Transcript

Sharri | 1 September · Sharri

0:07
Speaker 1: Thanks, James. Yes, a massive show tonight.
0:09
Speaker 2: Aussie legend Dawn Fraser tells me the Royal Commission has
0:12
Speaker 2: failed the pub test.
0:14
Speaker 1: She's demanding action.
0:16
Speaker 2: Also on the show, the housing market is facing the
0:18
Speaker 2: largest crash in 40 years.
0:21
Speaker 1: And today, Ray Hadley.
0:22
Speaker 2: Has given evidence against Alan Jones in an explosive day
0:26
Speaker 2: in court.
0:27
Speaker 1: We've got the details.
0:28
Speaker 2: Plus, TV star Mark Holden blasts from the past. He
0:32
Speaker 2: joins us live with a special new song. And we'll
0:36
Speaker 2: get the latest in Nepal on the missing Australians and
0:39
Speaker 2: what they were doing in their final moments before the
0:42
Speaker 2: floods hit. Packed show, powerhouse guests, Nick Coatsworth, Cameron Milner,
0:47
Speaker 2: Jonathan Dunyan.
0:48
Speaker 1: Michael Stutchbury, Mark Holden. Let's get into it.
0:52
Speaker 2: Well, Australian sporting legend Dawn Fraser has declared the Royal
0:56
Speaker 2: Commission has failed the pub test. She's urging Commissioner Virginia
1:00
Speaker 2: Bell to call... Albanese government ministers and Islamist organisations to
1:05
Speaker 2: the stand. This is a damning intervention from the former swimmer,
1:10
Speaker 2: whose press conference at the Bondi Memorial site first prompted
1:14
Speaker 2: Albanese to call the Royal Commission and backflip on his opposition.
1:19
Speaker 2: In exclusive comments, Dawn Fraser tells me, it's not too
1:24
Speaker 2: late for the Royal Commission to do the right thing.
1:27
Speaker 1: I hope it does.
1:29
Speaker 2: She says the Royal Commission has allowed cross-examination of Jewish
1:32
Speaker 2: witnesses sharing their stories, but it hasn't called ministers to
1:37
Speaker 2: give evidence, hasn't called members of Islamist organisations active in
1:41
Speaker 2: the anti-Israel protests and hasn't investigated the sources, origins and
1:47
Speaker 2: growth of Islamist extremism, which pose national security challenges for Australia.
1:54
Speaker 2: Dawn Fraser says this fails both the pub test and
1:57
Speaker 2: and the test of those with the proper qualifications. Now,
2:02
Speaker 2: you'll remember that very powerful moment earlier this year in
2:07
Speaker 2: January when Dawn Fraser walked down to the memorial site
2:12
Speaker 2: at Bondi and she expressed the anger and hurt that
2:15
Speaker 2: so many Australians right around the country were feeling.
2:21
Speaker 3: And to you, Anthony Albanese, Tony Burke, Penny Wong, come
2:28
Speaker 3: down off your high horse and stop trying to run
2:30
Speaker 3: for cover. If the Jewish community is calling for a
2:33
Speaker 3: royal commissioner, then do the right thing by this community.
2:37
Speaker 3: And that has suffered enough.
2:40
Speaker 2: It was those comments, it was that press conference that
2:44
Speaker 2: meant Anthony Albanese changed his mind.
2:46
Speaker 1: He'd been withholding.
2:49
Speaker 2: He'd been refusing to call a royal commission for four weeks.
2:53
Speaker 2: But now Dawn Fraser says she's been let down. Here's
2:57
Speaker 2: what she told me. She says it was my hope
2:59
Speaker 2: and expectation that the Royal Commission would fearlessly investigate the
3:03
Speaker 2: unprecedented harassment, intimidation and violence that had been directed at
3:08
Speaker 2: the Australian Jewish community since October.
3:12
Speaker 4: 7, 2023.
3:13
Speaker 2: What followed is not at all what I or many
3:16
Speaker 2: of the others involved at the time envisaged. Now, she
3:21
Speaker 2: adds to the growing chorus of prominent leaders, politicians, national
3:25
Speaker 2: security figures and legal experts who are urging the Royal
3:29
Speaker 2: Commission to be extended and for it to actually use
3:32
Speaker 2: its inquisitorial powers to thoroughly examine the drivers of hate.
3:38
Speaker 2: You think back to past Royal Commissions, like the Police
3:41
Speaker 2: Wood Royal Commission in the 90s, which unearthed serious corruption,
3:46
Speaker 2: which made a difference. And it makes this one look
3:50
Speaker 2: like a missed opportunity. Can I just say how good
3:57
Speaker 2: is Dawn Fraser? She remains a legend to this day.
4:00
Speaker 2: I'm so grateful to her voice.
4:03
Speaker 1: For speaking out.
4:04
Speaker 2: And I'm going to come back to that topic a
4:06
Speaker 2: bit later with John O'Donoghue, the Shadow Home Affairs Minister.
4:10
Speaker 2: But let's turn now to the housing market because it's
4:13
Speaker 2: facing the largest crash in 40 years. And this is
4:17
Speaker 2: shaping up to be Anthony Albanese's unwanted legacy. Interest rate rises,
4:22
Speaker 2: a housing market crash, the most persistent period of high
4:26
Speaker 2: inflation in modern Australian history. And added to that, as
4:30
Speaker 2: we've been speaking about, Australia's deadliest.
4:33
Speaker 1: Ever terror attack.
4:35
Speaker 2: Well, today, leading economists are warning that Australia could even
4:39
Speaker 2: be heading towards stagflation or recession. Forecasters at Goldman Sachs
4:45
Speaker 2: and HSBC are now predicting zero growth this quarter. And
4:50
Speaker 2: property analytics firm Totality has recorded a 4.7% drop in
4:55
Speaker 2: dwelling prices in Sydney. If the trend continues, this would
4:59
Speaker 2: amount to an 18% annual crash. Now, the Fin Review
5:04
Speaker 2: puts a dollar figure on this, reporting that the average
5:07
Speaker 2: value of a Sydney home has slumped by $ 100, 000 this.
5:12
Speaker 1: Just since February.
5:14
Speaker 2: And they say there's warnings that a nationwide property downturn
5:18
Speaker 2: has become entrenched. And new data shows that pessimism is
5:23
Speaker 2: seeping into other parts of the economy, with a slowdown
5:27
Speaker 2: in credit card spending and falling traffic at major retailers
5:31
Speaker 2: such as Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi. Esteemed property analyst
5:36
Speaker 2: Louis Christopher spoke about this a little earlier on Business Now.
5:41
Speaker 5: The change came when we had the first interest rate rise.
5:45
Speaker 5: Then the market was absolutely hammered by the property taxation changes,
5:49
Speaker 5: creating a lot of uncertainty in terms of where people
5:52
Speaker 5: stood on capital gains.
5:55
Speaker 2: Now, what makes this just so infuriating is that this
5:59
Speaker 2: housing market crunch and the slowing economy has been deliberately caused,
6:04
Speaker 2: deliberately created by the Albanese government. Labor has long dreamt
6:09
Speaker 2: of winding back what it saw as unfair tax concessions
6:13
Speaker 2: on negative gearing and capital gains. But this has only
6:16
Speaker 2: led to landlords and property investors having to put up
6:21
Speaker 2: rents to cover the lower returns. So this is just
6:24
Speaker 2: pushing up the rental market for the people the government
6:27
Speaker 2: claimed it wanted to help. And it's a point New
6:31
Speaker 2: South Wales opposition leader Kelly Sloan referred to today.
6:36
Speaker 6: Now, if that was helping someone else, then you can
6:40
Speaker 6: see the balance. But first home buyers are suffering as
6:43
Speaker 6: well because there's a market squeeze.
6:45
Speaker 1: Rents are going up. So if they're trying to.
6:47
Speaker 6: Save for a mortgage, there's been the biggest spike in
6:50
Speaker 6: rents in Sydney in recent times. And we're seeing a
6:52
Speaker 6: pessimism flow into the market. And this is because of
6:55
Speaker 6: Labor's bad budget, because of successive interest rate hikes and
6:59
Speaker 6: because of a downturn in our economy on their watch.
7:03
Speaker 2: And the Albanese government has also chosen not to tackle
7:07
Speaker 2: inflation by continuing government spending at record levels. Spending has
7:13
Speaker 2: never been higher. Neither has government debt. And it's Australians
7:18
Speaker 2: who are paying the price for this high inflation with
7:22
Speaker 2: rate rises. Remember when the Prime Minister, well, he was
7:25
Speaker 2: the opposition leader then, when Albanese blamed a single interest
7:29
Speaker 2: rate rise on the then Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.
7:34
Speaker 7: What we know is that under Scott Morrison, cost of
7:37
Speaker 7: living is in crisis. We know that the price of
7:41
Speaker 7: everything is going up, but people's wages aren't. And today, potentially,
7:45
Speaker 7: we face the triple whammy. Lower wages, rising inflation and
7:52
Speaker 7: rising interest rates. Scott Morrison, of course, is happy to
7:56
Speaker 7: always take credit for anything that goes right. But he
8:01
Speaker 7: always says, it's not my job. It's someone else's fault.
8:04
Speaker 7: It's nothing to do with me when things aren't going
8:08
Speaker 7: so well.
8:09
Speaker 1: It's amazing.
8:10
Speaker 2: He could be speaking about himself. There had been just
8:14
Speaker 2: one rate rise under Scott Morrison. There have now been
8:19
Speaker 2: 15 on Albanese's watch. Yet he hasn't accepted responsibility or
8:25
Speaker 2: even come close to apologising. And no acknowledgement of what
8:29
Speaker 2: those rises have done to mortgages or household budgets. And
8:34
Speaker 2: now the value of people's homes, their greatest asset, is
8:38
Speaker 2: falling as well.
8:40
Speaker 1: Now, for families, this isn't political or ideological.
8:45
Speaker 2: It's their savings, their retirement, their future, their children's inheritance,
8:50
Speaker 2: their financial security. This is real money for families across Australia.
8:56
Speaker 2: And ultimately, the Albanese government is messing with the great
8:59
Speaker 2: Australian dream of owning a home. And knowing that years
9:03
Speaker 2: of hard work will leave you better off. Because now
9:07
Speaker 2: the value of your home, your dream, your nest egg
9:12
Speaker 2: is going backwards. And this is the Prime Minister's legacy.
9:16
Speaker 1: And he won't be forgiven for it.
9:23
Speaker 2: Well, they've been the two biggest names in radio, Alan
9:26
Speaker 2: Jones and Ray Hadley. Their history dates back 35 years.
9:31
Speaker 2: They were rivals and they ruled the air, grilling politicians
9:35
Speaker 2: every morning. And now their relationship is under the spotlight,
9:39
Speaker 2: warts and all, in court. The evidence relates to allegations
9:43
Speaker 2: made by complainant C. He was first employed to work
9:48
Speaker 2: at 2GB and then became Alan Jones's driver. Hadley gave
9:54
Speaker 2: evidence today and he said that in 2019, C told
9:56
Speaker 2: him in a private conversation that Jones had sexually assaulted
10:02
Speaker 2: him on different occasions, including in lift wells. Ray Hadley
10:08
Speaker 2: said in court at various times he broke down and sobbed.
10:12
Speaker 2: I just stopped, let him compose himself, offered my support
10:16
Speaker 2: and let him continue. Hadley said he felt sorry for
10:20
Speaker 2: him and spoke about another alleged incident at lunch where
10:23
Speaker 2: C claimed Jones had touched him under the table. Hadley
10:27
Speaker 2: told the court today he was embarrassed by it and
10:30
Speaker 2: I felt helpless. Hadley said he offered to accompany C
10:34
Speaker 2: to a police station but that he refused to go,
10:37
Speaker 2: saying that Jones was too powerful. Now, Hadley also revealed
10:42
Speaker 2: that he rang a Sydney Morning Herald columnist, Peter Fitzsimons,
10:46
Speaker 2: and told him, about C's allegations. And here's more from
10:51
Speaker 2: Our News 24 reporter Carolyn Marcus, who was at the
10:54
Speaker 2: court today.
10:57
Speaker 8: An accuser who can only be known as Complainant C
11:00
Speaker 8: had earlier told the court that it was Mr Hadley
11:03
Speaker 8: who put him in touch with columnist Peter Fitzsimons. after
11:08
Speaker 8: he disclosed Mr. Jones' alleged offending. That led to the
11:13
Speaker 8: accuser next speaking to a journalist, Kate McClymont, who broke
11:18
Speaker 8: the story. Mr. Jones' lawyers are seeking to show the
11:22
Speaker 8: bitter rivalry between Mr.
11:24
Speaker 1: Hadley and Mr.
11:25
Speaker 8: Jones was the motive behind complainancy's disclosure.
11:33
Speaker 2: So as you heard, the court was also told that
11:35
Speaker 2: tensions were rife between Hadley and Jones, with former senior
11:39
Speaker 2: producer for Jones, James Willis, saying that Hadley had signed
11:42
Speaker 2: a secret deal to take over the coveted breakfast slot
11:46
Speaker 2: from Jones. He said, while this was meant to be
11:50
Speaker 2: a secret, it had spread through the corridors enough that
11:52
Speaker 2: our team, including Jones, had been aware of it. In
11:56
Speaker 2: the end, Hadley was only questioned for just over an
11:59
Speaker 2: hour before the judge cut his evidence short over a
12:02
Speaker 2: legal issue. He was eventually excused and he will take
12:05
Speaker 2: the stand again at 10am tomorrow.
12:08
Speaker 1: Alan Jones denies all allegations.
12:15
Speaker 2: Now, I'm going to return to the housing crunch. It
12:17
Speaker 2: is the biggest story at the moment. I'm going to
12:19
Speaker 2: return to it later with Michael Stutchbury, the former editor-in-chief
12:22
Speaker 2: of The Fin Review. But now let's get the latest
12:25
Speaker 2: on Nepal, where the death toll has tragically passed 1,000 people.
12:30
Speaker 2: And joining me now live from Taipei is News24 Asia
12:32
Speaker 2: correspondent Stas Butler.
12:35
Speaker 1: Great to see you again.
12:36
Speaker 2: Now, tell us about this Australian, Michael Keats, because we
12:40
Speaker 2: heard from his partner Stas, that he had, that she
12:44
Speaker 2: believed he had been killed in these landslides in Nepal.
12:48
Speaker 2: But the Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, is saying that this
12:51
Speaker 2: isn't confirmed. And in fact, let's bring those comments from
12:54
Speaker 2: Penny right now.
12:56
Speaker 9: My thoughts are with Mr Keats' family and with all
13:00
Speaker 9: the families and friends of the 43 Australians who are
13:03
Speaker 9: currently unaccounted for and whose welfare we are urgently seeking
13:08
Speaker 9: to confirm. We've not received official confirmation. We respect the
13:12
Speaker 9: family's rights to make a public statement.
13:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, so what do we know? Is Michael alive or not?
13:23
Speaker 10: Well, I mean, I think the foreign minister there clarifying
13:27
Speaker 10: that essentially what we're seeing is that the Australian government
13:29
Speaker 10: hasn't received any formal identification of any victims. Often, you know,
13:35
Speaker 10: in this case, the Nepalese authorities, the Nepali authorities have pulled,
13:39
Speaker 10: you know, several hundred bodies over 900. Now, as you said,
13:42
Speaker 10: the death toll combined across China and Nepal has passed
13:46
Speaker 10: a thousand. Many of those bodies, by my understanding, have
13:49
Speaker 10: not been identified. So there is a formal identification process
13:54
Speaker 10: that obviously needs to, you know.
13:57
Speaker 11: go through.
13:57
Speaker 10: And I think that the process here is that, as
14:00
Speaker 10: the foreign minister has made clear, there hasn't been formal identification.
14:04
Speaker 10: The government's position is that they're not going to announce
14:07
Speaker 10: the death formally until they have that confirmation from the
14:11
Speaker 10: Nepali authorities. But they respect the wishes of families to
14:15
Speaker 10: announce that death if they so wish.
14:18
Speaker 2: And Stash, there is some better news, though. A second Australian,
14:21
Speaker 2: we're being told, has been found alive.
14:25
Speaker 11: That's right.
14:26
Speaker 10: So we have the number of missing Australians ticking down
14:29
Speaker 10: from 43 to 42. It ticked down earlier when Cara Severino,
14:34
Speaker 10: a hiker, made contact with authorities. That's really the hopeful
14:40
Speaker 10: scenario here for many of those missing Australians, is that
14:44
Speaker 10: given the disruption to infrastructure, the damage to obviously cell
14:47
Speaker 10: phone towers, but also roads, train lines, all other kinds
14:51
Speaker 10: of things that that simply contact may have been lost
14:54
Speaker 10: in many cases that many of these missing Australians can
14:57
Speaker 10: hopefully get back in touch. But of course, the wait
15:00
Speaker 10: still goes on for so many families, Australian and Nepali
15:03
Speaker 10: as well. I've spoken to two Nepali tour operators, one
15:07
Speaker 10: who's still got two guides missing, still has no news
15:12
Speaker 10: on their situation, although a team has been sent out
15:15
Speaker 10: to find them. Another who's missing, an uncle and uncle's family,
15:19
Speaker 10: Still waiting for news of them, too. They were on
15:21
Speaker 10: a pilgrimage to a sacred lake high up in the
15:24
Speaker 10: mountains before contact was lost. He says to me, admitting
15:28
Speaker 10: that he has very little hope that they'll still be
15:29
Speaker 10: found alive. Of course, there's a lot to be done.
15:33
Speaker 10: Rescues ongoing of personnel trapped in hydropower plants and also
15:37
Speaker 10: the grim task, as I said, of identifying the dead.
15:40
Speaker 10: One of the main things that's being sent in terms
15:42
Speaker 10: of aid coming from other countries, including China, among others,
15:46
Speaker 10: is DNA kits to do just that thing and notify
15:49
Speaker 10: the next of kin when their loved ones are found.
15:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just so sad. Stash Butler, thank you so
15:55
Speaker 1: much for the update.
15:58
Speaker 2: OK, let's turn now to the row between the Albanese
16:01
Speaker 2: government and One Nation. Now, Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has again
16:06
Speaker 2: linked Pauline Hanson's party to neo-Nazis.
16:09
Speaker 1: Have a look.
16:10
Speaker 12: I would suggest that Senator Hanson should examine what her
16:15
Speaker 12: party and what her ideology and her behaviour is doing
16:19
Speaker 12: and whether or not that is encouraging that. When you
16:21
Speaker 12: admit that you have a party that has been infiltrated
16:24
Speaker 12: by extremists and neo-Nazis, This is exactly the kind of
16:29
Speaker 12: dangers to which politicians are being put in this country.
16:34
Speaker 2: Now, I've been told that it is true that neo-Nazis
16:38
Speaker 2: have been joining One Nation. But furious, Pauline Hanson snapped back.
16:43
Speaker 2: She said millions of Australians support One Nation. They're not extremists.
16:47
Speaker 2: They're not dangerous. And ministers should not use language that
16:50
Speaker 2: encourages others to treat them as if they are. And
16:54
Speaker 2: to discuss former Labor State Secretary Cameron Milner and former
16:57
Speaker 2: Deputy Chief Medical.
16:58
Speaker 1: Officer Dr Nick Coatsworth, join me now. Great to see
17:01
Speaker 1: you both.
17:02
Speaker 2: Now, Michelle Rowland also claimed that it's Pauline's own language
17:06
Speaker 2: leading to the threats against her.
17:08
Speaker 1: Let's have a look at that comment.
17:10
Speaker 12: I don't wish ill on Ms Hanson in a physical way.
17:13
Speaker 1: I don't wish any politician any ill will.
17:15
Speaker 12: Irrespective of their political persuasion. But I think sometimes when
17:21
Speaker 12: comments like this are made, one needs to look at
17:23
Speaker 12: oneself and one's behaviour and the kinds of standards that
17:28
Speaker 12: they accept into their own party and their own ideology.
17:31
Speaker 2: I mean, Cameron, I think these are extraordinary comments. I mean,
17:35
Speaker 2: Pauline is receiving death threats every and Labor is blaming
17:40
Speaker 2: her for it?
17:43
Speaker 13: Well, isn't the hypocrisy rife? But, I mean, Labor's running
17:47
Speaker 13: scared after Secret Harbour. I mean, Labor told everyone that
17:49
Speaker 13: One Nation was a right-of-centre problem for the Liberal Party,
17:53
Speaker 13: for the National Party.
17:54
Speaker 11: It's not.
17:55
Speaker 13: It's a problem for all political parties where weak leadership
17:58
Speaker 13: leads to voters actually wanting change, and Pauline Hanson represents
18:01
Speaker 13: that change right now. And to the comments about, you know,
18:04
Speaker 13: kind of dangerous extremism, et cetera, et cetera, this is
18:07
Speaker 13: Labor just throwing political confetti any which way rather than
18:10
Speaker 13: admitting the elephant in the room, the contributing factor to
18:13
Speaker 13: why Labor's losing Secret Harbour, you know, losing votes in
18:17
Speaker 13: Victoria is Albanese and his weakness as a federal prime
18:20
Speaker 13: minister and his inability to lead this nation on issues
18:23
Speaker 13: like Bondi and others. And that's what's lit the fire
18:26
Speaker 13: under the voters out there and Pauline Hanson's leading that.
18:29
Speaker 1: You're 100% right. Nick, what do you think?
18:32
Speaker 2: Should Labor ministers be more careful with their language? I mean,
18:35
Speaker 2: what if, God forbid, if something serious does happen?
18:40
Speaker 14: Well, Sherry, I think on some level everybody's got to
18:42
Speaker 14: be more careful with their language. And, look, we have
18:45
Speaker 14: a lot to preserve in Australia in terms of rational
18:48
Speaker 14: political discourse. I can tell you, despite being one of
18:50
Speaker 14: the most recognised figures of the COVID pandemic and despite
18:53
Speaker 14: the polarisation that has caused within Australia's community, I've only
18:57
Speaker 14: been stopped three times in the street with negative comments
19:00
Speaker 14: levelled at me, one who was supporting restrictions, one who wasn't,
19:04
Speaker 14: and one person who was disturbed. And I think that's
19:07
Speaker 14: an example of what we need to preserve in the country.
19:10
Speaker 14: I think Michelle Rowland levelling those accusations at Pauline Hanson, well,
19:15
Speaker 14: I couldn't agree more with Cameron there. I think A
19:18
Speaker 14: lot of what Pauline says is about the cut and
19:20
Speaker 14: thrust of politics. And to be honest, if Labor continues
19:23
Speaker 14: down this path, then I think more than one person
19:26
Speaker 14: today has reminded us of Hillary Clinton's basket of deplorables
19:30
Speaker 14: comments with why she lost her the first election to Trump.
19:33
Speaker 14: That is the direction that this will go.
19:35
Speaker 12: So.
19:36
Speaker 14: If that's their tactics, there'll be a lot of conservative
19:39
Speaker 14: voters out there who are very happy with it. And
19:41
Speaker 14: it does appear that Albanese is, you know, he's long
19:44
Speaker 14: said his battles with conservatives, one assumed it was conservative politicians,
19:49
Speaker 14: but his battle might actually be with conservative voters in
19:52
Speaker 14: Australia and that will probably lose him an election.
19:55
Speaker 10: I mean, the.
19:55
Speaker 2: Interesting thing, though, is that it's not only Conservatives supporting
19:59
Speaker 2: One Nation. You know, there are Labor voters turning to
20:01
Speaker 2: One Nation too, as, of course, we saw with Secret Harbour.
20:05
Speaker 2: And so, Cameron, do you think, given this is the
20:08
Speaker 2: One Nation support base, do you think Labor, particularly the
20:11
Speaker 2: Prime Minister, but his senior ministers too, are mishandling the
20:14
Speaker 2: rise of Pauline? And, you know, Albanese's insulting voters, really,
20:19
Speaker 2: when he insults her.
20:22
Speaker 11: Oh, absolutely.
20:23
Speaker 13: Labor, to Nick's point before, is handling this terribly. It's
20:27
Speaker 13: handling this terribly. But it's such an inside the beltway
20:29
Speaker 13: Canberra type reaction. Rather than actually meeting voters, actually understanding
20:33
Speaker 13: the hurt they're going through, this Labor government's been running scared,
20:36
Speaker 13: running scared from the cost of living crisis, running scared
20:39
Speaker 13: from the inflation crisis that this country's under because of
20:42
Speaker 13: the government decisions. And that's the problem for Labor. Labor
20:44
Speaker 13: can't own up and can't tell the truth and be
20:47
Speaker 13: honest with voters out there because it would actually admit fault.
20:50
Speaker 13: And that's the real problem. I mean, Pauline Hanson's point is,
20:53
Speaker 13: you know, if Albo was just a better Prime Minister,
20:55
Speaker 13: if he could actually admit fault today, then maybe the
20:58
Speaker 13: country would be a better place as well.
20:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, there couldn't be a greater contrast with Chris Minns.
21:02
Speaker 2: He's constantly admitting that he could do better and voters
21:06
Speaker 2: appreciate that.
21:07
Speaker 1: It's authentic.
21:08
Speaker 2: Whereas Albanese can't ever admit he was wrong, never, not
21:13
Speaker 2: even when it's blindingly.
21:14
Speaker 1: Obvious to the rest of us.
21:16
Speaker 2: All right, let's turn to the tobacco excise because starting today,
21:19
Speaker 2: a single cigarette will now cost a record $ 1.
21:22
Speaker 11: 55.
21:22
Speaker 2: It takes a packet to between $ 40 and $ 60.
21:24
Speaker 11: Now.
21:28
Speaker 2: Nick, the government's under pressure over this, not so much
21:31
Speaker 2: from a health perspective, although I am interested to hear
21:35
Speaker 2: your perspective on whether there is any health benefit to
21:37
Speaker 2: having these high taxes, but more because it's led to
21:40
Speaker 2: this spate of firebombings and criminal activity.
21:43
Speaker 11: Nick?
21:44
Speaker 14: Well, Sherry, they're under fire from a health perspective, an
21:47
Speaker 14: economic perspective and a law enforcement perspective. Let me tell
21:51
Speaker 14: you that the last person who quit smoking because of
21:55
Speaker 14: high tobacco prices, high legal cigarette prices, probably did it
21:59
Speaker 14: about five years ago. And the incremental benefit of increasing
22:02
Speaker 14: the excise now is just to put more price differential
22:06
Speaker 14: between the legal and the illicit product and drive the
22:09
Speaker 14: problems with law enforcement, decrease the amount of revenue and
22:13
Speaker 14: increase the accessibility of illicit tobacco on our streets that
22:17
Speaker 14: our kids and smokers are accessing. I mean, tobacco has
22:21
Speaker 14: never been cheaper in Australia, and that is the fault
22:24
Speaker 14: of consecutive coalition and Labor governments, but it happens to
22:28
Speaker 14: be Labor in at the moment. It just shows you
22:31
Speaker 14: how incredibly inert we are as a government or a
22:36
Speaker 14: political class when we continue on September 1st to increase
22:40
Speaker 14: the price of a cigarette when we know that that
22:43
Speaker 14: the policy is not working. And I would really, I've
22:46
Speaker 14: said this publicly at the Press Club, I would really
22:48
Speaker 14: like to see that excess come down to 2019 levels
22:52
Speaker 14: or even less. We have to decrease that differential between
22:56
Speaker 14: the price of illegal and illicit tobacco to get control
22:59
Speaker 14: back over this market.
23:01
Speaker 2: It's kind of amazing, isn't it, Cameron, to see a
23:04
Speaker 2: government policy cause a whole new crime wave?
23:10
Speaker 13: Oh, absolutely. And I think, Nick, I'd go even stronger.
23:13
Speaker 13: I mean, I think this is an abject failure of
23:14
Speaker 13: public policy.
23:15
Speaker 11: Abject failure.
23:16
Speaker 13: I mean, we have a situation where 80% of smokes
23:18
Speaker 13: out there are bought from the black market, bought from
23:21
Speaker 13: organised crime. I mean, the tax revenues are falling because
23:24
Speaker 13: they're failing. I mean, so there's not even a health
23:26
Speaker 13: warning on the packets that are brought in by Manchester,
23:28
Speaker 13: made in Dubai, sold by some Lebanese crime gang on
23:31
Speaker 13: the streets out there. I mean, this is terrible what's
23:33
Speaker 13: happening in Australia.
23:34
Speaker 8: Terrible.
23:34
Speaker 13: And not only that, to your point, Shari, you know,
23:36
Speaker 13: you've got, you know, evidence now from our security services
23:39
Speaker 13: that the Iranian army contacted some of these fire bombers
23:42
Speaker 13: to go and bomb a Jewish synagogue, allegedly. I mean,
23:45
Speaker 13: this is the level of criminal activity funded by an
23:48
Speaker 13: abject failure in public policy that's not raising the tax revenue,
23:51
Speaker 13: is putting health at risk and lives at risk because
23:54
Speaker 13: of the amount of organised crime and violent organised crime
23:56
Speaker 13: that's now occurring.
23:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely right. Great to have you both.
24:01
Speaker 2: And, Nick, I think it's the first time I've had
24:03
Speaker 2: you on the show since the COVID pandemic, so I
24:05
Speaker 2: hope you'll come back again.
24:06
Speaker 1: That's correct, Sherry. Great to see you both.
24:07
Speaker 9: Nice to be back.
24:08
Speaker 1: Thanks.
24:10
Speaker 2: OK, let's return to Dawn Fraser's intervention now and to
24:13
Speaker 2: discuss Shadow Home Affairs Minister John O'Donoghue joins me live.
24:17
Speaker 1: Jonathan, great to see you. Look, when Dawn Fraser.
24:20
Speaker 2: Intervenes, surely the Prime Minister and the Commissioner, Virginia Bell,
24:25
Speaker 2: have to listen.
24:27
Speaker 15: Well, of course, Shari, can I say her intervention early on,
24:31
Speaker 15: of course, was something that obviously people, the Prime Minister included,
24:35
Speaker 15: sat up.
24:35
Speaker 16: And listened to. And Dawn wasn't just speaking on behalf
24:38
Speaker 16: of herself.
24:38
Speaker 15: She was speaking on behalf of the entire Australian community.
24:41
Speaker 16: In her comments there, she.
24:42
Speaker 15: Referenced 30 high-ranking Australians with some degree of experience and
24:48
Speaker 15: a view with some expertise on matters related to what
24:51
Speaker 15: the Royal Commission's looking at. So, Why you'd ignore what
24:55
Speaker 15: she has to say, this plea to get it right,
24:57
Speaker 15: I don't know. This government, I think, sadly, just hopes
25:00
Speaker 15: this Royal Commission does its work, hands its report in and.
25:03
Speaker 16: We can all move on.
25:03
Speaker 15: But sadly, that will not do what was promised, which
25:07
Speaker 15: is to look at everything in the full light of
25:10
Speaker 15: day and make sure we do everything we can to
25:12
Speaker 15: prevent this from happening ever again.
25:13
Speaker 1: I think she really has a way of synthesising the issue.
25:17
Speaker 2: You know, we've been talking about the complexities of it
25:19
Speaker 2: on the show for weeks now, but she just says
25:22
Speaker 2: it's failed the pub test.
25:23
Speaker 1: And she's right.
25:25
Speaker 11: Spot on.
25:25
Speaker 15: I mean, and frankly, she does have a way with
25:28
Speaker 15: words and she does capture the imagination. Dawn Fraser is
25:31
Speaker 15: an Australian icon. And I think the Prime Minister, this
25:34
Speaker 15: government would do well to listen to her because, as
25:37
Speaker 15: I say, she speaks on not just behalf of herself,
25:40
Speaker 15: but I say the Australian community.
25:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, agreed.
25:43
Speaker 2: All right, back to the housing market. We're reading it's
25:45
Speaker 2: facing the largest crash.
25:46
Speaker 1: In 40 years.
25:47
Speaker 2: Are you worried that as economists are warning, we could
25:51
Speaker 2: also be facing stagflation or even a recession?
25:55
Speaker 15: Well, I think the facts and all of the conditions
25:58
Speaker 15: our country is facing are pointing to that. And the government,
26:03
Speaker 15: and this is the most alarming part, Shari, you know,
26:05
Speaker 15: the government sort of say it's happening around us.
26:07
Speaker 16: It's all these economic headwinds, international conditions. Well, hang on.
26:11
Speaker 16: I'm sorry, they're not building enough homes, if we talk
26:13
Speaker 16: about the housing crisis for a moment.
26:15
Speaker 15: They're spending like there's no tomorrow, which is driving up
26:18
Speaker 15: inflation and, of course, therefore driving up interest rates. You've
26:22
Speaker 15: got their latest budget, which has driven a stake through
26:26
Speaker 15: the heart of the housing market. That has all of
26:29
Speaker 15: the flow-ons that economists and others have pointed to, people
26:33
Speaker 15: not spending as much, credit card transactions down, people just
26:37
Speaker 15: not taking a risk with their money at all. this
26:40
Speaker 15: is going to have serious and ongoing ramifications for our economy.
26:44
Speaker 15: And the government just say, oh, well, we hope it
26:46
Speaker 15: gets better. I have seen no evidence of a serious
26:48
Speaker 15: attempt to rectify this on any level.
26:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's really stunning, astonishing to look at
26:56
Speaker 2: the fact that, you know, a conflation of government policies
27:00
Speaker 2: have caused this situation, you know, direct correlation and And
27:04
Speaker 2: to think that families have their main asset because the
27:06
Speaker 2: family home for most households is their main asset, that
27:10
Speaker 2: it's declining. It's going to be a shock to the
27:12
Speaker 2: system when people realise what's happening if they don't already. Jono,
27:17
Speaker 2: all eyes are on this year's Pacific Island Forum. Tensions
27:20
Speaker 2: between China and Taiwan, we're reading, could explode. Now, China's
27:24
Speaker 2: special envoy for the Pacific said that Taiwan is not
27:27
Speaker 2: a dialogue partner with the forum. They said, we've got
27:30
Speaker 2: serious concerns. And this Warring statement, they said, there will
27:34
Speaker 2: always be consequences. Now, Albanese stopped short of criticising China.
27:40
Speaker 1: Here's what he did say.
27:41
Speaker 7: Pacific Islands Forum determines... what happens here, not any other country.
27:48
Speaker 7: This is a well-attended meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum,
27:52
Speaker 7: and I don't think it's productive to talk it down.
27:56
Speaker 1: I'm talking it up.
27:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, he's talking it up, but are you
28:00
Speaker 2: worried or concerned he's downplaying the threats from China when
28:04
Speaker 2: it uses language like there could be consequences for Taiwan?
28:08
Speaker 16: Yeah, I mean, what consequences?
28:10
Speaker 15: I find this approach to international relations, diplomacy, frankly, staggering
28:16
Speaker 15: in this day and age that somehow everyone goes and
28:19
Speaker 15: cowers in the corner when a diplomatic official uses language
28:23
Speaker 15: like this.
28:24
Speaker 16: It's very sad.
28:25
Speaker 15: But again, the one thing the Prime Minister said there
28:28
Speaker 15: I do agree with is that the Pacific Island Forum
28:31
Speaker 15: should determine who comes to the Pacific Island Forum, not China,
28:34
Speaker 15: not the US, no one else.
28:36
Speaker 16: And so, I say that China should stick to their own.
28:40
Speaker 15: Business and do what they need to do rather than
28:42
Speaker 15: telling the rest of the world what we should be doing.
28:44
Speaker 15: And Australia is a leader in this region, in the
28:47
Speaker 15: Pacific region.
28:48
Speaker 16: We're a democracy. We want stability. We want peace in
28:51
Speaker 16: this region. And that's what we need to be standing
28:53
Speaker 16: up for. And I would urge the Prime Minister to
28:55
Speaker 16: reflect that in his language when responding to these sorts
28:58
Speaker 16: of matters.
29:00
Speaker 2: There are unconfirmed reports that a former Australian Defence Forces
29:04
Speaker 2: soldier has been killed by fighting in Ukraine, I stress unverified.
29:09
Speaker 2: Officials are investigating whether this combat medic, he's known only
29:13
Speaker 2: as Mozzie, died last Friday. Now, Jono, your colleague Phil
29:17
Speaker 2: Thompson has paid tribute, says he's a good man and
29:19
Speaker 2: a great soldier. I mean, what do we actually know
29:22
Speaker 2: about Mozzie and what's happened?
29:25
Speaker 15: Well, look, I have no details beyond what has been
29:28
Speaker 15: reported and, of course, Phil's statement. And if it is
29:31
Speaker 15: the case that Mozzie has lost his life, then that
29:36
Speaker 15: is a very, very sad outcome.
29:38
Speaker 16: Obviously, this conflict.
29:40
Speaker 15: which has consumed so much in the way of human lives,
29:43
Speaker 15: but also other resources, is one that I just hope
29:45
Speaker 15: we see an end to. And it is important that
29:48
Speaker 15: we in the West, we peace loving democratic nations do
29:52
Speaker 15: band together. And the sooner we can bring an end
29:54
Speaker 15: to this conflict and others like it, the more lives
29:57
Speaker 15: like Mozzie's can be saved. As you say, it is unverified,
30:00
Speaker 15: but of course.
30:01
Speaker 16: You know, if it is the case that this young
30:04
Speaker 16: man's lost his life, that is a very sad outcome.
30:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is indeed. All right, Jono, great to have
30:08
Speaker 1: you on the show as always. Thank you.
30:11
Speaker 2: Still to come, TV and music star Mark Holden joins
30:14
Speaker 2: us live with a special song and One Nation wants
30:18
Speaker 2: to take on Chris Minns and Kelly Sloan in the
30:21
Speaker 2: state election and its New South Wales leader will join
30:24
Speaker 2: me after this quick break.
30:30
Speaker 1: Welcome back.
30:30
Speaker 2: Well, One Nation is upping the ante in New South Wales,
30:34
Speaker 2: tapping investment banker Mike Newman to be its new state leader.
30:38
Speaker 2: He's lived in Japan for 25 years and might be
30:41
Speaker 2: an unusual choice for a party which is heavily focused
30:44
Speaker 2: on domestic politics. But Newman has hit the ground running,
30:48
Speaker 2: vowing to abolish the New South Wales Independent Planning Commission
30:52
Speaker 2: and the Net Zero Commission. And I'm pleased to say
30:54
Speaker 2: Mike Newman joins me now. Mike, I understand it's your
30:58
Speaker 2: birthday today.
30:59
Speaker 1: Is that right?
31:00
Speaker 11: That's right. 55 years young.
31:03
Speaker 1: Well, happy birthday.
31:04
Speaker 2: But I feel like this might be a tactic to
31:07
Speaker 2: come on my show when it's your birthday.
31:09
Speaker 1: So I can't be tough on you.
31:10
Speaker 11: You can go for your life. Don't worry.
31:13
Speaker 2: Look, your background is investment banking. You were the trade commissioner.
31:17
Speaker 2: In another lifetime, you would have run for the Liberal Party.
31:20
Speaker 2: So why One Nation?
31:23
Speaker 17: Pretty simple, Shari. They're the only party that I could see.
31:26
Speaker 17: And I've dealt with both sides of politics, Labor and
31:29
Speaker 17: the coalition. where there was just no factionism. We are
31:33
Speaker 17: just out to do what's best for Australians, and in
31:36
Speaker 17: my case, for the people of New South Wales. So
31:39
Speaker 17: I've said before in other interviews that I'm not really
31:42
Speaker 17: running against either of the other parties. I'm actually running
31:44
Speaker 17: for the people of New South Wales with a completely
31:47
Speaker 17: different agenda, which is all about handing power back to people,
31:50
Speaker 17: getting government out of their lives, reducing red tape, cutting taxes,
31:55
Speaker 17: and allowing private sector to finally thrive Because, you know,
31:59
Speaker 17: I've been saying for a long time that New South
32:01
Speaker 17: Wales has the worst reputation amongst all the states for
32:03
Speaker 17: ease of doing business.
32:05
Speaker 2: Well, the state election in New South Wales, it's in
32:07
Speaker 2: March next year, so six months away. Now, Chris Minns
32:11
Speaker 2: is a very popular Premier. I mean, would you say
32:14
Speaker 2: he's done a good job?
32:16
Speaker 11: Well, I like Chris Finns.
32:18
Speaker 17: I'll say he's a decent chap where he didn't take
32:20
Speaker 17: credit for the Metro.
32:21
Speaker 11: I think that's the mark of the man.
32:22
Speaker 17: But sadly, I mean, four years ago, I said for
32:25
Speaker 17: him when I was the commissioner that he had to
32:27
Speaker 17: get into international markets to dispel this myth that New
32:30
Speaker 17: South Wales was hard business, or at least a a
32:33
Speaker 17: difficult state to do business in. And it's taken him
32:35
Speaker 17: four years to get to India. He's playing cricket and.
32:39
Speaker 1: That's... He's there this week. We should tell you he's
32:42
Speaker 1: there this week, right now.
32:44
Speaker 17: And to be honest, I wish him a successful trip
32:46
Speaker 17: because what's good for New South Wales is good for
32:49
Speaker 17: New South Wales. So I don't mean any bad will,
32:51
Speaker 17: but what I'm saying is it took him four years.
32:53
Speaker 17: So four years before our CEO has gone to visit
32:58
Speaker 17: other nations, I think it is a bad indictment. But
33:01
Speaker 17: the thing is, if it was to stay and do
33:02
Speaker 17: domestic issues, we've had failures in healthcare, we've had failures
33:08
Speaker 17: in terms of security, and also we've had failures with
33:12
Speaker 17: respect to energy. I mean, let's face it, energy, the
33:15
Speaker 17: government has mandated that Iran closes in 2029 and the
33:19
Speaker 17: documents that the government uses to sort of ensure that
33:23
Speaker 17: we've got enough energy in the system debunks itself and
33:25
Speaker 17: we will have rolling blackouts from 2029.
33:28
Speaker 11: And that will destroy the economy.
33:29
Speaker 17: And I want to put an absolute end to that,
33:33
Speaker 17: which is why I want to get rid of the
33:35
Speaker 17: Independent Planning Commission as well.
33:36
Speaker 11: As the Net Zero Commission.
33:37
Speaker 15: Yeah, yeah.
33:38
Speaker 1: I mentioned that you're running on those policies.
33:40
Speaker 2: Now, are you planning on having your One Nation candidates
33:43
Speaker 2: running in mainly Labor seats or Coalition seats?
33:47
Speaker 17: Every single one. We will run in every single one. Obviously,
33:51
Speaker 17: we've got a lot of work to do, but we're
33:53
Speaker 17: getting candidates. We've got a lot of people applying and
33:56
Speaker 17: we will be vetting them to make sure that we've
33:58
Speaker 17: got the right people in place because we want those
34:00
Speaker 17: people to bleed orange. We don't mind if they have
34:02
Speaker 17: diversity of thought, but we just do not want to
34:04
Speaker 17: have people who are hangers-on or feeling that they want
34:07
Speaker 17: to catch the wave. And they're the people we definitely
34:10
Speaker 17: do not want to have inside the party.
34:12
Speaker 2: Have you met with Opposition Leader Kelly Sloan yet about
34:15
Speaker 2: doing a preference deal with her?
34:17
Speaker 11: Well, look, I'm four days in.
34:19
Speaker 17: And to be honest, I'm happy to talk to anyone
34:22
Speaker 17: who will get rid of this horrible Labor government. As
34:25
Speaker 17: I said, Mr Minns, I have no issues with him,
34:27
Speaker 17: but I do think he has a lot of lightweights
34:30
Speaker 17: with his ministers who are making some dreadful decisions. And,
34:33
Speaker 17: you know, whether it's housing, energy, we're just not seeing
34:38
Speaker 17: the results come through.
34:39
Speaker 2: I mean, talking to you now, you couldn't be more
34:41
Speaker 2: different from the last One Nation leader, Mark Latham. It's
34:44
Speaker 2: like chalk and cheese. You know, you're a serious figure.
34:49
Speaker 2: You're running as well as the candidate for Cessnock. You
34:51
Speaker 2: mentioned a moment ago energy policy being a disaster in
34:54
Speaker 2: New South Wales. Now, the largest coal mine in the
34:57
Speaker 2: Hunter Valley... It has been waiting, I understand, something like
35:01
Speaker 2: six years for an extension. It does $ 3 billion of
35:04
Speaker 2: revenue per year. I mean, do you think the government
35:08
Speaker 2: should be having a role in holding this up?
35:12
Speaker 11: No. I mean, this is the problem.
35:13
Speaker 17: I mean, it just goes to if you want to
35:15
Speaker 17: undermine long-term confidence in investors, you do exactly what the
35:18
Speaker 17: Independent Planning Commission is doing right now. What should be
35:21
Speaker 17: happening with HVO is it should have had its approval
35:24
Speaker 17: six years ago and we would have done it inside
35:26
Speaker 17: of six months. Worse than that, What is happening is
35:29
Speaker 17: the IPC is saying, well, how quickly can you transition
35:33
Speaker 17: workers out so we can close this thing? Because the
35:36
Speaker 17: thing is what people need to understand, and this is
35:38
Speaker 17: where the IPC is totally undermining confidence in all other
35:41
Speaker 17: new potential mining extension applications, is that a 20-year mine,
35:46
Speaker 17: the first five years you likely lose money and you
35:49
Speaker 17: make it all back in the back end of the
35:52
Speaker 17: other 15 years. So to sort of stop it, and
35:56
Speaker 17: expect to go for five years and then transition workers out.
35:59
Speaker 17: What is the upside for any coal company to pursue
36:03
Speaker 17: such a ridiculous strategy? That's why we want to get
36:05
Speaker 17: rid of it. No more ideology. Coal is the backbone
36:08
Speaker 17: of the hunter. We're 100% behind those workers. We want
36:11
Speaker 17: to build new coal capacity, and it is such a
36:14
Speaker 17: huge revenue source as well for the New South Wales government.
36:18
Speaker 17: You can't talk about being pro-coal and then do exactly
36:22
Speaker 17: what they're doing.
36:23
Speaker 1: All right.
36:24
Speaker 2: I just want to get your thoughts on the comments
36:26
Speaker 2: that the Attorney-General Michelle Rowland made today. She accused One
36:30
Speaker 2: Nation of, you know, having neo-Nazis infiltrate the party. Have
36:34
Speaker 2: you seen any evidence of that? And do you think
36:37
Speaker 2: if there are neo-Nazis who are members, do you think
36:40
Speaker 2: they should be kicked out of One Nation?
36:43
Speaker 11: There are no neo-Nazis inside the One Nation party.
36:46
Speaker 1: Well, how would you know that, though? You couldn't know that.
36:49
Speaker 17: Well, look, in terms of its membership, no, I don't
36:52
Speaker 17: know all, you know, up nearly 100,000 members that we have.
36:56
Speaker 11: But the thing is, is that One Nation is dead
36:59
Speaker 11: against Nazism.
37:00
Speaker 17: And the fact that Attorney General is even, you know,
37:03
Speaker 17: entertains the prospect that there might be is so hypocritical.
37:06
Speaker 17: I just think that, you know, we had over 50
37:09
Speaker 17: incidents of anti-Semitism under this Labour, Albanese Labour government.
37:13
Speaker 11: They did nothing.
37:14
Speaker 17: I remember that he was playing tennis with Jay Weatherall,
37:17
Speaker 17: in Perth and visited Adas, what, three days later.
37:20
Speaker 11: He is an absolute joke to the community. And you
37:22
Speaker 11: know what?
37:23
Speaker 17: We are seeing one of the faster-growing segments of our
37:26
Speaker 17: member base are actually from the Jewish community, and we
37:29
Speaker 17: welcome them because I think they understand that we will
37:31
Speaker 17: be super tough. The police are now doing pronoun training.
37:35
Speaker 17: Under our government, if we are lucky enough to be elected,
37:38
Speaker 17: that's going to go completely, and we will crack down
37:41
Speaker 17: very hard on anyone that looks to persecute anyone within
37:44
Speaker 17: our society, and.
37:45
Speaker 11: The police will be given full powers.
37:47
Speaker 17: to investigate, they'll be given all the tools and resourcing
37:50
Speaker 17: and legal backing to do so.
37:51
Speaker 3: All right.
37:52
Speaker 2: Mike Newman, great to have you on the program. Happy
37:55
Speaker 2: 55th birthday.
37:56
Speaker 1: We'll see you again.
37:57
Speaker 11: Thanks, Shari. Goodbye. Thanks.
37:59
Speaker 2: Haven't heard that before, police doing pronoun training. We'll have
38:02
Speaker 2: to get more information on that. All right, still to come,
38:04
Speaker 2: how bad will the housing market get? Michael Stutchbury will
38:07
Speaker 2: be here live. Plus, remember this hit. Yeah, TV star
38:23
Speaker 2: Mark Holden will be with me right after the break.
38:31
Speaker 1: Welcome back.
38:32
Speaker 2: Well, after years away from the spotlight, Countdown star Mark
38:35
Speaker 2: Holden is making a comeback. The former teen heartthrob and
38:39
Speaker 2: Australian Idol star is finding his new voice with his
38:43
Speaker 2: latest album after battling thyroid cancer. And I'm very pleased
38:47
Speaker 2: to say he joins me now live from Melbourne. Mark,
38:51
Speaker 2: welcome and what an incredible journey. So what's prompted you
38:54
Speaker 2: to return to showbiz?
38:59
Speaker 4: Well, 13 years as a barrister at the Vic Bar
39:02
Speaker 4: was more than enough, quite honestly.
39:05
Speaker 11: I loved it. It was a great privilege.
39:06
Speaker 4: But I started to lose my temper with some of
39:09
Speaker 4: the judges and that's never a good thing for a
39:11
Speaker 4: barrister to do.
39:12
Speaker 2: I'm sure we can understand, given you're dealing with Victorian judges,
39:15
Speaker 2: we can definitely understand that.
39:18
Speaker 1: Yes, indeed.
39:19
Speaker 4: Indeed, a couple of times I had to have a
39:21
Speaker 4: quiet word to them and reset their perception of reality.
39:25
Speaker 4: But anyway, and so I wanted to turn my mind
39:30
Speaker 4: back to music and I was cleaning out my office
39:33
Speaker 4: and rejigging my office last year and I found an
39:37
Speaker 4: old CD of a tribute to Tex Morton I did
39:40
Speaker 4: with my Holden Brothers Circus family members. I found a
39:44
Speaker 4: record I did just before the cancer where I was
39:48
Speaker 4: in my 40s, just around the idle time where I
39:50
Speaker 4: was really singing well that had never come out. And
39:53
Speaker 4: my 70s records, my 70s hits were never up on streaming.
39:57
Speaker 4: So I got them and put them up on streaming.
39:59
Speaker 4: And then an album that I made with Gunditjmara elder
40:03
Speaker 4: Richard J. Franklin called Discovering Leopold Mara, put.
40:07
Speaker 11: That one out.
40:08
Speaker 4: And then last year, my daughter got married in Los Angeles.
40:12
Speaker 4: And on the way to Los Angeles, I I met
40:15
Speaker 4: a man in Hawaii who told me the story of
40:18
Speaker 4: knowing Shirley MacLaine and that Shirley MacLaine got to know
40:22
Speaker 4: him and said that the reason he suffers the blues
40:25
Speaker 4: is because he's a descendant of Genghis Khan and he's
40:28
Speaker 4: still paying the old man's dues. And as he said that,
40:32
Speaker 4: the song appeared in my head.
40:33
Speaker 10: Wow.
40:33
Speaker 4: And when I was in Los Angeles for my daughter's wedding,
40:36
Speaker 4: which was a very, very happy time, I met with
40:39
Speaker 4: my old mates who are songwriters with me in Los
40:41
Speaker 4: Angeles and they're They're all sort of in their 70s
40:44
Speaker 4: and got heart problems and miserable. And I said, let's
40:48
Speaker 4: write a song together. And I showed my mate who
40:51
Speaker 4: did Shakespeare's Sister and Mila Jovovich recorded me a number
40:54
Speaker 4: of great records. And we wrote Shirley MacLaine and then
41:02
Speaker 4: it was the start of kind of an outflow of
41:05
Speaker 4: songwriting over the last 18 months that ended up in
41:08
Speaker 4: this album.
41:08
Speaker 14: Incredible.
41:09
Speaker 2: Now, what caught my attention, and if there's any viewers
41:11
Speaker 2: out there who have good eyesight, they might notice that
41:14
Speaker 2: you're wearing a little Matilda B badge on your jacket.
41:18
Speaker 11: Yes.
41:19
Speaker 2: So in your album you've got this beautiful tribute to
41:22
Speaker 2: young Matilda B who was killed at Bondi.
41:25
Speaker 1: Here's a clip of it. Let's have a listen.
41:28
Speaker 16: MUSIC PLAYS.
41:32
Speaker 18: Take the keys from the jailer And the old men
41:36
Speaker 18: in the wheelchairs And oh Matilda the innocent Was shot
41:46
Speaker 18: as she was dancing Now she follows wherever we may go.
41:57
Speaker 4: Sing Matilda.
42:00
Speaker 19: Oh, sing Matilda Oh, come, oh, sing Matilda.
42:11
Speaker 1: It's just so emotional. It's so beautiful, Mark. What made
42:14
Speaker 1: you record this?
42:15
Speaker 11: Thank you, Sherry.
42:17
Speaker 4: Well, like millions of other Australians, I was moved to
42:21
Speaker 4: tears and it just... I found myself listening to Tom Waits,
42:29
Speaker 4: who I love, And I found myself listening to that
42:32
Speaker 4: song and then I found myself getting into the lyrics
42:35
Speaker 4: and I became Tom Trobert on Bondi Beach and was
42:40
Speaker 4: a witness to the atrocity. And I just, I changed
42:46
Speaker 4: the words a tiny bit. I hope Tom will forgive me,
42:49
Speaker 4: but my young production manager, Tyler Sunshine, has connections to
42:55
Speaker 4: the Britvan family and And I couldn't do it without
42:59
Speaker 4: their permission. So we reached out to Michael and Michael
43:03
Speaker 4: was very beautiful and gave us permission. And so it's
43:09
Speaker 4: a way to honour her memory and keep her spirit alive.
43:13
Speaker 4: And it's, I mean, on the weekend, my neighbours came
43:18
Speaker 4: over and bought me a year of Jewish cooking book. Oh, yes.
43:25
Speaker 4: And handed me the book with tears in her eyes
43:28
Speaker 4: and thanked me for the song. And it's a prayer
43:34
Speaker 4: song is what it is.
43:35
Speaker 15: It is.
43:35
Speaker 1: It's so beautiful.
43:36
Speaker 2: I was playing it in the dressing room just before
43:39
Speaker 2: when I was getting ready and someone said that it
43:41
Speaker 2: also sounded like your voice had changed.
43:43
Speaker 1: Is that the thyroid cancer? Has it changed the way
43:47
Speaker 1: you sing as well?
43:48
Speaker 11: Yes.
43:49
Speaker 4: I got thyroid cancer just as I was just about
43:52
Speaker 4: to sign the bar roll. And being a junior barrister
43:57
Speaker 4: at 55, I had my neck was.
44:01
Speaker 11: All puffed out but I could speak.
44:04
Speaker 4: Yeah. And so I used my voice in that way
44:08
Speaker 4: and then gradually over the last 15 years by joining
44:12
Speaker 4: sort of a, well, I started a bar choir firstly
44:15
Speaker 4: and stood down with the terrible barristers, men, you know,
44:19
Speaker 4: bass baritones and making noise. And then I'm a member
44:23
Speaker 4: of a Melbourne club called the Savage Club here in
44:26
Speaker 4: Melbourne and a bunch of us old men meet once
44:29
Speaker 4: a month for two hours with a martini and sing
44:33
Speaker 4: and make music together.
44:34
Speaker 1: Sounds so incredible.
44:37
Speaker 4: And so over the last 15 years I figured out
44:39
Speaker 4: a new way to sing and I wrote the new
44:43
Speaker 4: songs and the album with a new voice.
44:44
Speaker 2: It's certainly working for you. Thank you for everything you do.
44:47
Speaker 2: We're all going to go look up your music. Thanks
44:49
Speaker 2: for being with us, Mark.
44:51
Speaker 16: Thanks, Sherry.
44:51
Speaker 1: All right.
44:53
Speaker 2: After the break, how badly will the housing market fall?
44:57
Speaker 2: Michael Stutchbury will join me. Well, Australia is facing its
45:05
Speaker 2: worst housing crash in 40 years, as we've been discussing,
45:08
Speaker 2: as the government's tax changes send values into freefall. And
45:12
Speaker 2: with me now is the Centre for Independent Studies Executive Director,
45:14
Speaker 2: Michael Stutchbury.
45:15
Speaker 1: Stutch, good to see you again.
45:17
Speaker 20: Good to be here, Shari.
45:18
Speaker 1: You didn't tell me I was going to have to
45:20
Speaker 1: follow Mark Holden. I won't make you sing, don't worry,
45:22
Speaker 1: unless you want to.
45:23
Speaker 5: No, no, no.
45:24
Speaker 1: I mean, tell us, how bad is this going to get?
45:27
Speaker 20: Well, I think we are seeing a significant house price correction.
45:31
Speaker 20: You know, house prices in Australia, as everybody said, have
45:33
Speaker 20: been pumped up a lot. There's been restrictions on the
45:36
Speaker 20: supply of housing because of government zoning and planning laws
45:41
Speaker 20: that's pushed up the price of houses over the last 10,
45:43
Speaker 20: 20 years. And now we're seeing the combination, I think,
45:47
Speaker 20: of three Reserve Bank interest rates, which weren't expected a
45:50
Speaker 20: year ago. And, of course, the federal government's tax crackdown
45:53
Speaker 20: on capital gains tax, particularly on investors and negative gearing
45:57
Speaker 20: in the May budget together. That's a bit of a whammy.
46:00
Speaker 20: And it's hit particularly Sydney and Melbourne house prices. They're
46:03
Speaker 20: down about 5%, I think, on the numbers. And you're
46:06
Speaker 20: getting these forecasts that overall national house prices could fall
46:09
Speaker 20: about 10%.
46:11
Speaker 1: I mean, it's huge.
46:12
Speaker 2: I think confidence, we're being told, is playing a huge
46:15
Speaker 2: factor as well. People are nervous about the tax changes,
46:18
Speaker 2: even if they haven't taken effect yet. So really, people
46:22
Speaker 2: are worried about any movement.
46:24
Speaker 20: Yeah, I think if your housing is a long-term investment,
46:27
Speaker 20: as Jim Chalmers would say, if you hold onto it
46:29
Speaker 20: for a while, you can ride through these sort of things.
46:32
Speaker 20: If you've got to sell up your house, though, you
46:36
Speaker 20: don't want falling house prices. People want to get into
46:39
Speaker 20: the housing market, of course. It's a good thing from there.
46:42
Speaker 20: But it can shake a bit of confidence and it
46:45
Speaker 20: has a so-called wealth effect because housing is the biggest
46:49
Speaker 20: asset in the economy. If the price falls, people feel
46:51
Speaker 20: a little less wealthy and that can affect spending in
46:54
Speaker 20: the economy and slow it down.
46:56
Speaker 1: I had a.
46:58
Speaker 2: an auctioneer, Tom Pannis, on the show last week. And
47:00
Speaker 2: he said to me that, you know, because the valuations
47:03
Speaker 2: for the capital gains tax are taken on the 1st
47:05
Speaker 2: of July, 2027, we're seeing this massive fall in house prices.
47:10
Speaker 2: That's when the valuations will be taken around then. Over time,
47:13
Speaker 2: when the property market invariably goes up, that's just more
47:17
Speaker 2: tax revenue for the government.
47:19
Speaker 20: Yeah, it goes to the whole debate about whether, you know,
47:23
Speaker 20: you should toughen up the treatment of capital gains or not.
47:27
Speaker 20: I think probably overall, it's a hit to the economy.
47:31
Speaker 20: And particularly when you go outside housing as well and
47:34
Speaker 20: you're taxing, in effect, small business and businesses and investments
47:38
Speaker 20: and entrepreneurs, that's a hit to the economy overall.
47:42
Speaker 2: Now, moving away from the housing market, I mean, this
47:45
Speaker 2: has been a softening in the economy.
47:47
Speaker 1: We're hearing that from retailers.
47:48
Speaker 2: We're Then there's also we're seeing these forecasts from economists
47:55
Speaker 2: who are saying that we're going to have zero growth
47:57
Speaker 2: in the next quarter.
47:59
Speaker 1: Do you think this could be a recession?
48:01
Speaker 20: Well, tomorrow is an exciting day because it's the June
48:03
Speaker 20: quarter gross domestic product, national accounts, and we'll be talking
48:07
Speaker 20: about that. There have been some economists talking about very
48:10
Speaker 20: low growth, perhaps zero growth in the quarter, in the
48:13
Speaker 20: June quarter. The latest ones I've seen have had not
48:17
Speaker 20: quite going to zero and not quite going to negative,
48:20
Speaker 20: but you will see, I think, a slowdown, quite a
48:22
Speaker 20: significant slowdown in annual growth in the economy. The latest
48:26
Speaker 20: reading of the latest 12 months before was about 2.5%.
48:28
Speaker 20: And it's got a fall to below 2%. The thing is,
48:33
Speaker 20: the Reserve Bank's trying to make it fall below 2%,
48:36
Speaker 20: to slow down growth, because they're trying to get inflation down.
48:40
Speaker 20: The economy's been operating beyond capacity. I think we might
48:43
Speaker 20: have spoken about that last time I was on. And
48:45
Speaker 20: it's still happening. And so they're trying to deliberately slow
48:48
Speaker 20: the economy down. And the question is, is even with
48:51
Speaker 20: the economy slowing down, the latest inflation numbers have been
48:54
Speaker 20: on the high side. Inflation pretty stubborn at 3.5%. They've
48:58
Speaker 20: got to get it to 2 to 3. You could
49:00
Speaker 20: well see another Reserve Bank increase in late September or
49:04
Speaker 20: in early November.
49:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you think at least one rate rise this year?
49:08
Speaker 20: I think going by the hawkishness of the Reserve Bank
49:12
Speaker 20: Governor Michelle Bullock and the fact that housing, that inflation
49:16
Speaker 20: has been bubbling up, rents are going up as well
49:19
Speaker 20: as part of all of this, because it's been a
49:20
Speaker 20: hit to rental investment. So rents are going up and
49:23
Speaker 20: that feeds into the CPI. I think that will probably
49:26
Speaker 20: offset signs of softness in the economy because that's what
49:30
Speaker 20: the RBA is trying to achieve. I'd be surprised if
49:33
Speaker 20: they didn't do another rate increase before Christmas because they've
49:37
Speaker 20: been through this last time.
49:38
Speaker 5: They lowered rates.
49:39
Speaker 20: a year ago and inflation bubbled up, they can't afford
49:42
Speaker 20: that to happen again.
49:43
Speaker 6: Yeah.
49:43
Speaker 2: And now we're seeing signs that the US might have
49:46
Speaker 2: to raise rates. I mean, really, it's just been Australia
49:49
Speaker 2: on this rate rise inflation journey.
49:51
Speaker 1: But now tell us what's happening in America.
49:53
Speaker 20: Yeah, Australia has stood out for being the one that's
49:55
Speaker 20: because inflation's bubbled up. And as you say, the RBA
49:58
Speaker 20: Reserve Banks have to lift rates. Now you see Kevin Walsh.
50:02
Speaker 20: This is Donald Trump's handpicked Federal Reserve Chairman for the
50:07
Speaker 20: one he put in there to lower interest rates. And
50:09
Speaker 20: just over the weekend at this so-called Jackson Hole conference
50:13
Speaker 20: of the central bank in the US, the Fed, Walsh
50:16
Speaker 20: has come out with what's known as quite a hawkish
50:19
Speaker 20: line of words, a speech, which said inflation's been bubbling up.
50:23
Speaker 20: It's our job to get inflation down to. Theirs is
50:26
Speaker 20: even a tougher target, 2%, not 2% to 3%.
50:28
Speaker 1: Where's their inflation rate at the moment?
50:30
Speaker 20: Theirs is up around about where ours is as well,
50:33
Speaker 20: around about that 3% to 4% thing, and they need
50:35
Speaker 20: to get it down to two. It's been above two
50:38
Speaker 20: for quite a while. Their interest rates are lower than ours.
50:42
Speaker 20: They're in the threes, not in the fours. So you
50:45
Speaker 20: could well see the US Fed lift interest rates and
50:49
Speaker 20: that puts pressure on the RBA to follow as well.
50:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it also puts pressure on the President. I mean,
50:55
Speaker 1: it could.
50:56
Speaker 2: Worst time for him politically. He doesn't want rates to rise,
50:58
Speaker 2: that's for sure.
50:59
Speaker 20: Yeah, well, he called the previous central bank governor all
51:01
Speaker 20: sorts of names for doing it, and now he might
51:03
Speaker 20: get that, as you say, at a very inopportune time,
51:06
Speaker 20: coming into the congressional midterm elections.
51:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, exactly. All right, Michael Stachry, great to have
51:12
Speaker 1: you on the show as always. Thanks so much.
51:13
Speaker 11: Thanks, Shari.
51:15
Speaker 2: And thanks, everyone, for your company this evening. We'll have
51:17
Speaker 2: another big show tomorrow night, so don't miss it. But
51:20
Speaker 2: right now, in the Man Cave, Paul Murray.