Transcript

Credlin | 15 May · Credlin

0:02
Speaker 1: Peter Krandland live on Sky News Australia. Good evening and
0:08
Speaker 1: welcome to the show. I'm Caleb Bond filling in for
0:10
Speaker 1: Peter Credlin tonight. He's what's coming up on the program.
0:13
Speaker 1: The new Little Greens team with Rissa Waters seemingly the
0:16
Speaker 1: most sane of an insane lot, but not much has
0:19
Speaker 1: changed with Marine.
0:20
Speaker 2: Ferruki still Deputy. More on that in a moment.
0:23
Speaker 1: Are we witnessing the end of the coalition with senior
0:26
Speaker 1: figures saying it's not a foregone conclusion that they'll continue
0:30
Speaker 1: as a union. Well, I'll speak to one of those
0:32
Speaker 1: senior figures, the newly minted National's Deputy leader Kevin Hogan,
0:36
Speaker 1: about where to for the NATS lives, plus the dire
0:40
Speaker 1: state of the Victorian budget when over twenty billion dollars
0:43
Speaker 1: in core government services could be facing the chop. The
0:47
Speaker 1: Left love to brag about these things, but paying for
0:49
Speaker 1: them is another thing, and Victoria's budget is cactus and
0:53
Speaker 1: the knives are out as the Liberal Party post mortem
0:56
Speaker 1: goes on with Andrew Haste to be lashing out at
0:58
Speaker 1: Peter Dutton today.
1:00
Speaker 3: There are a number of issues in the campaign that
1:02
Speaker 3: made it very difficult for us to.
1:05
Speaker 1: Get out there well, while we know the Liberal Party
1:08
Speaker 1: is trying to decide what it wants to be after
1:11
Speaker 1: such a massive wallowing, walloping, sorry, we saw today just
1:14
Speaker 1: how divided the Greens are too. They had to make
1:18
Speaker 1: a decision today choosing their new leader, whether they wanted
1:21
Speaker 1: to go even further down the rabbit hole of socialism
1:24
Speaker 1: and division and anti Israel hate, or whether they keep,
1:28
Speaker 1: for want of a better word, a more moderate face.
1:31
Speaker 2: Now.
1:31
Speaker 1: In the end, they went with that more moderate face
1:34
Speaker 1: in Larissa Waters. The other two options were Marine Faruki
1:38
Speaker 1: and Sarah Hanson Young. Feruki will continue as deputy leader,
1:42
Speaker 1: as she did under Adam Bant, but there was a
1:44
Speaker 1: serious push to make Faruki leader. And keep in mind
1:48
Speaker 1: this is the woman who a few years ago said Australia,
1:52
Speaker 1: with its one point three percent of global emissions, should
1:55
Speaker 1: pay reparations to her homeland of Pakistan for climate change.
2:00
Speaker 4: I've just returned from Pakistan after seeing Miami. Australia's criminal
2:04
Speaker 4: inaction on climate is deeply felt there. Felt in the
2:08
Speaker 4: extreme heat, felt in the melting glacials washing away entire villages,
2:14
Speaker 4: and felt in the everyday life of children in Pakistan,
2:17
Speaker 4: who are suffocating in an ever deadly mix of intense
2:21
Speaker 4: heat and trapped pollution. So we must remember also to
2:26
Speaker 4: lift our gaze. We must start a process of making
2:29
Speaker 4: climate reparations to the global South countries who are most
2:33
Speaker 4: harmed by Australia's contribution to the climate crisis.
2:38
Speaker 1: I mean, is she is Senative for New South Wales
2:40
Speaker 1: or Pakistan. That's the woman that a large chunk of
2:43
Speaker 1: the Greens wanted to lead them today, the same woman
2:47
Speaker 1: who carried on like a child and stage to senate
2:50
Speaker 1: walk out over Palestine.
2:52
Speaker 4: A coalition is morally bankrupt when it comes to Palestine,
2:56
Speaker 4: and Labor has shown itself to be heartless, gutless cowards.
3:00
Speaker 4: Today we bring the people's protest into Parliament.
3:04
Speaker 5: Free, Free Palestine.
3:06
Speaker 1: You forget about morally bankrupt, would be fiscally bankrupt if
3:09
Speaker 1: she was in charge of the joint And of course,
3:11
Speaker 1: the same woman who stood in front of a sign
3:13
Speaker 1: that said keep the world clean and showed the Israeli
3:17
Speaker 1: flag being thrown in a bin, took a photo with
3:20
Speaker 1: that sign and then posted it on social media.
3:24
Speaker 2: This is who.
3:24
Speaker 1: Nearly became the Greens leader today and who is still
3:28
Speaker 1: their deputy leader.
3:30
Speaker 2: This is what a.
3:30
Speaker 1: Large rump of the Greens stand for now. The Greens
3:34
Speaker 1: have always chosen their leader by consensus. They all agree
3:37
Speaker 1: on the one person. They don't have a ballot, and
3:40
Speaker 1: in the end that is what happened today, but it
3:42
Speaker 1: very nearly didn't. For the first time in the history
3:45
Speaker 1: of the party, they were considering holding a ballot for
3:48
Speaker 1: the leadership, such as the division that now exists within
3:52
Speaker 1: the Greens. The Australian reported today that supporters of Marine
3:55
Speaker 1: Ferruki and Western Australian Senator to rinder Cox had been
4:00
Speaker 1: lobbying MPs intensely for the past twenty four hours and
4:03
Speaker 1: that a ballot may be needed to break the conflict.
4:06
Speaker 1: And keep in mind, this is a party room of
4:09
Speaker 1: twelve people. It shouldn't be that hard to come up
4:12
Speaker 1: with a decision. But they were locked up for two
4:14
Speaker 1: hours today trying to work it out. The Australian revealed
4:18
Speaker 1: today that many within the Greens believe their former senator
4:22
Speaker 1: and now of course an independent Lydia Thorpe, had been
4:24
Speaker 1: involved in a concerted campaign to elect Feruki as leader.
4:29
Speaker 1: A group called the Australian Greens First Nations Network otherwise
4:33
Speaker 1: known as the Black Greens, endorsed Ferruki for lder over
4:37
Speaker 1: an actual Aboriginal woman in Derinda Cox, by the Way,
4:41
Speaker 1: and ran a mass email campaign to lobby for her,
4:44
Speaker 1: and some within the Greens believe Thorpe was part of that.
4:47
Speaker 1: One senior Green source told the ODS that Lydia Thorpe
4:50
Speaker 1: wants back in the Greens. There's no secret in that.
4:54
Speaker 1: The inaugural co chair of the First People's Assembly of Victoria,
4:58
Speaker 1: Marcus Stewart, said it it was well known that Thorpe
5:01
Speaker 1: still had significant influence over parts of the Greens.
5:04
Speaker 2: Quote.
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Speaker 1: If anyone think Senator Thorpe has no influence inside of
5:08
Speaker 1: the Greens, they are kidding themselves. Thorpe, for her part,
5:13
Speaker 1: denied that she was interested in rejoining the Greens, and
5:16
Speaker 1: she said the same again.
5:17
Speaker 2: Today to the ABC.
5:19
Speaker 1: But obviously many in the party still think she's meddling
5:22
Speaker 1: in their affairs. There was a ballot, not a consensus
5:26
Speaker 1: for deputy leader, and Feruki beat her into Cox nine
5:30
Speaker 1: votes to three.
5:31
Speaker 2: She was also.
5:32
Speaker 1: Endorsed for leadership by the New South Wales Young Greens.
5:35
Speaker 1: And it's a strange day when Sarah Hansen Young is
5:38
Speaker 1: made to look like the sensible one in the room.
5:40
Speaker 2: But the Black Greens.
5:41
Speaker 1: Opposed her for leadership because she quote would not be
5:45
Speaker 1: an effective leader in implementing Australian Greens policies relating to
5:49
Speaker 1: First Nations issues racial justice, social justice and the liberation
5:54
Speaker 1: of the Palestinian people. The National Arm of the Young
5:58
Speaker 1: Greens also put up a motion on Tuesday opposing Hansome
6:01
Speaker 1: Young and the reason for that is that she's still
6:04
Speaker 1: vaguely interested in doing what the Greens say on that
6:08
Speaker 1: in being Greenies, rather than pursuing every far left issue
6:12
Speaker 1: of social and economic division. They are a party divided
6:16
Speaker 1: over whether they should lean further into the faruki style
6:19
Speaker 1: of politics or return to their bread and butter roots.
6:22
Speaker 1: The Greens now have the absolute balance of power in
6:26
Speaker 1: the Senate, even though they lost all but one of
6:28
Speaker 1: their lower House seats. They now have the power to
6:31
Speaker 1: rubber stamp or blow torch any bill they want in
6:34
Speaker 1: the Senate. That is serious power, and that's why the
6:38
Speaker 1: direction of the Greens matters. They've had a taste in
6:42
Speaker 1: the lower House of what happens when they stray too
6:44
Speaker 1: far from their Green remit. But if this is anything
6:47
Speaker 1: to go by, today they haven't learned that lesson and
6:51
Speaker 1: the next three years of the Greens controlling the Senate
6:54
Speaker 1: could be disastrous, And of course the other more but
7:00
Speaker 1: a crossroads over their direction. As I said earlier, the
7:03
Speaker 1: Liberal Party, well the Nationals, are now saying that they
7:06
Speaker 1: may well split from the Liberals and break up the
7:08
Speaker 1: coalition if they can't agree on a vision for the future.
7:12
Speaker 1: Whether or not they continue to support NED zero will
7:14
Speaker 1: be a major part of the negotiations and according to
7:17
Speaker 1: some sources its line ball as to whether or not
7:20
Speaker 1: the coalition will continue. I'll talk to NAT's deputy leader
7:24
Speaker 1: Kevin Hogan about that soon now. The Coalition has existed
7:28
Speaker 1: in various forms since nineteen twenty three, with predecessor parties
7:32
Speaker 1: to the Liberals and the Nationals. It has been a
7:34
Speaker 1: union of those two parties since nineteen forty nine. Only
7:38
Speaker 1: twice since nineteen forty nine has there been a break
7:41
Speaker 1: in the coalition. It was one in nineteen seventy two
7:44
Speaker 1: after Gough Whitlam beat Billy McMahon, but they came back
7:48
Speaker 1: together before the seventy four election, and for four months
7:51
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty seven over the Joe for Canberra campaign.
7:55
Speaker 1: You can just imagine what Sir Joe Bilki Peterson would
7:57
Speaker 1: say about the state of things today. If the Coalition
8:00
Speaker 1: were to break up, it would be the first time
8:03
Speaker 1: in nearly forty years. That is the magnitude of how
8:07
Speaker 1: badly they lost the election. And my advice to the
8:11
Speaker 1: Liberals would be that they do well to take the
8:13
Speaker 1: advice of the Nats, who, unlike them, didn't lose any
8:16
Speaker 1: seats in the Lower House and only lost one Senate seat,
8:20
Speaker 1: which is on a shared ticket with the Liberals.
8:21
Speaker 2: Anyway.
8:22
Speaker 1: They also managed to turn Bendigo marginal, which has been
8:25
Speaker 1: held by Labour since nineteen ninety eight, with a nine
8:28
Speaker 1: point seven percent swing. That, by the way, is also
8:32
Speaker 1: where Jacinta Allen's electorate is, so keep an eye on
8:35
Speaker 1: Andrew Lethley next year would be my tip. But in
8:37
Speaker 1: contrast to the Liberals which bled seats in the city,
8:40
Speaker 1: the Nationals did the heavy lifting through the rest of
8:43
Speaker 1: the country. The Liberals need the Nationals now more than ever.
8:48
Speaker 1: Drop net zero, keep nuclear and build a genuine alternative
8:52
Speaker 1: for government. Let's head to canber Now for tonight's political
8:59
Speaker 1: headline with Scanne News political reporter Trudy Macintosh.
9:03
Speaker 5: A fresh face, promising a fresh start for the Greens.
9:07
Speaker 5: We will be firm but constructive. Queensland Senator the Rissa
9:10
Speaker 5: Waters replaces Adam band as Green's leader. Marine Ferruki will
9:14
Speaker 5: remain as Deputy and I'm proud that we have such
9:17
Speaker 5: strong women leading this party. The party was reduced to
9:20
Speaker 5: just one seat in the lower House at the election,
9:23
Speaker 5: but it still holds the sole balance of power in
9:26
Speaker 5: the Senate. And it says Labor has a choice.
9:29
Speaker 6: They can work with us, they can work with us
9:31
Speaker 6: and help people and protect nature, or they can choose
9:34
Speaker 6: to work with the coalition.
9:36
Speaker 7: They're going to need to pick.
9:37
Speaker 5: Labour's election victory was soured in part by the outbreak
9:41
Speaker 5: of factional in fighting.
9:42
Speaker 2: Mister Lords, do you have ed hughes e S blood
9:44
Speaker 2: on your hands? No.
9:47
Speaker 5: For the first time, the Deputy Prime Minister grilled on
9:49
Speaker 5: his role in dumping cabinet colleagues Ed Husick and Mark Drafers.
9:54
Speaker 8: We have gone through, obviously, what is difficult processes in
9:59
Speaker 8: term of choosing a ministry. It is a collective process.
10:04
Speaker 5: Richard Marles, deflecting blame and refusing to respond to this
10:08
Speaker 5: assessment from mister Hugh sick.
10:10
Speaker 9: I think when people look at a deputy Prime minister,
10:12
Speaker 9: they expect to see a statesman, not a factional assassin.
10:16
Speaker 2: If he's the easy right to call you a factional assassin.
10:19
Speaker 8: Look, I'm not going to go into that.
10:22
Speaker 5: Former Attorney General Mark Dreyfus may have kept quiet since
10:25
Speaker 5: he was dumped, but he's now reportedly considering quitting Parliament.
10:30
Speaker 5: Is a by election now likely?
10:31
Speaker 3: Would you begrudge mister Dreyfus if he made the oxygen
10:33
Speaker 3: to walk now?
10:34
Speaker 8: Well, look, I mean I'm not about to speculate on
10:37
Speaker 8: all of that art it. He has every reason to
10:39
Speaker 8: feel very proud.
10:41
Speaker 5: On the Conservative side of politics. The coalition is trying
10:44
Speaker 5: to chart its path out of the political wilderness. The
10:47
Speaker 5: first step formal talks to see if it's possible to
10:50
Speaker 5: renew the coalition agreement. National's leader David Little Proud met
10:54
Speaker 5: the new Liberal leader Susan Lee and Aubrey on Thursday, first.
10:58
Speaker 6: Of many meetings that I'll have with David, and it
11:00
Speaker 6: was productive, it was respectful, and our conversations will continue.
11:05
Speaker 5: The Nationals want more spots in the shadow ministry and
11:08
Speaker 5: a pushing to dump net zero. Trudy McIntosh Sky News
11:12
Speaker 5: canbra all right.
11:14
Speaker 1: It's been another busy day, so joining me to get
11:16
Speaker 1: across at all media commentator Caroli kats and Barnas and
11:19
Speaker 1: One Nation chief of staff James Ashby.
11:22
Speaker 2: Welcome to you both.
11:23
Speaker 1: Now, as we just heard there, Larissa Waters has been
11:26
Speaker 1: elected as the new Greens leader, beating out Marine Ferruki.
11:29
Speaker 2: And Sarah Hanson Young.
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Speaker 1: James, your take, I mean, you know, she's probably the
11:34
Speaker 1: most sensible option of a bad lot, though Sarah Hanson.
11:36
Speaker 2: Young would have been much of a muchness.
11:38
Speaker 1: But the reality is they had a serious wrestle today
11:42
Speaker 1: over which direction they would take, and there are still
11:45
Speaker 1: a lot of people in the Greens, particularly in the
11:47
Speaker 1: rank and file, that would like to see a radical
11:49
Speaker 1: like Marine Ferouki running the joint.
11:53
Speaker 10: Well, I am so disheartened and disappointed tongue in cheek
11:58
Speaker 10: here that we ended up with a light, straight Cis
12:01
Speaker 10: woman running the Greens party when we had what do
12:04
Speaker 10: we have? We had an aboriginal woman, we had a
12:06
Speaker 10: person who has advocated for disability in a wheelchair, and
12:10
Speaker 10: we also had a very luscious, beautiful brown woman as
12:13
Speaker 10: she likes to call herself on the floor of Parliament.
12:15
Speaker 10: So there was that diversity choice and they chose another
12:18
Speaker 10: white person. It was always going to be a woman.
12:21
Speaker 10: The numbers in the Greens are seven women versus four men,
12:26
Speaker 10: so they've got their women numbers up there, but you know,
12:29
Speaker 10: to end up with a woman. I was just really
12:30
Speaker 10: surprised by that. I wish it was Marine Ferruki because
12:35
Speaker 10: the truth of the matter is the Australian public would
12:37
Speaker 10: really see the true side of the Greens Party. As
12:40
Speaker 10: you started with the show, Marine Ferruci doesn't stand for Australians.
12:44
Speaker 10: She makes every effort when she's on the floor of
12:46
Speaker 10: the Parliament to talk about everybody else across the globe
12:49
Speaker 10: other than Australians. So she's, as you rightfully put, better
12:52
Speaker 10: represent New South Wales and sadly she's just been reelected
12:55
Speaker 10: for another six years.
12:56
Speaker 1: Indeed, Carrely one of the first things that lar Waters
13:00
Speaker 1: has talked about today is that they will continue to
13:03
Speaker 1: talk about Palestine and advocate against what they say is
13:08
Speaker 1: genocide et cetera. Sector So they've put this stuff straight
13:11
Speaker 1: back on the table as the first order of business
13:15
Speaker 1: under new leadership. I mean, you know they call themselves
13:18
Speaker 1: the Greens. Are they ever going to go back to
13:22
Speaker 1: just being a Green party.
13:26
Speaker 6: Well, no they're not. And as you said, Larta Waters,
13:28
Speaker 6: that the best out of a bad lot. I mean,
13:31
Speaker 6: they're an extremist political party. They're dangerous, they're anti Semitic,
13:36
Speaker 6: and it doesn't really matter who the leader is elected.
13:39
Speaker 6: They're on their trajectory to do what they think, you know,
13:43
Speaker 6: Australians want, but Australians don't want. It was a resounding
13:46
Speaker 6: rejection we saw with Adam Bant losing his seat. It
13:49
Speaker 6: was a bridge too far. And as for Larissa water
13:52
Speaker 6: Is saying that people can work with them and women
13:55
Speaker 6: can identify with them, well, I'm sorry, people can't identify
13:59
Speaker 6: with them.
13:59
Speaker 2: I think it's.
14:00
Speaker 6: Incredibly disappointing that they've even got one person in Parliament. Now,
14:03
Speaker 6: yes they hold the balance of power in the Senate,
14:06
Speaker 6: but it's an incredibly dangerous party. And as we've often
14:09
Speaker 6: discussed on this program as well, and Michael Danby has
14:12
Speaker 6: pointed out, but they're not the party that they were.
14:15
Speaker 6: They're not about the environment. They're on very very extremist,
14:19
Speaker 6: dangerous policies. Their energy policy would send the lights off
14:23
Speaker 6: in Australia, their economic policies would send this country absolutely broke.
14:28
Speaker 6: And you know they've got one thing. I do have
14:29
Speaker 6: to say, they've got the audacity with Adam Band when
14:33
Speaker 6: it came to negative gearing. There isn't one of them
14:36
Speaker 6: in the Greens that lives in social housing or doesn't
14:39
Speaker 6: have investment properties, and yet they've got the hide to
14:42
Speaker 6: be dictating to the Australian public. What is meant to
14:46
Speaker 6: happen if they've got any idea that the mums and
14:48
Speaker 6: dads investors that hold investment properties are helping to put
14:52
Speaker 6: a roof over people's heads. They live in an absolute
14:55
Speaker 6: utopia and it's you know, do as I say, not
14:58
Speaker 6: do as I do. And I just think there are
15:01
Speaker 6: a dreadful, dreadful political party here in Australia and we'd
15:04
Speaker 6: be better off without them well indeed.
15:06
Speaker 1: But they'll continue on that trajectory and we'll see whether
15:08
Speaker 1: it makes a difference in another three years time. There's
15:11
Speaker 1: growing concern of a branch stacking within the Young Liberals
15:14
Speaker 1: in New South Wales. Now this case involves a staff
15:17
Speaker 1: for New South Wales IMP Alex Hawk, dangling the prospect
15:21
Speaker 1: of a new job in front of interns in the
15:24
Speaker 1: Office of Liberally and p Melissa Macintosh if they could
15:27
Speaker 1: recruit new members to the center right faction. Now, both
15:31
Speaker 1: Alex Hawk and Melissa McIntosh have said they had no
15:34
Speaker 1: idea that this was going on. But I'm often reminded
15:37
Speaker 1: of this statement by Malcolm Turnbull.
15:40
Speaker 11: We're not run by factions, We're not run by Well.
15:46
Speaker 5: You may, you may, you may, you may.
15:50
Speaker 10: Dispute that, but I have to tell you from experience,
15:53
Speaker 10: we are not run by factions, nor nor are we
15:58
Speaker 10: run nor are we run by big business or by
16:02
Speaker 10: deals in back rooms.
16:06
Speaker 1: Famous words, and ten years later, James, it's not any better.
16:12
Speaker 10: How does he lines straight in bed with comments like that. Look,
16:15
Speaker 10: I was with the Liberals or the Liberal National Party
16:17
Speaker 10: here in Queensland back in twenty ten and I could
16:21
Speaker 10: see that there was branch stacking going on back then.
16:24
Speaker 10: It's been a long held tradition. It hasn't changed. It's
16:27
Speaker 10: not as bad as what some would say it is,
16:30
Speaker 10: but it is happening and I don't think they'll ever
16:32
Speaker 10: cruel it. They may say they don't stand for it,
16:35
Speaker 10: but it is happening. And this is further evidence. When
16:37
Speaker 10: you get text messages which have been sent out to
16:40
Speaker 10: a group chat and it's encouraging young people to bring
16:43
Speaker 10: other young people on board as like a membership drive,
16:48
Speaker 10: all in order to try and get another job within
16:50
Speaker 10: an office.
16:52
Speaker 2: Yeah.
16:52
Speaker 10: Look, branch stacking has been going on forever and don't
16:56
Speaker 10: be filled out there. It is happening. I'm sorry to
16:58
Speaker 10: say it. The Liberals, if you want to clean it up,
17:01
Speaker 10: I actually don't know how to clean it up, to
17:02
Speaker 10: be quite honest, because the whole idea is it's, you know,
17:06
Speaker 10: every one of those members after twelve months within the
17:08
Speaker 10: Liberal Party all get a vote on who represents them,
17:11
Speaker 10: so they're driving membership. But if you obviously you've got
17:16
Speaker 10: some extraordinary talented people out there that like to go
17:19
Speaker 10: and recruit, almost like they're getting commissioned for it. And
17:24
Speaker 10: that's what this job offer was. It was almost payment
17:26
Speaker 10: for building those numbers. Of course you're going to get
17:28
Speaker 10: branches stacked.
17:30
Speaker 1: Indeed, now the Liberal Party post mortem goes on. The
17:33
Speaker 1: Shadow Defense Minister Andrew Hasty took a swipe at Peter
17:36
Speaker 1: Dutton this morning.
17:38
Speaker 9: Did you have a good relationship with Peter Dutton.
17:41
Speaker 3: I had a good professional relationship with Peter.
17:43
Speaker 2: Dunton, Yes, professionally, not personally.
17:46
Speaker 3: Well, you know, you don't go into Parliament looking to
17:48
Speaker 3: be best friends with everyone, and he had a very
17:51
Speaker 3: busy job. I did what I had to do. He
17:54
Speaker 3: did his job, and there's a lot of things that
17:57
Speaker 3: we can learn from this campaign.
17:59
Speaker 1: Did you feel sidelined during the campaign, because, I mean
18:01
Speaker 1: that was commented on.
18:04
Speaker 3: Look, there are a number of issues in the campaign
18:07
Speaker 3: that made it very difficult for us to get out there.
18:12
Speaker 1: He also slammed the delay in releasing their defense policy.
18:15
Speaker 1: You know, he basically said carely will Look, I didn't
18:17
Speaker 1: have a policy, just broke until ten days before the elections,
18:20
Speaker 1: So what the hell was I going to come out
18:21
Speaker 1: and talk about. I mean, you know, it's pretty clear
18:23
Speaker 1: we can all see that it was a shambolic campaign.
18:27
Speaker 1: But people who should have been front and center and
18:30
Speaker 1: who are good performers were clearly put in the freezer.
18:33
Speaker 2: And they're not happy about it.
18:36
Speaker 6: No, they aren't. The one thing I will say is
18:38
Speaker 6: that Andrew Hasty from Western Australia, he got a five
18:41
Speaker 6: and a half percent swing towards him. He is in
18:44
Speaker 6: the seat of Canning and the outskirts of Perth, and
18:49
Speaker 6: I'm pleased to see that he has actually declared leadership
18:52
Speaker 6: ambitions for the future, but is actually highlighted a really
18:55
Speaker 6: important point. He's married and he's got three young children.
18:59
Speaker 6: And we know that the Turan distance from Western Australia,
19:01
Speaker 6: especially for six months of the year when there's a
19:03
Speaker 6: three hour time difference, if you need to go somewhere,
19:06
Speaker 6: you need to almost go the day before in order
19:08
Speaker 6: to make sure in case there's a flight cancelation. But
19:11
Speaker 6: I'm glad to see that, I have to say to you,
19:13
Speaker 6: in Western Australia he is very very highly regarded. He's
19:17
Speaker 6: highly regarded across the senior Liberal Party. I applaud him
19:21
Speaker 6: for biting his tongue and being very very diplomatic. Blind
19:24
Speaker 6: Freddie can read you know what he's really thinking, and
19:27
Speaker 6: rightly so. And there was some serious mistakes made by
19:30
Speaker 6: the campaign, but you know, going over the entrails, going
19:33
Speaker 6: over the post mortem, having a you.
19:35
Speaker 2: Know, a review of what went wrong.
19:37
Speaker 6: Doesn't serve them any well. We all know where they
19:39
Speaker 6: went wrong. But I'll also say to you with Andrew Hasty,
19:42
Speaker 6: I do remember when he was first elected to parliament
19:45
Speaker 6: and who can forget us political junkies when Tony Abbott
19:49
Speaker 6: was that them was holding a press conference and he
19:52
Speaker 6: very diplomatically said, oh, handle that, and we thought, wow,
19:56
Speaker 6: he's a leader for the future. It shouldn't surprise anybody.
20:00
Speaker 6: But you know, he's got ambition to lead. He's only
20:02
Speaker 6: I think forty three or forty four, plenty of time
20:05
Speaker 6: for that. But he's sitting back and let's see if
20:08
Speaker 6: he's given an opportunity to serve in the opposition. And
20:11
Speaker 6: the most important thing is they gould to remember they've
20:13
Speaker 6: got to fight the enemy of labor, not within the
20:16
Speaker 6: Liberal Party. Whatever divisions they are, whatever jetsam and flotsam
20:20
Speaker 6: is around with commentary as well, they need to focus
20:24
Speaker 6: on it. And you know what, ironically, maybe it did
20:27
Speaker 6: him a favor by keeping him in Western Australia so
20:30
Speaker 6: that he could actually secure his seat with a much
20:33
Speaker 6: higher margin and majority, because you can't do anything unless
20:36
Speaker 6: you're actually a member of parliament. So good on him today.
20:39
Speaker 1: Well, he certainly deserves a senior spot because he is
20:41
Speaker 1: a great performer. I'll just stick with you quickly carrillly.
20:44
Speaker 1: Of course, the Victorian budgets coming down next week. Jacqueline
20:47
Speaker 1: signs the woman who forced Treasury staff to stop using
20:51
Speaker 1: economic terms because she didn't understand them. She's going to
20:54
Speaker 1: hand down her first date budget on Tuesday, and I mean,
20:57
Speaker 1: you know, to call it a mess, I think he's
20:59
Speaker 1: putting it pretty much. You've got you analysis out of
21:01
Speaker 1: the Parliamentary Budget Office, twenty one point three billion dollars
21:06
Speaker 1: in funding for three hundred and sixty eight government programs
21:09
Speaker 1: due to end unless they're extended on Tuesday. Because of
21:12
Speaker 1: course they're in one hundred and eighty eight billion dollars
21:15
Speaker 1: of debt by twenty twenty eight, so they need to
21:17
Speaker 1: find saving somewhere. Meanwhile, it seems like we find out
21:21
Speaker 1: today that this new emergency services levy is going to
21:24
Speaker 1: go through. You've got land tax going through the roof.
21:27
Speaker 2: I mean, you're in Melbourne. The place is stuffed.
21:33
Speaker 6: And it really is. And the really sad thing is that,
21:36
Speaker 6: you know, Victoria is falling apart. We've had a business
21:39
Speaker 6: in dan Andong South, the sand blasting business, whose land
21:42
Speaker 6: tax has gone from eighty seven hundred dollars ten years
21:45
Speaker 6: ago to two hundred and three thousand dollars. And this
21:48
Speaker 6: is a business that employs Victorians. It's applied to major
21:51
Speaker 6: projects as well, and that the land tax is crippling
21:54
Speaker 6: them as well. The land tax needs to come down.
21:57
Speaker 6: The Victorian Chamber of Commas has said that because it's
21:59
Speaker 6: showing that the Victoria is closed for business, no one
22:02
Speaker 6: wants to actually invest. Your businesses are going to Queensland,
22:05
Speaker 6: they're going to South Australia, they're going to Western Australia.
22:08
Speaker 6: But the problem is there's always enough money for the CFMU.
22:12
Speaker 6: There's always enough money for the big build projects and
22:15
Speaker 6: for premierges Center Allan's pet project of the suburban rail loop,
22:19
Speaker 6: which is a it's not even a loop. It goes
22:21
Speaker 6: from box Hill to Cheltenham. We know that there's no
22:24
Speaker 6: promise of any more money for it. It's billions of
22:27
Speaker 6: dollars over. There's always enough money for that. She keeps
22:31
Speaker 6: saying that that's what Victorians want. They don't. There are
22:33
Speaker 6: potholes in the roads, there's money that's been hidden that
22:36
Speaker 6: was meant for public schools. The hospitals are falling apart,
22:40
Speaker 6: road signs are falling apart. Youth crime is out of control.
22:43
Speaker 6: I mean, you know they've passed laws to bat outlaw
22:46
Speaker 6: machetes and edged weapons, but surprise, surprise, it doesn't come
22:51
Speaker 6: into effect until September the first meantime, there are more
22:55
Speaker 6: and more people being knife I mean we've just been
22:58
Speaker 6: you know, the new Victorian Police commit from New Zealand,
23:01
Speaker 6: mister Bush. You know, people are hoping that he will
23:03
Speaker 6: actually change it. But Victoria is a completely different place.
23:08
Speaker 6: It is falling apart. We're massively in debt and you know,
23:12
Speaker 6: the state opposition are doing a great job. And all
23:14
Speaker 6: I can say is that Victorians are waiting for November
23:17
Speaker 6: twenty six, waiting for it.
23:22
Speaker 2: I hope so.
23:23
Speaker 1: But you know, if I were just into our I
23:25
Speaker 1: would hate Daniel Andrews with a passion because he handed
23:29
Speaker 1: her or you know what, sandwich James. Quickly, before we
23:32
Speaker 1: get to the break my home stay to South Australia.
23:34
Speaker 1: They're bringing in a junk food ad ban on public
23:37
Speaker 1: transport from July once. You can't put a chocolate or
23:40
Speaker 1: a soft drink anything on the side of a bus.
23:42
Speaker 2: Now, you know, I think.
23:43
Speaker 1: This is absurd to begin with, but it's been revealed
23:46
Speaker 1: today that it will extend to processed meats, so you
23:49
Speaker 1: couldn't even advertise, you know, for instance, a ham sandwich.
23:53
Speaker 1: I mean, for goodness sake, can't we just be allowed
23:56
Speaker 1: to decide for ourselves.
24:00
Speaker 10: Baloney, right, This is the problem where governments try to
24:04
Speaker 10: interfere with decisions of everyday people. I got to be
24:07
Speaker 10: honest with you, cal that sort of advertising doesn't work
24:11
Speaker 10: on me anyway. But there's nothing that can be done
24:14
Speaker 10: at the supermarket checkout when kids are more impressed by
24:18
Speaker 10: what's on the shelf in front of them while they've
24:19
Speaker 10: got a wait to be served, and those aisles are
24:22
Speaker 10: just littered with chocolate arrays and cereals that are no
24:26
Speaker 10: good for you. Look, I don't think this band's going
24:28
Speaker 10: to work. It hasn't worked anywhere else in the world,
24:30
Speaker 10: so why is it going to start working in South Australia.
24:32
Speaker 10: It's overreached by the state government and just let parents
24:36
Speaker 10: be parents. And look, we've got to deal with obesity.
24:39
Speaker 10: But this isn't the right path.
24:40
Speaker 1: No, As I've written in my column in the Adelaide
24:42
Speaker 1: Advertiser tomorrow. You know, if you follow this to its
24:45
Speaker 1: logical conclusion, as you say, James, all the stuff in
24:47
Speaker 1: the supermarket, they're going to have to put it behind,
24:49
Speaker 1: you know, gray doors in cabinets, because it's just like crits. Yep,
24:53
Speaker 1: for heaven's sake, James Carroly, thank you so much for
24:55
Speaker 1: your time. After the break, the Deputy Nationals leader joins
24:59
Speaker 1: me is the relationship between the Nationals and the Liberals?
25:01
Speaker 1: Phrase could this be the end of the long standing
25:04
Speaker 1: coalition agreement? Plus another blow to the green agenda is
25:07
Speaker 1: so called green hydrogen projects go bust, don't go away. Well,
25:15
Speaker 1: it's been a big week of jostling for positions in Canberra.
25:18
Speaker 1: Albanezi of course appointed his ministry Ed Cusic and Mark
25:22
Speaker 1: Dreyfus out Michelle Rowland the new Attorney General.
25:25
Speaker 2: God help us.
25:26
Speaker 1: The Libs have a new leadership team with Susan Lee
25:28
Speaker 1: and Ted O'Brien, and of course Nationals leader David Litlproud
25:32
Speaker 1: fought off a challenge from Queensland Senator Matt Canavan for
25:35
Speaker 1: their leadership and that could will be in the box
25:38
Speaker 1: seat to make some demands now, given that the Liberal
25:41
Speaker 1: Party hemorrhage thirteen lower House seats and the Nationals didn't
25:45
Speaker 1: lose any They only lost one Senate seat which was
25:48
Speaker 1: third on the coalition ticket in New South Wales. So
25:50
Speaker 1: now they'll have to negotiate a new coalition agreement and
25:53
Speaker 1: there are potentially major disagreements between the Libs and the
25:56
Speaker 1: Nats over things like net zero. A National Senate leader,
26:00
Speaker 1: Bridget McKenzie has gone so far as to say that
26:02
Speaker 1: a coalition agreement is not a foregone conclusion or joining
26:07
Speaker 1: me now to discuss this and more. Is one of
26:09
Speaker 1: the people who picked up a new job this week,
26:11
Speaker 1: the National's newly appointed Deputy.
26:13
Speaker 2: Leader, Kevin Hogan. Kevin welcome.
26:16
Speaker 1: Could we be in a position now where the NATS
26:19
Speaker 1: can't find enough common ground with the Liberal Party to
26:23
Speaker 1: form another coalition?
26:26
Speaker 9: Look at certainly a scenario, Caleb. That being said, I
26:28
Speaker 9: know that we I spoke to David this morning and
26:31
Speaker 9: yesterday and Bridget McKenzie as far as leadership goes, and
26:34
Speaker 9: indeed the will of the NATS party room is to
26:36
Speaker 9: sign a coalition agreement. That being said, we won't sign
26:40
Speaker 9: it just to sign it. I mean there's a lot
26:42
Speaker 9: of different ars and requests that will have in that
26:44
Speaker 9: besides obviously how many shadow cabinet positions and what they
26:47
Speaker 9: may be a lot of perfunctionary and process things through
26:50
Speaker 9: the Parliament as well that we'll want to have better
26:52
Speaker 9: access to. So look, we go on with the intention,
26:55
Speaker 9: but there's certainly scenario where it doesn't get signed.
26:58
Speaker 1: Of course, if the Liberal Party wanted to form government again,
27:02
Speaker 1: they would need the support of the Nats in order
27:04
Speaker 1: to do it. They're never going to win enough seats
27:06
Speaker 1: on their own because of course you have a stranglehold
27:08
Speaker 1: mostly over the regions. So if you didn't sign a
27:12
Speaker 1: coalition agreement while you're in opposition, if it came to
27:16
Speaker 1: a position where you could form government as a coalition,
27:20
Speaker 1: would it potentially put you in the box seat to
27:22
Speaker 1: make more demands.
27:25
Speaker 9: Well, I would have thought so, and I say again too,
27:28
Speaker 9: calib I think it's good if we do sign an agreement.
27:30
Speaker 9: I think the opposition is stronger if we sign a
27:32
Speaker 9: coalition agreement. I think when in government and the coalition
27:35
Speaker 9: is strong, we have the best government we can for Australia.
27:38
Speaker 9: So that's my starting point. But yes, look we'll have
27:40
Speaker 9: We don't think we've got fairly modest requests in what
27:43
Speaker 9: we're put into it. If they don't accept, if the
27:45
Speaker 9: Liberal Party don't accept it and then need us to
27:47
Speaker 9: form government later, then obviously I think the asking price
27:50
Speaker 9: will go up. So I think it's in their interest
27:52
Speaker 9: to sign it as well.
27:54
Speaker 1: What are you asking prices to sign? A coalition agreement
27:57
Speaker 1: this time around. I mean, obviously there are discussions going
27:59
Speaker 1: on with in your party room at the moment about
28:01
Speaker 1: net zero and whether or not you continue with that.
28:05
Speaker 1: The Libs will be having those discussions as well. And
28:08
Speaker 1: Susan Lee lift that open the other day she said
28:11
Speaker 1: nothing is on or off the table. What's the grab
28:15
Speaker 1: bag that you will be taking to the Liberal Party
28:17
Speaker 1: and saying these are the non negotiables.
28:20
Speaker 9: Well, Caleb, I'd love to tell you, but it's never
28:22
Speaker 9: a good idea to show you poker hand to everyone
28:24
Speaker 9: in the crowd watching the game. So look, I won't
28:26
Speaker 9: go through all that, but look, you know, obviously some
28:28
Speaker 9: of it would be obvious about what shadow cabinet ministries
28:31
Speaker 9: we will get, how many out of ministries assistant ministers
28:34
Speaker 9: as well. Again, even process things in the Parliament are
28:37
Speaker 9: important question time MPIs, you know, staffing, all those type
28:41
Speaker 9: of things are all part of it as well. And
28:43
Speaker 9: on the policy front, there will be some regional things
28:45
Speaker 9: that where already negotiated in the Regional Future Fund and
28:48
Speaker 9: others like that that we will want to stay as well,
28:51
Speaker 9: which has been negotiated over many different leaders in times.
28:53
Speaker 9: So you know, it'll be a comp you know, there
28:55
Speaker 9: will be a fluid document, but you know, we think
28:58
Speaker 9: all the ask will be quite reasonable.
29:00
Speaker 1: I know that the Liberal Party room is bigger because
29:03
Speaker 1: they have more senators, but it would not be unfair
29:06
Speaker 1: to say that the Nationals are effectively the opposition after
29:10
Speaker 1: the result we saw a couple of weeks ago. I mean,
29:12
Speaker 1: you didn't lose any Lower House seats, they lost thirteen.
29:16
Speaker 1: You nearly took Bendigo. So clearly the product that the
29:19
Speaker 1: Nationals are putting out is far more saleable and successful
29:23
Speaker 1: than the ones that the Libs have been selling.
29:27
Speaker 9: Well, Culub, I'd say this as humbly as I can.
29:29
Speaker 9: I mean, we haven't lost a Lower House seat in
29:32
Speaker 9: the House of Reps federally since two thousand and seven,
29:35
Speaker 9: and we've lot one seats back from Independent since then.
29:38
Speaker 9: We're one seats back from the Labor Party since then
29:40
Speaker 9: and haven't lost them as we've been going drifting out
29:42
Speaker 9: of government as part of the coalition. So look, but
29:45
Speaker 9: we want Having said that, we want, I want the
29:47
Speaker 9: Liberal Party to be successful. There's no point us hanging
29:51
Speaker 9: on doing well in the regions if the Liberal Party
29:53
Speaker 9: are disappearing on the other end of it, and we
29:55
Speaker 9: never form governments, so we obviously share a lot of values,
29:58
Speaker 9: we share a lot of ideals. Said, you know, the
30:00
Speaker 9: Liberal parties are broad church when they bring us in
30:02
Speaker 9: as even a broader church. So there's always contentious issues
30:06
Speaker 9: that we need to resolve. But you know, this is
30:09
Speaker 9: a defining moment too. You know, I think Susan would
30:13
Speaker 9: look to be we're looking to sign a coalition agreement.
30:15
Speaker 9: I think it's in her interest for her leadership, and
30:17
Speaker 9: we want to but again, certainly not a dune deal.
30:21
Speaker 1: Surely there are some lessons should you sign an agreement
30:24
Speaker 1: that you would want the Liberals to learn from this
30:27
Speaker 1: election and perhaps take from you.
30:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.
30:32
Speaker 9: Look, and again there's different perceptions on different issues. I mean,
30:35
Speaker 9: you know, the nuclear one for example, COLORB has been
30:37
Speaker 9: brought up a lot of interviews and people that have
30:39
Speaker 9: been speaking to me since the election, and I've said
30:42
Speaker 9: to people, look, we had as NAT's, we had three
30:45
Speaker 9: electorates where there was a proposed nuclear POWERstation going to
30:48
Speaker 9: be built in those three seats. Two of the MP's
30:51
Speaker 9: had swings to them and one just stayed neutral. I
30:54
Speaker 9: was on prepole for ten or hand in out. How
30:57
Speaker 9: to votes for ten days prepole, including an election. No one,
31:01
Speaker 9: virtually no one came up to me, and so I
31:03
Speaker 9: brought up nuclear. Well, I didn't think it was that
31:05
Speaker 9: hot an issue. People came up and brought up other things,
31:07
Speaker 9: but nuclear certainly wasn't one of the regions at least
31:10
Speaker 9: that was appeared to me to be a contentious issue.
31:13
Speaker 9: Certainly Labor Party operators were trying to make it so,
31:15
Speaker 9: but you know, your normal mum and dad voters certainly
31:17
Speaker 9: didn't seem to think it was a big issue.
31:19
Speaker 1: Well, and this is one of the things that I
31:21
Speaker 1: think the lives will be wrestling with now is whether
31:23
Speaker 1: or not they continue with the policy of nuclear and
31:26
Speaker 1: there will be people within the Liberal Party pushing to
31:30
Speaker 1: dump it. That would put you at great odds with them,
31:32
Speaker 1: wouldn't it.
31:34
Speaker 9: Well yeah, again, I don't want to hypothesize too much
31:37
Speaker 9: at Carla. We haven't signed any agreement yet, so I
31:39
Speaker 9: don't want to almost sabotaget what by talking about contentious
31:42
Speaker 9: issues that we're going to have to resolve. But you know,
31:44
Speaker 9: and I think it's healthy and you know, the Liberal
31:47
Speaker 9: Party will do this. We will do this as a coalition.
31:49
Speaker 9: You know, we should go through all our policies and go, okay,
31:52
Speaker 9: how do we think that rolled out with mum and
31:54
Speaker 9: dad out there in voter Land And I think it's
31:56
Speaker 9: healthy to do that. But certainly I'm just going on
31:59
Speaker 9: the feedback I had had it out nuclear wasn't a
32:02
Speaker 9: big one.
32:03
Speaker 2: Indeed, Kevin, thank you so much for your time.
32:06
Speaker 9: Thanks calein.
32:08
Speaker 2: Well.
32:08
Speaker 1: This week the Andrew Forrest back Forteskew secked about ninety
32:12
Speaker 1: of its staff on its green hydrogen projects spread across
32:15
Speaker 1: its electoralizer facility in Queensland and a hydrogen lab in
32:19
Speaker 1: Western Australia. It's funny because the Prime Minister said this
32:23
Speaker 1: two months ago, almost to the day.
32:26
Speaker 11: Green hydrogen we believe has a role to play in
32:30
Speaker 11: Australia's future and indeed that's recognized around the globe. When
32:36
Speaker 11: the solar industry was starting off decades ago, there were
32:42
Speaker 11: many who said, oh it doesn't stack up. We know
32:45
Speaker 11: today that solar energy is the cheapest form of new
32:48
Speaker 11: energy green hydrogen. Australia is in a unique position of
32:53
Speaker 11: having the best solar resources in the world, amongst the
32:57
Speaker 11: best wind resources in the world. Everything that can go
33:01
Speaker 11: into the creation of green hydrogen to create green metals.
33:07
Speaker 1: And keep in mind that ninety nine percent of the
33:09
Speaker 1: touted capacity of hydrogen projects in Australia have not moved
33:13
Speaker 1: beyond the concept or approval stage. Joining us now to
33:16
Speaker 1: discuss this more environment environment Sorry, editor at The Australian
33:20
Speaker 1: and scar News contributed Graham Lloyd Graham welcome. I mean,
33:23
Speaker 1: you know it looks good on paper, but there are
33:26
Speaker 1: much larger issues at play here and a lesson to
33:29
Speaker 1: be learned. These projects keep falling over. This isn't the
33:33
Speaker 1: first time that Twiggy has scaled back his investment.
33:37
Speaker 2: When's anyone going to wake up and.
33:38
Speaker 1: Actually say this is a seriously green dream?
33:44
Speaker 12: Well good Evan Cayld. Certainly the industry has reached that point,
33:49
Speaker 12: and not surprisingly it's the government that's sort of late
33:52
Speaker 12: to the party and realizing that it's throwing good money
33:55
Speaker 12: after bad. Mister firest was heavily invested in Queensland. The
34:02
Speaker 12: Queensland government had other priorities. He's a smart guy. He's
34:07
Speaker 12: packed up his tent and he's gone back to Western
34:09
Speaker 12: Australia to concentrate on trying to make green steel. And
34:15
Speaker 12: that is really because they're quite concerned that China's going
34:19
Speaker 12: to swap the Australian I or it's buying four higher
34:23
Speaker 12: grade resources out of Africa. So that's where he's going
34:29
Speaker 12: to output his attention. Because the green hydrogen boondoggle has busts.
34:33
Speaker 12: There is no international market, it's higher cost to do
34:38
Speaker 12: than anyone expected, and so it's time to look somewhere else.
34:41
Speaker 1: Well, there were sixty million dollars in taxpayer cash on
34:45
Speaker 1: the table for this project, Gladston, what happens to that now?
34:50
Speaker 12: Well, I think you will have to look at what
34:52
Speaker 12: the agreements were with the government in terms of putting
34:55
Speaker 12: that money in for adri Forres and Fortescue. That's not
35:01
Speaker 12: a great deal of money. He'll probably repay that if
35:04
Speaker 12: that's the wise thing to do, because he'll pick it
35:07
Speaker 12: up for his Green Medal's investments over in Western Australia.
35:11
Speaker 1: Now, of course, Chris Bowen has been running around this week.
35:14
Speaker 1: He's darning out on the election.
35:16
Speaker 2: He keeps saying.
35:17
Speaker 1: It's a vote for the renewables agenda. People have backed
35:21
Speaker 1: it all in. I don't think that's exactly what people
35:24
Speaker 1: voted for. I think they just didn't really want Peter
35:27
Speaker 1: Dutton in the lodge. That's by the bye, but it
35:30
Speaker 1: is clear that they are not going to change course
35:33
Speaker 1: one bit on the agenda they had in the last term.
35:38
Speaker 2: When are we going to get that reduction in our
35:39
Speaker 2: power bills?
35:42
Speaker 12: Well, this is still the big question, Caleb. I mean
35:45
Speaker 12: winners a green as when it comes to elections, and
35:48
Speaker 12: certainly Chris Bowen is out there saying, look, this is
35:51
Speaker 12: fantastic and it's a great vote for him and his plans.
35:55
Speaker 12: The difficult part, of course, is delivering it. And there's
35:58
Speaker 12: a lot of evidence that this is a bit more
36:01
Speaker 12: difficult and more expensive than people had hoped. And on
36:04
Speaker 12: that score, green hydrogen was going to be a key
36:08
Speaker 12: part of that, and we're seeing now the power Authority
36:12
Speaker 12: is saying grid vulnerability is an issue and that requires
36:17
Speaker 12: a much greater use of gas. So with hydrogen not
36:21
Speaker 12: available to do that, gas is going to have to
36:24
Speaker 12: These are the real issues that Chris Bowen is going
36:28
Speaker 12: to have to grapple with. He's got clear air now
36:31
Speaker 12: to pursue a renewables heavy approach, and now he just
36:36
Speaker 12: has to finalize the plan of how it's going to
36:39
Speaker 12: work and how they can get the costs back off
36:42
Speaker 12: consolidated revenue where they belong, and that's people who are
36:45
Speaker 12: using the power.
36:47
Speaker 1: Indeed, Graham Lloyd, great to see you again. And of
36:49
Speaker 1: course don't forget during the campaign they put Chris Bowen
36:54
Speaker 1: in the freezer and somehow he is back out again.
36:57
Speaker 2: Funny about that. Up of the break, lots of big talk.
37:00
Speaker 1: Coming from the UK Labor government when it comes to immigration.
37:03
Speaker 1: So Kis Starmer is saying stuff that everyone except Pauline
37:07
Speaker 1: Hanson basically has been afraid to say here, So how
37:10
Speaker 1: much of it can we believe?
37:11
Speaker 2: That more? After the break?
37:17
Speaker 1: Prime Minister Sir Kiss Starmer has been quite extraordinary on
37:20
Speaker 1: immigration this week, saying that Margaret's ought to speak English
37:24
Speaker 1: and the UK is risking becoming an island of strangers.
37:27
Speaker 1: I mean, when did you last hear anyone other than
37:30
Speaker 1: Pauline Hanson? They alone a Labor prime minister say anything
37:34
Speaker 1: like that here. Well, he's doubling down on it. He's
37:37
Speaker 1: posted on X I've already returned over twenty four thousand
37:40
Speaker 1: people with no right to be here and I won't
37:44
Speaker 1: stop there now. He's saying all the right things, but
37:47
Speaker 1: it's a pretty fast turnaround. Joining me now to discuss
37:50
Speaker 1: his News Corps Europe correspondent Sophie Ellsworth. Sophie, welcome. How
37:56
Speaker 1: has the public received this in the UK? They buying
37:59
Speaker 1: what the Prime minister is selling or do they think
38:02
Speaker 1: it's a reaction to the polling that they've seen in
38:06
Speaker 1: the last few days saying that the Reform Party now
38:09
Speaker 1: has the largest vote in the country.
38:12
Speaker 7: Well, I think it's a combination of a few things, Kayleb.
38:15
Speaker 7: This is a Prime minister who is very nervous. We've
38:18
Speaker 7: just had the local council elections here in the UK
38:22
Speaker 7: and Reform UK absolutely smashed it out of the park.
38:25
Speaker 7: They are boosting their popularity week in week out, and
38:30
Speaker 7: voters are really turning away in the polls and in
38:33
Speaker 7: these council elections away from the Conservative Party and the
38:37
Speaker 7: Labor government. And this some of the commentary has been
38:41
Speaker 7: in their media here that this is a prime minister
38:44
Speaker 7: reacting to the dribbing that they got in the council
38:47
Speaker 7: elections and he's trying to win back voters. But Caleb,
38:51
Speaker 7: let's be realistic here. There is not another general election
38:55
Speaker 7: in the UK scheduled until twenty twenty nine, so there's
38:59
Speaker 7: an awfully long way to go.
39:01
Speaker 2: So does he actually pull this off?
39:02
Speaker 1: I mean, the modeling is showing they could get a
39:05
Speaker 1: migration down to three hundred thousand by twenty twenty nine.
39:09
Speaker 1: It's currently nearly eight hundred thousand, so it's a pretty
39:12
Speaker 1: serious task.
39:13
Speaker 2: Is he actually going to pull this off?
39:17
Speaker 7: Well, kayleb, there was over seven hundred thousand, close to
39:20
Speaker 7: eight hundred thousand of net migration last year and this
39:24
Speaker 7: is a problem for the government. They don't know how
39:27
Speaker 7: to stop it, and there's argument is that they haven't
39:30
Speaker 7: been strong enough, but there was also huge migration issues
39:33
Speaker 7: when Conservatives were in power only a year ago. So
39:38
Speaker 7: many people are pointing the fingers at both parties and
39:41
Speaker 7: they're now looking to alternatives such as Reform UK. Richard Tice,
39:45
Speaker 7: the Deputy Leader, he was just behind me moments ago
39:48
Speaker 7: doing an interview with the UK outlet, the Reform UK.
39:51
Speaker 7: They're getting all the momentum, Kayla, because Nigel Farage, the Leader,
39:55
Speaker 7: has come out very strong and said if you're not
39:58
Speaker 7: here legally, you're out of the cuntry And so I
40:01
Speaker 7: think Kiyos Starma is panicking and I think he's now
40:04
Speaker 7: trying to do something urgently on this because he knows
40:07
Speaker 7: he's just going to continue to shed more votes well.
40:10
Speaker 1: And the analysis of those numbers out of the local
40:13
Speaker 1: elections has found that if it was replicated at a
40:16
Speaker 1: general election, all the same areas that went up reformed
40:20
Speaker 1: win eighty one of the one hundred and forty five
40:23
Speaker 1: seats that would be up for grabs, So it's pretty extraordinary.
40:25
Speaker 1: Very quickly, before we go another issue, the Telegraph has
40:28
Speaker 1: revealed that the NHS is treating children under seven who
40:33
Speaker 1: believe their transgender and I should note they're not being
40:36
Speaker 1: given drugs like puberty blockers, but according to new data,
40:39
Speaker 1: as many as ten children of nursery age are receiving
40:43
Speaker 1: counseling and therapy with their family, and as many as
40:46
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty seven aged nine or younger have
40:49
Speaker 1: been referred to gender clinics.
40:52
Speaker 2: I thought the plan.
40:53
Speaker 1: After the cast review was that there would be a
40:55
Speaker 1: minimum age of seven. That seems to have gone out
40:57
Speaker 1: the window.
41:00
Speaker 7: Consultation at Caleb about this, and the claims in the
41:04
Speaker 7: Telegraph today is that trans groups really put pressure on
41:07
Speaker 7: the government and said that they should not have a
41:10
Speaker 7: limit here of when young children can access counseling and assistance.
41:16
Speaker 3: But of course not drugs.
41:18
Speaker 7: So this has made headlines here today in the UK.
41:21
Speaker 7: This is another hot issue at the moment because we
41:24
Speaker 7: just saw that landmark case in the Supreme Court here
41:27
Speaker 7: where they find what woman is in the UK and
41:31
Speaker 7: that trans women will be banned from female only spaces.
41:36
Speaker 7: But this is an issue that we have also seen
41:38
Speaker 7: in Australia. But now it appears that the government has
41:42
Speaker 7: got concerned about this and there will not be an
41:46
Speaker 7: age limit for what children can access counseling. So I
41:50
Speaker 7: think this will be another issue that will make headlines
41:53
Speaker 7: for quite some time with people many concerned, many people
41:56
Speaker 7: concerned about this.
41:57
Speaker 1: Caleb rightly, so, Sophie, great to see you again, Thank
42:00
Speaker 1: you for your time. After the break, the PM highlights
42:03
Speaker 1: the importance of our relationship with India in his first
42:06
Speaker 1: state visit since winning the election, plus how significant was
42:09
Speaker 1: Donald Trump's meeting with the new president of Syria.
42:12
Speaker 2: The panel joins me.
42:13
Speaker 1: Next, All right, let's bring in the panel Scar and
42:19
Speaker 1: News contributed Kosher Gada and past Chair of Parliament's Foreign
42:22
Speaker 1: Affairs and Defense Committee, Michael Danby.
42:25
Speaker 2: Welcome to you both.
42:26
Speaker 1: Let's begin with the Prime Minister's visit to Indonesia. He
42:29
Speaker 1: received a ceremonial welcome in Jakarta earlier today in what's
42:33
Speaker 1: his first overseas trip since the election. Now no doubt
42:36
Speaker 1: he'll be looking to strengthen ties with the Indonesian government
42:39
Speaker 1: given growing concerns about Russia's influence in the region.
42:42
Speaker 13: Michael Well, I'm expecting nothing out of this is it
42:46
Speaker 13: will no change, at least as long as the Russians.
42:49
Speaker 13: The Indonesians don't allow the Russians to set up a
42:51
Speaker 13: permanent airbase and Biak. I think that's unlikely. Indonesia's joined
42:55
Speaker 13: the bricks and they're trying to still show that they're neutral.
42:58
Speaker 13: But Pravo got on the as soon as he was
43:01
Speaker 13: elected in November to Moscow to see Putin, so there's
43:06
Speaker 13: an alignment there. He said that you can be friends
43:10
Speaker 13: with Australia, but you can't choose by geography your neighbors,
43:13
Speaker 13: so I think that was entirely friendly.
43:16
Speaker 1: Now also interesting to note Kosher because he's going off
43:20
Speaker 1: to the inauguration of the Pope, the first time an
43:23
Speaker 1: Australian Prime minister's done that.
43:27
Speaker 14: And that's the thing with these issues that even if
43:29
Speaker 14: there isn't going to be too much substantively that comes
43:32
Speaker 14: out of it, as Michael said, and that may very
43:34
Speaker 14: well be the case. There is an optical element to it,
43:37
Speaker 14: and often that's stagecraft is a big part of why
43:40
Speaker 14: leaders choose to make the trips they make and go
43:42
Speaker 14: to the places they go. And surely that was in
43:45
Speaker 14: his calculus about shoring up the Indo Pacific region and
43:48
Speaker 14: trying to make a statement in some way to shore
43:51
Speaker 14: them up with our side of town and away from
43:54
Speaker 14: China and Russia.
43:55
Speaker 1: Someone else, who, of course, is traveling around the world
43:57
Speaker 1: at the moment, is President Donald Trump touring the Middle East,
44:01
Speaker 1: and he's met with Syria's interim president in Saudi Arabia
44:04
Speaker 1: following the surprise declaration that he will lift sanctions on Syria,
44:09
Speaker 1: and it's the first time that a US and Syrian
44:12
Speaker 1: leader have met in twenty five years.
44:15
Speaker 2: This is how Trump described the meeting. How did you.
44:18
Speaker 5: Find the Syrian president.
44:22
Speaker 14: Young?
44:23
Speaker 2: Attractive?
44:23
Speaker 11: Yeah, he's going to really shout it living together.
44:29
Speaker 1: Look, I'm not sure what being young and attractive really
44:31
Speaker 1: has to do with the Kosher But what does all
44:33
Speaker 1: of this mean?
44:36
Speaker 14: Big news is to say that's sister Trump's way, carrot
44:39
Speaker 14: and stick diplomacy. He's offering a few carrots at this point.
44:42
Speaker 14: It's a big deal because these sanctions have been around
44:44
Speaker 14: for the better part of a decade. He's lifting them
44:46
Speaker 14: in one fell swoop. It is controversial, as most things
44:50
Speaker 14: in that region are and involving Trump are, because the
44:54
Speaker 14: current president, the acting president of Syria, formerly was an
44:57
Speaker 14: al Qaeda operative, so a lot of people are skeptical
44:59
Speaker 14: about how much to trust him. Israel does not support
45:03
Speaker 14: this move because of the obviously the role of Syria
45:05
Speaker 14: and that conflict. However, it goes to Trump's worldview, which
45:09
Speaker 14: he has really been clear about for decades, even before
45:12
Speaker 14: he entered politics, and that is about trying to normalize
45:14
Speaker 14: relationships with all actors in the world as much as possible,
45:17
Speaker 14: imperfect as they may be. For America. First, this is
45:20
Speaker 14: a nod to the Gulf States who want the sanctions
45:23
Speaker 14: lifted because they want to do more investment in Syria.
45:25
Speaker 14: There's a humanitarian angle to it because ninety percent of
45:27
Speaker 14: their citizens have been below the poverty line. And I
45:30
Speaker 14: think this was pre negotiated. And he likes to throw
45:33
Speaker 14: these surprises out when he's on these trips because he
45:35
Speaker 14: is a showman, and that's again back to that stagecraft
45:37
Speaker 14: element of it as well.
45:38
Speaker 1: I don't think you can fold him on the point
45:41
Speaker 1: that US and Western military intervention in the Middle East
45:45
Speaker 1: has had much to show for it. So he's trying
45:47
Speaker 1: something new, and I think it's well worth doing. But
45:49
Speaker 1: another thing, of course, Michael, is that he's announced this
45:53
Speaker 1: deal which would have him take a plane from Qatar.
45:57
Speaker 1: They are now going to buy two hundred and ten
46:00
Speaker 1: US made Boeing jets, but at the same time he
46:04
Speaker 1: could take a jet from them that would serve as
46:08
Speaker 1: Air Force one while they're waiting on planes to come
46:11
Speaker 1: from Boeing to.
46:12
Speaker 2: Be the new air Force. I mean four hundred million dollars.
46:15
Speaker 1: This thing would be worth that the Qatari royals would
46:18
Speaker 1: give to him.
46:19
Speaker 2: Surely he cannot take that.
46:22
Speaker 13: He's going to He says he's going to endow it
46:24
Speaker 13: to his library. This all seems to be about commerce
46:27
Speaker 13: and commercial advantage.
46:29
Speaker 2: Caleb.
46:30
Speaker 13: I don't believe in going from people's throats to their
46:32
Speaker 13: feet in one go. It's not only esthetically unpleasing, it's
46:36
Speaker 13: politically dangerous. And it's all very well to say we
46:40
Speaker 13: should incorporate Syria in the new world order. That's probably
46:43
Speaker 13: a good idea if we can, but give it a
46:45
Speaker 13: bit more time. This bloke HTS has still banned the
46:49
Speaker 13: Organization in America by the Congress, and he was murdering Christians,
46:54
Speaker 13: Alawis and the Druze minority just last week. So I'm
46:58
Speaker 13: not sure that Donald does all that well in formed
47:00
Speaker 13: about these kind of modalities as an American schooler. But the
47:03
Speaker 13: plane is a really bad idea. I mean, it just
47:06
Speaker 13: makes him look like a crook and that people can
47:09
Speaker 13: give him things and then he'll change his policy in
47:12
Speaker 13: favor of those countries. It shouldn't be like that. Donald
47:15
Speaker 13: Trump is a better president than that, and America is
47:17
Speaker 13: a bigger country than that.
47:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, I really do not think it's a good look.
47:21
Speaker 1: Now. Now, the President Trump nor Vladimir Putin will be
47:24
Speaker 1: attending peace talks with Lotimire Zelenski in Turkey, which were
47:27
Speaker 1: planned for Thursday local time, and Zelenski's called on both
47:31
Speaker 1: leaders to join him for direct talks in Turkey, but
47:33
Speaker 1: Putin's decision to send a team of junior officials has
47:36
Speaker 1: sort of made the possibility of negotiations happening a little uncertain.
47:40
Speaker 13: Michael, Well, this is Putin going a bridge too far
47:44
Speaker 13: for his own interests because he challenged Lensky to turn
47:47
Speaker 13: up and the President said that he go there on
47:49
Speaker 13: Thursday if both of them were there. Putin is going
47:51
Speaker 13: to start annoying Trump at some point. I mean, killing
47:57
Speaker 13: thirty six Christians on Palm Sunday in Kharakiv while Steve
48:01
Speaker 13: Witkoff is blabbing onto him in Moscow using all of
48:05
Speaker 13: the Russian code words and pronunciations of Ukrainian places is
48:11
Speaker 13: not a good idea, is not a good look. And
48:13
Speaker 13: eventually Trump's going to realize that Putin is playing him
48:17
Speaker 13: for a mug. He should have shown up there the
48:20
Speaker 13: Americans ascending Secretary of Saint Rubio, but poor show by Putin.
48:25
Speaker 1: Again and again.
48:26
Speaker 13: Eventually, this guy is going to annoy Trump into adopting
48:30
Speaker 13: support for Ukraine.
48:31
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
48:31
Speaker 1: And I wanted to talk about we don't have time,
48:33
Speaker 1: but this business about Biden.
48:35
Speaker 2: Not recognizing George Clooney.
48:37
Speaker 1: I mean, if you wanted any more evidence of how
48:40
Speaker 1: out of his brain the guy was. If you can't
48:41
Speaker 1: recognize George Blooney, you are done. Kosher Michael, thank you
48:45
Speaker 1: for your time and thank you for your company. Tonight
48:47
Speaker 1: The Bolt Report is up next. You'll see me.
48:50
Speaker 2: Here again next week. Good Night,