Speaker 1: From the Skying Center. This is Paul Murray Live, Good evening,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. Paul's having a quick break tonight,
Speaker 1: but no worry, he'll be back here in the man
Speaker 1: Cave with you as usual tomorrow night. I'm Steve Brice.
Speaker 1: I'll also see you tomorrow night with Shari Markson. Look.
Speaker 1: I hope you had a great weekend coming up. I've
Speaker 1: got a tail for you of two cities. Two cities
Speaker 1: we all know, just an hour's flight apart, or a
Speaker 1: nine or so hour drive up or down the hum Highway,
Speaker 1: depending on which direction you might be headed. But right
Speaker 1: now they could not be more different. Also, as we
Speaker 1: head into the second week of the new parliamentary sitting,
Speaker 1: Yes they're back in Canberra tomorrow. The issue that is
Speaker 1: dogging Anthony Albanisi and his government, I reckon it's got
Speaker 1: a lot worse. Today when a senior cabinet minister ed
Speaker 1: Husicky's in Cabinet on the front bench, he admitted that
Speaker 1: Palestinians trying to get to Australia from more torn Gaza
Speaker 1: are being given visitor visas, not refugee visus because and
Speaker 1: this is a direct quote quote, they were faster to process.
Speaker 2: Why visit a visus though, because they're faster to process,
Speaker 2: Refugee visas take longer, and given what's happening right now
Speaker 2: and the dangers presented, the view was to try and
Speaker 2: get people out as quickly as you can.
Speaker 1: Well, isn't that the very problem the oppositions trying to
Speaker 1: highlight here hurried visus being granted to people from Gaza
Speaker 1: who might or might not be Hamas sympathizers. Now, Coalition
Speaker 1: front bench of Michael Sukha was onto this. He was
Speaker 1: on Sky this morning and you'd imagine this is a
Speaker 1: again going to dominate Parliament this week. Posing I think
Speaker 1: Suka was posing what I consider to be a pretty
Speaker 1: valid question. He asked, was this a slip of the
Speaker 1: tongue from Husick or was it a deliberate reveal to
Speaker 1: allow the government to argue this week that these refugees
Speaker 1: are short terms and when the conflict's over, they'll need
Speaker 1: to go back to Gaza. Well, i'd make the point
Speaker 1: go back to what now. Gaza is a bombed out
Speaker 1: disaster's own Here's what Sukhar said in response to the
Speaker 1: Heusick admission ed.
Speaker 3: Husick seemed to bow the cat on that so they
Speaker 3: could bring them in more quickly. He said that explicitly. Now,
Speaker 3: I don't know if he said that accidentally. I don't
Speaker 3: know if he was given talking points to say that,
Speaker 3: or whether the truth d just slipped out, But basically
Speaker 3: what he confirmed is we are circumventing the proper process
Speaker 3: to ensure the integrity of our migration system and ultimately
Speaker 3: to ensure the safety of Australians by having an expedited
Speaker 3: process that we know for a fact means some people
Speaker 3: have arrived here with no face to face checks.
Speaker 1: Michael Suka nailing it there. I mean, the opposition's clearly
Speaker 1: concerned about the security aspects of these rush us. We
Speaker 1: order all be concerned about that, and they're right to
Speaker 1: make the point that Labor is playing to its Muslim
Speaker 1: constituency to try and shure up votes in any upcoming election,
Speaker 1: whenever that might be. But I would also issue just
Speaker 1: here a cautious warning to Peter Dutton and his crew,
Speaker 1: including people like Suka, don't lose the site. And you've
Speaker 1: heard Paul Murray say this over and over and over again,
Speaker 1: don't lose sight of the fact that in wider Australia,
Speaker 1: voters are much much more worried about paying for their mortgage,
Speaker 1: paying for their petrol and grocery bills, and paying for
Speaker 1: the cost of gas and electricity than they are about
Speaker 1: gaza and visas. Now I'll raise the gaza issue with
Speaker 1: our guests tonight. We've got a great couple of panels
Speaker 1: coming up. One Nation's James Ashby, Christy McSweeney, Garth Hamilton
Speaker 1: and David Limbrick. But first I mentioned this at the
Speaker 1: start of the program tonight. Australia's two biggest cities by
Speaker 1: population and area, obviously our Sydney and Melbourne. Now Melbourne
Speaker 1: is already or about has already overtaken Sydney on population,
Speaker 1: and it's headed staggeringly, in my view, in ten years time,
Speaker 1: to have eight million people or more in that city. Now,
Speaker 1: there's always been friendly rivalry and not so friendly rivalry
Speaker 1: between the two places. I mean, I've worked for a
Speaker 1: long time in Sydney, I've worked for a long time
Speaker 1: in Melbourne. Now Sydney is seen as flasher, more spectacularly
Speaker 1: beautiful and a truly international destination, while Melbourne likes to
Speaker 1: paint itself as the sporting and cultural capital of Australia
Speaker 1: a little classier than its northern rival. I've never worried
Speaker 1: about such trivia, but something very different has happened to
Speaker 1: blow all that up today, and Melbourne is still suffering
Speaker 1: in my view for the longest COVID lockdowns on the planet,
Speaker 1: enforced by Dictator Premier Daniel Andrews and now led by
Speaker 1: Decinda Allen from the hard left is with a little exaggeration,
Speaker 1: Victoria and I live there is a debt ridden mess.
Speaker 1: Now this is where my tale of two cities example
Speaker 1: comes in. Here and right now, as of tomorrow, the
Speaker 1: example of how Sydney has wrought ahead of a bust
Speaker 1: that ask Melbourne comes to life when Sydney's Metro City
Speaker 1: Southwest project springs to life. Now it was first conceived
Speaker 1: back in twenty twelve. Yes it's late, and yes it's
Speaker 1: over budget, but guess what from tomorrow trains trains, remember trains,
Speaker 1: They will actually run, carrying people from the northwestern suburbs
Speaker 1: to the city and further south. And in the reverse order,
Speaker 1: many of the passengers might even be public servants ordered
Speaker 1: back to the office by Premier Chris Men's a couple
Speaker 1: weeks back. I'll have more of that in a second.
Speaker 1: But the twenty one billion dollar project, Stage one includes
Speaker 1: two eight hundred meter long tunnels dug under Sydney Harbor,
Speaker 1: an engineering masterpiece. Now these tunnels will carry forty five
Speaker 1: driverless trains. Now, these trains are going to run every
Speaker 1: four minutes at one hundred kilometers an hour through six stations,
Speaker 1: with passenger protecting glass panels along the fifteen point five
Speaker 1: k of tunnels so that passengers don't fall off the
Speaker 1: tracks in front of these driverless trains. Starts tomorrow tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Yes it's late, Yes it's more expensive, but it sits
Speaker 1: with the renovated city stops like wind in Central. If
Speaker 1: you've been to them recently, they're magnificent and it actually
Speaker 1: does what it was designed to do, move huge numbers
Speaker 1: of people from distant outer suburbs to city hubs to
Speaker 1: get to work. Fancy that enjoy the experience.
Speaker 4: It'll be a major change for Sydney. It'll be a
Speaker 4: big step forward, and I want to congratulate everybody that's
Speaker 4: works so hard on bringing this major project to fruition.
Speaker 4: It's a huge piece of infrastructure for the state. So
Speaker 4: the Metro team I know are excited about the opening
Speaker 4: date despite its delay of a couple But we're here today.
Speaker 1: Chris Ben's who I think does an outstanding job in
Speaker 1: your South Wales. Now, compare the historic first trips that
Speaker 1: people are going to take tomorrow, and they're predicting the
Speaker 1: first trains by the way, I'll head off in both
Speaker 1: directions from Sydneham and from the Northwest at about four
Speaker 1: fifty eight in the morning. Compare these historic first trips
Speaker 1: tomorrow with Melbourne's suburban rail loop. Now, that was a
Speaker 1: project that was originally conceived under the boot of Daniel Andrews.
Speaker 1: It's costed at fifty billion dollars. Originally they said we
Speaker 1: could build this thing for fifty billion dollars. Now believed
Speaker 1: although no one has seen a business case, can you
Speaker 1: believe it? No one has seen that. It's costed at
Speaker 1: an eye watering two hundred and sixteen zero point seven
Speaker 1: billion dollars, and Stage one alone has costed at forty billion.
Speaker 1: So you've got Sydney Stage one twenty one billion dollars
Speaker 1: and trains running tomorrow driverless underneath Sydney Harbor. And you've
Speaker 1: got Stage on one Melbourne at forty million running from
Speaker 1: Cheltenham in Melbourne southeast to box Hill. Now, this has
Speaker 1: been described as a trip from somewhere no one wants
Speaker 1: to go to to a place no one wants to
Speaker 1: get to. It's always been a political project. It was
Speaker 1: designed to win labor seats along that particular route. It's political,
Speaker 1: not practical. It's pork barreling, not public interest. Worse, there's
Speaker 1: no business case, and the federal government labor as it is,
Speaker 1: is withholding funding through Infrastructure Australia because they won't produce
Speaker 1: a business case for this massive project. And remember, by
Speaker 1: the way, the Reserve Bank Governor Michelle Bullock has said
Speaker 1: that state spending on infrastructure is driving inflation, which makes
Speaker 1: your trip to the supermarket more expensive. Now Premier Allen
Speaker 1: is wedded to this thing, even as members of her
Speaker 1: own government urge a pause or better even a cancelation
Speaker 1: because Victoria cannot afford it.
Speaker 5: But if our ambition has to some extent exceeded the
Speaker 5: capacity of the industry to deliver it, well, that's a
Speaker 5: matter that we need to recognize and to be upfront
Speaker 5: with people about.
Speaker 1: That's tim palace. He's been treasured for ten years. States
Speaker 1: broke busted economy. He had to rush off to New
Speaker 1: York on an emergency trip to talk to the ratings agencies,
Speaker 1: so the ratings of Victoria economically were not downgraded. Now
Speaker 1: think about this for a moment. Sydney tomorrow trains running
Speaker 1: tunnels under the harbor. Imagine what a feat that was.
Speaker 1: One hundred kilometers an hour they go at driverless trains.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure the unions are all that happy about that.
Speaker 1: They run every four minutes. Melbourne a hole in the
Speaker 1: ground that will make the state government broken than it
Speaker 1: already is. What a contrast. But it doesn't stop there,
Speaker 1: this tale of two cities. Take public servants working from
Speaker 1: home now. A week or so ago, Chrismins, who I
Speaker 1: mentioned before in New South Wales, said, look, enough's enough.
Speaker 1: All of you public servants in your tracksuit pants at
Speaker 1: home wearing your rug boots. You've got to go back
Speaker 1: to the office, not tomorrow, but straight away.
Speaker 4: This is about building up a culture in the public
Speaker 4: service that's about teamwork, a common and shared sense of purpose,
Speaker 4: as well as mentoring the next generation of young public
Speaker 4: servants coming through. We've made this decision after long consultation,
Speaker 4: but we think it's absolutely essential for the future of
Speaker 4: the public service in New South Wales to have people
Speaker 4: who join it who can work with their colleagues in
Speaker 4: a face to face manner.
Speaker 1: You see the logic there from Chrismins. There's not much
Speaker 1: point spending billions of dollars on a fast train or
Speaker 1: fast trains at great expense to the taxpayer if people
Speaker 1: aren't using them to get to work. Not only did
Speaker 1: he say get back to work, but he said get
Speaker 1: back to work by tomorrow, not next week, not next month, tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Compare that with Victoria, and you will not believe what
Speaker 1: I am about to tell you. Not only did the
Speaker 1: premiere of Victoria just Cinda Allen rule out ordering anyone
Speaker 1: on the public payroll to do anything. In fact, she
Speaker 1: said that she was happy that they went to work
Speaker 1: three days a week. She said she supported the current
Speaker 1: do as you please for Victoria's public service. We then learn,
Speaker 1: and this is where it gets nonsensical. We learn at
Speaker 1: the weekend that the public servants of Victoria with their
Speaker 1: latest EBA, their work agreement, they get a four percent
Speaker 1: and you'll pay increase every year for the next three years.
Speaker 1: But there was an extra sweetener put in there that
Speaker 1: most people until the weekend had forgotten about. It's locked
Speaker 1: away in that deal. Now, don't choke on your Sunday
Speaker 1: roast if you're still eating dinner. Fifty four thousand Victorian
Speaker 1: public servants, we'll each get number here. Victorian public servants
Speaker 1: will each get a cost of living one off lump,
Speaker 1: some payment of wait for it, five thousand, six hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: How would you like six hundred dollars as a one
Speaker 1: off cost of living expense? Wouldn't that go a long
Speaker 1: way to paying off part of the mortgage ury electricity bill.
Speaker 1: This is at a cost of Victorian taxpayers, by the way,
Speaker 1: in excess of three hundred million dollars. It's staggering. And
Speaker 1: again it's not good economics. It's just good politics when
Speaker 1: you think it through. Who's going to vote out of
Speaker 1: state government that keeps handing out free money? And this
Speaker 1: from a mob who are broke and in danger of
Speaker 1: having their credit rating ripped up? In New South Wales
Speaker 1: are relatively sensible. They don't do everything right, but are
Speaker 1: relatively sensible center right government as opposed to a hard
Speaker 1: left ten year Victorian government plunging their state into bankruptcy.
Speaker 1: I ask you compare the pair, well, you just don't
Speaker 1: believe it, can you. Let's get into this first with
Speaker 1: my panel tonight. Joining me now James Ashbury, chief of
Speaker 1: Staff for One Nation, and Christy McSweeney from PR Council.
Speaker 1: Welcome to you both. Christy, let me start with you.
Speaker 1: Will you aware the public service in Victoria? Fifty four
Speaker 1: thousand of them we're going to be handed at five
Speaker 1: six hundred dollars check each of them paid for by
Speaker 1: you and.
Speaker 6: I, Steve, I absolutely was not aware of that, So
Speaker 6: thank you for brilliant to light. And as someone who
Speaker 6: lives in Melbourne and has lived in Sydney as well
Speaker 6: for well over a decade, I will take your points
Speaker 6: and I'll raise you another one. Let's just compare Docklands
Speaker 6: to Barangaro. Let's have a look at what Sydney's been
Speaker 6: able to do with what was traditionally and previously a
Speaker 6: train a rail yard compared to what Melbourne's been able
Speaker 6: to do to populate Docklands. And of course your points
Speaker 6: about the public services, well, the hard left Victorian government
Speaker 6: here is absolutely beholden to public sector unions in a
Speaker 6: way that the New South Wales government's successive governments are not,
Speaker 6: and I commend Chris Min's It's not very hard to
Speaker 6: vote for him at the moment. Is it for getting
Speaker 6: the public servants back to work? And another point I
Speaker 6: want to raise, he might be seeing what's coming down
Speaker 6: the line with governments being directed not to utilize consultancies
Speaker 6: of the Big four so much. He wants to build
Speaker 6: a public service capability. He wants the public servants to
Speaker 6: do what they're supposed to do to curb the spending
Speaker 6: that state governments have outsourcing what their public servants should
Speaker 6: do to Big four consultancies who are ripping off the
Speaker 6: taxpayer to the nth degree.
Speaker 1: James, welcome to the man Cave on this Sunday night.
Speaker 1: When you think this through, I mean the previous Labor
Speaker 1: opposition in Canberra used to scream about what Scott Morrison
Speaker 1: and the former Morrison government we're doing in terms of
Speaker 1: pork barreling. You know, they talked about car parks that
Speaker 1: were funded to be built in railway stations that never
Speaker 1: got built, or if they were built, they were in
Speaker 1: electrics that they wanted to win. But the Victorian Labor
Speaker 1: government is doing this on a bigger scale than I
Speaker 1: think we've ever seen in Australia that ridiculous suburban rail
Speaker 1: loop is across a bunch of south eastern suburban Melbourne
Speaker 1: suburbs that they want to either retain as labor voters
Speaker 1: or get people to vote for them in those seats,
Speaker 1: and they're giving out cash to the public service. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you're in the public service and the government's sending
Speaker 1: you six hundred dollars in one hundred dollar notes in
Speaker 1: an envelope in your bank account, you're hardly going to
Speaker 1: vote them out, are you.
Speaker 7: No?
Speaker 8: Exactly right, I find that extraordinary five thousand dollars bonus
Speaker 8: at this time of the year when everybody else is
Speaker 8: doing it tough. I know a whole lot of people
Speaker 8: sleeping along the Rocky riverbank tonight that would love a
Speaker 8: five thousand dollars injection here in Queensland, that's for sure.
Speaker 8: But you know, this is a state that in effect,
Speaker 8: if they are a business, they would be trading insolvent,
Speaker 8: that's how in debt they are, and there is no
Speaker 8: recovery rate at the moment. I think a lot of
Speaker 8: people out there in business would love just this never
Speaker 8: ending blank checkbook that the Victorian government seem to have.
Speaker 7: But these rail projects right.
Speaker 8: Across the country, not just in Victoria, but take for example,
Speaker 8: the Inland Rail are causing significant headaches for governments. Federal
Speaker 8: government can't get their act together on this one either.
Speaker 8: Mind you, when you compare the two projects. Inland Rail
Speaker 8: as a sixteen hundred kilometer rail track that's been built
Speaker 8: at a cost of thirty billion dollars, it's still years off.
Speaker 8: They're only about a fifth of the way through. But
Speaker 8: again it's creating problems. This is the rare link from
Speaker 8: Melbourne to Brisbane, and rail is definitely a great way
Speaker 8: to get people around, way to get more cargo around
Speaker 8: the country as well. But these cost blowouts just seem
Speaker 8: to be astounding. And Victoria you take the cake, you
Speaker 8: win the prize for the biggest blowouts. It's just extraordinary,
Speaker 8: no wonder. I was at the Emmy Park Markets today, Steve.
Speaker 8: I ran into more Victorians here today than I've ever
Speaker 8: run into before. They're migrating north. You can keep your
Speaker 8: lefties down there with you. We'll take all the conservatives
Speaker 8: here in Queensland. That's all I.
Speaker 1: Say, no doubt about that. James Christy, you know that.
Speaker 1: I mean, look I'm agnostic here. I love both Sydney
Speaker 1: and Melbourne, and I come from Adelaide, so I love
Speaker 1: all three. I've never lived in Brisbane. But when you
Speaker 1: come to Sydney and I'm in Sydney obviously in Paul's
Speaker 1: man cave tonight, when you come to Sydney and compare
Speaker 1: it directly day on day with Melbourne, Melbourne at the
Speaker 1: moment is covered in graffiti, it's got a war going
Speaker 1: on with It's Melbourne City Council who don't know what
Speaker 1: they're going to do, and the policies of the people
Speaker 1: trying to get elected are just insane. And Nicholas Reese
Speaker 1: has come up some mad power our idea that I
Speaker 1: can't understand. But you go to the two main train
Speaker 1: stations Christie in Melbourne, Flinders Street and Southern Cross Station.
Speaker 1: Compare those to I don't know if you've been recently,
Speaker 1: the Central station in Sydney where you get the Airport
Speaker 1: train that also Melbourne doesn't have and never will have.
Speaker 1: Or you go to Wynyard Station where it opens up
Speaker 1: into Barangaroo that you mentioned. The two places are like
Speaker 1: light and shade. There's no comparison anymore.
Speaker 6: It's incredible isn't it. I'm like you. I'm from Western Australia.
Speaker 6: As you know, I lived in Sydney for over a decade.
Speaker 6: I've lived in Melbourne for over a decade here too.
Speaker 6: I love going to Sydney. Sydney viewers won't realize that.
Speaker 6: You know, if you come to Melbourne, you can't tap
Speaker 6: your MasterCard or your Visa card at a train station
Speaker 6: and get on a train like you can in every
Speaker 6: other global city in the world. You have to have
Speaker 6: what's called a mikey, which was so badly managed by
Speaker 6: the previous labor government that they had to pay compensation
Speaker 6: to the mighty system administrators because it doesn't work properly.
Speaker 6: So you can't do any of those amazing things that
Speaker 6: the New South Wales government. And I will give credit
Speaker 6: to the previous New South Wales Labor government, but of
Speaker 6: course it was almost wholly implemented by Victor Dominello the
Speaker 6: Department of Customer Service. With New South Wales Transport, this
Speaker 6: incredible global transport system, digitally integrated that you have running
Speaker 6: in New South Wales Melbourne is like a communist historic utopia,
Speaker 6: lover's paradise. The trains are not flash they don't really
Speaker 6: run on time. It's gritty, it's bleak. The infrastructure is
Speaker 6: certainly not beautiful and dazzling like we see in Sydney.
Speaker 6: If you like that sort of thing, perhaps that's a
Speaker 6: new it's a Victoria ad And as I said, I
Speaker 6: live here, I love it.
Speaker 7: But goshhocking real estate agent.
Speaker 1: We can stick we could stick on the number we
Speaker 1: can stick on the number plates. Victoria the graffiti state James.
Speaker 1: Katie Gallagher is out today saying she's not going to
Speaker 1: reign in states like Victoria over all this infrastructure spending,
Speaker 1: although clearly it's contributing to inflation. She said, quote the Treasurer,
Speaker 1: and I don't really tell other administrations or other governments
Speaker 1: how to do their job. Hello, James, Surely the federal
Speaker 1: government's going to say to Victoria, guys, you're broke. What
Speaker 1: the hell do you think you're doing?
Speaker 7: Well, this is the problem you've got.
Speaker 8: These EBAs been drawn up by the state governments here
Speaker 8: that are paying lollipop people traffic controllers one hundred and
Speaker 8: eighty thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 7: That is adding to the inflation.
Speaker 8: Let alone some of the government policies that labor have
Speaker 8: rolled out in previous governments as well. NDIS comes to
Speaker 8: mind straight away that is definitely feeding inflation.
Speaker 7: In fact, we've got issues here in.
Speaker 8: Queensland where the NDIS has taken people away from jobs.
Speaker 8: I was only at the Endeavor Foundation the other day
Speaker 8: where a lot of those people that would have previously
Speaker 8: worked in the Endeavor Foundation now I've got these ub
Speaker 8: NDIS packages, So they're off to the movies, they're off fishing,
Speaker 8: they've got their carers there and they're adding to this
Speaker 8: inflationary bubble.
Speaker 7: Because it's just it's not worth working these days.
Speaker 8: You can get one of those packages and you're encouraged
Speaker 8: to go and spend copious amounts of money. We've got
Speaker 8: some people on packages well over a million dollars. Some
Speaker 8: people are using sex workers, others just going to the
Speaker 8: movies and doing trips wherever they tend to like to go.
Speaker 7: So all these things are inflationary.
Speaker 8: They've been stimulated by federal government as well as the state.
Speaker 8: So Cadi Gallagher does have something to answer and she
Speaker 8: should pull her head in.
Speaker 1: Christy. Let's talk about the immigration debate. There was an
Speaker 1: interesting article in the Australian Inquirer section this week about
Speaker 1: how much traction Peter Dutton's getting out of the visa
Speaker 1: and immigration debacles for Labor. Dennis Shanahan, who have got
Speaker 1: great regard for He's written that Dutton has been demonstrating
Speaker 1: a superior strategic sense, a fearless confidence in his political judgment,
Speaker 1: and a sense of leadership security in a team that
Speaker 1: may lack talent. They'll love that, but has grown to
Speaker 1: trust Dutton's instincts. Shanahan, right, is Dutton and I did
Speaker 1: make the point both of you. I'll get your comments
Speaker 1: on this. I did make the point at the start
Speaker 1: that I think they've got to remember as Paul Murray
Speaker 1: keeps reminding them that the number one issue still has
Speaker 1: to be cost of living. I think you'd both agree
Speaker 1: with that. But what do you think, Christy. Is Dutton
Speaker 1: making traction on the immigration argument?
Speaker 6: He is making traction. It's really interesting that Labour's had
Speaker 6: edge husic out the member for chiefly which includes Western
Speaker 6: Sydney suburbs such as Bankstown and Mount Drill, which have
Speaker 6: a significant population of people who are very likely to
Speaker 6: fall into the viewpoint of supporting the Free Palestine movement,
Speaker 6: and certainly those electorates are targeted for the Muslim Voice
Speaker 6: Party should it get its administration together in time and
Speaker 6: pose a threat to the Labor Party. That's another argument.
Speaker 6: But they've had husic out saying we gave people visitor
Speaker 6: visas because they are easier to process. As you mentioned
Speaker 6: in your editorial, Labor sees that comment as an electoral asset.
Speaker 6: They see that as something that's pitching to their base
Speaker 6: and pitching to their voters. They think that was a
Speaker 6: good comment to make, whereas the Coalition sees Dutton's line
Speaker 6: as an electoral asset as well. You've got a situation
Speaker 6: where both parties are five for barely thirty percent of
Speaker 6: the middle voting, and they are both thinking that they
Speaker 6: are onto a winner in terms of their political strategy.
Speaker 6: I think Dutton is edging ahead of Labor. He seems
Speaker 6: to be continually one step ahead of the Prime Minister.
Speaker 6: He has demonstrated a number of convictions now first the Voice,
Speaker 6: then certainly falling into pro Israel and supporting the Jewish community.
Speaker 6: Now he's taking a hardline stance on the Gaza issue
Speaker 6: and the immigration issue. All of this adds up to
Speaker 6: someone who's strong has values as conviction, and we're seeing
Speaker 6: that in poll after poll after poll he's edging out
Speaker 6: the Prime Minister in those categories. So yes, it is working.
Speaker 6: It is an asset and the coalition certainly is falling
Speaker 6: in behind him.
Speaker 1: James, I think you'd agree with this. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: the Ghazan Palestinians. Let's put to one side the more
Speaker 1: broader question of immigration, the people that I speak to
Speaker 1: on a regular basis, where we've got this housing crisis
Speaker 1: and where you know, the roads are clogged with cars
Speaker 1: and traffic and them, and it's almost impossible to get
Speaker 1: around parts of Melbourne and Sydney. I think the broader
Speaker 1: immigration question is fertile ground for Peter Dutton as well.
Speaker 1: I hope he's not too timid in talking about Okay,
Speaker 1: we've brought one point five million people into Australia during
Speaker 1: the two years of the Albanese government. Can we not
Speaker 1: just put a pause button on that for a while
Speaker 1: and reset and get ourselves back in some sort of normal,
Speaker 1: normal immigration numbers.
Speaker 7: Well one nation.
Speaker 8: I've certainly been calling for a moratorium on immigration for
Speaker 8: some time now. Pauline Hanson Malcolm Roberts both been very
Speaker 8: strong on that fact. Unfortunately for both parties. They've been
Speaker 8: too tempted to use the racist card in the past.
Speaker 8: But Peter Dutton, to his credit, has caught up and
Speaker 8: understands now the pressure that this country and everyone who
Speaker 8: lived within it, whether you've come to this country of
Speaker 8: recent times or you're born here, we are all feeling
Speaker 8: the impacts, whether it be the long waiting lists to
Speaker 8: get see a doctor or get into the hospitals for
Speaker 8: elective surgery, even just the traffic on the roads. But
Speaker 8: Dutton here has supported previous humanitarian programs. Keeping in mind
Speaker 8: that we've taken in eleven thousand Ukrainians, Dutton certainly didn't
Speaker 8: put up any defense to that. We've certainly taken in
Speaker 8: some Afghans as well following the takeover by the Taliban,
Speaker 8: and for good reason too. Those people certainly assist the
Speaker 8: Australia when we were over there.
Speaker 7: But he's got a very sensible point here. You cannot vet.
Speaker 8: These people that we intend to take in some three
Speaker 8: thousand people within one hour, and keeping in mind the
Speaker 8: Americans haven't taken in many at all. Last year after
Speaker 8: the conflict started, took in just fifty six and we're
Speaker 8: taking them in on these effectively tourism visas unchecked and
Speaker 8: there is no sense, according to the Albanezy government, of
Speaker 8: sending these people home, and as you rightly pointed out earlier,
Speaker 8: to what home. It's all been destroyed. But we are
Speaker 8: not the country, we are not to be the dumping
Speaker 8: ground of the world. Every time a conflict takes place,
Speaker 8: Australia just can't cope. We're not coping now and we're
Speaker 8: not going to cope if we take these three thousand
Speaker 8: or however many. It ends up being under the Labor government.
Speaker 1: And Christie, I think you know, if you're struggling to
Speaker 1: find a place to rent or struggling to find a
Speaker 1: house you're going to afford to buy, and you look
Speaker 1: at the fact that places like Egypt and Jordan and
Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia are taking none of these Palestinian people they
Speaker 1: live in that region. I just don't quite understand unless
Speaker 1: there's a direct and very strong family tie that people,
Speaker 1: that we would be taking those people. I mean, James
Speaker 1: is quite right, we don't want to be. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's harsh to say a dumping ground, but you have
Speaker 1: to query why are the countries around that region and
Speaker 1: not taking those people themselves?
Speaker 6: Well, and at the same time you have to query it.
Speaker 6: As James made, the point of the Coalition has a
Speaker 6: very good track record on humanitarian assistance for populations fleeing
Speaker 6: war zones Kosovo, Afghanistan, Ukraine, certainly Syria. All of those
Speaker 6: people were verted, checked, processed in a third country. And
Speaker 6: as you were saying, a lot of critics of Dutton's
Speaker 6: to say, but her mask controls Gaza. They're not letting
Speaker 6: people leave Gaza, so it's very difficult for those people
Speaker 6: to be processed in a third country. That is a
Speaker 6: point made after the fact of the government issuing tourism
Speaker 6: visitor visas. They're very quick to do it. It's been
Speaker 6: going on since October last year, and now questions are
Speaker 6: being asked, well, what's the vetting and security process? Does
Speaker 6: it align with our previous intake where we took people
Speaker 6: from warzones. No, it doesn't, it's not comparable. The government
Speaker 6: has questions to answer and that debate needs to be had.
Speaker 1: Paul always asked you for a bold prediction. I won't
Speaker 1: give your mind because I might undercut either of you.
Speaker 1: But James, what do you think the big story is
Speaker 1: going to end up being this week?
Speaker 8: We're going to go back to this whole immigration issue.
Speaker 8: It is going to be the Achilles Heel for this
Speaker 8: Labor government. It's why they're losing votes. It is why
Speaker 8: they're going to continue losing votes. And as we see
Speaker 8: a probable security risk to Australia, that's the security measure
Speaker 8: we've been put on the footings of Australia now sits
Speaker 8: at a probable terrorism attack. It is just going to
Speaker 8: add more fuel to the fire and I think a
Speaker 8: lot of Australians are going to fear the unchecked numbers
Speaker 8: of these people coming into the country under the Labor government.
Speaker 1: Christy, what do you reckon?
Speaker 6: I agree with James. Immigration is a strong point. National
Speaker 6: security is a strong point for the coalition. I also
Speaker 6: agree with you to Steve Less about the specifics of Gaza.
Speaker 6: As you say, Australians are concerned about inflation. They're concerned
Speaker 6: about their cost of living. That is the number one issue.
Speaker 6: But this issue will play bigger to immigration and national security,
Speaker 6: which will continue to see Dutton I think accelerate above
Speaker 6: the government.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're concerned about cost of living and lesser of
Speaker 1: Victorian public servant about to get a five six hundred
Speaker 1: dollars check to I've set the cost of living, which
Speaker 1: would go a long way to fill in the camp.
Speaker 6: I like Vitel, I feel like an idiot for employing
Speaker 6: people and running a business. I could just stay home
Speaker 6: three days a week and get my check from Justinja Allen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, stick your rug boots on and work in front
Speaker 1: of your laptop. James Ashby and Christy McSweeney, thanks very
Speaker 1: much for joining us tonight, Coming up after the break,
Speaker 1: Coming up next, Labour wants to pay wants us to
Speaker 1: pay a sun tax, whatever that might be. Stick around.
Speaker 1: Welcome back, Steve Price in the man Cave tonight. Paul Murray,
Speaker 1: be back with you tomorrow night. I must say I'm
Speaker 1: almost tempted to ride that new Sydney Underground train tomorrow
Speaker 1: one hundred klimeters an hour through the tunnels under the
Speaker 1: Sydney Harbor. Driverless sort of worries me. I'm sure it's
Speaker 1: all been tried and tested, but driverless at one hundred
Speaker 1: k now anyway? Welcome back, joining me for our second
Speaker 1: panel of the Night to Night. Liberal MP Garth Hamilton
Speaker 1: and Victorian Libertarian Party MP David Limbrick. Great to see you. Both, David.
Speaker 1: Just to you first, I compared at the start of
Speaker 1: the show Melbourne and the Victorian Government's going to have
Speaker 1: a forty billion dollar hole in the ground between Cheltenham
Speaker 1: and box Hill where no one I even know as
Speaker 1: ever wanted to go, and Sydney's going to have It's
Speaker 1: going to have forty five trains running at one hundred
Speaker 1: kilometers an hour underground, fifteen k of track, glassed off
Speaker 1: station platforms, all up and running tomorrow. The difference between
Speaker 1: the two places is stark, isn't it.
Speaker 9: It certainly is. This SRL project is very you know,
Speaker 9: it's a multi decade thing that they've got here. They've
Speaker 9: allowed for the workforce to have this jobs for decades
Speaker 9: and decades with no real business case. I got briefed
Speaker 9: by government advisors in the last term of parliament and
Speaker 9: they were talking about all these fluffy things about wider
Speaker 9: economic benefits and this sort of thing. But I'm not convinced,
Speaker 9: and I you know, my position is they should be
Speaker 9: looking at how to get out of these contracts in
Speaker 9: the cheapest way possible.
Speaker 1: Well, a ratings agency might force him out of it
Speaker 1: when you think about it. I mean Tim Pallace the
Speaker 1: Treasurer there had to rush off to New York to
Speaker 1: beg that the rating agencies didn't downgrade them. So we'll
Speaker 1: see where that goes. But we've had Katie Gallaghan talking
Speaker 1: about ridiculously today Garth that state governments are not adding
Speaker 1: to inflation. Well, I revealed at the start of the program,
Speaker 1: and this story was broken in the Herald Sun on Saturday,
Speaker 1: that Victoria's fifty four thousand public servants are set to
Speaker 1: receive a one off five thousand, six hundred dollars. Yes,
Speaker 1: they'll pay tax on that cost of living bonus. When
Speaker 1: millions of people are living hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck,
Speaker 1: unable to pay their mortgage. I mean, how can a
Speaker 1: government just dole out money like this.
Speaker 10: Well, they can do it because it's not their money. Look, Steve,
Speaker 10: you know the best thing, the best cost of living
Speaker 10: relief any government could give Australians right now, is to
Speaker 10: reduce their spending, as simple as that. That's the thing
Speaker 10: that's going to have long term impacts on inflation in
Speaker 10: this country. That's the thing that will help most people.
Speaker 10: The thing with inflation, Steve, is it doesn't bear down
Speaker 10: evenly on the economy. The people who are getting hurt
Speaker 10: the most, people on fixed incomes, low incomes, and renters,
Speaker 10: be they young people trying to get on the property
Speaker 10: ladder or people on pensions who are renting. I mean,
Speaker 10: those are the people who are getting absolutely hammered. Instead,
Speaker 10: we've got what fifty six thousand public servants are going
Speaker 10: to get a big chunk of Victorian taxpayer dollars to
Speaker 10: help them through. Look, tell me that's not going to
Speaker 10: be spent in this environment. We're seeing that. We're seeing that,
Speaker 10: you know, people are still spending the money that's coming through.
Speaker 10: That will only further drive inflation. This is a terrible thing, Steve.
Speaker 1: It reminds me Garth a little bit of when Kevin
Speaker 1: Rudd was handing out money after the global financial crunch,
Speaker 1: and you know, suddenly good on Jerry Harvey, but sales
Speaker 1: in widescreen TVs just went off the shelves. They couldn't
Speaker 1: get enough of them because you know what people did,
Speaker 1: they didn't pay down their mortgage. They went out and
Speaker 1: spent it on household things that they could get. I mean,
Speaker 1: I presume the public servants are going to do the
Speaker 1: same thing that they're not being told. How they have
Speaker 1: to spend it. They can do whatever they want with it.
Speaker 10: Well, of course they can. And look I was in
Speaker 10: Perth at the time. I remember everyone getting a second
Speaker 10: jet ski over there. You know, that's where the money
Speaker 10: all went.
Speaker 1: But we can see this.
Speaker 10: With savings rates, and that's what savings rates have been
Speaker 10: exhausted over the last couple of years. All the money
Speaker 10: that people put aside during that COVID era, people have
Speaker 10: been spending and they're still spending it. And there's absolutely
Speaker 10: nothing to suggest that that behave is about the change
Speaker 10: anytime soon. Why would it, steve you know. Unfortunately, this
Speaker 10: is what labor governments always do. They think the answer
Speaker 10: is spending more of your hard earned money, and they
Speaker 10: try to sell it as if it's them doing something.
Speaker 10: Now it's tax payer money.
Speaker 1: David as a Victorian sitting as an independent in the Parliament.
Speaker 1: When you see this, I mean, this is just labor
Speaker 1: buying votes, isn't it. I mean this is one of
Speaker 1: the greatest pork barreling exercises in the history of Australian politics.
Speaker 1: They say work for the government will and this payment.
Speaker 1: I should point out to people that you can be
Speaker 1: a public servant earning up to two hundred and forty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year and you're getting this five six
Speaker 1: hundred dollar payment. It's not means tested at all. And
Speaker 1: it was reported at the weekend that public servants who
Speaker 1: have subsequently left the public service after that EBA was
Speaker 1: agreed to are still going to get the payment. David,
Speaker 1: how the hell does this happen?
Speaker 9: Well, they've already agreed to the EBA. But I've got
Speaker 9: an idea on how they could fund this without charging
Speaker 9: taxpayers more and without borrowing more money. They need to
Speaker 9: cut back the size of the public service dramatically, and
Speaker 9: in the past they've voluntary redundancies, which which I don't
Speaker 9: like voluntary redundancies because that means that all the really
Speaker 9: good people go. But I've got a different idea. The
Speaker 9: people that want to the public servants that want to
Speaker 9: work from home, let them stay at home for good.
Speaker 1: That's a very good policy. I think I support that.
Speaker 1: I mean the contrast between Sydney and Melbourne, where Chris
Speaker 1: Mins goes out and says, not only do you have
Speaker 1: to get back to the office, you've got to go
Speaker 1: back tomorrow, whereas the Victorian government says are now you
Speaker 1: can stay home, work in your tracksuit pants, in your
Speaker 1: ug boots, and come back when you like, maybe work
Speaker 1: three days a week. Garth. I want to talk about
Speaker 1: a hidden tax. Have you heard of this sun tax
Speaker 1: that's been called being whacked on households who've switched to solar. Now,
Speaker 1: the energy advocates say it's madness. They're accusing energy companies
Speaker 1: of trying to charge people for generating their own electricity.
Speaker 1: So I think, as I understand it, the way this
Speaker 1: works is if you want to feed back into the
Speaker 1: grid from the electricity that your panels are generating, then
Speaker 1: you're going to be charged for that.
Speaker 10: Yeah, look, this is extraordinary. Do you remember I'll just
Speaker 10: start off with this duge. You remember when Albo promised
Speaker 10: that our energy bill is going to go down by
Speaker 10: two hundred and seventy five dolls.
Speaker 1: Do I ever?
Speaker 10: Well, here we are two and a half years in
Speaker 10: and they're still going up. Geeze missed the mark there
Speaker 10: a little bit. But look, follow the money on this one.
Speaker 10: The providers lose money during the daytime when people's solo
Speaker 10: feeds back in. They want to find a way to
Speaker 10: recoup that. But at the heart of this, Steve at
Speaker 10: the heart of this, and there's the mining engineer and
Speaker 10: me coming out is the idea that we're just going
Speaker 10: to switch everyone over to a battery. Everyone's going to
Speaker 10: buy a battery, and it sounds great.
Speaker 7: Problem is for us.
Speaker 10: To produce enough of the materials that we need, you know, lithium, cobalt,
Speaker 10: to nick all these sort of things. We need to
Speaker 10: create another three hundred minds in the next twelve years
Speaker 10: now to give you some kind of idea of what
Speaker 10: that is as well. Over that number, but that's a
Speaker 10: conservative number. We've got about three hundred and eighty active
Speaker 10: minds in Australia right now. So we need to duplicate
Speaker 10: Australia's mining sector, and not just the bloke's holding the picks,
Speaker 10: if that's how you imagine mining. I'm talking all the engineers,
Speaker 10: the surveyors, the people running the trucks everywhere. We need
Speaker 10: to duplicate that just to match this. And then, because
Speaker 10: batteries have a life cycle of however long, we need
Speaker 10: to continue that process that rate from now into perpetuity.
Speaker 10: So there's this great fiction at the heart of this
Speaker 10: thief that we're just going to switch everyone over to
Speaker 10: these magical batteries that at the moment we can't make
Speaker 10: that don't exist, and look there's no way that will
Speaker 10: reach the rate required to produce that material.
Speaker 1: Well, as an engineer, I was going to ask you
Speaker 1: and do these batteries exist? And if they do exist,
Speaker 1: who's making them, where we get them from? And how much?
Speaker 1: If I want to presume, i'd strap it onto the
Speaker 1: side of my house somewhere like a gas water heater
Speaker 1: or I can't use gas in Victoria, sorry, electric water heater.
Speaker 1: Do these things exist?
Speaker 10: Look, look at the quality of them at the moment.
Speaker 10: Doesn't that's a problem. But I'm sure there'll be some
Speaker 10: carpetbagger out there trying to use that Future Made in
Speaker 10: Australia fund to sell the goal on how they can
Speaker 10: make them.
Speaker 1: Will there ever, I mean, that's going to be routed
Speaker 1: like you've never seen. David. I mean, I don't know
Speaker 1: what your view is on this race to renewables, but
Speaker 1: it seems to me that Chris Bowen and Anthony alban
Speaker 1: Easy just keep preaching this stuff hoping that somehow magically
Speaker 1: it's all going to appear, and yet they're way behind
Speaker 1: on all these projects. We're shutting down coal mines, people's
Speaker 1: electricity bills are going up. What do you think where
Speaker 1: are we going to end up with this? In five
Speaker 1: years ten years time.
Speaker 9: We'll end up with blackouts and huge electricity prices. What
Speaker 9: we need in Australia is to have a flat market
Speaker 9: so that we're not subsidizing particular technologies or prohibiting particular
Speaker 9: technologies such as nuclear energy, and we have the cheapest,
Speaker 9: most abundant energy available to consumers. Because we're running industries
Speaker 9: out of town, we're forcing households in the debt, We're
Speaker 9: forcing them to pay these huge electricity prices. We need
Speaker 9: cheap electricity and these are net zero targets. We should
Speaker 9: be abandoned. Australia is a small player in the world.
Speaker 9: We should not be carrying the burdens of the rest
Speaker 9: of the world on our shoulders. We should have been
Speaker 9: putting Australia first and doing whatever it takes to get
Speaker 9: the cheapest electricity for Australians.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well said, I agree with you, completely, sticking with you, David.
Speaker 1: There in Melbourne, those scenes yesterday got a police officer
Speaker 1: allegedly assaulted speakers at a women's rally, had eggs and
Speaker 1: water balloons thrown at them. The Women's Action Group had
Speaker 1: organized what was called a Women Will Speak event Victoria's
Speaker 1: State Parliament's steps. They were then met by a counter
Speaker 1: rally by pro transactivists. The Transliberation Rally say their motivation
Speaker 1: is to fight against ongoing erosion of women's rights in
Speaker 1: all of Australia. All they did was intimidate them. That
Speaker 1: was very ugly stuff.
Speaker 9: Well, we've seen this going on for years now and
Speaker 9: it's absolutely disgusting. What we saw at last March was
Speaker 9: a bunch of women that tried to speak about legitimate
Speaker 9: issues regarding women's rights, around sports, around gender, medicine for children.
Speaker 9: And we saw at that one more Deeming was assaulted
Speaker 9: and we saw all the fallout from that. And then
Speaker 9: yesterday we saw another MP assaulted by a missile. This
Speaker 9: was Bev MacArthur. She got up and spoke at this
Speaker 9: rally yesterday. When we have members of Parliament being assaulted
Speaker 9: with missiles, we have to call it what it is.
Speaker 9: This is violence for political ends. It's terrorism and what's
Speaker 9: happening here is absolutely out of control. We need the
Speaker 9: premiere of this state to make a decision. Is she
Speaker 9: going to stand up for women or is she going
Speaker 9: to side with these people that are attacking women who
Speaker 9: want to speak.
Speaker 1: This is absolutely wrong.
Speaker 9: Also the leader, the leader of the Opposition, needs to
Speaker 9: make a decision. Is he going to stand up for
Speaker 9: his member of parliament that was assaulted yesterday or is
Speaker 9: he going to remain silent and throw her under the bus?
Speaker 1: Well said, I agree with you completely. Stay with us, folks.
Speaker 1: We'll be back straight out to the break. Welcome back
Speaker 1: to steep Price in for Paul Murray. The Royal Report
Speaker 1: coming up after us at the top of the hour,
Speaker 1: and I can tell you Paul will be back here
Speaker 1: in the man Cave tomorrow night joining us tonight our panel.
Speaker 1: And we have Garth in Brisbane. I think at the moment,
Speaker 1: David in Melbourne, I just want to quickly talk about
Speaker 1: some bike lanes and then get onto Kevin Rudd. I've
Speaker 1: lived through the bike lane destruction of the CBD of
Speaker 1: Melbourne like you have David in Sydney. Here they're going
Speaker 1: to spend seventy million dollars building more bike lanes on
Speaker 1: some of the city's busiest roads. But it's been pointed
Speaker 1: out the whole program is based on inflated numbers of cyclists. Now,
Speaker 1: I was in the CBD of Melbourne yesterday during the
Speaker 1: day walking across those bike lanes. I saw two people
Speaker 1: on bikes in about four hours. David is ridiculous.
Speaker 9: Well, they've got a fantastic bike infrastructure, but like I
Speaker 9: don't see a lot of people using it around the CBD.
Speaker 9: And frankly, the CBD is a terrible place to ride
Speaker 9: your bike. The main problem being pedestrians just walking out
Speaker 9: in front of people. It's terrible to drive your car
Speaker 9: as well. Look, I don't know that it's actually helped
Speaker 9: help things much in Melbourne. I think many motorists would
Speaker 9: prefer more parking and more space on the road and
Speaker 9: pedestrians that didn't just look at their phones and walk
Speaker 9: out in front of traffic and cyclists for that matter.
Speaker 1: Garth, whatever you do, don't let it happen in Brisbane.
Speaker 1: If anyone has the idea up there, you talk to
Speaker 1: that David Chris O Fooley and tell him it's a
Speaker 1: fool's paradise doing that. I want to talk about Kevin
Speaker 1: Rudd Garth, one of my favorite people. It's been reported
Speaker 1: today that he's having a wonderful time over there He's
Speaker 1: paid a Channel ten journal and an opera singer twenty
Speaker 1: four grand each plus air fares out. Kevin and I
Speaker 1: haven't always seen eye to I actually sent a letter
Speaker 1: to the editor of my paper, The Herald Son about
Speaker 1: a year and a half ago now described me and
Speaker 1: I take great pride in this the greatest non entity
Speaker 1: in the history of Australian journalism. It's not bad coming
Speaker 1: from a failed PM. Look. I looked at these expenses.
Speaker 1: They're not over the top, but I'm not sure that's
Speaker 1: what we should be using the embassy for, is it.
Speaker 10: Well, Look, I've got to admit I was at the
Speaker 10: embassy only about a month ago. With the American shape
Speaker 10: of commerce.
Speaker 1: I think it was. You know, there's one part of this, Steve.
Speaker 10: I think we all agree we want to see America's politicians,
Speaker 10: they're business leaders, people who influence their economy in the
Speaker 10: Australian Embassy. We want them there to meet with our folks,
Speaker 10: to establish a good relationship off and Americans don't have
Speaker 10: that broader view outside their own country. So we've got
Speaker 10: to really use that embassy to sell our story and
Speaker 10: to reinforce that relationship we have with America and I think.
Speaker 1: Most people accept that. I think that's a good thing.
Speaker 10: But look, when we're in a cost of living crisis,
Speaker 10: some of these embellishments are a little bit hard to take.
Speaker 10: And I take your point. Someone else to come in
Speaker 10: and be an mc at a function of the embassy. Kevin,
Speaker 10: that's your job, mate, You're the ambassador, you are the
Speaker 10: star of the show. Yeah, I'm sure you could have
Speaker 10: saved this, what fifty grand plus flights on those two together,
Speaker 10: just doing your job.
Speaker 1: Well, Joe Hockey, who's going to co anchor our coverage
Speaker 1: of the Democrat Party convention on Tuesday. I mean, as
Speaker 1: in his job as ambassador, David, one of the things
Speaker 1: he did well for Australia was to cozy up to
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, went and played golf with him a few times.
Speaker 1: I think he got the tennis court there redone Kevin
Speaker 1: spending twenty four thousand dollars on a barbecue, want to
Speaker 1: be a hello.
Speaker 9: Look, I mean you know these Yeah, it sounds like
Speaker 9: a pretty fancy barbecue and like you know, I'm sure
Speaker 9: taxpayers raised their eyebrows at this, but it presents us
Speaker 9: with a bit of a dilemma though as well, Like
Speaker 9: you know, If this is what it costs to keep
Speaker 9: Kevin right in the United States and out of Australia,
Speaker 9: I don't know. Maybe it's worth it.
Speaker 1: That's a very good point. That's a very good point.
Speaker 1: Here is ed husick. He was trying to defend this today.
Speaker 1: I don't know how, but here he is.
Speaker 11: If you look at how effective and energetic Kevin has
Speaker 11: been as an ambassador, people can pick out certain expenses.
Speaker 11: I'm sure that in terms of our presence in different
Speaker 11: parts of the world where we do use our presence
Speaker 11: to be able to bring people together, we try to
Speaker 11: do that in the most appropriate way possible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's good, But I mean this also is
Speaker 1: a bloke, Garth, who has said some very nasty things
Speaker 1: about the men that might be the next US President,
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. So maybe he's just having a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of parties to get them out of the way before
Speaker 1: perhaps he gets asked to leave the country.
Speaker 10: Well, look, he's certainly got his work in front of
Speaker 10: him after his comments about mister Trump. Look, one thing
Speaker 10: I will say what was clear is he is working hard.
Speaker 10: There are people going through that embassy, and I thought
Speaker 10: that that's a reflection on the embassy staff as well.
Speaker 10: And I want to point that out, Steve, It's not
Speaker 10: just Kevin. There's a team there that are actually doing
Speaker 10: a hell of a job. They're probably having to catch
Speaker 10: up for some of Kevin's comments in what they're doing.
Speaker 10: But look, this has got to be the relationship that
Speaker 10: we throw everything at. You know, right now, you look
Speaker 10: around what's happening around the world, all the trouble that
Speaker 10: we're seeing, the economic troubles, but both of our countries
Speaker 10: are having this is the relationship that matters.
Speaker 1: The most, absolutely right, and we'll be watching that Democrat
Speaker 1: Democrat convention in Chicago with great interest. David Lindbrick and
Speaker 1: Garth Hamilton, thank you very much for joining us tonight.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. I must say I am very tempted
Speaker 1: to go and jump on the one hundred kilometer an
Speaker 1: our driverless train on Sydney's new train tracks tomorrow, just
Speaker 1: to show how good Sydney is compared to Melbourne. The
Speaker 1: Royal Report coming up next