WEBVTT - Credlin | 21 September 0:00:02.020 --> 0:00:07.620 Peter Credlin, live from News 24. 0:00:07.620 --> 0:00:09.880 Good evening. Welcome to the program. Here's what's coming up 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.020 tonight on Credlin. Tonight, Labor's primary vote crashes to a 0:00:13.100 --> 0:00:17.280 near record low. The PM getting a brutal reality check 0:00:17.340 --> 0:00:20.680 in New York as well. Plus, while the government pushes 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:24.090 ahead with its defence assets fire sale, how does it 0:00:24.130 --> 0:00:27.250 explain wasting millions of dollars to set up new defence 0:00:27.370 --> 0:00:32.370 officers in in Sydney's CBD. More too on the politicisation 0:00:32.390 --> 0:00:35.450 of sacred ground at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. 0:00:35.970 --> 0:00:39.110 Questions tonight over why a welcome to country was played 0:00:39.530 --> 0:00:43.440 at a formal ceremony but the national anthem was not. 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:47.340 And productivity down the gurgler, deficits for the next 40 0:00:47.340 --> 0:00:52.099 years for a shrinking, ageing Australia. But the Treasurer reckons 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:54.900 one day we'll look back and thank him. 0:00:55.600 --> 0:01:00.040 Every page of this IGR in one way or another justifies, 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:04.730 validates and I hope one day vindicates the difficult decisions 0:01:04.750 --> 0:01:08.370 that we've taken reforming the housing market and reforming the 0:01:08.410 --> 0:01:08.950 tax system. 0:01:10.790 --> 0:01:14.290 We will stay with that because poorer, weaker and older, 0:01:14.350 --> 0:01:17.780 that's the Australia of 40 years' time. According to the 0:01:17.830 --> 0:01:23.080 Anthony Albanese government's own intergenerational report released today, tax will 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:26.839 be higher, growth will be slower and migration will remain 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:30.440 much higher than the long-term average, in part to rescue 0:01:30.459 --> 0:01:33.810 the country from our own failure to have children, with 0:01:33.830 --> 0:01:36.090 the birth rate falling to just 1.34 children per woman today. 0:01:38.470 --> 0:01:42.810 and deaths tipped to exceed births by mid-century. A country 0:01:42.850 --> 0:01:47.730 that can't or won't reproduce itself can't expect to survive. 0:01:48.330 --> 0:01:51.150 The other week, Kevin Rudd said Australia was at risk 0:01:51.190 --> 0:01:55.570 of becoming a second-rate country, and this report confirms it. 0:01:56.300 --> 0:02:00.260 That's an extraordinary admission from the former PM, who, despite 0:02:00.300 --> 0:02:03.559 being a close mate of the current incumbent, can no 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:08.220 longer ignore what's happening to our country under the Albanese government. 0:02:08.980 --> 0:02:13.450 The global strategic, economic, and technological forces now bearing down 0:02:13.510 --> 0:02:17.270 on this nation are of an order of magnitude, severity, 0:02:17.350 --> 0:02:21.529 and complexity that is unprecedented in our post-war history. We 0:02:21.630 --> 0:02:26.040 can navigate these changes and challenges successfully, but it will 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:30.160 require a radical change in our national psychology, a new 0:02:30.220 --> 0:02:34.600 sense of national urgency combined with a new vital sense 0:02:34.660 --> 0:02:39.440 of shared national purpose. The alternative is to slide into 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:41.530 becoming a second-rate country. 0:02:43.419 --> 0:02:46.000 Yet even this report, dire though it is, with the 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:49.040 federal budget projected to remain in deficit for the next 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:55.270 40 years, is based on inflated and unrealistic assumptions about 0:02:55.330 --> 0:03:00.070 productivity growth, which are almost certain not to be realised. 0:03:00.690 --> 0:03:04.340 In short, as bad as the intergenerational report is, the 0:03:04.380 --> 0:03:08.760 reality is that it's likely to be a whole lot worse. 0:03:09.580 --> 0:03:14.869 That's because in the report, the figures on productivity are 0:03:14.889 --> 0:03:18.730 at 1.2% of growth per annum. Productivity, of course, being 0:03:18.750 --> 0:03:21.710 the dividend of working smarter, not harder. Yet over the 0:03:21.750 --> 0:03:27.669 past 20 years, productivity has grown by only 0.8%. Now, 0:03:27.750 --> 0:03:30.990 over the past decade, productivity growth is in fact flatlined, 0:03:31.550 --> 0:03:37.850 averaging just 0.4%. So even to achieve the dismal outcome 0:03:37.900 --> 0:03:41.660 of being poorer, weaker and older, as the report today 0:03:41.700 --> 0:03:45.780 says we will be, it still requires a productivity performance, 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:51.720 a lift that hasn't been matched for at least 20 years. Now, 0:03:52.300 --> 0:03:55.520 here's really bad news that I think all of us know, 0:03:55.540 --> 0:03:59.010 but We may not want to admit, as bad as 0:03:59.050 --> 0:04:02.910 this report is, everything the Albanese government is doing now 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:07.180 and into the future will only make things worse. Labor's 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:13.220 net zero insanity, Labor's IR union payoffs, Labor's addiction to 0:04:13.260 --> 0:04:16.730 more and more welfare spending. All of it's made worse 0:04:17.110 --> 0:04:19.230 because we've got a prime minister who's out of his 0:04:19.310 --> 0:04:25.250 depth economically, out of his depth intellectually and weak when 0:04:25.270 --> 0:04:28.890 it comes to character. Any wonder today that the news 0:04:28.950 --> 0:04:31.349 poll has Labor's primary back to about where it was 0:04:31.750 --> 0:04:35.370 when Kevin Rudd rolled Julia Gillard and got his old 0:04:35.430 --> 0:04:39.190 job back. Despite all the seats in the parliament, Labor 0:04:39.230 --> 0:04:44.680 has just 27% support amongst voters. meaning that 73% of 0:04:44.700 --> 0:04:49.919 the electorate are against them. Labor's only consolation here is 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:52.860 that 73% of the voters against them is split across 0:04:52.980 --> 0:04:56.750 a multitude of parties. One nation well ahead on 30%, 0:04:56.750 --> 0:05:03.150 the coalition on just 19%, although personally, Angus Taylor's polls 0:05:03.350 --> 0:05:07.030 are improving. As bad as it is for Labor, but 0:05:07.050 --> 0:05:10.880 the Prime Minister, it's a whole lot worse. In personal terms, 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:15.420 Albanese's approvals are catastrophic, negative 27. I don't know, but 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:19.020 it's the pressure getting perhaps to Almanese. I think it 0:05:19.060 --> 0:05:21.440 might be. You be the judge. Have a look at 0:05:21.460 --> 0:05:25.120 this question and answer session today, prompted by his pending 0:05:25.180 --> 0:05:29.020 receipt of some sort of global award at the United 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:29.960 Nations this week. 0:05:30.820 --> 0:05:32.940 Prime Minister, here in New York on Wednesday night, you 0:05:32.980 --> 0:05:36.720 will receive an award for being a global citizen. Don't 0:05:36.779 --> 0:05:38.600 you feel like a bit of a fraud accepting this 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:42.510 award when at home, You screwed up the response to 0:05:42.550 --> 0:05:45.850 the worst massacre since Port Arthur in the polls. You're 0:05:45.890 --> 0:05:49.120 taking Labor to one point shy of Julia Gillard when 0:05:49.150 --> 0:05:52.380 you rolled her. And your net negatives are worse than 0:05:52.420 --> 0:05:53.060 Scott Morrison. 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:59.040 No. Oh, he didn't like that, did he? Sooner or later, 0:05:59.060 --> 0:06:02.060 something's got to change if our country's not to endure 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:06.860 a ruinous decline. Maybe Labor will do to this deeply 0:06:07.100 --> 0:06:10.040 underwhelming Prime Minister what it's done to other failing leaders. 0:06:10.700 --> 0:06:12.820 Maybe the Coalition will get its act together and win 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.620 the next election. But if our kids are to live 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.620 in the country they deserve, we can't as a nation 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:22.560 keep choosing the soft option. And we either get serious 0:06:22.620 --> 0:06:25.660 and turn the ship around or we just manage our 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:30.560 decline and we watch a good country fail. Sadly, we 0:06:31.020 --> 0:06:38.370 don't have a lot of time left to choose. Now 0:06:38.390 --> 0:06:41.250 to the state of the road network in Victoria. If 0:06:41.290 --> 0:06:44.290 you live interstate, if you don't live in Victoria, I 0:06:44.330 --> 0:06:50.180 know what you're thinking. Surely your crime crisis and Skyrocketing debt, Victoria, 0:06:50.300 --> 0:06:53.339 are bigger issues than potholes as you head to the 0:06:53.380 --> 0:06:57.490 polls in November. Well, not so if you've recently travelled 0:06:57.620 --> 0:07:00.430 on a road or a highway in the state, as 0:07:00.550 --> 0:07:03.289 I did on the weekend. I spent the weekend away 0:07:03.330 --> 0:07:05.890 with some friends on their farm about 30 klicks outside 0:07:05.930 --> 0:07:09.010 of Horsham. That's in the Wimera in the west of 0:07:09.029 --> 0:07:12.030 the state. To get there from Melbourne, I travelled along 0:07:12.050 --> 0:07:14.850 the Western Highway. That's the main highway now between Melbourne 0:07:14.870 --> 0:07:18.520 and Adelaide. And on the way home yesterday, just outside 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:21.940 the tiny spot of Dadswell's Bridge, I came across a 0:07:22.100 --> 0:07:25.700 massive pothole which, if we had not avoided it, would 0:07:25.740 --> 0:07:28.720 easily have blown out a tyre or worse, given the 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:33.280 degradation of the asphalt right down to road base. Just 0:07:33.340 --> 0:07:35.640 have a look at these images I stopped and took 0:07:35.990 --> 0:07:38.470 so I could show you how bad it is tonight. 0:07:39.030 --> 0:07:41.690 Because these are the roads that country people are forced 0:07:41.730 --> 0:07:45.350 to drive on day in, day out. This is the 0:07:45.390 --> 0:07:50.280 reality of life, the life-threatening risks that rural people live 0:07:50.340 --> 0:07:54.220 with because a government obsessed with Melbourne would rather spend 0:07:54.300 --> 0:07:57.620 billions on a train line that nobody wants rather than 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:01.610 keep regional roads in good repair. Now, as I crouched 0:08:01.670 --> 0:08:03.850 down beside the roads to take the pictures that I'm 0:08:03.870 --> 0:08:07.030 showing you now, I watched a B double truck crest 0:08:07.070 --> 0:08:10.000 the hill, see the pothole, have to cross into the 0:08:10.250 --> 0:08:13.360 oncoming lane, it's a single lane road here, just to 0:08:13.420 --> 0:08:16.900 avoid it in time. Now, this road, like so many 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:19.460 in Victoria, didn't have much of a shoulder, meaning that 0:08:19.500 --> 0:08:22.440 oncoming traffic that might have needed to get out of 0:08:22.460 --> 0:08:27.350 the way had very little room to do so safely. Now, yesterday, 0:08:27.450 --> 0:08:31.160 fortunately for the B double, the road was clear. In 0:08:31.180 --> 0:08:33.380 the four hours it took to get home, I saw 0:08:33.450 --> 0:08:37.490 well over 100 or so nasty potholes. This one at 0:08:37.530 --> 0:08:40.630 Dad's Wells Bridge, by far and away the worst, but 0:08:40.650 --> 0:08:43.270 there were plenty of others that could easily have taken 0:08:43.350 --> 0:08:46.469 out a vehicle. It made for an exhausting trip because 0:08:46.510 --> 0:08:48.660 you had to watch the road like a hawk, but 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:51.660 it was also a slower trip than usual because all 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:55.020 the way along the road, rather than fix it, The 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:57.960 state government had whacked up signs dropping the speed limit 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:02.219 from 110 down to 60, back up to 110, then 0:09:02.260 --> 0:09:05.570 down to 60. No surprises either. All the way along, 0:09:05.610 --> 0:09:08.469 there were speed cameras to try and catch motorists out 0:09:08.990 --> 0:09:11.610 to raise much needed revenue for the debt ridden state. 0:09:12.590 --> 0:09:14.990 Almost everyone you talk to in Victoria has got a 0:09:15.030 --> 0:09:17.699 story of an accident or a near miss. It was 0:09:17.740 --> 0:09:19.880 only a couple of years ago on that same highway 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:23.110 just outside of Ballarat, I hit a pothole in the wet, 0:09:23.140 --> 0:09:25.890 I blew a tyre, cracked the rim, needed to get 0:09:25.929 --> 0:09:28.310 my car towed back to Melbourne for repairs that cost 0:09:28.350 --> 0:09:33.770 well over $ 3, 000. In Victoria and right around the country, 0:09:34.390 --> 0:09:39.020 money's been diverted from essential roads maintenance into sexy new 0:09:39.059 --> 0:09:42.850 road projects because governments like to spend money on something 0:09:42.929 --> 0:09:45.290 where a Premier can turn up and cut a ribbon 0:09:45.980 --> 0:09:49.640 rather than the boring work of keeping roads in good repair. 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:53.340 In Victoria, the new Premier, Ben Carroll, well, he now 0:09:53.380 --> 0:09:56.190 thinks it's too important to take responsibility for fixing the 0:09:56.210 --> 0:09:57.990 state's broken road network. 0:09:58.830 --> 0:10:01.790 Well, I'm the Premier, not the roads minister. 0:10:03.740 --> 0:10:07.040 What a cop-out. Has Carroll forgotten that he was the 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:12.600 roads minister under Daniel Andrews? But he also was the 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:14.900 roads minister, if I'm not correct. Well, that's right, Benna. 0:10:15.340 --> 0:10:18.020 In Ben Carroll's case, he actually did hold the hose 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:19.920 because he was the minister for roads. 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:22.080 And when he was the minister, he. 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:25.080 Cut $ 200 million from the roads budget. 0:10:27.059 --> 0:10:30.540 This is everything that voters hate about modern politics and 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:34.540 the obsession with spin. Voters are desperate for someone to say, 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:38.950 I agree. It's not good enough. I'll take responsibility and 0:10:38.970 --> 0:10:42.099 I'll fix the mess. It's not always the big things 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:45.140 in politics that cause you to become unstuck. The little 0:10:45.179 --> 0:10:50.160 things matter too. And while potholes might be inconsequential for 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:54.000 some races interstate, I can tell you in Victoria, they 0:10:54.040 --> 0:11:02.370 are shaping up to be an absolute vote changer. All right, 0:11:02.380 --> 0:11:05.330 let's head to Canberra now for the headlines. Political reporter, 0:11:05.450 --> 0:11:06.130 Ruben Spargo. 0:11:07.030 --> 0:11:10.939 Good evening. The Prime Minister has officially launched Australia's campaign 0:11:11.020 --> 0:11:13.820 for the UN Security Council. It's a temporary seat, but 0:11:13.860 --> 0:11:17.900 it's one Anthony Albanese argues has direct relevance to Australians. 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:21.960 Australia is not immune from what happens in the world. 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:25.300 That's why engagement with the world matters. 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.900 The two-year term would begin in 2029. The Treasurer is 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:32.940 describing the AI revolution as the most consequential new factor 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:37.220 in today's intergenerational report. It's predicted to drive an economic 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:40.600 transformation which will play a pivotal role in achieving long-term 0:11:40.620 --> 0:11:46.180 productivity growth of 1.2% improving living standards and reducing debt. 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:50.300 The intergenerational report shows that we face very serious risks 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:53.340 and pressures, but that we are better placed and better 0:11:53.380 --> 0:11:57.860 prepared for them. Better positioned to benefit from the AI revolution, 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:00.500 to succeed in a fragmenting world. 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:05.120 The productivity boost depends on translating AI uptake into better 0:12:05.140 --> 0:12:06.260 ways of working. 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:11.230 All right, let's pull up those latest dire poll results 0:12:11.260 --> 0:12:14.390 for Labor now. The government's primary vote collapsed to a 0:12:14.380 --> 0:12:18.510 near record low of 27%, the first time since 2012 0:12:18.510 --> 0:12:21.309 it's been at that sort of number. It's down from 37% 0:12:21.309 --> 0:12:25.550 September last year, as nearly two-thirds of Australians say they 0:12:25.570 --> 0:12:30.030 are not satisfied with Anthony Albanese's performance. It's a news poll, 0:12:30.050 --> 0:12:33.390 of course, conducted last week, and it marks the lowest 0:12:33.429 --> 0:12:38.370 level of core support for Labor since April 2012. And remember, 0:12:38.410 --> 0:12:41.510 the lowest ever primary vote recorded by Labor was 26, 0:12:41.510 --> 0:12:46.420 so just one point off. That was in September 2011 0:12:46.420 --> 0:12:50.260 during the Juliette Gillard tenure. Here to discuss this and more, 0:12:50.300 --> 0:12:54.740 our News24 political contributor, Chris Yeoman. Well, Chris, Gillard got 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:58.290 rolled on these sort of numbers. Is the clock ticking 0:12:58.330 --> 0:12:59.070 on the Prime Minister? 0:13:00.250 --> 0:13:01.550 Well, I don't get any sense at all, Peter, at 0:13:01.570 --> 0:13:04.370 the moment that it is. Certainly he keeps his caucus 0:13:04.429 --> 0:13:06.929 very close and he's done well in doing that. He's 0:13:06.990 --> 0:13:09.330 kept the United Party. But what we know about these 0:13:09.370 --> 0:13:11.890 sorts of things is that they grow with time. And 0:13:11.910 --> 0:13:14.770 the one thing that focuses back Benj's mind is that 0:13:14.790 --> 0:13:16.939 the closer they get to the election, if those numbers 0:13:16.980 --> 0:13:19.340 stay the same, then people who are on small margins 0:13:19.380 --> 0:13:22.739 will start considering their future. and considering whether or not 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:25.719 Anthony Albanese is the best person to lead them to 0:13:25.780 --> 0:13:27.800 the next election. So no, I don't see any problem 0:13:27.820 --> 0:13:30.220 for the Prime Minister at the moment or in the 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.010 near future. But the next 18 months, of course, we'll 0:13:33.030 --> 0:13:35.050 be telling if we see more interest rate rises, if 0:13:35.070 --> 0:13:37.689 there's more pain in the purse. And of course, if 0:13:37.770 --> 0:13:40.850 nothing really significant is done about immigration, then I think 0:13:40.950 --> 0:13:44.270 that you might see the clarity of the mind of 0:13:44.290 --> 0:13:46.740 the Labor caucus come into sharper focus. 0:13:48.580 --> 0:13:51.220 Of course, we've got a petrol price war about to hit. 0:13:51.260 --> 0:13:53.480 We were already seeing, I filled up today, we're already 0:13:53.500 --> 0:13:55.610 seeing movement at the Bowser. I mean, this is where 0:13:55.670 --> 0:13:58.170 cost of living will really bite, particularly going into Christmas. 0:13:59.050 --> 0:14:02.050 Yeah, looking like you, I'm driven into regional New South Wales. 0:14:02.110 --> 0:14:03.970 I'm at Wagga on my way to Henty for the 0:14:04.030 --> 0:14:06.679 machinery field day there. So really looking forward to that. 0:14:06.700 --> 0:14:08.320 But when I filled up, it was over $ 2. 0:14:08.220 --> 0:14:08.340 40 a. 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:13.480 Litre for unleaded petrol and right on, on the knocker. 0:14:14.510 --> 0:14:16.890 of $ 3, $ 2. 0:14:16.350 --> 0:14:16.620 99. 0:14:16.350 --> 0:14:18.099 99 or something like that, I think it was, at 0:14:18.140 --> 0:14:20.960 the service station for diesel. That's a very high price. 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:23.120 It does put a lot of pressure on the people 0:14:23.140 --> 0:14:25.239 who are involved in all of those different industries of 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:29.630 transport and making sure that the country continues to run. 0:14:29.750 --> 0:14:32.350 So those kinds of pressures, very telling on people. 0:14:34.030 --> 0:14:36.470 Yeah, Chris, I'm diesel. I'm just about $ 3 a litre, 0:14:36.490 --> 0:14:38.250 so it's killing me at the moment. Let's go to 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:40.370 that question today. It was an absolute cracker to the 0:14:40.390 --> 0:14:42.950 Prime Minister and he certainly, well, he didn't have his 0:14:42.990 --> 0:14:46.370 game face on. You could see the terseness wash over. 0:14:47.030 --> 0:14:49.620 He's in UN for Leaders Week, in and around the UN, 0:14:49.660 --> 0:14:52.200 of course, but he's going to pick up an award 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:55.600 from the Atlantic Council. It's called the Global Citizen Award. 0:14:58.630 --> 0:15:02.190 They'll be in a big event. It's about congratulating him 0:15:02.230 --> 0:15:05.130 for the contribution he's made to a better world. And 0:15:05.150 --> 0:15:11.390 this is really predicated on AUKUS, strategic partnerships, reinforcing the 0:15:11.530 --> 0:15:16.590 international rules order, being an indispensable part democratic voice in 0:15:16.630 --> 0:15:21.190 the Pacific. That's how the citation goes. Of course, this 0:15:21.270 --> 0:15:26.450 was August, a deal done by Scott Morrison. Today, the 0:15:26.490 --> 0:15:31.130 Prime Minister was pushed by Latika Burke on this issue. 0:15:31.530 --> 0:15:32.270 Have a look again. 0:15:32.290 --> 0:15:35.400 Prime Minister, here in New York on Wednesday night, you 0:15:35.420 --> 0:15:39.180 will receive an award for being a global citizen. Don't 0:15:39.220 --> 0:15:41.040 you feel like a bit of a fraud accepting this 0:15:41.140 --> 0:15:44.970 award when at home, You screwed up the response to 0:15:44.990 --> 0:15:48.310 the worst massacre since Port Arthur in the polls. You're 0:15:48.350 --> 0:15:51.570 taking Labor to one point shy of Julia Gillard when 0:15:51.590 --> 0:15:54.820 you rolled her. And your net negatives are worse than 0:15:54.860 --> 0:15:55.500 Scott Morrison. 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:58.520 No. Chris Yellman. 0:15:59.970 --> 0:16:02.670 Yeah, look, anyone who knows Latika Burke knows that's classic 0:16:02.710 --> 0:16:05.450 Latika Burke. The pharmacist was really left with no way 0:16:05.550 --> 0:16:07.750 out there. He actually did actually a reasonable job of 0:16:07.790 --> 0:16:10.390 trying to maintain his rage, which I'm sure was boiling 0:16:10.410 --> 0:16:13.490 away inside. The short story with these sorts of awards 0:16:13.530 --> 0:16:15.610 that we see from overseas is they have very little 0:16:15.650 --> 0:16:18.080 track with the Australian people. I think that the... The 0:16:18.100 --> 0:16:20.340 Albanese government has done some good work in the Pacific, 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:22.700 but it's a game of whack-a-mole there with China. But 0:16:22.740 --> 0:16:24.660 they're doing the best that they can on that front. 0:16:24.700 --> 0:16:27.100 Building relationships in the region is a good thing. It's 0:16:27.140 --> 0:16:29.160 been the work of many governments over a long period 0:16:29.180 --> 0:16:31.880 of time, though, so no one government can take, you know, 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:34.280 claim that one. I was just thinking then as you 0:16:34.300 --> 0:16:37.480 were talking about awards, I remember at one stage Wayne 0:16:37.500 --> 0:16:39.160 Swann was the world's greatest treasurer. 0:16:39.220 --> 0:16:40.760 I did the same thing. 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:43.420 And it wasn't that far shy of them being at 26%. 0:16:43.420 --> 0:16:44.260 So nobody in Australia. 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:49.580 Gives a rat about the awards that you get on 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:52.680 the international stage. Prime Ministers love going there, by the way. 0:16:52.740 --> 0:16:54.850 The longer they get into their careers, the more sometimes 0:16:54.870 --> 0:16:57.770 they prefer being overseas than at home, but they get 0:16:57.830 --> 0:16:59.550 elected at home and that's where they're going to have 0:16:59.570 --> 0:17:00.230 to face the music. 0:17:01.990 --> 0:17:04.370 Yes, I remember Swanee, of course, got that award when 0:17:04.390 --> 0:17:08.830 he had only ever delivered budget deficits. The debt was climbing. 0:17:08.850 --> 0:17:12.859 He spent like a drunken sailor during the GFC. And 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:16.320 who was his chief of staff but the wonderful current bloke, 0:17:16.340 --> 0:17:18.860 Jim Chalmers? So he clearly learned a fair bit from 0:17:18.900 --> 0:17:22.109 his boss. Let's go to Labor continuing to distance itself 0:17:22.150 --> 0:17:26.369 from the WA child protection crisis. This is in relation 0:17:26.430 --> 0:17:30.830 predominantly to Aboriginal kids in remote communities. Albanese there was 0:17:30.890 --> 0:17:33.929 asked questions about it today, dodged them, said this is 0:17:33.970 --> 0:17:38.120 an issue where the responsibility sits with the states. Chris, 0:17:38.140 --> 0:17:39.060 this isn't good enough. 0:17:40.530 --> 0:17:42.270 No, and it's not good enough for any of us, though. 0:17:42.310 --> 0:17:45.149 Let's take a long, hard look at this. Over a very, 0:17:45.250 --> 0:17:48.790 very long period of time, we have failed Aboriginal Australia, 0:17:48.830 --> 0:17:51.010 now leaving to one side the voice, which was not 0:17:51.050 --> 0:17:54.250 the way to do anything about this practically. But I've 0:17:54.270 --> 0:17:56.860 spoken to people in Western Australia for years now who 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:00.939 tell me about the treatment of children, and it is horrifying. Like, 0:18:00.980 --> 0:18:03.080 what we are seeing at the moment is the tip 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:08.080 of the iceberg of stuff that would make people shudder 0:18:08.220 --> 0:18:11.920 if they knew... the way that children were generally treated 0:18:12.140 --> 0:18:16.129 in large parts of some remote parts of Australia. It 0:18:16.250 --> 0:18:18.990 is a national shame. We are failing to do things 0:18:19.070 --> 0:18:21.030 about it. But, of course, one of the real issues 0:18:21.090 --> 0:18:25.290 we have now is people are terribly afraid in those 0:18:25.450 --> 0:18:29.030 agencies of putting children back with the parents that are 0:18:29.130 --> 0:18:33.470 abusing them because they fear that they'll get called on 0:18:33.510 --> 0:18:36.930 there being another stolen generation. So children are being returned 0:18:36.970 --> 0:18:40.330 to families where they are in deep and dire danger. 0:18:40.350 --> 0:18:42.850 I don't know what the answer to this is, Peter, 0:18:42.890 --> 0:18:45.810 but whatever we are doing, it's nowhere near good enough. 0:18:47.380 --> 0:18:49.920 Yeah, Krista, you and I both write for The Australian, though, 0:18:49.940 --> 0:18:53.090 and you and I know those stories, the cases of 0:18:53.170 --> 0:18:55.670 children that are fostered, they can't foster them in some 0:18:55.710 --> 0:18:58.810 cases with kin, so they foster them with white families. 0:18:59.270 --> 0:19:02.410 Those white families raise them from infants till they're six 0:19:02.450 --> 0:19:04.850 and seven, and they then have to go to court 0:19:05.290 --> 0:19:08.070 and fight multiple court actions to be able to formally 0:19:08.109 --> 0:19:12.870 adopt these children because of these racist rules that require 0:19:12.910 --> 0:19:17.320 these children, because they're Aboriginal... to live with Aboriginal families 0:19:17.420 --> 0:19:21.500 or someone connected to their skin colour group. And these 0:19:21.540 --> 0:19:24.860 kids then lose the only parent figures they've ever had 0:19:24.900 --> 0:19:27.050 in their life. And they don't get the shot of 0:19:27.070 --> 0:19:29.750 the life that they've had with that family, the love 0:19:29.770 --> 0:19:34.230 and the care. They're thrown back into these very dysfunctional communities. 0:19:34.290 --> 0:19:36.470 I mean, I've been there. You've been there. We know 0:19:36.510 --> 0:19:38.790 what we're talking about. And this is where we have 0:19:38.830 --> 0:19:41.440 to have a really honest conversation. It's not about a 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:46.560 stolen generation. We are losing these kids now. They're stolen now. 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:50.179 It's a dying generation now. Surely we've got to be 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:53.639 big enough as a country to say the child comes 0:19:53.859 --> 0:19:58.300 first before all this head nodding to culture. The life 0:19:58.340 --> 0:20:00.880 of the child is more important than anything else. 0:20:01.570 --> 0:20:03.510 No, I couldn't agree with you more, Peter. And I 0:20:03.550 --> 0:20:08.000 remember going out to Wilkennia in 1981 and seeing the 0:20:08.100 --> 0:20:11.340 circumstances there. I was there for around about eight weeks 0:20:11.380 --> 0:20:14.760 and I could not believe that Australians lived like that 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:17.469 in what I thought was then a modern society. And 0:20:17.550 --> 0:20:21.830 guess what? Things haven't got any better since 1981. So 0:20:21.910 --> 0:20:23.650 whatever it is we've tried, and by the way, we've 0:20:23.690 --> 0:20:25.550 tried lots and lots of different things, and it isn't 0:20:25.590 --> 0:20:27.990 for want of money because we've spent billions and billions 0:20:28.030 --> 0:20:31.190 of dollars, but what we are doing is not succeeding. Now, 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:34.720 this is really the stain on the nation in terms 0:20:34.780 --> 0:20:37.700 of how we deal with our first Australians. We need 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:39.760 to find a way to make this work. But one 0:20:39.780 --> 0:20:41.379 of the ways we need to make this work is 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:44.920 the people in regional Australia need to be connected to 0:20:44.940 --> 0:20:47.389 the real economy. They have to have real jobs and 0:20:47.410 --> 0:20:49.630 they have to take those jobs when they are available 0:20:49.650 --> 0:20:51.580 and which is why I'm such a big supporter of 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:54.560 things like the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory, because 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:57.780 if you want jobs for people in regional Australia, then 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:00.300 one of the ways of getting them is to do mining. 0:21:02.100 --> 0:21:04.000 And to have to turn off the cancer of welfare, 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:07.680 not just in these communities, but every Australian community. That's 0:21:07.740 --> 0:21:10.340 a huge issue. Hey, I just want to mention this 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:13.220 push by the Prime Minister and Penny Wong today announcing 0:21:13.270 --> 0:21:15.429 that we're going to run for a seat at the 0:21:15.570 --> 0:21:18.389 UN Security Council. I mean, he was really cheeky, the 0:21:18.430 --> 0:21:23.650 Prime Minister today, referenced MH17. Yes, Australia had that seat 0:21:23.820 --> 0:21:26.970 at the time. Tony Abbott was the Prime Minister, Julie 0:21:26.990 --> 0:21:30.389 Bishop obviously was our Foreign Minister. It wasn't that seat 0:21:30.630 --> 0:21:34.990 that got us movement on MH17, and I remember it well. 0:21:35.010 --> 0:21:37.130 A lot of it was the willingness of the then 0:21:37.170 --> 0:21:40.490 Prime Minister to take on Vladimir Putin and Julie Bishop 0:21:40.530 --> 0:21:43.210 to get on the plane and rally support with a 0:21:43.270 --> 0:21:47.350 whole lot of nations. It wasn't just the UN. But 0:21:47.369 --> 0:21:49.790 I remember when they chased the seat, Labor got it 0:21:49.970 --> 0:21:54.810 under Kevin Rudd. It cost $ 25 million. That was 15 0:21:54.810 --> 0:21:57.580 years ago. How much are we going to waste chasing 0:21:57.640 --> 0:21:58.940 another seat this time around? 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:03.180 Well, can I see that $ 25 million and raise you 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:06.800 this figure? Because, of course, we need two-thirds support from 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:09.760 the governments of the world in the UN Security Council. 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:13.340 52 of those votes come from Africa. So what Australia 0:22:13.380 --> 0:22:16.020 did was launch a very big campaign to try and 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:18.480 win over the votes of Africa, and our aid spending 0:22:18.500 --> 0:22:21.120 in Africa over the course of chasing that vote went 0:22:21.140 --> 0:22:24.750 from $ 78 million to $ 400 million, and that's US dollars, 0:22:24.810 --> 0:22:27.410 and I haven't done the conversion yet. So a lot 0:22:27.450 --> 0:22:29.710 of the votes have to be bought to win your 0:22:29.810 --> 0:22:32.409 way into these kinds of positions. You have to weigh 0:22:32.730 --> 0:22:35.469 the money of these Australian taxpayers' dollars against the reward 0:22:35.490 --> 0:22:37.830 that you think that you will win by being on 0:22:37.869 --> 0:22:40.160 that kind of body. Now, I don't discount the fact 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:43.659 that those international agencies do have their place and that 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:45.780