Latest / The Kenny Report / The Kenny Report | 9 December

Transcript

The Kenny Report | 9 December · The Kenny Report

0:00
Speaker 1: Line from the sky New Center. This is the Kenny Report.
0:06
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining me.
0:07
Speaker 2: Interest rates still on hold, the cuts are over and
0:11
Speaker 2: there are clear signs the next move next year will
0:14
Speaker 2: be up. And remember Labour's promise cuts to electricity prices,
0:18
Speaker 2: Well they just keep going up and up and they'll
0:21
Speaker 2: jump early next year too.
0:23
Speaker 1: It's full steam ahead for ucas.
0:25
Speaker 2: But now Donald Trump's protectionism might hurt our farmers again.
0:29
Speaker 1: I'll cross to Christen Tate in the US.
0:31
Speaker 2: Tim Blair joins me to talk about another e Byke death,
0:35
Speaker 2: and on the Tuesday panel with Steven Sana Tiempo and
0:38
Speaker 2: Susio O'Brien, we'll look at a few things, but including
0:41
Speaker 2: new rules for Santa. Let's get cracking. Interest rates are
0:49
Speaker 2: not coming down any time soon. That's the news from
0:52
Speaker 2: the Reserve Bank today, and the next move next year
0:56
Speaker 2: could well be up. Welcome to Labour's promised and of
1:00
Speaker 2: cost of living improvement. On average, we've all gone badly
1:04
Speaker 2: backwards under labor a per cap at, a recession on
1:07
Speaker 2: and off, and the future doesn't look bright. Let's focus
1:11
Speaker 2: today though, on electricity bills and what's happening to them
1:14
Speaker 2: after yesterday's announcement from Treasurer Jim Charmers that the alban
1:19
Speaker 2: Easy government's rebates will cut out at the end of
1:22
Speaker 2: this month. Your bills are going up by three hundred
1:25
Speaker 2: dollars a year or seventy five dollars a quarter, just
1:29
Speaker 2: like we all knew they would, Just like I said
1:32
Speaker 2: when Labor first announced these rebates as a vote buying
1:35
Speaker 2: sop last year. They've spent about seven billion dollars of
1:40
Speaker 2: your money holding electricity bills down a little bit while
1:44
Speaker 2: they got re elected. And now the reality of their
1:48
Speaker 2: mismanagement of the electricity grid is going to be revealed
1:51
Speaker 2: from behind their taxpayer funded disguise. All the way back
1:56
Speaker 2: on the eve of the budget last year, I said
1:59
Speaker 2: this was a gimmick, a vote buying spend that was
2:02
Speaker 2: also aimed at creating an illusory hold on inflation that
2:06
Speaker 2: might colm the Reserve Bank into cutting interest rates. Well,
2:10
Speaker 2: it worked to a degree. The RBA cut rates before
2:13
Speaker 2: the election, but I bet they wish they didn't now,
2:17
Speaker 2: given inflation is running too high again.
2:20
Speaker 1: The rate cuts have stopped.
2:21
Speaker 2: Another hole announced today at the next move quite likely
2:24
Speaker 2: up as I just said, and the chances of that
2:27
Speaker 2: will be increased again now because the axing of the
2:31
Speaker 2: rebate will not only push up household bills but also
2:34
Speaker 2: every bill for small businesses and industries. Higher power prices
2:39
Speaker 2: will flow through to every one and everything, and therefore
2:43
Speaker 2: will be inflationary. Here's the RBA Governor Michelle Bullock on
2:48
Speaker 2: this today.
2:50
Speaker 3: What's hitting them is actual inflation, so that when the
2:53
Speaker 3: subsidies were there, they were thinking prices aren't going up
2:57
Speaker 3: too much on electricity, and now when the subsitts come off,
3:00
Speaker 3: they're going to see the full force of that.
3:04
Speaker 1: What a transparent joke.
3:06
Speaker 2: These rebates have been a triumph of politicking over sound
3:10
Speaker 2: economic management, and frankly, the RBA Governor ought to be
3:14
Speaker 2: ashamed of herself for going along with this nonsense and
3:18
Speaker 2: not calling it out more clearly, never forget what labor
3:21
Speaker 2: promised before it came to power.
3:24
Speaker 4: Reducing power prices by two hundred and seventy five dollars.
3:28
Speaker 5: Reducing power prices by two hundred and seventy five dollars.
3:30
Speaker 6: By twenty twenty five, two hundred and seventy five dollars
3:33
Speaker 6: a year, one.
3:34
Speaker 4: Hundred and seventy five dollars a year will.
3:37
Speaker 6: Get power prices down by two hundred and seventy five dollars.
3:40
Speaker 4: A year, two hundred and seventy five dollars for the
3:42
Speaker 4: average house lower in twenty twenty five than today.
3:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, back then household price has averaged about twelve hundred
3:51
Speaker 2: dollars a year in most states.
3:52
Speaker 1: But now that.
3:53
Speaker 2: Average is more than two thousand dollars in most states.
3:57
Speaker 2: So they're already one thousand dollars a year year higher
4:01
Speaker 2: than Labor promised to deliver with their disappearing cuts. But
4:05
Speaker 2: from next quarter they'll get worse. Average household electricity bills nationally,
4:11
Speaker 2: as I just said, are just over two thousand dollars,
4:13
Speaker 2: which amounts to at least five hundred dollars a quarter.
4:17
Speaker 2: With the annual rebate now not being continued. That means
4:20
Speaker 2: from the new year, households on average will pay five
4:24
Speaker 2: hundred and seventy five dollars a quarter, or at least
4:27
Speaker 2: two three hundred dollars a year.
4:30
Speaker 1: Now.
4:30
Speaker 2: Prices vary from state to state and home to home,
4:33
Speaker 2: of course, but that's a rough guide and it's not good,
4:37
Speaker 2: is it yet? The Albanezy labor government remains obsessed with
4:41
Speaker 2: its current approach, doubling down on its renewables first strategy,
4:46
Speaker 2: although increasingly it's coming to understand that we need more
4:50
Speaker 2: gas to back up the renewables, yet still have a
4:55
Speaker 2: listened to the delusion and denial from the Treasurer.
4:58
Speaker 6: Today all about making sure that as we transition to
5:02
Speaker 6: cleaner and cheaper energy, there will be an ongoing and
5:05
Speaker 6: important role for gas, and we need to make sure
5:08
Speaker 6: that there's enough supply at affordable prices. And that's what
5:11
Speaker 6: motivates our work when it comes to the gas strategy.
5:15
Speaker 2: Cleaner and cheaper energy. What planet are these people on.
5:20
Speaker 2: That's what they promised before they won offers, that's what
5:23
Speaker 2: they promised when they were re elected.
5:26
Speaker 1: That's what they.
5:27
Speaker 2: Promised would happen while the expensive rebates were in place.
5:31
Speaker 2: But now the rebates are coming off and prices are
5:33
Speaker 2: still higher, and they're going even higher. Of course, the
5:37
Speaker 2: only thing that's changed is that Labour's blown seven billion
5:41
Speaker 2: dollars of your money on these rebates. Did you ever
5:45
Speaker 2: wonder what else they could have bought for that, Well,
5:49
Speaker 2: here's an idea. They're currently building a six hundred and
5:52
Speaker 2: sixty megawatt gas generation plant at Curry Curry in the
5:56
Speaker 2: Hunter Valley it'll cost about one point two billion. It's
6:01
Speaker 2: badly needed. We need more generators like this before all
6:05
Speaker 2: the coal plants close and we're left stranded and reliant
6:08
Speaker 2: on the weather. Instead of a failed, tricky and ultimately
6:13
Speaker 2: pointless rebate scheme, Labor could have funded five of these
6:17
Speaker 2: gas fired power stations that could buttress the electricity grid
6:21
Speaker 2: into the future. They could have spent seven billion dollars
6:25
Speaker 2: on helping to secure the energy grid. But instead they
6:28
Speaker 2: wasted your money getting themselves re elected. Now, power prices
6:34
Speaker 2: are still going up and we're still desperately short of
6:38
Speaker 2: enough dispatchable power.
6:41
Speaker 1: Don't say I didn't mourn you.
6:46
Speaker 2: The Anica World's travel expenses scandal deepens today with more
6:51
Speaker 2: revelations about her chalking up thousands of one thousand dollar
6:55
Speaker 2: bills to have a taxpayer funded car and driver waiting
6:59
Speaker 2: while she watched the tennis and while she attended the
7:02
Speaker 2: AFL and NRL Grand finals, drivers sitting around in cars
7:07
Speaker 2: doing nothing. So much for the push on productivity. Hey, look,
7:11
Speaker 2: you got to give it to her. Though, Wells loves
7:14
Speaker 2: her work. I mean here she is celebrating the Brisbane
7:18
Speaker 2: Lion's Grand Final win in September, a taxpayer funded romp
7:22
Speaker 2: in a midfield party usually reserved for players and officials.
7:27
Speaker 2: There are new questions too, about whether some of her
7:30
Speaker 2: claims might have broken the rules. I reckon they need
7:34
Speaker 2: to look very carefully at her expensive meals, like the
7:37
Speaker 2: thousand dollars dinner in Paris. I've been on plenty of
7:40
Speaker 2: these trips, and usually your travel allowance covers mills. So
7:45
Speaker 2: presumably she didn't claim the meal expenses and only claimed
7:49
Speaker 2: the meal. She mustn't have had the travel expenses, but
7:52
Speaker 2: you shouldn't be able to claim the meal when you're
7:55
Speaker 2: only dining with colleagues. There was apparently no guest from
7:58
Speaker 2: outside government to make it a claimable meal. No doubt
8:03
Speaker 2: this will be one of the things to be examined
8:05
Speaker 2: now that late today Wells referred herself to the Independent
8:09
Speaker 2: Parliamentary Expenses Authority. That's the new development. In the last hour,
8:14
Speaker 2: She's asked for the authority to run an independent ruler
8:18
Speaker 2: over her claims. It's the least she and the government
8:22
Speaker 2: could get away with, because have a look at the
8:25
Speaker 2: papers today, Wells has suddenly.
8:27
Speaker 1: Become one of the best known politicians in the country.
8:30
Speaker 1: For all the.
8:31
Speaker 2: Wrong reasons enjoying the Lion's three peet Minister would do
8:37
Speaker 2: wells to declare it was the Courier Mails headline and
8:41
Speaker 2: it's total anarchy. I mean Anika very good from the
8:45
Speaker 2: Daily Telegraph. Oh and she took a freebie with her
8:49
Speaker 2: husband to the Oasis concert in Sydney, so Champagne's super
8:52
Speaker 2: and Nova got a run in the hun obviously their
8:54
Speaker 2: o fay with their Oasis song list, and so far
8:58
Speaker 2: her Prime Minister is standing by her definitely. Maybe remember
9:04
Speaker 2: what the Prime Minister said directly to his ministers and
9:07
Speaker 2: the public in the foreword to his Code of Ministerial Conduct.
9:11
Speaker 2: The Albanezi government is committed to integrity, fairness, honesty and
9:15
Speaker 2: accountability and ministers in my government, including assistant ministers, will
9:20
Speaker 2: observe standards of probity, governance and behavior worthy of the
9:25
Speaker 2: Australian people.
9:26
Speaker 1: Albanezi wrote.
9:27
Speaker 2: Ministers hold high public office and are entrusted with considerable
9:32
Speaker 2: privilege and power. The people of Australia are entitled to
9:36
Speaker 2: expect that in the discharge of our duties, we will
9:40
Speaker 2: act in a manner that is consistent with the highest
9:43
Speaker 2: ethical standards. Yeah, that's what we're entitled to expect. And
9:49
Speaker 2: the point here is whether anyone looking at this pattern
9:52
Speaker 2: of behavior could possibly consider that at any time Wells
9:56
Speaker 2: stopped to think whether she was spending too much taxpayers man,
10:01
Speaker 2: or did she wonder if she was indulging herself and
10:03
Speaker 2: her family at taxpayer expense, or even did she worry
10:07
Speaker 2: about the optics at least Still, labor always has plenty
10:12
Speaker 2: of mates running protection, and usually the most reliable ones
10:15
Speaker 2: are those funded by taxpayers.
10:18
Speaker 1: At the ABC have.
10:20
Speaker 2: A listen to this spin from the National broadcaster's flagship
10:24
Speaker 2: radio Current Affairs program this morning.
10:27
Speaker 7: Even the opposition who have been calling for a review
10:30
Speaker 7: into Annaka Wells's spending this week, they've wrapped up their
10:33
Speaker 7: own hefty bills and rust and Jonathan Dunney, m Susan
10:37
Speaker 7: McDonald all on that list of politicians who have crossed
10:40
Speaker 7: the thousand dollars threshold.
10:41
Speaker 8: So then why is Anaka Wells being targeted?
10:45
Speaker 7: That's a good question, and I suppose it's up to
10:47
Speaker 7: your listeners to really make that judgment on whether this
10:50
Speaker 7: scrutiny on Annaka Wells is fair or not.
10:54
Speaker 2: Really, they all use entitlements, so Wells is not so
10:58
Speaker 2: bad After all give me a break. This is so transparent.
11:03
Speaker 2: Sure there'll be more who overdo it, but this stuff
11:06
Speaker 2: is clearly over the top. Over on Channel nine, a
11:10
Speaker 2: former ABC reporter mentioned a family reunion claim of less
11:14
Speaker 2: than four hundred dollars. No, it was just over four
11:17
Speaker 2: hundred dollars by Opposition front Bench and Melissa Macintosh taking
11:21
Speaker 2: her son to Bathurst, turning the Wells issue on Channel
11:25
Speaker 2: nine into a case of a pox on both their houses.
11:30
Speaker 2: Rules devised by politicians for their benefit. Yeah, they all
11:36
Speaker 2: deserve scrutiny for sure, but for now Wells is the
11:40
Speaker 2: one under the pump and has the questions to answer
11:43
Speaker 2: them because on the face of it, she's making them
11:46
Speaker 2: all look bad. If all's well, it won't end Wells,
11:52
Speaker 2: but if it's not, it just might.
11:58
Speaker 1: Let's catch up now with A Morrison.
12:00
Speaker 2: He's the Energy program director at the Center for Independent
12:03
Speaker 2: Studies and want to find out what's happening with prices.
12:05
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us again.
12:06
Speaker 2: Aiden the rebates coming off, it was announced yesterday they'll
12:10
Speaker 2: finish at the end of the month. Of course they
12:13
Speaker 2: had to finish sometime, but this just means that automatically
12:16
Speaker 2: there's going to be three hundred dollars a year increase
12:20
Speaker 2: two electricity prices for the average household, doesn't it because
12:23
Speaker 2: the rebate artificially suppressing them will be gone.
12:28
Speaker 5: That's exactly right. Reality is catching up with ordinary household.
12:32
Speaker 5: So we've been creating an energy system that does not
12:35
Speaker 5: deliver lower prices, persistently claiming that we'll go to a
12:38
Speaker 5: lower cost system, and it's just not worked. And so unfortunately,
12:42
Speaker 5: I think that this catch up with reality is overdue,
12:46
Speaker 5: and it has been masked by these subsidies basically for
12:48
Speaker 5: about a year or so to get through an election season.
12:51
Speaker 5: And now I think the consequences will flow onto bills
12:55
Speaker 5: but also into inflation statistics already that's occurred for some
12:58
Speaker 5: state subsidies and rebates that are rolled off. So all
13:01
Speaker 5: the pain is ahead, but hopefully people start to realize
13:03
Speaker 5: that we're in the wrong direction for an energy system,
13:06
Speaker 5: at least if pushing bills down is the objective.
13:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, because part of the argument of these rebates was that,
13:11
Speaker 2: you know, the renewables push will push prices down, it's
13:15
Speaker 2: just taking longer than they expected. So the rebates can
13:18
Speaker 2: cover the interim, and then when they come off, prices
13:21
Speaker 2: will be lower. Of course, that's been the opposite of reality.
13:24
Speaker 2: They've even gone up despite the rebates. So this idea
13:29
Speaker 2: that the renewables roll out will suppress prices as just
13:32
Speaker 2: being proven wrong day in and day out.
13:35
Speaker 1: Yet they still give us this mantra.
13:37
Speaker 5: That's exactly right. It's really disappointing to see that people
13:40
Speaker 5: aren't coming clean. The reality is that renewable energy, because
13:43
Speaker 5: the weather dependent energy, there's a small amount of that
13:46
Speaker 5: that you can fix fit into the grid using existing capacity,
13:49
Speaker 5: a little bit of slack in the existing system, and
13:52
Speaker 5: using basically the ability of some firm generators to ramp
13:55
Speaker 5: up and down a little bit. But as soon as
13:56
Speaker 5: you add a bit too much, something around twenty to
13:59
Speaker 5: twenty five percent starts to really bite. Then it pushed costs.
14:02
Speaker 5: It pushes costs a way up because you have to
14:04
Speaker 5: start moving energy around to different places because you've got
14:07
Speaker 5: too much sometimes in places still not enough to others.
14:10
Speaker 5: So the transmission build out and the storage costs start
14:13
Speaker 5: to really bite. So there's a honeymoon period at the
14:16
Speaker 5: start of a rollout, and then it ends around twenty
14:18
Speaker 5: five thirty percent, maybe to even twenty percent, and from
14:21
Speaker 5: here on the costs just go up and the worst
14:24
Speaker 5: is yet to come. We still haven't started paying for
14:26
Speaker 5: the worst of the transmission projects that we're approving right now,
14:29
Speaker 5: but haven't yet beenen the bills. But costs are definitely
14:31
Speaker 5: set to rise, and we just need some honesty about that.
14:34
Speaker 1: See, this is the trouble.
14:35
Speaker 2: While those rebates end for taxpayers and we're all going
14:38
Speaker 2: to be hit by higher prices, still the rebates are
14:41
Speaker 2: still going. All the subsidies, you're still going into heavy
14:44
Speaker 2: industry like smelters and the like. I'm not complaining about that.
14:47
Speaker 2: They need it otherwise they'll shut down. But it just
14:50
Speaker 2: comes back to this fundamental problem the government's not addressing.
14:53
Speaker 2: That is, you actually have to lower the price or
14:57
Speaker 2: the cost of the electricity juice. You can't just have
15:01
Speaker 2: endless subsidies for renewables and then to get rid of
15:04
Speaker 2: coal and then to bring coal back in or extend it,
15:07
Speaker 2: and then to keep heavy industry going.
15:09
Speaker 1: The system has got to be self sustaining. That's exactly right.
15:14
Speaker 5: And so the collective delusion, I think is hopefully starting
15:17
Speaker 5: to fall apart. But it's been really remarkable, and I
15:19
Speaker 5: just want to highlight once again the enormous bait and
15:23
Speaker 5: switch that's taken place in our energy planning institutions, because
15:27
Speaker 5: five years or so ago, there were some documents produced
15:29
Speaker 5: by the CSIRO that said would be able to have
15:31
Speaker 5: very low cost electricity with all the firming, all the
15:34
Speaker 5: transmission added in. They still said it'd be around seventy
15:36
Speaker 5: dollars a mega what hour. That has proved absolutely horrendously false.
15:40
Speaker 5: But in that time they've now switched their objective to
15:43
Speaker 5: instead of saying we're going to assess the cost of
15:45
Speaker 5: the overall system, they locked in that goal that it
15:47
Speaker 5: has to be all renewables, that it has to be
15:49
Speaker 5: eighty two percent, and eventually almost one hundred percent. They
15:52
Speaker 5: locked that in and now said are we doing the
15:54
Speaker 5: cheapest path to get to the same destination.
15:56
Speaker 1: So they're now just saying.
15:58
Speaker 5: Are we assessing it, are we on the cheapest path
16:00
Speaker 5: to get to this same destination, and no longer telling
16:02
Speaker 5: us the honest answer about whether this destination is actually
16:05
Speaker 5: a low cost energy system. And the reality is very
16:08
Speaker 5: very clear to anyone who's honest about the systems that
16:11
Speaker 5: the amount of support it needs, it's an extremely high
16:13
Speaker 5: cost system.
16:14
Speaker 2: It is such a con that's such a detailed explanation,
16:18
Speaker 2: but it is such a con and this is so
16:20
Speaker 2: important for people to understand. We had a national electricity
16:23
Speaker 2: market set up many, many years ago, and the aim
16:26
Speaker 2: of that was to make sure we had the most efficient,
16:29
Speaker 2: most cost effective energy sent around the Eastern Seaboard in
16:33
Speaker 2: South Australia to underpin the economy.
16:36
Speaker 1: And instead of now being.
16:37
Speaker 2: Driven to supply the cheapest, most reliable energy, it's actually
16:42
Speaker 2: being used as a tool to reduce emissions rather than
16:45
Speaker 2: to supply the energy that we need. Now that draft
16:48
Speaker 2: Integrated Plan for twenty twenty six is being released tomorrow
16:52
Speaker 2: with a lot of these organizations feeding into it. Do
16:55
Speaker 2: you expect there's going to be any reckoning in there,
16:58
Speaker 2: any admission.
16:59
Speaker 1: That they're on the raw.
17:01
Speaker 5: Look, I don't because they've already told us, because the
17:04
Speaker 5: inputs and assumptions have been released some time ago. They've
17:07
Speaker 5: told us that again they're going to treat all government
17:09
Speaker 5: policy as gospel. They'll just say that it has been accepted,
17:13
Speaker 5: it was going to model that policy being successful. And
17:16
Speaker 5: I hope that we start to see the glimmers of
17:18
Speaker 5: the consequence of taking such an uncritical acceptance that any
17:22
Speaker 5: political fantasy can translate to reality, because I think there
17:25
Speaker 5: will be some cracks showing, particularly as Queensland has now
17:28
Speaker 5: said they're not going to pursue the same targets for
17:30
Speaker 5: their renewal energy target. There could be some inconsistencies also
17:33
Speaker 5: with that much closer out of twenty thirty and they've
17:36
Speaker 5: still got the same crazy eighty two percent target there
17:39
Speaker 5: when the pace of new renewables has actually slowed down massively.
17:42
Speaker 1: So there will be a completely.
17:44
Speaker 5: Fanciful, fanciful four year surge that will just look totally
17:48
Speaker 5: implausible at the start of that plan. So I hope
17:50
Speaker 5: that we now start to realize that we've produced a
17:52
Speaker 5: plan that is so beholden to unrealistic politicians targets that
17:57
Speaker 5: it now serves as a very very poor guide to
18:00
Speaker 5: the serious people that actually have to run the grid
18:02
Speaker 5: and make investments about the energy system.
18:05
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us again, Aiden Morrison there from the
18:08
Speaker 2: Center for Independent Studies.
18:10
Speaker 1: It is a cluster mess. Let's go to Shadow Cabinet
18:14
Speaker 1: sectary Zoe. Zoey mackenzie joins us from Victoria. Good to
18:19
Speaker 1: talk to you again, Zoe.
18:20
Speaker 2: Let's just get your thoughts first up on that. While
18:22
Speaker 2: we're talking about electricity. This is just a mess, and
18:25
Speaker 2: there's no recognition from the government they've got anything wrong
18:28
Speaker 2: yet any sign that they're going to correct it.
18:32
Speaker 8: It is bewildering, isn't it.
18:33
Speaker 9: I Mean, every day you open the newspaper and something's
18:37
Speaker 9: become even more unlikely. So, whether it's operators pulling out,
18:41
Speaker 9: particularly in relation to offshore wind here, layoffs in some
18:45
Speaker 9: of the organizations that we're going to bid for those licenses,
18:49
Speaker 9: just kind of constant crumbling, and yet no one saying
18:54
Speaker 9: this will change the timelines, this will change whether we
18:57
Speaker 9: actually ever get there at all. Not a whole lot
19:01
Speaker 9: of transparency or honesty at this time.
19:03
Speaker 8: The dream is still alive.
19:05
Speaker 2: Now let's go to the Anaka Wells scandal. Do you
19:09
Speaker 2: believe she's now referred it off to the Independent Umpire
19:12
Speaker 2: for an audit. Do you believe that she can survive
19:14
Speaker 2: this or do we know enough already to show that
19:16
Speaker 2: she's had a snout too deeply in the trough.
19:20
Speaker 9: Look, what it shows is truly terrible judgment to be
19:24
Speaker 9: taking your family along so frequently for what events that
19:30
Speaker 9: are yes well and truly within the Sports Minister's portfolio,
19:33
Speaker 9: but just looks like a house of fun to the
19:36
Speaker 9: average Australian at a time when they are doing it
19:39
Speaker 9: so tough.
19:41
Speaker 8: It just lacks common sense.
19:44
Speaker 9: I appreciate that the social media laws are world leading.
19:47
Speaker 9: I've had conversations about them myself with the OECD in Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen.
19:54
Speaker 9: Guess what not a single tax pay dollar in it,
19:57
Speaker 9: in fact, half of the realm own holiday. But you
20:00
Speaker 9: know that's what is required sometimes to help share explain
20:05
Speaker 9: public policy innovation.
20:06
Speaker 8: In this country.
20:07
Speaker 9: But if you can do it without a cost of
20:09
Speaker 9: the taxpayer, you should.
20:11
Speaker 8: But this shows.
20:12
Speaker 9: Terrible judgment and that old adage about labor and taxpayer dollars,
20:16
Speaker 9: that they just disregard the hard work that went into
20:21
Speaker 9: making that money and don't think twice when they really should.
20:25
Speaker 1: There's a bit of what about ism going on with labor.
20:28
Speaker 2: Trying to point to family reunion expenses on the Coalition side,
20:32
Speaker 2: I have had a chance to have a look at
20:34
Speaker 2: your declarations, but can you give us an example, give
20:36
Speaker 2: us an idea of how you've used those privileges of
20:40
Speaker 2: family reunion travel.
20:42
Speaker 9: My family came to my maiden speech, and I think
20:46
Speaker 9: that's it. Actually in the last parliament and there's been
20:49
Speaker 9: nothing since. So it's just it's a cumbersome system. It's
20:53
Speaker 9: there because we do have some people with young kids
20:57
Speaker 9: and families that they might otherwise not see. I'm all
21:00
Speaker 9: for an ability for families to be able to spend
21:03
Speaker 9: time together. I think that's really important. But may I say,
21:06
Speaker 9: even if they do come to Canberra, you know, I'm
21:09
Speaker 9: in the office by five point thirty eight, I get
21:10
Speaker 9: home till nine, I'm not really getting any time with anyone.
21:13
Speaker 9: So I think they came once and decided that they
21:15
Speaker 9: would never come again, so, you know, but for others,
21:18
Speaker 9: I know that, you know, having their family arounds a
21:20
Speaker 9: really important sense of wellbeing and encouragement for what they do.
21:25
Speaker 9: So I'm not going to judge other people's reasons for
21:27
Speaker 9: wanting to be with their family, but I think you
21:29
Speaker 9: need to be really judicious about what people come with
21:32
Speaker 9: you for. And if it's big sporting events, Olympics, fun things,
21:39
Speaker 9: the punter is going to rightfully say, really, really, you're
21:42
Speaker 9: doing this on my money.
21:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean take the tickets, maybe take the tickets
21:46
Speaker 2: over there, you know, for the husband, But maybe the
21:48
Speaker 2: husband won't you know, be able to dif into his
21:50
Speaker 2: own pocket and pay his own air fairs now and
21:52
Speaker 2: then it seems extraordinary.
21:53
Speaker 8: But even rock concerts, Chris like, what's that.
21:55
Speaker 9: I'm not even sure that rock concerts part of the
21:58
Speaker 9: ministerial duties.
21:58
Speaker 2: But anyway, yeah, it is a weird one. I don't
22:01
Speaker 2: think it passes muster. I don't think she can survive this.
22:03
Speaker 2: It's just too much. But we will see.
22:05
Speaker 1: I think this independent order there is just a time
22:08
Speaker 1: buying exercise.
22:09
Speaker 8: I want to get remember the independent at audible. I
22:11
Speaker 8: want to go to the IPII cost. So that's only
22:12
Speaker 8: the family cost.
22:13
Speaker 9: It won't go to any of the two thousand dollars
22:15
Speaker 9: dinners in Paris and one hundred thousand dollars in flights
22:18
Speaker 9: to New York and all that kind of stuff.
22:19
Speaker 8: Because they expect they're on the ministerial ledger. All right,
22:21
Speaker 8: well they've got to check out, yeah, family reading ledger.
22:24
Speaker 2: So I think some of those dinners look a little
22:25
Speaker 2: bit dodgy, to say the least. I've got to get
22:27
Speaker 2: your thoughts on the development on Orcus. Surely this is
22:30
Speaker 2: a tick for the alb and easy labor government. We're
22:33
Speaker 2: all worried about the commitment of America to ORCUS under
22:37
Speaker 2: Donald Trump, when they're saying full steam ahead, and you've
22:40
Speaker 2: got Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth saying, so that's a
22:44
Speaker 2: reassuring outcome.
22:46
Speaker 8: Absolutely, it is.
22:47
Speaker 9: It's great to have certainty that UCUS is full steam ahead.
22:50
Speaker 9: I think it was said sixteen or seventeen times today.
22:52
Speaker 9: So that is great news. And it's great news particularly
22:55
Speaker 9: in my electorate hma Cerberus here, which is the cradle
22:58
Speaker 9: of the navy. So the young people going through service
23:01
Speaker 9: now actually will end up on our nuclear submarine fleet.
23:05
Speaker 9: They have their one hundredth birthday of recruitment this week.
23:09
Speaker 9: It's going to be an amazing event. But the energy
23:12
Speaker 9: and excitement just on that base because we're going to
23:14
Speaker 9: have this new fleet is palpable, and it's great to
23:19
Speaker 9: see higher numbers turning out wanting to be part of
23:21
Speaker 9: the IDF through the Navy because aucas will secure this
23:25
Speaker 9: nation for the future.
23:27
Speaker 1: Yes, spot on, we need more people, we need good people.
23:29
Speaker 1: So we're roll on up. Now let's get to the economy.
23:32
Speaker 2: Your bad news from Michelle Bullock today is some of
23:34
Speaker 2: what she had to say.
23:36
Speaker 3: We didn't consider the case for a rate cut at all.
23:40
Speaker 3: We didn't explicitly consider the case for a rate rise
23:44
Speaker 3: at this meeting, but we did consider and discuss quite
23:48
Speaker 3: a lot the circumstances and what might need to happen
23:53
Speaker 3: if we would decide that interest rates had to rise
23:57
Speaker 3: again at some point next year.
24:00
Speaker 2: Zoe, she's getting us ready already for interest rates going
24:03
Speaker 2: up next year. Now, keeping control of inflation hasn't been
24:07
Speaker 2: helped by these electricity rebates coming on and off over
24:10
Speaker 2: the past year.
24:12
Speaker 9: Are right, So the last figure for inflation was three
24:15
Speaker 9: point eight or three point three if you want to
24:16
Speaker 9: look at the underlying figure. The Reserve Bank wants it
24:19
Speaker 9: to be between two or three. So we're well and
24:21
Speaker 9: truly out of their comfort zone. Half of the pundits
24:24
Speaker 9: reckon will have a increase by the middle next year,
24:27
Speaker 9: and all of them think we'll have an increase by
24:29
Speaker 9: the end of next year. Now, if you're a mortgage holder,
24:32
Speaker 9: and I've got twenty thousand people who are mortgage holders
24:34
Speaker 9: in my electric that is not good news at all.
24:37
Speaker 9: Everything's costing you more, and your mortgage is going to
24:40
Speaker 9: cost you more this time next year. And as we've
24:42
Speaker 9: just discovered today, your electricity bills are going to cost
24:45
Speaker 9: you more again, in part because the subsidy that the
24:47
Speaker 9: government's been pushing into it a coming off, and because
24:50
Speaker 9: their poor regulation of the energy market means prices are
24:53
Speaker 9: going to keep going up.
24:54
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us, Zoe, and thanks for joining us
24:57
Speaker 1: so often throughout the year.
24:59
Speaker 2: Thanks Chris Sawey mackenzie, the member for Flinders on the
25:02
Speaker 2: Mornington Peninsula in Victoria.
25:04
Speaker 1: We've got to take a break.
25:05
Speaker 2: After the break, I'll catch up with Tim Blair. Another
25:07
Speaker 2: e bike fatality.
25:16
Speaker 1: To forget.
25:16
Speaker 2: Kristen Tate coming up later in the program. We'll get
25:19
Speaker 2: her on Orcus. Also on Joe Biden, still mangling the
25:23
Speaker 2: English language. Let's catch up with Tim Blair though from
25:26
Speaker 2: the Daily Telegraph. Good to catch up with you again, Tim.
25:31
Speaker 2: You're a column today uncharacteristically serious, and you always address
25:36
Speaker 2: serious issue issues, but often with a strong hint of humor.
25:41
Speaker 2: But you've tackled this problem of autism this week, which
25:45
Speaker 2: I think is so important. We've talked about a lot
25:47
Speaker 2: on this program with Claire Rowe and others. Of course,
25:50
Speaker 2: autism is a serious issue and people need the right attention.
25:54
Speaker 2: But there's been an explosion of diagnoses of people with
25:58
Speaker 2: autism under the ends and over nine billion dollars being
26:04
Speaker 2: spent on people with autism annually. This is unsustainable at
26:09
Speaker 2: the very.
26:09
Speaker 10: Least, absolutely, And you know, as you say, Chris, not
26:13
Speaker 10: a lot of potential for jokes in the field of
26:15
Speaker 10: either children's mental health or massive wastage of public money. Obviously.
26:22
Speaker 10: You know, as I point out multiple times in the article,
26:25
Speaker 10: autism is real, but it cannot be diagnosed by objective means.
26:29
Speaker 10: There's no blood test, there's no genetic test, there's no
26:32
Speaker 10: skeletal test. You know, it depends on assessments. And when
26:37
Speaker 10: a lot of money is involved, a lot of potential
26:39
Speaker 10: reward is involved. Well, there's an incentive there to lean
26:44
Speaker 10: more on the side of diagnosis positive than ignoring it
26:48
Speaker 10: or rather rejecting a diagnosis. So it's complicated and massively
26:53
Speaker 10: financially potentially ruinous to Australia.
26:55
Speaker 11: Yeah.
26:56
Speaker 2: When talking to Claire about this before, she says, psychologists are,
27:00
Speaker 2: of course get lobbied by parents. Of course their child
27:03
Speaker 2: might have a learning difficulty or social difficulties and they
27:06
Speaker 2: need some extra help, but they lobby strongly to get
27:09
Speaker 2: a serious enough autism diagnosis so they can get onto
27:12
Speaker 2: the ndis Now everyone would understand that because the sort
27:15
Speaker 2: of treatments they can get under the ndis if they
27:18
Speaker 2: if they're diagnosed with with autism. It's not just strictly
27:23
Speaker 2: medical things of course, things like piano lessons or additional
27:26
Speaker 2: tutoring or you know, all sorts of activities.
27:30
Speaker 1: It's stuff that you want for your children.
27:32
Speaker 2: So I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, as
27:34
Speaker 2: you say, for where it's needed, but there's a there's
27:37
Speaker 2: an incentive of course to get to that pot of
27:39
Speaker 2: money those privileges.
27:42
Speaker 10: Absolutely. I've received emails and phone calls all day from
27:45
Speaker 10: people who've got stories about this sort of thing, including
27:49
Speaker 10: especially rural areas where you can get perhaps a career
27:53
Speaker 10: certificate or some sort of you know, caring role, role
27:58
Speaker 10: of responsibility for children with autism, and the money involved
28:01
Speaker 10: the things just like perhaps visiting a farm farm care,
28:04
Speaker 10: you know, a farm therapy day, that can be an
28:07
Speaker 10: enormous amount of money for the careers you don't get
28:10
Speaker 10: you don't get autism bucks for being autistic, but you
28:12
Speaker 10: do get them if you're in the in the autism field.
28:16
Speaker 10: Big autism. It's a bit of a scandal, well, it is.
28:19
Speaker 1: It's like everything in the NDS.
28:20
Speaker 2: You know, if the normal lawnmowing rate might be fifty dollars,
28:24
Speaker 2: but if they know it's funded on the NDIS, they
28:26
Speaker 2: might charge a premium.
28:27
Speaker 1: They might charge double that.
28:29
Speaker 2: It'll be the same with the farm visits and the
28:31
Speaker 2: piano lessons, no doubt.
28:33
Speaker 1: Let's go to another issue we've talked about a.
28:35
Speaker 2: Lot on this program, and this is the spread of
28:37
Speaker 2: these e bikes and the problems there they're causing. There's
28:40
Speaker 2: been another horrible death, this time in Victoria.
28:43
Speaker 1: Here's Channel nine's report.
28:45
Speaker 3: A fourteen year old e bike rider has died after
28:48
Speaker 3: colliding with a four wheel drive in Melbourne's northeast.
28:51
Speaker 12: It was about ten o'clock last night when he was
28:53
Speaker 12: riding an e bike and that is when he collided
28:56
Speaker 12: with a white four wheel drive at the intersection of
28:59
Speaker 12: Shoot Street and Diamond Streets. Paramedics were called. They did
29:03
Speaker 12: work on him, but sadly he couldn't be saved.
29:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, just tragic tim Now that the point is, we
29:10
Speaker 2: know that kids riding their push bikes on the roads
29:12
Speaker 2: is dangerous enough. They've got to learn their safety. But
29:15
Speaker 2: once they're on e bikes, they're effectively on motorbikes. Yet
29:18
Speaker 2: they have no training, they have no licensing, and there
29:22
Speaker 2: we're seeing far too many accidents.
29:25
Speaker 10: Absolutely, and at the moment as I come to you
29:30
Speaker 10: via this my laptop, I'm in Sydney, away from my
29:34
Speaker 10: you know, my little rural home, and I'm back in
29:37
Speaker 10: the big smoke and walking around the streets here. Footpaths
29:42
Speaker 10: they're dangerous. You've got you've got very rapid, very heavy
29:46
Speaker 10: vehicles ridden in some cases many cases by adults, zooming
29:50
Speaker 10: along the footpaths without any sonic warning you to you
29:54
Speaker 10: don't pick up any.
29:55
Speaker 13: Auditory kind of clue.
29:57
Speaker 10: And you know, we we've there's awful YouTube footge kicking
30:00
Speaker 10: around of people who are getting just literally scrambled by
30:04
Speaker 10: these machines as they step out of shops inside. It's
30:07
Speaker 10: getting the point where you've got to have the same
30:09
Speaker 10: level of care and awareness of your circumstances as if
30:12
Speaker 10: you were driving on a freeway when you were just
30:14
Speaker 10: walking along a footpath. Yeah, a bit more relaxing than that.
30:19
Speaker 2: Well, there have been people killed from being hit by
30:21
Speaker 2: e bikes and many injured, and a lot and obviously
30:24
Speaker 2: the riders themselves. I saw a pedestrian almost taken out
30:29
Speaker 2: in a pedestrian crossing the other day because the cars
30:31
Speaker 2: had stopped me included on one side, but the e
30:34
Speaker 2: bike just went sailing through.
30:35
Speaker 1: It is a worry.
30:38
Speaker 2: You and I are both against the nanny state and
30:40
Speaker 2: unnecessary laws.
30:42
Speaker 1: But maybe some new rules I needed here.
30:44
Speaker 10: They shouldn't be very complex rules like if you're riding
30:47
Speaker 10: something which has some sort of electronic or mechanical propulsion
30:51
Speaker 10: that's non human, definitely off the footpaths. And that's coming
30:54
Speaker 10: from someone who as a kid used to ride his
30:56
Speaker 10: bike on the footpath all the time. I was a
30:58
Speaker 10: rule breaker, Chris, but I didn't have an electric motor
31:01
Speaker 10: pushing me up to forty ks.
31:02
Speaker 2: Now had those big strong hamstrings pushing you along than
31:09
Speaker 2: join us.
31:09
Speaker 1: Tim will catch a letter on Tim Blair there from
31:12
Speaker 1: the Daily Telegraph. We're going to get to a break.
31:14
Speaker 2: After the break, we'll talk about Orcus going full steam ahead.
31:17
Speaker 2: That's the word from Donald Trump's people. But Donald's protectionism
31:21
Speaker 2: might be hurting our farmers in the months to come.
31:24
Speaker 1: I'll cross to Christen Tate.
31:29
Speaker 2: Can't wait to share with you some new rules for
31:32
Speaker 2: Santa that'll be coming up with Steven and Susie in
31:35
Speaker 2: the panel. But for now, I want to check you
31:37
Speaker 2: in on overseas news and Defense Minister and Deputy PM
31:40
Speaker 2: Richard Miles, along with Foreign Minister Penny Wong, are in
31:43
Speaker 2: the US for the annual OSMIN talks reinforcing the Orcas
31:47
Speaker 2: Submarine Pact.
31:48
Speaker 1: Here's the US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth.
31:52
Speaker 13: Was mentioned full steam ahead on Orcus.
31:55
Speaker 2: We applied Australia's upcoming delivery of an additional one billion
31:58
Speaker 2: to help expand US reproduction capacity.
32:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the news we wanted to hear.
32:04
Speaker 2: Full steam ahead is the wood of the de exactly
32:07
Speaker 2: what Australia wanted to hear. But as I put to Kristin,
32:10
Speaker 2: the US wants Australia to keep stumping up more money.
32:13
Speaker 1: They certainly won't let us be leggeds.
32:17
Speaker 14: Still, I think the future of Aucus has never been
32:20
Speaker 14: more positive.
32:21
Speaker 15: America.
32:22
Speaker 14: Keep in mind, for years now has been shouldering much
32:25
Speaker 14: of the burden of kind of defending Western civilization.
32:28
Speaker 15: With its own military, particularly within NATO.
32:31
Speaker 14: This has become an unsustainable burden for the United States,
32:35
Speaker 14: and now with the growing influence of China throughout the Pacific,
32:39
Speaker 14: it's in Australia's interest to enhance its own defenses.
32:43
Speaker 15: So what does.
32:43
Speaker 14: America do better than anyone else build weapons that kill
32:47
Speaker 14: as many people as possible. What is Australia gifted with
32:50
Speaker 14: endless rare earth materials and other precious natural resources. Both
32:55
Speaker 14: America and Australia need each other here, Chris, And you know,
32:59
Speaker 14: despite some personal differences with Albanesi and Trump, you know
33:03
Speaker 14: the relationship is important. Big egos can't get in the way.
33:07
Speaker 1: This needs to happen exactly.
33:09
Speaker 2: The mutual interests are so strong and that's something that
33:11
Speaker 2: Marco Rubio focused on.
33:13
Speaker 15: The strong alliance, and what we want to do is
33:15
Speaker 15: continue to build on it.
33:16
Speaker 1: We think we have a lot of momentum at the
33:19
Speaker 1: direction of the President.
33:20
Speaker 15: Arcus is full steam ahead, as he said.
33:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, the point here Christin is, of course the great
33:26
Speaker 2: gift to Australia is that America and the UK actually
33:30
Speaker 2: will share their nuclear submarine technology and other missile technology.
33:35
Speaker 2: So of course Australia's got to pay its way. But
33:38
Speaker 2: we've also seen the National Strategical Security Strategy Review coming
33:44
Speaker 2: out from the US and it's confirmed that even under
33:49
Speaker 2: Donald Trump's isolationist approach, if you like, the US continues
33:54
Speaker 2: to see East Asia and the Pacific as a crucial area.
33:58
Speaker 2: Of course, this is where all the expansionism of China
34:01
Speaker 2: comes to the full.
34:02
Speaker 1: That's very good for Australia.
34:03
Speaker 2: And it's just under schools how important Australia's alliance with
34:07
Speaker 2: the US will continue to be in this in this
34:10
Speaker 2: part of the world.
34:12
Speaker 14: Yeah, and we again, we both need each other. You know,
34:15
Speaker 14: you guys need our defense technology, we need your natural resources.
34:19
Speaker 14: China is an ever growing threat. A lot of people
34:22
Speaker 14: call Donald Trump and isolationist. I actually don't. I think
34:25
Speaker 14: he's very willing to kind of get involved in different
34:29
Speaker 14: places around the globe when he sees it as being
34:31
Speaker 14: in the.
34:31
Speaker 15: Best interest of the United States.
34:33
Speaker 14: This is a president who definitely understands the growing threat
34:37
Speaker 14: of China and you know the importance of having as
34:40
Speaker 14: having a strategy in that portion of the globe. So
34:43
Speaker 14: this is just kind of a win win situation for
34:45
Speaker 14: both Australia and the United States.
34:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you're right.
34:49
Speaker 2: I think he'd like to be an isolationists who wouldn't,
34:52
Speaker 2: But in the end, where America's might is needed and
34:55
Speaker 2: their interventions are needed, and their firepower is needed, then
34:59
Speaker 2: then he's he's there, and he's certainly been there in
35:01
Speaker 2: Eastern Europe, he's certainly been there in the Middle East,
35:03
Speaker 2: and he's going to maintain that focus in East Asia
35:07
Speaker 2: as well. Here's our Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
35:10
Speaker 2: talking about just the weights being put on Australia for
35:13
Speaker 2: more spending.
35:16
Speaker 14: The Istralian women asked to increase out events spending again today.
35:19
Speaker 16: Well, I've made the comments that I have in relation
35:23
Speaker 16: to defense spending. We've been very clear about our position
35:26
Speaker 16: in relation to defense spending and where that has led,
35:29
Speaker 16: and that has led to the biggest increase in peacetime
35:32
Speaker 16: defense spending in Australia's history.
35:35
Speaker 2: Yes, so there you go, remaining steadfast on the levels
35:37
Speaker 2: of spending we've got at the moment.
35:39
Speaker 1: We'll see where all that goes.
35:40
Speaker 2: But there's another potential flashboint here in the relationship Kristen.
35:45
Speaker 2: With this massive new package of agricultural assistance from Donald Trump.
35:51
Speaker 2: We see this every now and then with American farmers
35:54
Speaker 2: dipping out in global trade. We's tipping twelve billion dollars
35:58
Speaker 2: I think it is into farm subsidies in the lockow.
36:02
Speaker 2: That's great for American farmers, but places like Australia where
36:05
Speaker 2: agriculture is not to protect it, we could lose that.
36:11
Speaker 14: Yeah, I mean, this is something Donald Trump is doing
36:14
Speaker 14: because he thinks it'll be in the best of Americans.
36:16
Speaker 15: Look, we have the midterms coming up next year. Everyone
36:20
Speaker 15: here right now is talking about particularly grocery prices. They
36:24
Speaker 15: are still very.
36:25
Speaker 14: High, and one of the most important factors in those
36:28
Speaker 14: elections next year is going to be food prices. So
36:33
Speaker 14: he is giving twelve billion dollars in assistance to American
36:37
Speaker 14: row farmers.
36:38
Speaker 15: Personally, you know, I'm kind of a libertarian leaning person.
36:42
Speaker 14: I don't love to see the government handing out wads
36:45
Speaker 14: of cash to any industry, but maybe it's needed here.
36:49
Speaker 14: But Donald Trump is also a very creative president, so
36:53
Speaker 14: I'd love to see him look at other ways of
36:55
Speaker 14: lowering food prices here in the US, you know, not
36:58
Speaker 14: only looking at the supply side of things, but how
37:02
Speaker 14: about the demand. How about the fact, Chris, that we
37:04
Speaker 14: have forty one million people here in the United States
37:07
Speaker 14: on food stamps. That absolutely drives up the prices of
37:10
Speaker 14: food for everybody. So I'd love to see the president
37:13
Speaker 14: looking at other creative solutions that.
37:16
Speaker 15: You know, may not.
37:19
Speaker 14: Harm our allies either if you could implement these other solutions.
37:23
Speaker 1: Yeah.
37:24
Speaker 2: The trouble is, of course, especially the Europeans, are into
37:27
Speaker 2: subsidies when it comes to agriculture in many other countries,
37:29
Speaker 2: so it's not an even plying field. Australia is definitely
37:33
Speaker 2: on the free tried side of the argument.
37:35
Speaker 1: Here's what the presidents had to say.
37:37
Speaker 11: What we're doing is we're taking a relatively small portion
37:41
Speaker 11: of that and we're going to be giving and providing
37:45
Speaker 11: it to the farmers in economic assistance.
37:48
Speaker 13: And we love our farmers and they're the backbone of
37:50
Speaker 13: our country.
37:51
Speaker 11: So we're going to use that money to provide twelve
37:55
Speaker 11: billion dollars in economic assistance to American farmers.
37:58
Speaker 13: Twelve million is a lot of money.
38:02
Speaker 1: Here we go. We'll see how that debate applies out.
38:04
Speaker 2: Now you're noticed there, Christian he referred to American farmers.
38:08
Speaker 2: Let's have a look at these predecessor and see how
38:10
Speaker 2: he mangoes America.
38:12
Speaker 1: Have a look. We just have to get up. As
38:16
Speaker 1: long as we keep the faith. Someone hope we get
38:19
Speaker 1: back up and remember who in the hell we are.
38:21
Speaker 1: We're the United States of America. That's who we are.
38:26
Speaker 1: We're the US Who are you Christian? Who are you?
38:30
Speaker 1: What's that country?
38:32
Speaker 14: All I can say, Chris is I am proud to
38:34
Speaker 14: be an America.
38:35
Speaker 13: Got it?
38:36
Speaker 1: I mean.
38:38
Speaker 14: It sounds like maybe his dentures may have slipped while
38:41
Speaker 14: he was giving that speech.
38:43
Speaker 13: I just I can't.
38:45
Speaker 15: I still can't believe that.
38:47
Speaker 14: You know, for four years this guy was president, and
38:50
Speaker 14: our mainstream media and all the elites told us this
38:53
Speaker 14: was normal.
38:54
Speaker 13: It's absurd.
38:55
Speaker 14: This guy was president of the United States. He can't
38:57
Speaker 14: even say the name of the country he was president.
39:00
Speaker 11: Doug.
39:00
Speaker 2: God bless Kristen Tate, and God bless America, not GA.
39:05
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us exactly.
39:07
Speaker 15: Thank you, Chris.
39:09
Speaker 2: Oh, poor old Joe, you got to have a laugh
39:11
Speaker 2: had After the break, we'll have more on the travel
39:15
Speaker 2: expenses scandal, a new politician in the firing line, and
39:18
Speaker 2: I'll look at the new rules for Santa with Stephen
39:21
Speaker 2: and Susie.
39:26
Speaker 1: Let's getting too our Tuesday panel with Stephen and Susie.
39:29
Speaker 2: Stephen Santa Tiempo is the breakfast toast at two Double
39:31
Speaker 2: C in the nation's capital, and Susie O'Brien joins us
39:34
Speaker 2: from Melbourne, where she's the national education editor for all
39:38
Speaker 2: the news court papers. Good to talk to you against
39:40
Speaker 2: Susie will come to your exclusive on Santa in a moment,
39:45
Speaker 2: But first up, I want to talk.
39:46
Speaker 1: About Anika Wells.
39:48
Speaker 2: Do you think she gets to survive this one, SUSI, Oh, well.
39:53
Speaker 17: It's hard to see how. But I mean she's not
39:55
Speaker 17: the first to behave like this. I mean, but you
39:58
Speaker 17: read through some of the spe some of the large ESTs,
40:01
Speaker 17: it's just extraordinary. I mean, no wonder they're calling her
40:04
Speaker 17: the part time minister, but how the hell do they
40:06
Speaker 17: justify ninety four thousand dollars in flights for a bunch
40:11
Speaker 17: of officials, including the Minister, to go to the un
40:14
Speaker 17: in New York like that is just extraordinary, not to
40:17
Speaker 17: mention three thousand dollars on a family trip to Threadbow.
40:20
Speaker 17: I mean, not only does it have to be within
40:23
Speaker 17: the rules, but it also has to be justifiable to
40:26
Speaker 17: the Australian people. And I'm not sure all of this is.
40:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's not the first to be at the center
40:32
Speaker 2: of a scandal like this, but nor would she be
40:34
Speaker 2: the first to lose her job over it. We all
40:36
Speaker 2: remember Bromwin, Bishop and of course Stephen, even Susan Lee
40:39
Speaker 2: back when she was a minister had to quit a
40:42
Speaker 2: job by because she overstretched it a bit on the
40:45
Speaker 2: travel entitlement. So it just seems on the face of it,
40:49
Speaker 2: this is just snout in the trough stuff. There she
40:51
Speaker 2: is indulging her family Stephen, at taxpayer's expense.
40:56
Speaker 13: Yeah, no doubt about it.
40:57
Speaker 18: And so Chris, you and I are both old enough
40:59
Speaker 18: to remember the original travel rought scanned a scandal at
41:02
Speaker 18: the beginning of the Howard government. But the thing that
41:04
Speaker 18: strikes me about this is we are in the middle
41:06
Speaker 18: of a cost of living crisis, where average families are
41:08
Speaker 18: struggling to put food on the table and keep a
41:10
Speaker 18: roof over their head, and we've got a minister who's
41:13
Speaker 18: being paid just under four hundred and forty thousand dollars
41:15
Speaker 18: a year and seems to think that that's not enough. Now,
41:18
Speaker 18: I was talking to a former MP today who said, well,
41:21
Speaker 18: you know you can change the rules. Well you'll get
41:23
Speaker 18: a lesser quality of politician if you do that. Well,
41:25
Speaker 18: I think that ship has already sailed. But the flights
41:28
Speaker 18: to New York don't really get in my crap as
41:31
Speaker 18: much as some of the other ones, because look, if
41:33
Speaker 18: it's a last minute flight, you're flying business class. You
41:35
Speaker 18: could end up spending an absolute fortune on these flights.
41:38
Speaker 18: But the fact that, rather than actually be traveling around
41:41
Speaker 18: the world to learn and listen to other people, it
41:43
Speaker 18: was a six minute speech thumping her chest about a
41:46
Speaker 18: policy that comes in tomorrow that's not really going to
41:48
Speaker 18: work particularly well.
41:50
Speaker 13: But that's aside the point. But when we're spending.
41:52
Speaker 18: Thousands of dollars to have cars waiting for hours while
41:55
Speaker 18: she indulges herself at the Senate and she's earning four
41:58
Speaker 18: hundred and forty thousand dollars of our money per year,
42:01
Speaker 18: you've got to say that that is literally taking the
42:04
Speaker 18: proverbial out of the Australian people.
42:06
Speaker 1: She is. She's having a lend of us, there's no
42:08
Speaker 1: doubt about it.
42:08
Speaker 2: Of course, everybody's digging around into everyone's entitlements now and
42:11
Speaker 2: this latest story breaking shows that the Australia Voice, the
42:15
Speaker 2: former Labor senator Fatima Payment, she tops the list at
42:19
Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty thousand dollars worth of family reunions.
42:22
Speaker 2: She spent more than the Prime minister, is the catchphrase here.
42:25
Speaker 2: But of course, Susie the Prime Minister doesn't need family
42:27
Speaker 2: reunion so much because it's got a house in Canberra,
42:30
Speaker 2: a house in Sydney, and the wife and son go
42:33
Speaker 2: with him wherever. But it looks like FATIMA payment might
42:36
Speaker 2: be next in the crosshairs.
42:37
Speaker 1: So to speak.
42:40
Speaker 17: Yeah, and I think Steven hit the nail on the
42:42
Speaker 17: head there because people, average people look at some of
42:45
Speaker 17: this spending, So how can it be justified? I still
42:49
Speaker 17: don't even I still have a bit of a problem
42:51
Speaker 17: with business class flights. I mean they're two to three
42:53
Speaker 17: times just because they're done at the last minute, you know.
42:57
Speaker 17: And I think afriage Australians. I mean, this is our
43:00
Speaker 17: tax payers money, this is our money that they are spending,
43:03
Speaker 17: and they're forgetting this. They're forgetting that day that they
43:07
Speaker 17: owe us explanation and accountability, but not just that it
43:11
Speaker 17: has to pass the pub test. And I think some
43:13
Speaker 17: of this just absolutely doesn't.
43:15
Speaker 1: It sure doesn't. It sure does not.
43:17
Speaker 2: Now let's get onto the policy that you mentioned, Stephen.
43:21
Speaker 2: That was the reason for Anaka Wells going to the United.
43:25
Speaker 1: Nations in New York.
43:26
Speaker 2: A totally unnecessary trip in my view, but the policy
43:30
Speaker 2: is serious. It's the teenage social media ban. It comes
43:33
Speaker 2: into force tomorrow and the Prime Minister put out a
43:36
Speaker 2: video release about this today. Now, I think it was
43:39
Speaker 2: wise enough. The last I checked, it wasn't on social media.
43:43
Speaker 2: I thought he was putting the video out on social media.
43:45
Speaker 2: No doubt it'll end up there.
43:46
Speaker 1: But here's some of what the PM had to say.
43:50
Speaker 4: You'll know better than anyone what it's like growing up
43:53
Speaker 4: with algorithms, endless speeds and the pressure that can come
43:57
Speaker 4: with that. That's why we've taken this step to support you.
44:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, telling the teenagers that he's looking after their interests.
44:06
Speaker 2: So I don't know whether that's going to win them over, Stephen.
44:10
Speaker 4: No.
44:10
Speaker 18: And I think it's extraordinary, is it that every MP
44:13
Speaker 18: in this house is on TikTok to try and get
44:15
Speaker 18: to those very voters who can't vote yet.
44:16
Speaker 13: But that's beside the point.
44:18
Speaker 18: Every expert, and I've spent a lot of time on
44:20
Speaker 18: this policy over the last year. Every single expert that
44:23
Speaker 18: I've spoken to, either in the technology field, psychology, or economics,
44:27
Speaker 18: has said that this policy is a failure. It's bad
44:30
Speaker 18: for a whole number of reasons. But the problem is
44:32
Speaker 18: we've got a bunch of politicians in here who know
44:35
Speaker 18: that they have to solve a problem they don't really
44:37
Speaker 18: understand what the problem is. They don't really understand the
44:39
Speaker 18: technology around it. So it's like, let's do something so
44:42
Speaker 18: it looks like we're doing something and then hope for
44:45
Speaker 18: the best. And unfortunately parents are supporting this because they're
44:48
Speaker 18: in the same boat that the politicians are in. They
44:50
Speaker 18: don't really understand what's going on here. But if you
44:52
Speaker 18: talk to the experts, they'll say kids are going to
44:54
Speaker 18: get around this immediately. They're already doing it. The rise
44:57
Speaker 18: in VPN use has gone through the roof, so already
45:00
Speaker 18: pretending to be someone else.
45:02
Speaker 13: The AI is not working. The rest of us are
45:04
Speaker 13: going to have.
45:04
Speaker 18: To upload our licenses or passports just to get onto
45:07
Speaker 18: Facebook to post a few memes here and there.
45:10
Speaker 13: This is going to be an absolute disaster.
45:12
Speaker 2: Well, I think the problem here is too parents just
45:14
Speaker 2: outsourcing this to the government. This is really a parental
45:17
Speaker 2: issue for kids. And you know, I won the early
45:19
Speaker 2: stages of it.
45:20
Speaker 14: Now.
45:20
Speaker 2: I don't want to claim victory, Susie, but we're just
45:23
Speaker 2: not giving our kids smartphones. They are at a fourteen
45:26
Speaker 2: year old and the twelve year old at the moment,
45:28
Speaker 2: no smartphones, they can't be on social media at least
45:30
Speaker 2: around the place all the time if they don't have smartphones.
45:33
Speaker 1: It's pretty straightforward.
45:37
Speaker 17: Yeah, I mean, I disagree with Stephen on this one.
45:39
Speaker 17: I think I've spoken also written a lot about this,
45:41
Speaker 17: spoken to a lot of experts, and I think there
45:43
Speaker 17: is a lot of goodwill, there is a lot of
45:45
Speaker 17: hope that this will work, and there's no reason why
45:48
Speaker 17: it isn't going to work. I think there are some
45:50
Speaker 17: definite teething problems.
45:52
Speaker 13: There's plenty of reasons why let's see it.
45:54
Speaker 17: Let's be well, let's see what.
45:57
Speaker 1: Happens, but I well will see Yeah, us.
45:59
Speaker 17: Saying it is good to see this positive step taken
46:02
Speaker 17: to wrestle back control of social media of what's happening
46:06
Speaker 17: out there in terms of what kids are seeing on
46:09
Speaker 17: their phones because parents actually want that support. They're saying,
46:12
Speaker 17: we can't do it ourselves, we need this support, and
46:16
Speaker 17: they want the government to step in and to take
46:19
Speaker 17: this kind of control, this kind of action. And it's
46:22
Speaker 17: been done, so let's see how it plays out. And
46:24
Speaker 17: it's not going to be perfect, and it would be messy,
46:26
Speaker 17: but it's better than damn doing nothing.
46:29
Speaker 18: Steve, it is it though, because what experts are telling
46:32
Speaker 18: me is that they're now going to go to more
46:34
Speaker 18: dangerous parts of the Internet that aren't covered by this law.
46:37
Speaker 18: It doesn't cover pornography, it doesn't cover the lawest gaming site.
46:40
Speaker 17: The law can expand, but the law can expand to
46:44
Speaker 17: into We.
46:45
Speaker 13: Know these problems, now, why are we going to let them?
46:48
Speaker 1: We'll see.
46:49
Speaker 2: I like your idea, though, Steven, we get all the
46:50
Speaker 2: politicians off for social media, they could set the example
46:54
Speaker 2: that amen. Now, of course Victoria's wasted a lot of
46:58
Speaker 2: money on the treaty and payments to indigenous groups. And
47:02
Speaker 2: there's another apology today. I needed to mention that we
47:04
Speaker 2: will because we'll do that another time and others will
47:07
Speaker 2: cover it.
47:07
Speaker 1: Because Susie, I have to talk about your story. Poor
47:10
Speaker 1: old Santa.
47:11
Speaker 2: They're rolling them out at the supermarkets now around the place.
47:14
Speaker 2: Santa wants to put a smile on the dial of
47:16
Speaker 2: the kids, but there's so many hr rules.
47:18
Speaker 1: They got to watch what they're doing. One of the
47:20
Speaker 1: main rules that Santa has to apply.
47:22
Speaker 17: Now, well, poor Santa's big being given a modern makeover.
47:28
Speaker 17: Hands above the desk at all times. I mean, poor
47:31
Speaker 17: Sandy's got kids on his neee. That's if kids are
47:33
Speaker 17: even allowed to sit on Santa's lap anymore. I mean
47:36
Speaker 17: parents are told, you know, don't force your kids, don't
47:38
Speaker 17: make them if the kids are crying, you know, people
47:40
Speaker 17: have these classic snaps. If the kids kind of go
47:43
Speaker 17: ah on standards like they're not allowed to post them anymore.
47:46
Speaker 17: That's if they're even aladd and said sit on Standard's
47:48
Speaker 17: lap at all. You think, oh, these, you know, like
47:51
Speaker 17: lovely symbols of Australian families and unity and Christmas. You're
47:55
Speaker 17: gone by the wayside because it's too scary for kids.
47:59
Speaker 1: It's such truty. It's pretty tough.
48:01
Speaker 2: I've never seen a gropie Santa, but I remember taking
48:03
Speaker 2: the kids to an Easter thing once and the Easter
48:06
Speaker 2: bunny there, Steven seemed to be a bit touchy with
48:08
Speaker 2: my wife and some of the other young mums.
48:13
Speaker 18: Look, I don't know what to say that. But is
48:14
Speaker 18: this real or is it the script of a Netflix
48:16
Speaker 18: Christmas movie?
48:17
Speaker 13: I can't work that out.
48:19
Speaker 2: It'll be real, hr will be all over it. Thanks
48:21
Speaker 2: for joining us, guys. Been great catching up with you
48:23
Speaker 2: throughout the year. I won't see you again until next year.
48:26
Speaker 2: Have a great Christmas and New Year. Cus O'Brien, you
48:28
Speaker 2: can read her in all the news, court papers, and
48:31
Speaker 2: Steven sent a Tampa all over the place on the
48:33
Speaker 2: two double C in the nation's capital. That is all
48:38
Speaker 2: the time I've got for you tonight. I haven't got
48:40
Speaker 2: time for your feedback on Anika Walls, but suffice to
48:43
Speaker 2: say you're not buying her excuses and she's in strife
48:47
Speaker 2: with the public.
48:48
Speaker 1: Here's Peter Gredlin