Latest / Steve Price / Steve Price | 6 February

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Steve Price | 6 February · Steve Price

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Speaker 1: Live. This is Steve Price.
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Speaker 2: Good evening, Welcome to Friday Nights. Steve Price with you,
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Speaker 2: and I'm happy to say the genius cartoonist Mark Knight
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Speaker 2: is back from summer leave and his cartoon this week
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Speaker 2: in The Herald Sun depicting Treasurer Jim Charmers shoveling money
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Speaker 2: onto the inflation bonfire was one for the ages. Markov
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Speaker 2: join us later coming up tonight the sixth spectacle of
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Speaker 2: convicted drug dealer Tony Mockbell on the steps of Melbourne
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Speaker 2: Courthouse today, joking around with TV reporters and saying he
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Speaker 2: has no regrets in life. For my homicide Squad, Detective
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Speaker 2: Charlie Bezina will be with us with his view still
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Speaker 2: on crime, the Victorian government goes into hiding over an
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Speaker 2: appalling revelations that a transgender man serving time in a
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Speaker 2: female prison committed a sexual assault on a female prisoner
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Speaker 2: in that jail, causing taxpayers to pay the victim compensation.
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Speaker 2: And it's all been kept secret until and Brisbane looks
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Speaker 2: like going down the expensive path of spending the twenty
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Speaker 2: thirty two Olympic Games statewide, spreading it statewide and causing
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Speaker 2: a cost blowout regular Campbell Newman on where that's all
1:13
Speaker 2: going plus with my panel The bizarre story I was
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Speaker 2: in the middle of fifty years ago this week yesterday.
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Speaker 2: In fact, it involves a psychic, a tidal wave, a
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Speaker 2: state premier, homosexual law reform. I kid you not, that's
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Speaker 2: all to come. But first though, shocking revelations in the
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Speaker 2: Herald Sun newspaper today revealing a second payer, a secret
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Speaker 2: payer to a female Victorian prisoner who was sexually assaulted
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Speaker 2: while in jail by a fellow inmate who was transgender
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Speaker 2: and serving time for murder for a race based attack
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Speaker 2: on a nineteen year old Sudanese teenager back in two
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Speaker 2: thousand and seven. The killer, then known as Clinton Rennolt
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Speaker 2: but now going by another unknown name, was sentenced to
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Speaker 2: twenty years jail for the murder back in two thousand
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Speaker 2: and nine and allowed to move into a female prison
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Speaker 2: known as Tarren Gower. The sexual assault took place in
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Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, and report was unable to state whether
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Speaker 2: the transgender murderer at that time had male genitalia. Now
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Speaker 2: Rintol or whatever his name is being is these days,
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Speaker 2: was after the assault moved back to a male jail,
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Speaker 2: but despite committing that crime in custody. You guessed it.
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Speaker 2: Come twoenty twenty four last year they were parolled and
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Speaker 2: back into the community two years ago. I mean, where
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Speaker 2: do you start with this? I mean, all states of
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Speaker 2: Australia seemed to have different laws regarding male prisoners identifying
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Speaker 2: as female and demanding to serve their jail sentence in
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Speaker 2: a female prison. Now, any sane society would think that
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Speaker 2: is unacceptable. But that's where the trans debate takes us,
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Speaker 2: especially in the Republic of Victoria. I've got to say
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Speaker 2: so after keeping the payout to the victim, the sexual
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Speaker 2: assault victim secret, let alone any details of the amount
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Speaker 2: that was paid. It expects some explanation today from say
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Speaker 2: the Premier to Center Allen or the Corrections minister called
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Speaker 2: enver Erduan, but you would be wrong. The Premier did
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Speaker 2: talk to the media at a hospital visit this morning,
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Speaker 2: but she wasn't touching this case.
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Speaker 3: The safety and wellbeing of all prisoners across Victoria's prison
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Speaker 3: system is paramount and Corrections Victoria has in recent times
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Speaker 3: updated its policies around the placement of prisoners to reflect
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Speaker 3: that the safety and wellbeing of all prisoners must be paramount.
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Speaker 2: Just a word salad now Instead, knowing that the details
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Speaker 2: of the case would again arraise the question of allowing
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Speaker 2: transitioning men to serve time in female jail, the Allen
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Speaker 2: government wheeled out for some bizarre reason. The for Children
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Speaker 2: called Lizzie blanthorpe why would who would know?
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Speaker 1: But he or she is refusing.
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Speaker 2: To say how much the payout was or whether any
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Speaker 2: charges were laid against the prisoner formerly known as Rintool,
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Speaker 2: and was the attack taken into account when the decision
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Speaker 2: to release Rintool on parole was actually made.
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Speaker 4: I won't get into the specificities of individual cases. I
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Speaker 4: don't do that in my own portfolio.
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Speaker 5: I certainly won't do it in other people's portfolios.
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Speaker 2: Look Ill talked to Charlie Bazina about the craziness of
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Speaker 2: all this shortly. But isn't the solution a simple one?
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Speaker 2: If you are born a male and you break the law,
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Speaker 2: especially but not exclusively, with a crime like a race
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Speaker 2: based murder where you threaten, as Rintool did according to
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Speaker 2: the details at trial. Quote I'm going to take the
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Speaker 2: town back by killing blacks.
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Speaker 1: End of quote.
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Speaker 2: Shouldn't you serve your time not only in a male
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Speaker 2: prison but in a maximum's ca purity prison, not waltz
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Speaker 2: off to some female prison farm. I mean, seriously, we've
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Speaker 2: gone mad letting this stuff happen. And just finally, The
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Speaker 2: Herald Sun reports that senior bureaucrats in the prison system
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Speaker 2: have pushed back against a total ban on placing male
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Speaker 2: born trans killers, sexual predators and violent offenders in female prisons. Look,
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Speaker 2: Victoria's got an election in November. There are a lot
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Speaker 2: of reasons to end Labour's ten year reign in office.
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Speaker 2: A new opposition leader, Jess Wilson, says that one of
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Speaker 2: the first things she will do will stop the practice
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Speaker 2: from continuing.
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Speaker 6: The safety of female prisoners isn't being considered by the
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Speaker 6: government under the current guidelines, and that's why I've been
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Speaker 6: clear that the common sense approach that I will take,
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Speaker 6: and I think the Victorians are looking for, is that
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Speaker 6: under a government that I lead, a biological male who
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Speaker 6: has been convicted of sexual offenses or serious violent crime
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Speaker 6: will not be in a female prisoner in a female prison,
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Speaker 6: putting female business at risk.
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Speaker 1: Well said bring on November.
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Speaker 2: Look still in Melbourne, one of the only central figures
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Speaker 2: in Melbourne's deadly Underworld Wars of the nineties into the
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Speaker 2: two thousands. Who are still alive is drug baron Tony Mockbell. Now,
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Speaker 2: there were scenes on the steps of a Melbourne courthouse
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Speaker 2: today that made me want to throw up. Look, Mockbell's
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Speaker 2: cases and history are complicated, especially by the hugely expensive
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Speaker 2: and corrupt practices of Victoria Police and a lawyer known
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Speaker 2: as Lawyer X, who was representing Mockbell while at the
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Speaker 2: same time acting as a police informer. But I want
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Speaker 2: to simplify something here. For Mockbell after fleeing the country
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Speaker 2: while on bail in two thousand and six, and he
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Speaker 2: sailed off to Greece, where he was eventually rearrested and
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Speaker 2: then served nineteen years in jail. He's now, as of today,
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Speaker 2: a freeman. The DPP, the Department of Public Prosecute today
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Speaker 2: decided not to retry Mockbell over a conspiracy Wait do
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Speaker 2: you hear the numbers here to import one hundred kilos
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Speaker 2: of MDMA powder? Largely I suspect because of the time
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Speaker 2: he's already served in jail and the expense of a
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Speaker 2: new trial. So today Mockbell is a free man, free
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Speaker 2: to travel, free to get on with his life. But
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Speaker 2: here's what upset me today, A laughing, smiling sixty year
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Speaker 2: old Mockbell chatting away with reporters.
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Speaker 1: Have a look.
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Speaker 7: Yeah it's beautiful.
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Speaker 8: It feels really nice and life goes on. Now it's
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Speaker 8: been up and down, not knowing what's going to be
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Speaker 8: in my future. But yeah, that's probably the biggest mistake
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Speaker 8: in my life, which is being in jail. I don't
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Speaker 8: recommend it from no one. I do not regret anything,
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Speaker 8: thank you.
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Speaker 1: No regrets.
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Speaker 2: Really, you would have thought that was old uncle Tony,
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Speaker 2: the local greengrosser, not a drug kingpin making himself rich
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Speaker 2: by running one of the biggest drug syndicates in Victorian history.
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Speaker 1: No regrets.
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Speaker 2: I've bet plenty of parents dealing with the trauma of
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Speaker 2: a drug addicted child using amphetamines might have a few regrets. Sadly,
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Speaker 2: the commercial TV reporters there were more interested than in
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Speaker 2: Tony's travel plans. Me I would have been happy if
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Speaker 2: he spent the rest of his miserable law breaking life
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Speaker 2: behind bars. Okay, let's get stuck in to what started
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Speaker 2: there as a protest movement in Victoria against the government's
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Speaker 2: emergency services Levy. Well, it's now evolved into a political
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Speaker 2: movement and a two day conference in Horsham this Sunday
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Speaker 2: with speakers that will include One Nation MP and former
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Speaker 2: Deputy p and Barnaby Joyce. Now the event has ruffled
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Speaker 2: a few feathers in Spring Street labor MPs stupidly staging
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Speaker 2: a coordinated flyer stunt mocking the regional conference. Well, these
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Speaker 2: label MPs might actually get egg on their faces with
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Speaker 2: reports that One Nation is actually at this event eyeing
9:00
Speaker 2: recruits from the event to standards candidates in the upcoming
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Speaker 2: election join us on the line spoken to him many
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Speaker 2: times before. One of the speakers at the Across Victoria
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Speaker 2: Alliance conference this weekend, Victoria Nationals leader Danny O'Brien, Danny,
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Speaker 2: great to see you again. The fact that Across Victoria
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Speaker 2: Alliance has now become a political movement suggests that finally,
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Speaker 2: I mean Victorian country. Victorians are so angry, so upset.
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Speaker 2: Why would labor MPs think mocking them would be a
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Speaker 2: good idea?
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Speaker 9: Oh, I beggar's belief, doesn't it, Steve?
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Speaker 10: I mean we've had all this week, in the first
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Speaker 10: week back in Parliament, the Premier and all her colleagues
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Speaker 10: talking about this so called misinformation conference that they have
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Speaker 10: chosen not to engage with, and it speaks volumes about
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Speaker 10: the Labor government's approach to regional Victoria, that they don't
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Speaker 10: want to come and listen to people who have got
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Speaker 10: a genuine grievance So with not just government, but certainly
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Speaker 10: with this state government on things like the Emergency Services Tax,
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Speaker 10: the handling of the CFA, the role out of renewable
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Speaker 10: energy programs and transmission lines, and for the government to
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Speaker 10: mock them, I think that says a lot about the
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Speaker 10: Labor Party and not about the people putting on this conference.
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Speaker 2: Premier Allen was invited, she's decided not to go. I
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Speaker 2: guess her experience back at Bathist not Bathist up to
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Speaker 2: Ballarat when she got booed at the Herald Sun conference.
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Speaker 2: I mean she's probably not going to turn up again.
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Speaker 2: You're going to join Barnaby Joyce on Sunday and Monday
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Speaker 2: to speak at that event. What's the theme of what
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Speaker 2: you're going to be talking about.
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Speaker 10: Well, I'll be there Monday morning and speaking certainly about
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Speaker 10: the Nationals and Liberals commitment to repeal the Emergency Services Tax.
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Speaker 10: So that's one of the reasons that people in regional
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Speaker 10: Victoria and indeed across the whole state are so angry.
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Speaker 10: This is a three billion dollar tax hit on all Victorians,
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Speaker 10: and particularly heavy one on regional Victorians at a time
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Speaker 10: of a cost of living crisis. Already, we've committed to
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Speaker 10: repeal that tax and go back to a fair funding
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Speaker 10: model under the old Fire Services Property Levy. I'll be
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Speaker 10: talking about the management or mismanagement of the CFA and
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Speaker 10: the budget cuts that we've seen there that have really
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Speaker 10: come to the fore in the last couple of weeks
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Speaker 10: with the bushfires here and indeed the botched rollout of
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Speaker 10: renewable energy and transmission lines in Victoria that has treated
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Speaker 10: regional Victorians with contemp There's some of the issues that
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Speaker 10: have driven this alliance and this movement.
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Speaker 9: And that's why the conference is on this weekend.
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Speaker 1: Where do you see this movement going it?
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Speaker 2: Will it morph into a political force or will it
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Speaker 2: bolster the popularity you would hope of the nationals in
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Speaker 2: Victoria or Barnaby will hope that he might be able
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Speaker 2: to recruit some candidates for one nation.
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Speaker 1: Where's this all going to go?
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Speaker 10: Well, Look, certainly, talking to the organizers and some of
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Speaker 10: the different people involved in it and indeed, literally one
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Speaker 10: of them I've just just ticked off on as a
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Speaker 10: new member. I'm actually here in Nationals set office in
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Speaker 10: Melbourne at the moment, come out of a meeting to
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Speaker 10: talk to you, Steve, and we've actually had a surge
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Speaker 10: in membership over the last twelve months, partly on the
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Speaker 10: back of the Emergency Services tax and other issues.
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Speaker 9: I think this movement is.
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Speaker 10: Showing that country people have had a gut full. They're
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Speaker 10: sick of labor government that treats them with contempt, that
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Speaker 10: waste billions of dollars on cost overruns in the city,
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Speaker 10: then hits them with new taxes and at the same time,
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Speaker 10: when we've got roads that are goat tracks, effectively we're
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Speaker 10: not getting the service the infrastructure that we need. And
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Speaker 10: that's why the Nationals and Liberals are committed to giving
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Speaker 10: a fed a feir a deal for regional.
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Speaker 9: People and one of the things is to abolish that tax.
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Speaker 2: You still think you've got a chance to pick up
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Speaker 2: the premier's own seat in Bendigo.
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Speaker 10: Yeah, Well, I'm literally looking at a corfield of Andrew Lethleen,
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Speaker 10: who was our candidate in the federal seat of Bendiga,
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Speaker 10: who had nearly a yeah ten percent swing to him
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Speaker 10: at the federal election.
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Speaker 9: And look, we continue to talk with Andrew.
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Speaker 10: He's a great champion of his community and I would hope,
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Speaker 10: and I'm really optimistic that we might be having a
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Speaker 10: red hot crack at at the premiere. It's a big
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Speaker 10: ask it so she's got about twelve percent margin. But
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Speaker 10: I think there's a lot of anger out there. And indeed,
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Speaker 10: literally as I said, signing off on new membership applications
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Speaker 10: and we've got a heap of them still from Bendigo.
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Speaker 10: Every month since the federal campaign, we've had new people
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Speaker 10: joining and I think that highlights that people are frustrated,
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Speaker 10: they're angry with the labor government, and we're.
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Speaker 9: Making sure we put ourselves out as a Bible alternative.
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Speaker 2: I spent a bit of time with a couple of
13:20
Speaker 2: farmers in Western Victoria about three weeks ago, and talking
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Speaker 2: to them, they said that the levee, which will eventually
13:29
Speaker 2: be imposed upon them, was almost the breaking point. I
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Speaker 2: mean in Western Victoria, as you know, Danny, they've had
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Speaker 2: a drought, so they've been through the middle of a drought.
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Speaker 2: This bloke had spent half a million dollars on feed
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Speaker 2: to feed his stuff to try and keep them alive.
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Speaker 2: I mean, that's a check. He's got a right. That's
13:45
Speaker 2: money going out and not coming in. He said, people
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Speaker 2: in his district, and you know he was hinting that
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Speaker 2: the mental impact on those people was so harsh that
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Speaker 2: the many had considered taking their own lives. It's just
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Speaker 2: I don't think spring Street understand at all how how
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Speaker 2: tough it is.
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Speaker 9: Oh, absolutely, Stephen.
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Speaker 10: I can tell you the number of farmers in particular
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Speaker 10: that have said to me, like many businesses across the
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Speaker 10: state actually, but they've said, if I could pick my
14:15
Speaker 10: farm up and take it into state, I would because
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Speaker 10: I've just had a cupfall. I've just had so much
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Speaker 10: of it. And that's the frustration. And this tax is
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Speaker 10: the straw that breaks the camel's back, as you say,
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Speaker 10: many on top of many other issues, including things that
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Speaker 10: not the government's fault, like drought, but just the contempt
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Speaker 10: for regional areas. And then for the government to then
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Speaker 10: put off the increase in the rate for farmers for
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Speaker 10: another twelve months just I mean, people can see through that.
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Speaker 10: They can see that that's just to put it off
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Speaker 10: past the election to try and take some of this
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Speaker 10: thing out of the heat of this issue. That's why
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Speaker 10: we're committed to repealing that tax. And we know that
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Speaker 10: if Labor is re elected in Victoria, they will bring
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Speaker 10: it back and the farmers will pay that massive tripling
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Speaker 10: of at the cost of the emergency services.
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Speaker 1: Levy.
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Speaker 2: Well, look forward, see what comes out of the weekend
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Speaker 2: and we'll talk to you again soon. Well done. Thanks
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Speaker 2: a lot for talking to us tonight. That'll be interesting
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Speaker 2: to see what an unfolds. Dane O'Brien there from the
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Speaker 2: Nationals in Victoria all right now to Canberra and a
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Speaker 2: speech yesterday in the Chamber that I thought was very
15:13
Speaker 2: important made by Monash MP Mary Aldred who raised her
15:17
Speaker 2: concerns about the impact the tobacco war is having on
15:21
Speaker 2: her community. Now you wouldn't imagine this is such a
15:24
Speaker 2: big deal, but it is. Have listened to some of
15:27
Speaker 2: what she had to say.
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Speaker 11: Inverlock has an illegal tobacco and vape outlet in town.
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Speaker 11: I've had local residents reach out to voice their concerns.
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Speaker 11: Despite being raided by federal authorities just days ago, this
15:40
Speaker 11: outlet continues to allegedly sell vapes to children. Illegal tobacco
15:45
Speaker 11: is putting all Australians at risk. It's about time the
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Speaker 11: federal government and this minister got serious about addressing it.
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Speaker 2: I've talked to Mary about this before and I'm pleased
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Speaker 2: to say she's back with us. I mean, Mary, the
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Speaker 2: law is there, why is it not being enforced.
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Speaker 12: Great to be back with you, Steve, and always good
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Speaker 12: to follow Danny O'Brien another passionate gifts Lander as well.
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Speaker 12: We have got a serious problem with the legal tobacco
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Speaker 12: in this country and I think the reasons at threefold. One,
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Speaker 12: the excise tax is too high. It's acting as an
16:19
Speaker 12: incentive to drive people to the black market.
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Speaker 4: Two, we need to get serious about law enforcement. And
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Speaker 4: this is where your question comes in about the Victorian government.
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Speaker 4: They've set up.
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Speaker 12: Fourteen inspectors to cover the whole state through the Tobacco Agency,
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Speaker 12: but they can find people and not shut down shots,
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Speaker 12: which is what they should be doing.
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Speaker 2: Well, when you say they've got fourteen inspectors, I mean
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Speaker 2: it's worst, and that they've got to work in pairs.
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Speaker 2: So there's seven groups of two covering the whole state
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Speaker 2: to try and shut down a multi billion dollar industry
16:54
Speaker 2: run by offshore criminals.
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Speaker 4: That's it's Steve.
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Speaker 12: We had the TGA raid this legal outlet in Verlock
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Speaker 12: on the twenty third of January. They're still considering what
17:05
Speaker 12: to do about that. It hasn't been shut down. I
17:07
Speaker 12: actually just checked with the local person before coming on air,
17:10
Speaker 12: and that outlets still up and running and still allegedly
17:13
Speaker 12: selling products to children, and the proceeds are going to
17:18
Speaker 12: funding overseas criminals like chasm Hammad who's been arrested in Iraq,
17:23
Speaker 12: who is profiting off this. But the proceeds of those
17:27
Speaker 12: crimes are going towards national security risks. The AFP Commissioner
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Speaker 12: Chrissy Barrett has said Hammered is her number one priority.
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Speaker 4: He's a national security risk. He's been linked to the bombing,
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Speaker 4: the fire bombing of a synagogue in Melbourne. So there
17:42
Speaker 4: are some seriously bad actors involved here.
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Speaker 2: Well, we give the power of shutdown to police or
17:51
Speaker 2: federal police at least. I mean surely that would be
17:55
Speaker 2: the way to go. I mean, get law enforcement involved.
17:58
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, a pair of blokes high to
18:00
Speaker 2: wander around the state trying to find out where these
18:02
Speaker 2: joints are. I mean they could spend three weeks alone
18:05
Speaker 2: in chapel Street withere the US about twenty of these places.
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Speaker 12: That's what we need to be doing, Steve, because the
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Speaker 12: Victorian state government have just allowed this industry to flourish
18:16
Speaker 12: over the last couple of years. It only occurred to
18:18
Speaker 12: them last week maybe to do something about it with
18:20
Speaker 12: the tobacco inspectors, but they don't have the teeth that
18:23
Speaker 12: they need to shut these shops down. What we need
18:26
Speaker 12: is a fully resourced AFP response that does have search
18:31
Speaker 12: and closure powers, it has fit and proper person tests involved.
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Speaker 12: The New South Wales Labor Premier Chris Mins has been
18:39
Speaker 12: constantly calling for federal labor to get tougher on this
18:42
Speaker 12: and address the excise tax as well. We need a
18:45
Speaker 12: national response to this because it is such a big issue.
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Speaker 4: But the Victorian labor government particularly have allowed this to
18:52
Speaker 4: flourish without stepping up the consequences for actions which we're
18:56
Speaker 4: seeing just across the board in so many parts of
18:58
Speaker 4: law and order issues Victoria.
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Speaker 2: At the moment, when I go into my local Ida
19:04
Speaker 2: and I look at the price of legitimate cigarettes, and
19:07
Speaker 2: you know you're talking for known brands, you're paying anywhere
19:11
Speaker 2: north of forty five fifty five sixty five dollars even
19:14
Speaker 2: for a packet, whereas you can go and buy black
19:16
Speaker 2: market cigarettes I think for about twelve dollars. What's your
19:22
Speaker 2: view on and have you spoken to Mark Butler about this,
19:24
Speaker 2: the Health minister. What's your view on lowering the excise
19:27
Speaker 2: to some degree to try and work out that imbalance.
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Speaker 12: The excise tax has increased five about two hundred and
19:36
Speaker 12: eighty two percent since the Rudd Gillard Rudd government in
19:39
Speaker 12: twenty thirteen started to increase it by about five percent.
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Speaker 4: Year one year.
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Speaker 12: A few years back, you could certainly make the argument
19:47
Speaker 12: that the price increases acted as an incentive to quit smoking,
19:51
Speaker 12: but now it's gone well beyond that, and as you say,
19:54
Speaker 12: it's driving people to the black market to get those
19:56
Speaker 12: twelve dollars pack of cigarettes. If you're looking at a
19:59
Speaker 12: legal pack of cigarettes, and there's a lot of retailers
20:02
Speaker 12: now that are just saying we're not going to sell
20:03
Speaker 12: them because of the risks of having their staff assaulted
20:07
Speaker 12: or being firebombed or ram rated, as has happened in
20:10
Speaker 12: my electred But the taxman takes about twenty eight dollars
20:14
Speaker 12: out of a pack of fifty dollars cigarettes. So the
20:17
Speaker 12: excise is now at a point where it's actually driving
20:20
Speaker 12: people to that black market. It's not having its intended
20:23
Speaker 12: purpose I'm arguing, which is to get people to stop
20:27
Speaker 12: smoking all together. And the criminal intelligence agencies wastewater reports
20:31
Speaker 12: support that as well. They say they've found that people
20:36
Speaker 12: have increased smoking rates with the nicotine in the waste
20:40
Speaker 12: water in the last year.
20:42
Speaker 4: Then was the case about eight years ago.
20:47
Speaker 2: Just before you go. I saw you when question time
20:49
Speaker 2: a couple of times this week. I mean it looked
20:51
Speaker 2: a bit lonely up the back there. When's this coalition
20:54
Speaker 2: going to get themself put back together again?
20:57
Speaker 12: Well, we've got to be putting our best effort forward.
21:00
Speaker 12: I'm a strong coalitionist. I think that it is a
21:03
Speaker 12: tough time at the moment to be the opposition, but
21:06
Speaker 12: we will.
21:06
Speaker 4: Get through that.
21:07
Speaker 12: It's an extremely bad government doing a really bad job.
21:11
Speaker 12: We've got inflation up, we've got unemployment up, we've got
21:14
Speaker 12: interest rates up. People in my electorate of Monash are
21:18
Speaker 12: telling me it's never been harder to run a business,
21:20
Speaker 12: It's never been tougher to raise a family locally, and
21:23
Speaker 12: young people in my community are saying it's never been
21:26
Speaker 12: more difficult for them.
21:27
Speaker 4: To get a shot at getting ahead in life.
21:29
Speaker 12: So we desperately need a change of government, and we
21:32
Speaker 12: need everyone in our team firing everything they've got at
21:37
Speaker 12: the government to hold them to account.
21:40
Speaker 2: Good on you, Mary, thank you, it's always pleasure to
21:42
Speaker 2: catch up Mary Aldred there. And that tobacco issue is
21:45
Speaker 2: just ridiculous. The amount of fire bombings, and I mean
21:48
Speaker 2: sixty five dollars for a legal packet of cigarettes you
21:51
Speaker 2: can get for twelve dollars. Now I can tell you
21:53
Speaker 2: walk up and down any street in Melbourne you can
21:55
Speaker 2: go in and buy illegal cigarettes. The laws are not working.
21:58
Speaker 2: And to pathetically put out seven couples of people fourteen
22:03
Speaker 2: in total, that's to cover the whole state.
22:05
Speaker 1: I mean, that's not serious.
22:07
Speaker 2: Now, come out next to the horrendous case and I'll
22:09
Speaker 2: mentioned at the start of the program involving convicted murderer
22:12
Speaker 2: a male who identifies now as a woman and gets
22:15
Speaker 2: transferred to a female prison farm and commits a sexual assault.
22:19
Speaker 2: How the hell does that happen? Now, I'll talk to
22:21
Speaker 2: Charlie Berzena about that.
22:23
Speaker 1: Straight up to the break. Welcome back Steve Price with you.
22:29
Speaker 2: Now, I want to go back to this shocking front
22:30
Speaker 2: page story today in the Herald Son that I started
22:33
Speaker 2: the program with. Now, as I said, the Victorian government
22:36
Speaker 2: has quietly paid compensation to a female prisoner who was
22:39
Speaker 2: sexually assaulted by a transgender murderer who was transferred to
22:44
Speaker 2: a woman's prison. Now it comes as policy changes apparently
22:48
Speaker 2: to titan how and where offenders are placed and reignite
22:52
Speaker 2: that debate over safety in female jails. Former Victorian homicide
22:56
Speaker 2: Squad detective Charlie Bazina joins me in the studio.
22:59
Speaker 1: Welcome, Charlie.
23:00
Speaker 2: I mean, this case is just outrageous. So we go
23:04
Speaker 2: back to the murder that this guy was convicted of
23:07
Speaker 2: and he was sentenced to twenty.
23:08
Speaker 1: Years in jail.
23:10
Speaker 2: It was a race based murder of a nineteen year
23:12
Speaker 2: old Sudanese kid. This bloke was raving about getting rid
23:16
Speaker 2: of black people in Melbourne. So this person gets twenty
23:19
Speaker 2: years and then suddenly ends up saying, oh, well I'm
23:22
Speaker 2: not who I thought I was. I'm a woman, and
23:24
Speaker 2: he gets sent to a women's prison. Correct correct how
23:27
Speaker 2: does that happen?
23:28
Speaker 13: Well, I reckon there was some squeezer in bloody Corrections
23:32
Speaker 13: who made the decision that woke decision and decided to
23:37
Speaker 13: do away with duty of care to the other prisoners,
23:40
Speaker 13: now accountability impunity for them and said, well, look at me,
23:44
Speaker 13: look at what I've done. But ultimately it's not good enough,
23:48
Speaker 13: and then we pay the penalty as a community.
23:51
Speaker 2: Now I mentioned that there is senior bureaucrats apparently who
23:54
Speaker 2: are pushing back against this idea that you should not
23:57
Speaker 2: have genetic born men in women's prisons. They believe that
24:02
Speaker 2: that should continue to happen very much.
24:05
Speaker 13: And it's not. It's its gender base of how you're
24:09
Speaker 13: born is where you end up. And then ultimately, if
24:11
Speaker 13: they can put a pocket within a prison and have
24:14
Speaker 13: them separated, and why are we bowing down to these
24:16
Speaker 13: minority groups in relations of that for the entire safety
24:19
Speaker 13: of the prison population, It's ridiculous.
24:22
Speaker 2: And now I've never been in jail, You've been there
24:25
Speaker 2: plenty of times. I presume that if you're a violent,
24:29
Speaker 2: unhinged murderer, spending time in a men's jail there will
24:34
Speaker 2: be tougher than spending time in a women's prison.
24:38
Speaker 1: Be correct, very.
24:39
Speaker 13: Much, because you look at Dame Phyllis Frost there and
24:43
Speaker 13: the minimum security where he was ultimately a lot lot
24:47
Speaker 13: easier so we played the system, and the system bowed
24:50
Speaker 13: down to him and at the cost of this poor
24:51
Speaker 13: prisoner that was assaulted. It's just it's where's he accountability?
24:56
Speaker 13: Where's this government saying well, it's our fault, even though
24:59
Speaker 13: they were told before all that you shouldn't be. And
25:01
Speaker 13: it goes across with sport, the whole situation, women's toilets,
25:05
Speaker 13: women's change rooms. Where's it going to end? And here
25:08
Speaker 13: we've ended up with an assault on a female prisoner.
25:12
Speaker 2: Anyone who commits a serious crime, who's a male who
25:16
Speaker 2: looks at this and goes, well, I'll just tell them
25:18
Speaker 2: I'm a warmer.
25:19
Speaker 13: Correct, And the government's are facilitated that provision to be
25:22
Speaker 13: able to do it instead of saying, well, too bad, sunshine,
25:25
Speaker 13: you're not going to go either. You're going to be
25:26
Speaker 13: in a men's prison. We'll have you isolated. They deal
25:29
Speaker 13: with a lot of other significant organized crime because they isolated.
25:32
Speaker 13: And well, I will isolate you in a men's prison.
25:34
Speaker 13: It's your call, but I'm not going to put you
25:36
Speaker 13: and facilitate where you've got open slather to attack women.
25:41
Speaker 2: And I'll presume in a women's jail, I don't know,
25:43
Speaker 2: but would there be their common showering areas.
25:47
Speaker 13: So yeah, apart from the little cabins that they might
25:49
Speaker 13: have a little in different prisons. So I'm assuming there's
25:52
Speaker 13: this communal eating, communal toilets, communal shews on the likes.
25:58
Speaker 2: But how do you please know how many men who
26:01
Speaker 2: are now identifying women are in these women's job I.
26:03
Speaker 13: Think there was about twenty now for example Dania for example,
26:07
Speaker 13: as serial killer Danya. He recognizes a woman, and it
26:11
Speaker 13: wouldn't want a person like him going into women's prison
26:14
Speaker 13: any change, it going to parole. So it's an absolute
26:17
Speaker 13: nonsense of this government bows down to these minority groups
26:21
Speaker 13: say and not having the account of building and say, wakay,
26:25
Speaker 13: why then how did you make this decision based on
26:29
Speaker 13: what even though you were told, you were told by
26:31
Speaker 13: these other groups, we do not want it, and you're
26:34
Speaker 13: pull and a lot of these women are involved with
26:36
Speaker 13: family violence and they put this man that's who he is.
26:39
Speaker 13: He is a man who's gone in there regardless with
26:42
Speaker 13: his ad the operation. I don't know, but it's not
26:45
Speaker 13: good enough. And this is their representatives letting us down
26:48
Speaker 13: once again. What else is left for this government to
26:51
Speaker 13: stuff up?
26:52
Speaker 2: And they won't tell us what the compensation is. They
26:54
Speaker 2: want to keep it a secret. They wouldn't have wouldn't
26:56
Speaker 2: have told us anything about this unless the heralds sund found.
26:58
Speaker 1: Out about it.
26:59
Speaker 13: Hush money HASHMANI because we don't want And that was
27:02
Speaker 13: in twenty twenty two. Here we are learning about in
27:04
Speaker 13: twenty six where's her accountability even to the media, into
27:07
Speaker 13: the public at large to let us know what our
27:09
Speaker 13: great leaders are doing.
27:10
Speaker 2: It's insulting gang Land survivor timing Mockbell. He is a
27:13
Speaker 2: freeman today. I mean, I know you know this case well.
27:16
Speaker 2: Victorian prosecutors told the Supreme Court that they will not
27:20
Speaker 2: put Mockbell on charge over a major drug crime dubbed
27:24
Speaker 2: orbital Charlie. Look, I saw him on the steps of
27:29
Speaker 2: the courthouse today. I wanted to throw up. This is Mockbell?
27:33
Speaker 1: Who was? How big a drug dealer?
27:35
Speaker 13: Was Mockbell significant, multi multi millionaire through drugs, organized crime
27:40
Speaker 13: trafficking and he was a very very significant target for
27:44
Speaker 13: Victoria police.
27:45
Speaker 2: Now we understand why this is all happened. It is
27:46
Speaker 2: complicated through the lawyer ex issue and she was representing
27:51
Speaker 2: him and she was also correct informing on him to
27:53
Speaker 2: the police, so we understand all of that. So he's
27:56
Speaker 2: got a lot of these charges dropped. However, he served
28:00
Speaker 2: nineteen years in jail. I presume the DPP said, well,
28:04
Speaker 2: we don't want to go ahead of the case because
28:06
Speaker 2: time served does probably mean.
28:07
Speaker 1: It's a waste of time. You're not correct in more time.
28:10
Speaker 2: He appears on the court house steps today and the
28:13
Speaker 2: journalists will start laughing with him about where he's going
28:16
Speaker 2: to go overseas traveling, and they asked him do you
28:19
Speaker 2: have any regrets?
28:20
Speaker 1: He said, I've got no regrets at all, no regrets.
28:23
Speaker 2: If he was asked about the drug dealing, do you
28:25
Speaker 2: regret that I've got no regrets?
28:26
Speaker 13: Well, that shows where's the remorse in that regard. Here
28:29
Speaker 13: we are at the bottom of the chain, all the
28:31
Speaker 13: drug adverdaces we're trying to save. We've got these safe
28:36
Speaker 13: injecting rooms which we keep battling against and saying, well,
28:38
Speaker 13: that's what it's about, and it carries He's charges carry
28:42
Speaker 13: life imprisonment. Why aren't these people getting life imprisonment for
28:46
Speaker 13: the mayhem and death and leave us in.
28:48
Speaker 2: The middle of the underworld shooting coarse every month Williams
28:53
Speaker 2: and all of that.
28:53
Speaker 13: Connected quite heavily and living the high life in court.
28:57
Speaker 2: Okay, nineteen years in jail, I mean it's a long
28:59
Speaker 2: time in jail. But he looked like, you know, he's
29:02
Speaker 2: now going to walk out.
29:03
Speaker 1: He's free.
29:03
Speaker 2: He's never gone back to jail again unless.
29:05
Speaker 1: He breaks the lawry. He could have money hidden away.
29:08
Speaker 1: Who knows its pathetic.
29:10
Speaker 13: Well, they see his multimillion dollars off him. That shows
29:13
Speaker 13: the height of the level he was at. And he
29:16
Speaker 13: actually pleaded guilty to one of these charges and admitted it.
29:20
Speaker 13: And then also no unable lawyer X was involved. And
29:23
Speaker 13: again it's all about the welfare and the concerns and
29:26
Speaker 13: the rights of their crook. What about the community at
29:30
Speaker 13: large and the victims that he's created.
29:31
Speaker 2: This government is not governing for the people of Victoria
29:35
Speaker 2: the way that the people of Victoria feel that cure
29:37
Speaker 2: eminals should be treated.
29:39
Speaker 13: Correct, they should be showing the exit door sooner than later.
29:42
Speaker 1: Charlie.
29:42
Speaker 2: Thanks coming as Charlie Bazina there now I want to
29:45
Speaker 2: go to deepening concerns around the budget blowout. This is
29:48
Speaker 2: for the Brisbane Olympic Games. I mean this has got
29:50
Speaker 2: a bit of Victoria all written all over.
29:52
Speaker 1: It as well.
29:53
Speaker 2: The twenty thirty two Games boss Andrew Liveris this week
29:56
Speaker 2: warned the Queensland state government's original operating budge it bore
30:00
Speaker 2: no resemblance to reality. I mean, here to chat is
30:04
Speaker 2: our Friday regular former Queensland Liberal Premier Campbell Newman Campbell,
30:08
Speaker 2: great to see you again. How can the Queensland government
30:12
Speaker 2: guarantee taxpayers this thing is not going to blow out
30:15
Speaker 2: of all proportions, the budget's going to blow up.
30:19
Speaker 7: Well, I simply can't, steve.
30:21
Speaker 14: And it also needs to be viewed in the context
30:24
Speaker 14: of a pretty bad budget position that only in the
30:26
Speaker 14: last few days we've seen in the media. You know,
30:29
Speaker 14: the fact that the state could be heading for a
30:31
Speaker 14: credit downgrade. So they've got in two years time a
30:35
Speaker 14: state debt of around two hundred and five billion dollars
30:39
Speaker 14: this year alone, in this current financial year they will
30:41
Speaker 14: run and they're meant to be an LNP government, they're
30:45
Speaker 14: going to run a nine billion dollar deficit. Now, when
30:50
Speaker 14: you then turn back to the Olympics, when David Christoph
30:53
Speaker 14: Foley was first premier, he said as Premier there'll be
30:56
Speaker 14: no new stadiums. Subsequently's embarked on building a stadium, and
31:01
Speaker 14: you know my position on Victoria Park, which is going
31:04
Speaker 14: to cost at least three point seven billion dollars, and
31:08
Speaker 14: that's not the end of it.
31:09
Speaker 7: There's going to be a lot more there.
31:10
Speaker 14: So there's also then the issue where they've decided to,
31:14
Speaker 14: you know, for political reasons, which you know they're politicians,
31:18
Speaker 14: to disperse the Olympics across the state. So in this
31:22
Speaker 14: in this vast state that people are cross queensing to
31:24
Speaker 14: get a chance to, as they would say it, to
31:27
Speaker 14: actually go and see a games event. All that is
31:30
Speaker 14: a very dangerous combination. And this is not what we
31:35
Speaker 14: were sold by the former Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, who
31:39
Speaker 14: led the charge to get the games on the basis
31:42
Speaker 14: that it was going to be an economical games that
31:45
Speaker 14: was going to be using existing facilities and it wouldn't
31:48
Speaker 14: put the state into extra debt.
31:53
Speaker 2: Well, you know, twenty thirty two, we all wanted Olympic Games,
31:55
Speaker 2: but you know, only if we can afford it. I mean,
31:58
Speaker 2: Sydney was great. He never really capitalized on it, but
32:02
Speaker 2: it was a great Olympics. But Victoria tried to do
32:05
Speaker 2: this and the Comonwealth Games fiasco. You might remember down here,
32:08
Speaker 2: Daniel Andrews decided before a state election that would be
32:11
Speaker 2: a good idea to dot the events all around the
32:14
Speaker 2: state in seats that he wanted to win. Then when
32:17
Speaker 2: he got the election he won, he canceled the Comonwealth Games.
32:20
Speaker 2: It cost Victorians five hundred million dollars not to hold them.
32:23
Speaker 2: Why would you spread the Olympics right across Queensland when,
32:27
Speaker 2: as you say, it's a massive state.
32:31
Speaker 14: Well, Steve, I guess they're doing it for political reasons
32:34
Speaker 14: as well.
32:35
Speaker 7: And I don't.
32:37
Speaker 14: Think that's a particularly good idea. And perhaps that's what
32:40
Speaker 14: Andrew Liveris was sort of intimating when he talked about
32:44
Speaker 14: this in the media in recent days. I mean, I'd
32:47
Speaker 14: simply be just saying to the government, look, you really
32:49
Speaker 14: need to right now curb your ambitions in terms of
32:55
Speaker 14: what you're going to spend on this, because it will
32:57
Speaker 14: get worse.
32:57
Speaker 7: I mean, going back to Victoria Park, which I just alluded.
33:01
Speaker 14: To, they will be spending I would say at least
33:04
Speaker 14: a five hundred to seven hundred million dollars more just
33:07
Speaker 14: to improve the access to the site from the inner
33:10
Speaker 14: city bypass and public transport infrastructure.
33:14
Speaker 7: You know, it is not going to be.
33:16
Speaker 14: What they're saying it is, and you know, they've really
33:21
Speaker 14: been an off a heck of a lot, and I
33:23
Speaker 14: think the Premier should be asking a lot of questions
33:25
Speaker 14: of the Deputy Premier.
33:27
Speaker 7: Jared Blay.
33:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're going to end. They'll put their hand out
33:32
Speaker 2: to camera to speaking of camera. What a mess this
33:34
Speaker 2: coalition thing is. I mean, you're a great observer of politics.
33:38
Speaker 2: You've now got you know, I had one of the
33:41
Speaker 2: one of the coalition members on earlier and she wants
33:44
Speaker 2: she describes herself as a coalitionist. But if the Liberals
33:49
Speaker 2: and the Nationals continue to go their separate ways, they're
33:53
Speaker 2: just going to get laughed at every week in question
33:55
Speaker 2: time like they were this week by an ascendant Labor
33:59
Speaker 2: Party who should be being heavily scrutinized for the job
34:02
Speaker 2: that they're doing.
34:05
Speaker 15: Well.
34:05
Speaker 14: Collectively, they're letting Australia down right now. There are serious
34:08
Speaker 14: issues that the government's failing us all on and those
34:13
Speaker 14: matters need to be prosecuted by United Opposition.
34:17
Speaker 7: I mean, I would like to see the coalition reformed.
34:21
Speaker 14: I don't know that either Susan Lee or David Little
34:24
Speaker 14: Proud have it in themselves to do that. At all
34:27
Speaker 14: now and again I think both of them need to go.
34:30
Speaker 14: I've said that before in recent weeks.
34:32
Speaker 7: They need to go.
34:34
Speaker 14: You know, how could Little Proud work productively and credibly
34:39
Speaker 14: with a leader Lee that he has said needs to
34:43
Speaker 14: go himself And that's the problems. But we do need
34:48
Speaker 14: to see the coalition reformed, are reformed and moving on
34:53
Speaker 14: to take that argument to the government.
34:56
Speaker 2: Angus Taylor has said to maybe trigger a leader ship
35:00
Speaker 2: spill won't happen earlier in the week, but it might
35:02
Speaker 2: happen late next week. What do you think of his candidacy?
35:10
Speaker 14: Well, I don't mind his policy perspective on matters, you know,
35:15
Speaker 14: I think he's got the right ideas. My concern is
35:21
Speaker 14: can he actually punch through Can he actually excite Australians.
35:25
Speaker 7: About the alternative?
35:27
Speaker 14: Can he actually describe matters to them in a way
35:31
Speaker 14: that will highlight the very grave issues that the country's
35:34
Speaker 14: facing right now, whether it be in terms of social
35:38
Speaker 14: cohesion and what the real reasons for that are, or
35:41
Speaker 14: of course on the important issues of the finances of
35:45
Speaker 14: government and our viability as a nation. I mean, can
35:49
Speaker 14: he do that? Look, I'm not sure, but Andrew Hasty,
35:52
Speaker 14: I'm afraid has not covered himself in glory in recent weeks.
35:56
Speaker 14: And what they all have to explain the Liberal Party
35:59
Speaker 14: is why they voted for the disgraceful legislation that is
36:03
Speaker 14: anti democratic and ultimately, if it's not repeal, will be
36:07
Speaker 14: misused by future political figures.
36:11
Speaker 1: Well that's the position.
36:12
Speaker 2: The Nats are standing firm and they say, look, we
36:15
Speaker 2: couldn't have voted for that, and you know, yes, that
36:18
Speaker 2: means that under convention we had to the three of
36:21
Speaker 2: them had to step down from the front bench. But
36:24
Speaker 2: they voted on what they morally thought about that bill,
36:28
Speaker 2: which you've explained your view on that as well, so
36:31
Speaker 2: they're unlikely to be able to just walk that back.
36:35
Speaker 2: I mean, that's the decision they've taken. It's one that's
36:38
Speaker 2: done on principle.
36:40
Speaker 14: Well, I thought they did take a very important principal stand,
36:44
Speaker 14: and I think the Libs made a huge mistake in
36:48
Speaker 14: showing effectively a complete lack of respect for their junior
36:52
Speaker 14: coalition partner. My only criticism of the Nats and Little
36:56
Speaker 14: Proud in this matter is that I think Little Proud
36:58
Speaker 14: went too far by then saying that Lee had to
37:02
Speaker 14: go and again, how could he possibly then work with
37:05
Speaker 14: here in the future. Having expressed that opinion, his position
37:08
Speaker 14: then becomes untenable. And I'm afraid he made the Nats
37:11
Speaker 14: somehow the bad guys in this whole blown out affair.
37:16
Speaker 7: So you know.
37:17
Speaker 14: But the idea by the way of the Liberal Party
37:20
Speaker 14: going alone, I think Jane said it to Jane Humesy
37:22
Speaker 14: expressed that in recent days is it is a delusional
37:27
Speaker 14: particularly on the same sort of labor light approach to
37:32
Speaker 14: political policy. It's like, I don't know, I've said it.
37:35
Speaker 14: A new human understands this. But they are in a
37:37
Speaker 14: power dive into the Grand Canyon, and she seems to
37:42
Speaker 14: be enjoying the view on the way down. But there's
37:45
Speaker 14: the impact is coming. And like someone said to me today,
37:48
Speaker 14: you don't go bankrupt all of a sudden. You go
37:52
Speaker 14: bankrupt slowly and steadily. And that's what's happened to the coalition,
37:55
Speaker 14: particularly the Libs. But now it's hitting. They're bankrupt and
37:59
Speaker 14: I don't know if they can turn it back unless
38:01
Speaker 14: they wake up about these matters.
38:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you, Campbell, Good on you. I'll
38:06
Speaker 2: talk to you next week, Campbell Newman. They're coming up
38:08
Speaker 2: after the break, and please to say Cartoons of the
38:11
Speaker 2: Week with the Herald Sun cartoonist Mark Knight. That's after
38:14
Speaker 2: the break. Welcome back coming up, Joe, Hidel Brown, Jim
38:20
Speaker 2: and Tornini. I'm going to talk about a bizarre story
38:23
Speaker 2: I was involved in fifty years ago yesterday that involves,
38:28
Speaker 2: of all things, a psychic, a tidal wave, and a
38:31
Speaker 2: state premier who won't want to miss that. Mark Knight
38:35
Speaker 2: is back from his annual leave. He's back from a
38:37
Speaker 2: break and he's on fire with some of the absolute
38:40
Speaker 2: cracker cartoons this week. And my friend, you have been
38:43
Speaker 2: on fire and you couldn't help but throw the poor
38:46
Speaker 2: old opposition leader, coalition members on a bus with one nation.
38:51
Speaker 2: Let's have a look talk through that.
38:54
Speaker 16: Well, you know, we're all back to school this week, Pricey,
38:57
Speaker 16: and of course in Canberra they're all back to the
38:59
Speaker 16: big school on Capitol Hill, and I can't resist doing
39:02
Speaker 16: the sort of the old school bus scenario.
39:05
Speaker 5: And you know how the tough kids used to sit
39:07
Speaker 5: down the back and throw things at the at the
39:10
Speaker 5: sort of the week, keep up front.
39:15
Speaker 2: And poor old I mean, those those four faces are outstanding.
39:23
Speaker 5: They are four great characters and I love them. I
39:26
Speaker 5: did have a few more people in there, but I
39:28
Speaker 5: felt it diluted attention from what was really going on.
39:34
Speaker 2: Poor old Pauline sitting up the back Barnaby throwing things
39:36
Speaker 2: at them.
39:36
Speaker 1: I love it.
39:37
Speaker 2: Susan Lee has also been in your Outside this week.
39:41
Speaker 2: She was doing the champions Walk at the Australia and Open.
39:46
Speaker 1: What's this about?
39:47
Speaker 5: Well, you know this is as she headed out to
39:51
Speaker 5: the Center Court for the parliamentary year.
39:54
Speaker 9: Let's say that.
39:55
Speaker 5: And we all love the Australian Open and those great
39:59
Speaker 5: scenes they had of the players walking down this Champion's
40:02
Speaker 5: walk of all the former winners before they go out
40:04
Speaker 5: on the center court. And let's just say, I think
40:08
Speaker 5: Susan Lee's chances of having her picture on that Champion's Walk.
40:13
Speaker 9: Is a little bit remote at the moment.
40:17
Speaker 2: You might lose her next week. That'll be a bit
40:19
Speaker 2: of a sad day for you. Now, I love this cartoon.
40:22
Speaker 2: This is an early tire change for the Victorian Premier.
40:26
Speaker 2: She's had a pretty rough start to the political year
40:32
Speaker 2: and the wheels are falling off.
40:34
Speaker 5: Well yeah, she sort of kicked the campaign off this year,
40:37
Speaker 5: even though the election is not due to November.
40:39
Speaker 9: But off they went.
40:41
Speaker 5: They blew the starter's gun. And as anybody knows who
40:45
Speaker 5: lives in Victoria, you can't drive fifteen meters down the
40:47
Speaker 5: road and not hit a hole, correct, And there are
40:53
Speaker 5: many potholes. If we want to use sort of political
40:57
Speaker 5: analogies for her on this campaign, that's for sure.
41:01
Speaker 2: I reckon this has been one of your strongest starts
41:03
Speaker 2: for the year. It's been absolutely incredible. The one that
41:06
Speaker 2: I really loved and I particularly wanted to talk to
41:09
Speaker 2: you about involves doctor Jim Charmers. Now, doctor Jim Chalmers
41:13
Speaker 2: is all week. This week I've been trying to say, oh, well,
41:15
Speaker 2: you know, inflation is driven by private enterprise, not by
41:18
Speaker 2: government spending. Here's a pile of one hundred dollar notes.
41:22
Speaker 2: Michelle Bullock sitting there stoking the fire, and Jim's throwing
41:26
Speaker 2: the money into the train carriage to get it moving.
41:30
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, the economy is a bit like a steam
41:33
Speaker 5: train at the moment, and it's going a little bit
41:35
Speaker 5: too hard, and Michelle bought the RBA governor. She wants
41:39
Speaker 5: to slow it down. So there she's pulling on the handbrake,
41:42
Speaker 5: and what is Jim doing to help her? He's actually
41:46
Speaker 5: smoking the fire with government spending dollars, and it was interesting.
41:50
Speaker 5: I was watching the Senate committees today. That says all
41:54
Speaker 5: about my life. But I was watching Michelle Bullock before
41:58
Speaker 5: the Senate Committee, and she did it that the government
42:01
Speaker 5: spending was a leading contributor to inflation. So there you go.
42:09
Speaker 2: And my columns up online will be in the paper tomorrow.
42:13
Speaker 2: You've been very kind to me as usual. I've written
42:15
Speaker 2: a piece about Blackout Bowen and his electric vehicle policy
42:20
Speaker 2: and you've I've called him a car salesman, and I
42:23
Speaker 2: can do that because my dad was a car salesman.
42:26
Speaker 2: There he is in the EV sales yard, Mark.
42:29
Speaker 5: No very wrong with the noble art of selling news cars,
42:32
Speaker 5: I see, But maybe you did drop this beautifully in
42:36
Speaker 5: my lap. Thank you very much mate. You know he's
42:39
Speaker 5: in the brown sort of checkered suit with the orange tie.
42:43
Speaker 5: He's out there in the yard flogging his evs, which
42:46
Speaker 5: I don't think many people actually want, but you know
42:50
Speaker 5: he's out there doing his stick and what could go wrong.
42:57
Speaker 2: Great to have you back, my friend, and your cartoons
42:59
Speaker 2: this week have been absolutely brilliant. We'll talk to you
43:01
Speaker 2: in a couple of weeks, Mark Night, just fantastic work.
43:04
Speaker 2: This week after the break more on labels, capital gains,
43:07
Speaker 2: tax changes. Could that mean? What will that mean for
43:10
Speaker 2: ordinary investors? Plus we've actually got e bike madness on
43:15
Speaker 2: the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Surely it's time to crack down.
43:17
Speaker 2: Our Friday Night panel is up next.
43:23
Speaker 1: Welco back.
43:23
Speaker 2: Let's gets into our Friday Night panel where joined as
43:26
Speaker 2: usual by jem I ton Uni from gt Communications and
43:29
Speaker 2: Sky News contributed Joe hilde Brown. Great, and have you
43:32
Speaker 2: guys with us as usual? I want to start with
43:34
Speaker 2: something pretty serious. I mean, we've got this visit on
43:37
Speaker 2: the weekend of the Israeli President, I mean on Monday.
43:41
Speaker 2: I think he's in Sydney. Police have already raised security concerns.
43:44
Speaker 2: They're talking about potential protests, amazing number of police talked
43:48
Speaker 2: about three thousand police and they're going to march through
43:53
Speaker 2: as I understand it, parts of the Sydney CBD that
43:55
Speaker 2: has still deemed places where you can't hold a protest.
43:58
Speaker 1: Much.
44:00
Speaker 2: What's going to happen here? I mean it doesn't fill
44:03
Speaker 2: me with great confidence that this is going to end well.
44:06
Speaker 15: Well.
44:06
Speaker 17: I don't think anyone should have confidence that it's going
44:08
Speaker 17: to end well. And for the simple reason that this
44:11
Speaker 17: cohort of protesters have pushed the line time and time
44:16
Speaker 17: again and are prepared to defy.
44:19
Speaker 1: The rule of law.
44:20
Speaker 4: We're all expected to obey the law.
44:21
Speaker 17: This mob continually thumbing their nose at the law. And
44:26
Speaker 17: I mean think.
44:26
Speaker 4: About it this way.
44:29
Speaker 17: You know, this is a president of a democratic nation
44:31
Speaker 17: and OECD nation is of the political left himself, and
44:34
Speaker 17: these people don't have any other agenda than hatred for
44:38
Speaker 17: Israel and a similar sentiment for the Jewish people. This
44:43
Speaker 17: is not anything about advocacy for any people. This is
44:47
Speaker 17: about hatred of Israel, plain and simple. We've seen it before.
44:51
Speaker 17: This is, in many ways, Steve a test for the
44:54
Speaker 17: men's government, for the police commissioner here in New South Wales.
44:58
Speaker 17: They cannot cannot let this cohort defy the law that
45:03
Speaker 17: the rest of us are respecting day in day out.
45:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, Joe's got to find three thousand policemen lan and
45:11
Speaker 2: I don't know where he's going to do that, because
45:13
Speaker 2: he doesn't seem to even be able to control e
45:15
Speaker 2: bike riders who illegally are riding now over the Sydney
45:19
Speaker 2: Harbor Bridge during the week. I mean, that was unbelievable
45:23
Speaker 2: that vision. What's going on with that stuff.
45:26
Speaker 18: It's just bond because we're seeing it more and more
45:28
Speaker 18: in Sydney in particular. E bikes and e skirters have
45:32
Speaker 18: taken over a lot of other cities around Australia, especially
45:35
Speaker 18: the smaller Citi's flatter cities to be honest, but Sydney
45:39
Speaker 18: is just now seeing an explosion in them. And there's
45:42
Speaker 18: real sort of confusion and perhaps deliberate confusion among especially
45:47
Speaker 18: the riders as to whether or not they're a vehicle
45:49
Speaker 18: or a bicycle or pedestrians. So you see them all
45:52
Speaker 18: the time, just jumping from the footpath to the road,
45:56
Speaker 18: to cross country to bike paths to to open traffic
46:02
Speaker 18: with complete sort of you know, just whatever suits wherever
46:05
Speaker 18: the light suits, wherever there's a gap in the traffic,
46:07
Speaker 18: and it can be really dangerous. And I've been driving
46:09
Speaker 18: around and seeing by you know, just fly off the
46:12
Speaker 18: footpath in front of the road.
46:13
Speaker 1: So it's a real problem.
46:16
Speaker 2: Well, there's some argument about whether we should register theom
46:19
Speaker 2: people have to pay regio.
46:20
Speaker 1: I want to show my.
46:21
Speaker 2: Age here a bit, but this struck me yesterday exactly
46:25
Speaker 2: yesterday marked fifty years since Adelaide of all places made
46:29
Speaker 2: world headlines. Back in nineteen seventy six, Melbourne house painter
46:34
Speaker 2: and amateur clairvoyant John Nash reported he'd had a vision
46:38
Speaker 2: which Adelaide and it's eight hundred thousand inhabitants, including twenty
46:42
Speaker 2: one year old me. We're going to be obliterated by
46:44
Speaker 2: an earthquake in a tidal way. He claimed that Don
46:48
Speaker 2: dunstan law changes around homosexuality would mean the city of
46:51
Speaker 2: Churches will.
46:52
Speaker 1: Be wiped out.
46:53
Speaker 2: I'll take you back to nineteen seventy six.
46:55
Speaker 1: Have a look at this.
46:58
Speaker 15: Those who felt that it was real took to the
47:00
Speaker 15: Adelaide Hills. The other half turned up here to watch
47:05
Speaker 15: the tidal wave come in.
47:06
Speaker 1: Some came with their flippers and snorkel. Others drank beers
47:10
Speaker 1: in a boat.
47:13
Speaker 15: In front of us. Here was the crowd, and of
47:15
Speaker 15: course Don acknowledged them, and then, in doing so at
47:20
Speaker 15: the appropriate time, turned his hand to stop the tidal
47:24
Speaker 15: wave coming in, and the people here went berserk.
47:29
Speaker 1: I can't help laughing.
47:30
Speaker 2: I was standing next to Don Dunson when he put
47:32
Speaker 2: his hand up and stopped the tidal wave from coming.
47:35
Speaker 2: It was just unbelievable. Ten thirty he put his hand upset.
47:39
Speaker 2: No more tidal waves here. I mean, it was just extraordinary, Jemma.
47:43
Speaker 2: This is the same Premier, of course, who once wore
47:45
Speaker 2: pink shorts to State Parliament and used to rock a
47:48
Speaker 2: Safari suit when he went to work.
47:50
Speaker 4: Can we call those the glory days?
47:52
Speaker 17: Can we?
47:54
Speaker 13: Oh?
47:54
Speaker 2: Yes we can, Yes we can.
47:56
Speaker 17: I mean, look, it's a different kind of crazy to
48:00
Speaker 17: what we get in parliaments around Australia these days. But
48:02
Speaker 17: I kind of have a hankering for the good old days,
48:04
Speaker 17: to be honest, Steve. It might have been a little bit,
48:07
Speaker 17: you know, pushing the envelope from a sartorial perspective, but
48:10
Speaker 17: maybe there was a little bit of common sense it's
48:12
Speaker 17: lacking these days. What an absolute cracker of a yarn,
48:15
Speaker 17: and how brilliant that you were part of it.
48:19
Speaker 2: And then I had to go up to the Adelaide
48:20
Speaker 2: Hills and join the lunatics that all decamped to the
48:22
Speaker 2: top of Mount Lofty so they wouldn't drown.
48:25
Speaker 1: It got worse.
48:26
Speaker 2: Thank you both very much. They were kinder and gentler times.
48:29
Speaker 2: It was fantastic. Thanks to see you next week. I
48:32
Speaker 2: should point out, by the way that Don Dunstan was
48:34
Speaker 2: a reforming premier to criminalize homosexuality. Your point of the
48:38
Speaker 2: first female judge, the first indigenous governor, consumer protection laws.
48:42
Speaker 2: He abolished the death penalty and took the voting age
48:46
Speaker 2: down to eighteen. I mean he was amazing. Don Dunstan Well,
48:49
Speaker 2: the world, according to Rowan Deine, might get even weirder
48:52
Speaker 2: than that.
48:52
Speaker 1: It's up next,