WEBVTT - Credlin | 22 October 0:00:07.290 --> 0:00:09.550 Good evening. Welcome to the program. Here's what's coming up 0:00:09.590 --> 0:00:13.950 tonight on Credlin. The Prime Minister demands your respect, but 0:00:14.050 --> 0:00:17.710 after dodging direct questions about his own office, accused of 0:00:17.770 --> 0:00:21.810 circulating that dirt sheet on Helen Haynes, well, he responded 0:00:21.870 --> 0:00:26.650 today in a sort of way, claiming his office document 0:00:26.690 --> 0:00:30.710 now proves her integrity. We'll cross to the streets of 0:00:30.770 --> 0:00:34.300 Paris to check in with Sophie Ellsworth. She arrived there 0:00:34.380 --> 0:00:38.150 overnight as concerns mount that this weekend we'll see a 0:00:38.370 --> 0:00:43.360 second wave of anarchy. Plus, the Bureau of Meteorology facing 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:47.200 the heat itself with fresh calls for an independent investigation 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:52.940 after a forensic audit uncovered widespread errors with historical records. 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:56.840 But this is more than a data issue. Lives are 0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:01.150 at risk and the Queensland Premier today weighed in. And 0:01:01.170 --> 0:01:04.970 Ben Robert Smith, today he broke his silence fighting five 0:01:05.030 --> 0:01:10.190 war crime murder charges against After years of allegations, tonight 0:01:10.209 --> 0:01:14.170 we'll speak with a former SAS commander who'll discuss the 0:01:14.370 --> 0:01:19.270 psychological toll this has had on veterans and how determined 0:01:19.450 --> 0:01:22.450 Ben Robert Smith is to clear his name. 0:01:23.610 --> 0:01:25.860 There is not a single part of me that would 0:01:25.900 --> 0:01:28.320 not do it all again exactly the same way. I 0:01:28.340 --> 0:01:31.000 go to bed knowing that I gave everything I had 0:01:31.340 --> 0:01:35.199 to that job and was 100% dedicated to the people 0:01:35.220 --> 0:01:37.560 I worked with and my love of Australia and I 0:01:37.580 --> 0:01:39.470 have I wouldn't change a thing. 0:01:41.690 --> 0:01:43.990 We will stay with Ben Robert Smith, the decorated war 0:01:44.050 --> 0:01:47.369 hero who today broke his silence and spoke at length 0:01:48.090 --> 0:01:51.750 about the impact of war crimes allegations on him and 0:01:51.810 --> 0:01:52.450 his family. 0:01:53.430 --> 0:01:56.490 Psychologically, that takes a toll. And there was many times 0:01:57.190 --> 0:02:02.340 in that period that I thought it might be a 0:02:02.380 --> 0:02:07.400 better option for my family if I just took my 0:02:07.420 --> 0:02:09.250 own life. And let it go. 0:02:09.630 --> 0:02:10.650 How did you come out of that? 0:02:14.490 --> 0:02:20.049 I just made the decision one day. I just decided 0:02:20.110 --> 0:02:24.369 that I couldn't do it to my kids. 0:02:27.030 --> 0:02:29.900 Now, we'll go into exactly what he's had to say 0:02:29.980 --> 0:02:33.420 today in greater depth when we speak with retired Brigadier 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:37.600 Dan Fortune. a former SAS officer and one of Australia's 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:42.370 most experienced special forces commanders, a little later. But I 0:02:42.410 --> 0:02:44.690 do want to say this here at the top of 0:02:44.710 --> 0:02:49.109 the show. When Australia sent our soldiers to fight in Afghanistan, 0:02:49.630 --> 0:02:52.250 we did not send them into a war against an 0:02:52.310 --> 0:02:55.850 opponent from a country like our own. They were shipped 0:02:56.110 --> 0:02:59.980 off just one month after the horrific events of 9-11, 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:05.160 where almost 3,000 people were killed in terror attacks, masterminded 0:03:05.419 --> 0:03:08.320 by Osama bin Laden from his training ground in the 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:12.350 mountains of Afghanistan. Like those from other Western nations, like 0:03:12.389 --> 0:03:16.400 the United States and Britain, our Australian soldiers fought with 0:03:16.570 --> 0:03:20.680 one arm tied behind their back, honorably bound as they 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:25.420 were to international rules of engagement, despite the fact that 0:03:25.460 --> 0:03:31.140 the Islamists they encountered were barbarians. And should I say 0:03:31.180 --> 0:03:35.740 they are barbarians? barbarians, given that the Taliban is back 0:03:35.900 --> 0:03:42.030 in control following President Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Kabul. Despite 0:03:42.050 --> 0:03:45.610 the thousands of lives lost and the $ 2 trillion that 0:03:45.650 --> 0:03:50.390 the war in Afghanistan costs the Western world, it's back 0:03:50.550 --> 0:03:56.320 under control of this ultra-conservative Islamic fundamentalist group, where women 0:03:56.420 --> 0:04:00.640 and children are again reduced to subhuman. where once women 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.580 were given an education while Western soldiers were in the 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:08.220 country and could move around freely with their faces uncovered, 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:12.450 now they can't even speak in public lest a man 0:04:12.490 --> 0:04:15.730 be forced to hear the voice of a female. Now, 0:04:15.750 --> 0:04:19.090 this is the sort of evil we sent our men 0:04:19.310 --> 0:04:23.250 to fight. This and to stop the mass slaughter of 0:04:23.270 --> 0:04:29.250 9-11 ever happening again. And it was men fighting. that 0:04:29.270 --> 0:04:33.169 we sent, our men. In the years since our first 0:04:33.210 --> 0:04:38.430 deployment in October 2001, we have lost our way with 0:04:38.470 --> 0:04:42.820 the constant denigration of Australian men and this so-called toxic 0:04:42.980 --> 0:04:46.440 male masculinity. But when the chips are down and a 0:04:46.500 --> 0:04:50.120 nation needs to defend the values it holds dear, never 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:53.210 forget that it is the men, and men by a 0:04:53.350 --> 0:04:56.450 whopping big majority, that are the ones we deploy to 0:04:56.470 --> 0:05:00.169 the combat zone. It is the men who lay down 0:05:00.430 --> 0:05:04.230 their lives for us. It is men who lay down 0:05:04.250 --> 0:05:07.550 their lives for our nation and it is men who 0:05:07.589 --> 0:05:10.810 die defending our values. And yet this is how we 0:05:10.890 --> 0:05:14.830 treat the best of them, hunted down and humiliated on 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.420 a tarmac at Sydney Airport, when, as we know, Ben 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:22.100 Robert Smith had offered multiple times to walk into a 0:05:22.140 --> 0:05:26.960 police station if that's what authorities wanted. The effort. 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:30.140 and the funding that went into that for so many 0:05:30.180 --> 0:05:34.560 years about something that happened in Afghanistan during my military service, 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:38.240 there is no way in any way, shape, or form 0:05:38.260 --> 0:05:40.140 that I was considered a threat by the AFP. 0:05:40.339 --> 0:05:40.640 No way. 0:05:41.250 --> 0:05:43.950 Because I'm not. I fought for this country. I was 0:05:43.990 --> 0:05:46.150 willing to die for the country. I'm not a threat 0:05:46.190 --> 0:05:49.290 to the civilian population. And all those resources continued to 0:05:49.330 --> 0:05:52.229 be used on me right up until the arrest and 0:05:52.290 --> 0:05:55.630 still today. But I think about that in the context 0:05:55.690 --> 0:05:59.110 of Bondi. Because the first statement out of the AFP 0:05:59.150 --> 0:06:02.190 was that they're under-resourced in counter-terrorism in New South Wales. 0:06:02.550 --> 0:06:05.870 And I think, well, instead of all this surveillance on me, 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:06.990 you could have just asked me to come in. I 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:07.980 would have talked to you anyway. 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.820 Now, I don't think anyone is above the law, least 0:06:12.860 --> 0:06:15.940 of all our soldiers. After all, they're the ones willing 0:06:15.980 --> 0:06:17.620 to die to protect the law of the land as 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.940 we know it. But you do not send someone into 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:25.180 battle under one set of rules, under one legal framework. 0:06:25.670 --> 0:06:29.230 to then change it a decade later and then charge 0:06:29.250 --> 0:06:34.330 an individual with war crimes as a result. Retrospective laws 0:06:34.410 --> 0:06:38.450 are laws that most politicians will rail against. And yet 0:06:38.500 --> 0:06:41.960 this is exactly what the Albanese government has handed to 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:46.040 Ben Robert Smith and every one of our Afghan veterans. 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:51.849 Worse still, they changed the rules for our military by stealth, 0:06:52.450 --> 0:06:56.940 in secret. When Ben Robert Smith went into combat in Afghanistan, 0:06:57.380 --> 0:07:00.300 he operated under a legal framework known as the Order 0:07:00.339 --> 0:07:04.660 Combat that was first defined in the Commonwealth Criminal Code 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:09.580 in 2002. And right up until Labor's Mark Dreyfus quietly 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:15.280 changed it in 2024, it had operated without controversy. But 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:18.370 then along comes the hundreds of millions spent in the 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:22.330 Brereton inquiry process that accused a lot of people of 0:07:22.390 --> 0:07:25.510 a lot of things, but that then still had not 0:07:25.650 --> 0:07:30.410 made a single arrest despite six years and all those millions. 0:07:31.430 --> 0:07:35.370 So the law was changed, changed by the Albanese government 0:07:35.930 --> 0:07:40.280 on September 11, 2024. And by God, yes, to say 0:07:40.700 --> 0:07:45.640 that date is ironic is to make light of it. 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:50.200 So the law gets changed on the same day as 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:53.980 the Twin Tower terror attacks happened. that started the whole 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:59.250 war occurred two decades earlier. And then what happens? Well, 0:07:59.670 --> 0:08:03.530 lo and behold, with a reduction in the evidentiary threshold 0:08:03.570 --> 0:08:07.610 required to charge a soldier, we see it applied retrospectively 0:08:08.350 --> 0:08:12.530 going back almost 20 years. And this is where we 0:08:12.630 --> 0:08:15.650 are today with two Australian men, two army veterans in 0:08:15.690 --> 0:08:19.890 Ben Robert Smith and Oliver Schultz, both charged with war 0:08:19.990 --> 0:08:26.950 crimes with the new law now applying retrospectively. Now, I 0:08:26.980 --> 0:08:30.660 bet Australians don't know much about this either, do they? 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:35.780 The Australian government is paying compensation to the families of 0:08:36.179 --> 0:08:37.800 dead Afghan men. 0:08:39.420 --> 0:08:40.150 How do you feel about that? 0:08:40.850 --> 0:08:44.270 I think that's a very dangerous mistake that they've made. 0:08:44.730 --> 0:08:47.630 So our government's saying, well, you're guilty, that'll happen in 0:08:47.670 --> 0:08:49.870 due course, but we're going to pay this because you've 0:08:49.890 --> 0:08:50.550 done the wrong thing. 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:52.200 What? 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:55.050 But they were doing that before I'd even been charged. 0:08:56.770 --> 0:08:59.550 It blows my mind. I mean, I'm pretty sure I 0:08:59.570 --> 0:09:03.170 was fighting for a justice system that is part of 0:09:03.210 --> 0:09:06.410 a democracy that says you're innocent until you're proven guilty. Well, 0:09:06.429 --> 0:09:10.500 everything that I fought for hasn't been afforded to me. 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:14.980 Is it any wonder Australians are so angry at the 0:09:15.059 --> 0:09:18.840 treatment of Robert Smith and every other veteran who tonight 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.780 still has a cloud hanging over their good name? While 0:09:22.820 --> 0:09:26.160 those who sent them into battle and who commanded them, 0:09:26.700 --> 0:09:37.150 the top brass in Canberra, walk away scot-free. As I said, 0:09:37.210 --> 0:09:41.890 former SAS commander, a retired brigadier, Dan Fortune, will join 0:09:41.910 --> 0:09:44.189 me later in the show. We'll go through all of 0:09:44.230 --> 0:09:49.530 those lengthy interviews in detail, including, of course, tonight's One 0:09:49.570 --> 0:09:53.410 with Ben Robert-Smith here on News 24 at 8.30. Let's 0:09:53.429 --> 0:09:55.790 get our headlines now with our political reporter, Cam Redden. 0:09:56.809 --> 0:10:01.940 Programming language PHP underpins nearly three quarters of the world's websites. 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.520 Anything that's pretty interactive on the web, whether that be 0:10:05.540 --> 0:10:07.650 your bank or government websites. 0:10:08.030 --> 0:10:12.069 While testing for security flaws, researchers working with OpenAI found 0:10:12.130 --> 0:10:15.530 what they describe as one of the most severe vulnerabilities 0:10:15.750 --> 0:10:16.370 on record. 0:10:16.650 --> 0:10:19.949 This shows the power of AI, both to help make 0:10:20.010 --> 0:10:24.449 us more secure, but also the power to expose vulnerabilities 0:10:24.690 --> 0:10:26.350 that can be used by bad actors. 0:10:26.650 --> 0:10:29.309 It's a reminder not just of the new threats posed 0:10:29.350 --> 0:10:32.850 by artificial intelligence, but also that old systems and ways 0:10:32.890 --> 0:10:37.050 of defending against cyber threats will need constant upgrading. Governments 0:10:37.110 --> 0:10:39.070 around the world are in a race not just to 0:10:39.130 --> 0:10:41.800 keep up but also to explain the dangers. 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.740 Imagine that AI is like a super squirrel. It's infinitely 0:10:45.780 --> 0:10:47.600 full of energy and it will get to the top 0:10:47.620 --> 0:10:49.420 of the branch and it will get anywhere else that 0:10:49.460 --> 0:10:51.060 it might find some nuts. 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:52.480 Cameron Redden, News 24, Canberra. 0:10:56.059 --> 0:10:59.500 All right, let's bring in my panel tonight, Thursday. News 0:10:59.500 --> 0:11:03.950 24 contributor Carolee Katzen-Barnes and Women's Forum Australia's Stephanie Bastian. 0:11:04.570 --> 0:11:07.350 Welcome to you both. We'll start with the Prime Minister today, 0:11:07.710 --> 0:11:12.870 called out again for his hypocrisy over his admonition. We're 0:11:12.910 --> 0:11:14.830 all going to take the temperature down, he says. And 0:11:15.250 --> 0:11:17.530 in the debate, the political debate following the alleged attack, 0:11:17.570 --> 0:11:22.670 of course, on Monday on Helen Haynes, he's now claiming 0:11:22.710 --> 0:11:26.910 that the dirt file on Haynes circulated by his own 0:11:27.010 --> 0:11:32.230 private office actually proves her integrity. And where were the 0:11:32.270 --> 0:11:35.430 calls then, then from the Prime Minister, to turn down 0:11:35.460 --> 0:11:40.280 the temperature about those student protests and Pauline Hanson? 0:11:41.380 --> 0:11:44.080 I'm at the students' protest against Pauline Hanson. Let's hear 0:11:44.100 --> 0:11:44.720 what they have to say. 0:11:44.780 --> 0:11:47.500 Do you guys, what would you do if Pauline Hanson 0:11:47.540 --> 0:11:48.660 were here today? 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:49.380 I'm not. 0:11:49.940 --> 0:11:51.900 I would f * * * ing shoot her. I 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:52.920 would f * * * ing hit her. 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:53.800 It's like, feel. 0:11:53.700 --> 0:11:59.189 The f * * *. Well, Carolee, he's caught red-handed. 0:11:59.210 --> 0:12:04.170 He put around a dirt sheet about Helen Haynes. Those 0:12:04.250 --> 0:12:06.349 tragic events occur, of course. He's trying to be the 0:12:06.410 --> 0:12:09.429 father of the nation and wax lyrical about it. We 0:12:09.470 --> 0:12:12.459 have to be more civil. But I don't hear him 0:12:12.500 --> 0:12:15.460 apologise for that dirt sheet and I don't hear him 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.900 back then sticking up for women like Pauline Hanson or 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:21.380 any politician who's not from his side of the fence. 0:12:22.020 --> 0:12:23.180 It's very insulting, isn't it? 0:12:23.230 --> 0:12:26.510 He must think that voters just don't remember things. 0:12:26.610 --> 0:12:28.570 I mean, he's had 24 hours now. 0:12:28.490 --> 0:12:32.050 To reconstruct a narrative as to what this sheet was 0:12:32.090 --> 0:12:34.569 meant to be. I saw him yesterday on News 24. 0:12:34.570 --> 0:12:36.880 He didn't deny it. He didn't even answer the question 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:37.660 as to what it was. 0:12:38.140 --> 0:12:38.980 It's not good enough. 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:42.260 He actually needs to take responsibility because it's. 0:12:42.179 --> 0:12:44.179 Not, you know, do as I do and do as 0:12:44.260 --> 0:12:47.940 I say. It's just not good. And he is squirming 0:12:47.990 --> 0:12:49.819 at the moment. because he doesn't know. 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:53.480 He is responsible for the temperature of the political debate 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:55.679 in Australia, and this all gets down to what you've 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:59.240 been saying regularly on your show, Peter, that it's all 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:01.620 about the digital duty of care, they want to censor 0:13:01.660 --> 0:13:03.339 the internet, and they're now saying that it's all the 0:13:03.380 --> 0:13:05.080 fault of social media that this is happening. 0:13:06.140 --> 0:13:09.429 We've also got, Stephanie, two stories today in The Prince 0:13:09.590 --> 0:13:13.550 that MPs are saying they have raised security concerns with 0:13:13.590 --> 0:13:16.170 the AFP, they don't feel that they are being taken 0:13:16.309 --> 0:13:19.569 seriously enough enough. I mean, I saw the bluster the 0:13:19.610 --> 0:13:22.220 other day from Chrissy Barrett saying, you know, it's a 0:13:22.340 --> 0:13:24.920 huge priority for us. We've got all of our resources 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:28.570 dedicated to it. Well, we know from Bondi, we know 0:13:28.590 --> 0:13:30.849 for at least the couple of years leading into the 0:13:30.910 --> 0:13:34.980 attack last December, that there's not been sufficient resources, so 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:39.079 say counter-terrorism police. I'm not sure that she's across her brief. 0:13:39.100 --> 0:13:42.520 This is Chrissy Barrett. And now you've got these threats 0:13:42.580 --> 0:13:45.260 increasing from MPs. I mean, it's fine for the PM. 0:13:45.970 --> 0:13:48.790 You and I know, Steph, he's got a big security detail, 0:13:49.370 --> 0:13:51.230 but I don't think he's taking it seriously enough. 0:13:52.550 --> 0:13:53.230 No, I don't think so. 0:13:53.290 --> 0:13:56.970 I mean, the statistic that there's at least one threat 0:13:57.010 --> 0:14:00.560 against an MP a week is a chilling statistic. There's 0:14:00.580 --> 0:14:02.819 an arrest over one threat a week for an MP 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:04.900 is a chilling statistic right there. 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:06.940 And while Albanese does have his. 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:10.280 Security detail, where was the upping of Pauline Hanson's when 0:14:10.300 --> 0:14:13.179 she requested it? The response from the Attorney General, Michelle Rowling, 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.520 was to blame her. She said that maybe Pauline needed 0:14:16.540 --> 0:14:18.530 to check her rhetoric, maybe she needed to check her. 0:14:18.490 --> 0:14:19.690 Policies, her party. 0:14:20.030 --> 0:14:22.630 There was no accountability, there was no condemnation of the 0:14:22.670 --> 0:14:25.710 attacks that many of these public figures are facing. And 0:14:25.730 --> 0:14:28.730 there's almost an increase, they're turning a blind eye or 0:14:29.130 --> 0:14:32.150 an acceptance that this sort of, on the left, this 0:14:32.450 --> 0:14:35.050 violence is a form of political resistance. We're seeing it 0:14:35.530 --> 0:14:39.140 increasingly everywhere. We saw it at that rally against Pauline 0:14:39.180 --> 0:14:41.880 Hanson by the students. We saw it with Sal Grover, 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:44.140 where she received death threats and forced her to pull 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:44.820 out of the Let. 0:14:44.700 --> 0:14:45.940 Women Speak rally. 0:14:46.500 --> 0:14:49.420 We're seeing these threats everywhere. And there's a lack of 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:53.220 condemnation by the Prime Minister, by his cabinet, by everyone involved. 0:14:53.570 --> 0:14:56.560 And now we've had this shocking situation where Helen Haynes 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:00.800 has been hit by what appears to be another left-wing 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:03.080 extremist and they've gone silent on it. 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:06.780 Well, Stephanie, I'll stay with you on this. I mean, 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:08.480 all you need to do is fix the internet. We 0:15:08.500 --> 0:15:11.590 just need a digital duty of care, the Prime Minister says, 0:15:11.660 --> 0:15:13.350 and everything will be OK. 0:15:14.410 --> 0:15:15.930 Look, that's absolutely ridiculous. 0:15:15.970 --> 0:15:19.010 Of course, any threats online should be investigated and dealt 0:15:19.030 --> 0:15:22.610 with appropriately, but they are using this to push digital ID. 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:25.990 The answer is leadership. It's condemnation. 0:15:26.090 --> 0:15:29.130 It's not giving a free pass to people who are 0:15:29.290 --> 0:15:31.790 using violence as a form of political resistance. 0:15:31.850 --> 0:15:34.490 And we've seen it at the pro-Palestinian rallies. 0:15:34.530 --> 0:15:36.690 We've seen it at the Let Women Speak rallies by 0:15:36.770 --> 0:15:40.400 trans activists. There is a lack of leadership from this government. 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:43.840 They want to use this bill to censor the internet 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:47.320 so that they can maintain their political agenda. We all 0:15:47.340 --> 0:15:51.700 know that they blamed the loss in Western Australia on algorithms. 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:54.160 This is about government control and they're hijacking a very 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.970 tragic situation to try and push this agenda. 0:15:58.770 --> 0:16:00.610 Well, I'll say again, they've got all the laws they 0:16:00.650 --> 0:16:03.830 need to lock up hate preachers right now, and they 0:16:03.870 --> 0:16:07.090 are on the internet, they have the laws, and not 0:16:07.430 --> 0:16:11.420 one has been arrested. Let's go to the Senate, if 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:13.620 I can, to Canberra. We've had two days of hearings 0:16:13.700 --> 0:16:19.000 into the grants rorts, the local and community grants rorts program, 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.680 and I'll call it a rorts program because no less 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:25.810 authority than Professor Antumi says it's grey corruption, and we 0:16:25.850 --> 0:16:28.530 also know from the analysis done by the public in 0:16:28.900 --> 0:16:33.920 Integrity Centre, 73% of those grants, Kiralee, are going to 0:16:34.140 --> 0:16:37.170 government or marginal seats that Labor needed to win at 0:16:37.190 --> 0:16:39.910 the last election. But have a listen to this exchange 0:16:40.010 --> 0:16:44.070 with Senator Bridget McKenzie. We've written a blank cheque, haven't we? 0:16:44.850 --> 0:16:46.530 Well, it's not a blank cheque, it's a cheque for 0:16:46.590 --> 0:16:48.130 a certain amount of money and they would have to 0:16:48.210 --> 0:16:49.010 scope within that. 0:16:49.820 --> 0:16:50.120 Right. 0:16:51.140 --> 0:16:55.140 So we have given them an amount of money and 0:16:55.180 --> 0:16:56.500 we are scoping accordingly. 0:16:57.020 --> 0:17:03.900 They are. They are. No, no. So $ 560 million, half 0:17:03.950 --> 0:17:06.730 a billion dollars. It's written on the cheque, but we 0:17:06.770 --> 0:17:09.050 just don't really know what it's for. How's that stack up? 0:17:09.550 --> 0:17:11.270 Well, it doesn't stack up, does it? I mean, they're 0:17:11.450 --> 0:17:14.130 altering the guidelines. It's retrospectively done. A lot of these 0:17:14.190 --> 0:17:16.570 grants were awarded in the September and, of course, the 0:17:16.630 --> 0:17:18.290 election was just a few months later. 0:17:18.150 --> 0:17:18.830 In the April. 0:17:19.170 --> 0:17:21.590 But it's interesting because, and to me, as you said, 0:17:21.630 --> 0:17:25.570 esteemed constitutional expert, She actually said that the Marrickville Golf 0:17:25.590 --> 0:17:30.300 Club was already a recipient of five federal grants, but, again, 0:17:30.540 --> 0:17:32.020 no-one quite knew what the. 0:17:31.980 --> 0:17:33.320 Value was for taxpayers. 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:35.560 She's quite right to call it grey corruption because, as 0:17:35.580 --> 0:17:39.970 you said, 73% of these seats are Labor-held and it's 0:17:40.010 --> 0:17:44.130 not demonstrating a responsible use of taxpayers' money or even 0:17:44.190 --> 0:17:46.969 how it's actually going to help individual organisations, and I'm 0:17:47.010 --> 0:17:50.010 sure that there are many other worthy organisations that happen 0:17:50.030 --> 0:17:52.020 to be in Liberal electorates that would have missed out. 0:17:52.890 --> 0:17:54.560 All right, well, if we think the Labor brand's in 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:58.740 trouble in Canberra, particularly the Prime Minister's personal trust brand, 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:02.020 let's go to Victoria. A piece today in The Age 0:18:02.060 --> 0:18:05.080 from their political editor, Chip LeGrand, says the mood is 0:18:05.220 --> 0:18:08.740 mutinous in Labor's heartland in the lead-up to the state 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:12.290 election in Victoria on the 28th of November. He talks 0:18:12.369 --> 0:18:14.810 about a focus group specifically in the Labor-held seat of 0:18:14.950 --> 0:18:18.710 Sydenham where he says the greatest issue of concern is crime. 0:18:19.410 --> 0:18:21.190 and that no one in the group thought that Labor 0:18:21.260 --> 0:18:26.080 had credible policies to combat crime. Well, Stephanie, none of 0:18:26.100 --> 0:18:27.100 this will be a surprise. 0:18:28.660 --> 0:18:29.560 No, definitely not. 0:18:29.619 --> 0:18:31.480 I mean, Labor used to be the party for the 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:34.360 working class. Now they are the party for the elites. 0:18:34.580 --> 0:18:36.720 And you have a look at what these people are 0:18:36.740 --> 0:18:40.300 suffering in the suburbs. Labor's addiction to climate change and 0:18:40.340 --> 0:18:43.320 pushing climate change policies has pushed electricity bills up. 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:45.950 There are families that are still paying for for. 0:18:45.810 --> 0:18:48.730 Last year's electricity bill, they're paying it off and they 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:52.359 haven't been able to pay for electricity this winter. The 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:55.220 government is so out of touch with reality, they're pushing 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:58.780 all these woke agendas and they're not looking after the 0:18:58.820 --> 0:19:00.720 people that need help the most. 0:19:00.859 --> 0:19:03.159 I mean, you look at crime, for example. I mean, 0:19:03.180 --> 0:19:03.920 there are people. 0:19:04.380 --> 0:19:08.430 There was a report in 2023 where magistrates were being 0:19:08.490 --> 0:19:11.230 trained on how to sentence people so that they didn't 0:19:11.270 --> 0:19:15.659 lose their visas when they'd committed serious drug and sex offences, 0:19:15.900 --> 0:19:18.879 minimising their sentence time so they didn't get deported. I mean, 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:22.480 this has all happened under the Victorian Labor government that's 0:19:22.530 --> 0:19:28.810 been in for three terms now. So it's no wonder 0:19:28.830 --> 0:19:30.670 that these members of the community are looking elsewhere. 0:19:32.830 --> 0:19:37.470 And what about the revelations, Kerri-Lee? $ 80 million on online 0:19:37.630 --> 0:19:41.340 ads paid for by Victorian taxpayers, basically to pump up 0:19:41.380 --> 0:19:44.340 the ties of then it would have been the Andrews government, 0:19:44.660 --> 0:19:47.670 the Allen government and now the Carroll government. 0:19:48.530 --> 0:19:48.970 It's not good. 0:19:48.970 --> 0:19:49.190 $ 80 million. 0:19:50.030 --> 0:19:50.930 In Facebook ads. 0:19:51.020 --> 0:19:54.659 I mean, we're 1,500 frontline police down. We've got a 0:19:54.740 --> 0:19:58.340 surplus of 2,000 graduate nurses and midwives who can't find 0:19:58.380 --> 0:20:03.580 a job in Victorian hospitals. There's crime, there's machetes, there's firefighters, 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:07.760 there's teachers. There are so many issues in Victoria and Melbourne. 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:10.840 But the other thing also is they spent $ 1. 7 million 0:20:10.940 --> 0:20:15.300 on TikTok and they also hired five so-called meta-influencers that 0:20:15.340 --> 0:20:17.869 didn't need to disclose that they were being paid by 0:20:17.890 --> 0:20:20.810 the Victorian government to spruik the SRL, which, of course, 0:20:20.869 --> 0:20:22.950 is the suburban rail loop, which was the toy train 0:20:22.990 --> 0:20:28.520 to nowhere. And this is taxpayer-funded money going to social 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:29.240 media ads. 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:30.840 It shouldn't even be needed. 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:32.699 It shouldn't be needing to be done because there are 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:34.420 a lot of problems in Melbourne. 0:20:34.780 --> 0:20:37.140 And you said earlier about the tide turning. Well, you know, 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:38.220 a lot of money. 0:20:38.460 --> 0:20:41.419 Don't forget the $ 600 million paid in compensation for the 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:45.410 Commonwealth Games that were done as a thing for Dan 0:20:45.470 --> 0:20:47.650 Andrews to be able to win a third term. There 0:20:47.710 --> 0:20:50.590 is so much wastage in this state, but it does 0:20:50.630 --> 0:20:52.370 not surprise me at all. And the fact that they're 0:20:52.390 --> 0:20:54.189 not arcing up about it, they do know that the 0:20:54.230 --> 0:20:58.410 tide is turning. Victorians are suffering. November the 28th is coming. 0:20:58.430 --> 0:21:01.120 Of course, it's all borrowed money. I'll make that point. 0:21:01.180 --> 0:21:03.600 It's all money borrowed from overseas. It has to be 0:21:03.660 --> 0:21:08.620 paid back with interest. Interestingly, you know, the New South 0:21:08.660 --> 0:21:11.370 Wales Parliament finally found a bit of a spine that 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:14.240 picked up The change in words from the New South 0:21:14.260 --> 0:21:18.230 Wales government ripping the words mother and female out of 0:21:18.270 --> 0:21:23.890 this new document about breastfeeding guidelines in the state parliament 0:21:23.950 --> 0:21:27.870 building and the public service. Here's the state opposition leader, 0:21:27.910 --> 0:21:28.650 Kelly Sloan. 0:21:29.619 --> 0:21:31.160 Why are we messing around with language? 0:21:31.380 --> 0:21:34.939 Why are we trying to rob females from something that 0:21:35.000 --> 0:21:36.960 is really special and unique for us? 0:21:37.380 --> 0:21:39.460 Whether we want it or not, we're the ones that breastfeed. 0:21:40.490 --> 0:21:43.810 So when government gets the language wrong, when they try 0:21:43.869 --> 0:21:46.939 to neutralise everything, I think they do everyone a disservice. 0:21:47.700 --> 0:21:50.000 And quite frankly, they make themselves a joke. 0:21:50.859 --> 0:21:52.659 This is why we all wonder whether the world is 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:54.060 going completely nuts. 0:21:55.940 --> 0:21:58.580 We've been talking about this for 10 years, I reckon, Steph. 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:02.370 It went viral very quickly. Chris Minns now stepped in 0:22:02.850 --> 0:22:04.909 at the dispatch box in the parliament and said that 0:22:05.050 --> 0:22:07.800 it would be overturned. But if you're going to take 0:22:07.820 --> 0:22:09.439 it out of this document, it needs to come out 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:14.520 of every hospital document, every medical document around the country. 0:22:16.380 --> 0:22:19.100 Absolutely. I mean, what a woman. Well done, Kelly Sloan, 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:19.780 for calling it out. 0:22:19.900 --> 0:22:22.740 And what she really demonstrated was the power of strong 0:22:22.780 --> 0:22:26.420 female leadership because they've now reversed this policy and they're 0:22:26.530 --> 0:22:31.750