Speaker 1: Live on Sky News.
Speaker 2: This is Sharry Good Evening.
Speaker 3: We're just to recap that breaking news out of Paris.
Speaker 3: An Australian hockey player, Tom Craig has been arrested by
Speaker 3: French police after allegedly buying cocaine at the Olympics. The
Speaker 3: Australian Olympic Committee released the statement saying they have confirmed
Speaker 3: an Australian hockey team member is in custody after being
Speaker 3: arrested in Paris on August sixth.
Speaker 2: No charges have been laid.
Speaker 3: The AOC is continuing to make inquiries and arranged support
Speaker 3: for the team member. So hockey player Tom Craig arrested
Speaker 3: in Paris unsuspected charges of cocaine use. Will bring you
Speaker 3: live updates as they unfold throughout the hour. Well, it's
Speaker 3: an absolutely jam packed show tonight. We have exclusive Liberal
Speaker 3: Party research that reveals voter attitudes are hardening again. He's
Speaker 3: the Prime Minister over the cost of living crisis. This
Speaker 3: as the IBA blames high government spending for stubborn inflation.
Speaker 3: Former Treasurer Josh Fridenberg is on the show tonight with
Speaker 3: a warning about the need to confront authoritarian regimes.
Speaker 4: And right now we're seeing authoritarian regimes on the march
Speaker 4: around the world, and the battlefields of Europe obviously Ukraine
Speaker 4: and Russia, the Middle East seeing tensions in the South
Speaker 4: China Sea, and we see tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Speaker 4: So authoritarian regimes are on the march around the world,
Speaker 4: Yet democracies are very divided.
Speaker 3: So my exclusive interview with Josh Fridenberger coming up in
Speaker 3: the program. Also tonight, the joy of Australia's youngest gold
Speaker 3: medal winner, whose parents now have to honor their promise
Speaker 3: to buy her a pet duck.
Speaker 5: I said, if I did win, could I get a duck?
Speaker 2: And she said yes.
Speaker 3: But first tonight I can exclusively reveal secret polling which
Speaker 3: shows voters are starting to blame Anthony Albanesi personally for
Speaker 3: the state of the economy. The internal research carried out
Speaker 3: for the Liberal Party suggests Australians are now holding the
Speaker 3: Prime Minister accountable for soaring petrol prices, increasing energy bills,
Speaker 3: the high cost of groceries and crippling mortgage repayments. This
Speaker 3: is dangerous for Albanezi. He'd been hoping inflation would start
Speaker 3: to moderate, a hope crueled by the RBA's reality check
Speaker 3: that there's no prospect of a rate cut anytime soon.
Speaker 3: Albanzi is already seen as a hypocrite for blaming former
Speaker 3: PM Scott Morrison for the first interest rate rise, while
Speaker 3: now not accepting responsibility for the thirteen sins, but his
Speaker 3: largely escaped blame for the cost of living crisis.
Speaker 2: This new research.
Speaker 3: I'm reporting tonight shows that vote sentiment is hardening against
Speaker 3: alban Easy over his handling of the economic crisis. Given
Speaker 3: he campaigned at the twenty twenty two election more than
Speaker 3: two years ago, now on a promise of making life
Speaker 3: more affordable, he can no longer escape responsibility for the
Speaker 3: tough times many of you are experiencing. This comes as
Speaker 3: his government and many of the States seem intent on
Speaker 3: spending money to win over voters, spending that is now
Speaker 3: being blamed for keeping inflation and interest rates higher for longer.
Speaker 3: It puts alban Easy and the States on a collision
Speaker 3: course with the RBA after injecting an extra twenty two
Speaker 3: billion dollars into the economy this financial year. It's one
Speaker 3: of the reasons inflation is now not expected to return
Speaker 3: to the target banned until twenty twenty six, and why
Speaker 3: the RBA even considered hiking rates.
Speaker 2: This week.
Speaker 3: Governor Michelle Bullock stung the Albanese government when, in part
Speaker 3: she blamed high spending for the need to keep rates
Speaker 3: higher for longer.
Speaker 6: Make no mistake, inflation is still too high and the
Speaker 6: Board does remain concerned about the degree of excess demand
Speaker 6: in the economy. In the statement of Monetary policy, we've
Speaker 6: revised up our forecast for demand growth and that's due
Speaker 6: to stronger forecast public spending.
Speaker 3: She also spoke about the impact of low productivity. Other
Speaker 3: senior IBA economists fronted are Senate Estimates Inquiry today to
Speaker 3: reinforce the message that government spending is partly responsible for
Speaker 3: this cost of living crisis.
Speaker 7: Public spending is one part of demand that we track.
Speaker 7: We're looking at the latest announcements coming out from the
Speaker 7: very state budgets, from the federal budget and what we
Speaker 7: actually see coming through the data as well, how projects
Speaker 7: are progressing on some of the big infrastructure activity that's
Speaker 7: happening here in Sydney, instance, a lot of the work
Speaker 7: around the bridge and the tunneling of things. If this
Speaker 7: is big enough that we can see it coming through
Speaker 7: in the aggregate data.
Speaker 3: And the RBA's statement on monetary policy specifically says that
Speaker 3: public demand is forecast to be stronger than previously expected,
Speaker 3: reflecting recent public spending announcements by federal and state and
Speaker 3: territory governments. We're Treasurer Jim Chalmers rejects the notion spending
Speaker 3: is fueling inflation.
Speaker 5: Budget spending is not the primary determinant of prices in
Speaker 5: the economy, but we can be helpful, and we are
Speaker 5: being helpful with the design of our cost of living
Speaker 5: policies which help us get back to target sooner.
Speaker 3: Despite his remarks, economists today seized on the RBA's comments
Speaker 3: to urge governments to stop spending so that rates can
Speaker 3: begin to fall. Amp Chief economist Shane Oliver told a
Speaker 3: Senate committee today that government spending was having a significant
Speaker 3: impact on inflation.
Speaker 8: When I asked, well, whif of the forecast gone up,
Speaker 8: she specifically referred to We've got some numbers on high
Speaker 8: government spending. There's other things in there as well, but
Speaker 8: I have a feeling that if we had, say, lower
Speaker 8: growth than government spending, the Reserve Bank would either be
Speaker 8: considering cutting or much closer to cutting.
Speaker 3: Chris Richardson is one of the only economists who's consistently
Speaker 3: argued government spending was inflationary. He told me today that
Speaker 3: extra state government spending this year amounts to around twelve
Speaker 3: billion dollars, so that from state governments, while federal government
Speaker 3: decisions have added around ten billion dollars extra into the economy.
Speaker 3: Add in the Stage three tax cuts, and Chris Richardson says,
Speaker 3: this is an extra forty six billion dollars being poured
Speaker 3: into the economy this financial year. And he told me
Speaker 3: that this is equivalent to the best part of just
Speaker 3: under two percent of national income. He says, that's huge
Speaker 3: relative to the amount of money the irba's rate rises
Speaker 3: have taken out of the economy. He says, the Reserve
Speaker 3: Bank is taking money out of the economy and the
Speaker 3: governments are putting money back into the economy. And Chris
Speaker 3: Richardson also argues the energy subsidies of seventy five dollars
Speaker 3: a quarter were simply delaying the pain and that inflation
Speaker 3: would rise once the subsidies end. Now, while they reduce
Speaker 3: the energy component of CPI, they are also still inflationary.
Speaker 3: And Chris Richardson said, and I quote the basic point
Speaker 3: is that families have more ability to spend than they
Speaker 3: otherwise would have had. It's a point economist Warren Hogan
Speaker 3: made on this program the other night.
Speaker 9: If electricity is one hundred and it goes to one
Speaker 9: hundred and ten, but the goverment gives you a subsidy
Speaker 9: and says it's only going to cost you one hundred
Speaker 9: and five. The electricity generator is still getting one hundred
Speaker 9: and ten, but the CPI says it's only going up
Speaker 9: to one hundred and five. The following year they remove
Speaker 9: the subsidy, the consumer pays one hundred and ten, and
Speaker 9: even though the electricity price hasn't changed, the CPI will
Speaker 9: measure it as an increase. So it's just a mask
Speaker 9: in terms of inflation. So if you remove the subsdy,
Speaker 9: inflation will go up.
Speaker 3: Now for the RBA to even publicly mention government spending,
Speaker 3: it's an indicator of the level of frustration at the
Speaker 3: Central Bank economics. Economics journalist Tom Jusifik writes that the
Speaker 3: scene is now set for an almighty tussle between the
Speaker 3: bank's board and politicians facing voters over the coming year.
Speaker 3: He says there will be harsh words, finger pointing, and
Speaker 3: no political prisoners. Now, if this new message from the
Speaker 3: Central Bank hits home to voters the government spending is
Speaker 3: responsible for higher interest rates, then Albanezi will become a
Speaker 3: national villain. That new research I revealed at the start
Speaker 3: of the program showing voters are turning on Albanzi personally
Speaker 3: for his management of the economy, well, this will put
Speaker 3: pressure on him to act if he wants any chance
Speaker 3: of winning the next election. The path from now to
Speaker 3: that election is full of risk for Albanesi. His political
Speaker 3: prospects are inextricably linked with our economy. All right, let's
Speaker 3: bring in now our Wednesday panel to discuss this and
Speaker 3: much more former Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger and
Speaker 3: Labor legend Graham Richardson.
Speaker 2: Great to see you both.
Speaker 3: Michael, I want to start by asking you about this
Speaker 3: internal Liberal Party research that shows voter attitudes are hardening
Speaker 3: against Albanesi. They're starting to blame him personally for the
Speaker 3: cost of living crisis.
Speaker 10: Look, they remember that he said he had a plan
Speaker 10: to fix Morrison's cost of living crisis, and he kept
Speaker 10: using those words cost of living crisis because that's what
Speaker 10: the strategists and advertise as the agent he told him
Speaker 10: to say, I've seen these things over the years. They said,
Speaker 10: repeat that at every opportunity, so he did. He left
Speaker 10: people with a very strong impression, Shari, that he could
Speaker 10: fix us. And then he said he had a plan
Speaker 10: to fix it, and he said he could cut electricity prices,
Speaker 10: turn on Sidney five dollars, blah blah blah. He gave everyone,
Speaker 10: He gave everyone the impression that this was just Scott
Speaker 10: Morrison's lost control of the economy. It's all Scott Morrison's fault,
Speaker 10: and he would fix it. Now people realize this was
Speaker 10: just political chicanery, it was bulldust, it was cheap advertising,
Speaker 10: they were false promises. He never had any idea and
Speaker 10: they're blaming him for it.
Speaker 8: Now.
Speaker 10: They're now saying, Albo, you lie to us and that's
Speaker 10: his problem and it'll keep going until he fixes it,
Speaker 10: which he can't.
Speaker 3: Well, rich O, there's no question the Prime Minister would
Speaker 3: have been hoping for some more positive news that inflation
Speaker 3: was moderating, but that seems a remote possibility. Now that's
Speaker 3: far off, judging by Michelle Bullock's comments yesterday. So where
Speaker 3: does this leave Albanezi politically?
Speaker 11: I think he'd prefer it wasn't the case. But you
Speaker 11: remember it's a long time between now and the next election,
Speaker 11: and so I don't think it's time for panic, but
Speaker 11: it is certainly time that we stayed alert and you know,
Speaker 11: we're making sure that whatever we can do is being
Speaker 11: done to try and moderate this.
Speaker 3: Look, it's been a shocking week for the Prime Minister,
Speaker 3: not just the news, although the RBA's comments that inflation
Speaker 3: isn't going to come down over the next six months,
Speaker 3: it's not going to be a rate cut over the
Speaker 3: next six months. That is absolutely disastrous. But then also
Speaker 3: on the national security front and his weak handling of
Speaker 3: these issues have come under scrutiny. Last night I brought
Speaker 3: you the exclusive remarks from AZEO Director General Mike Burgess.
Speaker 3: He called the comments by the Iranian Ambassador to Australia
Speaker 3: disgraceful and deeply unhelpful. But the ambassador hasn't even been
Speaker 3: hauled into a minute offers. And then also this week
Speaker 3: our terror threat level raised to probable.
Speaker 2: This is a worrying sign.
Speaker 3: And then Labor is still not stopping millions of dollars
Speaker 3: in hard earned taxpayer funds being sent to a United
Speaker 3: Nations agency despite its staff having undeniable links with a
Speaker 3: terrorist group. I mean, Michael Kroger. Some leaders rise to
Speaker 3: meet the crises of the times, but not Albanezi.
Speaker 10: Weakness is provocative, and Albanesi has been hopeless, hopeless on
Speaker 10: the Middle East, hopeless on Israel. The only person who's
Speaker 10: put in a worse performance than him is Penny Wong,
Speaker 10: who wouldn't even visit the Nava music festival, side wouldn't
Speaker 10: visit the Kible scene in on the on the border
Speaker 10: with Gaza when she was there in January. He seems
Speaker 10: to agree with the last person that speaks to him,
Speaker 10: and so does she. So they go to America. I
Speaker 10: es the Americans got to do more with Americans. She
Speaker 10: meets the head of the Australian Palestinian Network and gets
Speaker 10: photographed with him. People complain about funding to UNRAS, so
Speaker 10: she increases the She restores the funding before the final report,
Speaker 10: et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, allowing two thousand people
Speaker 10: circa from Gaza to come to Australia, and now Tony
Speaker 10: Burke because he's trying to win votes amongst the Muslim
Speaker 10: community to give them some kind of residency here. Well,
Speaker 10: I'm sorry, How many Hammas supporters are there amongst those
Speaker 10: two thousand, because seventy percent of people in Gaza who
Speaker 10: have been polled support Hamas. And how many refugees have
Speaker 10: been taken by the Jordanians? Look at the Jordanians, I
Speaker 10: mean that Jordanians. King has Saying expelled the po in
Speaker 10: nineteen seventy one. King Abdullah expelled the Hummas leadership from
Speaker 10: Jordan in nineteen ninety nine, right.
Speaker 2: Why did they do that?
Speaker 10: Because they took the view that the Palestinian leadership of
Speaker 10: Hummas were trying to create a state within a state.
Speaker 10: How familiar is that? And they were built by Jordan.
Speaker 10: How many refugees from Gaza have gone to Jordan or
Speaker 10: Egypt or Lebanon or Syria? Answer? None, except for those
Speaker 10: that have paid across the border into Egypt. None. None.
Speaker 10: Why are we taking these refugees at a time when
Speaker 10: there is enough social dislocation in this country largely caused
Speaker 10: and fueled by these disgusting anti Jewish demonstrations and universities
Speaker 10: in streets and now in retail shops.
Speaker 2: Sherry, It's an excellent point.
Speaker 3: And actually the Australians Foreign editor Greg Sheridan was on
Speaker 3: with Peter Kredlin. Earlier Michael Krogan, he made a very
Speaker 3: similar point. He said, why fly Palestinians all the way
Speaker 3: to Australia when Arab nations are surrounding Gaza? Why aren't
Speaker 3: they going to any of the surrounding Arab nations. That's
Speaker 3: exact question, the point you made. And you know, fine,
Speaker 3: if there are genuine refugees, our heart goes out to
Speaker 3: any families who are in trouble who need help. But
Speaker 3: the security checks, as we've shown over and over again,
Speaker 3: are not being.
Speaker 2: Done, but being done in as little as one hour.
Speaker 3: You can't rule out that someone, whether or not someone
Speaker 3: has terrorist associations, in as little as one hour. Actually,
Speaker 3: let's have a look at some of the other things
Speaker 3: Greg Sheridan had to say tonight.
Speaker 12: I'm a great admirer of Mike Burgess, the head of ASIO,
Speaker 12: but I thought he said some ridiculous things this week.
Speaker 12: He said Islamophobia is more or less equal to anti Semitism. Well,
Speaker 12: that's just preposterous if he believes that he's taking some
Speaker 12: hallucinogenic in his morning coffee. He also was instructing people
Speaker 12: how to speak. I don't think that's the job of
Speaker 12: the Director General of ASIO. That's the government trying to
Speaker 12: misuse the institutional authority of ASIO. And he did an
Speaker 12: interview with your colleague Laura Jays and he referred to
Speaker 12: Christian terrorism, but he wouldn't refer to Islamus terrorism. I
Speaker 12: think the government's gone really off the track this week, Richard,
Speaker 12: What do you.
Speaker 2: Think about that?
Speaker 3: Do you think that criticism of Mike Burgess from Greg
Speaker 3: Sheridan is fair?
Speaker 2: Ah?
Speaker 11: Sadly, I think yes. I don't think that Burgess has
Speaker 11: had his greatest week. I think some of his remarks
Speaker 11: have been out of place, and it doesn't it doesn't
Speaker 11: reflect well on him. But I think Albo still knows
Speaker 11: he's still got a good political nose. He understands where
Speaker 11: he must stand and he will stand.
Speaker 3: Let's have a look at the Airiring coul fired power
Speaker 3: station now under Matt Kean, the former Treasurer and Energy minister.
Speaker 3: There were plans to shut it down in August next year.
Speaker 3: The new Labor Premier, Chris Mins, extended its life cycle.
Speaker 3: Will we find out today that just how much higher
Speaker 3: power prices would have been had it shut down? Fifty
Speaker 3: five dollars lower every megawatt hour.
Speaker 2: Michael.
Speaker 3: This advice apparently shaped Chris Mins's deal with Origin Energy
Speaker 3: to extend the life of aerering, which is obviously a
Speaker 3: very sensible decision.
Speaker 10: Well, another good decision by Chris Mins, who is becoming
Speaker 10: a very sensible premiere in New South Wales, apart from
Speaker 10: the fact that his police force haven't yet prosecuted anyone
Speaker 10: for the riots and the anti Jewish riots at the
Speaker 10: Opera House, but that's another issue. Look, I think what
Speaker 10: this shows is this that the Australian public, and through
Speaker 10: the polling you mentioned before, Sharry, the Australian public are
Speaker 10: coming to the view that renewables may not be cheaper
Speaker 10: and may not be as reliable, and they don't want blackouts,
Speaker 10: and they understand that you need base load power to
Speaker 10: keep the lights on.
Speaker 2: And you know, we know that.
Speaker 10: Hospitals need continuous electricity. Okay, they've got generators in case
Speaker 10: of blackout, but they're diesel fueled in most cases. And
Speaker 10: so this whole Chris Bowen notion that he keeps repeating
Speaker 10: this mantra of it's cheaper, it's cheaper cheaper, people are
Speaker 10: now thinking that may not be right and it's certainly
Speaker 10: not as reliable, and this is one of the great
Speaker 10: problems Albo's got. He's been trying to sell this thing
Speaker 10: to the public and the public's own right, their own experiences.
Speaker 10: Not only haven't bills gone down to seventy five, they've
Speaker 10: gone up twenty and twenty three percent in the last
Speaker 10: year in the case of gas and electricity. It's just
Speaker 10: not becoming believable and Albow has been caught out again
Speaker 10: unfortunately for him.
Speaker 3: Final word, rich I mean Matt Kean had failed to
Speaker 3: do the deal to extend the eraring life cycle when
Speaker 3: he was minister, but he's now the Albaneze government's top
Speaker 3: climate change authority guy.
Speaker 11: Yeah, Samrony there. Matt Keane's a great survivor and seems
Speaker 11: to be able to sell himself to anyone. So I'm
Speaker 11: a fan. That's what politics is about. You've got to
Speaker 11: have the capacity to move when you need to and
Speaker 11: move quickly.
Speaker 2: Well, there you go, all right, Graham Richards and Michael Kroger.
Speaker 2: Great to see you as always on a Wednesday. Now,
Speaker 2: as we've been.
Speaker 3: Discussing at the start of the show, inflation is proving
Speaker 3: persistent and sticky. Cost of living pressures are still hurting
Speaker 3: families and there's no interest rate relief at least for
Speaker 3: the next six months. For some expert analysis, Economics editor
Speaker 3: at The Australian, Judith Sloan joins me.
Speaker 2: Now, Judith, great to see you. Look.
Speaker 3: I thought these comments by the RBA Governor Michelle Bullock,
Speaker 3: where she actually mentioned government spending, I thought that was
Speaker 3: extremely rare because usually we've seen the RBA refrain from
Speaker 3: giving any sort of commentary that could be critical of
Speaker 3: the federal government's decision. So does this indicate a level
Speaker 3: of frustration at the Central Bank that spending both the
Speaker 3: states in federal governments is stopping their ability to rain
Speaker 3: in inflation.
Speaker 13: Yes, I think she's proving to be tougher than I
Speaker 13: thought she might have been. Actually, she's a country girl.
Speaker 13: She tends to call a spade a spade, and.
Speaker 2: In fact, you know this.
Speaker 13: Idea of the press conference after the release of the decision,
Speaker 13: this is an innovation.
Speaker 2: I think the.
Speaker 13: Journalists are getting better at asking questions too. But I
Speaker 13: think she's fairly forthright. But I would also alert attention
Speaker 13: for the audience to the actual release, the release in
Speaker 13: words and that was very strong. You know, in the
Speaker 13: context of the Olympics. It sort of reminds me of
Speaker 13: those races where there are sort of two often men,
Speaker 13: often in a long race, or in boxing or something,
Speaker 13: where this is this sort of word competition. So that's
Speaker 13: kind of what's happening, you know. I mean Jim Chalmers,
Speaker 13: I think really doesn't understand it.
Speaker 2: I think he thinks.
Speaker 13: That he's got this licked because he's sort of introducing these,
Speaker 13: for example, energy subsidies and that will reduce headline inflation.
Speaker 13: And then the Reserve Bank, you know, that gets battered
Speaker 13: off to them and they say no, no, no, we
Speaker 13: don't take any notice of those subsidies.
Speaker 2: And you know, bear in mind.
Speaker 13: Shari, we're talking about inflation not coming back into target
Speaker 13: till the end of next year, and it's actually the
Speaker 13: year after that when within the middle of the target.
Speaker 13: So this is a very long time and the longer
Speaker 13: it goes on, the more costly it is.
Speaker 3: Look, you've absolutely slaughtered the treasurer and your latest to column.
Speaker 3: But you know there are some positive points, aren't there, Judith.
Speaker 3: I mean, he has delivered two budget surpluses.
Speaker 2: He has rained in spending to some extent.
Speaker 3: I mean, the level of spending for a labor government
Speaker 3: what his colleagues would have wanted to spend on. He
Speaker 3: has managed to keep that relatively in check.
Speaker 2: So do you give him credit for at least those
Speaker 2: two things.
Speaker 3: And on the energy subsidies as we've been discussing tonight, Yep,
Speaker 3: they'll rise again when those subsidies come off, but at
Speaker 3: least for now, it does make life a bit easier
Speaker 3: for families, doesn't it.
Speaker 13: Well, of course, I mean that's the politics of it,
Speaker 13: and I accept that.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 13: No, I think as an economic policy maker, he's been terrible.
Speaker 13: And the two surpluses that they've been able to achieve,
Speaker 13: you know, the driver's dog would have achieved those surpluses
Speaker 13: because they were essentially because of the high commodity prices
Speaker 13: and the surgeon company tax revenue, and also the fact
Speaker 13: that income tax payers we're getting hit through bracket creep.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 13: No, if you look, he kind of did a slightly
Speaker 13: okay job initially, but that was partly because the COVID
Speaker 13: sped was coming off. But if you look at this
Speaker 13: financial year and next financial year.
Speaker 2: They're expecting big deficits.
Speaker 13: I mean, I can't believe that he has the hide
Speaker 13: to hand down a budget, and you know, really without
Speaker 13: any sense of embarrassment, is prepared to be predicting these
Speaker 13: large deficits. So I think, I just, I mean, I
Speaker 13: guess maybe I've been an economist for too long and
Speaker 13: he is not an economist. That is that he basically,
Speaker 13: I don't think gets it. So I think he thinks that,
Speaker 13: you know, he talks about these carefully crafted costs of
Speaker 13: living measures without realizing that it's all Peter and Paul stuff.
Speaker 13: So you might be able to reduce someone's costs of
Speaker 13: you know, electricity bills, but then that releases money for
Speaker 13: them to spend elsewhere. So you've got to worry about
Speaker 13: the level of aggregate demand. And that's really what Michelle
Speaker 13: Bullock is saying. That the federal government and the state
Speaker 13: governments are putting too.
Speaker 2: Much into the economy.
Speaker 13: It's a bit like having your foot on the brake
Speaker 13: and then another one on the accelerator at the same time.
Speaker 3: Not a good idea, Yeah, yeah, And I went through
Speaker 3: that in detail in my editorial at the start of
Speaker 3: the show.
Speaker 2: Judith, you do, though, give a big tick.
Speaker 3: Two of our regulars on this show here, Andrew Charlton
Speaker 3: and Daniel Molino, and you say you have hopes that
Speaker 3: they might be good managers of the economy.
Speaker 13: Yes, of course that was you know, bad Judy saying
Speaker 13: those things, I guess, but you think about it. Andrew
Speaker 13: Charlton in particular, you know he's actually run real business
Speaker 13: as he built up a fabulous business.
Speaker 2: He's got a doctorate.
Speaker 13: In economics, He's written a book with Joe Stiglitz, he
Speaker 13: did some incredibly interesting consulting work. I think he's a
Speaker 13: real brain and he really understands these things. And then
Speaker 13: of course Daniel Molino from Victoria. He has got a
Speaker 13: PhD in economics from Yale and in some really interesting
Speaker 13: ideas about the role of welfare and how that messures
Speaker 13: in with good economic policy. So they've got some talent there,
Speaker 13: it's just whether the factional system would allow them to
Speaker 13: use them.
Speaker 2: Indeed.
Speaker 3: And actually Daniel Milino's on the show a bit later tonight,
Speaker 3: so we'll hear from him. Then, Judah Slow's really good idea.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for your time, appreciated. Now coming
Speaker 3: up after the break, Josh Fridenberg joins me to speak
Speaker 3: about the rise of authoritarianism, and he laments the strong
Speaker 3: leadership we've lost, plus the unraveling of a one billion
Speaker 3: dollar taxpayer funded grant by Labor to a US tech company.
Speaker 2: That's all after this quick break. Welcome back. Well.
Speaker 3: Josh Fridenberg has been awarded the twenty twenty four Monash
Speaker 3: Medal for Rotary for his significant contribution to the Australian community,
Speaker 3: both in Parliament and beyond. He follows in the footsteps
Speaker 3: of distinguished Australians who we've also been recognized with this honor.
Speaker 3: They include High Court Judge Michael Kirby, Professor Fiona Wood
Speaker 3: and America's Cup Captain John Bertrand. The award is named
Speaker 3: after one of our military giants, Sir John Monash, a
Speaker 3: proud Jewish Australian. But you wonder how would Sir John
Speaker 3: be feeling if he were alive today about the current
Speaker 3: global environment. Well, it's a question that Friedenberg himself put
Speaker 3: to the former Governor General Peter Cosgrove in an interview
Speaker 3: for his documentary What do you.
Speaker 4: Think Sir John Monash, is Australia's greatest general but also
Speaker 4: Australia's greatest Jewish Australian, would be feeling right now?
Speaker 14: Well, I think Sir John would say, this is not
Speaker 14: the Australia that we fought for in the water wind
Speaker 14: All Wars. He'd be very sad that there is such
Speaker 14: an outbreak of violence in the Middle East, but here
Speaker 14: in Australia, he would be a guy.
Speaker 3: And I spoke to Josh Fredenberg a little earlier. Josh,
Speaker 3: welcome again to the show.
Speaker 4: Nice to be with you, Shari.
Speaker 3: You're standing outside the Shrine of Remembrance. Australia's greatest general,
Speaker 3: Sir John Monash was the driving force behind it. You've
Speaker 3: now been recognized for your leadership and service with this
Speaker 3: medal during your parliamentary career, but also since then, what
Speaker 3: does this metal mean to you?
Speaker 4: Well, Shari, it's a real honor, particularly at this time,
Speaker 4: as Sir John Monash is unarguably one of our greatest
Speaker 4: ever Australians and his personal qualities but also his personal
Speaker 4: contribution to secure the freedoms that we now enjoy echoes
Speaker 4: through the ages and so to be recognized with this
Speaker 4: medal at this time is particularly special.
Speaker 3: Some of our viewers might not know the detail about
Speaker 3: Sir John Monash's legacy and the importance to Australia.
Speaker 2: Of his contribution.
Speaker 3: Can you tell us why his story and his legacy
Speaker 3: remained so powerful even today.
Speaker 4: Well, Chai, it's not just his feats in war, but
Speaker 4: it was also his contributions during peacetime which were so significant.
Speaker 4: Sir John Monash was trained as an engineer and he
Speaker 4: brought those skills to the battlefield in World War One.
Speaker 4: After Gallipoli, he then went to France and he commanded
Speaker 4: Australian American troops who went into battle for the first
Speaker 4: time together on the fourth of July nineteen eighteen in
Speaker 4: the Battle of Hamel, and they routed the opposing forces
Speaker 4: in just ninety three minutes, and it was seen as
Speaker 4: an example of modern day warfare where he was able
Speaker 4: to integrate infantry, artillery, tanks and the air force in
Speaker 4: a very superior and wealth brought out a battle plan.
Speaker 4: Then in the Battle of Army n later on, again
Speaker 4: he played a significant role in commanding his troops to
Speaker 4: victory and that was described by General Ludendorf from the
Speaker 4: German Army as the blackest day for the German Army
Speaker 4: in World War One. And those achievements Shari were recognized
Speaker 4: when King George the Fifth actually went to Burtangles in
Speaker 4: France and knighted Sir John on the battlefield, the first
Speaker 4: time a reigning monarch had done so in some two
Speaker 4: hundred years. And then, of course after the war he
Speaker 4: was really important in repatriating some one hundred and sixty
Speaker 4: thousand Australian troops and then played a leading role as
Speaker 4: the head of the State Electricity Commission here in Victoria,
Speaker 4: turning Victorian to an industrial powerhouse. He was the vice
Speaker 4: chancellor of Melbourne University, he was the president for the
Speaker 4: Association of the advance of Science, and he just played
Speaker 4: a lead role across society in Australia at that time,
Speaker 4: so much so that when he died in nineteen thirty one,
Speaker 4: some three hundred thousand Australians lined the streets in Melbourne
Speaker 4: to pay their respects. That was more than a quarter
Speaker 4: of the Melbourney people who lived in Melbourne at that time.
Speaker 4: Quite a remarkable sign of respect for quite a remarkable Australian.
Speaker 3: He is indeed one of the great Australians.
Speaker 2: Reflecting on his contribution.
Speaker 3: And not just here but globally, how is his legacy
Speaker 3: still relevant around the world.
Speaker 4: Well, so, John Monash wasn't a warmongerer. He was a
Speaker 4: brilliant mind who recognized that he needed to bring those
Speaker 4: skills to help secure the freedoms that we now enjoy.
Speaker 4: And right now we're seeing authoritarian regimes on the march
Speaker 4: around the world. Battlefields of Europe obviously Ukraine and Russia,
Speaker 4: the Middle East and the conflict between Israel and Iranian proxies.
Speaker 4: We're obviously seeing tensions in the South China Sea, and
Speaker 4: we see tensions on the Korean Peninsula. So authoritarian regimes
Speaker 4: are on the march around the world. Yet democracies are
Speaker 4: very divided, and I think you know, the message of
Speaker 4: Monash is you know how to bring that strength to
Speaker 4: bear to bring victory on the battlefield, and as well
Speaker 4: as that, all these other contributions to the community are
Speaker 4: so significant. So it's really the values that Monash espoused
Speaker 4: which are so relevant today.
Speaker 3: Josh, you referred to the unrest we're seeing globally. We
Speaker 3: just played a moment ago Sir Peter Cosgrove's comments from
Speaker 3: your documentary where he said he thinks Monash would be
Speaker 3: aghast at the anti semitism we're seeing today. Do you
Speaker 3: think he would be empla shocked at how the democratic
Speaker 3: world is dealing with this problem.
Speaker 4: Well, Sharis, Sir John Monash was a proud Australian and
Speaker 4: also a proud Jew, and he never saw a conflict
Speaker 4: between his faith and his citizenship. He was a foundation
Speaker 4: president of the Zionus Federation of Australia. He sang in
Speaker 4: the Hebrew choir at his local synagogue. And I think
Speaker 4: Sir Peter Cosgrove is absolutely right when he sees here
Speaker 4: in Australia demonstrations outside synagogues, and when he sees some
Speaker 4: of the sloganeering on our streets and the intimidation and
Speaker 4: the violence against the Australian Jewish community, he would be appalled.
Speaker 4: And back in his day because he was such a
Speaker 4: towering figure, because he was so integral to the success
Speaker 4: of Australian and Western forces in Europe in World War One,
Speaker 4: I mean anti Semitism was not allowed effectively because there
Speaker 4: was just no credibility to it at that time. Because
Speaker 4: of Monash's example and the standing of Monash, among other things.
Speaker 4: I think today anti Semitism has to a degree been
Speaker 4: normalized even here in Australia, which is quite horrible to consider.
Speaker 4: So he would be aghast, and I'm sure he'd be
Speaker 4: using his voice, Shari to call for reason and vicinity
Speaker 4: to prevail.
Speaker 3: And Josh, congratulations once again and thank you for your
Speaker 3: leadership and your strong comments again tonight.
Speaker 4: Thanks very much, Shari.
Speaker 8: My pleasure.
Speaker 2: Now to another topic.
Speaker 3: Now, there have been questions raised over the Albanezy governments
Speaker 3: captain's pick when selecting si Quantum for their one billion
Speaker 3: dollar investment. Sarah Eisen reported that the US tech company
Speaker 3: si Quantum signed a non disclosure agreement with the government
Speaker 3: as part of secret discussions to build a one billion
Speaker 3: dollar quantum computer, nearly five months before expressions of interest
Speaker 3: were open to other players. New documents reveal this is
Speaker 3: just extraordinary and.
Speaker 2: I'm joined now by the Shadow Minister for Science.
Speaker 3: Paul Fletcher, who has been closely examining this issue.
Speaker 2: So, Paul, I mean that reports quite amazing.
Speaker 3: The Australian says that this is fueled speculation that the
Speaker 3: deal was underway long before the government then approached other
Speaker 3: companies about their interest in this investment.
Speaker 2: Are you concerned that proper process wasn't followed here?
Speaker 15: I am very concerned the proper process wasn't followed and
Speaker 15: that the expression of interest process you've just referred to,
Speaker 15: which kicked off in August twenty twenty three, in which
Speaker 15: a number of Australian companies were invited to participate, was
Speaker 15: essentially a backward engineered sham to cover up for the
Speaker 15: fact that the government and particularly Minister at Husick, already
Speaker 15: made the decision. What we know is that SI Quantum
Speaker 15: approached the government in late twenty twenty two. We know
Speaker 15: that Minister Husick met with them at least twice, including
Speaker 15: once in Silicon Valley in January twenty twenty three. We
Speaker 15: know that work was kicked off within his department, all
Speaker 15: kinds of briefing material was provided, and we also know
Speaker 15: that this expression of interest process was then conducted later
Speaker 15: in the year. But as part of that expression of
Speaker 15: interest process, the companies that were invited to participate, there
Speaker 15: was one email only inviting them to participate. They were
Speaker 15: told they could not have engagement with government officials. Bear
Speaker 15: in mind that PSI Quantum it had had eight months
Speaker 15: of talking to government officials up to and including the
Speaker 15: ministuff So it's a very very unfair process and those
Speaker 15: who participated in it said that it looked like it
Speaker 15: had been written so that only sy Quantum's technology could
Speaker 15: be found to meet the requirements.
Speaker 3: I mean, there are questions anyway over why taxpayer funds
Speaker 3: are going into a company that's already backed by a
Speaker 3: massive VC firm. I mean, one VC firms get it
Speaker 3: wrong all the time. But also if the company was
Speaker 3: so successful, then why does it need government funding. Wouldn't
Speaker 3: it be able to attract capital through investment and private
Speaker 3: investors anyway?
Speaker 15: Well, I think there are very real questions about what
Speaker 15: the government's objectives are here in putting almost a billion
Speaker 15: dollars of taxpayers money between the Comworth government and the
Speaker 15: Queenslane government into this company, which, as it happens, is
Speaker 15: an American company incorporated in the US based in Silicon Valley.
Speaker 15: But what we also know, because it was announced about
Speaker 15: three or four weeks ago, is that as well as
Speaker 15: the almost a billion dollars Australian that is being provided
Speaker 15: to a PI Quantum, they're also getting five hundred million
Speaker 15: US from the government of the state of Illinois in
Speaker 15: a deal that was announced just recently. And under that deal,
Speaker 15: SI Quantum will be building a computer in Chicago. So
Speaker 15: we're told they're going to build a computer in Brisbane,
Speaker 15: which apparently is going to be the world's first fault tolerant,
Speaker 15: error corrected quantum computer. But now we're told they're also
Speaker 15: going to be building one in Chicago. So the more
Speaker 15: we learn about this, the stranger it looks.
Speaker 2: Do you think there needs to be an inquiry into
Speaker 2: this process?
Speaker 15: Well, I've written to the Order to General to the
Speaker 15: Australian National Ordered Office. I've laid out the facts as
Speaker 15: we know them, including the timeline and when the government
Speaker 15: first started talking to side Quantum, and the fact that
Speaker 15: Australian companies were not given a look in, and indeed
Speaker 15: Australian companies were being told there is no more money
Speaker 15: for quantum from the Albaneze government than all of a sudden,
Speaker 15: out of the blue came this announcement in April of
Speaker 15: this year of almost a billion dollars going into side Quantum.
Speaker 15: So I think there's a lot of questions to ask.
Speaker 15: I've written to the Order to General and asked that
Speaker 15: there'd be an investigation. Under the Act, the Order of
Speaker 15: General has the power to carry out these investigations and
Speaker 15: I think that would be an appropriate step so that
Speaker 15: taxpayers could find out what's really.
Speaker 7: Been going on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think we need the correspondence between ed
Speaker 3: Husick and his office and side Quantum as well. From
Speaker 3: when they started meeting and corresponding in late twenty twenty two.
Speaker 15: We've been pressing for all of that through freedom of information.
Speaker 15: We've got some things, We've got some things for estimates.
Speaker 15: The government's resistingly every turn that will keep digging.
Speaker 2: Yeah, indeed, of Fletcher, thank you very much for joining us.
Speaker 3: Now still to come Queensland Premier Stephen Miles' latest hair
Speaker 3: brain scheme to bring down petrol prices and Chris Mins
Speaker 3: goes toe to toe with his own uncle over working
Speaker 3: from home.
Speaker 2: All of that with my panel next.
Speaker 3: All right, lots more to get through, so let's get
Speaker 3: straight into it with Tonight's political panel, Shadow Resource Minister
Speaker 3: Susan McDonald and Labor MP Daniel Malino Well. Channel seven
Speaker 3: Tonight revealed that China is about to buy up the
Speaker 3: Papua New Guinea power grid. This at the same time
Speaker 3: the Prime Minister is playing in the little leagues with
Speaker 3: his six hundred million dollar deal to launch a PNG
Speaker 3: NURL team. Channel seven Tonight expose that move as a farce,
Speaker 3: with China said to be moving in aggressively. Have a
Speaker 3: look at this from the six PM News.
Speaker 1: Blackouts are so common in Pampa, New Guinea. There's even
Speaker 1: a song about the that seven News can reveal. When
Speaker 1: it comes to the electricity network of our closest neighbor,
Speaker 1: Australia has been left in the dark. The CEO of
Speaker 1: state owned provider traveling to China open to investment, saying
Speaker 1: the Chinese are very easy to deal with, admitting he's
Speaker 1: open to Beijing filling a void left by Canberra.
Speaker 3: All right, Look, PNG, our closest neighbor, the state owned
Speaker 3: provider actually traveling to China, and he's been critical of
Speaker 3: Australia in his comments. Daniel Malino, do you agree with
Speaker 3: Simon Birmingham that this is a failure on the part
Speaker 3: of your own government.
Speaker 16: Well, Hi, Shari, and no, I wouldn't agree with that. Look, clearly,
Speaker 16: we have a very special real life relationship with PNG
Speaker 16: and when the PM Prime Minister James Marape spoke to
Speaker 16: the Joint Sitting earlier this year, that was a really
Speaker 16: special time and one of the most special times in
Speaker 16: Parliament for me. I noticed that story and what I
Speaker 16: would say is we just need to take a step
Speaker 16: back that story quoted a visit by the CEO of
Speaker 16: a state owned entity that was traveling to China to
Speaker 16: explore investment options, but it was pretty vague as to
Speaker 16: what that trip was about. I think if we take
Speaker 16: a step back and look at the p andng's latest
Speaker 16: statement of their official position, my understanding is that William
Speaker 16: Juma in his last statement said that they have no
Speaker 16: intention of selling p andng's grid. So I think we
Speaker 16: need to look at that position before we speculate on
Speaker 16: what may or may not come out of particular trips.
Speaker 16: The other thing I'd say is that Australia, with the
Speaker 16: US and New Zealand and other partners, is investing massively
Speaker 16: in Papua New Guinea and their grid and tens of
Speaker 16: thousands of connections and in the grid itself. So there's
Speaker 16: a very good relationship there and I think we just
Speaker 16: need to take care and what we look into.
Speaker 3: Susan Penny Wang is going to be in Fiji for
Speaker 3: the Pacific Islands Forum tomorrow on her way back from
Speaker 3: the US. Is this embarrassing for her?
Speaker 2: Well? I think it is.
Speaker 17: I think this is another example of the Albanese government
Speaker 17: being distracted. They're happy to have photo opportunities with the Chinese,
Speaker 17: but they're not keeping an eye on what is happening
Speaker 17: to our near neighbors. When the Solomon Islands was given
Speaker 17: as an example, Label was very quick to jump on that,
Speaker 17: and yet they're not taking care of what's happening in
Speaker 17: our own backyard. I think this is an example, as
Speaker 17: I said, of the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister
Speaker 17: just being simply distracted and not keeping an eye on
Speaker 17: what's happening in China's influence right here. And I think
Speaker 17: we have to think very carefully about the sort of
Speaker 17: leadership that the Prime minister's providing in this regard. Is
Speaker 17: that the sort of leadership that we want, a distracted
Speaker 17: prime minister, one who's seeing less numbers of flights over
Speaker 17: our northern borders of watching Chinese activity, or would we
Speaker 17: prefer to see Peter Dutton making the decisions in this
Speaker 17: important space.
Speaker 2: All right, let's move on now.
Speaker 3: The Queensland Premier Stephen Miles is defending his plan to
Speaker 3: build state part of me state owned petrol stations after
Speaker 3: it was strongly criticized by economists in the industry. Daniel, look,
Speaker 3: you were by the way you were praised.
Speaker 2: By Judah Sloan earlier in this program.
Speaker 3: So surely you would say that we don't need government
Speaker 3: intervention when it comes to petrol stations.
Speaker 16: Well, look, far be it from me to provide running
Speaker 16: commentary on each policy being put forward in state elections.
Speaker 16: But I just stayed a couple of broad propositions. One
Speaker 16: is that I think, in general, if we're looking at
Speaker 16: markets and looking at how well they're functioning for consumers,
Speaker 16: look the more the merrier, the more participants, and the
Speaker 16: harder they're fighting as to each other, the better. I
Speaker 16: think my default position would be the first place I'd
Speaker 16: like to look is that we want to reduce barriers
Speaker 16: to entry so as to make private sector entry as
Speaker 16: easy as possible. There are instances where governments sometimes intervene
Speaker 16: in markets, but I think where you do so, you
Speaker 16: have to be very clear that you look at risk
Speaker 16: to the taxpayer. I would also just make an interesting
Speaker 16: historical observation here. This has been a market which has
Speaker 16: been of great interest to consumers, obviously, given how often
Speaker 16: they go to the petrol bowser and how important those
Speaker 16: prices are. There was an interesting example of the ACTU
Speaker 16: and an independent petrol operator joining together in the late
Speaker 16: seventies and early eighties Solo Energy, and they actually ended
Speaker 16: up selling two hundred locations of petrol stations to Ampol
Speaker 16: in the late nineteen eighty. So I thought, there's fascinating
Speaker 16: history in this market as two different attempts to intervene
Speaker 16: for the consumer, and maybe that's a business case that
Speaker 16: the Queensland government could look at to see how.
Speaker 3: That worked, apart from not having more market intervention and
Speaker 3: just leaving it to the private sector. Susan, the Queen's
Speaker 3: Lane government hasn't even got healthcare right. Fix that before
Speaker 3: you start getting into petrol stations.
Speaker 17: Well, it reminds you of the class clown shouting look
Speaker 17: at me, look at me. And I think that Premier Miles,
Speaker 17: this is the greatest example of clownery that we've seen
Speaker 17: so far in this election. To see the government intervening
Speaker 17: into a market where they will be competing with small
Speaker 17: businesses that are already doing it tough, into a market
Speaker 17: where as you say, they can't run healthcare, we have
Speaker 17: youth crime out of control, there are hospital waiting lists,
Speaker 17: and yet now they think they can run a business
Speaker 17: in a complex environment. It is truly I think We're
Speaker 17: all caught between a laugh and a gasp at just
Speaker 17: how ridiculous this proposal is. And if I can quote
Speaker 17: Jared Blay, you know what's next. Butcher the baker, the
Speaker 17: candlestick maker. This is a government that's out of ideas
Speaker 17: and this is just the latest and a very bad one.
Speaker 3: All Right, Susan McDonald Daniel Malino, thank you both so
Speaker 3: much for joining me tonight.
Speaker 2: Now, up next, we go to the.
Speaker 3: US where presidential hopeful Kamala Harris has selected her running mate.
Speaker 3: Adam Crichton will join me life, Welcome back. Well, let's
Speaker 3: go live to the US now and bring in the
Speaker 3: Australian's Washington correspondent Adam Crichton.
Speaker 2: Adam, great to see you again.
Speaker 3: Look, let's get straight into the biggest news coming out
Speaker 3: of the US, Kamala Harris selecting Minnesota Governor Tim Woles as.
Speaker 2: Her running mate.
Speaker 3: How has this news been received by both the Democrat
Speaker 3: and Republican parties.
Speaker 14: Well, certainly, I.
Speaker 18: Think on the Republican side there's been a sign of
Speaker 18: relief because it was not the candidate that they feared most.
Speaker 18: That candidate was the governor of Pennsylvania, Joshapiro which is
Speaker 18: a state that certainly both of the parties really need
Speaker 18: to win in November to win the presidency. So Harris
Speaker 18: has gone with this guy from a very small, fairly
Speaker 18: left wing state. Tim Walls, of course, a sixty year
Speaker 18: old former teacher, a former soccer coach or football coach.
Speaker 18: I should say he comes across well, he speaks well,
Speaker 18: but his policy record is extremely left wing. And so
Speaker 18: the question now is how is that going to play
Speaker 18: to the wider American public. It's worth pointing out too
Speaker 18: that ninety percent of Americans don't even know who he is,
Speaker 18: so he's not very famous here. I mean, of course
Speaker 18: he's going to become famous now, but I mean he's
Speaker 18: the governor of a small state with less than six
Speaker 18: million people. He's been elected twice. So now it's you know,
Speaker 18: it's really a question of the rush to define him
Speaker 18: by Republicans.
Speaker 3: Are you concerned that his policy positions are quite radical,
Speaker 3: are extremely left wing?
Speaker 18: Well, look they are. I mean he's silentgislation to put
Speaker 18: tampons in boys' bathrooms, to gender reassignment surgery, much much
Speaker 18: easier for teenagers, to give illegal migrants free health care,
Speaker 18: free education, to phase out fossil fuels. His behavior during
Speaker 18: the twenty George Floyd riots was extremely questionable. I mean,
Speaker 18: in effect, let the biggest city of Minnesota, Minneapolis, burn
Speaker 18: for three days before sending in the National Guard. So
Speaker 18: there is plenty of material for Republicans to attack, and
Speaker 18: certainly they have already started doing that. So it's just
Speaker 18: going to be a matter of whether, you know, whether
Speaker 18: it sticks or not.
Speaker 3: There's speculation that Josh Shapiro wasn't chosen because he is Jewish,
Speaker 3: because he has been nowhere near a support of Israel
Speaker 3: as we have, but you know, relatively for the Democratic
Speaker 3: Party supportive of Israel.
Speaker 2: This is very concerning.
Speaker 3: And do you think it gives an indication of how
Speaker 3: Kamala Harris might differ when it comes to Middle East
Speaker 3: policy and her support for Israel from Joe Biden.
Speaker 18: Oh yeah, Look, it's certainly concerning. I mean, we can't
Speaker 18: get inside Kamala Harris's head and really know why she
Speaker 18: did not choose him. I mean, most of the reporting
Speaker 18: is that she just liked him well, so she liked
Speaker 18: his demeanor and she got on with him. So look,
Speaker 18: I'm gonna have to take that at face value, but
Speaker 18: certainly there's an element in the Democratic Party that is
Speaker 18: very anti Israel, and some reports suggest that that she
Speaker 18: feared protests at the convention, which you know, which starts
Speaker 18: in a couple of weeks, if she had chosen Jos Shapiro.
Speaker 18: So look, I mean, you know, I mean, I basically
Speaker 18: think the Democrat Party is overall pro Israel, but you know,
Speaker 18: but certainly there are elements that are not. And you know,
Speaker 18: I think this recent episode has really illustrated that.
Speaker 2: I would have to disagree with you.
Speaker 3: The Democratic Party has not shown itself to be pro
Speaker 3: Israel at or I think, I mean, were there were
Speaker 3: eighty Democrats, weren't they who wouldn't even sit through Vedronette
Speaker 3: Ya who's addressed to Congress. I mean, that's not even
Speaker 3: listening to the Israeli leader who's been training.
Speaker 18: I think it was just I think it's just twenty
Speaker 18: five or so. Look, but you know, point take it.
Speaker 3: There's a signal they couldn't even sit there and listen
Speaker 3: to the Israeli Prime minister who's been single handedly fighting
Speaker 3: the war against terrorists since October seven. I mean, Joe Biden,
Speaker 3: over his career has been supportive, but you just worry
Speaker 3: that you know, he might be among the very few
Speaker 3: that have had a long commitment to Israel. You wonder
Speaker 3: how whether US would continue to send weapons to Israel
Speaker 3: if Kamala Harris was president. I mean, you know, these
Speaker 3: are questions that we need to be able to ask
Speaker 3: Kamala Harris if she ever did an interview.
Speaker 18: Well she hasn't.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, she hasn't.
Speaker 3: Exactly, All right, Adam Crichton, we're out of time. Great
Speaker 3: to see you early there in Washington. Well, thank you
Speaker 3: so much for your company tonight. I'll see you tomorrow
Speaker 3: at eight. And right now, here's Paul Murray in the
Speaker 3: man Cave.