Latest / The Rita Panahi Show / The Rita Panahi Show | 29 October

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The Rita Panahi Show | 29 October · The Rita Panahi Show

0:02
Speaker 1: Starting right now, The Rita Panahy Show.
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Speaker 2: Good evening and welcome to The Rita Panahy Show. I'm
0:11
Speaker 2: James Morrow, filling in for Rita, and here's what's coming
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Speaker 2: up tonight. Well, the Prime Minister's golf club sewer scandal
0:18
Speaker 2: is getting murkier by the day, and Albanese's credibility, it's
0:22
Speaker 2: going straight down the drain. Meanwhile, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, those
0:27
Speaker 2: budget headaches keep going on as the numbers keep getting worse.
0:31
Speaker 2: Labor's blame game is heating up with tensions inside the
0:34
Speaker 2: party threatening to boil over. What's going to end the
0:38
Speaker 2: economic disaster? Meanwhile, in the U.S., the midterms are heating
0:42
Speaker 2: up and the Democrats have rolled out Barack Obama in
0:46
Speaker 2: key states to see if they can get control of
0:50
Speaker 2: the Senate. And closer to home, a MasterChef judge has
0:53
Speaker 2: been forced to defend Trump. Meghan Markle's new career at
0:57
Speaker 2: Channel 10 as the Duchess receives backlash for her new
1:02
Speaker 2: career move, judging a kids' cooking show.
1:06
Speaker 1: Oh, and don't forget, we're going.
1:07
Speaker 2: To have plenty of lefties losing it to look forward to,
1:10
Speaker 2: including this Bonnie Wheelas.
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Speaker 3: I have said before, I hope to live in a
1:16
Speaker 3: Scotland where Black History Month is no longer necessary. Not
1:19
Speaker 3: because black history should be forgotten, but because it should
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Speaker 3: be recognised as just Scottish history.
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Speaker 2: We'll have more on that. You're going to love it. Anyway,
1:28
Speaker 2: let's move on to the news. The prime minister's golf
1:30
Speaker 2: club sewerage scandal is, as I said at the start,
1:33
Speaker 2: getting murkier every day. And we got to remember how
1:36
Speaker 2: this all started. It all had to do with a
1:39
Speaker 2: $ 6 million grant to Marrickville Golf Club, or as we
1:43
Speaker 2: like to call it, Royal Marrickville. And he had claimed
1:46
Speaker 2: initially that he had no connection to this club, which
1:50
Speaker 2: was awarded a $ 6 million federal grant. Then it emerged, oh,
1:55
Speaker 2: turns out, yeah, he'd been an honorary member for like
1:58
Speaker 2: more than a decade. Then it appears that he misled
2:02
Speaker 2: Parliament by saying that that money, well, that was just
2:05
Speaker 2: to deal with some sewerage works, but Of course it wasn't.
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Speaker 4: But earlier this year, when the club briefed its members
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Speaker 4: on the works to be carried out using the federal
2:13
Speaker 4: government's generosity, i.e. the generosity of you and me.
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Speaker 2: There was no mention of sewerage works. It was instead
2:30
Speaker 2: about the clubhouse, the pro shop, a botanical garden and
2:34
Speaker 2: a doggy area. Yet the Prime Minister and Labor Front
2:38
Speaker 2: ministers have still been pushing the same line. Here's Transport
2:42
Speaker 2: Minister Catherine King yesterday.
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Speaker 6: When this funding commitment was made in April 2025, part
2:48
Speaker 6: of the commitment included sewerage works.
2:53
Speaker 2: Now, we know that wasn't true, so the question is,
2:56
Speaker 2: why does Labour continue to lie? Well, on one level,
3:00
Speaker 2: I guess it's because they think they can get away
3:02
Speaker 2: with it. But can they really? Because as these revelations
3:06
Speaker 2: came to light, the Prime Minister's public disapproval ratings have
3:10
Speaker 2: come in, and they are higher than ever since he
3:12
Speaker 2: assumed office in 2022. According to this latest poll, the
3:17
Speaker 2: PM's disapproval has increased to a staggering 56%. So has
3:22
Speaker 2: this prime minister's careless lies finally caught up with him? Well,
3:25
Speaker 2: to discuss this and a whole lot more, we've got
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Speaker 2: an all-star panel tonight, Waverly Liberal Councilor Michelle Stevenson and...
3:33
Speaker 2: former liberal MP for Boothby, Nicole Flint. Nicole, let's start
3:38
Speaker 2: with you on this one. I mean, it is just
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Speaker 2: shocking to me because this government came to office on
3:46
Speaker 2: this idea of transparency and cleaning up what they presented
3:50
Speaker 2: as all, you know, the sleaze and dirty dealings of
3:54
Speaker 2: the Morrison government. Well, I mean, I'm sorry, is the
3:58
Speaker 2: lodge now one great big glass house?
4:02
Speaker 6: Well, Something certainly stinks here, James. That's all I can say.
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Speaker 6: This Marrickville, the Royal Marrickville, as you're calling it, the
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Speaker 6: golf course, it just, the story keeps getting worse and
4:14
Speaker 6: worse and more and more confusing. And I think that's
4:17
Speaker 6: because nobody in Labor actually knows what the truth is.
4:20
Speaker 6: All they know is that the Prime Minister is in
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Speaker 6: dire trouble, which means that The Labor government is in
4:26
Speaker 6: terrible trouble. The whole thing is very smelly. And I
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Speaker 6: think we need to get to the bottom of what
4:34
Speaker 6: is actually going on here. And honestly, with these conflicting statements,
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Speaker 6: it looks like Labor are desperately trying to concoct whatever
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Speaker 6: story they can, but in stark contrast to what the
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Speaker 6: council and the golf club have been telling people. So
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Speaker 6: I think we've now got multiple Labor ministers who have
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Speaker 6: misled Parliament, which is a really serious thing to do.
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Speaker 6: And no wonder the Prime Minister's approval ratings are literally
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Speaker 6: going down the toilet, because people can smell a lie
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Speaker 6: a mile away.
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Speaker 2: And Michelle, you know, this seems to me that like
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Speaker 2: this comes as the latest sort of incident here where
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Speaker 2: this prime minister, this government, the real character flaw here
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Speaker 2: is that they cannot own up to a mistake. And so,
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Speaker 2: you know, whatever it is, whether it's falling off the stage,
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Speaker 2: whether it's making stupid jokes about the Japanese prime minister.
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Speaker 2: They dig in and say there's nothing to see here,
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Speaker 2: and the problem is you for looking into it, as
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Speaker 2: Helen Haynes found out when she had a dirt sheet
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Speaker 2: distributed about her in retaliation for her asking questions about
5:44
Speaker 2: the integrity of this deal. Michelle, what is the next
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Speaker 2: step for this? Because I remember during the Au Pair scandal,
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Speaker 2: for example, Peter Dutton, when he was found to have
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Speaker 2: misled Parliament, Albanese called for him to resign.
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Speaker 7: Yeah, look, the double standards here are quite glaring.
6:02
Speaker 8: All people want is truth and transparency and we're getting
6:05
Speaker 8: neither of that from this government. I mean, this Prime
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Speaker 8: Minister is the least transparent out of any Prime Ministers.
6:11
Speaker 8: The freedom of information that they have denied up to 80%.
6:15
Speaker 8: They will not let anyone look into what is going
6:18
Speaker 8: on because they are worried that they will be caught out.
6:22
Speaker 8: Truth and transparency, that's all we're asking for, and there
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Speaker 8: is no surprises that their approval rating is tanking.
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Speaker 7: I mean, we even have Chalmers, who is trying to.
6:31
Speaker 8: Sell us lie after lie after lie, government spending driving
6:35
Speaker 8: up inflation, but no, no, no, no, blame the Middle East,
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Speaker 8: blame what's going on overseas. We really need this government
6:41
Speaker 8: to give us some truth.
6:43
Speaker 1: Absolutely, we do. And a great point.
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Speaker 2: Thanks for mentioning the FOIs, because that is a real
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Speaker 2: assault to everyone's right to know what their government is doing.
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Speaker 2: And I think it's absolutely disgraceful the way they hide
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Speaker 2: behind FOIs and commercial incompetence and everything else. But let's
6:57
Speaker 2: talk about this, Michelle, because you talked about inflation before Chalmers.
7:01
Speaker 2: Inflation is up. Oil prices are up. But the economy
7:04
Speaker 2: is faltering. And I'm sorry, it is not just about
7:07
Speaker 2: Donald Trump or her booze or whatever. This has led
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Speaker 2: to a blame game in labor ranks with the treasurer
7:14
Speaker 2: not so subtly trying to deflect a bit of blame
7:17
Speaker 2: onto the PM and some of his own cabinet colleagues.
7:21
Speaker 1: Have a look at this.
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Speaker 9: Really, the point that I'm making is we're all responsible
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Speaker 9: for our own parts of the shop.
7:27
Speaker 10: Tax reform is my part.
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Speaker 11: Of the shop, and so I take responsibility for it.
7:33
Speaker 2: Nicole, putting aside the rather generous interpretation of the word
7:36
Speaker 2: reform in that statement, that seems to suggest that maybe,
7:40
Speaker 2: you know, they're not all getting together for a big
7:43
Speaker 2: Sunday cabinet barbecue in the Labor government.
7:47
Speaker 6: No, and with the poll numbers so dire for Labor,
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Speaker 6: I mean, the latest poll we've seen out this week
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Speaker 6: is that Labor's on a primary vote of 28%, so
7:57
Speaker 6: is One Nation. So, of course, every single backbencher and
8:00
Speaker 6: every single Labor minister will be panicking. And they have
8:05
Speaker 6: been for some time. And nothing that the Prime Minister
8:08
Speaker 6: or the Treasurer have done, and let's face it, they've
8:12
Speaker 6: done very, very little to try to turn around all
8:16
Speaker 6: of the reasons why people are so upset. They haven't
8:19
Speaker 6: backtracked on the capital gains tax changes or the negative
8:23
Speaker 6: gearing changes or the trust changes which are going to
8:26
Speaker 6: destroy small business and cost them, well, cost the economy,
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Speaker 6: you know, hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars
8:33
Speaker 6: as people restructure. their tax arrangements. So no wonder the
8:38
Speaker 6: entire Labor Party is turning on and starting to play
8:43
Speaker 6: the blame game for the people that have been in
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Speaker 6: charge of making these decisions that are seeing them at
8:50
Speaker 6: one of their lowest primary votes ever.
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Speaker 2: And, Michelle, you know, this seems to have really damaged
8:56
Speaker 2: the Labour brand quite considerably now. And you look at,
8:59
Speaker 2: you know, the overall polls, preferred parties. You look at
9:01
Speaker 2: the rise of One Nation, certainly, and all of that.
9:04
Speaker 2: But in Victoria, in just about four weeks' time, the
9:07
Speaker 2: baseball bats are going to come out for the Labour
9:11
Speaker 2: government there in Victoria. In March, in New South Wales, again,
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Speaker 2: you know, Chris Minns, who doesn't have much in the
9:17
Speaker 2: way of a majority, the Premier, Labour Premier... Again, we
9:21
Speaker 2: could be seeing something similar. Has labor lost its mojo
9:26
Speaker 2: as what it did claim to be, the preferred economic managers,
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Speaker 2: which was always, I think, frankly, a pretty laughable idea?
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Speaker 1: So laughable.
9:34
Speaker 8: We know very well that they are not capable of
9:38
Speaker 8: managing themselves out of a paper bag. They can really
9:41
Speaker 8: not manage the economy. And the proof is literally in
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Speaker 8: the pudding, the billions and billions of overspending, the trillion
9:47
Speaker 8: dollars in debt. And I think people are finally waking up,
9:50
Speaker 8: particularly Victorians. Victoria has been left in a shocking state
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Speaker 8: economically through Labor mismanagement.
9:57
Speaker 7: And we know that for a fact. So I'm glad
10:00
Speaker 7: people are waking up.
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Speaker 8: They've finally realised that they can vote for someone else. Labor,
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Speaker 8: on the other hand, is losing its core demographic, which
10:07
Speaker 8: is their blue-collar workers.
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Speaker 1: They're fleeing.
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Speaker 7: They are going to One Nation. They are going to
10:12
Speaker 7: the Liberal.
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Speaker 8: Party because they have realised that the people that they
10:16
Speaker 8: thought represented them no longer do that. They are no
10:19
Speaker 8: longer representing working class. They are no longer representing the
10:22
Speaker 8: people who work hard. They are just handing out money
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Speaker 8: to people who don't earn it.
10:27
Speaker 2: And you know what's wild to me here is that
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Speaker 2: we've got this mid-year economic review coming up. The government
10:32
Speaker 2: doesn't seem to indicate that it has any appetite for
10:35
Speaker 2: cutting government spending, which is at the highest percentage of GDP.
10:38
Speaker 2: since 40 years, excluding COVID, and yet we also hear
10:44
Speaker 2: from the Daily Telegraph, my own paper, that the government
10:48
Speaker 2: is now taking in an extra $ 350 million a month
10:53
Speaker 2: in GST from us poor beleaguered motorists, especially us V8 drivers,
10:59
Speaker 2: which is sparking a furious revolt by drivers who are
11:02
Speaker 2: demanding A fuel tax cut. Nicole Flint, do drivers deserve
11:07
Speaker 2: a cut to the fuel excise? I know the Liberals
11:10
Speaker 2: have put forward a policy on this, but is it
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Speaker 2: time to again give us a bit of relief at
11:15
Speaker 2: the pump?
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Speaker 7: Of course it is, James.
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Speaker 6: And as one of your fellow V8 drivers, Holden, thank
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Speaker 6: you very much, far superior to your Ford Mustang, we
11:27
Speaker 6: desperately need some fuel excise relief again because this is
11:31
Speaker 6: hurting every single small business, every family, everyone who's reliant
11:36
Speaker 6: on a car, which, let's face it, is the vast
11:39
Speaker 6: majority of Australians. because our public transport simply doesn't reach
11:45
Speaker 6: or service well enough, everyone in the outer suburbs in particular.
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Speaker 6: So we're heavily car reliant and we have a cost
11:52
Speaker 6: of living crisis. This is the very least that Labor
11:55
Speaker 6: can do to reinstate, is what I'm trying to say,
12:00
Speaker 6: a cut to the fuel excise just to give people
12:03
Speaker 6: some cost of living relief because interest rates are at
12:05
Speaker 6: record highs. Our power prices, grocery prices, insurance, on every
12:11
Speaker 6: single indicator, Labor have stuffed the economy. So just give
12:16
Speaker 6: people some relief that they desperately need.
12:19
Speaker 1: And, Michelle, I mean, I won't ask you what you drive.
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Speaker 2: I know you live in the east of Sydney where
12:23
Speaker 2: there's a lot of EVs, but we won't have that debate.
12:26
Speaker 2: But this is, however, isn't this... nibbling around the edges
12:30
Speaker 2: of the problem, which is, of course, the fact that
12:33
Speaker 2: the public sector is crowding out private sector activity and
12:38
Speaker 2: it is overheating the economy. And until we start to
12:40
Speaker 2: see serious cuts, all of these ticket clips that they
12:46
Speaker 2: take from all of us, they're all just going down
12:48
Speaker 2: the black hole of interest rates, corruption, pet projects, and
12:53
Speaker 2: nothing seems to be making anybody's lives any better.
12:56
Speaker 7: I drive a Volkswagen, just so you know.
12:59
Speaker 1: Good, good, good.
13:00
Speaker 12: OK.
13:01
Speaker 7: I don't drive an EV.
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Speaker 8: By the way, we should also look at putting some
13:05
Speaker 8: kind of excise on EVs.
13:06
Speaker 7: They're heavy cars.
13:08
Speaker 8: They make use of the roads, while the rest of
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Speaker 8: us petrol guzzlers are funding their existence and their ability.
13:13
Speaker 7: To drive scot-free. Just that, just as a side note.
13:16
Speaker 8: But what I will say, this government is spending money
13:19
Speaker 8: at record levels, and we know that that is true.
13:21
Speaker 7: For the very first time, I.
13:22
Speaker 8: Was talking to Joe Hockey just the other day, former
13:25
Speaker 8: federal treasurer, And he pointed out that for the very
13:27
Speaker 8: first time, this government is spending more in the way
13:31
Speaker 8: of handouts than it is in receiving personal income tax.
13:35
Speaker 8: So at the moment, where are they getting all that
13:38
Speaker 8: funding from? Well, they just keep taking and taking and taking.
13:41
Speaker 8: And small business and enterprise are the people that are
13:44
Speaker 8: in the firing lines. We've got people who love to innovate.
13:48
Speaker 8: who are going overseas because they can't deal with the
13:50
Speaker 8: red taxes, they can't deal with the green taxes. They
13:52
Speaker 8: simply can't afford to function. We are losing aspiration. We
13:56
Speaker 8: are losing all the things that founded this country and
13:59
Speaker 8: made it great. And Labor is the people behind all
14:02
Speaker 8: of that.
14:03
Speaker 2: I'm glad you had that thought about the EV tax.
14:05
Speaker 2: I might even say, hey, cyclists, pay a little rego.
14:08
Speaker 2: But that's another debate again for another time. Hey, Michelle,
14:10
Speaker 2: I'll stick with you very quickly here. In Sydney, you know,
14:13
Speaker 2: we've been expanding the metro. There are now more calls
14:16
Speaker 2: to make the metro here in Sydney, a 24-hour metro. Michelle,
14:21
Speaker 2: very quickly, is that what Sydney needs to, I don't know,
14:25
Speaker 2: get the city moving again? Or does it even matter,
14:28
Speaker 2: given that Sydney Siders seem to be all about waking
14:30
Speaker 2: up at 4 a.m. for the sunrise and going and doing.
14:33
Speaker 1: A run club.
14:34
Speaker 8: Well, I will say in Bondi we do love an
14:36
Speaker 8: early morning. But, look, I think a 24-hour economy is
14:38
Speaker 8: something we should be aiming for.
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Speaker 7: It will put us on the map and make us
14:41
Speaker 7: world class.
14:42
Speaker 8: If only Labor could do a few more metros and
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Speaker 8: stop spending all that money on giving money out to
14:49
Speaker 8: all the people that they've hired because they're trying to keep,
14:51
Speaker 8: you know, all of the stuff down and hide everything. But,
14:54
Speaker 8: you know, we just need Labor to maybe build a
14:56
Speaker 8: few more metro because we know the Liberal Party had
14:59
Speaker 8: sorted that out quite nicely and set it up for them.
15:02
Speaker 1: Fair enough. And Nicole, what do you reckon?
15:03
Speaker 2: Sydney, do we need to be a 24 hour city or,
15:06
Speaker 2: you know, is this getting tucked up at 10 p.m.,
15:08
Speaker 2: which is what seems to be happening here? Is that
15:10
Speaker 2: good enough for for the harbor city?
15:13
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Sydney.
15:14
Speaker 6: You should be 24 hours. And although I do love
15:17
Speaker 6: my 6.2 litre V8, James, bigger than yours, as I said,
15:21
Speaker 6: I am a huge fan.
15:22
Speaker 1: Of public transport.
15:23
Speaker 6: I think this will be brilliant for all of your
15:26
Speaker 6: hospitality venues, for your restaurants, for your pubs. Bring it on.
15:31
Speaker 6: I can't wait to come and use a 24-hour public
15:34
Speaker 6: transport system.
15:35
Speaker 2: Well, look forward to seeing you here. Nicole Flint, Michelle Stevenson,
15:39
Speaker 2: thank you so much for your time this evening.
15:41
Speaker 7: Thank you.
15:45
Speaker 2: Well, there's an old saying in politics that the best
15:47
Speaker 2: sort of federal budget is the sort that they stop
15:50
Speaker 2: talking about by the weekend, but not the one Jim
15:53
Speaker 2: Chalmers handed down last May. In fact, Jim Chalmers has
15:56
Speaker 2: spent months dodging criticism and ducking accountability over that very
16:01
Speaker 2: same federal budget that I'm talking about here. And now
16:04
Speaker 2: the economic reality is catching up with him and he
16:07
Speaker 2: can no longer hide inflation. has surged well beyond expectations
16:12
Speaker 2: to 4.3%, underlying inflations at 3.6%, and there is another
16:17
Speaker 2: interest rate rise, looming while the government just keeps spending.
16:22
Speaker 2: Yet the treasurer refuses to commit to bringing down government
16:26
Speaker 2: expenditures in next month's mid-year budget update. So after relentlessly
16:33
Speaker 2: defending his budget, Chalmers is now under serious pressure to
16:36
Speaker 2: explain just how his spending benefits fits with the fight
16:40
Speaker 2: against inflation. And as the heat turns up against Anthony Albanese, well,
16:44
Speaker 2: he's been forced to jump to the Treasurer's defence. Here
16:48
Speaker 2: the PM was yesterday in Question Time.
16:51
Speaker 13: Under this Treasurer, debt in 2025-26 is $ 198 billion lower.
16:59
Speaker 13: This is a Treasurer who takes his responsibilities on the
17:04
Speaker 13: economy seriously.
17:07
Speaker 4: And it is hard to take those opposite seriously, given
17:11
Speaker 4: their performance today.
17:14
Speaker 2: But Australians don't need a lecture to cool the debate.
17:16
Speaker 2: They need relief and they need something to do something
17:19
Speaker 2: about yet another hit to their mortgages. Now, Chalmers, of course,
17:23
Speaker 2: owns this budget and he has to own the consequences.
17:26
Speaker 2: But joining me to discuss all this now is AMP
17:30
Speaker 2: chief economist Shane Oliver. Shane, welcome to the program. Thanks
17:33
Speaker 2: for joining me. It must have kind of pained Anthony
17:36
Speaker 2: Albanese a little bit to have to jump to Jim Chalmers' defense,
17:40
Speaker 2: given the rather difficult politics of all this.
17:43
Speaker 9: Well, I guess it probably does, but we know that
17:46
Speaker 9: the Prime Minister prefers a stable ship, doesn't like to
17:49
Speaker 9: chop and change his key ministers regularly, and the perceptions
17:53
Speaker 9: of instability would be an issue there. And I guess
17:56
Speaker 9: in the great scheme of things, Jim Chalmers, you know,
18:00
Speaker 9: one can debate whether they should have done more to
18:02
Speaker 9: cut government spending and those sorts of things, but in
18:04
Speaker 9: the great scheme of things, it hasn't been completely disastrous.
18:08
Speaker 10: It's been sort of OK. in the great scheme of things.
18:10
Speaker 9: But by the same token, I reckon if you're someone
18:13
Speaker 9: with a mortgage and you're facing down the barrel of
18:16
Speaker 9: another interest rate hike, which I think could have been
18:19
Speaker 9: avoided if we saw cutbacks in government spending this year,
18:24
Speaker 9: then you may not quite see it that way. So
18:26
Speaker 9: it is a difficult debate around the situation at present
18:29
Speaker 9: in Australia. And I think that pressure is in terms
18:33
Speaker 9: of government spending, has gone from a mild concern earlier
18:37
Speaker 9: this year. I remember talking about it on Sky with
18:40
Speaker 9: Kieran back in January, I think it is, when the
18:44
Speaker 9: inflation figures came out at the time. And, of course,
18:46
Speaker 9: since then it's gone from being a sort of a
18:48
Speaker 9: niche issue to a more broad-based issue, with many Australians
18:53
Speaker 9: realising that that is part of the problem.
18:55
Speaker 1: Well, yeah.
18:55
Speaker 9: Government spending is simply too high. relative to the capacity
18:59
Speaker 9: constraints in our economy.
19:01
Speaker 2: It is fascinating because we've seen both NewsPoll and the
19:04
Speaker 2: Roy Morgan poll, they've both shown serious dialing in by
19:08
Speaker 2: the electorate into this issue of government spending. And I
19:11
Speaker 2: think people are going to start to notice too because
19:14
Speaker 2: While the government loves to say, well, look, we're doing
19:16
Speaker 2: very well comparatively, most other nations haven't had these sorts
19:20
Speaker 2: of interest rate rise after interest rate rise after interest
19:23
Speaker 2: rate rise. I mean, inflation is also a problem in
19:26
Speaker 2: the United States, but I think the Federal Reserve just
19:29
Speaker 2: declined to raise interest rates there. So internationally, are we
19:34
Speaker 2: really doing as well as the government claims?
19:37
Speaker 1: Well, not really.
19:38
Speaker 9: But it is true that other countries have seen pressure
19:41
Speaker 9: on their inflation rates. but not to the same degree
19:43
Speaker 9: that Australia has seen. And even the Treasurer has acknowledged
19:47
Speaker 9: that we did have an inflation problem before. the rise
19:50
Speaker 9: in oil prices associated with the Iran war. And that
19:54
Speaker 9: was due to capacity constraints, whereas that's been less of
19:57
Speaker 9: an issue in the US and Europe and elsewhere. Canada
20:00
Speaker 9: overnight raised interest rates. But many of these countries have
20:03
Speaker 9: inflation below 3% much closer to their targets than we
20:07
Speaker 9: do in Australia. And we've gone from a situation coming
20:10
Speaker 9: out of the pandemic, that initial rise in inflation, we
20:13
Speaker 9: were sort of in the middle of the pack around 2022,
20:15
Speaker 9: whereas now we're at the high end of the pack.
20:19
Speaker 10: On inflation.
20:20
Speaker 9: And that suggests to me that there's more homegrown factors
20:23
Speaker 9: in there than international factors. And that's borne out when
20:27
Speaker 9: you go through the CPI and look at all the
20:29
Speaker 9: items that are going up in price, whether.
20:30
Speaker 10: It's seeing your vet or getting a haircut.
20:35
Speaker 9: Those prices have gone up significantly and they're not related
20:38
Speaker 9: to what's going on in the Middle East. And that's
20:41
Speaker 9: why our central bank has had to have been more
20:43
Speaker 9: aggressive in in rising rates, and unfortunately, the pressure on
20:48
Speaker 9: our central.
20:49
Speaker 10: Bank remains more intense.
20:51
Speaker 9: We don't have the luxury of waiting and assessing like
20:54
Speaker 9: the Fed just did overnight.
20:55
Speaker 2: And Shane, one of the other factors too, of course,
20:58
Speaker 2: is that household spending on various consumer goods or whatever,
21:02
Speaker 2: All of that's driven by, of course, how wealthy people feel.
21:05
Speaker 2: And we know their wages have been going backwards. But
21:08
Speaker 2: also this budget, of course, has had a huge.
21:10
Speaker 1: Effect on property prices.
21:13
Speaker 2: And so for everybody who's in the market one way
21:15
Speaker 2: or the other, that wealth effect means that they're feeling
21:18
Speaker 2: a lot less wealthy. Are you seeing people in the
21:21
Speaker 2: economy just being less likely to, say, replace a television
21:25
Speaker 2: or a fridge that would be discretionary, not necessary? Are
21:29
Speaker 2: people just starting to hold back on their spending yet?
21:32
Speaker 10: Well, they are. These things obviously occur with a bit
21:35
Speaker 10: of a lag.
21:36
Speaker 9: We saw the rate hike start in February this year,
21:39
Speaker 9: about the same time house prices started to fall. Now
21:42
Speaker 9: we're starting to see early inclinations that is showing up,
21:46
Speaker 9: or early readings rather, that.
21:47
Speaker 10: Is showing up in lower discretionary spending.
21:50
Speaker 9: And I think some of the retailers have had warnings
21:52
Speaker 9: to that effect today. with I think it's the OGM
21:56
Speaker 9: season for Australian companies. So we're seeing early signs that
22:00
Speaker 9: consumer discretionary spending is winding down, and that is.
22:04
Speaker 10: Part of the problem.
22:06
Speaker 9: I think if you put things in some context, last
22:08
Speaker 9: year we saw some rate cuts. That provided relief for households.
22:13
Speaker 9: They were able to start spending a little bit more,
22:15
Speaker 9: but they bumped up against higher levels of government spending
22:18
Speaker 9: and that, of course, led to the capacity constraints in
22:21
Speaker 9: the economy. So it's not as if Australian households have
22:23
Speaker 9: gone bonkers and are spending too much.
22:25
Speaker 14: No.
22:25
Speaker 10: They're just trying to get back to normal levels.
22:28
Speaker 9: And then, of course, the Reserve Bank realised, well, we've
22:30
Speaker 9: got a problem here, we can't allow a pick-up in inflation,
22:32
Speaker 9: so they've had to put the brakes on again, and
22:35
Speaker 9: that's what we've been seeing with households then responding to
22:39
Speaker 9: that by cutting back their spending. A, in response to
22:42
Speaker 9: the higher rates, but B, increasing decline in wealth, which
22:48
Speaker 9: makes people feel poorer.
22:49
Speaker 2: And Shane, just very quickly, I was startled. You're talking
22:52
Speaker 2: about the impact on business of all of this. Businesses,
22:55
Speaker 2: of course, copped a big hit from the ATO around
22:57
Speaker 2: the credit card fees and around what they're allowed to charge.
23:01
Speaker 2: But were you surprised by the testimony from ATO officials
23:05
Speaker 2: that they didn't really get... the nature of what the
23:09
Speaker 2: problem was for small businesses when they made this change
23:13
Speaker 2: to their own policy around accepting credit cards.
23:17
Speaker 9: Yes, I was a bit surprised and I was also
23:19
Speaker 9: surprised that they were more mindful of the optics. that
23:23
Speaker 9: it was, I guess, a government instrumentality, the Reserve Bank
23:27
Speaker 9: and the government claiming some credit for that, banning the
23:30
Speaker 9: fees or the surcharges. And then, of course, it makes
23:34
Speaker 9: logical sense, I suppose. The ATO then responds by saying, well,
23:39
Speaker 9: if we can't put a surcharge on anymore.
23:41
Speaker 10: You're going to ban the use of credit cards.
23:43
Speaker 9: But then in the process, they'd forgotten the point that
23:46
Speaker 9: lots of small businesses do make their payments through credit cards.
23:51
Speaker 9: And you'd think they would have been a bit more
23:53
Speaker 9: thought about that and also a bit more thought in
23:56
Speaker 9: terms of how this would come across in terms of
23:58
Speaker 9: the optics, which look particularly bad.
24:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, you would have hoped, Shane. Thank you so much
24:02
Speaker 2: for your time. Really appreciate you walking us through all
24:04
Speaker 2: this tonight.
24:05
Speaker 10: My pleasure. Thank you.
24:07
Speaker 2: Still to come, as the midterms heat up in the U.S.,
24:10
Speaker 2: the Democrats play the Obama card in key states that
24:13
Speaker 2: will determine the future of the Senate. Ami Horowitz is
24:16
Speaker 2: here to break it all down next. And now it's
24:25
Speaker 2: time for lefties losing it. And with just days to
24:28
Speaker 2: go before the American midterm elections, I thought we ought
24:31
Speaker 2: to check in on how our friends on the left.
24:34
Speaker 1: Are coping with all the excitement.
24:37
Speaker 2: Now, you'd think that with all the headlines and the
24:40
Speaker 2: polls suggesting that the Democrats are going to romp it in,
24:43
Speaker 2: in both the House and the Senate, the left would
24:46
Speaker 2: be acting both more calm and more confident and also
24:52
Speaker 2: more not saying the quiet part out loud. Well, let's
24:57
Speaker 2: see how that's working out for them. Here's Florida Democrat
25:00
Speaker 2: Senate hopeful Angie Nixon.
25:02
Speaker 15: This very nation was founded.
25:07
Speaker 10: On resistance, even though we on stolen land.
25:12
Speaker 2: Stolen land, you say? That's pretty interesting, Angie. So the
25:16
Speaker 2: question is, why do you want to be part of
25:18
Speaker 2: its government? What does that make you a What's the
25:21
Speaker 2: word I'm looking for?
25:23
Speaker 1: A colonizer?
25:25
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, our friend Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed hit some similar
25:29
Speaker 2: themes out on the campaign trail.
25:32
Speaker 7: Did I hear you say a tacit support for reparations.
25:34
Speaker 1: In one of your previous comments as well?
25:36
Speaker 11: Not tacit. I've been very clear about this. I think
25:40
Speaker 11: it's important for us to address the wrongs of the past.
25:43
Speaker 11: And we clearly have failed to do it. And the
25:45
Speaker 11: consequences bear out in all of the statistics around economic
25:49
Speaker 11: opportunity and health.
25:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope all the white liberals out there in
25:53
Speaker 2: Michigan who are voting for this guy know that they
25:56
Speaker 2: will be first cab off the rank here. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, yes,
26:01
Speaker 2: that Hillary Clinton, has promised Americans a new era of
26:06
Speaker 2: peace and amity and friendship if the Democrats win Congress.
26:11
Speaker 2: So you know what to do.
26:13
Speaker 16: And he's soon going to have a Democratic Congress trying
26:16
Speaker 16: to rein him in, hold him accountable, and investigate him,
26:19
Speaker 16: his administration, his family, his supporters and allies. He literally
26:24
Speaker 16: has held Republicans hostage for a decade. And that only
26:27
Speaker 16: works for so long. One day the hostages look around
26:31
Speaker 16: and say, there are more of us than there is
26:32
Speaker 16: of him. We need to take him on. And I
26:35
Speaker 16: think we can see that happen.
26:37
Speaker 10: So buckle up.
26:38
Speaker 7: The election is just the beginning.
26:40
Speaker 1: Buckle up.
26:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's start investigating everyone we don't agree with and
26:44
Speaker 2: their families. I can't see that setting any bad or
26:49
Speaker 2: unhelpful precedents. In any case, this is not how the
26:54
Speaker 2: confident side talks. It sounds, frankly, unhinged. But just to
26:59
Speaker 2: make sure we've all got the message, here's Kamala Harris
27:03
Speaker 2: explaining some of the stuff on the Democrat agenda if
27:07
Speaker 2: they win big.
27:08
Speaker 17: I think that we should expand... and I'm advocating we
27:10
Speaker 17: should expand the Supreme Court. We have 13 circuit courts,
27:14
Speaker 17: let's have 13 justices. I am advocating that if the
27:20
Speaker 17: people there want it, we should be fighting for statehood
27:23
Speaker 17: for DC and Puerto Rico. I think we really need
27:27
Speaker 17: to critically re-examine the electoral college. These are systems and
27:33
Speaker 17: designs that we need to really reevaluate whether the design
27:37
Speaker 17: itself is working on behalf of the people.
27:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, again, sorry.
27:41
Speaker 2: I thought the whole idea here, guys, was to not
27:44
Speaker 2: scare normie voters out of voting for the Democrats or
27:48
Speaker 2: chase them back into the arms of Trump. Anyway. I do,
27:53
Speaker 2: I guess someone didn't get the message. Certainly not Kathy Griffith.
27:57
Speaker 15: This really is it. This is the big one that
28:00
Speaker 15: decides whether we are fully a fascist country or we
28:07
Speaker 15: are not. It's essential that we win not only the
28:10
Speaker 15: House of Representatives. If they win or even retain the Senate,
28:15
Speaker 15: then we're really screwed. Can any of you guys not
28:19
Speaker 15: sleep because of fascism?
28:21
Speaker 1: Me too.
28:21
Speaker 7: I'm obsessed with it.
28:23
Speaker 15: I'm having a little bit of an in-person live anxiety attack.
28:27
Speaker 7: And when I get those, I just flop sweat.
28:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, you don't say.
28:32
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, when the left is not obsessing over Donald Trump,
28:35
Speaker 2: they're losing it over Elon Musk. Here's Minneapolis City Councilwoman
28:40
Speaker 2: and DSA member Robin Wolsley. She's going after Musk and
28:44
Speaker 2: his flying. Well, I'll let her explain.
28:47
Speaker 14: We see that every day with working people drowning in
28:50
Speaker 14: medical debt and student debt, living paycheck to paycheck. Also,
28:55
Speaker 14: we're seeing that happen while the ultra wealthy profit off
28:58
Speaker 14: of our labor and off of our poverty And then
29:01
Speaker 14: they take those monies and send flying penises into space
29:04
Speaker 14: and call that SpaceX. Or send flying cars to go
29:08
Speaker 14: off of essentially Lego ramps. And then we're supposed to
29:14
Speaker 14: be told and the stuff, the fact that we should
29:16
Speaker 14: just spend all our money paying a landlord for housing.
29:20
Speaker 10: And that's not the way that it has to be.
29:24
Speaker 2: So let me see if I follow this economic logic.
29:28
Speaker 2: That lady's rent is too high because of Elon Musk's
29:32
Speaker 2: flying space penises.
29:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, sure, that makes sense.
29:37
Speaker 2: Anyway, it makes almost as much sense as these lefties
29:40
Speaker 2: who really, and I mean really, lost it at our
29:43
Speaker 2: good friend Alex Stein at this recent campus appearance.
29:48
Speaker 1: We f * * * ing hate you.
29:50
Speaker 17: F * * *.
29:51
Speaker 1: You, Alex Stein!
29:51
Speaker 6: F * * * ing hate you.
29:53
Speaker 1: Alex Stein is a clown! Come here, drinks if he's
29:56
Speaker 1: a laugh! Alex Stein is a clown!
29:58
Speaker 6: Come here, f * * *!
30:09
Speaker 1: Finally, let's leave the U.S. of A.
30:10
Speaker 2: And head over to Scotland, where this bonnie lassie explains
30:14
Speaker 2: what Scottish history is actually really all about.
30:19
Speaker 3: I've said before I hope to live in a Scotland
30:21
Speaker 3: where Black History Month is no longer necessary. Not because
30:24
Speaker 3: black history should be forgotten, but because it should be
30:26
Speaker 3: recognised as just Scottish history. That is not the Scotland
30:30
Speaker 3: we may live in today. I know that from my
30:32
Speaker 3: own experience. But I hope that in my lifetime, that
30:35
Speaker 3: is Scotland that we will all build together.
30:37
Speaker 10: Thank you.
30:43
Speaker 2: Well, with control of the U.S. Senate hanging in the balance,
30:46
Speaker 2: both parties in the U.S. are turning to key battleground
30:50
Speaker 2: states in the week before the U.S. midterm election. President
30:53
Speaker 2: Trump has been in Ohio turning on the charm.
30:57
Speaker 12: You know, until I came around, Ohio was not a
31:00
Speaker 12: successful state. We really turned things around in 2016. Which
31:05
Speaker 12: was a bigger election, 2016 or 2024? And by the way,
31:07
Speaker 12: we won in 2022, but let's... We won in 2020.
31:14
Speaker 2: While the Democrats, well, they've rolled out former President Barack
31:18
Speaker 2: Obama onto the campaign trail in Georgia. Now, he's largely
31:22
Speaker 2: kept a low profile throughout this election cycle, but he
31:25
Speaker 2: is now being deployed by the Democrats in a renewed
31:28
Speaker 2: push to rally voters in one of the states central
31:32
Speaker 2: to their Senate strategy.
31:34
Speaker 18: The last couple of years, signing, singing this president's praises,
31:40
Speaker 18: doing anything to he has, saying how he might be
31:44
Speaker 18: the best president ever. Now they're realizing that everybody's pretty
31:51
Speaker 18: upset about his broken promises.
31:55
Speaker 1: So what do they do?
31:57
Speaker 18: Well, they're doing what they always do, which is running
32:02
Speaker 18: all kinds of scary ads to make you think Democrats
32:05
Speaker 18: are radical and communists and That the woke police are
32:09
Speaker 18: going to ban hamburgers and make everybody eat tofu.
32:13
Speaker 1: Really, Mr.
32:14
Speaker 2: President, you think that the ads by the Republicans is
32:18
Speaker 2: what is making the Democrats seem like, well, radical socialists?
32:21
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, sure, but just take a look who
32:25
Speaker 2: is currently running New York City.
32:28
Speaker 1: I'll say no more.
32:29
Speaker 2: But to talk about this and a whole lot more,
32:31
Speaker 2: let's bring in my good friend, filmmaker Ami Horowitz.
32:35
Speaker 7: Ami.
32:36
Speaker 1: First of all, great to see you.
32:38
Speaker 2: Pretty interesting that they're bringing the Obama card into play
32:42
Speaker 2: this late in the campaign cycle. How do you interpret that?
32:47
Speaker 2: Do you think that this is politics as usual, or
32:49
Speaker 2: is there a bit of concern about their internal polls
32:53
Speaker 2: about how they are going to go next week?
32:57
Speaker 1: I mean, look, it could be a little bit of both.
32:58
Speaker 19: I think Barack Obama's single biggest role, if I were
33:02
Speaker 19: the Democrats, would be deploying him solely in Michigan, okay?
33:06
Speaker 19: Because the situation we have there, I think the black
33:08
Speaker 19: vote's gonna end up meaning a lot in terms of
33:11
Speaker 19: who ends up being the next senator. I think there's
33:13
Speaker 19: a mistaken view among Republicans that black people don't vote
33:17
Speaker 19: for DSA candidates. Well, that's true in the primaries, and
33:21
Speaker 19: the black vote did not go... for the DSA candidate there, right,
33:27
Speaker 19: the erstwhile DSA candidate, Al-Sayed, they do tend to go
33:32
Speaker 19: home to Democrats when there was a Republican versus a
33:36
Speaker 19: DSA candidate, ala Mamdani, who didn't win the black vote
33:39
Speaker 19: on the primary, but did clean up that vote for
33:43
Speaker 19: the general. So I think that's where he's best deployed.
33:47
Speaker 19: I think that in that state, Georgia, it seems like
33:51
Speaker 19: Ossoff is going to win that, so I'm not sure
33:52
Speaker 19: what his role is there in particular. I think Texas
33:56
Speaker 19: is probably the most instructive of the Senate races going forward.
34:02
Speaker 19: You know, this is a recipe for how Republicans lose Texas, right?
34:05
Speaker 1: I hate to say it.
34:06
Speaker 19: But when you put John Cornyn, who lost his primary
34:10
Speaker 19: against Paxton, would have won this election walking away. But they,
34:15
Speaker 19: for some reason, decided to go with one of the
34:17
Speaker 19: worst candidates Senate candidates I have ever seen in Paxton.
34:22
Speaker 19: And look, the polls are mixed. Tallarico has been kind
34:25
Speaker 19: of leading for a while very narrowly. I think it
34:28
Speaker 19: was interesting the prediction markets, while have a lead for Tallarico,
34:33
Speaker 19: the specific prediction markets that only allow for Texans have
34:38
Speaker 19: is a dead heat. In fact, Paxton up by a
34:40
Speaker 19: little bit. I think one of the warning signs is
34:43
Speaker 19: that Tallarico is winning the Hispanic vote by 18 points.
34:47
Speaker 19: That's not good for Paxton going forward and not good
34:49
Speaker 19: for Republicans going forward also. And I think the general trends, again,
34:55
Speaker 19: you know, the stat that the Washington Post came up
34:58
Speaker 19: with is fascinating. Nineteen of the 21 toss-up districts are
35:03
Speaker 19: districts that have outpaced the rest of the American economy
35:07
Speaker 19: in terms of lack of cost of living and cost
35:10
Speaker 19: of living being difficult. These are all not good trends
35:13
Speaker 19: for Republicans. And maybe the worst of all is that
35:16
Speaker 19: while the president won the election propelled by the economy
35:20
Speaker 19: and cost of living, they are getting the Republicans and
35:22
Speaker 19: Trump are getting smacked down on the polling for cost
35:28
Speaker 19: of living. The president is at 26 percent approval of
35:30
Speaker 19: the economy. and he's at 17% for cost of living.
35:34
Speaker 19: These are not good trends for Republicans in the midterms.
35:36
Speaker 2: Well, no, I mean, some of those are not good trends,
35:38
Speaker 2: although we've spoken a lot about some of the polling
35:40
Speaker 2: and how a lot of that sort of tends to
35:42
Speaker 2: go one way or the other. But it is fascinating
35:45
Speaker 2: to me that with what the Democrats are talking about
35:47
Speaker 2: doing if they come into power, that Americans would be
35:52
Speaker 2: willing to hold their nose and go for what they're
35:54
Speaker 2: talking about, which is a fairly extreme agenda of, you know, retribution, investigations, impeachments.
36:02
Speaker 1: So would the Democrats.
36:03
Speaker 2: If they get all of their wishes come true next week,
36:07
Speaker 2: would they be wise to go down that road? Or
36:10
Speaker 2: would it be smarter for them to look like a
36:12
Speaker 2: bunch of responsible grown-up centrists who simply want to put
36:15
Speaker 2: the Trump era behind them and figure out where to
36:17
Speaker 2: take the country from 2028?
36:20
Speaker 1: Oh, it doesn't matter what the answer is.
36:22
Speaker 19: The answer is obviously take the high road, but that's
36:24
Speaker 19: not what they're going to do. So what looks better
36:27
Speaker 19: for them is not really the point. They are 100%
36:30
Speaker 19: going to go after Donald Trump if they end up
36:33
Speaker 19: winning both the House and the Senate.
36:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that's an interesting move. But, hey, let's also
36:38
Speaker 2: talk about another election. I have been fascinated by this here.
36:41
Speaker 2: Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. Well, some people say he won
36:46
Speaker 2: the Brazilian election after the polls were extended controversially by
36:50
Speaker 2: a few hours the other day. But he's landed in
36:53
Speaker 2: South Florida right now. Apparently, he's been granted refugee status
36:58
Speaker 2: by the Trump administration. Meanwhile, apparently, the socialist Lula government,
37:03
Speaker 2: which has claimed victory, they've been confiscating the passports of everybody.
37:08
Speaker 1: Involved with the opposition.
37:10
Speaker 2: This doesn't sound like, you know, a great win for
37:14
Speaker 2: democracy in Brazil if they're confiscating the passports of the opposition.
37:19
Speaker 19: Yeah, but you wouldn't know that listening to the global
37:23
Speaker 19: left and the Hollywood intelligentsia in the United States, because
37:27
Speaker 19: they all said Lulu's win is a.
37:29
Speaker 1: Win for democracy, right? Yeah.
37:34
Speaker 19: Yeah, let's take a little closer look at how democratic
37:38
Speaker 19: Lulu is. So first of all, like you said, like
37:40
Speaker 19: this whole notion with the polls thing was let's let's
37:44
Speaker 19: just say problematic.
37:45
Speaker 5: Right.
37:46
Speaker 1: If I was just being.
37:47
Speaker 19: Generous on how I was going on and the entire
37:52
Speaker 19: thing with the polls then went to the election court
37:56
Speaker 19: and who to go in front of.
37:58
Speaker 1: It went in front of Lulu's. former defense attorney.
38:03
Speaker 19: And you may ask yourself, why would Lulu need a
38:06
Speaker 19: defense attorney?
38:07
Speaker 1: That's a wonderful question.
38:08
Speaker 19: It's because he was convicted for corruption and money laundering. Oh,
38:14
Speaker 19: by the way, the Supreme Court, his Supreme Court that
38:17
Speaker 19: he appointed or his predecessor who was a light of them,
38:20
Speaker 19: that was his Supreme Court who overturned His conviction after,
38:24
Speaker 19: by the way, he spent like a year and a
38:26
Speaker 19: half in jail. So, yeah, the whole left celebrating this
38:31
Speaker 19: as a win for democracy.
38:32
Speaker 1: I've got to scratch my head. So, yeah, I'm with
38:36
Speaker 1: you on this one, Ami. I got to get it
38:38
Speaker 1: why he fled.
38:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm with you, Ami. I just very quickly, we've
38:42
Speaker 2: only got like a minute left here. Can you give
38:44
Speaker 2: me a very quick what's happening with the Israeli elections?
38:47
Speaker 2: Because I know that a lot is going to hinge
38:49
Speaker 2: on geopolitics and the future of the Iran war and
38:53
Speaker 2: the Trump administration with how that goes.
38:56
Speaker 19: Yeah, real quickly, there is zero clarity on what's going on.
39:00
Speaker 19: There are a whole bunch of scenarios. The most likely, probably,
39:03
Speaker 19: they're going back to another election. And prior to the
39:07
Speaker 19: four years of Netanyahu, they had five elections in six years.
39:10
Speaker 19: So the president of Israel, who's in charge of helping
39:13
Speaker 19: put the coalition together, is pushing these guys hard. There
39:17
Speaker 19: can also be a unity government, where Netanyahu does two years,
39:21
Speaker 19: the opposition two years. They can come to an agreement
39:23
Speaker 19: on that. Or the opposition can win the Arab votes.
39:26
Speaker 19: It's super unclear. The one thing that is clear, this
39:29
Speaker 19: is a huge loss for the left. The left, people
39:33
Speaker 19: in Israel, only 10% identify as the left. They didn't
39:37
Speaker 19: win anything electorally. It was all center, center, right. and
39:42
Speaker 19: the Arab vote and the Haredi vote.
39:45
Speaker 1: So, yeah, this shows you.
39:46
Speaker 19: Where the electorate of Israel is at, and it's not
39:48
Speaker 19: with the leftists. I'll tell you that.
39:50
Speaker 2: And I'll tell you what, that also goes against a
39:51
Speaker 2: lot of those global headlines. Hami Horowitz, we're going to
39:54
Speaker 2: have to leave it there. Thank you so much for
39:56
Speaker 2: walking us through all of it.
39:57
Speaker 1: Speak to you soon.
39:58
Speaker 10: Always a pleasure.
40:00
Speaker 2: Still to come, a MasterChef judge is forced to defend
40:03
Speaker 2: Meghan Markle's new career as the Duchess receives backlash for
40:07
Speaker 2: her latest career move. I'll have more on that with
40:10
Speaker 2: Kinsey Schofield next. As the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle,
40:20
Speaker 2: sets up her new life in England, she's taking a
40:23
Speaker 2: career turn down under as she's been confirmed as the
40:27
Speaker 2: host of Brace for It, Junior MasterChef! How exciting, Megan
40:32
Speaker 2: revealed just how chuffed she was to be taking on
40:35
Speaker 2: the new role, stating, I had an incredible time with
40:39
Speaker 2: the whole team of MasterChef this past April, so when
40:43
Speaker 2: they approached me to come back and work with this
40:45
Speaker 2: young group of talent, it was an easy yes. Well,
40:50
Speaker 2: Megan's return to the show, though, came with a wave
40:52
Speaker 2: of backlash which was unsurprising for such a polarising figure.
40:57
Speaker 2: Polling you, who will go co-host the Channel 10 programme
41:00
Speaker 2: with the Duchess, has stepped out to defend Megan amidst
41:04
Speaker 2: online backlash. Here's a bit of what she had to say.
41:08
Speaker 6: Rumours just follow because it's just the nature of the beast,
41:12
Speaker 6: you know, like people are insatiable and horrible and, you know.
41:16
Speaker 2: Let's bring in to discuss this and a whole lot
41:18
Speaker 2: more Kinsey Schofield, host of the Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered podcast. Kinsey,
41:24
Speaker 2: welcome to the program. And I don't mean to be
41:26
Speaker 2: sort of catty about this, but like, I don't know,
41:29
Speaker 2: Meghan Markle coming to judge a kid's cooking show. I
41:34
Speaker 2: feel like this isn't the big top tier gig she
41:39
Speaker 2: might have been hoping for.
41:41
Speaker 10: Well, here's what I have to say.
41:42
Speaker 5: I don't envy the publicist who has to explain why
41:45
Speaker 5: the daughter of a man currently under investigation over allegations
41:50
Speaker 5: involving inappropriate images of minors is hosting a children's show.
41:56
Speaker 5: I mean, Meghan Markle is not responsible for her father's
41:58
Speaker 5: alleged behavior, but the optics are an absolute public relations nightmare.
42:04
Speaker 5: This is supposed to be a wholesome family program. And instead,
42:08
Speaker 5: producers are gonna have to find a way to explain
42:12
Speaker 5: and to talk around one of the most disturbing scandals
42:16
Speaker 5: surrounding Meghan Markle's family.
42:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's an excellent point. I mean, I hadn't even
42:22
Speaker 2: thought about that.
42:23
Speaker 1: You're right.
42:24
Speaker 2: That's just a horrific bit of timing amidst all the
42:28
Speaker 2: other horrors of the allegations. For Meghan Markle, as I
42:31
Speaker 2: said when that story first broke last week, I almost
42:34
Speaker 2: felt sorry even for her for once. But speaking of
42:37
Speaker 2: the royals, let's stay on them here. King Charles has
42:39
Speaker 2: touched down in the Bahamas. I love the Bahamas, ahead
42:42
Speaker 2: of what could be a bit of a turbulent tour.
42:45
Speaker 2: The king has faced growing demands for a... formal apology
42:50
Speaker 2: and reparations for Britain's role in the slave trade. The
42:54
Speaker 2: King addressed the issue within hours of landing, saying, it
42:56
Speaker 2: is only right that we should acknowledge the great suffering
42:59
Speaker 2: of the past in these islands and beyond. even as
43:01
Speaker 2: we rejoice in the successes of the present and build
43:05
Speaker 2: new opportunities for the future. However, obviously, he hasn't offered
43:10
Speaker 2: any financial compensation. But I would add, Kinsey, I don't
43:13
Speaker 2: think he has anything to apologize for since it was
43:16
Speaker 2: the Royal Navy that ended the slave trade.
43:20
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, this might just be a bit of
43:24
Speaker 5: clickbait in reality because friends and colleagues of mine that
43:28
Speaker 5: are there on the ground covering this tell me so
43:31
Speaker 5: far it's been completely free of any drama. The atmosphere
43:35
Speaker 5: is lively, welcoming, and overwhelmingly positive. And King Charles has
43:41
Speaker 5: consistently acknowledged the suffering associated with slavery. But to your point,
43:45
Speaker 5: financial reparations are a matter of for elected government, not
43:50
Speaker 5: the king. He does not have that constitutional authority.
43:54
Speaker 20: But the visuals are stunning.
43:55
Speaker 5: I kind of, you know, I smirked at that picture
43:58
Speaker 5: of King Charles in his handsome sunglasses. And the purpose
44:02
Speaker 5: of this visit is to celebrate and strengthen Britain's relationships
44:05
Speaker 5: across the Commonwealth. And from everything I'm hearing and from
44:08
Speaker 5: the visuals that we're looking at, that's exactly what's happening.
44:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, and it is great. I mean, the Bahamas,
44:14
Speaker 2: as I said before, fantastic country, great part of the Commonwealth.
44:18
Speaker 2: As you note, the king always looks great. He's probably
44:21
Speaker 2: one of the best-dressed men in public life, if I
44:23
Speaker 2: can just say that. Well, we've all experienced that moment
44:26
Speaker 2: when we put our phone down for one minute and
44:28
Speaker 2: then only when we pick it up find 100 messages
44:31
Speaker 2: accumulate in one of those group chats that we wanted
44:34
Speaker 2: absolutely no part of. And you know who hates that
44:37
Speaker 2: more than anyone? None other than Jenny from The Block, a.k.a.
44:41
Speaker 2: Jennifer Lopez. In an interview, the singer was asked what...
44:46
Speaker 2: what lives rent-free in your head? And the singer responded,
44:50
Speaker 2: what's living rent-free in my head and kind of drives
44:53
Speaker 2: me crazy a little bit is the group chat that
44:55
Speaker 2: never stops. I need one person to say, sounds good,
44:59
Speaker 2: and just end it.
45:00
Speaker 1: Be brief.
45:00
Speaker 6: End it.
45:01
Speaker 1: We can't go on forever. Kinsey, I don't know.
45:04
Speaker 2: I actually disagree with her. I have got so many
45:06
Speaker 2: group chats pinging all over the world that I'm a
45:09
Speaker 2: part of. I quite enjoy it, but, you know, maybe
45:12
Speaker 2: I'm just not a celebrity like Jenny.
45:14
Speaker 1: From the block.
45:16
Speaker 20: I mean, this is the most relatable she's ever been
45:18
Speaker 20: to me. You know, like I don't love the group chat.
45:22
Speaker 20: Kinsey Schofield is constantly exiting the group chat. But, you know,
45:27
Speaker 20: she's had six engagement rings and four marriages. It's fun
45:30
Speaker 20: to know that apparently it's a group chat that pushes
45:33
Speaker 20: Jennifer Lopez.
45:34
Speaker 11: Over the edge.
45:35
Speaker 5: I respect a woman who knows when a conversation has
45:38
Speaker 5: gone on long enough.
45:40
Speaker 7: And, you know, like I said.
45:42
Speaker 5: This is finally something we have in common with the
45:46
Speaker 5: ultimate diva, Jennifer Lopez.
45:48
Speaker 7: More of this, J-Lo, please.
45:50
Speaker 10: It's nice to see the real you.
45:52
Speaker 2: All right, J-Lo, I promise I'll stop sending you all
45:55
Speaker 2: those memes. I know you hate it. I promise I'll
45:58
Speaker 2: forget that. Hey, but hey, speaking of other A-list celebrities, well,
46:02
Speaker 2: A-list celebrities and their four-legged friends have found themselves in
46:06
Speaker 2: an alleged... puppy laundering scandal. And no, that doesn't mean,
46:10
Speaker 2: you know, giving your doggy a bath. Stars such as
46:13
Speaker 2: Ellen DeGeneres, Kris Jenner, and Chrissy Teigen have gotten their puppies. Allegedly,
46:18
Speaker 2: they've been sold puppy mill pups that were rescued animals. Kinsey,
46:23
Speaker 2: this sounds terrible. What's happened here?
46:26
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, what happened was a woman is being dishonest.
46:31
Speaker 5: A woman was being dishonest that was running this alleged rescue.
46:35
Speaker 10: She was actually.
46:36
Speaker 5: Purchasing puppies from puppy mills. And then she would have
46:42
Speaker 5: a celebrity adopt them and the celebrity would promote said rescue.
46:47
Speaker 5: When in reality, you know, she's perpetuating the the creation
46:52
Speaker 5: of puppy mills or generating, you know.
46:55
Speaker 7: Tons more money for these puppy mills.
46:57
Speaker 5: I mean, I have four dogs and I can tell
46:59
Speaker 5: you that animal lovers are incredibly passionate about rescue. And
47:02
Speaker 5: this is heartbreaking because animal rescue depends on public trust.
47:06
Speaker 5: You know, people adopt because they believe they're giving vulnerable
47:09
Speaker 5: animals a second chance. And if the allegations are proven,
47:13
Speaker 5: this woman was exploiting the compassion of animal lovers and
47:17
Speaker 5: potentially creating a market for the very puppy mills rescue
47:20
Speaker 5: organization's are, you know, supposed to oppose.
47:24
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, it's just a horrible story because, I mean,
47:26
Speaker 2: obviously I'm a dog owner myself.
47:28
Speaker 5: Hi, Poppy.
47:29
Speaker 2: I know you're out there watching tonight. But, you know,
47:32
Speaker 2: like we all love our dogs and the stories behind them.
47:36
Speaker 2: Is there going to be any sort of legal repercussions
47:38
Speaker 2: to this for the people behind it? Or is this
47:40
Speaker 2: just one of those scandals that just people say, God,
47:42
Speaker 2: that was horrible.
47:43
Speaker 1: Be more careful next time.
47:45
Speaker 5: Prosecutors are asking anybody that's had anything to do with
47:49
Speaker 5: this organization to please contact them because it does seem
47:53
Speaker 5: like they are doing everything in their power to potentially
47:56
Speaker 5: file charges. So we're going to have to be patient
47:59
Speaker 5: and wait and see exactly what happens in this scenario.
48:02
Speaker 5: But of course, with the celebrity attachment, a little more
48:05
Speaker 5: intrigue associated with this scandal.
48:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, Kinsey, I suspect we may see
48:09
Speaker 2: some rough justice there. Sorry, that was terrible.
48:13
Speaker 1: I apologize.
48:13
Speaker 7: That's a possum pun.
48:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a possum pun. Thank you so much. Hey, also,
48:18
Speaker 2: one more thing here. You know, they say, well, if
48:21
Speaker 2: you can't trust someone else to do the job, do
48:23
Speaker 2: it yourself. We've already heard about rapper Jay-Z lining himself up.
48:28
Speaker 2: as a Super Bowl halftime act, but what is Jay-Z
48:31
Speaker 2: without Beyonce? Well, fans are asking this and pressure is
48:34
Speaker 2: now mounting on him to have his superstar wife join
48:39
Speaker 2: him on stage.
48:40
Speaker 1: Kinsey, is that gonna happen?
48:42
Speaker 7: My sources say yes.
48:44
Speaker 5: You know, Jay-Z recently told the media that he's not
48:46
Speaker 5: nervous about the Super Bowl. To him, it's just another gig.
48:48
Speaker 5: But my sources do say Beyonce will be there. It's
48:51
Speaker 5: Valentine's Day. Of course, we need our Bonnie and Clyde.
48:55
Speaker 5: But here's my prediction. If we get Jay-Z and Beyonce
48:58
Speaker 5: performing together at halftime, I think we'll see Blue Ivy
49:01
Speaker 5: join them on stage as well.
49:03
Speaker 7: Long live the Nepo baby.
49:05
Speaker 5: And while I do think I'll enjoy Jay-Z and Beyonce,
49:08
Speaker 5: George Strait will always be my desired Super Bowl halftime performer.
49:14
Speaker 5: So I just wait in the wings for George Strait
49:17
Speaker 5: one day.
49:18
Speaker 2: Well, from your lips to God, ears, at least I'm
49:21
Speaker 2: going to say it's not Bad Bunny. Kristen Schofield, thank
49:26
Speaker 2: you so much for your time this evening. Always a
49:29
Speaker 2: pleasure to chat. We'll speak again real soon. Now, that's
49:32
Speaker 2: it for me. Thanks for hanging out this evening and
49:34
Speaker 2: stick around because Late Edition is next.