Latest / The Kenny Report / The Kenny Report | 30 September

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The Kenny Report | 30 September · The Kenny Report

0:02
Speaker 1: This is The Kenny Report.
0:05
Speaker 2: Welcome to the show. Steve Price in for Chris this week,
0:08
Speaker 2: a week where I think yesterday's fourth straight interest rate
0:11
Speaker 2: rise has finally pushed people to breaking point. And if
0:14
Speaker 2: there was a federal election at the end of this year,
0:17
Speaker 2: not in 2028, I reckon Labor would be decimated. More
0:21
Speaker 2: on that rise and its impact with the opposition's small
0:24
Speaker 2: business minister, Jacinta Nampajimpa Price, coming up shortly. Also talk
0:28
Speaker 2: with her about former Prime Minister Scott Morrison's comments on
0:32
Speaker 2: the closing the gap failures. We'll check in with the
0:35
Speaker 2: NRMA and Peter Currie on fuel prices as diesel heads
0:39
Speaker 2: toward $ 3 a litre. causing cost of living headaches for
0:43
Speaker 2: everyone in Australia, plus the latest on the Victorian November
0:47
Speaker 2: election campaign. And we will get our panel's opinion on
0:51
Speaker 2: the Greens choosing David Shoebridge as their new leader. That's
0:56
Speaker 2: going to be one to watch. But first, Anthony Albanese's
1:00
Speaker 2: bad month, really two months, I guess, went from bad
1:03
Speaker 2: to worse today when he chose to front a media
1:05
Speaker 2: conference in Melbourne's north, along with his infrastructure minister, Catherine King.
1:10
Speaker 2: and the Victorian Premier, Ben Carroll. Let me explain. Watching
1:14
Speaker 2: the 20-minute-long gaslighting appearance of these three, with a bunch
1:18
Speaker 2: of unrecognisable nodding heads in the background, was the worst
1:22
Speaker 2: example of dishonest politics I've seen since Daniel Andrews disappeared
1:27
Speaker 2: off the political stage. This trio were supposedly making announcements
1:32
Speaker 2: about the often-promised-but-never-delivered Melbourne Airport rail link. With 50 days
1:38
Speaker 2: to go until the state election... and the Victorian Premier's
1:41
Speaker 2: own seat at risk from One Nation and the Coalition,
1:45
Speaker 2: what better time to talk about linking that part of
1:48
Speaker 2: Melbourne to the CBD and eventually out to the airport?
1:51
Speaker 2: I say eventually because when asked, no one, not one
1:55
Speaker 2: of those politicians there, was prepared to put a date,
1:58
Speaker 2: a year, even a decade on the table for people
2:02
Speaker 2: to be able to get off a plane and step
2:05
Speaker 2: onto a train. I mean, talk about political stunts. It
2:08
Speaker 2: was embarrassing, and to my eye, even the Prime Minister
2:11
Speaker 2: looked like he didn't want to be there. I'll play
2:13
Speaker 2: you some of that political trickery in a moment. But
2:16
Speaker 2: what was actually being announced that got the Prime Minister
2:20
Speaker 2: away from his busy international jet-setting agenda to a windswept
2:25
Speaker 2: paddock in Melbourne's northern suburbs? Well, in simple terms, Stage
2:29
Speaker 2: 2 of the Joint State and Federal Airport Rail Link.
2:33
Speaker 2: This will be 745. 0.4 kilometres of rail line from
2:37
Speaker 2: suburban Albion through a new train station in Keilor East.
2:41
Speaker 2: Only problem is this bit won't be finished until 2031,
2:46
Speaker 2: so in five years, and don't believe it, it stops
2:50
Speaker 2: short of the actual point of the whole thing, the airport. Now,
2:55
Speaker 2: for those of you who are not familiar with Western
2:57
Speaker 2: and Northern Suburban Melbourne, the train, if it ever gets
3:00
Speaker 2: to the airport, will take a loop around the suburbs
3:04
Speaker 2: to something called the Sunshine Super Hub. So not a
3:07
Speaker 2: direct rail link to the CBD like you have in
3:10
Speaker 2: Sydney at all. This whole thing is going to cost
3:12
Speaker 2: $ 12 billion in a state that is broke and building
3:16
Speaker 2: an underground rail loop in the southeastern suburbs, the suburban
3:20
Speaker 2: rail loop that nobody wants. Look, let's be clear here.
3:24
Speaker 2: Today was a political stunt by the federal Labor government
3:27
Speaker 2: trying to save the backsides of a state Labor government
3:30
Speaker 2: going to the polls at the end of November. Nothing more,
3:33
Speaker 2: nothing less. The politicians out there today think we are stupid.
3:37
Speaker 2: And what they were announcing, the start to stage two,
3:41
Speaker 2: as they called it, isn't really a start. It was
3:43
Speaker 2: a stunt. Major works will not start until sometime next year,
3:48
Speaker 2: after the election, and is expected, not promised, to be
3:53
Speaker 2: finished by 2030. Note the word expected being used. Have
3:58
Speaker 2: a listen to this teary-eyed nostalgia from Premier Ben Carroll.
4:03
Speaker 3: This is personal for me.
4:04
Speaker 4: As someone who grew up under Melbourne Airport, who grew
4:09
Speaker 4: up under the flight path, at the end of my
4:11
Speaker 4: street was the freight line, the Albion East line. And
4:14
Speaker 4: the only noise I grew up with was the rattling
4:17
Speaker 4: of the freight train over the concrete sleepers. Morning, noon
4:21
Speaker 4: and night, I would hear it. I'd walk up and
4:24
Speaker 4: down the freight line and always imagine one day there
4:28
Speaker 4: being passengers, Victorians, on that railway line getting.
4:33
Speaker 2: Into the city.
4:35
Speaker 4: So this is really, really important.
4:37
Speaker 2: Look at those grinning fools in the back. I mean, seriously, mate,
4:40
Speaker 2: it's still not going to the airport. And stage two
4:43
Speaker 2: comes sometime in 2030. Then the Prime Minister chimed in.
4:47
Speaker 5: I want to thank the workers who we've met here
4:49
Speaker 5: today who will have I think the extraordinary satisfaction from
4:57
Speaker 5: looking at and riding on this rail project when it
5:02
Speaker 5: is completed for the rest of their lives, making an
5:04
Speaker 5: enormous difference for infrastructure. Melbourne Airport Rail has been spoken
5:09
Speaker 5: about for a long period of time, but it's taken
5:12
Speaker 5: two Labor governments to get it done.
5:15
Speaker 2: Melbourne Airport Rail, but it's still not going to be
5:17
Speaker 2: going to the airport yet. Stage three's not even started.
5:21
Speaker 2: I mean, claiming he's getting it done, what a joke.
5:24
Speaker 2: He'll be long gone out of that office before anybody
5:26
Speaker 2: steps off a plane and onto a train. And then
5:29
Speaker 2: the infrastructure minister, King, who is equally delusional.
5:34
Speaker 6: Melbourne Airport Rail is happening. That is what we are
5:37
Speaker 6: seeing today. Already budgeted for stage two, that delivery, 7.4
5:41
Speaker 6: kilometres of track, bridge, new bridge over the Maribyrnong, new
5:46
Speaker 6: train station at Keilor East. Stage three, I know people
5:49
Speaker 6: will ask some questions about that later, but discussions with
5:52
Speaker 6: the airport are going incredibly well.
5:56
Speaker 2: These people think we're stupid. This sort of boondoggle politics
5:59
Speaker 2: is what delivered the multi-million dollar white elephant that is
6:02
Speaker 2: the suburban rail loop. A corrupt hole in the ground
6:05
Speaker 2: drawn up on the back of a beer coaster to
6:07
Speaker 2: secure votes for Labor in the southeastern suburbs of Melbourne.
6:10
Speaker 2: A project never likely to be completed fully. A folly
6:13
Speaker 2: putting Victoria into massive debt. We have seen this movie
6:17
Speaker 2: before and I can tell you it always ends badly. OK,
6:25
Speaker 2: let's get straight into it tonight. We're joined by Shadow
6:27
Speaker 2: Small Business Minister Jacinta Nampajimpa Price. Welcome, Senator. The interest rates,
6:33
Speaker 2: 15-year high, four rises in nine months. I've spoken to
6:37
Speaker 2: a whole bunch of people today who are feeling really
6:41
Speaker 2: depressed and down by these cost of living pressures and
6:44
Speaker 2: starting to cancel all sorts of things that their family
6:47
Speaker 2: enjoy because they simply can't pay the money the mortgage
6:50
Speaker 2: is going to cost them.
6:52
Speaker 7: Yeah, Steve, it's an absolute disgrace with these current interest
6:56
Speaker 7: rate hikes that we're seeing. This is the 16th hike
7:01
Speaker 7: since the Albanese Labor government came to power during a
7:04
Speaker 7: time where Australians are feeling it really difficult with the
7:09
Speaker 7: cost of living crisis that they're already dealing with. And
7:13
Speaker 7: small businesses are also very much impacted by this rate hike.
7:18
Speaker 8: So the average Australian.
7:20
Speaker 7: With a mortgage will now pay $ 31, 000 more each year
7:27
Speaker 7: with this increase in comparison to when Labor first came
7:31
Speaker 7: to power. And we know that the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers,
7:34
Speaker 7: continues to try to place blame everywhere else.
7:38
Speaker 8: But to take any responsibility for this.
7:40
Speaker 7: He wants you and I and the average Aussie to
7:44
Speaker 7: believe that it's all down to the war in the
7:47
Speaker 7: Middle East and the fuel crisis that's causing this.
7:50
Speaker 8: Now, this is all about homegrown inflation.
7:53
Speaker 7: This is about a government that is overspending taxpayer dollars,
7:59
Speaker 7: they are spending at a 40-year high. I mean, this
8:03
Speaker 7: is why we're now experiencing the largest decline in living
8:07
Speaker 7: standards in the developed world on the Albanese, Jim Chalmers,
8:14
Speaker 7: Labor government watch.
8:17
Speaker 2: We concentrate a lot about, as we should, mortgages and households,
8:21
Speaker 2: but I want to talk about small business in particular.
8:24
Speaker 2: I mean, They've had energy bill promises from the last
8:27
Speaker 2: election that were broken. The Middle East conflict is impacting,
8:32
Speaker 2: especially diesel, which would really impact out in your region.
8:37
Speaker 2: And yet the government is in complete denial and won't
8:40
Speaker 2: acknowledge that their spending is part of the problem.
8:44
Speaker 8: That's precisely right.
8:45
Speaker 7: I mean, you know, this is not just overspending but
8:49
Speaker 7: this is they're wanting to hit their target of net zero.
8:51
Speaker 7: Net zero policy is causing this. This is why we're
8:54
Speaker 7: seeing small businesses have to pay extra in terms of
8:57
Speaker 7: their energy bills, but they are absolutely exhausted.
9:00
Speaker 8: They're over the Albanese government.
9:02
Speaker 7: The rate hike to them is yet another bill that
9:06
Speaker 7: they are being slugged with. And for small business, it's
9:09
Speaker 7: like a double edged sword where they're asked to deal
9:12
Speaker 7: with the cost of everything that's going up and then
9:15
Speaker 7: they have to pay the price in terms of the
9:18
Speaker 7: interest rate rises.
9:21
Speaker 8: So, you know, they're being hit from every direction. It
9:24
Speaker 8: means they.
9:24
Speaker 7: Can't reinvest into their business. It means they can't employ
9:28
Speaker 7: another person. They can't bring on another apprentice. And many
9:32
Speaker 7: small businesses are shutting their doors or considering shutting their doors.
9:35
Speaker 8: It's disgraceful.
9:38
Speaker 2: How many shops are you walking past in the Alice
9:41
Speaker 2: that are shuttered? And what are those small businesses that
9:43
Speaker 2: are struggling and can't stay open if they have another
9:47
Speaker 2: increase like this one? What are they telling you?
9:50
Speaker 7: Look, it's really a sad state of affairs in my
9:54
Speaker 7: community where so many businesses, there's so many shop fronts
9:58
Speaker 7: that are just empty. A lot of long-term locals that
10:02
Speaker 7: have been around since I was a kid that have
10:04
Speaker 7: packed up and left the territory.
10:06
Speaker 3: I mean.
10:08
Speaker 7: We are grateful with the Leo Finocchiaro government that is
10:10
Speaker 7: trying to support local business throughout the Northern Territory. But
10:13
Speaker 7: more broadly, here in Alice Springs, right around the country,
10:17
Speaker 7: I'm hearing more and more that it is too difficult
10:19
Speaker 7: to hold, you know, to have a business. And for
10:23
Speaker 7: those who are considering passing that business on to their children,
10:25
Speaker 7: they're telling their children, you're better off not doing that.
10:29
Speaker 8: We're just better off.
10:30
Speaker 7: Closing the doors and you going and getting a government job.
10:35
Speaker 7: I mean, how depressing is that to think that all
10:40
Speaker 7: that we'll have left is the public sector when productivity
10:43
Speaker 7: is going backward at an alarming rate?
10:46
Speaker 2: The other thing they've got to deal with, Jacinda, is
10:49
Speaker 2: October 1 tomorrow, the tap and go charges, they disappear.
10:54
Speaker 2: And then the retailer is supposed to then be paying
10:59
Speaker 2: the bank for the access to the machine. But what
11:02
Speaker 2: they're going to have to do is lift their prices,
11:04
Speaker 2: I would presume. And that's just going to add more
11:06
Speaker 2: to inflation. I'm not sure whoever thought this was a
11:09
Speaker 2: good idea, the Reserve Bank did it, and the government
11:13
Speaker 2: understand what the impact of this is actually going to be.
11:16
Speaker 7: I don't think the government understand much of any of
11:20
Speaker 7: the impact their fiscal policy is having on Australians, but
11:24
Speaker 7: also this particular decision where the banks will pass on
11:28
Speaker 7: their costs anyway. The costs are going to be there.
11:30
Speaker 7: They pass on those costs to small businesses. Small businesses
11:34
Speaker 7: have to pass on those costs to consumers, which means,
11:38
Speaker 7: you know, their products, things that Australians like to purchase,
11:42
Speaker 7: the cost of those continue to rise. Again, during a
11:45
Speaker 7: cost of living crisis, when people are finding it.
11:47
Speaker 8: Difficult to pay for their bills, businesses are hit with
11:51
Speaker 8: yet another challenge.
11:52
Speaker 7: And I know a lot of small businesses are saying, oh,
11:56
Speaker 7: we don't want to pass on that cost. So they're
11:58
Speaker 7: just wearing it for their business because they don't want
12:00
Speaker 7: to lose customers. for their businesses.
12:03
Speaker 8: But yet again, it's like at every turn, there's another hit.
12:08
Speaker 7: And, you know, we cannot buy this nonsense from the
12:12
Speaker 7: government that this is somehow a great situation where that
12:18
Speaker 7: cost is somehow, it's still there.
12:21
Speaker 8: They're trying to play smoke and mirrors. It's still there.
12:24
Speaker 8: And it's the small business that has to wear it.
12:27
Speaker 2: I mentioned Scott Morrison at the beginning. This is an area, obviously,
12:30
Speaker 2: that you're clearly aware of. He's warned governments against leaving
12:34
Speaker 2: Indigenous children in dangerous houses just to meet closing the
12:38
Speaker 2: gap targets. I mean, overnight he talked about this. But
12:43
Speaker 2: we've been seeing these stories, mainly in the Australian newspaper
12:46
Speaker 2: over the last month, particularly about places like Port Hedland.
12:50
Speaker 2: We're all completely shocked. Is the Prime Minister right, the
12:54
Speaker 2: ex-Prime Minister right in what he says, that we've got
12:56
Speaker 2: to think of what's best for the children rather than
12:59
Speaker 2: this overriding issue that, oh, we don't want another stolen generation?
13:04
Speaker 7: Well, I think most Australians would agree that we should
13:08
Speaker 7: be improving the lives of our most marginalised in our
13:10
Speaker 7: country and it shouldn't just be about trying to meet targets.
13:15
Speaker 7: I don't know if the closing the gap, I've never
13:18
Speaker 7: really been sold on the whole closing the gap targets
13:21
Speaker 7: because I don't think they're measured in a way that
13:24
Speaker 7: captures really the most marginalised and who they are and
13:27
Speaker 7: where they exist in our country when anyone can actually
13:31
Speaker 7: identify as Indigenous these days. But the problem is that we, children,
13:36
Speaker 7: Aboriginal children are being sacrificed on the altar of political
13:39
Speaker 7: correctness and ideology so that People can feel better about
13:43
Speaker 7: being non-Indigenous and supposedly, you know, our country's history. But
13:49
Speaker 7: I think it is utterly wrong what's going on with
13:52
Speaker 7: our children and child protection should be an issue where
13:55
Speaker 7: we're putting the human rights of these children before ideology,
14:00
Speaker 7: before this concept.
14:01
Speaker 8: Of ensuring that they're connected to culture.
14:04
Speaker 7: If they're living in utter dysfunction and their lives are
14:07
Speaker 7: being cut short, that's not a healthy way of being
14:11
Speaker 7: connected to anything, let alone this concept of being connected
14:15
Speaker 7: to culture and identity. They don't have an identity if
14:19
Speaker 7: their lives are being destroyed from very early on. And
14:23
Speaker 7: I think we should all get on board with this issue.
14:27
Speaker 7: It's the responsibility of all of us as leaders throughout Australia.
14:31
Speaker 7: to ensure that we're protecting our most vulnerable children in
14:34
Speaker 7: this country.
14:34
Speaker 2: 100% correct. Always a pleasure to catch up with you.
14:38
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us. Jacinta Nampajimpa Price there. And she
14:41
Speaker 2: is absolutely correct, as was Scott Morrison. OK, some states
14:45
Speaker 2: are gearing up for a long weekend this weekend, but
14:48
Speaker 2: hitting the road's not going to be very cheap. Unleaded
14:50
Speaker 2: 91 is hovering around $ 2. 35. I think I paid $ 2. 56
14:56
Speaker 2: or something today for the next level up from the
15:02
Speaker 2: cheapest unleaded. Diesel is approaching $ 3, up on an average
15:06
Speaker 2: 13 cents a litre this week alone. NRMA spokesman Peter
15:10
Speaker 2: Currie joins me. I was listening to our business program
15:16
Speaker 2: just before we went to air expert talking about how
15:18
Speaker 2: much of the refining capacity in the Middle East has
15:20
Speaker 2: been damaged, how long it's going to take to get
15:23
Speaker 2: supplies back to normal. We can't expect relief anytime soon, Peter,
15:26
Speaker 2: I don't imagine.
15:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, good afternoon. Look, there's no doubt that over the
15:32
Speaker 1: last couple of months, we've seen prices go up considerably
15:35
Speaker 1: across the country. Those average prices that you've just put
15:38
Speaker 1: up for the capital cities for unleaded is, well, they've
15:42
Speaker 1: actually come back a little bit in the last couple
15:44
Speaker 1: of days, only a cent or two, but diesel more so.
15:48
Speaker 1: We're not going to see any meaningful relief in Australia
15:52
Speaker 1: until the conflict ends in the Middle East and those
15:54
Speaker 1: two critical straits of water are reopened, the Strait of
15:58
Speaker 1: Hormuz and the mouth of the Red Sea. So we
16:01
Speaker 1: continue to, this is the new norm in Australia. We
16:05
Speaker 1: are heading into a long weekend. At best, we believe
16:08
Speaker 1: that thankfully the rate of the increase has slowed down
16:12
Speaker 1: and prices haven't really moved much of the last two days.
16:16
Speaker 1: So that will give some comfort to families going away. Also,
16:20
Speaker 1: the fact that, you know, these are average prices and
16:22
Speaker 1: we know that in most of the capital cities and
16:26
Speaker 1: across regional Australia as well, you can find prices cheaper.
16:29
Speaker 1: I mean, I looked on the NRMA app on my
16:31
Speaker 1: way here. It's still about 30% of the servos in
16:34
Speaker 1: Sydney are are below $ 2.
16:35
Speaker 2: 34.
16:36
Speaker 1: There's a whole bunch in the $ 2. 20 range. And that
16:39
Speaker 1: also is the case in the other major capital cities,
16:43
Speaker 1: not so much Hobart, Darwin and Canberra, but certainly the
16:46
Speaker 1: five big ones. There is a decent spread of prices.
16:49
Speaker 1: So there is some relief if you do your research
16:52
Speaker 1: on the NRM app.
16:53
Speaker 2: And go and find those cheaper servos.
16:54
Speaker 1: But certainly higher than they were in July. There's no
16:58
Speaker 1: doubt about that.
16:59
Speaker 2: A lot of people driving diesel-powered SUVs, towed caravans, whatever
17:03
Speaker 2: they're doing, A lot of school pickups are done in
17:07
Speaker 2: diesel-powered SUVs. Has the diesel price topped out, do you think?
17:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, topped for now, certainly. So to give you some context,
17:18
Speaker 1: the international benchmark price for our region for diesel is
17:21
Speaker 1: called gas oil. It hit $ 200 a barrel a couple
17:26
Speaker 1: of weeks ago. It's now dropped down to $ 177, and
17:30
Speaker 1: we're starting to see that flow onto the wholesale price.
17:33
Speaker 1: what we call the terminal gate price here in Australia,
17:35
Speaker 1: it's gone down to $ 2. 88 and the average prices have
17:38
Speaker 1: fallen as well. So we're hoping that for now the
17:43
Speaker 1: worst of the diesel prices are behind us, having said
17:46
Speaker 1: that this is a diesel conflict. The minute the war
17:49
Speaker 1: started in Iran, diesel prices shot up to record highs.
17:53
Speaker 1: In April, the national average for diesel was $ 3.
17:57
Speaker 10: 27.
17:57
Speaker 1: So not only does that mean that families driving SUVs,
18:01
Speaker 1: regional communities, farmers who drive larger diesel vehicles because they
18:06
Speaker 1: have to. Not only have their costs gone up, but
18:09
Speaker 1: our economy runs on diesel. So everything has gone up
18:12
Speaker 1: as a result of this conflict because it is primarily
18:15
Speaker 1: a diesel conflict. The global economy runs on diesel. The
18:18
Speaker 1: Australian economy runs on diesel. And so very quickly, not
18:22
Speaker 1: only do we pay for it at the pump, but
18:24
Speaker 1: we pay for it in the supermarket aisle and the butcher,
18:29
Speaker 1: hence the interest rate rise we saw yesterday.
18:33
Speaker 2: We're not hearing any discussion again about excise cuts. The
18:36
Speaker 2: government doesn't seem keen on that. What are you hearing, though,
18:39
Speaker 2: about supply reserves? I mean, at the beginning of this conflict,
18:43
Speaker 2: you know, we all started to fill up every five minutes.
18:45
Speaker 2: There was some people panic buying. That seems to have stopped.
18:50
Speaker 2: Are there sufficient supplies that we don't have to go
18:53
Speaker 2: down that panicky road again?
18:56
Speaker 7: Yeah.
18:56
Speaker 1: So we should never have gone down there to begin with. Unfortunately,
18:59
Speaker 1: the supply issue was impacted largely by that very In fact,
19:03
Speaker 1: people saw prices skyrocket early. They went out panic buying
19:08
Speaker 1: and we saw Australia's supply crunch. Now, that has eased.
19:15
Speaker 1: We've had consistent supply. We've got supply coming from different parts.
19:19
Speaker 2: Of the world now.
19:20
Speaker 1: We're importing more from the United States, more from Asia,
19:23
Speaker 1: some from South America to counter the lack of supply
19:27
Speaker 1: coming out of the Middle East, although even that's increased
19:31
Speaker 1: a bit lately, a bit. not anywhere near as much
19:34
Speaker 1: as we need it to. So supply has been pretty consistent.
19:38
Speaker 1: We need that to continue until the war ends. Price
19:42
Speaker 1: is what we're looking more closely at. That unfortunately is
19:45
Speaker 1: dictated by global factors that we don't control, hence why
19:49
Speaker 1: we're paying the price that we are. But no need
19:52
Speaker 1: for Australians to panic. There is enough oil fuel in
19:56
Speaker 1: the country and certainly for families going away on a holiday.
20:00
Speaker 1: They don't need to be concerned about not being able.
20:01
Speaker 2: To fill up. Good on you, Peter. It was good
20:04
Speaker 2: to catch up. Peter Currie there from the NRMA. I
20:07
Speaker 2: want to go stateside now because Donald Trump is continuing
20:10
Speaker 2: to take a stand against any attempts to create statutory
20:13
Speaker 2: regulation for AI in a summit of tech titans. And
20:18
Speaker 2: you won't believe who was there. The president instead said
20:21
Speaker 2: companies would regulate themselves. Here he is.
20:25
Speaker 10: Well, there's a belief that there should be tremendous self-regulation
20:29
Speaker 10: and we automatically have regulation with the Department of Justice,
20:32
Speaker 10: the FBI, all of that. And they're going to work
20:35
Speaker 10: with local communities for the data centres in particular. And
20:39
Speaker 10: they're going to work to make the community happy.
20:43
Speaker 2: Well, that view is a bit of a problem for
20:45
Speaker 2: Anthony Albanese, our Prime Minister, who, of course, used his
20:48
Speaker 2: speech to the UN last week to call for guardrails
20:52
Speaker 2: on the technology as Medicare was hacked into by an
20:55
Speaker 2: open AI agent, something the company now has apologised for.
20:59
Speaker 2: Let's bring in columnist at The Australian, Tom Switzer. Now, Tom...
21:04
Speaker 2: I watched these pictures today of the most extraordinary gathering
21:09
Speaker 2: of these tech billionaires all in the same place at
21:12
Speaker 2: the same time. Trump can draw a crowd. But self-regulation,
21:17
Speaker 2: would those guys actually understand what the word self-regulation means?
21:21
Speaker 11: Well, sir, there is a vigorous debate about the extent
21:24
Speaker 11: to which governments should regulate artificial intelligence. And a case,
21:28
Speaker 11: a strong case can be made for some degree of
21:31
Speaker 11: government intervention to guard against these rogue actors, especially given
21:36
Speaker 11: these security breaches. The danger, though, is that heavy-handed regulation
21:42
Speaker 11: of artificial intelligence will probably just constrain America's capacity for
21:47
Speaker 11: AI development at a time when it is engaged in
21:51
Speaker 11: an increasingly intense technological and security competition with the People's
21:57
Speaker 11: Republic of China. Trump understands that, and I think that's
22:00
Speaker 11: driving his position here.
22:03
Speaker 2: What's it say about that speech that Albanese made to
22:06
Speaker 2: the UN, which seems to be completely opposite to what
22:08
Speaker 2: Donald Trump's talking about here?
22:10
Speaker 11: Well, I think the Prime Minister was naive in talking
22:13
Speaker 11: about the rules and norms of the rules-based liberal international order.
22:17
Speaker 11: The reality is, is that rules-based international order has been
22:20
Speaker 11: fraying well before Donald Trump arrived on the scene. China's
22:24
Speaker 11: conduct in the South China Sea, Russia, of course.
22:27
Speaker 2: in Ukraine.
22:28
Speaker 11: And on the AI front, well, as I said, the
22:32
Speaker 11: United States is engaged in a serious security competition with China.
22:37
Speaker 11: That competition is more than likely going to become more intense.
22:40
Speaker 11: It's in our backyard. So it's incumbent on the prime
22:43
Speaker 11: minister to be conscious of that before he starts getting
22:46
Speaker 11: involved in uncharted terrain. I mean, this AI issue is
22:50
Speaker 11: a new issue, relatively speaking. We're all trying to come
22:52
Speaker 11: to grips with it. But it is at the heart
22:55
Speaker 11: of this new security competition with China.
22:58
Speaker 2: I keep getting completely puzzled by the idea that Australia
23:01
Speaker 2: in various states, particularly in parts of Queensland and South Australia,
23:04
Speaker 2: are going to build these massive data centres. I mean,
23:07
Speaker 2: I take my old state of South Australia. As far
23:09
Speaker 2: as I can work out, data centres need a huge
23:13
Speaker 2: amount of energy to run non-stop and they need a
23:16
Speaker 2: huge amount of water to keep them cool. South Australia
23:21
Speaker 2: has the least reliable supplies of energy of anywhere and
23:25
Speaker 2: they don't have much water.
23:27
Speaker 11: Yeah, the danger of unintended consequences. As I say, we're
23:30
Speaker 11: in uncharted terrain here and it's not altogether clear how
23:32
Speaker 11: this plays out. But we've got to be conscious that
23:35
Speaker 11: government regulation doesn't constrain AI dramatically because it.
23:38
Speaker 2: Does lead to a lot of productivity.
23:41
Speaker 11: I mean, the AI sector hasn't helped itself by fueling
23:43
Speaker 11: mass speculation about mass unemployment, but there are also many
23:47
Speaker 11: positive benefits from AI and we shouldn't overlook that.
23:52
Speaker 2: Let's stay on Trump. He's hit out reports that he
23:54
Speaker 2: was willing to ease sanctions and release frozen funds in
23:58
Speaker 2: a bid to reach some sort of peace deal with Iran. Then, Tom,
24:02
Speaker 2: with the impact this war is having on fuel prices,
24:04
Speaker 2: I mean, it seems he's waiting for these midterm elections
24:07
Speaker 2: in the US and then he might move quickly to
24:10
Speaker 2: do something larger on the Iranian conflict. Is that how
24:14
Speaker 2: you're reading it?
24:15
Speaker 11: Well, he talks that language, but the reality is America
24:18
Speaker 11: does face.
24:18
Speaker 2: Extreme munitions shortages.
24:20
Speaker 11: This has been widely reported in in the Wall Street
24:23
Speaker 11: Journal and the New York Times. The other constraint is
24:26
Speaker 11: that Iran has this unbelievable stockpile of these ballistic missiles,
24:31
Speaker 11: which they use to intimidate traffic through the Strait of
24:33
Speaker 11: Hormuz and, moreover, intimidate America's Sunni Gulf allies. Look, unfortunately,
24:38
Speaker 11: I think you need a peace settlement has to come
24:41
Speaker 11: through a political settlement. It's not going to be solved...
24:44
Speaker 11: via the naval blockade or military strikes. That clearly hasn't
24:47
Speaker 11: worked over the course of the last eight months. But unfortunately,
24:51
Speaker 11: a peace settlement means recognising that from Iran's perspective, they
24:55
Speaker 11: have legitimate interests that they want to address, like reparations
24:59
Speaker 11: and sanctions relief and unfrozen assets being unfrozen. Trump doesn't
25:06
Speaker 11: want to do that, although it is worth bearing in
25:08
Speaker 11: mind that on June 17, both Trump and Tehran did
25:11
Speaker 11: come to an agreement when they sign the Memorandum of Understanding.
25:15
Speaker 11: So I just don't see how this issue is resolved
25:19
Speaker 11: unless there's a political settlement.
25:21
Speaker 2: Just before you go, you watch US politics very closely.
25:24
Speaker 2: What impact is the length of the conflict in Iran,
25:29
Speaker 2: which originally we're told would be quite quick, What impact
25:32
Speaker 2: is that going to have on the Republican vote in
25:35
Speaker 2: the midterm elections, do you think?
25:37
Speaker 11: Well, the overwhelming conventional wisdom, Steve, the betting markets, the
25:40
Speaker 11: political experts, the polls all say that the Republicans will
25:43
Speaker 11: lose the House of Representatives, possibly convincingly, and they might
25:47
Speaker 11: just lose the Senate.
25:49
Speaker 2: That's probably safe money.
25:51
Speaker 11: But bear in mind, some of these Democrat candidates for
25:54
Speaker 11: the Senate lean well to the ideological left. I think
25:57
Speaker 11: Trump is entitled to call them socialists. And so the Democrats...
26:01
Speaker 11: might score defeat at the jaws of victory. I just
26:05
Speaker 11: think it depends on each state and it will be
26:08
Speaker 11: very close in some of those Senate races. But I
26:11
Speaker 11: think at this stage that the Republicans are likely to
26:13
Speaker 11: lose the House, which will restrict, constrain the President's legislative
26:19
Speaker 11: agenda during the course of his last two years in office.
26:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it won't make him happy. Tom, always good
26:24
Speaker 2: to catch up. Thank you very much, mate. After the break,
26:26
Speaker 2: why is Melbourne lagging behind other states in shutting down
26:29
Speaker 2: illegal cigarette shops? I'll speak to the State Shadow Health Minister,
26:33
Speaker 2: Georgie Crozier, on the desk up next. Back to Steve
26:41
Speaker 2: Price with you, filling in for Chris Kenny this week.
26:43
Speaker 2: I want to go back to an issue that I'm
26:45
Speaker 2: really hot on. This is the tobacco wars. Now, for
26:48
Speaker 2: all our audience who live outside of Victoria, I know
26:50
Speaker 2: you've had some problems, but nothing... Nothing like what's happened
26:54
Speaker 2: here in Victoria. More than 150 premises have been firebombed.
26:58
Speaker 2: You can't wake up any morning when there's not another
27:02
Speaker 2: illegal tobacco shop that has been burned down. 152 since 2023.
27:07
Speaker 2: The state government brought in what they claim to be
27:10
Speaker 2: the toughest laws in the country to shut down illegal
27:13
Speaker 2: smoke shops. Well, as Carly Douglas, who we had on
27:16
Speaker 2: the program yesterday, reported in the Herald Sun today, only
27:19
Speaker 2: two stores a day on average have been closed. Well,
27:23
Speaker 2: behind the other states. I mean, in 10 days, Victoria,
27:26
Speaker 2: I think, slapped yellow illegal stickers on just 22 shops,
27:30
Speaker 2: compared with 148 in Queensland across the same timeframe. I
27:35
Speaker 2: walked down Chapel Street in Melbourne today, found three shops shuttered,
27:39
Speaker 2: seven of these type of candy stores that sell illegal cigarettes, allegedly,
27:43
Speaker 2: are still open. Joining me now is the Victorian shadow minister.
27:46
Speaker 2: Health Minister Georgie Crozier. The laws are the toughest in
27:49
Speaker 2: the country. No tougher laws anywhere. Really?
27:53
Speaker 12: Steve, no. Look, as you said, look what the government's done.
27:57
Speaker 13: They've shut down 22 of these illegal outlets compared to Queensland,
28:02
Speaker 13: who have really taken it seriously, and they shut down
28:06
Speaker 13: 148 illegal stores in the same time frame.
28:08
Speaker 12: So Victoria's not doing enough, not nearly enough.
28:10
Speaker 2: Seems to be working about as well as the machete bins.
28:12
Speaker 2: But are the inspectors out... I saw three shut in
28:17
Speaker 2: Chapel Street, seven open. How does that work?
28:20
Speaker 12: Well, that's right.
28:21
Speaker 13: So if you look at what Queensland is doing, or
28:23
Speaker 13: New South Wales... Queensland's doing seven times what we are doing.
28:26
Speaker 13: So we started off with 14 authorised officers.
28:30
Speaker 2: For the state?
28:31
Speaker 12: For the state.
28:32
Speaker 13: I think we've got 40 now. But that's half of
28:34
Speaker 13: what other states have got and they are doing it
28:36
Speaker 13: far more effectively.
28:38
Speaker 12: So the government might say that they're tough. They're not.
28:41
Speaker 12: It's just weak.
28:42
Speaker 13: They talk up the big game but they're not delivering
28:45
Speaker 13: what needs to be done.
28:46
Speaker 2: Sale of vapes and illegal cigarettes is illegal. The police
28:50
Speaker 2: are not involved at all.
28:51
Speaker 13: No, and the government's not really taking this seriously. I mean,
28:54
Speaker 13: we've got organised crime in this state, as you know.
28:57
Speaker 12: Look at the corruption. Look at these firebombings that are occurring.
29:00
Speaker 13: You mentioned in your editorial 153, close to 200 overall.
29:04
Speaker 13: I mean, these are extraordinary numbers and this is what's happening.
29:08
Speaker 13: We've got to take it more seriously because it's actually
29:10
Speaker 13: ruining lives and putting other lives at risk.
29:13
Speaker 2: So the election's now eight weeks away come Saturday. What,
29:18
Speaker 2: if you win that election... will you do about these
29:21
Speaker 2: illegal shops?
29:22
Speaker 12: Well, we're certainly going to take a tougher stance.
29:24
Speaker 13: We're going to work with, obviously, the agencies that have
29:27
Speaker 13: got responsibility for this, have stronger obligations on these landlords
29:33
Speaker 13: who have got these retail outlets there, and, you know,
29:37
Speaker 13: really crack down on these repeat offenders who are doing
29:39
Speaker 13: these crimes.
29:40
Speaker 12: And going after the main instigators.
29:42
Speaker 13: We've got to be tougher and we've got to close
29:44
Speaker 13: these illegal outlets down.
29:46
Speaker 2: Part of the problem is it's being run by organised
29:48
Speaker 2: crime figures not even in the country. So they're using
29:51
Speaker 2: young kids, innocent kids, who look at some, you know,
29:54
Speaker 2: app on their phone and get hired to go and
29:57
Speaker 2: firebomb these shops. So... The only way you're going to
29:59
Speaker 2: get rid of them is the excise question. Now, you're
30:02
Speaker 2: the Minister for Health. Your federal leader, Angus Taylor, I
30:05
Speaker 2: think has very sensibly said if they win the election,
30:08
Speaker 2: they'll bring the tobacco prices excise down to make sure
30:13
Speaker 2: that the legal cigarettes and illegal ones cost about the same.
30:15
Speaker 2: Do you support that idea?
30:16
Speaker 13: Well, obviously it's a matter for the feds, but he's
30:19
Speaker 13: got a point here. We don't even know what's in
30:22
Speaker 13: some of these illicit cigarettes. I mean, if they're looking
30:24
Speaker 13: at the health impacts... they are very dangerous substances in
30:28
Speaker 13: some of these illegal things and there's no regulation, no control.
30:31
Speaker 12: So we've got to do better both at a federal
30:33
Speaker 12: and a state level.
30:34
Speaker 2: You can't blame people. I mean, if you're a 75-year-old
30:37
Speaker 2: pensioner who still likes a fag because he's smoked all
30:40
Speaker 2: his life and doesn't care about, you know, what it's
30:43
Speaker 2: doing to his health, He's not going to go and
30:45
Speaker 2: pay $ 60 for a packet of Benson and Hedges when
30:47
Speaker 2: he can get Cambridge for $ 14.
30:49
Speaker 13: Of course, and I've got friends who are doing that
30:51
Speaker 13: for their parents. You know, they go out there and
30:54
Speaker 13: they're big smokers. Their parents are in their 80s and 90s,
30:57
Speaker 13: and they do. They can't afford $ 60.
31:01
Speaker 12: Packets of cigarettes.
31:02
Speaker 13: So it's a complicated issue, but we've got to do better.
31:06
Speaker 13: The agencies and the federal and state governments have got
31:08
Speaker 13: to do much better, but Victorian government has been absolutely
31:12
Speaker 13: pathetic on this and very late to the party to
31:14
Speaker 13: crack down on it.
31:15
Speaker 2: I mentioned this media event today with Ben Carroll, the
31:18
Speaker 2: Prime Minister and the Infrastructure Minister, Catherine King, out in
31:21
Speaker 2: the western suburbs, talking about the airport rail. Now, if
31:25
Speaker 2: you listened with half an ear to this, you would
31:27
Speaker 2: think what they were announcing is that the train's going
31:29
Speaker 2: to chuff into Tullamarine Airport in about 12 months' time
31:32
Speaker 2: and you'll be able to get on with your bags
31:34
Speaker 2: and get off at Flinders Street. It's nothing like that.
31:38
Speaker 2: This stage two doesn't even go inside the airport boundary.
31:42
Speaker 12: No, it's a joke, Steve.
31:44
Speaker 13: I mean, Labor have announced this twice and they've cancelled
31:48
Speaker 13: it twice. Ben Carroll was the public transport minister when
31:51
Speaker 13: it was last cancelled and now he expects everybody to
31:54
Speaker 13: think that it's going to get up and running. No,
31:56
Speaker 13: it's just to save his own seat. It's not even
31:59
Speaker 13: connected to the airport.
32:00
Speaker 2: Labor's got form in this. Before the last election, 2022, they.
32:06
Speaker 2: Promised a Commonwealth Games to all of the regions of Victoria.
32:10
Speaker 2: Once they got back into office, Daniel Andrews said, oh, well,
32:14
Speaker 2: it's too expensive. We're not going to do it. They
32:16
Speaker 2: announced level crossing removal in all the seats where Labor
32:20
Speaker 2: thinks they can win, but not in the seats where
32:22
Speaker 2: they can't win. I mean, this is a true to form.
32:24
Speaker 2: It's going to happen again.
32:25
Speaker 12: Of course it is.
32:26
Speaker 13: They conned Victorians and not only the Commonwealth Games, they
32:29
Speaker 13: did the Arden Street medical precinct, said it was going
32:31
Speaker 13: to be the biggest medical precinct in.
32:32
Speaker 12: Australia and it could never happen.
32:34
Speaker 13: This government will lie, they're deceitful and they'll do anything
32:38
Speaker 13: to hold on to power, Steve, and I think Victorians
32:41
Speaker 13: are waking up to it. But as you said, eight
32:43
Speaker 13: weeks to go, we're not taking any vote for granted
32:46
Speaker 13: and we need to be, you know, selling our plan
32:48
Speaker 13: and that's why we've got a strong response to these
32:50
Speaker 13: tobacco laws and we'll pull this government up and Ben
32:52
Speaker 13: Carroll on these weasel words that he keeps saying.
32:55
Speaker 12: You know, spruiking.
32:56
Speaker 2: Good on you, Georgie. Nice to see you. Thank you
32:58
Speaker 2: very much for coming in. Coming up after the break,
33:00
Speaker 2: we'll have the latest from the UK. We'll talk to
33:03
Speaker 2: Esther Krakow. Plus, the Greens, they've got a new leader
33:06
Speaker 2: and he's going all out attack on Labor. He thinks
33:09
Speaker 2: he can be in charge of the country. God help
33:11
Speaker 2: us if that ever happens. And our panel tonight, James
33:14
Speaker 2: Bolt and Jamie Johnson. Welcome back. Panel coming up shortly.
33:21
Speaker 2: I'm going to play you some audio from an interview
33:23
Speaker 2: that Barnaby Joyce conducted on News 24 this morning. If
33:26
Speaker 2: you haven't seen it, you will not believe it. Let's
33:29
Speaker 2: head over first, though, to the UK, where there's been
33:31
Speaker 2: more developments on that very strange supposed security threat at
33:35
Speaker 2: the Royal Air Force Base. We've been reporting on it
33:38
Speaker 2: throughout the week. We had Sophie Ellsworth on talking about
33:41
Speaker 2: it last night. Five men arrested in connection with the incident,
33:45
Speaker 2: spotted by a woman, a farmer, on her way home
33:47
Speaker 2: from a dinner. They were later released on bail. Detectives said, well,
33:51
Speaker 2: no explosives have been found in their vans. It's now
33:54
Speaker 2: being reported that one of the suspects, actually, he himself
33:57
Speaker 2: phoned the police. Joining me to shed, hopefully, some more
34:00
Speaker 2: light on this, writer and broadcaster Esther Krakow. Esther, great
34:05
Speaker 2: to see you again. Any more explanation as to this
34:09
Speaker 2: strange incident and what exactly was going on?
34:13
Speaker 14: I think the word strange is very apt because the
34:16
Speaker 14: whole sequence of events that are unfolding is as bizarre
34:20
Speaker 14: as it is almost infuriating. So it has now emerged.
34:25
Speaker 14: And of course, this is an ongoing case. So we
34:26
Speaker 14: have to be careful about what we can say. But
34:27
Speaker 14: it's now emerged that one of the suspects that was
34:30
Speaker 14: arrested called the police. Now, it's starting to look like
34:33
Speaker 14: this was just sort of an act of terrorism in
34:37
Speaker 14: the sense that it was meant to just terrorize the public.
34:40
Speaker 14: with the possibility of the threat of some sort of
34:45
Speaker 14: terrorist act. Obviously, the state of Iran has denied involvement
34:49
Speaker 14: and there have been speculation that this was actually orchestrated
34:53
Speaker 14: by the state of Iran. But I think what people
34:55
Speaker 14: find absolutely incredulous and they just cannot believe it.
34:58
Speaker 8: And obviously, Donald Trump.
35:01
Speaker 14: Vocalized this quite perfectly was the fact that these men
35:04
Speaker 14: were released on bail. I know people who cannot get
35:06
Speaker 14: bail on significantly lesser charges than being suspected of wanting
35:11
Speaker 14: to commit a terrorist act. I cannot for the life
35:13
Speaker 14: of me understand why the police force that keeps releasing
35:18
Speaker 14: statements saying they had considered all the facts and this
35:20
Speaker 14: was the right decision and.
35:22
Speaker 8: Thinks this is acceptable. I mean, it makes us a laughingstock.
35:25
Speaker 14: If something had happened, and bear in mind that the
35:28
Speaker 14: police had found fuel in the vehicles of these men,
35:33
Speaker 14: if something had happened, that would have been such a
35:35
Speaker 14: massive breach of security, not to mention it would have
35:38
Speaker 14: put The close relationship we have with the U.S. as
35:41
Speaker 14: an ally, because that is an airbase that is at
35:46
Speaker 14: the disposal of the Americans. So I keep going back
35:50
Speaker 14: to the facts on the ground that have been established
35:52
Speaker 14: by this case, and I simply cannot believe it. I
35:54
Speaker 14: cannot believe that these young men in their 20s were
35:57
Speaker 14: able to even get close to this base, that this
36:00
Speaker 14: whole operation was tipped off by a farmer that happened
36:03
Speaker 14: to be in the area. These men happened to have
36:06
Speaker 14: got bail. And now we're hearing that this man, one
36:09
Speaker 14: of the suspects, called the police the morning of the attack. Well,
36:13
Speaker 14: not attack, but suspected possible attack in what police are
36:18
Speaker 14: assuming is just some sort of idea that they might
36:21
Speaker 14: not have gone through. It's utterly bizarre, utterly ridiculous.
36:24
Speaker 6: Yeah.
36:24
Speaker 2: It is bizarre. I can only think of perhaps it
36:27
Speaker 2: might have been a practice run. I'm not sure. Let's
36:29
Speaker 2: talk about your Prime Minister, though, Andy Burnham. He set
36:33
Speaker 2: out his vision for Britain at the UK Labor Party conference.
36:36
Speaker 2: He was pretty critical of government's past. Have a quick
36:39
Speaker 2: listen to PM Burnham.
36:43
Speaker 9: Deindustrialisation, deregulation, privatisation, austerity, Brexit and what has it given us?
36:51
Speaker 9: A country run for vested interests, not in the public interest.
36:56
Speaker 9: I am ready to do things my predecessors wouldn't. I
37:00
Speaker 9: will make a break with the direction of the past
37:03
Speaker 9: 40 years and put Britain on a new path.
37:08
Speaker 2: Is one of those predecessors, Esther, by the name of
37:12
Speaker 2: Kia Starmer, perhaps?
37:14
Speaker 8: Certainly, but he wouldn't say that.
37:17
Speaker 14: I mean, this is a man who, even though all
37:19
Speaker 14: opinion polls show that the country is shifting right, thinks
37:22
Speaker 14: the solution is to shift the country more to the left.
37:25
Speaker 14: I mean, one of his big hang-ups is rejoining the EU,
37:27
Speaker 14: because apparently the biggest democratic mandate and vote in British
37:31
Speaker 14: history doesn't.
37:32
Speaker 8: Count for anything anymore.
37:34
Speaker 14: And you have to really kind of watch and bemusement, because...
37:37
Speaker 14: No one in that wretched party can make a coherent
37:40
Speaker 14: case as to why we should rejoin the EU. And,
37:43
Speaker 14: you know, if you had to name any sort of
37:46
Speaker 14: top 10 global leading companies that have come out of
37:48
Speaker 14: the EU in the last 10 years, you will scratch
37:50
Speaker 14: every hair follicle off your head trying because it doesn't exist.
37:54
Speaker 14: But that is the new hang up. They're apparently going
37:55
Speaker 14: to fight the next election on Brexit. They're going to
37:58
Speaker 14: fight it on basically mass nationalization of our utilities. And
38:03
Speaker 14: they're going to fight it on mainly left wing issues.
38:05
Speaker 14: I mean, one of the things he said he's going
38:06
Speaker 14: to fight.
38:07
Speaker 8: On changing elections.
38:09
Speaker 14: Our voting system to make it more proportional. But then
38:12
Speaker 14: we're going to end up like the Belgians, where you
38:14
Speaker 14: have all these sorts of mini parties that can't form coalitions,
38:17
Speaker 14: that you don't have any strong leadership. The first part
38:19
Speaker 14: of the post system was implemented for a reason, but
38:23
Speaker 14: they want a system that basically embeds extreme left-wing parties
38:27
Speaker 14: into the British political system to have this sort of
38:30
Speaker 14: decades of gridlock, constant gridlock, so that nothing actually gets
38:34
Speaker 14: done and the country basically grinds to a halt, which
38:36
Speaker 14: it has at the moment.
38:37
Speaker 8: With a Labour super majority.
38:39
Speaker 14: So, I mean, this is not encouraging stuff that I
38:42
Speaker 14: was expecting to hear from Andy Burnham, but, you know,
38:45
Speaker 14: we still have a problem on the right in British
38:48
Speaker 14: politics of the Tories and reform, not actually forming some
38:51
Speaker 14: sort of coalition, because if you split the vote on
38:53
Speaker 14: the right, then it doesn't matter what comes out of
38:55
Speaker 14: Andy Burnham's mouth, the left will win.
38:57
Speaker 8: That is just the reality.
38:59
Speaker 2: Perhaps Andy Boye ought to be fighting the election on
39:01
Speaker 2: border control. That might be a sensible thing to do. Esther,
39:04
Speaker 2: always good. We've run out of time, but thank you
39:06
Speaker 2: very much for joining us. We'll talk to you again soon.
39:08
Speaker 2: Let's bring in my panel. News 24 contributor James Bolt
39:11
Speaker 2: and Jamie Johnston, host of the Just Jamie podcast. Good
39:15
Speaker 2: to see you both. Let's start with the interest rate question.
39:17
Speaker 2: That's the big story of the week. 15-year high, four
39:21
Speaker 2: rises in nine months. Assistant Treasurer Dan Molino, always entertaining,
39:26
Speaker 2: grilled on government spending this morning by our great mate...
39:29
Speaker 2: Peter Stefanovic. Take a look at this.
39:33
Speaker 3: We still haven't answered the question, so why don't you,
39:36
Speaker 3: the Prime Minister and the Treasurer and every other member
39:38
Speaker 3: of the Labor Party can see that spending is contributing
39:41
Speaker 3: to inflation?
39:42
Speaker 2: No, no, but Pete, what I'm saying is we are
39:44
Speaker 2: acknowledging the fact that we have to manage the budget
39:46
Speaker 2: responsibly and What you're saying is absolutely nothing. Now, this
39:50
Speaker 2: was followed, and I want everyone to have a look
39:52
Speaker 2: at this. One Nation MP, get set for this, James,
39:56
Speaker 2: because I'm going to ask you to decode it for me.
39:59
Speaker 2: Here's Barnaby Joyce on A Short Time Later.
40:04
Speaker 10: An extra $ 5 billion a month into the economy, and
40:07
Speaker 10: then like Tamalino, step back and go, oh, Dan, do
40:10
Speaker 10: you expect the spending is.
40:12
Speaker 2: Putting up interest rates?
40:14
Speaker 15: Oh, well, I do note it was dark last night
40:17
Speaker 15: and rabbits love to live in the fields and I've
40:21
Speaker 15: got a friend called Penny.
40:22
Speaker 3: I mean, he said, Dan, answer the damn question, Dan.
40:27
Speaker 2: OK, James, you're a smart guy. Tell me what the
40:30
Speaker 2: hell he was talking about, rabbits and being in the dark.
40:34
Speaker 15: I don't know what else you need to hear. It
40:35
Speaker 15: was dark last night. Rabbits do like to be in
40:37
Speaker 15: a field. He's got a friend named Penny. I thought
40:39
Speaker 15: it was crystal clear. But that is like the charm
40:42
Speaker 15: of Barnaby Joyce, isn't it? There's so many politicians who
40:44
Speaker 15: just give you these cookie cutter slogan answers like toxic taxes.
40:48
Speaker 15: But Barnaby Joyce knows that when people tune in, they
40:51
Speaker 15: want to hear what the politician actually has to say,
40:53
Speaker 15: get a vibe of their individual personality, which can be
40:56
Speaker 15: hard for most politicians because they don't have an individual personality.
40:59
Speaker 15: But I think we just saw there why Barnaby Joyce
41:01
Speaker 15: has been such a force in Australian politics for so long.
41:04
Speaker 2: Jamie, I reckon James is spot on. I mean, at
41:06
Speaker 2: least he's got personality, a character, a big hat, talking
41:10
Speaker 2: about rabbits and things. It's more entertaining to listen to
41:14
Speaker 2: him than have Jim Chalmers stand up there and say, oh,
41:17
Speaker 2: it's all the fault of the Middle East.
41:20
Speaker 8: Well, that's just it.
41:21
Speaker 16: I mean, in a 20-minute press conference, he was able
41:24
Speaker 16: to mention the war in the Middle East I think
41:26
Speaker 16: more than 10 times. It's clearly what he wants Australians
41:30
Speaker 16: to believe is the problem and not his lack of
41:34
Speaker 16: fiscal management. So I just think it's really interesting. If
41:39
Speaker 16: the war in the Middle East is the reason for
41:41
Speaker 16: our inflation woes, then why aren't we seeing that everywhere
41:44
Speaker 16: else in the world?
41:45
Speaker 8: Why do we now.
41:46
Speaker 16: Have the second highest interest rates in the developed world?
41:50
Speaker 16: And why aren't we seeing interest rate rises? There hasn't
41:52
Speaker 16: been an interest rate rise for years in countries like
41:56
Speaker 16: the UK, the US, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland. So
42:00
Speaker 16: why is Australia impacted so severely by this?
42:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's hope Iceland don't cut their interest rates any
42:08
Speaker 2: time soon because then we'll be number one. Let's talk
42:12
Speaker 2: about the Greens. Normally I wouldn't waste my time, but
42:15
Speaker 2: they elected a new leader today. Apparently they have this
42:18
Speaker 2: weird system where about 11 of them or however many
42:20
Speaker 2: there are go into a room and they all vote
42:23
Speaker 2: amongst themselves and come out with a new leader. David Shoebridge. Now,
42:26
Speaker 2: he's quite the character. Speaking of characters in politics, he
42:31
Speaker 2: beat out Maureen Faruqi, thank goodness, and Sarah Hansen-Young. He
42:36
Speaker 2: went on the attack immediately after. Have a look at
42:40
Speaker 2: the new Greens boss.
42:42
Speaker 17: Labor has created the circumstances for One Nation and Labor
42:46
Speaker 17: is not the answer. The Greens, the progressive alternative. We're
42:51
Speaker 17: here to beat down One Nation and we're here to
42:54
Speaker 17: replace Labor and return hope and faith to politics.
42:58
Speaker 2: Jamie, can you imagine what it would be like if
43:00
Speaker 2: the Greens were in charge of anything?
43:03
Speaker 16: Well, we just spoke about inflation woes. I mean, I
43:06
Speaker 16: don't think there is any party that wants to spend
43:09
Speaker 16: baby spend.
43:10
Speaker 12: Like the Greens do.
43:11
Speaker 16: They want everything to be free and the 1% will
43:14
Speaker 16: pay for everything. And God forbid the 1% then decides
43:17
Speaker 16: to leave Australia.
43:18
Speaker 12: Then what do you do?
43:20
Speaker 8: So, look, I think this is crazy.
43:21
Speaker 16: I think Australians have very quickly come to understand that
43:25
Speaker 16: big government equals big spending equals big debt equals inflation
43:29
Speaker 16: pressures equals interest rate rises equals higher mortgage.
43:33
Speaker 12: Repayments and bigger rents.
43:34
Speaker 16: And so I think they can see through what the Greens.
43:37
Speaker 8: Would be offering.
43:39
Speaker 2: James Rhee, Mr Shoebridge, who could forget this little incident
43:43
Speaker 2: back in May when the new Greens boss was pulled
43:47
Speaker 2: over by police for a drug test in Nimbin. Take
43:50
Speaker 2: a look.
43:51
Speaker 17: I was just pulled over by police on my way
43:53
Speaker 17: in to Mardi Gras at Nimbin.
43:55
Speaker 3: Have a look at this footage.
43:57
Speaker 9: Oh, James.
43:58
Speaker 3: That's what we're dealing with. Yeah, I thought it was
44:13
Speaker 3: an unprofessional clip.
44:14
Speaker 15: But for David Shoebridge, I don't know, I'm just sick
44:18
Speaker 15: of white males being able to crowd out minority voices
44:20
Speaker 15: in Australian politics. And I would have thought that the
44:23
Speaker 15: Greens Party would have been the one party to hold
44:25
Speaker 15: space for minority voices and make sure there was new
44:28
Speaker 15: voices in there that weren't just stale old white men.
44:31
Speaker 15: So I've got some questions for David Shoebridge about why
44:35
Speaker 15: he thought it was a white man's time to lead
44:37
Speaker 15: the Greens Party. and why he thought Maureen Faruqi should
44:39
Speaker 15: be pushed aside. Because identity politics is the vibe, and
44:42
Speaker 15: we need to hear what he has to say about that.
44:45
Speaker 2: What happened to diversity?
44:47
Speaker 3: Exactly. It's just such a key moment for the Greens. Like,
44:51
Speaker 3: I thought diversity was the idea. I thought that was
44:53
Speaker 3: the goal. I thought equity was the idea, and we're
44:56
Speaker 3: stuck with a white male. It's gross.
44:59
Speaker 2: Don't do what I do. Don't do that. Credit card surcharges.
45:03
Speaker 2: I'm puzzled by this. I don't understand it. I'm not
45:05
Speaker 2: very good at maths, right? So they're going to be
45:07
Speaker 2: banned from tomorrow. This is where you tap your credit
45:09
Speaker 2: card and the shop owner charges you a small amount
45:13
Speaker 2: because they're paying the bank to use the machine. I
45:16
Speaker 2: nearly fell over when I heard the Prime Minister today
45:20
Speaker 2: taking credit for this idea. Here he is.
45:23
Speaker 5: I think the credit card surcharge ban is a good thing.
45:27
Speaker 5: That's one of the examples of something that we have
45:31
Speaker 5: brought in to make a difference. It's an example of
45:34
Speaker 5: a cost of living measure which we have put forward.
45:46
Speaker 16: Yes, as far as I understand it, Albanese first mentioned
45:48
Speaker 16: something back in 2024 where he asked the RBA to
45:52
Speaker 16: look into the system. But I mean, following its independent review,
45:56
Speaker 16: it was the RBA that has changed these rules and
45:58
Speaker 16: enabled the card networks to prohibit both debit and credit
46:04
Speaker 16: card surcharges from tomorrow. So what I think is interesting
46:07
Speaker 16: about this is if it has an adverse reaction, and
46:11
Speaker 16: businesses do decide to increase prices, which you'd think they
46:16
Speaker 16: would because they're going to take the hit. Is he
46:18
Speaker 16: then going to have one of the, oh, no, it
46:20
Speaker 16: was Reputex's modelling moments where suddenly the RBA did.
46:24
Speaker 12: This, not me?
46:25
Speaker 16: So, yeah, interesting that he'll take credit when he thinks
46:29
Speaker 16: that it's going to be great, but he will be
46:33
Speaker 16: nowhere to be seen if it doesn't work out that way.
46:36
Speaker 2: James, I was in a bakery this morning. I asked
46:38
Speaker 2: the woman who owns it, what are you going to do?
46:40
Speaker 2: She said, well... you know, quietly because you didn't want
46:42
Speaker 2: to hear all the other customers hear it. She said,
46:44
Speaker 2: I'm going to have to put my prices up to
46:47
Speaker 2: compensate for these costs. Aren't we trying to bring inflation down?
46:52
Speaker 2: Isn't this just going to be inflationary if everything from
46:55
Speaker 2: a coffee to a pasty and a sausage roll goes up?
46:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I just feel for the small business owners.
47:00
Speaker 15: I've had my local barber had to send me two
47:02
Speaker 15: messages about how they have to increase prices, but they
47:05
Speaker 15: don't want to.
47:05
Speaker 3: But it's the And I think Jamie's right there.
47:08
Speaker 15: This is such a case of Albanese being able to say, oh,
47:11
Speaker 15: we got rid of the annoying credit card surcharge thing
47:15
Speaker 15: that you all don't like and make small business owners
47:18
Speaker 15: the bad people for having to jack up prices when
47:20
Speaker 15: it's something they don't even want to do in the
47:22
Speaker 15: first place.
47:22
Speaker 3: It's just been forced upon them.
47:25
Speaker 2: The Melbourne City Council, I've got to say, given them
47:28
Speaker 2: a gold medal, they've gone early on the annual debate
47:30
Speaker 2: about Australia Day and whether we should actually celebrate it
47:33
Speaker 2: or not. So they've passed a motion saying, oh, we
47:36
Speaker 2: might like to bring back the Australia Day parade, which
47:38
Speaker 2: they dumped during COVID and refused to bring back. But
47:42
Speaker 2: have a listen to how this is described, this whole idea.
47:47
Speaker 2: It's assessed the potential for a return of the Australia
47:49
Speaker 2: Day parade after the Allen government got rid of it.
47:52
Speaker 2: I mean, why are we still having these debates, Jamie?
47:57
Speaker 8: I can't believe it.
47:58
Speaker 16: I was recently on a holiday in Port Stephens where
48:01
Speaker 16: I actually released a reel driving down the street. I
48:04
Speaker 16: was in the passenger seat, mind you, recording the Australian
48:07
Speaker 16: flags outside of people's houses. I think there's a silent protest.
48:11
Speaker 3: Taking place across Australia.
48:12
Speaker 8: Australians love it.
48:14
Speaker 2: They love it.
48:14
Speaker 8: Australians absolutely love Australia. Absolutely.
48:18
Speaker 2: And I just think these councillors need to wake up.
48:19
Speaker 2: Thank you two for joining me. Appreciate it very much.
48:22
Speaker 2: Peter Credlin's up next.