WEBVTT - Sharri | 20 May 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:07.040 Live on Sky News. This is Sharry Good Evening. I'm 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:09.720 kylab Bond and Will Kingston. I'd say the kids love 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:12.760 playing Minecraft on the computer, so maybe they enjoyed in 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:15.680 the real minds. He's what's coming up tonight? Why the 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:18.360 coalition breakup may end up being the best thing for 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:20.680 both parties. I'll give you my thoughts in a moment. 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:23.919 The Reserve Bank cuts rates again. But would it have 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:26.920 happened if not for Trump's tariffs? I'll talk to experienced 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:31.680 economist Warren Hogan, and questions mount about senior Democrats and 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.640 what they knew about Joe Biden's health as he goes 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:39.120 public with his cancer diagnosis. Well, what an extraordinary day 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:43.440 in Australian political history. The Liberal and National Party coalition 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:46.960 splitting for the first time in nearly forty years, and 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.199 only the third time since they came together in nineteen 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:53.240 forty nine. Now, those two other breaks and the coalition 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:56.840 were in seventy two after Goff Whitlam beat Billy McMahon. 0:00:56.880 --> 0:01:00.200 They came back together before the seventy four election and 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.160 for four months in nineteen eighty seven over the Joe 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:07.400 for Canberra campaign. Now, in some ways this could be good, 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:11.520 but obviously in the short term it weakened conservative politics 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:15.080 in this country. You have the crazy situation of the 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:19.520 Albanese government holding ninety four seats and the Liberal opposition 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:24.320 now the official opposition, holding just twenty eight, even though 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:27.440 the Liberals and Nationals will still largely work in tandem. 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:31.200 Without a formal coalition, you have a huge government and 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:35.119 a tiny opposition. It deprives the official Opposition of course, 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:38.560 of experienced talent in the Nationals, and it means Lee 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:42.839 Susan Lee will have to construct her shadow ministry entirely 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:46.880 from the Liberal party room sorry, which is diminished now. 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:49.960 Some of the details around how and why this happened 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:54.680 are quite sensational. National's leader David Little Proud gave Susan 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:57.360 Lee half an hour's notice that he was going to 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:00.960 kill the coalition agreement. The major reason for that split 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:04.840 was that the Nats wanted a guarantee on policy positions. 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:09.600 The Australian reported today that the four policy demands confirmed 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:12.880 by National MP senators and key officials at a meeting 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:16.920 last Friday, focused on nuclear energy, forced a vestiture of 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:21.080 supermarkets that recently announced twenty billion dollar Regional Future Fund 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:26.480 and enforced universal service obligations, ensuring reliable mobile phone coverage 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:29.760 in the regions. The problem with that is that Lee 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:33.880 has been explicit in not yet committing to a policy agenda. 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:40.560 The Nationals sought specific commitments on certain policies, and they've 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:46.760 talked about that this morning. And our perspective is not 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:50.480 about the individual policies themselves, but the approach that we 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:54.880 said we would take to our party room about policies. 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:59.080 Nothing adopted and nothing abandoned. So at this point in 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:03.680 time I asked the Nationals to respect those party room processes. 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:07.120 Lee proposed a little proud that they form a shadow 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.000 cabinet of both Liberal and National members, as is the 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:13.519 standard for the coalition. Then both parties should go away 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:16.959 and sort out their respective policy positions and come back 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:20.160 to discuss. Now. I can understand why the Nationals might 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:22.880 be uncomfortable with that, because even though the Liberals and 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:26.560 Nationals are allowed a conscience vote, members of the shadow 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:30.919 cabinet a duty bound to support the coalition's policy and leadership. 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:33.760 And if you don't yet have a cohesive policy plan, 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:37.160 it's difficult to understand what you're signing up for. So 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:40.720 the Nationals requested that any of their shadow cabinet members 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:43.520 be given a free vote, which would allow them to 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.760 oppose it zero for instance, even if the Liberals stayed 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:51.200 with the policy. But that kind of situation simply isn't tenable. 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:55.120 You can't have different members of cabinet singing from separate 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:59.120 hymn books. Otherwise there isn't much point in cabinet. So 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.440 to some degree they both been as unreasonable as each other, 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:05.360 and it will in the short term at least be 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:06.840 a free kick to the government. 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:07.120 Now. 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:10.120 Both Lee and Little Proud were clear today that they 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:13.280 are open to reforming the Coalition, and Little Proud more 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:15.960 or less said he wants to. He described it as 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:18.120 a breakup to have some time apart. 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:20.120 What this is. 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:22.760 About is about taking a deep breath to be able 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:25.359 to say to the Australian people that this is a 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:28.119 time of part for us to be better, to be better, 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:30.680 to focus on them. Now we have a clear focus 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:32.200 on the people we know we want to represent. 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:32.600 Now. 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:35.520 I want to allow Susan the time for her leadership 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:37.760 to shine, to be able to give her the opportunity 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.000 to go and be able to demonstrate that, but to 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:42.800 design that and be able to come back together. This 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:45.840 is a healthy part of our democracy. Though that was 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:46.440 too proud of. 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:49.520 He even said Lee could be the next prime minister. 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.200 The commitment both Susan and I made is that we 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:57.040 will work together to give her the space. You got 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:01.680 to understand, Susan has been given an enviewable position to 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:05.520 actually try and restore AHI have faith in her. I 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:08.240 actually think it is conceivable that she can win the. 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:11.919 Next election, but the reality is she can't be prime 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:15.000 minister without the Nationals. I mean, the Liberals aren't going 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.159 to win another fifty seats in their own right, and 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.640 in the modern world they probably never will. So here's 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:24.680 why I think this could and it's a qualified could 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:27.480 be a good thing in the long term. The Liberals 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:30.080 and the Nationals need each other. If the Libs want 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:32.360 to have a Liberal prime minister again, they'll need a 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:34.880 coalition with the Nats. And if the Nationals want to 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:39.000 exert rural and regional influence over national policy, they need 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:41.640 to join with someone who could help form government. And 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:45.120 at the moment it's only the Liberal Party to choose from. 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:48.800 So really they'll have to come back together, as they 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:52.600 have before on other occasions. Twice they've done this, but 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:55.560 this is a shot across the bower message from the 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.359 Nationals to say to the Liberals that they need to 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:01.599 have a serious reckoning as a party, and in that 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:05.719 assessment they are correct. As the lnp's Garth Hamilton wrote 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:09.000 in The Australian yesterday, the best thing about Peter Dutton 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:11.560 was that he brought peace and stability to our party. 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:14.440 The worst thing about Peter Dutton was that he brought 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.720 peace and stability to our party. We needed to rid 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:20.720 ourselves of some of that baggage. We needed to have 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:24.599 a few internal policy fights to test our resolve. Thomas 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:28.120 Jefferson believed every generation needs a new revolution, and I 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:32.160 believe the new generation of Liberals needs that too, by 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.600 having a break in their relationship, having time a part 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.320 to be better. As Little Proud put it today. And 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:40.400 let's be honest, many of us have done that in 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:44.760 our romantic relationships and friendships before. The Nationals are trying 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:48.359 to force those fights, particularly when it comes to net zero, 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:52.360 and their aim in that regard is noble. The Nats 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:55.040 haven't lost a Lower House seat at an election since 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:58.040 two thousand and seven, so you can't argue that they 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:01.479 don't have a blueprint for success. They also managed to 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:04.400 turn Bendigo marginal, which has been held by Labor since 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:07.799 nineteen ninety eight, with a nine point seven percent swing. 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:11.720 The Nationals believe in something, they're clear about it, and 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:15.280 electorally it's worked for them in rural and regional parts 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.360 of Australia now. The last Liberal leader to deal with 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:21.680 a coalition breakup, of course, was John Howard during his 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:23.280 first shot at Prime minister. 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:29.520 He said this today, I don't compare today's situation with 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.440 nineteen eighty seven, although that was pretty painful. 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.640 I am very sorry that this. 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:40.360 Has happened, and I urged both parties to work over 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:44.520 time to put the coalition back together again, because all 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:49.120 the history of Australia suggests that the glory days of 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.360 the Liberal Party and the National Party, the Old Country Party, 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:57.080 are when they are working together in government. My experience 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:00.480 as a Liberal leader and as a coalition and prime 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:04.960 minister is that if you have a strong coalition and 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:08.960 plenty of trust, you can resolve any policy different. 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.960 And he's right. They do strengthen each other. They bring 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:16.360 different perspectives from different parts of the country, and of 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:19.640 course the broad Church that John how it always talked 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:23.400 about served the party. Well, I'll repeat what I said 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:27.120 on Thursday night. The Liberals need the Nationals now more 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:30.760 than ever. Drop net zero, keep nuclear and build a 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:37.920 genuine alternative for government. All right, let's stick with the 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.560 coalitions divorce. I'm joined now by former Speaker of the 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:45.000 House Bronwin Bishop and Liberal Senator Holly Hughes. Bronwin. In 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:47.560 the long term, do you think this will all just 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:49.520 work out? It's a little lover's tiff. 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:53.480 It'll work out, And I'll tell you why. Because we 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:58.880 have a compulsory preferential voting system. It means it's a 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:05.600 two party system and the Liberals cannot win without the Nationals. 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:08.920 Three times they could have, but saw the sense of 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:11.320 not doing it because the next time round they would 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:14.920 need it. So when we look at it called a 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:18.280 spat or a disagreement. That's going on now Nashwater must 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:20.840 have been like between Earl Page and Mensis at the 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:22.240 end of the EAP days. 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:25.240 I mean, those people knew how to draw blood. 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:29.520 So I was actually in the Parliament in eighty seven, 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:32.760 that's when I was sworn into the Senate, and I 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:35.560 was there when the two parties separated it and I 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:39.520 knew that'd come back together again because that is the history. 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:43.520 We got compulsory voting in nineteen eighteen, and we got 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.720 or rather we got provisional voting in nineteen eighteen and 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:51.240 compulsory in twenty three. So it's been there for a 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:55.199 long time and that's our system. Nigel Farage couldn't happen 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:57.120 here because of. 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.160 Our voting system exactly because they were past. 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.599 They were come back together out of sheer survival. 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:07.400 Obviously, for a couple more months you will sit in the. 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:12.080 Senate as not counting down, so you won't. 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:13.400 Have to deal with any of this, and you may 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:14.120 will be glad of that. 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:16.160 I think I've dodged a bullet. 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:21.040 But a what do you think the Nationals are playing 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:24.240 at here? And be will it affect the Libs? 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:26.000 Some bit perplexed by the timing. 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:27.880 I have to be honest, Susan Lee was elected a 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:30.640 week ago, where three weeks out from the last election. 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:32.920 Where three years from the next election. 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:35.360 And there's been a lot of commentary, a lot of 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:37.520 commentary from people who have never been in. 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:38.440 The party room. 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:41.160 And the reality is when you go into the party 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.480 room after an election of particularly an election defeat, everything 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.200 is on the table, everything is still there, but it 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:50.360 is up for review. So it would absolutely have been 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.760 unacceptable for Susan or in fact anyone else had they 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:55.640 been later of the Liberal Party to go into the 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:58.600 Nationals and said, yep, okay, we're going to agree to 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:03.640 put these four policies, the agenda items absolutely in stone 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:06.680 so that they cannot be changed. It is the Liberal 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:10.840 Party processes that need to be respected and one of 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:14.200 the things, and to Garth Hamilton's point in what he said, 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.200 and I said it in an interview earlier today, Peter 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:19.800 dudn't run a really unified team. But perhaps that was 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:22.280 actually a bit of a mistake. One of the reasons 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:24.320 so many of us will call flat footage during the 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:27.440 election that the policy work hadn't been done was because 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:28.520 it hadn't gone. 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:29.720 Through the party room processes. 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.360 It's really important and this is a matter for the 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:34.960 next party room that they do fight it out. It 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.400 is going to be messy, but it's three years till 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:39.840 the next election, and if they really want to go 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:44.440 to the next election as a unified team all singing 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:47.520 from the same song sheet, knowing what they're standing for, 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.559 and it's it's this isn't a question either of liberal values. 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:52.520 You know, I've heard a few other commentators say that 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:56.160 are what they stand for. Liberal values haven't changed, but 0:11:56.240 --> 0:11:59.199 it's the policies, and policies move with the time and 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.160 move with the community as they go. 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:03.480 So it's not about changing our values. 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.360 Our values are still very much there, but it's making 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:08.440 sure that the policy that the party room puts forward 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:10.480 lines up. The other thing I just want to touch 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:14.000 on that was really important was around the cabinet solidarity. 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:17.280 Matt Canavan, to his credit, when we went into opposition, 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:20.320 decided not to take on a shadow portfolio, so he 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:22.600 was free to sit in the bleachers and throw the 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.600 jaffers as you wanted, when he wanted, as he is 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:27.960 in the coalition, you're allowed to from the back bench. 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:31.600 But solidarity of a cabinet is really important. And the 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:36.600 requests that they could not agree with cabinet colleagues still 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:40.040 hold the positions, still have the staff and the extra pay, 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:43.080 but then go out and throw their own bombs is 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:45.800 in my view, completely unacceptable and untenable. 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:47.400 It's a good try, let's be honest. 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:49.559 Yeah, it's a try very Marrian. 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:53.720 Let and that was that would never ever fly. 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:59.959 And the other point that you made wholly about no discussion, 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.480 no animosity, no challenges in the party whom It's true, 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:06.560 and that's exactly what happened under John Houston when I 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:10.160 was there too, he too had a steady ship, but 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.960 no disagreements going. You need disagreements, absolutely, You've got to 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:17.680 be able to have Vista band. You know. I have 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:19.840 a lot of respect for Peter Dutton. I think he's 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:24.200 given great contribution to the country. But I've never been 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:28.040 in the worst campaign. I think the Houston campaign was 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:31.280 pretty bad, but this one was pretty. 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:32.120 Just very quickly. 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:36.760 The Unity ticket continues quickly before we moved on, Holly, 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:39.319 how much do you think just into price, just into 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:42.640 an empertyper price, joining your party room may have effected. 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:45.120 Look, it was mentioned today. I think it's definitely an 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:49.880 underlying issue. I have heard from National Party colleagues and 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:54.880 their fury is palpable, absolutely palpable, and particularly in the 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:58.760 center where they have now lost party status in the Senate. 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.400 I think it is a myth for anyone to think 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:04.320 that somehow Angus Taylor and Enterprise would have kept the 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:07.200 coalition together. I think that would have been a bomb 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:10.760 that would have blown it up, maybe irrevtly because they 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:15.280 are there is a lot of anger there, but that 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:16.760 it is very welcome in our party. 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:19.200 Of that justificate, there is a lot of anger in 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:20.000 the National Party. 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:24.080 She was elected from the Country Liberal Party, yes, and 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:27.680 there's a bit of a hipocracy in there. The LNP 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:31.840 is technically part of the Liberal Parties, but by convention 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:35.640 members can elect to sit in the National Party Room 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:39.240 and despite the fact they're really under the Liberal Party banner, 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:41.320 so it's no different from the country. 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:43.760 I've been a party president. You know how all of 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:45.080 this works, I do think. 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:49.640 And I personally have negotiated and all of those I 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:53.880 have personally negotiated those agreements and the party agreement and 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:56.200 where the funding goes and so on. And I know 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:58.480 I said had to drivee a very hard bargain. I 0:14:58.480 --> 0:14:59.400 think I probably did. 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:01.960 So we'll get further into all of this stuff a 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:04.440 little later with Michael McCormick moving on to some other 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:07.280 news today. Labour's under pressure to end at six point 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:10.080 eight billion dollar power bill rebates, so I'll come back 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:13.040 to why in a moment. But the Treasurer, for his part, 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:15.040 won't rule out extending them. 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:17.880 We've budgeted for it to end at the end of 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:21.600 this year, that's clear in the budget papers. But what 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:24.560 we do each budget in this room next door is 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:26.800 we sit down with the Expenditure Review Committee and we 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:30.080 work out whether we can afford to provide more assistance 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:32.640 and if so, what form that, what assistance would take. 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:33.760 That will be our approach. 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:36.480 Now that's call to end them is coming from the 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:40.800 Prime Minister's Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee, which is the fancy 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:44.000 term for his welfare working group. They say it should 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:47.040 instead be spent on solar panels and batteries for low 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:49.760 income households. So you know, they're not exactly saying we 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.280 should save some money here, but they do have a 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:54.840 point in the fact that the rebates need to end 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:58.560 because they do not fix the actual problem, which is 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:02.600 of course the cost the energy. The rebate simply changes 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:04.880 what it says on the bill. It doesn't change anything 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:06.920 in reality in terms of what it costs to get 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:07.160 it to. 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:11.640 But once they embarked on renewables, only their policy and 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:16.840 rebuild it rewiring the nation astronomical costs. The single most 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.040 expensive power you can have in the world. That's what 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:22.920 they're giving us. They promised two hundred and seventy five 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:26.000 dollars of production. No, they can't deliver it, but with 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:29.520 a three hundred dollars rebate, they're bringing it down. They're 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:32.600 reducing their inflationary pressure, which is what they've done with 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:36.120 it is their bank to make the first cut, nicely 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:39.680 timed for the election, of course, so why wouldn't they 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:40.160 give it up. 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:43.080 Well, it's a good point. Obviously it did worked electorally, 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:44.560 but I mean, you know, we just wanted add two 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:46.320 hundred and seventy five dollars. Are I think that's what 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:47.440 we were promised, wasn't it. 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:50.080 Well, I think the unicorn farmers that they've got on 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:53.479 some of these economic advisory you know, solar panels and batteries, 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:55.680 when a lot of people in low income housing are 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:58.720 actually in apartments so don't have the options to solar panels. 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:01.120 You know, these people actually need to out. I did 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:03.960 notice the Brotherhood of Saint Lawrence. They had a representative 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:06.560 on there and he was talking about at least making 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.919 some of these rebates means tested rather than just universal, 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.000 which makes it like you to do it. 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:16.160 No, you've got to understand. I know we don't have time. 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.520 There's another very special side to the way that rebate 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:22.520 is paid. It's actually paid to the power the energy 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:25.640 Power Company exactly so, and if you're going to start 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:26.840 being says you can't do that. 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:29.400 Can't do that, and so I have the so called 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:32.440 inflationary introduction because it's not coming. 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:32.600 Off the ban. 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:35.200 And that's the point. It's not a rebate to you. 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:41.040 We're not stand out to the power company. Thousands of 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:45.720 firefighters and farmers protested outside Melbourne's Parliament House this morning against, 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:49.119 of course, the Allen Government's Emergency Services leavy, which is 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:52.280 part of today's state budget. I mean, farmers will copy 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:56.960 insane one hundred and fifty percent tax hike. But of 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:01.320 course many of these farmers are the volunteer firefighters who 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:05.640 will supposedly benefit from this increased tax. So they're now 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:09.200 cutting crook. They're saying they won't put their uniforms on anymore. 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:12.639 There's been vision going around to people burning their uniforms. 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:15.480 They're turning their pages off and saying, we'll bugger you. 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:17.720 Why would we help out if you're going to charge 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:20.800 us to do the work that you won't pay someone 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:23.960 to do. Victorian oppositionally to brad Batten said they would 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:25.560 repeal this if they win in government. 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:28.720 I will make the commitment to you that if we 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:31.200 are elected on November next year. 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:35.680 The Victorian Liberals will scrap that tax and land that money. 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:36.240 Back to Victoria. 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:39.919 Now, look, if you're a landowner in Victoria, Bronwin, you 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:43.040 are essentially an enemy of the state because what they've 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:45.919 done to land tax down there is ridiculous. But this 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:49.280 is effectively just another land tax based Still, we'll just 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:51.920 get some more money out of you. And funnily enough, 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:54.040 the money they're going to pull in from this is 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:58.240 very similar to the surplus today. They said they would post. 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:01.480 Funny about that, isn't it. But this is what socialists do. 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:05.520 We often hear the expression that they tax and spend. 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:10.240 Uh ah, they spend a tax because they hand out 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:12.160 the money. What they want to do is make people 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:14.960 dependent on the government. And if they rip it off 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:18.320 a particular group of people, they don't care about that. 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:21.160 They simply want more and more people to be depended 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:24.359 on them so they can keep their nice little spot 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:27.720 of power. So I don't think that's going to work. 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:30.520 This time, well, it kind of at least we've got 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:31.160 an opposition. 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:32.240 Now, Well, that's. 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:37.600 Said that elections have consequences, and this has been the 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:41.560 consequence of consistently electing a labor government in Victoria has 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:45.240 been this astronomical growth in state debt that they're now 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:47.880 trying to get on top of. It's also the reason 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:51.280 why strong oppositions are important. And hopefully with brad Batten 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:55.240 and some of the other more fringe issues they were 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:59.240 concerned with more recently behind them, and the Liberal Party 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:02.000 in Victoria can get its act together to actually put 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:02.760 up an opposition. 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:05.000 Because elections have consequences. 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:08.400 And when you elect people who have no economic understanding 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:12.040 and they just keep spending and keep spending and keep spending, 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:15.040 they are going to come for it at some stage. 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:17.520 And this is what they're saying in Victoria. And we 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:20.680 could stay nationally sooner than we all think. 0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:22.679 You'd like to think so. And of course, you know, 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:26.320 as I said when she became the Premiere of Victoria 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.400 to sin Heer Allen, ain't no Daniel Andrews. And it's 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:31.959 very difficult to hold together what Andrews put together if 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:35.600 you're not Andrews himself. Now Labour's supertext is so unpopular 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:38.920 even Tier independent Manique Ryan has criticized what she called 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:42.880 the poorly considered an harmful and unfair policy. She said 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:45.920 the government's plan to increase tax on high balances shouldn't 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:49.560 include taxation of unrealized games, just common sense stuff and 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:52.000 it must be indexed if it does happen. I know 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:55.119 Kate Cheney in Wa has come out against it too. Now, 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:57.520 of course some bronwin that the Teals might realize that 0:20:57.520 --> 0:20:59.680 they have people in their seats who may will fall 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:02.359 into the category, so they know what side their breed 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:06.040 is battered on. But what they say is correct. I 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:10.480 mean the idea that the concept of taxing unrealized capital 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:12.280