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Credlin | 30 December · Credlin

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Peter Kredlin live on Sky News Australia.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Good evening and welcome to the program. I'm Jamie Rodgers
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: in the chair for Peter Kredlin coming up tonight. The
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Prime Minister continues to ignore calls for a Royal commission
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: into the Bond Eyed terror attack.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: What is it he's afraid of that will come out
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: if they had one?
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump and Benjamin and Yahoo meet in Florida, with
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: the US President warning there will be hell to pay
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: if her mass fails to disarm and the Albanesi government's
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: renewable energy transition isn't going to plan.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: The timeline has blown out and Australians will pay the price.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: But first, this Prime Minister told Australians he would do
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: politics differently. He promised transparency, integrity and a new standard
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: of leadership. Yet what we are increasingly seeing from Anthony
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Alberanizi is not openness, but a consistent effort to avoid
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: scrutiny until exposure becomes unavoidable. Albinizi talked a big game
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: when he was opposition leader, saying this back in twenty nineteen.
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: The current delays, obstacles, costs and exemptions make it easier
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: for the government to hide information from the public than
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: to actually give it out.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: That is just not right.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Yes, that was Anthony Alberzi. But this is the same
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Prime minister who earlier this year tightened freedom of information laws,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: banning anonymous requests and introducing new fees that make scrutiny harder.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: And today that lack of transparency is on display again.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: According to the Sydney Morning Herald, sixty seven government reports
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: have been tabled and left unaddressed sixty seven now. Seventeen
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: of those were inherited from coalition governments, but fifty were
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: produced under Labour's watch, ignored, unanswered, left sitting on shelves.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: These aren't symbolic documents. They are bipartisan committee reports, the
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: backbone of parliamentary scrutiny. They exist to test legislation, investigate
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: policy failures, and to make recommendations to government. And under
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: the rules, governments are required to respond within six months
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: for House and Joint Standing Committee reports and within three
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: for Senate Committee reports. So how is this government performed
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: in the year too November twenty one, only four reports
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: were responded to in full and on time, and they
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: related to narrow technical matters, cybersecurity legislation and transport security amendments.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Since the May federal election, only one report has been
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: responded to at all, and that response came only after
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: it was revealed that most labor MPs who received a
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: twenty six thousand dollars pay rise to run House committees
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: had not launched a single inquiry is being appointed. These
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: ignored reports include an inquiry into anti Semitism in Australian
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: universities handed down almost a year ago, recommendations on Australia's
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: future food security, protections for victims of financial abuse, and
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: the late Peter Murphy's call to ban gambling advertising all
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: left unanswered, according to the Speaker's report. Now this comes
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: amid growing criticism of the Albanese government's delayed response to
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Jillian Siegel's report from its own anti Semitism envoy. That
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: report was handed down five months ago and has sat
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: on the Prime Minister's desk gathering dusk.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: And then there's Bondi, the.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Prime Minister's refusal to establish a Commonwealth Royal Commission into
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: the terrorist attack on the Jewish community.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: I knowe the front page of the ODDS today, but
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: the whole framework of this review is about that by
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: Dennis Richardson, and my job as the leader, as the
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: Prime Minister is to bring the country together, not to
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: seek to divide, not to seek differentiation, but to seek
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: common interest and that is what I continue to do.
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: That is what I will continue to do as well,
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: because that is the responsibility that I have.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: So the question is what is the Prime Minister afraid
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: of coming out if he was to launch a royal commission.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Transparency also vanished during the latest travel entitlement saga. When
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: the spotlight fell on MP's travel, Anthony Albanese's response was
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: to insist he doesn't make the rules.
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: The rules are established. You know, we have the Independent
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: Parliamentary Expenses Authority for a reason. The rules have been sets.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: The rules have been set.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: That line was used repeatedly whenever questions arose about excessive
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: flight costs or family entitlements for.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: MPs, except now suddenly he does.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: The day before Christmas Eve, while the nation was still
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: processing the Bondai massacre, the Prime Minister used the distraction
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: of the holiday period to quietly announce recommendations to the
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Renuneration Tribunal restricting taxpayer funded flights for MPs families.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: Here is the PM.
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: I asked Ipia for advice. I received that advice. We
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: then have acted to refer to the Remuneration Tribunal. They
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: will give consideration to it. That's their job at arm slength,
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: and then they will the processes. They then come back
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: to the government. But it is appropriate that we have
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: an arm length process now.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: While the Renuneration Tribunal may formalize the rules and the
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Independent Parliamentary expect Enters Authority polices them, this government sets
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: the framework and let's not forget. Just weeks before the
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: federal election, Anthony Alberanesi's government quietly changed the rules to
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: dramatically expand the range of political expenses that could be
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: charged to taxpayers. You can't hide behind the system when
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: it suits you and then rewrite it the moment political
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: pressure mounts. And let's be honest about what this is.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: This isn't reform, it's damage control. Because Australians are rightly
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: asking politicians why they and their families are traveling in
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: comfort while everyone else is tightening their belts in a
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: cost of living crisis. And this culture of secrecy extends
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: well beyond spending and committees earlier this year, the Albanesi
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: government quietly withheld information about its role in returning ISIS
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: brides to Australia. When directly asked in question time, this
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: was the.
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: Response, what actions has your government taken to guarantee the
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: safety of Australians if these people return?
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: Those reports are not accurate.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: Australians were not told the truth until the details were
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: forced into the open time and time again. This government's
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: instinct is to protect itself first rather than be upfront
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: with the public. This Prime Minister didn't just promise transparency,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: he made it the centerpiece of his pitch to Australians.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: But when scrutiny arrives, this government retreats.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: It's not a.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Failure of process, it's a failure of leadership or joining
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: me now, is Liberal Senator Jane Hume, Jane, thank you
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: so much for joining us this evening. I want to
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: get straight into it. And Anthony Alberizi is just ignoring
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: calls for a royal commission into the Bondai terror attack.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: And it seems that when it suits his police interest,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: like ROBODEBT for example, he's all too keen to support
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: royal commissions. Do you think it's fearful of what he
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: thinks will uncover after years of inaction.
• 8:12
  Speaker 6: Jamie, it's great to be with you tonight. You're absolutely right.
• 8:16
  Speaker 6: It's extraordinary how many royal commissions Anthony Alberanesi has supported
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: in the past. He supported royal commissions into the banking sector,
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: into disabilities, into age care, into robodebt. But faced with
• 8:28
  Speaker 6: Australia's worst ever terrorism attack, what we're looking for from
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: our government is the strongest possible response from the state,
• 8:38
  Speaker 6: and that is a federal royal commission. And Anthony Alberanesi
• 8:41
  Speaker 6: has chosen instead to suggest that the calls for a
• 8:45
  Speaker 6: royal commission are politically motivated, that the Coalition are politicizing
• 8:51
  Speaker 6: a tragedy. Well, nothing could be further from the truth.
• 8:54
  Speaker 6: Let's look at who has called for a royal commission
• 8:57
  Speaker 6: so far. It's not just the Executive Council of Australian Jury,
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: or the Rabbinical Association or even the Zionist Federation. It's
• 9:06
  Speaker 6: also a former Federal Court Chief Justice, a former High
• 9:10
  Speaker 6: Court Chief Justice, a former AFP commissioner, a former treasurer,
• 9:14
  Speaker 6: around seven former Federal Court judges, around one hundred and
• 9:19
  Speaker 6: thirty King's Council silks. And on top of that, we've
• 9:24
  Speaker 6: also got the families of the Bondai victims that have
• 9:27
  Speaker 6: been calling for a royal commission. The voices are increasing,
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: the chorus is getting louder, and Anthony Alberisi is resisting
• 9:36
  Speaker 6: every step of the way because he's trying to avoid scrutiny.
• 9:40
  Speaker 6: Now the Richardson Review. Don't get me wrong, I have
• 9:42
  Speaker 6: great respect for Dennis Richardson. I think he is a
• 9:46
  Speaker 6: very well regarded, well respected public servant. However, the review itself,
• 9:52
  Speaker 6: the terms of reference are entirely inadequate. I don't even
• 9:55
  Speaker 6: mention the words anti Semitism. That's simply not good enough
• 10:00
  Speaker 6: when we know that unless we determine the motivation of
• 10:04
  Speaker 6: the terrorism attacks, we simply invite an opportunity for them
• 10:08
  Speaker 6: to be repeated. Our royal commission is the only way
• 10:11
  Speaker 6: we are going to get to the bottom of this terrible,
• 10:15
  Speaker 6: terrible event and make sure that it never happens again.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: Yes you said it there, Senator.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Where antisemitism wasn't mentioned once yesterday when the Prime Minister
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: was talking about the Richardson Review and what was going
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: to be analyzed and looking into law enforcement and intelligent agencies.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: And when I was watching him speaking at that press conference,
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: I really couldn't help but think he just still doesn't
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: get the seriousness of antisemitism and the rise of antisemitism
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: within the community.
• 10:44
  Speaker 6: I think that's right, Jamie. I mean it's really important
• 10:48
  Speaker 6: we do have a look at our law enforcement and
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: our intelligent and you know, the administrative and resource issues
• 10:55
  Speaker 6: around that. Have there been failings there. I don't doubt
• 10:58
  Speaker 6: that Dennis Richardson is capable of doing that, But so
• 11:02
  Speaker 6: too is a royal commission that can also be broadened.
• 11:05
  Speaker 6: A royal commission can take submissions, it can compel witnesses,
• 11:09
  Speaker 6: it can compel documents, It can have public hearings as
• 11:13
  Speaker 6: well as private hearings. It can choose what information it
• 11:16
  Speaker 6: releases and what information it keeps secret. So these calls
• 11:21
  Speaker 6: of saying, oh, well, it's you know, for security reasons,
• 11:25
  Speaker 6: we can't have a royal commission, that's a nonsense. There
• 11:29
  Speaker 6: have been Royal commissions in the past under the Hawk
• 11:31
  Speaker 6: government and the Whitlam government that have both been into
• 11:35
  Speaker 6: our intelligence communities, so there is a precedence there. And
• 11:39
  Speaker 6: saying that we don't want to replatform the worst anti
• 11:43
  Speaker 6: Semitic behavior, will give me a break. I mean, this
• 11:45
  Speaker 6: government has allowed anti Semitic behavior to fester for the
• 11:50
  Speaker 6: last two years, and now we're hearing calls from the
• 11:53
  Speaker 6: Jewish community themselves that a royal commission is what they
• 11:56
  Speaker 6: want to see. That's the response they want to see
• 11:59
  Speaker 6: from their government. And this has been an enormous failure
• 12:02
  Speaker 6: in leadership, and Anthony Alberzi is finding it harder and
• 12:06
  Speaker 6: harder each day to resist the calls for a royal commission.
• 12:09
  Speaker 6: And the Coalition will keep holding his feet to the
• 12:11
  Speaker 6: flames on this one.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Now, if the anger around albow continues to get worse. Now,
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: obviously you're a liberal, but what do you think labor
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: will do with him? Is there any chance that you
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: could see him being replaced?
• 12:24
  Speaker 6: Look, I don't think that that is the case right now,
• 12:27
  Speaker 6: but let's face it, he has a very big caucus,
• 12:31
  Speaker 6: and that big caucus can become unruly. Already we're beginning
• 12:34
  Speaker 6: to see some of his own speak up and in
• 12:37
  Speaker 6: favor of a royal commission, people like Mike Freelander, for instance.
• 12:42
  Speaker 6: We've seen Ed Husick make calls for a royal commission,
• 12:46
  Speaker 6: and we've seen former member of Parliament, very well respected
• 12:50
  Speaker 6: Mike Kelly, the former Member for Edin Manero, who is
• 12:52
  Speaker 6: also a former policeman, make these calls. It becomes harder
• 12:56
  Speaker 6: and harder for Anthony Alberanesi to resist when the calls
• 13:00
  Speaker 6: come from within his own caucus. But you can understand
• 13:04
  Speaker 6: why he's resisting. Just two weeks ago, the Queensland ALP
• 13:09
  Speaker 6: passed a series of motions that condemned the state of Israel.
• 13:14
  Speaker 6: You can see that there is some rot, some anti
• 13:17
  Speaker 6: Semitic rot at the core of the Labor Party. Those
• 13:22
  Speaker 6: series of resolutions they passed unanimously by Queensland Labor. I
• 13:27
  Speaker 6: can understand why there's resistance, but I don't think it's
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: a good enough reason.
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: No, you're absolutely right there.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Let's head to your state of Victoria and the number
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: of full time working police officer has fallen by nearly
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: two hundred since twenty twenty three when just Into Allen
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: took over as premiere.
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: And I just think at the time, when crime is.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Going through the roof, you'd think that the Premier would
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: be doing everything she could to strengthen the police force.
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: But that just isn't the case. Senator.
• 13:56
  Speaker 6: There are two thousand vacancies in the Victorian Police police
• 14:00
  Speaker 6: force as well. In the meantime, over that same biod
• 14:03
  Speaker 6: of time that we've lost two hundred police crime has
• 14:06
  Speaker 6: increased by nearly twenty six percent. The number of home
• 14:09
  Speaker 6: invasions has increased, the number of knife crimes has increased,
• 14:13
  Speaker 6: number of car jackings has increased. In the last four
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: years alone, over eighteen children under the age of eighteen
• 14:21
  Speaker 6: have died at the hands of knife crime. And this
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: is all happening under Justinta Allan's watch. At some point,
• 14:28
  Speaker 6: Victorians are going to say enough is enough. A government's
• 14:32
  Speaker 6: first response is to keep its citizens safe. Justin to
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: Allen is failing to do that here in Victoria. That's
• 14:39
  Speaker 6: why it's so important that we take our bail laws seriously,
• 14:43
  Speaker 6: that we establish a rule that says if you break bail,
• 14:47
  Speaker 6: you go to jail, and no exceptions and no excuses.
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: That's the message that Jess Wilson has been saying.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: Just today.
• 14:55
  Speaker 6: You know, we saw the most horrendous event over the
• 14:58
  Speaker 6: weekend where twenty two year old woman running from an
• 15:03
  Speaker 6: assailant who had a knife, ran to the nearby police
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: station in Reservoir, only to find that it had closed.
• 15:11
  Speaker 6: There are forty three police stations whose hours have been
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: reduced because we simply haven't got the police here to
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: man them. That's not good enough. Jess Wilson is out
• 15:21
  Speaker 6: there every single day talking about how important it is
• 15:24
  Speaker 6: that we fund the police force, we adequately resource them,
• 15:28
  Speaker 6: and that we give them the tools that they need
• 15:30
  Speaker 6: through legislation to be able to do the work that
• 15:33
  Speaker 6: we expect of them.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much, Senator Jane Hume. I've seen
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Jess Wilson out there working very hard. That was extremely
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: tragic that story you were just talking about that woman
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: who arrived to a police station that was one of
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: them that have closed off the back of lack of funding.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: But thank you for your time this evening.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: Well, let's bring in the panel now and I'd like
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: to introduce News Corp columnist Angela Mollard and One Nation
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: National executive manager Lee Hansen. Lee, let's start with you tonight.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: And Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has cave to criticism
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: and agreed to project.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: Manora on the Harbor Bridge for New Year's Eve.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Now, Originally she committed to generic doves and the word
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: peace to recognize Bondai Beach victims.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: There's more God there in the end.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: But g I must say the fact she was pressured
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: to do so really speaks volumes.
• 16:28
  Speaker 7: Hi Jamie and your spot on, and it does. Isn't
• 16:31
  Speaker 7: it a shame that it takes the community to demonstrate
• 16:35
  Speaker 7: to their leaders how to lead, how to show respect
• 16:39
  Speaker 7: given a horrific event and active terrorism and respect the
• 16:44
  Speaker 7: huge and tremendous loss that we've had. So well done
• 16:47
  Speaker 7: to those community leaders, and well done to stepping up
• 16:50
  Speaker 7: and putting the pressure on. It's a shame that they
• 16:52
  Speaker 7: had to do that, But I'm glad they got there
• 16:55
  Speaker 7: in the end, and I'm glad to see that that's what.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: Will occur this New Year's Eve.
• 16:59
  Speaker 7: So fantastic newsy.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: Well, Angela.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: There's some reports in the paper today that a parliamentary
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: inquiry into the Thriving Kids program, which is designed to
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: move children with autism away from the NDIS, it's recommended
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: that the program be completely operational before any change to
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: children's eligibility for the NDIS. Now this will potentially delay
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: the original launch time from mid next year. Is there
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: a concern here though, that Thriving Kids is risking replicating
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: the existing systemic failures that we're seeing within the NDIS.
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: Look, I think there is the possibility that that could
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: happen if they proceed with this too quickly and do
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: not iron it out as a separate agency from the NDIS.
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: So what the Thriving Kids is set up to do
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: is to look at the issues with children, the developmental
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: issues with children aged under eight. Now, these are issues
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: in terms of neurro divergence, children on the autism spectrum,
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: which should were never intended to be part of the
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: NDA remit. Now there's been discussions that these should run
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: in tandem. These two agencies, that the NDIS oversight of
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: these children should continue to happen as the Thriving Kids
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: is brought into play. I think very strongly that they
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: need to operate is two different agencies and that needs
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: to be complete transparency over how each is going to operate,
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: where the boundaries are, and what oversight is going to
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: be involved. Before the Thriving Kids Agency is operational, a
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: lot of it obviously is relying on existing services in
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: terms of health and education, and they need to have
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: a very clear mandate as to where they will be acting.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: We just have to hope that it doesn't end up
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: being a huge blowout like we've seen with the ndis
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: on track to be one hundred billion a year by
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: twenty thirty. Le let's move on site now to talking
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: about drug checking that will be trialed at a Sydney
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: festival on New Year's Day. So this is an event
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: called Field Day that's been going on for quite some time,
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: but it's going to be the ninth music fest in
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: New South Wales to participate.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: In this trial. What do you think of this initiative? Look,
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: the whole.
• 19:09
  Speaker 7: Drug testing thing, to be honest, a little bit torn
• 19:12
  Speaker 7: in some ways. As a parent, I understand you want
• 19:15
  Speaker 7: to keep your kids safe, but I have to follow
• 19:19
  Speaker 7: my gut feeling and I actually don't support these programs personally.
• 19:24
  Speaker 7: And I'll explain why. You know, I was having this
• 19:26
  Speaker 7: conversation earlier today trying to flesh out to I feel
• 19:29
  Speaker 7: comfortable with this Do I not? And I reflect back
• 19:32
  Speaker 7: to when I was, you know, lateeen to early twenties
• 19:34
  Speaker 7: living on the Gold Coast, and I used to go
• 19:37
  Speaker 7: to Summerfield Festival and different you know, music festivals.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: On the Gold Coast.
• 19:42
  Speaker 7: Now as a young person, I was too afraid to
• 19:46
  Speaker 7: take drugs. I was scared. I never tried it because
• 19:50
  Speaker 7: I was afraid. I didn't know what the repercussions were.
• 19:52
  Speaker 7: I didn't want the feeling that would occur if the
• 19:55
  Speaker 7: drug testing is available. Are we not just encouraging kids
• 19:59
  Speaker 7: to take that risk more than getting them to shy away.
• 20:05
  Speaker 7: So I'm afraid it's actually teaching our kids the wrong message.
• 20:09
  Speaker 7: And in addition, you've got to come back to the
• 20:11
  Speaker 7: root cause facts. Why are more and more people taking
• 20:14
  Speaker 7: a list of drugs or illegal drugs? And the fact
• 20:17
  Speaker 7: is a huge contributing factor is that alcohol is far
• 20:20
  Speaker 7: too expensive. So rather than trying to then sending the
• 20:24
  Speaker 7: wrong message to our young people today or partygoers at
• 20:27
  Speaker 7: these festivals, shouldn't we actually be sticking to the crux
• 20:31
  Speaker 7: of it It is an illegal drug, it's not allowed
• 20:34
  Speaker 7: in this country, and instead starting to reduce the ridiculous
• 20:37
  Speaker 7: amount of taxes on alcohol these days and make that
• 20:40
  Speaker 7: more of a safer environment instead of, as I say,
• 20:43
  Speaker 7: sending the wrong message to our young members of society
• 20:47
  Speaker 7: these days.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: Angela, do you think it's sending the wrong message to
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: the younger generation or is it safeguarding and giving them
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: the opportunity that if they're going to take it anyway.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: You may as well go and get it tested.
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: I'm against it, but for a completely different reason, and
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: that is where is the legal liability. So let's say
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: you have your drug tested, Let's say it's an ecstasy tablet,
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: it is then taken by a young person. Something around
• 21:11
  Speaker 5: their physiology or the circumstances with which they then take
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: that drug, lack of water, whatever that might do be.
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: Who is then culpable?
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: Is there a culpability to the agencies testing the drugs? Also,
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: even if you test a drug, do you then have
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: control about how that person operates while under the influence
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: of that drug, So they could actually cause harm to
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: another person while under the influence of the drug. So,
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: while I am in favor of harm reduction programs in
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: terms of drug taking, because you know, let's be honest,
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: drugs are taken at festivals and they will continue to
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: be asly points out, because they're very cheap, I think
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: the legality issues are paramount in this instance.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: Well, that drug at checking char will include up to
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: twelve music festivals before it's independently evaluated on whether or
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: not to even continue it. Well, let's head oversee now
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: and Presidents Donald Trump and Benjamin Ett Yahoo met earlier today,
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: with Trump threatening new attacks against Iran, blaming her mass
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: for the stored Gaza ceasefire, and calling again for mister
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: Netanyahu to receive a pardon.
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: What did you think of their interaction?
• 22:18
  Speaker 7: Look good on Trump. I agree we need to get
• 22:22
  Speaker 7: rid of her mass. He is standing by his word.
• 22:25
  Speaker 7: He has been a very strong leader and the strongest
• 22:28
  Speaker 7: leader in supporting ceasefire in Gaza in Israel. So I
• 22:34
  Speaker 7: actually would like to see stronger leadership from our Prime
• 22:37
  Speaker 7: minister and our government here in Australia.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: We need to get rid of.
• 22:40
  Speaker 7: Her mass wholeheartedly. So well done to Trump. He's standing
• 22:44
  Speaker 7: by his word, and let's just see and hope wishful
• 22:47
  Speaker 7: thinking that our Prime minister will actually stand up and
• 22:52
  Speaker 7: back the ceasefire and getting rid of her mass as well.
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: Well.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: Trump has ramped up the pressure on her mass to disarm.
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: Let's take a look at what he said.
• 23:02
  Speaker 8: We're going to be given a very short period of
• 23:04
  Speaker 8: time to disarm and we'll see how that works out.
• 23:08
  Speaker 8: Steve Whitcarf and Jared Kushner will be in charge of
• 23:12
  Speaker 8: that from our side. But if they don't disarm as
• 23:18
  Speaker 8: they agreed to do, they agreed to it, and then
• 23:21
  Speaker 8: they'll be hell to pay for them. And we don't
• 23:24
  Speaker 8: want that, We're not looking for that. But they have
• 23:27
  Speaker 8: to disarm within a fairly short period of time.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: So Angela, do we think Hamas is paying attention and
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: they will disarm?
• 23:35
  Speaker 6: Well.
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: I think one of the reasons why Netanyahu has made
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: this fifth visit this year to America to discuss this
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: with Trump is because obviously that pressure has to continue.
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: It's eighty one days since the ceasefire on the tenth
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: of October, they haven't disarmed. Where is the pressure going
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: to come from? But I thought what was also extremely
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: interesting about this meeting between these two leaders was the
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: pressure that they are indicate they're going to put on Iran. Now,
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: of course there's a lot of protests and unrest in
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: Iran at the moment the currency has crashed, that it's
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: an interesting time for Trump to signal that this is
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: that they will go back in and they will destroy
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: those weapons and missiles if they are become aware of them.
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: So this was an incredibly strong meeting with a lot
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: of rhetoric that we come to know from both of
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: these men, but particularly at this time of the year,
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: I think really interesting that they are not leading up
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: on any of this messaging in this region.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: And Lee, I want to stay overseas because there's just
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: been a remarkable story coming out of the US. A
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: YouTuber has uncovered enormous fraud in Minnesota, with experts claiming
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: this could be an excess of nine billion dollars. FBI
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: director Cash for Tel has posted this on x and
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: you can see here he has basically said, this is
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: a tip of a very large iceberg. We will continue
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: to follow the money and protect children. And this investigation
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: is very much much ongoing. But Governor Tim Woldz he
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: has said that they have done everything they can. Authorities
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: have not overlooked the fraud.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: But Lee, this has happened on his watch, shouldn't he
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: be held accountable. I'll put this question to you, Jamie.
• 25:17
  Speaker 7: If it's not the governments to hold fraud of the
• 25:21
  Speaker 7: taxpayers dollars accountable, then who is it?
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: Whose job is it?
• 25:25
  Speaker 7: So? Yes, I absolutely believe that on any government's watch,
• 25:30
  Speaker 7: including Australia, that fraud needs to be checked and maintained
• 25:36
  Speaker 7: and held and cracked down upon all states of government,
• 25:40
  Speaker 7: all levels of government. And the fact is, you know,
• 25:43
  Speaker 7: even think about Australia here, we've got the same thing
• 25:46
  Speaker 7: happening here, not the same example. But you think about
• 25:48
  Speaker 7: medicare fraud. We estimate about three billion dollars in Medicare
• 25:52
  Speaker 7: fraud a year NDIS it's up to six billion dollars
• 25:58
  Speaker 7: in NDIS fraud. What are our governments actually doing about it?
• 26:02
  Speaker 7: And it goes beyond just the fraud of taxpayers dollars.
• 26:05
  Speaker 7: Governments and politicians need to be held accountable, not only
• 26:10
  Speaker 7: for protecting the taxpayers dollars, but they're spending you know,
• 26:13
  Speaker 7: you think about the latest taxpayers dollars with travel spending
• 26:19
  Speaker 7: that's happening across the government, and politicians make all these
• 26:22
  Speaker 7: promises they're going to do this to get elected and
• 26:24
  Speaker 7: then nothing happens. So yes, governments and politicians absolutely need
• 26:29
  Speaker 7: to be held accountable and if they don't, they should
• 26:32
  Speaker 7: be removed from government and they should be lost lose
• 26:34
  Speaker 7: their job, just like any other employee in any other job.
• 26:38
  Speaker 7: If you do not perform, you're gone. You're out, not
• 26:41
  Speaker 7: waiting till the next election, the next false round of
• 26:44
  Speaker 7: promises to the people to the public.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: Welle, we need that YouTuber to come and do some
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: investigations here on Australian soil.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: Angela and Lee. I'll leave it there. Thank you so
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: much for joining me this evening.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: Well after the break, Australia's renewable energy transition is off track.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: What the delays mean for households and power prices? Plus
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: cybersecurity experts are warning against offshore wind farms, so why
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: is our government still going ahead with them?
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: Welcome back.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: It's great to have your company joining me now, is
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: MST Financial senior energy analysts or Cavanick and Saul. Thank
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: you so much for joining me this evening. I feel
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: like I have a stack of things I want to
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: unpack with you this evening. But let's start with the
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: Albanesi government who today it's been reported they face a
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: delay of up to a decade to reach its eighty
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: two percent renewable energy target. I mean, surely this must
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: send alarm bells that not enough renewable energy production will
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: be built before big coal plants exit the power grid.
• 27:55
  Speaker 9: Well, that's absolutely right. Now, what is being planned for,
• 28:00
  Speaker 9: or what one I should more accurately say is hoped for?
• 28:02
  Speaker 9: Is that the pace of growth of renewables is going
• 28:05
  Speaker 9: to increase multiple times of what it has actually achieved
• 28:09
  Speaker 9: over the last five to ten years, because that's what's
• 28:12
  Speaker 9: required to reach this twenty thirty target. Now, the truth is,
• 28:15
  Speaker 9: of course, the twenty thirty target is absolutely impossible. This
• 28:19
  Speaker 9: isn't actually even a matter anymore of how much money
• 28:21
  Speaker 9: you throw at it. The sheer logistics of the ability
• 28:24
  Speaker 9: to roll this out in terms of the EBC contracting
• 28:28
  Speaker 9: and the approvals landscape is not there. Now, we must
• 28:31
  Speaker 9: keep in mind it's been Labour's own imposed green tape
• 28:35
  Speaker 9: which has actually slowed a lot of this down because
• 28:38
  Speaker 9: a lot of what this comes back to is most
• 28:40
  Speaker 9: of Labour's energy policy has actually been designed for headlines
• 28:44
  Speaker 9: rather than results, and their own approvals landscape is stopping
• 28:48
  Speaker 9: their ability to meet their own renewable energy targets, let
• 28:52
  Speaker 9: alone their missions productions targets. And the problem with all
• 28:55
  Speaker 9: of this is they've been centered all of the planning
• 28:59
  Speaker 9: around various government departments around these targets which are impossible
• 29:04
  Speaker 9: to meet, and they therefore haven't put in place the
• 29:06
  Speaker 9: contingency plans for what is realistically likely to occur. And
• 29:10
  Speaker 9: that's why we're seeing secret deals by state governments to
• 29:14
  Speaker 9: subsidize coal. We're seeing a lot more secret deals to
• 29:17
  Speaker 9: try and underpin more renewable generation. The cost of this
• 29:21
  Speaker 9: is not made available to the public and ultimately it's
• 29:24
  Speaker 9: resulting in increased reliability in our system because the renewables
• 29:28
  Speaker 9: is not getting there in time, and frankly, even if
• 29:30
  Speaker 9: it did, the reliability of the grid would still not
• 29:32
  Speaker 9: be able to make up for the departure of coal.
• 29:35
  Speaker 9: And so we fall between two stalls where coal is
• 29:37
  Speaker 9: still not being invested in enough and the renewables is
• 29:41
  Speaker 9: not arriving on time, unreliability goes up. Australia actually has
• 29:45
  Speaker 9: record high volatility of prices across the entire OECD, despite
• 29:49
  Speaker 9: the fact that we have the most abundant sources of
• 29:51
  Speaker 9: nearly every source of power generation in the world. Something
• 29:55
  Speaker 9: has gone wrong here. It's about the policy settings. It's
• 29:57
  Speaker 9: not about the resources that we have available to us.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: I mean that twenty thirty target always seemed incredibly ambitious
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: and always seemed like something that was not going to
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: be achieved. Every day it seems like there's a new
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: headline of a solar farm issue or a wind farm issue.
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: Or something that is not going right.
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: Can you tell us if there's any element of this
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: energy transition that's actually on track.
• 30:25
  Speaker 9: Well, nothing's on track with the government's targets. That's because
• 30:28
  Speaker 9: the government's targets were always impossible to begin with. The
• 30:31
  Speaker 9: truth is Australia has actually still seen broken some records
• 30:35
  Speaker 9: and had a lot of success in a lot of areas,
• 30:37
  Speaker 9: including the deployment of rooftop solar. But actually the most
• 30:43
  Speaker 9: successful part of the decarbonization trajectory actually comes from our
• 30:46
  Speaker 9: land based sector, where we've seen regeneration and that actually
• 30:50
  Speaker 9: was implemented by the Coalition over a decade ago in
• 30:54
  Speaker 9: order to deliver more money through to the farm gate
• 30:57
  Speaker 9: and see more regenerative practices across farms. The truth is
• 31:01
  Speaker 9: the emissions reductions that Australia has achieved over the last
• 31:04
  Speaker 9: fifteen years have all actually been coming from the land
• 31:07
  Speaker 9: based sector under a coalition based policy, and all the
• 31:10
  Speaker 9: policies that Labor has come has put in since they
• 31:13
  Speaker 9: came to power as the most progressive climate policy minded
• 31:18
  Speaker 9: government we've ever seen, have actually yet to actually bring
• 31:22
  Speaker 9: down emissions and have caused a lot of increased costs
• 31:25
  Speaker 9: across our energy grid and to a lot of our
• 31:28
  Speaker 9: industrial users in the process. So nobody's actually winning here.
• 31:32
  Speaker 9: We're not getting reduction in emissions, Prices and costs are
• 31:36
  Speaker 9: going up, unreliability is going up, and taxpayers are paying
• 31:39
  Speaker 9: more well.
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: US energy giant Conoco Phillips has unexpectedly discovered gas while
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: drilling off Victoria's southwest coast. How big of a find
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: is this when we consider that the Eastern Seaboard is
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: edging towards a supply.
• 31:54
  Speaker 9: Shortfall, So GUS discoveries in the Southeast and States are
• 32:01
  Speaker 9: critically important, not just for our manufacturing but for bringing
• 32:05
  Speaker 9: down energy costs and frankly to avoid blackouts. And if
• 32:07
  Speaker 9: you look at the recent government appointed NEM review, you
• 32:12
  Speaker 9: can actually see in that the most critical path to
• 32:16
  Speaker 9: any trajectory for our energy market is gas capacity and
• 32:19
  Speaker 9: that's what's falling away in the Southeast. After decades of
• 32:22
  Speaker 9: hostility by state governments across both political parties. Now Connicco
• 32:27
  Speaker 9: has made two drilled for two targets here. They had
• 32:29
  Speaker 9: a discovery I think last month, and then there's the
• 32:34
  Speaker 9: recent hit that they had today that actually happens a
• 32:37
  Speaker 9: bit shallower than they thought, so they haven't still premature
• 32:40
  Speaker 9: to know exactly what this new discovery might be and
• 32:43
  Speaker 9: if it's commercial. But these volumes, which are at least
• 32:46
  Speaker 9: a few hundred bcf in size based on the first
• 32:49
  Speaker 9: first well, are really really important because as our grid
• 32:53
  Speaker 9: becomes more unreliable, what we need to fill the gap
• 32:56
  Speaker 9: is gas, and particularly gas capacity and the ability to
• 32:59
  Speaker 9: bring gas on very quickly into a gas generator, for example,
• 33:04
  Speaker 9: when you have a low wind period or a low
• 33:06
  Speaker 9: solar period, or a call turbine US suddenly trips, and
• 33:09
  Speaker 9: so we need to bring this online as fast as
• 33:11
  Speaker 9: we can. The concern here is going to be what
• 33:14
  Speaker 9: is the approvals pathway going to look like for Conoco
• 33:17
  Speaker 9: to actually bring this gas to market? And is the
• 33:20
  Speaker 9: federal and particularly the state government going to stymy this
• 33:23
  Speaker 9: for years and years again through regulatory oppositions, so the
• 33:27
  Speaker 9: gas which we needed yesterday might only arrive in the
• 33:30
  Speaker 9: twenty thirties.
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: There was an article today, Saul that just got my attention,
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: and it was around cybersecurity and experts. They've sounded the
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: alarm about offshore wind farms. They're saying that because these
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: are remotely monitored and are dependent on complex software systems
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: that these installations represent cyber vulnerable infrastructure that if disrupted,
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: it could simultaneously affect ports and power grids and maritime operations.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: I was reading this and I thought, when cybersecurity experts
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: are warning against wind farms, and other nations around the
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: world are also moving away from them, why is our
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: government still persevering with it.
• 34:15
  Speaker 9: Well, look, it's important to keep in mind that our
• 34:17
  Speaker 9: energy greed as a whole is susceptible to cyber attack,
• 34:20
  Speaker 9: and it's a particularly acute risk because it's vulnerable and
• 34:26
  Speaker 9: very easy to shut down large parts of the economy
• 34:28
  Speaker 9: equipmently via cyber attacks that way, and of course offshore
• 34:32
  Speaker 9: wind is particularly susceptible given its nature in this regard.
• 34:37
  Speaker 9: Why the government still perseveres with it again comes back
• 34:40
  Speaker 9: to this very climate driven ideology, which is behind behind
• 34:44
  Speaker 9: a lot of their policies. Thankfully, I don't think we
• 34:47
  Speaker 9: actually have to worry about this one, because the economics
• 34:50
  Speaker 9: of offshore wind are so absolutely disastrous that no one's
• 34:53
  Speaker 9: going to invest in it, even with the significant amounts
• 34:56
  Speaker 9: of money that the federal and state governments are willing
• 34:58
  Speaker 9: to throw at it. So just the some economic rational sense,
• 35:02
  Speaker 9: the government by industry players is going to avoid us
• 35:05
  Speaker 9: being so reliant on offshore wind thankfully despite government policy
• 35:10
  Speaker 9: rather than because of it.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: So there was an interesting article in the Wall Street
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: Journal that basically says the UK offers a cautionary tale.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: So Britain built a vast network of wind and solar farms,
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: but it didn't build the transmission lines that were needed
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: to move all this clean energy around, which is then
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: created bottlenecks and inefficiency. My question is does Australia's energy
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: plan adequately account for the scale and cost of transmission
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: in a country as large as ours.
• 35:43
  Speaker 9: Well, what's been made very clear, perhaps most starkly in
• 35:46
  Speaker 9: the last year from reports by government departments itself, is
• 35:50
  Speaker 9: that we've severely underestimated both the cost and timeline to
• 35:53
  Speaker 9: build the poles and wires, but also the grid services
• 35:56
  Speaker 9: that are required to replace basedload generation from and from
• 36:00
  Speaker 9: gas capacity. And that's actually been the biggest hurdle to
• 36:05
  Speaker 9: new investment in generation. It's not actually been the for example,
• 36:09
  Speaker 9: building a new solar farmer, wind farm, or gas turbine,
• 36:11
  Speaker 9: it's actually been the ability of connect it into the
• 36:14
  Speaker 9: grid in a reliable way. Now I appreciate you. We've
• 36:18
  Speaker 9: got this situation in the UK, but the truth is
• 36:21
  Speaker 9: Australia's actually been the canary in the coal mine for
• 36:23
  Speaker 9: much of the rest of the world. We are one
• 36:25
  Speaker 9: of the most advanced in terms of penetration renewables globally,
• 36:28
  Speaker 9: and as that has increased over time, we've seen unreliability
• 36:32
  Speaker 9: and volatility increase and a lot of other countries around
• 36:35
  Speaker 9: the world actually come to Australia to look at what
• 36:37
  Speaker 9: to do and unfortunately to also take a lot of
• 36:39
  Speaker 9: lessons of what not to do, because we've gone about
• 36:42
  Speaker 9: this the wrong way, where we've focused on shutting things down,
• 36:45
  Speaker 9: particularly coal, before we've actually managed to bring online the
• 36:48
  Speaker 9: things that are going to replace it, and that's left
• 36:50
  Speaker 9: us in the mess that we find ourselves in today.
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it certainly is a mess, isn't it. Saul?
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for your time this evening Well
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: after the break is a rate rise on the horizon
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: for twenty twenty six plus Hamilton Island has been sold
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: to an overseas company. What does this mean for investment
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: in large scale tourism?
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: Welcome back to the program.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: Joining me now is Judo Banks Economic Advisor Warren Hogan Warren.
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: Good evening, thank you for joining me. As we near
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: the end of the year, let's take.
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: A look back.
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: How do you rate Labour's economic management for twenty twenty five.
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: What have they done well at where have they failed?
• 37:35
  Speaker 10: Yeah, good evening, A look A tough question to start,
• 37:39
  Speaker 10: but unfortunately, I'm pretty much going to have to draw
• 37:42
  Speaker 10: the conclusion that their economic management has been pretty poor.
• 37:47
  Speaker 10: If the primary goal is to keep our economy stable
• 37:52
  Speaker 10: and on track for long term growth, we're starting to
• 37:56
  Speaker 10: see some cracks emerging. Most specifically, inflation is coming back,
• 38:01
  Speaker 10: and of course this is because we have a government
• 38:03
  Speaker 10: that's spending the midyear update we started to see some
• 38:07
  Speaker 10: good sort of signals coming from the Finance Minister and
• 38:10
  Speaker 10: the Treasurer about cutting back on government spending, but the
• 38:13
  Speaker 10: actual update revealed the problem. We've got a government sector
• 38:16
  Speaker 10: that is bulging at the seams. Massive increase in taxes collected,
• 38:21
  Speaker 10: massive increase in spending. We have the biggest government sector
• 38:24
  Speaker 10: we've ever had in this country, and I think we're
• 38:26
  Speaker 10: going to start paying a price for that next year
• 38:29
  Speaker 10: with more inflation and higher interest rates.
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: Well, let's now look ahead to the end of January,
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: when the final quarterly underlying inflation figure of twenty twenty
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: five will be posted now. In your opinion, if this
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: figure has accelerated to say, three point five percent, is
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: it likely the IBA will raise interest rates?
• 38:51
  Speaker 10: Well, it looks that way. We certainly got that signal
• 38:54
  Speaker 10: from the governor at their last meeting in mid December
• 38:58
  Speaker 10: just a few weeks ago, because we've now seen inflation
• 39:04
  Speaker 10: numbers start to pick up since July. Effectively, the RBA
• 39:09
  Speaker 10: initially thought this might be temporary, and of course a
• 39:11
  Speaker 10: lot of commentators were pushing that line, but the results
• 39:15
  Speaker 10: that we got in November and December just show that
• 39:19
  Speaker 10: we actually never got on top of this inflation and
• 39:22
  Speaker 10: never got down to the RBA's target, and it now
• 39:24
  Speaker 10: looks like it's picking up again. It reflects a recovery
• 39:27
  Speaker 10: in the private sector economy, which is great news, but
• 39:30
  Speaker 10: of course this big growth in the size of our
• 39:33
  Speaker 10: government is putting pressure on the economy's capacity upward, pressure
• 39:38
  Speaker 10: on inflation, and it looks like the RBA is going
• 39:41
  Speaker 10: to have to raise rates when they next meet in
• 39:43
  Speaker 10: February and probably a few more times this year.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: So if that does happen and rates do rise like
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: their tip to do next year. Do we then point
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: the finger at the Treasurer and the Prime Minister for
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: not having taken a tougher stance on government spending like
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: you were just talking about all of the things that
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: have blown out.
• 40:01
  Speaker 10: Yeah, well, look, I think that that's right, and I
• 40:04
  Speaker 10: think the community probably will do so. Many elements of
• 40:09
  Speaker 10: the media will, and many commentators and an economists will
• 40:13
  Speaker 10: because the government has underestimated inflation and its presence and
• 40:20
  Speaker 10: persistence in our economy for two years now. They've been
• 40:24
  Speaker 10: patting themselves on the back that inflation has come down
• 40:26
  Speaker 10: from seven percent to something closer to three, but the
• 40:29
  Speaker 10: target is two and a half, and of course that
• 40:33
  Speaker 10: fall and inflation has happened all around the world. Inflation
• 40:38
  Speaker 10: is not under control. The cost of living is still
• 40:40
  Speaker 10: a major problem for all Australians and the government has
• 40:45
  Speaker 10: never taken it seriously enough. And of course the RBA,
• 40:49
  Speaker 10: if indeed we need to see a number of rate
• 40:51
  Speaker 10: hikes this year, will probably also have some blame in
• 40:55
  Speaker 10: this because they cut rates, which now looks premature.
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: Larren, I want to talk to you about the sale
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: of Hamilton Island. I didn't realize it was something that
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: you could buy.
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: But there you go.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: It went to Blackstone Investment Management Company, which is based
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: in New York, and that was sold for about one
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: point two billion, and it has become one of the
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: largest tourism related transactions recorded in Australia. In your opinion,
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: does this sale now reflect renewed investor confidence in large
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: scale tourism?
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: Look it may.
• 41:24
  Speaker 10: I mean it's a very strong positive signal about Australia's prospects.
• 41:29
  Speaker 10: Blackstone is one of the world's biggest and most sophisticated investors.
• 41:33
  Speaker 10: This is a big asset, it's a unique asset, and
• 41:36
  Speaker 10: they've played a very good price. But I think it
• 41:40
  Speaker 10: mainly is a bet on the continued growth of the
• 41:44
  Speaker 10: Southeast Asian economies and the tourism markets that will eventually
• 41:48
  Speaker 10: start to come out of there. They've started India, Indonesia,
• 41:52
  Speaker 10: but this is the new growth engine of the world.
• 41:55
  Speaker 10: It's no longer North Asia, it's no longer China, It's
• 41:58
  Speaker 10: the Southeast Asian nations and there right on our doorsteps.
• 42:01
  Speaker 10: So I think that's the big signal here. And also,
• 42:03
  Speaker 10: of course the Blackstone has plenty of money to deploy
• 42:07
  Speaker 10: into these assets at the moment.
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, interesting though another one of assis has gone to
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: a foreign owned company.
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: Wlarren, thank you so much for your time this evening.
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: Really appreciate it.
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: Well after the break, Sir Keith Starmer's digital ID scheme
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: has been slammed by a member of Donald Trump's team,
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: saying it's an erosion of privacy.
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: Plus what is King Charles.
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: Planning that's causing a stir within a UK village? Welcome
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: back to the program. Joining me now is the Daily
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: telegraphs Tim Blair and Tim thanks.
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: For joining us this evening.
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: I want to head straight over to the United States
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: where Sarah Rodgers, who's a senior figure within Donald Trump's administration.
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: She's raised privacy concerns around the introduction of digital ID
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: in Britain and it was funny because she actually said,
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: especially by a government that prosecutes footballers for tweets, does
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: this scheme pose huge security risks?
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: I think we yet to discover the technical sort of
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: aspects of it. It certainly wouldn't be helping Britain's image
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: worldwide when it comes to emotional and I guess penitentiary risks.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: They are locking people up. People get locked up all
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: the time in the UK. Sometimes the tweets which are
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: seen by maybe two people, and any resistance that the
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: Trump administration is putting up to this is all for
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: the good and it's something I think we should watch
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: very closely in Australia.
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: Well over in the UK.
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: The King he is causing quite a stir in a
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: UK village. Can you tell our viewers what is it
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: that he's doing?
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: Yes, well, he's famous for talking to plants and now
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: he's involving fertilizer in his discussion, as people who live
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: on the land know, and as people who who deal
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: with gardeners who are a bit too fond of blood
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: and bone. Fertilizer's got a bit of a sent to it,
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: and the villagers aren't too happy. It's interesting to read
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: some of their comments too, because they do sound as
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: though they've got a bit of a social media pressure
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: on them. When you get locked up for tweets. What
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: the hell is going to happen to you if you
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: get stuck into the King over fertilizer related issues. Probably
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: not anything good.
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: I did read some of those lines and a lot
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: of them said, oh no, he can cut off my head.
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: Oh no, I can't say anything. We won't speaking about
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: exactly exactly. I also just wanted to get your thoughts
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: on the Trump and Benjamin and Yahoo's meeting today and
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: Netanya who had some really strong words about the US
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: being a friend to Israel. And I was watching this
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: interaction and I thought, what lessons should the Australian government
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: take from this? Is this how you should be treating
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: your allies?
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: Well, absolutely, I think what we see as well with
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: Trump and Netanyahu two of the most vilified human beings
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: on the planet, certainly over the last fifty id years.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: Yet they're getting things done. They've achieved in the face
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: of great hostility and enormous loss of life in Netan
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: Yahoo's case in Israel, they have achieved victories and some
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: stability from situations that often looked as though they were
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: going towards WW three sort of territory. So I think
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: the fact that they're now taking a little bit of
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: a minor victory lap is all to the good. And
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: I think people should in Australia, given our own current situation,
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: should look to these guys for a bit more guidance
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: instead of hating on them all the time.
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: And what did you make about Trump's comments where he
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: said that they will be disarming harmas. Do you think
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: Hamas will be listening and actioning because Trump did sound
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: like he wasn't messing around.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: Well, you can say a lot of things about her mask,
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: but one thing you can't say is that they're not
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: media literate. They do tend to focus, you know, they
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: do tend to pay a lot of attention to what
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: is said about them. They follow the media very closely.
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: Of course, they have a lot of friends in the media,
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: and so dull have noticed this. They'll have paid attention.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: Of course, one thing we're going to be concerned about
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: in Australia is there is any ex a mass people
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: or people who are very sympathetic to a mass. We've
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: got to be alert to them. Even now, even after
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: Bondo Beach and even after the greater attention on our
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: immigration thing, We've going to be alert to people like
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: that showing up here and potentially being welcomed at the
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: airport by members of this ridiculous Australian government.
• 46:39
  Speaker 3: And I wasn't that just awful?
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: Scenes Well, Andrew mount Baton Windsor he's back in the
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: headlines tim this time over connections to convicted sexual offender
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: Peter Nygard. Now Peter is currently serving eleven years for
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: sexual assault and also facing sex trafficking charges. What can
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: you tell us about Andrew's link to Peter?
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: This all he has his links. Every time that the
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: form of Prince Andrew is brought up, it's not in
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: good circumstances. He's brought it all about himself. And I
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: know that defenders of Andrews say, well, he's a creature
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: of his ear, He's a creature of his time. But
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: even in his time, these were things that you should
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: have been getting away with the only reason he ever
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: got away with them was because he was from a
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: royal family. If anyone below his station, if anyone below
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: his station and behaved the way he has done for decades,
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: they wouldn't have the liberty that we're now seeing him.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: They wouldn't be walking around like that quite so cozy
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: and comfortable. They might have a few bars in front
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: of their face for a bit longer.
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: Jim, just quickly before I let you go, is there
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: any update on Trump's lawsuit with the BBC.
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: I'm hanging out for that one. That is great, but
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: I know this is I mean, it's likely to be
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: one of Trump's warning shots. It's something that he does.
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: He fires off the legal threats and then watches people
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: squirm around uncomfortably as they realize the economic gravity of
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: their mistakes. And then things don't preceed any further except
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: people sort of learn that, you know, this could go
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: in a very wrong sort of way. Let's see how
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: it goes. Because every so often, especially in the US,
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: with his lawsuits, there is a result, and the Trump
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: Museum adds a new wing to it. You know, the
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: eventual Trump Museum is getting bigger by the day.
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: You're absolutely right, will Tim. Thank you so much for
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: your time this evening. We'll speak to you again soon,
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: and to you all at home, thank you so much
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: for your company tonight. I'll be back tomorrow at six o'clock.
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: The Bolt Report is up next with Kel Richards.