Latest / The Bolt Report / The Bolt Report | 5 January

Transcript

The Bolt Report | 5 January · The Bolt Report

• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Is the reform it.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Well, good evening, I'm James macpherson filling in this week
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: for Andrew Bolt. Here's what's coming up tonight. The Progressive
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Left up in arms at the capture of a South
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: American dictator. I'll talk to Kosher Garda about the strange
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: reaction to Trump's Venezuelan adventure.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: Anthony Albanezi is under.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: More pressure to hold a Royal commission into the Bondai
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: terror attack. As Jim Chalmers says he has respect for
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: those wanting a full Commonwealth inquiry. My panel will weigh
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: in on that one. The Victorian government has already lost
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: the Commonwealth Games. Are they about to lose the iconic
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Philip Island Moto GP. Victoria is rapidly becoming the sporting
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: capital of Australia, except without any sports Plus. Latest data
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: from the UK shows illegal channel crossings are at the
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: second highest level in history. But don't worry, the Labor
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: government has a plan. Wait until you hear what it is.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: I'll be joined by Adrian Hayes in the UK.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: Shortly before we get to all of that.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was strangely absent from day one
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: of the SCG test. Now, this is a man who
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: never misses a photo opportunity, especially one involving a bat,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: a ball or a high vizvest. But yesterday, when the
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: SCG gates opened and cameras rolled the PM, well, he
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: was nowhere to be seen. Not lost, not delayed, just
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: strategically missing. And probably just as well. Because the final
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: ASHES test began with a tribute to the first responders
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: and community heroes of the Bondai Islamist terror attack, the
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: capacity crowd rose as one to applaud people who risked
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: their lives helping others during the Bondi attack. There were
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: no scripts, no hashtags, just pure gratitude for police, paramedics,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: lifeguards and a couple of ordinary bystanders who on December
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: fourteen at Bondai Beach did extraordinarily brave things. The loudstovation,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: as you could imagine, was saved for Ahmed Ahmed, who
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: courageously tackled one of the gunmen and in so doing
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: undoubtedly saved countless lives. The roar of the Sydney Cricket
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Ground crowd in appreciation of Ahmed's sacrifice. Don't forget he
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: was shot after tackling one of the alleged terrorists. Well,
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: the roar of the crowd was nothing short of spine tingling.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: What an amazing moment, genuine unifying, a moment of shared
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: national gratitude. DWNCE site more unifying than I welcomed a country.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: But back to the PM. Can you imagine the reception
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Anthony ALBERNIZI would have received had he dared to show
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: his face at the cricket yesterday. If the forty eight
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: thousand strong crowd stood as one to applaud the terror
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: attack first responders, how do you think they would have
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: reacted to elbow had his face appeared on the big screen.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: I reckon the boos and jeers would have echoed from
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: the SCG right around the country. The first responders were
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: ordinary Australians who risked their lives running headlong into danger.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: They didn't consult a focus group or check the latest
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: polling before acting. They did what was right without second
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: guessing it. What a contrast with our cowering PM, who
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: spent the past month running as fast as his socialist
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: legs will carry him away from legitimate transparency and accountability.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Ahmed Ahmed braved gunfire to help Jews Albanese. He won't
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: even brave a Royal commission to help Jews. Al Ahmed
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: risked his life to secure the safety of fellow Australians.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: Elbow isn't willing to risk a Western Sydney vote for
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: the safety of fellow Australians. Ahmed Ahmed didn't fear bullets.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: Anthony Albanzi desperately fears ballots. Anthony Albanzi might still be
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: in the lodge, but he's now very much yesterday's man.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: He sits in the lodge with about as much moral
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: authority as the furniture. When the Prime Minister of this
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: country avoids the opening day of the SCG test, not
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: because he doesn't like cricket, but because he's scared of
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: the crowd, well he's no leader at all. Wonder if
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: with EZI will Dare make an appearance at the tennis
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: later this month. We'll see thinking of making an appearance.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: The Teals today went public with calls for a Royal
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: commission into the Bondai terrorist attack. They wrote to the
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: PM a couple of weeks ago, insisting that a Royal
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: commission was the only way to independently review the tragedy.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Now in a letter to the PM dated December twenty two,
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: the Teals wrote, and I quote, while we welcome your
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: government's actions and commitments in the wake of the attack,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: we remain concerned that the measures proposed to date will
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: not adequately address anti Semitism in the community. So well
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: done to the Teals. They've certainly made the right call.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: On the other hand, that it took them so long
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: to make this public is fairly typical of the Teals,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: isn't it. Great admirers of wind power that they are,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: they do like to stand around sniffing which way the
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: breeze is blowing before making a principled stand. So now,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: with the Liberals, the Nationals, One Nation, the Teals and
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Cross Benches all demanding a Royal commission, party is left
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: with the Greens and the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: in not publicly backing a proper inquiry into the terror attack.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Maybe I'm being unfair. The Greens have said they'll meet
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: formally in the near future to decide whether or not
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: the worst terror attack on Australian soil warrants a Commonwealth inquiry.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: Nothing says we're taking this seriously like declaring you'll get
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: to it in the near future. And as for the
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Islamic Councils will they release a statement late last year
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: saying they would back a Royal commission on the condition
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: that and I quote it must also examine the ongoing
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: impact of the genocide in Gaza on Australian communities, particularly
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: the emotional and psychological toll on those communicate communities directly impacted.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: So if I'm reading that right, the Australian Federation of
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Islamic Councils will only support a proper inquiry into the
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: bloody murder of Australian Jews at Bondi if it also
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: investigates how the actions of a foreign power thousands of
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: kilometers away has made some Muslim Australians feel Is this
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: really the corner of the federal labor government wants to
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: be standing in corners? Do have a habit of becoming traps,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: don't they. But that's where Anthony Albanzi is right now,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: his shoulder to shoulder with the Greens and the Australian
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Federation of Islamic Councils. You probably heard down Fraser's brilliant
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: speech yesterday calling for a Royal commission. It was blunt,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: fearless and unmistakably Australian qualities increasingly classified as dangerous.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: I hope Anthony Alberzi listened to.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Don Fraser's speech, because this is what a leader sounds like.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: This is not a gun problem, This is not a
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: one off problem. This is an anti seminism problem and
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: it has been building and building, and our leaders have
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: sat on their hands, too scared to say anything or
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: do anything, because of course, heaven forbid. They might be
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: called racist, but it's not racism when you're doing the
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: right thing to protect your country. And yes, sometimes the
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: hard decisions have to be made for the better of
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: this country.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: At eighty eight years old, Dawn Fraser has more courage,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: more clarity, and it would seem to me more love
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: for this country than the man currently taking up space
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: in the lodge.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Speaking of whom, and to you, Anthony Alberaneki, Tony Burke,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Penny Wong, come down off your high horse and stop
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: trying to run for cover. If the Jewish community is
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: calling for a Royal commissioner, then do the right thing
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: by this community and that has suffered enough. This is
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: not about the Steers and week.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: A call to decency and courage and justice from a
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: living national treasure. Take note, Anthony Albanezi, when people of
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: the stature of Dawn Fraser publicly rebukes spineless and weak,
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: you can be sure she's sang out loud what the
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: rest of the country is already thinking.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: And I reckon. Anthony Albanese knows it too, which.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Is why he didn't dare show his face at the
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: cricket yesterday. Well, Victorian Premier sent To Allen received a
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: late Christmas present today and this one wasn't bought with
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: borrowed money. Her Christmas gift derived courtesy of the Victorian
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Liberal Party, with deputy leader Sam Groth announcing he won't
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: contest the November election.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: And why is he quitting politics?
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Well, the deputy leader of the Victorian Liberals has grown
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: weary of fighting his colleagues. Sam Groth released a statement explaining,
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: and I quote when you find yourself having to fight
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: against your own team, well it becomes impossible to put
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: the Victorian interests first. This is not the stand that
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: I came into public life to accept, and it's not
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: the kind of politics Victorians deserve. And so the one
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: time rising star of Victorian Conservatism is lost to politics
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: after just three short years. I presume the only reason
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: his twenty six Liberal colleagues remain in the Victorian Parliament
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: is because they enjoy punching themselves in the face. Groth
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: and his wife Brittany, at least have better things to do,
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: and can you really blame them. Groth entered Parliament in
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty two and was elevated to deputy leader just
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: two years later. As I said, he was widely regarded
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: as a rising star, and therein lay the problem in
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: the Victorian Liberal Party. Competence is not a pathway to success,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: it's a liability. As his public profile began to rise,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: so too did the envy. When people started to talk
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Sam Groth up as a potential future leader, he was
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: hauled into the Office of Party Leadership and lectured about
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: unity translation stop being popular, you're making the rest of
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: us look ordinary. According to party sources, sam Groth was
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: warned that publicity surrounding his ambitions was quote unhelpful, which
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: of course begged the question unhelpful to whom?
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: Anyway.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Between the internal fighting and menia scrutiny, Sam Groth has
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: now had enough. He'll see out his term and then
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: go and do something useful with his life, rather than
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: spend it watching a political death spiral in slow motion.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Justin to allen Or, she must be struggling to believe
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: her Christmas luck.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: The year is.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Only five days old, and already we have yet another
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: example of an opposition apparently intent on remaining in opposition.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: Victoria is drowning in red ink, crime and social decay,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: and yet unbelievably, Labour seemed to remain safe, not because
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: they govern well, but because the alternative is spectacularly unconvincing.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: Victorian Liberals behave less like a political party and more
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: like a collection of personal brands locked in a permanent
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: hr dispute. It's a game of egos so absurd it's
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: almost impressive, provided you don't mind the looming catastrophe. Victoria
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: desperately needs a change of government. What it doesn't have
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: is an opposition remotely interested in providing one. So here
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: we are a failing government, an imploding opposition, and a
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: state drifting further into decline. It's not just that the
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Liberals don't seem capable of replacing Labor, it's that they
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: don't seem even particularly interested in trying, which leaves Victorians
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: with the same grim prospect after the November election, just
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: more of the same until the lights go out and
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: there's nothing left worth salvaging. Sam Groth at least had
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: the sense to salvage something from the wreckage, namely his
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: own life, before the Victorian liberals could drag him down
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: with them. All right, let's bring in our Monday Night
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: panel sky in his contributor cur A League, Catsimbanas and
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: chief executive of the Page Research Center, Gerald Holland.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: Welcome to you both. I appreciate you joining with joining me.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: I want to start with Dawn Fraser, who I mentioned
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: at the top of the program. Boy did she come
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: out swinging against Anthony Albanezi. As a reminder his she
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: was on Afternoon Agenda today launchering a blistering attack on
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: the PM.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: We think he's weak and he should show the strength
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: that he said, you've got to get off his high
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: horse and come down and look into it. When the
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: whole country is asking him to look into it. It's
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: about time he did something that was very good for
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: our country and to citizens that live here.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Carly, what do you think she's nailed it, hasn't she.
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: She sure has got to love our Dawny.
• 13:45
  Speaker 5: But the thing is she's echoed what all Australians seem
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: to be wanting.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: The Royal Commission.
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: We've seen open letters from more than seventy sports stars,
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: business leaders, judges, barristers, the Coalition, former Labour MP's current.
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: Labor the Human Rights Commissioner.
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: But the thing is the only team that Albanese seems
• 14:05
  Speaker 5: to have aligned himself with are the Greens, and the
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: Greens are reflexively anti Semitic. And it's not good enough because,
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: as she said, this government has failed the Jewish people
• 14:17
  Speaker 5: of Australia. It is so ironic that Australia was the
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: first country to recognize the creation of the state of Israel.
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: Look at what Albanzi and his team have done. They
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: have lurched us so far to the left. They were warned,
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: he was warned about the recognition of Palestine was just
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: going to be a reward to the Hamas terrorists. People
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: have been warning Sky News has been warning for two years.
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: He can't be surprised at what has happened. This is
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: not a left or right issue. This is a moral issue.
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: And Dawn Fraser knows what everyone does. The thing is Albanzi,
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: as he said, he's missing from the SCG. He's not
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: not likely to say.
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: That there'll be a royal commission.
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: And the sad thing is every day that goes by
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: that he doesn't call a royal commission, one is left wondering.
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: Every Australian should wonder who is he hiding, who is
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: he protecting? Because he must be worried that things are
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: going to come out, because as we know, a royal
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: commission can go into areas that an internal inquiry can't.
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: And you know what, when the Australian people wanted their
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: leader to stand up and lead, Anthony Albanezi has failed
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: this time. He's failed the Jewish community and he has
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: traded Jewish safety for Western Sydney votes.
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: From a couple of years ago. It's all begun, Gerald,
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: I knowe.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: The Treasurer said today he had respect for people.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: Calling for a royal commission.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: Is that a different tone from the PM who dismissed
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: such calls because actual experts had advised against it. Are
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: we seeing a bit of a shift from Jim Chalmers
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: away from the PM here?
• 16:00
  Speaker 6: Well, it's a good way to use some double speak
• 16:02
  Speaker 6: to say that you're sympathetic to the fact that people
• 16:05
  Speaker 6: would want to have this kind of inquiry without actually
• 16:07
  Speaker 6: committing to it or taking any steps. And really this
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: government has grown remarkably arrogant since the Electron victory last year,
• 16:15
  Speaker 6: and they think there's no need for transparency, there's no
• 16:17
  Speaker 6: need for accountability in what they've done, and exactly as
• 16:21
  Speaker 6: we're just talking about, who are they trying to cover up?
• 16:24
  Speaker 6: Are they complicit in this? And they would have to
• 16:26
  Speaker 6: be aware that their own rhetoric, that their recognition of
• 16:29
  Speaker 6: states that don't have functioning governments, that their promotion of
• 16:33
  Speaker 6: these protests, these harboring of these quite anti Semitic, anti
• 16:37
  Speaker 6: Western ideas, have actively contributed to this culture that we've
• 16:41
  Speaker 6: built in country. And to try and pourn this off
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: onto our law enforcement offices with a commission that really
• 16:47
  Speaker 6: they will direct where it goes, they'll have no accountability themselves,
• 16:50
  Speaker 6: that they will never be called to the stand and
• 16:52
  Speaker 6: have their documents and internal positions looked at. It is
• 16:56
  Speaker 6: really remarkably arrogant and cowardly and I think the Australian
• 16:59
  Speaker 6: people deserve a lot better and I think these athletes
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: that have come out demanding an inquiry. Power to them.
• 17:04
  Speaker 6: Hopefully we get our inquiry, but then we need action.
• 17:06
  Speaker 6: We need to make sure that we're actually addressing what's raised,
• 17:08
  Speaker 6: that we're naming and shaming the ideologies that are causing
• 17:11
  Speaker 6: this kind of destruction and we're removing the people that
• 17:14
  Speaker 6: want to see other Australians and their blood on our streets.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: As I said, four tiermps have written to Anthony Alberanzi
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: demanding a Royal commission into the bond By terror attack.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: It's the moves that's isolated the Greens as the Albanzi
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: government's only allies and opposing a federal probe.
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: Currently.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Can Anthony Albanezi change his mind at this point or
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: has he dug a hole so deep for himself he's
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: now stuck.
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: Well, he can change his mind. He's the Prime Minister
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: and as Gerald has just said, this is what the
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: Australian people are wanting. All these people are calling for it.
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: But the problem is we know in the past Anthony
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: Alberanzi will not admit any mistakes.
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: I think what he will do is he'll push with
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: this internal.
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: Inquiry and then he will segue to perhaps call a
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: Royal commission down the track, and by then it will
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: be too late. You've got one shot at doing this property,
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: Anthony ALBINIZI, you're watching this show tonight. We know that
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: you are, as well as your advisors. Call a royal commission,
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: do it properly, get the answers that the Jewish people
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: of Australia deserve, and get the answers that Australians deserve.
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: Because you're quite happy to issue travel warnings for Australians
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: going over to the Middle East, but you're also quite
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: happy to bring back Isis brides grant visas to nearly
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: three thousand unchecked Garzans to create all kinds of problems.
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: For the years to come in Australia.
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: And I think real leadership is admitting when you've got
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: it wrong, apologizing and actually getting back onto the right track.
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: And as Dawn Fraser said.
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: Get off the high horse, get Australia back on track,
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: because every day that goes by that a Royal commission
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: isn't called is one more day that Australians are us
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: at a loss to know exactly what is going on
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: in this country.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and if he wants to go to the Australian
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: Open Tennis. He might want to call a Royal commission
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: before that begins. I want to focus quickly on a
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: couple of economic issues because the cost of living crisis
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: shows no sign of abating. That said, there might be
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: some good news on energy prices, or maybe not. I
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: want to get your thoughts. There's reports today that mild
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: weather and a lift in renewable energy generation has helped
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: drag wholesale electricity prices lower over the past three months.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: So it sounds like good news.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: Jared will cris bow and be raising a toast here
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: or is there something behind the numbers that maybe suggests
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: this isn't as good as it sounds.
• 19:44
  Speaker 6: Oh look, the spin doctors will be claiming a win,
• 19:46
  Speaker 6: but unfortunately once you look under the hood, it's not
• 19:48
  Speaker 6: quite as flashy. The two questions you have to answer
• 19:50
  Speaker 6: is why have prices come down for the wholesale electricity
• 19:54
  Speaker 6: market and what does that mean for consumers, homes and businesses.
• 19:57
  Speaker 6: And the fact is that December and Q four last
• 20:00
  Speaker 6: year we had unrealistically high price spikes because we had
• 20:05
  Speaker 6: schedule maintenance for our coal fleet at a time and
• 20:07
  Speaker 6: we had quite high demand on the grid, particularly particularly
• 20:10
  Speaker 6: around that heat wave in late November. Now we didn't
• 20:13
  Speaker 6: have that heat wave this year, and we didn't have
• 20:15
  Speaker 6: those coal units out of supply, and so we haven't
• 20:18
  Speaker 6: had the same price spike. So prices have come down
• 20:21
  Speaker 6: on last year, but they're still well elevated above where
• 20:24
  Speaker 6: they were prior to rolling out this transition. And the
• 20:27
  Speaker 6: fact is that the renewables that we're building can't replace
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: the coal units we're decommissioning, so when they go on,
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: when they go offline, we don't have the backup. What
• 20:34
  Speaker 6: would this mean for our bills? Well, not too much.
• 20:36
  Speaker 6: The default market offer is set over a three year average,
• 20:39
  Speaker 6: so this year we'll probably not shift the margins too much.
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: But once you factor in all the extra network costs,
• 20:45
  Speaker 6: the poles and whys of rolling out the renewable transition,
• 20:48
  Speaker 6: you can expect bills to get much much higher. That
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: component is already forty percent of our bills, and even
• 20:54
  Speaker 6: if wholesale prices come down during those sunny periods, the
• 20:57
  Speaker 6: network costs across your whole bill will make sure that
• 21:00
  Speaker 6: prices continued to rise.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, I knew it couldn't be as good as it sound,
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: just quickly before we go to a break curly.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: If you remember back in it was about.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: October twenty twenty four, the government announced we're going to
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: do something about cost of living, grocery bills and shrink flation.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: Remember that that was a big problem the government were
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: going to address. Well here we are, well over a
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: year later, they still haven't done anything about it. Is
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: this more proof that the Abenezi government is all announcement,
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: no action.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: That's their typical mode of operation, is it not?
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: It is? I think it is.
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: I mean, as you said, it was announced fourteen months ago,
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: and what's actually come of it. I don't see any
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: pricing for consumers to be able to have a look
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: at we know that inflation is still growing. I saw
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: that Nationalist leader David little Proud today actually made a
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: really important point and said that some of the fines
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: that I think like one hundred thousand dollars, if they
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: made them like a flat two million dollars, that's actually
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: more in line with getting a corporate culture to sit
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: up and look. The bottom line is Australians are paying
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: far too much.
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: The cost of.
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: Eggs, milk, bread, oil, butter, EAT's all gone up anyway,
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: no one is seeing any difference, and I think it
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: is just a look over there, because at the end
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: of the day, what can they really do.
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: They're not going to.
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: Break up the supermarkets, and at the end of the day,
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: they're just increasing taxes, increasing power prices and making life
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: a lot worse for all Australians.
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: I haven't seen my prices go down.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Nope, all announcement, no action. Thanks to you both. I
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: appreciate you joining me. Tonight we're going to go to
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: a break. But when we come back. It's been labeled
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: America's most audacious intervention since Iraq. But what now for
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: the thirty million residents of Venezuela plus a major sporting
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: event in Australia could be on the chopping block.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: I'll tell you why in just a moment.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: Well, you really have to admire the progressive left in
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: this country, not for their principles heaven though, but for
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: their stamina. Just last week they were marching with Palestinian
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: flags demand something about liberation in Gaza. Today they're marching
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: around with Venezuelan flags, protesting the liberation of South Americans.
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: You might call it hypocrisy. You might also call it Cardio.
• 23:14
  Speaker 7: Protesters have taken to the streets across the country, rallying
• 23:17
  Speaker 7: against the actions of the US in Venezuela. A group
• 23:21
  Speaker 7: of a group at Sydney's town Hall last night calling
• 23:24
  Speaker 7: on the Albanese government to condemn the United States. Similar
• 23:28
  Speaker 7: demonstrations were organized in Melbourne, Perth and Canberra. Police were
• 23:32
  Speaker 7: forced to intervene after rival groups clashed in Brisbane's King
• 23:36
  Speaker 7: George Square.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: Now it's already January five, which means these tireless activists
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: will only have a few more days protesting Trump's intervention
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: in Venezuela before they really need to start focusing on
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: ruining Australia.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: Day here.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: So what you want about conflicts going on around the
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: world right now, the worst conflicts are scheduling conflicts, and
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: the real crisis facing progressives right now is diary management.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: I just hope the Trump administration doesn't do anything to
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: support Persians protesting the Islamic theocracy in Iran because standing
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: up for Islamists in Gaza and drug running dictators in
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: South America. I'm just not sure where our progressive friends
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: will find the time to support Iran Zayahtola while still
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: having enough energy for their annual Australia Day protest. Nothing illustrats,
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: just how crammed the progressive protest calendar has become better
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: than this activist in Sydney.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: At the weekend Gods of.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: Hands off Venezuela, spoken by a woman who it would
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: seem hasn't even had time to take off for Kefir
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: from the last protest. Free Palestine has officially become Freemaduro.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: Same faces, same chance, same moral confusion, just a different
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: despot anyway.
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: I just hope activists like Kirk.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Can find their indigenous flags in time for January twenty six.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Have a look at this bloke protesting in the Attle,
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: A man wearing a skirt chanting for free, chanting to
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: free a Naco terrace dictator, Panza fed.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: As well, Hanza fair as well, Great President Marico.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: You don't get much more woke than that. Meanwhile, in
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: the real world, actual Venezuelans, about eight million of them,
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: have fled Maduro's regime. They're not chanting and they're not confused.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: They're celebrating his capture. Look at these scenes from Argentina
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: where more than two hundred thousand Venezuelans ended up after escaping.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: The man progressives are now desperately trying to rehabilitate. Meanwhile,
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: across the pond, British Prime Minister Kiirs Starmer has issued
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: a statement on the US operation that captured the Venezuelan
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: dictator at the weekend.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: Thanks to you, Donald Trump.
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: About what's happened in Venezuela.
• 26:10
  Speaker 8: No, I haven't and it's obviously a fast moving situation
• 26:15
  Speaker 8: and we need to establish all the facts. What I
• 26:17
  Speaker 8: can say is that the UK was not involved in
• 26:20
  Speaker 8: any way in this operation.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: Well, we knew Kirs Starmer wasn't involved in the mission
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: to capture Maduro, and we knew that because the operation
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: was a success. Joining me now is Sky and his
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: contributor Kosher Garda. Kosher, thanks for coming on the program tonight.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: Before we get into what the capture of Nicholas Maduro
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: means for Venezuela and for the Trump administration, talk us
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: through what we know about the military operation itself, because
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: it was quite amazing.
• 26:50
  Speaker 9: It really was. I think you said in your open
• 26:52
  Speaker 9: there Jeans that it was audacious.
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: It certainly was.
• 26:55
  Speaker 9: I would say it was stunning, really breathtaking in terms
• 26:58
  Speaker 9: of the complexity, the space decation, the decisiveness, the precision
• 27:02
  Speaker 9: with which this was executed.
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: There was something like one.
• 27:05
  Speaker 9: Hundred and fifty aircraft, naval forces as well special intelligence
• 27:10
  Speaker 9: of course, possibly spies in Maduro's inner circle reportedly who
• 27:14
  Speaker 9: led to up to the minute information that was fed
• 27:17
  Speaker 9: back to the special forces team. And they did all
• 27:19
  Speaker 9: of this, disarmed the Venezuelan air defenses and other defenses
• 27:23
  Speaker 9: that are supposedly reportedly the best in Latin America, funded
• 27:27
  Speaker 9: and provided by Russian and China, I might add, disarmed it,
• 27:30
  Speaker 9: unplugged the electricity, basically swooped in there, extracted Maduro and
• 27:34
  Speaker 9: his wife alive, flew them out of the country, and
• 27:37
  Speaker 9: did not suffer in two point five hours, and did
• 27:39
  Speaker 9: not suffer a single American casualty. That really is awe inspiring,
• 27:43
  Speaker 9: and it's kind of nice because there's been a lot
• 27:45
  Speaker 9: of concern that the US military has been under decay
• 27:48
  Speaker 9: in recent years with DEI and other things that's been
• 27:51
  Speaker 9: ailing it, and this I think puts everybody back on notice,
• 27:54
  Speaker 9: friends and allies alike that America really has the best
• 27:57
  Speaker 9: special ops force in the world. And I don't think
• 28:00
  Speaker 9: anybody else could have pulled this off.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Marco Rubio made it very clear last night the
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: US will act to ensure the safety of its citizens
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: and they weren't prepared to tolerate Venezuela being used as
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: a staging post by America's enemies.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: Is that fair enough?
• 28:19
  Speaker 9: It certainly is part of the rationale, And I think
• 28:22
  Speaker 9: this is a developing story and we do not know
• 28:25
  Speaker 9: everything that went into this. There's the layer of the
• 28:28
  Speaker 9: drugs and the illegal immigration problem, which was sort of
• 28:32
  Speaker 9: the surface rationale that the administration had been alluding to
• 28:35
  Speaker 9: for some time. Then there's what Secretary State Rubio just said,
• 28:38
  Speaker 9: which is effectively the Monroe doctrine, which is saying that
• 28:41
  Speaker 9: that hemisphere North and South America is the American hemisphere,
• 28:45
  Speaker 9: and securing its interests and its security is vital to
• 28:49
  Speaker 9: America's national security. And they will do that if, as
• 28:52
  Speaker 9: they say, if it's being used as a staging area
• 28:54
  Speaker 9: for adversaries, and that is something as well within their
• 28:56
  Speaker 9: remit of national security and protecting interests of the American people.
• 29:00
  Speaker 9: It could also be the symbolic gesture that we mentioned
• 29:02
  Speaker 9: that just putting the world on notice that the American
• 29:04
  Speaker 9: military can do this puts the dictators on notice. Puts
• 29:07
  Speaker 9: other people on notice. So there is symbolic value that
• 29:09
  Speaker 9: I wouldn't discount either. And frankly, there might be some
• 29:11
  Speaker 9: other aspects that we don't even know about that are
• 29:14
  Speaker 9: driving this decision. But I think broadly those four or
• 29:16
  Speaker 9: five ones together paint the picture for probably what led
• 29:19
  Speaker 9: to this decision by Trump.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: Of course, Kosher does raise the question about where to
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: from here. Trump was asked who's in control? And Trump
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: eventually said, we are where too from here?
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: Where do you see this going?
• 29:37
  Speaker 9: You know, the political aspect, they are very clear at
• 29:40
  Speaker 9: least what they're saying is no regime change. America is
• 29:43
  Speaker 9: not going to dictate or install a replacement leader in there.
• 29:46
  Speaker 9: Certainly don't have any appetite to do nation building. We
• 29:49
  Speaker 9: are very very tired of that the American people in
• 29:51
  Speaker 9: the last twenty five years, of what happened in the
• 29:53
  Speaker 9: mid least, it wouldn't look something like that. But I
• 29:55
  Speaker 9: think TVD we really don't know how this is going
• 29:58
  Speaker 9: to play out. It is going to be or freedom
• 30:00
  Speaker 9: and democracy of the people in some system to elect
• 30:03
  Speaker 9: whoever comes in. Maduro does have a pretty deep bench
• 30:06
  Speaker 9: of people that very much share his views and his
• 30:08
  Speaker 9: tactics and approaches. I wouldn't say that taking one leader
• 30:11
  Speaker 9: out changes the game per se. He's got his vice president,
• 30:13
  Speaker 9: but there is that to be worked out. The other
• 30:16
  Speaker 9: piece and the where to from here is the oil
• 30:18
  Speaker 9: and I didn't mention that very earlier point, but that's
• 30:20
  Speaker 9: another rationale that a lot of people are citing here
• 30:22
  Speaker 9: where Venezuela does hold or I should say, hoard about
• 30:26
  Speaker 9: twenty percent of the world's reserves over three hundred billion barrels,
• 30:29
  Speaker 9: which equates to about seventeen trillion dollars at today's trading price.
• 30:33
  Speaker 9: That is something I think that will also come into
• 30:35
  Speaker 9: play here of setting it free into the free market,
• 30:37
  Speaker 9: which is going to have all sorts of implications for
• 30:39
  Speaker 9: global energy as well. So I would watch that space
• 30:41
  Speaker 9: as well in the next days and weeks to come.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: It's certainly going to be fascinating to watch. Koshergada. Always
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: enjoy to talk with you, Thanks so much for coming
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: on the program. Well, as I said earlier, the Victorian
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: Labor government loves to boast that Victoria is the sports
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: capital of Australia. But for how much longer Den Andrews's
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: government lost the twenty twenty six Commonwealth Games and now
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: just into Allen's government is at risk of losing the
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: Philip Island Moto GP, an iconic event that's been run
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: in the state annually since nineteen ninety seven.
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: You to talk us through it.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: A man who has covered the Moto GP for many
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: years and a passionate writer himself, former Herald Sun journalist.
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: Ian royal Ian.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: Thanks for coming on the program. You've reported on this
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: event for many years. As I said, for those who
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: aren't familiar with the Moto GP at Philip Island, just
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: especially for those who aren't really into motorsport, give us
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: a bit of a context as to how important this
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: race is, not just for motorsports enthusiasts like yourself, but
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: for the community at large.
• 31:44
  Speaker 10: Absolutely, James, it's a massive week, Moto G MotoGP week.
• 31:50
  Speaker 10: It's important to the island community, the economy down there,
• 31:54
  Speaker 10: the whole region in fact, and I mean it is
• 31:57
  Speaker 10: Victoria's largest regional sporting event, and there aren't there aren't
• 32:02
  Speaker 10: too many truly global sporting events in regional areas across.
• 32:07
  Speaker 11: Australia, so it's it's quite unique in that way.
• 32:09
  Speaker 10: It's in a beautiful location, the track has become, you know,
• 32:14
  Speaker 10: is respected by riders and loved by riders as an
• 32:17
  Speaker 10: iconic landmark circuit which is loved around the world. And
• 32:22
  Speaker 10: it's it's an important events on the Australian sporting calendar
• 32:26
  Speaker 10: for Victoria and for Australia. So it's an important thing
• 32:31
  Speaker 10: and that it's as I say, it's a truly global sport.
• 32:34
  Speaker 10: And I think medow GP had some data before Christmas
• 32:38
  Speaker 10: and said that the global audience is six hundred and
• 32:42
  Speaker 10: thirty million people and it's growing. It's up nine percent
• 32:46
  Speaker 10: on the previous year, and so it's a it's a
• 32:49
  Speaker 10: growing sport. It's in the Americas, it's expanding into Asia.
• 32:53
  Speaker 10: So it's it's probably not time that the state government
• 32:56
  Speaker 10: wants to lose such an iconic event to the state.
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: So how have we gotten to this point?
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: Why is the government not acted to secure a new contract.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: I believe the contract is up this year, but there's
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: no guarantee that the contract will be renewed. How's the
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: government let it get to this point where potentially the
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: event could be lost.
• 33:20
  Speaker 11: Well, it could very well be lost.
• 33:22
  Speaker 10: We're at the end of a this is the final
• 33:25
  Speaker 10: year of a ten year contract. And we're only nine
• 33:29
  Speaker 10: months away from this year's event, and the calendar for
• 33:33
  Speaker 10: twenty twenty seven is announced during the middle of this year,
• 33:36
  Speaker 10: so time is very much pressing on the government and
• 33:40
  Speaker 10: the Australian GP Corporation to get a deal done. It's
• 33:45
  Speaker 10: getting close because these events have to be planned a
• 33:47
  Speaker 10: long time ahead, and of course, as we know in Victoria,
• 33:51
  Speaker 10: it's an election year, so it would be very embarrassing
• 33:55
  Speaker 10: for the state if they lost such an iconic sporting
• 33:59
  Speaker 10: event in an election year. And just by the bye,
• 34:03
  Speaker 10: the local seat of Bass, which which covers Philip Island
• 34:08
  Speaker 10: is a labor seat, so it'd be interesting to see
• 34:10
  Speaker 10: what would happen if the if the MotoGP leaves Philip Island.
• 34:16
  Speaker 10: The other thing that is also in play here, James,
• 34:19
  Speaker 10: is that Moto GP was officially taken over or by
• 34:25
  Speaker 10: Liberty Media last July.
• 34:27
  Speaker 11: Now, Liberty Media, many people would be.
• 34:29
  Speaker 10: Aware, is now is the organization that runs Formula One
• 34:34
  Speaker 10: from a few years ago and kicked off the Drive
• 34:37
  Speaker 10: to Survive TV series.
• 34:40
  Speaker 11: And as we now know, the Formula One.
• 34:44
  Speaker 10: Formula one series is a global sporting juggernaut. So with
• 34:49
  Speaker 10: libby Liberty Media, they haven't made any indications of what's
• 34:52
  Speaker 10: going to what they intend to do with MotoGP. But
• 34:56
  Speaker 10: it's an exciting time and we could be on the
• 34:58
  Speaker 10: on the on the start of something pretty exciting, so
• 35:00
  Speaker 10: it'd be ashamed to miss out.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: It would be an absolute tragedy if the Jacinta Ellen
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: government lost what is, as you said, an iconic event
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: and a great advertisement, not just for Victoria but for Australia.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: Before I let you go in, the road toll in
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: New South Wales is at a record high. In Victoria,
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: the toll is also up, though slightly, and motorcyclists are
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: sadly a big part of those statistics.
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: I just wanted to ask you.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: Before we go to a break, government's doing enough to
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: keep riders safe or is the responsibility really of those
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: on the road. What are your thoughts on that, because
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: the rising toll does seem to be a problem governments
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: haven't been able to sort out.
• 35:41
  Speaker 10: Yeah, the road toll in Victoria has crept up a
• 35:45
  Speaker 10: bit over the past few years, and last year the
• 35:48
  Speaker 10: writer toll was fifty nine lives lost, which is seven
• 35:55
  Speaker 10: fewer than the previous year, but it's still fifty nine
• 35:57
  Speaker 10: too many.
• 35:58
  Speaker 11: But yeah, first of all. I would also say that
• 36:02
  Speaker 11: safety is.
• 36:02
  Speaker 10: The responsibility of everyone on the road, of course, but yeah,
• 36:06
  Speaker 10: absolutely there should be more done in terms of what
• 36:09
  Speaker 10: the state government can do. For one, they need more
• 36:13
  Speaker 10: research data as behind those fifty nine deaths, more research
• 36:19
  Speaker 10: around the causes and specific problems around each individual death.
• 36:24
  Speaker 10: It's only it's not done in great detail, and rider
• 36:27
  Speaker 10: groups for years been calling for more information on that.
• 36:31
  Speaker 10: And another thing is that riders actually pay a motorcycle
• 36:35
  Speaker 10: safety levy of eighty.
• 36:36
  Speaker 11: Three dollars a year.
• 36:38
  Speaker 10: Many many riders wouldn't actually know it's there, but the
• 36:41
  Speaker 10: state government hits them for eighty three dollars a year
• 36:44
  Speaker 10: and you don't even see it on your registration. It's
• 36:48
  Speaker 10: embedded within the THAC premium levee. So riders are actually
• 36:52
  Speaker 10: paying something and not getting much in return. That money
• 36:54
  Speaker 10: is being spent on road improvements around the state, which
• 36:58
  Speaker 10: they say help riders, but actually it's helped all motorists,
• 37:01
  Speaker 10: all drivers, all road users. So you should wonder why,
• 37:05
  Speaker 10: you know, motorcyclist are subsidizing the government's.
• 37:09
  Speaker 11: Attempts to try to fix all the potholes around the state.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: Indeed, well, there's not a Victorian who's not subsidizing the
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: Victorian labor government at the moment. Ian, Thanks for joining
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: me tonight. We're going to go to a break. But
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: coming up soon big questions over exactly how much Victoria's
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: much hyped suburban rail loop is going to cost and
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: who'll pay for it? And does the latest instability within
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: the Victorian Liberal Party mean just Cinta Allen is a
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: shoe in at the November election that's coming up next.
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: Welcome back to the program.
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: Well I mentioned at the top of the show that
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: Victorian Deputy Opposition Leader Sam Groth has announced his intention
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: to quit politics at the end of this term. Growth
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: hit out what he called internal opposition as the reason
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: for his decision. It's sure to reignite tensions within the
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: Victorian Liberal Party in what is a do or die year?
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: In here to talk a suit.
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: Victorian political editor at The Australian, Anthony Galloway Anthony good
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: evening to you. The deputy leader said politics had taken
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: a toll on him and his family. He's only been
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: in politics since twenty twenty two.
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: What did you make of that?
• 38:22
  Speaker 12: Yeah, great to be with you. Well, perhaps it's best
• 38:24
  Speaker 12: to take you back to the events of last year.
• 38:26
  Speaker 12: Sam Groth, as you said, was elected in twenty twenty
• 38:29
  Speaker 12: two and had this kind of meteoric rise in the party.
• 38:31
  Speaker 12: He was deputy leader who was well known. He was
• 38:34
  Speaker 12: under intense personal pressure last year. He was suing a
• 38:37
  Speaker 12: newspaper after a series of articles that questioned the age
• 38:42
  Speaker 12: of his wife when they first got together. But that
• 38:45
  Speaker 12: matter was actually eventually settled in November last year and
• 38:49
  Speaker 12: the newspaper apologized, And that actually happened days before this
• 38:54
  Speaker 12: big Liberal leadership spill in which Jess Wilson successfully challenged
• 38:59
  Speaker 12: Brad Batton. But as part of that, mister Groth faced
• 39:04
  Speaker 12: also faced a challenge and he had to recontest his
• 39:07
  Speaker 12: position against another front bench at David Southwick, and Groth
• 39:11
  Speaker 12: decided to put his hand up again and actually resoundingly
• 39:15
  Speaker 12: beat Southwick back on November eighteenth, and then has been
• 39:20
  Speaker 12: serving under Jess Wilson as deputy leader again. And everyone
• 39:24
  Speaker 12: kind of thought, you know that that kind of instability,
• 39:29
  Speaker 12: that matter was settled. No one saw today coming, including
• 39:34
  Speaker 12: Jess Wilson. Mister Groth contacted her in recent days to
• 39:39
  Speaker 12: catch up for a coffee. The meeting occurred at eight
• 39:42
  Speaker 12: thirty am this morning in which he informed her she
• 39:46
  Speaker 12: was standing down and kind of referenced this statement quite
• 39:51
  Speaker 12: an explosive statement in which he hit out a colleagues
• 39:54
  Speaker 12: which he said he had to fight against for large
• 39:58
  Speaker 12: periods of his term in Parli. And then shortly minutes
• 40:02
  Speaker 12: after this meeting concluded, he sent out this statement at
• 40:05
  Speaker 12: nine point fifteen this morning.
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: You mentioned that he was re elected Deputy leader only
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: forty eight days ago, So I guess my question is
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: what happened between November eighteen when he was re elected
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: to that position and today.
• 40:23
  Speaker 12: That's what a lot of his colleagues are questioning today.
• 40:28
  Speaker 12: And I really a bit angry at him about no
• 40:31
  Speaker 12: one would have begrudged him back on November eighteen last year,
• 40:35
  Speaker 12: less than two months ago, for saying, you know what,
• 40:38
  Speaker 12: I've been through this kind of intense period of personal
• 40:43
  Speaker 12: struggle and I'm just going to either take some time
• 40:46
  Speaker 12: out or I am in fact leaving State Parliament. But
• 40:49
  Speaker 12: to put your hand up again after the Victorian Liberals
• 40:53
  Speaker 12: have been through so much internal turmoil in recent years
• 40:57
  Speaker 12: and then less than two months later bow out, I
• 41:00
  Speaker 12: think that's caused fresh divisions today. The other issue is
• 41:06
  Speaker 12: he seems to have not accepted that he actually, by
• 41:09
  Speaker 12: convention needs to resign pretty soon his position on the
• 41:14
  Speaker 12: front bench so that it can be a fresh ballot
• 41:17
  Speaker 12: for the deputy Liberal leadership. That there seems to be
• 41:22
  Speaker 12: some kind of disagreement between him and Jess Wilson on
• 41:24
  Speaker 12: that matter. But Wilson was quite conclusive in press conference
• 41:30
  Speaker 12: today when I asked her does there need to be
• 41:33
  Speaker 12: a new deputy leader soon?
• 41:34
  Speaker 7: She said yes.
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: As I said earlier, the Victorian Liberals' ability to punch
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: themselves in the faces, well, it's almost admirable. How does
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: this affect the Liberal chances come November, because Jess Wilson,
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: I mean, she was doing quite well in the polls,
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: making up ground.
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: How much does this set them back?
• 42:00
  Speaker 12: I think it's too early to say, but it's the
• 42:04
  Speaker 12: worry for Jess Wilson would be it's yet another sign
• 42:07
  Speaker 12: to voters of the instability of the past. And I
• 42:12
  Speaker 12: think a lot of people outside of Victoria don't quite
• 42:15
  Speaker 12: understand why Victorian labor has been so successful despite the
• 42:20
  Speaker 12: government's you know, many struggles which have been well well litigated,
• 42:24
  Speaker 12: and it's because the Victorian Liberals have been such a
• 42:27
  Speaker 12: rabble that they've gone through this.
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: Two terms of.
• 42:34
  Speaker 12: Utter instability and infighting, and as you say, with Jess Wilson,
• 42:39
  Speaker 12: there were signs that that was all in the past,
• 42:43
  Speaker 12: and I think events like today perhaps another reminder to
• 42:47
  Speaker 12: voters that they might not be a credible alternative, because
• 42:51
  Speaker 12: that is really the big test for Wilson.
• 42:53
  Speaker 3: She needs to be.
• 42:55
  Speaker 12: All the polling showing that Jacintra Allen is a terribly
• 42:58
  Speaker 12: unpopular premiere who's kind of running a tired twelve year
• 43:03
  Speaker 12: old government.
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: But in politics, voters.
• 43:05
  Speaker 12: Will always go with the devil they know, and the
• 43:09
  Speaker 12: pollings also showing voters just aren't quite there yet on whether.
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: The Liberals are a viable alternative.
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: It's just absolutely incredible for those of us looking from
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: Afar into Victoria, it's just quite difficult to believe Labor
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: could win another term. Just before I let you go, Anthony,
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: former Liberal Opposition leader. Another former Liberal Opposition leader, John Pursuto,
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: he wrote a pretty scathing piece over the weekend suggesting
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: the thirty four billion dollar cost of Melbourne's suburban rail
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: link could be far higher, as much as one hundred
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: billion dollars. Is he write and will not the issue
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: of debt play into how voters cast their ballots come
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: November or a Victorians still sort of somehow immune to
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: the economic catastrophe that's facing their state under labor.
• 44:01
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 44:01
  Speaker 12: Well on the suburban rail loop question, I mean, doubts
• 44:03
  Speaker 12: about that cost estament of thirty five billion aren't really
• 44:06
  Speaker 12: a party political position, And just about every infrastructure transport
• 44:11
  Speaker 12: expert I've spoken to has raised serious doubts. Infrastructure Australia
• 44:17
  Speaker 12: have huge doubts in they've previously put on the record
• 44:23
  Speaker 12: about the government's business case, which is really because the
• 44:27
  Speaker 12: government in this business case was combining the first stage
• 44:30
  Speaker 12: and the second stage of SRL together, when in fact
• 44:34
  Speaker 12: they're building SROL East the first stage and letting that
• 44:37
  Speaker 12: run for quite a period of years. And Infrastructure Australia
• 44:41
  Speaker 12: is not convinced that the benefits or the cost quite
• 44:45
  Speaker 12: stuck up according to the government's business case. Despite this,
• 44:49
  Speaker 12: Anthony Albanezi has guaranteed around ten billion dollars, around a
• 44:53
  Speaker 12: third of the project cost for the project.
• 44:57
  Speaker 3: Sorry, and just incredible.
• 45:00
  Speaker 12: Just on whether debt, Yeah, just on whether the debt
• 45:04
  Speaker 12: can be an issue at the election. Jess Wilson has
• 45:08
  Speaker 12: done a lot to kind of try and raise that
• 45:12
  Speaker 12: issue that Brad Batton was really just solely focusing on crime,
• 45:16
  Speaker 12: the crime crisis in Victoria. Jess Wilson's been focusing on debt,
• 45:21
  Speaker 12: really not focusing on the total figures as much, but
• 45:25
  Speaker 12: trying to explain to voters that the consequences of the
• 45:29
  Speaker 12: rising debt, which is going to hit nearly too, that's
• 45:31
  Speaker 12: certainly what she's going to have to consequences.
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: He's certainly going to have to focus on that if
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: she's going to win the election at November. Sorry to
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: cut you off, We've got to go to a break,
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: but I really appreciate your time, Thank you so much. Well,
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: after the break, we'll cross to London for the latest
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: in what's making news.
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: Out of the UK. That's coming up next.
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: All right, let's dive into the UK News, joining me
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: as our Sky News contributor Adrian Hayes.
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: Adrian, let's get straight into it.
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: I want to talk to about Kiss Starmer and how
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: he's handling Trump's actions in Venezuela. Labor MPs of demanded
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: Starma condemned the capture of Nicholas Maduro.
• 46:11
  Speaker 3: How does he balance.
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: Dealing with his cantankerous MPs well at the same time
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: try to keep the alliance happening in his friendship with
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump.
• 46:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 46:21
  Speaker 13: Well, goodiam, James sand All through to all your viewers.
• 46:24
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 46:24
  Speaker 13: The problem that you know, kis starmer. Our prime minister
• 46:27
  Speaker 13: is torn. He squeezed between trying to get a relationship
• 46:29
  Speaker 13: with good relationship with Donald Trump and his own cantankerous
• 46:33
  Speaker 13: MPs and his desire to uphold international law. And the
• 46:36
  Speaker 13: problem is that our prime minister sees the whole world
• 46:39
  Speaker 13: through this prism of international laws. Way he handed over
• 46:42
  Speaker 13: the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Is why he isn't able
• 46:46
  Speaker 13: to stop legal immigrants coming to the borders, because everything
• 46:49
  Speaker 13: he sees is through this prism. Now, a labor MPISA
• 46:52
  Speaker 13: are saying, well, rightly, so if you if this is
• 46:54
  Speaker 13: what you say, then where's the international law with Maduro?
• 46:57
  Speaker 13: But you see some commodays will say, well, look, you
• 46:59
  Speaker 13: know law, which many people think is a bit of
• 47:02
  Speaker 13: a farce anyway, But where does that balance between national
• 47:04
  Speaker 13: interest and national security? And this is where I think
• 47:07
  Speaker 13: he's got perhaps his judgment wrong on this side of things.
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: The other thing I wondered is how embarrassing it must
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: be for Keir Starmer that apparently he received no fore
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: warning at all from the.
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: United States some alliance.
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: I want to ask you as well about the UK
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: and France conducting joint air strikes against ISIS in Syria.
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: Do we know what they hit and why are they
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: taking this section now?
• 47:34
  Speaker 13: Yeah, Well, on the ladder point, I think it's a good,
• 47:36
  Speaker 13: good diversity tactic. Actually, it proves that, you know, for
• 47:40
  Speaker 13: all these sort of antagonism between France and the UK
• 47:43
  Speaker 13: on Varius things that the military and I've worked with
• 47:45
  Speaker 13: the French ministry before, fine fighting forces, there is a
• 47:48
  Speaker 13: great deal of cooperation at that level. So hitting ISIS
• 47:51
  Speaker 13: targets with the cooperation of Amadal Shara, the Syrian president
• 47:55
  Speaker 13: who came in and you know, things are moving the
• 47:58
  Speaker 13: right truck on this for the you know, not being
• 48:01
  Speaker 13: warned of any of this action. Well, to be fair,
• 48:04
  Speaker 13: no one was worn because it was such a despite
• 48:06
  Speaker 13: being such a massive operation to remove Maduro, you know,
• 48:12
  Speaker 13: the US administration kept that very very quiet and for
• 48:15
  Speaker 13: good reasons too.
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: All Right, now, I really want to ask you about
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: the number of illegal migrants crossing the English Channel, because
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: it continues to rise despite Keir Starmer's promises to crack
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: down on illegal migration, more than forty one thousand people
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: last year, which is the second highest number on record.
• 48:34
  Speaker 3: In response, the.
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: UK government has said it will seize and download data
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: from phones of illegal migrants in a bid together intelligence
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: on people smugglers.
• 48:45
  Speaker 3: Is this going to make much difference, Adrian.
• 48:48
  Speaker 13: Well, well you sort of said it, James, you know,
• 48:51
  Speaker 13: seize the phones on the boats to give them new,
• 48:53
  Speaker 13: brand new phones when they get into a luxury hotel
• 48:55
  Speaker 13: when they reached the UK. Look, this is tinkering around
• 48:58
  Speaker 13: the edges. It's trying to show the people of the
• 49:01
  Speaker 13: UK who are up in arms. It's the number one
• 49:03
  Speaker 13: factor for British population now that we are doing something.
• 49:06
  Speaker 13: But it is tinkering around the edges. But again, where
• 49:10
  Speaker 13: the UK government won't do this, there's turning the boats
• 49:13
  Speaker 13: around and stopping the coming with the cooperation of France
• 49:16
  Speaker 13: or without the corporation of France, they won't because it's
• 49:18
  Speaker 13: all part of the EHCR. These hard tasks which Australia
• 49:21
  Speaker 13: did very successfully a few years ago, they won't do
• 49:24
  Speaker 13: because of this upholding of so called international law. So
• 49:28
  Speaker 13: it is it is a huge problem until we get
• 49:32
  Speaker 13: into this, you know, hard courageous decisions. We're gonna have
• 49:34
  Speaker 13: this problem going on for a lot longer.
• 49:36
  Speaker 3: Yet, ad you have just got thirty seconds left.
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: British people still buying Keir Staner's promises that he's going
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: to solve this problem or is it all just white
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: noise now.
• 49:47
  Speaker 3: And no one takes him seriously?
• 49:50
  Speaker 13: White noise?
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: Twenty seconds You gave it to me in a moment.
• 49:57
  Speaker 13: Well yeah, no, Look, it's no believes that they can
• 50:00
  Speaker 13: do it because it's all talk against grandstanding, show birding
• 50:04
  Speaker 13: until you make these hard courageous decisions that we're going
• 50:08
  Speaker 13: to cover this problem continuing for a long time. Yet
• 50:10
  Speaker 13: you've got an EHCR is the fundamental question to be addressed.
• 50:14
  Speaker 13: But it's sadly it's not happening.
• 50:18
  Speaker 3: No doubt about it. Adrian Hayes, thanks for joining me
• 50:20
  Speaker 3: from the UK.
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: Really appreciate it. That's all I've got time for tonight.
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: I'll be back tomorrow night, but stick around. Coming up
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: right now is my good friend Freileach hosting the Late Debate.
• 50:31
  Speaker 11: Good Night