Speaker 1: Live from Queensland. This is Paul murray Lyte today.
Speaker 2: Good evening and welcome back to Brisbane, Southeast Queensland.
Speaker 1: Still dealing with the echoes of Alfred.
Speaker 2: There are some big ro problems happening just a little
Speaker 2: further up the coast. Now tonight on the show, we're
Speaker 2: going to talk about lots of different heroes that have
Speaker 2: been working up and down the coast for the past
Speaker 2: little while, but I want to focus on the people
Speaker 2: trying to reconnect electricity to hundreds of thousands of people.
Speaker 2: Will go inside that operation and how it works tonight.
Speaker 2: The Nissa Wil's Premier Chris Mins, joined us a little
Speaker 2: earlier tonight to talk about the issues in northern New
Speaker 2: South Wales and then back to our usual on Sunday night,
Speaker 2: which is the state of the Race, the conversation about
Speaker 2: an election that we thought could have been called as
Speaker 2: early as this weekend, but because of the events of
Speaker 2: the past few days, is going.
Speaker 1: To be delayed until May.
Speaker 2: But first let's start with the weather, and it has
Speaker 2: been wet and wild this weekend in Southeast Queensland.
Speaker 1: And the north of New South Wales.
Speaker 2: The rain is coming and going from Brisbane tonight, but
Speaker 2: the effects are very much still being felt on the
Speaker 2: Gold Coast. But the real focus right now is a
Speaker 2: place called Harvey Bay. Now, Harvey Bay is just off
Speaker 2: the Sunshine Coast and they have been absolutely turned inside
Speaker 2: out like a pair of socks. Tonight there is footage
Speaker 2: that is showing us the real problems of hundreds hundreds
Speaker 2: of millimeters of rain that have fallen there in just
Speaker 2: a few hours. Eleven people so far have need to
Speaker 2: be rescued from the floods. The Premiere, David krus Of,
Speaker 2: fully in his most recent briefings, is turning his attention
Speaker 2: to the emergency.
Speaker 1: That is happening there. As we speak.
Speaker 3: There was two hundred and thirty millimeters of rainfall in
Speaker 3: just a few hours in Harvey Bay. We've seen that
Speaker 3: culminating reports of flash flooding in homes and in businesses.
Speaker 3: There has spen number of Swiss for to rescues and
Speaker 3: I just want to say a huge yet of gratitude
Speaker 3: to those emergency services personnel.
Speaker 2: Now, one of the problems here is that by having
Speaker 2: to spread themselves across an area that has got literally
Speaker 2: millions of people and hundreds of thousands at any one time, that.
Speaker 1: Are in the focus.
Speaker 2: There are some things that have slipped through the cracks,
Speaker 2: most notably the information that has been given to the
Speaker 2: people of Harvey Bay. The Bureau of Meteorology has admitted
Speaker 2: tonight that while they had the information eventually, they didn't
Speaker 2: have it early enough. A statement from the Bureau of
Speaker 2: Meteorology says that Harvey Bay was included in a severe
Speaker 2: weather warning that was issued at five am. However, they
Speaker 2: now acknowledged that the event had happened much earlier. The
Speaker 2: latest numbers we have is three hundred and twenty mills
Speaker 2: have come down since nine am yesterday. There have been
Speaker 2: one hundred and seventy one rescues, not just from the
Speaker 2: waters but from the people who are inside their homes.
Speaker 2: So eleven people being pulled out of the water and
Speaker 2: one hundred and seventy one people being pulled out of
Speaker 2: their homes. Now, a quick little update again before we
Speaker 2: start to have a look at the other issues that are.
Speaker 1: Happening around the world.
Speaker 2: Here are five things that you need to know about
Speaker 2: what is happening when it comes to this extropical cyclone tonight.
Speaker 2: The first is that flooding is the next big worry
Speaker 2: for Brisbane.
Speaker 1: The expectation is is that.
Speaker 2: With hundreds of mills that have flowed for a while,
Speaker 2: the problem is not going to be in the Brisbane
Speaker 2: River behind me. Instead it is in many many suburbs.
Speaker 2: More than one hundred roads are currently closed.
Speaker 4: This event is filling, not over, for the rainfall will
Speaker 4: continue and the risk of ent tense rainfall with localized
Speaker 4: flash flooding is real.
Speaker 2: Again, let me show you some data. You know how
Speaker 2: to into the data. I am and Jesus a lot
Speaker 2: when it comes to a weather event. These are the
Speaker 2: issues about rainfall. In the past little while. I've spoken
Speaker 2: about Harvey Bay. But right now now Brisbane, one hundred
Speaker 2: and eighty three mills, nearly one hundred mills fell in
Speaker 2: Brisbane in just two hours. That, by the way, is
Speaker 2: the equal of all of the rain that fell here
Speaker 2: in December up at Redcliffe one hundred and forty seven mills.
Speaker 2: At Archerfil two hundred mills, down at cool and Gatta
Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty five mills. Over the border in
Speaker 2: Ballina it's been thirty eight and in Lizmore thirty seven
Speaker 2: that have fallen in the past couple of days. And
Speaker 2: as you can see you think you're about to stand
Speaker 2: in a nice dry spot, and then the rain starts
Speaker 2: to pull up. We'll hold on for as long as
Speaker 2: possible without reaching for the rain jacket. The other thing
Speaker 2: is win and again you can see a little bit
Speaker 2: of it picking up, but that has caused its own
Speaker 2: troubles too.
Speaker 1: Again worth having a.
Speaker 2: Look here because you can see the types of damage
Speaker 2: that has taken place. Now I will probably tomorrow in
Speaker 2: chapter and verse have to set things right with those
Speaker 2: who have said this thing is not as big as expected,
Speaker 2: fizzer all the rest of it. Look, let's be very serious.
Speaker 2: Person died in northern New South Wales. People are being
Speaker 2: pulled out of the water or save from their homes
Speaker 2: in Harvey Bay. Hundreds of thousands of people don't have power.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry if that's not enough for some people, but
Speaker 2: it is well and truly a very significant event that's
Speaker 2: been taking place here at Brisbane Airport this weekend. Ninety
Speaker 2: three k's an hour was as fast as it got
Speaker 2: at Redcliffe.
Speaker 1: In the middle of last night.
Speaker 2: It was one hundred and four kilometers ninety five k's
Speaker 2: on the Gold Coast and the latest number we had
Speaker 2: was seventy six k's an hour at Harvey Bay, but
Speaker 2: I think we're going to see something a little higher
Speaker 2: once more numbers come in eighty two kilometers an hour
Speaker 2: across at Cape Byron at Byron Bay. The third thing
Speaker 2: you need to know about what is happening as we
Speaker 2: speak in southeast Queensland, north northern New South Wales and
Speaker 2: everything that has been affected here is there is an
Speaker 2: awful lot of people who.
Speaker 1: Still don't have power.
Speaker 2: Now forty eight thousand people don't have any power as
Speaker 2: we go to war tonight.
Speaker 1: In Brisbane, the most.
Speaker 2: Affected suburbs Rochdale, Board, bald Hills and the Gap Meantime
Speaker 2: on the Gold Coast. Congratulations to the energet's workers because
Speaker 2: this has gone from close to two hundred thousand now
Speaker 2: down to eighty one thousand. Eight hundred homes in and
Speaker 2: around Madurabah, Nrang and Labrador are the areas that need
Speaker 2: the most work in the next little while. And again
Speaker 2: the crews that have been doing what they have doing.
Speaker 2: I've seen the volunteers when it comes to rural fire
Speaker 2: service efforts. I've seen the volunteers when it comes to
Speaker 2: the State emergency Service. These people are twenty four to seven.
Speaker 2: They're focused on everything from a street lamp all the
Speaker 2: way through to a hospital unit blocks. They are working
Speaker 2: their backside off. The bloke who showed us around their
Speaker 2: operation is a blow called Paul, and we'll talk to him.
Speaker 1: In a moment or two times.
Speaker 5: We've got people haven't got power at home. We've got
Speaker 5: people who have moved home. We've got one fellow living
Speaker 5: with his mum again that's how he can come in
Speaker 5: and work. So it's absolutely extraordinary in what our people
Speaker 5: will do to make sure that they can come in
Speaker 5: and help the community.
Speaker 6: I couldn't be proud of the effort that those people
Speaker 6: put in poor.
Speaker 1: Alright in Queensland.
Speaker 2: They are so committed to going outside that when they
Speaker 2: build even brand new unit blocks, you've got to have
Speaker 2: a balcady because even when you're inside, you want to
Speaker 2: be outside. And since Thursday there's been no school on
Speaker 2: Thursday and Friday. The news about whether school is back tomorrow,
Speaker 2: well it is literally school by school. The latest information
Speaker 2: that we have from the authorities here is that you've
Speaker 2: got to check a website that has now been updated.
Speaker 1: In fact, the Premier has that message for you tonight.
Speaker 3: I make the observation. Parents and school communities know their
Speaker 3: school and we're asking people to make sure that they
Speaker 3: stay safe. And if getting to school from your particular
Speaker 3: property isn't safe, well, of course, of course that's a
Speaker 3: decision that parents will make and they'll be supported in that,
Speaker 3: I can assure you. But where it's safe to do so,
Speaker 3: those schools will open.
Speaker 2: So I've told you about the emergency in Harvey Bay.
Speaker 2: I've talked about the wind. I've talked about the power.
Speaker 2: I've talked about how much rain there is. I've talked
Speaker 2: about when it's time for kids to go back to school.
Speaker 2: So now I'm going to talk about the politicians bit
Speaker 2: mctanngue for days and days, but it's time now to
Speaker 2: pass a little review on the way some of them
Speaker 2: have been performing. Now, you know, I'm a fan of
Speaker 2: David Crucifully. I was as an opposition leader and I
Speaker 2: cheered him in to become the premier. He has grown
Speaker 2: in stature during all of this. Calm, measured detailed up
Speaker 2: to date, not holding anything back, not being combative, not
Speaker 2: being dramatic, not trying to squeeze another press conference out
Speaker 2: of it. So everyone's sitting around COVID style. He has
Speaker 2: done an excellent job. Again to those who say, well,
Speaker 2: it's not what we thought it would be, I repeat,
Speaker 2: you're talking about a storm that has gone from the
Speaker 2: Sunshine Coast to Coffsarbor in New South Wales, out to
Speaker 2: Woomba and Harvey Bay when it comes out to sea,
Speaker 2: and plenty of others. Another person who's done their state
Speaker 2: proud as the New Sowales.
Speaker 1: Premier Chris Mins.
Speaker 2: Now, he could have stayed in Sydney, he could have
Speaker 2: sent people to represent him, but no, as soon as
Speaker 2: he knew that there was a chance that Lismore could
Speaker 2: have a repeat of issues, Balliner could go down Grafton
Speaker 2: currently having a bit of a rough night tonight, potential issues,
Speaker 2: maybe south into Port Macquarie.
Speaker 1: He has been here every stage of this.
Speaker 2: He's brought with him statewide experts, local experts and will
Speaker 2: chat to him in a couple of minutes too.
Speaker 7: I think it's been a privilege to be here amongst
Speaker 7: emergency service workers as well as the local community. Well,
Speaker 7: they're really tough, incredibly resilient people and they've been through
Speaker 7: Helen back over the last few years.
Speaker 2: Now we've got to talk about federal politicians in natural disasters,
Speaker 2: they do have a role, but they should not have
Speaker 2: a front facing one where we've got to hear from
Speaker 2: them multiple times a day. The reality is is that
Speaker 2: when the information is as localized as I've been able
Speaker 2: to explain to you, politicians from Canberra doing briefings in Canberra,
Speaker 2: in my view, is about trying to keep themselves into
Speaker 2: the overall disaster new cycle, as opposed to filling any
Speaker 2: information void that anyone else has. Now, the Prime Minister
Speaker 2: correctly went to liz More to be with the ADF,
Speaker 2: but that is a perfect use of his time. Parading
Speaker 2: around in emergency situations where federal authorities can tell us
Speaker 2: what state authorities can do to me is an obvious
Speaker 2: amount of look at me. The other one is a
Speaker 2: whole collection of local labor MPs who've been all over
Speaker 2: social media or pretending that they have some sort of
Speaker 2: official role in all of this.
Speaker 1: But I want you to see this.
Speaker 2: The one who thinks he's going to be the next
Speaker 2: Prime minister, Jim Chalmers. Now he yesterday was out in about,
Speaker 2: sorry this is today out in about and jesez he's
Speaker 2: got the orange jacket on now I don't know, and
Speaker 2: I believe he is not a member of the State
Speaker 2: Emergency Service. But geez, of all the colors to pick
Speaker 2: in the middle of an emergency, he picks the same
Speaker 2: color as that of the actual volunteers, the actual people helping,
Speaker 2: the actual people who are making people's lives better. Now
Speaker 2: he'll hate that I'm saying it, but sorry, that's the
Speaker 2: reality of the situation. All right, That's the few things
Speaker 2: I wanted to talk about generally. But now let's get
Speaker 2: to another reality of the past few days. The Prime
Speaker 2: Minister for two years has been desperate to get some
Speaker 2: sort of a circuit breaker, desperate to get some sort
Speaker 2: of a topic change, something that would move him away
Speaker 2: from what feels like a sinking ship and going around
Speaker 2: the gurglar. Well, the reality is just a couple of
Speaker 2: weeks ago, the polls were pretty clear, Doutton leading and
Speaker 2: Labor was on course for a defeat. So we were
Speaker 2: told the circuit breaker, the topic changer, would be the
Speaker 2: Reserve Bank and its latest decision when it to interest rates.
Speaker 2: As we told you then, despite the fact that many
Speaker 2: in the media were saying this was the game changer,
Speaker 2: we knew it wasn't because just like two little too
Speaker 2: late tax cuts, it wasn't enough. So then we've had
Speaker 2: the ten day conversation about medicare, where he's trying to
Speaker 2: remind everyone of a campaign trick from three years ago,
Speaker 2: where he's holding up a dollar coin to make some
Speaker 2: points somewhere, and now he's trying to turn everyone's wallet
Speaker 2: into a reminder of a Labor Party campaign.
Speaker 1: Well, we've got a poll after all of that started in.
Speaker 2: The turnbul times the reserve bank rate was too late,
Speaker 2: as Albaneze's rating dips slips again. Now again I'm not
Speaker 2: being cynical. I'm just talking about the reality of somebody
Speaker 2: trying to dig themselves out of a hole, and they
Speaker 2: use any opportunity they can get. Has this weekend been
Speaker 2: a game changer? Has this weekend been the circuit breaker
Speaker 2: for some? Perhaps, but it is only going to be
Speaker 2: particularly localized for everyone watching outside of the region. I
Speaker 2: think many people are going to think there is no
Speaker 2: great change. But the one big piece of news that
Speaker 2: we have not been able to talk about on the
Speaker 2: show thus far in any great detail, was the reality
Speaker 2: of this tropical Cyclone of all the things that have
Speaker 2: been disrupted the prime Minister's plans to call an election
Speaker 2: this weekend were the most disrupted politically.
Speaker 8: Ex Tropical Cyclone Alfred's eminent impacts have reached the halls
Speaker 8: of Canberra, with the Prime Minister's plans to hold an
Speaker 8: April election now ruled out. The Albanesi government says its
Speaker 8: entire focus is on the emergency.
Speaker 9: The ex tropical cyclone was renamed from Anthony to Alford
Speaker 9: to avoid any association with the Prime minister. Now he
Speaker 9: doesn't want to seem as though he's disassociating Anthony. Albanese
Speaker 9: is all too aware of the fierce backlash federal governments
Speaker 9: can cop for being too slow to act with an
Speaker 9: election looming. This disaster hasn't added political dimension.
Speaker 2: Now what happens becare because this election has been delayed.
Speaker 2: It now goes into May. It will not be in April.
Speaker 2: There will be a budget, It'll be in just a
Speaker 2: couple of weeks time. Were they ready to actually do it?
Speaker 2: Are they going to have to cobble one together? What's
Speaker 2: the handout it's going to be? Remember we keep being
Speaker 2: told that revenue is a problem. At the moment, we
Speaker 2: know that there is a plan. Their own government's modeling
Speaker 2: for a budget deficit for the next forty years.
Speaker 1: How will they.
Speaker 2: Magically produce a set of numbers hoping to change their fortunes.
Speaker 2: Remember twelve months ago, two little too late tax cuts.
Speaker 1: It didn't change the game.
Speaker 2: There will be at least two more meetings of the
Speaker 2: Reserve Bank, one in April and one in May. Obviously,
Speaker 2: if it is the first week of May, it may
Speaker 2: well have a final jump into the campaign. But given
Speaker 2: all of the circumstances of the economy right now, I
Speaker 2: wouldn't betting the house on a reduction and how much
Speaker 2: it costs to pay off the house.
Speaker 1: They're also they're now going to have another month to
Speaker 1: spend millions.
Speaker 2: More of your taxpayers dollars on soft political advertising, which
Speaker 2: is clearly all about pumping up the government, pumping up labor,
Speaker 2: pumping up the Prime Minister. But it'll all be of
Speaker 2: course in information campaigns, and plenty more polls will either
Speaker 2: tell us that there has yet again not been the
Speaker 2: circuit breaker and the Prime Minister is in a scenario
Speaker 2: of hitting at the very least towards a minority and
Speaker 2: then potentially the Liberal.
Speaker 1: Party being able to form that minority government.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and if there's any problems with the economy
Speaker 2: between now and then, blame this weekend.
Speaker 10: This will have an impact on the national economy, There's
Speaker 10: no question about that. Already it's having an impact. Businesses
Speaker 10: are closed, people are unable to go to work. The
Speaker 10: human impact is one thing. The environmental impact is significant,
Speaker 10: but the economic impact is as well.
Speaker 2: Honestly, again, these are the times not for the leaders
Speaker 2: to be the commentators, but for the leaders to deliver
Speaker 2: the information. I've shown you the Liberal one in Queensland
Speaker 2: who's doing it well, the Labor one in while I
Speaker 2: was the.
Speaker 1: One from Canberra.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll talk about that with our mates Michael Kroger
Speaker 2: and CAUs Samaras a return to normal on a Sunday
Speaker 2: night when it comes to the state of the race.
Speaker 2: But one last thing about politics that cannot go unmentioned
Speaker 2: and cannot go past my eye, and I've got a
Speaker 2: second to mention it so I will remember this cringey
Speaker 2: stuff about people who were supporting Kamala Harris just before
Speaker 2: she lost.
Speaker 1: Body.
Speaker 3: Are why I make a big nice scene industry gonna
Speaker 3: be a big person.
Speaker 2: Well on International Women's Day, these are the women of
Speaker 2: the Labor Party pulling a kamala. Well, I hope believe
Speaker 2: of the opposition is got a piece of paper and
Speaker 2: he is writing.
Speaker 9: Out his resignation if he wants to know what misogyny.
Speaker 8: Looks like in him in Australia. And he doesn't need
Speaker 8: emotion in the house represented he needs.
Speaker 9: I'm a pass.
Speaker 2: Okay, yet again the reframing of that moment, which remember,
Speaker 2: was in defense of Peter Slipper and what he had
Speaker 2: said about the female form. And you love how all
Speaker 2: of these things melt away from history. But you and
Speaker 2: I remember, right, let's talk about this incredible operation which
Speaker 2: has been people getting power back on grid. Now they
Speaker 2: were able to do it tens of thousands of people
Speaker 2: last night, huge wins through Brisbane meant that they took
Speaker 2: one step forward, one step back. Well, twenty four hours later,
Speaker 2: tens of thousands of homes have come back on and
Speaker 2: that is because of an army, and there has been
Speaker 2: an army of people who have been working to put
Speaker 2: that stuff back together. The company is Energy X and
Speaker 2: Paul Jordan is its chief operating officer. I had a
Speaker 2: chance to talk to him at their Green Slopes depot
Speaker 2: a bit earlier today.
Speaker 1: Well, Sydney had its volunteers.
Speaker 2: In the year two thousand, plenty of people turned to
Speaker 2: the Rual Fire Service in times of fire.
Speaker 1: I've got to say the people who have brought.
Speaker 2: The most calm to people in Southeas Queens in the
Speaker 2: past few days have been the people working for The
Speaker 2: information that has been coming from Nijex is phenomenal.
Speaker 1: Palls, the man who puts it all together. Thank you
Speaker 1: for seeing us here.
Speaker 6: Oh, you're most welcome, Paul.
Speaker 2: Whenever I saw a tree down and your crews start
Speaker 2: to roll in, I could see that people who had
Speaker 2: been tense all night started to relax because it was
Speaker 2: tangible help that we're starting to turn up. Give me
Speaker 2: an idea about the feelings inside your crew about not
Speaker 2: just bringing numbers down, but reconnecting people.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Look, absolutely so.
Speaker 5: We've got about twelve hundred people ready to respond and
Speaker 5: who are responding in the southeast. We're bringing eight hundred
Speaker 5: in from the northern parts of the state, and each
Speaker 5: and every one of them is focused on community, what
Speaker 5: they can be doing to restore supply because as you
Speaker 5: well know, you know, electricity supplies core to everything we do,
Speaker 5: so that's in their heart and mind. Our job is
Speaker 5: to make sure that we coordinate that that they stay
Speaker 5: safe and then we get that power back on the
Speaker 5: seat as we can.
Speaker 2: So when we see the maps and we talk about
Speaker 2: hundreds of thousands of customers that don't have power, I
Speaker 2: can't even imagine how you start to triage that. Give
Speaker 2: me an idea about how you pick what and where.
Speaker 5: So my emergency management team, they've been together since Thursday
Speaker 5: week ago and we've been tracking cyclone Alfred for that
Speaker 5: week and a half.
Speaker 6: So we are well prepared.
Speaker 5: So we track it, we overlay that on our assets
Speaker 5: and we get an estimate of Okay, what's this going
Speaker 5: to do? And we've got about three hundred and twenty
Speaker 5: odd thousand customers off of them, the biggest event that
Speaker 5: southeast of Queensland has seen. So we do things like
Speaker 5: we preposition generation. We get generators out there and ready
Speaker 5: to go and we're connecting them up yesterday and today
Speaker 5: as we speak. We preposition our troops from the north.
Speaker 5: They've been around the Proofrey, Harvey Bay, Bunderberg, et cetera,
Speaker 5: et cetera, and we're making our plans. We create staging
Speaker 5: areas so you don't bring hundreds of people in without
Speaker 5: having accommodation, food, and all those sorts of logistics.
Speaker 6: We've fueled up our trucks.
Speaker 5: We've got fuel pods out there, so we're well drilled,
Speaker 5: well prepared. In fact, to be honest with you, I
Speaker 5: think we're probably the best disaster of sponse group going around.
Speaker 1: I don't disagree.
Speaker 2: I honestly, I've seen it with my own eyes. I've
Speaker 2: seen the comfort that it brings to people. But also
Speaker 2: the professionalism is that while we were getting.
Speaker 1: Ready to talk to you, we saw all of your crews.
Speaker 2: Having meetings inside before jumping into the trucks. And honestly,
Speaker 2: it was this military like operation of how much was happening.
Speaker 2: But what was pretty palpable was you've got men and
Speaker 2: women who want to get out there.
Speaker 1: If they could do it twenty four to seven, they would.
Speaker 2: You sometimes almost have to hold them back because they
Speaker 2: want to get into this.
Speaker 6: They do, you know, that's in their fabric.
Speaker 5: But in the large communities we've been, in our smaller communities,
Speaker 5: that's what we do, and we harness that we manage it.
Speaker 5: We actually do run twenty four to seven, twenty five
Speaker 5: crews going. Last night, we'll do the same again as such.
Speaker 5: Now the thing is we start to sent up our
Speaker 5: community engagement centers, so that's where we can give people
Speaker 5: information about connections and reconnections. I have they've been flooded,
Speaker 5: et cetera, starlink for communications, places to charge their phones,
Speaker 5: their laptops, et cetera.
Speaker 6: So we're starting to roll those out in the community shortly.
Speaker 2: So I was mentioning before about the triaging of things.
Speaker 2: Obviously you have specialized crews for things like hospitals and
Speaker 2: key pieces of infrastructure. But obviously also as I saw it,
Speaker 2: you've got people door to door. You've got people working
Speaker 2: all ends of this thing. And that's what means that
Speaker 2: yesterday you're able to get tens of thousands back online
Speaker 2: because you're working all ends of this thing. It's not
Speaker 2: just from the center and work out, meaning the further out,
Speaker 2: the longer you got away.
Speaker 6: That's absolutely case. So I'll give you example.
Speaker 5: Yesterday we got on the Queensland Police barge and we
Speaker 5: have people out of the islands, so we're escaping on
Speaker 5: the islands. We've got generators already prepositioned. Soon as this
Speaker 5: weather lets us, we'll be back on the QPS barge.
Speaker 6: Our own barges. We've got eight chop has read to go.
Speaker 5: We can't fly in this obviously, but as soon as
Speaker 5: we can fly, we're ready and you're dead right, you know.
Speaker 5: We look at priorities around water, sewerage, hospitals, supermarkets, surveys,
Speaker 5: et cetera. So people can start to get their lives
Speaker 5: back on track.
Speaker 2: Because that's the thing, even if your home mightn't be
Speaker 2: back the idea that you can go to the servo,
Speaker 2: go to the convenience store. And I've got to say
Speaker 2: as well, in terms of the things that you know,
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago, we had a conversation about.
Speaker 1: Essential workers, those little.
Speaker 2: Points of relief where you can get a bottle of
Speaker 2: water or something if you're running low.
Speaker 5: A bag of ice, you know, all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 5: And we've learned that over time. So that's our generation strategy.
Speaker 5: Water sewerage, if we have to help the hospitals, et cetera, absolutely,
Speaker 5: But then those things that makes people's life start to
Speaker 5: turn again, you know, it is that that hot talk,
Speaker 5: the bag of ice, et cetera, gets some petrol. You know,
Speaker 5: So that's the sort of generation strategy. We're hooking that
Speaker 5: up as we speak as well as restoring the network, give.
Speaker 2: Us an idea about the type of effort that your
Speaker 2: people are putting in. Are there particular stories that you
Speaker 2: get to hear back, what's touched.
Speaker 1: You and made you proud of your team in all
Speaker 1: of this.
Speaker 6: It's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 5: At the muster of this morning, we've got people haven't
Speaker 5: got power at home. We've got people who have moved home.
Speaker 5: We've got one fellow living with his mum again that's
Speaker 5: how he can come in and work. So it's absolutely
Speaker 5: extraordinary in what our people will do to make sure
Speaker 5: that they can come in and help the community.
Speaker 6: And that's right across the southeast.
Speaker 5: So I couldn't be proud of the effort that those
Speaker 5: people put in.
Speaker 2: Poll well as a visitor to this fine state, but
Speaker 2: a man who would love to work here and work
Speaker 2: here live here one day, thank you, because honestly, the
Speaker 2: relief you're bringing, the calmness, the approach, the professionalism, I've
Speaker 2: never seen anything like it, and I've seen plenty of
Speaker 2: my life.
Speaker 6: Congratulations, You're ast welcome.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: What a lovely bloke, what a well oiled machine. Congratulations
Speaker 2: to everyone who is doing what they are doing. Through
Speaker 2: tonight and for many days to come. If politics as
Speaker 2: you think, don't worry Sunday nights. We are back to
Speaker 2: normal tonight where we have a conversation about politics and
Speaker 2: the state of the race. But I wanted to check
Speaker 2: in with the New South Wales premiere Chris Mins. He
Speaker 2: was in northern New South Wales just before sunset. We
Speaker 2: had the opportunity to have a conversation, including the fact
Speaker 2: that he's been around Lismore and how has the emotions
Speaker 2: been as things have looked like they were going to flood,
Speaker 2: not going to flood, and now attention moves to places
Speaker 2: like Grafton.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, look, I think it's been a privilege
Speaker 7: to be here amongst emergency service workers as well as
Speaker 7: the local community.
Speaker 6: You know a lot of them, Paul.
Speaker 7: They're really tough, incredibly resilient people and they've been through
Speaker 7: Helen back over the last few years. But in a
Speaker 7: funny ways, it's I guess it's fantastic to be around
Speaker 7: them because it does put your own your own problems
Speaker 7: in perspective and it makes you think, how you know,
Speaker 7: brasilient and tough these communities.
Speaker 2: Are now we know in the north of New South Wales.
Speaker 2: Somebody died a couple of days ago. There's the situation
Speaker 2: involving the ADF where they revolved in the accident and
Speaker 2: everyone ended up going to hospital. But give me a
Speaker 2: sense again about the feeling. You're a person who is
Speaker 2: professional and understanding what people are thinking and feeling. Is
Speaker 2: the sense in liz Moore relief? A little bit more nervousness.
Speaker 2: How are they tonight?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean it is easing, so I mean we've
Speaker 7: got to be really transparent with the public about the
Speaker 7: latest information. It is easing. The flooding on the Wilsons
Speaker 7: no longer expected to be major. It's now moderate, but
Speaker 7: that's still a lot. That means businesses are in undated
Speaker 7: and people are cut off from their communities. There's evacuation orders.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 7: I mean my suspicion is that if you live in
Speaker 7: a town like Lismore, you're always under.
Speaker 1: The pressure of.
Speaker 7: Of potential flooding and that really makes them tough. I mean,
Speaker 7: they are a tough community, and I mean I like
Speaker 7: spending time in and around them because they're resilient. The
Speaker 7: other thing about the ADF, and it's a good point
Speaker 7: that you make a lot of young soldiers were involved
Speaker 7: in that car accident yesterday. There's twelve that are still
Speaker 7: in hospital, two in a serious condition. So the community
Speaker 7: is just full of gratitude for them. We really really
Speaker 7: appreciate them being deployed. And I know there's been a
Speaker 7: bit of discussion about deploying the army during civil emergencies
Speaker 7: like this one. The bottom line, Paul is we need them,
Speaker 7: you know, we need them. They're fantastic. They do an
Speaker 7: incredible job. Army Corps of Engineers, the infantry that they
Speaker 7: deploy are incredible experienced soldiers.
Speaker 6: They work across the board.
Speaker 7: They never stop and if we do have major emergencies
Speaker 7: like you do in Australia, we just can't we can't
Speaker 7: turn off the ADF. I hope, I hope this experience
Speaker 7: doesn't change people's perspective on.
Speaker 1: That one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: You see these events are all hands on deck, and
Speaker 2: that means from the defense force to the volunteers, the
Speaker 2: people who are putting the power lines back up and
Speaker 2: the traffic controllers would stop go, the people working in
Speaker 2: service stations.
Speaker 1: Everyone doing their bit.
Speaker 2: Is not just all hands on deck, but it's all
Speaker 2: hands on deck doing everything together to make sure we
Speaker 2: get through this as well as possible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems to be that way.
Speaker 7: I mean, we're not going to do a lap of
Speaker 7: honor while the rain's still falling and the rivers are full.
Speaker 7: But lots of emergency service and there's about three thousand SEES,
Speaker 7: volunteers and senior brass up here, a massive pre deployment.
Speaker 7: But that means you're talking literally thousands of people that
Speaker 7: have left their family, left their job, come up to
Speaker 7: the Northern Rivers to sleep on a floor or work
Speaker 7: through the night to keep complete strangers safe. I mean,
Speaker 7: that's a fantastic organization and I know it copped a
Speaker 7: lot of grief after twenty twenty two. There was a
Speaker 7: report that said, you know, things needed to change. But
Speaker 7: the good news is I'm very happy to report things
Speaker 7: have changed and we've got some very dedicated, very brave individuals.
Speaker 7: I think the last count was forty seven flood rescues
Speaker 7: in the last ninety six or so hours. So you know,
Speaker 7: it's difficult work, it's often dangerous, but we really we're
Speaker 7: very grateful that they're there.
Speaker 2: I had a chance to talk to your queens Thane colleague,
Speaker 2: David cruci fully over the past couple of days, and
Speaker 2: I'm keen to give the people watching a bit of
Speaker 2: a scense of behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: We will see the briefings, and no.
Speaker 2: Doubt there's advice before those briefings. But you're in a
Speaker 2: situation where you're not standing in the capital of the state,
Speaker 2: a very populous important part. So is there some local
Speaker 2: command center or all of the information is being relayed
Speaker 2: to say a Sydney.
Speaker 1: Headquarters, then it's interpreted and it comes back.
Speaker 2: Give us an idea about that back and forth of information.
Speaker 7: Yeah, No, Commissioner Wassing runs the SEES. They do that,
Speaker 7: or they've relocated to Homebush to do that where they
Speaker 7: can line up all of the agencies. This flooding event
Speaker 7: occurred right from the Queensland border all the way down
Speaker 7: to Port Macquarie. So we're obviously in liz Moore and
Speaker 7: the local community and the local SEES leadership, the senior
Speaker 7: brass look after this region. But the SEES has to
Speaker 7: look for a stormfront that could radically change. For example,
Speaker 7: we're seeing rainfalls over the Great Dividing Range into communities
Speaker 7: in the north central part of the state, and if
Speaker 7: it happens in a number of hours. You can't just
Speaker 7: have all your resources deployed in one area, so they
Speaker 7: look after the state.
Speaker 1: Stu Fisher looks.
Speaker 7: After the situation here in the Northern Rivers. He's been fantastic.
Speaker 7: You would have seen him on the TV super just
Speaker 7: very to the point, very matter of fact, exactly what
Speaker 7: you need in a crisis, and we're lucky to have
Speaker 7: them now.
Speaker 2: I know that Northern East of Wales is not through
Speaker 2: it yet, but I want to say what I've taken
Speaker 2: out of your time in there for the.
Speaker 1: Past couple of days is that you haven't been jumping
Speaker 1: up all day every day in front of a camera.
Speaker 1: You are there to be with the people. And I
Speaker 1: think it's a really good reminder that.
Speaker 2: Yes, the big population center is Sydney, a little bit
Speaker 2: in Newcastle, a little bit in Woollongong, and far less
Speaker 2: where you are, but New Soil is a big state.
Speaker 2: And I think the fact that you've been shouldered to
Speaker 2: shoulder with those people for the past few days is
Speaker 2: a real credit to you.
Speaker 1: Premier.
Speaker 7: Oh that's really sweet of you. I appreciate it. Thanks, Paul,
Speaker 7: have a good night.
Speaker 2: We thank the premiers both in you sobs and Queensland
Speaker 2: and all of the people that have helped us behind
Speaker 2: the scenes to tell not just the latest information but
Speaker 2: the story behind.
Speaker 1: What you've been watching for the past couple of days.
Speaker 2: And as you may notice, it's starting to rain, so
Speaker 2: quick break back with hardcore politics and a jacket in.
Speaker 1: A moment here of Paul Burray life from Bruceban. Thanks
Speaker 1: for watching, Welcome back to Bruceban.
Speaker 2: Now ty to talk politics as always on a Sunday night,
Speaker 2: we do it in a thing we like to call
Speaker 2: the state of the race. All the data, all the insights,
Speaker 2: what's going to happen in the next week. Let's get
Speaker 2: into that chat right now with KOs Samaras from Redbridge,
Speaker 2: who's comfortably back at home, up for a quick little
Speaker 2: trip to Western Australia for.
Speaker 1: The major labor blowout there, and.
Speaker 2: Michael Kroger much warmer than I am right now, and
Speaker 2: who's in Melbourne.
Speaker 1: All right, lads, love it at all. So because before.
Speaker 2: I get into what Western Australia means in Poland, obviously
Speaker 2: I wouldn't imagine you haven't been calling too many people
Speaker 2: in the storm affected regions. But even when there's been
Speaker 2: a big news event, happening in one part of the country.
Speaker 2: Do you continue the operation everywhere else or is the
Speaker 2: assumption that distraction changes opinions.
Speaker 1: You continue?
Speaker 4: But there hasn't been much polling going on since this
Speaker 4: particular weather event, so I think, you know, once it's
Speaker 4: pretty clear that the Prime Minister was going to postpone
Speaker 4: and call an election. I think everyone's you know, research
Speaker 4: projects were put on hold and so yeah, we will
Speaker 4: resume our our key seat track in about a week
Speaker 4: or so. So yeah, it's it is a problem, particularly
Speaker 4: if you've got a whole entire state down. Yeah, polling's
Speaker 4: a bit you know, polling nationally is a bit risky.
Speaker 2: All right, Michael, let's talk about the delaying in the election.
Speaker 2: Has the prime ministers done the right thing? Because yes,
Speaker 2: things are probably going to be better tomorrow and he
Speaker 2: would have still been had the opportunity to go and
Speaker 2: do it. But the delay means a budget. He's got
Speaker 2: to put that together with all of its goodies. But
Speaker 2: there's not a lot of money left in the bank.
Speaker 2: How do you feel now that both sides have got
Speaker 2: much more time before the election.
Speaker 11: So Mata, I don't think he had any choice. Albanize
Speaker 11: did the right thing. I mean, all these people saying
Speaker 11: the storm is not as bad as it was predictable
Speaker 11: and ow please, it's like saying I knew Number four
Speaker 11: was going to win with you. I mean, yeah, we're
Speaker 11: all wiser after the event, but of course we have
Speaker 11: to make preparations. I mean, those absurd comments should be
Speaker 11: treated with the derision they deserve. And Easy did absolutely
Speaker 11: the right thing delaying the election. We all know he
Speaker 11: was going tomorrow to the Government House to call the
Speaker 11: election for April twelve. He's done the right thing. Does
Speaker 11: it help him more harm him? I think it probably
Speaker 11: slightly harms him, but not to any great degree. Prime
Speaker 11: ministers who left elections to the end have tended not
Speaker 11: to do well as those who've been on the front
Speaker 11: foot and called it in their own timing, So it'll
Speaker 11: make a marginal difference, but not that much. The real
Speaker 11: problem is the budget. I mean, he's never wanted to
Speaker 11: deliver a budget. I mean everyone knows that, and depending
Speaker 11: what the numbers are, that could really hurt him because
Speaker 11: if we're going to see you know well, and also
Speaker 11: deficits over one hundred billion.
Speaker 2: Don't forget we've had a scenario where yeah, my apologies.
Speaker 2: I'm working off the reverse satellite here made apologies Internet
Speaker 2: as it is these days.
Speaker 1: Because of course.
Speaker 2: There hasn't been post budget bounces for this government, even
Speaker 2: with the tax stuff that was.
Speaker 1: Released last year.
Speaker 2: Yes they get a swirl of media, but again that
Speaker 2: swirl of media is normally the week leading up to
Speaker 2: whether it's all thrown out budget and reply by Thursday.
Speaker 1: It doesn't work the way that it used to.
Speaker 2: But let's get to Western Australia, because for the Peter
Speaker 2: Duntin to get even close, he needs to do better
Speaker 2: than one out of Western Australia. What were you able
Speaker 2: to see because obviously Labor thumped, the Liberals thumped, the
Speaker 2: Nationals blew away anyone but those three parties in the
Speaker 2: Lower House. But when you look inside the numbers, are
Speaker 2: there changes that the Liberal Party can build on or
Speaker 2: is Albow going to start to pook Wa in the bank?
Speaker 4: I think he's pretty close to putting Wa in the bank,
Speaker 4: although the numbers between the State Labor brand and the
Speaker 4: federal or brand are different. So you know, I would
Speaker 4: say bullwinkles again for the coalition, and then it's a
Speaker 4: question of whether you know Dunton does better in a
Speaker 4: seat like Peers, for example, Labor's primary vote in some
Speaker 4: of those state seats like Butler and wann A Room
Speaker 4: for example, there are arewing Peers out of suburban North
Speaker 4: at a northern Perth close to fifty percent primary got.
Speaker 4: So the labor brains very strong. And the other thing
Speaker 4: about I think most East Coast of strains don't understand
Speaker 4: about Perth is that it's going for a massive transformative
Speaker 4: period where you know, the places has completely changed, is
Speaker 4: completely almost say demographically unrecognizable now and it's labor that's
Speaker 4: actually been able to capitalize on that change.
Speaker 2: So, Michael, obviously we know that there are people who
Speaker 2: like to have it one way in state politics, one
Speaker 2: way in federal but of course that's because they either
Speaker 2: think they balance each other out or you know, there
Speaker 2: might be a little bit of a warning when labor
Speaker 2: in Western Australia has been so emphatically re elected. Yes,
Speaker 2: big swings against it, Smaller electorates means that smaller amounts
Speaker 2: of people, but still a few hundred this way, a
Speaker 2: couple of thousand that way, and you start to get
Speaker 2: what is an eighteen percent swing, but they still have
Speaker 2: to end up with forty plus seats again that factor
Speaker 2: in Western Australia.
Speaker 1: Are you redoing some of the sums in your.
Speaker 2: Head about whether the Dutton can get himself whether Peter
Speaker 2: Dutton can get himself to minority rather than an almost
Speaker 2: inevitable conversation of Labor.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 11: Now, look, I've had a look at last night's results
Speaker 11: and I watched the coverage last night CAJU in the
Speaker 11: team of fabulous job that Tom Connell. How good is
Speaker 11: Tom Connell by the way, as a as analystis of
Speaker 11: the micros geares off the competition various seats. Boy, mate,
Speaker 11: there ain't anything There's never been anyone like Tom Connell.
Speaker 11: Let me tell you now, look, I haven't changed my view.
Speaker 11: I think Dutton wins three in Western Australia. It's a
Speaker 11: bizarre election, mate, when your primary rate drops eighteen percent
Speaker 11: as Labours did, but its seen as a terrific result.
Speaker 11: It shows you how bad our result was last time,
Speaker 11: which it was. I think we'll win Tang the Bullwinkle
Speaker 11: and Curtain, as Chs says, I think bull Winkle got
Speaker 11: three point three is not going to be won by Labor.
Speaker 11: I don't think Tang will be won either, and I
Speaker 11: think Kurt, it's only one point six. I think that's
Speaker 11: going to be.
Speaker 6: Lost to There is a massive.
Speaker 11: Difference between a state labor government and a federal labor government.
Speaker 11: The State Labor Party have been very clever and they
Speaker 11: did this under McGown. They started this sort of you know,
Speaker 11: they developed this theme which has been running through Western
Speaker 11: Sorry ever since I've been a kid, which is the
Speaker 11: Canberra are the enemy. We'd be better off seceding from
Speaker 11: that mop over there. All I do is take our taxes.
Speaker 11: We don't get much back. They are waste of space.
Speaker 11: So labor developed this sort of Western Australian first. If
Speaker 11: I can coin a phrase, aura, and it's working incredibly
Speaker 11: well for them. So I think there's a big difference
Speaker 11: federal state. I'd love to say we're going to win Piers,
Speaker 11: but Peers is nine percent, even though the state seats
Speaker 11: were bigger than that last night. Big difference between a
Speaker 11: federal swing of nine and a state election. So I
Speaker 11: still think it's three in Wa.
Speaker 2: Because when you were giving some final thoughts, I noticed
Speaker 2: a few grim faces when you remind it many people
Speaker 2: the East Coast is a very different story.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, there's completely a different world, so to speak.
Speaker 4: This is why I think it's important people to understand
Speaker 4: that when we're looking at Western Australia, it is absolutely
Speaker 4: a unique electoral landscape that cannot be applied to the
Speaker 4: East Coast. So you come over to the East Coast
Speaker 4: and it is a totally different picture for Labor, particularly
Speaker 4: in Victoria, and those numbers are not changed, you know.
Speaker 4: And this is the problem when you do, when you
Speaker 4: just rely on national polls alone, you know. I think
Speaker 4: there was a pole from another company just over the
Speaker 4: last couple of days released where had label on fifty
Speaker 4: one colishing of forty nine. Others bounce around between forty
Speaker 4: nine and fifty one between the two major parties.
Speaker 1: That's great.
Speaker 4: What matters now is what's going to happen in use
Speaker 4: of Wells and Victoria. And yes, we can debate about
Speaker 4: how many seats they win in WA, but it's all
Speaker 4: going to be about how many seats does Labor whole
Speaker 4: losing Torrent and your subplas.
Speaker 2: All right, boys, thank you very much, let's get together
Speaker 2: in person one day. I'll book the Peter Credlin studio
Speaker 2: for us. We'll turn up in Melbourne in a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks.
Speaker 1: Look forward to seeing you then.
Speaker 2: All right, quick break and back with more, including we're
Speaker 2: going to check in with Harvey Bay because that is
Speaker 2: the story when it comes to the weather situation here,
Speaker 2: a lot of people in trouble there and also what
Speaker 2: to expect from Jim Charmers third and maybe final budget.
Speaker 2: The sounds of chainsaws are here in Redcliffe as they
Speaker 2: are cleaning up the mess of last night's storm where
Speaker 2: the winds here were one hundred and five kilometers an hour.
Speaker 2: This Morton Bay Pine one of many trees up and
Speaker 2: down the coast that have fallen over or.
Speaker 1: Have been teetering for some period of time. Now. There
Speaker 1: has been a lot of rain.
Speaker 2: In fact that Harvey Bay there has just in two
Speaker 2: hours more than one hundred mills. There have been hundreds
Speaker 2: of calls for help on the northern rivers.
Speaker 1: In New South Wales.
Speaker 2: And there's the flooding situation which will be the next
Speaker 2: couple of days. Worry in and around Bruceban. Why because
Speaker 2: there's going to be hundreds more of meals that's going
Speaker 2: to be falling.
Speaker 12: We're expecting a more widespread impact right across the city.
Speaker 12: In this case, we're also expecting a lot of trees
Speaker 12: to be down as well, and power lines, and so
Speaker 12: the first thing that we tell people won't be to
Speaker 12: get out and to start cleaning up, It'll be to
Speaker 12: wait until it's safe, wait until the power lines have
Speaker 12: been made safe.
Speaker 2: Now, everything from the paid to the volunteer services, these
Speaker 2: guys and girls have been going twenty four to seven
Speaker 2: on the behalf of the people who they are taking
Speaker 2: care of and those that are proud to see them work.
Speaker 1: Thank you, because.
Speaker 2: Australians are always tested in fire, in flood and in
Speaker 2: a tropical cyclone. And one thing you can always bet
Speaker 2: on is that if we can help, we do. Since
Speaker 2: we recorded that in Redcliffe just one of many suburbs
Speaker 2: going through the same thing in and around this part
Speaker 2: of Australia, Harvey Bay, well, as you know, things have
Speaker 2: gotten a whole lot worse and we're starting to get
Speaker 2: a picture today of exactly what has been going on.
Speaker 2: They have copped two hundred and thirty mills they would
Speaker 2: normally receive about one hundred and thirty mills a month.
Speaker 2: From all of December January through to March, they've got
Speaker 2: a thousand calls for people wanting help for the SEES.
Speaker 2: The police commissioner is telling us that in that area,
Speaker 2: thirty five people, sorry, thirty five jobs, fourteen people their
Speaker 2: lives were saved by police and the fire crews.
Speaker 1: They've given out one hundred and seventy one.
Speaker 2: Rescue so lives have been saved, lives have been at risk,
Speaker 2: and George Seymour, as the Fraser Coast mayor who has
Speaker 2: this responsibility for this area, George has everything looking tonight
Speaker 2: because jeez, you've copped it today.
Speaker 13: Good evening, Paul. Yes, it's been a very long and
Speaker 13: hectic day. We took in a lot of rain in
Speaker 13: our region this morning, which caused flash flooding right across
Speaker 13: the city of Harvey Bay. But I'm really really proud
Speaker 13: of how the community responded. We had SEES, workers, are agon, police,
Speaker 13: foreign emergency services, everyone pitched in, and I'm really really
Speaker 13: pleased at the response because it was, as you can
Speaker 13: see in the images, a phenomenal amount of rain that
Speaker 13: fell in a very very short period of time this morning.
Speaker 2: So in terms of the pre prep, obviously, as we
Speaker 2: were talking about with Energex, before.
Speaker 1: Police were there, fieries.
Speaker 2: Were there, was there a surge of support prior to today.
Speaker 13: Well, we've been outside of the cyclone watch area for
Speaker 13: a few days now, so this was actually quite It
Speaker 13: was unexpected. This is unprecedented out of rain. We are,
Speaker 13: you know, well to the north of where the cyclone crossed,
Speaker 13: and we were outside of the severe warning area up
Speaker 13: until when it happened.
Speaker 6: So I'm really really pleased to the.
Speaker 13: Way everyone responded. We got the local disaster management group together,
Speaker 13: you know, early this morning, well before it was safe
Speaker 13: for our crews to go out and assess the conditions.
Speaker 13: So yeah, I'm really really proud of how everyone contributed
Speaker 13: from all the different teams today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the scramble, the scramble has absolutely saved lives.
Speaker 1: There is some criticism of the Bureau.
Speaker 2: I don't know whether you want to go there or not,
Speaker 2: but are you happy with the information the community had
Speaker 2: before it went to sleep last night.
Speaker 13: I can't criticize the Bureau. They are an incredible team
Speaker 13: of you know, professionals who have assisted us throughout this time.
Speaker 13: I think what happened today was unprecedented and historic. The
Speaker 13: amount of what happened here, it couldn't have been anticipated.
Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate the conversation Mayor all the best to
Speaker 2: your community.
Speaker 1: We'll check in a couple of days time.
Speaker 2: They've shown absolute strength and support for each other. That
Speaker 2: comes from locals who love each other, and I know
Speaker 2: that's how you feel as the local representative, really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: We'll check in again shortly, all right.
Speaker 2: Now, before we finish up tonight and we start our
Speaker 2: journey back towards the man cave.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about a federal budget. Now.
Speaker 2: If an election was to be called this weekend, there
Speaker 2: wouldn't be a federal budget. Instead, there is now going
Speaker 2: to be one because of the delay, and that is
Speaker 2: going to be handed down on March to twenty fifth.
Speaker 2: Warren Hogud is a man who knows the economics, personal finance,
Speaker 2: and has a curious eye like me when it comes
Speaker 2: to the way our federal finances are being run. Warren,
Speaker 2: lovely to see you, mate. They've now got to come
Speaker 2: up with something now. The hope was that they would
Speaker 2: be able to skate their way with some sort of
Speaker 2: an economic update, but no, the full budget is to
Speaker 2: be released in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: How the hell are they going to do it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: get o, Paul.
Speaker 14: It is going to be tricky. We only got the
Speaker 14: GDP numbers last week and normally they have until made
Speaker 14: to start recalibrating everything to those numbers, so it's a rush.
Speaker 14: But the problem the government's got is that this is
Speaker 14: going to be the budget they didn't want to have,
Speaker 14: and it's going to reveal deficit of maybe fifty billion
Speaker 14: dollars next year. It's going to reveal deficits all the
Speaker 14: way through the hot years. It's going to reveal a
Speaker 14: record share of governments spending in our economy, and it's
Speaker 14: essentially going to highlight what this government's all about, which
Speaker 14: is big government and big taxation. They have increased the
Speaker 14: personal income tax burden on Australians by a phenomenal thirty
Speaker 14: percent at least in the last three years. So this
Speaker 14: is why they didn't want to have a budget. And
Speaker 14: I'm not sure how they're going to actually handle the narratives.
Speaker 14: I'm sure they'll find a way, but I think the
Speaker 14: community understands what's happening.
Speaker 2: They also know that many of the surpluses have built
Speaker 2: off things, you know, like excise tax. And we've talked
Speaker 2: before about the absurdity the bottle of Bundy Rum sixty
Speaker 2: three percent of that is tax. We know it when
Speaker 2: it comes to cigarettes and petrol and all sorts of things.
Speaker 2: I just love the Prime Minister wants a gold star
Speaker 2: because he's going to holt beer excise for two years
Speaker 2: when he's been more than happy to put it up
Speaker 2: for three years to get the numbers to a point
Speaker 2: where he can say we've had our surpluses. We also know,
Speaker 2: as you say, the single biggest form of income to
Speaker 2: the federal government is personal tax, not company tax, not GST,
Speaker 2: not multinationals.
Speaker 1: It's the average payers.
Speaker 2: You go person, so again that revenue stream, and they're
Speaker 2: predicted when it came to the intergenerational report deficits for
Speaker 2: forty years, but being an election budget during the time
Speaker 2: of cost of living, a lot of people turn around
Speaker 2: and say, what's in it for me if they do
Speaker 2: find some way to extend this payment or double that
Speaker 2: payment that's on the credit card, isn't it?
Speaker 14: Well, it is because the budget, as we knew from
Speaker 14: the midyear update, was in deficit. It's in deficit this
Speaker 14: year by at least thirty billion. And of course this
Speaker 14: record tax burden on everyone, whether it's excises or income tax,
Speaker 14: it's still not enough to cover the government spending which has.
Speaker 6: Gone through the roof.
Speaker 14: We haven't seen a shifting government spending like we have
Speaker 14: in the last eight years since the early nineteen seventies,
Speaker 14: and it's been a hallmark of our modern prosperity is
Speaker 14: that governments in Australia were pretty disciplined. They tried not
Speaker 14: to get their finances too out of order, and I
Speaker 14: think that worries me, Paul, and why this election is
Speaker 14: so important is we are threatening the broader structures in
Speaker 14: our economy if we just grow the size of government
Speaker 14: and without care about what it means for the rest
Speaker 14: of us. Who knows what it could do. We're already
Speaker 14: seeing inflation, we're seeing businesses not able to get hold
Speaker 14: of staff. This could get even worse than the future.
Speaker 14: So I think this is a really important election and
Speaker 14: this budget's going to highlight that issue that we've just
Speaker 14: really at the limits of big government, big taxation.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: And also part of the strain that exists now is
Speaker 2: that it used to be that you got paid less
Speaker 2: to work in the public service because frankly, it was
Speaker 2: harder to sack them. There wasn't a productivity push on
Speaker 2: and there's not the risk that exists in the private sector.
Speaker 2: But now you've got a scenario where the public sector,
Speaker 2: the public servant is being paid more than people in
Speaker 2: the private sector, and you have the absurdity that the
Speaker 2: prime minister is paid half.
Speaker 1: Of what the head of their department is paid.
Speaker 14: Yeah, I mean, I'd probably like to see how politicians
Speaker 14: paid a little more. It might attract some better quality
Speaker 14: people into the game. But look, the point here is
Speaker 14: is that we look around the world in the last
Speaker 14: year and we've seen an unprecedented shift in voter support
Speaker 14: for government. According to some research out of the UK,
Speaker 14: every election last year for the first time in one
Speaker 14: hundred and twenty years, saw a swing against every government
Speaker 14: that went to the polls, and it was a supercycle.
Speaker 14: Half the world voted last year. The common factor is
Speaker 14: growing size of government and cost of living. That's happening
Speaker 14: everywhere and that's bad news for our government because they're
Speaker 14: trying to pull a virtue of maintaining the economy's stability.
Speaker 14: I no recession, but dragging this cost of living crisis out.
Speaker 14: And I think the politics of that are diabolical because
Speaker 14: when it comes to going into the ballot booth and
Speaker 14: voting what you care about is your standard a living,
Speaker 14: and if you've just paid to keep the economy out
Speaker 14: of recession according to the Treasurer, you might think twice
Speaker 14: about whether that's the right strategy.
Speaker 1: Good on you, Warren, Thank you mate.
Speaker 2: Look forward to seeing you across the station and doing
Speaker 2: your best work in the next few weeks.
Speaker 1: Plenty to talk about. Thank you mate.
Speaker 2: Do appreciate it. All right, that's our show from Brisbane.
Speaker 2: Thank you to everyone who's helped us over the past
Speaker 2: couple of days. A Nick with beautiful pictures, Madison with
Speaker 2: big ideas behind the scenes, Lucy back at HQU whipping
Speaker 2: us all into shape.
Speaker 1: I do appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Thank you to everyone who's come up and said gooda.
Speaker 2: We know the story isn't over, which is why we'll
Speaker 2: remain covering it. When it comes to news. We'll keep
Speaker 2: talking about it all this week on Paul Murray Life.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for watching the Royal Reports standing
Speaker 2: by on Sky News.
Speaker 1: See you from Brisbane.