Speaker 1: Showing good evening. We'll breaking news now. Pro Palestinian protesters
Speaker 1: have taken over a building at the University of Melbourne.
Speaker 1: They are vowing they will not move. University staff are
Speaker 1: warning the group leave now or face arrest. Victoria Police
Speaker 1: have told us they're monitoring the situation and police are
Speaker 1: in a position to respond should there be any public
Speaker 1: order issues. Now, what's unfolding right now at the University
Speaker 1: of Melbourne is a copycat of what took place at
Speaker 1: Columbia University in the US, where students took over Hamilton
Speaker 1: Hall now already classes at Melbourne Uni were canceled this
Speaker 1: afternoon as students renamed the Arts West Building Mummled Hall.
Speaker 1: They set up tents and moved away furniture. Have a
Speaker 1: look now this unfolding as we speak at the University
Speaker 1: of Melbourne. Protesters have occupied a building. The police are
Speaker 1: on standby. I'm going to cross live to a reporter
Speaker 1: who is on the scene shortly. The Australian newspaper is
Speaker 1: now reporting that the protesters are getting legal advice as
Speaker 1: they prepare for the police to move in. Will bring
Speaker 1: you all the breaking news on this as it unfolds.
Speaker 1: As I said, I'm going to cross live to a
Speaker 1: reporter who's on the scene a bit later in the show.
Speaker 1: Now to the budget. All this fevered speculation in Canberra
Speaker 1: that the budget means Anthony Albanesi wants to head to
Speaker 1: the polls early is nonsense. The Prime Minister plans on
Speaker 1: going full term. Anthony Albanesi and Jim Chalmer's strategy is
Speaker 1: to bring down inflation with this budget and then call
Speaker 1: an election, perhaps later this year, but most likely next year.
Speaker 1: Alban Ezi even said this publicly today. He says we
Speaker 1: won't head to the polls this year. He's indicated the
Speaker 1: election will be held after March twenty twenty five, and
Speaker 1: even as late as August, although that's very unlikely. Will
Speaker 1: there be a budget before the next election.
Speaker 2: The budget will set a budget for March next year,
Speaker 2: the elections due in two thousand and twenty five, and
Speaker 2: we'll set out that timetable later in this year. You
Speaker 2: can't have a budget and an election at the same
Speaker 2: time in May, so we'll have to make that adjustment,
Speaker 2: just as has occurred in the past. You can actually
Speaker 2: hold the election later. You could hold it as late
Speaker 2: as August, I think is the advice.
Speaker 1: So Alban easy, making clear that he would prefer to
Speaker 1: stay in as Prime Minister as long as possible. In
Speaker 1: this sense, the budget is as much about politics as
Speaker 1: it is about the economy, and perhaps even more so.
Speaker 1: Plenty of sweetness, plenty of spending despite the need to
Speaker 1: keep inflation in check. Now The Australians Editor at Large
Speaker 1: Paul Kelly writes about the paradoxes in the budget and
Speaker 1: he says it's loaded with danger. In his view, it
Speaker 1: risks being the wrong response for our economic times. He writes,
Speaker 1: forget the orthodoxy. Labour now operates under new rules. It
Speaker 1: is spending money to cut inflation. It runs an expansionary
Speaker 1: fiscal policy as the Central Bank frets over interest rates
Speaker 1: and ditches two generations of pro market liberalism to build
Speaker 1: a new economy around state intervention and green industry policy. Now,
Speaker 1: this budget is highly controversial, especially the Future Made in
Speaker 1: Australia PAW package. That's the twenty two point seven billion
Speaker 1: dollar investment in the next ten years in green energy.
Speaker 1: This is where the government picks companies to give grants
Speaker 1: to or to invest in, rather than just leave it
Speaker 1: to the private sector, leave it to venture capital companies
Speaker 1: to work out. Even left leading journalist Michelle Gratton was
Speaker 1: worried that this would see taxpayer funds will, as she
Speaker 1: put it, go up in smoke.
Speaker 3: What these protections will be, What are the off ramps?
Speaker 3: Why people should have confidence that their money won't just
Speaker 3: go up in smoke.
Speaker 1: The Treasurer today seemed to acknowledge just how controversial the
Speaker 1: budget was, but he argued he was channeling Hawk and
Speaker 1: Keating in their reform agenda.
Speaker 4: Now, anything this ambitious will invite a range of responses.
Speaker 4: I'm relaxed about that. Not all of those responses, my view,
Speaker 4: are right. The great reformers of the nineteen eighties and
Speaker 4: nineteen nineties weren't successful because they looked back and reached
Speaker 4: for the solutions that might have been right for the
Speaker 4: problems of forty years prior. They were successful because they
Speaker 4: looked forward. They were successful because they recognized that the
Speaker 4: times had changed and the world was changing. They were
Speaker 4: successful because they were strategic rather than nostalgic.
Speaker 1: But critics disagree with the treasurer, and they question what
Speaker 1: impact the budget will have on interest rates. The Treasurer
Speaker 1: says the budget will take the pressure off inflation, but
Speaker 1: economists sphere. It could make inflation worse. Now, Jim Chalmer's
Speaker 1: argument is that giving relief to areas like energy bills
Speaker 1: and rents reduces those components of CPI, But the risk
Speaker 1: is that the extra money some people have in their
Speaker 1: pocket could be spent elsewhere and thus contribute to inflation
Speaker 1: and the need for a rate rise.
Speaker 5: I still think the most likely outcome is right hikes,
Speaker 5: but maybe not through.
Speaker 6: The idea that this is somehow going to trick the
Speaker 6: Reserve Bank into reducing interest rates.
Speaker 7: Come on, it's a con job.
Speaker 4: This is inflationary.
Speaker 5: It's going to drive up inflation and therefore interest rates.
Speaker 1: So this is why the decision by labor to in
Speaker 1: effect spend their way out of an inflation crisis is,
Speaker 1: as Paul Kelly says, against the orthodoxy, it's high risk.
Speaker 1: Where Albin Eazy was questioned on this in the media today, you're.
Speaker 8: Entirely confident that the combination of the energy bill relief
Speaker 8: and the increase in common wealth franticisms will drive down
Speaker 8: inflation by that half a percentage point.
Speaker 2: Next to you, well, that's what Treasury have said.
Speaker 8: We should you back them because they get stuff wrong.
Speaker 8: They got the deficit which is turned into a surplus
Speaker 8: wrong by about ten million dollars.
Speaker 3: No what we've done.
Speaker 1: If that calculation is wrong from Treasury and if rates rise,
Speaker 1: and they could do so of course for a variety
Speaker 1: of reasons, but if the government then is blamed for
Speaker 1: the rate rise, this will be a massive political issue
Speaker 1: heading into the next federal election. Now, Albanezi currently sits
Speaker 1: in the lodge with a slim majority. Labour has seventy
Speaker 1: eight seats, the coalition holds fifty five, Independence twelve and
Speaker 1: minor parties six. The coalition needs around nineteen seats to
Speaker 1: form majority government, but if an election were held today,
Speaker 1: it's likely that Labor would lose its majority at the
Speaker 1: very least now, with a four percent swing against Labor,
Speaker 1: they'd likely lose eleven seats, taking them down to sixty
Speaker 1: seven seats. Now, these eleven seats would be gains for
Speaker 1: the coalition, bringing their tally up to around sixty six.
Speaker 1: This would of course mean a hung parliament, but then
Speaker 1: the coalition might also win a seat or two back
Speaker 1: from the Teals, putting them ahead of Labor. Now, no question,
Speaker 1: the coalition recovering ground is a very tough ask, but
Speaker 1: Dutton's team believe that this budget makes their task of
Speaker 1: trying to win government just that little bit easier. Now,
Speaker 1: coming up on the show tonight, can the Liberals win
Speaker 1: back the blue ribbon seat of Wentworth from the teal
Speaker 1: a legraspender will their new candidate Roe Knox will be
Speaker 1: joining me for her first exclusive interview later this show.
Speaker 1: A Labor politician also has today called for Israel's annihilation
Speaker 1: by repeating a hate chant that even Anthony Albanesi said
Speaker 1: has no place in Australia. So will he find the
Speaker 1: courage as Prime Minister to call out his own politician.
Speaker 1: Plus Julie Bishop criticized for wearing expensive dress to a
Speaker 1: fashion week instead of shutting down anti Semitism at a
Speaker 1: and you where she's the Chancellor. But first, now let's
Speaker 1: bring in tonight's political panel, Liberal Senator Holly Hughes and
Speaker 1: Labor MP Andrew Charlton. Holly, Andrew, great to see you both. Look,
Speaker 1: let's of course start with the budget. The big question
Speaker 1: today has been inflation. The Treasurer committing seven point eight
Speaker 1: billion dollars on new cost of living measures. This includes
Speaker 1: a three point five billion energy bill relief package. There
Speaker 1: have been some concerns from economists that this will drive
Speaker 1: up inflation. Holly, what do you think do you think
Speaker 1: the budget here does risk increasing inflation and thus leading
Speaker 1: the IRBA to have to put up rates.
Speaker 9: Absolutely, But I think this three hundred dollar payment to
Speaker 9: every household is typical of this labor government, completely ill
Speaker 9: conceived because again no details about how it's going to
Speaker 9: be delivered and who it's going to be delivered to.
Speaker 9: And I know here with Andrew, I know there was
Speaker 9: a question, hypothetical question by Paul Fletcher in the House
Speaker 9: of Representatives today about someone who might have to mote
Speaker 9: from Bellvue Hill to Paramatta and also have a lovely
Speaker 9: holiday home in Palm Beach whether or not they would
Speaker 9: get payments for each of those homes. And we don't know,
Speaker 9: because again the devil is in the detail and it's
Speaker 9: completely lacking. But what we do know the one thing
Speaker 9: that the Treasurer has said that is true.
Speaker 1: This is a labor budget.
Speaker 9: This is a tax and spend, tax and spend, tax
Speaker 9: and spend budget. It is hugely putting pressures on families.
Speaker 9: The spending has cost thirty thousand dollars per person in Australia.
Speaker 9: To people in Australia, I feel thirty thousand dollars better
Speaker 9: off since this government's been in No. The reality is
Speaker 9: every average family with a mortgage has had to find
Speaker 9: an additional thirty five thousand dollars per year while seeing
Speaker 9: their standard of living drop by over seven and a
Speaker 9: half percent. This is a budget that is just going
Speaker 9: to cause more and more pain, and more and more
Speaker 9: pain for longer.
Speaker 1: All right, Andrew, what's your response to this? I mean
Speaker 1: I quoted Paul Kelly in my introduction there that this
Speaker 1: is an unorthodox budget in the sense that labor is
Speaker 1: spending its way out of an inflation crisis. What do
Speaker 1: you think about that criticism today?
Speaker 6: Well, firstly, can I just say maybe Holly wasn't listening
Speaker 6: last night, but she just said that the government hasn't
Speaker 6: provided any details. They haven't said who it's going to
Speaker 6: go to, and that's going to everyone. It's going to
Speaker 6: be received for going every time. I'm received as an
Speaker 6: automatic rebase.
Speaker 1: So if you've got a couple.
Speaker 9: Of houses to get it a couple of times, don't interrupt.
Speaker 1: That's the detail House.
Speaker 10: You've tried to attack me. Now you're trying to interrupt me.
Speaker 6: You ask two questions. The government has been incredibly clear
Speaker 6: on the answer to both of those questions. It goes
Speaker 6: to everybody and you get it automatically. So if those
Speaker 6: are your two main questions coming out of the budget,
Speaker 6: you need to read the budget papers more clearly, Charie.
Speaker 6: The reason why the Liberals are hopping up and about
Speaker 6: this is because Labor has delivered what they could not
Speaker 6: in three terms of government. They could not deliver a
Speaker 6: single budget surplus and Labor has just delivered too. And
Speaker 6: I understand they're mad about that. I understand that really
Speaker 6: sticks in their craw. But the truth is we have
Speaker 6: delivered the appropriate and prudent fiscal setting that they were
Speaker 6: unable to and that is why we have been able
Speaker 6: to reduce inflation now by more than half from what
Speaker 6: they left us. So all they've got is negativity and
Speaker 6: personal attacks and not reading the budget. And you can
Speaker 6: see why Australia didn't vote for them at.
Speaker 5: The last time.
Speaker 1: Come on, Andrew, just say it, Just say it.
Speaker 9: Tell Australians they've never had it so good, because that
Speaker 9: is the rhetoric coming out of the Albanese government. And
Speaker 9: I'm yet to meet one Australian whose life has got
Speaker 9: better since this government has been in power. We've seen
Speaker 9: housing go up, groceries go up, insurance go up, fuel
Speaker 9: go up. We know that there's been twelve interest rate rises.
Speaker 9: No one is better off. He said before the election
Speaker 9: it wouldn't be easy under alban easy, and quite frankly
Speaker 9: was Yep, it's a slogan.
Speaker 1: It's proven very prophetic.
Speaker 10: Holly.
Speaker 6: You left all those prices going up. You left inflation
Speaker 6: at the end of your government, at the end of
Speaker 6: the rate. It is right now.
Speaker 10: You are the reason why all of those categories.
Speaker 1: This is homegrown inflation.
Speaker 6: And we have now brought the rate of inflation down
Speaker 6: by half. Can't argue numbers.
Speaker 1: One hundred.
Speaker 10: Abs.
Speaker 6: So Shari, we have hang on, just let me finish
Speaker 6: on this point. We have we have improved the budget
Speaker 6: position from what you left us, like two hundred and
Speaker 6: fifteen billion dollars over the six years Andrew Andrew with
Speaker 6: a trillion dollars of debt.
Speaker 1: Andrew, you go, thank you. Look it's we have seen
Speaker 1: economists today who are not politically aligned, who are saying
Speaker 1: that yes, while the assistance on energy and rent might
Speaker 1: bring down those components of the CPI. Many Australians having
Speaker 1: the extra cash could mean that they'll spend it in
Speaker 1: the economy and that that's a risk that that will
Speaker 1: then raise inflation. So these are economists saying this today,
Speaker 1: not the liberals. What's your response to that concern? Do
Speaker 1: you admit that that is a concern.
Speaker 6: Well, the direct impact of these rebates and other costs
Speaker 6: of living measures the Treasury has forecast will reduce the
Speaker 6: rate of inflation this year and next year, and what
Speaker 6: that means is that we'll have a lower rate of
Speaker 6: headline inflation, and of course that takes pressure off prices
Speaker 6: and it also takes pressure off the RBA. There are
Speaker 6: plenty of different views out there about other consequences of
Speaker 6: that relief, but the Treasury has forecast and we've seen
Speaker 6: this in the previous round of relief that we provided,
Speaker 6: where the Treasury also forecast that there would be a
Speaker 6: negative impact on inflation, and we did see that negative
Speaker 6: impact on inflation coming through, and inflation has come down
Speaker 6: since that last set of relief measures. That's exactly what
Speaker 6: we anticipate with these relief measures. Done it before, we're
Speaker 6: proposing to do it again.
Speaker 1: Although they do although they do coincide, of course, with
Speaker 1: greater tax cuts that will come in from July one,
Speaker 1: so people will have more money in their pocket, Holly.
Speaker 1: Just to be even handed here, you know, it is
Speaker 1: unusual to see the Coalition arguing today that that three
Speaker 1: hundred dollars energy assistance. I mean, I mean the Coalition
Speaker 1: has been hammering Labor over the fact that he promised
Speaker 1: energy relief would be you know, two hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: if you'd have two hundred and seventy five dollars more
Speaker 1: in your pocket from your power bills. The Coalition has
Speaker 1: been hammering Labor over that promise, which has been a
Speaker 1: broken promise. Rightly, so Labor is now saying every single
Speaker 1: Australian will have three hundred dollars back in their pocket
Speaker 1: in energy relief. So I find it unusual that the
Speaker 1: Coalition has argued against this today. Wouldn't you be support
Speaker 1: of that?
Speaker 10: Well?
Speaker 9: I think that the difference is Shari that they promised
Speaker 9: to two hundred and seventy five reduction in your power
Speaker 9: bills so that your power bills would actually decline, that
Speaker 9: energy would not be as expensive. Instead we have seen
Speaker 9: it continue to do.
Speaker 1: This is going to be this is going to be three.
Speaker 9: Yeah, but it's three hundred dollars off what your bill is.
Speaker 9: The electricity costs the same. You're just getting a rebate
Speaker 9: or a subsidy or a payment, whatever you want to
Speaker 9: call it. Your electricity bill hasn't gone down. It's just
Speaker 9: three hundred dollars that the government is paying what mister
Speaker 9: Albnezy promised Australians.
Speaker 1: Why should it be means tested? Why shouldn't all Australians
Speaker 1: have that.
Speaker 9: I'm not saying that's what it should be. The question
Speaker 9: I have to Andrew that he brushed off. No, if
Speaker 9: you've got multiple houses. If you've got multiple houses, you
Speaker 9: know what's mess Andrew? Is your government and what's happening?
Speaker 9: Do you know what we've just been doing in this
Speaker 9: in the Senate chare This government is putting a billion
Speaker 9: dollars one billion dollars towards rebranding the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
Speaker 9: to the Administrative Review Tribunal.
Speaker 1: There is the only change will be the A to
Speaker 1: the R.
Speaker 9: Maybe a nice new font and let ahead, but mainly
Speaker 9: so they can stack it with labor apparachiks as Mark
Speaker 9: Dreyfuses want to do this is what we had a
Speaker 9: change of hours order in the Senate today so they
Speaker 9: could ram it through with some sweetheart deal with the Greens.
Speaker 9: You tell me a billion dollars is best spent on
Speaker 9: a rebrand of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal versus going to
Speaker 9: either cost of living measures. Think of all the money
Speaker 9: that's going to mental health. We're going to a mental
Speaker 9: health crisis. But no, let's do a rebrand for Mark Dreyfus.
Speaker 9: So if this is a government who's got priorities, right,
Speaker 9: I don't think so.
Speaker 1: All right, Andrew Charlton, you're a very serious economist, so
Speaker 1: I was quite surprised to see this video of you
Speaker 1: on social media. Have a look, Andrew, can you explain
Speaker 1: formally what is a fit check and what you were
Speaker 1: doing there?
Speaker 6: Look, I have to admit I don't know what a
Speaker 6: fit check is. I believe it is a TikTok trend.
Speaker 6: Some of my colleagues were having a bit of fun
Speaker 6: and they decided to jump on a TikTok trend. Some
Speaker 6: people will love it, some people will hate it. Most
Speaker 6: of the time in Canberra we're working pretty hard, doing
Speaker 6: pretty serious business. Every now and then we get a
Speaker 6: couple of minutes to have a little bit of fun.
Speaker 1: It looked a bit like a pre budget fashion parade,
Speaker 1: all right, Holly Hughes Andrew Charlton, thank you very much
Speaker 1: for that lively discussion tonight. Now don't go anywhere. The
Speaker 1: battle to win back seats from the Teals has begun
Speaker 1: and the liberals new candidate for the seat of Wentworth
Speaker 1: joins me next for her first exclusive interview. Plus, we'll
Speaker 1: get the latest on the takeover of a building at
Speaker 1: the University of Melbourne. Police are now on standby. Stay tune,
Speaker 1: welcome back.
Speaker 10: Well.
Speaker 1: The Liberals have a big fight ahead, not only to
Speaker 1: defeat Labor, but to win back inner city seats from
Speaker 1: the Teals. The price seat of Wentworth in Sydney's East,
Speaker 1: currently held by a Legras spender. Now, in a historic move,
Speaker 1: the New Southelia Liberals have selected their first ever female
Speaker 1: candidate for the seat, which was of course previously held
Speaker 1: by Malcolm Turnbull. Former Deloitte consultant and businesswoman Ronox joins
Speaker 1: me now for her first interview. Broth, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for joining us today.
Speaker 11: Chari, thanks so much for having me on the show.
Speaker 1: Now, look, before we get into some of the trickier questions.
Speaker 1: Can you tell us a bit about your background and
Speaker 1: how you came to be here?
Speaker 11: Oh, thanks, Chary. Yes, I studied law. I then went
Speaker 11: straight into management consulting. I worked in Chicago and New
Speaker 11: York with Deloitte Consulting, and I worked in financial services.
Speaker 11: So we worked for some of the biggest clients on
Speaker 11: Wall Street. Fantastic experience. Then a group of us left
Speaker 11: and we formed a small venture capital firm where we
Speaker 11: invested in pre market entrepreneurs. And now I'm a small
Speaker 11: business owner. I've lived in Wentworth for almost twenty years
Speaker 11: and I'm passionate about the community and I want to
Speaker 11: bring that big business experience, the entrepreneur experience, the small
Speaker 11: business experience, and my passionate and knowledge of the seat,
Speaker 11: so solving the great problems that are facing Wentworth and
Speaker 11: indeed the country.
Speaker 1: And you've left out the important fact you're a mum
Speaker 1: of course as well. I am a mum teenage kids.
Speaker 1: Yes i am.
Speaker 11: I am a most important job some good ig.
Speaker 1: Now let's start with the budget that Jim Chalmers handed
Speaker 1: down last night. I mean, as a former venture capitalist,
Speaker 1: you might have a view on the twenty two billion
Speaker 1: Made in Australia program. What do you think about it?
Speaker 11: I certainly have a strong view on that. My view
Speaker 11: is it's very unusual for a government to be investing
Speaker 11: this heavily, and there's been some significant concerns around the
Speaker 11: due diligence in terms of the industries that have been
Speaker 11: invested in. And I just know as a previous venture
Speaker 11: capitalist that it's really important to have a huge amount
Speaker 11: of transparency in what you invest in, and also that
Speaker 11: you have a really mixed portfolio of investments. And this
Speaker 11: feels very targeted and.
Speaker 1: Like they've picked some companies, particularly that one quantum computing
Speaker 1: company for a billion dollars instead of diversifying and well,
Speaker 1: if they had to invest taxpayer funds in a risky
Speaker 1: area at.
Speaker 11: All, absolutely very unusual and very unusual to just do
Speaker 11: one geographic area as well.
Speaker 1: What about this debate that's unfolding about whether the budget
Speaker 1: will be inflationary.
Speaker 12: What do you think.
Speaker 11: I have a lot of concerns the budget is inflationary,
Speaker 11: and we know that in is the biggest driver in
Speaker 11: the cost of living crisis. This cost of living crisis
Speaker 11: that has been created by the labor Albanesi government, and
Speaker 11: I'm very concerned it's going to continue that inflation. I'm
Speaker 11: also concerned in the budget there wasn't any there's no
Speaker 11: growth story, and we don't talk about productivity at all,
Speaker 11: and the Liberals are constantly talking both about growth, productivity
Speaker 11: and also obviously the vital importance of reducing inflation.
Speaker 1: Although productivity of costs has been lagging for the best
Speaker 1: part of a decade. Look, you're the seat you're running in.
Speaker 1: Wentworth has one of the highest Jewish populations in the country.
Speaker 1: Anti Semitism has been a major issue. What's your view
Speaker 1: on the Albanesi government's response to this crisis.
Speaker 11: I think it's been very poor and very weak leadership.
Speaker 11: We've seen a huge rise in anti Semitism since the
Speaker 11: October seventh attacks, and this has been very very concerning
Speaker 11: for our community, and not only because of the anti Semitism,
Speaker 11: because it's indicative of a lack of social cohesion that
Speaker 11: we're seeing throughout the country, and that's because of the
Speaker 11: weak leadership by this Albanese labor government.
Speaker 1: Alegrisbander signed a letter calling for funding to resume to
Speaker 1: Unread despite its clear links to Hermas. Do you think
Speaker 1: the federal government should be funding UNRA. I don't.
Speaker 11: Israel has shown clear evidence that Anoir was involved in
Speaker 11: the attacks SPI Kamas on October seventh, and the view
Speaker 11: of the Teals for signing that letter was that there
Speaker 11: was no other way to get humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Speaker 11: And we know for a fact that the Americans were
Speaker 11: building water jetties. A day later they were doing air drops.
Speaker 11: So that view that that was the only way to
Speaker 11: get it in was completely unfounded, and I think it
Speaker 11: was very disappointing that that letter was signed.
Speaker 1: Do you support Natanya move into Rafa to defeat Hermas? So?
Speaker 11: I understand Israel's main objectives are to defeat Kamas, and
Speaker 11: I understand that I'm not a military expert, and my
Speaker 11: view is we need to focus on bringing home the
Speaker 11: one hundred and thirty two hostages, and I'll leave that
Speaker 11: up to the military experts whether moving into Rafa will
Speaker 11: actually achieve that or not.
Speaker 1: So you don't object to Natanyahu going into Rafa on
Speaker 1: a ground invasion, well.
Speaker 11: I think Israel has a right to defend itself. Israel
Speaker 11: is its own nation. It's able to make those military
Speaker 11: decisions it sees fit.
Speaker 1: All right, Look, the Liberals campaign in went Worth at
Speaker 1: the last federal election was highly criticized. What are you
Speaker 1: planning to do to defeat a lag respander and how
Speaker 1: do you think she's gone as an MP?
Speaker 11: So I think the issue with the Teals in general
Speaker 11: is many people voted for them at the last election
Speaker 11: because they thought they were independent, but unfortunately the Teals
Speaker 11: vote overwhelmingly with the Greens and Labor and we know
Speaker 11: in our seat of Wentworth the biggest issue. I've been
Speaker 11: talking to small businesses, I've been talking to people on
Speaker 11: the ground. The biggest issue for Wentworth is a cost
Speaker 11: of living crisis which is caused by the Labor Albanezi government.
Speaker 1: But Legrispender has gone as a local MP for Wentworth.
Speaker 11: I think she's been unable to deliver because the Teals
Speaker 11: don't have a seat at the table and they're unable
Speaker 11: to get any legislation through the Parliament. So she's been
Speaker 11: unable to deliver.
Speaker 1: All right, ro NOTx, thank you very much for your time.
Speaker 11: Miss Thank you so much, Sari.
Speaker 1: Now returning to the federal budget. Now for a more
Speaker 1: in depth analysis of the winners and losers. I'm joined
Speaker 1: by Macro Business Chief Economist Leith van Ansalen. Leith, thank
Speaker 1: you very much for joining me once again. Look, as
Speaker 1: I've been speaking about tonight, there are major concerns from
Speaker 1: economists about whether the spending in the budget could indirectly
Speaker 1: lead to rate rises. Do you think this is a
Speaker 1: legitimate concern?
Speaker 10: Not really.
Speaker 5: I'm not as concerned about the impact on inflation. So
Speaker 5: obviously the key signature measures were the cost of living
Speaker 5: relief in terms of rental subsease, energy substies.
Speaker 10: All those sorts of things.
Speaker 5: I think those will could bring down inflation marginally or
Speaker 5: have minimal impact. My bigger concern sharing is that these
Speaker 5: are band aids to basically cover over poor policy decisions
Speaker 5: and poor policy making by the federal government, and they
Speaker 5: do not address the underlying policy failures of this government. So,
Speaker 5: for example, I talk about it almost every week that
Speaker 5: view seems sharing with the rental crisis. The federal Government's
Speaker 5: going to spend our money to provide rental relief to
Speaker 5: a rental crisis that has been caused by the federal
Speaker 5: government's own policy failures, for example in mass immigration. So
Speaker 5: instead of addressing the policy failures directly, they're going to
Speaker 5: provide these substies. The same can be said about energy subsies.
Speaker 5: So Australia's an energy superpower, Sharry. We should have the
Speaker 5: cheapest energy in the world, but instead, through policy failure,
Speaker 5: we actually have some of the most expensive energy in
Speaker 5: the world and that's driving up our cost of living.
Speaker 5: It's also seeing our manufacturers broke. So instead of fixing
Speaker 5: the energy market directly and lowering the cost of energy
Speaker 5: for households and businesses, the federal government is instead going
Speaker 5: to spend our money to band Aid over its own
Speaker 5: policy failures. I think that's the bigger issue here, rather
Speaker 5: than focusing on, you know, whether or not it's going
Speaker 5: to impact inflation in the short run.
Speaker 1: Look, there have been concerns, you know, you speak about
Speaker 1: energy that people like Twiggy Forest will benefit from where
Speaker 1: the government's directing money and subsidies to in this budget.
Speaker 1: What's your take on that.
Speaker 10: Yeah? Absolutely.
Speaker 5: Look, Look, look the whole problem around around energy is
Speaker 5: Australia has incredibly high energy process. I'm talking about you know,
Speaker 5: electricity and gas. I'm not obviously talking about oil because
Speaker 5: we're on an oil producer, but we export the line
Speaker 5: share of our coal, the line share of our.
Speaker 10: Gas we should have.
Speaker 5: We are an energy superpower, we should have incredibly cheap energy,
Speaker 5: but through policy failures, we actually have some of the
Speaker 5: most expend expensive energy in the world. And as a result,
Speaker 5: we have a whole conger line of manufacturers that are
Speaker 5: going broke or that they're going to exit Australia. So Queenos,
Speaker 5: the Australia's last major plastics manufacturer, Aurica, the exposive manufacturer Nesle,
Speaker 5: and PepsiCo have all worn in the last month. But
Speaker 5: Australia's energy costs are far too high and they're going
Speaker 5: to either exit Australia or they already have exited Australia.
Speaker 5: So while the album is government bangs on about its
Speaker 5: future made policy, we have all these manufacturers who are
Speaker 5: effectively said Australia is a bad place to do business
Speaker 5: because the energy costs are so high. So I think
Speaker 5: the federal government needs to focus on fixing the energy
Speaker 5: marketing market delivered US cheap energy so then our manufacturers
Speaker 5: can actually survive, rather throwing money at all these boon
Speaker 5: doggle energy as all these boondoggle manufacturing projects look.
Speaker 1: Of course, the surplus last night and last year is
Speaker 1: definitely welcome, no question about that. But the deficits built in,
Speaker 1: you know, the debt over the next decade is quite terrifying.
Speaker 1: What's your take on whether enough has been done here?
Speaker 10: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Look, look, obviously the government's delivered a small surplus this
Speaker 5: financial years. It's supposed to bigger deficits over the next
Speaker 5: few years. By world standards, is not incredibly high, but
Speaker 5: obviously you always want you'd rather have.
Speaker 10: Surplaces than deficits.
Speaker 5: I think the bigger problem sharring is actually at the
Speaker 5: state bud the state government level. So you know, I
Speaker 5: talk about this with you previously. The federal government, through
Speaker 5: its high immigration policy, actually has boosted its own budget
Speaker 5: through tax receipts and company taxes. The problem is the
Speaker 5: cost of that is falling on the state governments, and
Speaker 5: now we're seeing states like Victoria drowning in monstrous amounts
Speaker 5: of debt, risking credit rating downgrades. New Southwell governments also
Speaker 5: getting buried. And a lot of the reasons for that
Speaker 5: is its populations have grown really quickly, but it doesn't
Speaker 5: have the money to provide the infrastructure services for that,
Speaker 5: and that's burying those governments in debt. So I think
Speaker 5: the bigger issues around state budgets.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, Leith fan Onsen, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for joining me tonight. As always, Now, after the break,
Speaker 1: a labor MP breaks ranks to accuse Israel of genocide,
Speaker 1: ending her comments with a hate chart. Class will cross
Speaker 1: live to the University of Melbourne where students have seized
Speaker 1: a building and police are on standby. I'm also going
Speaker 1: to joined be joined by my political panel Josh Burns
Speaker 1: and Michael Koga. Stay jammed. All right, welcome back. Let's
Speaker 1: return to the breaking news now that as we speak,
Speaker 1: pro Palestinian protesters are refusing to move from the University
Speaker 1: of Melbourne. They've taken over a building. Classes have been counseled,
Speaker 1: staff and students were told to avoid the area for
Speaker 1: their own safety. Lease are on standby. I'm joined now
Speaker 1: by The Herald's son In Melbourne's reporter Lauren Hutchinson, who
Speaker 1: is there live at the scene. Lauren, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for joining us. Take us through what's happening right
Speaker 1: behind you.
Speaker 10: Well.
Speaker 9: Currently either around eighty protests in and outside the buildings
Speaker 9: being at APM.
Speaker 1: The building was scheduled to close. However, at that time
Speaker 1: only more tenths were being brought in through the building.
Speaker 1: So there are a dozen of tenths inside the building
Speaker 1: and still no place on things. And so I understand
Speaker 1: that the protesters have been warned that they might be arrested.
Speaker 1: They've been getting legal advice. Can you tell us, you
Speaker 1: know you've overheard some of what's happening there. What are
Speaker 1: they preparing for this evening? Yes, well, only half an
Speaker 1: hour ago, protesters were briefing each other on what to
Speaker 1: do when they expect today's police sometime this evening. They
Speaker 1: were briefing each other on what to do when the
Speaker 1: great possibility that they will.
Speaker 5: Be arrested for trest parting adventures this evening, So they're
Speaker 5: preparing for the worst.
Speaker 1: All right, Lauren Hutchinson, thank you so much for joining
Speaker 1: us there to bring us that news that encampment happening now.
Speaker 1: Pro Palestinian protesters have taken over a building at the
Speaker 1: University of Melbourne. It's exactly what happened at Columbia University
Speaker 1: with Hamilton Hall that lasted some forty eight hours before
Speaker 1: police eventually moved in and arrested all the protesters and
Speaker 1: cleared out that building so that classes could resume. We'll
Speaker 1: see how the University of Melbourne handle it. The chancellors
Speaker 1: at all of the universities pretty much have been extremely weak.
Speaker 1: Now let's get back to our federal budget coverage. Now
Speaker 1: let's bring in former Victorian Liberal Party president at Michael
Speaker 1: Kroger and Labor MP Josh Burns. Thank you both very
Speaker 1: much for your time this evening. Michael Kroger, first to you,
Speaker 1: what's your takeout, what's your analysis of the budget handed
Speaker 1: down by Treasurer Jim Chalmers last night.
Speaker 12: Well, he's spending like a drunken salor, so you know,
Speaker 12: expenditure to GDP next year gets to twenty six point
Speaker 12: six percent, the highest in forty years. Putting aside the pandemic,
Speaker 12: he's got one hundred and twenty billion dollars worth of
Speaker 12: deficits coming in the next four years, which is why
Speaker 12: I don't think there'll be another budget before before the election.
Speaker 12: That's before you add the eighty billion dollars off balance
Speaker 12: sheet that he's spending, which is on sort of on
Speaker 12: capital account, not on the income and expenditure account. Spending
Speaker 12: is out of control under this government. He can't control
Speaker 12: his spending. He should be thanking the mining industry for
Speaker 12: keeping his budget afloat. But this guy's out of his depth.
Speaker 12: He's out of money. And if you want to know
Speaker 12: why it's so respet reponsible, you just look at the
Speaker 12: three hundred dollars. Right, these things, of course they should
Speaker 12: be means tested. Right, people who are well off do
Speaker 12: not need the three hundred dollars. But it was all
Speaker 12: too hard, so he just want to give them money.
Speaker 12: This is typical labor. It's all to just give it
Speaker 12: to everybody.
Speaker 10: Right.
Speaker 12: Australia is going backwards under Charmers. He's not good enough
Speaker 12: to be treasurer. He's a B grader and he's plundering,
Speaker 12: you know, the revenues to fulfill his insatiable desire to
Speaker 12: spend money. And you know, sooner or later the primeness
Speaker 12: has got to bring him to heal because you know
Speaker 12: he's damaging the Australian economy. And the final point is this,
Speaker 12: this is an inflationary budget. If you want to know why.
Speaker 12: If you want to know why, inflations three and a
Speaker 12: half percent, right, it was three percent in two thousand
Speaker 12: and seven, three percent. The Governor Reserve Bank in two
Speaker 12: thousand and seven said, I'm worried that inflation is getting
Speaker 12: more than three percent. I've got to increase interest rates,
Speaker 12: which he did before the election. You know, interest rates
Speaker 12: then were six and a half percent six he increased
Speaker 12: it to six point seventy five percent. Just before the election.
Speaker 12: The gap was three and a half percent between the
Speaker 12: cash rate and and inflation. And so what you've got
Speaker 12: in Australia now is a situation where the cash rate
Speaker 12: probably needs to be higher, even though I don't think
Speaker 12: there'll be three rate rises, it needs to be high
Speaker 12: to get inflation under control. And Charmers has done nothing
Speaker 12: except put oil on the fire.
Speaker 1: All right, Josh Burns, let's get your response to that.
Speaker 1: The main things that Michael Kroger just accused your government
Speaker 1: of spending out of control, The three hundred dollar energy
Speaker 1: payment should be means tested, and that the budget is inflationary.
Speaker 1: Josh Burns.
Speaker 7: Well, good evening, Shari, and good evening, Michael. I mean
Speaker 7: full credit to Michael for getting out the talking points.
Speaker 7: He did it with Gusto, but he missed a couple
Speaker 7: of key facts, one of which is that this is
Speaker 7: now the second budget in a row where we've delivered
Speaker 7: a surplus, something that the coalition didn't do despite winning
Speaker 7: three terms of government. They didn't do it under Tony Abbott,
Speaker 7: they didn't do it under Malcolm Turnbull, and they didn't
Speaker 7: do it under the previous bloke Scott Morris and Jim
Speaker 7: Charmers has done it twice. He's proven that he is
Speaker 7: managing the budget in a fiscally responsible way while also
Speaker 7: ensuring that across the country people who are facing the
Speaker 7: pressures of cost of living I get some support. And
Speaker 7: whether that's done through the redesigned tax cuts, whether it's
Speaker 7: done through re reforming the hex system or you know,
Speaker 7: I mean honestly, Sar. If Michael wants to lead the
Speaker 7: Liberal Parties charge of talking down lower power prices and
Speaker 7: a reduction in power prices for Australian families and hard
Speaker 7: working Australians, then be my guest. It's you should never
Speaker 7: interrupt your opponents where they're making mistakes.
Speaker 10: He told us, it's to give.
Speaker 7: By all means, By all means, you should.
Speaker 10: You should, you should lead.
Speaker 12: The two and seventy five dollars every year. Sure this
Speaker 12: and you know you didn't, by the way, Jose, who
Speaker 12: were doing it? You know, Josh, you know full will
Speaker 12: Our mutual friend Josh Vrodenberg delivered a budget surplus into
Speaker 12: eight A nineteen, but in those days it wasn't considered
Speaker 12: a surplus because the eight billion dollars from the Future
Speaker 12: Fund wasn't included in the budget. It is now. It
Speaker 12: is now, but if it had been included then he
Speaker 12: would have delivered on the same rules the seven billion
Speaker 12: dollar surplus. So this is all fluff from Jim Charmers,
Speaker 12: and the chickens are coming home to roost in the
Speaker 12: next four years. He's leaving us with one hundred and
Speaker 12: twenty billion dollars of deficits.
Speaker 1: Okay, We've got a couple of other issues to get to. Labor.
Speaker 1: Politician Fatima Payment has broken ranks to accuse Israel of genocide.
Speaker 1: Directly addressing Anthony out Albanezi, she told the SBS, and
Speaker 1: I'm quoting here, my conscience has been uneasy for far
Speaker 1: too long, and I must call this out for what
Speaker 1: it is. This is a genocide and we need to
Speaker 1: start pretending otherwise. She also said, from the river to
Speaker 1: the sea, Palestine will be free. Josh Burns, make of
Speaker 1: these comments from one of your own colleagues.
Speaker 7: Well, Shari, I mean this is this has been a
Speaker 7: really hard seven months and I personally am finding it
Speaker 7: really difficult. And one of the things that I think
Speaker 7: is really important is that we need to be able
Speaker 7: to agree and disagree respectfully. Clearly, I disagree. This is
Speaker 7: a situation where the Prime Minister has outlined our position
Speaker 7: on the River to the Sea chant, and I support
Speaker 7: the Prime Minister's stance on this. And you know, it's
Speaker 7: it's it's a hard thing, and I'm not going to
Speaker 7: be running sort of commentary on on on Fatima. I
Speaker 7: like Fatima a lot, She's a friend, and I can
Speaker 7: see she's hurting.
Speaker 8: But you know, I.
Speaker 1: Repeated a hate chant there, a hate chant that even
Speaker 1: the Prime Minister said has no place on our streets.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and and and I support the Prime Minister's position
Speaker 7: on this wholeheartedly. I think that we need to engage
Speaker 7: respectfully in these debates, and we support a two state solutions.
Speaker 7: It's really important that we worked towards a two state
Speaker 7: solution and that that be for a safer, secure Israel
Speaker 7: and also for one day a viable Palestinian state. And
Speaker 7: that's why we don't support it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Just very quickly, before I go to Michael Kroger
Speaker 1: on this, topic. On the weekend, Alban Ezy and Penny
Speaker 1: Wang supported the vote at the UN to give Palestine
Speaker 1: Palestine a seat at the table. Do you agree with
Speaker 1: that position and if you disagree, did you make that
Speaker 1: clear to them?
Speaker 7: I did, and I outlined my position prior to the vote,
Speaker 7: and also outlined my position following the vote. I issued
Speaker 7: a statement which is publicly available for everyone to see,
Speaker 7: where I outlined some key principles, one of which is
Speaker 7: that there are still hostages in the ground in somewhere
Speaker 7: in Gaza. There's still over one hundred and thirty hostages
Speaker 7: who are unaccounted for, who were taken by a terrorist organization.
Speaker 7: And I also outlined the fact that in her recent speech,
Speaker 7: the Foreign Minister outlines really important principles, one of which
Speaker 7: is being that Hamas can play no future role in
Speaker 7: the governance of Gaza. The other ones being that Palestinian
Speaker 7: authority needs to be reformed, and then that reform Palaestinian
Speaker 7: authority cannot be a threat to the people of Israel.
Speaker 7: And I, in my view, shari I don't believe those
Speaker 7: conditions have been met yet. So I issued that statement
Speaker 7: and said that an abstention would have been more appropriate
Speaker 7: because it would have meant that we're open to future positions,
Speaker 7: but we're not there yet.
Speaker 1: Sorry, Michael, was just one last one for Josh.
Speaker 10: Josh.
Speaker 1: Look, there is a strong sense that Federal Labor has
Speaker 1: completely abandoned the Jewish community and Israel. You know, are
Speaker 1: you alone here and speaking publicly or do you have
Speaker 1: colleagues who are equally disappointed like you are in the
Speaker 1: positions that Penny Wong and Alban Easy have taken.
Speaker 7: Look, Shari, Australia remains a strong friend of Israel, and
Speaker 7: I'm I'm a customy of that relationship as well as
Speaker 7: my colleagues, and we've maintained that Israel has a right
Speaker 7: to defend itself and that following the atrocious attacks on
Speaker 7: October seven, that Israel, like any other country, has the.
Speaker 1: Right to defend any of your content.
Speaker 7: I would also yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I
Speaker 7: would also say that, you know, I have been really
Speaker 7: hot by colleagues who have reached out. I mean, I'm
Speaker 7: not going to break their trust. And obviously I'm the
Speaker 7: only one who has spoken out but publicly, and if
Speaker 7: others wish to do so, that's a matter for them.
Speaker 7: But certainly colleagues have come to me and expressed their
Speaker 7: support and I really appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Look, it must be very tough having that
Speaker 1: isolated position. Michael Kroeger, you know, what do you think
Speaker 1: of what we're seeing tonight at the University of Melbourne
Speaker 1: where students pro Palestinian protesters have taken over a building.
Speaker 12: Well, first of all, can I say to Josh, well
Speaker 12: done to you on the extremely principled stand you've taken
Speaker 12: in difficult times. I know it's difficult for you. Everyone
Speaker 12: knows that. Everyone knows.
Speaker 1: I agree, but.
Speaker 12: It won't be much good within your party getting praise
Speaker 12: from me, mate, But standing on principlehing, there's nothing finer
Speaker 12: in politics than people of courage, and you've showed courage
Speaker 12: and I congratulate you, and I'm sure I speak for
Speaker 12: many many Australians.
Speaker 1: Well said.
Speaker 12: Secondly, Shari, let me just say Let me just say this, Shari,
Speaker 12: these are not pro Palestinian demonstrations. These are demonstrations of
Speaker 12: Jewish hatred. Right. All this nonsense about oh, we're opposed
Speaker 12: to the Israeli government, we're opposed again to Raffa, We're
Speaker 12: all about the Palestinians. What a lot of hogwash. Why
Speaker 12: don't they just come out and be honest and say
Speaker 12: we hate Jews? Right, Why don't the far left racists
Speaker 12: come out and be honest and say, look, we just
Speaker 12: hate Jews. That's why, that's why we're demonstrating. Go back
Speaker 12: to nineteen seventy, when I was only what thirteen? I
Speaker 12: never remember reading in the papers any demonstrations. When King
Speaker 12: Has of Jordan he expelled Arafat and all the Palestinians
Speaker 12: from Jordan because they were causing too much military strife.
Speaker 12: He expelled the Palestinians with their demonstrations. Then, no, with
Speaker 12: their demonstrations twenty three years ago, when Iran and Iraq
Speaker 12: killed one to two million dollars of each one to
Speaker 12: two million of each other's citizens. No, two thousand people
Speaker 12: killed in Yeerman when Arabs were killing Arabs? No, when
Speaker 12: isis when al Qaeda was slaughtering other Muslims with their demonstrations. No,
Speaker 12: when our Sad was gaessing people in Syria, were their demonstrations?
Speaker 7: No?
Speaker 12: What is unique about this issue? What is unique about
Speaker 12: this issue that everyone's getting very up so all these
Speaker 12: young students are getting upset about what is unique that
Speaker 12: there are Jews involved, be honest, Shari. They should just
Speaker 12: come out and say we are racists, we hate Jewish people,
Speaker 12: and be honest, because they're just They're losing support all
Speaker 12: over the world, these people, amongst the amongst the middle classes.
Speaker 12: I mean, the people are just observing this Jewish hatred.
Speaker 12: You know, the people are getting thinking this is all just,
Speaker 12: this is all nonsense. Palestinians. They could have stood up
Speaker 12: for the Palestinians on any number of occasions, these students
Speaker 12: and their forebears over the last forty to fifty years,
Speaker 12: as I've demonstrated, we never heard a word from them, right,
Speaker 12: Arab against Arab, Muslim against Muslim, nothing, nothing, But when
Speaker 12: the Jews are involved, oh well, you know we have
Speaker 12: to demonstrate. Come on, be honest, be honest. Get these
Speaker 12: people at Melbourne UNI. You put up your signs that
Speaker 12: we hate Jews, to be honest with everybody for.
Speaker 1: Its right, completely right. Michael Kroger, Josh Burns, we're out
Speaker 1: of time, Josh. I echo Michael Kroger's comments about your courage.
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on the show and for standing
Speaker 1: up for the community despite your government now still to come.
Speaker 1: More support for Trump as is New York hush money
Speaker 1: trial rounds up the Australians. Adam Crichton will join me
Speaker 1: live from Washington next. All right, let's go to the
Speaker 1: US now, and joining me is The Australian's US correspondent
Speaker 1: Adam Crichton. Adam, thank you so much for joining me. Look,
Speaker 1: Donald Trump's landmark hush money trial. It's heard from his
Speaker 1: former lawyer Michael Cohen. But according to some polls, this
Speaker 1: trial isn't turning US, isn't turning off voters.
Speaker 13: Yeah, look, I think more broadly, it's not hurting Donald
Speaker 13: Trump so far. I mean it's been in the news,
Speaker 13: you basically saturation coverage here for three weeks. But if
Speaker 13: you look at the political betting markets and the national
Speaker 13: polls over the past three weeks, Donald Trump has actually
Speaker 13: inched up slightly, So it's not hurting him yet. But
Speaker 13: of course the verdict is not out yet, and that
Speaker 13: actually could come just in a few weeks because the
Speaker 13: trial itself only has a couple more days to go,
Speaker 13: potentially maybe three or four more days. Michael Cohen was
Speaker 13: the last witness, and that of course is except if
Speaker 13: Trump himself decides to testify next year. But they could
Speaker 13: be a guilty verdict. Maybe that will have a big,
Speaker 13: big impact on Trump, but so far it's not.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and next week I think you mean the former
Speaker 1: president is reportedly ahead in five of the six key
Speaker 1: swing states. Adam, Let's talk about the US border crisis.
Speaker 1: You were at the Mexico border just last week. This,
Speaker 1: of course is one of the key policy battles that
Speaker 1: is going to change votes ahead.
Speaker 10: Of the election. Yes, that's right.
Speaker 13: Certainly, it's still the number one political issue in the
Speaker 13: US for most voters. Of course, there's been all the
Speaker 13: focus on the Trump trials, but it's still the border,
Speaker 13: you know, all of those millions of people that have
Speaker 13: been crossing. It was really interesting to go to Eagle Pass,
Speaker 13: which has been basically the.
Speaker 10: Cold face of the crossings.
Speaker 13: I went there for a few days and one of
Speaker 13: the surprising things we actually two surprising things. Firstly, the
Speaker 13: numbers have fallen off extremely dramatically, so there's been a
Speaker 13: big drop and most of the locals aren't actually quite
Speaker 13: sure why.
Speaker 10: So that's part of the mystery.
Speaker 13: And secondly, I think the politics of these border chanwns
Speaker 13: is changing too.
Speaker 10: It's becoming a little more republican.
Speaker 13: These were Democrats strongholds for a long time, so that
Speaker 13: is quite significant too.
Speaker 1: Look, we're also hearing about this surprise decision where the
Speaker 1: US House of Reps will buy two nuclear class submarines
Speaker 1: next year. This was after a budget proposal which only
Speaker 1: indicated they might buy one. So what does this mean
Speaker 1: for the Orcus Security Pact.
Speaker 10: Well, it's actually quite good news.
Speaker 13: I mean, back in February and March, there are quite
Speaker 13: a few scary headlines that were basically saying the US
Speaker 13: government wasn't going to buy as much, sorry as many
Speaker 13: submarines as we first thought, And of course that would
Speaker 13: have been bad for August because we're meant to get
Speaker 13: three starting from twenty thirty two. But the Congress is
Speaker 13: basically pushed back against that and said no, are we
Speaker 13: going to buy two this year and two next year
Speaker 13: and two after that.
Speaker 10: So basically it's pretty good news for Australia in it.
Speaker 13: I mean, there's still a lot more subs that need
Speaker 13: to be built yet, but we're on a better track now.
Speaker 1: Are there still concerns about in the Republican Party not
Speaker 1: actually supporting not actually the Orcus Agreement as such, but
Speaker 1: the provision of nuclear submarines to Australia.
Speaker 10: Yeah, look, I think that's fair to say, it's true.
Speaker 13: I mean, it all depends on who's president in twenty
Speaker 13: thirty twenty thirty one, because then the president at the
Speaker 13: time has to say that selling these.
Speaker 10: Three subs to Australia will not hurt the US Navy.
Speaker 13: And right now the US Navy has fallen massively behind
Speaker 13: in sub production, so it's really got to pick up
Speaker 13: the pace.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, Adam Crichton, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: joining us live from Washington work. Of course, it's very
Speaker 1: early in the morning, and we appreciate his time. Look,
Speaker 1: that's all we've got time for tonight. Thanks so much
Speaker 1: for your company. I'll see you tomorrow at eight o'clock.
Speaker 1: But right now, the man of the hour, Paul Murray