WEBVTT - Credlin | 27 August 0:00:07.500 --> 0:00:10.700 Good evening. Welcome to the program. In the mothership studio 0:00:10.740 --> 0:00:13.380 tonight in Sydney is what's coming up on the program. 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:16.870 The Victorian Premier under fire over the secret levy to 0:00:16.970 --> 0:00:21.529 fund the suburban rail loop. Apologising today, promising to scrap 0:00:21.610 --> 0:00:24.710 the tax. but not so transparent when it comes to 0:00:24.770 --> 0:00:29.000 questions over how long he knew about this tax hit shocker. 0:00:29.770 --> 0:00:33.700 A terrible attack on a 10-year-old child outside of Victoria 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:38.099 Police Headquarters in Melbourne. We learned today he was only 0:00:38.340 --> 0:00:41.840 in the city for brain cancer treatment. But wait until 0:00:41.860 --> 0:00:45.860 you see the extraordinary court exchange from the man accused 0:00:45.900 --> 0:00:50.100 of stabbing his mother. More on immigration too tonight. Legged 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:54.680 details about where it's rumoured Labor will go on visa reform. 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:59.820 A promised crackdown on international students and visa jumping. Yet 0:00:59.880 --> 0:01:03.440 nothing from the Coalition still tying itself in knots over 0:01:03.620 --> 0:01:08.069 numbers and policy inertia. An embarrassment today for the Prime 0:01:08.090 --> 0:01:10.830 Minister met with jeers at the Bush summit in Dubbo 0:01:11.310 --> 0:01:16.149 when he tried to defend Labor's record in regional Australia. 0:01:16.990 --> 0:01:22.950 Well, what worries me is over-regulation. I wouldn't care. And 0:01:22.990 --> 0:01:24.380 we need to do something about it. 0:01:26.550 --> 0:01:29.670 Country people, my good brethren, they have got a good 0:01:29.890 --> 0:01:32.869 BS meter. I'll come back to that in a moment. 0:01:32.890 --> 0:01:35.350 But first, just when you think it can't get any 0:01:35.390 --> 0:01:39.570 worse than the broken state of Victoria, well, it does. Yesterday, 0:01:39.630 --> 0:01:43.610 the bombshell report from the Auditor-General revealing that for 18 months, 0:01:43.660 --> 0:01:49.800 Victorian commuters have been paying a secret public transport tax, well, 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:53.560 that made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Not only 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:56.850 do we have taxpayers ripped off yet again, but the 0:01:56.890 --> 0:02:00.610 millions collected from this secret tax are were being used 0:02:00.750 --> 0:02:05.530 to help fund the controversial suburban rail loop project that 0:02:05.630 --> 0:02:12.030 nobody wants anyway. A $ 36 billion project funded by ever-increasing 0:02:12.110 --> 0:02:15.730 state debt, the SRL has now become a byword for 0:02:15.810 --> 0:02:20.670 waste that even Labor luminaries, like former Senator Stephen Conroy, 0:02:21.070 --> 0:02:22.270 can't defend. 0:02:23.370 --> 0:02:25.410 This is a dog of a project that the previous 0:02:26.370 --> 0:02:31.680 leadership committed Labor to. It's totally sabotaged the budget going 0:02:31.740 --> 0:02:34.660 forward and I would hope that they're able to do 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:38.250 a lot more than just $ 2 billion in savings. 0:02:41.030 --> 0:02:43.709 What is a dog of a project? A railway line 0:02:43.750 --> 0:02:47.290 to nowhere that no-one needs or wants in a state 0:02:47.330 --> 0:02:50.980 that can't fix its roads, that's got ambulance ramping in 0:02:51.060 --> 0:02:55.340 hospitals and an out-of-control crime crisis that is now so 0:02:55.460 --> 0:03:00.600 bad you get headlines like this. It reads, child punched 0:03:00.770 --> 0:03:04.310 in the head on Melbourne Street was in city for 0:03:04.350 --> 0:03:08.410 brain cancer treatment. I mean, seriously? Can it get any 0:03:08.490 --> 0:03:13.120 worse than that? A 10-year-old boy from Phillip Island randomly 0:03:13.180 --> 0:03:17.919 attacked in broad daylight by a stranger in the Melbourne CBD. 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:22.410 His mother, Cherie, then stabbed with scissors when she went 0:03:22.540 --> 0:03:25.630 to his aid. Both mum and son remain in hospital. 0:03:26.340 --> 0:03:30.799 And speaking of the attack, Cherie's brother, Kirk Holt, said 0:03:30.860 --> 0:03:32.940 this to Channel 9. 0:03:32.940 --> 0:03:36.890 Just absolutely disgusted. She's really struggling at the moment. She 0:03:36.930 --> 0:03:40.990 can't be with her son. It's traumatic enough fighting cancer. 0:03:41.050 --> 0:03:43.360 We're now looking to see if it's caused any extra damage, 0:03:43.900 --> 0:03:46.610 if there's any more inflammation around where the tumour is. 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:51.580 Now, appearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday via video link, 0:03:51.620 --> 0:03:58.220 the alleged attacker, 27-year-old Gerry Sowood, told the magistrate, there's 0:03:58.260 --> 0:04:00.900 no need to hide it, he said. At least they're 0:04:00.940 --> 0:04:06.020 both still breathing. So I kept my humanity intact. I'll 0:04:06.060 --> 0:04:07.860 come back to that story a little later. But honestly, 0:04:07.900 --> 0:04:11.260 you've got to feel for the people of Victoria. Failed 0:04:11.300 --> 0:04:14.820 at every turn facing crime in the city and the suburbs. 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:18.630 Taxed to the hilt. and lied to time and time 0:04:18.730 --> 0:04:23.029 again by their government. Honestly, it doesn't matter which Labor 0:04:23.110 --> 0:04:29.729 politicians the Premier, the lies just keep coming. Today, in 0:04:29.870 --> 0:04:34.310 what is fast becoming the latest tactic used by Premier 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:38.120 Ben Carroll to avoid proper media scrutiny, he fronted the 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:43.860 cameras at 9.18am, just before the start of Parliament at 9.30am. 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:49.000 Barely 12 minutes of transparency in front of the waiting 0:04:49.100 --> 0:04:52.609 media pack and all the while dodging any attempt to 0:04:52.630 --> 0:04:56.670 get to the bottom of his shock transport tax. As 0:04:56.750 --> 0:05:00.670 revealed yesterday, Carroll was the Minister for Public Transport when 0:05:00.710 --> 0:05:04.490 this tax hit was first signed off in the Daniel 0:05:04.550 --> 0:05:09.000 Andrews era. Here is opposition leader Liberal Jess Wilson on 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:09.920 this point. 0:05:11.140 --> 0:05:14.229 Ben Carroll signed off on this secret tax when he 0:05:14.270 --> 0:05:18.630 was the Minister for Public Transport in 2021. And it's 0:05:18.670 --> 0:05:21.930 gone through various iterations over the years before it was 0:05:21.990 --> 0:05:26.290 secretly put on every single public transport fare in January 0:05:26.430 --> 0:05:30.150 last year. This is an incredible breach of trust with 0:05:30.170 --> 0:05:31.310 the Victorian people. 0:05:32.650 --> 0:05:35.880 Now, he was the minister at the time. As Jess 0:05:35.900 --> 0:05:38.620 Wilson says, if he wants to now say that when 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:42.020 he was the minister, he knew nothing about this tax, 0:05:42.820 --> 0:05:45.789 then what does this say about the lack of proper processes, 0:05:46.310 --> 0:05:50.890 indeed cabinet government, during the Andrews era? If he really 0:05:50.990 --> 0:05:54.550 did know about it when it was first agreed, then 0:05:54.870 --> 0:05:59.339 how and when did he find out? Because clearly, before 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:03.060 he was Premier, Ben Carroll was Jacinta Allen's deputy for 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:08.200 almost three years, so Absolutely, he knew about this bombshell 0:06:08.300 --> 0:06:12.100 tax before the report hit yesterday. So when did he 0:06:12.140 --> 0:06:16.400 know and how did he find out? Two questions that 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:19.890 today the Premier did his best to dodge. 0:06:20.350 --> 0:06:23.010 The public transport minister in 2021, when this was first 0:06:23.110 --> 0:06:25.250 cooked up, when did you first find out. 0:06:25.190 --> 0:06:25.870 About its existence? 0:06:26.589 --> 0:06:29.349 Richard, I will not relitigate the past. No, no, but 0:06:29.390 --> 0:06:33.060 except to say in 2021... I was a public transport 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:37.620 minister that made sure our public transport system operated during COVID, 0:06:38.380 --> 0:06:43.220 got nurses to work, made sure vulnerable Victorians got the vaccine. 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:45.800 And that was what I focus on every single day. 0:06:45.820 --> 0:06:48.250 What was your involvement in the decision making on this? 0:06:48.990 --> 0:06:50.790 I was not part of the creation. 0:06:51.130 --> 0:06:56.990 That is very clear. Even the new Deputy Premier, Gabrielle Williams, 0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:00.760 was today herself in the hot seat because, like Ben Carroll, 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:07.990 she too once held the transport portfolio. Williams, though, well, 0:07:08.029 --> 0:07:09.830 she at least made some attempt at honesty. 0:07:10.730 --> 0:07:14.550 I was aware in the lead-up to that fare change 0:07:14.770 --> 0:07:18.550 on 1 January 2025. I was never aware that there 0:07:18.570 --> 0:07:24.470 had been any decision taken to withhold information about the charge. 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:29.270 All credit here to my colleague, News 24 reporter Georgie Dickerson, 0:07:29.650 --> 0:07:31.310 who really took it up to the Premier. 0:07:32.110 --> 0:07:34.230 That is what I am doing today, announcing there was 0:07:34.270 --> 0:07:37.190 no transparency around this charge and I will abolish it. 0:07:37.190 --> 0:07:38.430 So it will be abolished from today? 0:07:39.070 --> 0:07:40.130 Is it happening from today? 0:07:40.150 --> 0:07:42.040 No, there will be a proper Cabinet process, but my 0:07:42.070 --> 0:07:43.500 recommendation to the Cabinet. 0:07:43.900 --> 0:07:44.860 So how long will that take? 0:07:45.100 --> 0:07:47.140 is going to be effective as soon as it can be. 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:52.000 Dodge, dodge and dodge today. And after all, it was 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:54.480 only a couple of weeks ago that he said when 0:07:54.540 --> 0:07:59.239 assuming the top job that integrity was no longer optional. 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:04.080 In my government, integrity will not be optional. 0:08:05.460 --> 0:08:08.910 Well, that's a lie, Ben Carroll. Optional then and clearly, 0:08:09.270 --> 0:08:14.770 integrity is still optional now. At 9.30am, Ben Carroll was 0:08:14.890 --> 0:08:18.530 saved by the parliamentary bells as he scurried away hoping 0:08:18.590 --> 0:08:21.090 his latest crisis was behind him. 0:08:22.010 --> 0:08:26.150 I've saved Victorians $ 2 billion this week on this project. 0:08:26.740 --> 0:08:27.510 It will be delivered. 0:08:27.540 --> 0:08:30.040 It was being delivered on time and on budget and 0:08:30.060 --> 0:08:32.500 under my premiership will be delivered on time. 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:32.920 And under budget. 0:08:32.940 --> 0:08:33.620 Thank you very. 0:08:39.980 --> 0:08:40.180 Much. 0:08:40.179 --> 0:08:42.980 12 minutes of transparency, Victorians. That's all you get. That 0:08:43.020 --> 0:08:48.200 footage is damning. Even for Victoria, a state mired in crime, 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:52.670 corruption and bad government, a two-year secret tax is a 0:08:52.710 --> 0:08:56.750 new low. And quick out of the box, Liberal HQ 0:08:57.090 --> 0:09:00.750 had this ad out on social media by mid-afternoon. 0:09:01.690 --> 0:09:02.860 What did you find out about this charge? 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:06.020 I'm not going to stand here. I'm not going to 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:06.679 stand here. 0:09:06.940 --> 0:09:08.579 I'm not going to stand here. 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:11.040 And take questions on integrity. 0:09:11.650 --> 0:09:13.189 and relitigate the past. 0:09:13.450 --> 0:09:17.000 I'm not going to stand here and take questions on integrity. 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:21.120 I'm not going to stand here and relitigate the past. 0:09:22.860 --> 0:09:30.330 Honestly, Victoria, what next? Right, let's head to Canberra now 0:09:30.370 --> 0:09:33.310 for the political headlines with our reporter, Cam Redden. 0:09:34.230 --> 0:09:34.630 Good evening. 0:09:34.929 --> 0:09:37.820 The Prime Minister has given his strongest indication yet of 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:40.920 where the cuts will come when he announces an overhaul 0:09:41.020 --> 0:09:42.140 of the migration system. 0:09:43.059 --> 0:09:45.760 We're worried about trying to get the numbers right. Our 0:09:45.820 --> 0:09:48.360 priority and what we're really looking at as well is 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:50.230 people who gain the system. 0:09:50.750 --> 0:09:52.989 Also at the Bush summit in Dubbo, a group of 0:09:53.090 --> 0:09:56.270 anti-renewables protesters make their voices known. 0:09:56.550 --> 0:09:58.850 What message do you have for people here whose lives 0:09:58.929 --> 0:09:59.970 and livelihoods. 0:09:59.550 --> 0:09:59.989 Are being up in? 0:10:00.150 --> 0:10:01.319 And they can't understand why? 0:10:01.340 --> 0:10:08.620 That I get it. We need to do better than that. 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:12.820 Australia's Commissioner on Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence has spoken 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:16.380 exclusively to News24 ahead of the release of the second 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:17.580 National Action Plan. 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:21.400 There are areas where we all know we are not 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:25.820 seeing the improvement that the community wants and expects, particularly 0:10:25.900 --> 0:10:27.580 sexual violence where we're doing poorly. 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.800 Michaela Cronin tells News 24 the next five-year action plan 0:10:31.830 --> 0:10:35.490 will place a premium on early intervention to ensure children 0:10:35.510 --> 0:10:37.890 never develop dangerous behaviours. 0:10:38.270 --> 0:10:40.530 I think we need to start as early as we 0:10:40.570 --> 0:10:44.350 can on every front. When we run education programs in schools, 0:10:44.710 --> 0:10:47.189 we also need to be running things parallel for parents. 0:10:47.630 --> 0:10:50.290 Cameron Redden, News 24, Canberra. 0:10:51.950 --> 0:10:54.240 All right, more now on the continuing fallout from that 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:58.100 secret transport tax in Victoria. Let's bring in our Melbourne reporter, 0:10:58.460 --> 0:11:02.800 News 24's Georgie Dickerson. Georgie, welcome. Ben Carroll moved quickly 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:06.960 today to scrap the contentious secret tax and he added 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:10.240 an apology, but he refused to answer questions on when 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:14.380 he first knew about the secret tax and why Victorians 0:11:14.470 --> 0:11:15.870 were kept in the dark. 0:11:18.460 --> 0:11:20.620 Yeah, he certainly wouldn't be drawn on exactly what he 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:23.870 knew and when. He continuously told reporters he was not 0:11:23.900 --> 0:11:27.310 going to relitigate in the past, instead focusing on the 0:11:27.350 --> 0:11:28.490 transparency and. 0:11:28.490 --> 0:11:30.130 What was going to be coming in the. 0:11:30.110 --> 0:11:33.220 Future for Victorians as he announced that he does plan to. 0:11:33.179 --> 0:11:34.179 Scrap that tax. 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:36.160 But as you heard earlier, I tried. 0:11:35.980 --> 0:11:39.160 To ask the Premier exactly how long Victorians. 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:39.420 Will have to wait. 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:42.690 Until that tax is scrapped, he couldn't tell me. He 0:11:42.730 --> 0:11:45.330 said it has to go through the proper cabinet process. 0:11:45.650 --> 0:11:47.750 So now Victorians are really in a state of limbo 0:11:47.790 --> 0:11:50.179 as to how long they'll actually have to wait until 0:11:50.220 --> 0:11:53.040 that additional charge is taken of public transport here in. 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.949 Victoria, Peter. Yeah, it just did strike me as a 0:11:56.990 --> 0:12:00.290 bit unbelievable that he's got to follow a Cabinet process 0:12:00.350 --> 0:12:03.630 now to take off a bad tax, a hidden tax, 0:12:03.690 --> 0:12:07.429 a tax that Victorians did not know about. But clearly 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:10.500 the processes in good government weren't there when it was 0:12:10.929 --> 0:12:15.140 thrown onto Victorian commuters. It's not plausible, Georgie, it's just 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:18.340 not plausible that he was the Deputy Premier and he 0:12:18.380 --> 0:12:23.500 was clueless about this tax when even Gabrielle Williams... who 0:12:23.580 --> 0:12:27.800 followed him into the transport portfolio, admitted she knew all 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:28.250 about it. 0:12:30.660 --> 0:12:33.860 Yeah, she was transport minister in December of 2024 when 0:12:34.140 --> 0:12:37.439 she was actually making an announcement about the updated fares. 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:37.859 For the coming year. 0:12:37.900 --> 0:12:40.880 Of course, public transport fares in Victoria go up year 0:12:40.970 --> 0:12:44.210 on year, but that is when that additional 1% was 0:12:44.410 --> 0:12:44.970 added on. 0:12:45.050 --> 0:12:46.810 So she said she was aware of it. 0:12:46.830 --> 0:12:50.070 But wasn't aware that it was essentially being kept a secret. 0:12:50.350 --> 0:12:53.630 from Victorian communities. Of course, it is a 1% rise 0:12:53.790 --> 0:12:57.460 from January 2025. But, of course, as the Vargo report 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:01.120 pointed out, that charge and that increase is likely to 0:13:01.179 --> 0:13:06.250 reach $ 8 billion by 2062, $ 4. 8 billion of that going 0:13:06.309 --> 0:13:07.770 directly to the SRL. 0:13:08.570 --> 0:13:10.150 Will Victorians get their money back, Georgie? 0:13:12.610 --> 0:13:15.410 It's unclear at this stage. Already more than $ 6 million 0:13:15.470 --> 0:13:18.970 has been brought in from that extra charge. The opposition 0:13:19.030 --> 0:13:22.150 leader today, Jess Wilson, saying that that money should be 0:13:22.190 --> 0:13:25.090 given back to taxpayers because they didn't know they were 0:13:25.130 --> 0:13:28.350 being charged that extra fee in the first place, Peter. 0:13:28.370 --> 0:13:30.750 Well, surely this is more pressure on the Premier now 0:13:30.770 --> 0:13:33.560 to scrap the whole horror show that is the SRL. 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:39.760 Well, you'd think so, Peter, but today, or rather two 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:42.710 days ago now, the Premier had first announced that he 0:13:42.770 --> 0:13:46.270 plans to have $ 2 billion in savings on the SRL. 0:13:46.290 --> 0:13:50.350 Of course, that was announced before the Auditor-General's report was 0:13:50.429 --> 0:13:53.210 brought out, but he's remained adamant today that they are 0:13:53.230 --> 0:13:56.740 looking at cost-saving measures. They have refused to pause and review. 0:13:56.770 --> 0:13:59.239 The opposition says if they win government come November 28, 0:13:59.220 --> 0:14:02.820 they will pause and review the SRL to see what 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:04.360 has to happen to this project. 0:14:05.070 --> 0:14:07.230 And look, I want to pick up that shocking attack yesterday. 0:14:07.250 --> 0:14:10.730 The 10-year-old boy and his mum out the front, Georgie, 0:14:11.230 --> 0:14:13.830 of Victoria Police Headquarters. It was the middle of Melbourne 0:14:13.890 --> 0:14:16.050 it occurred. It was the middle of the day. We 0:14:16.809 --> 0:14:19.510 now learn the little boy was in Melbourne for brain 0:14:19.590 --> 0:14:23.930 cancer treatment. I mean, bad enough that he was attacked 0:14:23.990 --> 0:14:27.150 or allegedly attacked, the mother also too in hospital with 0:14:27.230 --> 0:14:31.470 stab wounds. But now you've got this offender in the court. 0:14:32.250 --> 0:14:33.410 Tell us what he had to say. 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:38.340 Yeah, it's a completely horrific case, Peter. And it should 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:41.630 be noted that where this incident actually occurred was outside 0:14:41.690 --> 0:14:45.330 Police HQ, the largest police station here in Melbourne. So 0:14:45.370 --> 0:14:48.190 police were very quick to jump on that alleged offender. 0:14:48.210 --> 0:14:51.020 But some of the horrific detail... Of that court hearing, 0:14:51.060 --> 0:14:52.859 he said that he'd punched the kid in the head, 0:14:52.900 --> 0:14:55.280 so admitted to doing it. I'm telling you what I did, 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:58.060 and I'm saying there was no family that was torn apart. 0:14:58.460 --> 0:15:01.040 Even though I did what I did, the mum did 0:15:01.140 --> 0:15:04.600 not lose her child. He didn't apply for bail. He 0:15:04.660 --> 0:15:06.920 wasn't on bail at the time of the incident. His 0:15:06.990 --> 0:15:09.950 case will be heard back on November 18. But, of course, 0:15:09.990 --> 0:15:12.890 for this poor family, that poor 10-year-old child who's already 0:15:12.990 --> 0:15:16.570 battling cancer to have this horrific incident happen, it goes 0:15:16.610 --> 0:15:18.970 to levels of crime that we are really dealing here. 0:15:19.330 --> 0:15:20.550 within the Victorian state. 0:15:21.330 --> 0:15:24.620 And just quickly, any sense of what the motivation might 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:26.300 have been today in the court? 0:15:28.770 --> 0:15:31.450 They've said it's completely random at this stage. Of course, 0:15:31.490 --> 0:15:35.230 police are continuing their investigations to hopefully bring some sort 0:15:35.250 --> 0:15:37.890 of closure to this family. But, of course, at this time, 0:15:37.910 --> 0:15:41.340 they're probably focusing on their little 10-year-old boy who remains 0:15:41.380 --> 0:15:44.000 in hospital. The mother is in an OK condition at 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:46.640 this stage, but no doubt they're all shocked and traumatised 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:47.560 by that horrific event. 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:49.540 Hey, you might have missed my comments at the top 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:50.820 of the show, but I said well done to you 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:52.450 for taking it up to the Premier and putting him 0:15:52.500 --> 0:15:55.720 under some real pressure. I think everyone's screaming out for 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:58.440 some transparency and honesty out of government at the moment. 0:15:58.460 --> 0:16:01.360 So well done you, Georgie. Stay on it. All right, 0:16:01.380 --> 0:16:04.440 let's go now to my panel. News 24 hosts James 0:16:04.500 --> 0:16:07.620 Morrow and Jamie Rogers. Because I'm in Sydney, they are 0:16:07.700 --> 0:16:10.160 both at the desk with me. This is a turn 0:16:10.210 --> 0:16:10.630 up for the books. 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:10.990 Isn't it? 0:16:11.090 --> 0:16:13.430 It's great to be here with you in Sydney, yeah. 0:16:13.690 --> 0:16:15.990 Hey, I'll come to you. I know you're not a Melbournian, 0:16:16.030 --> 0:16:19.040 but you're a mum, Jamie. You hear a story like that, 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:21.660 and I'll put allegedly, allegedly, allegedly around it, of course, 0:16:21.700 --> 0:16:26.930 but he made admissions in the magistrate's court. Kid gets thumped. 0:16:27.350 --> 0:16:31.110 Ten-year-old child who's in Melbourne for brain cancer treatment. Mum 0:16:31.130 --> 0:16:35.210 gets stabbed. And this is day normal in daylight in Melbourne. 0:16:36.030 --> 0:16:39.010 Peter, it's just horrific. When I read that story, my 0:16:39.050 --> 0:16:41.680 heart broke. especially the fact that it was out the 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:45.120 front of police headquarters, which just really shows how out. 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:47.200 Of control the crime is in Victoria. 0:16:47.300 --> 0:16:50.330 And another family is now going to be having lifelong trauma. 0:16:50.350 --> 0:16:53.110 The children couldn't have the lights off when they were 0:16:53.130 --> 0:16:55.150 in the hospital because there were other siblings there that 0:16:55.210 --> 0:16:58.170 witnessed what had happened with this alleged attack. But the 0:16:58.210 --> 0:17:00.770 fact that this 10-year-old boy, only a few years older 0:17:00.790 --> 0:17:02.740 than my own son, which is why it really hits 0:17:02.770 --> 0:17:07.300 home hard... And the fact that he is battling brain cancer, 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:09.859 and as his uncle said in your editorial, they have 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:11.830 to now assess that it's not going to cause more 0:17:11.869 --> 0:17:15.129 swelling around the tumour. So the fact that this family 0:17:15.190 --> 0:17:18.730 is going through something so traumatic. and they just randomly 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:22.440 get attacked. I think Victorians have really been let down 0:17:22.500 --> 0:17:25.600 by their government that something like this just randomly happens 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:28.560 in broad daylight out the front of the police headquarters. 0:17:28.740 --> 0:17:30.699 And it was Good Samaritans, actually, who wrestled the man 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:31.820 to the ground. It wasn't the police. 0:17:32.020 --> 0:17:34.359 Yeah, it was actually passers-by. There was, I think, a 0:17:34.580 --> 0:17:36.900 Champion X weightlifter or something of that sort of order 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:40.320 who had... been on the scene and they said, instinct 0:17:40.580 --> 0:17:43.679 just kicked in, which is of course great and it's 0:17:43.700 --> 0:17:46.220 wonderful that that happened, but it is just such an 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.790 indictment of what has been happening in Melbourne. I think 0:17:49.830 --> 0:17:52.230 about what Melbourne was like 10 years ago, and it 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:57.140 was this very lively, cosmopolitan city. And I was there 0:17:57.180 --> 0:17:59.399 a few weeks ago, and, you know, every time you 0:17:59.420 --> 0:18:01.780 see one of these surveys that says, oh, most liveable survey, 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:04.609 you think, what Melbourne were they living in? 0:18:04.650 --> 0:18:07.030 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm with you, James. I'm with you. Hey, 0:18:07.050 --> 0:18:09.050 let's go to Dubbo. I think we've got some footage 0:18:09.070 --> 0:18:11.449 of the Prime Minister today. I think he rolled up 0:18:11.490 --> 0:18:14.890 to town, thought he might get the welcome mat, but 0:18:14.950 --> 0:18:16.860 country people are pretty shrewd. Have a listen. 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:22.280 Does it bother you that in regional communities, farmers see 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:23.440 the Albanese government as the enemy? 0:18:23.460 --> 0:18:28.460 Oh, well, what worries me is over-regulation. I wouldn't care. 0:18:30.060 --> 0:18:31.980 And we need to do something about it. 0:18:33.690 --> 0:18:36.270 Well, over-regulation, we know who makes the regulation. 0:18:36.550 --> 0:18:38.570 And, you know, how many years has he been in power? 0:18:38.590 --> 0:18:41.149 How many years has the Labor government been in power? 0:18:41.170 --> 0:18:42.430 And they said, oh, well, you know, we really ought 0:18:42.450 --> 0:18:45.000 to do something about this problem that's been going on 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:47.340 for four years under our watch. But the Bush summit today, 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:50.700 the National Bush Summit in Dubbo, Such an extraordinary event 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:54.340 because it's the one time when country people, people in 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:59.399 the regions, really get to interface with the politicians, the policymakers. 0:18:59.420 --> 0:19:02.080 And I'll tell you what, Albanese, I hope he was 0:19:02.260 --> 0:19:05.730 listening to what people said because the people who spoke 0:19:05.950 --> 0:19:09.189 at that summit, people like Emma Webb from Yass, who 0:19:09.210 --> 0:19:13.720 was speaking about the unbelievable impact of these renewables projects 0:19:14.060 --> 0:19:16.699 smashing their communities. And he says, oh, well, you know, yeah, 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:17.149 I get it. 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:17.600 I hear you. 0:19:18.260 --> 0:19:19.020 He doesn't get it. 0:19:19.020 --> 0:19:20.419 They're not in Marrickville, are they? 0:19:20.460 --> 0:19:23.600 They are not in Marrickville. They don't have wind farms 0:19:23.900 --> 0:19:25.850 in Marrickville. If they did, I'd be processing those, too. 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:31.470 But this was a great opportunity for him to see 0:19:31.530 --> 0:19:33.629 the anger on the ground. And, you know, there were 0:19:33.650 --> 0:19:36.679 people who talked about their farms hemmed all in on 0:19:36.820 --> 0:19:39.889 three sides by massive solar farms. They don't know what 0:19:39.910 --> 0:19:43.100 the value of their property is. And again, he says, oh, well, 0:19:43.100 --> 0:19:45.429 we have to balance you know, this and that. But 0:19:45.470 --> 0:19:49.800 it's all about this relentless net zero obsession and the 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:51.520 fact that I think, you know, as many people said 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:55.340 at the summit, this government doesn't treat country people with 0:19:55.420 --> 0:19:59.159 the same value and regard as people who live in 0:19:59.220 --> 0:20:00.760 their inner city electorates. 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:04.689 Spot on. And just speaking there of renewables, Jamie, launched 0:20:04.730 --> 0:20:07.290 today in Victoria. It had been delayed, but it's just 0:20:07.330 --> 0:20:11.389 now been kicked off. This offshore wind auction, and we 0:20:11.450 --> 0:20:14.679 all know the travesty that is offshore wind, these huge 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:18.879 monoliths sitting out in some of our most beautiful coastline areas. 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:21.920 There was one set for Illawarra. It's being knocked off. 0:20:22.859 --> 0:20:26.460 Socialist Victoria is pursuing it and pursuing it hard. Billions 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:29.450 of subsidies will be paid, billions of dollars of subsidies 0:20:29.490 --> 0:20:35.930 to foreign companies You're a competitive swimmer in the past. 0:20:36.410 --> 0:20:39.070 You tried to win the seat of Warringah, which of 0:20:39.130 --> 0:20:43.350 course includes Manly. This is not off the beaches of Manly. 0:20:43.730 --> 0:20:46.330 This is off the Victorian regional coast. 0:20:46.970 --> 0:20:49.540 And again, it's the regional areas that are expected to 0:20:49.580 --> 0:20:52.820 pick up the brunt of this renewable transition. But when 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:55.119 it comes to this wind farm and this auction, it 0:20:56.350 --> 0:20:59.330 Victoria's energy security is really getting gambled right now because 0:20:59.369 --> 0:21:02.149 you look at the coal-fired power station in Yalloran, which 0:21:02.190 --> 0:21:05.140 is set to close down in mid-2028, and the auction 0:21:05.180 --> 0:21:08.199 today went live a year late, and they're not going 0:21:08.220 --> 0:21:12.399 to stop taking contracts until mid-next year, and then when 0:21:12.420 --> 0:21:15.090 they actually give out those contracts, it'll be 2028. So 0:21:15.150 --> 0:21:18.500 when is the government expecting... this to all start to work. 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:20.560 So when that closes down with the coal-fired power station 0:21:20.580 --> 0:21:23.230 in 2028, this is the project that's supposed to be 0:21:23.250 --> 0:21:26.310 picking up that baseload power. And we also know that 0:21:26.369 --> 0:21:29.740 offshore wind farms are two times more expensive than onshore 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:32.740 wind farms. So the cost alone of that, we need 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:34.619 to stop having the government saying to everyone, oh, but 0:21:34.660 --> 0:21:37.600 it's cheaper, it's cheaper, that's why we're doing it. No, 0:21:37.660 --> 0:21:40.580 this is literally the most expensive form of energy and 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:42.480 Victorians will end up picking up the bill when it 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:45.419 comes to the taxpayers and probably having some real issues 0:21:45.510 --> 0:21:46.700 when it comes to energy security. 0:21:47.030 --> 0:21:51.250 And problems with migratory birds, problems with whales and other mammals. Yes. And, 0:21:51.270 --> 0:21:55.330 of course, these huge structures are left to rust in 0:21:55.390 --> 0:21:57.110 our oceans. We've seen this around the world. 0:21:57.750 --> 0:21:59.870 And they rust quickly because they're out in the elements 0:22:00.030 --> 0:22:03.129 in the saltwater. And we see what happens with boats 0:22:03.210 --> 0:22:04.190 and other. 0:22:04.150 --> 0:22:06.280