Latest / Steve Price / Steve Price | 27 June

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Steve Price | 27 June · Steve Price

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Live.
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  Speaker 2: This is Steve Price. Welcome to Friday. Seat Price with you,
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  Speaker 2: and again your Prime Minister has refused to even consider
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: a call from Washing to increase our spending on defense.
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  Speaker 2: A limp and confusing response from the Prime Minister. Have
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  Speaker 2: more on that in just one moment. Coming up in
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: the middle of a crime crisis like many cities in Australia,
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: would you be willing to add your security camera details
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  Speaker 2: to a register to make the job of the police
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: easier or would you feel it an invasion of your privacy?
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: One company wants to do it. It's an experienced detective's idea.
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  Speaker 2: We'll talk to him shortly. The US Joint Chief of
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  Speaker 2: Staff and Defense Secretary Pete Hesketh. He mounted a vocal
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: defense today on the outcome of Operation Midnight Hammer. We'll
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  Speaker 2: check in with Peter Jennings around how that's going now.
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  Speaker 2: Plus why are more and more Ozzie children dropping out
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  Speaker 2: of high school? Before finishing Kevin Donnelly will joined us
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  Speaker 2: to explain. But first, have we ever had a Prime
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: minister with less idea when it comes to the defense
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  Speaker 2: of Australia than Anthony Albanesi. Scott Morrison got it even
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  Speaker 2: Kevin Rudd. I'm told Julia Gillard she had a worldview,
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  Speaker 2: and John Howard well enough said, but the current bloke,
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  Speaker 2: I mean seriously. Here he was today at one of
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  Speaker 2: his many out in the street media conferences, blathering away
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  Speaker 2: about how we have already increased spending on blah blah blah.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we have increased our defense investment. We've increased it
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  Speaker 3: by fifty seven billion dollars over the medium term and
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  Speaker 3: by more than ten billion dollars in the short term
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  Speaker 3: as well.
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  Speaker 2: But what he wasn't addressing was this from our most
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  Speaker 2: powerful ally, the nation with as we have seen in
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  Speaker 2: the past week, with the most powerful military, you know,
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  Speaker 2: bunker busting missiles, stealth fighter jets, aircraft carriers, all things
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: we don't have. Here was White House Press Secretary Caroline
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Leavitt responding to a question from obviously an Australian reporter
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  Speaker 2: in the White House Press room.
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  Speaker 4: How does the NATO result impact negotiations with Asia Pacific allies?
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  Speaker 5: If our allies in Europe and Ournito allies can do it,
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  Speaker 5: I think our allies and our.
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  Speaker 4: Friends in the Asia Pacific region can do it as well.
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  Speaker 2: In planes speak, she is saying, look, NATO has agreed
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: with mister Trump to live spending on defense so that
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  Speaker 2: they don't have to sponge off us the US, So
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  Speaker 2: I would expect she speaks for the president, by the way,
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  Speaker 2: that's her job. I would expect that our allies and
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  Speaker 2: friends and the Asia Pacific can do it as well.
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  Speaker 2: So what is it that our Prime minister doesn't understand?
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  Speaker 2: American experts Australia expects Australia to spend more than it
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  Speaker 2: does now out of its budget on defense. Now, Pete
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  Speaker 2: Heskett told us that in Singapore a few weeks back,
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  Speaker 2: NATO listened and acted and we are still getting this
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  Speaker 2: sort of wimpy response.
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  Speaker 3: Now, what we're doing is making sure that Australia has
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  Speaker 3: the capability that we need. That's what we're investing in.
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  Speaker 3: Will continue to do that, invest in our capability and
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  Speaker 3: invest in our relationships.
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  Speaker 2: Please God help us now. Last night, filling in for
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  Speaker 2: Andrew Bolt, I had on the program retired for Star
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  Speaker 2: General Jack Keane. He was on the show and he
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  Speaker 2: told me this.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's very much needed, is a national discussion
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  Speaker 1: on defence and how Australia contributes to the collective defense
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  Speaker 1: of the region. Against this aggressor, as we know, is
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  Speaker 1: preparing for war and not just threatening war, and given
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  Speaker 1: themselves a time date of twenty twenty seven to make
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  Speaker 1: certain they can exercise a war plan. That's all real
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  Speaker 1: and this is in fiction. This isn't speculation, this is
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  Speaker 1: real threat.
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  Speaker 2: So Jack Keane gets it. We need to muscle up
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  Speaker 2: was his message. He says, we need to join with
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  Speaker 2: Japan and India and South Korea to make sure China
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  Speaker 2: knows that if they take on one of us, they
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  Speaker 2: take on all of us. Now, I took to Peter
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  Speaker 2: Jennings in a second. He's been banging on about this forever,
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: as has every defense expert, military veterans, and of course
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  Speaker 2: the late Senator Jim Molan. He wrote a book about it.
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  Speaker 2: For God's sake. I mean, someone, anyone needs to sit
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  Speaker 2: the Prime Minister down and tell him some home truths.
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  Speaker 2: Or was Jack keen Wright when he said left leaning
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  Speaker 2: socialist governments are more interested in social projects and spending
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  Speaker 2: money on those than on defense. I suspect Jack was
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  Speaker 2: spot on, As I said at the top of the show.
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  Speaker 2: US Defense Secretary Pete Heskett he held a press conference
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  Speaker 2: at the Pentagon today where new details were revealed about
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  Speaker 2: the US strikes on Iran. It comes amid questions about
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  Speaker 2: how much image was actually done to Iran's nuclear program.
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  Speaker 6: Here he is, There's been a lot of discussions about
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  Speaker 6: what happened and what didn't happen. Step back for a second.
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  Speaker 6: Because of decisive military action, President Trump created the conditions
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  Speaker 6: to end the war, decimating choose your word, obliterating, destroying
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  Speaker 6: Iran's nuclear capabilities.
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  Speaker 2: He's a very impressive person. I mean, he's used to
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  Speaker 2: be in the media, so he delivers very well. Joining
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  Speaker 2: me now is Director of Strategic Analysis Australia and an
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  Speaker 2: adjunct fellow at the Institute for Public Affairs. Pete Jennings
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  Speaker 2: get to that assessment by Hesketh Peter in a moment.
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  Speaker 2: But you heard what I had to say about defense spending.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think the Prime Minister understands one what he
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  Speaker 2: is being asked by the Americans? And two does he
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  Speaker 2: understand we're not equipped to fight a war and the
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  Speaker 2: Americans might not come and help us if we need
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  Speaker 2: to need them.
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  Speaker 7: Steve, I don't think he understands either of those points.
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  Speaker 7: He should see that the Americans are very deliberately lining
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  Speaker 7: us up to I think make it clear that they're
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  Speaker 7: extremely unimpressed with a low level of defense spending, and
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  Speaker 7: we'll probably hear more about that at the end of
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  Speaker 7: their so called thirty day review of Vucus. The Prime
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  Speaker 7: Minister just doesn't seem to care about that, and I
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  Speaker 7: think he's shaping to probably be the worst national security
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  Speaker 7: prime minister in the history of the country. He seems
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  Speaker 7: to have no ability to grasp the nature of the
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  Speaker 7: threat that we face and no interest in understanding that
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  Speaker 7: our defense force is now significantly less capable than it
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  Speaker 7: was when Labor came into power three years ago, and
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  Speaker 7: is becoming even less capable as time goes by. There's
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  Speaker 7: no point just promising greatness in the late twenty thirties
• 6:49
  Speaker 7: and twenty forties with future submarines. We have to be
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  Speaker 7: concerned about the capabilities of the defense force now, and
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  Speaker 7: that's what the government is ignoring by essentially taking money
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  Speaker 7: out of current defense programs and putting it into those
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  Speaker 7: long term future investments, which I'm afraid we'll do nothing
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  Speaker 7: to address the security challenges we're going to face in
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  Speaker 7: the second half of this decade.
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  Speaker 2: So two more points on this. I mean it might
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  Speaker 2: be acceptable if there wasn't a raging war in Ukraine
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  Speaker 2: with Russia invading that country. It might be acceptable if
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  Speaker 2: Hamas hadn't gone on October seventh into Israel. Israel's then
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  Speaker 2: got to knock out Hezbla Hamas and the Hooties, and
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  Speaker 2: then of course we've got the conflict with a run.
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  Speaker 2: The world is on edge. We seem to be sleep
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  Speaker 2: walking along thinking, well, we're an island a long way away,
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  Speaker 2: it's never going to affect us. Something other defense is
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  Speaker 2: the Defense Department. The people who had the Defense Department
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  Speaker 2: up Peter. Are they not banging on his door saying, mate,
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  Speaker 2: we've got to wake up here.
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  Speaker 7: It doesn't appear that they are Steve, and I find
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  Speaker 7: that very disappointing because that is my old organization. But
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  Speaker 7: as far as I can see, what they're doing as
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  Speaker 7: they're trying to manage as the government directs them to manage,
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  Speaker 7: which is cutting current military capability and obsessing about that
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  Speaker 7: future joint force that we'll have in fifteen years time.
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  Speaker 7: No one seems to be taking seriously the current strategic
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  Speaker 7: challenge that we're facing from an increasingly aggressive China, and
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  Speaker 7: the Prime Minister is living under this fantasy that because
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  Speaker 7: he's met she jimpin four times, he's stabilized our relationship.
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  Speaker 7: He just doesn't get it, and I think he's looking
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  Speaker 7: forward to having a fight with Donald Trump. I think
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  Speaker 7: that's actually what's motivating him here. And this may play
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  Speaker 7: to some domestic political agenda of his. He seemed to
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  Speaker 7: think he got benefit from fighting Trump in the election campaign,
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  Speaker 7: even though Trump wasn't a candidate in our election. But
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  Speaker 7: whatever the underlying motive, the fact is that our defense
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  Speaker 7: is going backwards quickly, precisely the time we should be
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  Speaker 7: getting stronger.
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  Speaker 2: Good luck fighting Trump. I mean, you're going to get
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  Speaker 2: tariff sweped on you, and you're going to you're going
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  Speaker 2: to be told in No One certain terms, you've got
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: to spend more money. I mean, I wouldn't be picking
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  Speaker 2: that fight. Let's turn our attention to the Middle East.
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  Speaker 2: We saw Pete Heskett today. I mean, he's a good performer.
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  Speaker 2: He's worked in the media, but he seems to be
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  Speaker 2: doing a pretty good job as Defense secretary. How significant
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  Speaker 2: were the new details revealed during that press conference that
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  Speaker 2: he held with the Joint chiefs of Staff General who's
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  Speaker 2: in charge of the military.
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  Speaker 7: Very significant because they gave us some insights into the
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  Speaker 7: attack on the Fort Hour nuclear reprocessing plant, which was
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  Speaker 7: the one that's under several hundred feet of rock in
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  Speaker 7: that remote mountain, and what we heard was that in fact,
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  Speaker 7: the bunker buster bomb was one that had been specially
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  Speaker 7: designed over the last decade or so to specifically go
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  Speaker 7: after the Fort Hour complex, and that they managed to
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  Speaker 7: put effectively six of them straight down a ventilation shaft
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  Speaker 7: where they detonated hundreds of feet below ground in what
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  Speaker 7: is probably the main reprocessing chamber of that facility. So
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  Speaker 7: I come away from that thinking that it's pretty conclusive
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  Speaker 7: on that evidence that the facility has been destroyed. I'm
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  Speaker 7: sure that there will be parts of the nuclear program
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  Speaker 7: which the Uranians are doing their best to hide, because
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  Speaker 7: that's what they've been doing for the last decade and longest, Steve,
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  Speaker 7: but you know, we should, I think take some confidence
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  Speaker 7: from the technical assessment that the Chairman of the Joint
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  Speaker 7: Chiefs of Staff presented last night that they've destroyed that facility.
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  Speaker 7: There's more yet to be done, but that has very
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  Speaker 7: significantly put the Iranian nuclear program back.
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  Speaker 2: And Peter, one of the things we found out about
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  Speaker 2: in that media conference was that this mission, this plan
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  Speaker 2: to destroy the nuclear capability of Iran, had been in
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  Speaker 2: the planning for eighteen months. That leads me to believe
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  Speaker 2: that all the discussion about whether the nuclear material that
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: had been refined could have been moved, I mean, that
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  Speaker 2: can't be right. I mean, the Americans, if they've been
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  Speaker 2: planning this for eighteen months, they've got satellites all over
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  Speaker 2: the joint. Surely they would know if someone tried to
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  Speaker 2: move that refined material, wouldn't it.
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  Speaker 7: Well, they've been watching ford Ou from the moment it
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  Speaker 7: was built, and that goes back to two thousand and nine.
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  Speaker 7: And I think the two countries which have the deepest
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  Speaker 7: and most fine grand understanding of the Uranian nuclear program,
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  Speaker 7: the Israelis and the United States, and so they will
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  Speaker 7: have a very good idea about what is left undestroyed.
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  Speaker 7: And I think that frankly, you know, unless we see
• 11:43
  Speaker 7: more of a change in how the Uranian leadership is
• 11:46
  Speaker 7: dealing with this issue, we might go back to a
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  Speaker 7: point where there'll be more strikes in future in order
• 11:52
  Speaker 7: to completely destroy the program.
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  Speaker 2: Just finally, speaking of the leadership, the Supreme made some
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: pretty bizarre comments I mean, as we know, the first
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  Speaker 2: victim of any war is the truth. He claimed the
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: victory over the US and ISRAELI went on to say
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: the Zionist regime was practically knocked out and crushed under
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: the blows of the Islamic Republic. I mean, seriously, Israel
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  Speaker 2: went in there before the Americans and basically took out
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  Speaker 2: all of their military leadership, took out all of the
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: batteries that could fire missiles to stop the missile landing
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  Speaker 2: on Iran. I mean, who's he trying to convince just
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: the local population. I suspect he's.
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  Speaker 7: Trying to convince his own people, But a very large
• 12:36
  Speaker 7: number of Iranians are actually watching international news through satellite
• 12:41
  Speaker 7: dishes or through VPNs, So the Iranian attempts to sort
• 12:46
  Speaker 7: of shut down access, I think, particularly in the cities,
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  Speaker 7: will not be successful. So even to his own people,
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  Speaker 7: I think the Otolis comments are going to look ridiculous,
• 12:58
  Speaker 7: and it's really the expression of a regime which I
• 13:00
  Speaker 7: think is just hanging by its fingernails.
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  Speaker 2: Steve.
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  Speaker 7: They may yet hang on because they've got very powerful
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  Speaker 7: security police to repress dissenters, but equally, I think in
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  Speaker 7: the next few months we shouldn't be surprised if we
• 13:13
  Speaker 7: see regime change, even if that just means a general
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  Speaker 7: taking over from the eye tooler to begin with. I
• 13:21
  Speaker 7: can't see how this regime survives for too much longer.
• 13:26
  Speaker 7: Great stuff, Peter think if you have strong words on
• 13:28
  Speaker 7: the Prime Minister, Peter Jennings there, let's bring in my
• 13:31
  Speaker 7: Friday Night regular, former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman. I'll get
• 13:36
  Speaker 7: on to Anthony Albanezi in generally in a moment. But
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  Speaker 7: you would have seen what I said at the beginning.
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  Speaker 7: You saw Peter there. We had Jack Keen on last night.
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  Speaker 2: If you get a sense a Prime minister is not
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: interested in spending a lot of money on defense, well.
• 13:56
  Speaker 8: Absolutely, I don't think it's sort of a lot lines
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  Speaker 8: with his worldview. He is still the left wing student radical,
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  Speaker 8: That's what I've concluded these days. And I'm sad to
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  Speaker 8: say that because you know, years ago when I was
• 14:09
  Speaker 8: Lord Mirror of Brisbane, you know I had a very
• 14:11
  Speaker 8: productive working relationship with him, and I can't say enough
• 14:14
  Speaker 8: how disappointed about the way he's conducted himself in the office.
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  Speaker 8: You know, these are very challenging times. We do need
• 14:22
  Speaker 8: to muscle up and actually take care of our own defense.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: And I'd put it like this as well.
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  Speaker 8: If you don't want to actually sort of cowto out
• 14:30
  Speaker 8: of the Americans, why not actually increase spending and actually
• 14:34
  Speaker 8: have a policy of self reliance. If you've got to
• 14:36
  Speaker 8: spend the money, Australia is going to be sanctioned by
• 14:40
  Speaker 8: the US if we don't get with the program. So
• 14:43
  Speaker 8: why not if you're a left winger, have a program
• 14:45
  Speaker 8: of independent self reliance and try and do what you
• 14:49
  Speaker 8: know the Israelis have done. I know they've been backed
• 14:52
  Speaker 8: up by the United States, but you know they pack
• 14:55
  Speaker 8: a huge amount of punch for money that I'm told
• 14:58
  Speaker 8: is not the same as Australian defense force.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: It's less than that. As Lord Mayor and Premier, you
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: always understood the importance of strong messaging. I mean, I
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: just don't get I like you personally. I've had great
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: relationships with Anthony Alberanezi, both in the media and interviewing,
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: and I've had lunch with him once in a social sense,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: and he's a very entertaining bloke. But why does he
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: persist on standing out in the street with nodding heads
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: behind him making comments about something as important as national
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: defense and the defense of our country. Why doesn't he
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: go into a studio and sit down and do a
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: serious interview, or why doesn't he make an address to
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: the nation or something with a bit more gravitas than
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: standing out in the street launching something in some suburbs somewhere. Yeah,
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: I think so.
• 15:55
  Speaker 8: And look, this has got so serious now that I
• 15:59
  Speaker 8: believe he can't continue to fob it off. In fact,
• 16:02
  Speaker 8: I'm really surprised that, you know, we're sort of in
• 16:05
  Speaker 8: yet another day where this is going on, because it's
• 16:08
  Speaker 8: because it's got beyond a joke. I think it's actually
• 16:12
  Speaker 8: hurting him, even though he might think that, you know,
• 16:16
  Speaker 8: he ultimately and that was an interesting theory from Peter,
• 16:19
  Speaker 8: that he wants to have a fight with Trump. Well
• 16:22
  Speaker 8: might that might work for his base, but it doesn't
• 16:26
  Speaker 8: work for you know, the riots in Australia, It doesn't
• 16:29
  Speaker 8: work for conservatives, and it doesn't work for people in
• 16:32
  Speaker 8: the middle who I think, you know, those are the
• 16:34
  Speaker 8: those swing voters. So it's time to wake up that
• 16:38
  Speaker 8: it's really going to hurt him and his government. But look,
• 16:41
  Speaker 8: more importantly, it's about Australia's future, and I feel dreadfully
• 16:46
  Speaker 8: exposed today in terms of where we are with our
• 16:49
  Speaker 8: defense force. And by the way, our defense force is
• 16:52
  Speaker 8: an urgent need for reform. It needs a bolt of
• 16:56
  Speaker 8: electricity through it uniform people, the bureaucrats.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, there needs.
• 17:02
  Speaker 8: To be a sense of urgency that just isn't there
• 17:04
  Speaker 8: at the moment to actually refocus, do more or less,
• 17:10
  Speaker 8: to actually advocate for the right weapons systems and capabilities
• 17:14
  Speaker 8: and know that they have to deliver them not in
• 17:16
  Speaker 8: years as they have through the eighties and nineties, but
• 17:19
  Speaker 8: immediately they have to really take some risks and do
• 17:22
  Speaker 8: some things that they just culturally are incapable of doing
• 17:26
  Speaker 8: at the moment.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you completely. Look, the Prime Minister
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: during the election campaign ran around the country saying he'd
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: had this plan in place. It's called Made in Australia.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: So it was largely based around the whole net zero
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: and green energy and green heydrogen, all that stuff. But
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: what about this. There's an oil Platfrum off the Northern Territory,
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: off the coast of Darwin. It's called the Northern Endeavor.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: It's been shut down for years. It needs to be
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: dismantled and torn apart, and I presume used for one,
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: are we going to do it in Australia though to
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Australian companies. Campbell bid for this job, but we've ended
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: up giving the contract to some shipyard in Denmark. I mean,
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: if we're going to be serious about what happened to
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: future made in Australia, wouldn't this be a good example
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: of what to do.
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  Speaker 4: Well.
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  Speaker 8: It would be a good opportunity to try and foster
• 18:24
  Speaker 8: a rebuilding, if you like, of that sort of capability
• 18:28
  Speaker 8: in Australia. And really, you know, you'd have hoped the government,
• 18:32
  Speaker 8: if it was serious, would have at least leaned on
• 18:35
  Speaker 8: the side of trying to award the gig to an
• 18:37
  Speaker 8: Australian company. And that's why the unions and the businesses
• 18:41
  Speaker 8: concerned are up in arms. But the flip side of
• 18:44
  Speaker 8: it is this this country is damn expensive. It is
• 18:49
  Speaker 8: also full of green and red tape. And it's no
• 18:52
  Speaker 8: surprise to me, sadly that a job like this goes
• 18:56
  Speaker 8: the other side of the world, the Denmarks. They're going
• 18:58
  Speaker 8: to toe this thing by tugs all the way across
• 19:01
  Speaker 8: the world through the Sewers Canal to Denmark to be
• 19:04
  Speaker 8: dismantled because the Australian enterprises can't compete.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: You've got to you've got to imagine.
• 19:10
  Speaker 8: And that just speaks volumes about what productivity reform really needs,
• 19:15
  Speaker 8: what really means in this country, and what we do need.
• 19:18
  Speaker 8: And you know, all we've seen the last three years
• 19:22
  Speaker 8: measures that have made us less competitive and less productive.
• 19:27
  Speaker 8: And this is where the rubber hits the road. If
• 19:29
  Speaker 8: you want, you want manufacturing, and this is a form
• 19:32
  Speaker 8: of manufacturing, ripping a part this vessel, then you need
• 19:37
  Speaker 8: to actually be internationally competitive. So it really is a
• 19:43
  Speaker 8: very important lesson for us all about what's really going on.
• 19:47
  Speaker 8: I mean, we're offshoring the manufacturer of toilet tissue these days.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's just ridiculous. It's a great point. And
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: they should have used that oil platform as a really
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: good example of what we could do by bringing stuff
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: back to be made here or taking a party here.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: Even Campbell's great to see you mate, Have a good weekend.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: I'll talk to you next week after the break. The
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: proposal to make it easier for police this is out
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: of Victoria to access CCTV footage. Now we need that
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: because we're wasting a lot of police resources not doing
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: it the right way. Plus a nuclear chemist in the UK.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: He's going to make the case for why Australia should
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: embrace nuclear power. Here here to that idea, welcome back,
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: Get on to nuclear energy in a moment.
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: I've spoken a lot on this program about the crime crisis,
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: the youth crime crisis that is across Victoria, particularly in Melbourne.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: You've got teenagers stealing cars, breaking into houses. We've had
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: to change the laws around machetes. It's absolutely out of control.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: Victoria Police try and do the best job they can,
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: but they've been struggling to fill more than one thousand
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: vacant positions. No one wants to be a police officer
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: in are Well. A group called the Safer Places Network
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: has come up with what I think is a really
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: interesting proposal. They say they could say police around a
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: million hours of work a year. I'll repeat that, a
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: million hours of work a year.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: Currently, detectives and I'd not even thought of this. Fay
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: significant delays when they try and access CCTV vision cameras
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: from your house while investigating these home invasions. But under
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: this proposal, homeowners and shop owners would be able to
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: voluntarily add their cameras to a registry so that they
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: could fast track this process. Join me now to explain
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: how this might work is from a Victoria Police detective,
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Dave Bartlett. Dave, thanks for your time. It explain how
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: we could actually do.
• 21:49
  Speaker 9: This, So Steve, at the moment, let's say in Victoria,
• 21:54
  Speaker 9: like you mentioned, a triple zero call comes in about
• 21:57
  Speaker 9: a home invasion. Like you just mentioned, police are notified.
• 22:00
  Speaker 9: It might take five or ten minutes for them to arrive.
• 22:02
  Speaker 9: And at the moment they arrive at the crime scene,
• 22:04
  Speaker 9: they process it. They look for fingerprints, they look for DNA,
• 22:06
  Speaker 9: and of course then they go look for CCTV. Every
• 22:09
  Speaker 9: day we see CCTV evidence on news and on social media.
• 22:13
  Speaker 9: We know as a community how important that is to
• 22:15
  Speaker 9: solve in crime. So what they actually have to do, though,
• 22:17
  Speaker 9: is then they look around the streets around the vicinity
• 22:20
  Speaker 9: of that offense and they look for security cameras. So
• 22:22
  Speaker 9: police actually have to physically walk along a footpath, look
• 22:25
  Speaker 9: under the eaves of a home, or go into a business,
• 22:28
  Speaker 9: disturb the business, speak to the manager. I try to
• 22:30
  Speaker 9: find someone who can access that camera, who knows how
• 22:34
  Speaker 9: to use the footage. You can retrieve that footage and
• 22:36
  Speaker 9: then police have got a tool from men to deal
• 22:38
  Speaker 9: with that. But at the moment, they don't know where
• 22:40
  Speaker 9: these cameras are, so they have to manually look for
• 22:42
  Speaker 9: It's very laborious and very expensive, and it actually leads
• 22:45
  Speaker 9: to slower closure times for investigations because it might take
• 22:47
  Speaker 9: days for that evidence to be collected.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: So your idea would be to establish a register of
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: where all the cameras are. Police could say, okay, there's
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: been a crime committed to this address in this street.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: They could log into that register and say there are
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: cameras there. Will they be able to then get the
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: vision direct off the register or will they have to
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: get permission.
• 23:15
  Speaker 9: It's a really good point. So the permission always stays
• 23:18
  Speaker 9: with the owner of the camera. Absolutely. But in that
• 23:20
  Speaker 9: same scenario where there's TRIPLO call for a home invasion,
• 23:23
  Speaker 9: say in Victoria, at the moment, with our platform, right
• 23:26
  Speaker 9: at that point when that first triple O call is made,
• 23:29
  Speaker 9: the call taker could access our platform and they basically
• 23:32
  Speaker 9: bring up a Google map like you would if you're
• 23:33
  Speaker 9: looking for your local cafe or your local petrol station.
• 23:37
  Speaker 9: That Google map would come up and it would show
• 23:39
  Speaker 9: little camera icons of exactly where people have voluntarily registered
• 23:43
  Speaker 9: their house or their business to say their security cameras.
• 23:46
  Speaker 9: So within say sixty seconds of a crime even occurring,
• 23:49
  Speaker 9: police could already be having those conversations with CCTV owners
• 23:54
  Speaker 9: to start that collection process. So we're taking a process
• 23:56
  Speaker 9: that could take three days down to a few minutes.
• 23:59
  Speaker 9: And again, like you said, it is voluntary. We do
• 24:01
  Speaker 9: not have remote access to people's cameras. When people sign
• 24:04
  Speaker 9: up it's say for places dot Com tod Au, they're
• 24:06
  Speaker 9: only asked very basic questions about their house, what kind
• 24:10
  Speaker 9: of cameras they have, and their personal details like mobile
• 24:13
  Speaker 9: phone and email. It's free and it takes about ninety seconds.
• 24:15
  Speaker 9: And what that means is it takes the administrative burden
• 24:19
  Speaker 9: from Victoria Police because Victoria Police does have a small
• 24:22
  Speaker 9: amount of Selector registers, but they're very localized to say
• 24:25
  Speaker 9: a single suburb, and they're just kept in a spreadsheet
• 24:27
  Speaker 9: for that local police area to deal with. What we
• 24:30
  Speaker 9: have is a national network, so even interstate police could
• 24:34
  Speaker 9: could very very quickly, like the AFP for example, could
• 24:37
  Speaker 9: access cameras in our access locations of cameras in Melbourne.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Two quick points, so I've got three cameras at my place.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: If I sign up, how can I be comfortable that
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: somebody who has access to the register is not watching
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: what I'm doing.
• 24:54
  Speaker 9: We don't ask for any technical details about your cameras
• 24:56
  Speaker 9: other than the brand. We don't ask for your passwords,
• 24:59
  Speaker 9: we don't ask for screenshots, we don't ask for any
• 25:02
  Speaker 9: footage from your camera. We're only interested in external facing cameras.
• 25:06
  Speaker 9: We've got no and Victoria Police would probably agree with this.
• 25:09
  Speaker 9: They've got no interest in looking at any private cameras,
• 25:11
  Speaker 9: internal cameras, anything like that. Ideally, we're looking for those
• 25:14
  Speaker 9: cameras like we see every day on the news, those
• 25:16
  Speaker 9: cameras that cover footpaths, that cover your driveway that might
• 25:19
  Speaker 9: identify a red card going past or an offender with
• 25:21
  Speaker 9: a machete running past a house. They're the cameras that
• 25:24
  Speaker 9: we're interested in. And we don't ask for any detailed
• 25:26
  Speaker 9: information about your cameras at all.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: And there's a great idea, are you getting any any
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: feedback from either government or police command that they might
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: take up this side it.
• 25:39
  Speaker 9: Look, we're in early discussions with Victoria Police at the moment,
• 25:42
  Speaker 9: but it's really up to them. At the moment the
• 25:44
  Speaker 9: platform is available. But for us, the most important thing
• 25:47
  Speaker 9: we need to really hammer home is that it's a
• 25:49
  Speaker 9: community led but privately managed capability. So for us, we
• 25:53
  Speaker 9: need the community to get behind this, and we're working
• 25:55
  Speaker 9: really closely with Neighborhood Watch Victoria because we see this
• 25:58
  Speaker 9: as a grassroots alternative to contributing to fighting crime as
• 26:02
  Speaker 9: opposed to what we're seeing in Trugga Nina and other
• 26:04
  Speaker 9: kind of community led vigilante groups things like that. So
• 26:07
  Speaker 9: we're trying to get move away from that and find
• 26:09
  Speaker 9: a more positive way for communities to band together and
• 26:13
  Speaker 9: contribute to making Victoria police more efficient so they can
• 26:16
  Speaker 9: get to work.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: Let's hope you get it over the line, Dave. Thanks
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: for joining us, and I'll make sure everyone knows how
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: to get in touch with you. That's a great idea,
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: I think. I mean, you don't want to waste the
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: police's time. Now to the ongoing debate about nuclear I mean,
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: I'm sick and tired of having to talk about this
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: because we have so much uranium in this country. We
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: should be mining, we should be refining it, we should
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: be building nuclear power plants. And it's as simple as
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: that in my view, Australia's energy mix in the future,
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: if we're going to get to net zero, must include
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: nuclear Doctor Tim Gregory is a nuclear chemist. He works
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: in the heart of Britain's nuclear industry. As a nuclear
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: chemist and a commentator, is at the forefront of the industry.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: He should be listened to. And Britain is just committed
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: by the way to its biggest nuclear expansion in seventy
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: years now. Tim's written a book he argues that the world,
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: if it's serious about reaching zero, including Australia, we must
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: embrace nuclear energy. I'm happy to say. Tim Grigory joins
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: us from the UK, you must bang your head against
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: the wall when you look at the way Australia deals
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: with this discussion. We're not even prepared as a country
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: and a government to sit down and talk about it properly.
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: Slightly, although Australia is not alone that there are lots
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: of countries, including countries in Europe, are the very strong
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: anti nuclear sentiment running through not just the electorate but
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: also the governments as well, and so Australia is not
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: that difference in that respect. And one of the things
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: about nuclear power is that It's not really about nuclear
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: power per se. It's about energy abundance and preserving the
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: natural environment. Societies need enormous amounts of energy reliably in
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: order to grow their economy. It means to raise living
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: standards and to flourish, and to provide that energy without
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: wrecking the environment is one of the biggest challenges of
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: the twenty first century. And for me, I don't really
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: care about the energy comes from. I just happen to
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: think that nuclear power is one of the best tools
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: we have for bringing about that future. Renewables are great,
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: they can get you started, but they're not enough on
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: their own. You need that reliable, potent nuclear energy to
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: compensate for the unreliability of wind and solar.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: Like you, I'm agnostic. I mean, Australia's got a lot
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: of sun, a favorite of wind. We've got coal, we've
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: got gas, and we've got uranium, and we've got water.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: But we don't have too many mountains, so you know,
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: hydro is not a big deal in this country. But
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: can you understand why we have such a reluctance to
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: go down this track? I mean, I just get a
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: depressing feeling that it's never going to happen to here.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, you've had new coup in the UK for
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: a long time, so what's the new push. What's going
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: to happen with these new nuclear push?
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: So it was a fortnight ago that the British government
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: announced that it's going to be building a new nuclear
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: power station down in the south of England called Size
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: as Well see, and it will take about ten years
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: to build, and there was a few raised eyebrows at
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: the kind of time scale that it would take to
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: build that. But it's a three point to gigawatt nuclear
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: power station. It will provide about ten percent of the
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: UK's electricity. That's ten percent from a single power station.
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: And so there's a growing recognition here in the UK
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: amost government and the private sector and the public as well,
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: that nuclear power has to play a part in the
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: future of our energy mix. And it's very interesting because
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: we often hear about these kind of these these rife
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: anti nuclear sentiments here in the UK, but actually the polls,
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: the data show that about fifty percent of the British
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: public either strongly support or tend to support nuclear power.
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: Fewer than ten percent of people strongly oppose it. And
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: so the data show it and it's it's been my
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: own experience going out there talking to people that not
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: as many people are as anti nuclear as you would think.
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: It tends to be a very well organized and vocal
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: minority of people.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: That's a big plant the UK is going to build.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, is there technology of smaller plants that could
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: be built more quickly. Yes.
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: So these small modular reactors are getting people very excited.
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: These are unlike the giant giga what scale traditional power
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: stations are as their names suggest small their miniature. They
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: can fit where no traditional power station could. And the
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: modular part of the these new reactors is key because
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: the idea is that you could build upwards of eighty
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: eighty five percent of the reactor on a factory line.
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: And of course we know from the history of industrialization
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: that when you build things on a factory line and
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: mass produce them, not only the times scale shrink, but
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: so does the amount of money that you have to spend.
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: And so the idea is that these small, modular reactors
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: can be rolled out at scale and at pass And
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: I envisage your future where not just in the UK,
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: but around the world, every single small city, large city,
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: large towns has at least one small modular reactor providing
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: the electricity and the heat that those societies need to flourish.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: Well, Tim, let's hope your book causes another and new
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: debate in this country. Thanks for joining us tonight. By
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: the way, doctor Tim Pressure, thank you is called going
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: New clear how the atom will save the world. You
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: should get your hands on it. Tim, thank you very
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: much for that. Coming up after the break, the number
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: of students I found this extraordinary today dropping out of
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: high school continues to go up. So let's hope the
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: nation's education ministers who met today have come up with
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: some practical solutions. They had a round table today. Plus,
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: the government says it's ready to help our farmers. The
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: state government in Victoria around a drought. So why has
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: one Victorian producer been forced to launch his own go
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: fund me page to pay for hay Welcome back to
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: the Price with you. You won't believe how hard the
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: Victorian government has made it for farmers to get compensation,
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: financial compensation to help them through the drought. We'll get
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: to that in just one moment. The education ministers around
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: the country went to Adelaide to meet with the federal
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: Education Minister Jason Claire today. It's the first meeting since
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: the latest federal election. Jason Claire appeared on Sky yesterday Now.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: He was discussing some of the plans that his returned
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: government has in regard to literacy and numeracy. Have listened
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: to what he had to say.
• 32:35
  Speaker 10: One of the things we want to do is roll
• 32:37
  Speaker 10: out a phonics check or a literacy check the kids
• 32:40
  Speaker 10: in year one, and that's already underway. A lot of
• 32:43
  Speaker 10: states are doing it this year. The others will roll
• 32:45
  Speaker 10: it out from next year. And that's a ten or
• 32:48
  Speaker 10: a fifteen minute check. It's not a test, it's not
• 32:51
  Speaker 10: like napland, but it's a tool for teachers to help
• 32:53
  Speaker 10: to make sure that they know where the children in
• 32:56
  Speaker 10: their classroom are at and whether they need more support.
• 33:00
  Speaker 10: And the next cub off the rank is a numeracy check.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: Joining us now, author and education expert doctor Kevin Donnelly,
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: Good to see you again. I watched that interview with
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: Jason Clear and I thought to my so, why are
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: we having a NAP planned version two? I mean, how's
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: it different to NAP plan?
• 33:19
  Speaker 11: Well, you did write, Steve, and I mean, just another
• 33:24
  Speaker 11: test it won't really help. There's a lot more that
• 33:27
  Speaker 11: has to be done in terms of what teachers are
• 33:29
  Speaker 11: actually teaching in the classroom, what are the approaches to
• 33:33
  Speaker 11: teaching literacy, especially in the early years. But I mean
• 33:37
  Speaker 11: it's a problem that's been there for many, many years.
• 33:40
  Speaker 11: In two thousand and four, I wrote a book where
• 33:42
  Speaker 11: our schools are failing. Back then, about twenty eight percent
• 33:46
  Speaker 11: of students, primary school students, we're failing in literacy. If
• 33:51
  Speaker 11: you look at the latest NAP plan result, it's thirty percent.
• 33:55
  Speaker 11: And if you look at the international testing in PISA
• 33:58
  Speaker 11: now whether it's numeracy literacy, results have gone back between
• 34:03
  Speaker 11: fifteen and twenty points. So it's a problem that's been
• 34:06
  Speaker 11: there for over twenty thirty years. And simply having another
• 34:10
  Speaker 11: meeting of ministers, and we've been seeing this year after year,
• 34:14
  Speaker 11: having another meeting, passing some recommendations won't actually change much
• 34:20
  Speaker 11: unless a lot more is done.
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, apart from Queensland and the Northern Territory
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: and I can't remember what's going on in Tasmania, we've
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: got labor governments in all the major states and so
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: you've got labor education ministers and it won't surprise you, Kevin,
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: You've been talking about this forever that at the end
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: of the meeting they all ticked off and said, oh, yes,
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: we'll roll that out. That'd be a good idea. I mean,
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: there's no bold intervention into why we keep going backwards
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: in standards. And what about this idea that a number
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: of students finishing high school's going down, it's down at
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: seventy five percent.
• 34:56
  Speaker 11: Well, I mean there are a couple of points there
• 34:58
  Speaker 11: about retention rates.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: They call it.
• 35:01
  Speaker 11: If you look at non government schools, Catholic and independent schools,
• 35:05
  Speaker 11: their retention rate is over ninety percent. So what Jason
• 35:09
  Speaker 11: Clair is talking about when he talks about poor results
• 35:13
  Speaker 11: in terms of retention, it really relates to government schools. Now,
• 35:17
  Speaker 11: there are a couple of issues there. We need to
• 35:20
  Speaker 11: look more carefully at the curriculum. What's happening in middle
• 35:24
  Speaker 11: school in particular. A lot of the curriculum is very woke,
• 35:28
  Speaker 11: it's very dumb down. Students are becoming disengaged, if not bored,
• 35:33
  Speaker 11: because there's nothing challenging there. There's nothing intellectually rigorous, and
• 35:38
  Speaker 11: especially boys dropping out, not concentrating, becoming behavior problems. So
• 35:45
  Speaker 11: we need to look at the curriculum, and we also
• 35:47
  Speaker 11: need to look at the fact that among the OECD,
• 35:51
  Speaker 11: our classrooms are the most disruptive across the OECD, So
• 35:56
  Speaker 11: there needs to be a greater focus on classroom discipline.
• 36:00
  Speaker 11: Teachers are authority figures, and students do what they're told.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: We I mean, people keep saying, oh, well, you know,
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: we can blame COVID for what's going on in the
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: education system. We need to remind people we've had two
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: full educational years since the end of COVID, so twenty
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: three twenty four, we're halfway through twenty five, and we've
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: got to put COVID behind us at some point, don't
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: we and have a sensible adult conversation about why our
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: results are not as good as they should be, how
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: we can get more people to get interested in teaching.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: I mean, I heard a debate on radio today where
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: we're not even teaching kids in school how to write
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: with a pen.
• 36:42
  Speaker 11: It beggars belief. I mean, you and I've talked about
• 36:45
  Speaker 11: this over the years. A lot of the research I've
• 36:48
  Speaker 11: looked at from thirty forty years ago, we always knew
• 36:51
  Speaker 11: what the problem was, and we always had solutions. But
• 36:55
  Speaker 11: what's happened, and theyre was a very good productivity report
• 36:58
  Speaker 11: just last year looking into all of these national agreements
• 37:03
  Speaker 11: that we've had today another meeting of state territory ministers
• 37:07
  Speaker 11: plus Jason Clair. They come up with all of these
• 37:11
  Speaker 11: new programs, all of these agreements, but it's all very bureaucratic,
• 37:16
  Speaker 11: it's all very top down. They kick the boxes, as
• 37:19
  Speaker 11: you say, then they go away for another six months,
• 37:22
  Speaker 11: twelve months, and they come back and we've still got
• 37:25
  Speaker 11: the same problems. So there needs to be a route
• 37:28
  Speaker 11: and branch really renewal of education. And I was involved
• 37:33
  Speaker 11: in a paper released by the Page Research Center last
• 37:36
  Speaker 11: week that really outlines how that should be done. But
• 37:40
  Speaker 11: the problem is the politicians, the bureaucrats are not listening.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: No, they're not, and we keep banging on about it,
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: and we will still keep banging on about it because
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: it's such an important issue. Kevin, always good to see you, mate,
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much for joining us on Friday Nights. Now.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: I talked about the farmers earlier. The plang facing farmers
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: across is southern States, mainly where there has been a drought.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, there's a bit of rain in the last
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks, but there's been a hell of a drought,
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: particularly in western Victoria and parts of South Australia. Now
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: you'd think that the Victorian State government would come up
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: with a scheme to help farmers. Well their Agriculture minister.
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: I think she visited one of the drought affected areas
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: once and went back to the city and hasn't been
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: back since. Now the rain has helped, but is the
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: scheme that the government's come up with enough to help
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: people to get through now? Farmers have still got to
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: stop to feed and I don't believe that the financial
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: help is really helping. One farmer in Victoria's North has
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: shared his frustrations on social media, saying that despite all
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: of the promises from the state government and the Victorian
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: Farmers Federation, tangible financial support has not been forthcoming. He's
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: had to launch his own GoFundMe page to pay for fodder.
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: Can you believe that? Paul Diamond joins me now from
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: the wonderful town of Mansfield.
• 39:00
  Speaker 12: Good a, Paul, Steve, thanks for having me tonight.
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: It's a pleasure. You've had a hell of a time.
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: You've got dog, while dog's wiping out your sheep you've
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: had a tornado, you've got infrastructure blown over, fencing down,
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: and then the drought. The biggest problem and the biggest
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: battle you've god appears to be with the state government. Mate.
• 39:23
  Speaker 12: Yeah, and that's sort of the reason I decided to
• 39:25
  Speaker 12: take things into my own hands. I went to social
• 39:29
  Speaker 12: media after being down and out for a period of
• 39:32
  Speaker 12: time and sort of started to vent my frustrations online
• 39:36
  Speaker 12: and that's where people sort of encouraged their ability to
• 39:40
  Speaker 12: support and that's where the GoFundMe came about, and I
• 39:44
  Speaker 12: was amazed with the support from the general public.
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: We sort of response today after you alluded as to
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: the fact that farmers are being told that they have
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: to have a certain amount of their own investment to
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: put into infrastructure before the government will give them a
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: grant to help them out. The response we got from
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: the Victorian Farmers Federation and the government. Spokesman for the
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: government said the government was making it quote faster and
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: easier for farmers to access grain and fodder. It also
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: said it's drought relief infrastructure grants covered fifty percent of
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: the total cost of eligible projects through a one for
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: one contribution, so for a grand of five thousand. You
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: need to have ten thousand dollars cash. Who's got ten
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: grand laying around in the middle of a drought.
• 40:34
  Speaker 12: Yeah, So essentially they want us to build new infrastructure
• 40:38
  Speaker 12: like hayshds. Our hayshds are already empty.
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: We need the fodder.
• 40:44
  Speaker 12: So it's sort of it's silly and unreasonable what they're
• 40:49
  Speaker 12: sort of trying to justify in their form of support
• 40:53
  Speaker 12: to farmers. It's just really confusing and misdirected because we fodder.
• 41:00
  Speaker 12: They're saying they're supporting farmers, but it's just not occurring.
• 41:04
  Speaker 12: And that's why I've sort of been a bit outspoken
• 41:07
  Speaker 12: and called the agricultural ministers and the Premiere accountable because
• 41:14
  Speaker 12: they're just not doing anything about it.
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: It's sad, Paul. It sounds to me like a bunch
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: of people making up program sitting in an office in Melbourne.
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: I've got no idea what's actually happening out in the bush.
• 41:28
  Speaker 12: Essentially, that's exactly what it is.
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: I mean, we had good seasons.
• 41:32
  Speaker 12: In Victoria and I remember back in January twenty twenty
• 41:36
  Speaker 12: we actually had a pump a year and we donated
• 41:39
  Speaker 12: hay to bushfire ravaged areas of southern New South Wales,
• 41:45
  Speaker 12: and that was through the Victorian Farmers' Federation. And I
• 41:49
  Speaker 12: decided back in April when times were getting seriously tough
• 41:53
  Speaker 12: here to email or masking him for support. Not that
• 41:57
  Speaker 12: I'm a giver and then a taker, it's more like
• 42:00
  Speaker 12: how does it work? Like you've advertised you've got a
• 42:05
  Speaker 12: disaster relief fund, but you're not sort of doing anything
• 42:09
  Speaker 12: about the one screaming for help. So it's just confusing
• 42:13
  Speaker 12: and weird.
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: Times for farmers.
• 42:15
  Speaker 12: I'm not saying I'm the farmer doing it the toughest
• 42:18
  Speaker 12: out there. I'm just one of the many farmers that's
• 42:21
  Speaker 12: decided to be outspoken and talk about this and make
• 42:26
  Speaker 12: people understand the seriousness of the situation we're in.
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: Paul, hang in there, mate. We'll keep talking about it
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: on this program. I know Peter Credlin also, and I'm
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: filling in for Peter next week, is very invested in
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: helping out in regional Victoria. So hang in there, Paul.
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much for joining us tonight, and good
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: luck with it, and good luck with your go fundme
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: page now coming up after the break. The Labor governor
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: sees on the liberal quota issue, saying the opposition simply
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: doesn't get it. Plus should Brisbane pull a pin as
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: a host of the twenty third two Olympics, discuss that
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: with our Friday panel up next Welcome back on Friday night.
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: It's panel time, Skye News contributor Joe Hildebrand Brighton's Up
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: our Fridays every Friday, and tonight We're joined by a
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, Mia Schlick.
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: Great to have you both. I want to start on
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: the Liberal Party and this so called idea that they
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: have a women problem. Linda Reynolds, who seems to just
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: go rogue all the time as fire has shot across
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: the oppositions about saying the party has a women's problem.
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: This is not twenty four hours since poor old Susan
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: Lee denied rumors that the party had a women's problem
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: on the issue of quotas Mia being the only women
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: in the panel. Do the Liberal Party have a women problem?
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure about that.
• 43:51
  Speaker 5: There's no doubt that at the moment the Liberal Party
• 43:54
  Speaker 5: is failing to appeal to women. But what the last
• 43:57
  Speaker 5: election results showed us is the to appeal to the
• 44:01
  Speaker 5: Australian public more broadly, and I think it's disappointing that
• 44:05
  Speaker 5: the Liberal Party is choosing to deflect on these broader
• 44:07
  Speaker 5: issues and focus on blaming it on a problem with women. Now,
• 44:12
  Speaker 5: at the end of the day, if the Liberal Party
• 44:14
  Speaker 5: doesn't know who they are and they don't know what
• 44:15
  Speaker 5: they stand for, then they're not going to have women
• 44:18
  Speaker 5: appeal to the Liberal Party.
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: I'll get into quotas in a moment. Joe's mate Tanya Plibask,
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: she brought into the argument today. She loves this is
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: what Tanya heads say.
• 44:28
  Speaker 5: Honestly, this is all the proof you need that the
• 44:30
  Speaker 5: Liberal Party don't understand Australian women and they don't understand
• 44:36
  Speaker 5: gender equality.
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: Joe, what do you reckon?
• 44:41
  Speaker 13: Yeah? I think there is a problem, and it's a
• 44:42
  Speaker 13: structural one. I think when the kind of Teal wing
• 44:45
  Speaker 13: of the Liberal Party, if you like, that sort of
• 44:47
  Speaker 13: more genteel, cosmopolitan element to it, went to the Teals,
• 44:52
  Speaker 13: and we all know that the Teals had a very
• 44:54
  Speaker 13: deliberate strategy of running a certain type of candidate, which
• 44:57
  Speaker 13: was women, hollowed out the Liberal Party and it made
• 45:02
  Speaker 13: a bit more of a sort of macho masculine sort
• 45:07
  Speaker 13: of party which had more sort of. I guess masculinesque
• 45:11
  Speaker 13: policies like, you know, being tough on border security, being
• 45:14
  Speaker 13: tough on crime, being anti working from home.
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: Doesn't want to be tough on border security.
• 45:20
  Speaker 13: Well look, I'm sure everyone does. But these are policies
• 45:24
  Speaker 13: that appeal more to men, and it shows up in
• 45:26
  Speaker 13: the polling again and again. These are policies that appeal
• 45:28
  Speaker 13: more to men.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: Is that right, Maya, Is that right that border security
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: appeals to men and not women.
• 45:36
  Speaker 5: I'm not sure about that. I think border security is
• 45:37
  Speaker 5: a problem that faces all Australians. But I think at
• 45:40
  Speaker 5: the end of the day, to Joel's point, the Liberal
• 45:43
  Speaker 5: Party just doesn't know what they stand for and they
• 45:45
  Speaker 5: don't know what their values are, and at the end
• 45:47
  Speaker 5: of the day, that's not going to attract any of
• 45:48
  Speaker 5: the Australian public.
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about Noel Pearson. You and I have great
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: regard for Noel Pearson. He's done some great work Joe
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: in the past. Absolutely. It's come out today and said
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: something strange. I don't know why, but he reckons Brisbane's
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: not a world class city. He lives there and it's
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: not too late to pull out of the Olympic Games.
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: I mean, can you remember what happened when Victoria under
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: Daniel Andrews ditched the Commonwealth Games. Can you imagine what
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: would happen if Chris of Fully, the Premier of Queensland,
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: ditched the Commonwealth Games.
• 46:21
  Speaker 13: Yeah, it would be obviously another huge embarrassment to Australia.
• 46:25
  Speaker 13: The Brisbane Games I've found very strange. It seems to
• 46:28
  Speaker 13: be the games they sort of got by default because
• 46:30
  Speaker 13: no one else particularly wanted it. They seem to be
• 46:33
  Speaker 13: more unpopular than popular. I mean I came to Sydney
• 46:37
  Speaker 13: in the year two thousand for those games and the
• 46:39
  Speaker 13: sense of energy and positivity and goodwill was just electrifying.
• 46:44
  Speaker 13: Everyone was all in on it and everybody loved it.
• 46:47
  Speaker 13: There were the usual tiny minority of naysayers, but that
• 46:50
  Speaker 13: was about it. Whereas with Brisbane, it seems it just
• 46:53
  Speaker 13: seems that it doesn't really know why it's getting them.
• 46:56
  Speaker 13: I think we do have to go through with it,
• 46:57
  Speaker 13: because again, otherwise Australia will just look a bit silly.
• 47:00
  Speaker 13: But it's a funny one. It's like, you know, here's
• 47:02
  Speaker 13: the Olympic Game. Oh no, thanks, Why don't you go
• 47:04
  Speaker 13: and build a stadium in Tasmania.
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: Me or our hero the week. I Reckonszette street sweeper
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: from Darribin Council who said, I don't know why at
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: our toolbox meeting every week we have to have a
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: welcome to country. He's been The courts have said he
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: was unfairly dismissed. I mean he's got a point, hasn't he.
• 47:25
  Speaker 5: Absolutely, I think he's an Australian hero. There's no doubt
• 47:29
  Speaker 5: that these welcome to countries have just gone too far.
• 47:32
  Speaker 5: They're overused and quite frankly, they've lost their meeting. I mean,
• 47:36
  Speaker 5: I don't think many Australians even though what they even
• 47:39
  Speaker 5: know what they're saying anymore. And more concerningly is it
• 47:42
  Speaker 5: becoming quite divisive. And this is a problem because the
• 47:45
  Speaker 5: Australian public already voted as to whether they wanted to
• 47:48
  Speaker 5: be divided on the basis of race, and it was
• 47:51
  Speaker 5: met with a resounding no case. And it's frustrating that
• 47:54
  Speaker 5: our political elite and our inner city elites continue to
• 47:57
  Speaker 5: drive this divisive ideology.
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: I think you agree, Joe, don't you that they're actually
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: diminished in importance because there's too many. Yeah, I do agree.
• 48:07
  Speaker 13: I'd much rather say better action on the ground, better
• 48:10
  Speaker 13: service deliveries, listening to Indigenous communities to the problems that
• 48:13
  Speaker 13: they're facing and how to fix them. And I don't
• 48:17
  Speaker 13: think you know, saying an acknowledgment of country before every
• 48:19
  Speaker 13: single office meeting you have. I don't see how that
• 48:23
  Speaker 13: helps anyone.
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: Especially a toolbox meeting. Joe and me thank you very
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: much for joining us on this Friday night. Now I'm
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: filling in all of next week for Peter Kreblin, so
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: I'll be here at six o'clock Monday to Thursday next week.
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: Everybody have a great weekend. Me here and Joe, thank
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: you very much.