Speaker 1: Peter Quedlin live from year twenty four.
Speaker 2: Good evening, welcome to the program. Here's what's coming up
Speaker 2: tonight on Predline. Finally tonight, years of fighting a big
Speaker 2: sign of hope for Victorian farmers. It's massive Labour's intrusive
Speaker 2: V nine West transmission line is dead if Jess Wilson
Speaker 2: wins in November. The man who's spearheaded this fight, Farmer's
Speaker 2: Fight Back founder Ben Duckson joins me shortly. Pressure intensifies
Speaker 2: on Labour's MATCHO of his cuts to veteran health and
Speaker 2: that botched meeting this week. In question time today, the
Speaker 2: Prime Minister was forced to step in. We'll speak with
Speaker 2: the former fighter pilot who was in the room as
Speaker 2: veterans groups now demand his resignation. Plus more on the
Speaker 2: convicted child sex offender, a foreign national pleading to remain
Speaker 2: in Australia because he's homosexual, and claims of fake migration agents.
Speaker 2: Tony Burke. He's gone missing and still hasn't delivered that
Speaker 2: big reform speech he promised, and Labor today added again
Speaker 2: despite analysis, it clearly reveals pressure on housing and increasing rents.
Speaker 2: The Housing Minister wants you to believe that This is
Speaker 2: a government that doesn't lie. Only listen to the slip
Speaker 2: of tongue from her colleague.
Speaker 3: We should try to speak the truth in this chamber whenever,
Speaker 3: not the fictional world that's been created by those officers.
Speaker 3: Of course, this government closed the labor liar loophole, which
Speaker 3: meant that that many people doing the same job.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'll do it again.
Speaker 4: Order the labor higher loophole, a labor higher loop.
Speaker 2: Hop Okay, I make it up. Can you for first
Speaker 2: calls for the resignation of veterans Minister mat Keo only
Speaker 2: intensified today now yesterday you recall the incredible report from
Speaker 2: the delegation of Veterans about their meeting with Keo after
Speaker 2: he was shamed into giving him giving them time.
Speaker 5: In his diary, Minister Keyo was forced to have a
Speaker 5: meeting with us at five point thirty. It was obvious
Speaker 5: he did not want to be there. He even let
Speaker 5: us know that he was missing an appointment with the
Speaker 5: Governor General, which he was very upset about. He walked
Speaker 5: into the room, refused to shake our hand, sat down
Speaker 5: with his arms crossed, and rolled his eyes when we
Speaker 5: started telling him about the effect that this cap already
Speaker 5: is having on veterans.
Speaker 2: There's two from the mother of a young naval officer
Speaker 2: who took his own life.
Speaker 6: Why would anybody want to join the ADF with him
Speaker 6: as the Minister for Defense Personnel and the Minister for veterans.
Speaker 6: He doesn't care about them. Let's call him out, Prime Minister.
Speaker 6: The minister's position is untenable and he needs to go,
Speaker 6: and you need to meet with us. You promised me
Speaker 6: in opposition that you would look after veterans. You are
Speaker 6: failing us.
Speaker 2: And then this exchange with our political editor Andrew Clanell.
Speaker 7: His officer have said to me he didn't want to
Speaker 7: trouble you guys to stand, okay, I'll see your reaction
Speaker 7: to that, and that he shook all your hands on
Speaker 7: the way out. What do you say to that, mate.
Speaker 8: We've met with various politicians and political and media people
Speaker 8: what we've been here, and including labor politicians who were great,
Speaker 8: They were gracious. Everyone has shook the hands of the veterans.
Speaker 8: Everyone has spoken to us with respect and we've shown respect.
Speaker 8: But it was a different scenario with Minister Keo. There
Speaker 8: is a disdain that I think when you speak to
Speaker 8: the veteran community and those serving. It's been obvious since
Speaker 8: he was appointed minister.
Speaker 7: What happened though in that meeting? Did he listen to
Speaker 7: your concerns about the Allied healthcare cap? Did he express
Speaker 7: any sympathy?
Speaker 8: No sympathy at all. He actually said to us at
Speaker 8: one stage that you know, if we see a veteran
Speaker 8: going through a process rehabilitation and say after twelve treatments
Speaker 8: there has been no improvement, why would we continue this?
Speaker 2: By mid morning today, the calls for Keo's resignation were
Speaker 2: only growing. By question time, he was clearly under pressure.
Speaker 9: He is the minister confident veterans would agree he is
Speaker 9: upholding the Covenant oath.
Speaker 10: Why on earth hasn't the minister picked up the phone
Speaker 10: to the CEO of the organization representing Australia's war widows.
Speaker 9: How can the Minister continue as Minister for the Veterans' Affairs
Speaker 9: and Defense Personnel if he cannot uphold defense values.
Speaker 10: Former Air Force fighter jet pilot doctor Tim Nelson spoke
Speaker 10: about the minister's behavior in a meeting and I quote
Speaker 10: he walked into the room, refused to shake our hand,
Speaker 10: sat down with his arms crossed and rolled his eyes. Yesterday,
Speaker 10: the Minister told the House and I quote, I don't
Speaker 10: agree with the characteration that you've just outlined. Is the
Speaker 10: minister calling this veteran a lyle.
Speaker 2: When the Opposition leader got to his feed, he laid
Speaker 2: out the minister's catalog of incompetence and failure. It was
Speaker 2: hard then to see how he could survive.
Speaker 11: Yesterday, the Minister for Veterans Affairs admitted he got it
Speaker 11: wrong and refusing to meet with veterans to discuss Labour's
Speaker 11: cruel cap on Allied health services. He also got it
Speaker 11: wrong on trying to put a use by date on
Speaker 11: medallic recognition. He got it wrong on refusing to support
Speaker 11: the Invictors Games, and he got it wrong on cutting
Speaker 11: funding for the family of fallen Victoria Cross hero Cameron Baird,
Speaker 11: vc MG. Why won't the Prime Minister sack this incompetent
Speaker 11: and disrespectful minister.
Speaker 2: Well, despite that, the Prime Minister backed him in saying this.
Speaker 12: I have every confidence in the minute.
Speaker 2: Weakness will be Albanzi's epitaph. What started out as a
Speaker 2: lamentable decision by Minister mat Keo to refuse to meet
Speaker 2: the delegation a former military personnel who traveled especially to
Speaker 2: Canberra to meet him to appeal his decision to cut
Speaker 2: their access to Allied health services has now snowballed into
Speaker 2: a test of leadership for Keo's boss. Now, if John
Speaker 2: Howard were in the lodge, the Veterans Minister or he
Speaker 2: would be gone already. But rather than penalize weak ministers,
Speaker 2: Albanesi runs a protection racket for them. That's why his
Speaker 2: front bench is now crowded with individuals whose personal conduct
Speaker 2: and portfolio performance should have meant early retirement. It's not
Speaker 2: just the snouts in the trough, like Arnaca Wells, who
Speaker 2: thinks she's entitled to act like a D grade celebrity
Speaker 2: rather than a servant of the people. It's the fact
Speaker 2: that people like Koh are not held to the same
Speaker 2: standards that are now expected in the real world and
Speaker 2: at once we got from our elected leaders. Look at
Speaker 2: the case of Darwin based Labor MP Luke Gosling, the
Speaker 2: Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Defense. He faces the serious
Speaker 2: criminal chargers now after fourteen years in prison for allegedly
Speaker 2: assaulting the NT's Special Administrator, but he remains in his job.
Speaker 2: Compare that with the Sydney Swans. The AFL players stood
Speaker 2: down this afternoon, even before a concluded police investigation, and
Speaker 2: in the absence to date of any chargers. In the past,
Speaker 2: ministers went under the bus over a color TV, a
Speaker 2: Paddington bearer, a teenage son racking up a big phone bill,
Speaker 2: or a helicopter ride. Not so today. Indeed, under alban
Speaker 2: Easy is anything left a sackable offense. The Prime Minister
Speaker 2: thinks he wins p for being loyal, but loyalty should
Speaker 2: only be extended where it's deserved. Otherwise leadership is eroded
Speaker 2: excusing bad behavior in competence. This respect is not loyalty,
Speaker 2: in fact, it's weakness. It says that the party leader
Speaker 2: lacks the internal capital to make tough but necessary decisions
Speaker 2: with our caucus or party room repercussions. Albanesi has a
Speaker 2: massive parliamentary majority, and hanging on to deadwood or worse,
Speaker 2: ministers like Keo who are actually causing collateral damage to
Speaker 2: the government, well that breeds disquiet. Talented backbenches would not
Speaker 2: be happy that Albanese's willingness to excuse Keo protects the
Speaker 2: status quo and hampers their advancement. Understand too. The signal
Speaker 2: this sends to the wider ministry that underperformance will be
Speaker 2: excused and indeed tolerated. Now, this is a shocking outcome
Speaker 2: for voters. Legislating legislation caps the number of ministers in
Speaker 2: Australia federally at thirty positions only, and that should create
Speaker 2: a competitive force that pushes MPs to excel in order
Speaker 2: to gain or keep a promotion. But this benefit disappears
Speaker 2: if poor performance goes unpunished, and if bad behavior is protected,
Speaker 2: it means too that new talent doesn't get advanced. Once again,
Speaker 2: like his own disrespect towards the Japanese Prime Minister. All
Speaker 2: of this goes to Albanese's character as a leader and
Speaker 2: the character of his government. Words are cheap when the
Speaker 2: Prime Minister stands at the dispatch box as he did
Speaker 2: yesterday to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the Battle of
Speaker 2: Long Tan on Vietnam Veterans Day, but then sits on
Speaker 2: his hands while his Veterans minister shows them sustained and
Speaker 2: repeated contempt that Keyo must resign and if he won't,
Speaker 2: they're the Prime Minister must sack him. Now, believe me,
Speaker 2: if there is one group a politician does not want
Speaker 2: to go to war with. That is our veterans. They
Speaker 2: have been trained to put their lives on the line
Speaker 2: and to kill. I know who's going to win here,
Speaker 2: and it will not be the minister who can barely
Speaker 2: look up from the dispatch box. Let's head to Camberan
Speaker 2: now for the headlines. Our political reporter on standby cam
Speaker 2: Reddin good evening.
Speaker 13: The so called widow's tax is no more. The Parliament
Speaker 13: has agreed to amend it out of Labour's reform package.
Speaker 9: Shame on this government.
Speaker 14: I commend Angus Taylor, the leader of the Opposition, for
Speaker 14: sustaining this campaign to bring about change, and.
Speaker 4: I think those who have contributed to this debate and
Speaker 4: I welcome the passage of this and I know that
Speaker 4: Treasure welcomes the passage of this bill.
Speaker 13: The National Australia Bank, Ray White and the Labor Government
Speaker 13: have all sorts of play down suggestions the rental market
Speaker 13: is about to spike.
Speaker 5: I think there has been a lot of irresponsible and
Speaker 5: unnecessary scare mongering when it comes to the impact of
Speaker 5: the government's tax reforms.
Speaker 13: The Major Bank and Real Estate Agency have clarified reports
Speaker 13: rents could rise by up to thirty percent due to
Speaker 13: the tax changes. They argue, that's how much they would
Speaker 13: need to rise to compensate for the loss of property
Speaker 13: tax concessions. But it's not a projection of where prices
Speaker 13: will go.
Speaker 15: Is the Minister damn proud of making millions of Australians
Speaker 15: pay higher rents?
Speaker 4: So I just want to remind the Parliament that when
Speaker 4: they came into the Parliament yesterday they accused the National
Speaker 4: Australia Bank of saying the same thing, and then the
Speaker 4: National Australia Bank clarified this was not a forecast and
Speaker 4: it is important to note that we do not forecast
Speaker 4: rental yields seriously.
Speaker 13: Cameron Reddin, News twenty four Canberra.
Speaker 2: We'll stay with that' spin there from the Minister today
Speaker 2: Warnings from Australia's largest rent role manager, Ray White, who
Speaker 2: says Labour's budget could lead to a thirty percent spike
Speaker 2: in the costs for tenants. Now extraordinarily front pages there
Speaker 2: you can see of the paper showcases the surge of
Speaker 2: rents in the Treasurer's own electorate of Lily up almost
Speaker 2: thirty percent in some homes. Joining me now on my
Speaker 2: panel they both of course, News twenty four hosts James
Speaker 2: Morrow and Jamie Rodgers will stay with that issue there
Speaker 2: in relation to rents, James, because labor did this in
Speaker 2: the past. They famously reversed negative gearing in the mid eighties.
Speaker 2: It caused a spike in rents. They then had to
Speaker 2: drop it and reverse policy. Course. Now, Jim Chalmers did
Speaker 2: his PhD in Paul Keating. Didn't he learn anything?
Speaker 16: Well, you know, it's interesting when you say that he
Speaker 16: did his doctorate in Keating. I think it's more than
Speaker 16: he is doctorate in Keating ology. He did not do
Speaker 16: his doctorate in economics, so I think he'd like people
Speaker 16: to think he did. But it was all about just
Speaker 16: sort of the politics of Paul Keating, not really about,
Speaker 16: you know, the economic reform that Paul Keating drove. That
Speaker 16: Paul Keating being a fairly different Paul Keating of course
Speaker 16: than the one we see these days. If he had
Speaker 16: learned anything from that government though in his time is treasure,
Speaker 16: it would be that this sort of interference in the
Speaker 16: market is going to have all sorts of unintended consequences.
Speaker 16: It's having it with rents, with the wealth effect, with
Speaker 16: people feeling less confident in the economy. But Peter, what
Speaker 16: do we overall expect. I mean, this is a government
Speaker 16: that things food come from the supermarket and that money
Speaker 16: grows on trees. So of course we're in this situation here,
Speaker 16: and it's going to cause all sorts of problems. Before
Speaker 16: they start unwinding.
Speaker 2: It, they could say, oh, they like that rents are
Speaker 2: not going out, But if you are in a property
Speaker 2: and you've just got to notice that the landlord's hiking
Speaker 2: the rents, if you're outside your least term, Jamie, the
Speaker 2: government's basically adding insult to injury. They're telling them, you know,
Speaker 2: the gas lighting you. And we can see from that
Speaker 2: analysis today of his own Seat of Lily, rates are hiking,
Speaker 2: and the hiking fast.
Speaker 15: And we also see it online, Peter. There's people that
Speaker 15: are constantly writing saying so much for treasuries modeling of
Speaker 15: rent only going up by two dollars a week, when
Speaker 15: we're seeing it going up by five dollars or ten
Speaker 15: dollars or thirty dollars in some cases. And to your point,
Speaker 15: it's the government that are just continuing to gaslight the voters.
Speaker 15: But also just take us all for mugs. We need
Speaker 15: you to be serious on what's going on in our economy.
Speaker 15: And when we're seeing reports that investor home loans as
Speaker 15: well as first buyer home loans are all on the decline,
Speaker 15: it shows that something isn't working right now, and when
Speaker 15: you want something that's more of it, you don't go
Speaker 15: out and tax it. And we're also still not addressing
Speaker 15: the underlying issue that is facing our housing crisis, and
Speaker 15: that still supply construction have got red tape and make
Speaker 15: it incredibly hard to go out and build. It's expensive,
Speaker 15: and we're seeing construction companies going under and of course
Speaker 15: record numbers of people coming into this country. So we've
Speaker 15: got a real supply crisis here, Peter, and it's not
Speaker 15: being addressed.
Speaker 2: Jamie. I'll stay with you if I can. I know
Speaker 2: you're involved in a footy club. Of course, it's another
Speaker 2: code than the AFL. But that news today that those
Speaker 2: Swans players have been suspended, it's for club related breaches.
Speaker 2: At this stage the police investigation into the claims from
Speaker 2: the weekend is still ongoing. But I want to call
Speaker 2: out this lecture from Labour's Tanya Plebisik. Now she's gone
Speaker 2: out there with a whole lot of high moral ground
Speaker 2: language about these allegations. But last week she was out
Speaker 2: there defending the Prime Minister and his appalling conduct. She
Speaker 2: wasn't just silent on his podcast conduct, she defended it.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is rank hypocrisy, It really is.
Speaker 15: Peter and Madeline King was also on with Kieran Gilbert
Speaker 15: during the day, also talking about the Sydney Swan situation.
Speaker 15: And it's unfortunately the reality that Anthony Albanezi has put
Speaker 15: his female MPs into this position because Tanya Plibasek should
Speaker 15: be out there standing up for women and defending and
Speaker 15: standing up against poor behavior. But unfortunately now when she's
Speaker 15: doing that, you should see the social media comments that
Speaker 15: are underneath that post that you just showed. Is scathing
Speaker 15: if people saying, hang on a second, you're calling out
Speaker 15: institutions that shape young boys and that they should set
Speaker 15: a standard, and yet you've allowed a standard within the
Speaker 15: leader of the Prime Minister to just go unnoticed or
Speaker 15: go and defend it. So the Prime Minister also needs
Speaker 15: to be setting a standard of what's acceptable behavior in
Speaker 15: this country. He is the leader and unfortunately now every
Speaker 15: time one of his female MPs tries to stand up
Speaker 15: for women. This is the hypocrisy that they're now going
Speaker 15: to face.
Speaker 2: Not all disrespect ends up in violence against women, but
Speaker 2: all violence against women starts with this reptipt, and that's
Speaker 2: the nexus I think the Prime Minister needs to remember.
Speaker 2: Let's go to that announcement for One Nation yesterday. They
Speaker 2: want a serious cut of the excise on tobacco James
Speaker 2: I went it down by seventy five percent. They want
Speaker 2: to tackle obviously the black market, but in particular organized crime.
Speaker 2: Reports today that the coalitionians also looking at some sort
Speaker 2: of cut eighty percent, and very strange bedfellows here incomes
Speaker 2: New South Wales Premier Chris Mins.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 17: Well, to be honest with you, I've been calling for
Speaker 17: the same thing for about a year, so it'd be
Speaker 17: pretty disingenuous to come on after one nation agreed with
Speaker 17: that policy and say they're wrong. So I'm not going
Speaker 17: to say that. I mean, the grim reality is that
Speaker 17: the excise has pushed up the legal cost of cigarettes
Speaker 17: in our economy, and at the same time the black
Speaker 17: market has exploded.
Speaker 2: Yet again. James, I mean all credit to mens here.
Speaker 2: He's decided to play the policy game, not the politics game.
Speaker 2: He has argued for it. He didn't try and walk
Speaker 2: away from that today. And I think this is the
Speaker 2: debate that the robust adult debate we have to have
Speaker 2: about tobacco pricing in this country.
Speaker 16: Well yeah, I mean, look, we are addicted to excise taxes,
Speaker 16: not just tobacco taxes, but alcohol taxes as well of
Speaker 16: other syn taxes in this country. Yes, of course, I
Speaker 16: mean the basic economics of it are such. Again, it
Speaker 16: goes back to labor Chris Men's accepted failure to understand,
Speaker 16: you know, the way the economy and taxes work. There's
Speaker 16: a thing called the Laffer curve where it shows that
Speaker 16: at a certain point, if you raise taxes so high,
Speaker 16: then the revenue drops off. We long ago hit that
Speaker 16: there's billions of dollars missing in the budget from tobacco
Speaker 16: excise tax because everybody who smokes, all the people I
Speaker 16: know who spoke, they're all buying illegal cigarettes. And the
Speaker 16: law enforcement, the bureaucracy that, you know, all of the
Speaker 16: stuff that Chris Mens's government has to deal with in
Speaker 16: terms of enforcing the laws here. He doesn't want to
Speaker 16: have to deal with this. So yeah, okay, fine, maybe
Speaker 16: a few more people might smoke, but this way of
Speaker 16: taxing smoking out of existence. You have to admit that
Speaker 16: it's been an absolute failure. So yeah, good on Chrispins.
Speaker 16: I'd like to see the coalition come along for the
Speaker 16: ride on it. But ultimately I'd like to see the
Speaker 16: federal government look at that and also, you know, look
Speaker 16: at other syntaxes which are again some of the highest
Speaker 16: in the world when it comes to buying a beer
Speaker 16: or a bal of spirits in this country.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have an issue, and I've long had an
Speaker 2: issue with a discrepancy between the taxation on spirits and
Speaker 2: the taxation on beer. I'd like to say, and wine.
Speaker 2: I'd like to see a bit of equity there. Let's
Speaker 2: go to this story about battery fires. This has been coming.
Speaker 2: We've warned about this. There's an example in the press
Speaker 2: today about a huge battery fire at a home in Wa.
Speaker 2: It happened a day after this Bowen battery was installed. Jamie,
Speaker 2: this has got Labour's pink bat scheme written all over it.
Speaker 15: To me, the really concerning number within that article, Peter
Speaker 15: is sixty two percent of bat trees that were assessed
Speaker 15: were deemed to be substandard. And it ultimately did come
Speaker 15: down majority of those two incorrect labeling, So off the
Speaker 15: back of that, the government has now put in force
Speaker 15: that you must then provide upload photographic evidence to ensure
Speaker 15: that there is correct labeling, something that you would have
Speaker 15: thought was probably going to be in place before this
Speaker 15: battery program was rolled out. But when we look at
Speaker 15: the sheer volume of numbers, five hundred thousand batteries have
Speaker 15: been installed, the program is blown from two point three
Speaker 15: billion to more than eight billion, and it poses the
Speaker 15: question was the priority to get the program right and
Speaker 15: ensure that regulations were all ticked off appropriately or was
Speaker 15: the plan just to quick roll these out as quickly
Speaker 15: as you can and then sort out the regulation later on,
Speaker 15: And I fear it's the latter.
Speaker 2: Thank you to you both, James and Jamie for more.
Speaker 2: Now on the pressure facing the Veterans Minister, who stands
Speaker 2: accused of showing disinterest, even rolling his eyes, refusing to
Speaker 2: shake the hands of veterans all over a meeting as
Speaker 2: they can to Canberra to lobby against his cuts to
Speaker 2: their allied health services. One of the people in the
Speaker 2: room at the time former rapt fighter pilot doctor Tim Nelson. Now,
Speaker 2: of course a medical doctor was there and I'm pleased
Speaker 2: to say, he joins us now, Tim, thank you for
Speaker 2: your time. I'm sorry I'm talking to you under these circumstances,
Speaker 2: and I think many of my viewers had the same disgust,
Speaker 2: really that you have to go to Canberra with a
Speaker 2: begging bowl to get services that we all think veterans
Speaker 2: should be entitled to. The Minister admitted he got it
Speaker 2: wrong when he didn't give you that meeting from the outset,
Speaker 2: but he doesn't share your criticism about how he conducted
Speaker 2: himself in the meeting. There's been no apology in relation
Speaker 2: to the claim that you have that he was petulant,
Speaker 2: that he didn't shake hands, all of that. Do you
Speaker 2: stand by your comments per better?
Speaker 5: I call it as it is. I had three other
Speaker 5: veterans in that room with me with over eighty years
Speaker 5: expeace sperience in the defense at the highest possible levels
Speaker 5: you look at I'm not a liar. I call it
Speaker 5: as I see it. My job used to be flying
Speaker 5: fighter jets. It was a fighter combat instructor whose role
Speaker 5: was to pick up minute errors that were made, recall
Speaker 5: those errors, at times flying a nine G in the aircraft,
Speaker 5: and also then being able to come back recall those
Speaker 5: on the ground and being able to debrief those so
Speaker 5: to Actually, it's a bit of an insult to think
Speaker 5: that I've mischaracterized what actually happened in that room and
Speaker 5: what the other soldiers and Naval clearance divers in that
Speaker 5: room are also confirmed.
Speaker 2: Seeing it's blown up to a national news story in
Speaker 2: the last forty eight hours, what's been the response of
Speaker 2: other veterans through around the country.
Speaker 5: Complete disgrace. I mean it's coming from everywhere, all in
Speaker 5: the socials, all throughout the military network, the veterans network.
Speaker 5: No one can actually fathom that the minister who was
Speaker 5: in charge of defense personnel and veterans could be so
Speaker 5: petty and to be coming in and making accusations about
Speaker 5: decorated veterans, mischaracterizing what they saw.
Speaker 2: In a room from their leader.
Speaker 5: Everyone's in art of disbelief, and it really just consolidates
Speaker 5: that across the community. Everyone's saying he is not fit
Speaker 5: to be in office.
Speaker 2: You know, it did strike me when he was complaining
Speaker 2: that he was missing an event with the Governor General.
Speaker 2: It wasn't an appointment as he described it. It was
Speaker 2: a ceremonial drinks event. There were dozens and dozens of
Speaker 2: other MPs out there. I suspect he wasn't even missed.
Speaker 2: But I thought, my friends who are in the military,
Speaker 2: I think of people like you. I think of all
Speaker 2: the things you've missed, you know, the funerals, the birth
Speaker 2: of children, you know, just even kids' speech nights when
Speaker 2: you serve overseas. And he's upset that he misses a
Speaker 2: knees up at Yarralumla with the Governor General and wouldn't
Speaker 2: give you a meeting in the first instance. You listen
Speaker 2: to the litany of failure in that portfolio. He hasn't
Speaker 2: been there that long. What has he actually done that
Speaker 2: deserves credit from veterans?
Speaker 1: One hundred percent?
Speaker 5: Peter, I mean, when you sign up to these jobs,
Speaker 5: when you signed up to defending your country, these are
Speaker 5: just things you accept. You accept that you're going to
Speaker 5: miss on on those crucial events. You accept that your
Speaker 5: families are going to suffer. You accept that you're going
Speaker 5: to miss key events, families, friends, births of children, loved ones, funerals,
Speaker 5: and to hear from other members across the community the
Speaker 5: art of disbelief about well, firstly the fact this minister
Speaker 5: holds off us but Secondly, to hear that the Prime
Speaker 5: Minister has come out in defense saying he's got one
Speaker 5: hundred percent support is just astonishing.
Speaker 2: So if you could have a prime minister's ear, what
Speaker 2: would you say to the Prime Minister? Does he need
Speaker 2: to go? Doesn't Prime Minister need to sack him if
Speaker 2: he won't resign.
Speaker 5: One percent one hundred percent, So nobody has confidence in
Speaker 5: his abilities. There's systemic changes within the Department of Veteran Affairs,
Speaker 5: progressively things that are deteriorating veterans. My patients, serving members
Speaker 5: are all telling me that things are getting progressively worse
Speaker 5: under his leadership. It needs systemic changes, and these systemic
Speaker 5: changes are beyond his capabilities. I believe if I had
Speaker 5: that opportunity to talk to the Prime Minister, my first
Speaker 5: recommendation to fix this issue that we're sold that we're
Speaker 5: situated with would be to scrap the cabin and to
Speaker 5: ensure that the Minister is moved upon and get somebody
Speaker 5: else in that position who is capable of leading and
Speaker 5: instigating all these changes. We need to improve the system
Speaker 5: within the Department of Defense, Polgice, Department of Veteran Affairs.
Speaker 2: I'm going to get you to expand on why the
Speaker 2: cap is such a problem in a moment. But just
Speaker 2: going back to the Prime Minister. Part of the damage
Speaker 2: control from his office immediately after you spoke the other
Speaker 2: day was for his staff, the Prime minister staff to
Speaker 2: get you to come around to speak to you, to
Speaker 2: try and hose this thing down. I'm told you were
Speaker 2: offered a meeting with the Prime Minister. Has that been scheduled.
Speaker 5: Not at this stage. No, there was an offer today
Speaker 5: to go down and meet with the Prime Minister. Unfortunately,
Speaker 5: we funded ourselves to get down there as veterans, we
Speaker 5: have commitments, we work, we serve veterans, so we had
Speaker 5: to leave last night to come home, so we were
Speaker 5: unavailable to get back down there. As I understand it,
Speaker 5: the office of the Prime Minister has extended an invitation
Speaker 5: to catch up with him, and we would be very
Speaker 5: keen to. We really want to get down there. I've
Speaker 5: got nothing but the utmost respect for the Office of
Speaker 5: the Prime Minister and for those that were in that meeting.
Speaker 1: With us earlier this week.
Speaker 5: They were very open, they showed a lot of courtesy,
Speaker 5: they showed a lot of respect as we did to them,
Speaker 5: and we were very interested as were they in the
Speaker 5: issues that we have identified, and they really seem keen
Speaker 5: to fix the system, to fix the problem, and they
Speaker 5: appear very open to be willing to consider whether this
Speaker 5: cap needs to be scrapped, which obviously is what we're
Speaker 5: advocating for. So in short, I believe the Prime Minister
Speaker 5: will Rechamp.
Speaker 2: Sorry to jump in there, I've got a bit of
Speaker 2: a delay here, but I want people to understand you
Speaker 2: are now at the pointing and you are a doctor
Speaker 2: dealing with a lot of people, including veterans. Why is
Speaker 2: this cap that's been imposed such a problem.
Speaker 5: The big problem with it is because it hasn't been
Speaker 5: thought out. The big problem with it is that there's
Speaker 5: no clinical basis for what the Department is actually saying
Speaker 5: is behind it. It is very clear that this was
Speaker 5: just a budget saving measure. It was even advised to
Speaker 5: us by the Ministate during that meeting that it wasn't
Speaker 5: his decision, rather it was the government's decision, not a
Speaker 5: Department of Veteran Affairs decision, a government decision. The justification
Speaker 5: that was provided was that in order to increase the
Speaker 5: payments for ouried health providers, they needed to be a
Speaker 5: reduction in the usage of those So by just logical thought,
Speaker 5: it makes sense that it will limit care to veterans.
Speaker 5: Even the justification that's been provided is unjustified. There is
Speaker 5: no plan in place to be able to expedite anybody
Speaker 5: that would go over that cap. And history tells us
Speaker 5: any time you need a prior approval process for the
Speaker 5: Department of Veteran Affairs, at the very best you're waiting
Speaker 5: two months. I'm aware of one practitioner who has been
Speaker 5: waiting almost two and a half years for a prior
Speaker 5: approval process, and the department just goes silent on you.
Speaker 5: As we saw from the minister when we try and
Speaker 5: getting there to see.
Speaker 2: Him, the fish rots from the top, Tim, the fish
Speaker 2: rots from their head. So I support your call for
Speaker 2: his resignation. Thank you for joining me, Thank you for
Speaker 2: your service, and let's hope you get that many with
Speaker 2: the Prime Minister. And let's hope that minister sent to
Speaker 2: the high jump bar. Thanks Tim. Right after the break
Speaker 2: a fight of an entirely different kind. There's a potential
Speaker 2: win here for farmers. Finally, the liberals in Victoria have
Speaker 2: seen since not going to review it, they're going to
Speaker 2: scrap it. The v and I renewable scheme if elected
Speaker 2: in November. More on that. Next coming up calls growing
Speaker 2: f Islamic hate preachers to appear before the Bondai Royal Commission.
Speaker 2: And just a quick mention, I think at the top,
Speaker 2: did I say Ranken or did I say Lily Jim
Speaker 2: Chalmers seat in Brisbane. If I got it wrong. If
Speaker 2: I did say Lily, it is Rankin. But first to
Speaker 2: an issue I've covered extensively here on Kredlin, the fight
Speaker 2: back from Victorian farmers in regional communities against the role
Speaker 2: out of massive transmission lines and renewable projects across some
Speaker 2: of Australia's best farming country. We're talking about, of course,
Speaker 2: the controversial V and I West transmission line that were
Speaker 2: set to rip across land from New South Wales to Victoria,
Speaker 2: and it still will if Labour's not booted out of
Speaker 2: Parliament in the November state election. Now this is an
Speaker 2: issue I cared deeply about. It was set to impact
Speaker 2: the little mally town of Woodship Proof, where I was
Speaker 2: born and bred and where you will recall we went
Speaker 2: up and visited with locals last year, talking to farmers
Speaker 2: and towns who faced economic devastation if there's billion dollar
Speaker 2: pro was forced upon.
Speaker 18: Them, so it's renewable, Angie, at the expense of their
Speaker 18: food securityve Look what one hundred and fifty years of agriculture,
Speaker 18: how tough that's been. Mother Nature she's pretty powerful. We've
Speaker 18: maaged to work with her, fight with her. But we're
Speaker 18: still here after that. So absolutely we can take on
Speaker 18: Mother Nature and make a living. We can take on
Speaker 18: netzero Anthony Albanezi, doesn't matter if we're going to win.
Speaker 4: We've been at these guys for nearly two years and
Speaker 4: nothing we've done has changed their their stance, their plans.
Speaker 13: Land values depreciated, Our most valuable lands not even attractive anymore.
Speaker 14: We're probably going to be struggling to even sell it.
Speaker 2: After huge protests on the ground and in Melbourne. It
Speaker 2: looks like those wonderful young farmers. Isn't it great to
Speaker 2: see young farmers have a reason for some hope. Confirmation
Speaker 2: today that the Victorian Liberals and Nationals, if elected, will
Speaker 2: now abandon this much hated project. This is a big
Speaker 2: day for Victorian farmers and country community communities, but also
Speaker 2: for this man who joins me now the founder a
Speaker 2: farmer's fight back Manu local Ben Duck said, Ben, I'll
Speaker 2: tell you what I'm jumping for joy for you and
Speaker 2: everyone else I spoke to in those series of programs
Speaker 2: from up my old Way, up your Way. This must
Speaker 2: be good news for you and your mates.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, thanks very much, Peter.
Speaker 19: We're usually talking to you after we've had a flogging
Speaker 19: from the government or Vicgrid or V and I West.
Speaker 1: So it's it's a fantastic day. It's taken a lot
Speaker 1: of work.
Speaker 19: It's been a lot of people behind the scenes, and
Speaker 19: we started the farmers fight back for the very reason that.
Speaker 1: We weren't being heard.
Speaker 19: We weren't being heard federally, we weren't being heard in
Speaker 19: the state. But over the last two two or three
Speaker 19: months the federal coalition has come out. Matt Canavan was
Speaker 19: down here three months ago promising to get rid of
Speaker 19: V and I West, and then today we hear the
Speaker 19: VIC Libs and Nationals coming out against it as well.
Speaker 19: So it's a good feeling. We know only fifty percent
Speaker 19: the job's done. We've got to get rid of WRL
Speaker 19: as well and make sure they scrapped that zero. But
Speaker 19: even to yourself, last time I was on here, you
Speaker 19: promised that you do everything to make sure this happen,
Speaker 19: and it has come through. So I started getting messages
Speaker 19: about one twenty six this morning, so I haven't slept
Speaker 19: since then, and it's been a big day. But thank
Speaker 19: you to you, thank you to our farmers fight back people,
Speaker 19: but thank you to all the people in our group
Speaker 19: that have spent four years. We're four years in fighting this.
Speaker 2: I'm nothing if not relentless.
Speaker 12: Mate.
Speaker 2: I said to you I would fight and fight and fight.
Speaker 2: And when the Libs came out and said that they would, well, sorry,
Speaker 2: before that, all credit and and Webster from the Malley.
Speaker 2: At a national level, I think she really led the charge.
Speaker 2: She got the National Coalition, the Lives of the Nats
Speaker 2: to oppose it, and I think that paved the way.
Speaker 2: But when the Libs in Victoria said that they would
Speaker 2: review this thing, you heard me here saying there's no
Speaker 2: way we're going to copy review. It must be scrapped.
Speaker 2: It's only except if it is scrapped. And that's where
Speaker 2: they came out today. And all credit here to Jess
Speaker 2: Wilson because she also told me that anyone who's been
Speaker 2: fined under those draconian laws that just into Alan ran
Speaker 2: through the Parliament in the middle of the night. Any
Speaker 2: farmer who's fine, and you know many of them, they
Speaker 2: won't have to face court and they won't have to
Speaker 2: pay those fines if there's a change of government in November,
Speaker 2: so that's even better news as well.
Speaker 19: It's fantastic And these are fantastic people.
Speaker 1: You'd know some of them as well.
Speaker 19: And you know Colin Mary Fenton in their eighties, you know,
Speaker 19: never done a thing wrong in their life, always just
Speaker 19: turned up done their job, being great community people. Rob
Speaker 19: greg and Robin Roberts in their seventies as well, same
Speaker 19: sort of thing. They would have done nothing wrong in
Speaker 19: their life. And then the Bourbwins who you've had on
Speaker 19: here as well, who called the police when vic Grid
Speaker 19: Liaison officers were actually trespassing on their property and actually
Speaker 19: got booked, got charged themselves by the Victorian police. So
Speaker 19: they've overridden are really immoral and dirty tricks and sustained
Speaker 19: attack on farmers and this attack needs to stop this
Speaker 19: and we thank Jess Wilson and Danny O'Brien and the
Speaker 19: Nationals because farmers are here to support the cities in food, fiber.
Speaker 1: And agricultural products. We love what we're doing.
Speaker 19: We just need to be allowed to get on with
Speaker 19: the job, and that's what we want to do. This
Speaker 19: was going to be horrendous, not only for food security
Speaker 19: and affordability, but this was horrendous if they got it
Speaker 19: through on energy costs as well. The cost of this
Speaker 19: is just blowing out. It's not needed. We've always said
Speaker 19: that there is alternatives, that we're an energy rich country.
Speaker 19: We need to make sure that we have an energy
Speaker 19: policy for the next one hundred two hundred years that
Speaker 19: makes our country thrive. So yeah, I can't thank yourself enough.
Speaker 19: And all our farmers fight back supporters one hundred and
Speaker 19: thirty three thousand. We've actually sent eleven thousand emails to
Speaker 19: Carol within his first week, Ben and Ben Carroll's just
Speaker 19: Daniel Andrews just in her Allen three point zero so
Speaker 19: and within Jacqueline Sime's first two days, she was issuing
Speaker 19: fines to these magnificent farming families. I had him in
Speaker 19: my woolshed, about five of them here last week, and
Speaker 19: they're innocent, they love what they're doing and they just
Speaker 19: want to get on with farming. But all of them said,
Speaker 19: I've never been to court I don't know what I'm
Speaker 19: in for, so we've still got that fight to have.
Speaker 1: It's great that the Libs and Nashes.
Speaker 19: Have come on, but you know they've got fines hanging
Speaker 19: over their head that we're going to have to fight.
Speaker 1: But make it known that we have one.
Speaker 19: Hundred percents of support behind them and we will fight
Speaker 19: this as hard as we can.
Speaker 2: I just want to mention too, you know, I looked
Speaker 2: at the IEMO paperwork online and from what I can discern,
Speaker 2: and it wasn't updated after the twenty sixth of June,
Speaker 2: so I'm going on that date. But it would appear
Speaker 2: that funds in relation to the V and I West
Speaker 2: project have not yet been released by the Victorian government. Now.
Speaker 2: It would be unconscionable given that there is an election
Speaker 2: only a couple of months away now, and that there
Speaker 2: is a very different policy from the opposition, and every chance,
Speaker 2: if you look at the polls, that that opposition will
Speaker 2: be government and scrap this thing. For the labor government
Speaker 2: in power now to throw billions of dollars to sign
Speaker 2: contracts that will have to be scrapped and penalty is
Speaker 2: paid by taxpayers. The fight is good today that You've
Speaker 2: had a win, mate, but it's not over until November,
Speaker 2: is it. I think you might have dropped down on me. Ben, Yeah,
Speaker 2: we've lost you. Okay, I'll leave it there. There is
Speaker 2: I think a QR cod that will punch up on
Speaker 2: the screen for you. Now. Please stay in touch with
Speaker 2: Ben as I say, the fight's not over until November.
Speaker 2: And there's another line. I think he's focused on a
Speaker 2: little bit further across in Victoria. But thank you to
Speaker 2: everyone in that fight. After the break, hate preachers will
Speaker 2: get into that, the politicians who should be at the
Speaker 2: Royal Commission, and more an a visa outrage, the convicted
Speaker 2: Charles Sex offender who wants to stay in Australia. Welcome back.
Speaker 2: Let's return now to the pressure mounting on the Prime
Speaker 2: Minister now to sack veterans Minister Matt Keoh, particularly after
Speaker 2: those excoriating remarks of course from that veteran at the
Speaker 2: top of the show joined me now shot a defense
Speaker 2: Minister James Patterson. James differing events between the diggers in
Speaker 2: the room, the veterans in the room, the former military
Speaker 2: personnel and how they say they were treated by the
Speaker 2: minister and the Minister apologizing for not putting the date
Speaker 2: in his diary, but certainly not apologizing for his conduct.
Speaker 2: I just spoke to doctor Tim Nelson, a former rath
Speaker 2: fighter pilot now medical doctor. He was there in the room.
Speaker 2: He said he does not lie. He says the Minister
Speaker 2: must resign and if not, the Prime Minister must sack him.
Speaker 2: That he's lost complete confidence, the complete confidence of the
Speaker 2: Australian veteran community. I'll get your response to that, well, Peter.
Speaker 14: I met doctor Nelson and some of his colleagues when
Speaker 14: they came here to Canberra. I thought it was a
Speaker 14: priority to meet them, unlike the Minister, and I was
Speaker 14: astonished to hear how badly he treated them, first not
Speaker 14: taking the meeting, second taking so under pressure, and then
Speaker 14: complaining in the meeting that because of them he was
Speaker 14: missing an event with the Governor General. For your viewers,
Speaker 14: that's the address in reply. Ceremonial function. It's a strictly
Speaker 14: optional and frankly social event. It's not like the Minister
Speaker 14: had a personal meeting with the Governor General. And many
Speaker 14: members of Parliament don't go for much less mundane reasons
Speaker 14: than meeting stakeholders in their own portfolio. So this is
Speaker 14: just extraordinary behavior from the Veterans Affairs Minister. But as
Speaker 14: we learned in the last parliament and Theobenezi has a
Speaker 14: very high tolerance for failure. You will remember how hard
Speaker 14: it was to get him just to move aside Claire
Speaker 14: O'Neill and Andrew Giles, despite their shocking failures in their portfolios,
Speaker 14: despite the harm being done to the community. So I
Speaker 14: don't think Anthony Evans is even contemplating sacking Matt Keo
Speaker 14: as Veterans Affairs Minister. And so really it falls to
Speaker 14: Matt to do the honorable thing and design, particularly if
Speaker 14: you cannot get the government to ax the cap, this
Speaker 14: five thousand dollars cap on Allied health, which is the
Speaker 14: whole reason why these veterans have had to come to
Speaker 14: canber to beg for the care that they deserve, given
Speaker 14: the service they've give in our country.
Speaker 2: Well, don't forget Luke Gosling. I mean he has been charged.
Speaker 2: He faces criminal charges, serious criminal charges. He has not
Speaker 2: been stood aside. I looked to the case the Sydney Swans.
Speaker 2: Those men have been stood aside. There are no charges
Speaker 2: to date. There's just been the breaches of internal football
Speaker 2: club rules, but they are now not playing. Why is
Speaker 2: Luke Gosling still on the front bench.
Speaker 14: I have no idea other than this surprime minister who's
Speaker 14: unwilling to admit failure or fault. And I think he
Speaker 14: must think it would be some kind of admission of
Speaker 14: failure of fault that he appointed Luke Gosling now that
Speaker 14: he faces these allegations of criminal assault. This surprime minister
Speaker 14: who is just unwilling to enforce even the most basic
Speaker 14: standards that he himself demanded when he was in no position.
Speaker 14: In fact, I remember coalition ministers who were not facing
Speaker 14: criminal charges, who weren't even facing police allegations, who he
Speaker 14: demanded resign. I mean, it's just extraordinary that he won't
Speaker 14: apply those standards to himself. But we shouldn't be surprised
Speaker 14: from Anthony AVENEZI I think it is a revealing character insight, though.
Speaker 2: I see it as weakness. James. I want to get
Speaker 2: your reaction though, to a story that has really taken
Speaker 2: hole with my viewers. It was on the front page
Speaker 2: of The Australian yesterday. It pertained to a convicted child
Speaker 2: sex offender, a foreign national, a fifty year old man
Speaker 2: from Sierra Leone, who may get to stay in Australia
Speaker 2: after his psychologists argued before the Federal Court that he
Speaker 2: would pose less of a risk of offending of raping
Speaker 2: children if he was granted permanent Protection visa status, if
Speaker 2: he was allowed to stay here. Now, I'd say there'd
Speaker 2: be zero risk of him raping a child if we
Speaker 2: simply deported him. Where's the Minister Tony Burke on this.
Speaker 14: Well, exactly right. He would be no risk to any
Speaker 14: Australian if he's no longer in Australia. That's a self
Speaker 14: evident point. It's the purpose of our immigration system and
Speaker 14: the integrity of that system is absolutely critical. If we
Speaker 14: allow sex offenders child sex offenders to stay because somehow
Speaker 14: it will be of psychological benefit to them and they
Speaker 14: may be less likely to commit crimes than we are
Speaker 14: making a mockery of our whole migration system. Tony Burke
Speaker 14: should remember what happened to Clara O'Neil Andrew Giles. The
Speaker 14: Prime Minister's hand was finally forced when their failures on
Speaker 14: community safety came so demonstrably clear. He shouldn't want the
Speaker 14: same thing to happen to him, and he should stay
Speaker 14: and make sure this person is deported and deported without delay.
Speaker 2: How can you deliver and bring down recommendations in relation
Speaker 2: to anti Semitism if you do not speak to the
Speaker 2: people that were on the ground and in charge of
Speaker 2: our intelligence services of our government at the time the
Speaker 2: massacre occurred. We haven't had the Prime Minister front the
Speaker 2: Royal Commission. We haven't had the Premier. I think it's
Speaker 2: incumbent on all the heads of our agencies to give
Speaker 2: evidence if required. But I also think the hate preachers
Speaker 2: and the Muslim leaders in Australia should also front the commission.
Speaker 2: Why is that not happening?
Speaker 14: I want the Royal Commission to succeed Peter, but right
Speaker 14: now I think it is a grave risk of failing
Speaker 14: and being judged very harshly by history. Now, to be clear,
Speaker 14: the primarily responsibility here falls of the government because they
Speaker 14: gave the Royal Commissioner such a short time frame. But
Speaker 14: if the Royal Commissioner asked for an extension of time,
Speaker 14: I think the government would have to grant it. It would
Speaker 14: be inconceivable that the government would refuse a request from
Speaker 14: a Royal Commissioner for more time, and more time would
Speaker 14: allow the Royal Commissioner to haul in the Prime Minister,
Speaker 14: to haul in the Home Affairs Minister, to haul in
Speaker 14: the Foreign Minister, to haul in all the relevant ministers
Speaker 14: and grill them and cross examine them on what they
Speaker 14: did and critically what they didn't do in the lead
Speaker 14: up to those horrific events on Bondai Beach. Particularly unexamined,
Speaker 14: as far as I know, are all the ridiculous and
Speaker 14: unnecessary changes they made in the Home Affairs portfolio, taking
Speaker 14: azo in, taking the AFP out, putting them back in again,
Speaker 14: reporting different ministers, or the conflict between the ministers of
Speaker 14: those differing responsibilities. Those are questions that must be examined
Speaker 14: rule so that public knows, and so the Royal Commission
Speaker 14: can make recommendations so it never happens again.
Speaker 2: Senator, thank you. There courses that get back to the
Speaker 2: Parliament quick breakout for break the wonderful kel Riches back,
Speaker 2: of course on Wednesday. It's not the Credlin Show, it's
Speaker 2: the kel Richards Show. I'm just the warm up act,
Speaker 2: he joins me. Now from Sinnin is beautiful make believe,
Speaker 2: but we believe it's real. Library. I bet it's like
Speaker 2: that at home, kell, Hey, we've got some good ones.
Speaker 2: We've got some good ones today. One of the viewers,
Speaker 2: Susi's written in and says, I want to know the
Speaker 2: term cloud nine? Where does it come from?
Speaker 12: From America? And in the late nineteen forties, the the
Speaker 12: United States Wheather Bureau started in its reports classifying clouds
Speaker 12: according to their level, and they numbered the levels from
Speaker 12: one up to nine. So the highest level was level nine.
Speaker 12: Chem alone nimbers at about thirty to forty thousand feet
Speaker 12: and they look like huge white mountains in the sky,
Speaker 12: kind of dreamscape. And once we're talking about level nine clouds.
Speaker 12: From the early nineteen fifties, Americans started talking about being
Speaker 12: on cloud nine. So blame it all on the Weather
Speaker 12: Bureau in America.
Speaker 2: It's relatively new. It's relatively new. Yes, yeah, what about
Speaker 2: this one? I do often use this one myself. The
Speaker 2: best thing since sliced bread. John wants to know about
Speaker 2: this expression.
Speaker 12: Well, the very first sliced bread in the world was
Speaker 12: sold in June of nineteen twenty two by the Chickcoa
Speaker 12: Bakery in Missouri because a machine had just been invented
Speaker 12: to slice bread. By nineteen thirty three, eleven years later,
Speaker 12: eighty percent of the bread in America was sliced bread.
Speaker 12: And this it was seen as being a huge breakthrough,
Speaker 12: a great convenience, a labor saving technological breakthrough, which was
Speaker 12: really significant. So it was seen as a historic landmark. Hence,
Speaker 12: from the early nineteen thirties, Americans started saying best things sence,
Speaker 12: sliced bread.
Speaker 2: Now this one, and I'm with Lenn absolutely on this.
Speaker 2: You'll tell me what the grammatical term for this is.
Speaker 2: But when people are putting an adjective ahead of a
Speaker 2: word which by itself doesn't warrant an adjective, it's happening
Speaker 2: more and more. I listened to people on television, particularly
Speaker 2: newsreaders and others, who do this to ad nausean. The
Speaker 2: word we're talking about here is unique, right, Unique by
Speaker 2: itself is standalone word. But people are adding in very unique,
Speaker 2: and she says that's wrong, what do you say?
Speaker 12: Well, in fact, what our viewer Linn says, and what
Speaker 12: you said is very intelligent and highly literate. Our problem
Speaker 12: is we don't live in a very intelligent, highly literate society.
Speaker 12: The result is that people have wanted from that. The
Speaker 12: word is a counting word. It does mean one comes
Speaker 12: from the Latin unicus, which means one, and you can't
Speaker 12: be very one or almost one. So it was always
Speaker 12: said to be a word that should never be qualified.
Speaker 12: All the grammar books said that, and that's still the
Speaker 12: grammatical rule. But I was starting to Professor Pampeeds about this,
Speaker 12: and she said she thinks the meaning of the word
Speaker 12: has changed. People are not using it correctly. It's now
Speaker 12: become very widely used to mean special or very very
Speaker 12: very well, so you could start saying very special, almost special,
Speaker 12: or something along those lines. She thinks it's a battle
Speaker 12: we've lost. So I'm sorry, but intelligence and literacy have
Speaker 12: lost this battle, and we might just have to shrug
Speaker 12: our shoulders and wear it.
Speaker 2: I heard you say qualification. That was the grammatical term
Speaker 2: I was hoping to learn. You've reminded me the nuns
Speaker 2: in grade six would be happy now that I've caught up,
Speaker 2: caught up with my grammar again. But you're right over
Speaker 2: qualification or a qualification not requiet. Thank you, kel. We'll
Speaker 2: see you next week. We're going to do a country
Speaker 2: mile next week. I want to know that one myself,
Speaker 2: as I know a lot of you do too. Thank
Speaker 2: you for your company, See you tomorrow night. Here's Andrew