Latest / Steve Price / Steve Price | 10 April

Transcript

Steve Price | 10 April · Steve Price

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Live. This is Steve Price. Good evening, Welcome to the show.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Steve Price with you.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: As the true state of the reserves of fuel, be
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: it diesel unlettered or jet fuel revealed as the choke
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: point the Straits of Hormul's close, yet again, is much
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: more dire than what the government would have you think.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: I'll have more details on that shortly. Here's what's coming
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: up tonight on the program as the federal government concentrates
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: on what the closing of that strait does to oil
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: supplies headed du Asia and the refineries that we depend
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: on for all types of distill it fuel, jet fuel,
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: everything diesel. What about Australian experts headed the other way
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: to the Middle East, things like meat for example. I'll
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: talk with a legal expert in the field, Allison Cusack.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: She'll be up first tonight. New Nationals leader Matt Canavan.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Now he's putting his stamp on the junior coalition parties
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: on their policy platform in areas like energy and immigration.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: He knows one nation's coming, but how will his views
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: go down in the broader coalition, especially among moderate liberals.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: We'll talk with our Friday Night.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Regular Campbell Newman about Canavan's first couple of weeks in
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: the chair and in state politics in Victoria.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Victorian Liberals have started.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: To roll out their law and order platform leading up
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: to the Nepean by election on the first Saturday in
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: May and the state election in November, including greater use
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: of unarmed or armed PSOs at train stations. Liberal MP
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Wayne Farnham on how that's going to work, plus the
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: challenges of covering war as a cartoonist. We'll get our
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Friday Night regular and latest tips from the legendary Herald
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Sun cartoonist Mark Knight. But first, does anyone else in
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: this country feel like I do? That we're being gas
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: lit by Energy Minister Chris Bowen and the Prime Minister
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Anthony Albanezi around the true state of fuel reserves across
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: all types, including but especially diesel.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Chris Bowen when challenged this week on the true state
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: of supply and even challenged on his obsession with renewable energy,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: well he got very defensive.
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: That's so nice.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Nothing else hasn't it proved once and for all that
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: your obsession with renewables we'll only.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Lead us down a track to another energy crisis.
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: That's a pretty loaded that's a comment, not a question.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: That it was a question.
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: Well, well it's a very load it's a very loaded comment.
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: What it shows is that we need to continue to
• 2:33
  Speaker 5: work on energy security.
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: I make this point.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: I reject the premise of your question.
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: Question No, no, I reject it's sorry, are you asking
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: a question or are you having a develope love answer?
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: A properer. Energy must be secure.
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: Renewable energy is a secure form of energy. The Australian
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: Sun cannot be interrupted by a war or anything else.
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: The solar energy has to travel one hundred and fifty
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: million k in the sun. It doesn't have to travel
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: to one hundred and fifty kmeters of are straits of homewards.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Look, seriously, they were valid questions, if not a little
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: self serving by Liam Bartler trying to get pictures and
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: words for what is clearly obviously going to be his
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: network show spotlight on the true picture of the so
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: called green energy revolution. Well, i'd suggest, by the way,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: that Chris Human's already done that job right here on
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: Sky and in excellently, I might say, but I might
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: be biased. Now Bowen keeps telling us he gives a
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: daily media conference on what's left in the tanks and
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: on the water headed to Australia.
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: Also, when I update Australians, as I try and do
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: every day on the service station situation, and again a
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: good progress being made.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: But what's the real story.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Look, I checked premium diesel prices near me at a
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: BP station today. It was three dollars twenty nine point nine.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Now that's pretty steep in anyone's language, making me happy.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: I don't drive a diesel car, but every train I
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: passed on the way to work today does use diesel.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: And this is already starting to impact clearly on the
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: price of food and every other, every other day items.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: And given the straits open for twenty four hours and
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: was then shut again, this fuel emergency is only going
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: to get worse. I think, as I mentioned, we'll look
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: at the legal aspects of what is going on here
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: with an expert in the field. Alison Cusack shortly now.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Chris Bowen yesterday said and I quote the number of
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: stations without diesel comes down each and every day, end
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: of quote. Okay, so what do our diesel supplies going
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: into late April and may perhaps look like well, no
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: one seems to know. And Bowen for obvious reasons, refuses
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: to establish a fuel dashboard like the New Zealanders have done,
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: so that we can have in real time a guide
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: to supply. Bowen would say, Oh, I don't want to
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: panic people. Well, don't worry, Chris, because the freshwater strategy
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: Boffins done it for you.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: It's called Last Drop. Everyone can look it up. It's
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: an app called Last Drop.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: I had a look earlier today and.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: It shows we have at current consumption levels just over
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: seventeen days of diesel, just over eighteen days of jet fuel,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: and nearly twenty five days of petrol. None deemed critical.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: This app is also tracking fuel on the water in
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: vessels headed our way, with a series of arrivals dotted
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: through this month. Not raising any conspiracies here, but why
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: doesn't the government just have its own app like this
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: so that you and me and everyone else in the
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: country doesn't have to speculate. But it harks back, doesn't it,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: to the bad old days of COVID, when governments of
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: all stripes had to be dragged, kicking and screaming to
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: give us more information, more up to date advice on
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: the virus. Now our Prime minister today was in Singapore,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: and we're told he will be shoring up guaranteed supplies
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: from a country that I believe supplies us with about
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: a third of our refine on fuel. He presumably will,
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: I hope also make the point that the exports of
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: LNG to the island nation of Singapore that uses it
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: to power the island are on their way in that direction.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Have a look.
• 6:14
  Speaker 6: We have three priorities when it comes to energy, both
• 6:21
  Speaker 6: now and certainly in the immediate period.
• 6:28
  Speaker 7: They are supply, supply and supply.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Inspiring appearance by the PM not now. The Coalition meanwhile
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: continues to demand as I have in real time transparency
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: on fuel stocks. Here was the Opposition energy spokesman Dante
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: And on ABC Radio yesterday.
• 6:48
  Speaker 8: PRIs Bowen reassured the Australian people last week that he
• 6:51
  Speaker 8: had this all under control. This week now we're hearing
• 6:55
  Speaker 8: of shortages and especially in regional and rural areas. So
• 6:59
  Speaker 8: what we call on Chris Bowen to do is now
• 7:02
  Speaker 8: be full and transparent about where are the stocks that
• 7:05
  Speaker 8: are held here in Australia. And we's got the petroleum
• 7:09
  Speaker 8: and other fuels reporting that two thy and seventeen that
• 7:11
  Speaker 8: we put in place, which enables him to transparently let
• 7:16
  Speaker 8: the Australian people know where the holdings are, how much
• 7:20
  Speaker 8: there is, and if there is shortages, in particulars what
• 7:23
  Speaker 8: he's doing to get the fuel there. Now we need
• 7:27
  Speaker 8: to hear from him today about how he is going
• 7:30
  Speaker 8: to do that.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: Look, all Australians asked for in any emergency, whether it
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: be a fuel crisis, a pandemic, or even an economic
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: meltdown like the GFC, is honesty and real time information.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: I'm not seeing panic buying of fuel and all of
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: us know this will add to inflation and potentially more
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: pain for mortgage holders. But these people in charge need
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: to be upfront with the Australian people.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Now, even with a fragile ceasefire sort of in place,
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: there is continued uncertainty over the passage of tankers through
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: that strait of Hormor's, with the reports today that the
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: Iranians are actually imposing hefty tolls on ships to pass through,
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: calculated in one report as being as much as millions
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: of US dollars. Now this is angered President Trump, who
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: demands that they stop. Well, that's probably pretty unlikely. It
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: comes as the federal government says Australia has fuel security
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: until at least May. But what then here to talk
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: us through some of those issues affecting global shipping. Lawyer
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: at Cusack and Co. Allison Cusack Allison, welcome. Great to
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: have you in the studio with us.
• 8:39
  Speaker 9: Thank you so much for having me.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Steve, you're an expert on the legal aspects of global shipping.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: I heard you on local radio this week and you
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: were talking about an aspect I hadn't even considered, and
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: that is Australian exports that are going the other way,
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: including meat. Can you explain where those products currently are?
• 8:57
  Speaker 9: Absolutely so.
• 8:59
  Speaker 10: What people have forgot and about, and I think has
• 9:01
  Speaker 10: been missing from the conversation is exporters primarily grain and meat.
• 9:06
  Speaker 10: And so with meat it's going to be refrigerated, either
• 9:08
  Speaker 10: chilled or frozen. And that was headed to the Golf.
• 9:11
  Speaker 10: Now some meat exporters, the Golf makes up twenty percent
• 9:15
  Speaker 10: of their export market. And when all of this happened,
• 9:18
  Speaker 10: the containerized carrier said, all right, we're going to dump
• 9:21
  Speaker 10: all of your cargo at transhipment ports dump. As of
• 9:24
  Speaker 10: last week it was four hundred and seventy thousand containers
• 9:28
  Speaker 10: that were dumped at transhipment ports all the way back
• 9:31
  Speaker 10: to Malaysia, and some ocean carriers said, not only will
• 9:35
  Speaker 10: we dump your container where you don't want it, we'll
• 9:37
  Speaker 10: charge you USD eight hundred dollars for the privilege, and
• 9:40
  Speaker 10: so on top of that, some people don't know where
• 9:43
  Speaker 10: their cargo is, so they don't even know if it's
• 9:45
  Speaker 10: being plugged in, because obviously anything consumable in a refrigerator
• 9:49
  Speaker 10: container needs to be plugged in, but of course there's
• 9:52
  Speaker 10: scarcity of plugs that you know, it's a precious resource,
• 9:55
  Speaker 10: so we don't even know if they're plugged in. On
• 9:57
  Speaker 10: top of that, all the charges started cruing because they've
• 10:00
  Speaker 10: ended the contract. So whilst they don't know where the
• 10:02
  Speaker 10: container is, they're accruing detention and de marriage container higher
• 10:06
  Speaker 10: fees every day and storage on top of that. Now,
• 10:10
  Speaker 10: for exporters that want to go anywhere, we're seeing rate increases.
• 10:13
  Speaker 10: We're seeing surch charges anywhere from two thousand to four
• 10:17
  Speaker 10: thousand dollars bunker adjustment, fuel search charges, so we call
• 10:20
  Speaker 10: them bath. We're seeing those so per container exporters could
• 10:25
  Speaker 10: be facing about ten thousand dollars extra. Now, some freight lobby.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: To not have the product delivered, well, to not have.
• 10:32
  Speaker 10: Their product delivered. And so some freight lobby groups have
• 10:34
  Speaker 10: asked the federal government whether or not they would pick
• 10:37
  Speaker 10: up the tab for these search charges because you can
• 10:40
  Speaker 10: imagine that the cash flow on this, because those search
• 10:44
  Speaker 10: charges have to be paid today, not in six weeks time.
• 10:47
  Speaker 10: And if you want your container, you have to pay
• 10:50
  Speaker 10: all your fees associated before they'll release.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: It tom And what do we even know of the
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: customers at the other end of this chain, I mean
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: even I know that you know, we export a lot
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: of particularly goat and lamb meat to the UAE, to
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: all of those destinations there the contracts are broken. They're
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: not getting their meat. Do they source it from somewhere else?
• 11:11
  Speaker 10: Well, they are trying to do work around, so they're
• 11:14
  Speaker 10: trying to create a land bridge from Jebelali all the
• 11:18
  Speaker 10: way through across but you're crossing several countries. So now
• 11:21
  Speaker 10: you're suddenly going, well, I have to pay an extra
• 11:22
  Speaker 10: couple of grand to put it into a trailer. I
• 11:25
  Speaker 10: have to clear customs twice now over and so the
• 11:28
  Speaker 10: other thing is, though, even if you quarantine all the
• 11:32
  Speaker 10: products that you've had to dump your market has suddenly
• 11:35
  Speaker 10: dried up. Where do you put all of that that's
• 11:39
  Speaker 10: meat producers and processes, all of their work suddenly dried up.
• 11:43
  Speaker 10: You can't pivot countries that quickly because it's a bio.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: No, it's the government talking about this at all. I mean,
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: I think one of the problems we've got here is
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: we've got a lot of different ministers across this. I
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: mean you've got Trade Minister Don Farrell obviously, yes, he'd
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: be getting cool boy at the Trade Minister of the
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: UAE saying where's our meat and he says, well, you
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: can't get it through the strad And then you've got
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Catherine King, and then you've got Bowen, and then you've
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: got Penny Wong. That must be very hard for anyone
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: trying to lobby the government to fix the problem.
• 12:09
  Speaker 10: Well, the problem is who takes ownership of the problem,
• 12:12
  Speaker 10: who says it originates? Because in containerized trade, it's the
• 12:15
  Speaker 10: only industry in the country that can legally cartel. Now,
• 12:19
  Speaker 10: the regulation of that car telling is under Minister King,
• 12:22
  Speaker 10: under the Minister for Transport, but it's affecting Don Farrell,
• 12:25
  Speaker 10: Minister for Trade's portfolio. But that regulation is only then
• 12:31
  Speaker 10: triggered off to an a triple C investigation by the
• 12:33
  Speaker 10: Treasurer and his assistant minister.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: So who's taking you need a shipping zart oversee this
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: whole thing?
• 12:39
  Speaker 10: I absolutely think because think about for instance, IV bags
• 12:44
  Speaker 10: for hospitals. The primary ingredient of that is polymers, right,
• 12:50
  Speaker 10: So but that's Minister for Industry to get it in.
• 12:53
  Speaker 10: Do you have to then go to Don Farrell under
• 12:55
  Speaker 10: the new legislation to say can we designate that as
• 12:58
  Speaker 10: a proper primary necessary cargo to come in through the
• 13:02
  Speaker 10: new legislation and put extra money into it? But for
• 13:06
  Speaker 10: IV bags that comes under Minister for Health. So who
• 13:09
  Speaker 10: takes ownership and who takes leadership? And who's even thinking?
• 13:13
  Speaker 10: Because we've heard about oil, we've heard about fertilizer. We're
• 13:16
  Speaker 10: only just hearing about medical helium. Are we hearing about polymers?
• 13:20
  Speaker 10: Because we've got four weeks of stock and the price
• 13:23
  Speaker 10: is doubled.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: So the Australian governments also quietly expanded the Export Finance
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Australia powers.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Yes, what does that mean?
• 13:31
  Speaker 10: So new legislation was introduced to expand what it is
• 13:34
  Speaker 10: that they could do and it's quite far reaching. So
• 13:38
  Speaker 10: now they can have anything to do with buy, sell
• 13:41
  Speaker 10: or transport. And here's the problem with this, well, not
• 13:44
  Speaker 10: the problem. The powers are wide reaching, but they'll guard
• 13:47
  Speaker 10: rail it with a ministerial direction. Now we won't see
• 13:50
  Speaker 10: that ministerial direction. The agreements have to be gazetted, but
• 13:54
  Speaker 10: they've made sure under the Act that the parties to
• 13:57
  Speaker 10: that agreement are not named. There's no budget associated with it,
• 14:01
  Speaker 10: because every deals done on its own marriage.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Be costing IS millions.
• 14:05
  Speaker 10: It could be costing US hundreds of millions, because when
• 14:08
  Speaker 10: you enter the marine space, you're looking at charter parties,
• 14:11
  Speaker 10: you're looking at bills of leading. These things have liability
• 14:14
  Speaker 10: that I don't think the government has even a concept of.
• 14:17
  Speaker 10: And it's things.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Outside of the war.
• 14:19
  Speaker 10: So if I had to put a starting price on
• 14:22
  Speaker 10: the liability that the government may not even realize, I
• 14:25
  Speaker 10: would start at four hundred million dollars.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Well, God help us if we ever have the Taiwan
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Straits hut. Alison, thank you very much for joining us.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Shad Alison Kissack there knowing boy, does that
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: give us something to think about? Now, let's get in
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: stuck into the actual war itself, the conflict, the peace
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: deal and the issue of Lebanon. Deacon University Global Islamic
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Politics Chair Professor Greg Barton, a regular on the program,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: joins us, everyone hopes, Greg, that a ceasefire becomes permanent
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: into this conflict.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Do you see it holding.
• 14:58
  Speaker 11: I think there's a reasonable ch Steve, but it's just
• 15:01
  Speaker 11: a reasonable chance. It is at a shaky point. The
• 15:04
  Speaker 11: next key step is what happens this weekend in islamabud
• 15:08
  Speaker 11: as Pakistan hosts negotiations. The gap between American expectations and
• 15:14
  Speaker 11: Iranian expectations is vast, not to mention, a very different
• 15:19
  Speaker 11: position from Israel.
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: So there's a lot that can go wrong.
• 15:22
  Speaker 11: But it does appear that we've got China backing up
• 15:25
  Speaker 11: this process. China, i think, understands that this twenty percent
• 15:30
  Speaker 11: flow through the More Straits globally is the vast majority
• 15:34
  Speaker 11: of Asia's flow of oil and gas, and.
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: It's critical to try and get things back.
• 15:38
  Speaker 11: To the previous state. This current situation is, you know,
• 15:43
  Speaker 11: puts the world economy on edge, particularly across Asia, so
• 15:46
  Speaker 11: that gives us some hope. We also need negotiations between
• 15:49
  Speaker 11: Israel and Lebanon. They're scheduled to take place in Washington
• 15:52
  Speaker 11: next week you know, both of these sets of negotiations
• 15:55
  Speaker 11: are fraught, but I'm moderately optimistic because I I think
• 16:00
  Speaker 11: there's enough common interest in avoiding an even worse outcome.
• 16:04
  Speaker 11: I don't think any parties are really happy with this outcome.
• 16:07
  Speaker 11: Probably Irana is in the strongest position, but even it
• 16:09
  Speaker 11: recognizes that if this fails, you know, it can suffer
• 16:13
  Speaker 11: a lot. So there's reason for it. The regime in
• 16:15
  Speaker 11: Tehran to get behind these negotiations, even though they're going
• 16:19
  Speaker 11: to be playing hardball and they feel they're happy upper hand.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: I heard that Israel's ambassador to the US is going
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: to lead these talks between Lebanon and Israel in the US.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: That would seem to indicate that that has Benumin Netna,
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: who's impromata, to go ahead and do that.
• 16:39
  Speaker 11: Yeah, that would certainly be the case. It wouldn't happen
• 16:41
  Speaker 11: without that. I mean, Natna, who is facing elections in October.
• 16:45
  Speaker 11: He's not polling well at the moment, so there's an
• 16:47
  Speaker 11: interest for him to try and you know, pull something
• 16:49
  Speaker 11: out of the.
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: Hat on this one.
• 16:52
  Speaker 11: You know, many would say that typically he favors an
• 16:54
  Speaker 11: endless war, but this time around, it might be possible
• 16:59
  Speaker 11: that these horrific strikes in Beirut.
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: Are the sort of the last Hurrah that you know.
• 17:03
  Speaker 11: There is some suggestion that there was an hisbel or plot,
• 17:06
  Speaker 11: possibly even a coup plot. It's hard to know what
• 17:09
  Speaker 11: the truth is, but it does mean that there may
• 17:12
  Speaker 11: have been more of a logic behind the Beirut strikes
• 17:15
  Speaker 11: than simply being a spoiling move, as tragic as the
• 17:18
  Speaker 11: human consequences are.
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: To be talking about it this way, and that's the
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: case in perhaps Nana.
• 17:22
  Speaker 11: Who will fall in line and support positive talks between
• 17:27
  Speaker 11: Israel and Lebanon with sport from the US and then
• 17:31
  Speaker 11: get behind whatever's negotiated in islamabit over this next few days.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: Gregor, the professor of Islamic politics for tiakins, so talk
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: to me about Iranians wanting regime change or not and
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: whether they will get it. This is an Islamic nation
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: ruled by a despotic regime for near on fifty years.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: What's happening there internally? I just don't or are the
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Uranians stopping the pictures getting out of any protest movement
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: like we saw a few months ago.
• 18:07
  Speaker 11: Well, you know, going back to January, Steve, there were
• 18:10
  Speaker 11: reportedly as many as thirty forty thousand people killed when
• 18:14
  Speaker 11: they went out in the streets to protest. That's the
• 18:17
  Speaker 11: reason we're not seeing reports of large scale protests at
• 18:19
  Speaker 11: the moment.
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: People are just too scared. They're waiting this out.
• 18:23
  Speaker 11: All of the holding and other indications we have suggested
• 18:26
  Speaker 11: that the vast majority of Iranians are against this regime.
• 18:29
  Speaker 11: I mean, maybe twenty plus percent that support the regime.
• 18:33
  Speaker 11: And of course, given what the Uranians have experienced these
• 18:36
  Speaker 11: last few weeks, there's probably less interest in toppling in
• 18:40
  Speaker 11: the current regime than there was before. So for the
• 18:42
  Speaker 11: short term, the regime is probably in a stronger position domestically.
• 18:46
  Speaker 11: But it may be that there's been fatal damage done
• 18:49
  Speaker 11: to the regime, but the collapse may not take place
• 18:51
  Speaker 11: until a year or two or three from now, so's
• 18:53
  Speaker 11: you know, that's a hope. But as for the people
• 18:56
  Speaker 11: turning out in the streets right now, you put yourself
• 18:58
  Speaker 11: in their position, there's no upside to going out in
• 19:00
  Speaker 11: the street.
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: Now you will be shot.
• 19:02
  Speaker 11: I mean, the regime is on heightened notice. They'll make
• 19:05
  Speaker 11: an example of anyone protesting. So I think realistically people
• 19:09
  Speaker 11: are waiting their time hoping that the damage has been
• 19:12
  Speaker 11: done to the regime and the collapse will come later on.
• 19:15
  Speaker 11: That may ormnt me of the case, but unfortunately the
• 19:18
  Speaker 11: pitch that this heavy strikes on Iran would see to
• 19:21
  Speaker 11: a quicker regime collapse. So I think those claims pushed
• 19:26
  Speaker 11: by net you know who, were or highly inflated. As
• 19:29
  Speaker 11: much as it would be great to see a regime change.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: Iran is a country of incredible, rich history and a
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: very proud nation, regardless of the way this despotic regime
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: ran it.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: But if you start as an.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Arraign in, if you're living in one of the big
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: cities in a country, we've got to remind ourselves it's
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: overly ninety million people. Greg When you see your local
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: bridges being bombed and threats to blow up your power
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: station or your desalination plant so you've got no electric light,
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: no water, does that turn the average Geranian person who
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: was on the edge of wanting regime change back into
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: a nationalist.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: Well, I think you're making a very important point, Steve.
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: Their Indians are.
• 20:12
  Speaker 11: Very patriotic in the best sense of the word, so
• 20:15
  Speaker 11: they don't want their country to be destroyed. They hate
• 20:18
  Speaker 11: this regime. Most of them hate this regime. They don't
• 20:20
  Speaker 11: want to support the regime, they want to see it collapse.
• 20:23
  Speaker 11: But they also, you know, first and foremost just want
• 20:26
  Speaker 11: to get on with life and that includes protecting their country.
• 20:30
  Speaker 11: So I don't know that exactly a rally around the
• 20:33
  Speaker 11: flag effect as is often described in war time, but
• 20:35
  Speaker 11: I think people are even less likely to take the
• 20:38
  Speaker 11: personal risk of coming up the street now and are
• 20:40
  Speaker 11: more likely to say, you know, first, priorities are our
• 20:44
  Speaker 11: families and our nation, and then hopefully we can get
• 20:46
  Speaker 11: to a point where get political change. So in the
• 20:49
  Speaker 11: short term, at least a short medium term, this is
• 20:52
  Speaker 11: strength in the position of this, as you say, awful
• 20:55
  Speaker 11: regime in Iran.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: In the longer run.
• 20:58
  Speaker 11: One of the reasons for being optimistic about what's possible
• 21:01
  Speaker 11: in Iran is this is a highly educated nation of
• 21:04
  Speaker 11: ninety two to ninety three million people. They want the
• 21:09
  Speaker 11: same things that we want. All of the polling suggest
• 21:11
  Speaker 11: they're against this regime. They're against the use of religion
• 21:14
  Speaker 11: and the way this regime has done it.
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: And surely at some.
• 21:18
  Speaker 11: Point we'll see this very brittle regime collapse. And when
• 21:22
  Speaker 11: it does collapse, it may be the result of what
• 21:24
  Speaker 11: the damage it suffered this year and last year. But
• 21:27
  Speaker 11: it's not going to happen right away.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Gregor was good to see you, my friend. Thank you
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: very much for joining us tonight on Friday Nights. Coming up,
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: the latest politics out of Victoria, including fresh plans for
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: strikes for public school teachers are going to strike again.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: I'll have details on that up next.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: Welcome actually price with you, Campbell, newman from a premier
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: of Queensland coming up. I want to ask him how
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: he is seeing the leadership of Matt Cannavan since he's
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: taken over the National Party. Matt's been very busy in
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: the last two or three days. I took to Campbell
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: about that. I wrote a column for the Herald Sun
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: for the weekend. It's up online already, pointing out that
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: there are two hundred and thirty one days two one
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: hundred and thirty one days until the state election in
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Victoria and the chances of Labor winning a fourth term.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: Can you believe it? With all that's wrong in that
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: state is still alive. The opposition, led by Jess Wilson,
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: wheeled out some what I think we're pretty good law
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: and order policies this week in the wake of even
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: worse crime figures and economic numbers showing that Victorian tax
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: payers and you won't believe this figure, within three years
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: will be paying almost thirty million dollars a day on
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: interest payments alone. Joining us in the studio is Liberal
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: MP the Member for Narrakan, Wayne Farnham. Great to have
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: you with us. I mean you represent a part of
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: regional Victoria around wiregal on fuel. What impacts the diesel
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: price having on your local constituents, mate.
• 23:01
  Speaker 12: Yeah, thanks Steve, Thanks for having me on. It's having
• 23:03
  Speaker 12: a massive impact. I was talking to a farmer just
• 23:05
  Speaker 12: last week and his grain price his grain delivery went
• 23:10
  Speaker 12: up a thousand dollars just for the one delivery.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: Now, whatever happens with.
• 23:14
  Speaker 12: This fuel crisis, the one thing we have to do
• 23:17
  Speaker 12: is look after the farmers first, because if they can't
• 23:20
  Speaker 12: get if they can't get things planted, we're not going
• 23:24
  Speaker 12: to have food on the shelves in six months time
• 23:27
  Speaker 12: and that's going to be a bigger crisis. So whatever
• 23:29
  Speaker 12: the federal or state governments do, they have to focus
• 23:33
  Speaker 12: on the farmers. Make sure that they get the fuel
• 23:36
  Speaker 12: and the fertilizer that's required so they can keep farming
• 23:39
  Speaker 12: to feed us. All.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: I get a sensewaying that national cabinet is not really
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: in control of that. They seem to get together and
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: have a meeting and then they break up and all
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: go their separate ways. Let's talk about crime. Your leader,
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: Jess Wilson and Brad Batton, police spokesman. They announced today
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: that there is going to be a whole bunch of PSOs.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: So to describe for our national audience what they are.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: These are public safety officers. They weren't armed originally. They
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: were introduced under a liberal government. They now are armed.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: They're going to now be stationed if you win the
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: election in November in trained stations. Would they not be
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: better traveling on the trains themselves or is that the
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: plan They're going to go from station to station.
• 24:28
  Speaker 12: Look, I think when we think about the PSOs and
• 24:32
  Speaker 12: the role they play, we always know that a visual
• 24:35
  Speaker 12: impact of whether it's a PSO or a police officer
• 24:39
  Speaker 12: is a real deter when it comes to deterring crime.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: Now, whether they're on the trains or off the trains.
• 24:44
  Speaker 12: I mean, we would work with vic Pole and get
• 24:47
  Speaker 12: the best system for that, but at the end of
• 24:51
  Speaker 12: the day, we're going to have PSOs on every Metro
• 24:54
  Speaker 12: station in Melbourne and they're going to be there to
• 24:57
  Speaker 12: give if Tory uncertainty, so when they they go to
• 25:00
  Speaker 12: a train station, they know there is someone there to
• 25:03
  Speaker 12: help them if there's any trouble. And that's our plan
• 25:06
  Speaker 12: for Victoria is to get this crime under control. And
• 25:09
  Speaker 12: one of the best ways to do it is to
• 25:11
  Speaker 12: get the PSAs out there, get more boots on the ground.
• 25:15
  Speaker 12: When you've got more boots on the ground, at least
• 25:17
  Speaker 12: then you have more options. Steve, and this is what
• 25:19
  Speaker 12: it's about. It's been lacking far too long in this state. Victorians,
• 25:24
  Speaker 12: you know, and I know Victorians are sick and death
• 25:27
  Speaker 12: to crime on this state. And this goes to a
• 25:30
  Speaker 12: long way to deterring those crimes and giving people certainty
• 25:33
  Speaker 12: when they're at train stations.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: As I've written today, I mean one of the problems
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: Wan is that there's fourteen hundred fewer police than what
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: we should have. They find it very hard to recruit
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: new members. And you've even got what used to be
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: twenty four hour police stations open twenty four hours a day.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: People turn up in the middle of the night after
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: someone's invaded their home armed or the machete and stolen
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: their car and the police station is not even operational.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: I mean, are you going to put resources into reopening
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: some of those police stations.
• 26:04
  Speaker 12: Look, there's over forty stations in Victoria at the moment
• 26:07
  Speaker 12: that either closed or and reduced hours.
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: And you one hundred percent right.
• 26:10
  Speaker 12: There was a story the other week where a fella
• 26:14
  Speaker 12: he having a burgery in the police station which was
• 26:17
  Speaker 12: right across the road was actually shut. So yeah, we
• 26:20
  Speaker 12: are focused on that, and we are focused on getting
• 26:22
  Speaker 12: those numbers back. I mean fourteen hundred short. When you've
• 26:25
  Speaker 12: got an increasing population and you've got a decreasing police presence,
• 26:29
  Speaker 12: that's a problem and it's a problem our leader at
• 26:33
  Speaker 12: Brad Baton, our shadow minister. So Jess and Brad are
• 26:36
  Speaker 12: very very focused on and we'll have solutions on that.
• 26:39
  Speaker 12: But it's something we're very passionate about where we know
• 26:43
  Speaker 12: that crime in this state has been out of control
• 26:45
  Speaker 12: under this government. We're sick of the bleeding marshmallow or
• 26:50
  Speaker 12: approach to it, and it's time to actually get the
• 26:52
  Speaker 12: resources there we need to keep Victorian safe.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: And Wayne, I think the public are finally waking up
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: to the fact that if you trash the economy and
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: get yourself into so much debt and I mentioned twenty
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: eight point eight million dollars a day to pay down
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: the debt, people are starting to realize that that then
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: impacts on essential services. And I'm talking about police. There
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: obviously payment to nurses. You can go right through the
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: public service of frontline public servants. We've now even got
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: another threat from public school teachers. They're going to go
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: and strike again because they say they're the worst paid
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: teachers in the country. That's what happens, is it, not
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: when you send a state broke.
• 27:40
  Speaker 12: The one hundred percent, correct, Steve, I mean not only
• 27:43
  Speaker 12: that you let fifteen billion dollars go out the door
• 27:45
  Speaker 12: in corruption payments. And our teachers deserve to be paid,
• 27:49
  Speaker 12: you know, they deserve they deserve to be paid. They've
• 27:51
  Speaker 12: got to they educate our future. But the worst part
• 27:55
  Speaker 12: about this is purely through government mismanagement as to why
• 28:00
  Speaker 12: we're in the situation we are now.
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: It's really that simple.
• 28:03
  Speaker 12: And the worst part teachers don't strike because they want to.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: It's a last resort.
• 28:08
  Speaker 12: And when you've got a belligerent education minister who's the
• 28:12
  Speaker 12: deputy premier of this state, who's been part of this waste?
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: The people at the end of the day that suffer.
• 28:18
  Speaker 12: It's the parents and a's the school kids because parents
• 28:21
  Speaker 12: are going to have to readjust their day when there's
• 28:24
  Speaker 12: a strike, and school kids miss out on learning. And
• 28:27
  Speaker 12: that's the real tragedy of all this. And it's all
• 28:29
  Speaker 12: come down to the state government's mismanagement of the economy.
• 28:33
  Speaker 12: I mean, you let fifteen billion dollars go out in
• 28:35
  Speaker 12: corruption payments they could have paid for the teachers.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: No problem at all.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: One hundred percent, correct, Wayne, Great to catch up with you,
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: my friend. Thank you very much. We'll talk again soon.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: That's sir Wayne Farnham there. Now let's get back to
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: federal politics, where the nearly minted Nationals leader Matt Canavan
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: has called for tougher requirements for migrants to become.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Citizens of Australia.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: Now, I'm not sure too many people would actually disagree
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: with that. Friday and I regular form a Queensland Premier
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: hanble Newman joins us Campbell. Good to see you on
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: a Friday night as usual. I think what he's talking
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: about there a character kin of en that is character
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: tests and.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: The length of time.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: I don't think too many Australiers would have an argument
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: would that, would they?
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: No?
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: I don't think so at all, Steve.
• 29:18
  Speaker 13: I think there'd be many people like myself going, well,
• 29:23
  Speaker 13: that's absolutely on message there, Matt. And you know, I'm
• 29:27
  Speaker 13: really pleased with the things that he's been doing since
• 29:30
  Speaker 13: he took the leadership. If we just explore the detail
• 29:34
  Speaker 13: of this a bit, I think there's probably more that
• 29:37
  Speaker 13: needs to come out, but I'm sure they can flesh
• 29:40
  Speaker 13: that out in a way that really has great resonance
• 29:43
  Speaker 13: with people. I mean, I'd like to see, for example,
• 29:45
  Speaker 13: that when you literally are signing on as a citizen,
• 29:50
  Speaker 13: you know you are signing effectively and I mean, this
• 29:53
  Speaker 13: is there now, but you are the whole ant he
• 29:56
  Speaker 13: is up in terms of the legal status of the
• 29:58
  Speaker 13: things that you say and you sign on to when
• 30:01
  Speaker 13: you become an Australian citizen, and if you then become
• 30:04
  Speaker 13: a person advocating Shahia law or the overthrow of democracy
• 30:11
  Speaker 13: or you know, the sort of certain essentials of the
• 30:14
  Speaker 13: Australian way, then basically a government has the full power
• 30:19
  Speaker 13: to strip your citizenship and kick you back, kick you
• 30:22
  Speaker 13: out of the country. That's what I'd like to see.
• 30:24
  Speaker 13: But I think he's clearly going in that direction.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: Look, I've been pretty impressed too with his comments on
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: energy and on immigration, and I think he's made a
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: really good start. But you know, there's a subtext I
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: think to this, Campbell, and being an ex politician yourself,
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: I'd like your theory on this. It seems all sides
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: of politics, whether it's Labor, the Liberal Party or the
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: National Party, they can hear the pounding feet of voters
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: defecting off the one nation. So deciding to adopt in
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: some way some of Pauline Hansen's policies, whether they be
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: about immigration or energy, is probably a smart thing to do.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: Well.
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: It is a smart thing to do, you know.
• 31:03
  Speaker 13: And we saw and I think we've discussed it before,
• 31:05
  Speaker 13: and you show what Melanascus, the premier in South Australia,
• 31:09
  Speaker 13: has done, and in terms of he's suddenly sounding very patriotic,
• 31:13
  Speaker 13: which I think is one of his responses to.
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: This whole thing.
• 31:16
  Speaker 13: But just to zoom into the National Party or indeed
• 31:19
  Speaker 13: even the Liberal Party, A very clear thing that I
• 31:23
  Speaker 13: believe should be the strategy here is that you know,
• 31:29
  Speaker 13: I don't think and Canavan fell into the mistake initially.
• 31:32
  Speaker 13: I don't think he should be attacking one nation. What
• 31:35
  Speaker 13: he has to do is outperform them, outcomplete them. And
• 31:39
  Speaker 13: what we've just talked about on this immigration issue is
• 31:42
  Speaker 13: clawing back that space. He's you know, he's got an
• 31:46
  Speaker 13: opportunity there to do that by being professional and measured
• 31:51
  Speaker 13: and demonstrating that at least the National Party part of
• 31:55
  Speaker 13: the coalition are listening to the grievances that have driven people.
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: To one nation.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: He's certainly having more impact than his predecessor, David littlepred
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: there's no about that. But that's not saying much, I
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: must say, Jim Charmers, let's talk about the treasure. It
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: looks like, according to reports today is going to bank
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: a mammoth eight point one billion with a B dollars.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: That's a windfall from company tax. Ironically, these revenues are
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: from soaring commodity prices, which the alban Easy government will
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: partially use, apparently for fiscal repair. But Campbell, we know
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: this government will also be using it to underwrite big spending.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: And they still can't get the handle on the n dies.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: But how ironic is it The Australian economy is going
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: to be saved and I'd love to talk to a
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: Greens MP about this. By fossil fuels and minerals.
• 32:44
  Speaker 13: Well, you know, it underlines the fact that this country
• 32:49
  Speaker 13: earns its living from these sort of commodities. And the
• 32:52
  Speaker 13: people in the left who run around in this delusional
• 32:56
  Speaker 13: way saying we can't have more coal mines, or you know,
• 33:00
  Speaker 13: jumping up and down against Coperia Christopher Foley suggesting, my god,
• 33:03
  Speaker 13: shock that we should exploit a potential, very vast oil field.
• 33:09
  Speaker 13: These people are delusional. I mean, they're just absolutely nuts.
• 33:13
  Speaker 13: And what I hope, of course who you just alluded
• 33:17
  Speaker 13: to this they wait to the government won't bank this
• 33:21
  Speaker 13: win form. What they'll do is they'll they'll spend and
• 33:24
  Speaker 13: they'll add to the inflation problems.
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: And what we urgently need is for.
• 33:28
  Speaker 13: Them to pull back on government spending and stop adding
• 33:33
  Speaker 13: to the woes that this country is suffering from inflation.
• 33:37
  Speaker 13: That is our acknowledge coming in from those overseas pressures.
• 33:40
  Speaker 13: This is not the time to spend any gain from
• 33:44
  Speaker 13: the resources sector. It's time to bank it.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they should have learned that lesson from
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: the former coalition government under Morrison, who did exactly that.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: They just spend it.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: I had to laugh though with Charmers out this week
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: again talking about green hydrid and that's not worked anywhere.
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: Any of the projects that have been bankrolled and set
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: up have all fallen over. Then you've got this Zen Energy,
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: which was the brainshild of green renewable Energy evangelist Ross Gano,
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: that faces an uncertain future, it's making losses, the business
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: sinking deeper into the red. I mean, you know, if
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: you go you go broke. It's a cliche camera, but
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: it's right, isn't it.
• 34:26
  Speaker 13: Yeah, well as that and also Steve, it's like it
• 34:28
  Speaker 13: just shows that perhaps the economists are in the main
• 34:32
  Speaker 13: theoreticians as opposed to good business people if the performance
• 34:36
  Speaker 13: of this company is anyink to judge by. But you know,
• 34:42
  Speaker 13: back what you just said about green Hydrogen as well.
• 34:46
  Speaker 13: I mean I could not believe it when I heard
• 34:50
  Speaker 13: the government talking about that again in the last few days,
• 34:53
  Speaker 13: you know, Whereas at the same time they're playing this
• 34:56
  Speaker 13: silly game. There's Chris of Fawley I just mentioned this
• 34:59
  Speaker 13: talking about up this oil basin to the west of Brisbane,
• 35:04
  Speaker 13: which we're being told seriously has good prospects. He's out
• 35:10
  Speaker 13: on the front foot saying he's going to legislate to
• 35:12
  Speaker 13: fast track it. What did the government do, play their
• 35:15
  Speaker 13: usual silly game where they say, oh, we haven't heard anything,
• 35:18
  Speaker 13: give us a business case, send us the paperwork. There's
• 35:22
  Speaker 13: either a crisis, Steve, or there isn't. There is a
• 35:24
  Speaker 13: fuel crisis. A government that was serious about getting fueled
• 35:29
  Speaker 13: into the tanks of particularly the logistics organizations in Australia,
• 35:33
  Speaker 13: will be saying, whacko, this is fantastic. We're going to
• 35:37
  Speaker 13: get right behind the queens and premium, the Queens and government.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: We're going to go.
• 35:40
  Speaker 13: After this and see if we can actually pull oil
• 35:43
  Speaker 13: out of this prospective basin. That's what they should be doing.
• 35:47
  Speaker 13: So I've been really annoyed about that. But Steve, can
• 35:49
  Speaker 13: I just quickly tack sideways. I know you're probably running
• 35:52
  Speaker 13: out of time. If there's something that's really annoyed me
• 35:54
  Speaker 13: this week, it's the case of Ben Roberts Smith and
• 35:57
  Speaker 13: his arrest. Now I judgment whether he's guilty or innocent,
• 36:02
  Speaker 13: other than to say he's entitled to the presumption of innocence,
• 36:06
  Speaker 13: but to see the federal police arrest the guy at
• 36:10
  Speaker 13: the airport in front of his family and go through
• 36:12
  Speaker 13: this thing where the media were clearly tipped off, is
• 36:15
  Speaker 13: a disgrace and the AFP Commissioner has diminished herself in
• 36:19
  Speaker 13: the eyes of many people across this nation and diminished
• 36:24
  Speaker 13: the standing of the Australian Federal Police. That is not
• 36:26
  Speaker 13: the way to treat someone. We're also seeing that reports
• 36:31
  Speaker 13: that he had offered with his lawyers to present for arrest.
• 36:35
  Speaker 13: That was just a terrible, awful, US style spectacle that
• 36:42
  Speaker 13: was not worthy of someone who still is entitled to
• 36:45
  Speaker 13: be presumed innocence and is the holder of that such
• 36:49
  Speaker 13: a high high reward the BC SO, I think it
• 36:52
  Speaker 13: was a disgrace and I just wanted to say that
• 36:54
  Speaker 13: thanks for giving you a moment to do so.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: Couldn't have said it better myself. I'm glad you got
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: on off your chest and I agree with everything you said.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: Camp. We'll get on in, my friend. I'll see you
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: next Friday night.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: Now, coming up the tricky business of covering war as
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: a cartoonist, we'll speak to one of our regulars, the
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: best cartoonist in the business, Mark Knight, is up next.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: Welcome back, Rowandine coming up at the top of the hour.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: Let's bring in heralds on cartoonists. Extraordinary, Mark Night, great
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: to have you in the studio US again. You've been
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: obviously drawing about a conflict as damaging as what's going
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: on in the Middle East in Iran and Lebanon is difficult.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: What's the process of going through that to illustrate the
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: point you're trying to make without it being glibbed.
• 37:42
  Speaker 14: Look, it changes from hour to hour. It's a tough
• 37:45
  Speaker 14: thing to cover. But I guess you've got to try
• 37:48
  Speaker 14: and find out what is the big issue of the
• 37:50
  Speaker 14: day and trying to steal that down and try to
• 37:53
  Speaker 14: find something not poetic, but something sort of incisive.
• 37:58
  Speaker 7: To say about it and wrap it in a bit
• 38:00
  Speaker 7: of humor. But humor.
• 38:01
  Speaker 14: You've got to be careful in this situation because you
• 38:03
  Speaker 14: know people are suffering terribly.
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump, I mean he helped because he's not conventional.
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: I love this one.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: This is Trump and the sh No, this is the
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: Straits of Hormores. This is a great cartoon. You drew
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: this today, and it looks like the Iranians are charging
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: tolls to go through this.
• 38:23
  Speaker 14: They will make more money out of tolls than they
• 38:25
  Speaker 14: will out of oil price. Very clever to monetize the
• 38:29
  Speaker 14: Straits of Harmores and stick a toll booth on it.
• 38:31
  Speaker 7: Why not?
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: Why not?
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: Why not? What about the sultans of zing Donald Trump?
• 38:37
  Speaker 14: Well, I seem to be obsessed with the Straits of
• 38:40
  Speaker 14: har Moores this week, but well, you know I was.
• 38:43
  Speaker 4: Actually it was easter.
• 38:45
  Speaker 14: And we were away and I was looking for a
• 38:47
  Speaker 14: cartoon idea and someone just said.
• 38:51
  Speaker 7: The Straits of hall Moors and I just went straight
• 38:54
  Speaker 7: to die Straits. I couldn't get out of my head.
• 38:56
  Speaker 7: So I had to draw Donald as Mark Knoffler. And
• 39:00
  Speaker 7: look look at him. There, he's like the Colossus of Rhodes.
• 39:02
  Speaker 14: He's standing astride off everywhere behind him, banging it out.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: Why don't you get that little thought in your head?
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: It's hard to get it out, isn't it.
• 39:09
  Speaker 14: I find I just have to draw it, you know,
• 39:10
  Speaker 14: I just have to put it on paper, and if
• 39:12
  Speaker 14: it works, it works, and then it's gone.
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: The fuel issue playing out in resource rich Australia obviously
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: that that is something that we all know now. I
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: think this is genius. Having the layers of coal gas.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: We are six swimming in it.
• 39:31
  Speaker 14: We're tripping over it where it's like it's.
• 39:34
  Speaker 7: Like the Beverly Hillbillies.
• 39:36
  Speaker 14: You know, we we we are a resource rich nation
• 39:39
  Speaker 14: and we're buying. I mean the Prime ministerday today was
• 39:42
  Speaker 14: in exactly and begging for.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: You know, Campbell Newman on talking about that river of
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: oil up in Queens.
• 39:49
  Speaker 9: There you go.
• 39:50
  Speaker 14: He walked back with two Jerry cans like Neville Chamberlain saying,
• 39:54
  Speaker 14: you know, fuel security in our time drawn that.
• 39:56
  Speaker 7: Yet that's tomorrow's catt.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: What about the remarkable social posts from Donald Trump that's
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: been extraordinary but closer to home, Moira Deeming. Yes, now
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: you've I don't know where you've got this idea into
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: your crazy mind, but we've got that. Oh we've got
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: Donald First, he's in a strait jacket.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: What's he trying to do? Well?
• 40:18
  Speaker 7: The President? I mean, Donald keeps us on our toes.
• 40:20
  Speaker 14: And his incredible outburst this week, I mean a lot
• 40:25
  Speaker 14: of people were seeing it as a stroke of genius.
• 40:27
  Speaker 14: Is that you know that the mad Mullers in Iran
• 40:30
  Speaker 14: a pretty mad well. If you can try to out
• 40:33
  Speaker 14: crazy them, you will put them on the back foot.
• 40:36
  Speaker 7: And that's what the President is doing.
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: There.
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: Just turn our attention to Moira. Now, yes it was
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: an avid watcher of the road Runner. When quite work
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: out the connection between Moira and the Beep Beep road.
• 40:50
  Speaker 7: Runner, Well it's not so much Moira.
• 40:52
  Speaker 14: I mean, she's pretty fast on her feet, Mourra, but
• 40:55
  Speaker 14: it's the administration of the Victorian Liberal Party.
• 40:59
  Speaker 7: They are very much like the coyote. They have tried
• 41:02
  Speaker 7: to bag Moira, to get rid of a hat punch
• 41:05
  Speaker 7: on her, and every time they do they fail.
• 41:08
  Speaker 14: They are like that coot coyote with the acme boulder,
• 41:13
  Speaker 14: landing one every time.
• 41:14
  Speaker 7: Every time.
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: She'll love that. By the way, she will love that.
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: Mark grad to see you as usual. Thank you very much,
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: Mark Knight. How good are those cartoons? And if you're
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: lucky enough to be a Herald.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: Sun reader, he does one every day.
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: Now coming up our panel as straight up after Mark
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: and tonight, we're going to look at the issue of
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: Millennia Trump in the headlines a very public address to
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: downplay any connection to Jeff Epstein.
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: But is there more to it.
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: Now Friday Night Panel, As I said, they're up next,
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: welcome back. Let's jump straight into our latest news with
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: panelis Sky News contributed, Joe Hildebrand's kind enough to join
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: us every Friday evening, and the founder of GT Communications,
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: Jemma ton Yunis Mage do come back, Jemma, this is
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: this is in your wheelhouse. What do we make of
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: this stunning statement from Milania Trump?
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: Take a look here she is.
• 42:06
  Speaker 15: I have never had any knowledge of epstein abuse of
• 42:11
  Speaker 15: his victims. I was never involved in any capacity. I
• 42:17
  Speaker 15: was not a participant, was never on Epstein's plan, and
• 42:22
  Speaker 15: never visited his private ireland.
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: So of course what happens, Gemma.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: Immediately there's a whole bunch of pictures of Milania Donald
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: and Epstein. We can't none of us can work out
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: whether it's AI generated, whether they were real or they're fake.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: I wonder, though, what was the reason for doing that
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: today in the middle of the war.
• 42:44
  Speaker 9: Look the timing.
• 42:45
  Speaker 16: I'm still a bit curious about, to be honest with you, Steve.
• 42:48
  Speaker 16: But the first rule of this sort of thing, reputation management,
• 42:51
  Speaker 16: is get out ahead of it and control the conversation yourself.
• 42:54
  Speaker 16: You can't you can't influence a conversation or a narrative
• 42:58
  Speaker 16: if you are not part of it.
• 42:59
  Speaker 9: Better still, if you're not leading it. And perhaps she
• 43:02
  Speaker 9: just thought, damn it, I'll just do it today.
• 43:04
  Speaker 16: I mean, the President threatened to blow her und to
• 43:07
  Speaker 16: smithereens while standing next to the easter bunny. So anything
• 43:10
  Speaker 16: is possible in the ecosystem in which they exist. But
• 43:14
  Speaker 16: look the one observation I would make around how the
• 43:17
  Speaker 16: global media treats the First Lady Millennia Trump, in respect
• 43:21
  Speaker 16: of how they treated, for example, Jill Biden and Michelle Obama.
• 43:25
  Speaker 16: It's chalk and cheese. She's fair game. She's clearly the
• 43:28
  Speaker 16: wrong kind of woman. There is no graces or subtleties
• 43:33
  Speaker 16: around the treatment of Millennia Trump. She is open to
• 43:37
  Speaker 16: a level of scrutiny that the previous First Ladies were not.
• 43:40
  Speaker 9: And this may or may not be part of it.
• 43:42
  Speaker 16: But perhaps she just thought, you know, I'm getting ahead
• 43:45
  Speaker 16: of this while I while I can, or you know,
• 43:47
  Speaker 16: I'm not having a bar of But she's certainly proven
• 43:49
  Speaker 16: herself to be completely indifferent to a lot of the
• 43:53
  Speaker 16: actions of the media that cover the White House.
• 43:55
  Speaker 9: So in terms of timing, who's to know.
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: I find her intriguing character. I guess most of the
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: world does.
• 44:02
  Speaker 4: Joe.
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: We spoke about Matt Canavan earlier with Campbell Newman, he's
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: come out swinging on citizenships as it's time of Australia
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: toughened up its requirements. I don't think too many people
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: would disagree with the fact that if you are going
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: to put your hand up to become an Australian, it's
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: been a good idea if you knew a bit about
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: the country and you know what the character of the
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: country is and how you're going to fit in. There's
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: nothing wrong with that, is it?
• 44:25
  Speaker 4: No?
• 44:26
  Speaker 17: I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I think
• 44:28
  Speaker 17: this is more about what Matt Canavan needs to do
• 44:32
  Speaker 17: to make sure that he sort of stakes out the
• 44:35
  Speaker 17: National's position on the kind of conservative side of politics
• 44:39
  Speaker 17: and stops those votes from bleeding to one nation. So
• 44:43
  Speaker 17: I don't have any problem with it in terms of
• 44:45
  Speaker 17: being a policy. But Matt Canavan is incredibly astute political
• 44:51
  Speaker 17: leader with an incredibly good political brain, and I think
• 44:54
  Speaker 17: what he's really doing here is staking out the NATS
• 44:57
  Speaker 17: as the party that embraces Australian ues, that will fight
• 45:01
  Speaker 17: for and champion Australian values and basically signaling to the
• 45:04
  Speaker 17: electorate if you want a patriotic party that is unashamedly
• 45:09
  Speaker 17: pro Australia. You don't need to go to one nation.
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: You can get it right here.
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I reckon the rushing boots out the door that
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: he can hear going to one nation probably prompts it.
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: But I don't think there's any worries about what he's done.
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: Jem and I love a story that involves a major
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: project that could make billions of dollars in royalties for
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: the country being stopped by a slug or a snaker
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: or in.
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: This case a bird.
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: Andrew Forrest had a thing called the Great Land Mining Project.
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: It's now been put in danger because the night parrot,
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: that's what it's called, has been not seen but heard
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: in the vicinity of the mine. Now no one on
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: earth apparently has seen this parrot there. It is looks
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: like a budgy regard to me, but it doesn't look
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: anything like a parrot. No one can find anyone who's
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: ever seen this thing. But we're going to have to
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: put on poor a massive mining project.
• 46:02
  Speaker 9: Don't you just love the land down under us?
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: Sometimes?
• 46:06
  Speaker 16: Look, I think the missing piece of the puzzle in
• 46:09
  Speaker 16: this space broadly is balanced. We have documented evidence the
• 46:14
  Speaker 16: Australian published a piece I think it was a couple
• 46:17
  Speaker 16: of weekends agoing our devastating piece about the absolute environmental
• 46:21
  Speaker 16: carnage being wrought upon Australia's regional areas to facilitate this
• 46:27
  Speaker 16: so called renewable green dream, which is unsustainable on so
• 46:31
  Speaker 16: many levels. And yet we have this example where it
• 46:36
  Speaker 16: may or may not be a parrot.
• 46:37
  Speaker 9: We might have heard it. Is it a parrot? Is
• 46:39
  Speaker 9: it a parrot's mate? Is a Clayton's parrot? Brings everything
• 46:42
  Speaker 9: to a halt. We need to have, As with most things,
• 46:46
  Speaker 9: the center lane is where it's at.
• 46:47
  Speaker 16: We need to have sensible environmental protections that document existing
• 46:53
  Speaker 16: and proven.
• 46:55
  Speaker 9: Species that need to be protected.
• 46:56
  Speaker 16: And we also need to say, hang on a second,
• 46:59
  Speaker 16: We're not going to cut swayed through food producing farmland
• 47:03
  Speaker 16: to put up wind farms and solar farms and all
• 47:05
  Speaker 16: of that sort of thing. We need to have balance.
• 47:07
  Speaker 16: We don't have balance in this country right now, in
• 47:09
  Speaker 16: this area.
• 47:10
  Speaker 17: We need to get mighty python on the case we do.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: We might it took X.
• 47:15
  Speaker 6: Ballot, It is more.
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: I love them.
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: The thing I love about this is I'm reading it
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: and I'm saying no one's actually seen it, But there's
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: a tape recording of this thing making a noise out
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: of a tree somewhere. Now, I happen to live in
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: a place which has a lot of bird life, and
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: I hear carawongs and magpies and cooker bars all the time.
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: But I can just go out with a tape recorder
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: and record any old bird making a noise.
• 47:42
  Speaker 9: It's a point, where's the governance around? Call it governance?
• 47:46
  Speaker 9: I mean I do I need to ring?
• 47:47
  Speaker 16: Do I need to bring up the case of a
• 47:49
  Speaker 16: bee for us all to realize that there.
• 47:50
  Speaker 9: Is no balance in this in this space? I mean
• 47:54
  Speaker 9: we need to it.
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: Wasn't there that gold mine outside?
• 47:57
  Speaker 17: The methist as Gem mentioned the dreaming of the blue
• 48:02
  Speaker 17: banded bee, which was a bee that no one had
• 48:05
  Speaker 17: actually heard of or had known existed alone known that
• 48:09
  Speaker 17: there was a dreaming about. And this was put forward
• 48:13
  Speaker 17: not by the actual official local Indigenous land Council, but
• 48:18
  Speaker 17: by some random group that had just sort of thrown
• 48:20
  Speaker 17: itself together and started going on about this bee that again,
• 48:24
  Speaker 17: like the parrot, no one, Poor old Tanya Plibisek basically
• 48:29
  Speaker 17: got spooked into this.
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: Wonderful It's why.
• 48:35
  Speaker 16: We love with a gaggle of advisorspath That's why we love.
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: That's why we love our country.
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: Slugs and bees stopping mining projects. Thank you very much,
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: both of you. I should point out that tomorrow Australian
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: East Coast Time, Adamis two is going to burst back
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: into the Australian atmosphere. There's going to be a special
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: project on sky for that tomorrow morning. Make sure you
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: catch it. I'll see you next week.