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Speaker 1: Today on Fear and Greed, the two federal leaders gear

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Speaker 1: up for the final run into the election. Rental growth

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Speaker 1: across the country is still tracking above pre COVID levels,

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Speaker 1: and Bunnings dips its toe into the auto sector. Welcome

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Speaker 1: to Fear and Greed, daily business news for people who

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Speaker 1: make their own decisions. It is Easter Monday, the twenty

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Speaker 1: first of April twenty twenty five. Ah Michael Thompson and

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Speaker 1: good morning, Sean Aylmer.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Michael.

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Speaker 1: Sean this morning. We have a shorter show today given

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Speaker 1: it to a public holiday around the country, and I've

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Speaker 1: got to say if you are hoping for our daily

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Speaker 1: newsletter then you might be in for a bit of

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Speaker 1: a disappointment. It is obviously taking the long weekend off,

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Speaker 1: but but it will be back. The newsletter. The full

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Speaker 1: show Everything returns tomorrow in full in the run into

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Speaker 1: the election. If you haven't signed up for the newsletter now,

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Speaker 1: now is the perfect opportunity to do so. Head along

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Speaker 1: to Fearangreed dot com dot au and pop your email

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Speaker 1: addressing shown on with the show. The election. It's the

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Speaker 1: main story today. Hostilities were supposed to cease over Easter,

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Speaker 1: though it's probably fair to say that didn't really happen.

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Speaker 1: You can't blame them, can you. They're twelve days out

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Speaker 1: from polling, one day before postal voting commences, and really

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Speaker 1: Prime Minister Anthony Aberanezi and Labor they are in the

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Speaker 1: box seat at the moment. They are.

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Speaker 2: The big polls from nine Entertainment, from the Australians News poll,

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Speaker 2: from ap other polls they all put the most likely

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Speaker 2: outcome a minority Labor government. That means Labor in power

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Speaker 2: with the support of the Greens and Independence. In fact,

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Speaker 2: if anything, the Poles have Labor doing better than the

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Speaker 2: coalition doing the campaign and Prime Minister Anthony Alberzi pulling

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Speaker 2: away from Opposition leader Peter Dunton as preferred leader, which

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Speaker 2: is a very important measure because when people go to

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Speaker 2: the poll they think who do I want to be PM?

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Speaker 2: They think that probably as much as they do who

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Speaker 2: do want to be my local member? But of course

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Speaker 2: twelve days is a long long time in politics. With

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Speaker 2: postal voting opening tomorrow, most of the big ticket announcements

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Speaker 2: have been made. Of course, there'll be bits and pieces

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Speaker 2: coming from both sides over the next couple of weeks.

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Speaker 2: Alberanize is likely to spend the last days of the

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Speaker 2: campaign pushing Labour's reforms around childcare and health wages. Tax reform, well,

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Speaker 2: it's minimal reform, but Labour's calling it tax reform. These

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Speaker 2: are the tax cuts we're talking about, and of course

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Speaker 2: dealing with the United States in a Donald Trump world.

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Speaker 2: Peter Dunton will spend the next twelve days talking about

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Speaker 2: energy and defense. I wonder how many more service stations

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Speaker 2: he can visit. He'said about a dozen at this point.

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Speaker 2: Expect to hear the line about petrol prices being twenty

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Speaker 2: five cents a leader cheaper under the coalition, and expect

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Speaker 2: to hear the question are you better off than a

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Speaker 2: year ago? We still have school holidays in anzac day

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Speaker 2: for the police to contend with. But I reckon both

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Speaker 2: sides are racing to the finish this point.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, absolutely. Now, Sean, it might be an Easter

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Speaker 1: Monday shorter edition, but we still have a great interview

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Speaker 1: coming up today. It is with Daniella Milana, who is

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Speaker 1: a partner at Obsidian Capital working with sodaor Capital, a

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Speaker 1: supporter of this podcast. A really interesting conversation.

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Speaker 2: It's a totally different take. It's not about private equity,

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Speaker 2: but not from a local viewpoint, rather an international view point.

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Speaker 2: Danielle joins US from Italy. His business is pushing hard

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Speaker 2: to get into this region. It's really interesting to hear

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Speaker 2: what he says about the types of companies global firms

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Speaker 2: are looking for in our region. It great one for investors,

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Speaker 2: but even if you're just interested about how the world

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Speaker 2: sees places like Australia, definitely tune in.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, a great international perspective. It is coming up after

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Speaker 1: the show Sean. Rental growth across the country is still

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Speaker 1: tracking above pre COVID levels, but the rate of change

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Speaker 1: has slowed considerably.

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Speaker 2: March quarter, or during the March quarter, rents jumped one

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Speaker 2: point seven percent, largely driven by units, which were up

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Speaker 2: two point three percent. House rents were up one point

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Speaker 2: four percent. At their peak in the twelve months to

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Speaker 2: the end of March last year, rents were rising at

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Speaker 2: more than eight percent per year. They're now back on

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Speaker 2: an annual basis to about four percent, which is higher

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Speaker 2: than the pace of inflation, higher than the pace of growth,

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Speaker 2: but much better than it was twelve months ago. Within

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Speaker 2: that number, the fact that units outperformed houses in that

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Speaker 2: last quarter is actually a reversal of what had been

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Speaker 2: happening previously. Since March twenty nineteen, national rents have climbed

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Speaker 2: thirty eight point four percent. That's about one hundred and

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Speaker 2: eighty two dollars per week, or about nine thousand or

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Speaker 2: more than nine thousand bucks annually. This increases prompted many

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Speaker 2: households to adapt by forming larger households, particularly in capital cities.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: Around nineteen nine thousand rental properties were listed for rent

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Speaker 2: nationally over the four weeks to six April. That's about

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Speaker 2: twenty percent blow the historic norm for this time of

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Speaker 2: the year and part of the reason, or a big

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Speaker 2: part of the reason, why there's still pressure on rents.

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Speaker 1: How about this one, Sean, I know you enjoy your

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Speaker 1: trip to Bunnings. Did you go to Bunnings over over

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Speaker 1: the long weekend?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I went. So I went and got what I needed.

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Speaker 2: I then went back to exchange it, and then I

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Speaker 2: went back third time because I'd forgotten something.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And then you also came away with things that

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Speaker 1: you didn't need. I'm guessing well, absolutely.

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Speaker 2: And then when I did, what I was doing was

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Speaker 2: the thing in the garage. And I'm not particularly handy.

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Speaker 2: As you know. By the time I've done all that

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Speaker 2: and I put it all together, I walked away. I'm

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Speaker 2: pretty proud of myself. Went to use the next day.

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Speaker 2: No stuck.

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Speaker 1: Anyway. Good news for you, then, this is great news

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Speaker 1: for you, then, Sean Bunnings, fresh from pushing heavily into

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Speaker 1: cleaning and pet products, it's dipping its toe into the

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Speaker 1: auto sector. I don't know why that's good news for you.

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Speaker 1: You and do not miss.

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Speaker 2: No, no nothing. Look, it's a category bunning had when

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Speaker 2: it launched in nineteen ninety four, but shifted out of

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Speaker 2: leaving this to sector the sector to groups like super

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Speaker 2: retail that's super cheap auto Babcor also Burson Auder barn Chains.

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Speaker 2: They've done a really good job in that area. But Bunnings.

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Speaker 2: In March they started putting a few auto products in.

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Speaker 2: By the end of this month, there will be around

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Speaker 2: four hundred products, according to a story in The fin Review.

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Speaker 2: Investment analysts differ on prospects for Bunnings, Audo pointing out

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Speaker 2: that in some categories they're cheaper, but in others are

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Speaker 2: more expensive. Also, Bunnings doesn't carry some of the bigger

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Speaker 2: brand names that could be a problem because shoppers tend

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Speaker 2: to want options in that area.

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Speaker 1: BHP has won approval for New South Wales' largest coal

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Speaker 1: mine to remain open for a further four years, with

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Speaker 1: part of the site set to be repurposed into a

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Speaker 1: pumped hydro project. Amid concern over job prospects for two

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Speaker 1: thousand workers.

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Speaker 2: The producer has been seeking an extension for the Mount

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Speaker 2: Arthur therm Or coal mine in New South Wales Hunter

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Speaker 2: Valley until twenty thirty. The facility has a two thousand

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Speaker 2: and strong workforce. Last week, the New South Aal's government

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Speaker 2: approved the extension to June twenty thirty, with BHP adding

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Speaker 2: a thirty million dollar community fund and appointing Aciona. Oh no,

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Speaker 2: that's not right, it's Axiona. We've had the boss on

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Speaker 2: the show at anyway. BHP's appointed Acthiona to develop an

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Speaker 2: initial feasibility study for the pumped hydro development. According to

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Speaker 2: The Australian, BHP said the pumped hydro project could provide

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Speaker 2: daily power for up to five hundred thousand homes across

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Speaker 2: New South Wales and deliver a thousand construction jobs within

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Speaker 2: the Upper Hunter Valley. The Mount Eifer mine spans seventy

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Speaker 2: square kilometers eighteen kilometers long at its coal phase, BHP

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Speaker 2: is promising to explore alternative land uses for the site

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Speaker 2: amid fears over job cuts once it eventually shuts down.

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Speaker 1: That's something that you don't get. Another business news podcast

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Speaker 1: on Live workshopping of pronunciations.

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Speaker 2: Wish listeners heard what we said off there. Pronunciations not good.

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Speaker 1: Golly. Finally, Sean, it's worth mentioning a story that had

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Speaker 1: a bit of discussion over the weekend, if only because

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Speaker 1: I love space stories and it wouldn't be a podcast

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Speaker 1: without one.

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Speaker 2: Astronomers have found signs of biological activity. I reckon, that's life.

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Speaker 2: I'm going to go life sound like it does? Yeah,

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Speaker 2: it does, biological activity on a planet one hundred and

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Speaker 2: twenty four light years from Earth, in what they call

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Speaker 2: is the strongest evidence yet of extra terrestrial life. Do

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Speaker 2: you know that I'm saying that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. It gives it a real kind of just it

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Speaker 1: feels like we are watching an episode of Star Trek

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Speaker 1: right now. Yes. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Scientists used the Space Telescope to detect specific organic molecules

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Speaker 2: in the atmosphere of K two eighteen b The catchy

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Speaker 2: name catchy name for a planet. It's a distant, water

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Speaker 2: covered planet that is eight point six times bigger than

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Speaker 2: Earth and orbits a red dwarf star. I mean, why

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Speaker 2: not just call it like? I don't know? Steve, Steve

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Speaker 2: KLi as opposed to K two eighteen B anyway on Earth.

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Speaker 2: Such molecules that they saw, These organic molecules are only

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Speaker 2: produced by living organisms. Now, a professor of astrophysics at

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Speaker 2: Cambridge University who render the study pronunciation, Michael might have

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Speaker 2: to help me here here, nick who mattis Sudan? Madis Sudan?

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Speaker 1: Sounds tooize?

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Speaker 2: NICKI, niku? If I got that wrong? And I quote him?

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Speaker 2: Given everything we know about this planet, a world with

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Speaker 2: an ocean that is teeming with life, is this scenario

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Speaker 2: that best fits the data. The research suggests that conditions

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Speaker 2: on K two A and B could mirror Earth's early oceans.

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Speaker 2: According to the Financial Times, Now, the astronomer stopped short

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Speaker 2: of claiming definitive evidence of biological activity, but they said

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Speaker 2: the new findings were compelling as no known non biological

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Speaker 2: process could account for such a large quantity of organic molecules.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so they will stop short of claiming it. I

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Speaker 1: have no issue with making those there's.

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Speaker 2: Lots of out there that's it. Fear and Greed exclusive

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Speaker 2: that there.

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Speaker 1: Says life has been found on another planet. You heard

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Speaker 1: it here first up next Sean in the Fear and

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Speaker 1: Greed playlist on your podcast platform or at Fearangreed dot

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Speaker 1: com dot au. We also sign up for the newsletter

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Speaker 1: Danielle and Milana partner at Obsidian Capital, as you say,

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Speaker 1: a really interesting international perspective on private equity. And then

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Speaker 1: this afternoon there's no afternoon report because markets aren't open,

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Speaker 1: but but instead we have a special investing interview, just

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Speaker 1: a five minute little snapshot of investing in gold miners,

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Speaker 1: which is obviously just so hot at the moment.

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Speaker 2: Sean, Yeah, yeah, sure is.

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Speaker 1: Indeed so plenty of good listening coming up and then

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Speaker 1: everything back to normal tomorrow morning. Thank you very much, Sean.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Michael.

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Speaker 1: It is Monday, the twenty first of April twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 1: Make sure you're following the podcast and please join us

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Speaker 1: online on LinkedIn, Instagram, x TikTok and Facebook. I'm Michael

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Speaker 1: Thompson and let's Fear and Grade heaving great dye