WEBVTT - Afternoons with Michael McLaren - Friday, 13th June 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:09.760 On two gb at network stations. This is Afternoons with 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:10.760 Michael McLaren. 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:14.720 Well it is, and what an afternoon is going to 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:16.279 turn out to be. It will be very, very busy 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:18.720 between now and three o'clock. A lot going on around 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:20.720 the world, and for a Friday, it does seem to 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:23.720 be incredibly busy newsday. Indeed, we will do our best 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.400 to be across it for you between now and three o'clock. 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:30.880 Of course, talk radio is always local, but we start 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.360 by looking international. And I've been warning that this would 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:36.400 happen for months and months, as you know, and here 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:40.159 we are. Israel has launched a series of strikes on Iran, 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:45.000 targeting their nuclear infrastructure and military sites, particularly missile sites. 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:49.519 The Prime Minister benjaminette Yah, who in a televised address 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.760 to his people, said that Israel was at a decisive 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:57.720 point in its history and was forced to act. The 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.320 reason being they want to stop Iran from bridge a 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:03.280 nuclear weapon in a very short time. So said this 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:07.920 was always going to happen. Iran was simply not willing, 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:12.920 it seems, to hold back their nuclear ambitions and there 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:15.520 was no way on God's Earth that Israel was going 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:18.320 to allow them to put a nuclear warhead on the 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:21.959 end of a missile. Weren't going to allow it. Now, 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:24.959 you know, in the West, we talk about red lines, 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:27.759 and you know Obama was talking about red lines in 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:30.840 Syria and if they were crossed, we'd do something. And 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.800 they were crossed and we did nothing. Benjamin Ettnya, who's 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:38.160 a different kind of leader. So he says, you do 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:40.600 this and there will be a consequence. In fact, I 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:43.040 tee what, We're not even going to let you do it. 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:45.479 If you look like you're getting close to doing it, 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:51.360 we'll preemptively act. And he's done it. The world now 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:56.440 holds its breath and awaits what Iran's response will be. 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:02.960 Irana capable of a significant response, it's whether they're willing 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:08.280 to go there and then risk the retaliation, which may 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:12.200 be more than just from Israel. That is going to 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:14.760 be what the Mullers and the Iranian political figures are 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:17.520 mulling as we speak. They would have wargamed this, just 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:20.240 as its reporter that Israel had been preparing for this 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.800 for weeks, if not months. But in his address to 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:28.280 the Israeli public, Benjamin Etya, who said our brave pilots 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:32.320 are attacking a large number of targets across Iran, making 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:36.400 clear that the targets were Iran's nuclear infrastructure, Iran's ballistic 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:41.279 missile factories, and Iran's military capabilities. Now, on face value, 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:43.880 I think most people in the Western hemisphere would say, well, 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:46.919 this is probably good. If Israeli going to take out 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:50.760 Iran's nuclear capabilities and missile capabilities and the rest of it, 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:54.560 that's good. At least someone's going to do it, because 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:59.160 those capabilities then transported over borders and put in the 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:01.960 hands of people like Hamas and Hezbollah and the Houthis 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:05.160 have created chaos, not just in the Middle East but 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:07.840 around the world. Look what the Houthies have been doing 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:10.400 to world trade going through the Red Sea. You know, 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.800 we can't allow it to continue. And so Israeli doing 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:16.200 I think what a lot of people wish that most 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:18.480 other Western countries would do, and that is try to 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:21.680 bring it into this But the question is can they 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:25.080 contain it? That is the fallout? What's going to come next? 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:29.600 Iran will respond, they can't not respond. When and how 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:34.520 is the question. And Jerusalem as we speak, warning of 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:37.960 immediate retaliation from Tehran. I'm not sure to be immediate 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.360 but they'll be doing something. They'll be plotting something in revenge. 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:45.120 Of course any nation would. So let's see what happens. 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:47.240 This is the big story today, it'll be the big 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:50.720 story for a while. International flights will be diverted from 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:54.440 the region. Before the news came through, you might have 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.520 been watching cable news as I was, and before the 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:01.880 news came through, which was probably about I reckon about 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:08.040 twenty past ten Australian Eastern time that the Israelis had 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.000 struck Iran or I think in fact, the first news 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:15.320 coming through was that explosions had been reported around Tehran. 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:20.640 About ten or fifteen minutes before that, there were reports 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:24.919 of the price of crude oil increasing, and so I 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:27.360 wonder if it took a little while for the news 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:29.520 to get to us about what had happened. But within 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:32.120 the Middle East people were pretty clear about what was 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:36.520 happening and the traders started making their moves. Certainly, in 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:39.320 the space of the week, crude oil is up nine percent. 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.440 It will go up even further in the hours ahead. 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:45.400 So there will be an impact to you as the motorist, 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.040 as well as airlines and all of those others. I'm 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:50.760 sure the airlines have hedged their bets, and they've hedged pricing, 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:53.680 and they've got long term contract. But nonetheless all of 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:57.440 this will filter through financially across the world in the 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.640 week or so ahead at the very minimum, So brace 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:02.920 for imp that's the point. And of course, as we've seen, 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:06.760 whenever Israel gets involved in any geopolitical matter, whether it's 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:12.000 justified or questionable, increasingly in western countries like here, like 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.120 in the United Kingdom, like in the United States, the 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:21.240 internal political situation is ruptured, protests go onto the streets. 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:24.159 What should be an issue that in some ways is 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:28.520 geographically very removed from US becomes immediate to us, and 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.599 our own societies start to fracture. And this is something 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:34.599 that the Australian government and state governments in course policing 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:36.280 services are going to have to be across as well. 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:39.200 If this thing gets pretty hot, and it might, we 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:41.720 are going to see some pretty significant action on our 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:45.120 streets as different groups in different communities again go out 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:48.279 there to take sides. I just hope that the response 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:50.360 from authorities is better than it has been in the 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:53.000 past should that happen. So we've got all of that 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:56.280 and will be across it for you between now and three. Fortuitously, 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:58.640 actually Alexander down To, the former Foreign Minister, is going 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:00.680 to be my special guest. In the first hour, we 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:02.599 were going to be speaking about Orcust, and we will 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.400 because that's another big story when it comes to security. 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:09.080 But I will obviously ask Alexander Downer about this situation 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:12.200 and getting to put the old Foreign minister's hat on 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:14.719 again and just try to channel what he would be 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:18.160 thinking and doing as an Australian foreign minister, but also 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:22.440 one that's plugged into Western alliances, including with Israel at 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:24.840 this time. If he were in the big chair after 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.120 one o'clock, we'll try to leave all that aside for 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:29.520 a minute and do something a bit different, and I'll 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:31.679 be really looking forward to speaking with Ian Baker Finch, 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:35.479 one of the great Australian golfers of all time. Now 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:38.279 there's a new biography and authorized biography about ean out 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:42.040 It's called Ian Baker Finch To Hell and Back. And 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:47.480 his was a story in many ways emblematic and typical 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.120 of so many golfers of his generation. One they came 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.760 out of Queensland. They almost all came out of Queensland 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:55.960 in the nineteen eighties and the nineteen nineties. It was extraordinary. 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:59.440 When you think Peter sr Ian Baker, Finch, Wayne Grady, 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:04.080 Greg Norman, Carrie Webb, Adam Scott, and I mean you 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:05.839 think about a lot of our great golfers. They're off 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:07.479 in Queensland. I don't know what it is about the 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:10.320 golf courses there, but it seems to breed top quality 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:12.480 golfers who can match it with the best around the 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.520 world on the international stage. And it's a story about 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:19.600 working at pro shops and earning forty dollars a week 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:22.600 for sixty hour weeks and getting lifts from mates to 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:26.320 tournaments and all the rest of it before eventually, of course, 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:29.640 making it internationally. And there was that incredible win at 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:31.920 Royal Birkdale in nineteen ninety one. He got to lift 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:34.240 the claret jugg he won the Open. But then it 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:39.160 sort of went downhill and he resurrected himself outside of 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:42.360 the golf course, but with golf still as the core 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:45.160 of his story as a commentator, and he's now very 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:47.320 well regarded and respected and I think very well paid 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.800 all around the world being a leading golf commentator at 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:53.280 the Masters and all of the great tournaments. You think 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:56.120 is with CBS, so looking forward to speaking with Ian 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:59.280 and learning a bit about his life story. After one 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:03.400 o'clock'll be here from domain. We've got Friday food. Of course, 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:07.560 We've got the wonderful team from Sweet bell M And 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:09.560 if you know the Inner West, you know Portugal, you 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:14.520 know Sweet Belem is an institution. They have fantastic Portuguese sweets. 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:18.720 So Jose Silver will be joining me from there, and 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:21.240 I think we'll have all the locusts come down the corridor, 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:23.360 of course when they arrive, because all the sweet treats 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:25.640 will come and it's amazing, you know. We almost see 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.800 nobody during the day here. Generally they're all in their 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:31.640 own silos doing their own thing. But sort of Friday 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.640 food about ten past two on a Friday, even people 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:36.199 I don't think you worky, but just happen to be 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.640 in Piermont or something, turn up and eat and then 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:44.840 they leave. One of those sort of things. And obviously 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:46.679 we'll keep you up to date with news and finance. 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.240 The finance world'll be interesting to watch with everything going on, 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:54.120 so stay with us. There'll be plenty happening. One three, one, eight, seven, three, 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.640 eighteen past twelve. Well, look this one didn't get much attention, 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:06.160 but yesterday the new South Waleses Order to General released 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:10.400 his report into the regulation of poker machines. Now, the report, 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:13.280 by the government's own admission, had a particular focus on 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:17.640 harm minimization, but the takeaway message was pretty clear, as 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:21.079 the Order to General himself wrote, quote, the Department and 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:25.440 the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority are not supporting harm 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:32.000 minimization outcomes effectively. Now, the report does say the relevant 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:35.480 Department has developed a strategy that outlines its priorities in 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.960 this space. However, and I quote, the strategy does not 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:42.040 have a significant focus on the areas that are considered 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:45.960 high risk for gambling harm and does not set any 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:51.840 targets for reducing harm associated with gaming machines. Now, I 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:54.000 think you'd say that's hardly your ringing endorsement of the 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:57.600 status quo. Let alone the men's government rhetoric about doing 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:01.800 everything they can to limit the of problem gambling across 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:04.440 this state. Now, as you said, a couple of weeks ago, 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:06.839 the former Premier Dominic Perrete went to the twenty twenty 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:10.400 three election promising radical reform in this space, including I 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:14.040 think cashless technology, but he lost Peter Dutton led the 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.920 charge to rain in the gambling advertising that smothers the 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:21.280 broadcast of live sport, but obviously he also lost. And 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:24.280 like many gamblers, Chris Mens might be a tad superstitious 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:27.360 and is no doubt aware of the saying that things 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:32.000 happen in threes. Perhaps that explains his lukewarm approach to 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:34.920 gambling reform. I don't know. I don't know, but there's 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:39.040 no doubt this state is saturated with poke machines and 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:41.559 that's not Chris Mens's fault. But he's now in the 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:44.280 big chair and he's got the authority to do something 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.560 about it. And I think most sensible people agree something 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:50.319 has to be done now. The auditor's report says New 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:54.720 South Wales has significantly more poker machines than all other 0:10:54.920 --> 0:11:00.760 Australian jurisdictions combined. I mean, does that seem rational? According 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.280 to the ABC, the same report also says the number 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:06.480 of machines has increased since the Men's government took office, 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:11.560 that is, despite legislative provisions that aim to reduce that number. 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:15.520 Clearly the provisions aren't working. And considering we've got the 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:19.280 world's second greatest number of poker machines outside of Las Vegas. 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:23.920 The fact that the whole industry only has twelve gambling 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:27.199 inspectors on the job defies my belief. Now, to make 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:31.160 matters worse, all twelve are based in Sydney, despite rising 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:33.800 concerns about the increase in poker machine addiction in places 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.640 like Newcastle and Wollongong and other regional centers. Now, for 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:40.079 their part, the government released a list of initiatives that 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:43.760 they've rolled out and they claim will help, including the 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:46.720 introduction of responsible gambling officers in venues with more than 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:50.800 twenty gaming machine entitlements, the banning of external signage that 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.160 you know, those silly dragon things or whatever that were 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:56.440 luring the gamblers in. But not many are convinced they're 0:11:56.480 --> 0:12:00.680 really trying too hard in this space. And the one 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:05.040 group that's surprisingly vocal in its criticisms is actually Union's 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:07.760 New South Wales. They describe the government's efforts to reduce 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:11.839 poker machine numbers as woefully inadequate. Now. As Mark Murray, 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:16.040 the secretary of Union's New South Wales says, quote, supply 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:20.480 creates demand and in turn misery. And while the government 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:24.800 congratulates itself on administrative changes families in Fairfield are losing 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:28.480 three two hundred and twenty five dollars per adult annually 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:33.920 on poker machines. That's new South Wales Unions words not 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.560 mine now, the Unions, I think hitting on something that 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:41.280 you'd think the Labour Party be more attuned to, and 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.800 that is the disproportionate impact that these machines are having 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:48.240 on their traditional voting base in Southwest Sydney. But then again, 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:50.840 maybe the gaming lobby is more a frightening entity to 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:53.839 stare down than the voters every four years because, believe me, 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:57.199 Macquarie Streets basic do nothing approach to the proliferation of 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.400 poker machines and the harm they're doing out there. It's 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:03.520 got nothing to do with libertarian ideology or desire to 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:06.480 celebrate the concept of personal agency or none of that. 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.880 Those concepts are foreign to the Labor Party. Actually, to 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.560 be fair, they're foreign to most politicians and the public service. 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:15.560 It'll be more about fear of the gaming lobby than 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:20.640 anything else. Now. In the meantime, despite thousands of people 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:26.040 having the occasional and yes safe flutter, thousands more will 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.880 continue to lose their homes, their life savings, their marriages, 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:33.160 and in some cases their lives, as the powerful pull 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:35.920 of the pokies surrounds them in almost every pub and 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:39.360 club across the state. And the sad truth is, despite 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:42.560 everyone knowing what these things are doing in the saturation 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:45.800 levels that they exist, no one in a position to 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:50.319 do anything about it is really it seems keen to act. Apparently, 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:52.719 they call this leadership. Could it be with you? One 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:54.880 three one eight seven three on this Friday? A little 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:56.480 bit of cloud out there. I think we are expecting 0:13:56.520 --> 0:13:58.600 a bit of rain later. I'll give you a full 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:00.800 weather update about an hour from now. Thank you for 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:02.920 all the feedback. I think that the thing where the 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:06.200 poke's resonated with some anyway, This one from Ann who 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.000 says brilliant. I wonder what the Premiere, or indeed any 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:11.440 politician would do if someone close to them had the 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:15.800 gambling problem, just keep talking and doing nothing. I doubt it. Yeah, well, look, 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:18.760 I was half tempted to write that in the editorial myself, 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.920 but I don't know the circumstances and of the cabinet ministers, 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:24.240 the Premier or anybody. They may indeed have people close 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.600 to them with a gambling addiction. I mean chances are 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.800 they probably know someone. I mean everybody I would assume 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:34.280 knows someone directly or indirectly with a gambling addiction. But 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:36.320 the problem is when you're in a position to do 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:38.280 something about it and you sort of you tinker at 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:43.560 the edges, but the significant reform is missing, then you 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:47.960 know you're not really trying. And I suspect it's because 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:51.280 they fear the gaming lobby. I mean, that's my only suspicion. 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:54.480 I mean, what else could it be. Every sensible person 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:57.200 knows and I have the inner libertarian streak I think 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.320 which comes out and as I said, personal agency people. 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:02.920 I would love a world where people could just walk 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:07.200 past the gaming room and not put their home deposit 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:09.960 through the slots over four nights. But that's not the 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:11.800 real world. There's a lot of people who are addicted, 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:14.160 and okay, there's avenues they can get help in the 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.440 rest of it. But we as a community, via our government, 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:21.160 aren't helping the real world that we live in. When 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:24.160 we saturate the joint with these machines, you know, that's 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:26.680 just We've got Queen of the Nile every three meters 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:32.000 in Sydney. It doesn't help, and it's crazy it's ridiculous, 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:34.960 and it's the labor heartland that's getting belt of the worst, 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:38.520 and yet the Labor Party aren't really that active in 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:40.760 this space. I don't understand why this is that. I 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:44.359 can only suspect that it's the a fear the lobbyists 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.200 that knock on their doors in Macquarie Street more than 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:49.280 they fear the wrath of the voter. Every four years. 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:52.200 They assume that the issue will come and go and 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:54.280 come the election will be cost of living or to 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.760 be metros or something like that. And the whole thing 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:59.520 about poke machines. They won't worry me. They'll vote for 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:03.240 us anyway, and they probably will. And so you know, 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:05.080 as a politician, you weigh up the lesser of the 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.840 two evils. So I guess that's what's going on. But 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:11.240 that's not leadership. And this isn't good for the state. 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:13.880 It's not good for the individuals affected, it's not good 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:16.920 for GDP, it's not good for anything. I'm not saying 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:19.480 banned poker machines. I mean, my grandmother played poker machines 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:22.920 and she played them safely. She didn't have a problem. 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:25.480 She was lucky. A lot of people do have a problem, 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:31.280 and yet we have just flooded the space with these 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:35.240 and continue to add to them despite some legislative provisions 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.120 which the Orders to General Report said are in place, 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:42.760 which clearly are not delivering in the reduction of machines. 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:47.920 So you know, I suspect Chris Minds has said, well, look, 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:50.280 Peter Dutton had this on the agenda, he got flogged. 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:53.640 Dominic Perrete had this certainly on the agenda. He got flogged. 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:56.920 I don't intend to get flogged. Maybe he's the smart 0:16:56.920 --> 0:16:58.840 one has learned the political lesson one three one eight 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:03.720 seven three. The situation in Iran Axios has some interesting 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:07.240 insights here, making the point that the US notified several 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:11.760 of its allies in private yesterday that's Thursday, that Israeli 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:14.920 strikes were imminent, and they made clear it was not involved. 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.040 That is, the Americans were not involved. This is from 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:19.320 a source familiar with the discussions. Now, as I was 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:22.200 saying to some of the team here, the Israelis will 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:24.679 have informed the Americans that they were going to do this. 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.959 They have that relationship. They wouldn't do it unilaterally to 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:30.639 the extent that they do it without American prior knowledge. 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.320 And as Daniel and others have reminded me on the text, 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:37.080 it was just yesterday, or was at the day before, 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:40.879 perhaps that the Americans decided that they would be removing 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:44.840 non essential staff out of the American embassy in Iraq. 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:48.399 Now perhaps they've come out of other places in the 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:50.800 Middle East as well. And Donald Trump was asked by 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.199 the media, why are you taking the families and non 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:55.320 essential staff out of these embassies and the answer was 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.359 something like, well you'll see soon, words to that effect. 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:01.960 So the Americans have been told by the Israelis we're 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:05.200 going to hit them, and the Americans said it seems okay, 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:06.480 well you can do it, but we're not going to 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:11.080 get involved. And so Israel have struck, and now we 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:15.600 await what the Iranian response is. Benjaminette and Yahoo has 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.560 said that the planning had in fact been underway for months, 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:23.160 and the planning being to simultaneously strike Iran's nuclear and 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:27.680 missile programs. So, okay, hit it where the problem is nuclear, 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.080 but at the same time, try to hit as hard 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:33.360 as you can their ability to retaliate, and they will 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:36.399 use missiles to retaliate, but the Israelis will be I 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:39.919 think quietly confident that they can hold them out because 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:46.160 they have smashed Iran's proxy armies that surround Israel itself 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:49.760 in the form of smashing Hezbolla in southern Lebanon and 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:54.080 smashing Hamas in Gaza in the West Bank, and so 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:57.439 the Houthis are weakened in the south in Yemen, so 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:01.719 Israel will feel they are stronger to do this than 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:04.600 they would have been six or twelve months ago. There 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:07.320 are some reports coming out by the way that one 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:12.159 of the Revolutionary Guard's main men has been killed in 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:16.399 these strikes as well. I believe that has been confirmed, 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:18.719 and I'll bring you the details when I've got them 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:20.760 in front of me. One three, one eight seven three. 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:24.200 Alan says, you switched on. We talk in the West 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:26.720 about red lines and crossing the lines and lines in 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:29.240 the sand, but Trump and Bebie just get on with it. 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:32.560 Action action, action, Well there is that, isn't there. Thank you, Ellen. 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:36.639 I appreciate your note as always. Yes, so the individual 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:41.040 that has been hit and killed in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.520 Guard course the commander in chief, So might at the top, 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:49.199 General Husseini Salami sa Lami, the commander in chief of 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:53.800 Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It's reported the CNN confirming 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:59.240 this killed during Israel's avinight attacks. Multiple Iranian state media 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:03.240 outlets of reported this. So General Hussein Salamei, the commander 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:07.040 in chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, cause dead. So they've 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:10.159 got him now. As for the oil situation, because this 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:14.480 is how we'll pay immediately. US oil prices extended sharp 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:18.320 gains overnight with Israel carrying out these strikes on Iran. 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:23.159 As of nine to eighteen pm Eastern time, America oil 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:26.840 was up eight point three percent. It's now up to 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:30.520 seventy three dollars and seventy five cents US a barrel. 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:33.160 Not that long ago. It was down in the high 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:36.199 fifties or those sixties, I think. So crude is now 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:38.360 on track for its biggest one day percentage increase since 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:41.560 March twenty twenty two. And that's, of course when Russia 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:45.280 went into Ukraine. So let's just see what happens with oil. 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:49.439 But the price up eight point three percent in trading today. 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:53.200 I believe now seventy three dollars seventy five US a barrel. 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:55.600 That's twenty six to one. All right. Well to say 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:57.480 there's a fair bit happening around the world would be 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:01.120 an understatement. Obviously, we've got, from Australian point of view, 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:04.240 this whole Orcust agreement front of mind. We've got our 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:07.720 Prime minister heading to the United States and Canada, hopefully 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:10.240 also for a bilateral meeting with the President of the 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:13.080 United States and we can get some certainty and surety 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:16.280 over ORCUS. But in among all of that, we've now 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:20.560 got Israel striking nuclear facilities and missile facilities in Iran, 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:23.280 and the world awaits the response, as does Israel. I 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:27.159 wanted to turn to someone who understands the moving parts 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:30.479 here because he's been here, he's done it. Alexander Downer, 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:33.520 a former foreign minister, one of our greatest foreign ministers. 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:36.840 He joins me on the line from the United States. Alexander, 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:38.200 once again, thank you for your time. 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:41.320 It's a great pleasure. Happy to talk to you. 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:45.200 I mean, the circumstances are troubling. Let's get to UCAS later. 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:47.359 Let's deal with the news now about what's happening in 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:49.600 the Middle East. First. You know, the Middle East has 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:51.560 never been a peaceful part of the world. When you 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:54.000 were Foreign minister, it was always a hot house you know, 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:58.199 that won't change. That's intergenerational and all of that. But 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:01.800 this is an escalation unlike we've seen for quite a while, 0:22:01.840 --> 0:22:05.439 isn't it. 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:08.840 It is a substantial escalation. I mean, it's been coming, 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:12.360 I suppose because the Israelis have made it clear that 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:15.959 if Iran were ever to get a nuclear weapon, that 0:22:16.000 --> 0:22:20.040 would be an existential threat for the Jewish people. And 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:24.520 they put up with the Holocaust once, so they don't 0:22:24.520 --> 0:22:28.439 want another Holocaust, so they don't to stop it no 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:32.879 matter what. And I mean, I'm not sure the Iranians 0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:38.520 have taken this sufficiently seriously. Really. I think they've operated 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:42.359 on the basis that the Israelis wouldn't attack their facilities. 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:47.200 But now they have. We'll see how much damage they've done. 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:50.320 The Israelis have done. But more to the point, what 0:22:50.400 --> 0:22:57.040 will Run's Retaliat reaction be. Will they focus on Israel itself, 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:00.959 which might be quite hard for them, they focus on 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:04.640 the Western world or the whole world by closing off 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:08.600 the states of Homuns so no oil can get out 0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:12.640 of the Gulf States into the international community, which would 0:23:12.720 --> 0:23:15.639 have a huge effect on the global economy. 0:23:15.920 --> 0:23:18.960 Absolutely, it's interesting Iran itself, though, because you know, we 0:23:19.240 --> 0:23:22.840 tend to talk about these countries Israel, Iran, whatever, homogeneous 0:23:22.880 --> 0:23:26.560 geopolitical blobs, but they're not. I mean, within Iran, there's 0:23:26.560 --> 0:23:29.320 a lot of anti government sentiment among the population. And 0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:32.040 of course you're there in the United States. The exiled 0:23:32.040 --> 0:23:34.320 Crown Prince of Iran is based in the United States, 0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:37.520 and he's been pretty active diplomatically the last couple of years, saying, look, 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:39.560 you get me back on the peacock thrown and I'll 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:41.400 open a run up to the west like Medad did. 0:23:42.320 --> 0:23:46.480 So the Mullers and the Revolutionary Guard, they're going to 0:23:46.520 --> 0:23:48.920 have to play their cards carefully here from within as 0:23:48.960 --> 0:23:50.240 well as from without, aren't they. 0:23:51.119 --> 0:23:55.000 Yeah, that's a very perceptive point. There's no doubt that 0:23:55.040 --> 0:23:58.800 the regime is on the whole pretty unpopular in Iran. 0:24:00.200 --> 0:24:03.479 Told that they wouldn't have more than around twenty percent 0:24:03.600 --> 0:24:07.920 support of the Iranian people. On the other hand, the 0:24:07.920 --> 0:24:11.639 Iranians are very proud people the Persians, if you like. 0:24:12.119 --> 0:24:15.520 They're very proud of their history and very proud of 0:24:15.600 --> 0:24:19.760 their culture, and many of them are very sophisticated people, 0:24:20.840 --> 0:24:24.040 and they will rally round the flag in a situation 0:24:24.359 --> 0:24:29.280 like this. They won't just blame me the leadership, but 0:24:29.359 --> 0:24:32.400 they have been very down on the leadership the public. 0:24:32.560 --> 0:24:36.520 I mean they, for example, do think that the leadership 0:24:36.560 --> 0:24:42.880 are wasting national resources supporting the so called Palestinian resistance 0:24:43.119 --> 0:24:48.160 because you know, the Iranians are Sheer Muslims and Palestinians 0:24:48.200 --> 0:24:52.439 are Sunni Muslims, so the public are a bit confused 0:24:52.480 --> 0:24:55.120 as to why they're supporting the Sundi Muslims. 0:24:55.560 --> 0:24:59.760 Yeah, there's that old divide coming back now. In America, 0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:03.040 an acronym has bubbled up the last so many months. 0:25:03.200 --> 0:25:08.560 Taco Trump always chickens out. I don't think there's a 0:25:08.600 --> 0:25:16.439 corresponding acronym, Naco Netanya who always chickens out. No, I 0:25:16.440 --> 0:25:18.280 mean I was making this goes to your point earlier 0:25:18.320 --> 0:25:21.080 about maybe a run a little surprised that this has happened, 0:25:21.080 --> 0:25:24.200 because you know, I've been saying for months on air, 0:25:24.600 --> 0:25:27.600 Israel will strike a range nuclear facilities, not if it's win, 0:25:27.880 --> 0:25:30.160 and most people are that's rupture. Well here we are, 0:25:31.000 --> 0:25:37.280 because they can't countenance having a rival right beside them 0:25:37.760 --> 0:25:40.640 who has a nuclear warhead that can go straight into 0:25:40.640 --> 0:25:42.720 televiven blow the show up. They're just not going to 0:25:42.760 --> 0:25:46.119 allow that line to be crossed. Is there a lesson 0:25:46.200 --> 0:25:48.760 here for Western governments that talk about red lines and 0:25:48.800 --> 0:25:50.920 lines in the sand but don't follow through. 0:25:53.000 --> 0:25:58.360 There is, of course the decision. I'm trying to remember 0:25:58.400 --> 0:26:04.000 what year it was back in twenty fourteen, when twenty 0:26:04.080 --> 0:26:08.160 fifteen it might have been when the Syrian president has 0:26:08.240 --> 0:26:12.720 had used chemical weapons against his own people, and President 0:26:12.760 --> 0:26:15.960 Obama had already said that would be crossing a red 0:26:16.040 --> 0:26:18.879 line if that happened, and then decided not to do 0:26:18.920 --> 0:26:23.520 anything about it. You know, you can't do that in 0:26:23.520 --> 0:26:28.160 international diplomacy, just as you can't do that in dealing 0:26:28.200 --> 0:26:30.840 with people more generally. If you make a threat, you've 0:26:30.840 --> 0:26:33.840 got to be prepared to carry it out. Otherwise, don't 0:26:33.920 --> 0:26:37.600 make any threats. And the West has been vacillating and 0:26:37.720 --> 0:26:41.360 weak for a long time. It's been uncertain. It's been 0:26:41.520 --> 0:26:46.399 uncertain until more recently in Ukraine. It's been uncertain in 0:26:46.560 --> 0:26:51.359 dealing with the Middle East, in particular the Iranians, and 0:26:51.760 --> 0:26:57.080 though pretty uncertain in dealing with China. Whereas the West 0:26:57.160 --> 0:27:02.760 needs to rally and be decisive. This attack on Iran 0:27:03.000 --> 0:27:05.280 is going to be a huge test for the West 0:27:05.359 --> 0:27:10.800 whether they support what the Israelis have done, which is 0:27:10.840 --> 0:27:14.760 in defense of their very existence, or whether the West 0:27:14.800 --> 0:27:19.040 will start vacillating again. And I worry. I think they 0:27:19.880 --> 0:27:23.439 will start vacillating. They'll be critical of the Israelis and 0:27:24.119 --> 0:27:27.840 they'll think it's provocative and so on. But the Israelis 0:27:27.880 --> 0:27:31.200 live in a different environment. They live in an environment 0:27:31.359 --> 0:27:35.880 where they're very existence is a threat and they've got 0:27:35.920 --> 0:27:37.160 to deal with those threats. 0:27:38.040 --> 0:27:40.800 Is a philosophical or sociological question off the back of 0:27:40.840 --> 0:27:44.040 that for you, then, Alexander, why are we a bunch 0:27:44.040 --> 0:27:47.520 of vacillators our grandparents word? Why do we see the 0:27:47.560 --> 0:27:50.120 world now in shades of gray? I'm not saying black 0:27:50.119 --> 0:27:52.439 and white's always the answer, but I think I agree 0:27:52.480 --> 0:27:55.560 with you. In Western circles, be it from diplomacy all 0:27:55.600 --> 0:27:58.159 the way down to the shopping on the street, the 0:27:58.200 --> 0:28:00.560 average person doesn't seem to have a very a sense 0:28:00.600 --> 0:28:03.280 of right or wrong, or our place in the world 0:28:03.320 --> 0:28:04.120 or anything anymore. 0:28:05.240 --> 0:28:07.360 Well, I think it's a great question. I mean, what 0:28:08.240 --> 0:28:11.960 was not my grandfather, but my father who fought against 0:28:12.000 --> 0:28:14.359 the Japanese in the Second World War. He was a 0:28:14.400 --> 0:28:17.680 prisoner of war for three and a half years in Changi, 0:28:17.800 --> 0:28:22.399 so he wasn't very successful, but nevertheless that they were 0:28:22.480 --> 0:28:26.800 the so called heroic generation, the brave generation. Then we 0:28:26.920 --> 0:28:30.679 had the Cold War, and we thought there was a 0:28:30.800 --> 0:28:33.919 right and a wrong, a moral and a moral about 0:28:35.119 --> 0:28:40.239 the free world versus the communist world. We won the 0:28:40.240 --> 0:28:45.160 Cold War, and then after that we started to wobble, 0:28:45.600 --> 0:28:48.320 and there are several things that did that. The spread 0:28:48.320 --> 0:28:49.760 of democracy. 0:28:49.200 --> 0:28:51.160 Didn't work as well as we'd hoped. 0:28:51.720 --> 0:28:56.600 For example, in Afghanistan and Iraq. There was the global 0:28:56.640 --> 0:29:00.280 financial crisis in two thousand and seven two thousand and they, 0:29:01.520 --> 0:29:06.720 and I think those two events in particular undermined the 0:29:06.760 --> 0:29:10.560 confidence of the West, and the West started to fracture 0:29:11.280 --> 0:29:18.400 somewhat after that. So when President Putin first attacked Ukraine, 0:29:18.480 --> 0:29:22.040 that wasn't so recently, that was in twenty fourteen, that 0:29:22.200 --> 0:29:25.320 was eleven years ago. I mean, the West didn't do 0:29:25.560 --> 0:29:28.960 very much about it. And yet President Putin took over 0:29:29.280 --> 0:29:33.440 Crimea and took over quite a big percentage of the country. 0:29:33.760 --> 0:29:38.560 So the West became uncertain and hesitant and less robust 0:29:38.640 --> 0:29:42.520 and less morally convinced of its cause. And I don't 0:29:42.560 --> 0:29:45.720 think that's changed much. I mean, people don't any longer 0:29:46.400 --> 0:29:50.000 think standing up for liberal democracy and the free market 0:29:50.800 --> 0:29:57.120 economic system and so on is a moral cause. They 0:29:57.120 --> 0:30:01.000 don't look at it in that way. That's one of 0:30:01.040 --> 0:30:06.040 the reasons why we've become less robust. And also our 0:30:06.080 --> 0:30:11.920 politicians have reflected this change in public opinion. Maybe they've 0:30:12.040 --> 0:30:16.480 failed to show any real leadership, but they've just become 0:30:17.080 --> 0:30:20.920 followers of opinion polls rather than leaders in recent years. 0:30:21.120 --> 0:30:23.680 Okur with that point. Finally, then to what we were 0:30:23.680 --> 0:30:25.840 actually going to talk about before it all was turned 0:30:25.920 --> 0:30:29.520 upside down about two hours ago. The Orcus arrangements. I mean, 0:30:29.560 --> 0:30:31.840 you've been speaking with the relevant people behind the scenes. 0:30:31.880 --> 0:30:35.280 You've got great clout as a former foreign minister. I 0:30:35.280 --> 0:30:38.000 mean I suspect that this whole review is one. It's 0:30:38.040 --> 0:30:41.000 a stock standard practice when administration's changed too. It's probably 0:30:41.000 --> 0:30:43.200 part of the financial shakedown. In my opinion, get a 0:30:43.200 --> 0:30:44.719 bit more money out of the Aussies and we'll give 0:30:44.760 --> 0:30:48.320 what they need. But what's your take. Orcus still going 0:30:48.360 --> 0:30:51.080 to go ahead in all three pillars, but maybe we'll 0:30:51.080 --> 0:30:53.880 have to dig a little deeper into our pockets or something. 0:30:55.120 --> 0:30:55.400 Well. 0:30:55.440 --> 0:30:59.000 I think the UCUST will go ahead, there's no question 0:30:59.080 --> 0:31:05.600 of that. And the US administration certainly supports AUCUS. There's 0:31:05.680 --> 0:31:09.520 one aspect of it which is controversial in Washington, particularly 0:31:09.560 --> 0:31:14.600 in the Pentagon, and that is selling Australia Virginia class 0:31:14.640 --> 0:31:20.000 submarines from twenty thirty two. I think it is selling 0:31:20.080 --> 0:31:25.000 US two or possibly even three of those, which means 0:31:25.080 --> 0:31:28.520 the US four goes having those submarines. They come under 0:31:28.560 --> 0:31:34.000 Australian command rather than American command. So there will be 0:31:34.080 --> 0:31:37.000 a debate about that. I mean, we should be arguing 0:31:37.080 --> 0:31:41.320 that it's in America's interest to have a strong, potent 0:31:41.440 --> 0:31:46.640 Australian defense force as a reliable and solid ally of 0:31:46.760 --> 0:31:50.640 the United States, contributing to the balance of power in 0:31:50.680 --> 0:31:54.120 the Indo Pacific region and therefore the peace of the region. 0:31:55.400 --> 0:31:59.680 But whether that argument will fly with everybody in the 0:31:59.680 --> 0:32:04.680 pent and that's an open question. But I August will 0:32:04.680 --> 0:32:08.239 go ahead, there's no question of that. The suggestion that 0:32:08.320 --> 0:32:13.600 they're going to abandon UCUS is nonsense. But the sale 0:32:13.640 --> 0:32:16.640 of the Virginia class submarines, well. 0:32:16.640 --> 0:32:19.480 That could be delayed, it could be changed. 0:32:19.520 --> 0:32:21.840 Or it might just go ahead as planned, and I 0:32:21.880 --> 0:32:24.000 hope it does go ahead as planned. 0:32:24.160 --> 0:32:26.040 When the problem is you've got to have submarines to sell, 0:32:26.640 --> 0:32:29.040 and at this point in time they don't, and even 0:32:29.080 --> 0:32:31.120 with the third production runway they may not. 0:32:32.720 --> 0:32:36.080 Exactly so that I think I've got the figures right here. 0:32:36.200 --> 0:32:42.240 They're producing one point two Virginia class nuclear power submarines 0:32:42.280 --> 0:32:47.640 a year has gone. Regard to that, administration regards that 0:32:47.760 --> 0:32:52.160 as too few. Therefore, why would you sell a couple 0:32:52.200 --> 0:32:56.000 of them to the Australians. However, they are, as you 0:32:56.360 --> 0:33:00.360 quite rightly say, going to restroduction, and if they get 0:33:00.360 --> 0:33:03.880 their production up beyond two or possibly to as some 0:33:04.000 --> 0:33:07.880 people hope to as many as three year, then that 0:33:07.960 --> 0:33:10.760 will become less of a problem from my point of view. 0:33:11.160 --> 0:33:13.360 I've soaked up plenty of your valuable time. Thank you 0:33:13.400 --> 0:33:15.640 for being generous, Alexander, and to have a good afternoon 0:33:15.720 --> 0:33:16.600 or evening your time. 0:33:17.520 --> 0:33:21.120 It's saveing, yes, thanks, good to talk. 0:33:21.000 --> 0:33:23.040 To you you two as always, Alexander down to the 0:33:23.120 --> 0:33:26.600 former foreign minister. It's ten to one. Well at six 0:33:26.640 --> 0:33:28.320 and a half minutes to one. Just by chance, of course, 0:33:28.360 --> 0:33:31.320 we editorialized about the situation of poke machines in this state. 0:33:31.360 --> 0:33:33.479 There was a bit of a question starting to bubble 0:33:33.520 --> 0:33:37.040 through the media earlier today as to where the Crown 0:33:37.120 --> 0:33:40.840 Casino would be granted poke machine licenses. Of course it 0:33:40.840 --> 0:33:42.760 doesn't have them at this point in time. But if 0:33:42.760 --> 0:33:44.560 the star hits the skids, well then where are the 0:33:44.560 --> 0:33:46.720 poke is going to go? All this sort of thing. Well, 0:33:46.760 --> 0:33:49.239 the Sydney Morning Herald reporting that the Premiere has just 0:33:49.320 --> 0:33:53.120 ruled out allowing Crown Resorts to have poke machines that 0:33:53.160 --> 0:33:56.640 at Sydney Casino, insisting that the government would not change 0:33:56.680 --> 0:34:03.160 the gaming giants strict operating life. Since so the Premier said, no, Crown, 0:34:03.200 --> 0:34:06.360 you're not going to get poker machines. As the Herald reports, 0:34:06.400 --> 0:34:09.480 Crown Resorts executives have been lobbying MPs and a push 0:34:09.560 --> 0:34:12.319 to have poker machines at the Barangaroo site, buoyed by 0:34:12.320 --> 0:34:15.359 an encouraging meeting. It says here with the New South 0:34:15.400 --> 0:34:19.600 Wales Gaming Minister David Harris, Crown not permitted to operate 0:34:19.640 --> 0:34:22.000 poker machines that at Sydney Casino under its license with 0:34:22.040 --> 0:34:24.520 the New South Wales government, and allowing the company to 0:34:24.520 --> 0:34:27.440 operate them would require legislative change. It does look as 0:34:27.440 --> 0:34:30.960 though that change will not be happening. I think that's sensible, 0:34:31.760 --> 0:34:33.919 mind you, Some would say well, you know the Crown 0:34:34.000 --> 0:34:37.520 casinos that were pretty much off limits to Australian citizens. 0:34:37.560 --> 0:34:40.680 It will Sydney. You know, it's mainly for the international players, 0:34:40.800 --> 0:34:42.680 so you know, if they want to lose their money 0:34:42.680 --> 0:34:44.080 in the Pokeys, well then why don't we take a 0:34:44.080 --> 0:34:46.160 few that are taking money out of the Aussies and 0:34:46.320 --> 0:34:48.360 put them in there. But anyway, that's not going to happen, 0:34:48.640 --> 0:34:51.600 so the takeaway messages Crown will not be getting poker machines. 0:34:52.200 --> 0:34:55.080 End of story for now. Five to one. I don't 0:34:55.120 --> 0:34:56.640 know what it's like outside now, but when I was 0:34:56.640 --> 0:34:58.960 coming in earlier, was sill pretty cold. It's like a 0:34:58.960 --> 0:35:00.839 bloody ice chest in this building. I wish someone had 0:35:00.880 --> 0:35:02.600 invest in it. Can I win one of those heaters 0:35:02.640 --> 0:35:05.319 Mark was giving away? It's cold in here. Speaking of 0:35:05.360 --> 0:35:07.520 cold things though and winter and whatnot, Get set Sidney 0:35:07.520 --> 0:35:10.400 because two GB's winter wheel. Let's start spinning on Monday. 0:35:10.440 --> 0:35:12.680 Maybe I better have a spin and win. We're turning 0:35:12.760 --> 0:35:15.279 up the heat. We're up to forty thousand dollars worth 0:35:15.280 --> 0:35:16.879 of cash prizes. To be one. Now, all you got 0:35:16.920 --> 0:35:18.480 to do is listen across the day for your chance 0:35:18.560 --> 0:35:21.600 to spin the wheel. You could be warming up your 0:35:21.640 --> 0:35:24.239 winter with cold hard cash and prizes. We're spinning the 0:35:24.239 --> 0:35:27.160 wheel in breakfast mornings here on afternoons and Clinton's got 0:35:27.200 --> 0:35:30.600 a turn with Sydney now two GB's winter Wheel that 0:35:30.719 --> 0:35:33.560 starts spinning from Monday, so don't miss out. All you 0:35:33.640 --> 0:35:35.439 got to do is stay listening to Sydney's two GB. 0:35:35.520 --> 0:35:38.040 It's that easy and you could, well you could win 0:35:38.560 --> 0:35:40.880 part of forty thousand dollars worth of cash and prizes. 0:35:41.040 --> 0:35:42.919 I'd be having a go if I was. You Just listen, 0:35:43.520 --> 0:35:45.640 just listen, so easy. We're going to take the news 0:35:45.640 --> 0:35:47.799 and straight after that, Ian Baker Finch. 0:35:48.080 --> 0:35:54.719 Now onto GB and network stations, back to afternoons with 0:35:54.760 --> 0:35:55.759 Michael McLaren. 0:35:58.320 --> 0:36:00.600 Well of course for lovers of Goldfall Eye at the moment, 0:36:00.640 --> 0:36:03.920 are on the Oakmont Country Club for the one hundred 0:36:03.920 --> 0:36:06.840 and twenty fifth US Open. It's a tournament. My next 0:36:06.880 --> 0:36:10.160 guest knows well. He's one of the nice guys, an 0:36:10.200 --> 0:36:15.320 Australian golfing champion, and his continuities career in the industry 0:36:15.360 --> 0:36:18.880 in the form of commentary across the majors, including the Masters. 0:36:18.920 --> 0:36:22.800 I am talking about Ian Baker Finch. His professional career 0:36:23.400 --> 0:36:26.479 began on the Australian Tour back in nineteen seventy nine 0:36:26.520 --> 0:36:29.759 and across the eighties and the nineties, Ian Bakervinch was 0:36:29.760 --> 0:36:33.080 a household name. He won seventeen titles worldwide. The most 0:36:33.080 --> 0:36:36.320 famous victory the apex, of course, was winning the Open 0:36:36.360 --> 0:36:38.439 at Royal Birkdale in nineteen ninety one. 0:36:38.920 --> 0:36:39.719 And there it is. 0:36:39.640 --> 0:36:43.719 Ian Baker Finch is the champion for nineteen ninety one 0:36:44.000 --> 0:36:48.080 sexty four sixty six, for the last two days, tremendous golf, 0:36:48.400 --> 0:36:52.480 a great Dave for Australia, first and second Burkenell belongs 0:36:52.520 --> 0:36:54.160 to them. 0:36:54.480 --> 0:36:58.320 The Open Championship is to me the most special event 0:36:58.400 --> 0:36:59.120 in my life. 0:36:59.280 --> 0:37:00.640 Just to plan it great thrill. 0:37:01.080 --> 0:37:03.279 To do well in it is fantastic, but to win 0:37:03.360 --> 0:37:07.399 it is a dream, not. 0:37:07.400 --> 0:37:10.360 A bad story from a boy from Beewer, outside of 0:37:10.400 --> 0:37:14.640 the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. And Ian's life story has 0:37:14.719 --> 0:37:17.400 been put to page with the help of Jeff Saunders. 0:37:17.440 --> 0:37:21.560 It's the new authorized biography. It's titled Ian Baker Finch 0:37:21.640 --> 0:37:23.680 To Hell and Back. And you know it tells the 0:37:23.719 --> 0:37:28.560 story of the highs and the lows, the challenges and yeah, 0:37:28.600 --> 0:37:31.920 the lucky breaks that were the hallmark I think actually 0:37:31.960 --> 0:37:36.359 of many an Australian golfer from that era, because of course, 0:37:36.400 --> 0:37:38.520 when you think about the Ian Baker Finch era, it 0:37:38.560 --> 0:37:41.200 was also the era of Wayne Grady to an extent, 0:37:41.239 --> 0:37:42.920 it was the era of Greg Norman. It was the 0:37:43.440 --> 0:37:47.919 era of many of these golfing names which we now 0:37:48.040 --> 0:37:52.919 venerate in the Australian pantheon of great golfers. As I said, 0:37:52.960 --> 0:37:54.919 one of the best is with me Ian Baker Finch 0:37:54.960 --> 0:37:57.600 on the line from the United States. A privilege to 0:37:57.640 --> 0:37:59.239 speak with you, en, and thank you for your time. 0:37:59.360 --> 0:38:01.160 Thank you very much, Michael. Good to be able to 0:38:01.200 --> 0:38:01.640 talk to you. 0:38:01.760 --> 0:38:06.520 And I'm not actually at the Open at Oakmont this week. 0:38:06.560 --> 0:38:08.239 It's a week off for CBS. 0:38:08.280 --> 0:38:11.160 We do the Masters and the PGA, but I am 0:38:11.200 --> 0:38:14.719 watching from afar and watching them all struggle like we 0:38:14.760 --> 0:38:17.960 always used to. And US Opens they tend to make 0:38:18.000 --> 0:38:19.960 those courses as difficult as possible. 0:38:20.480 --> 0:38:23.120 But always good to be with you. And I can't 0:38:23.120 --> 0:38:23.799 wait to get home. 0:38:23.840 --> 0:38:25.640 I get home for three or four months at the 0:38:25.719 --> 0:38:29.040 end of every year for our Australian golf summer and 0:38:30.400 --> 0:38:31.640 just can't wait to get back. 0:38:32.040 --> 0:38:34.239 Do you still consider Queensland home? I mean you spend 0:38:34.239 --> 0:38:35.920 a lot of time in the States now obviously, and 0:38:35.960 --> 0:38:38.600 golf took you around the world, but it's Queensland. Ber 0:38:38.880 --> 0:38:39.920 Is that still home to you? 0:38:40.440 --> 0:38:44.000 Yes, yes, Australia's home. Queensland's home or my family are there. 0:38:44.000 --> 0:38:49.200 I'm the youngest of six kids and that's where home is. 0:38:49.440 --> 0:38:51.560 And I don't spend all my time in Queensland. I 0:38:51.640 --> 0:38:53.800 spent a lot of time in Melbourne because the Australian 0:38:53.880 --> 0:38:56.960 Golf Center is in Melbourne, near across the road from 0:38:57.040 --> 0:38:59.600 Royal Melbourne, and I play at Kingston Heath a lot, 0:38:59.640 --> 0:39:02.800 my favorite course in the world. So yeah, I'm home 0:39:04.280 --> 0:39:07.600 all around Australia and yes it's still considered home after 0:39:07.640 --> 0:39:08.560 all these years. 0:39:09.200 --> 0:39:12.040 Let's go back to the start Queensland. As I said, 0:39:12.200 --> 0:39:15.680 there's a fascinating something in the water. I don't know 0:39:15.680 --> 0:39:17.840 what it is with Queensland with sport in general, but 0:39:17.920 --> 0:39:20.400 when you look at golf and this was all brought 0:39:20.640 --> 0:39:24.640 to me by reading this biography. The last four decades, 0:39:24.760 --> 0:39:28.920 Queensland golfers have won fourteen of our nineteen major championships. 0:39:28.920 --> 0:39:31.840 They finished runners up twenty one times in the majors. 0:39:31.840 --> 0:39:34.600 In the same period. Of course, Norman's Open win in 0:39:34.680 --> 0:39:37.400 eighty six. But then you look at where all of 0:39:37.440 --> 0:39:40.799 you guys came from, Beerway, air Bow Desert, these sort 0:39:40.800 --> 0:39:44.640 of places. I mean, they're not flash of richie suburbs 0:39:44.640 --> 0:39:47.400 in Brisbane or anything. But champion after champion of this 0:39:47.480 --> 0:39:50.640 year from the eighties through to Adam Scott in the 0:39:51.480 --> 0:39:54.600 twentieth first century all came out of Queensland. What is 0:39:54.640 --> 0:39:55.880 it about Queensland? 0:39:56.080 --> 0:39:59.600 You tend to prosper wherever the competition is, and we 0:39:59.640 --> 0:40:02.400 all had great competition through those years. You mentioned a 0:40:02.400 --> 0:40:05.319 few of my peers in Wayne Grady and Greg Norman, Pete, 0:40:06.120 --> 0:40:10.080 Peter mcgwinney, Jeff Woodland, so many really really top quality 0:40:10.120 --> 0:40:15.000 players of that era or from Queensland. You can't forget 0:40:15.360 --> 0:40:18.480 obviously Cari Webb, an icon of Australian golf and probably 0:40:18.560 --> 0:40:23.160 possibly our best Australian player ever. But I think we 0:40:23.320 --> 0:40:26.279 just grew up on rough and ready courses. We had 0:40:26.280 --> 0:40:30.160 great competition, but we also had to figure out how 0:40:30.239 --> 0:40:32.120 to play the best golf we could on the courses 0:40:32.120 --> 0:40:34.640 that were presented to us. So whenever we got on 0:40:34.760 --> 0:40:37.520 tough conditions, we always prospered. And if you look at 0:40:37.520 --> 0:40:40.480 the Open Championships and the Masters when the weather was tough. 0:40:41.400 --> 0:40:44.080 If you look at all of the Australians performances when 0:40:44.120 --> 0:40:48.000 the tough conditions presented themselves, the Aussies always did well. 0:40:48.040 --> 0:40:51.560 And I think in Queensland that was we went to 0:40:51.600 --> 0:40:54.080 Melbourne to learn how to put on fast greens because 0:40:54.080 --> 0:40:56.600 our greens were slow in Queensland. But the conditions were 0:40:56.640 --> 0:41:02.080 always very, very difficult and harsh, and we taught ourselves 0:41:02.080 --> 0:41:02.480 to play. 0:41:03.120 --> 0:41:05.760 You said, Curry Web could well be our greatest golf forever. 0:41:05.880 --> 0:41:08.759 That's true. The other name out of the two, the 0:41:08.800 --> 0:41:11.759 other would of course be Peter Thompson. He was a 0:41:11.800 --> 0:41:15.000 great mentor to you. And there was a beautiful anecdote 0:41:15.000 --> 0:41:16.920 in the book in the eighty four Open, and you 0:41:16.960 --> 0:41:19.239 were leading after three rounds and he comes out of 0:41:19.280 --> 0:41:22.399 the crowd. It was his swan song over there at 0:41:23.160 --> 0:41:25.200 the Great Course in Scotland at s Andrews, and he 0:41:25.239 --> 0:41:27.520 comes out and he puts his arm on your shoulder 0:41:27.520 --> 0:41:29.320 and gives you a bit of advice. But right throughout 0:41:29.360 --> 0:41:31.160 your career Peter Thompson was there, wasn't he. 0:41:31.480 --> 0:41:34.640 Yeah, he took a liking to me for whatever reason 0:41:34.800 --> 0:41:38.040 he thought I had what it took to perform at 0:41:38.040 --> 0:41:40.359 a high level. I don't really know what that was 0:41:40.400 --> 0:41:43.480 that he saw, but I believed in myself a lot 0:41:43.520 --> 0:41:47.720 more having him by my side and helping me through. 0:41:48.200 --> 0:41:51.239 He gave me lots of great wisdom. Hopefully I can 0:41:51.280 --> 0:41:53.279 pass that on and have passed that on to young 0:41:53.280 --> 0:41:58.799 players of the other eras he's still Jeff Saunders who 0:41:58.800 --> 0:42:02.360 wrote the book, and he wrote the book, as you've read, 0:42:02.520 --> 0:42:07.440 it's a great story of golf of my era, not 0:42:07.520 --> 0:42:10.640 necessarily just about me, and I think that's the best 0:42:10.680 --> 0:42:14.160 thing about the read itself, and I hope everyone appreciates 0:42:14.200 --> 0:42:16.480 that when they do read it, that it's not just 0:42:17.280 --> 0:42:21.160 a me Me me III type of biography. It's I 0:42:21.200 --> 0:42:24.160 am set in the middle of a great era in golf, 0:42:24.840 --> 0:42:27.080 and Peter Thompson was. 0:42:27.080 --> 0:42:29.280 Really the mentor for many. 0:42:30.160 --> 0:42:33.680 It's certainly the main reason I got to be where 0:42:33.680 --> 0:42:37.359 I am today, and the effort that he put into 0:42:37.480 --> 0:42:43.160 me and the learnings that I achieved through Peter have 0:42:43.239 --> 0:42:44.239 stood me in great stead. 0:42:44.280 --> 0:42:45.240 I'm sixty five. 0:42:45.080 --> 0:42:46.920 At the end of the year, and I owe a 0:42:46.960 --> 0:42:49.680 lot to Peter Thompson for where I am today and 0:42:49.920 --> 0:42:50.640 what I've been through. 0:42:50.960 --> 0:42:52.959 I mean, there's anecdotes in the book, of course about 0:42:53.000 --> 0:42:54.920 how he got you to change your feet positioning and 0:42:54.960 --> 0:42:56.919 you swing at all of these technical things in golf. 0:42:56.960 --> 0:42:58.920 But one of the I think the best advice you 0:42:58.960 --> 0:43:00.440 seemed to give was to say, I think was in 0:43:00.520 --> 0:43:03.320 nineteen eighty three, if I'm not mistaken, go to New Zealand. 0:43:04.160 --> 0:43:07.480 And you did that and you won in Auckland, and 0:43:07.520 --> 0:43:10.000 that was that was the breakthrough, really, wasn't it. 0:43:10.120 --> 0:43:12.320 Yeah, he said, he gains in good shape. 0:43:12.320 --> 0:43:16.040 I just finished runner up at the Open Championship at 0:43:16.120 --> 0:43:19.360 Kingston Heath Australian Open, and he said, go over to 0:43:19.360 --> 0:43:21.480 New Zealand and make sure you keep going, keep playing, 0:43:22.160 --> 0:43:24.240 play on those sorts of courses. They're a good test 0:43:24.280 --> 0:43:26.280 for you. I think you'll do well. That's where I started, 0:43:26.280 --> 0:43:29.200 et cetera. And I just spent three weeks over in 0:43:29.239 --> 0:43:30.919 New zeal And. I can't like to get back there. 0:43:31.080 --> 0:43:34.960 It rekindled an old friendship and Jeff Saunders is from there, 0:43:35.320 --> 0:43:38.120 the author, and we've become really good mates over the 0:43:38.200 --> 0:43:40.640 last three or four years writing this book. We basically 0:43:40.640 --> 0:43:44.280 finished it nearly a year ago, but it's being released 0:43:44.320 --> 0:43:47.960 now and it was a labor of love, just remembering 0:43:48.000 --> 0:43:49.960 all those old, great times and great stories. 0:43:49.960 --> 0:43:50.880 It's a fun. 0:43:50.680 --> 0:43:53.719 Read, beautiful stories. And as I said, you've made this 0:43:53.760 --> 0:43:56.120 point yourself in it's not just about you. You're You're 0:43:56.160 --> 0:43:57.919 the golden thread that runs through it, and the highs 0:43:57.960 --> 0:43:59.920 and the lows and everything. But I guess it's made 0:43:59.880 --> 0:44:01.720 a forick of the story of all of the others 0:44:01.719 --> 0:44:03.920 beat Wayne, Grady or all of the other names that 0:44:03.920 --> 0:44:06.880 are peppered throughout the book regularly that this is about 0:44:06.920 --> 0:44:09.920 an era of Australian golf, an era that seemed to 0:44:09.920 --> 0:44:12.560 have its catalyst often in Queensland, but nonetheless an era. 0:44:13.160 --> 0:44:15.520 And there's just the beautiful anecdotes about when you went 0:44:15.560 --> 0:44:17.839 to Europe the first time with all of them as 0:44:17.840 --> 0:44:20.640 long as like a Kentiki too. For golfers in nineteen 0:44:20.840 --> 0:44:23.040 eighty four. You know you're there, You've got a van 0:44:23.160 --> 0:44:26.080 and there's and you're living in some farm cottage. You're 0:44:26.080 --> 0:44:28.160 having your state kidney pies down at the local pub 0:44:28.200 --> 0:44:30.839 before the tournament and you're all there. You know, there's 0:44:30.880 --> 0:44:34.880 one bath. And I mean the golfers of today, I 0:44:34.880 --> 0:44:37.320 think a lot of them at the top level, they'd 0:44:37.320 --> 0:44:40.200 be removed from that kind of existence. Yes, but that 0:44:40.360 --> 0:44:42.080 was nineteen eighty's golf, wasn't it. 0:44:42.360 --> 0:44:44.719 Yes, one hundred percent. There wasn't any money. You know, 0:44:44.760 --> 0:44:46.680 if you had a great year, you won fifty thousand 0:44:46.719 --> 0:44:48.640 dollars and it costs you that much to travel around 0:44:48.680 --> 0:44:52.080 the world. Yeah, my brother was my accountant the first 0:44:52.080 --> 0:44:54.759 few years. I played, from eighteen years of age to 0:44:54.800 --> 0:44:57.200 twenty two, and every year it'd say. 0:44:57.080 --> 0:44:58.040 Well, you've done it again. 0:44:58.160 --> 0:45:00.920 You've earned ten thousand dollars and it cost fifteen thousand 0:45:00.960 --> 0:45:01.640 dollars to play. 0:45:01.680 --> 0:45:04.720 I don't know how you survived, but that's how we lived. 0:45:04.760 --> 0:45:06.959 And if someone had a good week in a good check, 0:45:07.360 --> 0:45:09.279 you know, we bought each other a steak dinner, and 0:45:10.040 --> 0:45:12.520 you know, someone shouted the beers at the bar if 0:45:12.520 --> 0:45:15.600 they had a good day, and it was just just 0:45:15.680 --> 0:45:19.680 a great camaraderie and matship. But once again, as I 0:45:19.680 --> 0:45:23.680 said earlier, the competition was so great amongst us all. 0:45:24.120 --> 0:45:27.120 That's why we became so good, because we were continually 0:45:27.160 --> 0:45:31.400 playing against top quality competition, not for much money, but 0:45:31.520 --> 0:45:34.360 playing for our lives basically, And that's what it was 0:45:34.440 --> 0:45:36.040 like in those days. And we all looked up to 0:45:36.080 --> 0:45:38.040 Greg because Greg sort of got ahead of that. He 0:45:38.160 --> 0:45:40.200 was the best in the world, and he wanted to 0:45:40.280 --> 0:45:42.359 be the best in the world, and he strove for that. 0:45:42.560 --> 0:45:44.759 Let's go to nineteen eighty four if we can, ok 0:45:44.920 --> 0:45:48.439 So Sonandrew's you're there. He's the first time you are 0:45:48.480 --> 0:45:52.480 professionally playing on that course. One hundred and fifty six players. 0:45:52.520 --> 0:45:54.360 You've got names like Tom Watson. I think he was 0:45:54.400 --> 0:45:58.200 meant to win it, of course, Jack Nicholas, Greg Norman, Lee, Trevino, 0:45:58.360 --> 0:46:02.360 Sevi Balisteros. You're rubbing shoulders with all these guys, not 0:46:02.719 --> 0:46:04.920 for the first time, but probably for the first time 0:46:04.960 --> 0:46:08.880 altogether on that particular course. What's it like as a 0:46:08.920 --> 0:46:11.759 young fella from Beerwa to be on that sort of 0:46:11.800 --> 0:46:12.440 a stage. 0:46:13.000 --> 0:46:18.400 Well, you certainly don't feel comfortable, because it's so different 0:46:19.880 --> 0:46:21.920 to be in the midst of the great players that 0:46:21.960 --> 0:46:25.600 you grew up revering and idolizing, to have a chance 0:46:25.640 --> 0:46:27.719 to play with them in the Open Championship. That was 0:46:27.719 --> 0:46:30.080 my goal was to play in an Open Championship, and 0:46:30.560 --> 0:46:33.000 the first time I played in eighty four, Peter Thompson 0:46:33.040 --> 0:46:35.880 and Graham Marsh and kel Nagel showed me around the 0:46:35.920 --> 0:46:39.400 course for three or four days beforehand, showed me the 0:46:39.480 --> 0:46:41.560 ropes and I went. 0:46:41.440 --> 0:46:42.600 On and led for three days. 0:46:42.600 --> 0:46:45.560 It was pretty amazing to be there with, as you said, 0:46:45.640 --> 0:46:48.520 Savvy and Tom and all of these great players. But 0:46:49.080 --> 0:46:51.080 Tom I had given me the self belief that, hey, 0:46:51.360 --> 0:46:53.080 if you're playing well and you can mix it with 0:46:53.120 --> 0:46:55.680 these guys, and he showed me around the course, so 0:46:55.719 --> 0:46:58.719 I knew the course well. I was very fortunate to 0:46:58.719 --> 0:47:01.680 have him on my side, that's sure. But it's so 0:47:01.800 --> 0:47:04.400 hard for a young guy coming from the bush to 0:47:05.320 --> 0:47:07.640 then all of a sudden be mixing it with those 0:47:07.640 --> 0:47:11.080 great players. But then as you start to progress and 0:47:11.120 --> 0:47:14.200 you start believing in yourself that's what it's all about, 0:47:14.320 --> 0:47:19.600 you then gain the confidence. And golf is a confidence game. 0:47:20.200 --> 0:47:22.879 And as you read through the middle of the book, 0:47:22.960 --> 0:47:25.160 when I lost my confidence, I no longer had that 0:47:25.239 --> 0:47:27.919 ability to play at that high level, although I still 0:47:27.960 --> 0:47:31.000 played well when it didn't really matter that much. So 0:47:32.280 --> 0:47:33.920 I talk about it all the time, and I've been 0:47:33.960 --> 0:47:36.680 doing so for more than twenty years. It's I can 0:47:36.719 --> 0:47:39.319 tell the guys when they're confident, and the you know 0:47:39.680 --> 0:47:41.840 they don't have both hands tightly held on the wheel. 0:47:41.920 --> 0:47:45.120 You can see the difference, and I have felt the difference. 0:47:45.160 --> 0:47:47.320 I think that's helped me in my years as a 0:47:47.320 --> 0:47:48.600 broadcaster as well well. 0:47:48.640 --> 0:47:51.000 Without doubt, I'm sure I mean that confidence. Think golf 0:47:51.120 --> 0:47:52.840 is as much of a sort of I guess, a 0:47:52.880 --> 0:47:56.040 physical technical game as it is a mental game. Often 0:47:56.040 --> 0:47:57.960 you're in the middle of a fair way, you're surrounded 0:47:58.000 --> 0:47:59.640 by a crowd, you've got a caddy, but really you're 0:47:59.640 --> 0:48:03.400 on your own. And throughout the eighties I was reading 0:48:03.440 --> 0:48:06.040 in the book, yet you were doing everything, reading everything 0:48:06.120 --> 0:48:08.600 you could get your hands on about the subject of 0:48:08.640 --> 0:48:11.399 positive thinking, gold setting. I think there was a Canadian Philo, 0:48:11.440 --> 0:48:14.200 Brian Tracy from memory. He put together a lot of stuff. 0:48:14.200 --> 0:48:16.759 You're absorbing all of that. Were you one of the 0:48:16.800 --> 0:48:21.560 first to take that side, that angle of the competition 0:48:21.640 --> 0:48:26.440 on the whole mental mindfulness aspect of it, or were 0:48:26.480 --> 0:48:29.360 there others also dabbling in that space in the eighties. 0:48:29.840 --> 0:48:32.520 There weren't many. I think Greg certainly was in a 0:48:32.560 --> 0:48:35.080 way in a different way. He didn't need help with 0:48:35.120 --> 0:48:39.080 self confidence. He was doing more zen stuff and breathing things, 0:48:39.120 --> 0:48:41.880 and he was a bit ahead of us in some ways. 0:48:41.960 --> 0:48:45.799 Wayne Grady was really in the goal setting, But I 0:48:45.840 --> 0:48:47.480 really believed in it and sort of took it to 0:48:47.520 --> 0:48:50.080 another level. That was I wouldn't listen to music in 0:48:50.120 --> 0:48:52.239 the car. I'd always have these tapes playing all the 0:48:52.280 --> 0:48:55.920 time when I read a book a week while I traveled. 0:48:57.000 --> 0:48:59.520 We didn't have podcasts and things like that in those days. 0:48:59.560 --> 0:49:03.799 It was a workman and tapes and books. So yeah, 0:49:03.840 --> 0:49:06.200 I think that helps certainly help me a lot. And 0:49:06.800 --> 0:49:09.360 I continued even through the bad times, trying to figure 0:49:09.360 --> 0:49:12.120 it out through books like that, so they don't always work. 0:49:12.400 --> 0:49:15.200 I think once again, a lot comes back to belief 0:49:15.239 --> 0:49:16.719 in yourself and confidence. 0:49:17.600 --> 0:49:20.840 I asked you about the eighty four British Open deliberately 0:49:20.840 --> 0:49:23.920 because you know you're striding down those incredible fair ways 0:49:25.000 --> 0:49:26.440 and I just wonder, if you're in the back of 0:49:26.480 --> 0:49:30.400 your mind all of that early stuff is coming through, 0:49:30.520 --> 0:49:32.200 you know, if it's a pinch me moment, you know, 0:49:32.360 --> 0:49:35.840 the years of being working in the pro shop, the 0:49:35.920 --> 0:49:38.760 years of getting the train being picked up in Brisbane 0:49:38.800 --> 0:49:40.640 by your mate so you can go to the tournament, 0:49:41.000 --> 0:49:43.600 you know, the less flash side of the build up 0:49:43.600 --> 0:49:46.320 to that moment. Does that all come flooding back in 0:49:46.840 --> 0:49:47.600 the moment. 0:49:48.000 --> 0:49:51.520 Not necessarily in the moment, but I think the ability 0:49:51.560 --> 0:49:55.520 to handle the moment comes from the toughening up of 0:49:55.600 --> 0:50:00.160 all of those things you mentioned. That was just a 0:50:00.200 --> 0:50:04.440 part of the process. Everything I'd gone through just meant 0:50:04.680 --> 0:50:06.799 that I had worked hard to get to where I 0:50:06.960 --> 0:50:09.360 was and helped build the confidence and helped build a 0:50:09.440 --> 0:50:12.360 self belief. But it's not like I'm walking down the 0:50:12.440 --> 0:50:17.440 last whole thinking, boy, I'm so glad I made that 0:50:17.520 --> 0:50:20.840 bus trip at four every morning to get to the tournament. 0:50:20.920 --> 0:50:23.640 So that sort of thing, you're not really thinking about it. 0:50:23.640 --> 0:50:25.359 It was more the memories of. 0:50:25.320 --> 0:50:27.920 Bringing all of that back in writing the book, and 0:50:27.960 --> 0:50:30.239 hopefully a lot of that comes through in the read. 0:50:30.760 --> 0:50:33.880 But at the time you're just focusing on the process 0:50:33.920 --> 0:50:36.279 of what you've got to do to be able to perform, 0:50:36.520 --> 0:50:39.640 and the confidence and the toughness and the resiliency is 0:50:39.719 --> 0:50:44.120 bred through that. You know, they say the toughest steel, 0:50:44.480 --> 0:50:49.239 the sharpest knives are forged in the hottest fires, right, 0:50:50.000 --> 0:50:52.840 And I think that that's a big case. And we 0:50:52.880 --> 0:50:56.960 talked about that with the Queenslanders. We grew up resilient 0:50:57.000 --> 0:50:59.040 and tough because of the conditions we had to play in. 0:50:59.440 --> 0:51:02.440 We mentioned them great names earlier. Sevi ballistros Tom Watson, whatnot. 0:51:02.480 --> 0:51:04.800 I bet none of their dad's built the local golf course. 0:51:04.600 --> 0:51:08.880 There, No, no, but it was. It was a wonderful 0:51:08.920 --> 0:51:11.240 experienced Dad and a few of the farmers just pushed 0:51:11.320 --> 0:51:14.919 up nine greens in white clay and dug a dam 0:51:15.239 --> 0:51:17.520 and dug a few drains to drain into the dam, 0:51:18.080 --> 0:51:20.520 planted some pine trees up and down the fairways. Beer 0:51:20.600 --> 0:51:23.680 or golf club as it's still played. It's eighteen holes now, 0:51:23.719 --> 0:51:26.200 but it was just nine back then. But some of 0:51:26.239 --> 0:51:29.759 the best times and memories of my young years in 0:51:30.280 --> 0:51:34.320 the late sixties driving down the farm from the farm 0:51:34.400 --> 0:51:36.560 to the course and the tractor six miles down the 0:51:36.680 --> 0:51:42.920 range from Beachester year some great times. Just another aspect 0:51:42.960 --> 0:51:45.520 of the story. That's a wow, you know, to people 0:51:45.520 --> 0:51:46.160 that don't know. 0:51:46.320 --> 0:51:48.200 It was a beautiful anecdote. As was the fact that 0:51:48.239 --> 0:51:51.880 you played cricket with Steve. Steve Irwin. No one, I 0:51:51.920 --> 0:51:55.080 don't think knew that. Yeah, the crocodile man. 0:51:55.200 --> 0:51:55.839 No, it was. 0:51:56.480 --> 0:51:58.719 It's funny that we all grew up in We all 0:51:58.760 --> 0:52:01.120 grew up in little areas like I grew up in Peachester. 0:52:01.200 --> 0:52:02.760 There was thirty five kids in our. 0:52:02.640 --> 0:52:05.799 School the cricket team started from grade threes up to 0:52:05.840 --> 0:52:09.200 grade sevens. Right Lands for School where Steve Irwin went 0:52:09.360 --> 0:52:11.200 had about one hundred kids, so they had a better team, 0:52:11.239 --> 0:52:15.839 probably just grade sixes and sevens, but the best of 0:52:16.160 --> 0:52:19.720 those young players back then we formed the Sunshine Coast 0:52:19.800 --> 0:52:23.920 Sea grade cricket team and Steve Irwin was I believe 0:52:23.960 --> 0:52:27.520 two or three years two years younger than me. But 0:52:27.600 --> 0:52:29.640 we had a team of team of cricketers that were 0:52:29.680 --> 0:52:33.760 all between twelve and fifteen and we won the flag 0:52:33.800 --> 0:52:37.560 that year. I wasn't there for the grand finale because 0:52:37.560 --> 0:52:40.759 I was winning a tournament in Brisbane, so there's a 0:52:40.800 --> 0:52:42.799 picture of us all there with a little sign that 0:52:42.840 --> 0:52:46.840 says absent Ian finch yep. But through the season it 0:52:46.880 --> 0:52:48.640 was a lot of fun and Steve Irwin was a 0:52:48.640 --> 0:52:50.680 real character. He used to go hunting for snakes when 0:52:50.719 --> 0:52:53.200 he was twelve years of age. 0:52:53.480 --> 0:52:56.160 Not much changed before I ask you about Wesley and 0:52:56.160 --> 0:52:59.279 Baker Wins today. In conclusion, let's just go right back 0:52:59.320 --> 0:53:01.440 to the start. We all know the Bradman story right 0:53:01.480 --> 0:53:04.560 The cricket stumped the golf ball. The water tank, practice, practice, 0:53:04.600 --> 0:53:07.840 practice made the better part of perfect. What was the 0:53:08.000 --> 0:53:09.360 en Baker Finch genesis. 0:53:09.840 --> 0:53:13.560 I would say it started with the love of golf 0:53:13.680 --> 0:53:16.320 by caddying for my dad and going down and building 0:53:16.360 --> 0:53:19.040 that golf course when I was seven eight nine years 0:53:19.040 --> 0:53:21.920 of age, but a cousin, my cousin Ian, gave me 0:53:22.120 --> 0:53:24.520 an old nine iron. He didn't play golf, but he'd 0:53:24.560 --> 0:53:26.440 found one in the garage that was from sort of 0:53:26.520 --> 0:53:31.680 nineteen forties era, and it was a forty five degree 0:53:31.760 --> 0:53:34.680 nine nine. And I learned to chip and pitch and 0:53:34.760 --> 0:53:37.200 hit shots and whatever with this nine nine around the farm, 0:53:37.719 --> 0:53:40.400 and I think I got really really good at just 0:53:40.440 --> 0:53:43.080 being me and being good with the short game from 0:53:43.160 --> 0:53:44.960 that time where I just had this nine nine, And 0:53:45.000 --> 0:53:46.839 even when I got my first set of clubs when 0:53:46.880 --> 0:53:49.600 I was twelve, it was a three five seven iron, 0:53:49.640 --> 0:53:52.080 a putter, and a two wood, and that old nine 0:53:52.120 --> 0:53:54.360 nine came with me and that was my lob wedge, 0:53:54.400 --> 0:53:57.360 my sand wedge, my pitching wedge, it was it was everything. 0:53:57.480 --> 0:53:59.759 So I think that was the start of it. I 0:53:59.800 --> 0:54:03.720 took myself to how to play with that one club, 0:54:03.880 --> 0:54:05.279 and then I had a lot of help along the 0:54:05.280 --> 0:54:06.920 way from a lot of different people, a lot of 0:54:06.960 --> 0:54:11.640 different PGA pros and certainly from Peter Thompson, one of 0:54:11.640 --> 0:54:13.879 the best ever players to help me along as well. 0:54:13.960 --> 0:54:17.520 So just very fortunate to come from a tiny little 0:54:17.600 --> 0:54:20.919 logging town up in the. 0:54:19.880 --> 0:54:22.560 Ranges of the Sunshine Coast to now. 0:54:23.960 --> 0:54:26.839 About to retire, I guess, and you know, I've had 0:54:26.880 --> 0:54:29.080 a pretty pretty good life as a golfer and then 0:54:29.120 --> 0:54:34.560 as a broadcaster. I've got two beautiful girls, two lovely grandchildren, 0:54:34.640 --> 0:54:37.359 another one on the way. I've been a blessed man 0:54:37.640 --> 0:54:37.960 you have. 0:54:38.520 --> 0:54:41.200 And the nineteen ninety one Champion Golfer of the Year, 0:54:41.640 --> 0:54:45.359 something that very few people can ever claim they were, 0:54:45.480 --> 0:54:48.360 yet many many aspire every Saturday when they go and 0:54:48.360 --> 0:54:50.960 play their matches. It's been a real privilege of mine 0:54:51.000 --> 0:54:52.680 to speak with you and thank you for all of 0:54:52.719 --> 0:54:55.520 your time. It's been really generous of you, and congratulation 0:54:56.000 --> 0:54:58.720 on really an extraordinary life and an extraordinary career. 0:54:59.040 --> 0:55:01.239 Thank you very much. Mike, You're a good man. Thank 0:55:01.280 --> 0:55:01.759 you so much. 0:55:01.800 --> 0:55:03.920 That's my absolute pleasure. In Baker Finch the book is 0:55:03.960 --> 0:55:06.319 cool to Helen back. It's a damn goodread. We'll get 0:55:06.320 --> 0:55:09.080 to the news in just a moment. Really, I really 0:55:09.200 --> 0:55:11.399 enjoyed just speaking with Ian Baker Finch, hope you enjoyed listening. 0:55:11.480 --> 0:55:13.279 A lot of the feedback suggests you did. Thank you 0:55:13.280 --> 0:55:17.640 for that. I'm getting reports from Lee of a substantial 0:55:17.760 --> 0:55:20.800 hole in the road southbound Prince's Highway. Now, this is 0:55:20.880 --> 0:55:25.080 right near the Rockdale Library. I think TMC Transport Management set. 0:55:25.120 --> 0:55:28.240 It's saying the middle lane has been closed here because 0:55:28.239 --> 0:55:30.560 of this site. Look a substantial hole in the road. 0:55:30.560 --> 0:55:31.719 I don't know what it is, but it looks like 0:55:31.760 --> 0:55:33.520 I could do some damage to a shock absorber or 0:55:33.560 --> 0:55:36.000 attire at least. So Lee, thank you for getting in touch. 0:55:36.040 --> 0:55:38.960 If you're down around that part of town and you've 0:55:39.000 --> 0:55:40.400 just gone past you, can you give us a buz and 0:55:40.480 --> 0:55:43.360 let us know exactly what we're dealing with here. Substantial 0:55:43.480 --> 0:55:48.080 hole in the road southbound Princess Highway near the Rockdale Library. 0:55:49.520 --> 0:55:51.640 According to Lee, it's about a meter by meter and 0:55:51.680 --> 0:55:54.160 a half, probably about half a foot deep to a 0:55:54.200 --> 0:55:58.200 foot deep. That'll do some damage. So I think the 0:55:58.200 --> 0:56:01.640 middle lane has been closed there. But further details I'll 0:56:01.640 --> 0:56:04.560 bring them to you. Speaking about further details, further details 0:56:04.600 --> 0:56:08.239 continue to come through from what's happened with Iran. As 0:56:08.239 --> 0:56:11.919 we said earlier, the Israelis have targeted the military. Well, yes, 0:56:12.000 --> 0:56:14.400 nuclear sites, but also some missile sites in the like 0:56:15.040 --> 0:56:20.040 CNN reporting that the facility, this is Iran's main uranium 0:56:20.160 --> 0:56:25.200 enrichment facility, is now engulfed by flames. This is according 0:56:25.239 --> 0:56:28.160 to social media images that have been re located by 0:56:28.320 --> 0:56:32.440 CNN and Iranian state television. The nuclear complex in Natants. 0:56:32.760 --> 0:56:35.280 It's about two hundred and fifty kilometers south of Tehran. 0:56:35.880 --> 0:56:39.640 It's considered Iran's largest uranium enrichment facility. It houses the 0:56:39.640 --> 0:56:43.000 country's advanced nuclear program. Analysts say that the site has 0:56:43.080 --> 0:56:46.960 used to develop and assemble centrifuges for uranium enrichment, obviously 0:56:47.040 --> 0:56:49.680 a key technology that turns uranium into a nuclear fuel. 0:56:50.400 --> 0:56:54.720 But social media video geolocated by CNN shows smoke rising 0:56:54.840 --> 0:56:57.840 from the direction of that facility, and some videos that 0:56:57.880 --> 0:57:01.280 have been posted online show large plumes of smoke billowing 0:57:01.360 --> 0:57:05.120 high into the sky from that complex. So whatever munitions 0:57:05.160 --> 0:57:07.799 the Israelis have views seemed to have been effective here. 0:57:08.280 --> 0:57:12.200 And Iran's main uranium enrichment facility, that is the main 0:57:12.239 --> 0:57:17.280 one we know of, is engulfed by flames three one 0:57:17.360 --> 0:57:24.919 eight seven three. So there's a lot of news around 0:57:24.920 --> 0:57:26.440 today and Aaron Mar's got all of it for us. 0:57:26.480 --> 0:57:27.920 Hello Eric, Hello there, Michael. 0:57:27.960 --> 0:57:29.840 There will be no change to the ban on Crown 0:57:29.880 --> 0:57:33.920 Barangaroo from installing poker machines, the premiere ruling out legislative changes. 0:57:34.160 --> 0:57:37.280 Foreign Minister Pennywong says it appears there were no Australians 0:57:37.400 --> 0:57:40.480 on board Air India Boeing Dreamliner when it crashed shortly 0:57:40.480 --> 0:57:43.280 after take off. More than two hundred people on board 0:57:43.320 --> 0:57:46.040 and on the ground were killed. Three men of faced 0:57:46.080 --> 0:57:48.600 court accused of being involved in the targeted shooting of 0:57:48.600 --> 0:57:51.520 the home of the suspected Alamadine crime boss. It was 0:57:51.600 --> 0:57:54.520 hit just after he'd left, and state and federal health 0:57:54.560 --> 0:57:57.760 ministers are meeting today to discuss tough national regulations. After 0:57:57.840 --> 0:58:01.840 two bungles at Monash ivf in Sport, Australian equestrian star 0:58:01.920 --> 0:58:05.680 heath Ryn's been suspended after a video emerged that appears 0:58:05.720 --> 0:58:08.560 to show him repeatedly striking a horse with a whip. 0:58:08.880 --> 0:58:11.280 The sixty six year old olympian defended the incident in 0:58:11.320 --> 0:58:13.560 a statement, saying it was part of a rescue mission 0:58:13.760 --> 0:58:17.120 to rehabilitate a problem horse. And there'll be more news 0:58:17.160 --> 0:58:20.000 at two o'clock on afternoons. 0:58:20.280 --> 0:58:24.200 Oh, weather update, we'll be here to help in unexpected weather. 0:58:24.640 --> 0:58:27.040 Nrmain Insurance a help company. 0:58:27.640 --> 0:58:29.320 Yeah, I say, chower or two on the way for 0:58:29.360 --> 0:58:31.640 Sydney today top of just sixteen degrees. They we'll get 0:58:31.640 --> 0:58:33.880 maybe six mil of rain when it does come through. 0:58:34.320 --> 0:58:36.400 No rain here at the moment, but looking west it 0:58:36.480 --> 0:58:39.080 is getting a little grain dark. Seventeen the top for 0:58:39.120 --> 0:58:43.440 Pendrith today, Liverpool the same, Richmond seventeen, Campbelltown seventeen, Bondi sixteen, 0:58:43.520 --> 0:58:47.000 Paramatta sixteen, Terry Hills. Well, I don't know, I didn't 0:58:47.000 --> 0:58:49.720 pay the rent. Only fifteen today, shower or two tomorrow 0:58:50.240 --> 0:58:52.640 for the city top of seventeen they reckon maybe another 0:58:52.680 --> 0:58:55.040 three mill of rain could be another tickle up of 0:58:55.040 --> 0:58:57.920 a mill or so on Sunday partly cloudy though eighteen 0:58:57.960 --> 0:59:00.280 and then the sun should pop out from Monday handbra 0:59:00.400 --> 0:59:03.840 Today morning frost, partly cloudy conditions after that thirteen the top. 0:59:03.880 --> 0:59:06.840 Tugernong's the same minus two overnight. It'll get up to 0:59:06.880 --> 0:59:09.960 fourteen tomorrow though in Canberra should be dry, morning frost 0:59:09.960 --> 0:59:13.800 and part the cloudy conditions. Lithgo eleven today morning frost 0:59:13.800 --> 0:59:16.520 and then partly cloudy ten for Orange fourteen at Mudgie 0:59:16.560 --> 0:59:20.720 Bathist thirteen, Gotomber ten fifteen for Springwood today, though cloudy 0:59:20.760 --> 0:59:22.960 tomorrow at Lithgo twelve the top and then just eleven 0:59:23.000 --> 0:59:25.760 on Sunday, but should be dry, a bit of cloud around, 0:59:25.840 --> 0:59:27.880 a bit of sun, all in the mix. As I said, 0:59:27.920 --> 0:59:30.080 a top of eleven for our listeners through two LT 0:59:30.480 --> 0:59:32.360 one three, one eight seven three. You can keep the 0:59:32.360 --> 0:59:34.840 text coming. Thank you for those zero four six zero 0:59:34.960 --> 0:59:37.200 eight seven three eight seven three. Will take a break 0:59:37.360 --> 0:59:39.560 when we come back real estate with Ourlis and the 0:59:39.600 --> 0:59:48.400 team at Domains and now the real estate show. Yes, indeed, 0:59:48.560 --> 0:59:50.600 twenty two minutes to two, let's talk the bricks and 0:59:50.640 --> 0:59:52.720 mortar and everything in between. We do that on a 0:59:52.760 --> 0:59:56.200 Friday with our Stoltz of course from the team at Domain. 0:59:56.400 --> 0:59:59.240 And if you want a property valued as a number 0:59:59.240 --> 1:00:01.520 of you seem to want, just get in touch with us. 1:00:01.520 --> 1:00:04.040 There's a purpose built part off the web page under 1:00:04.040 --> 1:00:05.560 my name as well. You can fill out the form 1:00:05.600 --> 1:00:07.840 well just cause one three one eight seven three will 1:00:07.840 --> 1:00:10.200 grab your details, will pass on to Domain. They'll put 1:00:10.200 --> 1:00:12.600 together a price range for you. But let me just 1:00:12.720 --> 1:00:15.360 make this point that those figures are estimates only. And 1:00:15.400 --> 1:00:17.480 we've got to emphasize that the estimates are made without 1:00:17.520 --> 1:00:20.480 any firsthand inspections of the properties, all the interiors, that 1:00:20.480 --> 1:00:22.880 sort of thing. And if anyone listening wants an appraisal 1:00:22.880 --> 1:00:25.840 of their home, they should make their own independent inquiries 1:00:25.880 --> 1:00:30.000 through accredited independent valuers. With that said, Alice's the national 1:00:30.080 --> 1:00:32.040 property editor at Domain and she's on the line. 1:00:32.080 --> 1:00:34.520 Hello Alice, Good afternoon, Michael. 1:00:34.520 --> 1:00:36.840 Great to be with you and with you as we do, 1:00:37.000 --> 1:00:39.439 let's stick to tradition. We'll start with the Sydney auction 1:00:39.560 --> 1:00:44.960 clearance results. Fewer auctions this week than last, but nonetheless 1:00:44.960 --> 1:00:46.120 a pretty good clearance rate. 1:00:47.080 --> 1:00:50.280 Yeah, sixty six percent was the rate last weekend. Now, 1:00:50.320 --> 1:00:53.000 it was a pretty strong result, and we really are 1:00:53.040 --> 1:00:56.240 seeing these clearance rates kind of keep that upward trend 1:00:56.240 --> 1:00:58.840 that we've been watching throughout the early autumn so far 1:00:58.960 --> 1:00:59.439 this year. 1:01:00.000 --> 1:01:02.600 Okay, eight hundred and seventy seven auctions. I think the 1:01:02.600 --> 1:01:05.560 week before we were around the twelve hundred, so cooled 1:01:05.600 --> 1:01:06.200 down a little bit. 1:01:06.320 --> 1:01:08.960 Indeedwere we did have a long weekends and some people 1:01:09.120 --> 1:01:10.720 decide to put their feet up a bit rather than 1:01:10.760 --> 1:01:13.560 trying to sell their house or buy a house. Understandably, 1:01:14.040 --> 1:01:16.880 but they'll be ripe for pickings tomorrow, what seven hundred 1:01:16.920 --> 1:01:20.080 and seventy three auctions tomorrow, And I think, Michael, this 1:01:20.160 --> 1:01:22.280 is kind of that indicating that we're going into those 1:01:22.440 --> 1:01:24.520 to the sort of that winter hiatus a little bit, 1:01:24.560 --> 1:01:27.720 so we'll start to see listings plato probably now maybe 1:01:27.720 --> 1:01:30.040 even dip a little bit further. So we're watching that 1:01:30.200 --> 1:01:32.200 downward trend as we head into the caller month. 1:01:32.520 --> 1:01:35.480 Okay, now we're into June obviously, so let's look back 1:01:35.520 --> 1:01:37.520 at the entire month of May. You've got the market 1:01:37.600 --> 1:01:40.000 insights for the month of May. What are the numbers 1:01:40.000 --> 1:01:40.440 telling us? 1:01:41.360 --> 1:01:44.040 Yeah, well, clearance roats rose on average to sixty six 1:01:44.080 --> 1:01:48.480 percent in Sydney. Now interestingly, also, auction volumes roast their 1:01:48.600 --> 1:01:52.280 highest level since twenty twenty one for the month of May. Now, 1:01:52.280 --> 1:01:54.720 as I said, normally that winter would sort of things 1:01:54.760 --> 1:01:57.720 would sort of ease somewhat, but they're certainly not up 1:01:57.800 --> 1:01:59.320 until now. And we look at the month of May, 1:02:00.000 --> 1:02:03.440 a new supply has jumped over the months thirty five percent, 1:02:03.960 --> 1:02:06.760 and it's also higher annually, and it's the strongest volume 1:02:06.800 --> 1:02:08.720 on record for the month of May. So it's quite 1:02:08.800 --> 1:02:11.960 interesting that trend that we're having people actually having that 1:02:12.000 --> 1:02:15.320 sort of burst of activity before they do batton down 1:02:15.360 --> 1:02:16.400 the hatches for the winter. 1:02:17.000 --> 1:02:19.440 Okay, Now, as you know, we always invite people to 1:02:19.480 --> 1:02:21.720 call in and they want their property valued or they've 1:02:21.720 --> 1:02:24.560 got a real estate related question. We had a call 1:02:24.720 --> 1:02:27.760 late last week from Trent. I bring Trent in, We've 1:02:27.760 --> 1:02:29.360 got him back on the line. He had a question 1:02:29.440 --> 1:02:33.480 about investment. Essentially, is a better than b Trent? Good 1:02:33.520 --> 1:02:34.200 afternoon to you. 1:02:35.160 --> 1:02:37.040 I get a Michael, Hello, Alice, how are you? 1:02:37.440 --> 1:02:38.680 We're both Trent. 1:02:38.600 --> 1:02:41.040 Both Well, now you were thinking about I think the 1:02:41.120 --> 1:02:43.920 question remind me if I'm wrong, but was investing in 1:02:43.960 --> 1:02:46.240 a unit in Manly will that have been smarter than 1:02:46.280 --> 1:02:49.120 a property out at Beaumont Hills? Is that basically what 1:02:49.160 --> 1:02:49.840 the question was. 1:02:50.360 --> 1:02:51.120 Yeah, that's it. 1:02:51.240 --> 1:02:55.040 Yeah, all right, Well, Domain and Alice have done the numbers. Alice, 1:02:55.080 --> 1:02:57.880 what's the algebra telling you on that? 1:02:58.280 --> 1:03:01.400 Well, from an emotional active trend, I think it's a 1:03:01.440 --> 1:03:03.720 con underment that many people roll over in their mind 1:03:03.760 --> 1:03:06.080 a lot. Should I bought this? Should I have bought that? 1:03:06.120 --> 1:03:08.280 What would have happened? But it's kind of a bit 1:03:08.320 --> 1:03:11.880 tricky to compare, and we're looking at housing and unit prices. However, 1:03:12.320 --> 1:03:14.200 why don't we have a go at it. Basically, the 1:03:14.240 --> 1:03:17.160 median unit price in Manly is around one point three million. 1:03:17.320 --> 1:03:21.560 That's up eighteen point six percent annually, So that's very 1:03:21.600 --> 1:03:24.160 considerable price growth, and you can see the desirability of 1:03:24.200 --> 1:03:27.920 an area like Manly continues now by what heals. The 1:03:27.960 --> 1:03:31.920 average house price there house again very different than the 1:03:32.000 --> 1:03:35.680 unit is one point eight million. That's up just one percent. 1:03:36.160 --> 1:03:39.280 So I think what we're seeing is clearly the desirability 1:03:39.320 --> 1:03:42.440 of areas like Manly continue to be very strong. I 1:03:42.480 --> 1:03:44.880 think a lot of it, though Trent, comes down to 1:03:44.920 --> 1:03:48.040 the idea that many people are now sort of being 1:03:48.760 --> 1:03:53.480 tipped into buying units because of affordability constraints, and we 1:03:53.640 --> 1:03:58.080 are seeing unit prices begin to rise more quickly than 1:03:58.080 --> 1:04:01.360 what house prices are. So I think in terms of 1:04:01.840 --> 1:04:05.920 what will do better, historically houses have performed better over 1:04:06.040 --> 1:04:10.160 time really because of that land volume that they offer 1:04:10.560 --> 1:04:13.720 the opportunity for someone. But I do think a unit 1:04:13.760 --> 1:04:15.720 can depend on the size of that unit, how many 1:04:15.720 --> 1:04:18.680 bedrooms it is, and also how much the infrastructure is 1:04:18.760 --> 1:04:21.680 changing around those areas, particularly in areas like Bowmont Hills. 1:04:21.760 --> 1:04:24.440 Those areas are really rapidly evolving, so what they are 1:04:24.480 --> 1:04:26.840 today may be different than another five or ten years time. 1:04:27.440 --> 1:04:29.720 So I'm not really answering your question there, Trent. But 1:04:29.760 --> 1:04:31.640 all that to say, if I knew the answer, we'll 1:04:31.640 --> 1:04:34.640 all probably be retired and sitting at home enjoying enjoying 1:04:34.680 --> 1:04:36.440 the spoilers of our property decisions. 1:04:36.600 --> 1:04:39.840 Just to throw a complicated factor into the mixed trend 1:04:39.920 --> 1:04:44.120 end also to you outless. Okay. So the median unit 1:04:44.200 --> 1:04:46.640 price in Manly is one point three million, that's up 1:04:46.760 --> 1:04:50.520 almost nineteen percent year on year. The meeting house price 1:04:50.560 --> 1:04:52.920 in Beaumont Hill's one point eight two five million. That's 1:04:52.960 --> 1:04:55.480 only up one point four one half percent. Okay, But 1:04:55.520 --> 1:04:57.520 then you look across the last five years, and most 1:04:57.560 --> 1:05:00.720 people make an investment for at least five years. The 1:05:00.800 --> 1:05:04.600 last five years, Manly's up thirty seven point nine as 1:05:04.640 --> 1:05:07.880 far as the value of a unit, I believe, But 1:05:08.160 --> 1:05:12.600 Beaumont Hills the houses are up sixty point seven percent. 1:05:13.160 --> 1:05:15.480 So could this be a short term v long term 1:05:15.480 --> 1:05:16.400 investment decision? 1:05:17.880 --> 1:05:19.560 I think that's definitely part of it. And we know 1:05:19.680 --> 1:05:21.920 that the time in the market is kind of the 1:05:22.040 --> 1:05:24.760 sweet spot when it comes to understanding the value that 1:05:24.800 --> 1:05:28.600 you can release out of property. But what's what would 1:05:28.680 --> 1:05:31.560 largely be pointing to that strong increase of a five 1:05:31.640 --> 1:05:34.560 years though, Michael, is the fact of people being pushed 1:05:34.600 --> 1:05:38.000 out further because of affordability and many people preferencing a 1:05:38.040 --> 1:05:40.680 house over a unit. And I think that's the point 1:05:40.720 --> 1:05:43.520 of it. A unit won'ts at everybody, whereas a house 1:05:43.840 --> 1:05:46.080 people are more willing to often compromise in the location 1:05:46.360 --> 1:05:49.000 for the fact they're getting a house alongside a bit 1:05:49.040 --> 1:05:50.160 of lands Trent. 1:05:50.240 --> 1:05:52.200 Back to you, because you're the catalyst for the question, 1:05:52.240 --> 1:05:55.080 it's a damn good question. If you were to invest 1:05:55.200 --> 1:05:57.760 in a Manly unit via Beaumont Hills house, is it 1:05:58.640 --> 1:06:01.280 to sell it eventually? Is that where you're trying to 1:06:01.280 --> 1:06:03.240 get your capital or are you happy to rely on 1:06:03.280 --> 1:06:04.080 the rental income? 1:06:04.840 --> 1:06:05.040 No? 1:06:05.040 --> 1:06:08.920 No, I'm happy to rely on the rental income at 1:06:08.960 --> 1:06:12.320 the moment. I've got a obviously the property in Vermont 1:06:12.400 --> 1:06:15.680 Hills as an investment, I'm just concerned in seven to 1:06:15.760 --> 1:06:18.760 ten years that meanly may be able to reach for 1:06:18.840 --> 1:06:23.120 me in that time. So I was just I was 1:06:23.160 --> 1:06:26.920 going to rent it out in between and then eventually 1:06:27.120 --> 1:06:31.120 probably move into it. So as a downsizer from my 1:06:31.200 --> 1:06:33.600 primary residence because. 1:06:33.520 --> 1:06:37.160 The yeah go al Well, I think when we look 1:06:37.160 --> 1:06:39.880 at forecasting or so, we do certainly know that areas 1:06:39.880 --> 1:06:42.560 such as Manly at this stage continue to sort of 1:06:42.560 --> 1:06:45.120 go in that upward trajectory. I don't think we're going 1:06:45.160 --> 1:06:48.480 to see prices plummet there, and I think the desirability 1:06:48.600 --> 1:06:51.840 for what that sort of area offers will maintain a 1:06:51.920 --> 1:06:55.560 high priority. Particularly is our cities swell and get bigger 1:06:55.560 --> 1:06:57.200 and bigger and bigger. So I think it comes down 1:06:57.240 --> 1:06:59.720 to that choice. But I think you're right to be 1:07:00.000 --> 1:07:02.640 I guess a little bit aware trend of just how 1:07:02.960 --> 1:07:06.640 quickly prices might continue to rise in those very high 1:07:06.720 --> 1:07:09.080 last dollar areas such as Manly. 1:07:09.200 --> 1:07:12.600 Because it's interesting, Olus your numbers the median gross rental 1:07:12.920 --> 1:07:16.600 yield Manly this is units three point four three percent, 1:07:17.040 --> 1:07:19.440 the equivalent for the property out of Beaumont Hill's two 1:07:19.480 --> 1:07:23.240 point six y nine percent. I mean, not massive returns 1:07:23.280 --> 1:07:23.800 either way. 1:07:24.680 --> 1:07:26.840 No, but I think if we also, if we do 1:07:26.880 --> 1:07:30.800 see Sydney house prices rise hugely over the next few years, 1:07:30.800 --> 1:07:34.200 and we're expecting them to rise, not necessarily hugely, so 1:07:34.240 --> 1:07:35.920 there's a few if said it, If they were to 1:07:35.960 --> 1:07:38.160 do what they've done over the past year, that number 1:07:38.200 --> 1:07:41.360 would change because people are going to be absolutely corralled 1:07:41.400 --> 1:07:44.640 out to more affordable parts of Sydney. So I think 1:07:44.720 --> 1:07:48.200 if we have confidence that prices will sort of putter 1:07:48.320 --> 1:07:52.720 along without going doing anything crazy, you know that growth 1:07:52.720 --> 1:07:54.880 won't probably change so much, but I just think they might. 1:07:55.160 --> 1:07:57.600 You know, Sydney's hovering around nearly one point seven million 1:07:57.600 --> 1:08:00.560 for the median house price in Sydney now, and I 1:08:00.600 --> 1:08:02.840 think if something there is turn of events or the 1:08:02.840 --> 1:08:06.280 market does go upwards sort of quite quickly, you know, 1:08:06.600 --> 1:08:08.560 people are going to be absolutely going out to Brenont 1:08:08.600 --> 1:08:10.800 Hills faster than what they're not than what they would 1:08:10.800 --> 1:08:11.280 be normally. 1:08:11.440 --> 1:08:14.400 I think that's right, Trent, well done, fantastic question, and 1:08:14.440 --> 1:08:16.920 I think it's one that whether it's manly in Beaumont 1:08:17.000 --> 1:08:19.720 Hills or you know something and somewhere else, is what 1:08:19.800 --> 1:08:21.600 a lot of investors a mulling over. So thank you 1:08:21.640 --> 1:08:23.960 for asking it. I do appreciate it. It is thirteen 1:08:23.960 --> 1:08:25.880 minutes to two. We'll come back after this. We've got 1:08:25.880 --> 1:08:29.120 a bit of an interior expert to join us. Give 1:08:29.160 --> 1:08:31.240 us a couple of tips and tricks to make the 1:08:31.240 --> 1:08:33.160 home not just better to live in but also potentially 1:08:33.160 --> 1:08:36.720 for sale. Straight after this, Alice Steltz whether as she 1:08:36.880 --> 1:08:41.160 is every Friday from Domain Alice, let's bring in Naomi 1:08:41.240 --> 1:08:44.840 Findlay here, interior designer to the Stars. There was an 1:08:44.920 --> 1:08:47.960 article the other day about picking colors, how important it 1:08:48.000 --> 1:08:49.960 is to pick the right colors. And this is more 1:08:50.000 --> 1:08:52.040 so if you're thinking of selling. But of course even 1:08:52.040 --> 1:08:53.600 if you're not thinking of selling, you're living in the 1:08:53.680 --> 1:08:57.280 joint and you want the atmosphere to be as conducive 1:08:57.280 --> 1:08:59.400 as possible to a good quality of life inside the home, 1:08:59.439 --> 1:09:02.919 and colours and change moods and all the rest of it. Naomi, 1:09:02.960 --> 1:09:03.800 thank you for your time. 1:09:04.560 --> 1:09:07.200 Oh, absolute pleasure. Thanks for asking me to comment on 1:09:07.240 --> 1:09:09.599 this one, something I'm quite passionate about, I. 1:09:09.520 --> 1:09:13.960 Know, hence why you're here right, So absolutely now, everyone 1:09:14.000 --> 1:09:15.840 wants to be an individual, and I think, you know, 1:09:15.880 --> 1:09:17.720 there's two kind of people out there. Generally, I think 1:09:17.720 --> 1:09:19.840 everyone who will just do it all white because that's 1:09:19.840 --> 1:09:22.479 safe and neutral, or you know, I really like vibrant priink. 1:09:22.560 --> 1:09:25.559 So let's go nuts. What's your advice to the man 1:09:25.600 --> 1:09:26.639 in the middle, as it were. 1:09:27.479 --> 1:09:30.599 Oh, look, I think that what's really interesting is we 1:09:30.760 --> 1:09:33.120 have been very trained to think that the main way 1:09:33.160 --> 1:09:36.120 we get color into our spaces is our walls, and 1:09:36.200 --> 1:09:38.880 so you know, we have been polarizing the world into 1:09:38.920 --> 1:09:41.360 the person that loves the greasy pink and the person 1:09:41.400 --> 1:09:44.120 who loves me all white. But there's so many other 1:09:44.160 --> 1:09:47.240 ways that the person that's sitting in the middle can, 1:09:47.280 --> 1:09:49.960 I guess, play with the concept of how color might 1:09:50.000 --> 1:09:52.840 affect them through so many other elements in the space, 1:09:52.880 --> 1:09:57.439 whether it's oversized art or oversized rugs. You know, you 1:09:57.479 --> 1:10:01.640 can kind of be safe, I guess, in playing that 1:10:01.760 --> 1:10:04.880 middle ground if you think outside of just paint. 1:10:07.200 --> 1:10:09.600 I think also, hi, Naomi, that another thing that I 1:10:09.640 --> 1:10:12.120 think that when we think about color and particularly painting 1:10:12.160 --> 1:10:15.400 for people, is understanding the problem that people are trying 1:10:15.439 --> 1:10:18.759 to solve in their house. For example, does the house 1:10:18.840 --> 1:10:23.639 feel small? Does my kitchen feel dated? Is my office messy? 1:10:23.800 --> 1:10:26.759 And from what I see looking at so many properties 1:10:26.800 --> 1:10:30.719 each day, is that that can actually be resolved through 1:10:30.800 --> 1:10:34.280 colors like that freshness that white can bring, but also 1:10:34.400 --> 1:10:37.880 that kitchen can date quite quickly if they've got that 1:10:38.040 --> 1:10:40.439 color that was kind of very much in vogue just 1:10:40.520 --> 1:10:41.639 even a few years ago. 1:10:42.439 --> 1:10:46.360 Absolutely that's that whole concept of future proofing, right that 1:10:47.040 --> 1:10:49.559 if we are going to be audacious with our color, 1:10:49.960 --> 1:10:52.200 we need to think about what impact it could have 1:10:52.280 --> 1:10:55.639 on the space, what thing it could fix, what thing 1:10:55.720 --> 1:10:59.160 it could make more difficult? And also am I going 1:10:59.200 --> 1:11:00.200 by future proof this? 1:11:00.880 --> 1:11:01.080 Do? 1:11:01.120 --> 1:11:01.479 I think? 1:11:01.520 --> 1:11:01.760 I mean? 1:11:01.800 --> 1:11:04.560 I love this as much in ten or fifteen or 1:11:04.600 --> 1:11:07.960 even twenty years. You know when people talk about their bathrooms, 1:11:07.960 --> 1:11:10.599 I'm like, guys, this is a one in thirty year choice. 1:11:11.000 --> 1:11:13.400 So you know, like, you're right, you do need to 1:11:13.400 --> 1:11:17.840 think about future proving it and also about what it 1:11:17.960 --> 1:11:20.280 might compound or what it might fix for you. 1:11:21.160 --> 1:11:23.599 Just a question, Naomi read the colors again. You mentioned 1:11:23.640 --> 1:11:25.559 we all sort of fixate on the walls, and you're right, 1:11:25.600 --> 1:11:25.920 we do. 1:11:26.720 --> 1:11:26.920 We do. 1:11:27.439 --> 1:11:29.960 I don't think I've ever been into a suburban home 1:11:30.000 --> 1:11:32.280 in Sydney that doesn't have a white ceiling, and I 1:11:32.360 --> 1:11:35.080 understand why the ceilings are white, But have you ever 1:11:35.120 --> 1:11:37.760 had clients or yourself ever been tempted to paint the 1:11:37.800 --> 1:11:39.839 ceiling non white? 1:11:40.760 --> 1:11:43.960 Absolutely, I've actually I actually did it on an entire 1:11:44.080 --> 1:11:48.000 property last year, and it is very much a statement 1:11:48.320 --> 1:11:51.640 and it can have the most amazing impact. But I 1:11:51.680 --> 1:11:54.040 do find if you're going to If you're going to 1:11:54.080 --> 1:11:56.680 do that, you have to make sure that you're consistent 1:11:56.760 --> 1:12:00.000 and follow through that type of intensity in the rest 1:12:00.080 --> 1:12:03.080 of the space. That would be my advice to anyone 1:12:03.080 --> 1:12:05.000 who is looking at that. But I do feel it 1:12:05.040 --> 1:12:06.960 can have a phenomenal impact. 1:12:08.160 --> 1:12:11.360 It's definitely much it's definitely in vogue, Michael. In fact, 1:12:11.360 --> 1:12:13.840 you even raised that question can show Naomi and I 1:12:13.840 --> 1:12:16.840 am the listeners just how coron you are with trends 1:12:16.840 --> 1:12:19.120 at the moment, Michael, because I know it's definitely an 1:12:19.120 --> 1:12:21.800 interior trend that's getting rid of that wife on the 1:12:21.800 --> 1:12:24.040 ceiling because people sort of feel that it kind of 1:12:24.320 --> 1:12:26.559 distracts from the room, you know, almost having this big 1:12:26.680 --> 1:12:30.120 stripe across it. So it's definitely not for the faint 1:12:30.160 --> 1:12:33.320 harsher though doing that strong or room color, and I 1:12:33.360 --> 1:12:36.200 personally do love it. However, I think if people are 1:12:36.240 --> 1:12:39.720 selling or know they're going to be selling soon, it 1:12:39.760 --> 1:12:43.320 will really knock out buyers who are perhaps erring on 1:12:43.360 --> 1:12:45.240 the side of caution a bit. So if you know 1:12:45.280 --> 1:12:46.960 you're not going to sell that house a very long time, 1:12:47.080 --> 1:12:49.200 knock yourself out. Go for it, Michael. I think it 1:12:49.280 --> 1:12:51.800 sounds like you're thinking of pink or red in this way. 1:12:56.760 --> 1:12:58.479 And you know what I think, if you get so 1:12:58.560 --> 1:13:02.120 important as you like, if you're not doing it for you, 1:13:02.520 --> 1:13:06.000 then doing something polarizing like that is not always choice. 1:13:06.240 --> 1:13:09.320 No, okay, just finally, we've got sixty seconds here. Light 1:13:09.720 --> 1:13:11.000 in all of this, you know, we all go down 1:13:11.000 --> 1:13:13.360 to the hardware store, get the paint samples, take them home, 1:13:13.520 --> 1:13:15.400 put a few on the wall and realize, oh, we 1:13:15.400 --> 1:13:17.160 did that in winter. In summer, it's a lot brighter here, 1:13:17.160 --> 1:13:19.680 and it looks a different shade. What's your advice with 1:13:20.160 --> 1:13:23.320 light time and choosing colors? 1:13:23.720 --> 1:13:27.120 Look for me, I'm always encouraging clients, or I do 1:13:27.200 --> 1:13:29.800 it for them, finding the largest possible surface if it's 1:13:29.800 --> 1:13:32.160 a massive piece ofply they buy from the hardware store. 1:13:32.680 --> 1:13:35.880 Paint it in only two or three colors you're interested in, 1:13:36.200 --> 1:13:38.559 and live with it for a while. Move it around 1:13:38.560 --> 1:13:40.559 the space, move it into the hallway, move it into 1:13:40.600 --> 1:13:43.479 one of the bedrooms in morning, in night, with lights on, 1:13:43.520 --> 1:13:45.559 with lights off. You have to make sure that color 1:13:45.640 --> 1:13:47.640 is going to live with you and you're going to 1:13:47.720 --> 1:13:50.280 love it in all of the light conditions that are 1:13:50.280 --> 1:13:51.080 going to come into your. 1:13:50.960 --> 1:13:54.879 Space, Naomi, thank you for your expertise. I really appreciate 1:13:54.880 --> 1:13:56.040 that you have a lovely weekend. 1:13:56.760 --> 1:13:59.000 You too, guys, lovely chatting and. 1:13:59.240 --> 1:14:01.040 Alice is always thank you. I know we're out of 1:14:01.120 --> 1:14:02.640 time for the bargain of the week. We had a 1:14:02.680 --> 1:14:04.599 beauty at Harris Park. Will hold that till next week. 1:14:04.760 --> 1:14:07.080 Was at five eighty five thousand, two bed, two bath, 1:14:07.120 --> 1:14:10.280 one car. Hello, that's a very good price. Chat to 1:14:10.280 --> 1:14:10.840 your next week. 1:14:10.840 --> 1:14:13.280 That pain colors is very important, Michael. It is to 1:14:13.320 --> 1:14:14.240 give that the time. 1:14:14.120 --> 1:14:16.400 Even in Harris Park, even in Harris Park. Thank you 1:14:16.479 --> 1:14:19.759 all the best, the wonderful thanks Alas Stolt's there from Demain. 1:14:19.800 --> 1:14:21.839 Will take a break and wrap up the hour. Speaking 1:14:21.840 --> 1:14:23.840 of colors and whatnot a nice one here from Phil 1:14:23.880 --> 1:14:26.000 who says, as a carpet layer, I had to install 1:14:26.120 --> 1:14:29.000 red carpet to the walls and the ceiling of a 1:14:29.000 --> 1:14:33.599 certain establishment. Maybe it was one of a kind, Phil, 1:14:33.640 --> 1:14:34.559 I think I know where you mean. 1:14:34.640 --> 1:14:41.120 News next now onto GB and network stations. Back to 1:14:41.360 --> 1:14:44.200 afternoons with Michael McLaren. 1:14:45.280 --> 1:14:47.439 L D the third hour. Thank you for being with us. 1:14:47.680 --> 1:14:50.439 It is a rather busy newsday, certainly proven to be 1:14:50.479 --> 1:14:54.400 the case the world awaits Run's response to Israel strike earlier. 1:14:54.400 --> 1:14:57.360 I will later this hour speak to Dave Sharma, the 1:14:57.560 --> 1:15:02.000 former Australian ambassador to is ISRAELI obviously understands the area well, 1:15:02.439 --> 1:15:04.519 and I'll get his take on what's happened, what he 1:15:04.560 --> 1:15:07.040 thinks is on the way before we get to Friday Food. 1:15:07.439 --> 1:15:09.040 We have been putting a bit of spotlight on the 1:15:09.120 --> 1:15:12.599 Victorian economy on this program over the last couple of weeks. 1:15:12.640 --> 1:15:15.960 I'm concerned that their energy footprint is just the stuff 1:15:15.960 --> 1:15:18.840 of fantasy and they'll do a lot of damage on 1:15:18.880 --> 1:15:21.200 the way. Now. Look, if I'm wrong, I'll eat humble pie. 1:15:21.640 --> 1:15:26.120 But the early signs aren't flash. Obviously, it's cold at 1:15:26.120 --> 1:15:28.519 the moment down there nothing unusual about that at this 1:15:28.600 --> 1:15:31.240 time of the year. But part of the main coulfied 1:15:31.280 --> 1:15:34.759 POWERstation is out about I think half of its production 1:15:34.880 --> 1:15:38.600 capacity is out. And as a result, Victoria seemed to 1:15:38.600 --> 1:15:41.120 be burning through their reserves of natural gas at a 1:15:41.240 --> 1:15:44.920 rapid rate. In fact, the fin Review reporting overnight that 1:15:44.920 --> 1:15:48.960 they've used more than thirteen percent of their expected gas 1:15:49.000 --> 1:15:52.880 for energy generation for the entire year in just three days. 1:15:53.880 --> 1:15:58.280 Thirteen percent of their expected annual gas usage in three days. 1:15:59.000 --> 1:16:01.080 This is the breakdown of the cold power plant and 1:16:01.160 --> 1:16:05.320 feeble renewable generation of forcing that state to rely on 1:16:05.360 --> 1:16:09.400 the fossil fuelled gas the same thing. Obviously that's vilified 1:16:09.439 --> 1:16:11.880 by the state government, but they're relying on it to 1:16:11.960 --> 1:16:14.720 keep the lights on go work. All of that out 1:16:14.840 --> 1:16:18.719 a technical problem. So the fin review reports that reduced 1:16:18.840 --> 1:16:22.639 supply from s o's Longford gas plant, and that's their 1:16:22.640 --> 1:16:25.920 main source down there, has become the latest hitch that 1:16:26.040 --> 1:16:28.559 only kicked in yesterday, raising the risk of shortages in 1:16:28.600 --> 1:16:30.880 a system creaking under the strain of a cold snap. 1:16:31.240 --> 1:16:35.160 And we're the conditions that are unfavorable to wind and solar. Now, 1:16:35.240 --> 1:16:38.280 the government's own report out of Spring Street from Memory 1:16:38.280 --> 1:16:41.120 did point out that often in winter or the depths 1:16:41.120 --> 1:16:45.599 of winter, they can have a low output of renewables, 1:16:45.640 --> 1:16:49.680 particularly wind. It gets cold, but it doesn't blow and 1:16:49.800 --> 1:16:55.599 so the wind turbines are not generating. And solar, well, 1:16:55.640 --> 1:16:57.240 you have a lot of cloud or whatever, they're not 1:16:57.320 --> 1:17:01.880 much good. And yet this is basically the recipe that 1:17:02.040 --> 1:17:06.000 Victoria are going to rely on in a decade or 1:17:06.040 --> 1:17:09.120 so's time when they plan to be one hundred percent 1:17:09.160 --> 1:17:13.280 renewable energy independent. I mean they're getting themselves. They know 1:17:13.400 --> 1:17:15.840 they can only do it because they've got interstate connectors 1:17:15.880 --> 1:17:18.519 to the north, New South Wales and Queensland that for 1:17:18.560 --> 1:17:21.960 the time being will provide them with reliable coal fired power. 1:17:22.960 --> 1:17:25.160 But once your lawn or whatever it is is shut 1:17:25.160 --> 1:17:27.400 off completely, and see they're struggling at the moment because 1:17:27.439 --> 1:17:29.720 it's out by fifty percent in a few years time 1:17:29.800 --> 1:17:32.120 to be one hundred percent from gone. What are they 1:17:32.120 --> 1:17:33.880 going to do. You can't just fire it back up. 1:17:34.120 --> 1:17:36.519 It'll be demolished or blown up like they did in 1:17:36.520 --> 1:17:40.760 South Australia. Whatever. It's crazy stuff. And yet this is 1:17:40.800 --> 1:17:44.679 the nation's second largest economy. Now they're doing everything possible 1:17:44.680 --> 1:17:47.360 in Victoria across the board to no longer be the 1:17:47.400 --> 1:17:50.160 second largest economy. They're competing to be the third largest, 1:17:50.200 --> 1:17:52.240 then the fourth largest, then the fifth largest, and so 1:17:52.320 --> 1:17:54.760 it goes. I mean, that's their seems it's not their plan, 1:17:54.840 --> 1:17:58.439 but that seems to be their trajectory. But you know, 1:17:58.640 --> 1:18:00.680 I just don't understand. Are you going to be able 1:18:00.720 --> 1:18:02.280 to fill the joint with more and more people and 1:18:02.280 --> 1:18:05.479 they're getting more migrants than we are, If that's possible 1:18:05.520 --> 1:18:10.720 to believe and still have viable industry, but rely completely 1:18:11.520 --> 1:18:15.800 on renewables when you won't have sufficient backup. How can 1:18:15.840 --> 1:18:18.600 they do it? Now? They either know something that a 1:18:18.600 --> 1:18:22.200 lot of physicists don't, or they are gambling, I would 1:18:22.280 --> 1:18:25.919 argue recklessly with the future, the economic future of their citizens. 1:18:26.760 --> 1:18:28.120 But maybe this winter is going to be a bit 1:18:28.160 --> 1:18:30.680 of a full taste. Let's see one three, one eight 1:18:30.680 --> 1:18:40.840 seventy three. 1:18:39.760 --> 1:18:42.280 Now one afternoons Friday food? 1:18:43.000 --> 1:18:45.599 All right, Well to something fast, sweeter and more pleasant 1:18:45.720 --> 1:18:48.439 Friday food. And as you know, we love a sweet 1:18:48.439 --> 1:18:51.160 treat on afternoons. And there's wonderful, wonderful places all around 1:18:51.200 --> 1:18:53.439 Sydney you can go for your sugary fix. But some 1:18:53.640 --> 1:18:57.160 places are regarded as the best for a particular type 1:18:57.160 --> 1:19:02.120 of dessert. Okay, Now, the one that is here today 1:19:02.840 --> 1:19:05.320 are known all over this city, in fact probably all 1:19:05.320 --> 1:19:09.559 over this state for their Portuguese tarts. Sweet Bellm inm Peetisham. 1:19:09.680 --> 1:19:12.800 It's an institution. It's family owned Portuguese pastrict. It's best. 1:19:12.960 --> 1:19:15.320 It opened in two thousand and three and it's a 1:19:15.360 --> 1:19:17.040 testament to the hard work of the people behind it 1:19:17.240 --> 1:19:19.400 who brought a little slice of Portugal to Sydney's in 1:19:19.439 --> 1:19:21.600 the West and everyone's trying to copy them, but no 1:19:21.640 --> 1:19:24.120 one can beat them. Jose Silver is the owner of 1:19:24.280 --> 1:19:27.080 Sweet Belem Cake boutique. In fact, he owns half a 1:19:27.080 --> 1:19:28.960 Petersham I think, but we'll focus on this one today. 1:19:29.479 --> 1:19:33.200 He's with me in the studio. Jose, good afternoon. Congratulations 1:19:33.200 --> 1:19:37.160 on the success. It's not easy operating even a mediocre place, 1:19:37.160 --> 1:19:39.599 but to operate the best of its kind is testament 1:19:39.600 --> 1:19:40.240 to you and the team. 1:19:40.360 --> 1:19:40.680 Thank you. 1:19:41.520 --> 1:19:42.280 What's the secret? 1:19:42.680 --> 1:19:45.519 Secret is the hard work and making things with love, 1:19:46.400 --> 1:19:49.640 Just putting love into whatever you do and passion and 1:19:49.760 --> 1:19:52.960 using top ingredients and show up every. 1:19:52.880 --> 1:19:54.040 Day top ingredience. 1:19:54.240 --> 1:19:58.240 Yeah, like really quality ingredients is one of the keys. 1:19:58.280 --> 1:20:01.200 Like we use free range eggs butter for our pastry 1:20:01.680 --> 1:20:05.000 instead of magarine, and then yeah, vanilla bean instead of 1:20:05.080 --> 1:20:09.880 vanilla essence and yeah, just and that's shows your product 1:20:09.920 --> 1:20:11.280 when when you eat it. 1:20:11.040 --> 1:20:14.680 It does the ingredients themselves, are they mainly Australian or 1:20:14.680 --> 1:20:16.680 do you have to import certain bits from Portugal to 1:20:16.720 --> 1:20:17.920 get that that unique? 1:20:19.120 --> 1:20:22.000 We use local most of local ingredients, like it's a 1:20:22.280 --> 1:20:27.760 local butter, local local dairy and local flower as well. 1:20:28.200 --> 1:20:29.280 Vanilla comes from. 1:20:29.200 --> 1:20:36.320 Yeah, okay, why why Portuguese starts? Why Portuguese sweets? Is 1:20:36.560 --> 1:20:38.919 there a family connection to the baking industry. 1:20:38.960 --> 1:20:41.000 Well, I'm a chef by trade. 1:20:41.160 --> 1:20:43.760 I have been chef since I've left school, and I 1:20:44.560 --> 1:20:47.400 love I love, I love what starts. I've always loved it. 1:20:47.439 --> 1:20:50.160 And then I pretty much took over the shop in 1:20:50.160 --> 1:20:53.280 twenty twelve. It's been that two thousand and three. I 1:20:53.320 --> 1:20:55.320 was a better long back then, and then because I 1:20:55.360 --> 1:20:59.160 love to touch so much that I wanted to take over, 1:20:59.200 --> 1:21:02.720 and pretty much the owner offered it to me. Being Portuguese, 1:21:02.720 --> 1:21:07.040 he wanted to keep in the Portuguese owned yes, and 1:21:07.080 --> 1:21:11.320 I thought, great, great idea, and I pretty much took 1:21:11.360 --> 1:21:16.600 over in twenty twelve. And then I've been there. Yeah. 1:21:16.840 --> 1:21:18.720 I mean I drive past off and you've got that 1:21:18.760 --> 1:21:20.760 sort of beautiful blue and white thing going on. It 1:21:20.760 --> 1:21:22.800 looks very nice that the food inside is even better 1:21:22.840 --> 1:21:24.720 than what the whole place looks like it's been done 1:21:24.800 --> 1:21:29.679 up recently. Yeah, it's fantastic, but you know, there's there's 1:21:29.720 --> 1:21:32.800 a challenge being the best, isn't there? Right? So I 1:21:32.800 --> 1:21:35.960 think the Portuguese tart it's a two pro. So there's 1:21:36.000 --> 1:21:38.640 two bits to consider ones the custard, ones of the patate, 1:21:39.000 --> 1:21:40.599 and if you get one of them wrong, the other 1:21:40.640 --> 1:21:42.120 can be as good as you like. It doesn't. 1:21:42.520 --> 1:21:43.320 That's exactly right. 1:21:43.360 --> 1:21:46.639 So yeah, without our patience us three days in earlier, 1:21:46.800 --> 1:21:50.120 Like we make a dough and they'll rest a lot 1:21:50.160 --> 1:21:53.439 of it is, letting it rest, and also we laminate 1:21:53.520 --> 1:21:55.439 it and then let it rest again and then cut 1:21:55.479 --> 1:21:59.439 it out, press it and then yeah, you have your custard, 1:21:59.479 --> 1:22:01.040 which is like like I said, it's all about the 1:22:01.320 --> 1:22:04.559 key ingredients for our doughie is but instead of magarine, 1:22:04.720 --> 1:22:07.840 local quality butter, and then for the custod we use 1:22:07.880 --> 1:22:12.920 free range eggs, real vanilla bean, lemon zest, and we 1:22:13.040 --> 1:22:14.559 do with a touch of cinnamon on top. 1:22:14.880 --> 1:22:16.800 Yeah, that's that's the lily. Yeah. 1:22:16.960 --> 1:22:19.519 And just baking all day as well. It's key is 1:22:19.560 --> 1:22:22.120 not pre baking, you know, a day before we bake 1:22:22.200 --> 1:22:25.960 on site and keep baking fresh and just trying to 1:22:26.240 --> 1:22:27.360 maintain that freshness. 1:22:28.360 --> 1:22:31.840 Any sense. How many of these things you sell a week? Ah? 1:22:32.520 --> 1:22:36.400 Yeah, it's in the thousands, thousands of days sometimes. 1:22:36.520 --> 1:22:41.120 Yeah, what the tax is not meant to know, it's 1:22:41.160 --> 1:22:45.639 twenty percent less than he says. Yeah, yeah, Appeadiship itself. 1:22:45.800 --> 1:22:47.840 I mean, I've had a family connection in that part 1:22:47.880 --> 1:22:50.559 of sitting for a long long time. But it's known 1:22:50.640 --> 1:22:52.679 as and I think officially now known as Little Porta. 1:22:53.479 --> 1:22:55.880 But you can walk around and you know, sometimes you 1:22:55.880 --> 1:22:58.960 won't see your Portuguese person. It's changing, but but it's 1:22:59.040 --> 1:23:01.720 it's had that that to connection to Portugal for a 1:23:01.760 --> 1:23:04.960 long time. And so you're in the middle of a 1:23:05.000 --> 1:23:09.080 lot of different Portuguese inspired eateries and in that part 1:23:09.120 --> 1:23:09.720 of the world, don't you. 1:23:09.800 --> 1:23:13.599 Yeah, yeah, And that's the idea, like, yeah, there's Frangos, 1:23:13.680 --> 1:23:17.200 Silver's which and Sweet Bell and they're. 1:23:17.120 --> 1:23:19.560 Like the institutions of Petersham. 1:23:19.880 --> 1:23:21.680 There was a few other restaurants that kind of just 1:23:21.960 --> 1:23:24.360 like Glorious that that was that was the original one, 1:23:24.400 --> 1:23:27.839 but they've they've closed down and you know, things changed, 1:23:28.320 --> 1:23:30.320 and because of that, decided to open Luna's just a 1:23:30.360 --> 1:23:34.160 little bit further uproad. Like it's a restaurant cafe just 1:23:34.240 --> 1:23:34.840 inspired with. 1:23:36.560 --> 1:23:37.439 And we have a little. 1:23:37.240 --> 1:23:40.720 Courtyard outside so can sit in the courtyard. And the 1:23:40.800 --> 1:23:43.640 idea of that is to when reminds me when I 1:23:43.720 --> 1:23:47.120 was going back to Portugal and sitting my my uncle 1:23:47.320 --> 1:23:51.559 Auntie's backyard with vines on top. The guy the green garden, 1:23:51.640 --> 1:23:56.439 and that's the inspiration for lunas is. It's like little my. 1:23:58.000 --> 1:23:59.160 Homage to home to home. 1:23:59.280 --> 1:24:00.840 Yeah, like the back of the way I grew up. 1:24:01.560 --> 1:24:03.479 Yeah, it's fantastic. I know people to go there. They 1:24:03.520 --> 1:24:06.080 so it's a fantastic cafe. You've got other You've got 1:24:06.080 --> 1:24:08.519 other stores and stories around that part of the world 1:24:08.560 --> 1:24:10.520 as well, which which I've been to, which are fantastic. 1:24:11.520 --> 1:24:14.400 The issue of tradition, you know, these these tarts go 1:24:14.439 --> 1:24:17.360 way back to a monastery I think in Lisbon, that's 1:24:17.360 --> 1:24:20.759 correct and whatever. So you know you're sort of standing 1:24:20.760 --> 1:24:24.080 on the shoulders of giants continuing that story. Is there 1:24:24.080 --> 1:24:28.040 ever a temptation to branch out and and sort of 1:24:28.080 --> 1:24:31.520 go crazy with them? Let me just give the Australian 1:24:31.520 --> 1:24:33.760 analogy of say the tim tam right, so we all 1:24:33.800 --> 1:24:35.880 know the original, But these days you get strawberry and 1:24:35.880 --> 1:24:37.840 cream flavor, you can get chewy caramel, you get blah 1:24:37.840 --> 1:24:40.360 blah bla blah blah blah. I don't think you do 1:24:40.520 --> 1:24:43.760 anything with Portuguese tarts other than the traditional one, do you. 1:24:44.080 --> 1:24:44.799 Yeah, we do. 1:24:45.280 --> 1:24:47.320 Sometimes you can add like a berry to her like 1:24:47.360 --> 1:24:50.080 a raspberry or blueberry you add to the tart, like 1:24:50.360 --> 1:24:53.519 you could add a little bit of a gunish on top, 1:24:53.640 --> 1:24:55.920 like chocolate, just add a bit more indulgence. 1:24:55.960 --> 1:24:59.200 But it's very it's very basic. What what we what 1:24:59.240 --> 1:24:59.840 we did to her? 1:24:59.840 --> 1:25:02.480 Like yeah, like I said, like a rispberry or blueberry 1:25:02.680 --> 1:25:06.040 inside the custodes or sometimes a date works really well 1:25:06.840 --> 1:25:08.479 just for richness. 1:25:09.040 --> 1:25:12.160 But it's good as it is. And you know, we 1:25:12.160 --> 1:25:13.200 would like to add a little bit. 1:25:13.160 --> 1:25:15.639 Of cinnamon on top, which is quite traditional, but that's 1:25:15.760 --> 1:25:19.640 very personal. See if you love cinnama or not, but 1:25:20.760 --> 1:25:23.879 we try to keep it very very traditional. 1:25:23.920 --> 1:25:25.680 And what else do you do because I mean, you've 1:25:25.680 --> 1:25:28.400 got chocolate cakes, you've got desserts, you've got a stack 1:25:28.400 --> 1:25:30.200 of stuff. Breads are all sorts of things going on there. 1:25:30.240 --> 1:25:30.400 Yeah. 1:25:30.400 --> 1:25:32.200 And another thing that we do that we're very proud 1:25:32.200 --> 1:25:34.800 of is our doughnuts, which is called boll of ling, 1:25:34.880 --> 1:25:39.640 which is another very traditional Portuguese sweet which reminds me 1:25:39.640 --> 1:25:40.920 when I was a kid eating it at the. 1:25:40.840 --> 1:25:44.120 Beach with a Portuguese soda called smooth. So you having 1:25:44.200 --> 1:25:46.479 birth is like yeah, on the beach. 1:25:46.880 --> 1:25:50.160 And then we do like churisto bread, We do corn bread, 1:25:50.160 --> 1:25:55.320 which is like very traditional. It's actually my grandma's auntie's recipe. 1:25:55.360 --> 1:26:00.400 It's like a traditional corn rustic bread. And yeah, like 1:26:00.439 --> 1:26:04.080 a whole variety of other Portuguese traditions like zita, which 1:26:04.120 --> 1:26:08.599 is like a puff pastry with almonds and egg jam, 1:26:09.760 --> 1:26:14.920 and that's also a very traditional Portuguese pastry. 1:26:16.439 --> 1:26:18.719 A stack of other stuff. Is there much difference between 1:26:18.800 --> 1:26:20.599 Spanish and Portuguese cuisine? 1:26:21.000 --> 1:26:23.880 There is a lot, Yeah, there is. It's just it's 1:26:23.920 --> 1:26:26.320 there is very similar ingredients. 1:26:25.840 --> 1:26:27.760 But it's just the way the executor is quite. Yeah, 1:26:27.760 --> 1:26:32.280 it's different, but similar flavors. Like it's like full of flavor. 1:26:32.320 --> 1:26:36.280 Basically they tend to be rich and rich, very rich flavors. Yeah, 1:26:36.320 --> 1:26:39.479 big flavors and a lot of cubs. And we love 1:26:39.479 --> 1:26:40.599 our rice in Portugal. 1:26:40.880 --> 1:26:43.800 Yeah, we do the tomato rice. It's fantastic, all right. 1:26:44.040 --> 1:26:46.280 What's next? Because of it, You've got this, and you've 1:26:46.280 --> 1:26:48.920 got the Lon's Cafe, I think you've got Fished the 1:26:48.920 --> 1:26:50.000 Fish restaurant. 1:26:49.680 --> 1:26:53.360 Down there, and Bibbo in Double Baby joined in Double Bay. 1:26:53.720 --> 1:26:54.360 What's next? 1:26:55.040 --> 1:26:57.120 Sure, maybe you expand sweep them a little bit more 1:26:57.720 --> 1:27:01.360 to other suburbs because Pedish and like it's good. That's 1:27:01.400 --> 1:27:03.320 probably I would love to do these expense sweet bell 1:27:03.360 --> 1:27:03.839 I meanto. 1:27:05.080 --> 1:27:06.640 I mean the only problem with the petishm side is 1:27:06.680 --> 1:27:08.759 it's now at a park. Yeah, that's not your fault. 1:27:08.880 --> 1:27:10.160 No, No, that's the way it is. 1:27:10.400 --> 1:27:10.600 It is. 1:27:10.680 --> 1:27:13.720 Yeah, so we for a bit of opportunitybe expand go 1:27:13.840 --> 1:27:17.280 to in the city or north south. 1:27:18.120 --> 1:27:22.080 Wherever there's more rent and people that like a Portuguese Well, 1:27:22.080 --> 1:27:24.720 congratulations on the story. I always ask people to come 1:27:24.720 --> 1:27:26.320 in for Friday food, not just talk about the food, 1:27:26.320 --> 1:27:29.679 but talk about the business. And the message every time 1:27:29.760 --> 1:27:32.679 is the same. It's tough. I mean, you've got rising 1:27:32.720 --> 1:27:36.720 insurance prices, rising energy prices, rising wages for staff by 1:27:37.000 --> 1:27:40.559 by law and statute. You've got a slow down in 1:27:40.600 --> 1:27:44.160 the economy, discretionary spenders down per capita, recession is on, 1:27:44.960 --> 1:27:46.679 and yet you know you've got to try to survive. 1:27:46.840 --> 1:27:49.240 It's not easy from a financial point of view, is it. 1:27:49.360 --> 1:27:51.880 No, it's not. It's like the last couple of years 1:27:51.920 --> 1:27:53.120 have been really hard. Everything. 1:27:53.200 --> 1:27:55.040 The cost of the cost of goods have gone up, 1:27:55.120 --> 1:27:58.719 like eggs have gone up by fifty forty percent. 1:27:58.560 --> 1:28:00.599 Is crazy, Like we use a lot of eggs. 1:28:01.000 --> 1:28:04.240 Sam as butter dairy, which is Yeah, it's just the 1:28:04.280 --> 1:28:08.320 cost of living and it's becoming harder and harder to 1:28:08.320 --> 1:28:12.640 to keep the costs. Yeah, the profit is the profitmagines 1:28:12.720 --> 1:28:14.599 have dropped a lot compared to what Well, you're. 1:28:15.320 --> 1:28:17.840 Right, you're not. You've got to make a profit. But equally, 1:28:17.880 --> 1:28:19.639 you've got to have a product that's at a price point, 1:28:19.680 --> 1:28:22.200 like you're selling Portuguese tarts, not houses. There's got to 1:28:22.200 --> 1:28:23.920 be a price point that someone says, yeah, okay, I 1:28:23.920 --> 1:28:25.000 can part with five. 1:28:24.840 --> 1:28:26.320 Dollars a yeah, five dollars. 1:28:26.320 --> 1:28:28.320 We chug five dollars for a Portuguese start, which is 1:28:28.560 --> 1:28:30.479 just makes Yeah, it's hard. 1:28:30.800 --> 1:28:34.000 Yeah, but you know, well, if they're good, people will pay. 1:28:34.080 --> 1:28:35.840 People pay for it, and they're good and that's why 1:28:35.920 --> 1:28:37.960 people are great to meet you. Thank you for coming in. 1:28:38.080 --> 1:28:39.880 I know you've brought a few things in here. I'll 1:28:39.880 --> 1:28:41.600 probably not get to taste any of them because the 1:28:41.600 --> 1:28:44.080 locusts will be here and they'll it's like a biblical 1:28:44.120 --> 1:28:47.479 peg on Friday food. But congratulations on the success and 1:28:47.680 --> 1:28:48.760 here's all strength of your hand. 1:28:48.840 --> 1:28:49.479 Thank you so much. 1:28:49.560 --> 1:28:51.600 Thanks for having my pleasure. Jose Silver, the owner of 1:28:51.640 --> 1:28:54.519 Sweet Bellem Cake, boutique. You find them at Petersham, New 1:28:54.560 --> 1:28:56.559 Canterbury Road there, I think from memory. It's all blue 1:28:56.560 --> 1:28:58.599 and white. You can't miss it. There'll be cues out 1:28:58.640 --> 1:29:01.800 the door. They're very very good. It's twenty one past two. 1:29:02.439 --> 1:29:05.519 It's that time of the afternoon. Time to find out 1:29:05.680 --> 1:29:09.040 what's coming up on Sydney Now for the Serrato successor, 1:29:09.160 --> 1:29:12.679 the turbo charged Kia K four kias on new small 1:29:12.760 --> 1:29:16.519 sedan GT Line very intavailable now find out more about 1:29:16.600 --> 1:29:18.040 Kia's latest small car. 1:29:19.240 --> 1:29:21.960 He's here with us the one and only Clinton Mainard. 1:29:21.960 --> 1:29:24.120 He will be hosting Sydney Now straight after three o'clock 1:29:24.120 --> 1:29:26.000 on what is a rather busy newsday. 1:29:26.000 --> 1:29:28.360 Hello Clinton, I've just walked into the studio. Good afternoon, 1:29:28.400 --> 1:29:32.240 Mick Mac and the scent in this studio, but the 1:29:32.320 --> 1:29:35.040 smell in this is I'm trying a new afterday. 1:29:35.040 --> 1:29:36.639 If you like it, it's beautiful. 1:29:36.680 --> 1:29:38.120 If I can go along to Grace Brothers and. 1:29:38.040 --> 1:29:40.400 Buy some arm to shave like that, Yes, it's a 1:29:40.439 --> 1:29:42.080 Faberge Odor cinnamon. 1:29:42.479 --> 1:29:46.240 It's beautiful, isn't it. The smell in here is just gorgeous. Yes, 1:29:47.880 --> 1:29:51.360 if something smells really nice, can it taste bad? 1:29:51.960 --> 1:29:55.040 Now? There's a question, eh, because we eat with our eyes, 1:29:55.080 --> 1:29:57.120 but all the sensors get activated, don't they. 1:29:57.320 --> 1:29:59.320 Or if something smells bad, because I think I've heard 1:29:59.320 --> 1:30:01.920 this one. It smells that can tastes good. 1:30:01.960 --> 1:30:05.640 That's true. There's that fruit in Asia. Oh there's the 1:30:05.640 --> 1:30:10.320 stinky I think it stinky fruit, and apparently that tastes fantastic, 1:30:10.360 --> 1:30:11.559 but at a scare effect. 1:30:12.360 --> 1:30:14.760 You know, I've been a regular touristic balley. There are 1:30:14.960 --> 1:30:16.920 venues in but they do not allow you to have 1:30:17.120 --> 1:30:18.479 stinky fruit in your hotel room. 1:30:18.520 --> 1:30:21.800 I didn't know McDonald's had those sides. That's all, that's 1:30:21.840 --> 1:30:22.559 where you eat. 1:30:22.400 --> 1:30:24.679 So admittedly I have been to McDonald's. 1:30:25.160 --> 1:30:28.800 There's a great shock. Okay, well maybe maybe just maybe 1:30:29.600 --> 1:30:31.599 because I'm just trying to think you're on the fly, 1:30:31.680 --> 1:30:35.040 which isn't always a good thing. But I don't think 1:30:35.120 --> 1:30:38.679 anything that from a food point of view, that smells 1:30:38.720 --> 1:30:41.839 good tastes bad. I can't think of an example. 1:30:42.439 --> 1:30:45.639 But anything that tastes good can't be healthy. 1:30:46.960 --> 1:30:49.559 Oh, raspberries are pretty good, aren't they? 1:30:49.880 --> 1:30:53.720 Raspberries healthy for you when they're not occidents? And yeah, 1:30:53.720 --> 1:30:56.320 they're not blueberries though, taste good. I think you're just 1:30:56.360 --> 1:30:59.959 thinking about stinky fruit overseas. I think McDonald's in Southeast 1:31:00.360 --> 1:31:03.800 at one point had a stinky fruit milkshake or thick 1:31:03.840 --> 1:31:09.320 shape promotion, the mc stinky Mix. Stinky Yes, coming up 1:31:09.320 --> 1:31:09.839 in the program. 1:31:09.880 --> 1:31:11.559 We're going to segue to the power story again. 1:31:12.320 --> 1:31:14.360 We are actually on the progres. It's that it's the 1:31:14.360 --> 1:31:17.160 Friday round Table after five and Amanda row is in 1:31:17.200 --> 1:31:19.280 a very special guest on the round table this afternoon, 1:31:19.479 --> 1:31:22.960 John Stanley. And one of our topics is there's been 1:31:23.000 --> 1:31:29.720 some research done into etiquette, toilet etiquette in the workplace. Yes, 1:31:29.760 --> 1:31:31.519 and we'll be discussing this in particular, John, given we 1:31:31.560 --> 1:31:32.360 work in close quarters. 1:31:32.400 --> 1:31:34.800 You used to have a quality show once upon a time. 1:31:34.960 --> 1:31:36.760 Oh, there's plenty of quality. Don't worry about that. 1:31:36.800 --> 1:31:38.800 You're talking about going to the toilet at. 1:31:38.680 --> 1:31:40.320 The office after five o'clock. 1:31:41.040 --> 1:31:44.400 Our program director Greg Burns was out there and obviously 1:31:44.400 --> 1:31:46.840 got the radio turned up really high. Oh no, Greg, 1:31:46.920 --> 1:31:49.040 would you mind just popping in here just episode briefly 1:31:49.240 --> 1:31:52.120 ever so, but we have a programming question that needs 1:31:52.120 --> 1:31:56.439 to do debate. Greg's just half for consuming a Portuguese tart. 1:31:58.080 --> 1:32:01.559 It's amazing. We haven't seen our program director all week 1:32:01.560 --> 1:32:04.960 and then the Portuguese suddenly he's turned up. Now greed 1:32:05.000 --> 1:32:09.320 good officially, Good afternoon, Clinton. Now, would you just like 1:32:09.439 --> 1:32:12.000 to reiterate, now that the boss is here, what you'll 1:32:12.000 --> 1:32:13.839 be discussing on the program this afternoon. 1:32:13.840 --> 1:32:17.360 We were discussing scent because the cinnamon Portuguese tut the 1:32:17.400 --> 1:32:17.920 smell is. 1:32:17.880 --> 1:32:19.839 Just gorgeous, smells wonderful in here. 1:32:19.640 --> 1:32:23.519 Which led us to discussing stinky fruit, which in parts 1:32:23.560 --> 1:32:26.800 of Southeast Asia Durian. No, but come on, give us 1:32:26.840 --> 1:32:28.920 not a stinky fruit. What are you going to talk 1:32:28.920 --> 1:32:31.040 to John Stanley about? Friday round Table is going to 1:32:31.080 --> 1:32:33.200 feature Amanda Rose and John Stanley this afternoon, and we 1:32:33.240 --> 1:32:35.080 will need to discussing the story that featured in the 1:32:35.080 --> 1:32:38.960 Australian Financial Review. I should point out, Michael about bathroom 1:32:39.000 --> 1:32:40.240 etiquette in the workplace. 1:32:42.120 --> 1:32:45.040 Yes, Clinton, maybe we won't be discussing this now. No, 1:32:45.800 --> 1:32:47.760 if you're not bringing Johnny in on a Friday to 1:32:47.800 --> 1:32:49.880 talk about barthroa and etiquette, we are. 1:32:51.439 --> 1:32:52.000 It gets better. 1:32:52.080 --> 1:32:54.439 There's an investigation in the Australian Financial Review today and 1:32:54.880 --> 1:32:55.439 means they're. 1:32:55.320 --> 1:32:56.200 Part of the nine family. 1:32:56.439 --> 1:32:59.800 Yes, and it's it just relates to what you should. 1:33:00.479 --> 1:33:04.680 Some people feel that just split it out talk about it. 1:33:05.000 --> 1:33:08.040 Some people, because of the smell, they feel they have 1:33:08.120 --> 1:33:10.800 to hang on until they get home rather than use 1:33:10.840 --> 1:33:14.800 the facilities in the workplace. Some research has been conducted. 1:33:15.439 --> 1:33:20.879 Over to you, John, it sounds like one wonderful program 1:33:20.960 --> 1:33:22.040 you have coming up Clinton. 1:33:22.120 --> 1:33:24.360 The Treasure of Daniel Lookie will be in studio after 1:33:24.400 --> 1:33:25.000 four o'clock. 1:33:25.080 --> 1:33:28.839 By cor we've had led Zeppelin, have a wonderful weekend, 1:33:28.880 --> 1:33:30.560 Michael Joy and tonight. 1:33:32.520 --> 1:33:34.479 A wonderful night. It will be thank you and I'll 1:33:34.520 --> 1:33:36.240 see you on Monday. I'm not sure about other people, 1:33:36.280 --> 1:33:39.080 but I'll be here on Monday, thank you. Greg. Yes, 1:33:39.320 --> 1:33:39.920 other than. 1:33:39.800 --> 1:33:41.760 That, the Treasure Daniel Lookie will be my guest in 1:33:41.800 --> 1:33:42.880 studio after four o'clock. 1:33:43.080 --> 1:33:44.040 To throw that to him as well. 1:33:44.920 --> 1:33:46.840 He's quite a character, Daniel Lookie. But no, we won't 1:33:46.840 --> 1:33:49.760 be discussing that particular ishue look that the budget has 1:33:49.800 --> 1:33:51.920 been released in a couple of weeks time. But also 1:33:52.320 --> 1:33:56.479 the snap inquiry into the workers' compensation scheme is on 1:33:56.640 --> 1:34:00.040 next week and I do have some information about that. 1:34:00.040 --> 1:34:02.320 Will be discussing with the treasurer after four o'clock. But 1:34:02.320 --> 1:34:04.200 I'm also going to use it as an opportunity if 1:34:04.600 --> 1:34:07.519 our listeners have questions that they'd like to pose to 1:34:07.560 --> 1:34:10.960 the Treasurer. If I know that the budget's being finalized 1:34:11.000 --> 1:34:14.160 at the moment, but if they see something around Sydney 1:34:14.160 --> 1:34:18.439 that they believe needs spending, that's a there's an oval 1:34:18.479 --> 1:34:20.720 for instance, that could do with new facilities. If there's 1:34:20.720 --> 1:34:23.360 something they think the government should be committing some spending 1:34:23.400 --> 1:34:24.400 to let us know. 1:34:24.520 --> 1:34:26.960 What about that hole on the Princess Highway of Rockdale 1:34:27.000 --> 1:34:29.400 that opened up today, Well, that'd be a great one 1:34:29.439 --> 1:34:31.680 to point a handy little thing to fill in. So 1:34:32.080 --> 1:34:34.639 if you've got a question, send me an email via 1:34:34.680 --> 1:34:36.360 two GV dot com in the next couple of hours 1:34:36.360 --> 1:34:37.840 we'll put it to the Treasurer. Or you can call 1:34:37.920 --> 1:34:39.680 one three one eight seven three after four o'clock this 1:34:39.720 --> 1:34:43.479 afternoon continuing the musical bent on the station today, Olivia 1:34:43.600 --> 1:34:45.640 will be producing your program from next week, so I 1:34:45.640 --> 1:34:48.160 know we'll be featuring led Zeppelin regularly, Yes on the 1:34:48.200 --> 1:34:50.600 afternoon programs. You got it out of a system. 1:34:52.040 --> 1:34:55.760 I've never seen leaving reaction in such a way. Tim 1:34:55.760 --> 1:34:59.040 Finn will be my guest after Wow Wonderful, the founder 1:34:59.040 --> 1:35:02.200 of Split Ends He contributed as well to Credit House, 1:35:02.400 --> 1:35:05.240 particularly with the wood Face album around nineteen ninety nineteen 1:35:05.360 --> 1:35:07.120 ninety one. So looking for the talking to Tim. 1:35:07.000 --> 1:35:10.080 Finn absolutely now someone who says parmesan cheese. But I 1:35:10.120 --> 1:35:12.320 think I think parmes And the problem is it smells 1:35:12.320 --> 1:35:14.640 pretty ordinary, but it tastes good. So we're looking for 1:35:14.640 --> 1:35:18.360 something that smells really good but tastes bad. Is there 1:35:18.439 --> 1:35:19.400 such a combination? 1:35:19.840 --> 1:35:20.719 It must be possible. 1:35:21.120 --> 1:35:24.519 Call everything's possible, but nothing's coming to mind. 1:35:24.920 --> 1:35:26.600 Well, we're just deal with the big issues on the 1:35:26.600 --> 1:35:28.120 City Now program. So I'll leave that to you for 1:35:28.160 --> 1:35:28.920 the last half hour of. 1:35:28.920 --> 1:35:31.240 You all the one, number one issues and the number 1:35:31.280 --> 1:35:36.519 two issues. Thank you Clinton, Thanks Clinton Maynard allegedly straight 1:35:36.560 --> 1:35:44.439 after three o'clock. In the meantime, let's go back to 1:35:44.479 --> 1:35:46.440 the newsroom or marg Good afternoon. 1:35:46.080 --> 1:35:49.080 Good afternoon, Michael. Just downs before Israel launched a strike 1:35:49.120 --> 1:35:52.599 on Iran, the United Nations Atomic watchdog agency had issued 1:35:52.640 --> 1:35:55.920 a censure to Iran for failing to comply with non 1:35:55.960 --> 1:35:59.719 proliferation obligations meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. 1:36:00.040 --> 1:36:02.840 Australia is promising another ten million dollars in aid through 1:36:02.920 --> 1:36:06.200 charity organizations to help provide medical supplies and food to 1:36:06.240 --> 1:36:09.200 the people of Gaza. Premier Chris Minn says his position 1:36:09.280 --> 1:36:12.000 is clear and Crown Barangaroo will not be able to 1:36:12.040 --> 1:36:15.240 install five hundred poker machines, and residents of a lib 1:36:15.240 --> 1:36:18.360 communit block are being forced to find alternative accommodation after 1:36:18.400 --> 1:36:21.920 a gas explosion injured two people and blasted out the 1:36:21.960 --> 1:36:25.320 exterior wall of the second floor apartment in Sport. Only 1:36:25.320 --> 1:36:27.519 ten players in a field of one hundred and fifty 1:36:27.520 --> 1:36:29.640 six have finished the day at under par after the 1:36:29.680 --> 1:36:32.519 opening round of the US Golf Open in Pittsburgh. American 1:36:32.600 --> 1:36:35.519 JJ Spawn leads the way at four under. And there'll 1:36:35.520 --> 1:36:36.639 be more news at three. 1:36:36.439 --> 1:36:38.560 O'clock on afternoons. 1:36:38.800 --> 1:36:42.719 A finance update for Pretzel Wealth and finance for Trusted 1:36:42.760 --> 1:36:45.920 Financial Planning just Google, Blake went to Pretzel. 1:36:46.520 --> 1:36:49.080 Okay, let's go to Scott Phillips, the chief investment officer 1:36:49.120 --> 1:36:51.200 of course at the Motley fool full dot com Dot 1:36:51.240 --> 1:36:56.719 you Friday. Finance, geopolitics and the markets intersect today, don't they, Scott? 1:36:57.520 --> 1:37:00.599 And as Michael, don't they if not nothing about tariffs, 1:37:00.600 --> 1:37:02.800 something else that's going on now. Of course, we've got 1:37:03.080 --> 1:37:06.120 the attacks in the Middle East, another kind of unfortunately 1:37:06.600 --> 1:37:10.960 common occurrence. What it's done is pushed oil price up dramatically. Brent, cruded, 1:37:11.280 --> 1:37:13.840 nine x light suite both up by more than ten 1:37:13.880 --> 1:37:17.479 percent after that news emerged. The question really is how 1:37:17.520 --> 1:37:20.120 much is it going to impact the supply of oil 1:37:20.320 --> 1:37:23.200 for the world market and the sublime slide demand to 1:37:23.280 --> 1:37:26.080 so finally balance that won't take much in either direction 1:37:26.200 --> 1:37:28.200 to really push that price up. So just after we 1:37:28.200 --> 1:37:30.639 were hoping inflation are starting to come down, we've seen, 1:37:30.720 --> 1:37:33.320 of course petrol price actually one of the bright spots 1:37:33.439 --> 1:37:35.920 pricing awise over the last twelve months or so. This 1:37:35.960 --> 1:37:38.519 will filter through very very quickly, I'm sure, to the 1:37:38.520 --> 1:37:40.600 petrol tank, to the bowser, and of course to the 1:37:40.600 --> 1:37:43.280 broader economy. You know, the oild and the local economy 1:37:43.360 --> 1:37:46.439 is both run on oil literally and metaphorically, and so yeah, 1:37:46.439 --> 1:37:47.960 when the price of that goes up, it does make 1:37:47.960 --> 1:37:51.040 everything else much more expensive. Goes right through the supply chains. 1:37:51.040 --> 1:37:52.800 Not only put petrol in the tank, but you know 1:37:53.120 --> 1:37:56.040 the food they driver, the trading everybody getting around the country. 1:37:56.200 --> 1:37:58.760 If you're using petrol, if using diesel, then you're going 1:37:58.800 --> 1:38:01.000 to be impacted. Unfortunately if this continues. 1:38:00.680 --> 1:38:02.400 And it's already taking I think up eight point three 1:38:02.400 --> 1:38:04.880 percent overnight in trade or in the last few hours 1:38:04.880 --> 1:38:07.920 on the American market. So oil up now the market's 1:38:07.920 --> 1:38:10.320 and the dollar. How are we reacting to what's taking place? 1:38:10.680 --> 1:38:12.679 Yeah, not well. We started the day with a little 1:38:12.720 --> 1:38:16.479 time bit of optimism with negative territory ever since, kind 1:38:16.520 --> 1:38:18.519 of about the bottom of the day's trading range too. 1:38:18.560 --> 1:38:20.200 I hope it sticks there, it doesn't go any lower, 1:38:20.280 --> 1:38:22.280 but at the moment, down half a percent to eighty 1:38:22.360 --> 1:38:24.919 seven hundred and fifty six points. That's the all ordinaries. 1:38:25.240 --> 1:38:27.320 The dollar is down against all the major currencies that 1:38:27.360 --> 1:38:29.920 canadi in the end, the British pound, the Euro, and 1:38:30.040 --> 1:38:32.719 the US dollar, where it's off four tenths percent sixty 1:38:32.720 --> 1:38:34.360 four point seventy four US sins. 1:38:34.400 --> 1:38:36.960 All right, Scott, thank you, enjoy your weekends. Scott Filip 1:38:36.960 --> 1:38:39.400 said from the Motley fool full dot com dot AU. 1:38:39.479 --> 1:38:42.240 We'll have another chat about the situation in the Middle 1:38:42.240 --> 1:38:45.320 East shortly with Dave Sharma. A few suggestions coming through 1:38:45.360 --> 1:38:47.720 here about the things that probably smell pretty good but 1:38:47.760 --> 1:38:50.439 actually taste bad. Because I mean, off the top of 1:38:50.439 --> 1:38:52.080 my head, I couldn't think. There's plenty of things that 1:38:52.240 --> 1:38:55.960 smell bad but allegedly taste good depending on your taste buds. 1:38:56.720 --> 1:38:59.639 But the other way around, where it smells really good 1:39:00.120 --> 1:39:05.280 actually tastes bad. Someone says, maybe vegimite, but I don't know. Well, 1:39:05.600 --> 1:39:07.320 it's like artists in the eye or the nose of 1:39:07.360 --> 1:39:12.080 the beholder, but I don't know. Vegemite smells good. Someone 1:39:12.080 --> 1:39:14.920 here says, my wife's cooking, it smells good but tastes 1:39:15.000 --> 1:39:20.280 terrible most nights. That's nice if you peter this one 1:39:20.360 --> 1:39:27.160 says coffee powder. Coffee powder smells great, but it tastes bad. Okay, yeah. 1:39:27.280 --> 1:39:31.519 Licorice is a suggestion from Matt. Does it have much 1:39:31.520 --> 1:39:35.679 of a smell? Maybe slightly. I guess some might say 1:39:35.720 --> 1:39:38.840 anie or aniseed, because I think that smells really good, 1:39:38.840 --> 1:39:40.320 but it's a bit of an aquiet taste, the black 1:39:40.360 --> 1:39:42.479 jelly bean or the uzo. I mean, I like the taste, 1:39:42.479 --> 1:39:44.439 but a lot of people that smells good, but I'm 1:39:44.479 --> 1:39:47.360 not going to maybe that. I know in Germany when 1:39:47.400 --> 1:39:51.760 we go there, if you go to the areas I 1:39:51.760 --> 1:39:55.880 think north of Frankfort, there is a product there that 1:39:55.920 --> 1:39:58.040 you can get in markets and things, and it's called 1:39:58.320 --> 1:40:02.719 hard keser. And let me tell you, when they bring 1:40:02.800 --> 1:40:06.519 this thing out on a plate, it smells like, you know, 1:40:06.920 --> 1:40:10.519 Uncle Bob's wet socks from the nineteen eighty seven Grand 1:40:10.520 --> 1:40:13.360 Final that have been left in a washing basket in 1:40:13.479 --> 1:40:17.880 some dingy house since then. It stinks like it is 1:40:18.120 --> 1:40:24.080 really really gross. Yet the Germans say, oh, this tastes 1:40:24.600 --> 1:40:27.640 really good. I think you gotta be kidding me, like 1:40:27.840 --> 1:40:32.439 it's punishment stuff. But anyway, apparently, apparently the old hard 1:40:32.520 --> 1:40:35.800 kes is a great thing. It apparently tastes so good. 1:40:35.800 --> 1:40:38.840 They have it with like like raw onion or something 1:40:38.880 --> 1:40:42.800 that jeez, each to their own. I think a chef 1:40:42.840 --> 1:40:46.160 came up with that in pretty desperate times, just quietly. Anyway, 1:40:46.240 --> 1:40:48.360 So you might have a suggestion, well, no doubt, come 1:40:48.400 --> 1:40:50.080 up at least one or two answer between now and then. 1:40:50.280 --> 1:40:54.719 Things that smell really good but actually taste really bad. 1:40:54.880 --> 1:40:57.519 It's twenty three to three. It's nineteen and a half 1:40:57.600 --> 1:40:59.800 minutes to three. Now this winter, treat yourself to the 1:40:59.800 --> 1:41:03.479 wall of five star luxury. 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The news continues to come through 1:42:07.439 --> 1:42:10.120 from Iran and Israel as to what has happened earlier today. 1:42:10.360 --> 1:42:12.559 It is the big news of the day, no doubt. 1:42:12.560 --> 1:42:15.519 The world's attention has been drawn back to the Middle 1:42:15.560 --> 1:42:20.200 East after Israel launched those targeted strikes on Iran and 1:42:20.360 --> 1:42:24.640 in and around Tehran, the capital. Now. Iran has responded 1:42:25.640 --> 1:42:30.080 by saying they will they will fight back somehow, but 1:42:30.200 --> 1:42:32.880 so far we haven't seen what that's going to look like. 1:42:32.920 --> 1:42:35.840 We've seen Iran Supreme Leader I tolda Hamani warn that 1:42:36.040 --> 1:42:39.240 Israel will face quite quite severe punishment for the attacks, 1:42:39.280 --> 1:42:42.559 adding that the Zionist regime has prepared a bitter and 1:42:42.600 --> 1:42:45.360 painful fate for itself and it will certainly receive it. 1:42:46.320 --> 1:42:50.320 Israel are prepared. Let's just see what Iran do now. 1:42:50.360 --> 1:42:53.160 As we know, Israel says that this was an attack 1:42:53.240 --> 1:42:56.280 needed to stop the development of nuclear weapons in Iran. 1:42:56.400 --> 1:42:58.120 As you know, I have been saying on this show 1:42:58.160 --> 1:43:00.599 for I think the better part of four months, maybe longer, 1:43:00.840 --> 1:43:03.160 this was going to happen. It was only a matter 1:43:03.200 --> 1:43:06.960 of time. Well, somebody who understands the region incredibly well, 1:43:07.040 --> 1:43:10.280 I think better than most Australians is our former ambassador 1:43:10.360 --> 1:43:13.400 to Israel now Senator of course, Dave Sharma, and he's 1:43:13.439 --> 1:43:15.559 with me on the line. Dave, thank you for being there. 1:43:15.560 --> 1:43:16.559 I appreciate it. 1:43:16.560 --> 1:43:17.240 It's a pleasure. 1:43:17.280 --> 1:43:17.920 Great to join you. 1:43:18.920 --> 1:43:22.720 Another day and another development in the Middle East. I 1:43:22.800 --> 1:43:25.920 suspect maybe you had always suspected, well for some time, 1:43:26.000 --> 1:43:29.360 that this day was a matter if, a matter of 1:43:29.400 --> 1:43:32.000 when not if. Is that the case? 1:43:32.680 --> 1:43:35.800 Yeah, Look, I think you need to see this action 1:43:35.920 --> 1:43:39.040 over nine in that's context, and that's the context where 1:43:39.160 --> 1:43:42.960 Israel and Iran have basically been in conflict now for 1:43:43.040 --> 1:43:45.720 several years, and even over the last two years, in 1:43:45.800 --> 1:43:49.040 quite open conflict. I mean, in twenty twenty four there 1:43:49.080 --> 1:43:54.000 were two substantive exchanges of direct fire and attacks involving 1:43:54.000 --> 1:43:57.519 missiles and drones and aircraft between Israel and Iran. And 1:43:57.560 --> 1:44:01.200 this is really, I think the next next chapter in 1:44:02.320 --> 1:44:05.760 what is now frombly the major driver of conflict in 1:44:05.760 --> 1:44:06.400 the Middle East. 1:44:07.000 --> 1:44:09.639 I think Penny Wong, the Foreign Minister, said today when 1:44:09.680 --> 1:44:12.320 asked that Australia was quote unquote alarmed. I think that 1:44:12.400 --> 1:44:14.040 was the word that she used. I mean, should we 1:44:14.080 --> 1:44:16.280 have been alarmed? I mean, if radio people like me 1:44:16.439 --> 1:44:18.360 can see this is coming four months off. I mean, 1:44:18.400 --> 1:44:22.240 why would the foreign minister be alarmed by the foreseeable development? 1:44:23.800 --> 1:44:26.759 Yeah, I don't think I would have used those words. 1:44:26.800 --> 1:44:30.479 I mean, look, obviously, anytime that you know, conflict breaks 1:44:30.479 --> 1:44:33.400 out into the open and nations are at war with 1:44:33.439 --> 1:44:37.200 one another, it's concerning. But I think that the signs 1:44:37.240 --> 1:44:39.400 of you know, as I said, that conflict has been 1:44:39.439 --> 1:44:42.760 underway between Israel and a Run for some time. We've 1:44:42.800 --> 1:44:46.880 known that, you know, the US administration was trying diplomatic 1:44:46.960 --> 1:44:49.400 talks with Iran, but they'd also said that they were 1:44:49.400 --> 1:44:53.479 giving that two months to succeed, and if that didn't happen, 1:44:53.479 --> 1:44:55.439 if they didn't succeed within two months, you know, all 1:44:55.479 --> 1:44:58.120 bets were off the table. Well, you know, two months 1:44:58.160 --> 1:45:00.840 passed just yesterday. So I don't think this is necessarily 1:45:00.880 --> 1:45:01.439 a surprise. 1:45:02.240 --> 1:45:05.920 Okay, Now, it seems though the Israelis have gone after 1:45:06.160 --> 1:45:11.879 certain military sites. Some of these are very very heavily defended. 1:45:11.960 --> 1:45:15.080 In fact, they're in mountains, they're in bunkers, in tunnels. 1:45:15.600 --> 1:45:18.000 How effective do you think the strikes have been? Have 1:45:18.040 --> 1:45:21.200 we got any sense of how complete the destruction has been. 1:45:23.240 --> 1:45:26.320 My understanding is that this operation is likely the last 1:45:26.360 --> 1:45:28.599 several days is not just going to be the wave 1:45:28.640 --> 1:45:33.080 of strikes we've seen because the nature of the facilities 1:45:33.080 --> 1:45:37.240 they're targeting, which are underground in enrichment facilities, uranium and 1:45:37.360 --> 1:45:42.320 richment facilities designed to acquire the precursors for a nuclear weapon. 1:45:43.000 --> 1:45:47.759 They are very deep, underground, in natural with natural barriers, 1:45:47.760 --> 1:45:50.559 in mountains with large amounts of concrete over them. So 1:45:50.880 --> 1:45:53.160 the amount of munitions you need to drop to basically 1:45:53.280 --> 1:45:56.360 destroy or disable or do significant damage to these sites 1:45:56.439 --> 1:46:01.920 is large. And Israel doesn't have assets, and it's fleet 1:46:02.000 --> 1:46:03.720 like a B two bomber or a B fifty two 1:46:03.760 --> 1:46:07.280 bomber that can carry very large munitions. So I suspect 1:46:07.760 --> 1:46:11.240 what we've seen overnight is only the first of what 1:46:11.320 --> 1:46:13.200 we will see over several days play out. 1:46:13.600 --> 1:46:16.519 Iran will respond, but in the past they've responded and 1:46:16.520 --> 1:46:18.000 it's been a bit of a damp squid, and now 1:46:18.040 --> 1:46:23.679 their proxies are largely disarmed and destroyed because of what's 1:46:23.680 --> 1:46:27.720 happened the last year or two. So it'll be fascinating 1:46:27.720 --> 1:46:29.960 to see what that response looks like, whether they go 1:46:30.000 --> 1:46:33.160 all out and risk some sort of massive retaliation again 1:46:33.200 --> 1:46:35.760 from Israel, or whether we just get that sort of 1:46:36.040 --> 1:46:38.240 usual reign of missiles, most of which are knocked out 1:46:38.240 --> 1:46:38.920 with the iron dome. 1:46:40.560 --> 1:46:44.040 Look, that is obviously what everyone's watching. I know Israel's 1:46:44.080 --> 1:46:47.759 on high alert and their home front commanders, operating people 1:46:47.800 --> 1:46:51.680 are being told to stay near shelters and to not 1:46:51.760 --> 1:46:56.320 go outside. I think there's two questions here. One is, 1:46:57.040 --> 1:46:59.880 there are reports that a number of seen Iranian military 1:47:00.000 --> 1:47:02.200 bigguers have been killed in this first wave of strike. 1:47:02.360 --> 1:47:06.479 So is their command and control operational system intact? Are 1:47:06.560 --> 1:47:09.120 they able to mount a military response or will their 1:47:09.120 --> 1:47:13.320 communications are broken down? And then secondly, you know, how 1:47:13.360 --> 1:47:15.640 effective will the response be that they mount. Will it 1:47:15.680 --> 1:47:19.400 be ballistic missiles and drones? Will they be shot down 1:47:19.439 --> 1:47:24.440 or intercepted by Israel? Or will they potentially target third countries? 1:47:25.280 --> 1:47:28.080 You know, will they target US military and installations in 1:47:28.120 --> 1:47:31.759 the region. Will they target oil infrastructure in the Gulf States? 1:47:31.800 --> 1:47:33.519 Those are all possible options as well. 1:47:34.800 --> 1:47:37.719 What about let's bring this back to Australia just briefly, Dave, 1:47:37.760 --> 1:47:39.920 and that is, are there any lessons in everything that's 1:47:39.960 --> 1:47:42.360 been going on the last few years here for Australia, 1:47:42.360 --> 1:47:44.320 particularly from a military point of view, to learn I 1:47:44.320 --> 1:47:47.520 mean You've got Israel, tiny dot on the map, surrounded 1:47:48.200 --> 1:47:52.680 increasingly by neighbors that are open to doing business. But 1:47:52.720 --> 1:47:55.160 in the case of Iran and some of their proxies 1:47:55.200 --> 1:47:58.920 in and around Israel itself, immediately enemy states, big, large, 1:47:58.960 --> 1:48:02.880 populous enemy state. They've got militaries, and yet Israel seems 1:48:02.920 --> 1:48:06.200 to have the capability to defend, not just defend itself, 1:48:06.240 --> 1:48:10.000 but to preemptively strike when they think that their interests 1:48:10.000 --> 1:48:12.800 are threatened. Now we look at the Australian Defense Force 1:48:12.880 --> 1:48:16.679 by comparison, we don't look like we could premptively strike 1:48:16.760 --> 1:48:19.960 much at all, and yet we are increasingly being surrounded 1:48:20.000 --> 1:48:24.120 by big and growing military threats. Is there some lessons 1:48:24.120 --> 1:48:25.920 that we should be drawing out of all of this. 1:48:27.400 --> 1:48:30.240 Well, I think the most important lesson is ultimately, to 1:48:30.280 --> 1:48:33.040 safeguard your freedom and your sovereignty, you need to have 1:48:33.120 --> 1:48:37.679 the capacity to defend yourself by yourself if necessary. Now, 1:48:38.040 --> 1:48:41.879 traditionally in Australia we've relied upon the nine external environment 1:48:41.960 --> 1:48:45.280 and our alliance with initially the United Kingdom and then 1:48:45.600 --> 1:48:48.880 after the Second World War, the United States to sort 1:48:48.920 --> 1:48:51.280 of offset the need for us to do much of 1:48:51.320 --> 1:48:55.080 the defending ourselves. But our environment has changes. Any number 1:48:55.120 --> 1:48:58.120 of senior defense officials is indeed, the Prime Minister has said, 1:48:59.120 --> 1:49:02.439 but we don't yet see to have made the step 1:49:02.520 --> 1:49:06.080 change necessary to start equipping our defense force to defend 1:49:06.080 --> 1:49:08.920 ourselves in a more contested environment. I mean, Israel has 1:49:08.920 --> 1:49:12.160 always been a state since it was created in nineteen 1:49:12.200 --> 1:49:14.760 forty eight that has known, It has known that if 1:49:14.760 --> 1:49:17.559 it doesn't have the capacity to defend itself, it will 1:49:17.560 --> 1:49:20.400 not survive for long. We haven't ever been faced with 1:49:20.520 --> 1:49:22.920 quite a starker choice in Australia, at least not since 1:49:22.920 --> 1:49:25.559 the Second World War. But it's time we started to 1:49:25.600 --> 1:49:26.520 take that seriously. 1:49:27.400 --> 1:49:31.120 No doubt you had dealings somehow with all via proxies 1:49:31.240 --> 1:49:35.320 with Benjaminett and Yahoo. What's his thinking here as all 1:49:35.360 --> 1:49:38.040 this unfolds? Why did you decide to go? Now? What's 1:49:38.080 --> 1:49:39.360 going on in his mind? Do you think? 1:49:40.080 --> 1:49:42.240 Look? I had a number of dealings with him over 1:49:42.280 --> 1:49:45.320 the years, and met him quite often when I was 1:49:45.360 --> 1:49:50.280 the ambassador. Look he sees it, I guess as his 1:49:50.280 --> 1:49:53.240 historic role and mission, as most Israeli leaders would, to 1:49:53.439 --> 1:49:56.040 make sure the Jewish state survives and make make sure 1:49:56.120 --> 1:50:01.519 Israel survives and prospers in a difficult extern environment. I 1:50:01.520 --> 1:50:03.519 think Israel has known for some time that there is 1:50:03.800 --> 1:50:08.080 a window of opportunity here to significantly set back Iran's 1:50:08.160 --> 1:50:11.879 nuclear program, nuclear weapons program, and it's ballistic missile program. 1:50:12.479 --> 1:50:15.000 They have been wanting to take it. That's been quite clear. 1:50:15.720 --> 1:50:18.719 I think the United States had restrained them from doing 1:50:18.760 --> 1:50:22.879 so up until now, but clearly you know that signal 1:50:22.920 --> 1:50:27.080 has changed, and they see almost once in a decade 1:50:27.160 --> 1:50:31.400 or wanting two dedicade, opportunity to step back the capacity 1:50:31.400 --> 1:50:35.559 of Iran to do them harm significantly. And they've done 1:50:35.560 --> 1:50:38.400 this in the past, whether it was with series nascent 1:50:38.520 --> 1:50:41.759 nuclear weapons program, whether it was a Rax nuclear weapons 1:50:41.760 --> 1:50:45.960 program in forty years ago and twenty years ago. So 1:50:46.040 --> 1:50:48.360 they have always shown a willingness to act to safeguard 1:50:48.360 --> 1:50:51.519 their security preemptively if need be. And that's what Benjamin 1:50:51.640 --> 1:50:52.400 Smo who. 1:50:53.760 --> 1:50:56.360 Has on show today, Okay, just finally, we don't know 1:50:56.360 --> 1:50:59.080 what's coming and so therefore we don't know what's on 1:50:59.120 --> 1:51:01.240 the horizon. This could get a lot bigger, we don't know. 1:51:01.320 --> 1:51:03.880 But in the here and the now, has Israel done 1:51:03.880 --> 1:51:06.280 the whole West of favor by doing what they've done today. 1:51:07.439 --> 1:51:12.559 Well, look, there's no doubt that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, 1:51:13.160 --> 1:51:16.840 as the International Atomic Energy Agency found just yesterday, is 1:51:17.000 --> 1:51:20.960 not compliant with its observance of international norms. But more importantly, 1:51:21.000 --> 1:51:24.519 it's a ballistic weapons program. It's supports to armed terrorist 1:51:24.520 --> 1:51:26.400 groups in the region, it's supports to the who Is, 1:51:26.439 --> 1:51:30.360 its support to Hesblah, it's support to the Asad regime. 1:51:31.320 --> 1:51:34.599 Generally speaking, Iran has been a huge source of global 1:51:34.640 --> 1:51:37.200 instability in the world. And bear in mind, you know 1:51:37.400 --> 1:51:41.200 Iranian drones are funding Russias or supporting Russia's war effort 1:51:41.200 --> 1:51:43.519 against Ukraine. So it's not only in the Middle East. 1:51:43.560 --> 1:51:47.320 So I think in Iran that is less interested or 1:51:47.400 --> 1:51:51.720 less capable and exporting its extremist ideology and terror to 1:51:51.760 --> 1:51:53.360 the rest of the world. I think that's a positive 1:51:53.360 --> 1:51:55.640 thing for Australia. I think it's a positive thing for 1:51:55.720 --> 1:51:56.120 the world. 1:51:56.320 --> 1:51:58.320 Good to speak, hope you have a good weekend. Thank 1:51:58.360 --> 1:51:58.760 you for your. 1:51:58.680 --> 1:52:01.160 Inside Dave pleasure, Thanks for having me on. 1:52:01.280 --> 1:52:03.880 Senator Dave Sharma. I'm being told we're back on here. Okay, 1:52:03.920 --> 1:52:05.880 five minutes to three. Time for track of the day. 1:52:05.920 --> 1:52:09.439 I've got one last double passed Riviera Revenge to give away. 1:52:09.520 --> 1:52:12.879 Fantastic movie, all set down there on the sunny French Riviera, 1:52:12.960 --> 1:52:15.479 which looks a lot better than Greg gloomy Sidney at 1:52:15.479 --> 1:52:19.240 the moment. French smash it romantic comedy. It's in Australian 1:52:19.240 --> 1:52:21.000 cinemas from June twenty six. If you want the double 1:52:21.000 --> 1:52:24.040 pass one three one eight seven three. There's a question, though, 1:52:24.040 --> 1:52:25.880 you've got to get through first. It was on this 1:52:26.000 --> 1:52:29.719 day in nineteen ninety nine that an Australian boxer's thirty 1:52:29.840 --> 1:52:32.320 two year career ended. It was up on the Gold Coast. 1:52:32.280 --> 1:52:35.599 He had a win over the American bad News Levi Billips. 1:52:35.640 --> 1:52:37.439 I think it was on this day in nineteen ninety 1:52:37.520 --> 1:52:40.200 nine which Assie Box's career came to an end. Thirty 1:52:40.200 --> 1:52:41.800 two glorious he is, he had a win to finish 1:52:41.840 --> 1:52:44.720 it off. What's his name? One three one eight seven three. 1:52:44.760 --> 1:52:46.120 Here's your inspirational music. 1:52:46.200 --> 1:52:49.839 I am just to pull aboard or my story selm 1:52:50.000 --> 1:52:56.080 toolls lissistance for a part at full of manger. 1:52:55.960 --> 1:53:02.160 Such a Prima Sands and just still the man he 1:53:02.479 --> 1:53:06.320 is what he wants to hear and disregards. 1:53:05.560 --> 1:53:11.720 The rest We've got on your brad from Newington The 1:53:11.720 --> 1:53:15.400 answer of course being Joe Bugner World done, Joe, great career. 1:53:15.760 --> 1:53:17.840 Thank you for your company this week. Everybody, a big 1:53:17.920 --> 1:53:19.599 thank you to the team for all of their help, 1:53:19.680 --> 1:53:21.639 not just today but throughout the week. We'll be back 1:53:21.680 --> 1:53:23.120 on Monday to do it all again