a royal commission into
17:17
Speaker 6: anti-Semitism for a start. And so regardless of the fact
17:20
Speaker 6: around that particular individual and any allegation related to him
17:25
Speaker 6: or not, these things need to be taken seriously. And
17:28
Speaker 6: when we're handing out that finite resource, taxpayers' money, your money,
17:31
Speaker 6: your viewers' money, and for causes that I don't actually
17:35
Speaker 6: see that are in the national interest, We should be
17:38
Speaker 6: examining this more closely. There are so many things we're
17:42
Speaker 6: doing that we've done before that have not helped but
17:45
Speaker 6: have in fact hindered our social cohesion, if you want
17:47
Speaker 6: to call it that. Handing money out like this is
17:50
Speaker 6: not going to help in any way.
17:52
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about Anika Wells who's trying
17:54
Speaker 1: to woo the public by gutting her digital duty of
17:57
Speaker 1: care bill. She was at the press club today. Have
17:59
Speaker 1: a listen.
18:00
Speaker 2: In response to concerns we heard during the exposure draft
18:03
Speaker 2: consultation and to make this abundantly clear.
18:07
Speaker 1: We have removed the.
18:08
Speaker 5: Ministerial rulemaking power to define new harms in the final bill.
18:14
Speaker 1: New harms can be added by Parliament through legislative amendment.
18:18
Speaker 1: Does that concession allay your concerns about the bill, Jono? No. No,
18:23
Speaker 1: it doesn't.
18:23
Speaker 6: And again, the devil's always in the detail with this
18:27
Speaker 6: government and their legislation. And look, trust us, it's fine.
18:30
Speaker 6: We're not going to police your thoughts and come and
18:34
Speaker 6: interrogate you at will. There are a lot of concerns
18:38
Speaker 6: I have, colleagues have, about this legislation and what they've
18:42
Speaker 6: done is a modicum of change. What they could do
18:47
Speaker 6: is actually properly go back to the drawing board, sit
18:49
Speaker 6: down with Sarah Henderson, hear out the concerns more broadly
18:53
Speaker 6: and actually design something that actually deals with the issues. Yes,
18:58
Speaker 6: we've got to deal with child sex predators. Yes, we've
19:00
Speaker 6: got to deal with the people that do these evil,
19:02
Speaker 6: hideous things online.
19:04
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
19:05
Speaker 6: But the blunt instrument, this catch-all approach they were planning
19:09
Speaker 6: on taking, was not fit for purpose. So we do
19:13
Speaker 6: have to get it right. That is not getting it right.
19:16
Speaker 1: Well, John O'Donoghue, I'm glad you're still around for a
19:18
Speaker 1: little while longer because we really will miss you when
19:21
Speaker 1: you're gone. I appreciate you joining me tonight. Thanks so much.
19:25
Speaker 6: Thanks, James.
19:26
Speaker 5: Take care.
19:27
Speaker 1: My pleasure. All right, as I mentioned at the top
19:28
Speaker 1: of the show, Small Business Minister Anne Arley has copped
19:31
Speaker 1: a grilling for charging taxpayers more than 150 grand that
19:35
Speaker 1: travelled to nine countries over the past year and a half.
19:38
Speaker 1: Have a listen.
19:40
Speaker 4: Today, the Daily Telegraph revealed the minister spent more than
19:43
Speaker 4: $ 150, 000 travelling to nine countries in four months. 30 businesses
19:48
Speaker 4: have gone bust every single day. day she's been overseas.
19:52
Speaker 8: Order.
19:52
Speaker 4: Minister, when are you going to stop jetting around the
19:55
Speaker 4: world and start fighting for small business?
19:57
Speaker 3: As the member is aware, I'm also the Minister for
20:00
Speaker 3: International Development, which is a portfolio within foreign affairs and
20:04
Speaker 3: trade and which obviously has a requirement for me to
20:08
Speaker 3: travel internationally on behalf of our country.
20:13
Speaker 1: Ah, but were her trips as an international development minister,
20:16
Speaker 1: very impressive title, helpful? Well, they included a $ 43, 000 Spain
20:21
Speaker 1: trip to deepen gender equality and $ 34, 500 to go to
20:26
Speaker 1: India and Bangladesh where she toured local sites and danced.
20:29
Speaker 1: That's just a few of the international trips she took.
20:33
Speaker 1: Joining me now is former New South Wales Police Minister
20:35
Speaker 1: David Elliott. and the Australian's Associate Editor, Jenna Clark. Welcome
20:39
Speaker 1: to both of you. David, I'll start with you. Was
20:42
Speaker 1: Anne Ali on holidays or was she on important trips?
20:46
Speaker 9: As you said, a week to sign a letter. In Spain,
20:50
Speaker 9: a week in Spain to sign a letter. Clearly she
20:52
Speaker 9: went business class. And I did have to have a
20:55
Speaker 9: giggle when I saw Andrew Hastie asking that question because
20:59
Speaker 9: in his previous life, When he did international travel, it
21:02
Speaker 9: was at the arse end of a C-130 with a
21:04
Speaker 9: semi-automatic machine gun in his hand, ready to take our
21:07
Speaker 9: bad guys. But no, not our Anne. She's got to
21:10
Speaker 9: go over and sign a document in Spain that could
21:12
Speaker 9: be done at the Spanish embassy in Canberra.
21:15
Speaker 1: And, I mean, the document was a memorandum. What exactly
21:18
Speaker 1: is that?
21:19
Speaker 9: Well, it's a memorandum. It's something that you can send
21:22
Speaker 9: to the Spanish ambassador in Canberra and get him to
21:24
Speaker 9: sign it there.
21:24
Speaker 1: Exactly. Exactly. Jenna, when you add this story to the
21:28
Speaker 1: Anika Wells travel rorts and then you add those stories
21:31
Speaker 1: to the self-indulgent, what was it, $ 20 million pre-cop event
21:35
Speaker 1: that Chris Bowen ran in Fiji so he could parade
21:38
Speaker 1: himself to empty seats as the president of negotiations, it
21:42
Speaker 1: starts to create a bit of an image, doesn't it?
21:45
Speaker 10: I think this image has been festering for quite some time.
21:47
Speaker 10: And I think it just slaps, it just absolutely smacks
21:50
Speaker 10: of the fact that they've just looked such tiniest. And look,
21:53
Speaker 10: I think Anna Lee is a lovely person. I think
21:55
Speaker 10: what she has done in her previous life as an
21:56
Speaker 10: academic has been incredible. But I just feel that this
21:59
Speaker 10: just leaves, also signing a memorandum of understanding about gender equality. Seriously,
22:03
Speaker 10: like I have friends in small business who were telling
22:06
Speaker 10: me today they have now received letters from the ATO
22:09
Speaker 10: for them telling them to prepare for tax they're going
22:11
Speaker 10: to pay next year like people have real issues and
22:16
Speaker 10: I get that gender inequality is a big issue it
22:18
Speaker 10: is just not the most pressing issue when today we
22:20
Speaker 10: see you know unemployment is rising productivity is floundering and
22:25
Speaker 10: you know we're probably on the precipice of another rate
22:27
Speaker 10: hike in the next couple of weeks as well.
22:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you, Jenna. But, I mean, since
22:32
Speaker 1: she signed that $ 42, 000 week-long memorandum in Spain, surely you
22:38
Speaker 1: would have felt the difference to your own gender equality,
22:40
Speaker 1: would you not?
22:41
Speaker 10: I definitely feel more empowered because of that, as David said,
22:44
Speaker 10: because the Spanish ambassador didn't do it here. She actually
22:47
Speaker 10: did it in Spain. I look forward to going to
22:50
Speaker 10: Ibiza for my 50th birthday and feeling a lot more empowered.
22:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, you look more empowered. So I think it's money
22:56
Speaker 1: well spent. All right, let's move away from our government
22:59
Speaker 1: because it's just too depressing to linger there. Let's talk
23:01
Speaker 1: about someone else. It's always better to talk about other people.
23:03
Speaker 1: So let's talk about the US. We saw yesterday how
23:05
Speaker 1: Donald Trump's new press secretary stumbled her way through her
23:09
Speaker 1: first press conference, struggling to get on top of the
23:12
Speaker 1: questions and giving critics plenty of ammunition. Now, just as
23:16
Speaker 1: she might have hoped the attention would move on, her
23:18
Speaker 1: own credentials are under scrutiny. It's been revealed Katie Zachariah
23:22
Speaker 1: did graduate law school, but she failed to pass the bar. David,
23:28
Speaker 1: obviously she's not being hired as a lawyer. Does this matter? No,
23:31
Speaker 1: I don't think it matters.
23:32
Speaker 9: I mean, I was a press secretary in Macquarie Street
23:34
Speaker 9: 30 years ago. I didn't pass the bar exam either.
23:36
Speaker 9: So I think she's a spokesman. She's there in her
23:40
Speaker 9: capacity to be able to get complex matters into the
23:44
Speaker 9: language of everyday Americans. And And let's just not lose
23:48
Speaker 9: focus of that. If she lied on her resume, that's
23:51
Speaker 9: another thing. But there's no indication that she lied.
23:55
Speaker 1: Well, I think you can say you went to law school.
23:57
Speaker 1: That's true. You don't have to say whether you passed
23:59
Speaker 1: or not.
24:00
Speaker 11: No, exactly.
24:01
Speaker 9: I tell everybody I read it at Oxford because I
24:03
Speaker 9: went to a pub at Oxford once and bought a
24:04
Speaker 9: book and I read it there.
24:06
Speaker 1: You're allowed to say what you've actually done, statement of fact. Jenna,
24:11
Speaker 1: I guess it's an understatement to say she's had a
24:14
Speaker 1: pretty rough start. Just watching all of this, is it
24:18
Speaker 1: recoverable or is it just, you know, from bad to
24:21
Speaker 1: worse to find someone else to do the job?
24:24
Speaker 10: Oh, look, is it the mooch 2.0? Who knows? Look,
24:28
Speaker 10: I didn't think she did such a terrible job. Clearly,
24:30
Speaker 10: she was very nervous. And I think it really did
24:32
Speaker 10: make us miss someone of an incredible capability as Caroline Levitt.
24:36
Speaker 5: Yes.
24:37
Speaker 10: Do miss her in the role. I would actually want
24:38
Speaker 10: to know what actually happened there and why she was
24:40
Speaker 10: punted so quickly because... Spending more time with my family
24:43
Speaker 10: doesn't really ring true for someone as ambitious as she does.
24:47
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm a lot like David.
24:49
Speaker 10: I think I did a semester of contract law and taught,
24:51
Speaker 10: so I'm a lawyer as well. And because of my gender,
24:54
Speaker 10: I'm allowed to say that now.
24:56
Speaker 1: There's that empowerment. It's paying dividends. All right, staying with
25:00
Speaker 1: the Trump administration, President Trump has posted on social media,
25:05
Speaker 1: which is very unlikely, David, an AI-generated video of himself
25:10
Speaker 1: facing off against a tiger. It's clearly a play on
25:13
Speaker 1: the tragedy in the UK where a tiger mauled a
25:16
Speaker 1: man to death after the bloke jumped into the wildlife enclosure.
25:20
Speaker 1: Here's what Trump posted. OK, there's a couple of things
25:36
Speaker 1: I want to talk about here. So, David, before we
25:38
Speaker 1: talk about whether or not this AI video is appropriate,
25:42
Speaker 1: which I suspect that may be a very short discussion...
25:46
Speaker 1: What's Trump trying to achieve with this, do you think?
25:48
Speaker 9: I have absolutely no idea. And this is actually quite
25:53
Speaker 9: sick because a young bloke died. Now, it's very strange circumstances.
25:56
Speaker 9: What he was doing trying to walk into the den
26:00
Speaker 9: of a big cat is beyond me. But of all
26:03
Speaker 9: the things for Donald Trump to get a little bit
26:05
Speaker 9: of attention or some synergy with the younger voters with,
26:08
Speaker 9: I don't think this was the one. And it is tragic.
26:12
Speaker 9: And the family have obviously asked for it to be
26:14
Speaker 9: taken down. And there's just some things that go through
26:17
Speaker 9: his head that even somebody as conservative as me, I
26:20
Speaker 9: just can't understand it.
26:22
Speaker 1: It kind of is a beautiful segue to what I
26:25
Speaker 1: wanted to ask you, Jenna. Who's the biggest threat to
26:27
Speaker 1: Donald Trump? I'll give you three options. Is it Xi Jinping?
26:31
Speaker 1: Is it Vladimir Putin? Or is it Donald Trump? Yeah, definitely.
26:36
Speaker 10: And I definitely think it's true social and him being
26:39
Speaker 10: in control of his own social accounts in the middle
26:42
Speaker 10: of the night. Look, yeah, I just think this sort
26:43
Speaker 10: of adds, look, we know he's not a traditional statesman.
26:46
Speaker 10: We clearly know that through two terms of office now.
26:49
Speaker 10: But I think this added on to also the claim
26:52
Speaker 10: by Pete Hegseth that they're going to live stream an
26:55
Speaker 10: execution it just it just smacks of bad taste and
26:58
Speaker 10: it's just you know we we are calling for politicians
27:01
Speaker 10: and people in public life to you know set the
27:03
Speaker 10: bar for how to you know be the the barometer
27:06
Speaker 10: of good taste and good behavior and this just it
27:08
Speaker 10: just makes me feel very queasy and very sad for
27:10
Speaker 10: the family in the center of this.
27:12
Speaker 1: Yeah i look i i got to admit i i
27:14
Speaker 1: watched it and i did laugh even though i know
27:16
Speaker 1: it's inappropriate but it was still cut but He didn't
27:20
Speaker 1: need to do it, and that's the thing with Trump.
27:21
Speaker 1: He keeps doing things that... Was it really necessary? Very quickly,
27:25
Speaker 1: before we go to a break, I want to get
27:27
Speaker 1: thoughts from both of you on the Victorian Labor Party
27:29
Speaker 1: promising free abortions if you vote for us. David, your thoughts?
27:33
Speaker 1: It has to be the most.
27:35
Speaker 9: the sickest policy announcement, sickest vote-buying exercise I've seen in
27:40
Speaker 9: 40 years of political activism. I think Jess Wilson has
27:44
Speaker 9: every right to dismiss it. And if the Labor Party
27:47
Speaker 9: in Victoria, can you imagine Steve Brax doing this? Or
27:51
Speaker 9: can you imagine any of the old Labor leaders of
27:54
Speaker 9: dignity doing this?
27:55
Speaker 1: They wouldn't. They wouldn't.
27:56
Speaker 9: They'd lose the election with a little bit of pride.
27:59
Speaker 9: And I'm just, my heart's breaking that politics in Australia
28:02
Speaker 9: has got this low.
28:04
Speaker 1: Jenna, do you share that view or do you take
28:06
Speaker 1: a different approach?
28:07
Speaker 10: I do agree, and to add to that, I kind
28:10
Speaker 10: of wouldn't mind seeing what Geoff Kennett would say to
28:12
Speaker 10: this if he was still opposition leader coming into power
28:15
Speaker 10: as well. I just think that this is just absolute
28:17
Speaker 10: bull excrement, the fact that this is just Queensland Labor
28:21
Speaker 10: 2.0 and that failed so dismally, and also the fact
28:24
Speaker 10: that this is just political game playing because they don't
28:28
Speaker 10: need legislation to do this. They could do this without legislation.
28:31
Speaker 10: make this policy announcement, they could fund it without an
28:33
Speaker 10: election and without even a piece of legislation. So it
28:36
Speaker 10: is just disgusting, grubby politics.
28:39
Speaker 1: Jenna Clark, David Elliott, love chatting to you both. Thanks
28:41
Speaker 1: so much. All right. Coming up after the break, the
28:44
Speaker 1: latest on an Aussie AI company's attempt to go public. Plus,
28:48
Speaker 1: New South Wales Labor has promised to remove stamp duty
28:51
Speaker 1: for certain businesses. How will One Nation react? Mike Newman
28:54
Speaker 1: joins me after the break. Welcome back to the program.
28:59
Speaker 1: Labor's sweeping tax changes have made life harder for many
29:03
Speaker 1: small businesses. And to clean up the mess left by Canberra,
29:06
Speaker 1: the New South Wales government has promised to remove stamp
29:09
Speaker 1: duty for businesses who have to dig deep to restructure trusts.
29:14
Speaker 1: New South Wales Treasurer Daniel Mookie said, we want businesses
29:18
Speaker 1: to have as much certainty as possible, as early as possible,
29:22
Speaker 1: so they can carry on with more confidence. Joining me
29:25
Speaker 1: for a response to this is New South Wales One
29:27
Speaker 1: Nation leader, Mike Newman. Mike, always great to chat. Is
29:32
Speaker 1: this a good move by the New South Wales government
29:34
Speaker 1: or is it an attempt to just get small businesses
29:36
Speaker 1: on side with the Labor brand?
29:41
Speaker 11: Well, James, it's an absolutely fantastic piece of legislation they
29:45
Speaker 11: wish to bring. Actually, we announced this one month ago
29:48
Speaker 11: to the day, exactly the same policy. So what we
29:51
Speaker 11: have is, once again, whether it's tobacco excise, the Labor
29:55
Speaker 11: government team seems to like one nation policy and we're
29:59
Speaker 11: still running expressions of interest for our candidates until October
30:03
Speaker 11: the 31st. So if the Premier wishes to put in
30:06
Speaker 11: his application for the seat of Coggera, we welcome it.
30:09
Speaker 1: Well, I see you've had a few former coalition MPs
30:12
Speaker 1: come over to One Nation as candidates. So who knows?
30:15
Speaker 1: You might get some labour rights. Speaking of which, there
30:19
Speaker 1: does seem, I don't know if you've noticed it, I'm
30:20
Speaker 1: sure you have, a growing disconnect between state and federal labour.
30:26
Speaker 1: Chris Minns, for instance, wanted a royal commission into anti-Semitism.
30:29
Speaker 1: Anthony Albanese did not. Minns doesn't want Victoria Barrack sold.
30:34
Speaker 1: The Albanese government does. We could go on with these
30:38
Speaker 1: differences between state and federal labour. I was just keen
30:42
Speaker 1: to know what you think of the disconnect that's there
30:44
Speaker 1: at the moment.
30:46
Speaker 11: Well, I'd have to say if I was Premier Minns,
30:48
Speaker 11: I'd be wanting to distance myself from the Prime Minister
30:51
Speaker 11: as well. I mean, every single thing he seems to
30:53
Speaker 11: be doing, whether it's melons, Kylie Minogue or anything in between,
30:57
Speaker 11: he seems to be sending very nasty messages that really
31:01
Speaker 11: puts the state Labor government in a bit of a pickle.
31:04
Speaker 11: But I would say that the Premier is more than
31:08
Speaker 11: happy to accept checks from the Prime Minister where it
31:12
Speaker 11: serves his political ends. even though he did say at
31:16
Speaker 11: the same time that he wanted the government to rein
31:18
Speaker 11: in their own spending.
31:21
Speaker 1: Well, you know, there's principles and then there's, you know,
31:24
Speaker 1: something else. You had some dramas this week, getting kicked
31:29
Speaker 1: out of the chamber during question time in the New
31:32
Speaker 1: South Wales Parliament and then booted from the viewing gallery.
31:35
Speaker 1: I've got to ask, what were you doing on the
31:38
Speaker 1: floor of Parliament? I was surprised to hear that you
31:41
Speaker 1: were there since you've not yet been elected.
31:45
Speaker 11: Well, James, I was invited and I was told where
31:48
Speaker 11: to stand and then Simon, the Sergeant-at-Arms, said, would I
31:54
Speaker 11: be able to move again? And so I just obliged
31:56
Speaker 11: his request. I don't think this was a case of
31:58
Speaker 11: me throwing chairs or screaming and shouting or jumping over barriers.
32:02
Speaker 11: I was in a designated area where I should have
32:05
Speaker 11: been and just followed the rules. That was pretty much
32:07
Speaker 11: all it was. I think it was a bit of
32:08
Speaker 11: a storm in a teacup, but I think... Certainly the
32:13
Speaker 11: Premier did feel a little bit spooked and it was
32:16
Speaker 11: interesting just to watch him on the TVs directly outside.
32:19
Speaker 1: So I'm just curious, when they asked you to remove yourself,
32:22
Speaker 1: what was the explanation given, given that you weren't sort of,
32:25
Speaker 1: you know, out on the chamber floor or where you've
32:29
Speaker 1: been told to stand? What was the reasoning that you
32:32
Speaker 1: were provided with?
32:34
Speaker 11: Well, to be honest, I think the sergeant arms were
32:36
Speaker 11: struggling to come up with a viable one. So I
32:39
Speaker 11: just really left it at that.
32:41
Speaker 1: But the good thing was.
32:42
Speaker 11: Outside were some of the special branch police guys who
32:44
Speaker 11: I had the pleasure of dealing with when the Tokyo
32:47
Speaker 11: governor came in 2024. We had a very good yarn outside.
32:50
Speaker 11: So it ended up being quite a fortuitous moment.
32:54
Speaker 1: You mentioned you weren't the only unexpected visitor this week.
32:56
Speaker 1: There was a climate activist who jumped over the barrier
32:59
Speaker 1: from the public gallery onto the Parliament floor. You said
33:03
Speaker 1: that Chris Minns did have a go at you after
33:05
Speaker 1: you were kicked out of the chamber. What did you
33:08
Speaker 1: make of that? I would have, if I were you,
33:11
Speaker 1: taken it as a compliment that the Premier believes the
33:14
Speaker 1: leader of One Nation is worth talking about.
33:19
Speaker 11: Well, I think back, actually, it was September the 15th
33:21
Speaker 11: that We were mentioned 46 times in question time. So
33:27
Speaker 11: I just thought that being there, perhaps he felt the
33:31
Speaker 11: need to mention me more and more again about my
33:33
Speaker 11: mates in Japan who actually just happen to be chief
33:36
Speaker 11: executives of major Japanese corporates who build coal-fired power stations. Actually, 80%
33:43
Speaker 11: of all power generation is built by this company. So, again,
33:48
Speaker 11: I'd be very flattered if they were my mates.
33:51
Speaker 1: One of your New South Wales candidates, Holly Hughes, who's
33:54
Speaker 1: a great friend, obviously, of ours, has previously complained that
33:58
Speaker 1: Treasury won't help One Nation cost its policies. The New
34:02
Speaker 1: South Wales government says they'll change the law to give
34:04
Speaker 1: One Nation access to the independent parliamentary budget office so
34:08
Speaker 1: you can get full costings on all your policies before
34:11
Speaker 1: the election. But you've said no. Tell me why. Well,
34:16
Speaker 1: it's not that I've said no.
34:18
Speaker 11: I think they're half costings. The reason is, is that
34:20
Speaker 11: second order effects aren't taken into account. So if you
34:23
Speaker 11: think if you're doing something like cutting payroll tax, sure,
34:27
Speaker 11: the PBO could measure the impact of the tax cut
34:30
Speaker 11: and look at that as a standalone. But if it's
34:32
Speaker 11: not looking at second order effects, it's not taking into
34:34
Speaker 11: account the economic growth that would be driven by businesses
34:38
Speaker 11: who are no longer impeded by coming up to a
34:41
Speaker 11: payroll wall. And so that's the stuff that isn't covered.
34:44
Speaker 11: So my point is that is the PBO fit for
34:46
Speaker 11: purpose for doing costings? And we ask, you know, why
34:51
Speaker 11: the Labor government isn't costing the disaster that is net
34:54
Speaker 11: zero and all of the costs that continue to blow out,
34:57
Speaker 11: whether it's the Hunter Transmission Project, which has gone from
34:59
Speaker 11: $ 1 billion to $ 4 billion, or Central West Iran, which
35:02
Speaker 11: has gone from $ 6. 50 million to approaching $ 7 billion. I mean, costings,
35:06
Speaker 11: what value are they if you're not dealing with not
35:10
Speaker 11: only the cost but the actual benefits that might come
35:13
Speaker 11: from that cost? analysis which they're not prepared to look at.
35:16
Speaker 1: I was going to ask you about that because obviously
35:18
Speaker 1: there's criticism. Well, you know, One Nation haven't got their
35:21
Speaker 1: policies properly costed. On the other hand, the government have
35:24
Speaker 1: got their policies supposedly properly costed. Then the costs blow
35:29
Speaker 1: out and everybody just moves on like it's a nothing burger.
35:32
Speaker 1: So the hypocrisy here is quite thick, is it not?
35:36
Speaker 11: Well, look, I mean, this is like if you need
35:39
Speaker 11: heart surgery, you hopefully would speak to the doctor and
35:43
Speaker 11: and get his track record to understand how successful your
35:47
Speaker 11: surgery may or may not be. But this is the problem.
35:50
Speaker 11: We need to have realistic costings and that's fine. It's
35:53
Speaker 11: not that we have any issue of submitting ourselves to costings.
35:56
Speaker 11: It's just the validity of a supposed independent organisation that
36:00
Speaker 11: cannot do the second order derivatives, which are the most
36:03
Speaker 11: important part of many of our policies that we will
36:06
Speaker 11: be introducing.
36:07
Speaker 1: Just before I let you go, Mike, yesterday it was
36:10
Speaker 1: announced a number of former coalition MPs and senators. will
36:14
Speaker 1: stand for One Nation at the New South Wales state election.
36:18
Speaker 1: There was some criticism in the Sydney Morning Herald that
36:20
Speaker 1: this undercuts One Nation's claim to be a party of
36:25
Speaker 1: the ordinary, normal people from outside the political beltway. On
36:29
Speaker 1: the other hand, it does give you some much needed
36:32
Speaker 1: experience because there's been that criticism as well. One Nation
36:35
Speaker 1: doesn't have parliamentary experience. So on balance, how do you
36:39
Speaker 1: weigh those two competing things?
36:42
Speaker 11: Well, Two things. Firstly, we have a rigorous process. We
36:47
Speaker 11: have over 800 applicants for many of these positions. So
36:50
Speaker 11: we're going through that right now. There are only three
36:52
Speaker 11: announced candidates. But I go back to what I've said
36:55
Speaker 11: earlier in other interviews as well, is that, you know,
36:59
Speaker 11: One Nation has often criticised that we've never been in government.
37:02
Speaker 1: That is true.
37:03
Speaker 11: But at the same time, incumbent governments have never been
37:06
Speaker 11: in business. And look at the disaster that has unfolded
37:08
Speaker 11: from the fact that they are really creating so much
37:11
Speaker 11: disaster with a record insolvencies in New South Wales in
37:14
Speaker 11: the September quarter, I think 1,600 or so. This is
37:17
Speaker 11: what you're left with. That's why I want to put
37:20
Speaker 11: a particular focus within the party and the executive to
37:22
Speaker 11: look at... making sure we get people from the real
37:25
Speaker 11: world who have been in machinery, manufacturing, coal mining, you know,
37:29
Speaker 11: the legal profession, doctors, nurses, to make sure that we
37:33
Speaker 11: are getting people who actually understand the industries they are covering,
37:37
Speaker 11: such that we hopefully will get far better results than
37:41
Speaker 11: relying on career bureaucrats and career politicians.
37:44
Speaker 1: Very good, Mike Newman. Appreciate you joining me tonight. Thanks
37:46
Speaker 1: so much. All right. Coming up after the break, why
37:49
Speaker 1: Chinese buyers are ditching luxury brand Louis Vuitton in droves.
37:54
Speaker 1: Plus SAS veteran Heston Russell joins me to discuss legislation
37:58
Speaker 1: protecting veterans. That's next. Well, welcome back to the program.
38:05
Speaker 1: It feels like we're seeing a change in the way
38:08
Speaker 1: our nation treats veterans. I'm not sure if you've noticed it,
38:12
Speaker 1: but I certainly have, from the very public arrest of
38:15
Speaker 1: Ben Robert Smith to the threat of having allied health
38:18
Speaker 1: spending capped. So having fought overseas, our vets are now
38:23
Speaker 1: fighting on the home front, and it's a fight they're
38:26
Speaker 1: taking directly to Canberra. More than 150,000 people have signed
38:28
Speaker 1: a petition today to ensure veterans have more legal protection
38:34
Speaker 1: when accused of conduct that goes against the laws of war. Specifically,
38:38
Speaker 1: they want any allegations of misconduct arising from military operations
38:42
Speaker 1: to be tried and tested in a criminal court by
38:45
Speaker 1: a jury of peers and to the standard of innocent
38:48
Speaker 1: beyond reason or guilty of beyond reasonable doubt. Second, They
38:52
Speaker 1: want the media banned from reporting the names of soldiers
38:55
Speaker 1: or military units involved in allegations arising from military operations
38:59
Speaker 1: until after they've been tried and convicted rather than simply charged.
39:04
Speaker 1: Joining me to explain more is former Special Forces Commando
39:07
Speaker 1: Heston Russell. Heston, thanks for coming on the program. You
39:11
Speaker 1: argue veterans are being subjected to trial by media with
39:15
Speaker 1: the presumption of innocence replaced by a presumption of guilt.
39:18
Speaker 1: How serious is this problem? And can you give me
39:21
Speaker 1: some examples of how the damage has been done to
39:25
Speaker 1: veterans and their families when this has occurred? Yeah, g'day, Jay.
39:30
Speaker 1: and thanks for having me on.
39:31
Speaker 12: Look, we've been here for the last two days gathering
39:32
Speaker 12: support across the floor for this Veterans Protection Act and look,
39:37
Speaker 12: at the end of the day, what happened to me
39:39
Speaker 12: should not be allowed to happen again in this country.
39:41
Speaker 12: Being required to put yourself forward to defend allegations of
39:45
Speaker 12: being called a war criminal, abandoned by the Department of
39:48
Speaker 12: Defence and And those elements in the media free to
39:51
Speaker 12: basically use the resources of including the Australian taxpayer to
39:55
Speaker 12: prosecute our veterans at a time where exposing our identities
39:58
Speaker 12: opens us up to recourse from potentially those terrorists and
40:02
Speaker 12: other organisations we fought against, as well as the risk
40:05
Speaker 12: to our reputations and our families back here at home.
40:07
Speaker 12: And there's the examples of Ben Robert Smith, Oliver Schultz,
40:10
Speaker 12: these people who have had their identities put into the
40:12
Speaker 12: public despite not yet even being convicted. And we just
40:16
Speaker 12: need to basically step up and better support our servicemen
40:19
Speaker 12: and women who are required to do unique things that
40:22
Speaker 12: we ask no other Australian to do going on combat
40:26
Speaker 12: and operations around the world to simply ensure that they
40:30
Speaker 12: are afforded that presumption of innocence and due process.
40:33
Speaker 1: You may have answered this next question in part, but
40:36
Speaker 1: I want to ask it anyway, because I think some
40:38
Speaker 1: people would say, well, why should veterans receive this protection
40:42
Speaker 1: when other Australians accused of serious crimes generally don't?
40:48
Speaker 12: Well, because our veterans go away to fight wars against
40:51
Speaker 12: people who want to kill them and kill others in
40:54
Speaker 12: situations that aren't black and white and require greater scrutiny
40:58
Speaker 12: before someone in the media can accuse them of being
41:02
Speaker 12: a war criminal. And I don't think there would be
41:04
Speaker 12: many viewers on your station or in Australia who would
41:07
Speaker 12: object to that. This is not a quality of output.
41:10
Speaker 12: This is a quality of opportunity for those who are
41:12
Speaker 12: willing to put on a uniform and go and fight
41:15
Speaker 12: in the name of our nation.
41:17
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I think they are two very
41:18
Speaker 1: different and distinct things and different consequences of being named
41:25
Speaker 1: in the media. I want to put another question to you, though,
41:27
Speaker 1: that I think some people will ask. You say allegations
41:31
Speaker 1: and commentary have damaged not only individual veterans but also
41:34
Speaker 1: Australia's international reputation. I get that. But how do you
41:38
Speaker 1: respond to the argument that credible investigations into alleged misconduct
41:42
Speaker 1: can also strengthen Australia's reputation by demonstrating international our armed
41:46
Speaker 1: forces are accountable to the law.
41:51
Speaker 12: At no time are we saying we should not be
41:52
Speaker 12: investigated for any allegations. What we're saying is the individual
41:55
Speaker 12: should be protected and the Australian Defence Force should step
41:58
Speaker 12: up and take ownership of that in protecting those individuals.
42:01
Speaker 12: For example, should someone come under criticism of being accused
42:05
Speaker 12: of conducting a criminal act on operations, the media would
42:08
Speaker 12: be allowed to report that a member of the Australian
42:10
Speaker 12: Defence Force or a former member of the Australian Defence
42:13
Speaker 12: Force There would then need to be evidence brought forward
42:15
Speaker 12: to beyond reasonable doubt to the criminal standard, not the
42:18
Speaker 12: balance of probabilities or any other civil legislation piece. And
42:22
Speaker 12: then only once that person is convicted, found guilty, will
42:25
Speaker 12: their identity be able to be published. We're not circumventing anything.
42:29
Speaker 12: We're again appreciating the unique nature of service. Taking this
42:32
Speaker 12: a step forward, being judged by a jury of our peers,
42:35
Speaker 12: ideally is where it should be. Those of us in
42:37
Speaker 12: the military will hold each other to the highest standards.
42:41
Speaker 12: But at the moment, What we have over the last
42:43
Speaker 12: six years, and let's use facts as opposed to fiction,
42:47
Speaker 12: is we've had veterans required to step up to defend
42:49
Speaker 12: themselves in courts of defamation, lives put on hold, expenses
42:54
Speaker 12: through the roof before any charges have even been brought,
42:56
Speaker 12: and no one has yet been convicted. How are we
43:00
Speaker 12: stronger as a nation, internationally, domestic? How are we in
43:03
Speaker 12: the veteran community refusing to recommend other Australians to join
43:07
Speaker 12: the Defence Force? How are we stronger across any of
43:09
Speaker 12: these boards?
43:10
Speaker 1: That's where we're at.
43:11
Speaker 12: And this legislation is learning from what has been the
43:14
Speaker 12: last six years to make sure it never happens to
43:17
Speaker 12: another veteran moving forward.
43:19
Speaker 1: Heston, we've only got a short time left, but I
43:21
Speaker 1: wanted to quickly ask you about your experiences in Canberra today.
43:25
Speaker 1: I believe you met with Angus Taylor and with the
43:27
Speaker 1: Veteran Affairs Minister, Matt Keogh. Did anything come from those
43:31
Speaker 1: meetings or did you get blank stares? No, absolutely.
43:36
Speaker 12: And that's been the most motivating part. Over the last
43:38
Speaker 12: two days, I've met with the leaders of most parties.
43:41
Speaker 12: So Angus Taylor, Pauline Hanson, Matt Canavan. Today, I met
43:44
Speaker 12: with Michael McCormack. I met with Matt Keogh. Tomorrow, I
43:46
Speaker 12: meet with Richard Miles' teams. And some of those parties
43:49
Speaker 12: and individuals are committing resources to helping turn this into
43:53
Speaker 12: a draft bill for legislation to be.
43:55
Speaker 1: Put forward to the Parliament.
43:56
Speaker 12: So I welcome these conversations and this consultation has been
43:59
Speaker 12: very enthusiastic and motivating and pushing forward. So watch this space. And, again,
44:05
Speaker 12: anyone who wants to get on board and support, please
44:07
Speaker 12: head to hestonrussell.com slash veterans or get in contact with
44:10
Speaker 12: your local member. We're now at the point of turning
44:12
Speaker 12: this into action. And, again, those meetings have been great,
44:15
Speaker 12: seeing there is support across the board because there should
44:17
Speaker 12: not be a, you know, individual party policy. This should
44:21
Speaker 12: be about veterans like the Royal Commission was and should
44:24
Speaker 12: be everyone getting on board to show their support for
44:27
Speaker 12: those we send overseas.
44:28
Speaker 1: Very good. Heston Russell, I know you've got the veterans
44:30
Speaker 1: games on next weekend on the Sunshine Coast. So all
44:34
Speaker 1: the best with that. I appreciate your time tonight. All right,
44:37
Speaker 1: we're going to go to a break. We're in the
44:38
Speaker 1: middle of an AI boom. I'm sure you know that.
44:40
Speaker 1: But do Australian investors know that? Russell Pilmer joins me next.
44:48
Speaker 1: AI company Firmus' attempt to float on the ASX failed
44:52
Speaker 1: after valuing itself at $ 44 billion and its founder, Oliver Curtis,
44:56
Speaker 1: described it as a loss for Australia.
44:58
Speaker 8: So, you know, it's about Australia understanding, obviously, we should
45:08
Speaker 8: be a homegrown hero, manufacture amazing technology.
45:12
Speaker 1: Investors weren't happy, but the price is nothing compared to
45:15
Speaker 1: Anthropix IPO, which is likely to be around two trillion
45:18
Speaker 1: US dollars. Joining me to discuss this is Pengean. Did
45:22
Speaker 1: I get that right? Pengean Capital CEO, Russell Pylema. Russell,
45:26
Speaker 1: thank you for joining me. This AI boom, everybody knows
45:30
Speaker 1: we're in the middle of one. Are Australian investors slow
45:33
Speaker 1: to catch on and why?
45:33
Speaker 13: So I don't think Australian investors are slow to catch on.
45:38
Speaker 13: I think Firmus was just the wrong float at that
45:43
Speaker 13: point in time. So Firmus is something very specific in
45:47
Speaker 13: the AI space, and that's data centres. And the issue
45:50
Speaker 13: with Firmus was they've got this great business plan and
45:53
Speaker 13: they've got great contracts, but they need to do still
45:56
Speaker 13: build the data centres. And Australian investors were just uncomfortable
46:00
Speaker 13: in the notion that these centres will be built on
46:04
Speaker 13: time with the right amount of financing.
46:06
Speaker 1: Et cetera.
46:07
Speaker 13: And the price was such that it implied that there
46:13
Speaker 13: was a lower level of risk involved in actually being
46:18
Speaker 13: able to execute on that plan. And so they therefore
46:22
Speaker 13: decided not to invest.
46:23
Speaker 1: A lot of people talk about an AI bubble. Is
46:26
Speaker 1: it a bubble? And if it is, what risk to
46:29
Speaker 1: the world economy if it bursts?
46:31
Speaker 13: So I don't think there is an AI bubble. Certainly
46:34
Speaker 13: some AI companies are very highly valued. And if you
46:37
Speaker 13: look at something like Anthropic with more than a $ 2
46:40
Speaker 13: trillion valuation, that's a lot of value that's been created
46:44
Speaker 13: in a short period of time. But Anthropic have massive
46:47
Speaker 13: amounts of earnings that they're generating, and they're growing at
46:50
Speaker 13: fantastic rates. So Anthropic in the last quarter grew by
46:55
Speaker 13: more than 45%, and it's currently got more than $ 17
47:00
Speaker 13: billion of earnings in the quarter. So you can see
47:03
Speaker 13: that these things are hugely valuable. And a bubble, it's
47:07
Speaker 13: very different to the previous tech bubble when you were
47:11
Speaker 13: valuing companies just on stories. There are real revenues involved here.
47:15
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about Chinese consumers reportedly turning
47:18
Speaker 1: against luxury brand Louis Vuitton. The problem, of course, is
47:22
Speaker 1: that the retail giant went after a much smaller but
47:25
Speaker 1: still popular local chain called Molly Tea for copying its logo,
47:31
Speaker 1: forcing the tea company to pay around $ 2 million. Locals
47:34
Speaker 1: have mercilessly roasted Louis Vuitton online with one user saying,
47:38
Speaker 1: even the tiles in the public toilets when I was little.
47:42
Speaker 1: had this flower pattern. This is one of the brand's
47:45
Speaker 1: largest markets. Is it set to lose more than it
47:49
Speaker 1: gained by going after this small company for $ 2 million?
47:53
Speaker 13: This is a massive loss for Louis Vuitton. Their sales
47:57
Speaker 13: are down almost 30% in China, which is their major
48:01
Speaker 13: growth market. So whoever thought it was a good idea
48:05
Speaker 13: to go after this little tea company, they probably are
48:08
Speaker 13: not there anymore.
48:10
Speaker 1: Probably not. I want to ask you before we finish,
48:14
Speaker 1: fuel prices. I mean, every time we fill our car
48:17
Speaker 1: up with fuel at the moment, it just is ridiculous.
48:22
Speaker 1: How do you see things going at the moment? Obviously,
48:25
Speaker 1: more and more pressure put on Iran. Is it enough
48:27
Speaker 1: pressure to change jobs? the direction of Iran, or are
48:31
Speaker 1: we just set for increasing prices ad nauseum and indefinitely?
48:34
Speaker 13: So, James, something really amazing has happened quite recently with Iran,
48:39
Speaker 13: and that is the US has been very successful in
48:42
Speaker 13: choking Iran's ability to export oil. In fact, in the
48:46
Speaker 13: month of September, there was zero oil that's been exported
48:50
Speaker 13: through the Straits. And without oil, Iran will find it
48:55
Speaker 13: very difficult to continue to operate. Certainly, the regime there
49:00
Speaker 13: is very dependent upon oil. And what you're finding is
49:03
Speaker 13: that they don't have the foreign currency in order to
49:06
Speaker 13: pay for services. And what they're doing now is they're
49:09
Speaker 13: printing money. So inflation in Iran was more than 75%
49:14
Speaker 13: over the last year, and it's increasing all the time.
49:19
Speaker 13: And with the choking of... oil supply, it's going to
49:22
Speaker 13: go up even more so. So there is a potential
49:25
Speaker 13: for the regime to fall off the back of this,
49:29
Speaker 13: but who knows?
49:30
Speaker 1: I've got to say, it's nice to hear some positive,
49:32
Speaker 1: optimistic news about what's happening in the Middle East. I
49:35
Speaker 1: appreciate that. Thank you so much. All right, that's all
49:37
Speaker 1: I've got time for tonight. Stick around, coming up right now,
49:39
Speaker 1: hosting the Paul Murray Live program is my good mate,
49:42
Speaker 1: Caleb Bond. Good night.