Latest / The Bolt Report / The Bolt Report | 26 August

Transcript

The Bolt Report | 26 August · The Bolt Report

• 0:11
  Speaker 1: This is The Bolt Report.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Good evening and welcome to The Bolt Report. I'm James McPherson.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Here's what's coming up tonight. Chris Bowen's blind obsession with
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: green energy causes yet another headache, scaring away investors who
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: want to cash in on the AI data centre boom
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: but don't want Labor forcing them to use renewables to
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: do it. Anthony Albanese makes another joke about a woman's breasts.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: A clip of the Prime Minister making fun of Dolly
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Parton's two big buses back in 2024 has surfaced amid
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: global grief over the late country singer's passing. I can't
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: wait to talk to Rowan Dean about that one. And
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: the chilling far-left views turning the US Democrats into a
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: party of extremists. Their Michigan Senate candidate says there's no
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: difference between sex changes and circumcision. He backs Sharia law
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: and claims reparations for blacks are only fair. Sean Spicer
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: will join me shortly. But first, if someone stole my
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: car out of my driveway while I slept and then
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: dumped it miles away with the tyres off the rims
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: and the engine still running, you know what I'd do?
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I'd call the police. Why would I call the police? Well,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: I'd call the police because I'm not a Greens-endorsed mayor
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: who's decided the best way to fight crime is to
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: ignore it. But remarkably, that's exactly what appears to have
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: happened in Alice Springs. Mayor Astor Hill had her partner's
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: diesel SUV stolen from their home on Sunday night. Now,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: why a Greens-backed mayor is driving around in a diesel? Well,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: I don't know, but let's not get caught up on
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: climate emergencies, because we all know, despite their bleating, the
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: progressive left certainly don't. In fact, it's entirely possible climate
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: minister Chris Bowen is flying over your house right now
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: in his never-ending bid to curb emissions. The stolen vehicle
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: was found at around 1am, but according to a report
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: in Today's Australian, the mayor declined to give a statement
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: and didn't want the offenders charged. Now, to normal people,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: this makes absolutely no sense at all. If my car
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: was stolen, I'd want the crime investigated and I would
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: demand the perpetrators be tracked down. You see the problem here, though,
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: don't you? If you report a crime, will the police
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: record it? And if the police record it, well, then
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: it appears in the crime statistics. And if it appears
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: in the crime statistics, the crime statistics go up. Worse,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: if the crime statistics go up, people might start to
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: mistakenly believe you've got a crime problem. The Alice Springs
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: mayor was lamenting just this difficulty when she spoke at
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: the developing Northern Australia conference last month. That was back
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: in the days when she had a vehicle.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: People are scared of moving here because they think it's unsafe.
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: That's not actually true.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: And we want to not only dispel those myths, but
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: we also want to start celebrating the incredible reasons why,
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: in my view, this is the best place on earth
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: to live.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Hang on a second, I'm confused. Why would people think
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Alice Springs is unsafe? I mean, apart from all the
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: violent assaults and all the property crime, but I mean,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: apart from all the crime, what would possibly give people
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: the impression Alice Springs is beset by crime?
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: I'm really saddened to say that that analysis has revealed
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: that 65% of media portrayals of our town are negative
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: and they're all on that really central theme that this
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: is not a safe place to live.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Ah, so the reason people think Alice Springs is unsafe
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: is the damn media keep reporting what's happening in the town.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: It's not the crime, it's the reporting of the crime
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: that's causing all the problems. Now, the obvious way to
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: solve this would be to crack down on crime, but
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I only say that because I'm not from the progressive
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: left and therefore keep forgetting that reality can be bent
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: to our will by sufficient quantities of wishful thinking. Here's
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: the mayor's solution to the Alice Springs crime problem.
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: We're currently engaging in a change the narrative strategy.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: See, the thing about changing reality is that it's difficult,
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: but changing the narrative, that could work.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: We're going to bring together diverse stakeholders who have that
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: shared want to change the story of our town to
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: actually roll out a strategy to get the good stories out,
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: the more balanced stories out, and to really promote this place.
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: To the rest of Australia.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: And good luck with that. But here's the problem. Narratives
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: aren't magic spells. You can't simply rename a crime wave
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: a misunderstanding and expect the stolen cars to politely return themselves.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: You can't assure people that Alice Springs will be safe
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: just so long as you promise not to notice anything
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: to the contrary, like drunken fights in the street or
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: stores being robbed or the mayor's abandoned tireless car. You
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: can't make crime less real by making it less reported.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: In fact, failing to report crime makes crime worse because
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: the authorities have less information about what's really happening. The left,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: and particularly the Greens, have long had this adorable childlike
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: faith in the power of language to transform reality. For instance...
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: If we say trans women are women, chromosomes will reorder themselves.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: If we chant queers for Palestine, often enough, Islamic theology
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: will reconfigure itself. And if we keep saying diversity is
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: our strength, who knows, the Bondi terror attack might turn
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: out to have been a giant misunderstanding. Change the terminology,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: change the narrative, change the perception, and perhaps reality will
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: get the hint first. and change itself. And that way,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: we can do as we please without ever having to
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: take responsibility for anything other than the chance. The problem,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: of course, is that reality is stubborn, isn't it? Reality
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: will steal your car in the middle of the night
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: without giving your communication strategy a second thought, as the
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: mayor of Alice Springs has discovered. Her ideology met reality
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: at the weekend, and reality stole her wheels. So this week,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: If you see the Greens mayor travelling around Alice Springs
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: on foot, it's not because she doesn't have a car.
• 6:17
  Speaker 6: No, no.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: She's just driving her narrative. Now, while we're on the
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: subject of the progressive left's magical belief that if you
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: say something often enough, reality will eventually become too embarrassed
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: to disagree, here's the master of this dark art, Chris Bowen.
• 6:36
  Speaker 7: Renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy.
• 6:38
  Speaker 8: Renewables are the cheapest form of energy.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: And he's right, renewable energy is cheap. It costs nothing
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: to feel the sun on your face or to feel
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: the wind in your hair. It's only when you try
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: capturing that energy, transmitting it hundreds of kilometres and storing
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: it for the inconvenient hours when the sun ain't shining
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: and the wind ain't blowing, that this cheapest form of
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: energy starts behaving like the most expensive. Which brings us
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: to Chris Bowen's ideological hard-headedness now causing headaches in Queensland
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: and in the Northern Territory. Both want to host data
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: centres with all the investment and jobs they promise. But
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: investors apparently remain stubbornly attached to this quaint idea that
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: cheap energy is preferable to progressive energy. Here's opposition deputy
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: leader Jane Hume earlier today.
• 7:38
  Speaker 9: They will not invest here if we start putting ridiculous
• 7:41
  Speaker 9: ideological caveats on whether it is that they can use
• 7:44
  Speaker 9: one type of energy source versus another type of energy source.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Industry Minister Tim Ayres, however, insists the renewable energy obsession
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: must continue.
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: Well, it's absolutely essential as we rebuild and modernise our
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: electricity system. that Australia doesn't go backwards in terms of
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: our electricity system, but that is a system that is
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: based on solar and wind, backed by gas and backed
• 8:17
  Speaker 5: by storage.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Joining me now is former New South Wales Treasurer Michael
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: Costa and former Chief of Staff to Labor leader Bill
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: Shorten and now Director of GXO Strategies Cameron Milner. Welcome
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: to both of you gentlemen. Michael, I'll start with you.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: The Queensland Premier says his state should be energy agnostic,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: using coal, gas, renewables, depending on what makes economic sense.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Why shouldn't Queensland be allowed to make that decision for themselves?
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Of course they should be able to, but You know,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: I love Tim Ayres there. I mean, he's a bloke
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: that came from the Metalworkers Union talking about efficiency and,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: you know, making sure things go the right way. He
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: took his union from something like 200,000 members down to
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: about 50,000, you know, in the tenure that he was
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: part of that leadership group. Look, these people have got
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: no idea. Leaving aside the fact that, you know, one's
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: got to question a lot of the... bubble that's around AI,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: the bottom line is nobody's going to invest unless they
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: have reliable power. And the only reliable clean energy power,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: renewable energy power, is nuclear. And they've taken that off
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: the table. And we can see that batteries aren't going
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: to firm the system up because we've got all those
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: reports today about what's happening with Snowy Hydro. These people
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: cannot run an energy system. If you can't run an
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: energy system, you can't run an economy, and you certainly
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: can't get investment in key industries.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Reminds me of that old joke, how do you make
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: a Labor minister a small businessman? You give him a
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: big business. Cameron, we're talking about a proposed $ 31. 9 billion
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: data centre development in Queensland. Is it economically reckless for
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Canberra to put conditions on the energy sources that could
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: power it?
• 10:00
  Speaker 8: Oh, absolutely. And I'm a proud Queenslander.
• 10:02
  Speaker 10: And we should be allowed in Queensland to get on
• 10:04
  Speaker 10: with delivering AI data centres with the cheapest form of
• 10:08
  Speaker 10: energy possible, which is a mix. We've got coal, we've
• 10:10
  Speaker 10: got gas, we've got solar, we've got wind and we've
• 10:12
  Speaker 10: got storage. So we should be allowed to do it
• 10:14
  Speaker 10: as Queenslanders without this crazy Canberra ideology and this public
• 10:18
  Speaker 10: service of Nirvana that we need to direct global companies
• 10:22
  Speaker 10: to buy expensive power to run their expensive data centres.
• 10:25
  Speaker 8: It's not going to happen, James.
• 10:26
  Speaker 10: And to Michael's point, I mean, this is big tech
• 10:28
  Speaker 10: versus green, hard green ideology. That's what we're facing. And
• 10:33
  Speaker 10: right now, Australia needs to be productive and competitive. And
• 10:36
  Speaker 10: we need to actually embrace cheap energy, which we do
• 10:38
  Speaker 10: have still in this country. And let's not face the
• 10:40
  Speaker 10: fact that most of those data centers in the US
• 10:43
  Speaker 10: are all being built on nuclear. To your point, Michael,
• 10:45
  Speaker 10: you know, I mean, they haven't bypassed renewables and they've
• 10:48
  Speaker 10: gone for nuclear power because that's actually cheap and stable
• 10:51
  Speaker 10: and affordable.
• 10:52
  Speaker 8: And that's what these data centers need.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Michael, this made me laugh, but you tell me if
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: I'm being too cynical. Chris Bowen has warned that Queensland's
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: approach could push power prices up by 13%. What faith
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: do you put in Chris Bowen's predictions for energy prices?
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Well, he knows all about pushing power prices up, so
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: we've got to take him on his word on that.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Maybe he knows something that we don't. Given all these
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: batteries have fallen over, like I said with Snowy Hydro,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Maybe there's something in the system that is going to
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: lead to massive price increases, but that's already built in.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: It's got nothing to do with Queensland's decision. You know,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: he's the minister that's presided over power price increases on
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: an unprecedented level. So maybe he knows something about it. Indeed.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: All right, Federal Labor MP Luke Gosling has finally decided
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: to stand aside as a special envoy while two charges
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: of alleged assault are dealt with by the courts. He'd
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: previously resisted moving aside, but being charged with allegedly breaching
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: bail was, I suppose, the last straw. I should note
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: that Gosling denies all charges, but, Michael, do you think
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Gosling has done this of his own volition or might
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: the PM have had a quiet word, do you think?
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Well, look, I also support the view that somebody's innocent
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: until proven otherwise. So let's be clear about that. However,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: having said that, from a political management point of view,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: I'm sure the Prime Minister has put that principle aside
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: and said, listen, mate, you're causing a political problem. You
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: better step aside. You know, I've got enough issues on
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: the agenda at the moment without having you.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: Cameron, does it look silly now that he didn't make
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: this decision earlier? He waited until an alleged breach of
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: bail charge was added before finally doing the obvious?
• 12:38
  Speaker 8: It is. But to Michael's point, I mean, Luke deserves
• 12:40
  Speaker 8: the presumption of innocence. But the reality is politics is politics.
• 12:44
  Speaker 8: And it's about perception.
• 12:45
  Speaker 10: I mean, you know, the Prime Minister was on another program,
• 12:48
  Speaker 10: you know, the other night, extolling NRL's virtue, saying as
• 12:51
  Speaker 10: soon as you're charged, you're on the grass. Well, the
• 12:54
  Speaker 10: same should apply to politicians. Under Albo's rules, the NRL
• 12:58
  Speaker 10: standard is... Once you're charged, you're gone. And Gosling's been
• 13:01
  Speaker 10: there too long after he was charged, only adding insult
• 13:04
  Speaker 10: to injury now with breaching bail conditions, allegedly.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Well, Cameron, you've sort of pre-empted my next question and
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: answered it, so I might go to you on this, Michael.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Should there be a consistent rule across Australian politics where
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: if an MP holding a government appointment is accused of
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: a crime, they automatically step aside from that appointment until
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: matters are resolved one way or the other? Is that
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: the smart thing for... all parties just to agree to?
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Look, I wouldn't have a hard and fast rule like
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: that at all. It depends on what sort of crime
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: you're talking about. And it really does depend on the
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: circumstances around that. Certainly as a principle, if there is,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: you know, an accusation and the accusation may be meritorious,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: given that there's been charges, you know, the political leadership
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: should make a decision about that. But I wouldn't have
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: a blanket rule about everything.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: All right, Anthony Albanese posted this photo today from his
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: National Cabinet meeting. He captioned the photo, delivering real change
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: right across Australia. I think most Australians would agree that
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: he's delivering real change. I'm just not sure too many
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Australians like the changes. The PM's got 1.4 million followers
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: on X, and when I last checked, he had less
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: than 400 likes for that post. So I don't know
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: what that tells you, but the latest poll shows a
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: similar discontent. According to the polling data from News24, Pulse
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: and YouGov released last night, One Nation is the second
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: most popular party, securing 26% of the primary vote, and
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: they're quickly closing the gap with Labor, who secured 29%
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: of the vote. The Coalition... slumped to 21%, still five
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: points behind One Nation. It's no surprise that Labor are struggling.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: The PM didn't exactly distinguish himself with vulgar comments about
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: a key ally on the Bush Deep podcast. Economic anxieties
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: also gripped voters after three RBA rate hikes this year.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: And of course, we've got news today, inflation remains too high.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: That's fuelled fears of yet another rate hike. But worst
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: of all, Labor's broken key promises not to make changes
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: to negative gearing or to capital gains taxes. What continues
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: to surprise me, however, gentlemen, is the failure of Angus
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: Taylor in the midst of all of this to cut through.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Not only are the libs trailing badly in the primary vote,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: but have a look at this. When asked which of
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: the three major leaders was most relatable, only 17% nominated
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: Angus Taylor. Michael, you've been watching Angus Taylor for a
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: while now. What's he missing?
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Well, I think it's a hard ask when you've got
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: the conservative side so divided. And, you know, it's easy
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: for One Nation to run a populist agenda. And I
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: think every time they've been pulled up, it's blown up
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: in the face of those that have pulled it up
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: because they've been able to refer to policies that they've
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: had in the past. He is suffering the legacy of
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: the Turnbull years and the Morrison years in terms of
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: policy failure, particularly around green energy and the net zero.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: And I think it's going to take a lot of
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: effort for him to get out of it. But the
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: most disturbing thing about that poll is that, you know,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: Anthony Albanese is still the preferred Prime Minister against both
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: of them. And not only that, it's pretty clear from
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: those results that he, being the most unpopular Prime Minister
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: that I've seen, will win a decisive victory if that continues.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, which is an astonishing thing, Cameron. Your thoughts on that?
• 16:36
  Speaker 10: Well, I mean, I think Michael and I agree on
• 16:37
  Speaker 10: this and have said on the program before. I mean,
• 16:40
  Speaker 10: you know, the reality of these polls is a vote
• 16:42
  Speaker 10: for Pauline is still a vote for Albo.
• 16:44
  Speaker 8: I mean, it's extraordinary. I mean, Albo is diabolical as
• 16:47
  Speaker 8: a Labor leader.
• 16:47
  Speaker 10: To your point, you know, making a whole series of
• 16:49
  Speaker 10: changes no one voted for, lying all over the place,
• 16:51
  Speaker 10: denying everything, no responsibility, Albo. Despite all those things on
• 16:56
  Speaker 10: the polls, he's still better than Angus and better than Pauline.
• 16:59
  Speaker 10: And that's the problem for the right. And I commend,
• 17:02
  Speaker 10: you know, Chris Kenny's program, you know, the fight for
• 17:04
  Speaker 10: the right that featured last night on News 24. It's
• 17:06
  Speaker 10: an excellent documentary. It goes the heart of the problem.
• 17:10
  Speaker 10: of what's happening in the Australian electorate out there, that
• 17:11
  Speaker 10: despite a hopelessly unpopular Labor Prime Minister in Albo, the
• 17:16
  Speaker 10: conservative side, because they're splintered, are still gifting it to Albo.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: Michael, we've still got a long way to go before
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: a federal election, but would Angus Taylor be feeling any
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: pressure in terms of his position as leader with this
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: failure to cut through? I mean, we were told that
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: when Susan Lee was pushed aside and Angus Taylor replaced her,
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: that would start to fix the Liberals' problems. It doesn't
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: seem to have. How would he be feeling right now?
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Look, I'd be more concerned about his situation after the
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Victorian election. I think we've got to wait to see
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: what happens there. But, look, the bottom line is they've
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: got nobody to replace him with. I mean, you know,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: we've said on many occasions that the most likely candidate, Hastie,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: has got major problems holding in his own seat. They
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: may well be better off hanging on with him and
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: not burning anything else they've got for the next election,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: given the performance, the two-party preferred performance. But I think
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: that the next election, the Victorian election... really be the test.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: Just finally, Cameron, if you could give one word of
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: advice to Angus Taylor to help him in his pursuits,
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: anything obvious stands out?
• 18:28
  Speaker 8: Leave now before the lights go out, Angus. Leave now.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: That's not particularly helpful.
• 18:35
  Speaker 8: It's good advice, I think.
• 18:36
  Speaker 10: I mean, to Michael's point, I mean, he's hiding nothing.
• 18:40
  Speaker 10: I mean, and the problem for him really is, you know,
• 18:43
  Speaker 10: it's liberal legacy, but also Angus just ain't cutting through.
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: All right, gentlemen, appreciate your time. Thanks so much for
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: joining me. Coming up after the break, our disrespectful Prime
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: Minister shows us how little self-awareness he has after lewd
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: comments he made about Dolly Parton resurface. Rowan Dean joins
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: me for what should be a very interesting chat that's
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: coming up right after this. Now, you'd think that after
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Anthony Albanese's comments regarding the Japanese Prime Minister's melons, he'd
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: be a little more self-aware when discussing the passing of
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: Dolly Parton. Alas, self-awareness, along with lower electricity prices and truth-telling,
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: is just another thing the PM is yet to deliver.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: Earlier today, Albanese recounted on social media a story about
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: his encounter with Dolly Parton that had originally told on
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: the ABC back in 2024. He wrote on social media today, Now.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Now, we've gone back and taken a look at the
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: ABC episode of Spics and Specs where Albanese told this story.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: And wouldn't you know it, there was the PM joking
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: about Dolly Parton's breasts. Did you ever use your political
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: influence to help a music act that you liked?
• 20:06
  Speaker 6: Oh, absolutely.
• 20:06
  Speaker 12: Absolutely.
• 20:10
  Speaker 6: One time was as Transport Minister, we got contacted by
• 20:14
  Speaker 6: the promoters for Dolly Parton because Dolly Parton doesn't like flying.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: So she had two big buses.
• 20:22
  Speaker 12: I'm glad you said buses.
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: And buses.
• 20:27
  Speaker 12: They were huge buses. Well, that was the problem.
• 20:31
  Speaker 6: They were too wide and too long.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: LAUGHTER It wasn't exactly being cryptic, just as this now
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: infamous exchange, despite protestations for the contrary, wasn't at all cryptic.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: The Japanese Prime Minister brought a melon.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: She?
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: Did she smuggle it?
• 20:48
  Speaker 8: I don't know.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: Oh, I'm expecting. Got a couple of melons. She brought two.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: She brought two, as you do. She just came in
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: looking like Pamela Anderson. She brought two.
• 20:57
  Speaker 12: Yes, really. And they're beautiful.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: But let's go back to that 2024 episode of Spicks
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: and Specks because Anthony Albanese wasn't finished turning his encounter
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: with a much-loved and respected woman into a pub anecdote.
• 21:10
  Speaker 6: I was like, for goodness sake, can't you just get,
• 21:13
  Speaker 6: you know, one of those vans in front with a sign,
• 21:16
  Speaker 6: big bus coming? LAUGHTER We got her in.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Imagine that, you're seeing the sign that says, wide load ahead,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: and you go, what could that be?
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, Dolly Parton.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: I got to go in them, though.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Pretty spectacular. It seems our Prime Minister has a little
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: bit of a history when it comes to inappropriate comments.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: Joining me now is Rowan Dean, host of Outsiders at
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: 9am every Sunday and The World According to Rowan Dean
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: on Fridays at 7pm. Rowan, do the Dolly Parton comments
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: put the Mellon comments into a little more context?
• 21:53
  Speaker 11: I'm afraid, James, that the Prime Minister has been busted,
• 21:56
  Speaker 11: as it were, and the pun is deliberate. This guy
• 21:58
  Speaker 11: has a real problem. He loves his boob jokes, nothing
• 22:02
  Speaker 11: wrong with that. He loves doing all the gestures and
• 22:05
  Speaker 11: making things. By the way, no disrespect at all to
• 22:08
  Speaker 11: Dolly Parton, who was a fantastic talent, a great actress,
• 22:12
  Speaker 11: a great singer, a great performer and all the rest,
• 22:14
  Speaker 11: but she herself loved boob jokes. She made a big
• 22:17
  Speaker 11: thing of it. Here was Anthony Albanese today coming out
• 22:23
  Speaker 11: with a story after we've had two months of so-called Melangate,
• 22:27
  Speaker 11: where he clearly was making jokes about breasts and having
• 22:31
  Speaker 11: a laugh. But here's the thing. It's not the fact
• 22:34
  Speaker 11: that he tells the boob jokes, James. It's the fact
• 22:37
  Speaker 11: that he lies and gaslights the Australian public. because clearly
• 22:43
  Speaker 11: he himself has drawn our attention to this episode of
• 22:45
  Speaker 11: Spics and Specs, which is only less than two years ago,
• 22:49
  Speaker 11: when he was quite happy there with a group of
• 22:51
  Speaker 11: people cracking jokes about Dolly Parton's boobs. There is literally
• 22:57
  Speaker 11: no other way you can interpret... Any of those exchanges,
• 23:00
  Speaker 11: big bus, it was bigger out here, should be like this,
• 23:04
  Speaker 11: you know, make way. Adam Hill joined in, the two
• 23:07
  Speaker 11: women joined in, one of them going, oh, yeah, huge
• 23:10
  Speaker 11: buses like this. There is no way that that could
• 23:13
  Speaker 11: be misinterpreted in any way whatsoever. That was less than
• 23:16
  Speaker 11: two years ago. Albanese was eagerly participating in that, even
• 23:20
  Speaker 11: to the point of, yeah, I got in those two
• 23:22
  Speaker 11: big buses.
• 23:24
  Speaker 8: Fine. Jokes are great.
• 23:26
  Speaker 11: But to then deny it and tell the Australian people
• 23:29
  Speaker 11: and trot out one female cabinet minister after another to
• 23:34
  Speaker 11: tell the Australian people that they were the sexists or
• 23:39
  Speaker 11: the weird misogynists or whatever. They were the ones who
• 23:42
  Speaker 11: had misinterpreted Albanese's gags about melons. because there was no way.
• 23:47
  Speaker 11: That was clearly misinterpreted. He had no intention of putting
• 23:50
  Speaker 11: that meaning across. What a bunch of hypocrites and liars.
• 23:54
  Speaker 11: And what Anthony Albanese did this morning, he just gave
• 23:58
  Speaker 11: us the proof, the final proof that he was not misinterpreted,
• 24:03
  Speaker 11: that he was not some innocent choir boy with Nicky Osbourne.
• 24:08
  Speaker 11: on Bush Deep just kind of happened to be doing
• 24:11
  Speaker 11: the melons gag and we all, we weirdos, all misinterpreted. No,
• 24:16
  Speaker 11: he's now shown us incontrovertible evidence that he loves a
• 24:19
  Speaker 11: good boob joke, he loves playing it up, he thinks
• 24:22
  Speaker 11: he's funny, he thinks he's witty. And he goes along
• 24:25
  Speaker 11: with it. And that is the proof. He's so, as
• 24:29
  Speaker 11: you said, lacking self-awareness. But I would say it's further
• 24:32
  Speaker 11: than that. His arrogance and his hubris is so out
• 24:36
  Speaker 11: of control. He must have known that if he started
• 24:40
  Speaker 11: talking about the Dolly Parton incident, which, by the way... James,
• 24:44
  Speaker 11: the original Dolly Parton incident back in 2011 began with
• 24:49
  Speaker 11: a boob joke as well, began with Dolly Parton pulling
• 24:54
  Speaker 11: Anthony Albanese's name out of her cleavage and saying, oh,
• 24:57
  Speaker 11: this was just a bit of padding, ha, ha, ha,
• 25:00
  Speaker 11: talking about Anthony Albanese and saying she'd like to smother
• 25:03
  Speaker 11: him with lip gloss. So there is no way this
• 25:06
  Speaker 11: is anything other than bawdy and locker room humour of
• 25:11
  Speaker 11: the type that people always criticise Donald Trump and others for.
• 25:14
  Speaker 11: Albanese has form in this. He's done it time and
• 25:17
  Speaker 11: time again. He was caught out offending the Japanese Prime Minister.
• 25:21
  Speaker 11: And if he's not prepared to apologise, not say, oh,
• 25:25
  Speaker 11: I made an error, but to apologise to the Japanese
• 25:27
  Speaker 11: Prime Minister, he.
• 25:31
  Speaker 11: Words fail me. He's lower than a snake's belly because
• 25:34
  Speaker 11: you cannot tell the Australian people that we're the ones
• 25:36
  Speaker 11: with the problem when it's the Prime Minister who clearly
• 25:39
  Speaker 11: loves going out doing his bawdy jokes.
• 25:42
  Speaker 8: Good luck to him.
• 25:42
  Speaker 11: Maybe when he loses to Pauline Hanson at the next election,
• 25:46
  Speaker 11: he can become a stand-up comic on the ABC doing
• 25:48
  Speaker 11: boob jokes and we'll all have a good laugh.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: Oh, God, protect us from that. You make a great point.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, Labor's feminist ministers, you know, there was Tanya Plibersek,
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: Claire O'Neill, Katie Gallagher, they all told us there's no
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: way the PM would make jokes about a woman's breasts.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: And like you said, they were the ones, or rather,
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: we were the ones who were told we mischaracterised him
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: and didn't understand him. Has Albanese just made those women
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: look even more silly?
• 26:16
  Speaker 8: Totally.
• 26:17
  Speaker 11: He's completely... If they're not... absolutely seething with anger today.
• 26:21
  Speaker 11: They went out on a limb, they defended him, they
• 26:24
  Speaker 11: put their reputations on the line, and today he's decided
• 26:27
  Speaker 11: for his own... Here we go again, the great Albo
• 26:30
  Speaker 11: who met Dolly Parton.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: Wow, wow, wow.
• 26:33
  Speaker 11: Just for his own vanity, his own ego, he's gone
• 26:35
  Speaker 11: and thrown them all, literally... not under a bus, but
• 26:38
  Speaker 11: under two very large buses. That's what he's done to them.
• 26:42
  Speaker 11: And they should be absolutely horrified. But it's not only that.
• 26:46
  Speaker 11: Where were the ABC feminists? Where were those women who
• 26:49
  Speaker 11: were on that panel of Spicks and Specks less than
• 26:54
  Speaker 11: two years ago sitting there doing their own boob jokes, laughing,
• 26:58
  Speaker 11: all of them on the ABC? There must have been
• 27:01
  Speaker 11: so many ABC watchers and producers who over the last
• 27:04
  Speaker 11: two months haven't gone... Oh, yeah, boob jokes, Albo. Yeah,
• 27:07
  Speaker 11: I remember the one on Speaks and Specks. Instead, they've
• 27:10
  Speaker 11: gone quiet. They've, you know, kind of covered it all up,
• 27:14
  Speaker 11: hoped no one would notice the episode of Speaks and Specks,
• 27:17
  Speaker 11: and Albo himself comes along and points the finger straight
• 27:20
  Speaker 11: at it. You can't make this stuff up, James.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: We've got to go to a break, Ron, but very quickly,
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: I want to show a little bit of that grab
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: you referred to earlier. Have a look at this.
• 27:31
  Speaker 9: And to also especially thank Anthony Albanese.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: Is that how you say his name?
• 27:36
  Speaker 11: Yeah.
• 27:37
  Speaker 9: The Minister of Transportation.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: He is so good to make sure that we got.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: My bus is here.
• 27:43
  Speaker 14: I hear there was quite a bit.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: Of press about that. So I don't know if he's
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: here today.
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: If he is, if he'll come up.
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: Here, I'll smear lip gloss all over him.
• 27:50
  Speaker 11: LAUGHTER Wait, what?
• 27:55
  Speaker 13: Were you there?
• 27:56
  Speaker 6: What goes on tour stage?
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: LAUGHTER Like you said, Rowan, Dolly Parton was famously funny
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: and she certainly knew how to dish out a double entendre,
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: but there's a difference between Dolly Parton making a joke
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: and the Prime Minister of Australia repeatedly turning Dolly Parton
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: into the punchline and then, of course, as you say,
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: lying about his intentions when it came to his comments.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: on the recent podcast. Rowan, always great to chat. Thanks
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: so much for joining me tonight. All right, well, stick around.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: Coming up after the break, the biggest threat to America
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: right now is a dangerous mixture of socialism, identity politics
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: and extremist Islamism. Plus, a terrifying bounty is put on
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: Barron Trump's head and a tribute to Dolly Parton, whose
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: death represents far more than the loss of a great singer.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: All of that's coming up in just a moment. A
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: lot of people believe the greatest threat to the United
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: States is China or even Iran. And I agree those
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: foreign powers are a real and present danger. But if
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: you ask me, the biggest threat facing America right now
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: is the Democrat Party, which is being taken over by
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: a dangerous cocktail of socialism, identity politics and Islamism. If
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: you want to see where all this is headed, we'll
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: look no further than Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: the Senate in Michigan. A doctor, progressive activist and Bernie
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: Sanders ally, El-Sayed is now the face of the Democratic
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: Party in one of America's great industrial states. And some
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: of his views are, what should we call them? Will
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: he be generous and call them unconventional? For example, when
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: asked about sex change procedures for children, he compared them
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: with circumcision.
• 29:35
  Speaker 12: Sex changes for minors.
• 29:38
  Speaker 8: Do you support that? You think it's OK?
• 29:40
  Speaker 12: For a parent to slash his kid's thing a little?
• 29:44
  Speaker 8: You think that's okay?
• 29:45
  Speaker 7: I mean, do you really want to have this conversation?
• 29:48
  Speaker 12: Are you circumcised?
• 29:50
  Speaker 14: Yeah, yeah, but I mean, that's a personal question, doctor.
• 29:55
  Speaker 12: So you probably should want to move on.
• 29:56
  Speaker 7: You probably should want to move on.
• 29:58
  Speaker 12: Circumcision's different than castration.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: And then there's his support for Sharia law.
• 30:05
  Speaker 7: You said getting rid of Sharia law was white supremacy.
• 30:09
  Speaker 8: Can you explain that one?
• 30:12
  Speaker 7: Do you know what canon law is, Jesse? I assume
• 30:15
  Speaker 7: you're Christian, right?
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, tell me.
• 30:19
  Speaker 7: All right, so canon law is the name for Christian law.
• 30:22
  Speaker 7: I don't begrudge you your right to practice your faith
• 30:24
  Speaker 7: as you choose. I don't know why the idea that
• 30:27
  Speaker 7: I could practice my faith as I choose is a problem.
• 30:30
  Speaker 7: Nobody is trying to push Sharia law on anyone else,
• 30:32
  Speaker 7: just like I hope nobody is trying to push canon
• 30:35
  Speaker 7: law on anybody else.
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: El-Sayed also says taxpayers should pay reparations to their black neighbors. Reparations.
• 30:44
  Speaker 8: Do you support that?
• 30:48
  Speaker 7: I think we need to have an honest conversation about
• 30:50
  Speaker 7: the incredible debt that was put upon black folks as
• 30:53
  Speaker 7: a function of slavery that we have yet to pay.
• 30:56
  Speaker 7: And I just think that's fair.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: Now, maybe this is the Democratic Party broadening its tent.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: But when your tent is big enough to accommodate socialism, reparations,
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: gender medicine for children and support for Sharia law, well,
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: eventually you've got to ask whether you're still pitching a
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: tent or are you constructing an entirely different country? Joining
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: me now is former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Sean,
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: is Abdul El-Sayed the outlier in the Democratic Party or
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: is he actually a preview of where the Democrats are headed?
• 31:26
  Speaker 12: I think it's pretty much the latter. This is where
• 31:28
  Speaker 12: the ball is bouncing.
• 31:30
  Speaker 14: It's not a one-off candidate. He's probably the most mainstream
• 31:35
  Speaker 14: of the crazies. You look at Francesca Hong, who was
• 31:38
  Speaker 14: the leading candidate up until a week ago to lead
• 31:41
  Speaker 14: the state of Wisconsin as their governor, the candidate that
• 31:44
  Speaker 14: just won the Democratic nomination in Florida. several members of
• 31:48
  Speaker 14: Congress that are probably headed to Washington next year because
• 31:52
  Speaker 14: they've already won primaries in deep Democratic seats in both
• 31:55
  Speaker 14: New York and Colorado. So it's not just El-Said might
• 31:59
  Speaker 14: be saying some of the most outlandish things, but if
• 32:02
  Speaker 14: you actually look at some of the policies, he's probably
• 32:05
  Speaker 14: less crazy than some of the other people, which is
• 32:07
  Speaker 14: scary on its face.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: Can the Democrats win elections in the U.S. by moving
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: so far to the left, or is that a recipe
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: for alienating mainstream Americans?
• 32:18
  Speaker 14: So I want you to understand something that it took
• 32:21
  Speaker 14: me a while to get to. I was of the
• 32:25
  Speaker 14: mindset last year, I live in Virginia, I vote in Virginia,
• 32:28
  Speaker 14: we had a candidate running for attorney general, which is
• 32:31
  Speaker 14: our top law enforcement official, who had said in a
• 32:37
  Speaker 14: a voicemail and text that came out that he wanted
• 32:39
  Speaker 14: to kill his political opponent and then murder his children.
• 32:43
  Speaker 14: Voters still elected that guy to be the top law enforcement.
• 32:47
  Speaker 14: And it took me a while to digest this, which
• 32:50
  Speaker 14: is people are so sick and tired of the system
• 32:53
  Speaker 14: right now that they will vote for anybody who just says,
• 32:56
  Speaker 14: I'm going to shake things up, regardless of how nuts
• 33:00
  Speaker 14: they are and what crazy.
• 33:01
  Speaker 12: Things they say.
• 33:03
  Speaker 14: So on its face, I look at some of the
• 33:05
  Speaker 14: clips that you just played and some of the other
• 33:06
  Speaker 14: things and.
• 33:07
  Speaker 12: Associations, by the way, of who Al-Sayed hangs out with.
• 33:11
  Speaker 14: Some of the things that he has associated himself, some
• 33:14
  Speaker 14: of the things that he's said, and think there is
• 33:16
  Speaker 14: no way even somebody on the left could swallow this, right?
• 33:20
  Speaker 12: It's just offensive on its face. And yet he's.
• 33:24
  Speaker 14: Pretty much leading in these polls against a former FBI
• 33:28
  Speaker 14: agent and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, right? So
• 33:31
  Speaker 14: they're willing to overlook so much in the pursuit of power.
• 33:35
  Speaker 14: And just a few weeks ago, we saw this in
• 33:38
  Speaker 14: the state of Maine, where they were willing to take
• 33:41
  Speaker 14: a guy with a Nazi tattoo that talked about women
• 33:45
  Speaker 14: deserving their own sexual assault and saying, we're going to
• 33:48
  Speaker 14: rally behind this guy until the dam got so... so
• 33:53
  Speaker 14: big that it got, I mean, so overwhelming that it broke.
• 33:56
  Speaker 14: But for the longest time, the Democratic Party was willing
• 33:59
  Speaker 14: to take anything that they had coming at them in
• 34:02
  Speaker 14: pursuit of winning a seat in power.
• 34:04
  Speaker 12: That's it.
• 34:05
  Speaker 14: There is nothing more. This is, it took me a
• 34:07
  Speaker 14: long time to fully appreciate this. They don't care anymore
• 34:10
  Speaker 14: how nuts you are if you will vote with them
• 34:13
  Speaker 14: to assume power in Washington, D.C.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: For the longest time, we were told MAGA represented an
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: existential threat to American democracy. I'm curious to know, is
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: the media applying the same scrutiny to the ideological transformation
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: now happening inside the Democrat Party?
• 34:31
  Speaker 14: I'm assuming you know the answer to that, which is,
• 34:34
  Speaker 14: I mean, honestly, if I have lunch with a middle
• 34:37
  Speaker 14: schooler who drew an offensive picture, the entire Republican Party
• 34:42
  Speaker 14: has to atone for it and.
• 34:43
  Speaker 12: Answer for it.
• 34:44
  Speaker 14: These guys, this guy that you just talked about, El Saeed,
• 34:47
  Speaker 14: is hanging around with a guy named Hassan Piker that said,
• 34:50
  Speaker 14: and this is a direct quote, not out of context,
• 34:53
  Speaker 14: America deserved 9-11.
• 34:55
  Speaker 12: And then they just say he has disavowed that comment.
• 34:59
  Speaker 14: So, I'm sorry, when President Trump or anybody has an
• 35:02
  Speaker 14: association with somebody that's one-off, two-off, three-off, we all need
• 35:06
  Speaker 14: to denounce it, atone for it, and yet these guys
• 35:10
  Speaker 14: can all just say, oh, well, I've changed my position.
• 35:12
  Speaker 14: I didn't mean that. And everyone goes, okay, all is forgiven. So,
• 35:16
  Speaker 14: the answer to your question is absolutely not. And there's
• 35:21
  Speaker 14: one other point that I want to make. At its core,
• 35:23
  Speaker 14: the Make America Great Again movement was all about putting
• 35:27
  Speaker 14: America first. It was never about hurting other people, inflicting pain.
• 35:31
  Speaker 14: These folks are literally trying to upend democracy. They want
• 35:35
  Speaker 14: to abolish the United States Senate. They want to abolish
• 35:38
  Speaker 14: the presidency of the United States. They want to get
• 35:41
  Speaker 14: rid of the court, get rid of our borders, get
• 35:43
  Speaker 14: rid of jails and prisons. I mean, this isn't about, like,
• 35:47
  Speaker 14: a particular policy difference.
• 35:49
  Speaker 12: This is full-on crazy.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 35:53
  Speaker 11: All right.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: So while you've got that happening domestically, the Iranian regime
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: has put out a three-minute video detailing locations where Trump's son, Barron,
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: can be found and offering a $ 10 million reward for
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: his assassination. Take a look.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: Sean, how seriously is this being taken?
• 36:09
  Speaker 8: And do the Iranians have assets within the U.S.
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: To be able to carry out the threat?
• 36:33
  Speaker 14: So look, I'm going to be very careful what I
• 36:35
  Speaker 14: say here, but I know some people very high up
• 36:37
  Speaker 14: in the US government that have previously been put.
• 36:39
  Speaker 12: On the Iranian list.
• 36:41
  Speaker 14: And in my discussions with them, the threat is unbelievably real.
• 36:45
  Speaker 14: The lengths to which the Iranians have tried to go
• 36:48
  Speaker 14: to unsuccessfully, thank God, in terms of targeting their food,
• 36:53
  Speaker 14: their water, their security.
• 36:55
  Speaker 12: They are not, this is not some kind of just.
• 36:57
  Speaker 14: Straight up assassination attempt.
• 37:00
  Speaker 9: No, no, no.
• 37:01
  Speaker 14: This is, they have found ways to try to poison people,
• 37:05
  Speaker 14: to sicken them, et cetera.
• 37:06
  Speaker 12: And they are very creative.
• 37:08
  Speaker 14: Luckily, we have tremendous law enforcement intelligence assets in the
• 37:12
  Speaker 14: United States.
• 37:13
  Speaker 12: But these things are all very, very serious.
• 37:15
  Speaker 14: They've tried to take out or at least some of
• 37:17
  Speaker 14: the intelligence indicates that they've tried to take out President Trump,
• 37:21
  Speaker 14: other family members of the Trump family, and then obviously
• 37:25
  Speaker 14: other U.S.
• 37:25
  Speaker 12: Officials.
• 37:26
  Speaker 14: In the first Trump administration, several high-ranking Trump officials, including
• 37:31
  Speaker 14: Secretary of State Bolton, Brian Hook from the State Department,
• 37:35
  Speaker 14: John Bolton, the national security adviser, were all given security
• 37:38
  Speaker 14: details because the Iranians had issued threats against their lives.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: All right, before I let you go, I've got to
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: ask you about Dolly Parton. Of course, the US is
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: mourning the passing of a music legend. She died peacefully
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: in her sleep, aged 80. Donald Trump has ordered US
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: flags to be flown at half-mast for a week, writing
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: in social media, this is a true loss for millions
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: of people. There's never been anyone like her and never will.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: Rest in peace, Dolly. The world loves you. Sean, does
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: Dolly Parton's death, I mean, it's certainly the loss of
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: a great person, but does her death also feel like
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: the loss of something good and pure about America?
• 38:28
  Speaker 12: I love the way you frame that. Yes, she was
• 38:31
  Speaker 12: a true icon.
• 38:32
  Speaker 14: I got the privilege of meeting Dolly in Los Angeles
• 38:35
  Speaker 14: a few years back.
• 38:37
  Speaker 12: She was a good... and generous and kind person.
• 38:40
  Speaker 14: She, of all the stuff that's happening in America right now,
• 38:44
  Speaker 14: where sides are tearing each other apart, denouncing people, saying
• 38:48
  Speaker 14: that conservatives get censored and canceled for just merely existing
• 38:52
  Speaker 14: and appearing and associating with one another, Dolly didn't care.
• 38:55
  Speaker 14: She was pure. She cared about America. She cared about children.
• 38:58
  Speaker 14: She cared about peace. and kindness and generosity. She is
• 39:02
  Speaker 14: truly what is right and good about not just this country,
• 39:05
  Speaker 14: but the world. And I commend the president for honoring
• 39:09
  Speaker 14: her legacy the way that he did, because she is
• 39:12
  Speaker 14: one of those people that was so above it. And
• 39:15
  Speaker 14: the word icon truly befits her legacy.
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. Sean Spicer, it's always a delight to chat.
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining me tonight.
• 39:24
  Speaker 8: You bet.
• 39:24
  Speaker 12: Thank you.
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: We'll stick around. Coming up after the break, Victorian Labor
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: Premier Ben Carroll said he respects taxpayer money. And if
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: you believe that, I've got a suburban rail loop to
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: sell you. My panel is up next. Well, after almost
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: 12 years of waste and arrogance from a government that
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: seemed to regard the taxpayer wallet as an all-you-can-eat buffet,
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: the Victorian Labor government now says they care about public funds.
• 39:53
  Speaker 13: I respect every single dollar of taxpayers' money.
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: I'll wait until you stop laughing.
• 40:01
  Speaker 8: You good?
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: Less than a month ago, Labor was powerless to stop
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: cost blowouts with the suburban rail loop, and every cent
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: we were told was worth it. But now Ben Carroll
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: has found $ 2 billion of savings on that project. It
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: must have fallen down behind the couch. And today comes
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: another miraculous revelation. The Victorian Labor government has announced it
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: will save taxpayers $ 25 million a year by axing 140
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: fat cat public servant roles across the state's bureaucracy. Couldn't
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: live without these fat cats a month ago, but... Their
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: importance has mysteriously evaporated. Now the government is seriously worried
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: about losing an election because that's the rather remarkable thing
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: about Victorian Labor's sudden conversion to fiscal responsibility. It's arrived
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: just in time for an election. Joining me now is
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: the panel, Gemma Tognini of GT Communications and News24 contributor
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: Caroline DeRusso. Gemma, do these cuts and the ones announced
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: to the SRL project yesterday go far enough or is
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: it just an attempt to grab some headlines and shift
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: some votes?
• 41:07
  Speaker 4: Well, it's window dressing because I don't think those savings
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: will even touch the sides of the interest bill that
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: Victoria is paying. Like, genuinely, I don't even think it's
• 41:15
  Speaker 4: going to make a material difference. And every time I
• 41:17
  Speaker 4: see Ben Carroll, it's like he expects.
• 41:21
  Speaker 4: Victorians certainly, but the rest of us, to have some
• 41:23
  Speaker 4: sort of collective amnesia where we don't know that he's
• 41:27
  Speaker 4: been a senior member of the Jacinta Allen government cabinet
• 41:31
  Speaker 4: and he was a member of the Daniel Andrews government,
• 41:33
  Speaker 4: of course, and therefore absolutely up to his soddy eyeballs
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: in the murky, miry dealings of Victorian Labor governments over
• 41:42
  Speaker 4: the past how many terms. It's like he expects us...
• 41:46
  Speaker 4: You know, it's the George Costanza syndrome within Labor, isn't it?
• 41:50
  Speaker 4: It's like if it's not a lie, if you believe it,
• 41:52
  Speaker 4: the Prime Minister has nailed that. Ben Carroll is like, no, no,
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: I'm innocent. I am now Mr Integrity. There's nothing to
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: see here. It just doesn't stick.
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, very well said. Caroline, is a weak mea culpa
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: like this enough to convince the voters to forgive and forget?
• 42:11
  Speaker 5: Unlikely.
• 42:12
  Speaker 9: Unlikely. And the thing is, is this has been going
• 42:16
  Speaker 9: on for some time. And like Gemma said, it's very
• 42:18
  Speaker 9: difficult to stand back from this and pretend that you
• 42:21
  Speaker 9: had nothing to do with this hockey stick of debt
• 42:25
  Speaker 9: that has just been totally out of control. Something like
• 42:28
  Speaker 9: Suburban Rail Loop, the business case never stood up from
• 42:32
  Speaker 9: the very beginning and it has just been cost blowout
• 42:35
  Speaker 9: upon cost blowout upon cost blowout. $ 2 million is a
• 42:38
  Speaker 9: rounding error in this project. So, no, I don't think
• 42:42
  Speaker 9: it's enough because people have seen the Victorian government, and yes, okay,
• 42:47
  Speaker 9: they've just changed Premier, but they have denied and they
• 42:51
  Speaker 9: have evaded and they have spent and they have just
• 42:55
  Speaker 9: held everyone in contempt for such a long time. And
• 42:59
  Speaker 9: now that the Stockholm syndrome is starting to wear off,
• 43:02
  Speaker 9: you're going to need a lot better than a whoopsie
• 43:05
  Speaker 9: daisy we didn't really mean to. We're now going to
• 43:07
  Speaker 9: pretend to do it all better. That I think people
• 43:11
  Speaker 9: have just suffered long enough that they're like, please, someone
• 43:14
  Speaker 9: deliver me from this hell.
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: I mean, they're just pathological liars, the whole bunch of them.
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: It's bizarre.
• 43:19
  Speaker 4: I mean, full credit to them. They do it with
• 43:21
  Speaker 4: such conviction. I suppose that's something.
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: I've got to say, I like whoopsie-daisy as a political strategy.
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: It's funny how Ben Carroll's been telling Victorians, right, he
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: respects their money because today we learned Labor had been
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: taking people's money behind their backs. Public transport fares rise
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: every year, according to CPI. But Victorians learned today that
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: back in 2021, when.
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: Dan Andrews was Premier. Labor decided to implement a secret 1%
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: levy that would also be added to the fares. They
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: calculated they'd raise about $ 4. 8 billion without taxpayers ever realising. Gemma,
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: how are you respecting taxpayers' money when you're taking it
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: without telling them?
• 44:00
  Speaker 4: Well, you're not, obviously. I mean, I appreciate the Dorothy Dixer,
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: but they're absolutely not. And this is the thing, this
• 44:06
  Speaker 4: is the same sort of ethos within state labour in
• 44:10
  Speaker 4: Victoria under Chairman Dan that, again, Ben Carroll was part
• 44:14
  Speaker 4: of that government so he can't distance himself, is the
• 44:17
  Speaker 4: same ethos within federal labour that hides all these mystery
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: taxes in the federal government, the widow's tax, the retiree's tax,
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: and now yesterday we found out about the secret superannuation tax.
• 44:28
  Speaker 4: They cannot tell the truth. It would almost be an
• 44:32
  Speaker 4: interesting psychological study one day, what collects these people together,
• 44:36
  Speaker 4: how they gravitate to one another, how they are so
• 44:38
  Speaker 4: deeply untruthful.
• 44:40
  Speaker 12: And also.
• 44:41
  Speaker 4: You know, if we don't get our acts together, the
• 44:43
  Speaker 4: Australian electorate deserves a little bit of psychoanalysis as well
• 44:46
  Speaker 4: because why would you vote for a deeply dishonest government
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: that takes your money, lies about it and then takes
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: it a.
• 44:54
  Speaker 8: Little bit more?
• 44:55
  Speaker 12: They're all as shonky.
• 44:57
  Speaker 4: If we're going to have whoops-a-daisy, can we have shonky?
• 44:59
  Speaker 4: Because they're all as shonky as each other.
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: Well, Caroline, Ben Carroll can't exactly say whoops-a-daisy on this
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: one because he was Transport Minister in the Dan Andrews government.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: There we go.
• 45:11
  Speaker 9: God, that makes it difficult for him, doesn't it? No,
• 45:14
  Speaker 9: absolutely he can't.
• 45:16
  Speaker 12: He can't.
• 45:16
  Speaker 9: And this is the point. I mean, let's go back
• 45:19
  Speaker 9: to 2021 and just think about how arrogant and how
• 45:23
  Speaker 9: spiteful and how contemptuous this government was in that period
• 45:27
  Speaker 9: of time. You will remember it well. Remember the sunsets
• 45:31
  Speaker 9: were going to kill you, but the knock shop was fine,
• 45:34
  Speaker 9: but the playgrounds were bad and you can't walk and
• 45:38
  Speaker 9: hold your coffee and all that. absolute rubbish that went on.
• 45:42
  Speaker 9: So the fact that this happened in 2021 is one
• 45:45
  Speaker 9: of the least surprising things that I have heard this week.
• 45:48
  Speaker 9: And the fact that they didn't care enough to even
• 45:51
  Speaker 9: tell people, like, was there even like an asterisk at
• 45:54
  Speaker 9: the bottom that said, you know, please refer to conditions
• 45:57
  Speaker 9: or something like that?
• 45:58
  Speaker 12: They just went ahead and did it.
• 46:00
  Speaker 9: Because they thought that their backsides were bulletproof. Yeah, exactly right.
• 46:04
  Speaker 7: Now, here we are in.
• 46:09
  Speaker 9: Yeah, you know, months from an election, James, months from
• 46:12
  Speaker 9: an election and you cannot wind back, you cannot undo,
• 46:18
  Speaker 9: you cannot, you know, seek forgiveness for something that you totally.
• 46:24
  Speaker 12: Failed to do.
• 46:25
  Speaker 8: I am just, but I'm incensed. I'm incensed.
• 46:29
  Speaker 9: They have taxed everything that moves in Victoria because they
• 46:33
  Speaker 9: have piddled every single cent plus more up the wall.
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: Well, let me rile you up a little bit more, Caroline,
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: because Labor's respecting taxpayer money, right?
• 46:42
  Speaker 8: Have a look at this.
• 46:43
  Speaker 12: Oh, yeah.
• 46:45
  Speaker 8: A national first.
• 46:46
  Speaker 13: Free public dental under a re-elected Carol Labor government.
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: Now, it would be a national first if it was free, but,
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: of course, nothing is free. Victorians still pay for it
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: and they pay for it with borrowed money because the
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: government is broke. And there's no such thing as a
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: re-elected Carol Labor government because... Because they were never elected
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: in the first place. Never elected in.
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: The first place.
• 47:06
  Speaker 8: Exactly.
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: Here's some more of.
• 47:08
  Speaker 12: Oh, look at us in chorus.
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: Here's some more of that, though. Have a look from
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: the man who's suddenly become a born-again fiscal conservative.
• 47:15
  Speaker 13: Victorians shouldn't have to live with unbearable pain. We're going
• 47:19
  Speaker 13: to fix this gap. We're going to make sure that
• 47:21
  Speaker 13: we roll out by the middle of next year 10
• 47:24
  Speaker 13: free public dental care clinics supporting Victorians in a real
• 47:28
  Speaker 13: time of need with cost of living support and making
• 47:31
  Speaker 13: sure those abscesses, those fillings, those root canals are dealt
• 47:35
  Speaker 13: with in a free public dental clinic.
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: Can't fill potholes, can fill cavities. Gemma, they're spending $ 250
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: million over four years. After that, there's no funding, so
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: Victorians will just be stuck with this and have to
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: find the money from somewhere. We've only got about 30 seconds.
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: Are Victorians going to go for this?
• 47:54
  Speaker 12: No, they're not.
• 47:55
  Speaker 4: Well, if they do, they deserve everything they get. But
• 47:56
  Speaker 4: he says Victorians shouldn't be living in pain and yet
• 47:59
  Speaker 4: Labor is still in government. So I don't know how
• 48:01
  Speaker 4: to reconcile those two things. But shame on you, Ben Carroll.
• 48:05
  Speaker 4: Shame on you for pretending you had nothing to do
• 48:07
  Speaker 4: with it and shame on you for coming out and
• 48:10
  Speaker 4: saying we're going to give you all this free stuff
• 48:12
  Speaker 4: when you're broke as a bare-arsed, bloody, one-armed bricklayer in,
• 48:16
  Speaker 4: I don't know, somewhere where Caroline's family grew up in
• 48:18
  Speaker 4: south of Italy.
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 48:19
  Speaker 4: But it makes me so mad, so mad.
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: Gemma Tonnini, Caroline Deruso, always a joy. Thanks for the
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: laughs and the insights. Appreciate it. I'll see you next week.
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: All right, that's it from me. I'll see you tomorrow night,
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: but don't go anywhere. Here is Shari Markson.