Transcript

Sharri | 7 August · Sharri

0:01
Speaker 1: Live on Sky News.
0:04
Speaker 2: This is Sharry Good Evening.
0:09
Speaker 3: We're just to recap that breaking news out of Paris.
0:12
Speaker 3: An Australian hockey player, Tom Craig has been arrested by
0:16
Speaker 3: French police after allegedly buying cocaine at the Olympics. The
0:21
Speaker 3: Australian Olympic Committee released the statement saying they have confirmed
0:25
Speaker 3: an Australian hockey team member is in custody after being
0:29
Speaker 3: arrested in Paris on August sixth.
0:32
Speaker 2: No charges have been laid.
0:34
Speaker 3: The AOC is continuing to make inquiries and arranged support
0:38
Speaker 3: for the team member. So hockey player Tom Craig arrested
0:42
Speaker 3: in Paris unsuspected charges of cocaine use. Will bring you
0:48
Speaker 3: live updates as they unfold throughout the hour. Well, it's
0:51
Speaker 3: an absolutely jam packed show tonight. We have exclusive Liberal
0:55
Speaker 3: Party research that reveals voter attitudes are hardening again. He's
1:00
Speaker 3: the Prime Minister over the cost of living crisis.
1:03
Speaker 2: This as the.
1:04
Speaker 3: IBA blames high government spending for stubborn inflation. Former Treasurer
1:10
Speaker 3: Josh Fridenberg is on the show tonight with a warning
1:13
Speaker 3: about the need to confront authoritarian regimes.
1:17
Speaker 4: And right now we're seeing authoritarian regimes on the march
1:21
Speaker 4: around the world, and the battlefields of Europe obviously Ukraine
1:25
Speaker 4: and Russia, the Middle East seeing tensions in the South
1:29
Speaker 4: China Sea, and we see tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
1:32
Speaker 4: So authoritarian regimes are on the march around the world,
1:36
Speaker 4: Yet democracies are very divided.
1:40
Speaker 3: So my exclusive interview with Josh Fridenberger coming up in
1:43
Speaker 3: the program. Also tonight, the joy of Australia's youngest gold
1:47
Speaker 3: medal winner, whose parents now have to honor their promise
1:51
Speaker 3: to buy her a pet duck.
1:55
Speaker 5: I said, if I did win, could I get a duck?
1:57
Speaker 2: And she said yes.
2:00
Speaker 3: But first tonight I can exclusively reveal secret polling which
2:04
Speaker 3: shows voters are starting to blame Anthony Albanesi personally for
2:08
Speaker 3: the state of the economy. The internal research carried out
2:12
Speaker 3: for the Liberal Party suggests Australians are now holding the
2:16
Speaker 3: Prime Minister accountable for soaring petrol prices, increasing energy bills,
2:21
Speaker 3: the high cost of groceries and crippling mortgage repayments.
2:26
Speaker 2: This is dangerous for Albanezi.
2:28
Speaker 3: He'd been hoping inflation would start to moderate, a hope
2:32
Speaker 3: crueled by the RBA's reality check that there's no prospect
2:36
Speaker 3: of a rate cut anytime soon. Albanzi is already seen
2:40
Speaker 3: as a hypocrite for blaming former PM Scott Morrison for
2:45
Speaker 3: the first interest rate rise, while now not accepting responsibility
2:49
Speaker 3: for the thirteen sins, but is largely escaped blame for
2:54
Speaker 3: the cost of living crisis.
2:56
Speaker 2: This new research.
2:57
Speaker 3: I'm reporting tonight shows that vote sentiment is hardening against
3:02
Speaker 3: alban Easy over his handling of the economic crisis. Given
3:07
Speaker 3: he campaigned at the twenty twenty two election more than
3:10
Speaker 3: two years ago, now on a promise of making life
3:14
Speaker 3: more affordable, he can no longer escape responsibility for the
3:18
Speaker 3: tough times many of you are experiencing. This comes as
3:23
Speaker 3: his government and many of the States seem intent on
3:26
Speaker 3: spending money to win over voters, spending that is now
3:31
Speaker 3: being blamed for keeping inflation and interest rates higher for longer.
3:37
Speaker 3: It puts alban Easy and the States on a collision
3:40
Speaker 3: course with the RBA after injecting an extra twenty two
3:44
Speaker 3: billion dollars into the economy this financial year. It's one
3:49
Speaker 3: of the reasons inflation is now not expected to return
3:52
Speaker 3: to the target banned until twenty twenty six, and why
3:56
Speaker 3: the RBA even considered hiking rates.
3:59
Speaker 2: This week.
4:01
Speaker 3: Governor Michelle Bullock stung the Albanese government when, in part
4:05
Speaker 3: she blamed high spending for the need to keep rates
4:08
Speaker 3: higher for longer.
4:11
Speaker 6: Make no mistake, inflation is still too high and the
4:14
Speaker 6: Board does remain concerned about the degree of excess demand
4:17
Speaker 6: in the economy. In the statement of Monetary policy, we've
4:20
Speaker 6: revised up our forecast for demand growth and that's due
4:23
Speaker 6: to stronger forecast public spending.
4:27
Speaker 3: She also spoke about the impact of low productivity. Other
4:31
Speaker 3: senior IBA economists fronted are Senate Estimates Inquiry today to
4:36
Speaker 3: reinforce the message that government spending is partly responsible for
4:41
Speaker 3: this cost of living crisis.
4:44
Speaker 7: Public spending is one part of demand that we track.
4:47
Speaker 7: We're looking at the latest announcements coming out from the
4:50
Speaker 7: very state budgets, from the federal budget and what we
4:52
Speaker 7: actually see coming through the data as well, how projects
4:55
Speaker 7: are progressing on some of the big infrastructure activity that's
4:58
Speaker 7: happening here in Sydney, instance, a lot of the work
5:00
Speaker 7: around the bridge and the tunneling of things. If this
5:02
Speaker 7: is big enough that we can see it coming through
5:05
Speaker 7: in the aggregate data.
5:07
Speaker 3: And the RBA's statement on monetary policy specifically says that
5:12
Speaker 3: public demand is forecast to be stronger than previously expected,
5:17
Speaker 3: reflecting recent public spending announcements by federal and state and
5:22
Speaker 3: territory governments. We're Treasurer Jim Chalmers rejects the notion spending
5:28
Speaker 3: is fueling inflation.
5:30
Speaker 5: Budget spending is not the primary determinant of prices in
5:33
Speaker 5: the economy, but we can be helpful, and we are
5:36
Speaker 5: being helpful with the design of our cost of living
5:38
Speaker 5: policies which help us get back to target sooner.
5:42
Speaker 3: Despite his remarks, economists today seized on the RBA's comments
5:47
Speaker 3: to urge governments to stop spending so that rates can
5:51
Speaker 3: begin to fall. Amp Chief economist Shane Oliver told a
5:55
Speaker 3: Senate committee today that government spending was having a significant
5:59
Speaker 3: impact on inflation.
6:02
Speaker 8: When I asked, well, whif of the forecast gone up,
6:04
Speaker 8: she specifically referred to We've got some numbers on high
6:08
Speaker 8: government spending. There's other things in there as well, but
6:10
Speaker 8: I have a feeling that if we had, say, lower
6:14
Speaker 8: growth than government spending, the Reserve Bank would either be
6:16
Speaker 8: considering cutting or much closer to cutting.
6:20
Speaker 3: Chris Richardson is one of the only economists who's consistently
6:24
Speaker 3: argued government spending was inflationary. He told me today that
6:29
Speaker 3: extra state government spending this year amounts to around twelve
6:33
Speaker 3: billion dollars, so that from state governments, while federal government
6:37
Speaker 3: decisions have added around ten billion dollars extra into the economy.
6:42
Speaker 3: Add in the Stage three tax cuts, and Chris Richardson says,
6:46
Speaker 3: this is an extra forty six billion dollars being poured
6:49
Speaker 3: into the economy this financial year. And he told me
6:54
Speaker 3: that this is equivalent to the best part of just
6:57
Speaker 3: under two percent of national income. He says, that's huge
7:01
Speaker 3: relative to the amount of money the irba's rate rises
7:05
Speaker 3: have taken out of the economy. He says, the Reserve
7:08
Speaker 3: Bank is taking money out of the economy and the
7:11
Speaker 3: governments are putting money back into the economy. And Chris
7:15
Speaker 3: Richardson also argues the energy subsidies of seventy five dollars
7:18
Speaker 3: a quarter were simply delaying the pain and that inflation
7:23
Speaker 3: would rise once the subsidies end. Now, while they reduce
7:27
Speaker 3: the energy component of CPI, they are also still inflationary.
7:32
Speaker 3: And Chris Richardson said, and I quote the basic point
7:35
Speaker 3: is that families have more ability to spend than they
7:39
Speaker 3: otherwise would have had. It's a point economist Warren Hogan
7:44
Speaker 3: made on this program the other night.
7:47
Speaker 9: If electricity is one hundred and it goes to one
7:50
Speaker 9: hundred and ten, but the government gives you a subsidy
7:51
Speaker 9: and says it's only going to cost you one hundred
7:53
Speaker 9: and five. The electricity generator is still getting one hundred
7:56
Speaker 9: and ten, but the CPI says it's only going up
7:58
Speaker 9: to one hundred and five. The following year they remove
8:01
Speaker 9: the subsidy, the consumer pays one hundred and ten, and
8:04
Speaker 9: even though the electricity price hasn't changed, the CPI will
8:07
Speaker 9: measure it as an increase. So it's just a mask
8:10
Speaker 9: in terms of inflation. So if you remove the subsdy,
8:13
Speaker 9: inflation will go up.
8:15
Speaker 3: Now for the RBA to even publicly mention government spending,
8:21
Speaker 3: it's an indicator of the level of frustration at the
8:24
Speaker 3: Central Bank economics. Economics journalist Tom Jusifik writes that the
8:29
Speaker 3: scene is now set for an almighty tussle between the
8:33
Speaker 3: bank's board and politicians facing voters over the coming year.
8:37
Speaker 3: He says there will be harsh words, finger pointing, and
8:41
Speaker 3: no political prisoners now If this new message from the
8:46
Speaker 3: Central Bank hits home to voters the government spending is
8:50
Speaker 3: responsible for higher interest rates, then Albanezi will become a
8:55
Speaker 3: national villain. That new research I revealed at the start
8:59
Speaker 3: of the program showing voters are turning on Albanzi personally
9:03
Speaker 3: for his management of the economy, well, this will put
9:06
Speaker 3: pressure on him to act if he wants any chance
9:09
Speaker 3: of winning the next election. The path from now to
9:13
Speaker 3: that election is full of risk for Albanesi. His political
9:18
Speaker 3: prospects are inextricably linked with our economy. All right, let's
9:26
Speaker 3: bring in now our Wednesday panel to discuss this and
9:29
Speaker 3: much more former Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger and
9:33
Speaker 3: Labor legend Graham Richardson.
9:35
Speaker 2: Great to see you both.
9:37
Speaker 3: Michael, I want to start by asking you about this
9:39
Speaker 3: internal Liberal Party research that shows voter attitudes are hardening
9:44
Speaker 3: against Albanesi. They're starting to blame him personally for the
9:48
Speaker 3: cost of living crisis.
9:51
Speaker 10: Look, they remember that he said he had a plan
9:53
Speaker 10: to fix Morrison's cost of living crisis, and he kept
9:56
Speaker 10: using those words cost of living crisis because that's what
9:58
Speaker 10: the strategists and advertise as the agent he told him
10:01
Speaker 10: to say I've seen these things over the years. They said,
10:04
Speaker 10: repeat that at every opportunity, So he did. He left
10:06
Speaker 10: people with a very strong impression, Shari, that he could
10:09
Speaker 10: fix us. And then he said he had a plan
10:10
Speaker 10: to fix it, and he said he could cut electricity prices,
10:13
Speaker 10: turn on Sidney five dollars, blah blah blah. He gave everyone,
10:17
Speaker 10: He gave everyone the impression that this was just Scott
10:20
Speaker 10: Morrison's lost control of the economy. It's all Scott Morrison's fault,
10:23
Speaker 10: and he would fix it. Now people realize this was
10:26
Speaker 10: just political chicanery, it was bulldust, it was cheap advertising,
10:30
Speaker 10: they were false promises. He never had any idea and
10:34
Speaker 10: they're blaming him for it. Now they're now saying, Albo,
10:36
Speaker 10: you lie to us and that's his problem and it'll
10:39
Speaker 10: keep going until he fixes it, which he can't.
10:42
Speaker 3: Well, rich O, there's no question the Prime Minister would
10:45
Speaker 3: have been hoping for some more positive news that inflation
10:48
Speaker 3: was moderating, but that seems a remote possibility. Now that's
10:52
Speaker 3: far off, judging by Michelle Bullock's comments yesterday. So where
10:56
Speaker 3: does this leave Albanezi politically?
10:59
Speaker 11: I think he'd prefer it wasn't the case. But you
11:02
Speaker 11: remember it's a long time between now and the next election,
11:06
Speaker 11: and so I don't think it's time for panic, but
11:09
Speaker 11: it is certainly time that we stayed alert and you know,
11:15
Speaker 11: we're making sure that whatever we can do is being
11:19
Speaker 11: done to try and moderate this.
11:22
Speaker 3: Look, it's been a shocking week for the Prime Minister,
11:25
Speaker 3: not just the news, although the RBA's comments that inflation
11:30
Speaker 3: isn't going to come down over the next six months,
11:32
Speaker 3: it's not going to be a rate cut over the
11:34
Speaker 3: next six months. That is absolutely disastrous. But then also
11:38
Speaker 3: on the national security front and his weak handling of
11:42
Speaker 3: these issues have come under scrutiny. Last night I brought
11:46
Speaker 3: you the exclusive remarks from AZEO Director General Mike Burgess.
11:50
Speaker 3: He called the comments by the Iranian Ambassador to Australia
11:54
Speaker 3: disgraceful and deeply unhelpful. But the ambassador hasn't even been
11:59
Speaker 3: hauled into a minute offers. And then also this week
12:02
Speaker 3: our terror threat level raised to probable. This is a
12:04
Speaker 3: worrying sign. And then Labor is still not stopping millions
12:10
Speaker 3: of dollars in hard earned taxpayer funds being sent to
12:13
Speaker 3: a United Nations agency despite its staff having undeniable links
12:18
Speaker 3: with a terrorist group. I mean, Michael Kroger. Some leaders
12:23
Speaker 3: rise to meet the crises of the times, but not Albanezi.
12:30
Speaker 10: Weakness is provocative, and Albanesi has been hopeless, hopeless on
12:35
Speaker 10: the Middle East, hopeless on Israel. The only person who's
12:38
Speaker 10: put in a worse performance than him is Penny Wong,
12:40
Speaker 10: who wouldn't even visit the Nava music festival, side wouldn't
12:44
Speaker 10: visit the Kible scene in on the on the border
12:48
Speaker 10: with Gaza when she was there in January. He seems
12:51
Speaker 10: to agree with the last person that speaks to him,
12:53
Speaker 10: and so does she. So they go to America. I
12:55
Speaker 10: es the Americans got to do more with Americans. She
12:58
Speaker 10: meets the head of the Australian Palestinian Network and gets
13:02
Speaker 10: photographed with him. People complain about funding to UNRA, so
13:06
Speaker 10: she increases the She restores the funding before the final report,
13:10
Speaker 10: et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, allowing two thousand people
13:15
Speaker 10: circa from Gaza to come to Australia, and now Tony
13:19
Speaker 10: Burke because he's trying to win votes amongst the Muslim
13:22
Speaker 10: community to give them some kind of residency here. Well,
13:26
Speaker 10: I'm sorry how many Hammas supporters are there amongst those
13:29
Speaker 10: two thousand, because seventy percent of people in Gaza who
13:31
Speaker 10: have been polled support Hamas. And how many refugees have
13:37
Speaker 10: been taken by the Jordanians. Look at the Jordanians, I
13:40
Speaker 10: mean that Jordanians. King has saying expelled the po in
13:44
Speaker 10: nineteen seventy one. King Abdullah expelled the Hummas leadership from
13:48
Speaker 10: Jordan in nineteen ninety nine, right.
13:51
Speaker 2: Why did they do that?
13:52
Speaker 10: Because they took the view that the Palestinian leadership of
13:55
Speaker 10: Hummas were trying to create a state within a state.
13:58
Speaker 10: How familiar is that? And they were built by Jordan.
14:01
Speaker 10: How many refugees from Gaza have gone to Jordan or
14:06
Speaker 10: Egypt or Lebanon or Syria. Answer none, except for those
14:10
Speaker 10: that have paid across the border into Egypt. None. None.
14:14
Speaker 10: Why are we taking these refugees at a time when
14:17
Speaker 10: there is enough social dislocation in this country largely caused
14:22
Speaker 10: and fueled by these disgusting anti Jewish demonstrations and universities
14:27
Speaker 10: in streets and now in retail shops.
14:30
Speaker 2: Sherry, It's an excellent point.
14:32
Speaker 3: And actually the Australians Foreign editor Greg Sheridan was on
14:35
Speaker 3: with Peter Kredlin earlier Michael Krogan, he made a very
14:38
Speaker 3: similar point. He said, why fly Palestinians all the way
14:42
Speaker 3: to Australia when Arab nations are surrounding Gaza? Why aren't
14:50
Speaker 3: they going to any of the surrounding Arab nations. That's
14:52
Speaker 3: exact question, the point you made. And you know, fine,
14:56
Speaker 3: if there are genuine refugees, our heart goes out to
15:00
Speaker 3: any families who are in trouble who need help. But
15:05
Speaker 3: the security checks, as we've shown over and over again,
15:08
Speaker 3: are not being done.
15:10
Speaker 2: They're being done in as little as one hour.
15:14
Speaker 3: You can't rule out that someone, whether or not someone
15:17
Speaker 3: has terrorist associations in as little as one hour. Actually,
15:22
Speaker 3: let's have a look at some of the other things
15:24
Speaker 3: Greg Sheridan had to say tonight.
15:26
Speaker 12: I'm a great admirer of Mike Burgess, the head of ASIO,
15:29
Speaker 12: but I thought he said some ridiculous things this week.
15:32
Speaker 12: He said Islamophobia is more or less equal to anti Semitism. Well,
15:37
Speaker 12: that's just preposterous if he believes that he's taking some
15:39
Speaker 12: hallucinogenic in his morning coffee. He also was instructing people
15:45
Speaker 12: how to speak. I don't think that's the job of
15:48
Speaker 12: the Director General of ASIO. That's the government trying to
15:50
Speaker 12: misuse the institutional authority of ASIO. And he did an
15:55
Speaker 12: interview with your colleague Laura Jays and he referred to
15:57
Speaker 12: Christian terrorism, but he wouldn't refer to Islamis terrorism.
16:02
Speaker 13: Oh.
16:02
Speaker 12: I think the government's gone really off the track this week, Richard,
16:08
Speaker 12: What do you.
16:08
Speaker 2: Think about that?
16:09
Speaker 3: Do you think that criticism of Mike Burgess from Greg
16:12
Speaker 3: Sheridan is fair?
16:15
Speaker 2: Ah?
16:15
Speaker 11: Sadly, I think yes. I don't think that Burgess has
16:20
Speaker 11: had his greatest week. I think some of his remarks
16:24
Speaker 11: have been out of place, and it doesn't it doesn't
16:30
Speaker 11: reflect well on him. But I think Albo still knows
16:37
Speaker 11: he's still got a good political nose. He understands where
16:40
Speaker 11: he must stand and he will stand.
16:44
Speaker 3: Let's have a look at the Airiring coulfired power station
16:47
Speaker 3: now under Matt Kean, the former Treasurer and Energy minister.
16:51
Speaker 3: There were plans to shut it down in August next year.
16:54
Speaker 3: The new Labor Premier, Chris Mins, extended its life cycle.
16:58
Speaker 3: Will we find out today that just how much higher
17:02
Speaker 3: power prices would have been had it shut down? Fifty
17:06
Speaker 3: five dollars lower every megawatt hour.
17:09
Speaker 2: Michael.
17:10
Speaker 3: This advice apparently shaped Chris Mins's deal with Origin Energy
17:13
Speaker 3: to extend the life of aerering, which is obviously a
17:16
Speaker 3: very sensible decision.
17:19
Speaker 10: Well, another good decision by Chris Mins, who is becoming
17:25
Speaker 10: a very sensible premiere in New South Wales, apart from
17:30
Speaker 10: the fact that his police force haven't yet prosecuted anyone
17:32
Speaker 10: for the riots and the anti Jewish riots at the
17:37
Speaker 10: Opera House, but that's another issue. Look, I think what
17:41
Speaker 10: this shows is this that the Australian public, and through
17:44
Speaker 10: the polling you mentioned before, Sharry, the Australian public are
17:47
Speaker 10: coming to the view that renewables may not be cheaper
17:50
Speaker 10: and may not be as reliable, and they don't want blackouts,
17:54
Speaker 10: and they understand that you need base load power to
17:57
Speaker 10: keep the lights on. And you know, we know that
18:00
Speaker 10: hospitals need continuous electricity. Okay, they've got generators in case
18:06
Speaker 10: of blackout, but they're diesel fueled in most cases. And
18:09
Speaker 10: so this whole Chris Bowen notion that he keeps repeating
18:12
Speaker 10: this mantra of it's cheaper, it's cheaper cheaper, people are
18:16
Speaker 10: now thinking that may not be right and it's certainly
18:19
Speaker 10: not as reliable, and this is one of the great
18:21
Speaker 10: problems Albo's got. He's been trying to sell this thing
18:23
Speaker 10: to the public and the public's own right, their own experiences.
18:28
Speaker 10: Not only haven't bills gone down to seventy five, they've
18:30
Speaker 10: gone up twenty and twenty three percent in the last
18:33
Speaker 10: year in the case of gas and electricity. It's just
18:35
Speaker 10: not becoming believable and Albow has been caught out again
18:39
Speaker 10: unfortunately for him.
18:41
Speaker 3: Final word, rich I mean Matt Kean had failed to
18:44
Speaker 3: do the deal to extend the eraring life cycle when
18:46
Speaker 3: he was minister, but he's now the Albaneze government's top
18:49
Speaker 3: climate change authority guy.
18:52
Speaker 11: Yeah, Samrony there. Matt Keane's a great survivor and seems
18:58
Speaker 11: to be able to sell himself to anyone. So I'm
19:03
Speaker 11: a fan. That's what politics is about. You've got to
19:07
Speaker 11: have the capacity to move when you need to and
19:10
Speaker 11: move quickly.
19:11
Speaker 2: Well, there you go.
19:12
Speaker 3: All right, Graham Richards and Michael Kroger. Great to see
19:14
Speaker 3: you as always on a Wednesday.
19:17
Speaker 2: Now, as we've been.
19:18
Speaker 3: Discussing at the start of the show, inflation is proving
19:21
Speaker 3: persistent and sticky. Cost of living pressures are still hurting
19:24
Speaker 3: families and there's no interest rate relief at least for
19:28
Speaker 3: the next six months. For some expert analysis, Economics editor
19:32
Speaker 3: at The Australian, Judith Sloan joins me.
19:34
Speaker 2: Now, Judith, great to see you. Look.
19:37
Speaker 3: I thought these comments by the RBA Governor Michelle Bullock,
19:40
Speaker 3: where she actually mentioned government spending, I thought that was
19:44
Speaker 3: extremely rare because usually we've seen the RBA refrain from
19:49
Speaker 3: giving any sort of commentary that could be critical of
19:52
Speaker 3: the federal government's decision. So does this indicate a level
19:56
Speaker 3: of frustration at the Central Bank that spending both the
19:59
Speaker 3: states in federal governments is stopping their ability to rain
20:03
Speaker 3: in inflation.
20:07
Speaker 14: Yes, I think she's proving to be tougher than I
20:09
Speaker 14: thought she might have been. Actually, she's a country girl.
20:13
Speaker 14: She tends to call a spade a spade, and.
20:17
Speaker 2: In fact, you know this.
20:21
Speaker 14: Idea of the press conference after the release of the decision,
20:24
Speaker 14: this is an innovation. I think the journalists are getting
20:28
Speaker 14: better at asking questions too. But I think she's fairly forthright.
20:32
Speaker 14: But I would also alert attention for the audience to
20:39
Speaker 14: the actual release, the release in words and that was
20:43
Speaker 14: very strong. You know, in the context of the Olympics.
20:47
Speaker 14: It sort of reminds me of those races where there
20:50
Speaker 14: are sort of two often men, often in a long race,
20:55
Speaker 14: or in boxing or something, where this is this sort
20:57
Speaker 14: of word competition. So that's kind of what's happening, you know.
21:02
Speaker 14: I mean Jim Chalmers, I think really doesn't understand it.
21:06
Speaker 2: I think he thinks.
21:09
Speaker 14: That he's got this licked because he's sort of introducing these,
21:12
Speaker 14: for example, energy subsidies and that will reduce headline inflation.
21:17
Speaker 14: And then the Reserve Bank, you know, that gets battered
21:20
Speaker 14: off to them and they say no, no, no, we
21:22
Speaker 14: don't take any notice of those subsidies.
21:24
Speaker 2: And you know, bear in mind.
21:26
Speaker 14: Shari, we're talking about inflation not coming back into target
21:30
Speaker 14: till the end of next year, and it's actually the
21:34
Speaker 14: year after that when within the middle of the target.
21:37
Speaker 14: So this is a very long time and the longer
21:40
Speaker 14: it goes on, the more costly it is.
21:43
Speaker 3: Look, you've absolutely slaughtered the treasurer and your latest to column.
21:49
Speaker 3: But you know there are some positive points, aren't there, Judith.
21:52
Speaker 3: I mean, he has delivered two budget surpluses. He has
21:56
Speaker 3: rained in spending to some extent. I mean, the level
22:00
Speaker 3: of spending for a labor government what his colleagues would
22:03
Speaker 3: have wanted to spend on. He has managed to keep
22:07
Speaker 3: that relatively in check.
22:09
Speaker 2: So do you give him credit for at least those
22:11
Speaker 2: two things.
22:11
Speaker 3: And on the energy subsidies as we've been discussing tonight, Yep,
22:15
Speaker 3: they'll rise again when those subsidies come off, but at
22:17
Speaker 3: least for now, it does make life a bit easier
22:20
Speaker 3: for families, doesn't it.
22:24
Speaker 14: Well, of course, I mean that's the politics of it,
22:26
Speaker 14: and I accept that.
22:29
Speaker 2: No.
22:29
Speaker 14: No, I think as an economic policy maker, he's been terrible.
22:34
Speaker 14: And the two surpluses that they've been able to achieve,
22:38
Speaker 14: you know, the driver's dog would have achieved those surpluses
22:41
Speaker 14: because they were essentially because of the high commodity prices
22:44
Speaker 14: and the surgeon company tax revenue, and also the fact
22:49
Speaker 14: that income tax payers we're getting hit through bracket creep.
22:53
Speaker 2: No.
22:53
Speaker 14: No, if you look, he kind of did a slightly
22:56
Speaker 14: okay job initially, but that was partly because the COVID
22:59
Speaker 14: sped was coming off. But if you look at this
23:03
Speaker 14: financial year and next financial year, they're expecting big deficits.
23:07
Speaker 14: I mean, I can't believe that he has the hide
23:11
Speaker 14: to hand down a budget, and you know, really without
23:14
Speaker 14: any sense of embarrassment, is prepared to be predicting these
23:18
Speaker 14: large deficits. So I think, I just, I mean, I
23:23
Speaker 14: guess maybe I've been an economist for too long and
23:25
Speaker 14: he is not an economist. That is that he basically,
23:30
Speaker 14: I don't think gets it.
23:32
Speaker 2: So I think he thinks.
23:33
Speaker 14: That, you know, he talks about these carefully crafted costs
23:36
Speaker 14: of living measures without realizing that it's all Peter and
23:40
Speaker 14: Paul stuff. So you might be able to reduce someone's
23:43
Speaker 14: costs of you know, electricity bills, but then that releases
23:47
Speaker 14: money for them to spend elsewhere. So you've got to
23:50
Speaker 14: worry about the level of aggregate demand. And that's really
23:53
Speaker 14: what Michelle Bullock is saying. That the federal government and
23:57
Speaker 14: the state governments are putting too much into the economy.
24:00
Speaker 14: It's a bit like having your foot on the brake
24:03
Speaker 14: and then another one on the accelerator at the same time.
24:06
Speaker 3: Not a good idea, Yeah, yeah, And I went through
24:08
Speaker 3: that in detail in my editorial at the start of
24:11
Speaker 3: the show.
24:12
Speaker 2: Judith, you do, though, give a big tick.
24:14
Speaker 3: Two of our regulars on this show here, Andrew Charlton
24:18
Speaker 3: and Daniel Molino, and you say you have hopes that
24:20
Speaker 3: they might be good managers of the economy.
24:25
Speaker 14: Yes, of course that was you know, bad Judy saying
24:29
Speaker 14: those things, I guess, but you think about it. Andrew
24:32
Speaker 14: Charlton in particular, you know he's actually run real business
24:36
Speaker 14: as he built up a fabulous business.
24:39
Speaker 2: He's got a doctorate.
24:40
Speaker 14: In economics, He's written a book with Joe Stiglitz, he
24:44
Speaker 14: did some incredibly interesting consulting work. I think he's a
24:49
Speaker 14: real brain and he really understands these things. And then
24:53
Speaker 14: of course Daniel Molino from Victoria. He has got a
24:57
Speaker 14: PhD in economics from Yale and in some really interesting
25:01
Speaker 14: ideas about the role of welfare and how that messures
25:06
Speaker 14: in with good economic policy. So they've got some talent there,
25:11
Speaker 14: it's just whether the factional system would allow them to
25:13
Speaker 14: use them.
25:14
Speaker 2: Indeed.
25:15
Speaker 3: And actually Daniel Milino's on the show a bit later tonight,
25:17
Speaker 3: so we'll hear from him. Then, Judah Slow, really good idea.
25:20
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for your time, appreciated. Now coming
25:23
Speaker 3: up after the break, Josh Fridenberg joins me to speak
25:26
Speaker 3: about the rise of authoritarianism, and he laments the strong
25:30
Speaker 3: leadership we've lost, plus the unraveling of a one billion
25:34
Speaker 3: dollar taxpayer funded grant by Labor to a US tech company.
25:39
Speaker 2: That's all after this quick break. Welcome back.
25:45
Speaker 3: Well, Josh Fridenberg has been awarded the twenty twenty four
25:49
Speaker 3: Monash Medal for Rotary for his significant contribution to the
25:53
Speaker 3: Australian community, both in Parliament and beyond. He follows in
25:57
Speaker 3: the footsteps of distinguished Australians who we've also been recognized
26:01
Speaker 3: with this honor. They include High Court Judge Michael Kirby,
26:05
Speaker 3: Professor Fiona Wood and America's Cup Captain John Bertrand. The
26:10
Speaker 3: award is named after one of our military giants, Sir
26:14
Speaker 3: John Monash, a proud Jewish Australian. But you wonder how
26:19
Speaker 3: would Sir John be feeling if he were alive today
26:22
Speaker 3: about the current global environment. Well, it's a question that
26:26
Speaker 3: Friedenberg himself put to the former Governor General Peter Cosgrove
26:30
Speaker 3: in an interview for his documentary What do you.
26:34
Speaker 4: Think Sir John Monash, is Australia's greatest general but also
26:38
Speaker 4: Australia's greatest Jewish Australian, would be feeling right now?
26:42
Speaker 13: Well, I think Sir John would say this is not
26:46
Speaker 13: the Australia that we fought for in the water wind
26:50
Speaker 13: All Wars. He'd be very sad that there is such
26:54
Speaker 13: an outbreak of violence in the Middle East. But here
26:58
Speaker 13: in Australia, he would be a guy.
27:01
Speaker 3: And I spoke to Josh Fredenberg a little earlier, Josh,
27:05
Speaker 3: welcome again to the show.
27:07
Speaker 4: Nice to be with you, Shari.
27:08
Speaker 3: You're standing outside the Shrine of Remembrance. Australia's greatest general,
27:13
Speaker 3: Sir John Monash was the driving force behind it. You've
27:17
Speaker 3: now been recognized for your leadership and service with this
27:20
Speaker 3: medal during your parliamentary career, but also since then, what
27:25
Speaker 3: does this metal mean to you?
27:27
Speaker 4: Well, Shari, it's a real honor, particularly at this time,
27:31
Speaker 4: as Sir John Monash is unarguably one of our greatest
27:36
Speaker 4: ever Australians and his personal qualities but also his personal
27:41
Speaker 4: contribution to secure the freedoms that we now enjoy echoes
27:45
Speaker 4: through the ages and so to be recognized with this
27:50
Speaker 4: medal at this time is particularly special.
27:54
Speaker 3: Some of our viewers might not know the detail about
27:56
Speaker 3: Sir John Monash's legacy and the importance to Australia.
28:00
Speaker 2: Of his contribution.
28:02
Speaker 3: Can you tell us why his story and his legacy
28:05
Speaker 3: remained so powerful even today.
28:08
Speaker 4: Well, Chai, it's not just his feats in war, but
28:11
Speaker 4: it was also his contributions during peacetime which were so significant.
28:17
Speaker 4: Sir John Monash was trained as an engineer and he
28:21
Speaker 4: brought those skills to the battlefield in World War One.
28:25
Speaker 4: After Gallipoli, he then went to France and he commanded
28:30
Speaker 4: Australian American troops who went into battle for the first
28:34
Speaker 4: time together on the fourth of July nineteen eighteen in
28:38
Speaker 4: the Battle of Hamel, and they routed the opposing forces
28:43
Speaker 4: in just ninety three minutes and it was seen as
28:47
Speaker 4: an example of modern day warfare where he was able
28:50
Speaker 4: to integrate infantry, artillery, tanks and the air force in
28:57
Speaker 4: a very superior and wealth brought out a battle plan.
29:02
Speaker 4: Then in the Battle of Army n later on, again
29:06
Speaker 4: he played a significant role in commanding his troops to
29:10
Speaker 4: victory and that was described by General Ludendorf from the
29:14
Speaker 4: German Army as the blackest day for the German Army
29:18
Speaker 4: in World War One. And those achievements Shari were recognized
29:23
Speaker 4: when King George the Fifth actually went to Burtangles in
29:27
Speaker 4: France and knighted Sir John on the battlefield, the first
29:32
Speaker 4: time a reigning monarch had done so in some two
29:35
Speaker 4: hundred years. And then, of course after the war he
29:39
Speaker 4: was really important in repatriating some one hundred and sixty
29:43
Speaker 4: thousand Australian troops and then played a leading role as
29:47
Speaker 4: the head of the State Electricity Commission here in Victoria,
29:51
Speaker 4: turning Victorian to an industrial powerhouse. He was the vice
29:54
Speaker 4: chancellor of Melbourne University, he was the president for the
29:58
Speaker 4: Association of the advance of Science, and he just played
30:02
Speaker 4: a lead role across society in Australia at that time,
30:07
Speaker 4: so much so that when he died in nineteen thirty one,
30:11
Speaker 4: some three hundred thousand Australians lined the streets in Melbourne
30:17
Speaker 4: to pay their respects. That was more than a quarter
30:22
Speaker 4: of the Melbourney people who lived in Melbourne at that time.
30:25
Speaker 4: Quite a remarkable sign of respect for quite a remarkable Australian.
30:31
Speaker 3: He is indeed one of the great Australians. Reflecting on
30:35
Speaker 3: his contribution, and not just here but globally, how is
30:39
Speaker 3: his legacy still relevant around the world.
30:43
Speaker 4: Well, so, John Monash wasn't a warmongerer. He was a
30:45
Speaker 4: brilliant mind who recognized that he needed to bring those
30:50
Speaker 4: skills to help secure the freedoms that we now enjoy.
30:54
Speaker 4: And right now we're seeing authoritarian regimes on the march
30:59
Speaker 4: around the world. Battlefields of Europe obviously Ukraine and Russia,
31:03
Speaker 4: the Middle East and the conflict between Israel and Iranian proxies.
31:10
Speaker 4: We're obviously seeing tensions in the South China Sea, and
31:13
Speaker 4: we see tensions on the Korean Peninsula. So authoritarian regimes
31:17
Speaker 4: are on the march around the world. Yet democracies are
31:21
Speaker 4: very divided, and I think you know, the message of
31:25
Speaker 4: Monash is you know how to bring that strength to
31:29
Speaker 4: bear to bring victory on the battlefield, and as well
31:34
Speaker 4: as that, all these other contributions to the community are
31:37
Speaker 4: so significant. So it's really the values that Monash espoused
31:42
Speaker 4: which are so relevant today.
31:45
Speaker 3: Josh, you referred to the unrest we're seeing globally. We
31:48
Speaker 3: just played a moment ago Sir Peter Cosgrove's comments from
31:51
Speaker 3: your documentary where he said he thinks Monash would be
31:55
Speaker 3: aghast at the anti semitism we're seeing today. Do you
31:59
Speaker 3: think he would be play shocked at how the democratic
32:02
Speaker 3: world is dealing with this problem.
32:04
Speaker 4: Well, Sharis, Sir John Monash was a proud Australian and
32:07
Speaker 4: also a proud Jew, and he never saw a conflict
32:10
Speaker 4: between his faith and his citizenship. He was a foundation
32:15
Speaker 4: president of the Zionus Federation of Australia. He sang in
32:19
Speaker 4: the Hebrew choir at his local synagogue. And I think
32:22
Speaker 4: Sir Peter Cosgrove is absolutely right when he sees here
32:27
Speaker 4: in Australia demonstrations outside synagogues, and when he sees some
32:33
Speaker 4: of the sloganeering on our streets and the intimidation and
32:37
Speaker 4: the violence against the Australian Jewish community, he would be appalled.
32:41
Speaker 4: And back in his day because he was such a
32:44
Speaker 4: towering figure, because he was so integral to the success
32:50
Speaker 4: of Australian and Western forces in Europe in World War One,
32:57
Speaker 4: I mean anti Semitism was not allowed effectively because there
33:04
Speaker 4: was just no credibility to it at that time, because
33:09
Speaker 4: of Monash's example and the standing of Monash, among other things.
33:13
Speaker 4: I think today anti Semitism has to a degree been
33:17
Speaker 4: normalized even here in Australia, which is quite horrible to consider.
33:23
Speaker 4: So he would be aghast, and I'm sure he'd be
33:26
Speaker 4: using his voice, Shari to call for reason and vicinity
33:31
Speaker 4: to prevail.
33:32
Speaker 3: And Josh, congratulations once again and thank you for your
33:35
Speaker 3: leadership and your strong comments again tonight.
33:38
Speaker 4: Thanks very much, Shari.
33:39
Speaker 8: My pleasure.
33:41
Speaker 2: Now to another topic. Now.
33:43
Speaker 3: There have been questions raised over the Albanezy governments captain's
33:47
Speaker 3: pick when selecting si Quantum for their one billion dollar investment.
33:52
Speaker 3: Sarah Eisen reported that the US tech company si Quantum
33:56
Speaker 3: signed a non disclosure agreement with the government as part
33:59
Speaker 3: of secret discussions to build a one billion dollar quantum computer,
34:04
Speaker 3: nearly five months before expressions of interest were open to
34:09
Speaker 3: other players. New documents reveal this is just extraordinary and.
34:15
Speaker 2: I'm joined now by the Shadow Minister for Science.
34:17
Speaker 3: Paul Fletcher, who has been closely examining this issue.
34:22
Speaker 2: So, Paul, I mean that reports quite amazing.
34:24
Speaker 3: The Australian says that this is fueled speculation that the
34:27
Speaker 3: deal was underway long before the government then approached other
34:32
Speaker 3: companies about their interest in this investment.
34:35
Speaker 2: Are you concerned that proper process wasn't followed here?
34:39
Speaker 15: I am very concerned the proper process wasn't followed and
34:42
Speaker 15: that the expression of interest process you've just referred to
34:45
Speaker 15: which kicked off in August twenty twenty three, in which
34:49
Speaker 15: a number of Australian companies were invited to participate, was
34:53
Speaker 15: essentially a backward engineered sham to cover up for the
34:57
Speaker 15: fact that the government and particularly Minister at Husick, already
35:00
Speaker 15: made the decision. What we know is that si Quantum
35:04
Speaker 15: approached the government in late twenty twenty two. We know
35:06
Speaker 15: that Minister Husick met with them at least twice, including
35:09
Speaker 15: once in Silicon Valley in January twenty twenty three. We
35:14
Speaker 15: know that work was kicked off within his department, all
35:17
Speaker 15: kinds of briefing material was provided, and we also know
35:21
Speaker 15: that this expression of interest process was then conducted later
35:24
Speaker 15: in the year. But as part of that expression of
35:28
Speaker 15: interest process, the companies that were invited to participate, there
35:30
Speaker 15: was one email only inviting them to participate. They were
35:33
Speaker 15: told they could not have engagement with government officials. Bear
35:36
Speaker 15: in mind that PSI Quantum had had eight months of
35:38
Speaker 15: talking to government officials up to and including the ministaff
35:42
Speaker 15: So it's a very very unfair process and those who
35:45
Speaker 15: participated in it said that it looked like it had
35:47
Speaker 15: been written so that only sy Quantum's technology could be
35:51
Speaker 15: found to meet the requirements.
35:53
Speaker 3: I mean, there are questions anyway over why taxpayer funds
35:57
Speaker 3: are going into a company that's already backed by a
36:02
Speaker 3: massive VC firm. I mean one VC firms get it
36:05
Speaker 3: wrong all the time. But also if the company was
36:08
Speaker 3: so successful, then why does it need government funding. Wouldn't
36:11
Speaker 3: it be able to attract capital through investment and private
36:16
Speaker 3: investors anyway?
36:17
Speaker 15: Well, I think there are very real questions about what
36:20
Speaker 15: the government's objectives are here in putting almost a billion
36:23
Speaker 15: dollars of taxpayers money between the Comworth government and the
36:25
Speaker 15: Queenslane government into this company, which, as it happens, is
36:29
Speaker 15: an American company incorporated in the US based in Silicon Valley.
36:34
Speaker 15: But what we also know, because it was announced about
36:36
Speaker 15: three or four weeks ago, is that as well as
36:38
Speaker 15: the almost a billion dollars Australian that is being provided
36:42
Speaker 15: to a PI Quantum, they're also getting five hundred million
36:47
Speaker 15: US from the government of the state of Illinois in
36:50
Speaker 15: a deal that was announced just recently, and under that deal,
36:53
Speaker 15: SI Quantum will be building a computer in Chicago. So
36:57
Speaker 15: we're told they're going to build a computer in Brisbane,
37:00
Speaker 15: which apparently is going to be the world's first fault tolerant,
37:03
Speaker 15: error corrected quantum computer. But now we're told they're also
37:07
Speaker 15: going to be building one in Chicago. So the more
37:11
Speaker 15: we learn about this, the stranger it looks.
37:13
Speaker 2: Do you think there needs to be an inquiry into
37:14
Speaker 2: this process?
37:15
Speaker 15: Well, I've written to the Order to General to the
37:17
Speaker 15: Australian National Ordered Office. I've laid out the facts as
37:21
Speaker 15: we know them, including the timeline and when the government
37:25
Speaker 15: first started talking to side Quantum, and the fact that
37:27
Speaker 15: Australian companies were not given a look in, and indeed
37:30
Speaker 15: Australian companies were being told there is no more money
37:33
Speaker 15: for quantum from the Albaneze government than all of a sudden,
37:36
Speaker 15: out of the blue came this announcement in April of
37:38
Speaker 15: this year of almost a billion dollars going into side Quantum.
37:42
Speaker 15: So I think there's a lot of questions to ask.
37:43
Speaker 15: I've written to the Order to General and asked that
37:46
Speaker 15: there'd be an investigation. Under the Act, the Order of
37:49
Speaker 15: General has the power to carry out these investigations and
37:52
Speaker 15: I think that would be an appropriate step so that
37:54
Speaker 15: taxpayers could find out what's really.
37:56
Speaker 7: Been going on.
37:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think we need the correspondence between ed
37:59
Speaker 3: Husick and his office and side Quantum as well, from
38:02
Speaker 3: when they started meeting and corresponding in late.
38:04
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty two.
38:06
Speaker 15: We've been pressing for all of that through freedom of information.
38:09
Speaker 15: We've got some things. We've got some things for estimates.
38:12
Speaker 15: The government's resistingly every turn. That will keep digging.
38:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, indeed, of Fletcher, thank you very much for joining us.
38:18
Speaker 3: Now still to come Queensland Premier Stephen Miles' latest hair
38:22
Speaker 3: brain scheme to bring down petrol prices and Chris Mins
38:25
Speaker 3: goes toe to toe with his own uncle over working
38:29
Speaker 3: from home. All of that with my panel next. All right,
38:36
Speaker 3: lots more to get through, so let's get straight into
38:38
Speaker 3: it with Tonight's political panel, Shadow Resource Minister Susan McDonald
38:42
Speaker 3: and Labor MP Daniel Malino Well. Channel seven Tonight revealed
38:46
Speaker 3: that China is about to buy up the Papua New
38:49
Speaker 3: Guinea power grid. This at the same time the Prime
38:53
Speaker 3: Minister is playing in the little leagues with his six
38:56
Speaker 3: hundred million dollar deal to launch a PNG NURL team.
39:00
Speaker 3: Channel seven Tonight expose that move as a farce, with
39:04
Speaker 3: China said to be moving in aggressively. Have a look
39:06
Speaker 3: at this from the six PM News.
39:10
Speaker 1: Blackouts are so common in Pampa, New Guinea. There's even
39:13
Speaker 1: a song about the that seven News can reveal. When
39:18
Speaker 1: it comes to the electricity network of our closest neighbor,
39:22
Speaker 1: Australia has been left in the dark. The CEO of
39:25
Speaker 1: state owned provider traveling to China open to investment, saying
39:29
Speaker 1: the Chinese are very easy to deal with, admitting he's
39:33
Speaker 1: open to Beijing filling a void left by Canberra.
39:38
Speaker 3: All right, Look, PNG, our closest neighbor, the state owned
39:41
Speaker 3: provider actually traveling to China, and he's been critical of
39:44
Speaker 3: Australia in his comments. Daniel Malino, do you agree with
39:47
Speaker 3: Simon Birmingham that this is a failure on the part
39:50
Speaker 3: of your own government.
39:54
Speaker 16: Well, Hi, Shari, and no, I wouldn't agree with that. Look, clearly,
39:58
Speaker 16: we have a very special real life relationship with PNG.
40:01
Speaker 16: And when the PM Prime Minister James Marape spoke to
40:05
Speaker 16: the Joint Sitting earlier this year, that was a really
40:07
Speaker 16: special time and one of the most special times in
40:10
Speaker 16: Parliament for me. I noticed that story and what I
40:13
Speaker 16: would say is we just need to take a step back.
40:15
Speaker 16: That story quoted a visit by the CEO of a
40:19
Speaker 16: state owned entity that was traveling to China to explore
40:22
Speaker 16: investment options, but it was pretty vague as to what
40:25
Speaker 16: that trip was about. I think if we take a
40:28
Speaker 16: step back and look at the p andng's latest statement
40:30
Speaker 16: of their official position, my understanding is that William Juma
40:34
Speaker 16: in his last statement said that they have no intention
40:37
Speaker 16: of selling p andng's grid. So I think we need
40:42
Speaker 16: to look at that position before we speculate on what
40:45
Speaker 16: may or may not come out of particular trips. The
40:47
Speaker 16: other thing I'd say is that Australia, with the US
40:50
Speaker 16: and New Zealand and other partners, is investing massively in
40:53
Speaker 16: Papua New Guinea and their grid and tens of thousands
40:55
Speaker 16: of connections and in the grid itself. So there's a
40:58
Speaker 16: very good relationship there and I think we just need
41:00
Speaker 16: to take care and what we look into.
41:03
Speaker 3: Susan Penny Wang is going to be in Fiji for
41:05
Speaker 3: the Pacific Islands Forum tomorrow on her way back from
41:08
Speaker 3: the US. Is this embarrassing for her?
41:13
Speaker 2: Well, I think it is.
41:13
Speaker 17: I think this is another example of the Albanese government
41:16
Speaker 17: being distracted. They're happy to have photo opportunities with the Chinese,
41:20
Speaker 17: but they're not keeping an eye on what is happening
41:23
Speaker 17: to our near neighbors. When the Solomon Islands was given
41:26
Speaker 17: as an example, Label was very quick to jump on that,
41:30
Speaker 17: and yet they're not taking care of what's happening in
41:32
Speaker 17: our own backyard. I think this is an example, as
41:35
Speaker 17: I said, of the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister
41:39
Speaker 17: just being simply distracted and not keeping an eye on
41:42
Speaker 17: what's happening in China's influence right here. And I think
41:45
Speaker 17: we have to think very carefully about the sort of
41:48
Speaker 17: leadership that the Prime minister's providing in this regard. Is
41:51
Speaker 17: that the sort of leadership that we want, a distracted
41:53
Speaker 17: prime minister, one who's seeing less numbers of flights over
41:58
Speaker 17: our northern borders of watching Chinese activity, or would we
42:02
Speaker 17: prefer to see Peter Dutton making the decisions in this
42:05
Speaker 17: important space?
42:06
Speaker 2: All right, let's move on now.
42:08
Speaker 3: The Queensland Premier Stephen Miles is defending his plan to
42:13
Speaker 3: build state part of me state owned petrol stations after
42:18
Speaker 3: it was strongly criticized by economists in the industry. Daniel,
42:23
Speaker 3: look you were by the way you were praised.
42:26
Speaker 2: By Judah Sloan earlier in this program.
42:29
Speaker 3: So surely you would say that we don't need government
42:32
Speaker 3: intervention when it comes to petrol stations.
42:37
Speaker 16: Well, look, far be it from me to provide running
42:40
Speaker 16: commentary on each policy being put forward in state elections.
42:44
Speaker 16: But I just stayed a couple of broad propositions. One
42:47
Speaker 16: is that I think, in general, if we're looking at
42:51
Speaker 16: markets and looking at how well they're functioning for consumers,
42:54
Speaker 16: look the more the merrier, the more participants, and the
42:56
Speaker 16: harder they're fighting as to each other, the better. I
42:59
Speaker 16: think my default position would be the first place I'd
43:02
Speaker 16: like to look is that we want to reduce barriers
43:04
Speaker 16: to entry so as to make a private sector entry
43:07
Speaker 16: as easy as possible. There are instances where governments sometimes
43:12
Speaker 16: intervene in markets, but I think where you do so,
43:14
Speaker 16: you have to be very clear that you look at
43:17
Speaker 16: risk to the taxpayer. I would also just make an
43:21
Speaker 16: interesting historical observation here. This has been a market which
43:25
Speaker 16: has been of great interest to consumers, obviously, given how
43:28
Speaker 16: often they go to the petrol bowser and how important
43:30
Speaker 16: those prices are. There was an interesting example of the
43:34
Speaker 16: ACTU and an independent petrol operator joining together in the
43:38
Speaker 16: late seventies and early eighties Solo Energy, and they actually
43:43
Speaker 16: ended up selling two hundred locations of petrol stations to
43:46
Speaker 16: Ampol in the late nineteen eighty. So I thought, there's
43:50
Speaker 16: fascinating history in this market as to different attempts to
43:52
Speaker 16: intervene for the consumer, and maybe that's a business case
43:55
Speaker 16: that the Queensland government could look at to see how.
43:58
Speaker 3: That worked, apart from not having more market intervention and
44:04
Speaker 3: just leaving it to the private sector. Susan, the Queen's
44:06
Speaker 3: Lane government hasn't even got healthcare right. Fix that before
44:10
Speaker 3: you start getting into petrol stations.
44:15
Speaker 17: Well, it reminds you of the class clown shouting look
44:17
Speaker 17: at me, look at me. And I think that Premier Miles,
44:21
Speaker 17: this is the greatest example of clownery that we've seen
44:24
Speaker 17: so far in this election. To see the government intervening
44:29
Speaker 17: into a market where they will be competing with small
44:31
Speaker 17: businesses that are already doing it tough, into a market
44:34
Speaker 17: where as you say, they can't run healthcare. We have
44:37
Speaker 17: youth crime out of control, there are hospital waiting lists,
44:41
Speaker 17: and yet now they think they can run a business
44:44
Speaker 17: in a complex environment. It is truly I think we're
44:49
Speaker 17: all caught between a laugh and a gasp at just
44:54
Speaker 17: how ridiculous this proposal is. And if I can quote
44:58
Speaker 17: Jared Blay, you know what's next. Butcher, the baker, the
45:01
Speaker 17: candlestick maker. This is a government that's out of ideas
45:05
Speaker 17: and this is just the latest and a very bad one.
45:08
Speaker 3: All Right, Susan McDonald Daniel Malino, thank you both so
45:11
Speaker 3: much for joining me tonight.
45:14
Speaker 2: Now, up next, we go to the.
45:15
Speaker 3: US where presidential hopeful Kamala Harris has selected her running mate.
45:21
Speaker 3: Adam Crichton will join me Life, Welcome back. Well, let's
45:27
Speaker 3: go live to the US now and bring in the
45:30
Speaker 3: Australian's Washington correspondent Adam Crichton.
45:32
Speaker 2: Adam, great to see you again.
45:34
Speaker 3: Look, let's get straight into the biggest news coming out
45:38
Speaker 3: of the US, Kamala Harris selecting Minnesota Governor Tim Woles as.
45:41
Speaker 2: Her running mate.
45:43
Speaker 3: How has this news been received by both the Democrat
45:47
Speaker 3: and Republican parties.
45:50
Speaker 13: Well, certainly, I.
45:51
Speaker 18: Think on the Republican side there's been a sign of
45:53
Speaker 18: relief because it was not the candidate that they feared most.
45:56
Speaker 18: That candidate was the governor of Pennsylvania, Joshapiro, which is
45:59
Speaker 18: a state that certainly both of the parties really need
46:02
Speaker 18: to win in November to win the presidency. So Harris
46:05
Speaker 18: has gone with this guy from a very small, fairly
46:08
Speaker 18: left wing state. Tim Walls, of course, a sixty year
46:12
Speaker 18: old former teacher, a former soccer coach or football coach.
46:16
Speaker 18: I should say he comes across well, he speaks well,
46:19
Speaker 18: but his policy record is extremely left wing. And so
46:22
Speaker 18: the question now is how is that going to play
46:26
Speaker 18: to the wider American public. It's worth pointing out too
46:29
Speaker 18: that ninety percent of Americans don't even know who he is,
46:33
Speaker 18: so he's not very famous here. I mean, of course
46:35
Speaker 18: he's going to become famous now, but I mean he's
46:37
Speaker 18: the governor of a small state with less than six
46:40
Speaker 18: million people. He's been elected twice. So now it's you know,
46:44
Speaker 18: it's really a question of the rush to define him
46:46
Speaker 18: by Republicans.
46:48
Speaker 3: Are you concerned that his policy positions are quite radical,
46:52
Speaker 3: are extremely left wing?
46:54
Speaker 18: Well, look they are. I mean he's silentgislation to put
46:57
Speaker 18: tampons in boys' bathrooms, to gender reassignment surgery, much much
47:02
Speaker 18: easier for teenagers, to give illegal migrants free health care,
47:07
Speaker 18: free education, to phase out fossil fuels, his behavior during
47:12
Speaker 18: the twenty George Floyd riots was extremely questionable. I mean,
47:17
Speaker 18: in effect, let the biggest city of Minnesota, Minneapolis, burn
47:21
Speaker 18: for three days before sending in the National Guard. So
47:24
Speaker 18: there is plenty of material for Republicans to attack, and
47:27
Speaker 18: certainly they have already started doing that. So it's just
47:31
Speaker 18: going to be a matter of whether, you know, whether
47:32
Speaker 18: it sticks or not.
47:34
Speaker 3: There's speculation that Josh Shapiro wasn't chosen because he is Jewish,
47:39
Speaker 3: because he has been nowhere near a support of Israel
47:43
Speaker 3: as we have, but you know, relatively for the Democratic
47:45
Speaker 3: Party supportive of Israel.
47:47
Speaker 2: This is very concerning.
47:49
Speaker 3: And do you think it gives an indication of how
47:53
Speaker 3: Kamala Harris might differ when it comes to Middle East
47:56
Speaker 3: policy and her support for Israel from Joe Biden.
48:01
Speaker 18: Oh yeah, Look, it's certainly concerning. I mean, we can't
48:04
Speaker 18: get inside Kamala Harris's head and really know why she
48:06
Speaker 18: did not choose him. I mean, most of the reporting
48:08
Speaker 18: is that she just liked him well, so she liked
48:11
Speaker 18: his demeanor and she got on with him. So look,
48:13
Speaker 18: I'm gonna have to take that at face value, but
48:15
Speaker 18: certainly there's an element in the Democratic Party that is
48:18
Speaker 18: very anti Israel, and some reports suggest that that she
48:22
Speaker 18: feared protests at the convention, which you know, which starts
48:25
Speaker 18: in a couple of weeks, if she had chosen Jos Shapiro.
48:28
Speaker 18: So look, I mean, you know, I mean, I basically
48:32
Speaker 18: think the Democrat Party is overall pro Israel, but you know,
48:34
Speaker 18: but certainly there are elements that are not. And you know,
48:37
Speaker 18: I think this recent episode has really illustrated that.
48:40
Speaker 2: I would have to disagree with you.
48:42
Speaker 3: The Democratic Party has not shown itself to be pro
48:45
Speaker 3: Israel at or I think, I mean, were there were
48:48
Speaker 3: eighty Democrats, weren't they who wouldn't even sit through Dronette
48:51
Speaker 3: Ya who's addressed to Congress. I mean, that's not even
48:54
Speaker 3: listening to the Israeli leader who's been training I.
48:58
Speaker 18: Think it was just I think it's just twenty five
49:00
Speaker 18: or sook, you know, point take it. There's a signal they.
49:03
Speaker 3: Couldn't even sit there and listen to the Israeli Prime
49:06
Speaker 3: minister who's been single handedly fighting the war against terrorists
49:11
Speaker 3: since October seven. I mean, Joe Biden, over his career
49:15
Speaker 3: has been supportive, but you just worry that, you know,
49:19
Speaker 3: he might be among the very few that have had
49:23
Speaker 3: a long commitment to Israel. You wonder how whether US
49:26
Speaker 3: would continue to send weapons to Israel if Kamala Harris
49:31
Speaker 3: was president. I mean, you know, these are questions that
49:33
Speaker 3: we need to be able to ask Kamala Harris if
49:36
Speaker 3: she ever did an interview.
49:37
Speaker 18: Well she hasn't.
49:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right, she hasn't, exactly, all right, Adam Crichton,
49:41
Speaker 3: we're out of time. Great to see you early there
49:44
Speaker 3: in Washington. Well, thank you so much for your company tonight.
49:47
Speaker 3: I'll see you tomorrow at eight. And right now, here's
49:50
Speaker 3: Paul Murray in the man Cave.