Speaker 1: Prime Minister the Party. Ventral Politics with Dennis Shanahan, National
Speaker 1: Editor of The Australian Dennis Shanahan, Good morning, good day, lude,
Speaker 1: nice day in Camper. I'm sure it is, my friend.
Speaker 2: It's a very nice day. And on down the coast
Speaker 2: it's even nicer.
Speaker 1: Of course you are, or you're probably not far from
Speaker 1: that bus manufacturing planet at Nara.
Speaker 2: But we well, I was listening to that. I'm I'm
Speaker 2: a little bit further south, okay, but it's beautiful on
Speaker 2: my cap.
Speaker 1: Sure it is lost to talk about here. The Trump
Speaker 1: administration's asked Australia to lift its defense spending. The Deputy
Speaker 1: Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles says, we're up
Speaker 1: for the conversation. The PM's not so convinced.
Speaker 2: Is he. No, he's not. Look, we knew this request
Speaker 2: was going to come. Ever since Donald Trump was elected president.
Speaker 2: He's been saying he wants all the allies to spend more.
Speaker 2: He's asked the Europeans to spend five percent of their GDP.
Speaker 2: The figure that the US has pointed to Australia is
Speaker 2: about three percent now. During the election campaign or before
Speaker 2: the election campaign, Labor committed to a two percent going
Speaker 2: to two point three in eight years time. Now, that's
Speaker 2: well short of what the US administration has now asked
Speaker 2: Richard Miles for in Singapore, and Richard Miles I said, yeah,
Speaker 2: we're up for this conversation. I love this term that
Speaker 2: we're up for the conversation. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister this
Speaker 2: week has been bagging out think Tank for saying that
Speaker 2: we needed to spend more and say no, we don't
Speaker 2: and all the rest. So it looks like Richard Miles
Speaker 2: and Anthony A. Lbernozi are going to have to have
Speaker 2: one of those conversations about increasing spending now. Peter Dutton
Speaker 2: committed during the campaign to increase defense spending to three percent.
Speaker 2: Now the Prime Minister indicated that he would spend more
Speaker 2: if necessary. The question now is does he think it's
Speaker 2: necessary that the US is saying, yes, we need to
Speaker 2: put in an estimated extra twenty eight billion dollars into
Speaker 2: the defense budget.
Speaker 1: Goodness me. The coalition finally back together. A new team
Speaker 1: looks to be a product of the factions and payback
Speaker 1: as well being very inexperienced, making the future potentially harder.
Speaker 1: In opposition, people like Jane Hume, who obviously screwed things
Speaker 1: up at a ridiculous level with that work from home idea,
Speaker 1: even though it was for the public service. It was
Speaker 1: so easy for the government to twist that. But she's
Speaker 1: mia to center. Price looks like she's been demoted. What
Speaker 1: do you make of it?
Speaker 2: Well, look the Jacinta Novinjimpa Price is is a typical
Speaker 2: example here. She defected from the NATS after the Country
Speaker 2: Liberal Party to be precise to the Liberal Party and
Speaker 2: joined them and said she'd be in their party room.
Speaker 2: The expectation was that she would be rewarded with this
Speaker 2: and that she would likely be Indigenous affairs spokesman for
Speaker 2: the Liberals. Now it turns out Karen Little a very
Speaker 2: good by the way, she's very good, and I've got
Speaker 2: no problem. In fact, I think it's a very good appointment.
Speaker 2: But it is clear that some of the expectations from
Speaker 2: Susan Lee's decisions on who she put wear have fallen
Speaker 2: well short. Certainly Jane Hume has suffered her from working
Speaker 2: from Hume problems. But she was one of the better
Speaker 2: performers for the coalition in opposition. She was a good
Speaker 2: financed spokesman and so I think that she's really suffered,
Speaker 2: probably too much of a demotion then, more than she deserved.
Speaker 2: We saw Angus Taylor shifted to foreign affairs. Now he
Speaker 2: had not really hit the government hard enough on the
Speaker 2: economy when he should have, but his foreign affairs isn't
Speaker 2: so much of a demotion. It's a bit of a
Speaker 2: sideway shift. But there are other promotions and emotions which
Speaker 2: indicate Susan Lee and David Little Proud rewarding people who
Speaker 2: voted for them in close leadership ballots. This is always
Speaker 2: a recipe for disaster and what we've seen, particularly in
Speaker 2: the appointments in New South Wales is what everyone feared,
Speaker 2: and that is the continuation of the factional fighting, which
Speaker 2: in the New South Wales branch is particularly bad. It's
Speaker 2: not real flashy elsewhere, I have to admit, but it
Speaker 2: does indicate that the Susan Lee David a Little Proud team.
Speaker 2: While they are a coalition of short on experience, some
Speaker 2: people have been favored above others because of backing and
Speaker 2: factional support, and I don't think this is good for
Speaker 2: the long term, which for a fairly inexperienced group to
Speaker 2: take on what is now a very confident government.
Speaker 1: Yeah, confident. They certainly are all right. Dentists just hold
Speaker 1: their re sect. My friend will take a break, come
Speaker 1: back and talk more. We've got carbon emission reduction targets,
Speaker 1: so we're going to get there. I'm not so sure.
Speaker 1: We will back with Dennis on that and plenty more
Speaker 1: after this. Just before I get back to Dennis, a
Speaker 1: couple of things quickly.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 1: L four Westmead and Carlingford Line light rail services are
Speaker 1: running between Westmeat and Paramatta Square. There are urgent tram
Speaker 1: repairs at the Children's Hospital. We've just been told this,
Speaker 1: and replacement us as have been requested but are yet
Speaker 1: to start running. More details upcoming. And the woman accused
Speaker 1: of the murder of her three year old daughter near
Speaker 1: Bunderberg earlier this week has been found unresponsive in her
Speaker 1: cell at Queensland Police saying detectives from the Corrective Services
Speaker 1: Investigation Unit investigating after a thirty two year old woman
Speaker 1: was located unresponsive violent custody at Brisbane Women's Correctional Center yesterday.
Speaker 1: There's no further information. Lauren Ingrid Flannigan, thirty two, allegedly
Speaker 1: stabbed her daughter Sofia multiple times on the front law
Speaker 1: lawn of their home at Moore Park Beach on Monday.
Speaker 1: Again we'll get further info. Miss Flannagan's been transferred. I'm
Speaker 1: told to hospital one three one eight seven three is
Speaker 1: a number. On a Saturday morning, we chapped to Dennis Shanahan,
Speaker 1: the national editor of The Oars and Dennis failing carbon
Speaker 1: emission reduction targets and rising tricity prices putting new pressure
Speaker 1: on the government's renewable energy policies.
Speaker 2: Yes, look, look the government got you know, it's set
Speaker 2: a big mandate for its renewable energies policy from the
Speaker 2: election campaign, but now we've got a few problems starting
Speaker 2: to appear. For a start, on the sort of the
Speaker 2: environmental climate change side, it is clear now the government
Speaker 2: is not going to reach its twenty thirty emissions targets.
Speaker 2: It is not going to do it. The latest figures
Speaker 2: show that carbon emissions are increasing and as the Green said,
Speaker 2: they're actually higher than they were under Scott Morrison. That's
Speaker 2: partly because the COVID impact on manufacturing. But what we've
Speaker 2: actually seen is an increase in carbon emissions, particularly from
Speaker 2: the power sector, and so what we've actually got is
Speaker 2: the government suffering from increased its promises and targets being
Speaker 2: broken because of the increased use of coal fired power stations,
Speaker 2: extending the life of coal five power stations. We need
Speaker 2: this for the electricity, but it means that the emissions
Speaker 2: are going up. And not only that, in addition, the
Speaker 2: renewable rollout of all the windmills and the offshore wind production,
Speaker 2: the big solar are all falling behind Hydro, the snowy
Speaker 2: hydro falling behind, going behind schedule. So they're just not
Speaker 2: going to reach these targets. And on the other side,
Speaker 2: on the consumer side, electricity prices are going to go
Speaker 2: up on the East Coast from July one by ten percent.
Speaker 2: So we all remember that promise of the cut in
Speaker 2: our electricity prices of two hundred and seventy five dollars
Speaker 2: the election before. So what the government is now seeing
Speaker 2: is after the election in the coldhar a light of
Speaker 2: day is what we're seeing. Increased power prices, increase carbon emissions,
Speaker 2: and both of them are hurting them in different parts
Speaker 2: of the.
Speaker 1: Electric Yeah, it's just unraveling like many people said it would,
Speaker 1: and it will continue. And I'll just say, oh, we
Speaker 1: need to get more solar and more wind, and I'll
Speaker 1: just make it worse. Do you think there'll be another
Speaker 1: interest rate cut in July?
Speaker 2: Well, look, I think that the figures certainly suggest they would.
Speaker 2: I didn't think the Reserve Bank would go as it
Speaker 2: did at the last meeting, but they did, and that
Speaker 2: was shown this week to have been the right decision
Speaker 2: because what we've seen inflation has been steady, but retail
Speaker 2: sales are down. This is the first time in several
Speaker 2: years that retail sales on a month to month basis
Speaker 2: have actually gone down. We've also had a collapse in
Speaker 2: private investment for business. These are big problems for the government.
Speaker 2: We've got all of the employer groups, all of the
Speaker 2: business groups, all the industry groups saying we're in a
Speaker 2: real bother now productivity and we're seeing increased industrial action,
Speaker 2: increased demands for higher wages, and the private sector is
Speaker 2: saying we're not going to invest while we've got all
Speaker 2: of these problems. This was the biggest drop in private
Speaker 2: investment for years, and it has really come as a
Speaker 2: surprise to both the Treasury and business. So I think
Speaker 2: that the economy is starting to get into that sort
Speaker 2: of delayed reaction where people are pulling back from spending
Speaker 2: money and business is saying we're not going to invest.
Speaker 2: These are longer term problems the government is really going
Speaker 2: to have to face, and I think the Reserve Bank
Speaker 2: will probably have to cut rates again in July.
Speaker 1: Have a nice time down on the South coast, mate,
Speaker 1: always good to chat to you. Look after yourself and
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you in a week's time, thankfully. Dennis Shanahan,
Speaker 1: National editor of the Australian newspaper. It all looks. It's
Speaker 1: incredible the speed with which political news, financial news and
Speaker 1: the like revolves, and how things can quickly turn, and
Speaker 1: how you know you need to have a steady hand,
Speaker 1: and that of letting a government is not the best
Speaker 1: three word slogan that's on offer. I'm not saying anything
Speaker 1: necessarily about Jimbo or Albow or any of the other
Speaker 1: Bow's ability to deal with things here, but to think
Speaker 1: that you know, we're on fire, we're heading in the
Speaker 1: right direction and let's go again, baby, It's sometimes I mean,
Speaker 1: you can think that way and hope that way, but
Speaker 1: it really ends up being that simple, doesn't It always
Speaker 1: the case