Transcript

Credlin | 26 August · Credlin

0:02
Speaker 1: Peter Credlin, live from News 24.
0:08
Speaker 2: Good evening. Welcome to the program. Here's what's coming up
0:11
Speaker 2: tonight on Credlin. White-hot deceit. That's how critics are describing
0:15
Speaker 2: Victorian Labor's treatment of taxpayers after a bombshell report today
0:20
Speaker 2: from the state's auditor general revealing there's been a secret
0:23
Speaker 2: levy on public transport users. You've been paying it in
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Speaker 2: Victoria since January last year. It's a scandal. We'll speak
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Speaker 2: to the opposition leader from the Victorian Parliament shortly. Plus
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Speaker 2: a former Chief of Army, General Peter Lay, he'll join
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Speaker 2: me tonight. He and along with a raft of other
0:41
Speaker 2: defence and security experts have gone public demanding that the
0:44
Speaker 2: Royal Commission needs to be extended and has not done
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Speaker 2: enough to tackle radical Islam. 44,000, that's the number Labor
0:54
Speaker 2: said would be hit by their changes to private health
0:56
Speaker 2: insurance rebates for those over the age of 35. But
1:00
Speaker 2: that number's a long way off the mark.
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Speaker 3: $ 1.
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Speaker 4: 2 million.
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Speaker 2: As calls to scrap this hit grow louder. And the
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Speaker 2: Prime Minister's man, his special envoy, Luke Gosling, falls on
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Speaker 2: his sword after those new charges for an alleged breach
1:17
Speaker 2: of bail, but he remains a thorn in the side
1:20
Speaker 2: for his colleagues.
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Speaker 5: I believe that the most important thing now is that
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Speaker 5: the legal proceedings happen without a running commentary from his
1:32
Speaker 5: colleagues like me.
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Speaker 2: But first, the first job of government is to keep
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Speaker 2: its citizens safe. And when it fails, it should be
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Speaker 2: held to account. The fact that the Prime Minister, New
1:45
Speaker 2: South Wales Premier, the Home Affairs Minister, Attorneys General, State
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Speaker 2: and Federal, as well as relevant police ministers have not
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Speaker 2: been called before the Bondi Royal Commission to give evidence
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Speaker 2: is damning. Now, how can you have a credible inquiry
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Speaker 2: into the massacre of 15 individuals on the sand at
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Speaker 2: one of our most iconic Australian beaches and not hear
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Speaker 2: from those in charge on that fateful day is beyond me.
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Speaker 2: Australians deserve the truth. Australians deserve to know where the
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Speaker 2: system has failed us. And Australians deserve a set of
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Speaker 2: recommendations out of this inquiry that give us our best
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Speaker 2: chance of ensuring it never happens again. Today, Commissioner Virginia
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Speaker 2: Bell formally concluded public hearings into the coal-blooded killings at Bondi.
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Speaker 2: As she did, she attempted to assure her critics that
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Speaker 2: she had heard enough to complete her report.
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Speaker 4: I am satisfied that I am currently in a position
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Speaker 4: to give a full and fair account of the term
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Speaker 4: of reference which asks whether, in relation to the Bondi-Harnaker attack,
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Speaker 4: our intelligence and our law enforcement agencies operated or performed
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Speaker 4: to maximum effectiveness. The Bondi-Harnaker attack came after more than
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Speaker 4: two years of a marked increase in anti-Semitism throughout Australia.
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Speaker 2: Now, she might be confident, others are not, and serious
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Speaker 2: questions remain. Not only is this Royal Commission into one
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Speaker 2: of our worst ever atrocities, the shortest in history, but
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Speaker 2: the elephant in the room, radical Islam, well, it barely
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Speaker 2: gets a look in. And this feels deliberate, indeed premeditated,
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Speaker 2: given the Prime Minister's reluctance in and around the events
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Speaker 2: of Bondi and since to even reference Islam in connection
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Speaker 2: with these deaths. As recently as Monday in Perth, when
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Speaker 2: asked by journalists, did he or did he not support
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Speaker 2: an extension of time for the inquiry, Anthony Albanese offered
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Speaker 2: up all the usual blather about Royal Commission independence, soft
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Speaker 2: words as usual on anti-Semitism, but then bizarrely references to neo-Nazis,
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Speaker 2: but no mention at all of radical Islam.
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Speaker 6: 20 years ago, were we discussing neo-Nazis?
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Speaker 2: We are now.
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Speaker 7: It is of real concern and anti-Semitism has no place.
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Speaker 4: Thanks very much.
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Speaker 2: Well, neo-Nazis didn't have a gun in their hand on
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Speaker 2: Bondi in December. This is just not credible from any leader,
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Speaker 2: when even a cursory understanding of the issue and global
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Speaker 2: experience shows us that the greatest contributor to anti-Semitism, indeed
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Speaker 2: loss of Jewish life and increasingly loss of Christian life,
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Speaker 2: is radical Islam. The Royal Commission on Anti-Semitism and Social
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Speaker 2: Cohesion was established on the 9th of January this year.
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Speaker 2: Earlier today, Bell pushed out the delivery date of her
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Speaker 2: report from the 14th of December to the 18th, rightly
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Speaker 2: recognising that to deliver her report on the first anniversary
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Speaker 2: of the Bondi massacre would detract attention from the proper
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Speaker 2: commemoration of the date. But Bell's rejection of the need
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Speaker 2: for an extension will make this one of the shortest
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Speaker 2: Royal Commissions in our history. In recent years, most, as
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Speaker 2: I showed you the other night, have run for two,
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Speaker 2: two and a half years. Some, like the Disability Royal Commission,
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Speaker 2: have run for four and a half years, the Royal
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Speaker 2: Commission into Child Sexual Abuse five years, and there, there
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Speaker 2: were six commissioners. This one has just one commissioner, meaning
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Speaker 2: Bell just doesn't have the time to do the forensic
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Speaker 2: work necessary to deliver government a blueprint to do better,
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Speaker 2: not just on the issue of anti-Semitism and social cohesion,
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Speaker 2: but all of the security and intelligence failings that so
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Speaker 2: obviously contributed to the massacre last December. A point today
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Speaker 2: underscored by a group of Australia's most eminent national security leaders,
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Speaker 2: including former Defence Chief, the Governor, General David Hurley. He's
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Speaker 2: demanded that the Bondi Royal Commission be urgently extended and
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Speaker 2: he raised concerns that no cabinet ministers or political leaders
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Speaker 2: had been called to give evidence. The other names joining Hurley,
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Speaker 2: they warrant a mention given their experience and standing in
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Speaker 2: the area of national security. Included are two former heads
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Speaker 2: of ASIO, our domestic spy agency, ex-AFP boss Mick Kilty,
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Speaker 2: former Air Force chiefs, former Navy admirals, and amongst others,
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Speaker 2: ex-Army generals, including General Peter Lay, who joins me tonight. Now,
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Speaker 2: as you know, All of these people are not called
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Speaker 2: to give evidence. Well, that's long been one of my
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Speaker 2: primary concerns with this Royal Commission. To date, there has
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Speaker 2: been some 20,000 submissions to the Bondi Royal Commission, but
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Speaker 2: it's only heard evidence from just over 300 witnesses. Incredibly, again,
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Speaker 2: not one of those witnesses has been a political leader
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Speaker 2: or a cabinet minister. This is not just a terrible oversight,
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Speaker 2: but the derogation of the Royal Commissioner's duty to properly
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Speaker 2: inquire into what happened on that fateful day and the
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Speaker 2: circumstances over many months that led to it. Having been
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Speaker 2: in the Prime Minister's office during the 2014 Lint Cafe
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Speaker 2: siege in Sydney, it's right and proper that all the
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Speaker 2: political officers here face scrutiny. In moments of great crisis,
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Speaker 2: there are close interactions between the political class, with heads
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Speaker 2: of organisations like the police and ASIO, and of course
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Speaker 2: the officers on the front line. When this happens, the
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Speaker 2: system comes under enormous pressure and that deserves close scrutiny.
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Speaker 2: Now we run defence exercises almost every year in this
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Speaker 2: country to pressure test and continually improve the way that
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Speaker 2: complex military responsibilities interact in the time of operational conflict.
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Speaker 2: And afterwards, there's rigorous post analysis to ensure continual improvement.
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Speaker 2: So why is this not done in times of civilian crisis,
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Speaker 2: as we saw in Bondi? That means, where are the politicians?
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Speaker 2: The mere fact that concerns about gun licensing and border
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Speaker 2: movements of flagged individuals were missed, that intelligence rigor was
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Speaker 2: less than optimal, that the budgets of our key agencies
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Speaker 2: were cut, These are all issues that should have been
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Speaker 2: subject to serious examination by the Commission. Very relevant too
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Speaker 2: from my experience with Lint is the blurring of responsibilities
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Speaker 2: between the Commonwealth and states in times of terror attack.
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Speaker 2: I mean, it's one thing for Bell to hear from
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Speaker 2: those who wear the uniform and all of this, but
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Speaker 2: to leave out the politicians who make the decisions and
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Speaker 2: the laws that the uniforms must operate under, Well, that's
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Speaker 2: a huge omission. And as a result, her report will
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Speaker 2: lack credibility. But it's not just the risk of politician
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Speaker 2: whitewashing that concerns me here. How is it that a
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Speaker 2: Royal Commission into Australia's most serious terror event pays only
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Speaker 2: cursory attention to what motivated it? Now, look, as a lawyer,
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Speaker 2: I appreciate this inquiry runs parallel to the prosecution of
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Speaker 2: one of the alleged terrorists, But where is the proper
9:43
Speaker 2: scrutiny on radical Islam? It took until August before any
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Speaker 2: senior Islamic leaders were called to give evidence before the inquiry.
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Speaker 2: Even then, it has been just two. Sheikh Shadi al-Sulam
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Speaker 2: president of the Australian Imams Council, and Dr Ali al-Sumail,
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Speaker 2: a director of the Shia Muslim Council of Australia. Why
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Speaker 2: just two Islamic leaders? Surely, beyond the politicians, we deserve
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Speaker 2: to hear from Australia's Islamic leaders and given they are
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Speaker 2: too often silent, at best slow to condemn, acts of
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Speaker 2: hate and terrorism that occur in the name of their faith.
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Speaker 2: What also greatly concerns me is the lack of interrogation
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Speaker 2: by the inquiry into the escalating problem of Islamic hate preachers. Again,
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Speaker 2: I went through the witness list today. I can't even
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Speaker 2: see one, one witness from any of those mosques of
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Speaker 2: concern that appeared before the Commission. Nor have we had
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Speaker 2: a proper review into these so-called de-radicalisation programs. You know,
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Speaker 2: I raise these a lot. They are supposedly our frontline
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Speaker 2: defence in stopping another terror attack in Australia. Right now,
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Speaker 2: you as taxpayers via the federal government spend $ 120 million
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Speaker 2: on programs to prevent radicalisation. So we deserve to know
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Speaker 2: where the Islamic organisations that get this money to run
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Speaker 2: the programs are actually spend it. Certainly the multitude of
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Speaker 2: export reports out of the UK shows that the efficacy
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Speaker 2: of these radicalised programs is mixed at best. And with
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Speaker 2: the numbers in these programs and the ages of participants
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Speaker 2: only getting younger, not to mention those convicted of serious
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Speaker 2: terror offences coming out of our prisons soon, to say
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Speaker 2: this should have been a bigger focus for Bell is
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Speaker 2: an understatement. Now, critically, if this Royal Commission was serious,
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Speaker 2: it would also have explored the growing relationship between Muslim
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Speaker 2: organisations and the politics of the Australian Labor Party. I
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Speaker 2: can't help feeling that this Bondi Royal Commission is little
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Speaker 2: more than a Clayton's effort from Anthony Albanese. You know,
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Speaker 2: the sort of inquiry you have when you really don't
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Speaker 2: want to have an inquiry. We'll get to that breaking
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Speaker 2: news today about that secret tax in Victoria. That's been
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Speaker 2: unveiled by the Auditor-General. We'll go to Canberra now for
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Speaker 2: the headlines with our political reporter, Cam Redden.
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Speaker 8: Good evening.
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Speaker 9: Labor MP Luke Gosling has stepped aside as a special envoy,
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Speaker 9: having been charged with breaching his bail conditions.
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Speaker 5: I believe that the most important thing now is that
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Speaker 5: the legal proceedings happen without a running commentary.
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Speaker 9: The member for Solomon will face court next month over
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Speaker 9: an alleged assault on the Northern Territory Commissioner, a claim
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Speaker 9: he categorically denies. Voters remain unconvinced any of the three
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Speaker 9: most prominent parties are best placed to govern. Both Labor
13:01
Speaker 9: and One Nation rose slightly in the latest News24 Pulse poll,
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Speaker 9: while the coalition lost ground, now sitting eight points adrift
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Speaker 9: of the government. National Cabinet has broadly agreed on a
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Speaker 9: series of country-wide artificial intelligence rules.
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Speaker 6: I'm absolutely optimistic that our best days are ahead of
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Speaker 6: us as a nation.
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Speaker 10: And one way that we ensure that occurs is by
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Speaker 10: working together.
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Speaker 9: Leaders also agreed to progress policies to end domestic violence
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Speaker 9: and pledged $ 125 million in response to the bird flu crisis.
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Speaker 9: Cameron Redden, News 24, Canberra.
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Speaker 2: Now to that bombshell report today from the Victorian Auditor-General,
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Speaker 2: revealing that Victorians have been paying a secret levy every
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Speaker 2: single time they've got on public transport for well over
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Speaker 2: a year now. And controversially, the money's been diverted to
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Speaker 2: the suburban rail loop, which Labor insider Stephen Conroy has
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Speaker 2: called a dog of a project. Revealed today, the state's
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Speaker 2: financial watchdog found a secret 1% fares levy on all
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Speaker 2: metropolitan and regional fares, was decided back in 2021 and
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Speaker 2: brought in last year by the Allen government. The Victorians, well,
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Speaker 2: they were never told about it until now. Here to
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Speaker 2: discuss the Victorian opposition leader, Jess Wilson. Well, Jess, the
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Speaker 2: report suggests the cost of the SRL is more than
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Speaker 2: likely to blow out to some $ 36 billion. The government
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Speaker 2: originally said $ 11 billion added to the deceit about this
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Speaker 2: levy being made public today. I think this is a
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Speaker 2: government that's made deceit an art form.
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Speaker 3: Well, that's right, Peter. It's great to be with you.
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Speaker 7: But what we've seen today revealed by the Auditor-General is
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Speaker 7: a fundamental breach of trust with the Victorian people. A
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Speaker 7: levy that has been imposed on every single public transport
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Speaker 7: fare since January last year. no decision that has been
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Speaker 7: up front with the Victorian people. It was Ben Carroll,
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Speaker 7: as the Minister for Public Transport, who signed off on
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Speaker 7: this in 2021 and then has misled and lied to
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Speaker 7: Victorians every single day since. Peter, as you know, it's
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Speaker 7: the job of government to be transparent and honest with
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Speaker 7: the voters. They took this to the 2022 election and
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Speaker 7: did not tell Victorians about it. And Ben Carroll now says...
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Speaker 7: that under a government he leads, integrity is no longer optional. Well,
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Speaker 7: it certainly seems to have been optional when he signed
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Speaker 7: off on this secret tax in 2021 and has lied
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Speaker 7: about it every day since.
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Speaker 2: Well, we know Parliament's sitting. That's where you're joining us
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Speaker 2: from tonight. How has this played out for the Premier?
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Speaker 3: Well, we haven't seen the Premier today. He has in
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Speaker 3: front of cameras.
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Speaker 7: He hasn't been answering questions about why he has hidden
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Speaker 7: this from Victorians and why he has lied to Victorians.
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Speaker 7: We put questions to the Deputy Premier in the Parliament today.
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Speaker 3: But what we see, Peter, is this government continue to
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Speaker 3: lie and lie and lie.
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Speaker 7: And it comes back to who do you trust? Who
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Speaker 7: do you trust to actually lead this state into the future?
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Speaker 7: When we've got crippling amount of debt in this state,
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Speaker 7: when we've got record levels of crime, when we've seen
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Speaker 7: corruption run rife under this Labor government, and when they've
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Speaker 7: been lying about a tax on every single public transport
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Speaker 7: fare for five years, it just demonstrates that this government
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Speaker 7: is rotten to its core. But the good news is,
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Speaker 7: in 94 days, Victorians will have the opportunity to change
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Speaker 7: the government, change the direction of this state, and my
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Speaker 7: team has that plan for a fresh start. But most importantly,
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Speaker 7: to be honest with Victorians, to be upfront, we'll legislate
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Speaker 7: a charter of budget honesty, we'll bring in place a
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Speaker 7: real-time expenditure tracker and actually respect taxpayer money.
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Speaker 2: How did this levy get imposed? Was it a regulatory act?
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Speaker 2: I presume it didn't go through the parliament, Jess. And
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Speaker 2: a second part to that is Stephen Conroy, you'll know
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Speaker 2: him well, is a Labor power broker, obviously former cabinet
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Speaker 2: minister at a federal level. He's called the SRL a
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Speaker 2: dog of a project. Surely now it has to be scrapped.
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Speaker 7: Well, I thought it was very interesting that Stephen Conroy
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Speaker 7: said that yesterday because He's Ben Carroll's mentor, someone who
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Speaker 7: Ben Carroll looks up to. And when we saw Ben
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Speaker 7: Carroll come out yesterday and say that he should be
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Speaker 7: praised for finding $ 2 billion worth of savings in this project, well,
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Speaker 7: what was clear, he'd only found $ 1 billion worth of
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Speaker 7: savings and they're going to try to find another billion dollars.
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Speaker 3: But how can a project that they claim.
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Speaker 7: Costs $ 34 billion be not OK at that amount of
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Speaker 7: money but then be OK at $ 33- odd billion? But it also,
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Speaker 7: in the Auditor-General's report today, was demonstrated that that billion
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Speaker 7: dollars in so-called savings was never actually put into the
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Speaker 7: budget for the SRL, so continuing to lie to Victorians.
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Speaker 7: But to your point about how did this come about
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Speaker 7: in the first place, we don't know. This was a
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Speaker 7: decision that was ticked off by Daniel Andrews, by Jacinta
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Speaker 7: Allen and by Ben Carroll.
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Speaker 3: It spans every single Premier over the past few years.
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Speaker 7: Every day they have lied to Victorians about the existence
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Speaker 7: of this tax and it just demonstrates why we need
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Speaker 7: to change the government this year. You cannot trust them
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Speaker 7: and only a Liberal government will ensure that we bring
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Speaker 7: that financial integrity back to Victoria.
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Speaker 2: I will leave it there, Jess. I know you've got
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Speaker 2: to get back to the Parliament. Thank you for joining
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Speaker 2: me tonight. Right, let's go now to the Federal announcement
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Speaker 2: today from Luke Gosling, standing down following revelations you heard
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Speaker 2: here last night that he has been charged with breach
18:43
Speaker 2: of bail as well obviously as those Two earlier counts
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Speaker 2: of assault. Here to discuss this and more, News24 contributor
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Speaker 2: Carolee Katzenbarnes and News24 reporter, presenter Carolyn Marcus. Welcome to
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Speaker 2: you both. Gosling, this is interesting, Gosling has stepped aside.
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Speaker 2: This isn't about the Prime Minister, Carolee, stepping him aside.
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Speaker 2: It isn't the Prime Minister intervening. The Prime Minister's been weak.
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Speaker 2: He didn't act. It fell to Gosling today to make
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Speaker 2: the call. He says he will defend all the charges
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Speaker 2: against him. But what does this say about the way
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Speaker 2: he manages his team? Absolute weakness.
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Speaker 11: And it was beautifully done, wasn't it, just before the
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Speaker 11: last bit of question time.
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Speaker 2: So, you know, Gosling took it upon.
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Speaker 11: Himself to stand aside. The thing is, when Anthony Albanese
19:32
Speaker 11: was opposition leader, he called for everybody to stand aside.
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Speaker 11: You might remember when former Attorney General Christian Porter faced
19:39
Speaker 11: allegations which ended up never being proven and there were
19:43
Speaker 11: no charges laid whatsoever. Anthony Albanese was calling for him
19:47
Speaker 11: to stand aside. Now, Luke Gosling has actually been charged.
19:51
Speaker 11: He faces two charges of assault and now we know
19:55
Speaker 11: that he has breached a condition of his bail. That's
19:57
Speaker 11: going to be done on September the 30th. But Anthony
20:00
Speaker 11: Albanese still hasn't asked for him to stand down.
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Speaker 2: But you only need to look back.
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Speaker 11: Look at the disgraceful performance of his Veterans Affairs Minister,
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Speaker 11: Matt Keogh, right? He doesn't have that judgment.
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Speaker 2: Matt Keogh, he didn't meet with the veterans.
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Speaker 11: Then when he did, he rolled his eyes and it
20:14
Speaker 11: was all too hard and he's completely out of touch.
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Speaker 2: Same with Annika Wells.
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Speaker 11: She had to repay $ 10, 000 in incorrectly claimed family entitlements.
20:23
Speaker 11: She's Sports and Communications Minister. The right thing in that
20:27
Speaker 11: case would have been for her to also stand down
20:30
Speaker 11: until the matter is cleared up. And it's a pattern
20:32
Speaker 11: of the fact that he doesn't want to be bad cop.
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Speaker 2: He doesn't want to be that.
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Speaker 11: Because it shows he's got incorrect political judgment and he
20:40
Speaker 11: doesn't actually know what the right thing is to do. And,
20:42
Speaker 11: you know, it was disgraceful when Mark Butler said, oh, look,
20:45
Speaker 11: he's just an envoy. He's a backbencher. The title doesn't
20:49
Speaker 11: really mean anything. What's the point of having the title?
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Speaker 11: And as I said, it's really weak. I mean, Luke
20:55
Speaker 11: Gosling should have had his own integrity to stand aside anyway.
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Speaker 11: But a leader actually makes those hard calls and does it.
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Speaker 11: What's Albanese worried about? More disgruntled backbenchers?
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Speaker 2: You've got the title leader for a reason. You've got
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Speaker 2: a lead. Let's go to that decision from Labor 2
21:09
Speaker 2: to scrap the age loading on private health insurance rebates
21:14
Speaker 2: for anyone over the age of 65. Now, originally, when pressed,
21:17
Speaker 2: the health minister, he really downplayed the number of people impacted.
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Speaker 2: Have a listen.
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Speaker 12: Our independent modelling done by our officials suggests that maybe
21:26
Speaker 12: at most 44,000 people out of several million would drop
21:30
Speaker 12: off private health insurance because of this measure. That's a
21:33
Speaker 12: very small percentage, not even 1%, not even half a
21:38
Speaker 12: percentage point.
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Speaker 2: Well, Caro, his independent modelling from his so-called expert officials
21:44
Speaker 2: is not worth the paper it's printed on. We learned
21:46
Speaker 2: today it's $ 1. 2 million. That will be hit. And, of course,
21:50
Speaker 2: when they drop their private health insurance, they are automatically
21:54
Speaker 2: pushed onto an already struggling private health system. I am
21:59
Speaker 2: inundated with emails from viewers here, really angry, people on
22:03
Speaker 2: modest incomes. The last thing they want to do is
22:05
Speaker 2: drop their private health insurance and But for many of them,
22:08
Speaker 2: it's gone up by $ 1, 000 to $ 2, 000 per year. These
22:12
Speaker 2: guys don't know what they're doing.
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Speaker 13: This is the government, this is the party, Labor, which
22:19
Speaker 13: says that they are the party for the public health system,
22:22
Speaker 13: that they are the party that voters can trust to
22:25
Speaker 13: protect the public health system. Albanese was out with his
22:29
Speaker 13: Medicare card at every opportunity during the election campaign. And
22:35
Speaker 13: now it seems that tens of thousands, if not hundreds
22:39
Speaker 13: of thousands of people could feel they have no choice
22:42
Speaker 13: but but to drop out of private health cover and
22:46
Speaker 13: join an already struggling public health system. And what the
22:50
Speaker 13: impact is, it is untold, really, Peter. It could be
22:53
Speaker 13: a lot more than that, because this will, of course,
22:56
Speaker 13: mean that the private health insurers have to raise their
23:00
Speaker 13: premiums for everybody else, people like you and me who
23:04
Speaker 13: are on... Private health insurance, because we think it's worth it,
23:09
Speaker 13: because we want the best level of care. We don't
23:11
Speaker 13: want to overload the public health system. But if our
23:14
Speaker 13: premiums go up, then we're going to have to reconsider
23:16
Speaker 13: our position as well. And then where does this leave
23:19
Speaker 13: the country? So the most.
23:23
Speaker 13: Unsurprising thing is that the government kept the real numbers
23:27
Speaker 13: of people who would be impacted under cover for so
23:34
Speaker 13: long because they didn't want to admit that this was
23:36
Speaker 13: going to have such a huge impact.
23:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it's massive. It is absolutely massive. And, of course,
23:41
Speaker 2: these people have paid taxes all their lives. Many of
23:44
Speaker 2: them have had their PHI, the private health insurance, their
23:47
Speaker 2: entire lives. They're more likely than ever to need it
23:50
Speaker 2: when they're older and they're forced now to rely on
23:53
Speaker 2: a public system which we know is breaking. Let's go
23:56
Speaker 2: to another place that's breaking, Victoria, again. This is a
23:59
Speaker 2: shocking report, Carolee. A mum yesterday, and they were up
24:03
Speaker 2: in Melbourne for the day, they're not from Melbourne, she
24:06
Speaker 2: had a 10-year-old son with her The son was punched
24:09
Speaker 2: in the head on the streets of Melbourne by a
24:13
Speaker 2: random attacker. And as the mum went to try and
24:16
Speaker 2: protect her son, she was stabbed allegedly repeatedly over and
24:21
Speaker 2: over again with scissors. Now, this happened right out the front, Kerri-Lee,
24:26
Speaker 2: of the Victorian Police Headquarters in the Melbourne CBD. Can
24:31
Speaker 2: it get any worse in Melbourne?
24:35
Speaker 11: Well, it can because luckily some good Samaritans were there.
24:38
Speaker 11: They sprang into action. So did some police. But can
24:40
Speaker 11: I just say very late this afternoon, the first teenage
24:43
Speaker 11: carjacking 16 year old has been tried under the so-called
24:48
Speaker 11: adult crime for adult time laws. 16 years old, held
24:51
Speaker 11: a knife at the throat of a taxi driver.
24:54
Speaker 2: Surprise, surprise. This afternoon, she's.
24:56
Speaker 11: Walked free on an 18 month Super youth supervision order,
25:00
Speaker 11: nothing recorded and a well done from the judge and
25:03
Speaker 11: best wishes for the future. And it's just another revolving
25:06
Speaker 11: door in Victoria. They're not serious about crime. At least
25:10
Speaker 11: Jess Wilson is taking it right up to them and
25:12
Speaker 11: actually showing what the community wants. The stabbing yesterday, the
25:16
Speaker 11: alleged stabbing yesterday, it's just there are so many of them,
25:19
Speaker 11: you lose track.
25:21
Speaker 2: I know, you can't keep up. Let's go to David Farley,
25:24
Speaker 2: the One Nation, very new MP but pretty cocky. He
25:28
Speaker 2: claims he's helping his leader, Pauline Hanson, to, quote, build
25:32
Speaker 2: a strong and competent party worthy of government. Well, she's
25:36
Speaker 2: been around a long time. I reckon she might know
25:37
Speaker 2: what she's doing. And he's been told, stop freelancing, shut
25:42
Speaker 2: up on the issue of immigration. But he's not shutting up, Caroline.
25:45
Speaker 2: And I have a feeling this isn't going to end well.
25:47
Speaker 2: It'll end in tears, I suspect.
25:49
Speaker 13: I suspect you're right, Peter, as it so often does
25:52
Speaker 13: when it comes to One Nation. You know, they get
25:54
Speaker 13: a lot of things right, especially on immigration. That's where
25:58
Speaker 13: the voters are marking them up and turning to them
26:02
Speaker 13: instead of the major parties. For David Farley to be
26:05
Speaker 13: so cocky, as you put it, as to think that
26:08
Speaker 13: he's going to teach Pauline and the party about competency.
26:12
Speaker 13: Wasn't this the guy who not so long ago voted
26:15
Speaker 13: with the Greens and the Teals because he didn't know
26:18
Speaker 13: which way to turn? in Parliament. I mean, so I
26:22
Speaker 13: think it's quite laughable. I get that farmers and people
26:27
Speaker 13: in the regions have a need for people to come
26:30
Speaker 13: short term to help seasonally with farming and that it's different.
26:34
Speaker 13: But I think that to undermine Pauline so publicly is
26:41
Speaker 13: a really, really bad step. People voted for him not
26:43
Speaker 13: because he's David Farley, but because he was representing... Pauline
26:48
Speaker 13: and One Nation in the by-election.
26:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's had people all her political life underestimated. The
26:54
Speaker 2: last thing she needs is her parliamentary colleagues are only
26:57
Speaker 2: there because of her to do the same. I'll leave
27:01
Speaker 2: it there, ladies. Thank you. Catch up with you both
27:03
Speaker 2: next week. After the break, a former army chief who
27:06
Speaker 2: says the Bondi Royal Commission must be extended and he
27:09
Speaker 2: says it's got to do more to tackle the issue
27:11
Speaker 2: of radical Islam and terrorism. Plus, why today's inflation data
27:16
Speaker 2: is bad news for anyone with a mortgage.
27:26
Speaker 8: Welcome back.
27:26
Speaker 2: Still to come, what today's inflation data really means for
27:29
Speaker 2: anyone who's got a mortgage. Renters too, though. Absolutely renters too.
27:34
Speaker 2: But first now, I want to return to the issue
27:36
Speaker 2: of the World Commission today wrapping up public hearings today.
27:40
Speaker 2: The Commissioner was satisfied. She's got everything she needs to
27:43
Speaker 2: deliver a report. Other experts, though, they disagree, and amongst
27:48
Speaker 2: them some of our nation's most eminent national security leaders,
27:52
Speaker 2: are demanding that it be extended and also that it
27:55
Speaker 2: looks closely at issues of radical Islam. One such figure
27:59
Speaker 2: is former Army Chief General Peter Lay, who I am
28:02
Speaker 2: pleased to say joins me now on the program. Well,
28:05
Speaker 2: Peter Lay, General Lay, good to have you. Thank you
28:08
Speaker 2: for your time. The Royal Commissioner says, look, I've got
28:10
Speaker 2: everything I need. If she does drop that report in December,
28:14
Speaker 2: as she says she will, it will be one of
28:17
Speaker 2: the shortest Royal Commissions in Australian history, yet it is
28:22
Speaker 2: our greatest ever terror attack. How do you feel about
28:28
Speaker 2: the circumstance where there's been criticism that not enough witnesses
28:33
Speaker 2: have been called to account, particularly political leaders and leaders
28:37
Speaker 2: from the Islamic community?
28:40
Speaker 14: We, as a group of, as you've said, national security professionals,
28:44
Speaker 14: feel that there should be more. James Dowling has said
28:47
Speaker 14: it's a lost opportunity and we agree. This is a
28:51
Speaker 14: very significant problem. And what we've seen in the Royal Commission,
28:54
Speaker 14: and I'm sure the Royal Commissioner has done a terrific
28:57
Speaker 14: job with all the support she's got, but we think
28:59
Speaker 14: there's more that can be brought out of this because
29:02
Speaker 14: of the nature of the problem. And if you look
29:05
Speaker 14: at it, it's a latest patent issued for anti-Semitism and
29:09
Speaker 14: social cohesion. And I think some of the things we're
29:12
Speaker 14: looking at is what more can we do about the
29:14
Speaker 14: social cohesion? Yes, we think that more people should be called,
29:18
Speaker 14: in particular the ministers. We've got the officials coming forward
29:23
Speaker 14: But ministers set the budget, they set the policy. They're
29:26
Speaker 14: the ones who appoint the officials who are in charge
29:29
Speaker 14: of the agencies. Well, let's hear from them about what
29:32
Speaker 14: they think is going on, rather than what would seem
29:35
Speaker 14: to happen is that the Royal Commissioner will make a report,
29:38
Speaker 14: it'll go to the ministers... and it's a bit like
29:41
Speaker 14: marking your own homework, isn't it?
29:44
Speaker 2: Yes.
29:44
Speaker 14: Let's hear from them now so we get an understanding
29:47
Speaker 14: of what their priorities are to guide the Royal Commissioner.
29:51
Speaker 14: We also think, and it's good that a couple of
29:53
Speaker 14: the imams have been to the Royal Commission and have spoken...
29:57
Speaker 14: But what about some of the firebrands who are out there,
29:59
Speaker 14: some of these people who are seemingly implacably opposed to
30:04
Speaker 14: our way of life? Well, I'd like to think that
30:06
Speaker 14: we can hear from them so we get a sense
30:09
Speaker 14: of how deep the problem is and what they're aiming
30:12
Speaker 14: to do about it. And at the same time, I
30:14
Speaker 14: think through this notion of social cohesion, how do we
30:19
Speaker 14: make sure that we understand the sources of the Islamism?
30:23
Speaker 14: And I'm very careful... when I talk about Islamism and Islamist,
30:27
Speaker 14: this is not Islam. Islam is fine, but it's the
30:32
Speaker 14: firebrands who are distorting Islam, who are taking it to
30:36
Speaker 14: places where it shouldn't be. I think we deserve to
30:39
Speaker 14: know just what's going on there and how do we
30:42
Speaker 14: make sure that we maintain this social cohesion so that
30:45
Speaker 14: we live as a community of Australians rather than have
30:49
Speaker 14: people who are opposed to our way of life talking
30:52
Speaker 14: about that perhaps in secret, perhaps behind closed doors. Well,
30:56
Speaker 14: let's find out about what's going on there. So the
31:00
Speaker 14: group that I'm part of, we think we need more time.
31:04
Speaker 14: We need a broader view of some of the aspects
31:07
Speaker 14: that I've spoken about. And we would encourage the government,
31:11
Speaker 14: particularly the Prime Minister, who was, well, he was sort
31:15
Speaker 14: of dragged into this in some ways, somewhat reluctantly. We
31:18
Speaker 14: think there's more to be found out for the benefit
31:21
Speaker 14: of all Australians.
31:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, I made the point at the top of the show,
31:25
Speaker 2: General Ley, that when you have military exercises, as Australia
31:29
Speaker 2: does almost every year, it's to see that the system,
31:33
Speaker 2: with all its moving parts, Navy, Army, Air Force and
31:37
Speaker 2: all the intraoperability, how it acts in a moment of
31:41
Speaker 2: conflict and stress, and then you obviously do the deep
31:44
Speaker 2: analysis afterwards about what can be improved. You see a
31:48
Speaker 2: system under stress. officer level, government level, the apparatus, the
31:52
Speaker 2: intelligence agencies, all of that under stress during a terror event.
31:56
Speaker 2: But we're only looking at, I guess, the delivery end
31:58
Speaker 2: in this Royal Commission. We're not, as you rightly point out,
32:02
Speaker 2: looking at those who make the call on the laws,
32:05
Speaker 2: that's the parliament, the politicians, or resource the agencies that
32:11
Speaker 2: deal with the on-the-ground consequences of terrorism. So I think
32:17
Speaker 2: it's a huge omission that I went through the whole
32:20
Speaker 2: list today, every single witness. There is not one political minister.
32:25
Speaker 2: There is not one national or state leader, political leader.
32:30
Speaker 2: There's a complete absence of police ministers, attorneys general. I
32:34
Speaker 2: just don't think that's good enough.
32:38
Speaker 14: You're right, and certainly through the military and in many
32:40
Speaker 14: other walks of life. Let's see how we did, fellas.
32:44
Speaker 14: Let's do that post-exercise report. Let's see if something's gone wrong.
32:49
Speaker 14: How do we fix it and make sure that it
32:51
Speaker 14: works better in the future? And I'm reminded, Peter, that
32:54
Speaker 14: after the 9-11 events, and it's coming up, it's the
32:57
Speaker 14: anniversary of that, the Americans did a review. And one
33:01
Speaker 14: of the things that came out of it was that
33:04
Speaker 14: somewhere through the system, somebody knew what was going on.
33:07
Speaker 14: And if they'd been able to join the dots, we
33:10
Speaker 14: would have been able to make a better assessment and
33:13
Speaker 14: prevent what happened. Now, I know the Royal Commissioner, and
33:17
Speaker 14: she spoke today about the fact that she's looked at
33:19
Speaker 14: the law enforcement and those other aspects of it, but
33:23
Speaker 14: she also said that some of them would be held
33:25
Speaker 14: as confidential, one for a legal point that, well, we've
33:29
Speaker 14: got to go through the trial, but also some of
33:32
Speaker 14: that might be national security confidential and secret. Now, I
33:36
Speaker 14: can understand that, but I think we should be having
33:39
Speaker 14: a broader look at it and, again, representing this group.
33:43
Speaker 14: A bit strange that Dennis Richardson... he didn't last very
33:47
Speaker 14: long on the review. Now I think someone of the
33:50
Speaker 14: calibre of Dennis might have been able to have a
33:52
Speaker 14: look at it and say, well, we can join the
33:55
Speaker 14: dots or we can do things differently or we need
33:57
Speaker 14: to apply policies differently or the budget needs to be
34:00
Speaker 14: applied differently. So I think it's an omission, really, and
34:04
Speaker 14: we need to think about that. But again, let me
34:07
Speaker 14: go back to this point of social cohesion. How do
34:10
Speaker 14: we live and work together in Australia? There are some
34:15
Speaker 14: who oppose our way of life and we need to
34:17
Speaker 14: find them out. We need to make sure, and you've
34:19
Speaker 14: made mention of it, I've been listening to you tonight,
34:22
Speaker 14: of the de-radicalisation programs. Well, I've been watching this through
34:27
Speaker 14: what I do out at the University of Canberra and
34:30
Speaker 14: teaching terrorism and the challenge of modern terrorism. Well, what's
34:34
Speaker 14: the measure of effectiveness of these de-radicalisation programs? We're putting
34:41
Speaker 14: a lot of money in it. I'm not sure what
34:43
Speaker 14: the output is. and whether or not it's making much.
34:45
Speaker 2: Of a difference. I will have to leave it there.
34:48
Speaker 2: We'll come back to the DRAD programs because there has
34:51
Speaker 2: not been, to my knowledge, and I've looked closely, a
34:53
Speaker 2: national audit of any of these programs, David Lay, and
34:57
Speaker 2: that's something that we must do. I'll leave it there,
35:01
Speaker 2: but we'll come back to this and please keep using
35:03
Speaker 2: your voice to try and get some results on all
35:05
Speaker 2: of this. Let's go now to the inflation data today.
35:08
Speaker 2: A slight fall in the headline number from 3.8 to 3.5.
35:12
Speaker 2: It's a little higher, though, than expectations were. It's the
35:16
Speaker 2: underlying figure, though, that will be the concern, 3.6% today.
35:20
Speaker 2: That's outside the RBA's target band that says inflation remains stubborn.
35:27
Speaker 2: And that also means, if you look at the RBA minutes,
35:29
Speaker 2: that they are still talking about rate hikes. Joining me now,
35:32
Speaker 2: former Treasury Assistant Secretary David Pearl. Well, David, you're the
35:36
Speaker 2: expert here. Give us your assessment on these numbers today.
35:41
Speaker 2: Good evening, Peter.
35:43
Speaker 10: Look, I don't get too worked up about monthly inflation figures.
35:47
Speaker 10: I think the quarterly numbers are a better guide. But
35:50
Speaker 10: if we do step back, Peter, and look at economic
35:54
Speaker 10: trends over recent months. It's clear that inflationary risks are
35:59
Speaker 10: a concern. Household spending has held up remarkably well despite
36:04
Speaker 10: the oil price shock. We have an investment boom in
36:08
Speaker 10: data centres and services inflation remains sticky. So I said
36:13
Speaker 10: that at the last board meeting, Michelle Bullock should have
36:17
Speaker 10: increased the rate to take out an insurance policy. against
36:22
Speaker 10: inflation escaping under her watch for a second time. She
36:26
Speaker 10: didn't do that. I think her strategy is to cross
36:28
Speaker 10: her fingers and hope for the best.
36:32
Speaker 2: Well, that looks like what they've been doing down in
36:33
Speaker 2: Treasury in your absence, pulling together that May budget, because
36:36
Speaker 2: almost every day we're getting another story of a so-called
36:40
Speaker 2: unintended consequence. We've had house values hit. We've got rents
36:44
Speaker 2: going up. We've got a widow's tax. We've obviously got
36:47
Speaker 2: this revelation today of new taxes on super funds. I
36:50
Speaker 2: was just talking to someone a moment ago about the hit...
36:53
Speaker 2: on private health insurance holders over the age of 65.
36:57
Speaker 2: Supposedly 44,000 since the Health Minister in terms of modelling.
37:01
Speaker 2: We're now told it's 1.2 million people hit. You've got
37:05
Speaker 2: the Business Council out there last night giving the PM
37:09
Speaker 2: a fairly frosty reception. I mean, how on earth do
37:13
Speaker 2: they fix this train wreck of a budget?
37:19
Speaker 10: Well, I think the budget has been... disastrous for Jim Chalmers'
37:22
Speaker 10: political career. I think a lot of his colleagues are
37:26
Speaker 10: shaking their heads. We were told that this budget's tax
37:31
Speaker 10: assault was intended to help people buying their first home. Well,
37:37
Speaker 10: it's forcing up rents and diminishing their disposable income. And
37:43
Speaker 10: without any explanation, apart from the lame excuse that Treasury
37:48
Speaker 10: made us do it, we have a tax assault on
37:52
Speaker 10: investment in all assets across the economy. The Business Council
37:56
Speaker 10: of Australia, Peter, with all due respect to its leaders,
38:00
Speaker 10: is pathetic. They were outsmarted by the government in September
38:06
Speaker 10: 2022 at the Jobs and Skills Summit, along with heads
38:11
Speaker 10: of other employer organisations, when they signed off on a
38:14
Speaker 10: return to patent bargaining, which takes us back to the 70s.
38:19
Speaker 10: And then not having learned their lesson from that, they
38:21
Speaker 10: all rocked up for their selfies with the prime minister
38:23
Speaker 10: and the treasurer or the treasurer, I should say, at
38:27
Speaker 10: last year's misnamed economic reform round table and signed off
38:32
Speaker 10: on a statement that talked about intergenerational fairness, which all
38:37
Speaker 10: of us knew was a ruse to get this aggressive
38:41
Speaker 10: tax on savings and investment up. So I don't know
38:44
Speaker 10: why the business council of Australia has these annual dinners.
38:48
Speaker 10: They should be launching nationwide campaigns against this tax assault
38:53
Speaker 10: on investment and wealth creation, which affects hundreds of thousands
38:57
Speaker 10: of businesses and everyday investors across the country. And they
39:01
Speaker 10: should also be complaining about net zero, which is a
39:05
Speaker 10: wrecking ball through our manufacturing sector. Now, they don't do
39:08
Speaker 10: that because they say that they want access to ministers.
39:11
Speaker 10: What they're really meaning is that they want to put
39:14
Speaker 10: their hand out for some renewable energy subsidies and other deals.
39:18
Speaker 10: So really, we are badly let down by corporate leaders
39:21
Speaker 10: in this country. I don't know why they have these
39:24
Speaker 10: annual dinners. It just looks like an opportunity to press
39:29
Speaker 10: the flesh with politicians that are hostile to their sector.
39:35
Speaker 2: Well, powerfully said. Thank you for your time. There you go,
39:38
Speaker 2: David Pearl, not mincing his words there. Woodside Energy too,
39:41
Speaker 2: I want to tell you, they've abandoned a target to
39:44
Speaker 2: invest $ 7 billion in clean energy. What's that tell you
39:47
Speaker 2: about where this whole net zero stuff is headed? All right,
39:50
Speaker 2: quick break. After the break, we'll get back into Veterans Affairs.
39:53
Speaker 2: Luke Gosling standing down, Matt Keogh going to ground, and
39:58
Speaker 2: the school textbook aimed at indoctrinating our children. Welcome back.
40:08
Speaker 2: The wonderful Kel Richards coming up. But first, my panel,
40:11
Speaker 2: let's bring them in. Shadow Minister for Defence Personnel, Phil Thompson,
40:15
Speaker 2: and One Nation Senator Sean Bell. Well, Phil, I tell you,
40:19
Speaker 2: the veterans crowd, they're only getting crankier. All the organisations
40:23
Speaker 2: out there now gunning for the Minister, Matt Keogh, to
40:26
Speaker 2: reverse those cuts. Luke Gosling, he's rightly fallen on his
40:31
Speaker 2: sword and people say it's now time for Matt Keogh
40:34
Speaker 2: to do the same.
40:38
Speaker 8: I agree.
40:38
Speaker 15: I stood up in the Federal Parliament and called for
40:41
Speaker 15: the Prime Minister to sack Matt Keogh from the Veterans
40:45
Speaker 15: Affairs portfolio. He has failed in his duty to support
40:49
Speaker 15: those that we make a promise to those that are sacrificed,
40:54
Speaker 15: our veterans, and he has failed in his duty.
40:58
Speaker 8: I don't think Matt Keogh's job is tenable.
41:00
Speaker 15: Veterans and veteran organisations from around the country, it doesn't
41:03
Speaker 15: matter how they vote or who they support or anything
41:06
Speaker 15: like that, they're calling for the $ 5, 000 cap for allied
41:09
Speaker 15: health to be overturned, which is the number one priority.
41:13
Speaker 15: And they're also, many of them are calling for Matt
41:15
Speaker 15: Keogh to lose his job.
41:17
Speaker 8: And I think that's fair.
41:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we should. Sean, you're at the Bush Summit.
41:21
Speaker 2: I'll come to you on this one. The Coalition is
41:24
Speaker 2: planning a move to put in a bill that would
41:27
Speaker 2: stop taxpayer money being used to buy farms, to turn
41:31
Speaker 2: them into carbon sinks in the futile pursuit of net zero.
41:36
Speaker 2: I suspect this is something that One Nation's going to support,
41:39
Speaker 2: isn't it?
41:39
Speaker 1: Well, look, it sounds like a pretty common sense idea.
41:44
Speaker 1: I look forward to seeing the proposal because Anything that
41:47
Speaker 1: helps scrap net zero, a system the Coalition helped build,
41:50
Speaker 1: is a good thing. And, look, this obviously relates to
41:53
Speaker 1: things like Rushy Lagoon, which is something that I've spoken
41:55
Speaker 1: about twice in Parliament House. This is the largest farm
41:59
Speaker 1: in Tasmania that's being taken off as an agricultural asset
42:04
Speaker 1: and it's being used as a carbon credits farm. And
42:06
Speaker 1: that needs to stop. And I'll just point out that
42:08
Speaker 1: it's actually... a Liberal government in Tasmania that's helped push
42:11
Speaker 1: this through. So I think it's less whether One Nation's
42:14
Speaker 1: going to support the Coalition on this, whether their own
42:16
Speaker 1: state members are going to support the Coalition on this.
42:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, but Phil, in many respects, it's the federal laws
42:23
Speaker 2: here that apply in terms of public money being used
42:27
Speaker 2: for these carbon sinks because they are national targets. What's
42:31
Speaker 2: been the reception to this idea?
42:36
Speaker 15: Well, on two points, the Tasmanian minority government, and I
42:42
Speaker 15: know that Angus Taylor talks to the Premier down there.
42:47
Speaker 15: Angus spoke very clearly about what he believes that we
42:50
Speaker 15: should be putting forward, and I look forward to working
42:53
Speaker 15: with all parties and people to support it. People on
42:56
Speaker 15: the ground, I'm at an event tonight, they come up
42:58
Speaker 15: to me and they go, what do you mean, you know, farms.
43:01
Speaker 8: Have been sold off to international investors?
43:03
Speaker 15: What do you mean that we can't support our own
43:05
Speaker 15: agricultural food bowl? And, you know, from the farm, from
43:09
Speaker 15: the paddock to the plate, we want Aussies to be
43:11
Speaker 15: maintaining our food source and I think it's national security
43:16
Speaker 15: and that's why it should be a federal responsibility to
43:19
Speaker 15: have overarching laws.
43:22
Speaker 2: Sean, you're a senator for New South Wales. What do
43:24
Speaker 2: you make of this book that's in classrooms for year
43:27
Speaker 2: 11 in that state, claiming that Murdoch-owned media outlets, so
43:32
Speaker 2: this means us here at News24, are, quote, promoting climate
43:36
Speaker 2: change denialism. Well, I think it's denialism. I think we
43:40
Speaker 2: all just want a fair income, honest, fact-based debate about
43:44
Speaker 2: net zero. Enough with the indoctrination.
43:46
Speaker 1: I mean, it's another classic example of the indoctrination that
43:52
Speaker 1: is going on in our schools. One Nation, we believe
43:55
Speaker 1: that children should be taught how to think, not what
43:58
Speaker 1: to think. And clearly that is not happening in our
44:01
Speaker 1: nation's schools. And you don't have to look any further
44:03
Speaker 1: than those protests we saw just the other weekend, students
44:07
Speaker 1: marching in the streets, some of them calling for the
44:10
Speaker 1: death of Pauline Hanson. I mean, that is the level
44:12
Speaker 1: of indoctrination that is going on in our schools, and
44:15
Speaker 1: it needs to stop. One Nation has moved legislation in
44:17
Speaker 1: the past to end the indoctrination, and I'm sure we're
44:19
Speaker 1: going to do so in the future, because we cannot
44:22
Speaker 1: abandon our young people... to the ideology and the manipulation
44:27
Speaker 1: of left-wing activists who are ultimately going to do them harm.
44:33
Speaker 2: Phil, I know you've been fighting against youth crime the
44:35
Speaker 2: whole time you've been in the parliament. The state government
44:39
Speaker 2: in Queensland is pushing ahead with a plan that would
44:41
Speaker 2: see young offenders who breach bail be put into jail
44:45
Speaker 2: for 12 months. Now, this won't be on every offence,
44:50
Speaker 2: but basically it will be more than is certainly the
44:53
Speaker 2: case now. And certainly the case that we see in
44:55
Speaker 2: somewhere like Victoria, where it's an absolute revolving door. What
44:59
Speaker 2: do you think of the plan?
45:02
Speaker 8: I think it's great.
45:03
Speaker 15: If you're committing crimes and you breach bail, you should
45:06
Speaker 15: go to jail. I was talking to a mate today, Clint.
45:09
Speaker 15: He had both of his cars stolen only a couple
45:11
Speaker 15: of nights ago. They're both repeat offenders. One was 11
45:14
Speaker 15: and one was 12. And you've got the bleeding hearts
45:17
Speaker 15: out there saying, oh, they're just children.
45:18
Speaker 8: No, these are criminals.
45:20
Speaker 15: Then you have the others that say, oh, well, they're
45:22
Speaker 15: doing it because they're from a low socioeconomic background. No,
45:25
Speaker 15: if they were breaking into people's homes to get food
45:29
Speaker 15: and water and bread, you know what?
45:30
Speaker 8: I'd make them food. They can sit at my table.
45:32
Speaker 8: But they're not. They're breaking into people's homes. They're disrupting
45:36
Speaker 8: their way of life.
45:36
Speaker 15: They're stealing what people have worked hard to get, like
45:40
Speaker 15: cars and.
45:41
Speaker 8: Things like that, motorbikes. I think it's a great idea.
45:44
Speaker 15: If you commit crime in towns or anywhere in the country,
45:47
Speaker 15: I believe, and you breach bail, guess what?
45:49
Speaker 8: You should go to jail.
45:51
Speaker 2: I'll leave it there, gentlemen. Great to have your company.
45:54
Speaker 2: Quick break. After the break, Kel Richards. Welcome back. Joining me,
46:04
Speaker 2: as he does every Wednesday, broadcaster Kel Richards. Kel, before
46:08
Speaker 2: we get into the words, we're going to mark the
46:10
Speaker 2: passing today, the sad passing of Dolly Parton, 80 years
46:13
Speaker 2: of age. I'm a huge fan. I love Jolene. I
46:16
Speaker 2: love Islands in the Stream, the Kenny Rogers version with her.
46:20
Speaker 2: But she used to have this saying, and I love
46:22
Speaker 2: this saying, she said, I never worry if someone calls
46:25
Speaker 2: me a dumb blonde, she says, because I know I'm
46:27
Speaker 2: not dumb and I'm certainly not a blonde. Did you
46:32
Speaker 2: have a favourite song?
46:34
Speaker 6: She actually wrote a song called Coat of Many Colours,
46:37
Speaker 6: which I think is a brilliant little song. And if
46:38
Speaker 6: you don't know it, it's worth checking it out.
46:41
Speaker 2: All right, let's get into the words. Julie, and I
46:43
Speaker 2: want to know this one too. Julie says, why is
46:46
Speaker 2: a distance, a long distance called a country mile? Is
46:50
Speaker 2: that different from a city mile?
46:52
Speaker 6: Well, the expression goes back to 1661, and in those
46:55
Speaker 6: days it felt as though it was believed that a
46:58
Speaker 6: country mile was a longer distance than an urban mile.
47:01
Speaker 6: What is unclear is whether it really was a different
47:04
Speaker 6: number or whether it simply subjectively felt longer travelling in
47:08
Speaker 6: the country. It could have been either of those. The
47:10
Speaker 6: experts are not settled on this. But it might actually
47:13
Speaker 6: have been a different distance. 350 years ago, before measurements
47:16
Speaker 6: were standardised, a mile could have meant not 1,760 yards.
47:21
Speaker 6: As it did in the city, it might have been
47:23
Speaker 6: longer in the bush. So that's quite possible.
47:27
Speaker 2: All right, tomorrow night, please watch the program. I'm going
47:30
Speaker 2: to return to the issue of the Brumbies. We're going
47:32
Speaker 2: to get an update from someone who's fighting hard for
47:35
Speaker 2: the Brumbies. But I guess that causes me the query.
47:39
Speaker 2: This one's come from me. Where does the word Brumby
47:41
Speaker 2: come from, Kel?
47:42
Speaker 6: Well, as you know, it means wild horses that have
47:45
Speaker 6: descended from escaped stock. There are four theories, and I'll
47:49
Speaker 6: very quickly list the four theories for you. One is
47:52
Speaker 6: it's a corruption of an Irish name for a small
47:55
Speaker 6: horse or a colt. I think that's unlikely. The second
47:58
Speaker 6: is that it's a corruption of a person's name, a
48:00
Speaker 6: lieutenant or major Brumby whose horses escaped and started the
48:04
Speaker 6: whole breed. The third is it's a corruption of the
48:07
Speaker 6: name of a Queensland cattle station named Baramba, where all
48:10
Speaker 6: the stock horses escaped when the owner went broke. And
48:14
Speaker 6: the fourth, which is the most likely one, is that
48:16
Speaker 6: it comes from an Aboriginal word, Barambi, which meant wild.
48:21
Speaker 6: In 1896, Banjo Patterson, commented on this. And he said
48:26
Speaker 6: he thought it came from the Aboriginal word. He was
48:27
Speaker 6: commenting on a New South Wales Supreme Court judge who
48:31
Speaker 6: heard about, in the case he was sitting on, Brumby horses.
48:35
Speaker 6: And he said, as only a judge can say, well,
48:38
Speaker 6: who is this Brumby? And where is his run? And
48:41
Speaker 6: Patterson wrote this wonderful little bush ballad about Brumby's run.
48:45
Speaker 6: Out beyond the western pines, beneath the setting sun, no
48:49
Speaker 6: survey mark defines the bounds of Brumby's run. It's a
48:53
Speaker 6: wonderful poem. And he's saying it really comes from that
48:56
Speaker 6: Aboriginal source word.
48:59
Speaker 2: We don't do enough poetry recitation anymore. I love it. Hey,
49:04
Speaker 2: Bull's Roar. Alison wants to know, Bull's Roar, where's that
49:07
Speaker 2: one come from?
49:07
Speaker 6: This is ours. This is an Australian invention coined by
49:10
Speaker 6: us clever Aussies again. First recorded in 1936 and appeared,
49:15
Speaker 6: so quite recently, and appeared first in print in an
49:17
Speaker 6: Adelaide newspaper called The Chronicle. It means near and it's
49:20
Speaker 6: always used in the negative, you know, not within a
49:22
Speaker 6: bull's roar, not near, not close, not certain why. The
49:27
Speaker 6: implication is a bull's roar is not very loud and
49:29
Speaker 6: can't be heard very far.
49:32
Speaker 2: Thank you, Kel. Lovely to have your company as always.
49:36
Speaker 2: Tomorrow night, as I mentioned, we'll get back into the issue.
49:39
Speaker 2: of our beautiful Brumbies and what's happening up in our
49:41
Speaker 2: high country. That's it for me. I'll see you then.
49:44
Speaker 2: Up next, James McPherson filling in for Andrew Bolt.