Speaker 1: From the Skying Center. This is Paul Murray live.
Speaker 2: Can I get evening, especially to our mates in Southeast Queensland.
Speaker 2: We will be on the ground with you tomorrow night
Speaker 2: and all weekend.
Speaker 1: For the most obvious of reasons.
Speaker 2: Before I get into the latest and we get to
Speaker 2: a reporter who has been watching people prepare and gives
Speaker 2: us the latest from Southeast Queensland, particularly the Gold Coast.
Speaker 2: In a second, can I say something now that I'm
Speaker 2: probably not going to get the chance to say for
Speaker 2: the next couple of days, and I think a lot
Speaker 2: of people feel it. These events are not about politicians.
Speaker 2: They shouldn't be used by politicians. They should, of course
Speaker 2: be about the people and giving as much information as possible.
Speaker 2: Now we know why the Prime Minister is in Southeast Queensland.
Speaker 2: Queensland can't stand him, so he's going to try to
Speaker 2: use this to look like the leader. Here's the reality.
Speaker 2: The people who will do the emergency services work. They
Speaker 2: work for the state government or they are part of
Speaker 2: local government. The federal government does have some money here,
Speaker 2: and yes they throw some extra.
Speaker 1: Troops at it.
Speaker 2: But watching the Prime Minister begin a period of carrying
Speaker 2: on today and bringing ministers who are just frankly being
Speaker 2: publicized as local labor MPs. It's not okay with me,
Speaker 2: and thankfully there are other people who view this. An
Speaker 2: opinion section in the Courier Mail this afternoon says, this
Speaker 2: morning the Prime Minister visitor of the State Coordination Center
Speaker 2: a companied by the federal Sports Minister, Anika Wells. Anika
Speaker 2: Wells is the Sports Minister and the Age Care Minister.
Speaker 2: She has no relevance to this whatsoever, but she's a
Speaker 2: member for Lily and they are afraid that she may
Speaker 2: lose her seat, so she gets front and center. She
Speaker 2: along with the Prime Minister, are wasting some people's time here.
Speaker 2: We need the people to know that they're doing it
Speaker 2: and focused on what they're doing, not being dragged away
Speaker 2: to entertain politicians as our state braces for the worst.
Speaker 2: Mister Ravenezy's visit amounts to a shameless grab for votes
Speaker 2: ahead of the looming election. Labor looks set to lose
Speaker 2: Queensland is aren't stupid? This Albo and Alfred show is
Speaker 2: just an There is an exception, of course, and that
Speaker 2: is the state Premier.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: I come from a different era when it wasn't state
Speaker 2: premiers who were the ones who.
Speaker 1: Were sort of m seeing these things.
Speaker 2: Instead it was the head of the rural fire Service,
Speaker 2: the head of the sees. But now, particularly after Anna
Speaker 2: Bly the best part of what ten years ago when
Speaker 2: it came to the floods. Back then, all politicians and
Speaker 2: certainly at the state level, they become the chief spokesperson
Speaker 2: for everyone connected into the government. So I don't think
Speaker 2: I think it's important to the prime ministers across it.
Speaker 2: But I think the idea that the Prime Minister is
Speaker 2: going to stand there and soak up time on the
Speaker 2: hour every hour, or popping up somewhere else and standing
Speaker 2: next to Labor Party MPs, that is desperately trying to
Speaker 2: prop up. I know I'll cop flak for it, but
Speaker 2: I'm saying it now before the things get serious. Best
Speaker 2: be out of the way, not front and center. But
Speaker 2: this prime minister is of course shameless. The people I
Speaker 2: want to hear from is not just the premier, but
Speaker 2: I want to hear from the emergency officials. I want
Speaker 2: to hear from the people who actually do the work,
Speaker 2: because I'll tell you the truth, be it COVID or
Speaker 2: be it an earthquake, or be it a bush fire,
Speaker 2: be it a flood.
Speaker 1: Or be it a tropical cyclone.
Speaker 2: The experts are the ones who are briefing the politicians.
Speaker 2: I want to hear from the people who are the experts.
Speaker 2: I want to hear about their theories about whether things
Speaker 2: are getting better or worse, whether it's going to land here,
Speaker 2: whether it's going to move this way or that way.
Speaker 2: The granular detail matters. Yes, the opportunity is there, and
Speaker 2: if we have the opportunity to talk with the Queen's
Speaker 2: Land Premiere, I gladly will. But the Prime Minister laying
Speaker 2: on top of all of this, I've got my issues
Speaker 2: so too.
Speaker 1: What is about to bear down?
Speaker 2: Yes, I know we're a couple of days out and
Speaker 2: some people may say, hey, let's talk about it when
Speaker 2: it's here. No, let's talk about it now, because now's
Speaker 2: the time you can prepare. Hopefully this thing is not
Speaker 2: as bad as it seems. But if it is as
Speaker 2: bad as it seems, Southeast Queen's Land and an awful
Speaker 2: lot of people are in real trouble. Anywhere between twenty
Speaker 2: thirty thousand homes anywhere from the top of the Sunshine
Speaker 2: Coast to the top of the north coast of New
Speaker 2: South Wales are going to be in the eye of
Speaker 2: this thing.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: It's either going to be heavy rain, it's going to
Speaker 2: be strong winds, it's going to be the storm surge.
Speaker 2: A lot of properties in Queensland are right up against
Speaker 2: the beach, so there's lots of things to pay attention
Speaker 2: to here today. Local councils, and I've got to say
Speaker 2: a massive shout out to the local councils in southeast
Speaker 2: Queensland the way that they respond. They are the ones
Speaker 2: who offer the free sandbacks, and there have been hundreds
Speaker 2: of thousands of them that have been handed out. People
Speaker 2: have had to wait hours for them, but Queensland has
Speaker 2: been Queenslanders. They take it all in their stride. But
Speaker 2: well donder the councils that have provided these things, and
Speaker 2: they don't provide it two days before they do it
Speaker 2: for the best part of all of this week. Here
Speaker 2: are some of the people who have been doing that
Speaker 2: to prepare if the water gets anywhere near the little
Speaker 2: breaks under the door or towards their home that hopefully
Speaker 2: it won't be higher than the fortresses they are building
Speaker 2: as we speak. Apparently we limited to twenty five so Yeah,
Speaker 2: you're going to get them as you.
Speaker 3: Try and get the lot. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Oh myself, neighbors down the road.
Speaker 5: I've just moved into a new house, so I'm really
Speaker 5: not sure how it's going to behave yeah through this
Speaker 5: weather events. So yeah, better be safe than sorry.
Speaker 2: Not just sandbags, lots of other things people are doing also,
Speaker 2: so important message came from the Queensland government today. If
Speaker 2: you've got solar panels, turn them off now. Obviously these
Speaker 2: things may blow around, may be pulled off from roofs,
Speaker 2: but they're saying turn off the systems right now rather
Speaker 2: than trying to secure them. Certainly, don't do what a
Speaker 2: couple of people have done, which is to put the
Speaker 2: sandbags on those things, because of course things are going
Speaker 2: to blow around and those things become projectiles. Here's more
Speaker 2: people getting ready. What are they doing in southeast Queensland.
Speaker 2: Remember we're not talking about a little bit. We're talking
Speaker 2: about the vast majority of Queensland's population that sits anywhere
Speaker 2: from the Sunny coast to the border.
Speaker 6: It's a sensible thing to do right now to pack
Speaker 6: up so that we're not having to pack up in
Speaker 6: the full on cyclone winds tomorrow.
Speaker 7: So here.
Speaker 1: Oh pretty much. God is there's no water in that.
Speaker 1: It's all gone. So I've gone with coconut water to
Speaker 1: replace it.
Speaker 2: Ands that's pretty much I'm going to be trying to
Speaker 2: live off.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I'm pretty scared about it. So and we've been
Speaker 8: told to in a take all caution, so I think
Speaker 8: everyone should be serious to do that.
Speaker 2: One of the officials I want to hear a lot
Speaker 2: from is the Lord Mayor of Brisbane. Unlike most places,
Speaker 2: Brisbane basically has one giant local council area that is
Speaker 2: the Metropolitan Area of Brisbane, which means that a little
Speaker 2: bit like a mayor in the United States, they're not
Speaker 2: just talking about their little pocket. They are talking about
Speaker 2: the entire capital and future Olympic city. He's Adrian Shrinner.
Speaker 3: People should not be out tomorrow and the next day
Speaker 3: at the very least. It is a personal safety matter
Speaker 3: and we're certainly encouraging everyone in the community tomorrow Friday.
Speaker 3: Please stay indoors. It is the safest place for you,
Speaker 3: all right.
Speaker 1: Get to Jonathan Lee in a second. He's standing by.
Speaker 2: He's been watching all of this and the preparations. But
Speaker 2: let's get to sky on his weather. The very latest
Speaker 2: about exactly what he's going to be the potential hit
Speaker 2: zone of what he's being at this moment, colloquially referred
Speaker 2: to as Cyclone Alphie.
Speaker 9: The wind and the rain will increase through Thursday along
Speaker 9: the East coastline, but the worst of the weather is
Speaker 9: now expected to arrive on Friday, as tropical Cyclone Alfred
Speaker 9: is likely to reach the coast later. There's even a
Speaker 9: chance it won't make landfall until Saturday. The most dangerous
Speaker 9: part of the system could easily be the storm surge,
Speaker 9: where the water levels could rise very high and into
Speaker 9: people's homes.
Speaker 2: Now again, talking to people on the Sunny coast this evening,
Speaker 2: get to them watching right now again. Their expectations are
Speaker 2: things are going to be a little bit closer to Brisbane.
Speaker 1: But keep an eye on all of those maps and
Speaker 1: keep yourself safe, all right.
Speaker 2: Jonathan Lee is in Burley Burly Heads, which is of
Speaker 2: course on the southern part of the Gold Coast. Mate,
Speaker 2: what have you seen today as people get ready for
Speaker 2: a heck of a weekend.
Speaker 1: Yeah, good eating to you, Paul.
Speaker 5: Please don't think that I'm a poor imitation of a DJ.
Speaker 5: It just starts to get hard at times.
Speaker 7: To hear from you.
Speaker 5: The squally gets up and we've just nearly got knocked
Speaker 5: off our feet.
Speaker 10: It's been a heck of a day, to be honest.
Speaker 5: There's a lot of people who are deeply unnerved with
Speaker 5: what's coming and what's headed their way. As you talked
Speaker 5: about before, you're looking at the better part of around
Speaker 5: four million people southeast Queensland, over the border of the
Speaker 5: Tweed community and then down into the northern rivers of
Speaker 5: New South Wales, which just continues to be beaten and
Speaker 5: bashed over the last fifteen years with flood after flood.
Speaker 5: Your heart really goes out to those people. In particular.
Speaker 5: We're looking at hundreds of thousands of sandbags which have
Speaker 5: gone out to communities. We're being told that more people
Speaker 5: have snapped them up, especially in the Redlands Bay area,
Speaker 5: which is where this cyclone is expected to cross, in
Speaker 5: ways they've never done before. Lines six seven hours long
Speaker 5: for people to get sandbags. People turning up with things
Speaker 5: like trolleys, trying to get in front of the cars
Speaker 5: as best they can to get their sandbags to get away.
Speaker 5: There's a lot of people deeply, deeply nervous about all
Speaker 5: of this. One of the things that been seriously concerned
Speaker 5: about is this tidal flow. If the cyclone was to
Speaker 5: hit at the peak of high around the two am mark,
Speaker 5: that would end up pushing that wall of water even
Speaker 5: further down the rivers and creeks, which would do even
Speaker 5: more damage to the homes, which obviously live a longest.
Speaker 5: It starts to look at this point in time, though,
Speaker 5: that we might end up seeing the tropical cyclone crossing
Speaker 5: later than expected. What will that mean If it's Saturday
Speaker 5: morning instead of Friday, we might lose some of that intensity,
Speaker 5: which would be good for the Queensland homes. They're the
Speaker 5: ones I worry most about. You might live in a
Speaker 5: pretty Queenslander, but if the house down the street hasn't
Speaker 5: been renovated like yours, and it hasn't gone through a
Speaker 5: cyclone for the past fifty years, you might find that
Speaker 5: that ends up in your backyard. That's the sort of
Speaker 5: stuff you've got to be worried about, especially if you
Speaker 5: live on stumps and you haven't had a decent weather event,
Speaker 5: or this is going to be the biggest weather event
Speaker 5: on the Gold Coast in seventy years. That's the sort
Speaker 5: of thing people are talking about. So we start to
Speaker 5: look at the intensity of the cyclone itself on the
Speaker 5: level of rain. If it doesn't come in until Saturday,
Speaker 5: it looks like it perhaps might not be as intense,
Speaker 5: but we'll end up seeing more rain. How that plays out, well,
Speaker 5: that'll impact on the communities living either along the rivers
Speaker 5: and the creeks and the tributaries, or where the water
Speaker 5: will end up in, like communities like Rosalie, which is
Speaker 5: in a low Brisbane has a lot of valleys throughout
Speaker 5: the city and that's where that water ends up going.
Speaker 5: We spoke to some people who were waiting here today
Speaker 5: having a gork at the incredible waves, the thumping waves
Speaker 5: which have been rolling in. One of the gentlemen we
Speaker 5: spoke to said he's actually staying in the caravan about
Speaker 5: one hundred and fifty meters away. Let's have a listen
Speaker 5: to what the locals were telling us.
Speaker 3: Yeah, everyone's saying different things.
Speaker 1: Some people saying, Betty go stay.
Speaker 7: It's got a fizzle hour when it hits land.
Speaker 1: So I don't really know.
Speaker 3: I'm It's anyone's guess.
Speaker 1: Isn't it.
Speaker 4: I I've just obviously moved uff around the house. Yeah,
Speaker 4: just to prepare for I suppose what's expected. Yeah, it
Speaker 4: might have sort of bit surreal at the moment you
Speaker 4: sort of yeah, it's obviously not too windy, but a
Speaker 4: little bit of rain. But yeah, next thirty hours or yeah.
Speaker 2: Now, John, I was just going to ask about, you know,
Speaker 2: the Gold Coast in particular here where up Stay Runaway Bay.
Speaker 2: You've got a whole bunch of those houses, newer houses,
Speaker 2: but they are basically, you know, right up and off
Speaker 2: the major coastline. A whole bunch of other things down
Speaker 2: around Labrador Southport, and obviously we make our way through
Speaker 2: into the canals in and around the Gold Coast.
Speaker 1: The surge in.
Speaker 2: Water is going to be part of the problem here. Again,
Speaker 2: it's not just what comes down, it's what comes up.
Speaker 2: It's what's happening a couple of streets over of what
Speaker 2: you've been able to put together of the picture of
Speaker 2: the Gold Coast through say the mayor officials, briefings. People
Speaker 2: you're talking about be as specific as you want to,
Speaker 2: you know, suburb by a suburb if you wish, But
Speaker 2: what are the areas of the Gold Coast in particular
Speaker 2: that are of concern?
Speaker 5: Oh, Paul, I think you've just now them all on
Speaker 5: the head anyone who's living along a tributary and inlet.
Speaker 10: That was very good what you just said.
Speaker 5: Gold Coast is famous for those who live along the waterways,
Speaker 5: and that's where this is going to rise up and
Speaker 5: likely damag The Premier today was making the point that
Speaker 5: they're going to be prepositioning assets along those areas and
Speaker 5: routes to try and get assistance to people where they can,
Speaker 5: especially for instance, if they're going to be cut off.
Speaker 5: There's talk here that people should expect to lose power
Speaker 5: for five to seven days to make sure that they've
Speaker 5: got the food and the water needed if they're going
Speaker 5: to be cut off. So that's a very real danger
Speaker 5: if you've got your house backing onto a canal and
Speaker 5: you start to find the water coming and lapping at
Speaker 5: your back door going over the pool, So very real.
Speaker 5: As we said, it's the biggest weather event to strike
Speaker 5: this region in seventy odd years. The last cyclone I
Speaker 5: covered was two thousand kilometers north of here. That was
Speaker 5: in Cooktown. I covered another in Cairns where we traveled
Speaker 5: on a chopper sixteen hours to get there to make
Speaker 5: sure we had a chop a preposition to cover the story, and.
Speaker 7: We needed to.
Speaker 5: Cyclones don't come this far south. They're not supposed to.
Speaker 5: We've been hearing about the water being warmer than expected
Speaker 5: and warmer than the Coral Sea, which is the reason
Speaker 5: perhaps why it's hovered around and gone parallel to the
Speaker 5: coast here. It's not unusual. It's not to say that
Speaker 5: it's never happened before, but you don't normally expect to
Speaker 5: be covering a cyclone in your back door when it
Speaker 5: comes to the Gold Coast or southeast Queensland. With this
Speaker 5: thing crossing the CB depot.
Speaker 1: Good on your mate.
Speaker 2: We'll see you in person tomorrow and we'll have you
Speaker 2: on the show of course tomorrow night. We'll be there
Speaker 2: all the way through everything over the next few days.
Speaker 2: Thoughts by the way, and strength and love to everyone
Speaker 2: who's on stratty, Bribe islands, lots of other areas that,
Speaker 2: of course are going to be in the eye of
Speaker 2: all of this thing.
Speaker 1: Yes, we are talking about it a lot.
Speaker 2: It is potentially a couple of days away anywhere from
Speaker 2: Friday morning through to Saturday morning. But the effects of
Speaker 2: it are real important and as easy going as Queensland
Speaker 2: as our Please take it as seriously as it is
Speaker 2: being suggested, it's not just a Queensland issue. We'll get
Speaker 2: to the northern rivers of New South Wales, that northern
Speaker 2: half that has already gone through so many problems when
Speaker 2: it comes to flooding and mates in Lismore and further north.
Speaker 1: We'll get the wall of that in a moment or
Speaker 1: two time.
Speaker 2: But back to the point I was making about the
Speaker 2: Prime Minister and why he's got to be very careful
Speaker 2: about how he inserts himself into this thing. Again, it's
Speaker 2: a time when people don't want showboating. They're not interested
Speaker 2: in any way, shape or form. That goes for the
Speaker 2: media too, of course, which is why you keep your distance,
Speaker 2: but you tell the story. Okay, that's going to be
Speaker 2: our plans, an opportunity for us to stand and do
Speaker 2: silly things. It's again just to give information to people
Speaker 2: and to be able to spread that news across the country.
Speaker 2: So the Prime Minister has to take it carefully. And
Speaker 2: as I say, it's not a time for politicians, it's
Speaker 2: a time for information, and if the politician is giving
Speaker 2: information that should be the premiere or anything above that.
Speaker 2: I think it's a post game. But I'm sure I'll
Speaker 2: be criticized for saying. So, here's the reality across the
Speaker 2: country right now. The preferred prime Minister is not Anthony Arbernezi,
Speaker 2: which is why he would, in the cynical part of things,
Speaker 2: be hoping or the people around him, if I want
Speaker 2: to be uncharitable to them, think there's an opportunity to
Speaker 2: change this.
Speaker 1: But have a look at this.
Speaker 2: In Queensland, the preferred prime minister is well and truly
Speaker 2: Peter Dutton. Anthony Arbernesi doesn't even have a third of
Speaker 2: the votes in Queensland.
Speaker 1: He needs to.
Speaker 2: Treat it very carefully in the next few days. As
Speaker 2: for his job performance nationally, fifty six percent of people
Speaker 2: say he's doing a poor or very poor job, sixty
Speaker 2: percent in Queensland. As for the direction that the country
Speaker 2: is heading, in a few more detail about some pollingd
Speaker 2: that we got out of the turble times otherwise known
Speaker 2: in the Garden Guddion via the Essential organization. When it
Speaker 2: comes to the right track the wrong track for both
Speaker 2: the Prime Minister and Peter Dutton to be fighting what
Speaker 2: seems to be the early days of the election could
Speaker 2: be well called this weekend. The expectation of it being
Speaker 2: called maybe as late as Monday. Otherwise we're off to
Speaker 2: a budget and then we are looking at something closer
Speaker 2: to May rather than the April election. Forty nine percent
Speaker 2: of Australian say we're headed in the wrong direction. Just
Speaker 2: a third of people say that we are headed in
Speaker 2: the right direction. And in terms of the number of
Speaker 2: people who are certain about which way they're going to vote,
Speaker 2: have a look at this.
Speaker 1: Fifty two percent of people.
Speaker 2: Say, bang lock me in, I'm done, So they've already
Speaker 2: decided whether they're going team red, team blue, team yellow,
Speaker 2: team team orange, whatever they're going to be. There is
Speaker 2: the best part of thirty five percent of people who
Speaker 2: say that they can change their mind, but have a
Speaker 2: look at this. Thirteen percent of people say no decision
Speaker 2: has been made yet. Put simply that forty seven percent
Speaker 2: of people is of course where the election is going
Speaker 2: to be fought. But once you start to dig down
Speaker 2: into the information, we might be working out where these
Speaker 2: people who haven't made any decision are hiding their votes
Speaker 2: when it comes to talking to the polls. Now, this
Speaker 2: could be something that will surge labor when it comes
Speaker 2: to preferences and get them across the line. Probably not
Speaker 2: as a majority government, but closer to a majority than
Speaker 2: anyone else. Or if they're about to make a big
Speaker 2: change and go to a minor party that will preference
Speaker 2: the Libs or vote for the Libs, then obviously it
Speaker 2: is going to be game over for the existing government.
Speaker 1: But have a look.
Speaker 2: Remember the red line are the people who have not
Speaker 2: made a decision yet yet. When they are telling posters
Speaker 2: about whom they're going to vote for, it looks like
Speaker 2: they're hiding their vote right now in none of the above,
Speaker 2: the independent or other parties. Now whether these are people
Speaker 2: saying that they want to vote for a local teal
Speaker 2: but in actual fact, twenty percent of them have made.
Speaker 1: No decision yet.
Speaker 2: So a lot of people are looking granularly at each
Speaker 2: of the seats, and how many people are going to
Speaker 2: go something other than the major parties, Well, twenty percent
Speaker 2: of that vote hasn't even begun the process of making
Speaker 2: a decision. Still the best part of what thirty eight
Speaker 2: percent should have warned the glasses tonight. Thirty eight percent
Speaker 2: of people they say that they are flexible. But all
Speaker 2: of that fascinating and important to watch now. Of course,
Speaker 2: if the news events don't help the Prime Minister, Well,
Speaker 2: guess what your money apparently will. One of the ways
Speaker 2: that this government is able to keep flogging its bad
Speaker 2: ideas is with your money via public information campaigns. The
Speaker 2: longer you put off an election, the more of it
Speaker 2: you can spend. Because, of course, while the taxpayer essentially
Speaker 2: is paying for Labor Party advertising when you call an election,
Speaker 2: it's the Labour Party that has to pay well under
Speaker 2: our team today because figures have revealed during Senate estimates
Speaker 2: about seventy million dollars of advertising is in the future
Speaker 2: made in Australia fund the supporting Australians and the Stage
Speaker 2: three tax cuts, remember the two little too late. They've
Speaker 2: still got seventy million bucks of all of what they promised,
Speaker 2: which was about a quarter of a billion dollars still
Speaker 2: to spend. The federal government spent thirty five and a
Speaker 2: half million dollars talking about it's net zero transition twenty
Speaker 2: two when it comes to its tax cuts, where again
Speaker 2: plenty more to go, and promoting itself when it comes
Speaker 2: to cost of living.
Speaker 1: So watch this space.
Speaker 2: They use your money, which is why they put off
Speaker 2: an election for as long as possible.
Speaker 1: Now, something that's probably not front of mine.
Speaker 2: It's not about cyclones, it's not about elections, but it
Speaker 2: is something that is I think part of the picture
Speaker 2: about why certain crimes have taken off around the country
Speaker 2: but are particularly focused in Victoria. I'm talking here about
Speaker 2: illegal tobacco. Now, there has been an explosion in the
Speaker 2: number of tobacco shops that are around the country. I'm
Speaker 2: making no suggestion about the images of what we are
Speaker 2: showing here, but that's an illustration, of course, of what
Speaker 2: a tobacco shop will look like. Well, we learned this
Speaker 2: week that actual illegal cigarettes or illegal tobacco products are
Speaker 2: now overtaking the legal product. Sixty minutes apart from the
Speaker 2: little tickle lego the Prime Minister, they did a fascinating
Speaker 2: story about the world under Nick McKenzie where they were
Speaker 2: talking about how about ten years of excessive taxation which
Speaker 2: has now made cigarettes so ludicrously expensive. Is part of
Speaker 2: the problem here because the crap that comes in from overseas,
Speaker 2: apparently with some support of the Chinese Navy.
Speaker 1: I'll get to that in a couple of days time.
Speaker 2: Well, all of that, of course, it's becoming cheaper and
Speaker 2: the better option for people because there's more places selling it.
Speaker 2: There's fewer people actually checking if they're selling it, and
Speaker 2: the taxes are too high.
Speaker 10: What's concerning, though, is not only the level of violence,
Speaker 10: but why this thuggery started in the first place. By
Speaker 10: taxing cigarettes so exorbitantly in an attempt to stop people smoking,
Speaker 10: what the government has inadvertently created is a thriving black
Speaker 10: market worth five billion dollars a year.
Speaker 2: Also important to note here too, is that once the
Speaker 2: illegal product, I mean, much of the attention that has
Speaker 2: been made from multiple governments over multiple years, and remember
Speaker 2: we're going right back to Rudguillard, Rudd into all of
Speaker 2: the liberal governments into the current government that have been
Speaker 2: constantly jacking up tobacco taxes. They've said that they're putting
Speaker 2: all of the effort into stopping the tobacco getting into
Speaker 2: the country. Well, clearly that's failing, because now more people
Speaker 2: are smoking the illegal stuff than the legal stuff. And
Speaker 2: one of the things that came out of that report
Speaker 2: on sixty minutes is that once it gets here, basically
Speaker 2: no one's tracking how it ends.
Speaker 1: Up in one of your local smoke shops.
Speaker 11: Once these products were past the border, then there was
Speaker 11: really no one domestically who was capable and resourced to
Speaker 11: address the distribution of the I listed product.
Speaker 2: And Victoria Police agree with the idea that if taxes
Speaker 2: have gone up so high that the product becomes so expensive,
Speaker 2: then people start looking for the cheapest stuff that is
Speaker 2: just as freely available.
Speaker 10: Detective Superintendent Jason Kelly, head of Victoria's Anti Gang's Division,
Speaker 10: He says the increase in the tax apply to tobacco
Speaker 10: has inflamed the problem.
Speaker 12: The gap between the illicit product and the legitimate product
Speaker 12: is there is a fairly significant gap, and serious and
Speaker 12: organized crime leveraged off the fact that they can import
Speaker 12: elicit tobacco and pay minimal amounts of money, which competes then,
Speaker 12: of course, with legitimate packs of cigarettes and tobacco.
Speaker 1: Now, as you know, I am a smoker. Dumbest decision
Speaker 1: of my life. Right.
Speaker 2: This is not about me trying to find some clever
Speaker 2: way of talking about or promoting, but it's about a
Speaker 2: conversation which is the government is addicted to the revenue
Speaker 2: and the revenue is not having the effect that they wanted,
Speaker 2: which was the higher the prices, the fewer the number
Speaker 2: of smokers. So you end up with smokers who go
Speaker 2: looking for cheaper products. Those are funding illegal gangs in
Speaker 2: this country. So government will turn a and say we
Speaker 2: want to keep the revenue, oh, but will go even
Speaker 2: harder after stopping this stuff. The reality is we have
Speaker 2: seen that it has not worked, that it does not work,
Speaker 2: so there has to be a conversation about just how
Speaker 2: high these taxes are. So people start moving back to
Speaker 2: the legal product and we start to starve the money
Speaker 2: of the illegal gangs. Let me show you all of
Speaker 2: this now, since two thousand and five, over the past
Speaker 2: say twenty years, there has been an ever growing amount
Speaker 2: of money that the government takes through higher tobacco taxes.
Speaker 2: It goes from five to eight to expectations this year
Speaker 2: of eleven billion dollars, more than double the amount that
Speaker 2: they were taking twenty years ago.
Speaker 1: So the logic was.
Speaker 2: That all of the smokers will they would eventually give
Speaker 2: up because of the price, but because of this crap
Speaker 2: that's on the streets, they're not. These are the numbers
Speaker 2: from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Three and
Speaker 2: a half million smokers in two thousand and five and
Speaker 2: no change, in fact, a slight increase over the past
Speaker 2: ten years. So the price has gone up double double
Speaker 2: when it comes to taxes in the past twenty years.
Speaker 2: As you can see, in the past ten years, no
Speaker 2: change in the number of people that the federal government
Speaker 2: is counting as smokers. That means that the tax situation
Speaker 2: is not the situation that will stop people smoking. We
Speaker 2: need to bring down those taxes so people go back
Speaker 2: to the legal product. Clearly that's the number that want
Speaker 2: to smoke. That's their decision. We are all fools for
Speaker 2: doing it. But someone somewhere is going to have.
Speaker 1: To deal with this.
Speaker 2: But of course it'llaw'll be too hard basket because anyone
Speaker 2: who's talking about dropping tobacco taxes somehow will of course
Speaker 2: be someone definitely trying to get the next generation of smoke.
Speaker 1: No. I just want the illegal gangs.
Speaker 2: Out of the suburbs because there are so many of
Speaker 2: these smoke shops and the standover is happening in almost
Speaker 2: every suburb in the country.
Speaker 1: It needs to change.
Speaker 2: The big speech today from Donald Trump, I thought was fanning. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it was two hours. If you're not a Trump fan,
Speaker 2: you didn't like any of it. But if you are, oh,
Speaker 2: I loved every second of it, especially the suki suki Democrats,
Speaker 2: even when he was saying things like we are we've
Speaker 2: introduced laws to make sure that people who are known
Speaker 2: criminals we booted out of the country. Such was their
Speaker 2: hate for Trump, they couldn't get off their ass. No, no, no,
Speaker 2: they were playing to their very small little wedge. And
Speaker 2: there was a lot of serious stuff, and there was
Speaker 2: the Ukraine stuff, and there was trade war stuff.
Speaker 1: But this moment his old.
Speaker 2: School USA Showbiz and signed me up for four years
Speaker 2: of this baby.
Speaker 13: Joining us, said the gallery. Tonight, there is a young
Speaker 13: man who truly loves our police.
Speaker 1: His name is DJ.
Speaker 13: Daniel is thirteen years old and he has always dreamed
Speaker 13: of becoming a police officer. But in twenty eighteen, DJ
Speaker 13: was diagnosed with brain cancer. The doctors gave him five
Speaker 13: months at most to live. That was more than six
Speaker 13: years ago. And tonight, DJ, We're going to do you
Speaker 13: the biggest honor of them all. I am asking our
Speaker 13: new Secret Service Director Sean Curran to officially make you
Speaker 13: an agent of the United States Secret Service.
Speaker 1: I love that. I love that.
Speaker 2: I know it's showbies, I know I love every second
Speaker 2: of that. I really do as I do the local
Speaker 2: mayors because they are the ones who are dealing with communities,
Speaker 2: and let's talk to the ones in the northern part
Speaker 2: of New South Wales right now. One is well known
Speaker 2: to you, Steve Craig, of course, who is the Lismore mayor.
Speaker 2: And joining us as well right now is Sharon Cordwalder,
Speaker 2: who is the Balan mayors.
Speaker 1: Hello, and nice to talk to you, Steve. I'll get
Speaker 1: you in a second, but Sharon, let's deal with you first.
Speaker 2: When this thing rolls down at some point, there's going
Speaker 2: to be an impact on your community. What are the
Speaker 2: preparations that have been happening in northern New South Wales.
Speaker 14: Well, Paul, we're absolutely prepared this time, unlike twenty twenty
Speaker 14: two when we're absolutely caught out big time. The preparations
Speaker 14: that have been in place are as good as they
Speaker 14: can be. I think at this particular point in time,
Speaker 14: obviously I'm anxious like everybody else in the community. It's
Speaker 14: something that is unpredictable. We don't know, but then again
Speaker 14: we're expecting a category two, not a three, four or five.
Speaker 14: So yes, it could be worse. But we're not used
Speaker 14: to dealing with cyclones either. We're used to dealing with floods.
Speaker 14: And we've certainly got some learnings from the twenty twenty
Speaker 14: two floods, but for us, we're not used to dealing
Speaker 14: with high winds, scale force winds, and that's what we're
Speaker 14: experiencing right now. And we've still got families in pod
Speaker 14: villages and of course they were only built to withstand
Speaker 14: one hundred kilometer winds and they are being evacuated. Caravan
Speaker 14: parks are being evacuated as we speak. But we're a
Speaker 14: resilient community. Hate that we're resilient, but we're strong. But
Speaker 14: we're even stronger when we unite together, and that's what
Speaker 14: we're doing right now. The volunteerism here is alive and well.
Speaker 14: Makes me feel so proud that our community has banded
Speaker 14: together to help one another. So it's absolutely fantastic to
Speaker 14: see what's playing out here as we prepare for this
Speaker 14: disaster that we just simply can't avoid.
Speaker 2: Good on your shar and I'll keep you on the line.
Speaker 2: Let's talk to Steve about Lismore, because you've been uphill,
Speaker 2: they've been downhill. There's plenty about preparation. Information matters, early
Speaker 2: notice matters. Part of the kick in the backside A
Speaker 2: couple of years ago was about the failure of information
Speaker 2: before things happen.
Speaker 1: So how are you guys holding it?
Speaker 11: Three years?
Speaker 1: But too long? And I do have to call you
Speaker 1: back about that other thing. I will.
Speaker 4: Into it.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's a challenge.
Speaker 1: Hang on, Steve.
Speaker 2: Sorry, mate, there's a chakra of an audio line here, mate,
Speaker 2: So I'll ask Sharon.
Speaker 1: One more question.
Speaker 2: We'll fix that up and then we'll go into the
Speaker 2: full chat with Steve Sharon last one here. We've seen
Speaker 2: things like the sandbag stuff that happens up in Southeast Queensland.
Speaker 2: What's the sort of support that council offers community or
Speaker 2: is it slightly different in New South Wales where these
Speaker 2: things are offered by other people. What's Balana often offering
Speaker 2: to its people.
Speaker 14: Well, we must remember that the lead agent in all
Speaker 14: of this is the ses. Yes, Balaner Council are there
Speaker 14: to support the sees so DJC they are the stand
Speaker 14: up agency for evacuation centers and certainly a lot of
Speaker 14: community don't understand that that you know, in an emergency
Speaker 14: they just need to ring Triple O one three two
Speaker 14: five hundred for SS support and all those things. But
Speaker 14: council is there as a support but.
Speaker 2: It doesn't play the same role in New South Wales
Speaker 2: that it does in Queensland.
Speaker 1: That's important.
Speaker 2: That's the way things are ordered and organized, correct where
Speaker 2: it is the state government thing and yeah, Sees and Tripolo,
Speaker 2: that's the way to stay in toime.
Speaker 14: And I must also say I think there's a lot
Speaker 14: to be said for localized import and actions locally. I mean,
Speaker 14: we have an Sees building here in Balin and that's
Speaker 14: not fit for purpose. I've been trying to get a
Speaker 14: new building for twenty five years and they were looking
Speaker 14: at trying to evacuate because the roof's likely to blow off.
Speaker 14: It's an old caretakers cottage from about fifty years ago
Speaker 14: that they operate out of, and so they were looking
Speaker 14: to evacuate to the ballin of golf club.
Speaker 1: Well that's yeah, I mean, that's acutely I can wederstand this.
Speaker 2: That's clearly madness, the idea that multiple premiers prime ministers
Speaker 2: have rolled through and that's still the case. All right,
Speaker 2: thank you, Shan. We'll talk to you again a little
Speaker 2: further down the track. I've got a feeling probably this
Speaker 2: time tomorrow and again on Sunday. All right, Steve, all
Speaker 2: do you makee talk about Lismore, Hay holding up. What
Speaker 2: are you doing to get ready?
Speaker 8: Liz Moore is doing its best that it can to
Speaker 8: get ready. Paul, it's only three years since we're fourteen
Speaker 8: and a half meters underwater, and you couldn't get more
Speaker 8: bad news if you tried to be honest with you.
Speaker 8: People are tired, they're exhausted. It's been three years of recovery.
Speaker 8: We're really only at the start of our recovery process,
Speaker 8: and this is the worst case scenario for Lismon, to
Speaker 8: be honest with you, but we're holding in there. We're
Speaker 8: hoping that worst case doesn't come to fruition. But you know,
Speaker 8: we just have to wait and see if the weather
Speaker 8: is in our favor. If we don't get the rain
Speaker 8: that's forecast, will be okay. But yeah, forecast at the
Speaker 8: moment is possibly the lever the levee over topping. And
Speaker 8: if that's the case, we're in a lot of trouble
Speaker 8: because people are exhausted. We've spent three years in recovery
Speaker 8: and rebuilding, and yeah, to be honest with you, mate,
Speaker 8: I don't know if our community can back up and
Speaker 8: do it again.
Speaker 2: Because also what Sharon was mentioning. Obviously there's a lot
Speaker 2: of people who were nowhere near the homes that they
Speaker 2: were pushed out of a couple of years ago. And
Speaker 2: as you're barely holding on and as you say, you're
Speaker 2: still at the start of a process. All right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: the media moves on, the beat moves on, but the
Speaker 2: disaster and the rebuild does not. How much concerned do
Speaker 2: you have if you've got just massive wins about the
Speaker 2: people that are still living in pretty temporary accommodation.
Speaker 8: Oh, it's how to be honest with you. It is
Speaker 8: mine and our community's biggest concern is people's health and safety.
Speaker 8: Some people are taking this really seriously and started an
Speaker 8: evacuation process and their flood plan management on Monday in
Speaker 8: bright sunshine and no winds. You may or may not
Speaker 8: be able to hear behind. I'm in a color bond
Speaker 8: roof building and it's pouring outside at the moment. Some
Speaker 8: people started this afternoon their evacuation process, and other people
Speaker 8: don't believe that they're in any sort of danger. So
Speaker 8: you know, there is that messaging shortfall to be honest
Speaker 8: with you about it, may or may not overtop the levee.
Speaker 8: We don't know exactly how high it's going to be.
Speaker 8: We've got all of these new rain gages and flood
Speaker 8: high gauges that we've installed since twenty twenty two, but
Speaker 8: still really no clearer about where we're going to be
Speaker 8: this time in two days.
Speaker 1: That is mad. Were going to stay in touch, mat.
Speaker 1: I'll give you a call. I do promise in the
Speaker 1: next twenty four hours. Thank you, mate, all of this
Speaker 1: said that to me before I know. That's what I'm
Speaker 1: saying to your champion. Now I'm on TV, so you
Speaker 1: can smack me right around the head with it. Thank you, mate.
Speaker 1: I'll get back here a second. All right, thank you Steve.
Speaker 2: Steve Craig, who is the mayor of liz Moore, laur right,
Speaker 2: quick break back with more. We are going to be
Speaker 2: all across this for the most obvious of reasons, because
Speaker 2: we love for so many of the people who watch
Speaker 2: us on Sky News Regional are they watch us for free,
Speaker 2: they watch us on Foxtel. They're so passionate when we
Speaker 2: do our towns. So it's our time, our turn to
Speaker 2: return the favor with our full attention. All right, let
Speaker 2: us move on to the day's politics and Bromwin Bishop
Speaker 2: versus Stephen Conroy.
Speaker 1: What could possibly go wrong or right?
Speaker 2: More in effect, thank you so much for watching, joining
Speaker 2: us now, Bromwin Bishop, the carry out a champ as
Speaker 2: always on a Wednesday night. She's here, the former Speaker
Speaker 2: of the House, the man who turns up because he's
Speaker 2: just here to help and challenge. But Jess falls that
Speaker 2: one little bit short. Sadly, that's the way it is.
Speaker 2: Stephen Conroy. I'm sorry the score key, because they're very
Speaker 2: fair on this program, very fair as you know. All
Speaker 2: right now, big bit of economic news today, and I'm
Speaker 2: not going to let it pass because I think that
Speaker 2: in terms of people's feelings it's going to be a
Speaker 2: little more significant even than the interest rate drop. And
Speaker 2: that is the per capita recession ended apparently today twenty
Speaker 2: one months, multiple quarters. But Bromwin, obviously there are the
Speaker 2: figures that come out of camera versus the reality of
Speaker 2: real life. Cost of living is the absolute front and center.
Speaker 2: None of that's going to change no matter how many
Speaker 2: times the Prime Minister wants to parade around over the
Speaker 2: next few days or change the subject to medicare. But
Speaker 2: at least an indicy suggests slightly better.
Speaker 6: Well, here's the problem. You've had seven quarters of going backwards.
Speaker 6: Now you've got one that marginally ticks up. And the
Speaker 6: treasure says, hell are lunar. We're adding your self landing.
Speaker 1: It's wonderful.
Speaker 6: Well, he can enjoy your self landing because I don't
Speaker 6: think he's got too many people with him. If you
Speaker 6: are ask the average person in the street, are they
Speaker 6: feeling any better or are they just feeling worse off
Speaker 6: under this government?
Speaker 1: That's the house you get.
Speaker 6: And I just know when I go into the supermarket,
Speaker 6: what I end up getting in my trolley for a
Speaker 6: huge amount of money is getting less and less. And
Speaker 6: I've used the example before. I use my example of
Speaker 6: the bendmin index. Used to pay five dollars for my
Speaker 6: size this big. Now it's seven dollars thirty and it
Speaker 6: hasn't gone down, and it's just not going to go down.
Speaker 6: And so that's just indicative of so many items on
Speaker 6: the shelf. Yes, you'll get a movement in things like
Speaker 6: an Iceberg lettuce. You can get it for two dollars forty,
Speaker 6: but then the next time will be three.
Speaker 1: Dollars fifty exactly.
Speaker 6: So you'll get those movements. But bottom line is people
Speaker 6: are still thirty.
Speaker 2: Well, and this is the thing, Stephen, where I know
Speaker 2: that the people who are going to push that everything is.
Speaker 1: Better, the worst of it is all over.
Speaker 2: That's fine if you've got a personal cushion, right, And
Speaker 2: I showed earlier in the week the polling that was
Speaker 2: there when it came to the people who were comfortable
Speaker 2: versus difficulties and financial difficulties and their sense of the
Speaker 2: country and the right or the wrong direction, and obviously
Speaker 2: people that are really in trouble the wrong directions up
Speaker 2: into the seventies right, as opposed to the people doing
Speaker 2: it okay, Like frankly most of the people who will
Speaker 2: be talking about this stuff publicly or certainly the politicians,
Speaker 2: and they're back down towards the forty. I know, turning
Speaker 2: a corner is always turning a corner, but if people
Speaker 2: don't actually feel it in their life, good luck telling
Speaker 2: me we've turned a corner.
Speaker 7: Look, I think that's dad right. Some of the points
Speaker 7: from we made were also spot on.
Speaker 2: The show's done Reagon in our time, we're done for
Speaker 2: the election. I'll just play that grab over and over write, Stephen.
Speaker 7: But which is why I don't think you're seeing the
Speaker 7: government doing any victory lapse. I think the government would
Speaker 7: raw confident that their strategy, as hard as as it's been,
Speaker 7: as at least going in the right direction. But I
Speaker 7: can't imagine that Albow Jim will be doing any victory
Speaker 7: lapse trying to pretend that it's better than it is.
Speaker 7: People have been doing it tough for you know, a
Speaker 7: year or two.
Speaker 15: Now.
Speaker 7: These are positive signs, but they're not changing people's lives overnight,
Speaker 7: which is why I think the sort of the modest,
Speaker 7: you know, noting of these things is the absolutely appropriate
Speaker 7: way that Jim and Alba have been behaving today in
Speaker 7: the last few days.
Speaker 1: Its interest right.
Speaker 7: No one said, hey, that said the election's over with,
Speaker 7: wine got back on track. There's none of that in
Speaker 7: the governments because I think you're bright. Both would be
Speaker 7: right that the government will get a terrible flogging if
Speaker 7: they tried to go down that path.
Speaker 6: But Stephen, you've got the treasury and a snake jum.
Speaker 6: He continually says, Look, everything's wonderful, wages it up and
Speaker 6: we're beating inflation and everything's on. I'm just doing such a.
Speaker 1: Great job here.
Speaker 6: You've got to be terribly grateful for me and re
Speaker 6: elect me, and by the way, I'll be the next leader.
Speaker 6: So just just watch this space.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's out and about basically campaigning in the
Speaker 2: middle of this storm.
Speaker 1: To watch himself.
Speaker 6: It's he's it's an illusion. He just sells an illusion
Speaker 6: and people don't believe it.
Speaker 7: Stephen, No, I don't. I don't think that it's an illusion.
Speaker 7: I think what Bronwin described as what Jim's saying as well,
Speaker 7: I'll be gentle over egging what Jim has been saying.
Speaker 2: Come on, man, it's election season. What did you bring
Speaker 2: the gloves? You bring the knuckles to this fight?
Speaker 1: I've got We've got five more weeks to go. I
Speaker 1: gotta save.
Speaker 6: I got to say, don't early, Steve, You're going to
Speaker 6: have to explain some terribly unexplainable stuff al off the line.
Speaker 2: Well, it'll be fun between now and then. All right, now,
Speaker 2: let's talk about Trump and his speech today again. I
Speaker 2: focused on on the sort of theatrical note. And look,
Speaker 2: here's the thing. Every state of the Union, from those
Speaker 2: who didn't vote for the person or like the person,
Speaker 2: you can say, well, hang on, there's this bit. All
Speaker 2: of that's true, right, but Trump clearly was about trying
Speaker 2: to sort of pack a whack of the sense of
Speaker 2: confidence in the United States. Here in parties what he said.
Speaker 13: Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this
Speaker 13: Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the Golden Age of America.
Speaker 13: From that moment dawn, there's been nothing but swift and
Speaker 13: unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful
Speaker 13: era in the history of our country. We have accomplished
Speaker 13: more in forty three days than most administrations accomplished in four.
Speaker 1: Years or eight years. And we are just getting started.
Speaker 2: Steve and I was watching the full two hours punching
Speaker 2: the sky. My missus had to eventually leave the room,
Speaker 2: going I've had enough, I'm out.
Speaker 1: So I get it.
Speaker 7: But still, uh, you have such a wive's wife.
Speaker 1: What did you What did you think of it?
Speaker 7: Look, look, I think it was just yeah, vintage Trump.
Speaker 7: It didn't it didn't change a view. I think you're right.
Speaker 7: You know, you're a vote for him and you like
Speaker 7: him and you like what he said today, or you're
Speaker 7: voted against him, you hate him and you.
Speaker 1: Didn't like what he had to say.
Speaker 7: But while I think he certainly made an impact on
Speaker 7: the global stage, you know, sucking up to Putin, delivering
Speaker 7: Putin's agenda, pretending he's about peace when you kind of
Speaker 7: peace without security. I think that's the challenge, and that
Speaker 7: continues to be the key challenge. And you know, I
Speaker 7: wouldn't want to be a Ukrainian says oh, I can
Speaker 7: rely on Donald Trump because then we've got a contract
Speaker 7: with him to dig up our minerals. Someone else, maybe
Speaker 7: named Putin, could come wondering, take control and say, yep,
Speaker 7: just keep digging. Uh So I wouldn't accept there's an
Speaker 7: implicit becau We've got people digging up our minds. I
Speaker 7: think that is the most fundamental thing that Trump has
Speaker 7: to deliver. And then he is in a position to
Speaker 7: demand that Zelenski do much more to reach a page
Speaker 7: to al. But that is a key part.
Speaker 6: But Stephen, I think the way he finished the question
Speaker 6: of the letter of regret, shall we say, for behavior
Speaker 6: in the Oval office when he overstepped the mark. And
Speaker 6: I do think he overstepped the mark on that occasion.
Speaker 6: But he knows, and Trump knows that he has to
Speaker 6: get that deal through, and I think the way he
Speaker 6: dealt with it in his speech was quite masterful, and
Speaker 6: I like Paul, I watched it all and I thoroughly
Speaker 6: enjoyed it, as you would expect me to do. So
Speaker 6: the line I think I like the best was when
Speaker 6: he said we had in this Congress the question being
Speaker 6: asked of us, we need more resources, We need more
Speaker 6: of this and more of this to close the border,
Speaker 6: and he said, oh, we ever needed. Really was just
Speaker 6: a new.
Speaker 1: President best line for the country.
Speaker 6: It was justin Barber's line. But the other thing that
Speaker 6: stuck in my mind was the contrast between the speech
Speaker 6: he made of the state of the Union when Nancy
Speaker 6: Pelosi at the end tore up his speech. That was
Speaker 6: the worst behavior I have ever.
Speaker 2: Seen, but also mean, Look, you know, you guys have
Speaker 2: won elections, lost elections. You've been told by you know,
Speaker 2: people like me on TV. Oh they'll never co all
Speaker 2: of that, right, but obviously that you know, tide comes in,
Speaker 2: tide comes out, right, Stephen.
Speaker 1: The Democrats were ridiculous today.
Speaker 2: When we're not standing for anything, including the really obvious stuff. Okay,
Speaker 2: they're going to sit there and try and do their bit,
Speaker 2: but they looked so childish. And I know that they think, well,
Speaker 2: Trump's childish, but I'll tell you what you won. They
Speaker 2: won zero people who voted for Trump. Thinking about empowering them,
Speaker 2: What did you think of sort of the student politics
Speaker 2: kind of holding up bingo signs?
Speaker 5: That was pathetic.
Speaker 7: I think if you compare the behavior of you know,
Speaker 7: Lauren Bobbert last State of the Union and Marjorie Taylor Green,
Speaker 7: and they're just screaming abuse, that's Joe Biden. So I think, unfortunately,
Speaker 7: unfortunately they're the theater of these things are becoming a
Speaker 7: little absurd, and people need to win the vote on
Speaker 7: the ground. And I don't know that anything happened from
Speaker 7: anyone major Taley, Green or Bobbert or these these democrats
Speaker 7: today make any difference out there in voter land.
Speaker 1: So that's important thing, a lot of difference, I do.
Speaker 6: I think it was a very very powerful speech and
Speaker 6: it certainly will play well.
Speaker 1: Good stuff. Thank you guys, do appreciate it.
Speaker 2: We're going to get out of here because the one
Speaker 2: of them, Me and Kelly in the United States is next.
Speaker 2: It is our favorite time of the week to speak
Speaker 2: to our favorite person in the world of water well,
Speaker 2: Megan Kelly and surprise, surprise, After everything that people were
Speaker 2: carrying on a bad last week.
Speaker 1: Things are coming back.
Speaker 2: Trump's why when it comes to Ukraine and Zelenski.
Speaker 15: Could you believe what happened in the Oval Office of right,
Speaker 15: it was one of those things we were like, what
Speaker 15: a right, the emotions, it was incredible, And honestly, I'm
Speaker 15: thrilled because I just feel like, look, I wish it
Speaker 15: hadn't happened. I wish they'd just it had gone well
Speaker 15: and they had signed the minerals deal that day. But
Speaker 15: something about it works, which is Trump reminding the world
Speaker 15: he's really not to be trifled with, Like it's not
Speaker 15: all bluster. He will cut your meeting short and kick
Speaker 15: you out of the White House if you're not a
Speaker 15: good person, if you don't behave well. And so if
Speaker 15: he's willing to do that to a friend, I think
Speaker 15: what he would do to it enemy. I actually just
Speaker 15: think it's a good message, like he really is the
Speaker 15: strong man that he purports to be. But if you
Speaker 15: look at that whole forty minutes that preceded the big moment,
Speaker 15: he was a perfect gentleman. Kept getting antagonized, the eye rolling,
Speaker 15: the size, the interruptions from Zelenski, who has no bargaining power,
Speaker 15: and really should be in a supplicant position toward the
Speaker 15: United States, and Trump kept us cool and finally blew
Speaker 15: and now we're going to get the deal that we wanted.
Speaker 15: Only Zelenski's less powerful, with less bargaining power, and has
Speaker 15: humiliated himself. So it wasn't a smart move by Zelenski.
Speaker 15: Trump handled himself just fine. And I think this thing
Speaker 15: will get wrapped up because there's no place to go.
Speaker 15: There's no place for the negotiation to land that's better
Speaker 15: than the deal Trump is proposing.
Speaker 2: I also think a really big thing that happened to die,
Speaker 2: and a lot happened to die, was that the company
Speaker 2: that makes little micro chips that are important for competing
Speaker 2: now and into the future, they're going to spend one
Speaker 2: hundred billion dollars making stuff in the United States. Companies
Speaker 2: like Apple and Honda have now moved they're ops back
Speaker 2: to the US. It's about a trillion and a half
Speaker 2: dollars worth of investments. Baden couldn't even get a trillion
Speaker 2: in four years.
Speaker 15: Yeah, and Trump's doing very well with that so far.
Speaker 15: We'll see. It takes a while for these chips manufacturing
Speaker 15: plants to be built, and so that's not going to
Speaker 15: be like a turnkey operation, but we're going to need
Speaker 15: to do that. And the Taiwanese have all the reason
Speaker 15: in the world to try to please the United States
Speaker 15: of America because obviously they're very worried about what China
Speaker 15: is going to do to them, and that's going to
Speaker 15: be a whole other fight that we're probably going to
Speaker 15: be looking at over the next four years, because I
Speaker 15: don't think the American people have the appetite to fight
Speaker 15: a war against China anymore than they do to fight
Speaker 15: one against Russia. And you know, you could make the
Speaker 15: case that China's got its rights to Taiwan are much
Speaker 15: greater than Putin's were to Ukraine. So I don't think
Speaker 15: that's going to be a great foreign policy area over
Speaker 15: the next four years. But I love the investment, and
Speaker 15: that's what Trump's doing over and over look, I don't
Speaker 15: think he's trying to punish Canada and Mexico with these
Speaker 15: tariffs just for the sake of it. I really do
Speaker 15: think he's got a couple of goals. He does feel
Speaker 15: like we've been made chumps of because there's such a
Speaker 15: trade imbalance with other countries that are so called friends.
Speaker 15: You know, people say, why.
Speaker 10: Would you do this?
Speaker 15: You our friends, Well, our friends are pouring fentanyl across
Speaker 15: the border at record numbers. Our friends are killing our kids.
Speaker 15: It's the number one cause of death. Ventanyl's the number
Speaker 15: one cause of death for young people in America. What
Speaker 15: kind of a friend keeps supplying the thing that's causing
Speaker 15: the death over and over and over and over. No,
Speaker 15: that's not a friend. Why should we treat them like
Speaker 15: they are?
Speaker 9: So?
Speaker 15: Trump is telegraphing to both our neighbor to the south
Speaker 15: and north, we're serious about this. You will get the
Speaker 15: fentanyl from crossing to stop crossing our border, or you
Speaker 15: will be punished, and any trade imbalances which are long
Speaker 15: pass due to be addressed will be now. And what
Speaker 15: we saw on Trump one point zero was he said
Speaker 15: he's going to do that with China, and he did
Speaker 15: slap a tariff on China. Tariffs, and they lost their
Speaker 15: heads on the left. And then when Biden took over,
Speaker 15: they were working so well.
Speaker 10: He kept them. He kept them.
Speaker 15: Just Trump comes back in office, they're still in place,
Speaker 15: and Trump's like, they work so well. I'm going to
Speaker 15: slap another ten percent on China and let's make it
Speaker 15: twenty five on Canada and Mexico, and I do believe
Speaker 15: it will change behaviors, and I do believe there will
Speaker 15: be some short term pain for some industries in America,
Speaker 15: but that if it gets unbearable or too bad, Trump
Speaker 15: will do something. He's not just going to let the
Speaker 15: American farmer with her on the vine and close up shop.
Speaker 10: That's not Trump.
Speaker 15: Those are, in part the communities that largely helped elect him.
Speaker 15: So I think we should trust in Trump. He's he
Speaker 15: was elected to try new and different things, and that's
Speaker 15: what he's doing. And I think we should trust in
Speaker 15: him to be nimble enough if something gets too bad
Speaker 15: and he believes it's actually not working, to change it.
Speaker 13: All.
Speaker 2: Right, Let's go to the shallow end of the pond.
Speaker 2: Was Anora your favorite movie of the year. This is
Speaker 2: the movie about prostitutes that won Best Picture?
Speaker 1: And when I was I thought, you know who's going
Speaker 1: to love this, Megan Kelly.
Speaker 2: I can see you and your beautiful boy Doug sitting
Speaker 2: on the couch watching it over and over and over again.
Speaker 1: It's the best picture, mate, Sure.
Speaker 15: And I sat down with my thirteen year old daughter
Speaker 15: and I said, honey, it's sex worker. She's a sex worker.
Speaker 15: This is absolutely fine. You can be a tech worker,
Speaker 15: you can be an industrial worker, you can be a
Speaker 15: healthcare worker, you can be a sex worker. It's totally
Speaker 15: up to you, sweetheart. They're all equally empowering choices. The
Speaker 15: whole thing was an exercise in these preening, self important
Speaker 15: celebrities who really don't have anything interesting to say, and
Speaker 15: then the other half who knew that about themselves so
Speaker 15: just showed up naked. That's really what we got on
Speaker 15: Hollywood's Biggest night.
Speaker 1: Good stuff, Megan. We'll see you again next week.
Speaker 15: All right, see you, pall bye?
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: Tomorrow is Southeast Queensland full coverage. We will be on
Speaker 2: the ground when it comes to this tropical cyclone. And
Speaker 2: I'm over time, but can I quickly tell you a story.
Speaker 2: My executive producer Lucy each and every morning gets up
Speaker 2: very early, goes and does lots of fitness stuff, helps
Speaker 2: pair of the show early, late night whatever. She's twenty
Speaker 2: four to seven.
Speaker 1: We love her.
Speaker 2: Today she provided CPR to somebody after they had had
Speaker 2: a heart attack. Her actions kept that person alive loose.
Speaker 2: You're a lifesaver and we love your dum