Speaker 1: Live on Sky News. This is Sharry.
Speaker 2: Good evening and welcome to the show.
Speaker 3: I'm Danikiti Giorgio filling in for Sharry Markson coming up tonight.
Speaker 3: Anthony Aberze's holiday in China wraps up. Yes, it really
Speaker 3: did look like a sight scene tour as he hits
Speaker 3: back at accusations of indulgence. The unemployment rate hits a
Speaker 3: three year high and the Treasurer blames it on external factors.
Speaker 2: We've heard that one before.
Speaker 3: Labor delays its response to the Envoys Anti Semitism report
Speaker 3: as it awaits an investigation into Islamophobia, once again conflating
Speaker 3: the two issues.
Speaker 2: And Donald Trump hits.
Speaker 3: Out at what he called weekling Maga supporters as he
Speaker 3: faces multiple requests to release the Epstein files for first tonight.
Speaker 3: The Prime Minister found new diplomats to woo today on
Speaker 3: his extended sightseeing tour of China, though I've got to
Speaker 3: say sixteen year old giant panda Demao appeared well in
Speaker 3: trusted in the PM's desperate diplomacy as he tuned on
Speaker 3: a bamboo shoot at Chengdu's panda park. In fact, I
Speaker 3: think Demo the panda represents all of us, right now
Speaker 3: completely confused by what the Prime Minister is actually doing there.
Speaker 3: I mean, is he the Prime Minister of Australia, a
Speaker 3: tour leader with Kentiki or the CEO.
Speaker 2: Of Sports Australia. Today he's got his Hawthorn shirt on.
Speaker 3: Yesterday his rabbit o's had a top his head that
Speaker 3: he's out spooking the Asia Pacific Wild.
Speaker 2: Card Tennis playoffs.
Speaker 3: I mean, thank god this utterly bizarre tour is finally
Speaker 3: coming to an end. That the PM's whole extended trip
Speaker 3: to China, filled with banquets being serenaded by the Chinese
Speaker 3: military band playing Aussie rock, flattery, smiles, handshakes and a
Speaker 3: bit of sight seeing on the side at the Great
Speaker 3: Wall and the Panda Park is just really confusing, especially
Speaker 3: when you look at the overall state of play. I mean,
Speaker 3: we're in the middle of Operation Talisman Saber here in
Speaker 3: Australia right now, preparing our military and those of our
Speaker 3: closest allies for any future conflict with China. China is
Speaker 3: also sending spy ships our way to identify strengths, weaknesses
Speaker 3: and vulnerabilities in our military capabilities, and the Prime Minister
Speaker 3: is cuddling up to Pandas and promoting tourism.
Speaker 4: Those pictures go to twenty seven million people potentially in Australia,
Speaker 4: they go to over a billion people in China, a
Speaker 4: billion people. And those billion people represent people who increasingly
Speaker 4: are rising up the income ladder and our potential tourists
Speaker 4: and therefore job creators in Australia.
Speaker 2: And that's just it.
Speaker 3: It's all about the pictures for this PM and what
Speaker 3: his trip looks like, not about standing up for Australian values,
Speaker 3: which of course plays right into Beijing's hands, because for China,
Speaker 3: the mere symbolism of having the handsome boy from Australia
Speaker 3: there is all that matters.
Speaker 2: It's about how it looks to the world, especially.
Speaker 3: The United States, and at a time when Australia is
Speaker 3: under pressure from its number one ally to increased defense
Speaker 3: spending and declare what we would do should China go
Speaker 3: to war with Taiwan. Let's be realistic. China would love
Speaker 3: nothing more than to drive a wedge between US and
Speaker 3: the United States. And the opposition is rightly asking questions.
Speaker 5: And I do wonder whether a GoF Whitlam history tour
Speaker 5: on the Great Wall of China, whether a visit to
Speaker 5: Chongdu to pose with some pandas, and whether a hit
Speaker 5: of tennis is strictly necessary as part of a six
Speaker 5: day visits to China when there is so much else
Speaker 5: at stake in our other international relationships around the world.
Speaker 5: I have to say that some of this is starting
Speaker 5: to look a little bit indulgent.
Speaker 2: But the Prime Minister disagrees.
Speaker 4: If you compare the difference of this visit with the
Speaker 4: failure of the coalition during the last term. During the
Speaker 4: term in which I was opposition leader, they didn't have
Speaker 4: a fun conversation between a single minister in Australia and
Speaker 4: our major trading partner. So you know, we look at
Speaker 4: these things in perspective. What we've had is constructive engagement.
Speaker 2: And look that just sums it up. Albo is an
Speaker 2: apologist for China.
Speaker 3: He makes excuses for our greatest strategic threat, which has
Speaker 3: conducted live fire drills off our coast since spy ships
Speaker 3: our way, engaged in military near misses, imposed punitive tariffs
Speaker 3: and Australian goods, and refused an investigation into the origins
Speaker 3: of coronavirus. Even when the Prime Minister was today asked
Speaker 3: about how the Chinese regard that period of coercive trade measures.
Speaker 2: This is what he said overwhelmingly.
Speaker 4: What we discussed as moving forward is issues of today
Speaker 4: and tomorrow rather than the past, and it's something that
Speaker 4: I very much have concentrated on.
Speaker 3: Well, Albout can give us his best time traveler answer,
Speaker 3: but judging by that, the PM has barely said boo
Speaker 3: in the meetings with the Chinese president. And have a
Speaker 3: listen to this answer when he was asked about live
Speaker 3: fire exercises.
Speaker 4: And one of the things that I find about giving
Speaker 4: countries respect is that you get it back when.
Speaker 2: You think about showing respect and getting respect back.
Speaker 3: Do you expect now that that respect will translate to
Speaker 3: notification for naval exercises in our region?
Speaker 4: Well, we're put forward at our view there, but to
Speaker 4: put it in context, Australia has engaged in multiple exercises
Speaker 4: in this region. We do so, and so it is
Speaker 4: just a fact that that as occurred. We exercise our
Speaker 4: right to act within international law and we do so.
Speaker 3: Unbelievable the Prime Minister has given a stronger position on
Speaker 3: China's interests than the Australian I mean, he is out
Speaker 3: there acting as a mouthpiece for Shijing pink. So the
Speaker 3: Prime Minister is about to return to Australia about is
Speaker 3: house trained as a panda? Well, labor is all out
Speaker 3: of ideas when it comes to the cost of living
Speaker 3: crisis and the economy. The unemployment rate has risen for
Speaker 3: the month of June. And this is what happens when
Speaker 3: electricity bills are through the roof, when red tape and
Speaker 3: ir laws make it impossible for employers, and when unions
Speaker 3: have their fingers in every pie, Why would anyone want
Speaker 3: to go into business right now in this country? Today's
Speaker 3: figures reveal the cost of living crisis remains, and of
Speaker 3: course if you don't have a job right now, it
Speaker 3: makes it even worse. The unemployment rate has risen to
Speaker 3: four point three percent for the month of June, un
Speaker 3: from four point one percent. That's the highest it's been
Speaker 3: for three and a half years, and the fourth consecutive rise.
Speaker 2: In the unemployment rate. More than thirty.
Speaker 3: Three thousand people lost their jobs and only two thousand
Speaker 3: new jobs were added to the economy, well below economists
Speaker 3: expectations of twenty thousand. Now we can't be the surprise
Speaker 3: that it's so well below expectations when you've got businesses
Speaker 3: going bust around the country. Almost seven thousand collapsed in
Speaker 3: New South Wales from July twenty twenty four to May
Speaker 3: this year, more than five thousand in Victoria, and over
Speaker 3: three thousand went under in Queensland. And don't forget these
Speaker 3: are small businesses run by hard working families, by aspirational Aussies.
Speaker 3: And the common denominator in all of this are rising costs.
Speaker 3: The costs of doing business in this country are too high.
Speaker 3: Yet right on Q Today, Treasurer Jim Chalmers could not
Speaker 3: wait to lay blame on external factors, saying the tickup
Speaker 3: in the unemployment rate is the inevitable consequence of economic
Speaker 3: uncertainty and volatility around the world.
Speaker 2: Really, how curious.
Speaker 3: Given the Australian economy is barely growing at one percent
Speaker 3: per year at the moment. Employment and Workplace Relations Minister
Speaker 3: Amanda Rishworth then went on to lay blame on the
Speaker 3: Reserve Bank for not cutting rates.
Speaker 6: The Reserve Bank is independent and they've outlined their reasons
Speaker 6: for keeping rates on hold. It was obviously a great
Speaker 6: disappointment to many Australians that decision, but of course the
Speaker 6: Reserve Bank will meet again and will consider not only
Speaker 6: the inflation data but also this employment data as well.
Speaker 2: It's always someone else's fault, isn't it.
Speaker 3: I mean, the biggest message the RBA sent when it
Speaker 3: kept rates on hold in July is that cost of
Speaker 3: living is still an issue in this country.
Speaker 2: Labor has done nothing.
Speaker 3: To help productivity in its first term and the RBA
Speaker 3: board hesitated because Labor could not well give it the
Speaker 3: assurances it needed.
Speaker 2: To cut rates.
Speaker 3: Governor Michelle Bulloch said she needed more economic data to
Speaker 3: be truly satisfied that inflation was under control, despite Labour's
Speaker 3: insistence that it slaid the inflation drag.
Speaker 4: It this forum last year, I said our government's focus
Speaker 4: was winning the fight against inflation.
Speaker 1: We held do our course.
Speaker 7: We've made very substantial and now sustained progress in the
Speaker 7: fight against inflation.
Speaker 3: And what's not helping is Labour's migration policy. Big Australia
Speaker 3: is getting bigger by the day. New figures reveal net
Speaker 3: permanent and long term arrivals surged to over thirty three.
Speaker 2: Thousand in May.
Speaker 3: This was the highest main net arrival number on record,
Speaker 3: according to analysis by the IPA, surpassing the previous record
Speaker 3: of over thirty.
Speaker 2: One thousand in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3: It means we now have to find homes for these
Speaker 3: thirty three thousand people who've come into the country in
Speaker 3: just one month, and net permanent and long term arrivals
Speaker 3: in the year two matter, we're almost two hundred and
Speaker 3: fifty thousand, the highest on record. And we know already
Speaker 3: more than one point one million people have come into
Speaker 3: this country since Labor was first elected in twenty twenty two. Now,
Speaker 3: migration is a huge issue in this country. It's exacerbated
Speaker 3: the cost of living and housing crisis. Anyone looking for
Speaker 3: a rental right now knows just how tight the market is.
Speaker 3: And have a look at the rental vacancy rates for
Speaker 3: June one point six percent in Sydney, one point eight
Speaker 3: percent in Melbourne, zero point nine percent in Brisbane and
Speaker 3: spare a thought for Perth zero point.
Speaker 2: Eight percent and the same in Adelaide.
Speaker 3: It's also impossible for first home buyers to get a
Speaker 3: look in. But Labor opens the door to thirty three
Speaker 3: thousand people in just one month alone, And the topic
Speaker 3: of migration is missing an action right now in political debate,
Speaker 3: and I believe it's because of the usual Oh, it's
Speaker 3: racist to talk about migration. You're a bigot for even
Speaker 3: bringing it up. Please spare me. It is not racist
Speaker 3: to talk about migration when we are in the middle
Speaker 3: of a cost of living crisis.
Speaker 2: It was not front and center at the last election.
Speaker 3: The Coalition pushed for a lower migration target, but it
Speaker 3: was barely campaigned and prosecuted strongly enough and seriously, Capping
Speaker 3: migration is just so obvious every day Aussie's should.
Speaker 2: Have priority now.
Speaker 3: If current trends continue, net permanent and long term arrivals
Speaker 3: could reach almost six hundred thousand by December. And worryingly,
Speaker 3: Labour's migration budget forecast for the year already at three
Speaker 3: hundred and thirty five thousand arrivals, has been exceeded by
Speaker 3: almost eighty nine thousand people, or around twenty seven percent.
Speaker 2: You got to ask why the opposition hasn't fired up
Speaker 2: about this.
Speaker 3: Just last week, leaked Treasury advice revealed Labour's National Housing
Speaker 3: Accord target of building one point two million homes between
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four and twenty twenty nine will not be met.
Speaker 3: Labour's failed to deliver a single housing target yet ramps
Speaker 3: up migration. Where are we going.
Speaker 2: To put all these people. So here we are today.
Speaker 3: Unemployment has risen, the inflation dragon has not been slayed,
Speaker 3: and Labour's solution to all of this is a productivity
Speaker 3: talk fest next month. What does it tell you this
Speaker 3: government is all out of ideas. Joining us now for
Speaker 3: more on today's top stories is National Senator Matt Canavan
Speaker 3: and Senior Fellow and Chief Economist at the Institute of
Speaker 3: Public Affairs Adam Crichton. Hi to both of you, Thank
Speaker 3: you so much for joining me. I want to begin
Speaker 3: with the warm and fluffy panda diplomacy and just a
Speaker 3: reminder to both of you of how much this Prime
Speaker 3: Minister loves a picture opportunity with pandas.
Speaker 2: This is what he said.
Speaker 4: Those pictures go to twenty seven million people potentially in Australia,
Speaker 4: they go to over a billion people in China, a
Speaker 4: billion people.
Speaker 2: Matt, it's all about pictures. What's the Prime Minister actually
Speaker 2: achieved during this trip.
Speaker 8: Well, look, it seems like he's had a really good holiday.
Speaker 8: I mean, he's honeymoon with his fiancee. Should happen after
Speaker 8: the wedding, not before. And I mean how long has
Speaker 8: this guy been out of the country for It's been.
Speaker 1: A whole week.
Speaker 8: Sure it's important to go and talk to other countries.
Speaker 8: Sure it's even appropriate to have some kind of photo
Speaker 8: op with a panda at the Great Wall or something,
Speaker 8: but I don't think you need six days to do
Speaker 8: that six days. Look at all the issues that are
Speaker 8: facing this country. Young people can't afford a home. I've
Speaker 8: spent my week trying to fight for the six thousand
Speaker 8: jobs in our smelters and refineries that are on the
Speaker 8: chopping block, ironically partly thanks to the aggressive industrial tactics
Speaker 8: of the Chinese government, which I didn't hear the Prime
Speaker 8: Minister say a single word about on his trip. And
Speaker 8: so those six thousand jobs, a lot of them are
Speaker 8: union jobs. These are jobs in smelters and refineries. They're good,
Speaker 8: high paying union jobs. They're on the chopping block right
Speaker 8: now because the Chinese government has financed a massive expansion
Speaker 8: of nickel smelting, of copper refining, of all of these
Speaker 8: critical minerals, and they're doing so in ways that aren't
Speaker 8: consistent with international trade rules. And the Prime Minister has
Speaker 8: not spent any time standing up for those workers, for
Speaker 8: Australian workers, and instead has spent his time getting happy
Speaker 8: snaps around various Chinese tourist sites. I mean, this guy
Speaker 8: is not paid to do that. He's paid to protect
Speaker 8: Australians and Australian jobs and he's failing at that right now.
Speaker 3: Oh look absolutely, and I couldn't help but notice, Adam,
Speaker 3: how the Prime Minister has thrown his support behind the
Speaker 3: Australian Opens twenty twenty six wildcard tournament in Chengdu, and
Speaker 3: it comes amid ongoing concerns regarding the fate of former
Speaker 3: Chinese player Pun Shwe, who vanished years ago after she
Speaker 3: accused the retired Communist Party officials of sexual assault. Adam,
Speaker 3: but you know Albo had nothing to say about that,
Speaker 3: yet he's out on the tennis courts. I don't know
Speaker 3: if he's a CEO of Tourism Australia, the CEO of Kiniki.
Speaker 2: I I'm not sure what he was doing on this trip.
Speaker 7: Well, look, you should have realized that when he talks
Speaker 7: about the tennis that obviously journalists will refer to the
Speaker 7: Chinese tennis player who disappeared. I mean, it's just another
Speaker 7: reminder of the different philosophical systems of our two countries
Speaker 7: and that we're focusing so much energy on this totalitarian dictatorship.
Speaker 7: That's what China, That's what China is. And as Matt said,
Speaker 7: I mean he was there six days. The timing could
Speaker 7: not have been worse. Really, I mean, they've the US
Speaker 7: is currently conducting a review of the Orchestreaty. You know,
Speaker 7: they want to see Australia as very much on their side,
Speaker 7: and here's our Prime minister spending six days there and
Speaker 7: you know, talking about the tennis and getting photos with
Speaker 7: pandas I mean, it's you know, the length of the
Speaker 7: trip was unnecessary, I think, and the timing was terrible,
Speaker 7: and it's really achieved nothing except I think, basically offend
Speaker 7: the US at a critical time.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I just see the optics of it are just shocking.
Speaker 2: Right now. Now, let's move on.
Speaker 3: Because minus have worn labor of potential plant closures, inflation
Speaker 3: and an expensive transition to net zero was the industry
Speaker 3: faces a likely shortfall of carbon credits in five years.
Speaker 3: Rio Tinto says that the shortfall would put significant pressure
Speaker 3: on market and price dynamics. Matt, you were just talking
Speaker 3: there about the industry. What do you make of this.
Speaker 8: Well, this is the other threat to the long term
Speaker 8: threat to major manufacturing facilities in Australia. As I say,
Speaker 8: there's a short term issue with the way the market's
Speaker 8: being flooded by a Chinese product, and the long term
Speaker 8: you've got the Australian government putting on a carbon tax
Speaker 8: on all of these facilities right now through what they
Speaker 8: call the safeguard mechanism. That mechanism requires them to buy
Speaker 8: carbon credits every year, and five percent of their carbon
Speaker 8: emissions every year has to be reduced and they have
Speaker 8: to increase the amount of carbon credits they're buying every year.
Speaker 8: What Rio Tinto is saying here is like what most
Speaker 8: people that look at this market, this carbon credit market
Speaker 8: say is that the price of carbon credits are going
Speaker 8: to go through the roof as more carbon emission reductions
Speaker 8: have to occur over the next decade or so. At
Speaker 8: the moment, at current carbon prices, these facilities, these factories
Speaker 8: are up for a six point six billion dollar bill
Speaker 8: to decarbonize to twenty fifty to get to net zero.
Speaker 8: If the price doubles or more, which many people think
Speaker 8: it will, obviously that bill goes to twelve to fifteen, possibly.
Speaker 1: Twenty billion dollars.
Speaker 8: Meanwhile, the federal government already has ten billion dollars of
Speaker 8: assistance to these factories who are struggling with their costs.
Speaker 8: So we're going to tax them on this hand, We're
Speaker 8: going to put a tax on them, and then we're
Speaker 8: going to come along and give taxpayers dollars which we've
Speaker 8: taxed you at home, and we're going to give them
Speaker 8: that money back to pay the tax, to pay the
Speaker 8: carbon tax. Why don't we just cut out the middlemen
Speaker 8: and get rid of the carbon tax. It makes no sense.
Speaker 8: It's doing nothing for the environment. It's just putting Australian
Speaker 8: jobs at risk.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 3: Look, absolutely, I can't even believe it's even being discussed
Speaker 3: right now. It's extraordinary. Now, Adam, I alluded to this
Speaker 3: earlier on. I want to talk about housing targets and migration.
Speaker 3: The CEO of Master Builders Australia has told Sky News
Speaker 3: private markets.
Speaker 2: Believe it's too costly to build it Ausralia.
Speaker 3: In a further blow to this one point two million
Speaker 3: homes target by twenty twenty nine, which we know that
Speaker 3: labor is not going to achieve now, I mean that's
Speaker 3: according to leak Treasury documents.
Speaker 2: Adam, you know, the IPA has done really good research
Speaker 2: about migration. I mentioned that one earlier. But where are
Speaker 2: we going to put all of these people?
Speaker 3: We don't have enough homes as it is, Labour's not
Speaker 3: going to reach its housing accord targets.
Speaker 2: What are we going to do?
Speaker 7: Well, look, no, you're certainly right to point out those figures.
Speaker 7: Governments are basically hopeless at boosting housing supply. Of course,
Speaker 7: there was a famous example from New Zealand a few
Speaker 7: years ago when Prime Minister just Sinda Ardern promised one
Speaker 7: hundred thousand houses and I think they ended up building
Speaker 7: about two hundred and fifty. The similar situation not quite
Speaker 7: as bad as happening here, where the government is already
Speaker 7: fifty five thousand and sixty thousand homes behind schedule in
Speaker 7: just the first year. There is no way that it's
Speaker 7: going to reach that one point two million. The Treasury
Speaker 7: itself and that so called leaked document said the same thing.
Speaker 7: So it is just outrageous that we're bringing in so
Speaker 7: many people into this country. I mean, it's almost as
Speaker 7: if the government is trying to sabotage the living standards
Speaker 7: of people who live here. And that's a strong thing
Speaker 7: to say, but those figures are so outrageous I mean,
Speaker 7: in the first eleven months of the financial year just gone,
Speaker 7: net overseas migration is ninety thousand more than was forecast
Speaker 7: in the budget. It was forecast, I think you said
Speaker 7: three three five. Well it's ninety thousand more than that
Speaker 7: already and we don't even have the June figures. So
Speaker 7: I mean, to me, that is reckless and outrageous. And
Speaker 7: we have all this focus on productivity, round table and
Speaker 7: tax whether we should broaden the GST. I mean, you know,
Speaker 7: these arguments are important, but in my view they actually
Speaker 7: pale in comparison to this immigration issue at the moment,
Speaker 7: which is, you know, which was reducing our standard of
Speaker 7: living very dramatically. And also I would argue it's undermizing
Speaker 7: social cohesion. I would say as well, So it's a
Speaker 7: serious problem and it needs to be addressed.
Speaker 2: Oh look, I completely agree with you. There's so many
Speaker 2: different factors to this.
Speaker 3: And Matt Master Builders, they've been warning for a long
Speaker 3: time that labor will not meet its housing targets and
Speaker 3: now we see this leaked and I put leaked.
Speaker 2: In inverted commas.
Speaker 3: There this document that was released earlier this week.
Speaker 2: But I mean, the question has to be asked, what
Speaker 2: are we going to do.
Speaker 3: We've got so many people coming into this country, where
Speaker 3: are we going to put them?
Speaker 1: Well, what Adam said is absolutely right.
Speaker 8: I mean, the government has been clear that the government's
Speaker 8: not going to meet as housing commitment for some time.
Speaker 8: You could cut them some slack in the sense that
Speaker 8: a lot of the drivers that can influence the number
Speaker 8: of housing starts that occur in anyone year at the
Speaker 8: state government level, at the local government level, those issues.
Speaker 1: But what the federal government.
Speaker 8: Can control directly control is a number of people entering
Speaker 8: into this country. They issue the visas, they issue permanent residency,
Speaker 8: they can control that. And surely the number of people
Speaker 8: coming into this country should be calibrated to the number
Speaker 8: of houses that are available to put a roof over
Speaker 8: their head. We cannot and should not be bringing in
Speaker 8: way way more people, and we have houses to keep
Speaker 8: people sheltered. And that's what we've been doing now for
Speaker 8: the first three years of the Albaneza government. By a
Speaker 8: large margin.
Speaker 1: Just do the math.
Speaker 8: They're building one hundred and eighty thousand homes a year.
Speaker 8: We're bringing in, as Adam said, about over four hundred thousand.
Speaker 8: We we're at five hundred thousand. We're now over four
Speaker 8: hundred thousand bringing in in a twelve month period.
Speaker 1: Do the math. That doesn't add up. We do not
Speaker 1: have enough houses.
Speaker 8: We should be waiting to make sure all Australians have
Speaker 8: a roof over their head before we bring in more
Speaker 8: people from overseas.
Speaker 7: Absolutely, I think it's we're potting out too done Acre,
Speaker 7: just very briefly, so just very briefly on the time
Speaker 7: it takes to build a house.
Speaker 2: I mean it was basically flat.
Speaker 7: Lined at eight months for many many years, and now
Speaker 7: it is twelve months. Just in the last few years
Speaker 7: has gone up to twelve months to build a house.
Speaker 7: So that's red tape, green tape. I mean that is
Speaker 7: also just as outrageous as the as the immigration just
Speaker 7: worth pointing up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I mean that figure in itself is
Speaker 3: just extraordinary. Yet we've got a real problem in this country.
Speaker 3: Adam Crichton and Matt Canavan, good to see you both.
Speaker 3: Thanks very much for joining me on the show this evening,
Speaker 3: or joining me now is LMPMP Garth Hamilton Garth, thank
Speaker 3: you for your time this evening. I want to start
Speaker 3: with the Prime Minister's China's China trip. I mean between
Speaker 3: the banquets being serenaded by the Chinese military band playing
Speaker 3: Aussie rock, flattery, smiles, handshakes, a bit of sight seeing
Speaker 3: on the side. Was it really worth an extended trip
Speaker 3: to visit our greatest strategic threat?
Speaker 9: Look, like all politicians, I'll do the thing where it's
Speaker 9: important that we do have these conversations, these relationships do matter.
Speaker 9: But goodness me, what's the big story? Bloke went to
Speaker 9: the zoo? You know, this has just been so overcooked.
Speaker 9: I thought panda diplomacy was shorthanded for some very sensitive
Speaker 9: Chinese way of diplomacy. No, it's just when they give
Speaker 9: countries pandits. This has been the most uninspiring trip the
Speaker 9: primise that could have taken. But I want to put
Speaker 9: a slightly different twist on what's going on here. In
Speaker 9: his first term, the Prime Minister wanted to establish a
Speaker 9: legacy for changing Australia forever and by dividing upon race
Speaker 9: and having the voice in our constitution. He lost that, thankfully.
Speaker 9: I think we're seeing his next play at legacy. I
Speaker 9: think he wants to give us the great pivot away
Speaker 9: from the US and towards China, and I think that's
Speaker 9: what we're seeing six days in China and he can't
Speaker 9: even summon the guts to go and speak to mister Trump.
Speaker 10: I think it's a very clear message from our Prime minister.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh, look, I completely agree with you.
Speaker 3: And you know the question is Garth, the Prime Minister
Speaker 3: has gone out of his way now to appease and
Speaker 3: pander to China. But you're right, what about the United States.
Speaker 3: China would be loving the fact right now that Anthony
Speaker 3: Arberzi has danced around them and not Donald Trump.
Speaker 9: Look, I think we're very very clear on what the
Speaker 9: labor government thinks about our relationship with the US. We
Speaker 9: had a senior Labor front benched Don Farrell say he
Speaker 9: didn't believe that the US we're our closest ally. We
Speaker 9: are at a really important crisis point in our future.
Speaker 9: We've got a slightly difficult relationship with the US at
Speaker 9: the moment. We're not willing to front up to that.
Speaker 9: We're not willing to be the good friend to the
Speaker 9: US that we should be. And at the same time,
Speaker 9: we've got China who's been very provocative in our region.
Speaker 9: We've just had a trade war, they've just sailed their
Speaker 9: ships all around us. We've all forgotten. They just parked
Speaker 9: underneath that major air route between US and New Zealand
Speaker 9: not that long ago.
Speaker 1: And yet where's all.
Speaker 9: The attention going to the people who are treating us
Speaker 9: the most poor, which is the Chinese government. We need
Speaker 9: to make a really clear change of direction back to
Speaker 9: our good friends the United States.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 3: Look, speaking of which, former US National Security Advisor John
Speaker 3: Bolton has advised against a meeting between Anthony Abernezi and
Speaker 3: Donald Trump before the ORCUST review has been resolved. Now
Speaker 3: we know that the Pentagon is considering making us pay
Speaker 3: more for submarines.
Speaker 2: Under the agreement. Who really knows what the future of
Speaker 2: AUCUST looks like.
Speaker 3: But what do you make of John Bolton's comments that
Speaker 3: a meeting could harm the agreement? Is this more a
Speaker 3: reflection on the Prime Minister than anything?
Speaker 9: Look, I probably share his concerns, but come to a
Speaker 9: different place. I don't think if you pitted our Prime minister,
Speaker 9: mister Albernizi against mister Trump in a negotiation that Australia
Speaker 9: is going to come out on top. I think he's
Speaker 9: right at the moment. If that conversation went ahead, I
Speaker 9: don't see.
Speaker 10: A great pathway for Australia. I don't see what we
Speaker 10: have to offer. We've not been good friends. And I've
Speaker 10: used that word before and I use it again. A
Speaker 10: good friend to America right now would be standing up
Speaker 10: strongly and saying we need to warn you against the
Speaker 10: isolationism that you're walking into. We need to show you
Speaker 10: how good it can be working together with your allies
Speaker 10: and creating something better for all of us. That's what
Speaker 10: a good friend and a good Australian leader would be
Speaker 10: doing right now.
Speaker 9: Instead of running off to China. We need to cherish
Speaker 9: the relationship with the United States if things ever go bad,
Speaker 9: they're the guys who will be there for us.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 3: Let's hope that Albert Eazi has not lost track of that.
Speaker 3: Now let's turn to the NDIS. Bureaucrats have told labor
Speaker 3: ministers they must ignore pressure from the disabilitymmunity to slow
Speaker 3: the government's reforms to the NDIS. The very frame National
Speaker 3: Disability Insurance Agency brief says the disability community does not
Speaker 3: support the government's timeline for NDIS reforms. However, it is
Speaker 3: critical the agency remain on the timeline if we are
Speaker 3: to achieve the National Cabinet's annual eight percent growth target Garth. Look,
Speaker 3: the reality is this scheme is now a behemoth, and
Speaker 3: it was designed originally for the most severely disabled in Australia,
Speaker 3: as it should have been, and now it's absolutely blown out.
Speaker 2: How important is it to get it back to the
Speaker 2: people who actually need the support the most.
Speaker 10: I think we need to divorce the good intentions of
Speaker 10: the NDIS.
Speaker 9: And there's not an Australian tax payer out there who
Speaker 9: doesn't want a bit of their tax being spent looking
Speaker 9: ath through our most disabled people.
Speaker 10: That's a worthy outcome in a nation like Australia.
Speaker 9: We should expect that, but we must be able to
Speaker 9: criticize the system that's been put in place to do that.
Speaker 9: The NDIS is growing at the moment out of somewhere around.
Speaker 9: They want to cap it at twelve percent growth this
Speaker 9: year and maybe bring it down to eight. They've got
Speaker 9: no plans on how they're going to do that or
Speaker 9: why they need it at that rate.
Speaker 1: To point out how big that.
Speaker 9: Is, inflation at the moment underlying inflation is only about
Speaker 9: two point nine percent, So that's four times the rate
Speaker 9: of inflation. That's how much this is growing. That equates
Speaker 9: to somewhere around four point eighty five billion dollars a year.
Speaker 9: This is growing at an incredible rate. It's pulling resources
Speaker 9: from health, from age care, from the services industry and
Speaker 9: in regional communities like Tawoomba. We feel that today I
Speaker 9: sat with a group of occupational therapists from my own
Speaker 9: region and they dispute the statement that the disability sector
Speaker 9: is against this. They all hate the NDAs. It's a
Speaker 9: chunky system. It's very poorly designed and we need to
Speaker 9: be able to have this nuanced conversation. We want the outcomes,
Speaker 9: but this system can be criticized and it's not working.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, it is not working and we need this discussion
Speaker 3: urgently because, as you said, it's completely blowing out year
Speaker 3: on year. Garth Hamilton always appreciate your time. Thanks very
Speaker 3: much for joining me on the show. Coming up as
Speaker 3: the PM two is China neighboring Taiwan is preparing its
Speaker 3: military for an invasion, plus Labor drags its heels on
Speaker 3: anti semetism.
Speaker 2: Envoy Jillian Siegels recommendations.
Speaker 3: Peter Wirtime from the Executive Council of Australian Jury will
Speaker 3: join me next.
Speaker 2: Welcome back. Well.
Speaker 3: As anti Semitism runs rampant in this country, as it
Speaker 3: has for almost two years, it.
Speaker 2: Seems Labor is still dragging its heels.
Speaker 3: Education Minister Jason Clair has signaled the government won't be
Speaker 3: moving quickly on the recommendations from Jillian Siagel's anti Semitism reports.
Speaker 1: We're considering it carefully. We've got to consult as part
Speaker 1: of that.
Speaker 9: I want to see what the Special Envoy on Islamophobia
Speaker 9: has to say as well.
Speaker 1: I think that's fair. I think that's the right thing
Speaker 1: to do.
Speaker 3: Joining me now is Executive Council of Australian Jury co
Speaker 3: CEGO Peter Wirtime, Peter, thanks for your time.
Speaker 2: We're talking about delays. It could now drag on for months.
Speaker 3: But once again Labor seems to conflate the issue of
Speaker 3: anti Semitism with Islamophobia.
Speaker 2: What do you have to say to that.
Speaker 11: Yes, it's back to the bad old days of twenty
Speaker 11: one months ago when every time anti Semitism was mentioned
Speaker 11: the government felt the need to bracket it with Islamophobia.
Speaker 11: It shows a complete lack of understanding of I think
Speaker 11: of both anti semitism and Islamophobia, and frankly kicking the
Speaker 11: can down the road is not leadership. I can understand
Speaker 11: that some things require planning and time. On an education
Speaker 11: reform and curriculum reform and professional development, all the things
Speaker 11: that go with it need planning, They need careful consideration.
Speaker 11: It does take some time. But to condition the whole
Speaker 11: thing on the Islamophobia report Islamophobia envoy coming up with
Speaker 11: a report is incomprehensible to me. Anti simmon, Islamophobia and
Speaker 11: other forms of racism and bigger treaty all have their
Speaker 11: own special histories, their own causes, their own particular features,
Speaker 11: their own tropes, and they require special individual care and
Speaker 11: attention and not sort of this mish mash idea of
Speaker 11: mixing them all up and bracketing them all together and
Speaker 11: making action on one very urgent problem, namely anti Semitism
Speaker 11: conditional upon dealing with another problem. It just seems to
Speaker 11: me an abrogation of responsibility and it's very disappointing from
Speaker 11: the point of view of the Jewish community.
Speaker 3: No, look, I completely agree with you, and that that
Speaker 3: reports to sitting on Labour's desk, and nothing's going to
Speaker 3: happen for a few months now.
Speaker 2: Now Israel has.
Speaker 3: Struck serious military headquarters and Ministry of Defense in Damascus.
Speaker 2: The attack was captured live on State TV.
Speaker 3: Have a look at this, So you are, Peter, why
Speaker 3: did Israel target Syria and what does this now mean
Speaker 3: for the conflict?
Speaker 11: Look, those are very confronting images on any of you,
Speaker 11: but like everything, it has a context. You can't just
Speaker 11: judge the international political conflicts on the basis of superficial
Speaker 11: images that propagated by social media because there is so
Speaker 11: much outside of those images that they don't tell you
Speaker 11: that contextualize the whole thing and make it more explicable.
Speaker 11: In the case of Syria, well, for decades Syria was
Speaker 11: under the control of one of the most brutal dictatorships
Speaker 11: on the planet, that of Hafeza Sad and his son Basha,
Speaker 11: and they ruled Syria with an iron fist. Now, Syria
Speaker 11: is a complex country. It consists of a lot of
Speaker 11: minority religious and ethnic communities, and for much of its history,
Speaker 11: the majority Saundi population mistreated a lot of these minority
Speaker 11: groups in a very severe way. And we saw echoes
Speaker 11: of that with parts of Syria that came under Islamic
Speaker 11: state control some years ago, where they just butchered religious
Speaker 11: minority communities now under Assad. For all his brutality, religious
Speaker 11: minority communities like the Alawi sect of which the president
Speaker 11: was one and the Drus got off relatively unscathed. I mean,
Speaker 11: they were generally left alone as long as they showed
Speaker 11: loyalty to the regime. With the fall of the Assad
Speaker 11: regime and the takeover of Syria by a former Islamic
Speaker 11: State al Qaeda terrorist leader who is now recasting himself
Speaker 11: as a conventional political leader, things have reverted back to
Speaker 11: what they traditionally were, with minority communities once again being
Speaker 11: very anxious about their security, and the Drews are foremost
Speaker 11: among them. And Israel has come in because Israel has
Speaker 11: a very significant Druze community of its own, and they
Speaker 11: have demanded action to protect their Drew's brethren in Syria.
Speaker 11: And the Drews in Syria, who are traditionally very loyal
Speaker 11: to their government, have now sought that protection as well
Speaker 11: and have welcomed it.
Speaker 3: We're almost out of time, but just very quickly I
Speaker 3: want to get your response to this. In the last hour,
Speaker 3: released Israeli hostage Aviva Siegel, who Sharry marks and interviewed
Speaker 3: for the one year anniversary of October seven has made
Speaker 3: an impassioned plea for the remaining hostages to be freed.
Speaker 3: She was sat next to her Husban, who has also
Speaker 3: taken hostage then released.
Speaker 2: Have a listen to this.
Speaker 1: We need to stop that and it needs to stop.
Speaker 2: The war needs to stop. The hostages need to come home.
Speaker 12: The Hamasterists need to release the hostages and everything will end.
Speaker 3: Peter, We're almost out of time, but very quickly. Aviva's
Speaker 3: message is very simple. If I must release the hostages now.
Speaker 11: The war ends exactly Hamas planned and started the war.
Speaker 11: They have lost the war. Their leaders are dead, they
Speaker 11: have made a mess of Gaza. They have ruined the
Speaker 11: lives of the Palestinians of Gaza with the war they started.
Speaker 11: And they can end the war tomorrow by releasing the
Speaker 11: hostages and laying down their arms. That's all that has
Speaker 11: to happen, and people should be calling for that to happen,
Speaker 11: as this heartfelt plead from these parents articulated so well.
Speaker 3: No, absolutely absolutely, Peter, were time. I appreciate your time.
Speaker 3: Thanks very much for joining me on the show. Well,
Speaker 3: let's return now to the Prime Minister's trip to China.
Speaker 3: Joining me for more on This is former defense intelligence
Speaker 3: analyst Paul Monk.
Speaker 2: Paul, thanks for your time.
Speaker 3: What do you make of the Prime Minister's handling of
Speaker 3: these key issues like the live fire drills and the
Speaker 3: port of Darwin over there.
Speaker 13: Well, he's been, to put it, bluntly, extraordinarily obsequious to
Speaker 13: Sin Ping and his supporters. It seems to we are
Speaker 13: arguing that he's simply trying to re establish the kind
Speaker 13: of rapport with the Chinese leadership that Bob Hawk established
Speaker 13: in the nineteen eighties, but that fails to recognize that
Speaker 13: China has changed a lot and politically for the worse
Speaker 13: since the nineteen eighties. You know, if you just draw
Speaker 13: a comparison in Hawk basically befriending who Yabuk and Albinishi
Speaker 13: trying to be friends sit in Ping, they're completely different individuals.
Speaker 13: Who Jarbuk was a genuine reformer, an honest intellectual. He
Speaker 13: wanted to see China open up, and you could trust
Speaker 13: his friendship. Not so is hit in Pin. He is
Speaker 13: a tyrant who has centralized powered and extreme degree and
Speaker 13: has openly espoused ambitious and aggressive views, has built up
Speaker 13: China's military in a way who Jabung would frankly have
Speaker 13: been horrified by so you can't put them on the
Speaker 13: same level. And yet ALBINESI, it seems to me and
Speaker 13: as I said, he support as are talking is if
Speaker 13: that's what he's doing and this is a really good thing.
Speaker 3: No, absolutely, I thought it was interesting because while Anthony
Speaker 3: Aberesi too is China, we've got neighboring Taiwan preparing its
Speaker 3: military for an invasion. For more than a week now,
Speaker 3: almost every corner of Taiwan has been hit with military drills. Paul,
Speaker 3: the optics of this are fascinating. You've got the prime
Speaker 3: minister closing up to China. Next door Taiwan is preparing
Speaker 3: for war with China, and the US wants to know.
Speaker 2: What our position on any potential conflict would be.
Speaker 13: Yes, it's an invidious position for an Australian Prime minister
Speaker 13: to be in because as we've long acknowledged, China is
Speaker 13: our biggest trading partner of the US is our long
Speaker 13: term leading by a country miles security partner, and we
Speaker 13: would prefer not to have to choose. And John Howard
Speaker 13: used to sage, did he say, we have our differences
Speaker 13: with China, but we're very happy to trade with China.
Speaker 13: China's got a lot harder even to trade with Undersidi
Speaker 13: and Ping, and the security dilemma presented to us has
Speaker 13: got a lot more grave because he's undertaken, as I said,
Speaker 13: a moment ago, a massive peacetime military build up and
Speaker 13: has plainly articulated aggressive ambitions and indeed he's enacted them
Speaker 13: in the South China Sea, in the hazing in Taiwan
Speaker 13: space and frankly in Japanese waters and hears China Sea
Speaker 13: against Philippine naval craft. So this is a whole different
Speaker 13: situation and we need to take it seriously. And it's
Speaker 13: all really well to say, as I'm sure the Prime
Speaker 13: Minister would that he's seeking to be diplomatic, not provocative,
Speaker 13: but it's leading to a situation where our allies and
Speaker 13: security partners are un certain. And you know, one might say, look,
Speaker 13: you've got this multi party military exit is taking place
Speaker 13: in Northern Australia. Surely that shows where our security loyalties lie.
Speaker 13: But we have to do some hard thinking about how
Speaker 13: we're going to articulate that. And it seems to me
Speaker 13: the question of Taiwan is acute. That's why they're doing
Speaker 13: military drills in Taiwan, and we prefer to just fudge
Speaker 13: it all by saying, you know, well, we acknowledge Jone's
Speaker 13: position that Taiwan's the province of China. We're fine, but
Speaker 13: chet imping is not saying, look, we want to lure
Speaker 13: you back, we want you to be comfortable and the world.
Speaker 13: He's saying you will count out and we will take
Speaker 13: over whatever it requires. Those are fighting words and there
Speaker 13: are good reasons therefore for us to be apprehensive about
Speaker 13: what she will do.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, they're still on number one greatest strategic threat. Paul Monk,
Speaker 3: nice to see you, Thanks very much for joining me
Speaker 3: on the show. This evening still to come. Trump gets
Speaker 3: heated over the Epstein files posts. White House correspondent Diana
Speaker 3: Glebova will bring us the latest. Plus, a lesbian group
Speaker 3: heads to court to defend women's spaces. I'll chat to
Speaker 3: Giggle CEO Salgrover next.
Speaker 2: Welcome back.
Speaker 14: Well.
Speaker 3: An Australian judge last year ruled that sex is changeable
Speaker 3: in the case of Giggle versus Tickle. Now, if someone
Speaker 3: can explain how a biological man is a woman, please
Speaker 3: do go ahead. We know about the case of Salgrover,
Speaker 3: creator of the Giggle for Girls app who was lodged
Speaker 3: at appeal seeking to overturn that court ruling that she
Speaker 3: unlawfully discriminated against Roxane Tickle, a biological man who identifies
Speaker 3: as a woman, by barring Tickle from the app.
Speaker 2: Now, in a rare court move, it's granted.
Speaker 3: Melbourne based Lesbian Action Group a intervenus status in the
Speaker 3: appeal as a group claims lesbian only spaces are being
Speaker 3: invaded by men claiming to be women, and I'm pleased
Speaker 3: to say, Salgrover joins me.
Speaker 2: So it's always good to catch up with you. Thanks
Speaker 2: for joining me.
Speaker 3: First, I've just got to ask off the bat realistically,
Speaker 3: is there any such thing as a female only space
Speaker 3: in this country right now?
Speaker 11: Not?
Speaker 2: Legally no.
Speaker 12: I mean, we have the Australian Hum Rights Commission, specifically
Speaker 12: the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, fighting with all of her might
Speaker 12: to make sure that there is no such thing as
Speaker 12: a female eely space, that women and girls have absolutely
Speaker 12: no right to say no to men if that man
Speaker 12: claims to be a woman. This is the legacy that thereafter.
Speaker 2: It's just absolutely shocking.
Speaker 3: Now, explain to us the significance of this Lesbian Action
Speaker 3: Group being granted interveners status in your case, and how
Speaker 3: will it help you.
Speaker 12: It's fantastic that they've been allowed to intervene, and what
Speaker 12: it basically means is that it is women and lesbians
Speaker 12: versus the government versus the branch of the government, the
Speaker 12: Sex Discrimination Commission. It means that not only are we
Speaker 12: fighting for what a woman is, which is obviously a
Speaker 12: sex based concept and women are a separate category to men,
Speaker 12: but we're also fighting for lesbians to be separate from
Speaker 12: heterosexual men who claim to be lesbians, because this is happening,
Speaker 12: heterosexual men who claim to be women are then claiming
Speaker 12: to be lesbians and invading lesbian spaces, lesbian events, be
Speaker 12: ditting whatever. Lesbian Action group who has been granted permission
Speaker 12: to intervene in the case had a great point. I
Speaker 12: think they said it last year that once upon a time,
Speaker 12: women couldn't marry each other, but now women lesbians cannot
Speaker 12: have events to where they could potentially meet a wife.
Speaker 10: So the law has sort of flipped.
Speaker 12: So we have to obviously get all of this back
Speaker 12: on track and back to normal, because this is not
Speaker 12: sustainable for being me to believe a lie, and if
Speaker 12: you object to that lie, you're being punished. So these men, women,
Speaker 12: men lesbians actually have more rights than women and lesbians,
Speaker 12: And to that, I say no.
Speaker 2: So let's just get this right.
Speaker 3: So we've now got a situation because I note that
Speaker 3: the courts also granted leave to the Sex Discrimination Commissioner.
Speaker 3: So in essence, they now have to try and argue
Speaker 3: that men can be women. But also that if you've
Speaker 3: got say, two men who identify as a woman, that
Speaker 3: they can be labeled lesbians.
Speaker 2: How do we get here?
Speaker 12: Yeah, I mean, I must say that this has been
Speaker 12: a really long and painful three and a half years
Speaker 12: for me. But as painful as this has been, I
Speaker 12: can't fathom how agonizing it must be to have to
Speaker 12: make the argument that a man can be a lesbian.
Speaker 12: Like God speed, Sex Discrimination Commission. It must be there
Speaker 12: must be some headaches there, you know. But for us
Speaker 12: we have to This is their government funded. This is
Speaker 12: a government body that's going in there. This is taxpayer funded.
Speaker 12: But for us on this side, so they said we
Speaker 12: have to raise it'll be well over a million dollars
Speaker 12: by the time this is all over. And that is
Speaker 12: another sort of part of the stress and part of
Speaker 12: the pain of it of being like, not only are
Speaker 12: our rights being taken away, but we have to spend
Speaker 12: so much money in court to fight to get back
Speaker 12: what was all already established in a sex discrimination out
Speaker 12: in nineteen eighty four. These roads already existed, They've existed
Speaker 12: for forty years. But yeah, all it took to take
Speaker 12: them away it was a was men just seeing their women.
Speaker 12: So I mean, if anyone who does want to support
Speaker 12: the case, giggle crowdfund dot com is the website which
Speaker 12: has more information and how you can do need yeap.
Speaker 3: Giggle crowdfund dot com go check it out absolutely Before
Speaker 3: we let you go, Sal, I just want to ask
Speaker 3: you about a case in Scotland where an NHS nurse
Speaker 3: has now been clear of misconduct after refusing to share
Speaker 3: a hospital changing room with a male colleague who ID
Speaker 3: identified as a woman. I've got to say justice has
Speaker 3: been served here, Sal, But what does this case tell
Speaker 3: us about women's rights around the world right now?
Speaker 12: Well, one of the things that does tell us is
Speaker 12: how far ahead the UK is on this issue. Obviously,
Speaker 12: we had the four Women's Scotland case earlier this year
Speaker 12: in the Supreme Court that established that in law a
Speaker 12: woman is a is.
Speaker 2: A biological concept.
Speaker 12: It's not of a human female. But it must be
Speaker 12: noted that even to get to this point where it's
Speaker 12: someone like Sandy Peggy could win like this, it took
Speaker 12: lots and lots of court cases over years to get there.
Speaker 12: So in Australia we haven't had that yet. That's this
Speaker 12: particular case, the giggleby Tickle case with Lesbian Action Group
Speaker 12: now involved, is so important is because it's the first one,
Speaker 12: so it potentially could be the first of quite a
Speaker 12: few because there'll be a lot of different things that
Speaker 12: need to be fixed because they really did model the
Speaker 12: law that much down here. But it makes women like
Speaker 12: myself who are fighting for very optimistic when we see
Speaker 12: other brief women around the world who are fighting and
Speaker 12: winning fantastic.
Speaker 3: Well, it is good to see and look all the
Speaker 3: very best to you as well. Will be following your
Speaker 3: case very closely. Sal Grover, always appreciate your time. Thank
Speaker 3: you so much for joining me on the show this evening.
Speaker 3: Appreciate it. We're still to come. Donald Trump fires up
Speaker 3: after one too many Epstein questions, and the Obamas address
Speaker 3: marriage speculation. That's next, Well, President Donald Trump is growing
Speaker 3: impatient with questions over his administration's handling of the Epstein files.
Speaker 3: The president lashed out what he called past supporters and
Speaker 3: weaklings for refusing to drop the story.
Speaker 14: Have a look, some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall
Speaker 14: into the net, and so they try and do the
Speaker 14: Democrats work. The Democrats are good for nothing other than
Speaker 14: these oaks, as they're bad for policy. I call it
Speaker 14: the Epstein hooks. Takes a lot of time and effort
Speaker 14: instead of talking about the great achievements we've had.
Speaker 3: Jody now is New York Post White House correspondent Diana
Speaker 3: and Rosie Diana.
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining me.
Speaker 3: This is clearly a very touchy subject for the president.
Speaker 15: Yes it is, and there's been a lot of chaos
Speaker 15: and confusion in the past few weeks as Republicans try
Speaker 15: to figure out what their messaging will be on the
Speaker 15: Epstein files. I mean, for years people have wanted to
Speaker 15: know what is in those files, not just Republicans, and
Speaker 15: now Trump, as you said, is very touchy on the subject,
Speaker 15: and nobody knows really what exactly is in those files until,
Speaker 15: of course, everything is released. But people are confused about
Speaker 15: why all of a sudden, he's going after his own
Speaker 15: supporters and those that want to know what's in them
Speaker 15: out of the case of transparency.
Speaker 3: Well, how has that gone down with his supporters? But
Speaker 3: he's called them wakelings.
Speaker 15: Yeah, I mean there's been a lot of divide. Even
Speaker 15: how Speaker Mike Johnson, of course, one of the most
Speaker 15: important people in the Republican Party so far right now,
Speaker 15: has said that he wants to know more information about
Speaker 15: those files. And I think that, you know, looking at
Speaker 15: the polling, it's not just Republicans that want to know
Speaker 15: what's in there. So some in the party have been
Speaker 15: worried about what this means for the midterms for example,
Speaker 15: that are coming up, because all of a sudden, Trump
Speaker 15: is going after those in his own party.
Speaker 2: Well, Jay's fascinating to watch.
Speaker 3: But I mean, even here, come on, we won't know
Speaker 3: what's in those Epstein files.
Speaker 2: We're all dying to know. Was well over in Australia. Now.
Speaker 3: I don't know about the Obama as if they're suffering
Speaker 3: from some sort of relevant deprivation syndrome. But Barack Obama
Speaker 3: has appeared on an episode of wife Michelle Obama's podcast
Speaker 3: where the two addressed rumors surrounding the status of their marriage.
Speaker 2: Have a look at this.
Speaker 1: Wait, you guys like each other?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, really it was such a.
Speaker 3: Oh look, I don't know, John, I just find it
Speaker 3: all a little bit cringe right now.
Speaker 2: What do you think? Oh?
Speaker 15: Yeah? I mean, though Obamas have been in and out
Speaker 15: of the news for years, but mostly about their marriage,
Speaker 15: and the Republicans love to joke that they've been divorced.
Speaker 15: And of course I remember those rumors about Barack being
Speaker 15: with Jennifer Aniston and different celebrities. So I think they're
Speaker 15: just trying to have fun with it. I mean, they're
Speaker 15: saying that they're still together and that they've been together
Speaker 15: this whole time. But you know who really knows.
Speaker 2: Well, look, who really knows. We're almost ot time. But
Speaker 2: I just want to ask you.
Speaker 3: Donald Trump has announced that Coca Cola will start sweetening
Speaker 3: all of its products with real sugarcane.
Speaker 2: What's going on?
Speaker 15: I mean, we all know that he likes diet coke,
Speaker 15: but he has been on the MAHA agenda make America
Speaker 15: healthy again, so I think that he wants, you know,
Speaker 15: those artificial sweeteners, those dies out of the American food
Speaker 15: and this Coca Cola News has got a lot of
Speaker 15: people excited because people do like that real cane sugar.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: That well, I mean, apparently he's doing it, he says,
Speaker 3: after RFK junior voice concerns about artificial sweetness in soft drinks.
Speaker 3: So's he's certainly listening very closely there, Diana. Really appreciate
Speaker 3: you joining us live from the States this morning. Thank
Speaker 3: you very much for your time. And that's all we've
Speaker 3: got time for this evening. Thanks for your company. I'll
Speaker 3: be back again tomorrow night at five pm for my show,
Speaker 3: but stay tuned. Now it's time for James Morrow filling
Speaker 3: in for Paul Murray and the man Cake of good
Speaker 3: Night