Transcript

Credlin | 26 October · Credlin

0:07
Speaker 1: Thank you, Chris. Good evening. Welcome to the program. Here's
0:10
Speaker 1: what's coming up tonight on Credlin. The latest polling out
0:13
Speaker 1: of Victoria. News polls got the coalition on track for
0:16
Speaker 1: power in its own right. Labor's primary vote is crashing.
0:21
Speaker 1: But be careful, a good poll can be a danger
0:23
Speaker 1: zone test for a party with still four weeks to
0:26
Speaker 1: go now until Election Day. We'll catch up with Liberal
0:30
Speaker 1: leader Jess Wilson as Labor licks against its own man.
0:34
Speaker 1: saying that the Premier needs an afternoon nap just to
0:37
Speaker 1: get by. The AFP whistleblower who first raised the alarm
0:41
Speaker 1: about lack of counter terrorism resources before Bondi overlooked it
0:46
Speaker 1: yet again. He's not been called to give evidence despite
0:50
Speaker 1: those extra hearings for the Royal Commission. Plus protests re-erupt
0:55
Speaker 1: across Europe. Radical groups now planning the unthinkable in Australia,
1:00
Speaker 1: hijacking Remembrance Day. And a Victorian MP, the latest to
1:05
Speaker 1: receive a threat from the public after an engraved bullet
1:08
Speaker 1: was left on the roof of his car, prompting this
1:11
Speaker 1: blast from the former leader of the Nationals.
1:15
Speaker 2: I mean, that's just bullshit.
1:17
Speaker 3: I mean, for Christ's sakes, everyone's just got to take
1:20
Speaker 3: a deep breath. I mean, I get we've all got
1:21
Speaker 3: to be angry these days. We've all got to have
1:23
Speaker 3: a cause. We've all got to show it somehow. But,
1:26
Speaker 3: you know, it's just some civility. I mean, our country's
1:29
Speaker 3: better than this. This is not what our country is
1:32
Speaker 3: being built on.
1:34
Speaker 1: But first, today in the Parliament, rightly, we heard a
1:37
Speaker 1: lot of fine words about injured MP Helen Haynes as
1:41
Speaker 1: she continues to recover from a horrific incident outside her
1:45
Speaker 1: Wengereta office this time last week. But the commentary from
1:50
Speaker 1: Anthony Albanese remained jarring, given it was his office that
1:55
Speaker 1: had circulated a dirt sheet about Haynes just weeks before
1:59
Speaker 1: her alleged assault.
2:01
Speaker 4: The shock from what happened last Monday is like a
2:04
Speaker 4: stone in our hearts. We look across to the member
2:08
Speaker 4: for Indi's place and despite ourselves, half expect to see
2:11
Speaker 4: her face. Like a trick that the heart plays on
2:15
Speaker 4: the mind, if only to grant us a moment's respite
2:18
Speaker 4: from the truth.
2:20
Speaker 1: Thank you, Prime Minister, but no one has forgotten what happened.
2:25
Speaker 5: The dirt file that the Labor people put on many
2:28
Speaker 5: politicians who may go against the Albanese Labor government, what
2:34
Speaker 5: they're doing, is wrong.
2:36
Speaker 6: Well, I think it goes to the character of the
2:39
Speaker 6: Prime Minister and his office that they seek to denigrate
2:44
Speaker 6: the reputation of Helen Haynes. with the media to get
2:49
Speaker 6: a bad story up simply because she was asking legitimate
2:53
Speaker 6: questions about why he was awarding $ 6. 05 million to the
3:00
Speaker 6: Marrickville Golf Club.
3:02
Speaker 1: That that was their first response.
3:04
Speaker 7: I also think it's a bit odd to have the
3:07
Speaker 7: Prime Minister calling for a lower temperature of debate when
3:12
Speaker 7: his own office was distributing a shit sheet about Helen
3:17
Speaker 7: Haynes just a few weeks ago.
3:20
Speaker 1: That's Albanese's problem, isn't it? He lacks the grace to apologise,
3:25
Speaker 1: the humility to admit when he's got it wrong, despite
3:28
Speaker 1: ample opportunities to show the sort of leadership that Australians
3:32
Speaker 1: are desperate for.
3:34
Speaker 8: Were you aware or give approval to your office to
3:37
Speaker 8: distribute to the press gallery information about Helen Haynes? about
3:43
Speaker 8: grants that she'd sought after she criticised you over the
3:46
Speaker 8: $ 6 million Marrickville grant?
3:49
Speaker 4: Helen Haynes is a good local member. She put forward
3:53
Speaker 4: applications like other members do for grants and that's what
3:59
Speaker 4: good local members do.
4:00
Speaker 2: So did the office send that out? Do you regret
4:03
Speaker 2: that in hindsight given the events of recent days?
4:05
Speaker 4: Well, Helen Haynes is a strong advocate for her community.
4:10
Speaker 1: Now, let's not forget either why the mild-mannered Haynes had
4:15
Speaker 1: so got under the Prime Minister's skin, because she had
4:19
Speaker 1: the temerity to question the probity about his community grants program,
4:25
Speaker 1: as she should. as every decent MP should, given just
4:30
Speaker 1: how rotten this pork barrel grant scheme is proving itself
4:34
Speaker 1: to be, following more revelations about the $ 6 million the
4:39
Speaker 1: Prime Minister gave to his mates at the Marrickville Golf
4:42
Speaker 1: Club just days out from last year's federal election. And
4:46
Speaker 1: they were his mates. They were his mates. Even if
4:50
Speaker 1: he told the Parliament, they were not.
4:54
Speaker 4: I do not have a card as a member of
4:56
Speaker 4: Marrickville Golf Club.
4:58
Speaker 9: I haven't spoken. And I've been coming here for decades
5:01
Speaker 9: and using this club. I don't know who the executive
5:05
Speaker 9: of Marrickville Golf Club are.
5:07
Speaker 1: I don't know.
5:07
Speaker 9: Who the executive of Marrickville Golf Club are. I don't
5:11
Speaker 9: use the facilities. And I've been coming here for decades
5:15
Speaker 9: and using this club.
5:16
Speaker 4: I don't do anything whatsoever for it.
5:18
Speaker 10: Today I want to announce.
5:20
Speaker 9: that a federal Labor government is committing.
5:24
Speaker 11: $ 350, 000.
5:24
Speaker 12: To make sure that this club can host more events.
5:30
Speaker 13: I don't play golf, Mr Speaker.
5:32
Speaker 9: For them to draw this extraordinarily long bow.
5:38
Speaker 1: Okay, so all of that we know, but here's what's new.
5:43
Speaker 1: Last week at the Senate inquiry that's investigating the Marrickville millions,
5:48
Speaker 1: there was a long discussion about the purpose of the
5:51
Speaker 1: taxpayer grant. Remember when pushed on the $ 6 million issue
5:57
Speaker 1: during question time last month, on the 9th of September,
6:01
Speaker 1: the Prime Minister told the House that the grant was
6:05
Speaker 1: necessary to fix raw sewerage flowing into the nearby Cooks River.
6:11
Speaker 9: It's existed for a long period of time, almost 100 years,
6:15
Speaker 9: and they have a septic tank which, because when it
6:19
Speaker 9: is on the floodplain, when it floods in Marrickville, raw
6:23
Speaker 9: sewerage flows into the Cooks River. That is what the
6:28
Speaker 9: funding is for.
6:31
Speaker 1: OK, that is September this year. Now, in question time,
6:35
Speaker 1: the next day, Albanese doubled down.
6:39
Speaker 9: And one for the upgrade of the Inner West Council-owned
6:43
Speaker 9: Marrickville Golf Club. Included in that was funding to fix
6:47
Speaker 9: the sewerage because it goes into the river and causes
6:53
Speaker 9: a problem when it floods.
6:57
Speaker 1: Well, how is that right? Given a media release I
7:00
Speaker 1: showed you a couple of weeks ago, from the Crown
7:03
Speaker 1: Works Department in New South Wales, announcing last year that
7:08
Speaker 1: they were funding the sewerage works at a cost of
7:11
Speaker 1: $ 270, 000 to state taxpayers. I put this all out on
7:17
Speaker 1: air at the time as well, but not that the
7:20
Speaker 1: facts stop the lies from the Prime Minister, but maybe
7:24
Speaker 1: these comments will. Here's Jacinta MacDonald, a senior official in
7:29
Speaker 1: the Federal Government Department of Infrastructure, giving evidence to the
7:33
Speaker 1: Senate Inquiry. on the Marrickville Millions on Thursday, confirming that
7:39
Speaker 1: the $ 6 million golf club grant had nothing at all
7:43
Speaker 1: to do with sewerage, despite the Prime Minister telling the
7:46
Speaker 1: Parliament twice that it did.
7:49
Speaker 10: The grantee must deliver the design and upgrade of the
7:52
Speaker 10: Marrickville Golf Club, including the following deliverables. The club precinct refurbishment,
8:00
Speaker 10: which includes a range of installation of a stormwater harvesting system,
8:06
Speaker 10: including storage tanks and pump, creation of a botanical garden
8:10
Speaker 10: and biodiversity area, and an upgrade of the existing electrical
8:15
Speaker 10: capacity to 200 amps. The sewerage works are not in
8:20
Speaker 10: the scope of this grant.
8:21
Speaker 13: This grant focuses on the stormwater.
8:24
Speaker 1: There you go. Now, what's also telling and appears to
8:28
Speaker 1: confirm the evidence of McDonald's is the fact that on
8:31
Speaker 1: the government's own Grant Connect website, there's no mention of
8:36
Speaker 1: sewerage in the funding description. So either the public servant
8:41
Speaker 1: and the government's own website are making it up, or
8:45
Speaker 1: the Prime Minister misled the House, pure and simple.
8:49
Speaker 4: Reducing power prices by $ 275.
8:51
Speaker 9: Can you rule.
8:53
Speaker 14: Out any changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax?
8:56
Speaker 12: Yes.
8:57
Speaker 4: How hard is it for the 50th time? You know,
9:09
Speaker 4: I stepped off the stage. I didn't fall over on
9:13
Speaker 4: my backside.
9:15
Speaker 1: I stumbled.
9:16
Speaker 13: That's what happened.
9:16
Speaker 4: The Japanese Prime Minister brought a melon.
9:19
Speaker 15: She?
9:19
Speaker 1: Did she smuggle it?
9:21
Speaker 10: I don't know.
9:21
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm expecting.
9:23
Speaker 13: Got a couple of melons.
9:24
Speaker 1: She brought two. She brought two, as you do.
9:27
Speaker 4: Certainly, as the interpretation that some have put on this
9:31
Speaker 4: is simply not correct.
9:35
Speaker 1: This bloke is making lying an art form. You can
9:38
Speaker 1: see it there. It's a pattern of behaviour. What was
9:41
Speaker 1: also uncovered in the Senate inquiry was just how involved
9:45
Speaker 1: Labor Party head office was in this whole grants program,
9:51
Speaker 1: with party operatives calling the shots on where and how
9:55
Speaker 1: taxpayer money was spent. And this was confirmed yesterday. by
10:00
Speaker 1: the infrastructure minister, Catherine King.
10:02
Speaker 13: It's a pork barrel, isn't it? You administered a pork barrel.
10:09
Speaker 15: Well, there are election commitments and obviously the party that
10:12
Speaker 15: wins government then gets to deliver its election commitments and
10:15
Speaker 15: that's what they are.
10:17
Speaker 16: Labor's head office involved in that.
10:20
Speaker 13: Yeah, absolutely.
10:23
Speaker 1: Like, yeah, absolutely.
10:24
Speaker 15: Because it's an election commitment process. It's a political process. So,
10:28
Speaker 15: of course, you know, that is done through the party machinery,
10:32
Speaker 15: not through government machinery.
10:36
Speaker 1: Remember, this was not an open grants program where any
10:39
Speaker 1: community organisation could put up their hand for help. It
10:42
Speaker 1: was invite only. Organisations only got a go if they
10:47
Speaker 1: were tapped on the shoulder by a Labor MP mate
10:50
Speaker 1: and told to apply after, and she confirms it there,
10:55
Speaker 1: head office, the politicos, made the call on how much
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Speaker 1: of your money they needed to spend in the seat
11:03
Speaker 1: to win it. In the case of the golf club,
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Speaker 1: they didn't even have to apply given their number one
11:09
Speaker 1: patron's home, the Prime Minister, was a mere 200 metres
11:14
Speaker 1: from their back fence.
11:16
Speaker 17: And thanks to the federal Labor government and to Prime
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Speaker 17: Minister Albo for the $ 6 million grant that they committed
11:22
Speaker 17: to during the campaign.
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Speaker 13: So what are you guys thinking about how this will
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Speaker 13: improve the club?
11:26
Speaker 2: Oh, look, it's going to be fantastic.
11:27
Speaker 13: This will be the start of a whole new era
11:29
Speaker 13: for the club.
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Speaker 11: We'll be able to turn this place into such a
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Speaker 11: wonderful community area.
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Speaker 13: This is going to be able to bring forward all
11:35
Speaker 13: the projects that we've had planned for years and years
11:37
Speaker 13: and years. And we've always been after grant funding for this.
11:40
Speaker 13: Now we've got a big kick of money and we'll
11:42
Speaker 13: be able to do it all.
11:45
Speaker 1: Big bucket of your money. If Albanese does this with
11:49
Speaker 1: $ 6 million, what does it say about every other grant
11:54
Speaker 1: in this half a billion dollar program? Law professor Anne
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Speaker 1: Toomey has called it grey corruption and it is. Just
12:01
Speaker 1: like the $ 15 billion allegedly siphoned off in Victoria with
12:05
Speaker 1: the big build and handed over to corrupt union thugs
12:08
Speaker 1: and organised crime, taxpayers are being ripped off by Labor
12:12
Speaker 1: on a grand scale, state and federal. And this is
12:16
Speaker 1: just the tip of the iceberg. But misleading the Parliament,
12:21
Speaker 1: that's all there for you tonight. Well, that's a new low,
12:25
Speaker 1: even for this Prime Minister. All right, let's get our
12:32
Speaker 1: headlines now with our political reporter, Ruben Sparco.
12:37
Speaker 13: Good evening.
12:38
Speaker 16: Parliament is rallying around Helen Haynes as the member for
12:41
Speaker 16: Indi recovers from an alleged deliberate attack. It was a
12:45
Speaker 16: moment of solidarity inside the lower house.
12:47
Speaker 4: The shock from what happened last Monday is like a
12:51
Speaker 4: stone in our hearts.
12:53
Speaker 16: The Prime Minister also warned of what he described as
12:56
Speaker 16: growing anger in political debate.
12:58
Speaker 4: We're seeing a normalisation of the language of grievance and violence.
13:02
Speaker 18: Robust, rigorous debate has long been the substitute for Violence.
13:09
Speaker 13: This is getting rid of violence.
13:12
Speaker 16: Question time went ahead as planned today and parliamentary business
13:15
Speaker 16: will resume as normal tomorrow. The Treasurer is conceding he
13:19
Speaker 16: needs to spend more time listening to colleagues concerned about
13:22
Speaker 16: the government's tax changes. Jim Chalmers acknowledges Labor has lost
13:26
Speaker 16: ground since the May budget.
13:28
Speaker 13: I should make more time for my colleagues. I see
13:30
Speaker 13: a lot of them.
13:30
Speaker 7: But if the message is that I need to do
13:32
Speaker 7: more of that, then I take that message seriously.
13:35
Speaker 16: He says it's up to the Prime Minister and other
13:38
Speaker 16: ministers to explain their own roles in the government's decisions.
13:44
Speaker 1: All right, let's get into a whole lot of the
13:45
Speaker 1: issues out there today with our political contributor, Chris Ullman,
13:49
Speaker 1: who joins me now from Canberra. Chris, we saw at
13:53
Speaker 1: the start of the day today all those tributes to
13:57
Speaker 1: Helen Haynes, but still a cloud around the Prime Minister,
14:01
Speaker 1: the dirt unit. sheet that was issued by his office
14:04
Speaker 1: against the independent MP. He's all tea and sympathy today,
14:11
Speaker 1: but there's absolutely nothing in his character which allows him
14:16
Speaker 1: to admit where he's made a mistake or even apologise.
14:21
Speaker 1: And I have to say, this is what hurts him
14:24
Speaker 1: so much with people.
14:27
Speaker 18: Yeah, Peter, let me start by saying that I don't
14:29
Speaker 18: doubt the sincerity of anyone in Parliament today is talking
14:31
Speaker 18: about Helena Haynes.
14:32
Speaker 2: This strikes very close to home.
14:34
Speaker 18: They were close to the woman and, of course, they
14:36
Speaker 18: worry about their own safety and what this means for
14:38
Speaker 18: politics in Australia. And if it had not been for
14:40
Speaker 18: that horrible assault on Helena Haynes, we would not now
14:43
Speaker 18: be talking about this because I've seen these kind of
14:45
Speaker 18: background documents go out for at least the last two
14:47
Speaker 18: decades from ministers and prime ministers' office when they essentially
14:51
Speaker 18: get peeved by something that's said against them and try
14:53
Speaker 18: to impugn the character of others. I think that document
14:56
Speaker 18: is there for people to read. It jars with the way.
14:59
Speaker 2: That Anthony Albanese is interpreting it.
15:01
Speaker 18: And in the long run, he has to think about
15:03
Speaker 18: how these things add up over time and how it
15:06
Speaker 18: is that that does damage his standing in the community
15:09
Speaker 18: when his words seem to be at odds to the
15:13
Speaker 18: things that they can see and judge for themselves. So,
15:16
Speaker 18: you know, it is, I think, a tragedy that this
15:18
Speaker 18: gets dragged into what's happened to Helen Haynes and we
15:21
Speaker 18: should all be thinking about her rather than how.
15:23
Speaker 2: Legal officers have dealt with each other.
15:25
Speaker 18: But, yes, I do think this sort of thing is
15:27
Speaker 18: an accumulation, I think, which you showed at the top
15:30
Speaker 18: of the show, an accumulation of damage to character that
15:34
Speaker 18: we are seeing.
15:37
Speaker 1: You're right to say, Chris, that almost every side of
15:40
Speaker 1: politics does it. They do, I guess, an aggregation of
15:45
Speaker 1: things that their opponent has got wrong or said against
15:48
Speaker 1: them in the past. It's not always personal. You know,
15:52
Speaker 1: sometimes it can be sort of ineptitude in delivering a
15:55
Speaker 1: government program or something to do with the portfolio. But
15:59
Speaker 1: what is different here is I've seen other politicians called
16:02
Speaker 1: out like this, Chris, and they admit they've got it wrong.
16:05
Speaker 1: They apologise. They just go, well, you know, that's not
16:08
Speaker 1: aged well. Yeah, it looks pretty terrible now. I wish
16:10
Speaker 1: I hadn't done it. He never does any of that.
16:13
Speaker 1: On every single time, at every single point he's pulled up,
16:17
Speaker 1: It's denial, it's deflection, it's, you know, black is white
16:21
Speaker 1: or white is black. He will never admit to getting
16:24
Speaker 1: things wrong. That's the problem.
16:27
Speaker 18: Yeah, and I think you'll find that the research of
16:29
Speaker 18: both major political parties does show at the moment that
16:32
Speaker 18: the word that people associate with Anthony Albanese now, the
16:37
Speaker 18: most common word that comes up in focus groups, is liar.
16:41
Speaker 2: And the Labor Party must be aware of that.
16:43
Speaker 18: Because I doubt that their internal polling is any different
16:45
Speaker 18: from the polling that I've seen elsewhere.
16:47
Speaker 2: And that is a worry for the Prime Minister.
16:51
Speaker 18: That is a word that has now stuck to his character.
16:54
Speaker 18: And as you know, you get a certain amount of
16:56
Speaker 18: time to try and form your character in public.
16:58
Speaker 2: Anthony Albanese has had a long time.
17:01
Speaker 18: Once that kind of thought gets stuck in the mind
17:03
Speaker 18: of voters, that's a very difficult thing to shake. And unfortunately,
17:07
Speaker 18: not just with some of the things that Anthony Albanese
17:10
Speaker 18: has said and done, but the things that his government
17:12
Speaker 18: continues to say and do that jar so dreadfully with
17:16
Speaker 18: the public record. Like, just give you one more example.
17:19
Speaker 18: Chris Bowen led people to believe that the cost of
17:21
Speaker 18: the pre-COP event in Fiji was about $ 20 million. What
17:26
Speaker 18: does it turn out today? It's $ 34 million. Now, there's
17:29
Speaker 18: a long way between 20 and 34, and he would
17:32
Speaker 18: have had access to those figures. So Again, why do
17:34
Speaker 18: you allow that to be believed by people when eventually
17:38
Speaker 18: the truth will out?
17:39
Speaker 2: It doesn't even make any sense to me.
17:43
Speaker 1: At the same time, of course, that you're cutting money
17:45
Speaker 1: to veterans, you're cutting money to those with private health
17:48
Speaker 1: insurance over the age of 65. This is where the government, again,
17:52
Speaker 1: has got a problem. And cost of living is huge.
17:55
Speaker 1: We know it's a massive issue for anyone on a
17:58
Speaker 1: fixed income or with a mortgage. We've got inflation data
18:01
Speaker 1: out tomorrow. I mean, no one's going to take a
18:03
Speaker 1: bet to say there will not be a rate hike
18:06
Speaker 1: on Melbourne Cup Day. That's coming. We've got the property
18:08
Speaker 1: market in free fall. Reports today that fewer than half
18:12
Speaker 1: the homes that were listed for auction on the weekend
18:14
Speaker 1: have sold. And now we've got the Treasurer basically apologising
18:19
Speaker 1: to colleagues that his budget's blowing up their chances of
18:23
Speaker 1: holding their seats. That's not about anything other than here's
18:28
Speaker 1: the votes in that room, in the caucus room, should
18:32
Speaker 1: he ever want to run as leader. It's not about you, Chris.
18:35
Speaker 1: It's not about anyone with a mortgage. It's about his
18:38
Speaker 1: votes in that room for leader.
18:42
Speaker 18: Well, if Jim Chalmers should apologise to anyone, he should
18:44
Speaker 18: apologise to the Australian people for the budget he's brought
18:47
Speaker 18: down and the cumulative things that the government has done
18:50
Speaker 18: to tank the housing market in Australia, which is the
18:53
Speaker 18: wealth creation engine for ordinary Australians in this country, and
18:57
Speaker 18: they are now seeing that being shredded.
19:00
Speaker 2: I was talking to a very, very good.
19:02
Speaker 18: Judge of these things today, who believes that in the
19:05
Speaker 18: long term this will have an effect on helping to
19:08
Speaker 18: destroy parts of the construction industry in Australia, which means
19:11
Speaker 18: that there won't be as many new houses that we
19:13
Speaker 18: hope might be being built and that all of the
19:16
Speaker 18: effects of what the government has done will lead to
19:19
Speaker 18: a tanking of the economy because people will feel poorer
19:22
Speaker 18: and they won't spend as much. So I think that
19:25
Speaker 18: Jim Chalmers does have an enormous amount of apologising to
19:27
Speaker 18: do and at some point he may have to make
19:30
Speaker 18: a very embarrassing retreat from the policies. He's already done some,
19:34
Speaker 18: but a big retreat from the policies brought.
19:36
Speaker 2: Down in the budget.
19:37
Speaker 18: And if that's the case, I can't see how the
19:39
Speaker 18: Treasurer hangs on to his own job, let alone covets
19:42
Speaker 18: the Prime Minister's.
19:45
Speaker 1: OK, Chris Bowen, how does he survive? I mean, Snowy
19:48
Speaker 1: 2.0 has gone from... 2 to 12. He's changed the
19:51
Speaker 1: contract rules. No longer fixed price. Basically, it's whatever you want.
19:56
Speaker 1: You write it on the cheque, he'll just sign it.
19:59
Speaker 1: It's upwards of $ 25 billion. I don't think it'll end
20:03
Speaker 1: at $ 25 billion. Is it time we walk away?
20:08
Speaker 2: Yes, I think it is, Peter.
20:09
Speaker 18: And by the way, on your program last week at
20:12
Speaker 18: around about this time, I said that it would be about.
20:14
Speaker 2: $ 22 billion. Well, $ 22.
20:17
Speaker 18: 2 billion was the cost that the contractor has been telling.
20:21
Speaker 18: It's now $ 2. 0. But they so doubt that now they
20:25
Speaker 18: put in a contingency of another $ 3 billion. Now, we're
20:28
Speaker 18: about halfway through the digging of this particular project.
20:32
Speaker 2: We've spent nearly half the money. What are we doing
20:36
Speaker 2: this for?
20:37
Speaker 18: If we're going to spend $ 25 billion to apparently get
20:40
Speaker 18: an electricity saving over 45 years of $ 7 billion, in
20:44
Speaker 18: no universe does any of this stuff add up. And so, again,
20:48
Speaker 18: everything that we have seen has been.
20:50
Speaker 2: A vast underestimate of where we land.
20:54
Speaker 18: Almost every single thing that Chris Bowen says is a
20:57
Speaker 18: million miles from where the truth actually lies.
21:01
Speaker 19: Again.
21:02
Speaker 18: In the private sector, how anyone would hang on to
21:05
Speaker 18: a job with a performance that's been put in by
21:08
Speaker 18: some of these ministers would beggar belief, and yet they
21:12
Speaker 18: fail upwards.
21:16
Speaker 1: Yep, if it was a performance pay, poor old taxpayers
21:20
Speaker 1: would be saving money with these clowns, but that's not
21:22
Speaker 1: what it is, unfortunately. Chris, we'll leave it there. Let's
21:25
Speaker 1: go now to the EU trade deal that the Albanese
21:28
Speaker 1: government is so desperate to sign off. Plenty of scrutiny here.
21:33
Speaker 1: Claims that secret legally binding climate targets are included and
21:38
Speaker 1: could leave Australian producers exposed to crippling penalties. And that's
21:42
Speaker 1: before we get into the fact that EU farmers are
21:45
Speaker 1: subsidised by the governments there in a way no Australian
21:50
Speaker 1: farmer is. Let's bring in the Shadow Trade Minister, Ted O'Brien,
21:53
Speaker 1: who's been raising the alarm over this agreement. I have
21:58
Speaker 1: to say, Ted, I was always dubious. We started the
22:01
Speaker 1: FTA for the EU in the Abbott era. I remember
22:05
Speaker 1: the early negotiations, of course. And a lot of the
22:08
Speaker 1: time back then, they wanted to load it up with
22:10
Speaker 1: all of these climate commitments. Labor walked away from the
22:14
Speaker 1: deal in 2023 because they said the offer wasn't good enough.
22:19
Speaker 1: So what's changed now and why is it a good deal?
22:22
Speaker 1: So says the Prime Minister.
22:26
Speaker 13: Great to be with you, Peter.
22:27
Speaker 12: And you do remember that well, of course, because the
22:30
Speaker 12: coalition has such a strong track record when it comes
22:33
Speaker 12: to free trade. I mean, if you look at what
22:37
Speaker 12: Tony Abbott pulled off with Andrew Robb, you know, China, Japan, Korea, done. CPTPP, done.
22:43
Speaker 12: You know, negotiated all the way through with the UK and,
22:47
Speaker 12: of course, kicked off a lot of these discussions with
22:49
Speaker 12: the European Union. Candidly, to answer your question, not much
22:53
Speaker 12: has changed. When Labor walked away from this very deal
22:58
Speaker 12: because it wasn't a good deal, they return this year
23:02
Speaker 12: and now it is a good deal. I don't know
23:06
Speaker 12: why they've done that. My suspicion is it is because
23:10
Speaker 12: they saw an opportunity to make their climate targets for
23:14
Speaker 12: the first time legally binding. And so what they've dished
23:19
Speaker 12: up now is really two deals. One, a free trade agreement,
23:25
Speaker 12: and two, a climate treaty. They never talked about that
23:29
Speaker 12: second one publicly. They tried to keep it secret. But
23:33
Speaker 12: as you well know, we've built the cat on it,
23:36
Speaker 12: as did you, I remember very well.
23:40
Speaker 1: So what will it mean... You might actually remind people
23:45
Speaker 1: of the process because it's not like the United States
23:47
Speaker 1: where the entire agreement goes to the parliament. It's usually
23:51
Speaker 1: a rubber stamp in Australia. I note you and the
23:55
Speaker 1: National Party are saying you will not cop it in
23:57
Speaker 1: its current form. But explain the ramifications if it is
24:01
Speaker 1: signed off and what it would mean to us in
24:03
Speaker 1: terms of climate policy in some specific form.
24:08
Speaker 13: So, Peter, what it means is.
24:12
Speaker 12: The Albanese government has signed Australia up under the United
24:16
Speaker 12: Nations to achieving certain reductions in emissions. As we know,
24:21
Speaker 12: the way they're doing that is collapsing businesses. Industries are
24:25
Speaker 12: going offshore. Power prices are going through the roof. Now,
24:29
Speaker 12: they will continue to drive the economy down to achieve
24:32
Speaker 12: those targets. What this deal does is, for the very
24:36
Speaker 12: first time, it means if Australia... fails to achieve those
24:41
Speaker 12: targets or a future government comes in and changes the
24:45
Speaker 12: rubbish energy policies of the Albanese government, says we're going
24:48
Speaker 12: to get rid of all that stuff, if it is
24:50
Speaker 12: deemed that those new policies actually go against the climate targets, well,
24:56
Speaker 12: this agreement means our businesses could be penalised. So all
25:01
Speaker 12: the trade preferences that are delivered to Australia through the
25:05
Speaker 12: deal can be suspended, can be paused. And so this
25:10
Speaker 12: has never happened before for Australia. So the climate targets
25:14
Speaker 12: that I think any sensible person knows will never be
25:17
Speaker 12: achieved by this country. This government has put legal binding
25:23
Speaker 12: commitments in a deal. And who pays the price of that?
25:27
Speaker 12: It'll be the Australian farmers, the Australian businesses. But Labor
25:32
Speaker 12: has sneakily put it in the middle of this deal,
25:35
Speaker 12: hiding it away, trying to wedge the coalition... and basically
25:40
Speaker 12: leaving Australian businesses exposed to penalties when eventually it is
25:46
Speaker 12: clear that these targets won't be met and future governments
25:49
Speaker 12: cannot be constrained by choosing different policies for the Australian people.
25:55
Speaker 12: So that's really what it's all about. It's just that
25:57
Speaker 12: they've set this up to make it harder for future
26:01
Speaker 12: governments to change climate policy in this country.
26:06
Speaker 1: Future voters too, because the issue is if Australians want
26:09
Speaker 1: to get out of net zero, if they want to
26:10
Speaker 1: scrap Paris, if they want to do any of the
26:13
Speaker 1: things on the global climate agenda and they vote for
26:17
Speaker 1: it at a future election, our farmers under this EU
26:22
Speaker 1: free trade deal will bear the cost. Now, we already
26:25
Speaker 1: know that most of the European farmers will get access
26:29
Speaker 1: to Australian markets under this deal. As I said, some
26:33
Speaker 1: of them, I know the dairy guys, well, they're 31%
26:35
Speaker 1: subsidised by government compared to our dairy, which gets sweet
26:39
Speaker 1: bugger all. But at the same time, we, our growers
26:44
Speaker 1: and our producers, beef, sheep, meat, dairy, sugar, all of those,
26:48
Speaker 1: they don't get access to the European market. They're stuck
26:52
Speaker 1: with permanent quotas. I mean, we talk about free trade
26:55
Speaker 1: and we talk about trade deals. This isn't a deal.
26:58
Speaker 1: This is win-win for the EU and it's grossly unfair
27:02
Speaker 1: for Australian farmers.
27:05
Speaker 12: Peter, trade that is not fair is not free and
27:10
Speaker 12: that should be the basic principle here. The Trade Minister
27:14
Speaker 12: has done an awful deal, terrible outcomes. It's the sort
27:19
Speaker 12: of deal Chris Bowen would do in energy. It basically
27:23
Speaker 12: does not look after our national interests. Now, the coalition
27:27
Speaker 12: is interested. We want to see a deal done with Europe,
27:30
Speaker 12: but only if it's in our national interest. And at
27:33
Speaker 12: a minimum, that means that these climate commitments have to
27:38
Speaker 12: be taken out and we need a better deal for
27:40
Speaker 12: our farmers, for our businesses. Unfortunately, the government has negotiated
27:45
Speaker 12: a very bad deal. Just because there's a deal on
27:47
Speaker 12: the table... doesn't mean you take it. But I think
27:50
Speaker 12: they've just rushed in on this. A deal they previously
27:53
Speaker 12: said was bad is now suddenly good and they can't
27:57
Speaker 12: explain why.
28:00
Speaker 1: Ted, I noticed in the announcement today made by the
28:03
Speaker 1: opposition leader and the shadow treasurer, there's some $ 31 billion
28:08
Speaker 1: of savings that the opposition can get out of government
28:13
Speaker 1: spending that basically relates primarily... to climate spending. Now, this
28:19
Speaker 1: is an extraordinary amount of money. I was just talking
28:21
Speaker 1: to Chris Yeoman about the calamity that is Snowy 2.0
28:27
Speaker 1: now ratcheting up to $ 25 billion. Do you think ordinary
28:34
Speaker 1: people understand how much money is being thrown at this
28:40
Speaker 1: industry of green boondoggles by Chris Bowen?
28:44
Speaker 12: Peter, I don't think the average Australian does, which is
28:47
Speaker 12: why we need to keep telling them the story. And
28:50
Speaker 12: the crazy thing is the more money the government spends,
28:53
Speaker 12: the higher the prices are for the everyday Australian. I mean,
28:56
Speaker 12: how does that make good commercial sense?
28:59
Speaker 13: It doesn't.
29:01
Speaker 12: Certainly the big news today, and Chris Ullman and you
29:03
Speaker 12: were just speaking about it, was Snowy 2.0. To think
29:06
Speaker 12: that that project under this government has quadrupled in cost,
29:10
Speaker 12: quadrupled in from $ 6 billion to up to $ 25 billion.
29:15
Speaker 12: I mean, that's a difference of $ 19 billion. Think about
29:17
Speaker 12: what you could buy for $ 19 billion. I mean, you're
29:20
Speaker 12: probably talking around about nine public hospitals. You're probably talking
29:23
Speaker 12: about 130 new high schools. There's always a cost, an
29:27
Speaker 12: opportunity cost, when you waste money. But, of course, this
29:32
Speaker 12: Labor government is just ideologically driven. It'll keep spending taxpayer
29:37
Speaker 12: money on a green dream that by the way, isn't
29:41
Speaker 12: even reducing emissions. So it's not even achieving the ideological
29:46
Speaker 12: objective Emissions aren't even going down. We're becoming poorer and
29:50
Speaker 12: weaker as a country, and they're just doubling down. They
29:54
Speaker 12: are doubling down, which is why we need to have
29:56
Speaker 12: the fight. We need to call it out. But we
29:58
Speaker 12: need to demonstrate through policy why we have an alternative here,
30:02
Speaker 12: and that's what Angus Taylor is doing, and he continues
30:05
Speaker 12: to lead from the front in that, and I'm delighted
30:07
Speaker 12: for it.
30:10
Speaker 1: Thank you for fleshing out some of that detail on
30:12
Speaker 1: that EU unfair trade deal, we'll call it. Ted O'Brien,
30:15
Speaker 1: thank you. Coming up, the whistleblower who first warned me
30:19
Speaker 1: and I then warned you about the under-resourcing of counter-terrorism
30:24
Speaker 1: in Australia, well, he's been ignored again by the Bondi
30:28
Speaker 1: Royal Commission. We'll find out more after the break. Welcome back.
30:37
Speaker 1: Coming up, we'll take a closer look at the latest
30:39
Speaker 1: polling in the news poll out of Victoria that shows
30:42
Speaker 1: Labor's facing a wipeout in just under a month's time.
30:47
Speaker 1: But now to the latest on the Anti-Semitism Royal Commission
30:50
Speaker 1: and revelations today that it has knocked back again an
30:54
Speaker 1: AFP whistleblower from appearing at its extended secret hearing. Here
31:00
Speaker 1: to discuss this and more, the man who helped me
31:02
Speaker 1: expose the detail from that whistleblower, former AFP Detective Superintendent
31:08
Speaker 1: David Craig. David, thank you again. So they've extended these hearings.
31:14
Speaker 1: They are in camera, so there's no risk of intelligence
31:17
Speaker 1: or other security information making its way into the public domain,
31:21
Speaker 1: and yet still that bombshell submission by the AFP whistleblower
31:27
Speaker 1: about resources, about being warned pre-Bondi that not enough was
31:31
Speaker 1: being done in counter-terrorism, that's been ignored.
31:38
Speaker 13: Yeah, I mean, perhaps ignored previously, is not that accurate, Peter.
31:43
Speaker 11: I think, in fairness, they accepted a written submission from
31:45
Speaker 11: this person. However, I would like to have seen that
31:50
Speaker 11: person called to give evidence because there is a real
31:53
Speaker 11: disconnect between what the interim Royal Commission report said about
31:58
Speaker 11: AFP counter-terrorism resourcing And what this report, which wasn't written
32:02
Speaker 11: by one person, by the way, it was written by
32:04
Speaker 11: three AFP specialist commanders in counterterrorism that were saying that
32:10
Speaker 11: vacancy rates were 25%. So that is one in every
32:14
Speaker 11: four positions vacant in counterterrorism. just before our threat level
32:20
Speaker 11: went from possible to probable and about 12 months before
32:25
Speaker 11: the Bondi shooting. So this is a critical document and
32:28
Speaker 11: it'll be a real test for the Royal Commission final report.
32:31
Speaker 11: It can't stay silent. It needs to justify or reconcile
32:35
Speaker 11: how this can be different. The AFP could be saying
32:38
Speaker 11: that they have the same budget, but budget doesn't equal capability.
32:42
Speaker 11: You can have the same budget applied but then have
32:44
Speaker 11: positions vacant and your capability... And your skill set is
32:47
Speaker 11: simply not up to scratch.
32:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know how it works. You know, there's 20,000
32:55
Speaker 1: submissions put into Bondi. Of course, the Commissioner's not going
32:58
Speaker 1: to hear evidence from everyone, but you get a submission
33:02
Speaker 1: like this that goes to the material facts, as this
33:05
Speaker 1: person and the others have said, who were heavily involved
33:09
Speaker 1: in counterterrorism at the time, that there wasn't enough resources.
33:13
Speaker 1: It was in critical areas that impacted, obviously, the events
33:16
Speaker 1: at Bondi. that they were warned 18 months before the
33:20
Speaker 1: massacre that things would happen if resourcing did not improve,
33:25
Speaker 1: if that person is not brought before the Royal Commission
33:28
Speaker 1: and that information is not interrogated and tested by the Commissioner,
33:33
Speaker 1: that tells me that they're not placing much weight on it, David.
33:38
Speaker 13: Look, sadly, it does appear that way, Peter.
33:40
Speaker 11: But, I mean, Chrissie Barrett, the AFP Commissioner, was Deputy
33:44
Speaker 11: Commissioner of National Security.
33:46
Speaker 13: at the time that report was submitted.
33:48
Speaker 11: Now, she did say in Senate estimates that she wasn't
33:51
Speaker 11: formally advised about that document, but even if you were
33:54
Speaker 11: informally aware of a 25% shortfall in your counter-terrorism resources
33:59
Speaker 11: and you're the Deputy Commissioner for National Security, now Commissioner
34:03
Speaker 11: for the AFP and Commissioner of the AFP when the
34:05
Speaker 11: Bondi shooting took place, I would have thought that she
34:09
Speaker 11: would be a number one witness to find out the
34:11
Speaker 11: truth of what actually happened in the AFP with that document.
34:16
Speaker 11: If it was an accounting error, as they've said in
34:19
Speaker 11: Senate estimates, the AFP this is, then that's fine. But
34:22
Speaker 11: it doesn't mean that a capability and vacancy rate is
34:25
Speaker 11: not correct. The Australian people need to know how seriously
34:29
Speaker 11: the AFP took this document because I know the people
34:33
Speaker 11: involved with writing that document were taking a particular career
34:38
Speaker 11: risk in doing so and they did so with the
34:41
Speaker 11: best interest of the Australian community at heart and it
34:44
Speaker 11: seems to me that this has just been pushed under
34:47
Speaker 11: the carpet and ignored by the AFP Commissioner and hopefully
34:53
Speaker 11: not the Royal Commission.
34:53
Speaker 13: We'll see what the final report says.
34:57
Speaker 1: We'll see what the final report says, David, when it's
34:59
Speaker 1: dropped out just before Christmas. I think the government's hope
35:02
Speaker 1: it gets washed away with the holiday season. I want
35:05
Speaker 1: to ask you about a story that was in the
35:07
Speaker 1: papers today. This is about a Yazidi woman who says
35:10
Speaker 1: she was enslaved and tortured for five months as a
35:13
Speaker 1: nine-year-old allegedly by an Australian woman linked to Islamic State. Now,
35:19
Speaker 1: she wants justice, rightly so, telling The Australian she was
35:23
Speaker 1: repeatedly beaten and abused by a woman she knew as
35:26
Speaker 1: Umm Osama, believed by investigators to be the Australian ISIS bride,
35:31
Speaker 1: Hoden Abbey, while living inside the terrorist caliphate in Syria.
35:37
Speaker 1: Authorities were bracing for Abby's return since June after she
35:40
Speaker 1: was hit with a permit that overrode a temporary exclusion
35:47
Speaker 1: order designed to keep her out of Australia. David, these
35:51
Speaker 1: are allegations, of course, should she face charges. of crimes
35:55
Speaker 1: against humanity, it'll go before the courts. But how do
35:59
Speaker 1: we ensure justice for this alleged victim and what are
36:02
Speaker 1: the guarantees there if Abby does return that she will
36:06
Speaker 1: be investigated and monitored?
36:12
Speaker 11: Well, this witness, who is an eyewitness and a victim,
36:18
Speaker 11: has offered to give evidence to the AFP in July. Now,
36:22
Speaker 11: we've had a few months have passed since then And
36:25
Speaker 11: as I understand it, that evidence has not been tested.
36:27
Speaker 13: Now, I would think that the AFP would be.
36:31
Speaker 11: Very interested when an Australian citizen is alleged to have
36:36
Speaker 11: committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, enslaving and sexually and
36:42
Speaker 11: physically abusing a child in a war zone, that's the allegation,
36:47
Speaker 11: that even Tony Burke with his one eye shut to
36:50
Speaker 11: radical Islam would take notice and want this investigated to
36:54
Speaker 11: find out if there's veracity to what this victim eyewitness
36:58
Speaker 11: is saying or whether or not it's just made up
37:01
Speaker 11: or fabricated or unreliable. We have precedence here. We have
37:05
Speaker 11: two ISIS brides facing charges at the moment in Australia.
37:09
Speaker 11: There's a precedence for us to prosecute this. When this
37:12
Speaker 11: person comes back at her own will, because we don't
37:14
Speaker 11: have any control over it, the government seems to have
37:16
Speaker 11: lost that, She needs to face immediate prosecution and refuse bail.
37:23
Speaker 11: Her behaviour, if proven, is simply some of the worst
37:28
Speaker 11: crimes you could commit.
37:31
Speaker 1: Just quickly, Amitari, we talked about him last week. This
37:34
Speaker 1: is the convicted ISIS supporter due from release from prison
37:38
Speaker 1: on the 1st of November. What, got six days to
37:41
Speaker 1: go before he's out? Do we know if there has
37:43
Speaker 1: been some sort of control order put in place or
37:47
Speaker 1: has the Commonwealth even made an application?
37:51
Speaker 11: Last I saw, Peter, Home Affairs Department of Tony Burke
37:56
Speaker 11: is refusing to let any details out about this. I mean,
38:00
Speaker 11: this person, Isaac Almatari, is a convicted ISIS supporter. He's
38:05
Speaker 11: been imprisoned twice, once in Lebanon, once in Australia. He
38:08
Speaker 11: has a walking terror machine and he's going to be
38:11
Speaker 11: out in about six days' time. I would think that
38:14
Speaker 11: the Australian public are entitled to know whether our government
38:18
Speaker 11: is trying to keep this person in prison longer with
38:20
Speaker 11: a continuing detention order or will be released and the
38:23
Speaker 11: AFP will have an extended supervision order or a control
38:27
Speaker 11: order to make sure that this person can't cause any harm.
38:30
Speaker 11: If not, then we know that Tony Burke has... advised
38:34
Speaker 11: or as believes that this person is no threat and
38:36
Speaker 11: should be welcome to live next to any one of
38:38
Speaker 11: our viewers.
38:40
Speaker 1: Well, I'll look forward to the questions in the Parliament
38:42
Speaker 1: tomorrow because this is the sort of stuff in the
38:44
Speaker 1: past that Prime Ministers and Home Affairs Ministers have publicly
38:49
Speaker 1: dealt with, openly dealt with, obviously preserving all the legalities
38:53
Speaker 1: as required, but this isn't good enough yet again from Labor.
38:56
Speaker 1: I'll leave it there. Thank you, David. Let's go to
38:58
Speaker 1: the polls after the break. Risk of hubris here for
39:02
Speaker 1: the Liberals if they're not careful. Opposition Leader Jess Wilson,
39:06
Speaker 1: she won't allow it, she says, and she'll join me
39:08
Speaker 1: after the break. Welcome back. Coming up, the survey that
39:15
Speaker 1: shows support for coal surging. 78% of voters in Chris
39:20
Speaker 1: Bowen's own electorate keen to keep coal-fired generators running. Let's
39:25
Speaker 1: now go to that news poll in Victoria that's got
39:28
Speaker 1: the Coalition well and truly ahead of them.
39:30
Speaker 13: Labor.
39:31
Speaker 1: Two-party preferred terms, 55-45. There was Labor thinking that switch
39:36
Speaker 1: from Jacinta Allen to Ben Carroll would save them, but
39:39
Speaker 1: not if the polls are right. A 4% drop there
39:42
Speaker 1: for Labor, down to just 24% on primary voters. For
39:45
Speaker 1: the Coalition, there's been an uptick, three points up to 33%.
39:48
Speaker 1: Pauline Hanson's moved from 19% to 20%. That's One Nation.
39:54
Speaker 1: Greens are up 1% to 14%. Now, if replicated on
39:58
Speaker 1: Election Day, that's about four weeks away, it would deliver
40:02
Speaker 1: a massive 10-point swing against Labor. This is on the
40:06
Speaker 1: 2022 election numbers and put Jess Wilson in the job
40:11
Speaker 1: of Premier. And the woman now, the woman with it
40:14
Speaker 1: all to lose before her, Jess Wilson, joins me. Well, Jess,
40:18
Speaker 1: really strong numbers today. You'd much rather be in your
40:21
Speaker 1: position than the Premier's. A month out, though, anything can happen.
40:26
Speaker 1: How on earth do you keep a team focused because
40:30
Speaker 1: no-one likes hubris and this is not a foregone conclusion,
40:34
Speaker 1: is it? Absolutely not.
40:38
Speaker 14: It's good to be with you, Peter. My team takes
40:41
Speaker 14: absolutely nothing for granted. Not one single vote has been
40:45
Speaker 14: counted at this election. And that's exactly why my team
40:49
Speaker 14: is out on the ground. I'm out on the ground
40:51
Speaker 14: every single day talking to Victorians and making sure that
40:55
Speaker 14: we earn their trust. We have got a lot of
40:57
Speaker 14: work to do over the next 33 days to demonstrate
41:01
Speaker 14: to Victorians that we have a plan, a plan to
41:04
Speaker 14: reduce crime, to lower costs and deliver a government that works.
41:07
Speaker 14: But that means we're out on the ground, we're listening
41:10
Speaker 14: to Victorians, we're understanding their concerns, but most importantly, we're
41:14
Speaker 14: sharing our plan to fix this state and earning their trust.
41:19
Speaker 1: You need a significant swing, 8% across the board. Those
41:24
Speaker 1: numbers in that poll would give you about 10, but
41:27
Speaker 1: no swings ever uniform. Preference flows will be significant. The
41:32
Speaker 1: game changer of One Nation, how that will play out.
41:35
Speaker 1: So what's your message to voters, Jess?
41:40
Speaker 14: My message, Peter, is that we cannot afford to wait
41:43
Speaker 14: to start fixing Victoria. I've been honest that the problems
41:47
Speaker 14: here in Victoria are very big. Whether it's record levels
41:50
Speaker 14: of debt, record levels of crime, roads that are littered
41:54
Speaker 14: with potholes, we cannot fix it overnight. But we need
41:58
Speaker 14: a team that is ready to get started straight away.
42:01
Speaker 14: A team that knows what to do. And my team
42:04
Speaker 14: not only has a plan, we have a 100-day plan
42:07
Speaker 14: to demonstrate that we know what to do immediately if
42:10
Speaker 14: we are given the honour of being the next government
42:12
Speaker 14: here in Victoria. But we have a team with the experience.
42:15
Speaker 14: The real world experience, importantly, but also the government experience
42:19
Speaker 14: to not waste a moment. I love this state, Peter.
42:22
Speaker 14: I've said that to you many times. And I want
42:24
Speaker 14: to start turning Victoria around immediately. But in order to
42:28
Speaker 14: do that, I'm asking Victorians for their support. A vote
42:31
Speaker 14: for the Liberals and Nationals deliver us majority government because
42:35
Speaker 14: we cannot risk wasting any time to get started on
42:38
Speaker 14: putting Victoria back on track.
42:42
Speaker 1: There was a story on the weekend that the Premier
42:45
Speaker 1: needs to have an afternoon kip just to cope with
42:47
Speaker 1: a busy job. Now, interesting for two reasons. One, that
42:51
Speaker 1: was an internal hit from someone who was in his
42:55
Speaker 1: office or connected to Labor. That tells me that things
42:58
Speaker 1: are pretty crook for the party at the moment. But also,
43:01
Speaker 1: it demonstrated to me how quickly your CHQ's working because
43:06
Speaker 1: there was a billboard on top of a Captain Snooze
43:09
Speaker 1: store within a couple of hours. What does this tell
43:13
Speaker 1: you about Labor?
43:17
Speaker 14: Well, I mean, it's a very demanding job being Premier,
43:20
Speaker 14: and it's clearly not for everyone. Perhaps Ben Carrolls isn't
43:23
Speaker 14: up to the task and needs to take a snooze
43:25
Speaker 14: in the afternoon. But what's clear is that our team,
43:29
Speaker 14: we didn't hit the snooze button. We were focused on
43:32
Speaker 14: how do we demonstrate to Victorians that we're hungry, but
43:35
Speaker 14: most importantly, that we can't be asleep at the wheel.
43:38
Speaker 14: We need a team with a plan to fix this state,
43:40
Speaker 14: and that's exactly what my team has.
43:44
Speaker 1: I want to play a grab because it looks like
43:46
Speaker 1: you were out in the lawnmower while he was having
43:48
Speaker 1: a sleep.
43:48
Speaker 13: Have a look.
43:50
Speaker 14: This is the grass the Labor government can't afford to mow. Well, well, well,
43:55
Speaker 14: look who's back mowing the grass because Labor still can't.
43:59
Speaker 1: Afford to do it.
43:59
Speaker 14: Only my team and I have a plan for a
44:02
Speaker 14: fresh start for Victoria.
44:04
Speaker 17: More fresh grass.
44:07
Speaker 1: Again, I say this to people outside of Victoria, this
44:09
Speaker 1: seems crazy that something like mowing the lords cuts through
44:12
Speaker 1: like it does, but just like potholes, the place is
44:16
Speaker 1: in decline.
44:20
Speaker 14: That's right, Peter. And, you know, while it's a bit
44:22
Speaker 14: of fun to mow the grass, I think that I
44:24
Speaker 14: had a number of people stop and toot their horns
44:26
Speaker 14: while we were doing it and say, you know, good
44:28
Speaker 14: on you, Jess, let's actually get the basics right in
44:30
Speaker 14: this state. But whether it's potholes, whether it's graffiti, whether
44:34
Speaker 14: it's the overgrown grass... These are visible signs of decline
44:38
Speaker 14: of Victoria under this Labor government. And one of the
44:41
Speaker 14: things that I am absolutely focused on doing and why
44:44
Speaker 14: I get out of bed every morning is that I
44:46
Speaker 14: want to make sure that we are proud to be Victorian.
44:49
Speaker 14: We bring pride back to this state. I talk a
44:51
Speaker 14: lot about hope and optimism. That's so important, but so
44:55
Speaker 14: is pride. Pride in making sure that we get the
44:57
Speaker 14: basics right. We fix the roads, we mow the grass,
45:00
Speaker 14: we clean up the graffiti. This is what a government
45:03
Speaker 14: should deliver, a government that is getting on with the basics.
45:06
Speaker 14: Unless you get on with the basics and you deliver
45:08
Speaker 14: the basics, you cannot deliver the bigger things that this
45:11
Speaker 14: state needs, and that's why I'm so focused on fixing Victoria.
45:16
Speaker 1: Good luck, Jess. Four weeks to go. We'll catch up
45:18
Speaker 1: with you soon. Thank you. Isn't it nice to see
45:21
Speaker 1: a state leader wanting to do just state government stuff, hey?
45:25
Speaker 1: How about the local councils get back to their knitting,
45:27
Speaker 1: leave the feds to do what they should be doing.
45:29
Speaker 1: Let's go to the break. After the break, those huge
45:31
Speaker 1: numbers for coal in Chris Bowen's own seat. Paddles up next.
45:41
Speaker 1: Welcome back. Let's bring my panel straight in. Nicole Flint,
45:44
Speaker 1: of course, former Liberal MP from South Australia and One
45:46
Speaker 1: Nation National Director James Ashby, who was in the headlines
45:50
Speaker 1: this afternoon with my colleague Andrew Clennell. He read out
45:55
Speaker 1: a text message you sent him last night, apparently, that
45:57
Speaker 1: your boss thinks he's a bit of a dick, that
46:00
Speaker 1: she wasn't going to come on and discuss something or other.
46:02
Speaker 1: Your right of reply, James Ashby.
46:07
Speaker 2: That's what I said. And I think the same thing.
46:09
Speaker 17: And I have more letters or emails, should I say,
46:11
Speaker 17: of support and text messages from people even within the
46:14
Speaker 17: News 24 room. So I'm sorry, Andrew, but look, some
46:18
Speaker 17: people do think you're a dick and I'm not afraid
46:20
Speaker 17: to call it out at times.
46:23
Speaker 13: Right.
46:24
Speaker 1: Will she still come on News 24, mate? Oh, yeah,
46:27
Speaker 1: of course.
46:28
Speaker 17: Yeah, it's just Andrew. She's got no interest in talking
46:30
Speaker 17: to at the moment. So no issues there. A little
46:33
Speaker 17: more honesty.
46:34
Speaker 1: All right, let's go to Carl.
46:35
Speaker 17: Be brought out of more politicians.
46:37
Speaker 12: Yeah.
46:39
Speaker 1: I don't mind that at all. Let's go to coal. 78%
46:42
Speaker 1: of voters in Chris Bowen's own electorate say they want
46:46
Speaker 1: coal kept running until there's a better alternative. But 80%
46:50
Speaker 1: of those across New South Wales say we need more
46:53
Speaker 1: coal-fired power plants. This is Compass polling on behalf of
46:57
Speaker 1: Affordable Energy Australia, and this is quite significant. 82% of
47:02
Speaker 1: voters in Grayndler, well, they think coal should be kept
47:06
Speaker 1: in the system.
47:07
Speaker 13: Nicole?
47:08
Speaker 1: Flint, any surprises here?
47:09
Speaker 19: None whatsoever, Peter, and maybe... Labor will finally face the
47:15
Speaker 19: reality that their failed renewables green nightmare is despised by
47:19
Speaker 19: the Australian people and they know exactly who is to
47:23
Speaker 19: blame for record high power prices, whether they're a small business,
47:26
Speaker 19: whether they're a family just trying to pay the bills,
47:29
Speaker 19: you know, whether they're seeing the prices pass through in
47:31
Speaker 19: their groceries. It's an absolute disgrace and I could not
47:34
Speaker 19: be happier to see Labor getting the political reality check
47:39
Speaker 19: that they very much deserve.
47:41
Speaker 1: 27% of voters in that poll, James, only 27% trust
47:50
Speaker 1: Labor to bring down power prices. No surprises there?
47:56
Speaker 17: No, but it gives me a great deal of hope
47:58
Speaker 17: that we can get rid of this lying Labor government,
48:00
Speaker 17: because it doesn't matter whether it's Chris Bowen or the
48:03
Speaker 17: Prime Minister telling us that they're going to bring energy
48:06
Speaker 17: prices down. They've had four years to prove that, and
48:08
Speaker 17: they've not been able to. When we've got competition from
48:11
Speaker 17: countries like China... that are producing coal-fired power at $ 65
48:17
Speaker 17: a megawatt. That's six and a half cents a kilowatt.
48:20
Speaker 17: We're paying here somewhere around the vicinity of 40 cents
48:23
Speaker 17: a kilowatt. as household users. And businesses have been, they're
48:27
Speaker 17: feeling that price gouge as well. So look, under a
48:30
Speaker 17: one-nation government, we've said we'll build more coal-fired power stations
48:33
Speaker 17: to fill that void, bring power prices down until we
48:36
Speaker 17: can get that halt on nuclear energy overturned. I think
48:42
Speaker 17: that's got to go. The Liberal Party put that into
48:44
Speaker 17: place with a deal they did under the Greens. It's
48:46
Speaker 17: got to go. And we have to catch up with
48:48
Speaker 17: the times and bring energy prices down for the sake
48:51
Speaker 17: of ensuring that we've got ongoing industry here in the country,
48:55
Speaker 17: but more importantly, households can afford to live.
48:57
Speaker 1: Nicole, quick one from you. The sort of the infection
49:03
Speaker 1: in Paris, if I can call it that, is making
49:06
Speaker 1: its way to Australia with talk there's going to be
49:08
Speaker 1: mass protests on Remembrance Day.
49:12
Speaker 19: Well, Peter, that's just an absolute and utter disgrace. And
49:15
Speaker 19: I sincerely hope that we will see the protesters properly
49:18
Speaker 19: dealt with, governments had no hesitation stopping freedom protesters during COVID.
49:25
Speaker 19: Why don't we see the same standards applied to this
49:28
Speaker 19: sort of insanity, which is really, really dangerous? What we've
49:32
Speaker 19: seen in Europe is an absolute travesty.
49:35
Speaker 1: Yeah. Thank you to you both. I'm out of time.
49:38
Speaker 1: I've got to leave it there. I will say to
49:40
Speaker 1: my viewers, thank you for all your emails. I've been
49:42
Speaker 1: inundated with those comments I made about Ben Robert Smith and,
49:45
Speaker 1: in particular, your anger at the retrospectivity of the laws
49:50
Speaker 1: he has been charged under. We will stay across that.
49:54
Speaker 1: See you tomorrow. Here's Andrew.