Speaker 1: Live on Sky News. This is Sharry.
Speaker 2: Good Evening.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the show. Well, I start tonight with some
Speaker 3: breaking news. I can reveal the Prime Minister's flight upgrades
Speaker 3: were handled by Quantus senior executives, including Andrew Parker. Just
Speaker 3: before we went to air tonight, Anthony Albertezi sought to
Speaker 3: downplay this scandal by saying in a statement that an
Speaker 3: audit found he never called Alan Joyce for upgrades, But
Speaker 3: sources familiar with the matter tell me it was Parker,
Speaker 3: the then Group executive for Government and International Affairs, who
Speaker 3: often handled Albanize's flight upgrades to business class. I'm also
Speaker 3: told that Albanezy even attended Andrew Parker's housewarming party. It
Speaker 3: was at a warehouse in Annandale. I understand there was
Speaker 3: even a plaque on his house that said it was
Speaker 3: officially opened by Albanezi. I've tonight asked Albanese's press secretary
Speaker 3: for comment on this.
Speaker 2: I've asked the following questions.
Speaker 3: Did the Prime Minister, his EA or his staff request
Speaker 3: upgrades through Andrew Parker? Did the Prime Minister attend his housewarming?
Speaker 2: As we go to air?
Speaker 3: We don't as yet have a comment from the Prime Minister.
Speaker 3: If he does come back to us within the hour,
Speaker 3: I'll bring that to you. If he comes back to
Speaker 3: us a bit later, poor Murray, we'll bring it to you.
Speaker 3: There's a lot more to this story. Another very close
Speaker 3: connection is that Alan Joyce's top government relations executive was
Speaker 3: previously David Epstein. David Epstein is now Albanese's principal private secretary.
Speaker 3: The Prime Minister's carefully worded statement tonight just raises more
Speaker 3: questions than it answers. He told Sam Maiden at News
Speaker 3: dot Com. The Prime Minister did not ever call Alan
Speaker 3: Joyce seeking an up great. All travel has been appropriately
Speaker 3: declared and is a matter of public record, and that
Speaker 3: was through a spokesperson. Now, as you can see, that's
Speaker 3: a cryptic statement. Alberizi has failed to rule out whether
Speaker 3: he requested upgrades through anyone at Quantas.
Speaker 2: Who worked for Alan Joyce.
Speaker 3: Could have been any of the senior executives, including Andrew Parker,
Speaker 3: and he only denied their calling Joyce directly.
Speaker 2: Have a look at that statement again.
Speaker 3: He says the Prime Minister did not ever call Alan
Speaker 3: Joyce seeking an upgrade, so he hasn't ruled out other
Speaker 3: forms of communication and We've even seen this week that
Speaker 3: publicly the Prime Minister has already admitted there was a
Speaker 3: number that he called for upgrades. Have a look, did
Speaker 3: you call Alan Joyce personally for these upgrades?
Speaker 4: The idea Quannas have a.
Speaker 5: Number in terms of bookings that are private bookings.
Speaker 3: So albinezy, they're already admitting requesting upgrades, which would appear
Speaker 3: to be in breach of the Ministerial Code of Conduct,
Speaker 3: which specifically states that ministers must not seek or encourage
Speaker 3: any form of gift in their personal capacity. Now this
Speaker 3: all comes as former Prime Minister Tony Abbott today revealed
Speaker 3: that he turned down flight upgrades as a matter of integrity,
Speaker 3: and Peter Dutton has once again demanded that this matter
Speaker 3: be further investigated.
Speaker 6: When he was Transport Minister of our country, did he
Speaker 6: pick the phone up to the CEO of Quantus and
Speaker 6: ask for a free upgrade? That's the question that he
Speaker 6: refuses to answer it. Now, he can tie himself in
Speaker 6: all sorts of knots, but the reality is that he
Speaker 6: needs to answer that fundamental question.
Speaker 3: Now this has erupted into a major political scandal. It
Speaker 3: was front page of virtually all the newspapers today and yesterday. Yeah,
Speaker 3: the Prime Minister didn't appear in public today. He didn't
Speaker 3: want to answer questions in person. He got into such
Speaker 3: a muddle yesterday as you know, so it was left
Speaker 3: to the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, who was trying to announce
Speaker 3: falling inflation data, to have to deal with the tricky
Speaker 3: and basically unanswerable questions.
Speaker 7: He's done a number of interviews this week and Sunday,
Speaker 7: certainly I think yesterday from memory, and so he's made
Speaker 7: himself available as he often does, to answer these sorts
Speaker 7: of questions.
Speaker 3: And you can only imagine how frustrating this would be
Speaker 3: getting for labor and ps who week after week now
Speaker 3: are having to deal with questions about their Prime minister's
Speaker 3: conduct and integrity. In the past two weeks it was
Speaker 3: about the four point three million dollar Cliff Top mansion.
Speaker 3: Also the one hundred million dollar taxpayer funded road upgrade
Speaker 3: for the road that leads to alban Easy's new mansion.
Speaker 2: So, if you're just.
Speaker 3: Tuning in breaking news tonight, the Time Minister has denied
Speaker 3: calling Alan.
Speaker 2: Joyce for upgrades. He says his office has done an audit.
Speaker 2: But I've just.
Speaker 3: Reported that All of his upgrades to Business Class were
Speaker 3: handled by other executives at Quantas, including senior executive Andrew Parker,
Speaker 3: and at the time he was the group Executive for
Speaker 3: Government and International Affairs. He was later promoted to be
Speaker 3: Group Executive for Sustainability. And I've also revealed that the
Speaker 3: relationship was so close that Albanezi even is said to
Speaker 3: have attended his housewarming party. We're on standby waiting for
Speaker 3: a response from Albanezi to these fresh revelations, and I'm
Speaker 3: going to come back to this topic shortly with Michael
Speaker 3: Kroger and Graham Richardson. But clearly this scandal isn't going away.
Speaker 3: There are serious integrity issues about whether Albanezi requested upgrades
Speaker 3: from Quantus in breach of the Ministerial.
Speaker 2: Code of Conduct.
Speaker 3: It's now seven days until the US election, just a
Speaker 3: week until we know whether Donald Trump Orkamala Harris will
Speaker 3: be president. This is an important topic I'm going to
Speaker 3: bring in now. Michael Kroger and Graham Richardson, welcome to
Speaker 3: you both. Now, Cherry, we're going to come back to
Speaker 3: Quantas in just a minute. But Michael, where do you
Speaker 3: think this US election is headed? A week from today,
Speaker 3: we should if it's not a close result, we should
Speaker 3: know the answer. Michael, do you think we're looking at
Speaker 3: a Trump presidency as the polls are starting to suggest?
Speaker 8: Well, the answer that question should be that Trump looks
Speaker 8: like the obvious winner. But the reason I'm cautious about
Speaker 8: declaring him the winner is this that the polls were
Speaker 8: wrong by a huge margin four years ago. It's in Wisconsin,
Speaker 8: the polls had Biden winning by ninety one by one.
Speaker 8: In Pennsylvania they were five out.
Speaker 1: So what I don't know.
Speaker 8: Is have the polsters allowed for the shied Trump voter
Speaker 8: effect in these new poles which show level or one
Speaker 8: parload one in front. I don't know how much shy
Speaker 8: Trump voter effect they've taken into account in reaching these poles, because,
Speaker 8: as people might know by now, the polling figures that
Speaker 8: are produced, they're not real figures. They're all altered because
Speaker 8: you might have too many women to any men, too
Speaker 8: many young people, too many old people. So they're all
Speaker 8: adjusted these poles to give a more balanced number. But
Speaker 8: what I don't know is how much shyed Trump voter
Speaker 8: effect is in these poles, which is why I don't
Speaker 8: know whether the Trump's going to win easily or whether
Speaker 8: she's going to win narrowly. It looks like a Trump victory,
Speaker 8: but it's very hard to know without knowing how much
Speaker 8: of shy Trump voter effect is in these polls.
Speaker 3: Charry and Richard, what about the number of people who
Speaker 3: are voting early?
Speaker 5: Do you?
Speaker 3: And both camps are imploring their base to get out
Speaker 3: and vote. Of course, in the US there's not compulsory voting. Richard,
Speaker 3: how are you reading the election campaign at the moment?
Speaker 5: Well, I'd love to be able to open a few
Speaker 5: ballot boxes and find out because this early voting trend
Speaker 5: in America is growing. You know, they didn't have it
Speaker 5: for a long time. Now they've got everyone wants to
Speaker 5: try and do it. And both sides are urging people
Speaker 5: to get out and vote early, not I hope vote often.
Speaker 5: So if that's what they're doing then and both sides
Speaker 5: are doing it, then it's hard to pick which you know,
Speaker 5: whether you should be saying this must be going well
Speaker 5: for one or the other, I don't really know. But
Speaker 5: what you can detect is a movement back towards Trump
Speaker 5: over the course of the last couple of weeks, and
Speaker 5: he's now not only in it with a real show.
Speaker 5: You'd have to say he's the slight favorite over Harris Michael.
Speaker 3: You've been quite analytical in your comments when we talk
Speaker 3: about the US election. Do you have a strong view
Speaker 3: over which candidate would be better for Australia?
Speaker 8: Well, I think probably Trump, because you know, for all
Speaker 8: his immense faults, I'm sort of in the Greg Sheridan category.
Speaker 8: Sheridan's written about Trump extensively, and I tend to agree
Speaker 8: with Gregg's views on Trump, and I'm very worried as
Speaker 8: a bat a physician on the Ukraine, which I find inexplicable.
Speaker 8: But the reason I don't wouldn't vote for her, and
Speaker 8: I prefer not to vote for him either. But the
Speaker 8: reason I wouldn't vote for her is I think she's
Speaker 8: completely vacuous. I don't think she's got a clue. She
Speaker 8: is like an actress, and the advisors have said to her,
Speaker 8: here are the eight things. Just repeat these eight things, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump,
Speaker 8: you know, put it behind us and all the you
Speaker 8: know these phrases. She keeps using these word salads as
Speaker 8: they call it. I don't think she's got a clue.
Speaker 8: And if you've been around politics for as long as
Speaker 8: I have, and you've seen politicians interview, you know, she
Speaker 8: hasn't got a clue. And there are very there are
Speaker 8: very strong telltale signs. When that couple asked in that
Speaker 8: town hall meeting, what do we to do about? What
Speaker 8: are you going to do about inflation and the high
Speaker 8: and there was this terrible pause and she said prices
Speaker 8: are going up, and it got worse from there. And
Speaker 8: I'm thinking she has no idea about economic policy, whatsoe
Speaker 8: about zero zilch. So I think she'll be terrible, And
Speaker 8: like Biden, she won't be running American foreign policy because
Speaker 8: I don't think she knows anything about it.
Speaker 3: Well, just on foreign policy, I mean, you know, I
Speaker 3: do think overall, Donald Trump is much stronger and he
Speaker 3: will be a much stronger president in terms of acting
Speaker 3: as allowing America to return to its place where it
Speaker 3: does act as a deterrent because we have seen that
Speaker 3: North Korea, Iran, Russia, and North Korea around, Russia.
Speaker 2: And China are on the march.
Speaker 3: They're on the rise, that working together in a way
Speaker 3: that they never have before, not as closely as this,
Speaker 3: and this is highly concerning. The US just keeps calling
Speaker 3: for a ceasefire. You know, it doesn't want to take
Speaker 3: its rightful historic place as a world leader. The only
Speaker 3: think that does concern me is that Donald Trump, when
Speaker 3: he did his interview with Joe Rogan a couple of
Speaker 3: days ago, I mean again, he had to flatter those dictators.
Speaker 3: It just you know, he doesn't need to do that.
Speaker 3: You can't imagine anyone in the past flattering other dictators
Speaker 3: like Hitler, and even the Wall Street Journal, by the way,
Speaker 3: their editorial board wrote about this, and they say that
Speaker 3: the US military's advantage over adversaries has also declined. The
Speaker 3: fact that Trump has done little to acknowledge or worn
Speaker 3: about in his campaign. It will take more than flattery
Speaker 3: and unpredictability to re establish American deterrence, and that will
Speaker 3: include Western rearmament and reliable alliances. Richard, what do you
Speaker 3: think about about this point about Trump's tendency to flatter
Speaker 3: these dictators.
Speaker 5: Well, I think He's always had it. You know, he's
Speaker 5: made a big thing of being a mate of Kim
Speaker 5: Il Sung's. Swiss would if we were made of Kimil Songs,
Speaker 5: would want to keep it as the biggest secret in town,
Speaker 5: because you know, he's a murderous thug who's killed members
Speaker 5: of his own family who get in the road, and
Speaker 5: yet Trump touts him as some sort of good person.
Speaker 2: Very weird.
Speaker 5: Trump has a very weird sense in foreign policy. His
Speaker 5: foreign policy is a ratic it always has been, and
Speaker 5: it comes down to likes and dislikes rather than looking
Speaker 5: at American you know what's good for the Americans and
Speaker 5: what's not. And so I'm a bit I'm disappointed in
Speaker 5: Trump to some extent. I thought he well, I've never
Speaker 5: been a great fan. I thought he would be better
Speaker 5: than that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, let's have a look now at this
Speaker 3: Quantus scandal. I've just reported tonight exclusively that the Prime
Speaker 3: Minister's upgrades to business class were handled by senior executives
Speaker 3: at Quantus, including Andrew Parker. There's also an interesting connection there,
Speaker 3: of course, that I just mentioned with David Epstein. Michael,
Speaker 3: there are integrity issues here. This is absolutely going to
Speaker 3: dominate question time next week when Parliament resumes. But Michael,
Speaker 3: how do you think the Prime Minister's handling this at
Speaker 3: the moment?
Speaker 8: Well, I think bad. I mean, he was obviously appallingly
Speaker 8: briefed yesterday when he said that Joe Asen hadn't made
Speaker 8: admissions about his Liberal Parties staffing and having worked for Quantus. Well,
Speaker 8: I bought the book yesterday. I have of them. Page three.
Speaker 8: That's a full page picture of Joe Aston in his
Speaker 8: Quantus gear in back two thousand and eight or whatever,
Speaker 8: with his job description standing next to Quantus plane. And
Speaker 8: then you go on to him to describe that you
Speaker 8: know he did work for Liberal ministers. So Albou was
Speaker 8: very poorly brief. Tonight's statement is ridiculous. I mean that
Speaker 8: statement should say I never spoke to Joyce. I never
Speaker 8: sent him a text, I never sent him an email.
Speaker 8: None of my staff or anyone on my behalf ever
Speaker 8: requested an upgrade. The upgrades I received were all offered
Speaker 8: by Quantus without any request from us. That's what his
Speaker 8: statement should have said. And sooner or later that'll be
Speaker 8: wrestled to the ground. But keeps saying the bigger issue,
Speaker 8: the bigger issue is and this is what he can't
Speaker 8: get out of. And by the way, this has been
Speaker 8: on the public record for ten years and it took
Speaker 8: Joe Eston to uncover it. By the way, this bloke
Speaker 8: was the minister regulating Quantus and took tens of thousands
Speaker 8: of dollars of cash from Quantus in the form of
Speaker 8: ticket upgrades. If this man was a member of the
Speaker 8: Howard government, he would have been sacked on the spot
Speaker 8: the first time he'd made a declaration. He would have
Speaker 8: been sacked by John Howard and probably by other prime ministers.
Speaker 8: But the fact that he took cash, what was the
Speaker 8: guy thinking? So, yes, the whole question of who made
Speaker 8: the request is important from the ministerial code, But how
Speaker 8: does he explain away being paid money by Quantus who
Speaker 8: he is regulating. That is something you cannot get out of,
Speaker 8: and that is an extremely serious thing that he's done.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Richo, that does seem like a very serious conflict
Speaker 3: of interest, even if it was disclosed.
Speaker 5: What do you think, Well, I think we're all getting
Speaker 5: carried away here. I don't know how many upgrades I've
Speaker 5: received over the years, but it's a hell of a lot.
Speaker 5: I wasn't paid cash, I was given upgrades. So what
Speaker 5: In fact, most of the time, I think, all the time,
Speaker 5: I ever think they eve or asked for one. They
Speaker 5: just see your name there and they upgrade you.
Speaker 3: But Richard politics came before all of the ministerial codes.
Speaker 2: Of conduct.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't mean to be disrespectful about your
Speaker 3: age at all, but you do come from a different
Speaker 3: era of politics before there were these strict ministerial Code of.
Speaker 2: Conduct guidelines in place. I mean they were introduced by
Speaker 2: Julia Gillard.
Speaker 5: Yeah, although we did have some I mean I can
Speaker 5: remember making those declarations, so we had we had some rules.
Speaker 5: They were not as strict as they became, but they
Speaker 5: were there, so you did have to be careful about it.
Speaker 5: There's not about that. But look, I think there were
Speaker 5: all the things we could discuss, the important things in
Speaker 5: the world. We're discussing Albo getting an upgrade. Did you
Speaker 5: find this ridiculous, Michael.
Speaker 8: And he was the minister regulating quantits? How could it
Speaker 8: be ridiculous, mate, It's.
Speaker 5: Not ridiculous at all, regulating of his bloody career. Give
Speaker 5: me a break.
Speaker 3: I mean, these upgrades could be worth up thousands of dollars.
Speaker 3: It could be worth fifty thousand dollars, it could be
Speaker 3: worth one hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: We don't know.
Speaker 3: We know how much a business class ticket is, you know,
Speaker 3: between eight and ten or twelve grand, depending on the flight.
Speaker 3: So this is serious money, as Michael said he was
Speaker 3: the minister regulating quantas and don't forget that Barrio Farrell's
Speaker 3: New South I was premier had to go for a
Speaker 3: b of grange that he didn't declare one bottle of graine,
Speaker 3: you know, not tens of thousands of dollars.
Speaker 8: Of flights Richoe minnesters have been sacked but full perceived
Speaker 8: conflicts of interest, Graham, perceived conflicts of interest. Boy, this
Speaker 8: is more than perceived, isn't it.
Speaker 5: Am. I am aware of the fact that ministers have
Speaker 5: been sacked for for things including the bottle of wine.
Speaker 5: I remember the bottle of wine incident very well because
Speaker 5: I remember it because I said, well, I would resign too,
Speaker 5: because I'd bring him up and say, what did you
Speaker 5: send me a dozen?
Speaker 2: This is what I'm talking about.
Speaker 3: You're from a different era of politics, this is what
Speaker 3: I mean.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I think I think thats eras do vary,
Speaker 5: and I have to say my era was a little
Speaker 5: while ago.
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, all right, oh dear, all right, well,
Speaker 3: there is a lot more to go on this, no doubt,
Speaker 3: I mean, my do you think there's any chance Albanezi's
Speaker 3: enemies will use this against him to come after him.
Speaker 8: No, the election's four or five months away. There's no
Speaker 8: single challenger. You've got to change the caucus rules to
Speaker 8: get rid of the membership ballot and just have a
Speaker 8: caucus vote. And whilst you've got five or six people
Speaker 8: who want to be leader and not one single challenger,
Speaker 8: it's far too messy for anything to be organized. So
Speaker 8: I don't think there's any chance at all he'll be replaced,
Speaker 8: although this is doing labor immense damage in the marketplace.
Speaker 8: You know, he's got free tickets to the tennis he went.
Speaker 8: He went to El Springs for three hours and then
Speaker 8: spent many more hours at the tennis. He's got free
Speaker 8: Taylor Swift tickets. This guy has lost the plot and
Speaker 8: he's drowning in freebies. And I'll tell you you're walking
Speaker 8: up and down the streets of Melbourne. People are appalled,
Speaker 8: they're shocked, they're horrified.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 8: They think he's like a pig with his snout with them,
Speaker 8: a massive schnout in a massive trough and that I
Speaker 8: like it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, Michael Kroger graem Richardson, So great to
Speaker 3: see you as always on a Wednesday. Now I should
Speaker 3: just mention that I have a big exclusive on the
Speaker 3: show tonight.
Speaker 2: It's coming up a bit later. Penny Wong.
Speaker 3: As you know, she's been criticizing Israel over the decision
Speaker 3: to ban UNRA because of its links to terrorism. But meanwhile,
Speaker 3: behind the scenes, there's a top secret investigation going on
Speaker 3: in the Australian government into AUNRA.
Speaker 2: I'm going to bring you those details a bit later.
Speaker 3: But now let's look at the cost of living crisis
Speaker 3: and the latest inflation figures have been released today, the
Speaker 3: headline rate falling to two point eight percent in.
Speaker 2: The third quarter.
Speaker 3: Underlying inflation, this is the preferred indicator for the IBA
Speaker 3: remains still above the IBA's target band. Here was the
Speaker 3: Treasurer when he wasn't having to take questions about the
Speaker 3: Prime Minister's flight upgrades.
Speaker 2: Here he was speaking about this earlier today.
Speaker 7: Today's numbers show that we are on track for a
Speaker 7: soft landing in our economy. We are confident, but not
Speaker 7: complacent about the substantial progress that we are making as
Speaker 7: a country. Inflation is back in the band.
Speaker 3: Okay, let's bring it now. Economist leaf van on slend
Speaker 3: Leath growth to see you again. Look what's your interpretation
Speaker 3: of this data today?
Speaker 2: Today?
Speaker 3: Both the underlying inflation rate and the headline figure.
Speaker 9: Yeah, goday, Sherry, Look, I think it certainly means that
Speaker 9: the Reserve Bank's going to be on hold until next year.
Speaker 9: So obviously, yes, the headline inflation rate fell to two
Speaker 9: point eight percent, and that's great, But the reason for
Speaker 9: this fall was that we had a big fall on
Speaker 9: electricity prices because of the government's electricity subsidies and also
Speaker 9: petrol prices. So just put it into perspective, electricity prices
Speaker 9: subtracted point four percent from the quarterly inflation result and
Speaker 9: fuel prices point two five percent. But Sharry, the Reserve
Speaker 9: Bank is repeatedly stated that it's going to ignore the
Speaker 9: headline result, is going to look at the underlying inflation
Speaker 9: and that came in at point eight percent for the
Speaker 9: quarter and three point five per cent year on year,
Speaker 9: So both in quarterly terms and in annual terms, it's
Speaker 9: still above the RBA's target. And Australia still has among
Speaker 9: the highest core inflation in the advanced world. So I
Speaker 9: think based on that the Reserve Bank's going to be
Speaker 9: on hold until next year.
Speaker 3: Well we've seen you know, you say Australia has among
Speaker 3: the highest inflation rates in the world, and we've seen
Speaker 3: the IMF forecasts back that up. I mean, Australia was
Speaker 3: the worst out of I think forty two countries. Why
Speaker 3: is the CPI here, you know, remaining sticky where as
Speaker 3: it's starting to fall elsewhere around the world.
Speaker 9: Yeah, look, look, look to be fair, Australia's inflation started
Speaker 9: to rise later than the other countries, so it's it's
Speaker 9: big because of that. It's obviously starting to fall later.
Speaker 9: But we do have domestic prescires here. So obviously we've
Speaker 9: had very very strong housing inflation, so housing inflations' paling
Speaker 9: about rents and construction costs and those sorts of things
Speaker 9: have accounted for zero point two to twenty percent to
Speaker 9: half of a lot of the inflation over recent quarters.
Speaker 9: And we've also had obviously this high energy inflation due
Speaker 9: to failures in energy policy and those sorts of things
Speaker 9: which the government is trying to sweep under the carpet
Speaker 9: with its subsidies. So we have had a lot of
Speaker 9: sticky domestic issues here which is driven up inflation.
Speaker 3: In terms of the homegrown factors. Do you think these
Speaker 3: are higher than in other parts of the world. I mean,
Speaker 3: you've mentioned the housing crisis. We've previously spoken about the
Speaker 3: immigration rates pushing up inflation. Do you think those homegrown
Speaker 3: factors are still a big factor here and keeping inflation
Speaker 3: I mean it is falling, of course, but keeping it
Speaker 3: more persistent than elsewhere around the world.
Speaker 9: Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely. So we've had the factor that's
Speaker 9: driven down that's actually pulled down Australias inflation has been
Speaker 9: the tradable inflation. So that's all the stuff that you
Speaker 9: can pull off a container ship. So the tradable inflace,
Speaker 9: you know, running at a low level, about one half percent,
Speaker 9: but it's the non tradable stuff, so that's all you're
Speaker 9: domestically driven inflation that's still running at around four percent.
Speaker 9: So we do have high, sticky domestic inflation unfortunately, and
Speaker 9: that's the reason why Australia's core inflation is among the
Speaker 9: highest in the world.
Speaker 3: Immigration numbers were meant to start to fall. I mean
Speaker 3: the Albanezi government about six months ago announced that they
Speaker 3: were going to have it doesn't look like they're coming down.
Speaker 3: I think those forecasts are going to be proven utterly wrong.
Speaker 3: How do you think this is going to affect the
Speaker 3: housing crisis moving into twenty twenty five.
Speaker 9: Yeah, look, certainly so. The May federal budget tip that
Speaker 9: we'd have net overseas migration of three hundred and ninety
Speaker 9: five thousand. Now, based on the data we've had to date,
Speaker 9: it's going to top five hundred thousand. I'd be around
Speaker 9: about five hundred thousand, So they've missed by about one
Speaker 9: hundred thousand, and all indicators are at this financial year
Speaker 9: where they tiped two hundred and sixty thousand, we're probably
Speaker 9: going to get about three hundred and fifty thousand plus.
Speaker 9: So we've got much high immigration than what the government bridget.
Speaker 9: And what this means is that basically the rents are
Speaker 9: going to be higher than they should be. Otherwise we're
Speaker 9: going to have this persistent rental inflation. It is coming off,
Speaker 9: but we are going to have this high rental inflation
Speaker 9: than we should It's also going to put up with
Speaker 9: pressure on new home prices, those sorts of things which
Speaker 9: will keep the inflation fires burning unfortunately.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, Lead Banonsen, thank you so much for
Speaker 2: your time. As always, Now.
Speaker 3: As I mentioned, a major exclusive still to come behind
Speaker 3: closed Doors. Pennywong clearly has a very different take on
Speaker 3: the discredited un Agency UNRA. I'm going to discuss this
Speaker 3: with international human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrowsky next plus which
Speaker 3: state has given up completely on the war against drugs?
Speaker 2: It's not that hard to guess.
Speaker 3: I'll be joined a bit later in the show by
Speaker 3: Keith Pitt and Daniel Molino, or also debate Quantus with
Speaker 3: them as well. Stay tuned, welcome back. Okay, my exclusive
Speaker 3: with Penny Wong and the secret investig into anraat's coming up.
Speaker 3: But right now let's bring in our political panel, Labor
Speaker 3: MP Daniel Melino and Liberal MP Keith Pitt should say
Speaker 3: National MP.
Speaker 2: Keith Pitt ll llenp Welcome to you both.
Speaker 3: Let's start with a Quantus upgrade scandal, which is the
Speaker 3: biggest political story at the moment affecting the Prime Minister.
Speaker 2: Daniel.
Speaker 3: Look, I feel so bad that you come on the
Speaker 3: show every week in good faith, ready to battle it
Speaker 3: out for your Labor government, and yet you're always having
Speaker 3: to fend off these questions about Alban Easy buying a
Speaker 3: cliff top home and now his flight upgrades. But surely
Speaker 3: even Labor and Peace can see that this is at
Speaker 3: the very least a perceived conflict of interest that he
Speaker 3: was getting these flight upgrades worth tens of thousands of
Speaker 3: dollars when he was Transport Minister regulating quantus.
Speaker 1: Well, thanks for having me on, Shari.
Speaker 10: Let's definitely talk inflation or an economic topic next week.
Speaker 10: But look, the issue that you've raised has been dealt
Speaker 10: with in a lot of detail by the Prime Minister.
Speaker 10: He's somebody that has been in public life for thirty
Speaker 10: years and throughout that period he's been very committed to
Speaker 10: transparency on these issues. He's declared all of his upgrades,
Speaker 10: but he's also declared anything that the.
Speaker 1: Rules have required him to declare.
Speaker 10: I just want to make that point up the front
Speaker 10: because Peter Dutton, when he was challenged in an interview
Speaker 10: I think it was today with the fact that he's
Speaker 10: received exorbitant flights with Gina Reinart, his defense.
Speaker 1: Of himself was that he's declared them.
Speaker 10: So it does appear that the defense that Peter Dutton
Speaker 10: will use for himself isn't good enough for others. But
Speaker 10: not only that, the Prime Minister has late late today
Speaker 10: clarified that at no time has he reached out and
Speaker 10: made a call to Alan Joyce to seek an upgrade.
Speaker 1: So he's gone beyond.
Speaker 10: The declaration as required by the rules, and directly answered
Speaker 10: accusations that have been put by members of the opposition.
Speaker 10: So I think he's gone above and beyond what's required
Speaker 10: and what all of us are required to do, and
Speaker 10: being very very clear today.
Speaker 3: Well, he said he didn't phone Alan Joyce. He hasn't
Speaker 3: said clarified any other forms of communication, and he has
Speaker 3: refused to answer the question Keith about whether he contacted
Speaker 3: any other executives at quantas.
Speaker 2: Do you want to respond to what Daniel.
Speaker 3: Malino had to say. They're in defense of his boss,
Speaker 3: the PM.
Speaker 4: Well, the reason Daniel has to keep defending him is
Speaker 4: this just keeps happening over and over and over.
Speaker 2: And as for Peter.
Speaker 4: Getting a lift on a charter plane, well, the other
Speaker 4: option is the taxpayer pays for it. So I know
Speaker 4: which one the tax payer would prefer as an option.
Speaker 4: One thing that hasn't come out too much and this
Speaker 4: is where are these self appointed defenders of part of
Speaker 4: nary integrity? The teals where they wanted the knack They
Speaker 4: demanded all of these things around alleged corruption in the Parliament,
Speaker 4: of which I've got to tell you I don't see
Speaker 4: any and yet we see nothing from them. In fact,
Speaker 4: Pocock walked away from it today. So I think this
Speaker 4: will eventually come to a head when the election is
Speaker 4: on and the Australian people will work this out, Sharry,
Speaker 4: They'll be the ones that decide.
Speaker 3: Darwin has suggested that the Prime Minister should refer himself
Speaker 3: to the integrity of the Corruption Commission. If that doesn't happen,
Speaker 3: do you think the coalition should refer the Prime Minister?
Speaker 4: Well, I think the question would be whether the thresholders
Speaker 4: met which has been said it is a new organization
Speaker 4: with some new rules which I don't know that well,
Speaker 4: I've got to toe you, but I do know that
Speaker 4: it shouldn't be used for political purposes. If there was
Speaker 4: a genuine issue here to be dealt with.
Speaker 1: Then absolutely.
Speaker 3: What do you think, Daniel, would this be just better
Speaker 3: sided out by the Corruption Commission?
Speaker 1: Well?
Speaker 10: Can I just go back very briefly to one point
Speaker 10: that Keith rays where he said that his boss taking
Speaker 10: flights with Gina Reinhart isn't the problem because it's saving
Speaker 10: the tax payer money. But that raises all sorts of
Speaker 10: questions of conflicts of interest, because if you're getting expensive
Speaker 10: gifts of a private sector interest and you're then it's
Speaker 10: making policies that affect her.
Speaker 1: It raises all sorts of issues. So Peter Dutton says, well, look,
Speaker 1: I'm declaring it. End of story.
Speaker 3: So can I just say that alb alban Easy has
Speaker 3: also and this is on the public record, he's also
Speaker 3: caught a private helicopter owned by Lindsay Fox. So you know,
Speaker 3: I don't know why Labour's going down this line of
Speaker 3: attack because alban Easy has also taken private flights by
Speaker 3: billionaires by Lindsay Fox.
Speaker 1: You know, I wasn't really raising the point of private
Speaker 1: flights per se.
Speaker 10: What I was really making the point was that when
Speaker 10: those flights were raised with Peter Dutton, his defense of
Speaker 10: himself was I've declared them.
Speaker 1: And my point is that fall of stakeholders, that they
Speaker 1: raise all.
Speaker 10: Sorts of issues, of potential conflicts. Just there's all sorts
Speaker 10: of other interaction with the private sect to do. But
Speaker 10: Peter Dutton's defense of himself is I've declared it. Nothing
Speaker 10: more to see, end of story. That's my point there, Shari,
Speaker 10: and I guess my point to Keith's point about saving
Speaker 10: taxpayers money is well, you know, Peter getting lots of
Speaker 10: flights off a billionaire potentially does raise perceived conflicts of interest.
Speaker 10: So let's just be careful with people throwing stones from
Speaker 10: glasshouses here.
Speaker 2: Do you want to respond to that before we move on?
Speaker 4: It's a four hundred and fifty billion dollar part of
Speaker 4: the economy and I've been on some of those flights
Speaker 4: and they are full of stakeholders. And guess what as
Speaker 4: politicians were engage with stakeholders, particularly ones that are driving
Speaker 4: tens of thousands of jobs in this country.
Speaker 3: All right, well, once again Victoria is proving that it
Speaker 3: takes the title of the wokest state very seriously because
Speaker 3: now pill testing is about to become legal. This legislation
Speaker 3: just passed state parliament on Tuesday. There was opposition from
Speaker 3: the coalition. I'm very concerned about this. I think it
Speaker 3: sends the wrong message to teenagers when parents are trying
Speaker 3: to tell them stay away from drugs. Daniel Malino, what
Speaker 3: do you think?
Speaker 10: Look, I think this is a really complicated issue, and
Speaker 10: I think if you had asked me five years ago,
Speaker 10: I would have said that I have real concerns about
Speaker 10: the mixed messages that it sends to teenagers. What has
Speaker 10: made me reconsider my position on these issues. Is when
Speaker 10: I was a STADI MP and I was on one
Speaker 10: of the committees that looked at injection rooms, and I
Speaker 10: went into that with an open mind. As part of
Speaker 10: that inquiry, I traveled to King's Cross to an injecting
Speaker 10: room that had been operating there for some time, and
Speaker 10: I talked to the police. I talked to people that
Speaker 10: had evaluated that injecting room. The police were very strong
Speaker 10: in saying that harm reduction outweighed other considerations in their minds.
Speaker 10: And there have been evaluations of that injecting room in
Speaker 10: Sydney which showed that on balance, it hadn't led to
Speaker 10: more use.
Speaker 3: When compare, isn't that injecting room that's used by drug addicts.
Speaker 3: Isn't it that's used by drug addicts as opposed to
Speaker 3: these pill testings at festival at music festivals, that's going
Speaker 3: to be used by teenagers who the majority of which
Speaker 3: you wouldn't be full blown.
Speaker 2: Drug addicts, you'd hope not.
Speaker 3: And yet this sends a message Keith that it might
Speaker 3: be okay to try a pill because the experts here.
Speaker 2: Will test that it's safe. I mean, that's nonsense.
Speaker 4: This is the ridiculous part of it. It is being
Speaker 4: put forward as if these things are built to a
Speaker 4: pharmaceutical quality, that they've been made in a factory with
Speaker 4: quality controls and management everything out. They're not. There is
Speaker 4: no way that you get consistency in these pills. It
Speaker 4: is a small sample. And the idea that the tax
Speaker 4: payer will fund quality control for drug dealers for kids,
Speaker 4: I'm opposed to one hundred percent.
Speaker 3: I think it's so dangerous, it's so worrying. The message
Speaker 3: should just be so clear, say no to drugs. You know,
Speaker 3: we need a return to those old school campaigns. I
Speaker 3: mean when I was growing up, it was when Anna
Speaker 3: Wood was sadly dyed from a drug ose she was fifteen,
Speaker 3: and the message after that was saying no to drugs.
Speaker 3: It wasn't this confused message from state governments of all
Speaker 3: places that oh, it's okay, here's pill testing to make sure.
Speaker 3: I don't know, god knows what what are they actually
Speaker 3: testing for, because it's still an illicit drug banned under
Speaker 3: the law.
Speaker 2: It's just outrageous, all right.
Speaker 3: The Albanezy government has looked over a local defense company
Speaker 3: from a major contract in favor of a French owned one,
Speaker 3: Labor's announced that TAILS Australia will run the operations behind
Speaker 3: a new plant to produce artillery shells instead of the
Speaker 3: Queensland based Noyer Daniel, Does this make sense to you
Speaker 3: this decision?
Speaker 10: Well, look, I think so long as the process was rigorous,
Speaker 10: so long it was against the selection criteria, and I
Speaker 10: think what we find with most of these projects is
Speaker 10: that there's a local component and they're often partnered with
Speaker 10: an international company. And I think that the company that
Speaker 10: you'd referred to, which was locally based, did have an
Speaker 10: international partner which they worked with.
Speaker 1: So look, I think so long as.
Speaker 10: There's a rigorous process and selection criteria are used, I
Speaker 10: think it stacks up.
Speaker 4: What do you think, Keith, Well, somehow the government, the
Speaker 4: Labor government has to defend this decision, so they've awarded
Speaker 4: it to a contractor for a factory that doesn't exist
Speaker 4: that will take four years to build, against an Australian
Speaker 4: company which already has a facility based in regional Queensland
Speaker 4: at Merriborough, just outside of my electorate, and they're.
Speaker 11: Ready to go.
Speaker 4: They could be up and running eighty months, So it's
Speaker 4: four years Greenfield, no current approvals.
Speaker 2: Do you know this company well, I know them very well.
Speaker 4: They're in Lewar Bryan's elector of Wide Bay. They receive
Speaker 4: significant funding from the Commonwealth to be able to set
Speaker 4: this facility up at Merriborough. And now let's be clear,
Speaker 4: at a state level, this was a labor seat up
Speaker 4: until the weekend. They're well known, they're a good company,
Speaker 4: they're international level, and yet somehow an existing facility is
Speaker 4: overlooked for one that has to be built. So I
Speaker 4: think there are a real quiet answer.
Speaker 2: Is again, let's have a look at university. Part of
Speaker 2: me university fees.
Speaker 3: We know that Australia's top universities relied too heavily on
Speaker 3: international students, and now they're set to hike the tuition
Speaker 3: fees by seven percent in twenty twenty five for international students.
Speaker 3: This comes as the Abenezi government is looking at introducing
Speaker 3: or preparing to introduce a cap on international student numbers. Daniel,
Speaker 3: do you think this fee increase is a direct result
Speaker 3: of the reforms that are capping the number of international students?
Speaker 10: Well, just taking a step back, I think that I
Speaker 10: would think that both sides of politics at the moment
Speaker 10: would say that we need to reduce overall numbers of
Speaker 10: international students. So we might differ on the exact numbers
Speaker 10: or on the exact methodology, but I think everybody's agreed
Speaker 10: that we need.
Speaker 1: To reduce the numbers of international students.
Speaker 10: I was at a conference last week where I was
Speaker 10: engaging with a lot of stakeholders on this issue. It's
Speaker 10: a very complex issue because you want to pair back
Speaker 10: the numbers, but in a way where you're sensitive to
Speaker 10: different institutional needs, considering the GA, considering regional universities and
Speaker 10: so forth. Look, I think that part of this might
Speaker 10: be a reflection of that, in the sense that if
Speaker 10: you have a certain amount of demand and you reduce
Speaker 10: the number of spots, one of the factors that might
Speaker 10: change is the price. I mean, this is economics, but
Speaker 10: I think everybody's agreed that we do need to reduce
Speaker 10: the overall numbers. For me, it's just a question of
Speaker 10: doing it in a way which is staged sensibly and
Speaker 10: takes account of all the different institutions and needs.
Speaker 3: All right, Daniel Molino, Keith Pitt, thank you both very
Speaker 3: much for your time and good to see you here
Speaker 3: this person in Sydney tonight. Keith all right, a major
Speaker 3: exclusive still to come behind closed doors. Pennywang must have
Speaker 3: a different take on the discredited and terror aligned UNRA.
Speaker 3: I'm going to discuss that with a human rights lawyer next. Plus,
Speaker 3: Kamala Harris delivers her final pitch to undercided voters and
Speaker 3: it shows an obsession with Trump. Trump's former Attorney General
Speaker 3: Matt Whittaker would join me from the campaign trail.
Speaker 2: That's all coming up well.
Speaker 3: Penniwong's department has launched a secret investigation into UNRA, despite
Speaker 3: the Foreign Minister publicly backing the terror riddled organization. I
Speaker 3: can exclusively report that DFAT has commissioned a comprehensive due
Speaker 3: diligence assessment of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine.
Speaker 2: Refugees in the Near East.
Speaker 3: This is despite Pennywog repeatedly backing UNRA and continuing to
Speaker 3: spend millions of taxpayer funds on the organization. Now, Israel
Speaker 3: has this week introduced laws to ban UNRA from operating
Speaker 3: in Israel because its ties to terror organizations like Hermus.
Speaker 2: Are just so extensive.
Speaker 3: The Abenezi government, including Pennywong, dared to criticize Israel well
Speaker 3: for this, yet they obviously have concerns otherwise, why commission
Speaker 3: due diligence?
Speaker 8: Why?
Speaker 3: I asked the Foreign Minister's office about this, and a
Speaker 3: spokesperson said the Foreign Minister has previously signaled that future
Speaker 3: funding agreements for UNRA would include stringent conditions such as
Speaker 3: guarantees of staff neutrality, what a joke staff neutrality and
Speaker 3: confidence in supply chains.
Speaker 2: The Minister has been clear that the.
Speaker 3: Humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic and only UNRA has
Speaker 3: the mandate and infrastructure to receive and distribute aid on
Speaker 3: the scale needed right now in Gaza means staff neutrality,
Speaker 3: they must support it. Some of them even took part
Speaker 3: in October seventh. There are other aid organizations. Peter Dutton
Speaker 3: said that no funds from taxpayers should be going to UNRA.
Speaker 2: Have a look.
Speaker 6: There are serious questions and concerns being asked and raised
Speaker 6: in relation to ANRA, and we're very open to the
Speaker 6: conversation with the government to support legislation to port measures
Speaker 6: that would stop money going from Australian taxpayers who are
Speaker 6: working harder than ever before under this government, to put
Speaker 6: every dollar in their pocket from going into the hands
Speaker 6: of terrors, to terrort sympathizers.
Speaker 3: Let's bring in now human rights lawyer and CEO of
Speaker 3: the International Legal Forum, Arsen Ostrowsky.
Speaker 2: Arsen, good to see you again.
Speaker 3: Look, AID is critical, no question, but don't we need
Speaker 3: to be certain that the tens of millions of dollars
Speaker 3: in Australian taxpayer funds, along with the millions from around
Speaker 3: the world, are going to AID and not to support terrorism.
Speaker 12: Look you one hundred percent correct, Shari. I mean I
Speaker 12: think instead of directing their outrage at Israel and the
Speaker 12: international community, including Australia for that matter, ought to have
Speaker 12: been demanding accountability from UNRA, which and instead of turning
Speaker 12: the collective backs at the repeated and endless warnings from
Speaker 12: Israel and others about their complicity with HAMAS. And you
Speaker 12: are right, you know, there is no dispute, no art
Speaker 12: human about the fact that eight must and should go
Speaker 12: through to Gaza. But the issue is that it should
Speaker 12: not go through UNRA, which has become really an inseparable
Speaker 12: and indistinguishable arm of HAMAS mass creating as a relief agency.
Speaker 12: There are ample other organizations out that are not compromised
Speaker 12: in the manner that HAMAS is, and quite honestly, it
Speaker 12: is not a few roden apples, as UNRO Summer may
Speaker 12: may claim. The entire organization quite frankly is rodden to
Speaker 12: the core and infested with terrorism. And you're you're right,
Speaker 12: Australian tax payers and in fact all nations who provide
Speaker 12: funding to UNRA or to demand the capability and ort
Speaker 12: to be asking why are the tax dollars going towards
Speaker 12: an organization that has been systematically involved in the widespread massacre, torture,
Speaker 12: rape and abduction of civilians.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's not just a one off incident.
Speaker 3: This has been going back years and years and years now.
Speaker 3: Hesbola has announced a new leader, one of the long
Speaker 3: term deputy of the political arm I understand, Naim Kassem.
Speaker 3: This is to replace Hassan Nasralla, who of course was
Speaker 3: killed last month in that Israeli air strike. While Benjamin Etta,
Speaker 3: who was giving an address at the United Nations General Assembly, well,
Speaker 3: I kind of love this response from the Israeli government
Speaker 3: on X there was this post. His tenure in this
Speaker 3: position may be the shortest in the history of this
Speaker 3: terrorist organization if he follows in the footsteps of his predecessors.
Speaker 3: Hassan Israela and Hushem Safadin Arsen. It seems like it's
Speaker 3: only a matter of time before he meets the same fate.
Speaker 12: Yeah, Melik, I wouldn't exactly want to be underwriting his
Speaker 12: life insurance policy quite honestly. Board Kassem is one of
Speaker 12: the founders of Hasbala. He has been one of the
Speaker 12: central figures in their leadership, serving as the deputy to
Speaker 12: a former leader, Hassanzraela. And you know what, Leopards don't
Speaker 12: change their spot, So I don't think anyone ought to
Speaker 12: be expecting or holding their breadth that are sam under
Speaker 12: his leadership, Hesbla has seen the light and become some
Speaker 12: kind of pastist organization. They have not. They remain committed
Speaker 12: as he as a blood perst that you heard as
Speaker 12: ter groups, wants to Israel's destruction, and I would advise
Speaker 12: him that if he does, wants to see out the
Speaker 12: rest of the week and outlive his bit assessor, he
Speaker 12: wants to withdraw Hesbela forces outside of a sudden lebanon
Speaker 12: and drop drop their arms and actually agree to bude
Speaker 12: by the Unsecurity Council Resolution seventeen oh one.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it doesn't need to be a new deal. Just
Speaker 3: bye by the United Nations Resolution seventeen oh one demant
Speaker 3: militarize the South move beyond little tiny river.
Speaker 2: Arsen Ostrowsky is so good to see you again. Thank you.
Speaker 11: Well.
Speaker 3: After the break, we go live to the United States,
Speaker 3: where Trump's former attorney general will give us insider information
Speaker 3: on the latest from the Trump campaign because he's been
Speaker 3: on the trail. Also, we'll go to Joe Biden's comment
Speaker 3: today where he basically called half of Americans garbage. Stay tuned, Okay, Well,
Speaker 3: with just a week to goo until the US presidential election,
Speaker 3: let's go live now to American and I'm joined by
Speaker 3: Donald Trump's former acting Attorney General, Matthew Whittaker.
Speaker 2: Good to see you again. Look, can you first before
Speaker 2: we get.
Speaker 3: Into all the detail of the drama that's unfolding, I'd
Speaker 3: love to get your response to Joe Biden because he
Speaker 3: has managed to insult half of Americans today with this comment.
Speaker 6: Have a look Puerto Rico, where I'm in my home
Speaker 6: state of Delaware.
Speaker 1: They're good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage ice floating
Speaker 1: down there is his supporters.
Speaker 3: Now, of course, he was initially speaking about that comedian
Speaker 3: who gave the off color remark about Puerto Ricans at
Speaker 3: Trump's rally.
Speaker 2: But Matthew he then went to say.
Speaker 3: That Trump supporters, so around half of Americans on garbage.
Speaker 3: Do you think this is reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's basket
Speaker 3: of Deplorable's comment?
Speaker 11: It absolutely is. And it's good to join you this
Speaker 11: morning here in the United States. You know, it's it's
Speaker 11: it's strange to me. You know, yesterday we spent all
Speaker 11: day the mainstream media telling us that this insult, comics,
Speaker 11: you know, joke that failed in the room. I was
Speaker 11: there was somehow the worst thing that was ever said
Speaker 11: about anyone, and they tried to extrapolate it not from
Speaker 11: just you know, an insult by one person to Puerto Rico,
Speaker 11: but you know, painted across all of President Trump supporters.
Speaker 11: And then you know, obviously this comment by the President
Speaker 11: of the United States saying that people like me that
Speaker 11: have supported Donald Trump our garbage. And you know, I
Speaker 11: mean again, it's I don't worry too much about this.
Speaker 11: This is a little bit silly season, but it's just,
Speaker 11: you know, it's I think the problem is is that
Speaker 11: they spent you know, entire day, entire news cycle trying
Speaker 11: to convince us that this comics that nobody's.
Speaker 1: Ever heard of, quite frankly, a very fringe.
Speaker 11: Comic in the United States, was somehow speaking for the
Speaker 11: Trump campaign. And now you know, the President of United
Speaker 11: States goes and says this. It's a really it's extraordinary.
Speaker 11: But you know, Joe Biden is I don't think trying
Speaker 11: to help Kamala Harris win the White House. At least
Speaker 11: that's what it appears from my perspective.
Speaker 2: I've got to agree with you.
Speaker 3: I mean, if you're trying to win over voters from
Speaker 3: the other side or undecided voters, you don't want to
Speaker 3: be calling them garbage, that's for sure.
Speaker 2: Matthew.
Speaker 3: I want to get your thoughts on Kamala Harris's closing
Speaker 3: argument speech at the Ellipse.
Speaker 2: You know, she's said to.
Speaker 3: Have mentioned Donald Trump around twenty four times. Do you
Speaker 3: think that the comments she made are enough to convince
Speaker 3: those who are still considering whether to vote for her.
Speaker 11: Well, remember what Kamala Harris is having to do, and
Speaker 11: that is she's trying to convince her base to turn out.
Speaker 1: And who is her base.
Speaker 11: Well, in this case, it is the bureaucrats in Washington,
Speaker 11: d C. That she needs to motivate and scare that
Speaker 11: Donald Trump is going to somehow fundamentally change government and
Speaker 11: be a threat to the permanent bureaucracy. In Washington d C.
Speaker 11: DC is not a swing state. It votes for about
Speaker 11: eighty five percent to ninety percent for Democrats, including Joe
Speaker 11: Biden in twenty twenty. I would expect the same numbers
Speaker 11: for Kamala Harrison. So instead of going to places like
Speaker 11: Pennsylvania and North Carolina and Michigan, Georgia, you know, she's
Speaker 11: going to Washington d C. I think it's also you know,
Speaker 11: telling to me that she gives this speech at the Ellipse,
Speaker 11: you know, the site of obviously the January sixth rally.
Speaker 11: It doesn't have Joe Biden there, who is literally two
Speaker 11: hundred yards behind her in the White House. You know,
Speaker 11: it just shows you how toxic their administration has become
Speaker 11: and how it's not working for the American people who
Speaker 11: are going to be the judge of this election in
Speaker 11: just the six short days.
Speaker 3: Can you give us some behind the scenes detail about
Speaker 3: Donald Trump and how he's doing on the campaign at
Speaker 3: the moment. How is he feeling about the battleground states.
Speaker 3: Does he think he's going to be president in a
Speaker 3: weeks time.
Speaker 11: Yeah. So I was just with him in New York City,
Speaker 11: and what I can tell you is that he, you know,
Speaker 11: has a lot of energy. He knows that he's it's
Speaker 11: a sprint to the finish. He's going to go to
Speaker 11: all of these swing states and make his closing argument,
Speaker 11: and it's quite simple. You know, things were better under
Speaker 11: my administration four years ago, and that is the closing argument.
Speaker 11: And it's actually very compelling because if you think about
Speaker 11: all of the problems, whether it's inflation, crime, and so
Speaker 11: many other things, war in multiple countries and places around
Speaker 11: the globe, you know, it is clear that Donald Trump
Speaker 11: had had a better administration, and so you know, he
Speaker 11: is ready to win. But I think I think he
Speaker 11: is not taking anything for granted this time. All of
Speaker 11: us are out there. I'll be in Pennsylvania really for
Speaker 11: starting on Friday on a bus tour with so many
Speaker 11: of those of us that support President Trump and served
Speaker 11: in his cabinet or elected Republicans making the closing arguments
Speaker 11: because Pennsylvania really is ground central, for ground zero for
Speaker 11: this election.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no question about that, all right, Matthew Whittaker really
Speaker 3: appreciate you getting up so early for us over there.
Speaker 2: I think it's coming up to five am in the
Speaker 2: United States, very early.
Speaker 11: Pleasure.
Speaker 2: Thank you. That's all we have time for tonight.
Speaker 3: Make sure you tune in tomorrow night because I have
Speaker 3: a big exclusive interview that you don't want to miss.
Speaker 2: I'll see you then at eight o'clock. And right now,
Speaker 2: here's Paul Murray.