WEBVTT - Paul Murray Live | 3 June 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:01.960 From the Skying Center. 0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:07.080 This is Paul Murray life. 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:12.119 Yep, that's what it would have looked like if I 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:16.200 had won seventy million bucks tonight. But like everyone else, no, no, 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:20.480 we buy the ticket with fingers crossed. You're mentally buying 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:24.000 a boat. But no, like everyone else, we've turned back 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:27.680 up to work. One person has won seventy million dollars 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:30.440 tonight in os Lotto. I don't know what state they're from. 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:33.520 About twenty people have won the best part of fifty 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:37.120 thousand dollars. One hundred and ninety three won about five thousand, 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:40.479 and right down to the rest of us winning four fifths. 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:44.600 Bugger all the wedding numbers tonight forty four, thirty four, 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:48.240 forty five, one, forty six, twenty five and twenty one. 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:52.440 The support entry is nine, fourteen and sixteen. Congrats to 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:55.640 the one person who you will know who's won. Because 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:57.920 they can't help themselves. They'll be buying a flash car. 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:00.720 They might end if you see your next door neighbor 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:03.080 new cars any time in the next couple of days. 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:06.480 They're the ones that are seventy million dollars richer. Anyway, Congratulations, 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:08.480 good fun for a day. These lottos, isn't it when 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.120 you just do dream about that other life? But I 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:16.280 promise sixty nine million, six hundred and fifty five thousand dollars. 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:20.520 Anything above that, no, I won't turn up to work otherwise. 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:22.520 I'm here. All right, Let's get into it. Let's do 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:24.920 some work tonight. Now. You know that I care a 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.760 lot about the Kid's Helpline runs all over the country. 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.279 It is a vital service, vital service for an awful 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:34.040 lot of people around the country. It is to me, 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:38.120 a vital mental health service that keeps kids alive. You 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:41.200 know that we've raised money for the Kid's Helpline before. 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:44.039 You know that we've gone and visited their center to 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:47.520 see what they do, what the group does, and they're 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:49.640 do incredible work. I couldn't be bigger fans of what 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:51.200 they do. The reason I mentioned them at the start 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:54.800 of tonight's show is because of all of the money 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:58.000 that the Victorian government has to spend on things, not 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:02.160 a dollar to the Kids Helpline, despite a request from 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:05.360 the Kid's Helpline for a little bit of cash. The 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:09.000 Kids Helpline employs about one hundred and eighty counselors. Tracy 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:11.800 Adams is the chief executive of your town says they 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:14.919 need at least forty more. If we want to avoid 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:17.680 our kids being in crisis, then we've got to be 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:20.760 there when they need it, in those moments that really matter, 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:25.200 when no one else is Seventy five percent of all 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:28.480 contacts come outside normal business house, so the phone calls 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.680 are happening right now. The Kids Helpline ask the Victorian 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:35.120 government for four point four million dollars in the budget 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:40.520 that has just gone. It is getting nothing. Nothing. Despite 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:43.760 Victoria being the second busiest state for calls. The Kids 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.560 Helpline provided more than seventy four six hundred counseling sessions 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:51.680 to young people from five years old all the way 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:55.200 through to twenty five across Australia in twenty twenty four Victoria. 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:59.160 About eighteen percent of those seventy four six hundred calls 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:05.520 were from that state. It's an increase in contacts requiring 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:10.280 counseling compared to the previous year. Now the Victorian government 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:14.560 has no excuse not to help something like the Kids Helpline. 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:16.639 The West Australian government and you said Weil's government, Yes, 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:19.760 the federal government too. They tip in money, but We're 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:22.720 almost twenty percent of the phone calls that are made 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:25.320 to the service come from Victoria, and they ask for 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:29.880 four million bucks. They should be pooning up the cash. Now, yes, 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:32.560 there's an awful lot of debt in Victoria, but here's 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:35.320 a little reality. They're promising they're going to have a 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:37.920 six hundred million dollar surplus ie money they don't know 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:42.520 where to spend. And that's because Jacinta Allen was bailed 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:47.680 out by Anthony Abernezi to the tune of billions of 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:51.360 dollars thanks to our change in the GST amount. All 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:53.920 of that, of course a way to save seats. All 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:55.920 of that worked at the election. All of that might 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:58.960 prop up an otherwise unpopular government at the upcoming election. 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.720 That me talking about it probably doesn't help people that 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:05.680 are trying to get something out of the Victorian government. 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:08.760 But if you are someone somewhere with some access, somehow 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:15.120 to the Victorian Parliament or the Victorian government, can you 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:17.080 pick up the phone not on my behalf, but on 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.640 the behalf of the kids. The eighteen percent of seventy 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:24.920 four thousand calls which go to the Kid's helpline, think 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:27.920 about how stressed and how in danger a kid may 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:32.320 be to reach out for help. Now it can also 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:34.520 be done via the Internet or text messaging, but this 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:38.839 is a vital service. If the state government claims have 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:40.960 got six hundred million dollars for a surplus six hundred 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.159 million dollars more than they would otherwise plan to spend, 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:48.760 surely they can find four million bucks. There's also another 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:51.799 plea that I'll be making to the Victorian government right now. Again, 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:54.400 I get it, they couldn't be more hard left. I 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.320 am clearly not of the hard left. But still we 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:00.480 are Australians united and we should focus on that are 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:02.839 doing it tough, like the kids I just mentioned, or 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:06.359 of course the many farmers affected by the drought. The 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:09.840 drought that is deep and very hard across big parts 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:13.120 of Victoria starting to move into parts of southern New 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:18.120 South Wales and across into South Australia, the Hume region. 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:20.680 You may know some of these regions, but we're talking 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:25.360 about places like Mansfield, places like Well you can see 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:29.320 they're Tuwom and a whole bunch of others Mitchell Sheperd 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:31.400 and Greatest Sheperdon. All of those areas are part of 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:35.520 the Hume area. And we learned today by the Herald 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:39.040 Sun that a dozen't local councils in and around that 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:41.839 area that you can just see, have written a letter 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:44.160 to the Premier saying, for goodness sake, can we please 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:48.160 get a drought declaration. Now, the Premier did turn up 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:51.200 in this part of Victoria last week, but let me 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:55.359 read from the letter that has come from the local councils. 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:59.520 Despite dams running dry and farmers looking as far as 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:04.039 Western Australia for feed, a local mayor and farmer, Claire 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:08.360 Ewitt Kennedy, says the region has been largely abandoned by 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:11.800 the Allen government. In an urgent letter to the Agriculture Minister, 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:15.560 the mayors said the financial strain was becoming untenable as 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:20.080 rural communities battle a growing emotional toll. Livestock and cattle 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:23.760 prod users in our local government areas are facing mounting 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:27.760 pressure due to the limited feed availability, dwindling hay reserves, 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:33.520 rising fodder and transport costs, and depleted water storage. Now 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.719 again that letter was apparently published just prior to when 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:41.200 the Premier did turn up in that region. But even 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:43.080 the help that has been announced to this point by 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:47.200 some of these mayors is being said to be not enough. Again. 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.880 This is a government that thanks to extra money from 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:54.440 the federal government, which means extra money from taxpayers all 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.960 over Australia, including in Victoria. Well, I would imagine things 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:00.200 like the kids' helpline and people like the farmers will 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:02.560 we want them to get some help. One of the 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.520 mayors again has gone on to say that the whole 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:09.479 thing is a slap in the face. They're dividing the region. 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:13.679 She said, I'd like to see the science behind declaring 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.720 droughts because it seems fairly subjective. She said that farmers 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:20.080 can't wait any longer for financial relief. With die conditions 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:25.160 crucifying livelihoods and communities. It's heartbreaking. Farmers are on their knees. 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:29.400 We'll have a chat to the Shadow Agriculture Minister for 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:35.120 their perspective. A little bit later in the show, the 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:39.480 nation seems quite fixated on a courtroom in Regional Victoria. 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:44.160 It is, of course, the murder trial, all in and 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:48.440 around issues to do with mushrooms. Now, there there was 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:50.960 such interest in this thing that we know every story 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:55.360 that goes online, massive numbers podcasts are about it. I've 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:57.320 had mates that I wouldn't have thought are interested in 0:07:57.320 --> 0:07:59.320 anything to do with true crime, But no, they are 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:02.480 all invested in this. And what about the cues that 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:05.080 were there before the sun came up? To get into 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:10.080 the court room to watch the person accused giving evidence, 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:15.240 The group of mostly middle aged women talked quietly and 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:17.800 watched on as nearby a long row of TV cameras 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.280 and journalists perform live crosses back to their newsrooms across 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:23.560 the country from six am. By the time the doors 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.240 opened at nine am, they were pressed hard against the 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.480 glass waiting to go through the court's routine security check. 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:34.320 Every seat in the court was full. An indigenous artwork 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:36.679 hangs from the wall above where the jury sits, a 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:38.560 rare piece of color in a room that otherwise is 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:43.680 filled with folders of paper, laptops, books and notes. So 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:46.040 what happened in the stand today? We turned to Channel 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:47.480 seven for their updates tonight. 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:52.160 Aaron Patterson accepting there were death cap mushrooms in the 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:55.720 beef wellingtons she prepared for four family members in twenty 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:58.559 twenty three. Do you accept that there must have been 0:08:58.559 --> 0:08:59.760 death cap mushrooms in it? 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:00.360 Yes? 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:04.280 I do. Miss Patterson also admitted she owned a dehydrator 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:07.640 and had used it to preserve wild mushrooms after learning 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:11.600 to forage fungi during the twenty twenty COVID lockdowns. When 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:13.600 asked what she did with the mushroom she picked in 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.920 May twenty twenty three, the month of the fatal lunch, 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:20.120 she said, I took them home, cleaned them, slice them. 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:22.480 If I didn't think I wanted to use them that day, 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:24.640 I would dry them and put them in the pantry, 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:28.079 later explaining generally, I would put them in a container. 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.120 I already had going with Wooly's mushrooms, so I would 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:33.160 just dry them and put them in a container. 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:37.880 There was plenty more, including remember these are questions being 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:43.080 asked of the accused by her own lawyer. Prosecution will 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:44.920 get a chance in a couple of days time. 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:50.360 Juris have previously been shown the accused killer's record of interview, 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:53.920 where she told police she'd never foraged for mushrooms and 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:57.720 didn't own a dehydrator. Then, when asked, have you ever 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:01.480 been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, she replied I have not. 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:04.400 And have you ever had a needle biopsy on a 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.480 lump on your elbow? She answered, I've never had a 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:11.439 needle biopsy anywhere. The trial had earlier been told she'd 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:13.760 been referred to a biopsy in a message to her 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:17.640 mother in law, and she'd claimed a cancer diagnosis during 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:19.040 the Beef Wellington lunch. 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:23.920 And as they say, the trial continues. We have a 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:26.600 system in Australia that no matter what job you do, 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:28.600 no matter how had you work, a portion of it 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:32.800 must be put aside for your retirement. The numbers started 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:36.800 off relatively low. It's now what over ten percent. If 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:39.480 you're in the public sector, it's close to twenty percent. 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:43.320 Of course, I'm talking about superannuation. One company in particular, 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:46.240 Australian Super, which is apparently the biggest of the funds 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:49.920 in the country, has had a world of problems, the 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:53.240 latest of which has been highlighted by the Australian Securities 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:58.840 and Investment Commission, and apparently the allegation from ASSEK is 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:02.960 that Australian Super has been charging dead people account fees. 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:06.319 The three hundred and fifty five billion dollars Australian Super 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:08.760 Industry Fund, so this is just one of them, has 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:12.440 been accused of charging dead people account fees and excessive 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:16.040 delays in paying out claims. The corporate regulator has alleged 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:21.160 details about the superannuation's fund. Alleged contact comes after the 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:24.120 Australian Securities and Investment Commission revealed that it was suing 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:28.440 the company back in March, having claimed look it took 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:32.480 between four months and four years to assess almost seven 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.079 thousand death benefit claims in the five years to October 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:39.160 twenty twenty four. A six full statement of claim revealed 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:42.520 the corporate cop has argued that despite quote death claims 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:46.760 backlog end quote, Australian Super continued charging monthly administration fees 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:52.280 from deceased members accounts during the periods of unreasonable delay. 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:56.720 For their part, the company has responded and have said 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:01.719 that that particular practice is no longer happening. Previously, when 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:04.720 a member passed away, administration fees were charged to provide 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:08.640 the service of continuing to manage and a minister their account. 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:12.400 Since October last year, once the fund was notified of 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:16.640 a member's death, our policy is that their account is investigated, 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.840 sorry is invested in the fund's cash option and administration 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:23.480 fees are no longer charged now. None of this is 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:26.840 news to those of you who have got a reasonably 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:31.640 good memory and can remember back to earlier this year 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.280 and the end of last year when the great Jonathan Lee, 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.760 the boss of our investigations unit here at sky News. 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:40.760 He's done a series of stories that are all available 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:44.080 on YouTube, just putting Jonathan Lee superannuation sky News. You 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:46.360 can find them through our website skye News dot com 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:48.840 dot You were obviously over on the YouTube's and a 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:51.040 perfect example of one of these couples after their son 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:54.680 had died, the pain they went through of trying to 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:55.959 finish out his super. 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:00.520 We assumed it would take some time. That we thought 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:06.960 weeks perhaps, but it just dragged on, and then once 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.080 we got into the new year and there. 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:12.840 Was these huge silences, it sort of felt like we've 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:17.400 been purposely ignored. Because Soon made so many inquents out 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:19.720 on that phone for so long that the battery would 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:22.160 run flat in it. We felt at that stage that 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:24.319 we've been deliberately installed. 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:28.360 When I started trying to make contact again, it was 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:31.800 sometime in March, and I remember writing in an email, 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:35.080 we have heard nothing from you since twenty first of December. 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:38.000 That's the last correspondence we've had. 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:41.480 One week became twenty four weeks. 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:46.520 That's six long months. It's extraordinary. By law you are 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:50.160 forced to put your money into superannuation. Of course, for 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:52.679 most people they'll be able to draw down on it 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:54.840 ever so slowly once you hit retirement age. But for 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:58.040 those rare exceptions or increasingly significant number of exceptions where 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.720 you die prior to or you've got a terminal disease, 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:03.760 or of course you need to access the money for 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:08.240 a collection of other legal reasons, seemingly it takes forever 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:10.800 to get the money to come out. Now, if this 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:12.840 is a system where it is up to the superannuation 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:16.280 companies as to how quickly they end up flushing the 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:18.760 fund and giving the person the money back or the 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.640 person on their behalf the money back, that system needs 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:24.960 to change. Let's see if any politician from any political 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:27.040 party has the balls to start talking about this, let 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:29.440 alone start moving laws if they need to be done. 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:32.880 Because according to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, they've 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:35.240 got a couple of examples here of clearly a system 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:40.680 that needs to change. Now. Either side of Parliament seems to, 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:43.480 of course believe one thing, and one thing has been 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:45.920 proven out by elections, which you can't give the Australian 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:49.240 public enough money. You may call it buying votes. Others 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:51.760 may call it an investing in our future. But again, 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:54.120 it doesn't matter who's in Parliament, you end up at 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:57.760 a scenario where spending is the option. We know that 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:01.120 when it comes to Jim Chalmers, he loves spending money. 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:03.400 And we know that despite the fact that they got 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:07.000 a couple of surpluses by luck, by the mining boom 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.320 and buy some new accounting tricks, the reality is that 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:12.560 the structural deficit means that we will have no budget 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:16.920 deficits apparently for the next ten years. As I've bludgeoned 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.200 you with this graphic, but I'll keep doing it until 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:21.520 you see it in your sleep, there will be no 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:25.160 budget surpluses for the next forty years. Why because the 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:28.040 structural spend is that no matter how much tax they get, 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:30.240 no matter how much more people they bring into the country, 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:33.800 they will spend more than they get. This, of course 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:38.840 produces debt. Where last year it was under one trillion, 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:42.280 this year it goes to trillion dollars. Next year it's 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.000 almost one point one, the next year it's one point one, 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:46.880 and by the time of the next election will be 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:49.640 at one point two trillion. Dollars debt. But if, of 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:51.600 course you have a budget deficit every year for the 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:54.240 next forty years, whether it be five, ten, fifteen, twenty, 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:57.960 one hundred billion, you just add it to the previous tally. 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:01.440 So one trillion dollars debt will become one point two 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:04.120 will become one point five, one point seven two, two 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:08.040 and a half. Who cares? And you see, there's actually 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:10.880 a theory that this is a good way to run 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:14.080 a country. It certainly seems to be the way that 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:18.120 Jim Chalmers likes to fund the Australian economy, which is, 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:21.120 rather than just balance things out and thank goodness for 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:23.680 AI for giving us a snappy little cartoon image to 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:27.200 show you here it's a money tree that basically countries 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:29.720 like Australia, economies like Australian now, and we'll ever call 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:32.800 in the debt, so who cares. Just keep running up 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:37.240 the debt, keep running up the deficits. This is in 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:41.240 a more complicated form called modern monetary theory. Say that 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:43.400 three times when you're trying to add lib on TV, 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:48.080 and as the ABC defines it, basically debt doesn't matter. 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:51.240 Now this is worth having a look at. You say, 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:54.360 the budget deficits, and this being the people behind the 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:57.760 modern monetary theory. They say the budget deficits are not 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:02.600 always bad. In fact, deficits are often necessary and beneficial. 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:07.200 A budget deficit is merely evidence of extra government spending, 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:11.119 and government spending boosts the wealth of the private sector, 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.320 businesses and households. That's the theory. Now, you and I 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:18.080 of course come from a different world where there isn't 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:19.960 a money tree. You've got to pay these things off. 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:22.760 But I continue reading. They say it depends on what 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:26.159 deficit spending is being used for. Increasing the deficit to 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:28.760 financial war not a good thing, or not the same 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:32.760 thing as increasing the deficit to build more hospitals or schools. 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:36.919 They argue that investments that will enhance productivity through better health, 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:40.280 greater knowledge and skills, improve transport and the like are 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:42.840 worth funding, even if it results in a budget deficit. 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:49.159 But in Australia, we don't borrow money for all of 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:51.520 those things. We borrow it for some of those things, 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:55.600 But every dollar that we borrow goes in part to 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:59.480 pay what I showed you last night. Thirty seven percent 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:04.359 of the entire federal budget is for welfare. That's not 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:07.320 an investment that is a social safety net. Fine, great, fine, 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:10.520 fair enough, that's the way we run our country. But 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:12.760 you can't tell me it's okay to run a deficit 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.040 when I almost forty percent of your budget. You will 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:18.560 never get back. You won't get it back via productivity 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:22.399 because there's a new bridge, a new toll road, a 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:23.840 new school or anything like that. 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:24.040 No. 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:27.200 Instead, effectively it just becomes dead money, or more importantly, 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:32.120 vote buying money. So what is the way around having 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:35.920 to justify spending more money than you have coming in? Well, 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:39.120 the Prime Minister uses the keyword that is the giveaway 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:46.160 of modern monetary theory invested invested, invested investment, invested investing. 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:49.600 So if you just say invest, then in part some 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:52.199 of this money goes off budget nobody sees it. But 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:54.160 then of course you have a scenario where they turn 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:56.959 around and they just keep racking up the debt. Perfect 0:18:56.960 --> 0:19:00.560 example Daniel Andrews the way he ran the Victorian economy. Well, 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:05.439 it resulted in the credit agency is downgrading Victoria and 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:07.639 its ability to pay back its debt, which means they 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:10.119 have to pay more to pay off their debt, and 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:13.000 the agencies are warning states like Victoria you've got to 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:16.000 get on top of debt or the cost of paying 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:21.400 off that debt will go higher. And this current Victorian 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:25.240 Treasurer has just handed down a budget where how's this. 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:27.920 You are going to end up in a scenario where 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:31.439 the total debt by twenty eight twenty nine in Victoria 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.280 one hundred and ninety four billion, and that will cost 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:38.600 ten point six billion dollars a year or twenty eight 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:43.160 point nine million dollars a day to pay off ten 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:47.280 billion dollars of your state budget just is on paying 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:50.879 off debt. That means less money for a school, less 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:55.840 money for a hospital, less money for the kids helpline, 0:19:56.200 --> 0:20:00.600 less money to help the farmers, but to their current 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:06.280 situation of drought, and unbelievably, we have a situation where 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:10.640 the Victorian Treasury has done no homework whatsoever on what 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:13.200 it would do to the state budget if the credit 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:16.600 rating is put down again because they keep racking up 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:21.080 the debt. But they don't care, because again, you can 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:23.040 just pay off a credit card with another credit card, 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:25.480 with another credit card, with another crewded crowd, and then 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:29.959 just go outside and grab money from the money tree. 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:34.520 Emma Kiel is the shadow agricultural Minister in Victoria. I 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:36.159 wanted to talk to her about what we mentioned at 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:38.240 the start of the program, which is the concern of 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:41.880 these areas in the hume of Victoria. Twelve different councils 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:45.639 that have written to the Agriculture Minister saying, hey, what's 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:49.240 going on? Emma joins us now of course from Victoria. 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:51.760 Nice to see Emma. Give me an idea here. Where 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:54.960 the Premier was out and about, you know, a couple 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:56.960 of days ago, pretending that she was there to help. 0:20:57.320 --> 0:21:00.640 But are the concerns of this council they still remain. 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:03.120 What is the golf between what the Premier is doing 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:04.600 and what these councils need. 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:08.639 Well, we've heard a lot from the Premiere saying she's 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:12.280 a regional Victorian. We've got a Treasurer who's a regional Victorian, 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:15.240 and so apparently this is the team that's going to 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:19.400 deliver for regional Victoria. But we certainly haven't seen this. 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:22.920 During this time of drought right across the state. We've 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:26.800 had terrible low rainfall conditions, some of the lowest rainfall 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:30.439 conditions we've seen on record, and yet we've got a 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:34.040 government that isn't putting any money towards our farmers to 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:36.240 provide a media on the ground support. 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:37.520 We've seen the. 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:41.040 Waving of attacks which hasn't even been introduced yet, three 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:45.040 billion dollar additional tax on every single household of business 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:48.280 and particularly our farmers. But when it comes to helping 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:51.879 with fodder, with helping with water, helping with some great belief, 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:55.360 or getting stock up to Queensland to protect their genetic lines, 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:58.320 We're just not seeing anything. It's crickets from the labor 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:00.520 government and people are feeling very ignored. 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:03.920 Some of these councils that again wrote this letter was 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:08.880 published in the Heilson this morning talk about drought declarations. 0:22:09.200 --> 0:22:13.119 What is the difference between again what locals are seeing 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:16.080 as drought conditions and what the state government is well 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:17.679 officially declaring to be. 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:22.240 It becomes very Richard Paul, where it's about what we 0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:25.639 talk about two failed seasons. But the problem is the 0:22:25.680 --> 0:22:29.640 timing of the rainfall. So I was driving around Victoria 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:32.920 Regional Victoria, not just today but on Friday, Saturday and 0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:37.320 Sunday as well, and the paddocks are just barren. There 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:41.000