Speaker 1: Pre youd Quedlin Live from year twenty four.
Speaker 2: Good evening, Thank you for your company. Welcome to the program.
Speaker 3: Here's what's coming up tonight on Kredline. It seemed to
Speaker 3: could be all the talk yesterday all about Ben Carroll.
Speaker 3: Well today too, Jim Chalmers obsessed with one nation clearly
Speaker 3: when nation's biting into Labour's vote. I bet that's what
Speaker 3: the internal party polling is telling them.
Speaker 2: We'll get to that in a moment.
Speaker 3: If lation down today, good news for struggling families, But
Speaker 3: has the treasurer junk the gun and claiming it as
Speaker 3: his win. Those underlying numbers aren't good, particularly in a
Speaker 3: state like Victoria. Our business guru Ross Greenwood will join.
Speaker 2: Me for his take.
Speaker 3: Bad news to Chris Bowen. He's wasted millions of your
Speaker 3: money booking out all of those luxury hotel rooms in Fiji.
Speaker 3: Well we learned today most of the world leaders have
Speaker 3: said thanks, but no thanks. We're not coming, Chris. We're
Speaker 3: not coming to your climate change talk fest. Victorian Premier
Speaker 3: Ben Carroll first day in the job, So what of
Speaker 3: voters made of him. I've got more to show you later,
Speaker 3: but here's a little of their verdict.
Speaker 1: Hi, do you know his name?
Speaker 2: No, because he's a labor I'm just concerned that maybe
Speaker 2: they're more visiom similarities here.
Speaker 3: Are you happy that he's replaced us into Alan as Victoria?
Speaker 3: We'll stay with that. Day one in Victoria's top job.
Speaker 3: It was not an auspicious start for the new Premium,
Speaker 3: Ben Carroll out at the kmart where he'd worked as
Speaker 3: a teenager. In fact, it was a comedy of errors.
Speaker 3: Our own Pete Stefanovic was covering it on air this
Speaker 3: morning and it went so wrong so quickly that it
Speaker 3: promptly was turned into an ad by Liberal HQ.
Speaker 4: Things are not getting off to a good start here
Speaker 4: from the New Premiere because apparently he's insisted on doing
Speaker 4: this press conference in the basement of a kmart. So
Speaker 4: if you want your message to go out live, you're
Speaker 4: going to need better reception.
Speaker 5: So he's trying to be the new guy.
Speaker 4: He says forget the past, But are people going to
Speaker 4: forget the past because he was part of previous governments.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, not a good start. I would say.
Speaker 3: Now two things out of this, Two things that are instructive.
Speaker 3: The first, most obvious is that Liberal HQ's now running
Speaker 3: at a pace that we haven't seen in many years.
Speaker 3: It's grabbing Labour's mistakes and it's turning them into real
Speaker 3: opportunities online and fast.
Speaker 2: So well done there.
Speaker 3: But the second thing I want you to pick up
Speaker 3: tonight is that Labour's internal machine is starting to fail.
Speaker 3: Working upper stunts, you know, heading out to kmart. You
Speaker 3: might think that someone would think to check whether the
Speaker 3: basement had mobile phone coverage. After all, without it, there's
Speaker 3: nothing for the media to run, so basement, Ben, that's
Speaker 3: a fail. And if you think I'm being tough here
Speaker 3: calling this Mornings of too stunt, haven't listened to this
Speaker 3: from longtime Melbourne broadcaster and he's no conservative Neil Mitchell.
Speaker 1: This is a report today.
Speaker 6: I know that's right that he's holding his first all
Speaker 6: in press conference at the supermarket where he worked as
Speaker 6: a kid as a check out. If that's right, that's silly.
Speaker 6: He's going to put a hard hat on or an aprons.
Speaker 6: Let's stop the tricks, Let's stop the stunts, talk direct
Speaker 6: to people and be fairnigh.
Speaker 2: With them now.
Speaker 3: And the whole scheme of things this morning wasn't a
Speaker 3: huge deal. His back office, Well they'll get better, they'll improve.
Speaker 3: That's inevitable when he's got hundreds more staff than his opponent,
Speaker 3: and I mean that literally. As Premier, he's got over
Speaker 3: one hundred political staff in his office, almost double that
Speaker 3: of the Prime Minister, whereas Jess Wilson will she'd.
Speaker 2: Be lucky to have a dozen.
Speaker 3: But that's not the most instructive thing that happened today.
Speaker 3: It's this a tactical move by the opposition later on
Speaker 3: the floor of the Parliament that was more significant, more
Speaker 3: significant and more telling. Remember this was Ben Carroll that
Speaker 3: his first press conference as leader yesterday announcing a Royal
Speaker 3: commission into Victoria's building and construction industry.
Speaker 7: My first action as Premier will be to call a
Speaker 7: Royal commission into the construction sector.
Speaker 3: As I said to you last night, don't be fooled
Speaker 3: into thinking that Labour now believes in transparency and integrity.
Speaker 3: Despite this now infamous line from the new Premier.
Speaker 5: We are saying enough is enough.
Speaker 7: In my government.
Speaker 5: Integrity will not be optional.
Speaker 3: He doesn't believe in integrity. Labor doesn't believe in integrity.
Speaker 3: If Carol did, he would have demanded a Royal commission.
Speaker 3: When he sat around the Cabinet table as Deputy Premier
Speaker 3: and resigned if he didn't get it now, he did
Speaker 3: none of that. He's only calling a Royal Commission now
Speaker 3: so that he gets to choose who the commissioner is,
Speaker 3: and so that Labour sets the terms of reference of
Speaker 3: the inquiry so as to keep their secrets buried. Because
Speaker 3: if they don't do it now and the Liberals win,
Speaker 3: well all hell will break loose. Carol's Royal Commission is
Speaker 3: not about finding out the truth. It's about keeping it hidden.
Speaker 3: It's about protecting Labour's CFMU mates. It's about protecting the
Speaker 3: rivers of gold in terms of union donations that flow
Speaker 3: into the Labour Party, state and federal So what happened
Speaker 3: in the Parliament today that was so significant, well it
Speaker 3: was this. It was this from the Shadow Attorney General,
Speaker 3: James Newbury.
Speaker 7: Has the Premier issued a direction to all current and
Speaker 7: former ministers and their officers, departments and agencies to stop
Speaker 7: documents relating to corruption, misconduct and criminality on the Big
Speaker 7: Bill from being shredded or destroyed. What safeguards is the
Speaker 7: Premier put in place to stop the shredding of documents
Speaker 7: and deletion of records? Taking place in the offices of premier,
Speaker 7: former premier or outgoing ministers as we speak.
Speaker 2: This is really important. Here's why.
Speaker 3: Now, not many people understand that between premiers there's a
Speaker 3: wholesale changeover both in terms of the office of the
Speaker 3: political staff, but also in terms of public servant protocols. Now, yes,
Speaker 3: just into Allen and Ben Carroll are both members of
Speaker 3: the Labor Party, but as far as the public service
Speaker 3: is concerned, they are two very different premiers, and so
Speaker 3: documents between the two different administrations, they they are closed
Speaker 3: out right now. Ben Carroll not even be in the
Speaker 3: Premier's office yet right now just sent to Allen and
Speaker 3: her staff would still be there cleaning out the carvers,
Speaker 3: and I can guarantee you they would be running the shredder.
Speaker 2: Day and night.
Speaker 3: And that was the importance of that declaration today from Newbery.
Speaker 3: With or without the connivance of Ben Carroll, documents that
Speaker 3: should be legally protected.
Speaker 2: Now that he is foreshadowed a.
Speaker 3: Royal commission maybe being destroyed. Now Labour could be playing
Speaker 3: cute here, given Carol has said it'll call a royal commission,
Speaker 3: but as yet the formal letters pattern to make it
Speaker 3: happen or they have not been issued. So does that
Speaker 3: mean the documents destroyed are not subject to the legal
Speaker 3: protection that they would have once a Royl commission's officially underway.
Speaker 3: Well that's debate, certainly politically and morally. If they are destroyed,
Speaker 3: then labors in breach.
Speaker 2: So good on the Liberals.
Speaker 3: Good on James Newbrey for picking this up on day
Speaker 3: one of a new regime and running it as hard
Speaker 3: as they did through the Parliament. Again, just like their
Speaker 3: quick action with that ad about the media debacle this morning.
Speaker 3: It shows an energy and a nimbleness that's long been
Speaker 3: missing from the Victorian opposition. Finally, it gives a warrior
Speaker 3: like me give it a hope that the Victorian Liberals
Speaker 3: are not just up for a fight, they're actually throwing
Speaker 3: themselves into a body and soul. Now, in my column
Speaker 3: in The Australian tomorrow, I make a couple of observations
Speaker 3: and I think it's worth foreshadowing them with you tonight.
Speaker 3: All Right, things will inevitably change now that Allan's been
Speaker 3: replaced with labor rights man Ben Carrol. It's just how
Speaker 3: much they change that's the question. Will Carol get the
Speaker 3: same sort of bumpers Andy Burnham, who after spearing Kirs Starmer,
Speaker 3: has got drawing level now with Reform UK in the
Speaker 3: most recent polling. Or will it be the tempered improvement
Speaker 3: that are returned to Kevin Rudd delivered after he replaced
Speaker 3: Julia Gillard on the cusp of the twenty thirteen election
Speaker 3: and at least saved some furniture.
Speaker 2: Now I go on to say.
Speaker 3: I expect there will be a lift, that there will
Speaker 3: be a lift for labor over the next few weeks
Speaker 3: following the removal of Jacinta Allen, but that doesn't mean
Speaker 3: it will be sustained. How the Liberals react to this
Speaker 3: lift will determine whether any boost is locked in or dissipates. Now,
Speaker 3: let's not forget we have cabinet government in this country
Speaker 3: and Ben Carroll's been sitting around that table for most
Speaker 3: of the past decade, including time the key portfolios of Justice, Crime,
Speaker 3: Roads and transport. Whether he can shrug off that history
Speaker 3: we'll be forced to own. It will all come down
Speaker 3: to how well the Liberals can frame him. Now, that's
Speaker 3: not just the job of Jess Wilson to frame Carol.
Speaker 3: This is where our colleagues really need to step up
Speaker 3: and stop expecting her to do it all. She's got
Speaker 3: to sell hope and policies that can turn around a
Speaker 3: bad state. It's up to them now to go after
Speaker 3: Carol and nail Labour's.
Speaker 2: Record to his chest.
Speaker 3: Now, for Victoria's sake, for Austraya's sake, let's hope that happens.
Speaker 3: We have a lot to get through tonight, and of
Speaker 3: course Chris Yulman's back at the desk. We'll get to
Speaker 3: Camper now though the headlines with our Sky News US
Speaker 3: twenty four political report, I did it again, rubn Spargo.
Speaker 2: Good evening.
Speaker 5: Hopes of mortgage holders are being boosted in the face
Speaker 5: of next month's Reserve Bank meeting. The headline inflation figure
Speaker 5: has fallen zero point two percentage points to three point
Speaker 5: eight percent, beating market expectations. Underlying inflation, which is watched
Speaker 5: by the Reserve Bank, remains unchanged at three point six percent.
Speaker 8: These are welcome numbers in the circumstances, but we know
Speaker 8: that we still have inflation challenge in our economy.
Speaker 5: The RBA board meets in two weeks and according to
Speaker 5: the markets, it's unlikely to lift interest rates further. Nearly
Speaker 5: half of the country believes multiculturalism is becoming problematic for Australia.
Speaker 5: According to the News twenty four Pulse poll, thirty seven
Speaker 5: percent of voters believe it continues to serve the country well.
Speaker 5: Only ten percent say it has never been good for
Speaker 5: the country.
Speaker 2: Cut back on the immigration.
Speaker 9: I'm secting to figure aroun about one hundred and thirty
Speaker 9: thousand people.
Speaker 5: The Opposition has closed the gap on One Nation on
Speaker 5: primary vote. The Coalition is on twenty two percent and
Speaker 5: One Nation is on twenty five percent. The Opposition leader
Speaker 5: is distancing himself from a group at the center of
Speaker 5: a new South Wales corruption investigation. Angus Taylor denies giving
Speaker 5: it money after claims he was asked to make a
Speaker 5: financial contribution.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to give a runn Commentaryohnson. I'm not
Speaker 1: Party two that payment was made.
Speaker 5: I Kak is investigating an alleged plot by Liberal operatives
Speaker 5: to solicit illegal donations, stack branches and discredit political opponents.
Speaker 2: Look well done, Paul Murray.
Speaker 3: That Q and A Last Night with Paul ed Hansen
Speaker 3: must watch TV.
Speaker 2: But as I foreshadowed.
Speaker 3: Back at the desk of News twenty four, political contributor
Speaker 3: Chris Yelman joins me. Now before I get into the headlines,
Speaker 3: Chris and get all your analysis. I know you've been
Speaker 3: away overseas on leave. I'm always keen for observations that
Speaker 3: people pick up on their travels.
Speaker 10: What struck you, oh, Peter, I was in the UK
Speaker 10: for a while. What struck strikes me apart from the
Speaker 10: fact that it's very much a basket case. But with
Speaker 10: the change of government to Andy Burnhaman the first thing
Speaker 10: he went in was on electricity prices, because of course
Speaker 10: the UK has some of the highest electricity prices in
Speaker 10: the world. Why because they're pursuing much the same policies.
Speaker 1: That we are.
Speaker 10: So he cut the v tax, the value added tax
Speaker 10: on that cost of living measure that will only get
Speaker 10: about forty five pounds a year off a usual bill
Speaker 10: in the UK, which is staggeringly high. What will be
Speaker 10: interesting to see is what he does with north Sea oil,
Speaker 10: because there are two projects there that are under consideration
Speaker 10: that could be ticked off on oil and on gas.
Speaker 10: If he does move on that, that will see a
Speaker 10: significant break from what the Labor Party has done in
Speaker 10: the past on that and around the world and everywhere
Speaker 10: I went the word on everyone's lips is energy security.
Speaker 10: That is the most important thing for governments and for countries,
Speaker 10: and certainly the cost of energy everywhere is a talking point.
Speaker 1: So it's not just here that this.
Speaker 10: Is happening, but elsewhere it seems that one of the
Speaker 10: shoes has dropped on the cost of these policies to
Speaker 10: governments and to people.
Speaker 3: Right before I go to other things, then what did
Speaker 3: you make at the Prime Minister's announcement from Kartha and
Speaker 3: Wa yesterday that they'll have a scoping study four millions
Speaker 3: on the table if the project goes ahead. We're talking many,
Speaker 3: multiple of billions. But does this tell us that Labour's
Speaker 3: dropping its fossil fuel phobia.
Speaker 10: Well, Peter, I always say that the best way to
Speaker 10: view politics is to watch what governments do rather than
Speaker 10: to listen to what they say. And this is a
Speaker 10: fairly significant thing for the Prime Minister to be doing,
Speaker 10: to try and look it away of suring up Australia's
Speaker 10: energy security and particularly it's liquid fuel security. So you
Speaker 10: have to give him points for that. And the truth
Speaker 10: about the way that Australia actually is run and the
Speaker 10: energy that it runs on is ninety six percent of
Speaker 10: our energy. So once we get away from electricity, but
Speaker 10: all of the energy that we use to run this country,
Speaker 10: ninety six percent of it comes from coal, oil and gas.
Speaker 10: And that's the truth. That's not going to change in
Speaker 10: the short term. And we know that we are severely
Speaker 10: liquid fuel insecure.
Speaker 1: At the moment. So good on the Prime Minister for
Speaker 1: doing that.
Speaker 10: And it does give you a nod in the direction
Speaker 10: of travel of this government.
Speaker 3: Okay, well, just staying with this then you know you
Speaker 3: will have seen the story that broke lateness this afternoon
Speaker 3: in the Australian that you've got all these heads of
Speaker 3: governor around the world who were saying no to Chris
Speaker 3: bow and they're not going to come to the latest
Speaker 3: climate change talkfest that he is promoting. I think it's
Speaker 3: in October this year in Fiji. He's spent many millions
Speaker 3: booking all the luxury hotel rooms. Well, they will all
Speaker 3: be those shows again. If you look at data centers,
Speaker 3: if you look at zero, even Tony Blair says that's
Speaker 3: got to go. Are we seeing a shift here, Chris,
Speaker 3: given what you've also witnessed overseas, Peter.
Speaker 10: There is undoubtedly a shift which Chris Bowen of course,
Speaker 10: refuses to acknowledge one of the many things that he
Speaker 10: said which is flat out wrong, which is that no
Speaker 10: one around the world that he talks to is talking
Speaker 10: about getting more oil and gas. Well, he must have
Speaker 10: missed the statement that was put out by Mark Carney,
Speaker 10: who formerly was a champion, of course of net zero,
Speaker 10: about the fact that he made no bones about this,
Speaker 10: that Canada's emissions are going to rise because he's going
Speaker 10: to lean more heavily into the natural resources of that
Speaker 10: country to make the most of them, to make sure
Speaker 10: that Canada uses the real strength.
Speaker 1: That it has in oil and gas. Is opening up a.
Speaker 10: New pipeline he intends to expect export gas into the
Speaker 10: export markets into which we export them. So right round
Speaker 10: the world, the world understands now that energy security trumps
Speaker 10: everything else, and what Chris Bowen says and does is
Speaker 10: in some ways a sideshow, but I would say a
Speaker 10: very expensive one for Australia, and we continue to pursue
Speaker 10: policies which will in the long run make us a
Speaker 10: poorer nation. So it's good to see the federal government
Speaker 10: in some fronts, like on when it comes to liquid
Speaker 10: fuel security, has the memo it's certainly lagging when it
Speaker 10: comes to others. And if it actually believes that it
Speaker 10: will deliver productivity on the energy path that it's born,
Speaker 10: then it's diluting itself.
Speaker 3: The latest polls, Chris, we just read the Sky poll.
Speaker 3: There's an uptick there, Friendus Taylor. I think it's steadying
Speaker 3: of the one nation vote. Still in bad polls for labor.
Speaker 3: The government's really gone, I think hard now after one Nation.
Speaker 3: But they lampoon them for so long. The Prime Minister
Speaker 3: always you know, going after Paul enhanced it as some
Speaker 3: sort of joke. But now he's become very full frontal
Speaker 3: in his attack. So to the Treasurer here he was
Speaker 3: today the.
Speaker 8: Very dangerous risk that one nation poses to wages and
Speaker 8: working families in this country. And the thing about one
Speaker 8: nation is there is no way that the Liberals and
Speaker 8: Nationals can govern without being in coalition with one nation,
Speaker 8: and those three parties, that three ring circus, they share
Speaker 8: a very divisive anti worker agenda.
Speaker 3: I made this mirrored I guess the Russian we saw
Speaker 3: yesterday from Ben Carroll.
Speaker 2: It was all about the polls.
Speaker 3: That's why I just into Alan when it was Craven's
Speaker 3: self interest from Labor.
Speaker 2: MPs who wanted to keep their seats.
Speaker 3: But he made it himself all about the risk come
Speaker 3: November of a coalition one nation government in Victoria.
Speaker 2: What do you make of.
Speaker 1: This, Well, it's politics.
Speaker 10: What I want for the Labor Party and squad I
Speaker 10: would be doing at the moment, which is to paint
Speaker 10: your opponent as a risk, to paint one nation in
Speaker 10: particular as unpredictable, inexperienced and certainly a danger of a vote,
Speaker 10: a risk of a vote, and that he's trying now
Speaker 10: to put everyone in the same pot. So essentially to
Speaker 10: say that the fractured right hand side of Australian politics
Speaker 10: is unfit to govern. And unfortunately it's true to a
Speaker 10: cert an extent that they keep offering proof points to this,
Speaker 10: you know, so that one nation and the coalition at
Speaker 10: the moment, certainly, you know, the one nation in particular
Speaker 10: is certainly making up some ground. But unfortunately it's really
Speaker 10: hard to pin one nation down as to what they
Speaker 10: would be and what they would do in government. I've
Speaker 10: got to say, when it comes to Victoria, who leads
Speaker 10: one nation in Victoria? If people want an option, and
Speaker 10: if that option really isn't there, if it looks to
Speaker 10: them like the coalition and one nation's going to be
Speaker 10: a risk that it forces them back into the Labor
Speaker 10: Party's ticket. So you know, of course this is the
Speaker 10: sort of thing the Labor Party would do, and it
Speaker 10: would be helpful if the coalition then one nation didn't
Speaker 10: provide proof points so often that they were incapable of governing.
Speaker 2: I guess though, in aggregate terms, Chris a few things.
Speaker 2: It says to me.
Speaker 3: It says to be clearly one nation is showing up
Speaker 3: in internal party polling for Labor, not the published polls,
Speaker 3: not the stuff that we see, but that really fine
Speaker 3: drill down poling that only a political party does.
Speaker 2: So it's there.
Speaker 3: The PM wouldn't have made it such a feature of
Speaker 3: the national conference the other weekend if it wasn't. But
Speaker 3: also if you look in aggregate terms, and they're not
Speaker 3: a multi party coalition yet or of any shape or
Speaker 3: form on the center right, but you have got this
Speaker 3: concentration of anyone but the government vote anyone but Labor,
Speaker 3: and that's occurring federally and certainly occurring in Victoria and
Speaker 3: Labor rather that, I guess, take the concerns of people
Speaker 3: who have left them seriously, they're now wheeling around and
Speaker 3: attacking one Nation supporters. Now, I say that the Liberals
Speaker 3: don't do that either, fight the ground, the policy ground
Speaker 3: where the differences up, don't attack people who have left you.
Speaker 2: Labour got to be careful about that as well.
Speaker 10: Yeah, certainly, And I'm sure that in working class suburbs
Speaker 10: that one Nation is mopping up the discontent that people
Speaker 10: see there. But the problem that we've gotten in the
Speaker 10: two party preferred system is I see a lot of
Speaker 10: people who just add up the one nation vote and
Speaker 10: the coalition vote. Hey, presto, that transforms into government. Well no,
Speaker 10: it doesn't, not if it fractures and those preferences spray everywhere.
Speaker 10: And that's what the government does know. So if the
Speaker 10: Victorian Labor Party can lift its primary vote high enough,
Speaker 10: and that will not necessarily be that high in this
Speaker 10: day and age, then it's back in this fight. So
Speaker 10: it's obvious that what you would do is try and
Speaker 10: work on the weaknesses of your opponent. The biggest weaknesses
Speaker 10: of the right hand side of politics at the moment
Speaker 10: is it's absurdly divided and looks completely disorganized.
Speaker 1: So that's a problem.
Speaker 10: IF's certainly a problem for Jess Wilson in Victoria.
Speaker 3: Let's play this comment from someone you know well, I
Speaker 3: know well, our former Labor Front bencher Mike Kelly.
Speaker 11: The bad news is that there's these elements that are
Speaker 11: rising within the Labor movement that have this unholy alliance
Speaker 11: between extreme revolutionary Marxists and Islamist extremists that are trying
Speaker 11: to pervert the party. And their goal is not a
Speaker 11: two state solution which is aligned with Hamas, because mass
Speaker 11: doesn't support a t state solution.
Speaker 3: All right, we've both seen what the politics of radical
Speaker 3: Islam's done to the left in the United Kingdom. Is
Speaker 3: that where Labour's headed in Australia.
Speaker 1: Oh, look, we've seen certainly, you know, the latest.
Speaker 10: Iteration at the Labor Party conference of the push which
Speaker 10: has been coming from the left forever. Lookause, as long
Speaker 10: as I can remember that, there's always been a debate
Speaker 10: over how the wording should be on the Labor Party's
Speaker 10: attitude to the state of Israel. And usually, you know,
Speaker 10: the sanity did prevail. And now what we've seen is.
Speaker 1: That it gets chipped away at time and time again
Speaker 1: at these conferences.
Speaker 10: And I have to say that a large section of
Speaker 10: the party, the Parliamentary Labor Party, and is certainly a
Speaker 10: large section of the base of the Labor Party now
Speaker 10: has conpl completely split with the State of Israel. It's
Speaker 10: actively hostile to it at the moment. That's the frustration
Speaker 10: you can hear coming out and someone like Mike Kelly,
Speaker 10: who is a good friend and you know, a man
Speaker 10: of enormous principle, he's been fighting the good fight for
Speaker 10: what he believes to be the right thing and what
Speaker 10: I agree with him is the right thing on our
Speaker 10: attitude to the State of Israel. But I'm afraid that
Speaker 10: I think that the fight is lost inside the Labor
Speaker 10: Party now, certainly within the membership and i'd say pretty
Speaker 10: much too within the Parliamentary Labor Party. So we've seen
Speaker 10: another step towards moving away from the State of Israel
Speaker 10: and the support that the Labor Party had historically given it,
Speaker 10: and that will continue.
Speaker 3: That's heartbreaking, Chris Bod's a very bad omen for this country.
Speaker 3: But we're seeing it in the United States. Of course,
Speaker 3: for the Democrats who were seeing it in the United Kingdom,
Speaker 3: not good. We'll catch up back to your usual spot
Speaker 3: on Monday next week. Thanks for your time, right after
Speaker 3: the break on the ground with voters today, what do
Speaker 3: I make of Ben Carroll? Or get a question, actually,
Speaker 3: do they even know who the bloke is? Class inflations
Speaker 3: down today? What does it mean for rates? Though, Ross
Speaker 3: Greenwood joins me, welcome back. We're going to get into
Speaker 3: the latest inflation data out to day and what it
Speaker 3: means for your.
Speaker 2: Mortgage if you've got one. I do. I'm a bit interested.
Speaker 3: Let to that in a moment with ros greenwanded first,
Speaker 3: not twenty four hours after he niches inter Allen as leader,
Speaker 3: Ben Carroll was out and about this morning, starting with
Speaker 3: that picture up. We've talked about that at kmart where
Speaker 3: he got his first job, and then in the Parliament
Speaker 3: repeating some familiar talking points straight off the cuff.
Speaker 4: I'm not Daniel Andrews, I'm not just said Allen.
Speaker 3: I'm nobody's girl. Well maybe the case premiere, but devoters
Speaker 3: even know who Ben carol is 's twenty four reporter
Speaker 3: Jack Niholf got out in the street spoke to a
Speaker 3: few punters this morning and this is what they had
Speaker 3: to say.
Speaker 5: Does the name Ben Carroll mean anything to you? Who
Speaker 5: Ben Carroll?
Speaker 1: Do you know who this mare is?
Speaker 12: Oh?
Speaker 6: It's a new one.
Speaker 1: I see the tea wee.
Speaker 2: Do you know his name? I don't know.
Speaker 5: Does the name Ben Carroll mean anything to you?
Speaker 2: It's not.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, it's just the same mob, isn't it.
Speaker 13: And as far as I'm concerned, he's just tired with
Speaker 13: the same brush and my vote is going to go liberal.
Speaker 1: Do you know who this man is?
Speaker 2: I've never seen him in my life.
Speaker 3: Looks like he's got a bit of work there, doesn't it,
Speaker 3: to not just repair the labor brand, but also lift
Speaker 3: his public profile ahead of the election.
Speaker 2: He's got four months to.
Speaker 3: Do it, and again cracking all right, let's go now
Speaker 3: politics to one side. Let's talk about all the other
Speaker 3: issues across the country in terms of the economy. But
Speaker 3: I want to have a bit of a focus tonight
Speaker 3: if I count on Victoria, because outside of crime and safety,
Speaker 3: it's the powerless state of the Victorian economy that's dragging
Speaker 3: down not just Victoria but the entire Commonwealth. Joining me
Speaker 3: now to discuss that, and of course the inflation data
Speaker 3: out today News twenty four Business editor Ross Greenwood, Well,
Speaker 3: you're the guru here, Ross, I had to get you
Speaker 3: on this week. They've changed the leader, can they fix
Speaker 3: the economy because across almost every indicy, Victoria is in trouble.
Speaker 3: The trouble in terms of the debt. Of course, the premier,
Speaker 3: the outgoing premiere, was crowing about a deficit. Will make
Speaker 3: your deficit. It's not your problem. It's your debt that's
Speaker 3: the problem. Unemployment's a problem, housing completions, housing starts.
Speaker 2: Of course, the auction rate tell us more the.
Speaker 14: Let's go for for example, manufacturing in Victoria is slowing
Speaker 14: fast than any other part of the country. There's a
Speaker 14: lack of raw materials or any sort of mining activity
Speaker 14: because of the difficulties to go and actually discover new
Speaker 14: gas fields in Victoria.
Speaker 1: That's a problem.
Speaker 14: The credit rating is the worst of any state in Australia,
Speaker 14: and there are warnings from the Credit Ratings Agency that
Speaker 14: it could be cut is they continue to spend in
Speaker 14: the way in which they have. You've got a metro
Speaker 14: project right now whose costs are out of control, which
Speaker 14: means it's compromising not just other infrastructure projects in Victoria,
Speaker 14: but also then crowding out private the private sector when
Speaker 14: it wants to get on and do any building or
Speaker 14: expansion because its costs higher and so all of these
Speaker 14: things compound onto the Victorian economy. So Victoria's economy, as
Speaker 14: you point out, is right now an outlier when it
Speaker 14: comes to an unemployment The unemployment rate in Victoria is
Speaker 14: five point one percent, compared with the unemployment rate in
Speaker 14: New South Wales of four percent four point zero percent,
Speaker 14: and say Queensland Western Australia at four point three percent.
Speaker 14: So it is an outlier. And the problem is that
Speaker 14: if you don't have an economy that grows faster, if
Speaker 14: you don't have settings to allow it to grow faster,
Speaker 14: you'll simply try to hoover in more debt in particular,
Speaker 14: from all other taxes from property owners in particular, and
Speaker 14: you'll not make the economy more competitive. Then the problem
Speaker 14: gets worse. It doesn't get better anytime soon.
Speaker 3: I was listening to the radio this morning and there
Speaker 3: were people on there talking about the fact that someone
Speaker 3: had sold a home just recently for twenty percent less
Speaker 3: than they bought it five years ago. The auction rate
Speaker 3: in Victoria is the worst of the country. They're just
Speaker 3: the stuff's not on the market, and what's on the
Speaker 3: market's not selling. When you look at Victoria's revenue, the
Speaker 3: government revenues. So much of that is taxation, so much
Speaker 3: of it is property taxes. That also bodes ill for
Speaker 3: the future.
Speaker 1: It does.
Speaker 14: There's another little thing here is that on those employment
Speaker 14: stats I just showed you, remember that they are inflated
Speaker 14: in Victoria because of the massive public service that there is.
Speaker 14: There's close on four hundred thousand public servants in Victoria. Now,
Speaker 14: though New South Wales has more public servants, it also
Speaker 14: has an economy that can actually provide for those public
Speaker 14: servants and for the public service they provide. But in
Speaker 14: Victoria close on one in ten employees or workers is
Speaker 14: a public servant, whereas in New South Wales by way
Speaker 14: of comparison, it's around one in fifteen. So if you
Speaker 14: were an incoming premier and you wanted to change things,
Speaker 14: it's hard to do it. There's not terribly many assets
Speaker 14: government assets to sell to try and get your debts
Speaker 14: down from this two hundred billion dollars that it's going
Speaker 14: to be. There's not very much you can do by
Speaker 14: way of trying to incentivize business to try and invest more,
Speaker 14: partly because you're building so much infrastructure yourself, you're creating
Speaker 14: it out. And then the second thing as well as
Speaker 14: soon as you try and give tax breaks to business
Speaker 14: to try and expand in Victoria, your debts are going
Speaker 14: to get worse, not better in the short term. And
Speaker 14: so it really is one of these issues whereby Victoria
Speaker 14: for the time being is stuck and there's no easy
Speaker 14: way around it. And to your point, it's also a
Speaker 14: situation if you've whacked your homeowners with massive taxes, those
Speaker 14: homeowners and investors not likely to want to turn over
Speaker 14: their homes and as a result, your stamp duty revenue
Speaker 14: is lower. You're not getting a boost as a result
Speaker 14: of that. So you know, it's a problem, and it's
Speaker 14: a problem not just for the new Premier Ben Carroll
Speaker 14: coming through, but it's potentially also a difficulty if the
Speaker 14: Coalition were to win the election in sixteen weeks time.
Speaker 3: It's also a problem for everybody else to around the
Speaker 3: country because you know, I talk about Victoria, they've got
Speaker 3: an election coming, it's looming. Of course, its topical news
Speaker 3: for the nation, but in economic terms, everybody else will
Speaker 3: have to bail out the baskets state of Victoria, the
Speaker 3: basket case state of Victoria. If things don't get fixed.
Speaker 3: And I keep underscoring this point about the credit agencies,
Speaker 3: if it wasn't for the Commonwealth, well they call in
Speaker 3: their loans to Victoria, you know, lenders around the world.
Speaker 3: But I think I guess importantly those a couple of
Speaker 3: weeks ago that when he was the Treasurer Labor's Tim
Speaker 3: Pallace knocked on the doors in Canberra and said, we
Speaker 3: want you to bail us out now and ow. Fortunately
Speaker 3: Jim Chalmers said, you know, bugger off, that's.
Speaker 2: Not going to happen. But that's the risk for everyone,
Speaker 2: isn't it.
Speaker 1: Well, that is the risk.
Speaker 14: And to be fair also, Peter, I've in the past
Speaker 14: couple of months or so spoken to two Labor treasurers
Speaker 14: different states, obviously not Victoria, who have expressed genuine concern
Speaker 14: about this and wondering why on earth they should be
Speaker 14: on the hook for Victoria's proflicacy. And I mean this
Speaker 14: is of Victoria's own making, the infrastructure problems, the big
Speaker 14: build and what's taken place there, and quite clearly the
Speaker 14: investigations and the Royal Commission that has to happen into that.
Speaker 14: And so the waste is the real problem. The lack
Speaker 14: of incentive for business to grow in fact really almost
Speaker 14: trying to push business out, not trying to exploit your
Speaker 14: own natural resources. Just simply relying on it coming across
Speaker 14: the border in pipelines is not good enough. Relying solely
Speaker 14: on sort of renewable energy when that's absolutely fine to
Speaker 14: do that, but you've got to have something else longer
Speaker 14: term to back that up. So especially with the data
Speaker 14: centers that need to be built. So these are all
Speaker 14: fundamental flaws that the Allen government and before then the
Speaker 14: Andrews government committed that have left the Victorian people poorer
Speaker 14: and quite clearly now potentially looking for welfare from other
Speaker 14: parts of the country, which I've got to say, there
Speaker 14: is significant resistance to.
Speaker 3: The suburban ral Loupe, you mentioned that there this rail
Speaker 3: line to nowhere that almost no one in Victoria wants
Speaker 3: other than just Center Rellen, and it would seem perhaps
Speaker 3: not Ben Carroll. This is a comment made from Bill
Speaker 3: Shorten today. He's formerly of the labor right in Victoria.
Speaker 3: He's a great mate of Ben Carroll's. I saw this
Speaker 3: as a bit of an indication have a listen.
Speaker 12: Someone's got to say it, but suburban rail link seems
Speaker 12: a very expensive investment and I think a lot of
Speaker 12: people have got reservations about it, So I think running
Speaker 12: the ruler over that, I think will be pretty urgent.
Speaker 12: Suburban railink is it's a marvelous idea, but I know
Speaker 12: I'd be straight. I think that if you're having trouble
Speaker 12: paying for that and for hospitals and for schools and
Speaker 12: getting your debt down, I mean, I know the priority
Speaker 12: has got to be the immediate over the you know,
Speaker 12: the nice things to have, right.
Speaker 3: That's the ABC last night here repeated it again with
Speaker 3: my colleague this morning, Laura jays, that looks like it's
Speaker 3: going well.
Speaker 14: You would imagine, so running the rule over it, if
Speaker 14: he's giving the advice to Ben Carroll, that's certainly what
Speaker 14: would happen. And the other port also is for decades
Speaker 14: and decades people have wanted a rail link to the airport. Well,
Speaker 14: while you've got the suburban rail loop not working and
Speaker 14: not operating and clearly taking up a lot a lot
Speaker 14: of resources and a lot of money, then the other
Speaker 14: things that are needed in the city are not going
Speaker 14: to be taking place. So as I say, it needs
Speaker 14: a kickstart, there's no doubt the beginning would be to
Speaker 14: reduce the size of the public service but there will
Speaker 14: be a screen. You saw, say, for example, how out
Speaker 14: of touch even the teachers are looking for or rejecting
Speaker 14: a twenty eight percent pay rise over four years and
Speaker 14: wanting thirty five percent. And again this is at a
Speaker 14: time when Australia has got an inflation problem. So you know,
Speaker 14: this again recognizes a place that is not in step
Speaker 14: with other parts of the country right now, where other
Speaker 14: states New South Wales, Queensland, Wa South Australia in particular
Speaker 14: are growing fast and therefore infrastructure is growing and being
Speaker 14: built and being afforded. And this is the reason why
Speaker 14: some of those other states are really looking very wearily
Speaker 14: at Victoria right now.
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what ross If our bosses were going
Speaker 3: to give us eight percent when grab it, let alone
Speaker 3: twenty eight percent, the teachers are crazy, Hey, just very
Speaker 3: quickly inflation a reprieve today? Does this mean we're not
Speaker 3: going to get the rate hike that some we're thinking
Speaker 3: was coming our way.
Speaker 14: If this had been worse than expected, you could have
Speaker 14: almost guaranteed that a rate rise could have been on
Speaker 14: the cards in August. Look, there may be a rate
Speaker 14: rise later this year. You're going to look at these
Speaker 14: things on a monthly basis. It looks right now though
Speaker 14: that inflation rate is starting just ease off in the
Speaker 14: peaks it was previously. That being said, the Reserve Bank
Speaker 14: hasn't actually put it's in the inflation rate in Australia,
Speaker 14: the underlying rate, which doesn't include fuel prices, in its
Speaker 14: preferred band of two to three percent for twelve months,
Speaker 14: and really even over the past ten years, it's only
Speaker 14: got there basically in of one hundred and twenty months,
Speaker 14: about ten months of that one hundred and twenty months.
Speaker 14: So I don't know why you have a target when
Speaker 14: you can never hit it, but the point is right now.
Speaker 14: Interest rates in the short term are likely to be
Speaker 14: on hold for a very very prolonged period of time,
Speaker 14: and to a certain extent, that's the way the Reserve
Speaker 14: Bank likes it. It simply can sit back, wait and
Speaker 14: see what the impact of those three rate rises earlier
Speaker 14: this year will be.
Speaker 3: Thank you, as always, my good friend, the guru we
Speaker 3: call you here at News twenty four got it right
Speaker 3: that time. The break another legal case out of the
Speaker 3: whole Britney Higgins saga settled. We're still going to have
Speaker 3: all the facts though behind that multi million dollar payout
Speaker 3: she got and the Jews made to disappear from our
Speaker 3: upcoming census.
Speaker 2: That can't be right.
Speaker 3: You're telling me not after BONDI I I'm afraid to
Speaker 3: say it is my Wednesday panel up next. I'm just
Speaker 3: laughing in the break because I'm looking at my phone
Speaker 3: and my good friend and colleague Rita Panah the Riata show.
Speaker 2: Doesn't miss it.
Speaker 3: Of course, she's got merchandise on the News twenty four website.
Speaker 3: We need some Credlin T shirts too. We'll see what
Speaker 3: happens with that. Let's get into things with my panel, though,
Speaker 3: more important things to talk about with the head of
Speaker 3: Advocacy and Women's Forum Australia, Stephani Bastian and Liberal Senator
Speaker 3: for New South Wales and Jess Collins. Welcome to you both, Steph.
Speaker 3: I want your take on this because I know you've
Speaker 3: been pretty brutal online. The former Victorian premier just into
Speaker 3: Alan pulling the gender card yesterday.
Speaker 2: Have a listen.
Speaker 13: If you're a woman making your start in politics, let
Speaker 13: me say this to you today. Please don't look at
Speaker 13: what I have experienced this week and think stuff that
Speaker 13: I don't want to be involved. Look at the support
Speaker 13: I've experienced over my career and think I can make
Speaker 13: a difference here too.
Speaker 3: It's not your biology, lady, You're a dud. Steph, isn't
Speaker 3: she She's an absolute dud.
Speaker 9: I'm still blister of bristling looking at that, Peter. It's
Speaker 9: just a disgrace. I mean, no one let women down
Speaker 9: at every opportunity more than Jaciner Allen as a leader.
Speaker 9: As premier, I mean, she ran. She spent millions of
Speaker 9: dollars on a campaign you convince women to accept men
Speaker 9: into private spaces, releasing commercials funded by the taxpayer, depicting
Speaker 9: scenarios where women are leaving spaces or sporting scenarios where
Speaker 9: they did not feel safe against transidentified males in their
Speaker 9: personal space. She failed women in the prison system, where
Speaker 9: she in twenty twenty two, her government was aware there
Speaker 9: was a woman who was assaulted in a female prison
Speaker 9: by a male transidentifying prisoner. We have been campaigning for
Speaker 9: years and it's only this year that she updated her guidelines,
Speaker 9: not to exclude them, but to make it harder for
Speaker 9: male offenders to enter female prisons. She ran a health
Speaker 9: inquary for women. Women's health has been under research historically
Speaker 9: because there are so many biological variants, and she allowed
Speaker 9: men to participate, skewing the results. She has been a
Speaker 9: failure and she is a disgrace. And I don't think
Speaker 9: there is any sympathy from the public in her going.
Speaker 9: But as far as female leadership goes, she has failed.
Speaker 2: There you go it didn't mince your words.
Speaker 3: I'll go to you on another issue, Jess, because this
Speaker 3: struck me as as a shocking. I thought I'd got
Speaker 3: it wrong. I thought you clearly are reading it the
Speaker 3: wrong way. But it's actual fact. The Census, it has
Speaker 3: a drop down menu, have a whole lot of religions
Speaker 3: you can identify with. Of course they put the first
Speaker 3: one up the top is no religion. No surprises there
Speaker 3: with the ABS. But they've taken away Judaism as a
Speaker 3: religion that you nominate, so there's a whole lot of
Speaker 3: other religions there. You have to tick other on the
Speaker 3: box and then right in Judaism. Now, now, given BONDI
Speaker 3: given all the funding we have to keep Jews safe
Speaker 3: in Australia, Sadly, it might be a good idea to
Speaker 3: know how many Jews are in the country, given how
Speaker 3: much we need to spend to keep them safe.
Speaker 15: Oh, Peter, it's an absolute disgrace. I mean, as you say,
Speaker 15: after everything that the Jewish community has been through, I
Speaker 15: mean it's not like it's a small community as well,
Speaker 15: it's a very significant community across Australia and to have
Speaker 15: this it's just another slap in the face for them.
Speaker 15: I mean, the things that they have to go through.
Speaker 15: I couldn't even imagine. I've got young children and to
Speaker 15: have to be afraid and scared about sending your kids
Speaker 15: off to school, about sending them off to daycare every
Speaker 15: single day, about being worried about being spat on in
Speaker 15: the street, having your house graffited, and then the government
Speaker 15: sends this signal to the Jewish community. I just don't
Speaker 15: know what is going on with Australia right now. I
Speaker 15: just think it's an absolute disgrace.
Speaker 3: Step I have to ask you about the lead story
Speaker 3: in the Australian newspaper today that the Commonwealth has settled
Speaker 3: their case. This is the case evolving former Liberal staff
Speaker 3: of Fiona Brown. She initiated a lawsuit over the Brittany
Speaker 3: Higgins saga. Now the Commonwealth spent a lot of money
Speaker 3: fighting her. They've now settled it and in doing so,
Speaker 3: they've avoided a trial that would have revealed the conduct
Speaker 3: of the Albert Eezy government in pushing the false allegations
Speaker 3: against her against Fianna Brown, but also her boss. The
Speaker 3: Auber said it at Linda Reynolds. Now, yes, I guess
Speaker 3: it's good that it's been selled for her, but I
Speaker 3: really wanted to see in court the government under some heat.
Speaker 2: I wanted to see.
Speaker 3: Ministers under oath giving evidence because I think Australians deserve
Speaker 3: the truth.
Speaker 9: Oh, they absolutely deserve to know. And it is disappointing
Speaker 9: this case didn't go through to trial. We know that
Speaker 9: this whole case was used as the political football. It
Speaker 9: was very successful in my view, in the way that
Speaker 9: they exploited this particular case, and I think that she
Speaker 9: has been vindicated. Fiona has been vindicated in other cases,
Speaker 9: but in terms of the corruption and the way that
Speaker 9: this was handled through government and the press and the payout,
Speaker 9: it's a shame we're going to be left of the dark.
Speaker 9: I just hope that Fiona does find some peace and
Speaker 9: a way to heal following everything that she's been through,
Speaker 9: because it has been horrendous.
Speaker 3: Yeah, nearly three million dollars was paid to Britney Higgins
Speaker 3: and part of the calculation jess of the some pertaining
Speaker 3: to the fact the argument was that she'd never be
Speaker 3: able to.
Speaker 2: Work ever again.
Speaker 3: Well, she's hardly been out of work ever since that
Speaker 3: money was paid to her. When she had a judgment
Speaker 3: that went against her in terms of defamation involving Linda Reynolds.
Speaker 3: She was ordered by the court to pay money to
Speaker 3: Reynolds to pay legal costs. She's now declared herself bankrupt,
Speaker 3: though I doubt Linda Reynolds will see any money, and
Speaker 3: we don't know where that three million went anyway.
Speaker 15: That's absolutely right, and I'll tell you what Linda Reynolds
Speaker 15: and Fiona Brown have been through it. And I think
Speaker 15: it's been about seven years since this case, or since
Speaker 15: the saga began. Can you only imagine how long this
Speaker 15: has gone on for for someone like Fiona Brown who
Speaker 15: just wants to clear her name I suspect and get
Speaker 15: through this. So I'm pleased for her that she's managed
Speaker 15: to find settlement and stay out of the media with
Speaker 15: all of this case. But of course, as you said before,
Speaker 15: you know, we haven't really uncovered the truth of all
Speaker 15: of it, which is a shame. But you know, I
Speaker 15: am pleased with Linda Reynolds out of round trying to
Speaker 15: find closure on all of this.
Speaker 3: Stephanie Bastian reports today that Chinese cars will account for
Speaker 3: sub fifty percent of all our new car sales by
Speaker 3: twenty thirty five. Some say it'll be close to sixty percent.
Speaker 3: But there's also a report in The Australian today that
Speaker 3: there are serious security and privacy concerns that effectively these
Speaker 3: smart cars can be turned into foreign weapons.
Speaker 9: I think there's some very serious concerns there, but this
Speaker 9: is what happens when you outsource your manufacturing. Australia should
Speaker 9: be producing our cars here, we used to. We've destroyed
Speaker 9: our industries and I think it's a real shame. So
Speaker 9: I think if we are going to continue importing these
Speaker 9: cars and they are bringing in new technologies, that they
Speaker 9: should be vetted by the government to make sure that
Speaker 9: there aren't spying, particularly when it comes to government vehicles
Speaker 9: and all the rest of these vehicles are used at
Speaker 9: state and federal level as well. So I just hope
Speaker 9: that diligence is done.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's quite alarming, you know, this, Senator, it's quite
Speaker 3: alarming to know and seeing the fleet of government vehicles,
Speaker 3: just how many of them come from China. In other
Speaker 3: countries they're banning these Chinese cars.
Speaker 15: Well, they absolutely are, and for good reason.
Speaker 2: Peter.
Speaker 15: Look, you know they are a huge security risk. We
Speaker 15: know that they can collect intelligence as they can collect data.
Speaker 15: Then they've got cameras all over them. The software is
Speaker 15: a problem, the hardware is a problem. I think we
Speaker 15: need to call a spade a spade here. These aren't
Speaker 15: electric vehicles. They are connected cars and we need to
Speaker 15: be worried about who is making them and who remains
Speaker 15: connected to them. Who is a manufacturer and who can
Speaker 15: remain connected.
Speaker 2: Now, there were.
Speaker 15: Reports last year that there are a whole lot of
Speaker 15: electric vehicles from China that were done right next to
Speaker 15: Amblely Base. That's our largest air field in Australia. And
Speaker 15: you know that could be collecting all the data from
Speaker 15: the Ambly Base. It's just disgraceful that this government doesn't
Speaker 15: think about this stuff. Well they're not taking any action
Speaker 15: if they know about it, Why aren't they doing something
Speaker 15: about it? Why are they leaving us so vulnerable and
Speaker 15: why are they creating these national security concerns?
Speaker 3: For us smart smart analysis. I'll leave their senator. Thank you, Stepanie.
Speaker 3: Great to see you. See you both next week. Write
Speaker 3: quick break after break.
Speaker 2: Kel and your flag photographs. I've got a few to
Speaker 2: show you.
Speaker 3: Welcome back, joining me as he does every Wednesday. Words
Speaker 3: Smith and Broadcaster Extraordinaire Kel Richards. Before we start, kell As,
Speaker 3: I look at you sitting there in your magnificent library
Speaker 3: full of all of those books. I mean, we know
Speaker 3: that our books. It's very clever work by the good
Speaker 3: team at News twenty four.
Speaker 2: I want you to have a look at this tweet.
Speaker 3: My husband found it for me, he said, sent it
Speaker 3: to me, and it reads following a standard workplace safety check,
Speaker 3: I've just received an email from a university administrator in
Speaker 3: which my custom of keeping books on the shelf in
Speaker 3: my office is described as an unnecessary story of materials.
Speaker 3: I mean, this is an academic at any universe.
Speaker 16: Horrible breaks my heart. Books are not breaks my heart materials.
Speaker 16: They are things that feed our minds and feed our souls.
Speaker 16: Combustible materials, yes, yes, dreadful.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get into the words. Let's get in
Speaker 2: the words.
Speaker 3: John, one of our viewers says, where did the term
Speaker 3: tall poppy come from Ah.
Speaker 16: This is interesting because this compound now and tall poppy
Speaker 16: meaning prominent people was coined here in Australia. It is ours.
Speaker 16: It belongs to us. First time i'd ever appeared in
Speaker 16: print anywhere eighteen forty one in a Victorian newspaper in
Speaker 16: the Portland Guardian. Now I said that on air and
Speaker 16: my radio show once and a talkback caller rang up
Speaker 16: and said, no, no, no, no, kel, it came from ancient Rome.
Speaker 16: Now there's a bit of background. It is true that
Speaker 16: the last king of ancient Rome was Tarquinus Superbos. It's
Speaker 16: a wonderful name, Tarquinus Superbs. And he had a policy
Speaker 16: of slaughtering all the most prominent people in any city
Speaker 16: that he conquered, and called it cutting the heads off
Speaker 16: tall poppies. But he said that in Latin. Nothing like
Speaker 16: that appeared in English until it was said here in
Speaker 16: nineteen forty one by a journalist in Portland in Victoria.
Speaker 16: So yes, this is ours. We own this. The longer
Speaker 16: form of a tall poppy syndrome not coined until nineteen
Speaker 16: seventy nine. And that just means an irresistible impulse to
Speaker 16: criticize prominent people and a fairly silly one.
Speaker 3: Let's go to the word satire, because it's been prominent
Speaker 3: I think in the last couple of days after the
Speaker 3: ABC broadcast that disgusting video about Gina Reinhart.
Speaker 2: We've all seen it. I'm not going to play it again.
Speaker 3: And the ABC, though, defended it on the basis they
Speaker 3: said it was satire.
Speaker 16: Yes, and their defense does not hold up. I'll tell
Speaker 16: you why. It's all to do with the definition of
Speaker 16: the word. I checked all of the dictionaries. I've got
Speaker 16: connections with lots of them. As you'd understand, they all
Speaker 16: say something along the lines of satire means criticizing person
Speaker 16: or id humorously. They all have those two elements. Has
Speaker 16: to have criticism and humor. Now, the peace run about
Speaker 16: Gina Rehinhunt had neither. There was no criticism of Gina
Speaker 16: hight Hut, just violence towards her, and there was no humor,
Speaker 16: not even the hint of a joke. So if the
Speaker 16: ABC pretends that was satire, it is the last thing
Speaker 16: it was was satire, Wasn't that So in this case
Speaker 16: the Emperor has no clothes. That was not satire by
Speaker 16: any definition.
Speaker 2: Clap trap. We got tired for that one.
Speaker 16: Yes, claptrap is interesting. Goes back to seventeen thirty. Was
Speaker 16: born in the English theater world in London in that year,
Speaker 16: and it was Claptrap meant something that acted in on stage,
Speaker 16: something humorous or dramatic, or something to incite applause. In
Speaker 16: other words, claptrap originally meant something done on stage to
Speaker 16: literally trap the claps. Now, over time people worked out
Speaker 16: that what was being done to trap the claps was
Speaker 16: usually nonsense and rubbish. So clap trap came by the
Speaker 16: early Aideen hundreds to meet rubbish and nonsense. But it
Speaker 16: originally just trapped the collapse.
Speaker 2: Brilliant Kel.
Speaker 3: I'll leave it there because I want to show some
Speaker 3: people at home the flags that they have sent me
Speaker 3: from all around the country. I asked you to send
Speaker 3: them in and you have made my day. But so
Speaker 3: many flooding my email. You can see some of them
Speaker 3: there on the screen that come from farming communities, country towns,
Speaker 3: have come from the suburbs. It's absolutely fantastic. If proof
Speaker 3: was ever needed, this is it. Forget what they've bloken.
Speaker 3: The lodge thinks of our flag. You love it as
Speaker 3: much as I do. You love our country as much
Speaker 3: as I do. I've got a whole lot more to
Speaker 3: show you. I'll bring them to you overcoming days. Thank
Speaker 3: you for your company. More flags tomorrow night, more me too.
Speaker 3: But right now, here's Andrew