Latest / Steve Price / Steve Price | 20 June

Transcript

Steve Price | 20 June · Steve Price

0:00
Speaker 1: Live. This is Steve Price.
0:06
Speaker 2: We're going to Fridays keep you up to date with
0:08
Speaker 2: the latest from the Middle East. It's mid morning now
0:10
Speaker 2: in Tel Aviv. With a two week deadline now imposed
0:14
Speaker 2: by President Trump on the Iranians. I don't think anyone
0:17
Speaker 2: thinks that'll hold. We'll go there shortly Live Plus Tonight.
0:21
Speaker 2: First up, domestic politics and the basket case that is
0:25
Speaker 2: the Victorian budget, biggest debt in Australia, highest state taxes
0:29
Speaker 2: as well, and a treasurer so naive that she went
0:32
Speaker 2: to New York to plead for no more ratings agency
0:35
Speaker 2: downgrades and came back talking about how she thought America
0:39
Speaker 2: was doomed. How delusional. I'll talk with the oppositions. James
0:43
Speaker 2: Newbury first up on the program tonight. Also shocking and
0:47
Speaker 2: I mean truly shocking crime statistics out of that state
0:51
Speaker 2: released yesterday shows offending by children up eighteen percent year
0:56
Speaker 2: on year and cop this Victoria Police made more arrests
1:00
Speaker 2: in the last twelve months than ever in their one
1:04
Speaker 2: hundred and seventy two year history. In one year, Star
1:07
Speaker 2: carturnist Mark Knights had a huge week and Campbell Newman
1:10
Speaker 2: on Brisbane's Have I guess what they've got now, They've
1:13
Speaker 2: got a brand new bin tax. First, though, how absurd
1:17
Speaker 2: can things get in our legal system when former drug
1:21
Speaker 2: kingpin and fugitive Tony Mockbell is awarded one million dollars
1:26
Speaker 2: in compensation after being bashed and stabbed in prison. Now
1:31
Speaker 2: Mockbell sued the State of Victoria over what has been
1:34
Speaker 2: called a frenzied attack on him by two other jail inmates.
1:39
Speaker 2: He was in maximum security at a prison in Lara
1:42
Speaker 2: and had to be rushed to hospital. I remember that,
1:46
Speaker 2: rushed to hospital. It's relevant with stab wounds, a fractured
1:49
Speaker 2: skull and a brain hemorrhage and some.
1:51
Speaker 1: Teeth knocked out.
1:53
Speaker 2: Mockbell also claims he suffered a traumatic brain injury in
1:57
Speaker 2: that attack, serious injuries and prison should be safe in jail, although,
2:02
Speaker 2: of course, his one time rival in the deadly Melbourne
2:05
Speaker 2: Underworld Wars, Carl Williams, died in jail after being bashed
2:08
Speaker 2: to death with the part from an exercise bike way
2:12
Speaker 2: back in twenty ten. Look, it's not just the million
2:15
Speaker 2: dollars awarded though. That will anger a lot of people
2:19
Speaker 2: news of Mockbell's payout and he won't get much of it,
2:22
Speaker 2: but that is not the point. His treatment in jail
2:25
Speaker 2: and the hospital care offered immediately with an ambulance. Was
2:29
Speaker 2: revealed on the very same week that these things happened.
2:33
Speaker 2: In Victoria, a woman died in central Victoria last Wednesday
2:37
Speaker 2: after waiting.
2:38
Speaker 1: Five hours five hours.
2:40
Speaker 2: For paramedics to turn up after she collapsed after suffering
2:44
Speaker 2: a suspected overdose of prescription medicine. Now the reason for
2:49
Speaker 2: the delay was a standoff between police an ambulance Victoria
2:53
Speaker 2: over whether the dead woman had been violent toward emergency
2:57
Speaker 2: service workers in the past. A tragic bureaucratic bungle. But
3:02
Speaker 2: it gets worse now. Mockbell, as I said, got rushed
3:05
Speaker 2: to hospital after being bashed, probably got great treatment. A
3:10
Speaker 2: week ago it was revealed that a Blackburn man was
3:13
Speaker 2: left for dead after he fell over when paramedics took
3:17
Speaker 2: five hours again to get to him. Why five hours Well,
3:21
Speaker 2: the ambulance staff were ramped up at baux Hill Hospital
3:25
Speaker 2: and the hospital, according to the Herald, Son, refused to
3:29
Speaker 2: release the cruise back onto the road. By the time
3:31
Speaker 2: they got to the patient. Sadly, he was dead on
3:35
Speaker 2: the floor of his own house. Now this all comes
3:39
Speaker 2: as a parliamentary inquiry into the ambulance service resumed sitting today.
3:43
Speaker 2: Those are just two incidents, but there are dozens and
3:46
Speaker 2: dozens of others, and it serves, i believe, as a
3:49
Speaker 2: stark warning of the real costs of a state that
3:53
Speaker 2: has broke the real life consequences of mismanagement of taxpayers money,
3:58
Speaker 2: a state government that's run out of ideas other than
4:01
Speaker 2: levying new taxes and charges on people, and an emergency
4:05
Speaker 2: service worker shortage right across police, ambulance drivers, nurses, and
4:10
Speaker 2: a lack of funding for hospitals. And we pay out
4:13
Speaker 2: a million dollar compensation to a notorious criminal figure in
4:18
Speaker 2: Tony Mockbell, who was at the center of a massive
4:21
Speaker 2: illegal drug empire, who fled the country on a tip off,
4:25
Speaker 2: costing the state millions of dollars chasing him down, only
4:28
Speaker 2: to now see him out of jail on bail, likely
4:32
Speaker 2: to sue the state for another million dollars over the
4:34
Speaker 2: lawyer X scandal. Meanwhile, an old fellow falls over at home,
4:39
Speaker 2: calls Tripolo, and dies on his kitchen floor because no
4:43
Speaker 2: one came to help him for five hours. What a
4:46
Speaker 2: disgraceful mess and a bitter joke. Still on Victorian politics.
4:55
Speaker 2: Victorian Treasurer Jacqueline Symes, as I write and the column
4:58
Speaker 2: in the Herald s.
4:59
Speaker 1: Under Day, was in New Yor last week.
5:00
Speaker 2: She was meeting with investors and credit rating agencies, and
5:04
Speaker 2: according to her, the meetings were quote very productive. This
5:07
Speaker 2: is despite real concerns that Victoria's DOUBA credit rating could
5:11
Speaker 2: be downgraded further, as the state's net debt is predicted
5:15
Speaker 2: to reach one hundred and ninety four billion dollars by
5:19
Speaker 2: twenty twenty eight to twenty nine. Joining me now is
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Speaker 2: Victoria's Shadow Treasurer, James Newbury. I'll get onto those financial
5:26
Speaker 2: figures in a minute, James, But how tragic is that
5:28
Speaker 2: we're paying out a criminal a million bucks and an
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Speaker 2: old man falls on his kitchen floor and dies in
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Speaker 2: his own house.
5:35
Speaker 3: Look, I mean, when you're a Victorian, the sad thing
5:38
Speaker 3: is you're used to this government siding with criminals. So
5:42
Speaker 3: I'm not reflecting on that specific case, but when you
5:45
Speaker 3: live in Victoria, it's topsy turvy. You know when it
5:49
Speaker 3: comes to the law, full stop. You know this government
5:53
Speaker 3: sides with criminals.
5:54
Speaker 4: Not victims.
5:55
Speaker 3: And this isn't the first time on the case of
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Speaker 3: the poor fellow from Blackburry. And you know, this isn't
6:01
Speaker 3: the first time we saw during COVID tens of people,
6:06
Speaker 3: including young children, dying waiting for ambulances. The government still
6:10
Speaker 3: hasn't fixed the ambulance system. You know, can you imagine
6:14
Speaker 3: calling an ambulance and dying waiting simply because the government's
6:20
Speaker 3: mismanaging the healthcare system. How did we get to this point?
6:25
Speaker 3: And frankly, how have we not fixed it? And why
6:29
Speaker 3: haven't we heard the premiere screaming about how much we
6:32
Speaker 3: need to fix it? I mean, I haven't heard her apologize.
6:35
Speaker 3: I haven't heard her talking about the need to fix it.
6:38
Speaker 3: I mean this state is upside down.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're almost a third world country, it would seem
6:45
Speaker 2: to me. Let's get onto the treasurer Jacqueline Simes. She's
6:49
Speaker 2: a lawyer, so she's got no economic background. Flies to
6:52
Speaker 2: New York, stays there for forty eight hours or so,
6:55
Speaker 2: flies back. She's been warned by the ratings agencies that
6:59
Speaker 2: our publics have debts too high, infrastructure spending needs to
7:03
Speaker 2: be cut back, and the best she could do James
7:06
Speaker 2: was suggest she felt quote a sense of doom for America,
7:11
Speaker 2: and then laughingly called Victoria a stable, offering opportunity city
7:16
Speaker 2: for the rest of the world.
7:17
Speaker 1: I mean, she serious.
7:19
Speaker 3: And then the credit rating agencies contradicted everything she said.
7:23
Speaker 4: They said there.
7:24
Speaker 3: Are fundamental issues which we know with the government's mismanagement,
7:28
Speaker 3: so completely contradicted everything she said. I think the fact
7:33
Speaker 3: that they've put us on a credit rating what tells
7:35
Speaker 3: us why we have the worst credit rating in the country.
7:40
Speaker 3: But this is the same treasure who only a couple
7:43
Speaker 3: of weeks ago went into a really big event and
7:47
Speaker 3: said to industry, what's your favorite tax I mean, is
7:52
Speaker 3: this treasure as serious? We have the worst taxes in
7:56
Speaker 3: the country, the most taxes in the country, And the
7:59
Speaker 3: Treasurer thinks that the room is sitting there gagging to
8:03
Speaker 3: pick the best one. Well, they all know which, they've
8:06
Speaker 3: all got a favorite that they don't like. In fact,
8:08
Speaker 3: they've probably got a list of what's what they don't like.
8:11
Speaker 3: I mean, frankly, the Treasurer can't help but fall over
8:15
Speaker 3: her own feet. She went overseas to beg for our
8:19
Speaker 3: credit rating not to be downgraded, And of course we
8:21
Speaker 3: don't want it to be downgraded, we want it to
8:23
Speaker 3: be fixed. I just think that the entire state and
8:26
Speaker 3: probably the whole country knows. This government hasn't got a
8:29
Speaker 3: good track record of making sure that happens. I think
8:32
Speaker 3: we all know. With a nearly two hundred billion dollar debt,
8:37
Speaker 3: that's one point that's one point two million dollars an
8:41
Speaker 3: hour in interest, they're not going to fix it.
8:46
Speaker 2: Yes, also been reported that she told her staff to
8:49
Speaker 2: stop using economic terms because she doesn't understand them.
8:52
Speaker 1: I mean, do you believe her pledge?
8:55
Speaker 2: And interestingly, when I wrote about this today, I said,
8:59
Speaker 2: don't use the word promise because she deliberately used the
9:02
Speaker 2: word pledge to cut public service jobs in the new
9:05
Speaker 2: Unions are not going to let her do that.
9:08
Speaker 3: And not just that, this government multiple times over multiple years,
9:13
Speaker 3: has said before a budget and around budget time, we're
9:16
Speaker 3: going to reduce the size of the public service. And
9:19
Speaker 3: guess what happens come the next budget. They've spent more
9:23
Speaker 3: money on the public service, not less more money. I
9:27
Speaker 3: mean to give you a view as some context, the
9:29
Speaker 3: amount between what they promise at budget time to spend
9:33
Speaker 3: and the amount they actually spend is fourteen billion dollars
9:39
Speaker 3: in blowouts on average every year there've.
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Speaker 4: Been in government. Just think about that. I mean it's
9:45
Speaker 4: nearly fifteen percent more than.
9:48
Speaker 5: The entire budget they have every year in blowouts. The
9:53
Speaker 5: blowouts are astonishing. So what they put in writing at
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Speaker 5: the start of the year and what they spend fifteen
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Speaker 5: percent above fifth fourteen billion dollars on average in blowouts.
10:03
Speaker 4: You can't believe anything they say.
10:07
Speaker 1: No, you can't.
10:08
Speaker 2: And today because it's Friday, And that's why I like
10:11
Speaker 2: being on a Friday, because governments drop bad news. Guess
10:14
Speaker 2: what they've told farmers who deny access to their land
10:17
Speaker 2: to energy transmission lines which they want to plow through
10:21
Speaker 2: farms all over Victoria will now face fines of over
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Speaker 2: twelve thousand dollars and if they refuse to give their name,
10:27
Speaker 2: will we find four thousand dollars if they refuse access.
10:31
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a huge issue, James, and this
10:34
Speaker 2: is going to end very badly.
10:36
Speaker 4: It's shocking.
10:37
Speaker 3: And they're doing this not just a regional Victoria, but
10:40
Speaker 3: also in the city in short for people not from Victoria.
10:44
Speaker 3: The government is taking over planning controls and as you
10:48
Speaker 3: rightly said, they're now saying a farmers, we're going to
10:51
Speaker 3: come along with a massive stick if you say no.
10:54
Speaker 3: And in the city. They're going to impose big new
10:57
Speaker 3: taxes in the areas that they want to build. I
11:01
Speaker 3: mean what the government's doing is draconian. I mean they
11:04
Speaker 3: are taking.
11:04
Speaker 4: Away people's rights.
11:06
Speaker 3: They're finding you if you don't like it, and if
11:09
Speaker 3: you speak out, and by the way, if you speak out,
11:11
Speaker 3: they're not going to listen to you. The only way
11:14
Speaker 3: we can stop this stuff is to change the government,
11:18
Speaker 3: and in eighteen months we have to do it. We
11:21
Speaker 3: desperately have to change this government.
11:26
Speaker 2: I'm not that concerned about what happened with John Pursudo
11:30
Speaker 2: and more redeeming in the end, it's over now and
11:32
Speaker 2: he's going to get the money as alone.
11:34
Speaker 1: He's going to pay it off. One thing I want
11:36
Speaker 1: to play and get your reaction to.
11:37
Speaker 2: Though I don't know Deputy Premier Ben Carroll. I thought
11:41
Speaker 2: that he was a reasonable sort of bloke when you
11:43
Speaker 2: compare him to some of those other front benches from
11:46
Speaker 2: the Victorian government. But have a look at what he
11:48
Speaker 2: had to say about the arrangement that was agreed to
11:52
Speaker 2: by the Victorian Liberal Executive Committee last night in regard
11:57
Speaker 2: to John PURSUITA have a look at this.
12:00
Speaker 6: Say that the Party of Family Values but they're very
12:03
Speaker 6: happy to provide a commercial rate loan of more than
12:07
Speaker 6: a million dollars and boast about it to their members.
12:11
Speaker 6: It just goes to show if this is how the
12:14
Speaker 6: Liberal Party treat each other, can you imagine how they
12:17
Speaker 6: would treat Victorians if they were ever to form government?
12:23
Speaker 3: Seriously, James, you know, when you watch things like that,
12:27
Speaker 3: you just can see the grubby nature of this government,
12:30
Speaker 3: can't you. I mean you can see that the first
12:32
Speaker 3: thing they do is to get into the gutter. I
12:35
Speaker 3: don't think anyone who's followed politics in this country ever
12:39
Speaker 3: can take advice from the Labor Party or the Union
12:44
Speaker 3: movement on probity, on good behavior, on manners, I mean,
12:49
Speaker 3: on anything positive. You certainly can't take advice. But you know,
12:54
Speaker 3: this guy is supposedly Deputy Premier of the state, and
12:57
Speaker 3: you know it's probably a bit impolite to say, didn't
13:00
Speaker 3: you just look like a bit of a grub?
13:04
Speaker 2: I couldn't. I couldn't disagree with that. I mean, I
13:06
Speaker 2: thought it was just a really, really unnecessary comment, and
13:09
Speaker 2: I mean he needs to do a hell of a
13:10
Speaker 2: lot better than that.
13:11
Speaker 1: James Sanks.
13:12
Speaker 2: As usually, I'll talk to you shortly James Newbury there,
13:14
Speaker 2: the Shadow Treasury spokesman.
13:17
Speaker 1: Let's go to the Middle East now.
13:18
Speaker 2: I want to take you to Doha in Qatar, where
13:21
Speaker 2: I'm joined by Sky's business editor Ross Greenwoo, who flew
13:24
Speaker 2: there overnight.
13:26
Speaker 1: Ross.
13:26
Speaker 2: Obviously Qatar's upping its operations out of Australia. They've got
13:30
Speaker 2: their new tie up with Virgin. You flew in there overnight,
13:33
Speaker 2: no disruptions. I would have thought that flying into that
13:35
Speaker 2: part of the Middle East might be a little bit
13:37
Speaker 2: hairy at this time of year.
13:41
Speaker 1: To be honest, it was pretty straightforward. It wasn't an issue.
13:44
Speaker 7: Quite clear of the airspace in places nearby very going
13:48
Speaker 7: to be very restricted, Iran being one of those to
13:52
Speaker 7: the west of me Israel, of course the airspace is
13:56
Speaker 7: there closed, but getting into here no problems at all.
13:59
Speaker 7: And Katar, you know, sort of has obviously been this
14:02
Speaker 7: week named as the best airline in the world, which
14:06
Speaker 7: obviously they're trying to now promote. And so we're here
14:09
Speaker 7: having a looked behind the scenes, and the key for
14:11
Speaker 7: that is really that they are now twenty five percent
14:14
Speaker 7: of Virgin. Virgin is about to list on the Australian
14:17
Speaker 7: Stock Exchange or relist after previously gone broke, it's now
14:20
Speaker 7: back in a good state of health.
14:22
Speaker 1: And so from that point of view, it's trying to work.
14:24
Speaker 7: Out what that link up will mean given the fact
14:27
Speaker 7: that in the past Qatar has really tried to get
14:30
Speaker 7: more flights into Australia been knocked back by the Australian government,
14:34
Speaker 7: and whether this tie up now really does mean it's
14:37
Speaker 7: going to create more international competition for QUINTALSS along the
14:40
Speaker 7: way as.
14:41
Speaker 2: Well, explain the importance that Kwatara has played. There was
14:46
Speaker 2: a piece in Jewish Jews from times today the important
14:50
Speaker 2: role they've played in these peace negotiations. I keep hearing
14:53
Speaker 2: that when the Americans fly in and the Israelis and
14:57
Speaker 2: even Hamas, a lot of those goations take place right
15:01
Speaker 2: where you are.
15:04
Speaker 7: Yeah, they do, and historically that's been the case. In
15:06
Speaker 7: many cases, Katar has seen itself to be really the
15:10
Speaker 7: sort of the independent state of the Middle East. And
15:12
Speaker 7: this is the reason why, as you point out, Hamas
15:15
Speaker 7: and Israel had many of their talks right here in Doha,
15:19
Speaker 7: and also then going back even further, it was where
15:22
Speaker 7: the Taliban and the United States also had their piece talks.
15:26
Speaker 7: Now it's interesting just to note just one thing in
15:28
Speaker 7: regard to Iran and Israel, and that is the latest
15:32
Speaker 7: round of talks that took place were in Oman and
15:36
Speaker 7: not in Doha. Now there might be good reasons for that,
15:39
Speaker 7: and that is that number one, you had a situation
15:41
Speaker 7: where Doha maintains relationships with Iran, but at the same
15:46
Speaker 7: time it also hosts a US Air Force base right
15:49
Speaker 7: here on its own territory. So it becomes a fairly
15:53
Speaker 7: sensitive thing in terms of Middle Eastern politics as to
15:56
Speaker 7: where the talks will take place. But you do know
16:00
Speaker 7: that Qatar and Doha will play an integral part in
16:05
Speaker 7: any of the conversations that will have, mainly because most
16:08
Speaker 7: of the distant groups and many of the nation states
16:12
Speaker 7: have bases here in Doha, and this is often a
16:15
Speaker 7: place where they can have conversations without igniting hostilities.
16:22
Speaker 2: You sort of wonder us whether that air base would
16:24
Speaker 2: be then used by the Americans if they did involve
16:27
Speaker 2: themselves in this conflict, but you might you probably would
16:31
Speaker 2: think that maybe that would be too sensitive. They might
16:33
Speaker 2: base their aircraft somewhere else, like in Germany.
16:38
Speaker 7: Well it could well be, and of course the long
16:40
Speaker 7: range aircraft they might use in the future might not
16:43
Speaker 7: necessarily need the air base here because, as you say,
16:47
Speaker 7: there would be political sensitivities, But there is no doubt
16:51
Speaker 7: that in terms of Iran, the air base here would
16:54
Speaker 7: be one of the closest that America would have to Tehran.
16:58
Speaker 7: And so that's also something too of logistics you've got
17:01
Speaker 7: to be very conscious of. But for the time being,
17:03
Speaker 7: of course, Donald Trump has now said there's two weeks
17:06
Speaker 7: before any decision has made as to what the US's
17:09
Speaker 7: further involvement might be in this conflict, and so from
17:12
Speaker 7: that point of view, there is a bargaining chip there
17:15
Speaker 7: for a Ran and that's the reason why again even
17:18
Speaker 7: Doha might play a role in that, or Amham in
17:21
Speaker 7: terms of where there might be talks in terms of
17:24
Speaker 7: the de escalizer, a de escalation of this conflict, and
17:28
Speaker 7: also then what the future of Iran's nuclear ambitions might
17:32
Speaker 7: be as well.
17:35
Speaker 2: Just finally, especial edition of Business Sunday. I have been
17:38
Speaker 2: seeing the promos and I'm quite invested in this because
17:42
Speaker 2: I covered heavily the original floods in Lismore in twenty
17:46
Speaker 2: twenty one. You've gone and put a panel together to
17:50
Speaker 2: try and work out how these places can be made
17:53
Speaker 2: resistant to flood rather than just making the same mistakes
17:57
Speaker 2: time after time after again.
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Speaker 7: Look, I get frustrated, and I think a lot of
18:03
Speaker 7: people and especially in these communities, get highly frustrated the
18:06
Speaker 7: cleanup happens, the floods come back again, or if it's
18:10
Speaker 7: not floods as bushfires going through places. And even though
18:13
Speaker 7: there are political promises that have made quite often there
18:16
Speaker 7: is not enough action to make these communities resilient and resistant,
18:20
Speaker 7: not just only say, for example, levy banks or whatever
18:23
Speaker 7: it might be, or having people not building in vulnerable places.
18:26
Speaker 7: It's also about the fact that these places can't afford
18:30
Speaker 7: insurance or just simply can't get it, and so that
18:32
Speaker 7: doesn't have a functioning community if you cannot get insurance.
18:36
Speaker 7: So that's the reason why we put this together to
18:38
Speaker 7: really send a message to government, to basically say to government,
18:42
Speaker 7: you've got to act.
18:43
Speaker 1: The time to really.
18:44
Speaker 7: Sit there and have nice kind words and hand out
18:47
Speaker 7: a few dollars in aid when people are flooded or
18:49
Speaker 7: have bushfires or natural disasters come through. Cyclones in Queensland
18:53
Speaker 7: is over. It really is a time when governments have
18:56
Speaker 7: got to act. It's going to cost there's no doubt.
18:58
Speaker 7: But the fact of the matter is it about securing
19:01
Speaker 7: regional Australia and many of these vulnerable communities. If politicians
19:05
Speaker 7: simply do not act, and do not act quickly.
19:10
Speaker 2: Good on your Roscoe, look after yourself, will catch up
19:12
Speaker 2: with you when you get back. And that insurance forum,
19:14
Speaker 2: by the way, premiering eleven am Eastern Standard time this weekend.
19:19
Speaker 2: Coming up after the break, Donald Trump announces, as I said,
19:22
Speaker 2: a deadline for a decision on a possible strike on Iran.
19:25
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, a new green.
19:27
Speaker 2: Bin fee is being forced on Brisbane residents and you
19:31
Speaker 2: pay it whether you want the bin or not. Friday
19:34
Speaker 2: regular Campbell Newman will discuss welcome back thanks to joining
19:40
Speaker 2: us on the Friday night. Some updates now on the
19:42
Speaker 2: war in the Middle East. I'll speak with the former
19:45
Speaker 2: IDF intelligence officer a little lake later. As I said,
19:49
Speaker 2: US President Donald Trump, he set a deadline for when
19:52
Speaker 2: he will make a decision about possible American strike on
19:56
Speaker 2: Iran's nuclear facilities or whatever's left of them, particularly one
20:00
Speaker 2: buried in a mountain.
20:01
Speaker 1: Now this is.
20:02
Speaker 2: White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt. She revealed what the
20:05
Speaker 2: President will do next.
20:08
Speaker 8: I have a message directly from the President, and I
20:11
Speaker 8: quote based on the fact that there's a substantial chance
20:15
Speaker 8: of negotiations that may or may not take place with
20:17
Speaker 8: Iran in the near future. I will make my decision
20:21
Speaker 8: whether or not to go within the next two weeks.
20:24
Speaker 8: That's a quote directly from the President.
20:28
Speaker 2: Joining me now, Deacon University Global Islamic Politics Chair Professor
20:32
Speaker 2: Greg Barton, who we talk to on a regular basis, Greg,
20:35
Speaker 2: do do you actually think the US will get involved
20:38
Speaker 2: and have I guess what two weeks time from today
20:41
Speaker 2: is what the date might be.
20:43
Speaker 9: The July fourth Independence Day. That's remarkable timing, isn't it.
20:48
Speaker 9: Donald Trump has been putting out these two weeks dates
20:51
Speaker 9: for lots of things, including talks with Putin and over Ukraine,
20:54
Speaker 9: So who knows what it really means.
20:59
Speaker 2: So if they do get involve the Americans, how much
21:02
Speaker 2: does that actually, you know, escalate this conflict? Clearly it's
21:05
Speaker 2: going to make it much worse.
21:07
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's hard to see it solving the conflict. I
21:10
Speaker 9: think that the way that Bib and men Yahu will
21:12
Speaker 9: sell it to Trump is that you just seen in
21:14
Speaker 9: a couple of b two's over four doh and it's done,
21:17
Speaker 9: you finished it, that you've closed down the nuclear program,
21:20
Speaker 9: and we're good. But of course it's not likely to
21:22
Speaker 9: be so clear cut and so simple. First of all,
21:25
Speaker 9: those B two strike with massive ordnance penetrated bombs over
21:29
Speaker 9: four do ninety minutes underground, that likely wouldn't finish Iran's
21:33
Speaker 9: nuclear program. That probably scramble to take what they have
21:36
Speaker 9: left and actually move towards nuclear weapons. In the meantime,
21:39
Speaker 9: they're likely to strike out against US targets all around
21:43
Speaker 9: the Middle East and use their proxies to do so.
21:45
Speaker 9: It's so a very dangerous risk of escalation then a
21:49
Speaker 9: prolonged conflict.
21:53
Speaker 2: There's various theories about how close Iran is to actually
21:57
Speaker 2: getting a nuclear WEAPONI there was an academic from A
22:02
Speaker 2: and You today on the ABC suggesting that they're nowhere
22:06
Speaker 2: near it and haven't been for a very long time.
22:09
Speaker 2: I mean raising obviously the memories of the weapons of
22:13
Speaker 2: massive destruction in Saddam Hussein in the intelligence you have read.
22:20
Speaker 2: Are they close or are we again perhaps seeing an
22:26
Speaker 2: area where there's exaggeration taking place.
22:30
Speaker 9: Well, we're seeing Israel make the claim that they're close.
22:33
Speaker 9: This is at odds with what all the other publically
22:36
Speaker 9: available intelligence reports have said, including what Trump was briefed
22:40
Speaker 9: on by his own security advisor just weeks ago. But
22:44
Speaker 9: we also know that the Israeli is a remarkable penetrating
22:50
Speaker 9: Iranian society and its defense apparatus. That's how they've carried
22:55
Speaker 9: out these strikes with remarkable intelligence penetration. So it is
22:58
Speaker 9: possible they know something that no one else knows. But
23:01
Speaker 9: what all the other intelligence reports are saying is that
23:03
Speaker 9: Iran is some way off. It's not not close at all.
23:07
Speaker 9: So to be sure, it's we can't know where. It's
23:11
Speaker 9: sort of making claim from Nettna, who is desperate to
23:14
Speaker 9: involve Trump at America in this program, and on balance,
23:18
Speaker 9: you sort of want to be a bit skeptical about
23:21
Speaker 9: about what he's saying for.
23:22
Speaker 1: That reason, Greg this would be the nightmare scenario.
23:27
Speaker 2: CBS is reporting that the FBI have ramped up monitoring
23:30
Speaker 2: of possible Iranian backed sleeper cells in the United States,
23:34
Speaker 2: which in simple terms, would be people who have been
23:37
Speaker 2: living in the American community connect to Iran and possibly
23:41
Speaker 2: carrying out a terrorist attack. That would be the worst
23:44
Speaker 2: possible outcome.
23:45
Speaker 1: Wouldn't it, Yeah, that would be the worst.
23:48
Speaker 9: It would be amongst the worst because it would just
23:50
Speaker 9: would be part of a whole barrage of things, including
23:53
Speaker 9: a protracted war in the region. You know, we talk
23:56
Speaker 9: about Iranian terrorism terrorism we don't want to think about
23:59
Speaker 9: as non state act activity. But Iran has a long
24:02
Speaker 9: history of using groups that are very much linked to
24:05
Speaker 9: its embassies and other outposts, you know, history of involvement
24:09
Speaker 9: with his Bullar in Latin America, for example, carrying out
24:14
Speaker 9: what otherwise would be called terror strikes.
24:16
Speaker 1: So that's possible.
24:17
Speaker 9: I think that would really escalate things for Tehran, so
24:20
Speaker 9: I'd be surprised that they'd turned to that option.
24:22
Speaker 1: First of all.
24:23
Speaker 9: I think what's more likely is that if America went
24:27
Speaker 9: ahead with these B two bomber strikes over the four
24:29
Speaker 9: doh and maybe natants, that Iran would strike out of
24:33
Speaker 9: American targets all around the region and get its proxies
24:36
Speaker 9: to do so. At least the hooties we know are
24:38
Speaker 9: capable of of coursing some trouble. Maybe his Bulla would struggle,
24:44
Speaker 9: but that would just likely to spiral onto attacks and
24:46
Speaker 9: counter attacks. I think the operations of Iranian agents in
24:50
Speaker 9: the US elsewhere. Yeah, it's possible, you know, that may
24:53
Speaker 9: be targeted assassinations of people who were critical. They certainly
24:57
Speaker 9: been targeted assassinations of Iranian dissidents for year and years now,
25:00
Speaker 9: and it's been very frequent in the last few years.
25:04
Speaker 9: So anything as possible, and that's part of the risk
25:06
Speaker 9: of what's going on. We don't know. I mean, that's
25:08
Speaker 9: why people say that this would be opening the Pandora's box,
25:11
Speaker 9: because we simply don't know how it would play out
25:13
Speaker 9: and how it would end. And we sort of have
25:15
Speaker 9: seen this movie before, haven't we In two thousand and
25:18
Speaker 9: three with the invasion of Iraq. It didn't play out
25:22
Speaker 9: like anyone hoped it would, and that's the risk here.
25:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, Greg, let's hope we don't have that.
25:28
Speaker 2: Thank you very much as usual for talking to us
25:30
Speaker 2: at s Greg Barton coming to us from Indonesia's bringing
25:33
Speaker 2: my Friday Night regular. Former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman joins
25:37
Speaker 2: us every Friday night. Did you watch treasurer Jim Chalmers
25:41
Speaker 2: at the Press Club during the week. I mean, maybe
25:44
Speaker 2: you had a couple of hours that you wanted to
25:46
Speaker 2: bore yourself silly with Campbell, but he's ruled out politically
25:51
Speaker 2: toxic tax reform like inheritance and family home taxes ahead
25:57
Speaker 2: of this productivity round table. But he says the summit
26:01
Speaker 2: won't be a repeat of union heavy jobs and skills.
26:05
Speaker 2: How do you read this? I mean he clearly is
26:07
Speaker 2: going to have an attack. I would have thought on
26:10
Speaker 2: the top level of people who are on higher incomes
26:13
Speaker 2: because they're desperate for money.
26:17
Speaker 10: Well, they are desperate for money, Steve, And when he
26:19
Speaker 10: talks reform, he just means increased taxes. And what the
26:23
Speaker 10: debate should be about in this country is actually about
26:26
Speaker 10: stopping the runaway, profligate spending of governments right across the country,
26:32
Speaker 10: whether they be the federal government, state territories, and even councils.
26:37
Speaker 10: That's what we need to do here. We're taxed well
26:39
Speaker 10: enough and to people in business who often are prepared
26:43
Speaker 10: to go, oh well, we will agree to an increase
26:45
Speaker 10: in the GST and that'll mean the end of it.
26:49
Speaker 1: As someone who's burning.
26:50
Speaker 10: Politics is dealt with government, don't do it. We're taxed
26:55
Speaker 10: highly enough. The problems on the spending side, that's where
26:59
Speaker 10: the need for reform is. But bottom line is Jim
27:02
Speaker 10: Charmers will go nowhere with this stuff because he doesn't
27:04
Speaker 10: even understand what that concept is. And he doesn't really
27:09
Speaker 10: care properly about productivity because everything they've done in the
27:13
Speaker 10: last three years well I've been in government has been
27:16
Speaker 10: to take the country backwards when it comes to productivity.
27:20
Speaker 10: So I'd also say to business learners, if you can't
27:23
Speaker 10: get a clear understanding what will be on the table
27:26
Speaker 10: at that basically meeting, then don't be suckers and turn
27:33
Speaker 10: up and give it credibility by being there.
27:38
Speaker 1: Yeah.
27:38
Speaker 2: I started the program talking about the debt of Victoria.
27:41
Speaker 2: As you know, it's the biggest in the country. The
27:45
Speaker 2: repayment on the interest on the debt's costing Victorians about
27:48
Speaker 2: a million dollars an hour. We had the Treasure of
27:51
Speaker 2: Victoria go to New York and beg the rating agencies
27:54
Speaker 2: not to further downgrade our credit rating, which is the
27:57
Speaker 2: lowest in the country at double A. Is going to
28:00
Speaker 2: reform somewhere. Why doesn't he start by talking to the
28:02
Speaker 2: Victorian government and tell him to stop spending so much
28:05
Speaker 2: money on infrastructure projects they can't afford, and stop whacking
28:09
Speaker 2: taxes on people like the one they announced today where
28:12
Speaker 2: if you're a farmer and you don't want a transmission
28:16
Speaker 2: tower on your property and you refuse to let it happen,
28:19
Speaker 2: you'll be fined twelve thousand dollars.
28:23
Speaker 6: Steve.
28:24
Speaker 10: The great irony here, and it's crazy, is that Victoria
28:28
Speaker 10: is sitting on top of the most amazing gas resources,
28:32
Speaker 10: but both the labor government and the cowardly liberal opposition
28:37
Speaker 10: have sort of put that in the two hard baskets.
28:39
Speaker 10: So you're now going to have potentially gas import terminal
28:43
Speaker 10: bringing gas from me to state or god forbid, overseas.
28:47
Speaker 10: But what about we flip that around. If Victoria's got
28:50
Speaker 10: budgetary problems, how about you go and exploit the gas
28:53
Speaker 10: resources that you have. How about you actually create a
28:56
Speaker 10: gas export industry as well as a stable and a
28:59
Speaker 10: four will supply for the domestic market. There's an opportunity
29:03
Speaker 10: to make money as Queensland has off gas royalties or
29:06
Speaker 10: WA or the Northern Territory. I mean, this is it's
29:10
Speaker 10: there for the taking, mate. But the trouble is the
29:13
Speaker 10: people pulling the levers in this country at the Martin
29:16
Speaker 10: I just don't think the right way. They're all about
29:19
Speaker 10: more tax more about more regulation, and they're driving us
29:24
Speaker 10: into an economic abyss.
29:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, well that's what happens when you put people who
29:29
Speaker 2: have never had a real job in charge. Can I
29:31
Speaker 2: just ask you before you go, You're going to get
29:33
Speaker 2: a bin tax in Brisbane. Brisbane City Council slapping one
29:37
Speaker 2: hundred and seventy thousand households with a flat fee for
29:40
Speaker 2: a green bin. Even if you don't want the bin,
29:43
Speaker 2: you still have to pay the green bin tax.
29:48
Speaker 10: Well, the Lord means a friend of mine and you know,
29:51
Speaker 10: I think he does a pretty good job and the
29:52
Speaker 10: whole But what I'd say to the Lord Mayor Adrian
29:55
Speaker 10: Shunner is rather than essentially there's a lot of double
29:58
Speaker 10: talk about this. They're all talking about the state government's
30:01
Speaker 10: got a waste levee, which go back a bit. When
30:05
Speaker 10: I became the Premiere in twenty twelve, we got rid
30:09
Speaker 10: of the Labor Party waste levee, which was a tax
30:12
Speaker 10: on putting stuff into the holes in the ground. After
30:15
Speaker 10: I lost in twenty fifteen, the Labor Party brought it
30:18
Speaker 10: back and it's a cost on rate pays and a
30:21
Speaker 10: cost on business across the state.
30:23
Speaker 1: What the Lord Mayor should.
30:24
Speaker 10: Be arguing for Steve is with his new LNP government,
30:28
Speaker 10: get rid of the tax because these landfill levies across
30:32
Speaker 10: Australia are another thing that's eating into middle Australia. It's
30:37
Speaker 10: costing them just like the whole green energy schemes are.
30:43
Speaker 10: That's the great dirty light. But there's so much that
30:46
Speaker 10: he's being imposed on families who suffering under a cost
30:50
Speaker 10: of crisis that comes straight from government. So I reckon
30:54
Speaker 10: the Lord Mayor should be arguing for a repeal of
30:57
Speaker 10: the waste levee. Get rid of that tax and actually
31:00
Speaker 10: you hands some money back to families who need it
31:03
Speaker 10: in Queensland.
31:06
Speaker 1: Well, he's a made of yours.
31:07
Speaker 2: I don't know if he watches the show, but you
31:08
Speaker 2: should go and tell him campbellow.
31:10
Speaker 1: It's good to catch up, my friend. I'll talk to
31:11
Speaker 1: you next Friday.
31:12
Speaker 2: Now coming up after the break, with the threat of
31:15
Speaker 2: missile attacks now a daily reality, What is really like
31:19
Speaker 2: living in Tel Aviv the moment? What's it like for
31:22
Speaker 2: Israeli's confronted by war? Plus the week in cartoons with
31:26
Speaker 2: the very clever Mark Knight, Welcome back to Friday Nights.
31:32
Speaker 2: I'll take you back to tell Aviv shortly. But with
31:35
Speaker 2: the world in such a brutal place at the moment,
31:38
Speaker 2: and so much happening politically, and of course with the
31:41
Speaker 2: conflict in the Middle East, it must be a real
31:44
Speaker 2: challenge to be a cartoon ast. Well, for Mark Knight,
31:47
Speaker 2: that's something he absolutely loves. He joins us. Now, Mark,
31:51
Speaker 2: it must be tough with something like a conflict that
31:54
Speaker 2: we're seeing in the Middle East. How do you get
31:56
Speaker 2: your head around something like that.
31:59
Speaker 11: Look, it is, there's not many jokes there, so I
32:02
Speaker 11: guess you just have to look at the issue and
32:04
Speaker 11: try and explain it through the use of visual metaphors
32:09
Speaker 11: to still the issue down. And this is what I
32:12
Speaker 11: found this week when Israel started its final bombing campaign
32:17
Speaker 11: against the Iranians, and I likened the sort of Iranian
32:22
Speaker 11: government as this multi headed serpent. And what Israel has
32:27
Speaker 11: been doing is one by one is severing its heads,
32:31
Speaker 11: its proxies. We've seen Hesblago, we've seen Hamas and now
32:35
Speaker 11: the nuclear threats.
32:37
Speaker 1: So one by one, the.
32:39
Speaker 11: Multi headed serpent is being decapitated.
32:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, very clever and very touching and very genuine. I've
32:47
Speaker 2: got to say our Prime minister, of course, he flew
32:51
Speaker 2: all the way to Canada, he was about to have
32:52
Speaker 2: a meeting with Donald Trump. But because of what's happened
32:55
Speaker 2: in the Middle East. The Great Man took off and
32:57
Speaker 2: went back to Washington for emergency meetings. What's happened here
33:03
Speaker 2: with Albow? Where is everyone?
33:05
Speaker 1: Oh?
33:05
Speaker 11: This is one of the saddest cartoons I've drawn this year,
33:08
Speaker 11: Steve Poor Albo classic classically being stood up by President Trump.
33:14
Speaker 11: And you know, it was fun to illustrate this one.
33:17
Speaker 11: I was thinking, you know, how sad would it be
33:20
Speaker 11: sitting there in a restaurant. All the chairs are on
33:23
Speaker 11: the tables, the chepherds mopping up, and at eleven fifteen,
33:27
Speaker 11: he's just sending one sort of little optimistic text, Donald
33:31
Speaker 11: saying are we still on?
33:37
Speaker 1: That's beautifully drawn.
33:38
Speaker 2: I love that, And Alban Easy and dining in restaurants
33:42
Speaker 2: is not the only cartoon this week that you've had
33:45
Speaker 2: to draw, because I wrote a column for you today
33:48
Speaker 2: that we talked about Dan Andrews and Albo having lunch
33:52
Speaker 2: together in the most expensive restaurant in the country. Explain
33:56
Speaker 2: what you've drawn here.
33:59
Speaker 1: A riper columns.
34:00
Speaker 11: I loved it when you drew attention to that meeting
34:03
Speaker 11: or that lunch, as you say, one of our most
34:06
Speaker 11: expensive restaurants between.
34:08
Speaker 1: Dan and Elbow.
34:11
Speaker 11: I was licking my lips with just caricaturing these two
34:13
Speaker 11: having lunch, and of course what is Dan What does
34:16
Speaker 11: he chosen? Well, I think it's his favorite cut, which
34:19
Speaker 11: is a good slice of the Victorian taxplayer.
34:22
Speaker 4: And he's got his fork into it. And oh, he's
34:26
Speaker 4: going to he's going to he's going to love that one.
34:30
Speaker 1: I'd love to know who paid.
34:31
Speaker 2: Aucast has also been back in the news the submarine deal.
34:34
Speaker 2: We've got a big review now by the Americans. Is
34:37
Speaker 2: there are they reviewing whether they're actually going to give
34:39
Speaker 2: us any What have you drawn here?
34:41
Speaker 1: Oh? Look at that trying to my submarine.
34:44
Speaker 11: Well, we've got to try and sweeten the deal, Steve,
34:46
Speaker 11: we forget about the Virginia Class. I think we need
34:49
Speaker 11: to be building Trump class submarines. I think, you know,
34:52
Speaker 11: President Trump is a person who loves to have his
34:54
Speaker 11: ego strokes. So let's let's build a sub that resembles
34:59
Speaker 11: the great Man and the Orcus.
35:01
Speaker 4: Trump Class submarine is my idea.
35:06
Speaker 1: As you as you, you've had a magnificent week. You
35:09
Speaker 1: are a genius.
35:09
Speaker 2: Good on you, Mark who took to you in a
35:11
Speaker 2: couple of weeks time Mark Knight, you can catch him
35:13
Speaker 2: in the Herald Sun newspaper all day, every day, seven
35:16
Speaker 2: days a week. Now, let's go to Israel. Despite being
35:19
Speaker 2: directly targeted in consecutive missile attacks from Iran, the people
35:23
Speaker 2: of Tel Aviv and Israel more broadly, I think it
35:26
Speaker 2: seemed determined to try and live their lives. I mean,
35:29
Speaker 2: most citizens have taken a pretty stoic approach to what's
35:32
Speaker 2: happening there. At the moment, it's daylight. Joining me now
35:35
Speaker 2: from Israel to discuss the feeling on the ground. Former
35:38
Speaker 2: IDF Intelligence Corp Head of Research Yoi kuwasa Yossi. Great
35:44
Speaker 2: to have you on board. I want to ask you,
35:47
Speaker 2: given your previous role, how magnificent has the intelligence service,
35:54
Speaker 2: particularly Mossad been in relation to the intel they're getting
35:58
Speaker 2: inside Iran. I've been out or achieve in the last
36:02
Speaker 2: couple of weeks.
36:05
Speaker 4: Thank you for having me.
36:06
Speaker 12: Yes, it's been an operation that was based on in
36:09
Speaker 12: the extremely good intelligence that was gathered for many years,
36:12
Speaker 12: and we have established all kinds of really advanced ways
36:16
Speaker 12: of collection collecting information about what's going on in Iran
36:19
Speaker 12: that enables us both an operational capability that is unprecedented
36:25
Speaker 12: and supports intelligence support for operations that it's also unprecedented.
36:34
Speaker 12: We saw that the disability, for example, to hit so
36:37
Speaker 12: many nuclear scientists at the same time was you need
36:43
Speaker 12: to be to have the element of surprising with each
36:45
Speaker 12: and every one of them. Was very magnificent, as you said,
36:50
Speaker 12: and enabled us to get closer to achieving all goals.
36:56
Speaker 2: To the Israeli people, this might sound like a silly quest.
37:00
Speaker 2: The Israeli people realize just how brilliant that intelligence service is.
37:08
Speaker 4: I think they do. I think they do.
37:10
Speaker 12: There's a lot of appreciation for what we did. We
37:12
Speaker 12: have to remember that the intelligence community in Israel was
37:15
Speaker 12: under a lot of criticism, justified criticism for what happened
37:18
Speaker 12: in October seventh, twenty twenty three, that they didn't give
37:23
Speaker 12: the adequate early warning. And this tells you that the
37:27
Speaker 12: intelligence is made of all kinds of departments. There's the
37:29
Speaker 12: Department of Intelligence Operations and that we are excellent. There's
37:34
Speaker 12: the Department of Intelligence for operations that we are excellent.
37:38
Speaker 12: And there's the Department of Strategic Intelligence and that I
37:42
Speaker 12: hope we are better today than we were in the past,
37:44
Speaker 12: but we were not that good. And many countries have
37:48
Speaker 12: difficulties with when they have to contend with challenges of
37:52
Speaker 12: strategic intelligence, and we're getting better, I hope, and that
37:57
Speaker 12: domain as well, because many of the questions that are
38:00
Speaker 12: open now are questions of strategic intelligence. What are the
38:04
Speaker 12: Iranians are going to do now? Are they going to
38:06
Speaker 12: accept the American offer or note? How are I going
38:08
Speaker 12: to respond with their missiles? How long that this is
38:12
Speaker 12: going to do to last?
38:14
Speaker 1: Many?
38:14
Speaker 12: Many questions whether the team is going to tople or not.
38:17
Speaker 12: Many questions that are not the kind that you will
38:20
Speaker 12: give an answer to by saying that this scientist is
38:23
Speaker 12: going to be at this hour, at this place. This
38:26
Speaker 12: is something different, and I hope you should be as
38:30
Speaker 12: good in this domain as we are in the first two.
38:36
Speaker 2: The US President has given a two week timeline to
38:40
Speaker 2: the Iranians. He said that, you know, they have to
38:44
Speaker 2: agree to reveal what stage their nuclear programs at and
38:51
Speaker 2: give it up and allow it to be inspected and destroyed.
38:56
Speaker 2: If they don't do that, what's your sense of what
38:59
Speaker 2: the Americans might do next? Will I come in and
39:04
Speaker 2: militarily assist is rau?
39:07
Speaker 1: Yes?
39:08
Speaker 12: I think that this is what President Trump means. He
39:10
Speaker 12: is putting the owns now on and the uranis you
39:13
Speaker 12: have to decide as not to intervene.
39:15
Speaker 4: It's up to you.
39:16
Speaker 12: You can accept the deals that I'm presenting to you.
39:18
Speaker 12: That means that you put an end to your military
39:21
Speaker 12: nuclear program, the nuclear program that was already acknowledged by
39:25
Speaker 12: the entire international community that Iran has a military nuclear program.
39:29
Speaker 12: You have to give it up, and you've already breached
39:32
Speaker 12: the Non Proliferation treat the NPT. It's time that you
39:36
Speaker 12: go back to where you should be and accept the
39:39
Speaker 12: conditions and the limitations put on you in context of
39:43
Speaker 12: the NPT. And that's what you have to do. If
39:46
Speaker 12: you're refusing to do that, then I am going to
39:50
Speaker 12: take action and deprive you from this nuclear program by
39:54
Speaker 12: the user, so the use of force. I'm the one
39:56
Speaker 12: that can do that more efficiently and rapidly than anybody else,
40:00
Speaker 12: because the Americans are those who have the capability to
40:02
Speaker 12: destroy the most important element of the Iranian nuclear project,
40:06
Speaker 12: which is a fol due underground to facility and Richmond facility.
40:11
Speaker 12: And we are waiting to see the American decision. One
40:15
Speaker 12: way or another, Folk Do is not going to be
40:16
Speaker 12: there after this is over, through either through diplomatic means
40:20
Speaker 12: or through a military attacked by the Americans, and if
40:23
Speaker 12: the Americans decide not to take an action and still
40:26
Speaker 12: leave it open, then there's the option that this will
40:30
Speaker 12: take care of that. This is going to take more time,
40:32
Speaker 12: it's going to be less effective, but it's going to
40:35
Speaker 12: happen anyhow.
40:39
Speaker 1: Y Alsie, thank you very much for your insights.
40:41
Speaker 2: Appreciate it. Keep yourself safe there in Israel. Now coming
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Speaker 2: up after the break, why the Alan Live government has
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Speaker 2: fought there are a million dollars a million dollars from
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Speaker 2: one of the stide's most infamous convicted criminals. Plus Australia's
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Speaker 2: world for social media ban for taine Igels is ready
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Speaker 2: to roll, but will it actually worked? The panel's up next,
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Speaker 2: go Back Panel. Welcome Back Panel time Small Business Women
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Speaker 2: in Australia as Amanda Roseann Skynews regular Joe hild around guys, welcome,
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Speaker 2: great to see you both. Good now, Joe, Yes, I'm well.
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Speaker 1: Joe.
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Speaker 2: I've written a column in The Herald Sun which went
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Speaker 2: up online this afternoon and I mentioned that your old
41:23
Speaker 2: mate Anthony Alberanezi had been out at lunch with Daniel
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Speaker 2: Andrews at a restaurant in Melbourne, which is probably the
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Speaker 2: most expensive restaurant in Melbourne and they sat there on
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Speaker 2: a Wednesday afternoon chugging down wine. It costs one hundred
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Speaker 2: and twenty dollars for a roast chicken for two people
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Speaker 2: at that place. You said, that's a good look, Joe,
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Speaker 2: when we've got a cost of living crisis.
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Speaker 1: Hole.
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Speaker 2: I'll get Amanda's view in a moment, because I know
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Speaker 2: exactly what what do you reckon?
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Speaker 13: That's a great look, it's fantastic look. I think politicians
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Speaker 13: doing anything during a cost of living crisis, be it
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Speaker 13: buying a house, us getting a pay rise, going out
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Speaker 13: to dinner, is always going to be a bad look,
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Speaker 13: and I think that's something they just have to cop.
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Speaker 13: In fact, I think Anthony Albanezi himself made a joke
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Speaker 13: at a recent forum in Western Sydney. Someone asked him
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Speaker 13: if he was going to the South Sydney game later
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Speaker 13: that night, and he said, no, I can't. I'm not
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Speaker 13: allowed to have any fun, don't you know.
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Speaker 14: So they have a laugh. They're having a laugh at themselves,
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Speaker 14: and I know that they get whacked every time they
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Speaker 14: do anything like this, and I think it would be
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Speaker 14: a calculated risk on their part. Butere they think you
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Speaker 14: know what, I'm just not gonna not gonna let it
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Speaker 14: get to me. But yeah, of course it's not a
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Speaker 14: good look.
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Speaker 13: But the thing with Albo, I'm no fan of Dan Andrews,
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Speaker 13: and I've been on the record of saying.
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Speaker 1: That, but Albo is very loyal. He will pick and stick.
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Speaker 13: That's why he was seen with just Into Alan during
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Speaker 13: the election campaign despite her unpopularity, and why he's clearly
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Speaker 13: prepared to see and be seen with Dan Andrews.
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Speaker 2: Right over to you, Amanda, Seriously, Gimblet is the name
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Speaker 2: of the restaurant, as I said, a chicken for two
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Speaker 2: people one hundred and twenty dollars, or you could go
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Speaker 2: the half Lobster in Saffron Rice, which is three hundred
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Speaker 2: and twenty dollars.
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Speaker 15: Yes, wouldn't it be nice if you went to a
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Speaker 15: local small business that is struggling, that can't pay their
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Speaker 15: staff and their souper and the supply costs have gone up,
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Speaker 15: and actually leverage their profile, their presence and go to
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Speaker 15: multiple different small business owners you know, cafes and so forth,
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Speaker 15: that are struggling, go there, even promote it that they're there,
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Speaker 15: put it on their social media. So people that the
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Speaker 15: thirty percent of Australia that actually voted for Albanisi would
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Speaker 15: actually be interested in going there. So it's so important
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Speaker 15: that they realize that there's a natural disconnect between especially
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Speaker 15: federal politicians and the everyday person and they need to
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Speaker 15: actually reset on a weekly basis and go hang on
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Speaker 15: a minute, is this a bad look? Am I taking?
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Speaker 15: You know, the mickey out of people the fact that
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Speaker 15: their taxes are paying for me to do this?
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Speaker 2: Joe just I must make a confession because I'll get
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Speaker 2: caught if I don't. I'm actually going to that restaurant tomorrow,
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Speaker 2: but fantast it's a gift voucher from a friend of
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Speaker 2: mine that gave me for my seventieth birthday. So I'm
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Speaker 2: not paying the taxpayers, not paying my pension for a
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Speaker 2: life of three hundred thousand dollars like Dan Andrews has got.
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Speaker 2: That's not paying Albow's expenses, not paying my friend's paying
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Speaker 2: for me. So I should I had to confess that
44:34
Speaker 2: because some sneaky way will take a picture of me,
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Speaker 2: send it to you and it'll end up in the
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Speaker 2: Sunday Telegram.
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Speaker 13: I just want to say thank you to you, Steve
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Speaker 13: and the PM for supporting small business.
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Speaker 2: That's not a small business man speaking about Victorian governments.
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Speaker 2: What about this gangland criminal boss Tony Mockbell, he of
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Speaker 2: the bad Wig, remember when he got caught in Greece
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Speaker 2: and looked like a fool. He's been rewarded a million
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Speaker 2: dollars in compensation for a bashing ear in jail. Now,
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Speaker 2: you can't make this stuff up. No one should get
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Speaker 2: bashed in jail. But his old mate, the other crime
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Speaker 2: boss of the time, Craig Williams, he got also bashed
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Speaker 2: and killed in jail a million dollars compensation. Most of
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Speaker 2: the money is not going to go to him, but
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Speaker 2: even so it's not a great look.
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Speaker 1: Is it.
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Speaker 13: No, it's absolutely outrageous. Obviously the money has already been
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Speaker 13: soaked up or seven hundred and fifty grand of it.
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Speaker 13: Apparently he has been soaked up in medical bills and
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Speaker 13: legal fees, which probably tells you more about how far
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Speaker 13: Tony Mockbell went to pursue this. Even if he sees
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Speaker 13: one red scent, it would be too many.
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Speaker 3: I know.
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Speaker 13: One of the cleverer moves of the Allen government, they've
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Speaker 13: put in an advertising, an advertisement asking anyone who's a
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Speaker 13: creditor or is seeking any sort of compensation from Tony
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Speaker 13: Mockbell as a result of being a victim of his
45:54
Speaker 13: of crime to come forward, So I think some way
45:58
Speaker 13: to CounterPunch.
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Speaker 2: So the methan fetamine cook who still owned two years
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Speaker 2: of wages, it he can claim some of the money.
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Speaker 1: Kenny.
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Speaker 15: What absolutely is shocking here is that seven hundred and
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Speaker 15: fifty thousand dollars going to legal fees. I'm like, did
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Speaker 15: he set himself up to get bashed up so we
46:16
Speaker 15: could pay his lawyers knowing that he'd get the million dollars.
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Speaker 15: Because only two hundred and fifty thousand dollars of that
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Speaker 15: goes into a fund for his victims.
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Speaker 1: It should be reversed.
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Speaker 15: The victims should be paid first, paid every cent that
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Speaker 15: they're owed and from compensation with the effects of his crimes,
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Speaker 15: and then pay for other costs and medical costs.
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Speaker 2: And the crazy thing is he's going to have another
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Speaker 2: crack at the government for another million because he was
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Speaker 2: caught up in that lawyer x thing. On crime stats
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Speaker 2: out yesterday Victoria eighteen percent up on year on year,
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Speaker 2: six hundred and twenty seven thousand offences logged, seventy six
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Speaker 2: thousand arrests, highest arrest rate in one hundred and seventy
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Speaker 2: two years of the Victorian Police. So I mean we
47:01
Speaker 2: keep talking to the government about a youth crime crisis,
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Speaker 2: there's the numbers. They don't lie.
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Speaker 13: Yeah, look again, as I keep saying, there's absolutely nothing
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Speaker 13: progressive about letting crime run rampant and letting criminals onto
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Speaker 13: the street. This overwhelmingly affects people in the already most
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Speaker 13: socially disadvantaged suburbs. They are the ones who are far
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Speaker 13: more likely to be victims of crime. And the fact
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Speaker 13: that police rounding these guys up there being immediately bailed,
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Speaker 13: they're back on the street often the same day, whether
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Speaker 13: that by a magistrate or just a police bail. It's
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Speaker 13: absolutely outrageous and it's got to stop.
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Speaker 1: Amanda.
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Speaker 2: This world first laws to ban under sixteens on social media.
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Speaker 2: It's going to start apparently age you edication tech is
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Speaker 2: now ready to go.
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Speaker 1: Will at work.
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Speaker 15: Probably not, But if they're going to ban under sixteen
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Speaker 15: for social media, they need to make sure they're also
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Speaker 15: prevent their access to things like pornography and gambling and
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Speaker 15: all the other harmful things that can access via technology.
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Speaker 15: It'd be great if children didn't have to use their
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Speaker 15: phones at all for anything until they're eighteen. But I
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Speaker 15: don't think it's going to work.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good sentiment to have, but you know,
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Speaker 2: you find it very difficult to think that it will
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Speaker 2: actually work. It was a pleasure to catch you to
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Speaker 2: on a Friday. I'll make sure I have a nice
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Speaker 2: expensive glass of wine.
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Speaker 1: I'll see you there on Friday tomorrow. Thank you both.
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Speaker 1: Thank you.
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Speaker 2: Coming up after me James McPherson, who is filling in
48:38
Speaker 2: tonight for Rowan Dean who's away for a couple of days.