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Speaker 1: This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigel

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Speaker 1: people of the Uran Nation.

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Speaker 2: Hello and welcome to the very first episode of The

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Speaker 2: Real Story. I'm Joe hildorand this week the three hundred

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Speaker 2: dollars question, Why can't the government means test it's payment

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Speaker 2: on electricity bills and the same sex book ban that

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Speaker 2: has got the whole nation tying itself in knots. First

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Speaker 2: up this week, you have to take it because it's

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Speaker 2: good for you. The federal budget. Now, I spent about

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Speaker 2: six hours locked up with this budget, which is longer

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Speaker 2: than many marriages last and I've got to say it's

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Speaker 2: pretty boring. But boring doesn't mean bad. In fact, this

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Speaker 2: budget needed to be boring in order to do what

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Speaker 2: it was supposed to do, which is nothing. So we

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Speaker 2: have got a situation where inflation still running way too hot,

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Speaker 2: to the point where the Reserve Bank has gone from

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Speaker 2: saying yeah, we're definitely going to cut rates to we

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Speaker 2: might even have to raise rates.

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Speaker 3: Of course, the RBA never says that, but everyone around

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Speaker 3: the RBA says that.

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Speaker 2: So there's a fear that not only will rates not

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Speaker 2: come down, they certainly won't come down, it seems before

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Speaker 2: the beginning of next year, and some people have even

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Speaker 2: suggested recently that they might have to go up again

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Speaker 2: if inflation doesn't come down. And so this budget can't

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Speaker 2: do anything that is going to put inflation up, which

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Speaker 2: means that it can't really spend. But of course people

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Speaker 2: are struggling, people are being crushed by rising cost of

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Speaker 2: living expenses, and what does that mean. It means they

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Speaker 2: need relief. And what does relief look like. It looks

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Speaker 2: like spending. And so the government has to do something.

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Speaker 2: It has to provide relief and it has to provide

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Speaker 2: spending to provide that relief.

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Speaker 3: So it has to do two things at once.

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Speaker 2: It has to say, look, here's some money for you

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Speaker 2: to help you out, to make sure that you don't

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Speaker 2: actually get crushed by rising energy costs, for example, which

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Speaker 2: is one of the big drivers. But you can't think

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Speaker 2: you've got money. So we're going to give you money,

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Speaker 2: but you can't act like we've given you money. We

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Speaker 2: want you to thank us for giving you the money,

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Speaker 2: and remember we gave you money when you go to

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Speaker 2: vote for us next time. But we don't want you

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Speaker 2: to behave as though we've just given you money. So

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Speaker 2: you don't go and spend that money somewhere else, which

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Speaker 2: would then force inflation back up again. So how does

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Speaker 2: the government do this, Well, it's got to provide relief

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Speaker 2: on energy bills which are going through the roof, as

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Speaker 2: it did last time round. But it can't actually put

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Speaker 2: money in people's pockets like it did with say the

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Speaker 2: GFC and the big cash splash. Hey, everybody, you've got

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Speaker 2: a plasma, because that's the last thing it wants people

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Speaker 2: to do. It wants Australians to think they are poor,

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Speaker 2: to think they don't have any money. And for most

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Speaker 2: Australians that's not a problem because they don't have any money.

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Speaker 2: So you don't want it to look like a bonus.

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Speaker 2: But you do want people to know that you're doing it,

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Speaker 2: because of course, when the government does anything, it wants

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Speaker 2: everyone to know it's doing it. So it gets real

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Speaker 2: elected sometime in the next twelve months. It'll probably be

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Speaker 2: in the first half of next year, and not the

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Speaker 2: end of this year, as some people are saying, he's

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Speaker 2: not going to use it to go to an early pole.

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Speaker 2: I can promise you that. So what does the government

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Speaker 2: do well? It says to the energy companies, we want

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Speaker 2: you to take this money off the bill before it

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Speaker 2: gets the consumer, so your bill comes down. But there's

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Speaker 2: never a sort of point where you've even got a

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Speaker 2: voucher in your hand that you can then punch into

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Speaker 2: your service provider and get your discount. So the discount

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Speaker 2: comes to the consumer that the household to the family

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Speaker 2: already baked into the bill. Now this is important for

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Speaker 2: a couple of reasons. One is, as I've said, it

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Speaker 2: means that the consumer knows they're getting a discount because

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Speaker 2: the government's shouting it from the rooftops, but doesn't have

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Speaker 2: the money in their hot little hands. It doesn't think, oh,

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Speaker 2: I just got this bonus three hundred bucks or this

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Speaker 2: bonus seventy five bucks every three months. I can now

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Speaker 2: go and spend it elsewhere. But it also raises another point.

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Speaker 2: People have been jumping up and down about all week

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Speaker 2: and they're saying, oh, this isn't fair. Why is this

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Speaker 2: money going to millionaires? Why are millionaires getting it? And

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Speaker 2: that it's not just the crazy trotty left that are

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Speaker 2: saying why are all the millionaires getting it? It's also

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Speaker 2: the right, the writers saying, oh, look at this cash

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Speaker 2: splash by the Albanzy government spending like a drunken sailor,

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Speaker 2: handing out three hundred bucks to Gina rein Hart and

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Speaker 2: Clive Palmer and Malcolm Turnbull. Why aren't they means testing

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Speaker 2: it now? These are the same people who were saying

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Speaker 2: that millionaires like Gina reyan Hart and Clive Palmer and

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Speaker 2: Malcolm Turnbull should get an extra four five hundred dollars

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Speaker 2: tax cut, and now they're winging about them getting a

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Speaker 2: three hundred discount on their power bill.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 2: I'm a big fan of means testing generally speaking, I

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Speaker 2: love it. I've been a beneficiary of it because for

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Speaker 2: most of my life I was poor as shit, So

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Speaker 2: thank you very much. Means testing more money for me,

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Speaker 2: less money for the millionaires. There is just one little

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Speaker 2: catch though, if you actually think about it, and anyone

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Speaker 2: who's listened to what I just said before might have

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Speaker 2: all already twigged why you can't actually mean test this

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Speaker 2: three hundred dollar payment because it's the power companies that

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Speaker 2: are doing the discount. It's not the government, it's not

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Speaker 2: Center Link, it's not the Ato. They're getting the power

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Speaker 2: companies to do it before it gets to you, because otherwise, again,

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Speaker 2: if it goes through you or through a third party.

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Speaker 2: You're thinking, you've got this extra three hundred dollars that

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Speaker 2: you can put on your power bill and then spend

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Speaker 2: three hundred of your own heart earned on something else.

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Speaker 2: And that is the last thing the government wants, because

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Speaker 2: if inflation doesn't come down, then interest rates won't come down.

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Speaker 2: If interest rates won't come down, then the government does

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Speaker 2: go down. And now to a story that has everything,

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Speaker 2: and a story that has everything needs just three words

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Speaker 2: gay book ban. Now I've got to declare a massive

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Speaker 2: interest here. Not only am I massively interested in this story,

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Speaker 2: but I have a massive conflict of interest because my

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Speaker 2: wife works for Quality Australia, which is the nation's premiere

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Speaker 2: advocacy organization for lgbtqia.

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Speaker 3: Plus so many letters.

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Speaker 2: But anyway, equality. They're very specific about the equality they're

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Speaker 2: advocating for. Lovely bunch of people. So I happen to

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Speaker 2: know about this story before everybody else did. It was

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Speaker 2: one of those ones we just think what a western

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Speaker 2: Sydney council, Cumberland Council voted to ban a book on

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Speaker 2: same sex parenting from the council library. Now that's pretty

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Speaker 2: much all you need to know, you don't need to

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Speaker 2: know what it says. It was perfectly fine. We're not

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Speaker 2: talking porno here, We're just talking about a nice thing

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Speaker 2: that says, you know, my two dads whatever, perfectly benign,

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Speaker 2: but not too Cumberland City Council or Cumberland City councilors,

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Speaker 2: because despite the man not having any problem with the book,

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Speaker 2: they voted six' five to ban it from the. Library

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Speaker 2: and this made it at least One Western sydney grandma very.

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Speaker 2: Upset she happened to hear about. It she's, like why

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Speaker 2: are you doing? That she wasn't gay, herself but she

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Speaker 2: had a. DAUGHTER i think it was in a same

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Speaker 2: sex marriage with. Kids it ain't on a, minute why

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Speaker 2: are you banning? Books isn't that what The nazis? Do

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Speaker 2: this decision to ban the book obviously caused some alarm

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Speaker 2: in the lgbtquy plus community and fair enough to and

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Speaker 2: pretty soon there was a petition Too Cumberland City council

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Speaker 2: signed by about fifty thousand people say what are you?

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Speaker 2: Doing and, indeed when my wife first came across this,

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Speaker 2: story she was, like what do we do with? It

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Speaker 2: this is Just nazis is crazy and they kind of

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Speaker 2: didn't want to get too hysterical about it or.

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Speaker 3: Something that's just it just seemed.

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Speaker 2: Ridiculous it seemed, absurd and for a while looked LIKE

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Speaker 2: i might write the, story and you, know my wife

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Speaker 2: wasn't sure what she'd sort of do with. It and

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Speaker 2: then it just popped. Up it just popped up and

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Speaker 2: started sort of. Circulating someone got a hold of, it

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Speaker 2: someone wrote a little, thing and then next thing you,

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Speaker 2: know it is just going. Gangbusters it is going all

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Speaker 2: over not Just, sydney not Just New South, wales but

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Speaker 2: it's making headlines right around the. COUNTRY i think it

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Speaker 2: even made headlines, overseas not because it's a big, story

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Speaker 2: but because it's a stupid, story because it's the sort

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Speaker 2: of thing that just doesn't need to. Happen and this

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Speaker 2: all culminated last, Night wednesday, night with another meeting Of

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Speaker 2: Cumberland City, council and this, time instead of voting six

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Speaker 2: to five in favor of the banning the, book.

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Speaker 3: It voted twelve to two against the banning of the.

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Speaker 3: Book so suddenly all these, councilors which are all of

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Speaker 3: banning it just a few weeks, ago suddenly saying oh, no,

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Speaker 3: no we never said That i'm asking my, Way so

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Speaker 3: why is? This BECAUSE i think they were just.

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Speaker 2: Confused apparently the first motion was so confusing that a

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Speaker 2: lot of them didn't actually.

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Speaker 3: Quite realize what they were voting. For you, know it's

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Speaker 3: put to them, as.

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Speaker 1: Oh this is a terrible threat to our, children and

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Speaker 1: it's sexualizing our gen or you, know it's going to

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Speaker 1: poison and corrupt their innocent little mind or whatever it.

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Speaker 1: Was but what was pretty clear is that they hadn't

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Speaker 1: actually read the, book or they didn't know the contents

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Speaker 1: of the. Book so it goes from being this really

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Speaker 1: tight vote in which even the mayor again didn't want

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Speaker 1: to see the book bann but six to five can't

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Speaker 1: argue with. Democracy suddenly there's another council meeting and it's

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Speaker 1: twelve to two against the banning of the. Book sanity,

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Speaker 1: Prevails but in the, meantime you've got huge groups of

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Speaker 1: protesters from both sides screaming at each other outside this

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Speaker 1: marathon council meeting that goes for hours and hours all

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Speaker 1: over the banning of this one little.

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Speaker 3: Book from a council.

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Speaker 2: Library and they're, screaming you, know the PRO lgbtqi they're screaming.

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Speaker 2: Bigots and then you've got the protest who in favor

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Speaker 2: of the book bang of, course believe in free speech

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Speaker 2: for everything else when it's them who are being censored

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Speaker 2: when they want to say something On.

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Speaker 3: Twitter, ah free speech, free but, no free speech never

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Speaker 3: counts when it's something they.

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Speaker 2: Disagree but, anyway so they're they're jumping up and down

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Speaker 2: saying horrible, words, words you, know worse than. Bigot and

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Speaker 2: so you've got all these people screaming each, other right

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Speaker 2: a council meeting that's gone on for. Hours you've got

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Speaker 2: counselors saying you have just made This Western Sydney council

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Speaker 2: the laughing stock of the.

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Speaker 3: World people are. Laughing it's going to take us years

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Speaker 3: to recover from. This it's just. Embarrassing you made us

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Speaker 3: look Like springfield from The. Simpsons that's kind of. True they're,

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Speaker 3: right all because of this one crazy crusade against this

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Speaker 3: one little book and The Daily, Telegraph god bless, it

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Speaker 3: what a fine newspaper that is revealed perhaps the most

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Speaker 3: important fact about this entire, story as the council wasn't

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Speaker 3: voting on whether or not this book should come along

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Speaker 3: and be stocked in the. Library the book had been.

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Speaker 2: In the library for five, years just sitting there for five,

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Speaker 2: years and you know how many times someone had borrowed

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Speaker 2: it in those five.

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Speaker 3: Years once, well.

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Speaker 2: That's it for the very first episode Of The Real.

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Speaker 2: Story hope you loved. It if you did or if you,

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Speaker 2: didn't send us an Email The Real story at novapodcasts

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Speaker 2: dot com DOT.

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Speaker 3: Au i'd love to hear what you.

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Speaker 2: feedback any falling praise is particularly. APPRECIATED i want this

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Speaker 2: to be as much about you as it is about,

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Speaker 2: me so send us an Email The Real story at

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Speaker 2: novapodcasts dot com dot are you And i'll see you

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Speaker 2: next week