WEBVTT - Credlin | 1 September 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:07.500 Peter Credlin, live from News 24. 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:10.400 Good evening. Welcome to the program. Here's what's coming up 0:00:10.450 --> 0:00:13.910 tonight on Credlin. Tonight, the latest housing data, which shows 0:00:13.930 --> 0:00:17.430 a freefall in house prices across Australia. Sydney on track 0:00:17.470 --> 0:00:22.170 for its most significant decline in 40 years. 40,000 wiped 0:00:22.210 --> 0:00:27.590 off house values this winter on average. More tonight, too, 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:31.710 on my News 24 exclusive from yesterday. Just why that 0:00:31.790 --> 0:00:34.690 former AFP whistleblower has not been called as a witness 0:00:34.790 --> 0:00:38.290 to the Bondi Royal Commission, despite sharing bombshell claims of 0:00:38.409 --> 0:00:44.030 critical capability pressure inside the counter-terrorism unit in the lead-up 0:00:44.050 --> 0:00:47.050 to the Bondi terror attack. Plus, Labor's plan to put 0:00:47.110 --> 0:00:50.550 criminal road gangs to work. You heard me right. Prisoners 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:53.730 used to fix ruined roads this summer in Victoria as 0:00:53.800 --> 0:01:00.910 part of a half-a-million pledge to fill half-a-million potholes. And 0:01:00.950 --> 0:01:03.710 the PM attends a Pacific Islands forum, but quick to 0:01:03.750 --> 0:01:06.730 sit on the diplomatic fence as China ramps up pressure 0:01:06.860 --> 0:01:10.819 on Pacific nations to try and stop them from attending. 0:01:11.900 --> 0:01:15.140 It is a well-attended meeting of the Pacific Islands forum 0:01:16.540 --> 0:01:19.059 and I don't think it's productive to talk it down. 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:20.760 I'm talking it up. 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:25.760 Weak, weak, weak again, Albanese. I'll come back to that 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:27.780 in a moment. But first, I want to go back 0:01:27.830 --> 0:01:31.250 to the revelations I brought you last night. that prior 0:01:31.270 --> 0:01:35.330 to the Bondi massacre, a senior federal police commander co-authored 0:01:35.370 --> 0:01:39.060 an internal brief that went to the executive warning of 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:46.770 critical capability shortages in the AFP's counter-terrorism command. In particular... 0:01:46.590 --> 0:01:51.790 a 38% reduction in counter-terrorism capability in New South Wales, 0:01:52.330 --> 0:01:55.330 which on the face of it appears highly relevant to 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:58.960 the massacre at Bondi the following year. There's been talk, 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:01.560 of course, about this memo for months and months. It's 0:02:01.580 --> 0:02:04.500 been reported in the newspapers and it's been the subject 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:09.739 of heated debate inside Senate estimates. First, its existence was denied. 0:02:10.310 --> 0:02:13.250 Then we were told it was just an HR document. 0:02:13.889 --> 0:02:16.900 Then there was a dispute about who actually saw it 0:02:16.910 --> 0:02:19.940 and how high it went up the federal police chain 0:02:19.980 --> 0:02:24.580 of command until eventually it was blocked from release under 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:28.720 FOI under the basis it was highly prejudicial to national 0:02:28.740 --> 0:02:33.480 security if it ever was to see the light of day. Now, obviously, 0:02:33.540 --> 0:02:36.260 it can't be all of those things. It can't be 0:02:36.340 --> 0:02:40.550 low level and unimportant one day. and then highly prejudicial 0:02:40.570 --> 0:02:45.739 to national security the next. Australians deserve to know why 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:50.980 this desperate plea for counter-terrorism resources was not listened to 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:56.240 by AFP command. Australians deserve to know What hand the 0:02:56.340 --> 0:03:01.060 Albanese government had in the under-resourcing of the AFP, given 0:03:01.100 --> 0:03:05.760 this memo also references a decision by the Albanese cabinet 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:11.239 via NSC to prohibit the AFP from putting in a 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:15.160 bid for extra money. Right now, we have a Royal 0:03:15.180 --> 0:03:18.520 Commission underway into the Bondi attack and we owe it 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.900 to the dead and every other Australian who wants to 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:24.470 live in a country free from terrorism and to get 0:03:24.490 --> 0:03:27.510 to the bottom of what happened that fateful day, to 0:03:27.550 --> 0:03:30.790 be open and honest about admitting failures, and to be 0:03:30.830 --> 0:03:33.930 determined to do whatever's needed to better protect all of 0:03:34.050 --> 0:03:39.430 us into the future. This is why a transparent investigation 0:03:39.490 --> 0:03:43.230 into this whistleblower submission matters as much as it does. 0:03:43.850 --> 0:03:48.050 Because right now, it looks as though officialdom is trying 0:03:48.110 --> 0:03:50.890 to bury it. There is no doubt that the author 0:03:50.930 --> 0:03:53.900 of this memo should have been called to give evidence 0:03:53.940 --> 0:03:57.430 before the Royal Commission shut down public hearings last week. 0:03:58.250 --> 0:04:02.310 But that did not happen, despite this former police officer 0:04:02.790 --> 0:04:08.370 personally contacting the Commission dozens and dozens of times, asking 0:04:08.750 --> 0:04:13.080 them to let him tell them what he knows. Even 0:04:13.180 --> 0:04:18.020 after submitting his 25-page long submission, including a long list 0:04:18.060 --> 0:04:22.450 of AFP documents that he says the Commission ought to 0:04:22.550 --> 0:04:26.510 compel so that they can best understand where things were 0:04:26.930 --> 0:04:34.390 prior to Bondi, this former counter-terrorism commander has not been called. Now, 0:04:34.450 --> 0:04:37.140 it's madness that he's not been called, given his operational 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:42.450 understanding of counter-terrorism deficiencies But it's also madness that the 0:04:42.490 --> 0:04:47.210 head of the AFP, well, she has never fronted either. Now, 0:04:47.230 --> 0:04:49.330 how can you have a credible Royal Commission into the 0:04:49.370 --> 0:04:52.690 massacre of 15 people in an act of terror on 0:04:52.730 --> 0:04:56.270 an Australian beach and not call the head of the 0:04:56.350 --> 0:05:00.890 Australian Federal Police? And it's not just Chrissie Barrett who 0:05:00.930 --> 0:05:03.490 must give evidence. Where is the head of the New 0:05:03.529 --> 0:05:06.940 South Wales Police, Mel Lanyon? He hasn't been called in 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:11.020 public hearings either. As I've said before, countless royal commissions 0:05:11.060 --> 0:05:14.320 in the past have rightly put politicians in the witness 0:05:14.380 --> 0:05:18.080 box because under our system of government, they are the 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:23.760 ultimate authorities under law for the portfolios they administer. In 0:05:23.779 --> 0:05:27.039 terms of this, look, Kevin Rudd twice before a royal commission, 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:32.810 John Howard once, Malcolm Turnbull once, Scott Morrison once, Ministers 0:05:32.900 --> 0:05:38.320 Peter Garridan, Mark Arbib, Christian Porter, Alan Tudge. Maurice Payne, 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:42.339 Stuart Robert. I could go on. All the PMs and 0:05:42.380 --> 0:05:47.320 ministers before called before various royal commissions to give evidence 0:05:47.550 --> 0:05:50.730 into what they knew and what they did in matters 0:05:50.770 --> 0:05:53.810 of national significance. And yet when it comes to Australia's 0:05:53.870 --> 0:05:58.110 worst ever terror attack, not one minister in the Albanese 0:05:58.130 --> 0:06:01.310 government has been called before this royal commission to give 0:06:01.330 --> 0:06:04.469 an account of what they knew, what they did and 0:06:04.510 --> 0:06:07.289 what they failed to do. The more I have dug 0:06:07.330 --> 0:06:11.570 into this issue, the more concerned I have become. I 0:06:11.610 --> 0:06:15.750 don't think, as a former High Court judge, that Virginia Bell, 0:06:15.910 --> 0:06:19.700 sitting as a solo commissioner, has enough understanding of the 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:24.740 national security apparatus and the labyrinth world of Canberra departmental 0:06:24.779 --> 0:06:28.440 bureaucracy to do justice to the gravity of the terms 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:32.820 of references before her. I just don't. Now, this is 0:06:32.940 --> 0:06:36.970 not a reflection on her obvious intellect or her superior 0:06:37.150 --> 0:06:41.450 legal standing, that much is given. But she's being asked 0:06:41.470 --> 0:06:45.160 to investigate a beast that she does not understand and 0:06:45.220 --> 0:06:51.200 has no experience of. And both understanding and experience is 0:06:51.300 --> 0:06:53.300 critical to get to the bottom of what happened in 0:06:53.339 --> 0:06:58.390 December last year and to prevent it from happening again. Now, 0:06:58.490 --> 0:07:01.750 I appreciate critics will say I'm wrong, but there's a 0:07:01.790 --> 0:07:06.040 report from the eminent government insider, Dennis Richardson, that deals 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.500 with the national security elements of Bondi. But I think 0:07:09.550 --> 0:07:13.450 a few things here have been missed. The first is 0:07:13.490 --> 0:07:17.210 that Dennis Richardson did not act and was not acting 0:07:17.590 --> 0:07:21.970 with the powers of a Royal Commissioner. That's right. Dennis 0:07:22.230 --> 0:07:26.430 Richardson's work had the status of an administrative inquiry under 0:07:26.450 --> 0:07:29.630 the auspices of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and it lacked 0:07:29.650 --> 0:07:32.660 the ability to issue warrants for the production of materials, 0:07:33.180 --> 0:07:37.430 and subpoenas for the appearance of witnesses. It also did 0:07:37.510 --> 0:07:41.510 not have the immunity powers of a Royal Commission. Therefore, 0:07:41.610 --> 0:07:47.550 cooperation by anyone with Richardson was merely voluntary. And this 0:07:47.770 --> 0:07:51.120 is because Richardson was announced by the Prime Minister and 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:54.760 put in place before Albanese was ultimately pushed into a 0:07:55.260 --> 0:08:00.620 Royal Commission. So Richardson's admin inquiry in Bell's Royal Commission 0:08:01.020 --> 0:08:04.340 crossed over. but they are not the same thing and 0:08:04.380 --> 0:08:08.120 should never be confused. When it was done, Richardson's work 0:08:08.190 --> 0:08:10.810 went to the Prime Minister and that was then provided 0:08:10.830 --> 0:08:14.490 to the Royal Commissioner to feed into what ultimately became 0:08:14.890 --> 0:08:18.750 her interim report. Again, I don't think this is sufficient 0:08:19.010 --> 0:08:22.770 at all. The interrogation of the heads of official agencies 0:08:22.850 --> 0:08:26.780 like ASIO, like the Australian Federal Police, the heads of 0:08:26.820 --> 0:08:30.690 departments of Home Affairs, Attorneys General, attorneys general, of course, 0:08:30.870 --> 0:08:34.050 which was for a time responsible for the AFP, all 0:08:34.090 --> 0:08:38.670 the senior ministers of these portfolios and the prime minister too, well, 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:43.920 they should all have been interrogated under the formal umbrella 0:08:44.340 --> 0:08:49.200 of the Royal Commission's Act. Now, other than the ASIO boss, 0:08:49.300 --> 0:08:53.020 Mike Burgess, we've not seen the AFP boss before the 0:08:53.059 --> 0:08:57.860 Royal Commission publicly or any minister called to give public evidence. Now, 0:08:57.900 --> 0:09:01.160 this must happen in order to restore the faith of 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:04.730 the community that this Royal Commission really will be as 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:10.530 comprehensive as Australians deserve. Now, I accept that there would 0:09:10.570 --> 0:09:14.510 be elements of testimony from all of these people that 0:09:14.570 --> 0:09:17.550 might have to be given in camera, so privately. I 0:09:17.890 --> 0:09:20.410 accept that. And that some of them may already have 0:09:20.490 --> 0:09:24.110 done this, but by and large, given it was ordinary 0:09:24.150 --> 0:09:28.180 Australians gunned down on that summer's day last year, Well, 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:32.219 then ordinary Australians deserve proximity to the truth. They deserve 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:36.580 to hear as much of this testimony in public as possible. 0:09:37.780 --> 0:09:42.350 We deserve a proper examination of whether leftist ideology of 0:09:42.390 --> 0:09:45.490 the Albanese government had a bearing on how Bondi unfolded. 0:09:46.350 --> 0:09:49.950 For example, did decisions by the Albanese government ministers to 0:09:50.010 --> 0:09:55.340 demand a greater focus on white supremacists shift resourcing of 0:09:55.380 --> 0:09:59.969 the much larger threat of Islamist extremism, did that cause 0:10:00.390 --> 0:10:04.460 capability gaps? Were things missed that should not have been 0:10:04.500 --> 0:10:09.260 missed as a result? As reported in the Australian newspaper today, 0:10:09.300 --> 0:10:13.360 there were concerns in the AFP's counter-terrorism area that suspected 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:17.800 terrorist sympathisers outnumbered the officers monitoring them at least 20 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:22.550 to 1. 20 to 1. I mean, this is why 0:10:22.570 --> 0:10:26.730 a proper interrogation of the Royal Commission staffing, a proper 0:10:27.170 --> 0:10:31.670 interrogation by the Royal Commission of staffing, of funding, of 0:10:31.850 --> 0:10:38.220 operational decisions and critically ministerial decisions, decisions of government, this 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:39.959 is why they matter as much as they do. And 0:10:41.059 --> 0:10:43.300 here's the last point I want to make. As it 0:10:43.420 --> 0:10:48.220 stands for our worst ever terror attack, This will be 0:10:48.300 --> 0:10:52.340 one of our shortest ever Royal Commissions. Now that doesn't 0:10:52.380 --> 0:10:56.800 stack up. Once this Royal Commission concludes, there will not 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:00.070 be another one. We will not have the opportunity we 0:11:00.110 --> 0:11:05.550 have now to revisit terrorism at Bondi in the same way. 0:11:06.410 --> 0:11:09.410 It's therefore incumbent on the Royal Commissioner to seek an 0:11:09.470 --> 0:11:13.510 extension to her term and for public hearings to be reopened. 0:11:14.580 --> 0:11:16.979 I mean, it's a complete farce that the head of 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:20.260 Netball Australia has given public evidence to this Royal Commission, 0:11:20.740 --> 0:11:23.840 but not the head of the Australian Federal Police. And 0:11:23.860 --> 0:11:26.640 when the only senior AFP officer to front the Royal 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.990 Commission is in and out of the witness box in 0:11:29.990 --> 0:11:33.670 38 minutes flat, well, you've got to ask what the 0:11:33.809 --> 0:11:37.910 heck is going on. How serious are we about getting 0:11:37.970 --> 0:11:43.610 to the bottom of what went wrong that terrible, terrible day? Now, 0:11:43.890 --> 0:11:47.340 I know the game being played here politically. Virginia Bell 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:50.760 will hand her Royal Commissioner's report to the Governor-General on 0:11:50.820 --> 0:11:54.180 Friday the 18th of December. And then the Prime Minister 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:57.750 will pop up, ever so briefly, just back from the 0:11:57.809 --> 0:12:01.870 G20 meeting in Miami a day earlier, and he'll say, well, 0:12:02.490 --> 0:12:04.290 thanks for the question, I haven't had a chance to 0:12:04.330 --> 0:12:07.900 read the report yet, but we'll consider it carefully. And 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:10.520 then it'll be off to the Christmas break, hoping that 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:14.040 by the time Parliament resumes in February, this will all 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:19.470 have been washed away. And for what? Police and intelligence agencies, well, 0:12:19.490 --> 0:12:23.070 they won't be any better resourced. The threat of radical Islam, well, 0:12:23.110 --> 0:12:27.370 it won't have gone away. Australians will not be any safer. 0:12:28.630 --> 0:12:36.069 This is just not good enough. Well, let's go to 0:12:36.090 --> 0:12:39.150 Canberra for the headlines. Political reporter Ruben Spargo. 0:12:40.100 --> 0:12:40.579 Good evening. 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:43.880 The Prime Minister is pushing back against warnings from China 0:12:43.980 --> 0:12:48.630 of consequences over Taiwan's inclusion in the Pacific Islands Forum. 0:12:49.030 --> 0:12:53.490 Beijing's envoy is not clarifying what those so-called consequences could be. 0:12:53.830 --> 0:12:56.650 Several regional leaders have also pulled out of the meeting 0:12:56.690 --> 0:12:58.390 in Palau at the 11th hour. 0:12:58.410 --> 0:13:03.000 The Pacific Islands Forum determines what happens here, not any 0:13:03.140 --> 0:13:03.760 other country. 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.900 Climate change, regional security and transnational crime are the key 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:10.630 issues on the agenda today. at the forum this week. 0:13:11.070 --> 0:13:14.760 Australian property prices have fallen for the fifth consecutive month 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:18.100 as high interest rates and the federal government's tax changes 0:13:18.460 --> 0:13:20.980 impact the market. Sydney could be on track for an 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:25.120 almost 20% price correction over the year if current trends 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:27.400 continue according to Cotality. 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.470 This is not the way to get young Australians into 0:13:30.530 --> 0:13:30.870 a home. 0:13:31.429 --> 0:13:32.670 We need to build more houses. 0:13:32.730 --> 0:13:35.990 We need to have a migration policy that's aligned with 0:13:36.070 --> 0:13:37.010 our housing supply. 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.760 Housing values are expected to keep falling, particularly if the 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:45.250 Reserve Bank raises interest rates again. Treasury is warning Australia 0:13:45.330 --> 0:13:49.410 risks missing out on the AI boom unless businesses embrace 0:13:49.429 --> 0:13:52.890 the technology. Fewer than one in 10 businesses say they 0:13:52.929 --> 0:13:57.890 have significantly adopted artificial intelligence. A Treasury report is also 0:13:57.970 --> 0:14:02.530 warning AI could put further pressure on an already constrained economy, 0:14:02.630 --> 0:14:05.960 pushing up inflation and potentially interest rates. 0:14:07.900 --> 0:14:09.679 All right, let's jump into what's making news out of 0:14:09.740 --> 0:14:13.370 Canberra and those reports today. But yet another Pacific leader 0:14:13.380 --> 0:14:15.550 has pulled out of what is now a very diminished 0:14:15.710 --> 0:14:19.530 Pacific Islands forum. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is there, but 0:14:20.330 --> 0:14:24.270 Fiji is not. There's no Vanuatu. And due to, we're told, 0:14:24.290 --> 0:14:27.530 the heavy hand of China, no longer is the Solomon 0:14:27.630 --> 0:14:31.140 Islands represented. Here to discuss this and more, News24 political 0:14:31.180 --> 0:14:35.290 editor Andrew Clennell. Andrew, the PM tried today to brush 0:14:35.330 --> 0:14:39.430 off those comments that China was pressuring Pacific nations not 0:14:39.530 --> 0:14:42.850 to attend, but this threat's real. The Solomon Islands, of course, 0:14:42.890 --> 0:14:46.010 was due to be there. The leader left. He's now 0:14:46.070 --> 0:14:50.190 facing a no-confidence motion by one of his pro-China opponents. 0:14:50.670 --> 0:14:53.230 But the PM, you know, he still can't bring himself 0:14:53.670 --> 0:14:57.609 to call out China's influence anywhere locally, can he? 0:15:00.060 --> 0:15:03.160 Yeah, well, he was in Fiji with that Chinese missile 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:06.460 test and expressed concern on that. But we can all 0:15:06.540 --> 0:15:09.400 see the forum's turning into a farce. So why not, 0:15:10.300 --> 0:15:14.030 you know, confront the truth, basically? I mean, you should 0:15:14.070 --> 0:15:17.590 make comments saying that it's a concern if influence is 0:15:17.650 --> 0:15:20.930 being brought to bear. Look, there are diplomatic considerations always 0:15:21.030 --> 0:15:25.670 in terms of offending various Pacific leaders. But given half 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.390 the Pacific leaders aren't there, may as well just tell 0:15:28.430 --> 0:15:33.760 people how it is. I think it's a pretty disturbing development. Obviously, 0:15:33.820 --> 0:15:39.840 Palau fired things up by inviting the Taiwanese. And, you know, 0:15:39.900 --> 0:15:41.700 the worrying thing for us is it looks like the 0:15:41.740 --> 0:15:46.460 Pacific leaders are now concerned about annoying China by attending. 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:50.340 That's what it looks like because Taiwan's invited. And that's 0:15:50.380 --> 0:15:52.800 really worrying because what else are they doing for China 0:15:52.850 --> 0:15:54.630 because they're scared of them? 0:15:56.140 --> 0:15:58.350 Yeah, well, look at the money we're pumping into the region. 0:15:58.370 --> 0:16:00.710 I mean, we literally are putting billions and billions of 0:16:00.750 --> 0:16:04.230 dollars into our region. And the message from Penny Wong 0:16:04.270 --> 0:16:06.850 and Anthony Albanese is we must do this to secure 0:16:06.910 --> 0:16:09.010 our region, to keep it out of the clutches of China. 0:16:09.670 --> 0:16:10.860 It doesn't look like it's working. 0:16:12.140 --> 0:16:15.680 Well, Maurice Payne hardly ever visited the joint, so they've 0:16:15.700 --> 0:16:16.560 done better than that. 0:16:16.700 --> 0:16:18.500 But I agree that. 0:16:20.270 --> 0:16:22.700 You'd expect more bang for your buck. The thing is, 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:25.820 it's a competition with China. China are putting plenty in. 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:28.600 I mean, it really feels like the whole thing's on 0:16:28.660 --> 0:16:31.740 tenor hooks and there are no guarantees for Australia. 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:35.280 I'll tell you what is another shocker in terms of money. 0:16:35.700 --> 0:16:40.880 What about Chris Bowen's Fiji COP31 side hustle? This is 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:45.560 one of the preliminary meetings. He's chairing it. It's in Fiji. Basically, 0:16:45.580 --> 0:16:47.960 everyone who's been invited is saying thanks, but no thanks. 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:50.840 And I want people to understand this is not Fiji's 0:16:51.580 --> 0:16:54.800 summit per se. It might be located in Fiji, but 0:16:54.820 --> 0:16:57.950 poor old Australian taxpayers are ponying up for this and 0:16:58.150 --> 0:16:58.850 it's a no-show. 0:17:00.030 --> 0:17:01.970 Yeah, I mean, I think they've said things like people 0:17:01.990 --> 0:17:03.870 are going to pay us back when they come, but 0:17:03.910 --> 0:17:08.530 if they don't come, we don't get paid back. And, look, 0:17:08.869 --> 0:17:11.190 I think it shows once you don't get that summit 0:17:11.210 --> 0:17:12.540 in Adelaide that they were after. 0:17:14.300 --> 0:17:17.600 I just don't see how worthwhile this is to Australia. Now, 0:17:17.619 --> 0:17:20.440 they will say this helps with Pacific diplomacy, for example, 0:17:20.869 --> 0:17:28.409 which we were talking about. But I feel that the 0:17:28.450 --> 0:17:30.770 Prime Minister's now got to go to Turkey as well, 0:17:30.869 --> 0:17:35.550 to COP, because we've got this sort of vice president 0:17:35.630 --> 0:17:38.659 type role, whatever that is. And I'm not sure the 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:40.600 Prime Minister need go to COP. He's got a lot 0:17:40.619 --> 0:17:42.139 of travel at the back end of the year. 0:17:42.180 --> 0:17:42.680 So.... 0:17:44.100 --> 0:17:47.119 It's all extra cost and where does it get us? 0:17:48.859 --> 0:17:52.199 Yeah, we'll talk about this because I want to make 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:53.659 it clear to people at home, of course, there's a 0:17:53.810 --> 0:17:57.350 summit season. That's what Andrew's referring to there. It's a 0:17:57.390 --> 0:18:00.570 lot of international travel. You can send other ministers. The 0:18:00.609 --> 0:18:03.409 Prime Minister doesn't have to go to all of it. 0:18:03.710 --> 0:18:05.590 This bloke loves the front end of the plane. Of course, 0:18:05.650 --> 0:18:08.600 he will be there, but he's got fires burning at home. 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:12.280 You and I... looked at this by-election on the weekend 0:18:12.380 --> 0:18:14.760 last week. Before it happened, you said that One Nation 0:18:14.780 --> 0:18:18.149 would comfortably win, will you? A right big swing in 0:18:18.170 --> 0:18:20.650 a safe Labor seat. They now have a lower house 0:18:20.690 --> 0:18:23.340 seat in the WA Parliament. Games on, of course, in 0:18:23.780 --> 0:18:27.120 Victoria and New South Wales. I'm told the big game 0:18:27.140 --> 0:18:30.280 for them is New South Wales, not so much Victoria. 0:18:30.300 --> 0:18:34.200 But Pauline's splitting plenty of time in Victoria. The numbers 0:18:34.260 --> 0:18:37.690 are still healthy in Victoria. And yet Labor's sort of 0:18:37.730 --> 0:18:40.150 pretending that this is not happening to them, it's only 0:18:40.190 --> 0:18:43.550 happening to the coalition. Well, Sacred Harbour tells you otherwise. 0:18:45.660 --> 0:18:48.080 I still think the ultimate game is to control every 0:18:48.140 --> 0:18:50.300 upper house in the country. And I can't see why 0:18:50.340 --> 0:18:55.360 they don't end up doing that, including the Senate. I mean, look, 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:59.390 I mean, anything could happen downstairs. Don't get me wrong. 0:18:59.530 --> 0:19:04.050 I mean, they could develop very big presences in lower houses. 0:19:04.850 --> 0:19:06.669 But if you look at the vote, whether it be 0:19:06.690 --> 0:19:09.790 in Victoria, I'm not as au fait with the Victorian system. 0:19:09.869 --> 0:19:10.710 You'd know more than me. 0:19:10.750 --> 0:19:13.170 But somewhere like New South Wales, even though it's always 0:19:13.230 --> 0:19:17.179 a half house election like the Senate, the Senate, the 0:19:17.220 --> 0:19:23.050 Legislative Council in Western Australia. Why can't they, certainly Queensland, well, 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:25.650 Queensland's one house, actually, now that I think about it. But, look, 0:19:26.130 --> 0:19:30.330 these other places, why wouldn't they get the balance of 0:19:30.390 --> 0:19:33.410 power with 20% to 30% of the vote? I mean, 0:19:33.430 --> 0:19:36.620 they'd probably get a bigger vote upstairs. I think we'll 0:19:36.660 --> 0:19:38.659 end up, you know, no matter what happens at the election, 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:41.459 even if Labor were to fall into power at the 0:19:41.500 --> 0:19:45.280 next election, minority or slight majority... and lose, say, 15, 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:48.700 20 seats, which I can see happening because their margin 0:19:48.760 --> 0:19:52.000 is so big, they're going to have a Senate where 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:54.080 basically they're going to have to work with the coalition 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:57.700 like never before because their alternative will be one nation 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:00.530 who are even further to the right. So I think 0:20:00.570 --> 0:20:03.369 that's a really a thing that people are sort of 0:20:03.470 --> 0:20:06.390 missing here because we're focusing on the New South Wales leader, 0:20:06.410 --> 0:20:09.650 the Victorian leader, One Nation being competitive in the House 0:20:09.670 --> 0:20:14.530 of Representatives. Think about the upper house implications of that 0:20:14.630 --> 0:20:17.840 and how much power you have with the balance of 0:20:17.900 --> 0:20:18.940 power in the upper house. 0:20:20.540 --> 0:20:20.780 All right. 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:23.179 Well, talk to me because they have power provided they 0:20:23.220 --> 0:20:27.359 keep all their MPs. Talk to me about David Farley. 0:20:27.859 --> 0:20:30.080 Lots of rumours that he's getting a bit cranky, that 0:20:30.100 --> 0:20:33.340 he's talking about going independent. He's got an ego he 0:20:33.380 --> 0:20:35.790 can't jump over. That doesn't surprise me that there is 0:20:35.850 --> 0:20:38.010 talk he would go independent. Barnaby Joyce says, well, this 0:20:38.070 --> 0:20:40.169 is not going to happen. Give me your take. 0:20:40.930 --> 0:20:42.709 Well, I think he will go independent, but I don't 0:20:42.750 --> 0:20:46.750 think it's of much consequence because he doesn't really have 0:20:46.790 --> 0:20:50.620 a presence in the House at the moment and ultimately 0:20:50.650 --> 0:20:52.080 they're going to win a lot more than one or 0:20:52.140 --> 0:20:57.120 two House of Representatives seats. So, you know, he'd just 0:20:57.140 --> 0:20:59.310 be the forgotten man if he went independent, frankly. 0:21:01.070 --> 0:21:04.190 Well, I'm going to play for my viewers, Annika Wells. 0:21:04.230 --> 0:21:08.330 Of course, she's the minister for fun and fun times 0:21:08.470 --> 0:21:11.240 who had her wings clipped because of the way she 0:21:11.260 --> 0:21:14.800 was using her entitlements. She's gone out there and used 0:21:14.859 --> 0:21:17.500 these Oshies. I mean, parents will know what they are. 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:18.780 They get sold at supermarkets. 0:21:18.859 --> 0:21:19.179 Oshies. 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:23.890 There you go. sold at supermarkets, kids love them, they're traded, etc. 0:21:24.430 --> 0:21:28.230 She uses them to try and spruik Labor's budget reforms. 0:21:28.290 --> 0:21:28.710 Have a look. 0:21:29.570 --> 0:21:32.429 What do these guys and the Australian housing market have 0:21:32.450 --> 0:21:35.330 in common? Both the ushy market and the Australian housing 0:21:35.369 --> 0:21:38.290 market are dictated by supply and demand. The problem right 0:21:38.330 --> 0:21:40.630 now is that supply of ushies and supply of housing 0:21:40.910 --> 0:21:41.610 is not keeping. 0:21:41.430 --> 0:21:45.379 Pace with demand. Can you believe she's in charge of 0:21:45.420 --> 0:21:46.379 a budget worth billions? 0:21:48.530 --> 0:21:50.990 Our news director here, Elise Holman, who has younger kids 0:21:51.010 --> 0:21:53.330 than me, Peter, informed me that Ooshies are free from 0:21:53.369 --> 0:21:55.909 Woolies if you spend a certain amount. So they're not 0:21:55.970 --> 0:22:00.940 even an equivalent type comparison, are they? Because houses cost money. But, 0:22:01.040 --> 0:22:05.560 I mean, look, I think that this is just, I mean, 0:22:05.700 --> 0:22:08.900 I just, I mean, I've just got to watch my 0:22:09.220 --> 0:22:12.510 words here because I don't want to be really, really unkind. 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:15.290 But I think, well, I've kind of said it, yes, 0:22:15.369 --> 0:22:16.710 I think Annika's lost the plot. 0:22:17.190 --> 0:22:17.650 How about that? 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:20.420 I mean, she's lost the plot. I mean, who does that? 0:22:20.500 --> 0:22:23.700 Not only has she lost the plot, and you've stopped 0:22:23.740 --> 0:22:27.729 enough politicians doing really stupid things, her staff have clearly 0:22:27.770 --> 0:22:31.510 lost the plot. Because who's ticking off on that? Who's going, 0:22:31.550 --> 0:22:32.109 that's a good idea? 0:22:32.130 --> 0:22:34.610 Mate, I didn't get them all. I didn't get Abbott's onion. 0:22:34.650 --> 0:22:37.330 If I'd seen that onion go anywhere near his mouth, 0:22:37.390 --> 0:22:38.990 I would have stopped that one, but I missed that one. 0:22:39.020 --> 0:22:41.500 Well, you didn't get Prince Philip either, but I heard 0:22:41.520 --> 0:22:42.020 you tried. 0:22:42.060 --> 0:22:42.820 But anyway, look. 0:22:42.840 --> 0:22:47.920 Oh, I tried. LAUGHTER All right, we'll leave it there. 0:22:48.300 --> 0:22:50.980 We'll start to really uncover some secrets in a moment. Thanks, Andrew. 0:22:51.460 --> 0:22:53.659 All right, now to the latest housing data. It's in 0:22:53.850 --> 0:22:57.990 absolute freefall across our major metro markets. Sydney house prices 0:22:58.010 --> 0:23:01.070 are on track for the most significant decline in 40 years. 0:23:01.090 --> 0:23:05.190 Around 40,000 has been wiped off the average home in 0:23:05.310 --> 0:23:08.740 just this winter season alone. Joining me now, independent economist 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:13.420 with EQ Economics, Warren Hogan. Well, how does this sort 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:16.129 of drop in value of what is, for most of us, 0:23:16.630 --> 0:23:19.689 our largest asset, play out, Warren? 0:23:21.490 --> 0:23:24.570 Yeah, good evening, Peter. It's not looking good at the moment. 0:23:24.710 --> 0:23:30.690 We're seeing the housing correction downturn broaden. That is, more 0:23:30.730 --> 0:23:34.400 parts of Australia are seeing prices fall and, of course... 0:23:34.770 --> 0:23:37.390 Revisions to the latest data going back over the winter 0:23:37.410 --> 0:23:40.129 months show quite a steep pace, steeper than we thought. 0:23:41.490 --> 0:23:44.290 So I think there was reported 93% of suburbs in 0:23:44.330 --> 0:23:47.770 major capital cities are now seeing price decline. So it's 0:23:47.890 --> 0:23:50.730 really more than obviously Melbourne's the worst and then Sydney, 0:23:50.750 --> 0:23:55.189 but it's happening across the nation. But I'd be careful 0:23:55.260 --> 0:23:58.940 about sort of what economists might call premature extrapolation, and 0:23:58.980 --> 0:24:01.500 that is taking what's happened in the last three months 0:24:01.560 --> 0:24:03.540 and pushing it forward over the whole year. That's where 0:24:03.560 --> 0:24:07.060 you get these ideas that the market could fall 18% 0:24:07.060 --> 0:24:11.859 or 20%, the market is starting to see the pace 0:24:11.900 --> 0:24:15.020