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Transcript

The Late Debate | 18 February · The Late Debate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wait, wait, welcome, wait to play.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Well, good evening, It's great to have your company. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: James Macpherson with Freileitch and Caleb Bond coming up tonight.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Former Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe has blasted the Albanezy
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: government's economic record. He's accused the government of condemning the
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: nation to high interest rates. Pauline Hanson sort of apologizes
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: but not really for her comment on Muslims, but will
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: affect her standing in the polls. And Bruce Springsteen has
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: decided he will be the one to save the US
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: from Donald Trump. The Boss has announced that his latest
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: tour will be called In Defense of America. It's a
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: modest title, if ever there was one. But first, it's
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: been revealed that the long promised high speed rail link
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: between Sydney and Newcastle will cost a cool ninety billion dollars.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: That's if it's ever built.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: At four point seven billion dollars a kilometer, that's quite
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: the project.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: In fact, it would be.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: The most expensive individual piece of infrastructure ever funded by
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: the federal government if Anthony Albanesi ticks off on it.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Speaking of Anthony Albanzi, the PM said today that an
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: announcement on the project would be made in the next
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks. I think they're going to go ahead
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: with this, Caleb, They've been promising it for years, many
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: political leaders on both sides. I don't know how they
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: can justify the expense, But an announcement in the next
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks, what do you think will Newcastle get
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: the green light?
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: This is the problem, right because they've talked about high
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: speed Ralph for so damn long and it really does
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: make sense, Like practically, it makes a great deal of sense.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: We know the housing problems we have in Sydney and
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: anything we can do to open up the possibility of
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: people being able to not live in Sydney but come
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: to Sydney for work and play and all the other
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: things is great. It would be seriously helpful, and you'd
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: like to think that eventually this is the kind of
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: thing that could go around the country. But if it
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: costs ninety billion dollars to get high speed rail from
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Newcastle to Sydney, imagine what it then costs to get
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: that high speed rail down to Melbourne. And that would
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: be the ultimate goal. If you could have another route
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: between Sydney and Melbourne that didn't require you to get
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: on a plane or an XPT train which runs overnight
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: and you know, takes the better part of ten or
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: twelve hours. That would be a game changer for transport
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: in this country. But it is so bloody expensive if
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: they're going to go ahead with it, and part of
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: me would like them too, But if they're going to
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: go ahead with it, they're going to have to work
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: over time to justify the cost, just because it's going
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: to cause so much trouble.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Just to pick you up on something you said, I
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: don't think we'll ever have high speed rail going to Melbourne,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: but coming.
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: Out of Melbourne that may.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: Yes, that may, and they will want it to be
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: high speed. Hell, you'd want to get out of their
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: fast But trying to justify ninety billion dollars for one
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: leg of a train line that services one city in
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: the country is going to be a big task.
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: I don't know if it will be.
• 3:05
  Speaker 6: You know, I know, ninety billion dollars sounds like a lot,
• 3:08
  Speaker 6: and it is the most the federal government would have
• 3:10
  Speaker 6: ever spend, but that's because the state governments do most
• 3:13
  Speaker 6: of the infrastructure construction. The Sydney Metro system that has
• 3:17
  Speaker 6: been a resounding success is costing seventy billion, so just
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: twenty billion shy and this would be funded by the
• 3:24
  Speaker 6: Commonwealth instead. So when you compare it to other major
• 3:28
  Speaker 6: infrastructure projects, it's not a lot more expensive, but the
• 3:32
  Speaker 6: potential benefits would be massive. I mean, the fact that
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: we have a housing crisis when we live in such
• 3:38
  Speaker 6: a vast country is an absolute joke and also an
• 3:43
  Speaker 6: indictment on the lack of leadership we've seen in this space.
• 3:47
  Speaker 6: There should be high speed rail, not just to Newcastle
• 3:51
  Speaker 6: but to other regional centers as well. We can afford
• 3:54
  Speaker 6: it as a country, we just choose to spend money
• 3:57
  Speaker 6: on other areas like the NDIA instead of investing in
• 4:01
  Speaker 6: our future.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Well, anyone who's done the drive from Newcastle to Sydney
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: would know that it's a heck of a drive. If
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: you get caught in traffic, which is pretty much every time,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: and if there's a single accident, it pretty much just
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: destroys everything. So it makes sense to not have all
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: your eggs in one basket. Ie a highway A railway
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: line would be a good idea. And if Newcastle was
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: only one hour away from that changes everything in fact,
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: a lot of Sydney siders who are renting I reckon
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: would move to Newcastle, buy a property and they'd still
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: get to work in about the same commute time that
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: they have right now.
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: One hundred percent.
• 4:38
  Speaker 6: And work from home, whether we like it or not,
• 4:40
  Speaker 6: is here to stay. And a lot of people have
• 4:42
  Speaker 6: a hybrid work from home arrangement where they might work
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: from home two or three days and then commute into
• 4:47
  Speaker 6: the office. If it's only an hour on the train
• 4:50
  Speaker 6: from Newcastle to Sydney and you only have to go
• 4:53
  Speaker 6: in two or three days a week, why wouldn't you
• 4:56
  Speaker 6: are we moving up to NEWI Back to.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: The cost issue, though, ninety billion dollars is a hell
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: of a lot of money, but especially when you consider
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: this thing was mooted not that long ago at about
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: thirty five billion dollars. So would you really trust when
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: they say ninety years it's not going to be naughty
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: big that in twelve years time, which is what they
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: say will take to construct this thing, that it will
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: come in on budget.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: No, of course not, but that's just how things go
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: with the government projects and government spending.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: Be great for tourism too, and imagine it's just so
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: much easier to get up there in an hour. Why
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: would you not do it? Speaking of government spending, we know,
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: of course that it is contributing to inflation in this country.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: We know that inflation has gone up. What else has
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: gone up? Interest rates? I mean, it's one and the
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: same thing. Inflation goes up, some lever, economic lever has
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: to be pulled to do something about it. The Reserve
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: Bank has really only one lever to pull. It only
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: has one power, and that is over interest rates. The
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: rest more or less comes down to actions of the government,
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: and we've been talking about for the last couple of
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: months the fact that government spending in particular is contributing
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: to this increasing inflation. Government of course denies that the
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: Reserve Bank has started in one way or another suggesting
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: and it has something to do with it, but they
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: don't want to get terribly political about it. They don't
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: want to come out and openly say that, yes, government
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: spending is a major contributor to inflation. But one man
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: who has been unafraid now to say this is the
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: former Reserve Bank governor Philip Blow. He is now over
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: working for the ASX and in an interview with the
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: Financial Review, which was published today. He has belled the
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: cat on what is going on here. He was talking
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: about productivity in the workplace, which has been on the slide,
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: or it's moving extremely slowly. So while you have lots
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: of inflation because there's lots of money swimming around, we're
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: not actually any more productive. We're not producing any more things.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: And what does that mean? You have demand problems?
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: He puts it very simply.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: Productivity capacity of the economy is not growing very quickly,
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: and the government wants to keep spending and wants to
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: keep offering people handouts, which adds to demand, which in
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: the normal course of events would be fine. But if
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: the supply is not growing, you can't do it. And
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: if you try to do it, then interest rates have
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: to go up. This is the man who used to
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: be in charge of the Reserve Bank. He understands interest
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: rates going up and down and the things that cause
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: them to go up and down. You have to take
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: his intervention seriously, unless, of course, you are the Treasurer
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: Jim Chalmers.
• 7:42
  Speaker 7: It's a matter of public record. Phil Low would have
• 7:46
  Speaker 7: liked to have been reappointed by the government after he
• 7:50
  Speaker 7: wasn't reappointed by the government. He's become a fairly persistent
• 7:54
  Speaker 7: critic of the Labor government in the pages of the
• 7:58
  Speaker 7: Financial Review and elsewhere. I think, to some extent, that's
• 8:01
  Speaker 7: just human nature.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: It's just human nature. It's sod grapes that Philip Blow,
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: one of the most imminent economic minds in this country,
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: points out that government spending does in fact contribute to
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: inflation and rising interest rates.
• 8:16
  Speaker 6: But for Jim Charmers, Doctor Jim to turn around and
• 8:20
  Speaker 6: essentially say, oh, it's only because he's just annoyed he
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: wasn't reappointed as governor of the RBA, that he's calling
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: out government spending. Is I think that's actually unprecedented because
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: the RBA is supposed to be independent from the government.
• 8:35
  Speaker 6: So you're calling into question Philiplow's integrity as an economist
• 8:40
  Speaker 6: is independence as the governor of the Reserve Bank when
• 8:43
  Speaker 6: he held that role. And then you also have to ask, okay,
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: so if you're saying that Philip Blow is calling you
• 8:49
  Speaker 6: out because he didn't get reappointed, is Michelle Bullock holding
• 8:53
  Speaker 6: back because she wants to be reappointed? Is that essentially
• 8:56
  Speaker 6: what you're saying people, now, our Reserve Bank, who's supposed
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: to be independent is now making decisions in their own
• 9:05
  Speaker 6: personal interest and refraining from criticism or criticizing based on
• 9:09
  Speaker 6: whether they're or not they want to be reappointed.
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: That's what Jim Chalmers is saying.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Well, Jim Chalmers talked about human nature there, and it's
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: also human nature to play the man rather than the ball,
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: which is exactly what the premier did. Who cares whether
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: Philip Lowe has a thing against Jim Chalmers or not.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: The point is is the criticism right, is it valid?
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Is it correct? And on that Jim Chalmers completely avoided
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: the subject. He preferred to make it personal because then
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: he didn't have to talk about his economic track record
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: and the things that Philip Lowe actually sends the oldest
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: trick in the book, and Jim Chalmers is pretty good
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: at tricks when it comes to dodging and deflecting any
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: responsibility for the way the economy is going.
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: Because they don't have an answer. And look, I lay
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: a lot of the blame for what happened over the
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: last five or so years at the feet of Philip
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: low To be perfectly honest, I think we made that
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: horrendous care. I think they moved way too fast in
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: lowering interest rates, and that came at the same time
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: as huge government money was put into the economy to
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: keep it afloat during COVID. Those two things came together.
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: You have high inflation. We should have been able to
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: see that coming. But the government and Jim Chalmers in particular,
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: cannot answer the fact that you look at all the productivity,
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: which is what Lowe is talking about here. You know,
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: seventy five to eighty percent of jobs being created in
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: this country are in some way government funded, so they're
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: in service jobs. It's aged care, it's education, it's NDAs, etc.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: There's no real growth in the private sector, so we're
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: not making anything, We're not contributing anything. There's no real growth.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: We keep importing migrants who need houses and supermarkets and
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: schools and all the other gear that goes along with them.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: That puts pressure on all of those services, and then
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: the government basically invents a job for them. All of
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: that has prevented us from on paper, going into a recession,
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: but it has not saved us from the actual problem.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: That's what we're now seeing and that's what Philip Blow
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: is pointing out.
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: And we saw real wages fall today, so that's what's
• 11:17
  Speaker 6: happening GDP per capita recession. Real wages are falling, and
• 11:21
  Speaker 6: you're actually now in a toxic cycle which Philip Blow
• 11:24
  Speaker 6: when he was governor, to his credit, wanted to avoid,
• 11:27
  Speaker 6: which is stagflation. The economy is completely stagnant, but we
• 11:31
  Speaker 6: still have high inflation. But speaking of inflation and you
• 11:35
  Speaker 6: paying more for everything, New South Wales residents are going
• 11:39
  Speaker 6: to be slugged with an extra six hundred million dollars
• 11:43
  Speaker 6: on their power bills next year to pay for the
• 11:46
  Speaker 6: state's five renewable energy zones. But when you break down
• 11:51
  Speaker 6: where exactly that six hundred million is going, it's staggering.
• 11:54
  Speaker 6: One hundred million dollars of it is going to administration
• 11:59
  Speaker 6: coststs one hundred million dollars. And they say coal and
• 12:04
  Speaker 6: fossil fuels are unprofitable. If you need hundreds of millions
• 12:08
  Speaker 6: of dollars of tax payer money every year to prop
• 12:12
  Speaker 6: you up and cover your admin costs, is this really profitable?
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: And this is all you'll remember.
• 12:19
  Speaker 6: The renewable energy zones where the brainchild of Matt Kean,
• 12:23
  Speaker 6: the liberal energy minister, and they're an utter disaster. The
• 12:28
  Speaker 6: New England Renewable Energy Zone was supposed to be up
• 12:31
  Speaker 6: and running next year. It's being pushed out to twenty
• 12:34
  Speaker 6: thirty two because what do you know, the community doesn't
• 12:38
  Speaker 6: want it. So locals don't want it, they're not working,
• 12:41
  Speaker 6: but we're still footing the bill.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: I had to laugh at one hundred million dollars in
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: admin fees that spread over seven agencies, just proves it
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: costs a lot of money to have cheap energy that's
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: this expensive.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: I know, I mean the cheapest form of energy known
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: to man, renewable energy. And this is the problem you
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: have to pay for. It is all good and well
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: for the boffins in the offices and green Keen and
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: people who live in tel electorates who can afford to
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: have a social conscience saying yeah, you know, we've got
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: to go to renewable energy, and who cares if it
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: costs money. We've got a planet to save.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: He you know.
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: But the rest of us don't have the money to
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: punt up. Go and talk to people in Western Sydney
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: or western Melbourne and ask them, you know, well, I
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: mean this obviously pertains only to New South Wales, but
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: don't ask people in Western Sydney, Oh, what do you reckon.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: It's just another six hundred million dollars in the next
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: financial year so we can save the planet. They don't
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: have that money, and we keep expecting them to pay
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: for it. And what return are we actually getting. We
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: don't have much to show in terms of emissions reduction
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: and saving the planet.
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: The return you're actually getting a higher energy sills.
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: I mean, that is the only thing.
• 13:55
  Speaker 6: And this is going to bring the total amount the
• 13:57
  Speaker 6: government's raised through higher and ergy prices for consumers to
• 14:01
  Speaker 6: one point five billion dollars to fund these renewable energy zones.
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: That is a one point five billion dollar green tax
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: on the residence of New South Wales.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's one point five billion dollars over home.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: How many years, over four years, over four years. That's
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: absolutely shocking. If the Liberals can't get themselves together and
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: win the next election, I give up. I tell you
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: another area where the government has completely given up, and
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: that's on trying to do anything about the illicit trade
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: in cigarettes. And is it any wonder there's such an
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: illicit trade. Your legal packet of cigarettes twenty cigarettes is
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: about forty dollars. You can buy the same pack for
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: twelve bucks illegally. So is it any surprise where people
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: are getting their tobacco? Well, it is, according to Murray
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: what he's completely surprised.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Minister.
• 14:51
  Speaker 8: Do you consider the government's very high tobacco duty is
• 14:54
  Speaker 8: the reason? Otherwise law abiding citizens are prepared to buy
• 14:57
  Speaker 8: illegal tobacco for generally a third of the league good price.
• 15:00
  Speaker 8: No any reasons.
• 15:04
  Speaker 7: There's absolutely no evidence to suggest that argument.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Are you jerking?
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: No?
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: Okay, I love that you're joking. I think a lot
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: of people feel like that about most government policies at
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: the moment. Experts are now warning that within two years,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: nine out of ten cigarettes purchased in this country will
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: be illegal cigarettes, which is absolutely astonishing and the ramifications
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: for society a shocking. We've talked about it many times.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: Crime is through the roof. You've got fire bombings, people killed,
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: et cetera, et cetera. Particularly in Victoria, government revenue has
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: dropped from sixteen point three billion dollars in twenty nineteen
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: from tobacco excise to just five and a half billion
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: dollars last year. So the government are losing money by
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: not addressing this issue. The IgA have now come out
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: and they have got one hundred and fifty stores around
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: the country. They're urging the government to drop the price
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: of cigarettes by thirty percent, and they say that would
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: not only address the issue of elicit tobacco, but it
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: would actually lift government revenue. So by dropping the tax,
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: the government would get more money. You don't get that
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: scenario very often, but in this case it is so
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: obvious and so clear. I know. Finance Minister Katie Gallagher
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: was asked, why won't the government do this, and she replied,
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: we keep all options under review, which is a nice
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: way of saying we're not going to do anything about this,
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: but will continue to imply that we might.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, of course we should not. It's not the IJA itself.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: It's Richie's Age.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Sorry.
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: Richie's is a company that has a lot of RJA
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: stores in Victoria, deed, and the boss of Richie's, who
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: I've met and spoken to about this issue, who he's
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: a good man, and he is concerned not only about
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: the community but also his ability to employ people, which
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: this is affected. When I spoke to two years ago
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: or a bit over maybe what was a year and
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: a half ago, I think I'd met him, and he
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: was telling me about the reduction in revenue they've had
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: because of illicit tobacco, and it is equal to a
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: serious number of staff, Like ten percent of their revenue
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: is gone by not selling as many cigarettes as they
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: used to, not because people are not smoking, but because
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: they're buying the illegal product. And so what do you do, Well,
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: you can't employ as many people. So it has flow
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: on a fix in that way as well. And so
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: they've commissioned a report from Oxford Economics which has found
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: that if they cut the excise back to what it
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: was in twenty nineteen, which was the last year that
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: the government made serious money, it was like sixteen and
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: a half billion dollars the federal government made in tobacco
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: excis back in twenty nineteen. Then as they started jacking
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: it up, the revenue has gone down. But if they
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: went back to the excis from twenty nineteen, they could
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: have the illicit market overnight. I mean, this is just
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: no brainer stuff.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: You don't do it.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: You have rampant crime, gangs doing whatever they want, as
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: you said, killing people, fire bombings, etc. But the Health
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: Minister Mark Butler has previously said, well, we can't let
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: the tobacco industry dictate the cost of cigarettes.
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: That's not what this is.
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: You have an obvious answer here to stop illegality. Why
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: don't you just do it.
• 18:31
  Speaker 6: You're not going to let the tobacco industry dictate the cost,
• 18:34
  Speaker 6: but you will let crime do exactly already.
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: What you're saying it cost. It's about twelve dollars exactly.
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: I mean, that argument makes no sense. And this is
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: the thing.
• 18:42
  Speaker 6: I mean, maybe there's a scenario where you could have
• 18:46
  Speaker 6: had this high excise and it not have had as
• 18:48
  Speaker 6: much of an impact on revenue if you had extremely
• 18:51
  Speaker 6: strong enforcement. But until a couple of months ago, it
• 18:55
  Speaker 6: was bureaucrats sitting in the New South Wales Department of
• 18:59
  Speaker 6: Health who were in charge of auditing illicit tobacco. You've
• 19:03
  Speaker 6: got bureaucrats trying to take on crime gangs. I mean,
• 19:07
  Speaker 6: how was that ever going to work? But unfortunately, this
• 19:10
  Speaker 6: is another example of policy decisions that the federal government
• 19:14
  Speaker 6: makes stupidly and then leaves these state governments to actually
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: deal with the consequences of like exploding crime and how
• 19:22
  Speaker 6: you actually police it.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: Indeed, and you know what they could do with the
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: bloody tax riven if you look at the budget and
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: the amount of money that they're losing again, not because
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: people stopped smoking, but because they're buying illegal packets that
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: have no tax on it. They've more than had their
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: tax take since twenty nineteen, and that's billions and billions
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: of dollars that the government could be spending on things
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: that actually matter. I mean, here's an idea. For instance,
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: if you haved or brought brought it back to where
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: it was in twenty nineteen, that had put another nearly
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: ten billion dollars in the government coffers. They could spend
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: that on things like paid parental leave.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: For instance.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: There's a group called the Parenthood They're an advocacy organization.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: They deal with matters of you guessed at parenthood, and
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: they are advocating now to the federal government that the
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: federally funded paternity and maternity leave scheme that is currently
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: for half a year should be increased to the full
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: fifty two weeks to get a full year off if
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: you have a child. Now, there are a lot of
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: businesses that already offer that extra six months. News Corp,
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: where we work, is one of them.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: I know that this.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: Would cost apparently four point eight billion dollars annually to
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: the federal bud did if they extended it fully to
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: the full year, and I mean something close to minimum
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: wage is what you get paid as the federally funded
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: maternity leave. Part of me goes, well, you know, do
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: we really need to stump up another five billion dollars
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: a year for this? But then I thought, hang on,
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: we have serious problems with the birth rates in this country.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: Anything we can do to encourage people to have more children,
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: and this would be a pretty serious incentive to say
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: you can have a full year off work to stay
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: with your child. Maybe it will do something. Because of course,
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: one of the problems with not having kids is that
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: we're not generating tax payers. We keep trying to patch
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: that up by bringing in people from overseas. So there
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: isn't genuine arguments an economic argument to be made that
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: spending some tax now could and someone have to run
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: the numbers on it, but it could in the future
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: result in more tax revenue because you've given people the
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: opportunity to have more children.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: So you make a great point.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: You can't bang on about immigration numbers are too high
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: while at the same time not doing anything to support
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: or doing more to support people who want to have children.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: There's not only an economic benefit though, but also allowing
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: parents to spend the first year with their child. I mean,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: when you get babies being put in childcare, and you know,
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: for some parents they have to do that because without
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: two incomes they can't afford to live. But I don't
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: think anyone would agree that's in the best interests of
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: a baby. So this has economic benefits and social benefits.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Four billion bucks is a lot of money until you
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: realize what else the government is spending billions on. And
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: then all of a sudden you think, well, of all
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: the crazy things they're throwing money at, this ain't one
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: of the craziest ideas.
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: And it seems like a lot of money until you
• 22:27
  Speaker 6: realize we're spending sixteen and a half billion dollars every
• 22:30
  Speaker 6: year subsidizing institutional childcare, significantly more than just extending paper
• 22:36
  Speaker 6: and to leave. I mean, one of the options I'm
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: quite in favor of is saying, in the first two
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: years of your child's life, you can take that Commonwealth
• 22:44
  Speaker 6: childcare subsidy that's already budgeted for, already being given out,
• 22:49
  Speaker 6: and use that to supplement your maternity leave, so you
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: can effectively have an additional extra summer money to support
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: one parent to stay at home or pay grandparents to
• 22:59
  Speaker 6: look after their children. And if you the subsidy is
• 23:02
  Speaker 6: very generous for the average household, that'd be like twenty
• 23:05
  Speaker 6: grand a year per child. If you have multiple children
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: and you can get together with some other families, that's significant.
• 23:12
  Speaker 6: But the bottom line is we have to do more
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: to support young families in this country. The Intergenerational Reports
• 23:18
  Speaker 6: said that the majority of the growth in government spending
• 23:21
  Speaker 6: over the next couple decades is due to our aging population.
• 23:25
  Speaker 6: And immigration doesn't stop an aging population because migrants get
• 23:29
  Speaker 6: old too.
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: It only delays it for a couple of years. We
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: have to lift our birth rate desperately.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: I mean, health insurance premiums went up just the other
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: day and they were talking about the aging population. This
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: is a problem that will continue, so we've got to
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: do more to support people who want to have children.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: You've got companies in Europe, sorry, countries in Europe that
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: have proposed much more radical things than this, such as
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: giving parents who have two, three, four children massive tax breaks,
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: women paying no tax whatsoever after a certain point if
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: they have enough children. Whether you agree with those or not.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: I think most people would agree with the principle. If
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: we don't want migrants flooding the country, then we've got
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: to produce our own children. We need to help people
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: do that economically, or.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: You can have income tax sharing, which they do in
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: parts of the United States, to spread the burden. Mirgrants
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: who come in obviously start from a point of having
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: paid less tax than someone who was already born in
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: the country, So not only do they age, but they've
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: been here for less time than someone who was born
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: here to contribute to the tax pile. And it's also
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: worth pointing out, I mean, it's not all that long
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: ago that you didn't need a federally funded maternity leave
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: scheme because you could afford to have a one income
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: family and if mom wanted to stay at home with
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: her baby for not just one year, but two, three, four, five,
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: up to eighteen years, you were able to do it
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: on a reasonably modest income. But we said that was
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: bad because we must have quality, which means women.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: Must go to work.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: It's not good enough to give them the option. They
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: must go to work and be good little worker bees
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: to generate tax for the government. And here we are here.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: We now are in a position with the cost of
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: living where you have no choice but to have two
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: incomes in order to survive. That is also a big
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: problem that ought to be.
• 25:18
  Speaker 6: Addressed exactly right well, speaking of immigration, it's one of
• 25:21
  Speaker 6: the things driving this massive surge in support for one nation.
• 25:26
  Speaker 6: But Pauline Hansen has been riding high on this new
• 25:29
  Speaker 6: found momentum. However, this week it's gotten her into a
• 25:34
  Speaker 6: little bit of trouble. On Monday nights, she was on
• 25:37
  Speaker 6: Shari's program here on Sky News, where she made some
• 25:41
  Speaker 6: rather off color comments.
• 25:43
  Speaker 9: You know, you say, oh, well, there's good Muslims out there. Well,
• 25:46
  Speaker 9: I'm sorry, how can you tell me there are good Muslims?
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: Now?
• 25:53
  Speaker 6: Naturally, that blanket suggestion that there are no good Muslims
• 25:57
  Speaker 6: has been condemned across the board this evening, she went
• 26:01
  Speaker 6: on Kenny.
• 26:03
  Speaker 9: Islam is the only religion of hate. Then we see
• 26:05
  Speaker 9: this happening in the country. Why do I have to
• 26:08
  Speaker 9: be shut down because you know, I'm concerned about the
• 26:11
  Speaker 9: future of this nation.
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: Put it this.
• 26:12
  Speaker 9: Way, if there is person out there who is a
• 26:15
  Speaker 9: Muslim and does not support Sharia law, female circumcision, child marriages,
• 26:22
  Speaker 9: who do not support our culture, our way of life,
• 26:25
  Speaker 9: and our laws. Then I apologize too if my comment
• 26:29
  Speaker 9: has offen ait.
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: You, So a bit of a qualified apology there.
• 26:34
  Speaker 6: I think what is important to take away from this
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: is I guess what she was perhaps trying to get
• 26:41
  Speaker 6: at and said completely wrong, and I disagree. You cannot
• 26:45
  Speaker 6: just say all people from one religion are bad. But
• 26:48
  Speaker 6: you should be able to criticize a religion or an ideology.
• 26:52
  Speaker 6: Just as I think people should be able to criticize
• 26:54
  Speaker 6: Christianity if they want, and they do very often, you
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: should also be able to criticize Islam, and no religion
• 27:02
  Speaker 6: should be above criticism. But equally, she shouldn't have said
• 27:06
  Speaker 6: that there are no good Muslims, because that's just not true.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: I think what interested me if you compare those two clips. So,
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: last night Pauline Hansen went on Shari and she made
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: a comment about Muslims. Tonight she went on Chris Kenny's
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: program and she spoke about Islam. And I think that's
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: where she's gotten herself into trouble. One night she spoke
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: about people, Tonight she spoke about an ideology.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: And I think a good rule of thumb.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: Is always exercise charity when talking about other people, but
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: you want to exercise clarity when talking about ideas, and
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: Islam is an idea. So I think that's where she
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: went wrong. In trying to make some points about the
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: ideology of Islam. She smeared every individual person who would
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: call themself a Muslim you can't and shouldn't do that.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: What I hope is that the outrage over her comments
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: last night don't overshadow a debate that I think our country.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Needs to have about Islam.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: And there's many different views on it, but those views
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: should be able to be heard without fear or favor.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: It'll be interesting to see whether or not those who
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: don't want that debate will now use Pauline Hanson's comments
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: to try and shut it down completely. And God knows
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: we need to have the debate because of course it's
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: a hot topic in this country and has been for
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: reasons that are well obvious to everybody watching.
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: Indeed, and I think there have been quite a few
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: people trying to make political hay while the sun shines
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: for obvious reasons when it comes to Pauline Hanson. Given
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: the great palling that one nation is showing at the moment,
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: and they've probably made a little more of this than
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: they otherwise would have, because you know, Pauline is now threat.
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: One nation is a threat, So you've got to take
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: those opportunities when they turn up, and in this case
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: they turned up. I think the when Sharry pulled her
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: up on it on the other night, the broader point
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: she was trying to talk about was radical Islam. She
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: was clumsy in her wording and ended up in a
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: situation that she shouldn't have been in.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: But we do need to talk about the broader issue.
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: And some other polling today in relation to One Nation
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: SEC Newgates Mood of the Nation survey, which they often do.
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: The first one for this year was asking people about
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: why they intend to vote for one nation and the
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: number one reason sixty three sorry, thirty six percent. That's
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: I think sometimes I'm dyslexic with numbers. I tend to
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: invert them. Thirty six percent of people who said they
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: were intending to vote for one Nation were doing so
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: because they reject the major parties, both of them, and
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: they have a desire for an alternative.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: And we've talked a.
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: Bit about the various policies that perhaps people are interested
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: in when it comes to one nation. But I think
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: what this shows is beyond just the holicy platform. People
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: are just dead sick of looking at the same two
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: major parties that they have for so long and feeling
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: like they've been taken advantage of by these major parties.
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: That there is now seemingly a credible alternative that they
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: are looking to, and they're saying, yeah, actually, let's stick
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: it up the major parties for once, because sure you've
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: had the Greens on the left, but it hasn't really
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: existed on the right, and we've seen it in the
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: UK and we've seen it elsewhere through Europe. The time
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: has finally come here and people are trying to send
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: a message to the liberal and labor parties that they're
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: not going to take it anymore.
• 30:38
  Speaker 6: I think what else was interesting from this new polling
• 30:41
  Speaker 6: was that one in two voters said the current level
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: of migration was too high, and the survey also reported
• 30:48
  Speaker 6: the worst outlook for the national mood and also the
• 30:52
  Speaker 6: country's economic outlook so worst in twelve months. So I
• 30:56
  Speaker 6: think had something a lot about where we are as
• 30:58
  Speaker 6: a country. To be perfectly honest, I think that is
• 31:01
  Speaker 6: behind as well. A lot of the rhymes in one nation.
• 31:03
  Speaker 6: People just feel depressed and like there's no hope, and
• 31:07
  Speaker 6: they look around at some of the things happening in
• 31:10
  Speaker 6: our country and go, is this actually Australia?
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: Yep, I think you're absolutely right.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: I don't know if you guys have been watching much
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: of the Winter Olympics.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: I've not watched much at all.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: Couldn't care all that much for skiing and curling in particular.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: But I'll tell you what.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: The crosses from the Channel nine reporters to the Today
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: Show they have been absolutely edge of your seat stuff.
• 31:33
  Speaker 10: But literally, the price of coffee over here is actually fine.
• 31:39
  Speaker 10: It's more the price of coffee in the US that
• 31:42
  Speaker 10: we are going to have to get used to. I'm
• 31:44
  Speaker 10: not sure that the Iguanas, where are you going with
• 31:47
  Speaker 10: that one?
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: But anyway, Deneka Mason was having a great morning when
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: she crossed to Karl Stefanovic in the studio here in Australia.
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: Of course, that clip and other from that cross have
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: gone viral today as people have been trying to work
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: out what was happening to her while she was doing.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: That live cross.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: Karl Stefanovic covered wonderfully for her saying that it's very
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: cold over there, and he, as other reporters have experienced,
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: when your lips are really cold, it's hard to get
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: the words out, and so you sound incoherent though you're not.
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: It's just your lips aren't quite cooperating because it's so
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: damn cold. Of course, Karl Stefanovic could have been helping
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: out a friend, because he knows what it's like to
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: have to be on television after a big night. Hallo
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: and welcome to you, and a special edition of the Logis.
• 32:40
  Speaker 8: It is five point thirty, It is bright, and it
• 32:43
  Speaker 8: is very early.
• 32:45
  Speaker 9: It's basically not long after the night before.
• 32:49
  Speaker 5: It was a great night.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: He's a fantasticness.
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: So Lisa has not slept, and neither has calmed. I'm
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: talking about myself and the third person.
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: And maybe neither had Denica Mason storming a tea cup.
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you, I think most people watched it had
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: a laugh.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: I watched it three times because I thought it was
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: highly entertaining, and we all move on.
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: Leave the girl alone.
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: You know there, but for the grace of God go Honestly,
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: she's over at the Winter Olympics. It's a pretty good posting.
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: As a journalist had the opportunity to go overseas and
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: cover an Olympics or a Winter Olympics, you know, you
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: are having a bit of fun as well as doing
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: your job. If she'd had a few too many, she
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: turned up on the teley and we don't actually know
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: what happened. I mean, she could have been having a
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: medical episode for a we know, but.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: The Channel nine have been asked and they made.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: Not saying anything.
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: They can come on it. So you think we'd know
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: if it was a medical episode. But you know, if
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: she had a few too many and rocked up, it
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: was a bit of entertainment on morning television New Keys.
• 33:49
  Speaker 6: She's just giving us an authentic insight into what it's
• 33:53
  Speaker 6: probably like in the Olympic village with all those athletes.
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: Well you know they had they ran out of like
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: ten thousand condoms three days or something, so they're having
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: a lot of fun in.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: The Olympic Well, I forget the athlete, but there was
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: a young female athlete who was interviewed and asked, you know,
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: what's it like and she said, I'm having the greatest
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: time of my life and they said, how are.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Your events going? She says, oh, no, I.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: Haven't competed yet, so that gives you a bit of
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: an indication.
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: At least they're having fun. Someone who will I don't know.
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: Is he having fun? Will you have fun if you
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: go to see him? I'm not sure. Bruce Springsteen, I
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: used to think he wasn't too bad. I mean, you know,
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: Born in the USA. It's conic, more patriotic American sort
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: of song. But Bruce Springsteen is now going to go
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: off on another tour, and you think, you know, he
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: might be going on a tour because he wants to
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: make money, or he might be going on a tour
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: because he's got some new songs he wants to flog
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: and sell some albums, or maybe he just wants to
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: do a good thing for his fans and get out
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: there in his twilight years and give him something to
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: get up and dance about. No, he's going on tour
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: because he wants to defeat Donald Trump.
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: We will be rocking your town in celebration and in
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: defense of America, American democracy, American freedom, our American constitution,
• 35:15
  Speaker 4: and our sacred American dream, all of which are under
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: attack by our wannabe king and his royal government in Washington.
• 35:23
  Speaker 5: D C.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: Joe Biden. This total Joe Biden.
• 35:30
  Speaker 6: Well there's a lot of similarities. They both peaked in
• 35:34
  Speaker 6: nineteen eighty five.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: Very good.
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: So Rock goes Onto sells tickets to shows in aid
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: of defeating Donald Trump. Not because he wants to make money,
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: no no, no, no, no, nothing.
• 35:46
  Speaker 5: To do with that.
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: It's because they're gonna They're going to defeat Donald Trump
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: by singing bored in the USA.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: Come on, We're going to go to a rock and
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: roll show and sing for the constitution and.
• 35:57
  Speaker 6: Fore legal migrants and for the breakdown of law and order. Yeah,
• 36:01
  Speaker 6: really going to resonate with his audience.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: Unbelievable. All right, We're going to go to a break.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: When we come back, we look at what's making headlines.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: Tomorrow, including an unbelievable story how the Albanesi government granted
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: permanent residency to the daughter of a sanctioned Iranian military leader.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: People can't believe this. It's all over the papers tomorrow,
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: all right. The front page of Tomorrow's Australian has a
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: cracking story that I think is going to confound a
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: lot of people.
• 36:34
  Speaker 10: Caleb.
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: Indeed, it seas Henchman's daughter walks straight indoor, walk right in,
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: sit right down. Probably not baby, let your here hang down,
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: because she's got a headscarf on. But an exclusive from
• 36:46
  Speaker 3: James Dowling. The daughter of a sanctioned Iranian military leader
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: who acted as an advisor to the Iya Toller and
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: has been accused of involvement in Tehran's nuclear and ballistic
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: missile programs, was granted permanent residency and obtained health qualifications
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: while working in Australia despite consistent warnings to the Albanizi government.
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: Hanaya Safavi, whose father is Major General Yaha Rahim Safari,
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: arrived in Australia with her husband Ali Golchen. She was
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: granted a student visa on February twenty nine, twenty twenty four,
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: and it was awarded when Claire O'Neill was Home Affairs
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: Minister and Andrew Garles held the Immigration portfolio. Jes they
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: were dark days, weren't they. The Major General is a
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: strategic military advisor to Ayatola Ali Kameni and is an
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: architect of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, recognized in Australia
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: as a terrorist group. He's been caught under Australia's autonomous
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: sanctions regime since twenty twelve and has been sanctioned by
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: the UN as an individual involved in both the nuclear
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: and ballistic missiles programs. But never mind that order is
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: allowed in I don't know what to say, to be
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: perfectly honest, like, how did they not do something about it?
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: Well, Government ministers had been petitioned not only by Liberal
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: MPs but also by members of Australian's Iranian community saying
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: they can't believe that this person would be allowed permanent residency,
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: in particular, when you've got evidence we know that iran
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: have been involved in terror attacks here in Australia, when
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: we know that Persians here in Australia are being harassed
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: whenever they speak out against the Iranian regime, when the
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: Iranian regime is a major sponsor of terror around the world,
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: For one of their military leader's daughters to be given
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: free reign here and welcomed in beggars belief, or does it?
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: This is the Albanzi government after all.
• 38:40
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, look, I'm not surprised, but it is shocking.
• 38:45
  Speaker 6: I mean, you've got the family of Australian Iranians being
• 38:49
  Speaker 6: slaughtered right now for protesting against the Islamic regime, and
• 38:54
  Speaker 6: then a child of a regime leader is just free
• 38:58
  Speaker 6: to settle here. The problem is, once you grant someone
• 39:02
  Speaker 6: permanent residency, there's actually very little you can do to
• 39:06
  Speaker 6: revoke that short of ministerial discretion, which if they haven't
• 39:10
  Speaker 6: exercised it thus far unlikely they'll do it now, or
• 39:13
  Speaker 6: her committing a serious crime.
• 39:15
  Speaker 5: But again I don't know what you.
• 39:16
  Speaker 6: Could actually convict her of, given she's the daughter of
• 39:19
  Speaker 6: a regime official. She's here now, she's here for life.
• 39:23
  Speaker 6: So go Australia.
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: Amazing, isn't another story on the front of the eaves tomorrow?
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: Top income tax rate is punitive. Now we have some
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: actual talk coming from the coalition. How good is this?
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: New Coalition Treasury spokesman Tim Wilson has launched a battle
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: for aspirational voters by describing the forty seven percent top
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: income tax rate as punitive and arguing the nation's economic
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: settings need a complete reset, with the Opposition set to
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: roll out a bold agender and jettison the timid approach
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: of Peter Datsen's leadership, declaring he had no interest in
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: being a small target. Despite Labour likely to launch damaging
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: fear campaigns against the coalition reform proposals. Mister Wilson told
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: The Australian the nation's economic challenges could not be met
• 40:05
  Speaker 3: by tinkering. Un said we have to completely change the
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: incentives in the economy from where they are. When asked
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: if the one hundred and ninety thousand dollars was a
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: low starting point for the top marginal tax rate, mister
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: Wilson said, a tax rate of forty seven percent, no
• 40:20
  Speaker 3: matter what the threshold, is punitive because it doesn't incentivize work.
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: Oh where has this been?
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: I'm like, I'm over the moon. We're actually hearing about
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: real tax reform change. We've got a I mean, and
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: he's not just talking about the forty seven percent tax bracket.
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: He is saying we need to fundamentally rewrite the way
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: we collect tax in this country. I've been waiting ten
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: years for this and finally someone is saying it.
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: Yep, it's a good idea and you've got a good
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: spokesperson promoting the idea.
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: Could this be the beginning of the Well?
• 41:00
  Speaker 5: I hope so.
• 41:01
  Speaker 6: And look, realistically, the chances the Liberal Party has a
• 41:05
  Speaker 6: massive mountain to climb before the next election. What they
• 41:08
  Speaker 6: need to be focusing on now is doing what the
• 41:12
  Speaker 6: Liberals did back in ninety three when they had fight back.
• 41:15
  Speaker 6: They basically set the agenda for the next fifteen years
• 41:19
  Speaker 6: of liberal government. That's what we need to start building now.
• 41:23
  Speaker 6: Tim Wilson and his colleagues need to start going what's
• 41:26
  Speaker 6: our agenda for the next decade, not just the next election,
• 41:29
  Speaker 6: because that's what it's all about here.
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: Let's just hope they're a little more across the detail
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: than John Houston.
• 41:34
  Speaker 5: Wild that is true.
• 41:37
  Speaker 6: The Daily Telegraph tomorrow the headline is Ward of horrors.
• 41:41
  Speaker 6: Mental health system in crisis after two runaways accused of
• 41:45
  Speaker 6: killing three people. The state's mental health system is reeling
• 41:49
  Speaker 6: after two men broke out of the same hospital within
• 41:52
  Speaker 6: twenty four hours before, allegedly killing three people between them.
• 41:56
  Speaker 6: The Daily Telegraph can reveal the man allegedly responsible for
• 42:00
  Speaker 6: a horror cammeden crash which killed two people on Saturday,
• 42:03
  Speaker 6: had broken out of Cumberland Hospital Mental Health Ward one
• 42:07
  Speaker 6: week earlier. Another man who bolted from a transfer vehicle
• 42:11
  Speaker 6: allegedly stabbed three people, killing one in Maryland's on Tuesday.
• 42:18
  Speaker 6: What is going on at Cumberland Hospital that's terrifying.
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: The public mental health system across the country is just
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: in complete disarray, and it has been for a long time.
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: There was a case I remember in Adelaide a few
• 42:32
  Speaker 3: years ago where a guy was discharged. He was taken
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: by police and put in hospital under mental health grounds.
• 42:40
  Speaker 3: He was then discharged by the hospital. The hospital hadn't
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: told the police that they had done it. The guy
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: then walked into a real estate agent office and killed
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: someone and seemingly for no reason. You know, these systems
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: have to talk to each other, and we have to
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: take mental health far more seriously from a government standpoint
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: than we do.
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: I think the part of that article I found most
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: interesting was it says there's fifty eight thousand people in
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: this country who are classified with severe mental health issues.
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: Fifty eight thousand, and they can't access adequate facilities. That's astonishing,
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: and so you're going to end up with all sorts
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: of trouble when you've got very, very mentally ill people
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: wandering around without adequate help. Townsvill Bulletin has a story
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: about the prison system. Their prison overcrowding leads to crims
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: getting released sooner in mates let out early reads the headline.
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: In a bid to combat overcrowding in prisons, dozens of
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: Townshen offenders are expected to be released early. Critics say
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: it puts the community at risk. Well, I don't think
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: you're a genius for figuring that out. Back in twenty eighteen,
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: the Townsville prison made headlines because one in five prisoners
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: were sleeping on mattresses on the floor because it was
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: so overcrowded. And just a couple of years ago they
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: were saying the prison was short staffed by ten percent.
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: So this is part of an ongoing problem in Townsville.
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure whether the problem is that they just
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: didn't build the prison large enough in the first place,
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: or and this is probably more the case, crime is
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: so rampant in North Queensland, particularly in Townsville, that they
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: need to expand that facility and the staff to cope
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: with the number of people being locked up.
• 44:24
  Speaker 3: I mean, when you're letting people out of prison early
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: because you need to bring more prisoners in, it it
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: kind of defeats the purpose of prison, doesn't it. And
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: again I think that this came up recently in South Australia,
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: where they were suspending sentences before people had even reached
• 44:36
  Speaker 3: the point of parole in order to get prisoners in
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: the extraordinary on the front of the Mercury down in
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: Tazzi tomorrow. Early to Class Labor has promised to overhaul
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: early learning education if it wins government. We had an
• 44:49
  Speaker 3: election last year extending kindergarten to five days a week
• 44:53
  Speaker 3: and offering access to preschool to all three year olds.
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: Labor leader Josh Willie announced a wiley I'm not sure
• 45:00
  Speaker 3: announced the key policy on Wednesday night. This does exist
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: in other states, but you know, earlier and earlier they
• 45:07
  Speaker 3: want to get kids away from their parents and get
• 45:10
  Speaker 3: them into some form of institutionalized care. Maybe it's easy
• 45:13
  Speaker 3: for you if you've got to go to work, but
• 45:15
  Speaker 3: you do have to ask a question, why do they
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: want to give the kids so much earlier?
• 45:18
  Speaker 6: And I mean, these initiatives always cost billions of dollars.
• 45:22
  Speaker 6: I'm sure if you asked most families they would rather
• 45:25
  Speaker 6: be given those billions of dollars directly and then be
• 45:27
  Speaker 6: able to make their own choices about how they raise
• 45:30
  Speaker 6: their kids, rather than being forced into institutional care.
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: All right, we're going to go to a break.
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: When we come back, a prisoner escapes from jail, only
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: to be returned to prison by his mum.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: That's coming up next.
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: Well, BBC whether man Paul Hudson went on air with
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: a bandage on his finger.
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: A colleague pointed it out.
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: Live on air, and then promptly wished he had.
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: Not fourteen degrees Peter, a touch of spring in the air.
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: That's a forecast.
• 46:03
  Speaker 5: Have you got a kid's bandage on your finger?
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: I have?
• 46:06
  Speaker 4: Actually, yes, I thought myself this morning. I think it's
• 46:10
  Speaker 4: about I think it's a big one.
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure that came out the way he intended to.
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: You saw it the way that they were.
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: That is, that's pretty good. I mean, like, of all
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: the opportunities you get to to flip the bird on television,
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: the opportunity has arisen, haven't You'd be an idiot not
• 46:31
  Speaker 3: to take it, wouldn't you.
• 46:32
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 46:32
  Speaker 6: And you know showing off a pepper pig band aid
• 46:35
  Speaker 6: as well. I mean that's pretty cute.
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: You can get away with anything as long as you've
• 46:40
  Speaker 3: got a pepper Maybe this bloke should have tried out
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: the pepper pig band aid when he decided to break
• 46:47
  Speaker 3: out of jail. He is Today's the day, Yes, indeed. Now,
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: this chap was in the pre release sent in Adelaide,
• 47:02
  Speaker 3: so he's just about to be released from prison. Anyway.
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: This is low security, it's just aut of the halfway
• 47:08
  Speaker 3: house before they let you out. But he wasn't having it.
• 47:11
  Speaker 3: He decided he needed to get out early. So last Thursday,
• 47:15
  Speaker 3: at about two forty in the morning, he stuffed his
• 47:18
  Speaker 3: bed full of socks and clothes to make it look
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: like there was a body inside his bed, and he
• 47:24
  Speaker 3: put on some gloves to help him scale the barbed
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: wire fence. He gets over the barbed wire fence and
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: walks to his parents' house, where he knocks on the
• 47:35
  Speaker 3: door and his mother promptly tells him nobody, you've got
• 47:39
  Speaker 3: to go.
• 47:39
  Speaker 4: Back to prison.
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: So she bails him into the car and they then
• 47:44
  Speaker 3: drive back to the prison and she drags him into
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: the prison reception and goes, I've got one of your inmates.
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: How good is that?
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: If we had more mums like that in this country,
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: we wouldn't have half the problems.
• 47:57
  Speaker 5: Just get a reward or something for turning. I mean,
• 48:02
  Speaker 5: there's got to be something going on here.
• 48:04
  Speaker 3: But respect to her, oh, I mean, what a stupid idea.
• 48:08
  Speaker 3: I'm going to break out a prison and go and
• 48:09
  Speaker 3: see mum like.
• 48:11
  Speaker 5: Also right before getting released? What an idiot. Well, let's
• 48:14
  Speaker 5: go to China now, where kung.
• 48:17
  Speaker 6: Fu robots are all the rage.
• 48:42
  Speaker 5: Those are real robots. Can you believe that?
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: No?
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: Even more important, those were real children performing with the
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: real robots.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: That's the thing that amazed me.
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: You've got these robots and children on stage together and no.
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: One was hurt.
• 48:57
  Speaker 3: I mean that is actually impressive. Movement of those things
• 49:01
  Speaker 3: is ridiculous. Just another thing that we won't be able
• 49:04
  Speaker 3: to do anymore, a job that AI robotics is going
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: to take.
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what.
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: When you look at the vision of some of the
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: early sort of humanoid robots just from a couple of
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: years ago, where they're falling over it, yeah, I know ourselves,
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: and compare with that the fast forward five years from now.
• 49:19
  Speaker 3: It's hard enough to pick up chicks as it is now,
• 49:21
  Speaker 3: we can't do the dancing as well of the robots.
• 49:23
  Speaker 5: Just wait till they have an AI brain as well.
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: Very good. That's it from us. Stick around.
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: Coming up in just a moment is to read a
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: penalty show.
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: Good night,