Speaker 1: Our next guest was the host of ABC seven thirty
Speaker 1: for over ten years and is known for her fiery questions.
Speaker 2: N the either of you, I suggest you chief mister
Speaker 2: Harri's got nothing to heart. I'm just wondering why you
Speaker 2: can't answer a question relating to the point you just made.
Speaker 1: She's now hosting a new show called The Assembly, where
Speaker 1: she's mentoring fifteen autistics journalism students in the ways of
Speaker 1: seeking truth.
Speaker 2: Please welcome to the show, Lee Ells.
Speaker 3: So Sunday night was the first good made of ours.
Speaker 3: Andy Lee was on there, reduced to tears, actually one emotional.
Speaker 4: It's quite powerful, wasn't it.
Speaker 3: The lovely lady behind it all joined us this morning,
Speaker 3: Lee Sales, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 4: Good morning, Thank you so much for having me. Hey,
Speaker 4: congrats on the Assembly. But for those who haven't seen
Speaker 4: her before, can you tell us about it?
Speaker 2: It is basically a group of about fifteen to twenty
Speaker 2: people with autism and I work with them to teach
Speaker 2: them some journalistic skills how to interview people, and then
Speaker 2: one celebrity, politician sportsperson comes in and then the group
Speaker 2: interviews them all together at the same time. And the
Speaker 2: rules are kind of no questions off the table, and
Speaker 2: so they can ask some pretty out their stuff.
Speaker 3: I find it joyful to watch. Yeah, there's just a
Speaker 3: real innocence to it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, because the students don't really have any
Speaker 2: agenda other than they tend to just follow what they're
Speaker 2: curious about, and because they haven't worked in mainstream journalism newsrooms,
Speaker 2: they don't sort of, I guess, conform to all of
Speaker 2: the usual ways that journalists ask questions. So it can
Speaker 2: be a real rollercoaster when you're watching, because one minute
Speaker 2: they might be asking a really serious question like what's
Speaker 2: the most significant lesson you ever learned from your parents?
Speaker 2: But then the very next question might be have you
Speaker 2: ever owned a budgery?
Speaker 5: Gu So, as one of Australia's most respected and fearless
Speaker 5: journals yourself, do you sit back and go geez, that
Speaker 5: was a bloody good question.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I do. And the thing that often gets
Speaker 2: me is that they've got the guts to ask things
Speaker 2: that I think we'd all kind of like to know
Speaker 2: the answers to that would feel a bit socially awkward
Speaker 2: to shut.
Speaker 5: So.
Speaker 2: I remember in season one, one of the guys asked
Speaker 2: Hamish Blake, how much money do you have in dollars
Speaker 2: and cents? And how did Aymys to answer that? One?
Speaker 2: L He was actually pretty honest. He kind of was
Speaker 2: a little taken aback, and then he said, look, I'll
Speaker 2: just be honest. I've got I've got millions. I'm a
Speaker 2: really lucky person. And I think you know, the thing
Speaker 2: with it is when the person asks it. It's not like,
Speaker 2: you know, if a journal let me ask that, you'd
Speaker 2: be worried, where's this going?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Is it a trap? And people going to see it
Speaker 2: and they're going to write up a piece about, oh,
Speaker 2: you know, how to touch rich entitled person blah blah
Speaker 2: blah something like that, whereas actually in this space, they're
Speaker 2: just genuinely curious to know, like how much money do
Speaker 2: you have it? And what interests them is dollars and
Speaker 2: cents or in the case of that guy, that was
Speaker 2: what interested him.
Speaker 3: Also, it's just getting them to drop their guard, Like
Speaker 3: you know, I've known Andy for years and to watch
Speaker 3: him on Sunday Nights tip get emotional like that. I've
Speaker 3: never seen him in a situation like that where he's.
Speaker 2: Drop totally totally. And I think that that partly is
Speaker 2: triggered by the sincerity of the people asking the questions
Speaker 2: and their vulnerability as well. They tend to put the
Speaker 2: guests at ease, you know, very readily, and then that
Speaker 2: tends to open up emotion.
Speaker 4: I saw on socials that there was some people saying
Speaker 4: that it's obviously set up. The celebrities are given the question.
Speaker 4: There's no way they would open themselves up like this
Speaker 4: to these wild questions without being prepped on it before.
Speaker 4: And I love that you jumped on the socials and
Speaker 4: just bit back and explained exactly what goes on behind
Speaker 4: the scenes totally, and.
Speaker 2: It's honest to god, they get no prep whatsoever. And
Speaker 2: even if I did try to prep the guests, when
Speaker 2: you're working with a grief of twenty autistic people, they
Speaker 2: are going to do what they want. It doesn't really
Speaker 2: plans you might have put in place in the moment,
Speaker 2: they'll respond as they respond. And that's why, particularly you know,
Speaker 2: this is season three that we're doing now season one.
Speaker 2: I was so grateful to everyone who appeared because you
Speaker 2: can imagine the brief because you're like, yeah, all right,
Speaker 2: well it'll be you twenty people asking questions. I've got
Speaker 2: limited control over what they'll ask, and they might ask
Speaker 2: you absolutely anything happening.
Speaker 5: Any appetite to get some politicians in the chair, because
Speaker 5: those questions would be perfect to try and make a
Speaker 5: politician from either side of the political spectrum squirm.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well we had in season one, we had the
Speaker 2: Prime Minister Anthony Albanezy and I guess we're looking for
Speaker 2: people that are kind of well known nationally to fill
Speaker 2: the space. And so sort of since then, you know,
Speaker 2: the opposition's gone through Peter Dutton Susan Land. Now we
Speaker 2: kind of need to like them to settle down to
Speaker 2: see if something sort of bubbles up into the leadership.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it is a great format. I saw one
Speaker 2: with the French Prime Minister, Emmanuel Macro French President or
Speaker 2: i should say, and he got asked a question about
Speaker 2: his wife, who used to be his teacher, and he
Speaker 2: said he said something it was kind of awkward but intriguing,
Speaker 2: and he said something like, oh, you know, I want
Speaker 2: to be clear, she was not the you know, mede
Speaker 2: real teacher. She was my drama teacher. And then the
Speaker 2: guy sitting next to him just started clapping his hands
Speaker 2: really loudly and rocking back and forth. And just going
Speaker 2: over and over again. But he's real teacher, he's drama
Speaker 2: and so that was just so magic because it was
Speaker 2: like it exposed the kind of political spin in such
Speaker 2: a brilliant way.
Speaker 3: With that in mind, who would be at the top
Speaker 3: of your list that you'd love to get on?
Speaker 2: Oh? I mean I I just am obsessed by Harry Style.
Speaker 3: You know what, He would actually be a great guest
Speaker 3: in this situation, don't you reckon?
Speaker 2: I keep it.
Speaker 3: I think it place he would come.
Speaker 2: I think he'd be absolutely fantastic. The students always they've
Speaker 2: always been obsessed with Chris Hemsworth since season one, so
Speaker 2: they really want Chris Hemsworth. But almost anyone actually is
Speaker 2: kind of interesting in this format, Almost anyone would fit in.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I'd be personally pretty happy if Harry showed up.
Speaker 5: Lee Sales as a political animal that you are or were,
Speaker 5: I don't know how much interest you still take in
Speaker 5: federal politics, but Harry Styles as the last person. Are
Speaker 5: you a big fan?
Speaker 2: I'm just look, I'm a bit of a lover of
Speaker 2: pop culture and low brow tracks. I'm deep into the current.
Speaker 4: Do you think Harry really is engaged?
Speaker 2: Then? I don't really know, but I just think that
Speaker 2: he is such an intriguing guy. But strangely, every time
Speaker 2: I see him at my friend Annabel Crab always teases
Speaker 2: me about this, I always feel like I want to
Speaker 2: mother him. I'm like, oh, he's just he's looking a
Speaker 2: little bit thin. He's a little bit thin at the moment.
Speaker 2: To come around and I'll feed him in his band Heyleah.
Speaker 3: Four years ago, someone tapped on the shoulder when you're
Speaker 3: leaving the seven thirty Report, saying you'll be on Nova,
Speaker 3: critiquing Harry styles as relationships.
Speaker 2: That would have actually had the ring of truth to it. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, we love you, We love the show and so
Speaker 3: feel good. I watch it with the kids. The Assembly
Speaker 3: returns It's Back Sunday. Andy was on It's Back this Sunday,
Speaker 3: seven thirty on ABC TV, with all episodes streaming for
Speaker 3: free on abc I View. We love you, Lee sales
Speaker 3: us much, thank you gang, And if we get Harry on,
Speaker 3: we'll call you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you call me straightaway, we will.
Speaker 4: Lauren Lauren wake up feeling good following them on the Socials,