00:00:11
Speaker 1: This is the Vault Report.
00:00:14
Speaker 2: Well, good evening and welcome to The Bolt Report. I'm James McPherson. Here's what's coming up tonight. How is it that an Islamic preacher who said Muslims should take up arms against Jews and Christians seems to have gotten away with it? Pauline Hanson is determined not to let that one go, and she'll join me in a moment. Everyone knows things are bad in Victoria, but it's even worse than you think. Victoria's just been ranked the worst managed state in the Western world. Leith Van Onselen will join me later to explain why. And why are so many Australian schools erasing the name of European settlers from their sporting houses, replacing them with Indigenous names for plants and animals?
00:00:53
Speaker 3: My panel will get into that shortly.
00:00:56
Speaker 2: But first, Senator David Shoebridge has been voted in as the new leader of the Australian Greens. Faced with the choice of far-left Sarah Hansen-Young, extreme-left David Shoebridge and intergalactic-left Maureen Faruqi, the Greens opted for the sensible centre.
00:01:14
Speaker 4: For the ballot of leader, the three nominees were David Shoebridge, Merrin Faruqi and Sarah Hansen-Young. The results on primary votes were David Shoebridge, six votes, Merrin Faruqi, three votes, Sarah Hansen-Young, two votes. David Shoebridge has been elected as the new leader of the Australian Greens.
00:01:35
Speaker 2: The deputy position was filled by little-known Victorian Steph Hodgson's May. It was an extraordinary ballot in which more than half the Greens party room members put themselves forward for leadership roles.
00:01:46
Speaker 3: I'm not sure what to make of that. Does it demonstrate just how much talent they have?
00:01:52
Speaker 2: Probably, if you're in the market for a champagne socialist, you'd find no better one-stop shop than the Greens' recently renovated $ 2. 2 million parliamentary meeting room.
00:02:02
Speaker 3: Well, maybe it demonstrates how bereft they are of talent.
00:02:05
Speaker 2: There simply wasn't an obvious standout candidate. It was less a leadership election than a battle of musical chairs where literally everybody bought their own chair. Maureen Faruqi, she believed she was the obvious standout, despite attracting only three primary votes, one of which would have been herself. Never one to complain, though, she immediately congratulated the new leader.
00:02:28
Speaker 5: Yes, I have experienced racism in the Greens. The level of racism that is directed at you, though, when you are a public figure, a person of color and a woman, where the intersections of sexism and racism become really visceral is just another level.
00:02:46
Speaker 2: Sorry, that was Maureen Faruqi complaining about racism in the Greens back in 2023. Here's the gracious statement she posted today on Instagram saying, this morning I stepped down as deputy leader of the Greens to put my hand up for leader. Of course, I'm disappointed the party room chose another direction and I know many others will feel the same way. I'm sure many others do, just none of her colleagues. Her statement continued, I've long advocated publicly that Greens leaders should be elected by members with enough time for thoughtful deliberation on who is best to grow our party. I share members' frustration that the opposite happened this week, which is, I think, her way of saying, congratulations, David Shoebridge, you have my full support. Oh, hang on, the statement continued with this. I believe I can best play my part outside the constraints of the leadership team.
00:03:44
Speaker 3: And that was it, which may be part.
00:03:46
Speaker 2: Of the reason why all but two of her colleagues declined to vote for her. Just on Marine Faruqi, we know what she's been like as deputy leader. Can you imagine what she'll be like without quote unquote constraints?
00:04:01
Speaker 3: Start the popcorn.
00:04:02
Speaker 2: While Marine Faruqi, who hates Donald Trump, was complaining the election was unfair, newly elected leader David Shoebridge was gently reminding Anthony Albanese that the Greens still exist.
00:04:14
Speaker 6: We are not here to make the Labor Party any better. The Greens are here to replace them.
00:04:21
Speaker 3: That's right.
00:04:21
Speaker 2: The Greens are now promising to do to Labor what One Nation are doing to the Coalition, which hilariously prompted this response from Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
00:04:31
Speaker 7: I'm told that he was particularly focused on the Labor Party in his introductory remarks. I think it's really important. that we focus on the risks posed to workers and to our economy by One Nation, the Liberal Party and the National Party.
00:04:49
Speaker 2: I say that's hilarious because Jim Chalmers is sounding a little like his colleagues in the Coalition who've been urging One Nation to.
00:04:55
Speaker 3: Focus on Labor.
00:04:57
Speaker 2: Apparently nobody likes having their own medicine prescribed back to them. David Shoebridge continued with his attack on Labor, although I thought this... Far be it from me to defend Anthony Albanese, but I did think this bit was a little unfair.
00:05:10
Speaker 6: This is the moment for the Greens to fill the vacuum that has been left by the Labor Party rushing to the right.
00:05:18
Speaker 2: I'm not sure anyone could accuse the Albanese government of rushing to the right, but perhaps that shows just how far left the Greens really are. When you think that pretending to care about immigration, defence and government spending is rushing to the right, well, you're so far left, you've broken the compass.
00:05:36
Speaker 3: The new Greens leader carried.
00:05:38
Speaker 2: On, saying the Albanese government was responsible for the rise of One Nation.
00:05:43
Speaker 6: Labor has created the circumstances for One Nation, and Labor is not the answer. We know that One Nation didn't come, didn't create itself. It's the classic post turtle. Sits on a post. You know it didn't get there itself. You wonder what it's doing there.
00:05:58
Speaker 3: I'm wondering what a post-Turtle is, but I like it. It's a good line.
00:06:03
Speaker 2: And what Shoebridge lacks in common-sense policies, he certainly makes up for in rhetorical flourish. And that's why Shoebridge will at least be an improvement for the Greens on Adam Bant, whose whiny demeanour irritated the electorate no end, and Larissa Waters, who... always came across as the person elected to replace Adam Bant because, well, she was as close to a normal person as they could find in the Greens party room.
00:06:27
Speaker 3: Shoebridge would send.
00:06:28
Speaker 2: The country broke and leave us defenceless in the face of foreign adversaries, but he'll always be good with a line.
00:06:34
Speaker 6: I tell you what, as you travel around the country, the call I'm not hearing is, what do we want? Gradual change.
00:06:40
Speaker 1: When do we want it?
00:06:41
Speaker 6: In due course. That is the dead politics of Labor.
00:06:46
Speaker 2: Oh, I tell you what, it is going to be fascinating to watch the way Anthony Albanese handles this. David Shoebridge promised to step things up between now and the 2028 election. And this next part of his press conference, I have to admit, did make me smile.
00:07:01
Speaker 6: We're going to cross the country. We're going to deliver that sense of hope and opportunity that Australians are begging for. And we are also going to meet the climate crisis.
00:07:12
Speaker 2: So they're going to cross the country and meet the climate crisis. I guess they'll be crossing the country on pushbike then. I mean, the new leader of the Greens could drive across the country, but can you imagine how much of a pain that's going to be? Now he's the leader. Remember this scene from earlier in the year?
00:07:29
Speaker 6: I was just pulled over by police on my way into Mardi Gras at Nimbin.
00:07:33
Speaker 8: Have a look at this footage.
00:07:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, Senator David Shoebridge.
00:07:37
Speaker 9: Is my name.
00:07:38
Speaker 10: Oh, OK, yeah.
00:07:40
Speaker 2: Oh, now when he's pulled over and asked for his name, he'll need to say, yeah, Senator David Shoebridge, leader of the Australian Greens, is my name, which is quite the mouthful, though I suspect he'll rather enjoy saying it. Who says leaders don't have their cross to bear? Shoebridge didn't mention Palestine today, which I assume was an oversight on his part, and probably confused Greens voters who've spent the past three years thinking Greens was a reference to the Hamas flag. Of course, Greens is supposed to be a reference to the environment and David Shoebridge briefly remembered in his press conference today to warn voters that this summer could potentially, I dare say hopefully for the Greens, be the mother of all disasters.
00:08:20
Speaker 6: This summer could potentially be the mother of all El Ninos, with floods and the disaster that that happens. And the person I want to work with in a leadership team to face down that climate crisis, to keep coal and gas in the ground, is my dear colleague Steph Hodgins-May.
00:08:36
Speaker 2: The mother of all El Ninos, we can only hope. You've probably never heard of Steph Hodgson's May, and to be fair, the former Greenpeace activist has only been in the Parliament for two years.
00:08:46
Speaker 11: I am part of a generation who has grown up not having the sorts of opportunities to live a good life that we deserve.
00:08:55
Speaker 2: A 41-year-old federal senator on a base salary of $ 239, 000 a year complaining she's never had the opportunities to live the good life that she deserved. She may be new, but she'll go far in the Greens. Although I think she should work on not smiling so much when warning us we're staring down the barrel of impending climate doom.
00:09:16
Speaker 11: I am looking forward to working with David to bring a bold vision to confront the impending climate crisis that is here now. As David said, we have the biggest El Nino coming down the barrel.
00:09:29
Speaker 2: So the Greens now have a new leader and David Shoebridge now has two years to take his party from the political wilderness to the promised land. Judging by today's speech, he's planning to get there on a bicycle during an El Nino. The interesting part, we'll be watching how Anthony Albanese responds. Well, joining me now is One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, or should I say turtle on a post?
00:09:54
Speaker 3: Pauline, welcome to the program. I want to talk about David. Thanks, James.
00:10:00
Speaker 2: David Shoebridge in a moment, but I want to ask you first what you thought about Maureen Faruqi's dummy spit after losing the vote.
00:10:08
Speaker 12: It doesn't surprise me. She would be scathing. of having a white, privileged, colonialist male take this position as leader of the Greens. Here's, you know, over a coloured woman. My God, how dare they do that? So I can just imagine her, that's why she's angry about it. And if she'd won it, she wouldn't be saying, oh, the membership should be actually having their say in this. So anyway, her colleagues didn't clearly want her. Three votes, one would have been her own. So anyway, you know, to listen to all the rhetoric that's coming out of Shoebridge's mouth now is what I hear in the floor of parliament. They have nothing to offer the people of Australia. They want to open up the floodgates to mass migration, you know, and then you've got the climate change debacle that's going on, the.
00:10:56
Speaker 3: Great Barrier Reef.
00:10:56
Speaker 12: The Great Barrier Reef is so pristine now. It's all the fear-mongering that goes on all the time. And they don't care about Australia. I rarely ever hear them standing up, fighting for the ordinary average Australian out there. And it's a real shame. But anyway, I think they'll fall into a heap. The people are waking up to them.
00:11:15
Speaker 2: I saw you laughing when I introduced you as a turtle on a post, and I know you'd be familiar with what David Shoebridge said.
00:11:22
Speaker 3: What is a turtle on a post, Pauline Hanson?
00:11:28
Speaker 12: Well, actually, you'll have to explain it to me, because I'm going to ask you for a please explain there, because I don't know. How will you refer to me as a turtle on a post? So anyway... Do you know?
00:11:39
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't understand it either.
00:11:42
Speaker 2: Although he did allude to the fact that he believes if it wasn't for Labor's poor performance, there would be no One Nation.
00:11:49
Speaker 3: Does he have a point there?
00:11:53
Speaker 12: Look, I think it's been poor performance by both the major political parties and the National Party over... you know, a couple of the last decades, that people have actually had a gutful of them and they don't see that they've got the interests of the country or the people at heart. And people are crying out for change. I stopped in Laidley today for a couple of hours and Toowoomba as well and I spoke to locals that actually came up to me and they're really hurting, James, they really are. They want change. They said, no more, we're fed up with the major political parties. A lot of people are also saying, we voted for Liberals no more. They don't stand for anything. And they say, with you, you're consistent. We know where we stand with you. And they also say that we know you have the country at heart and you really care about the country and you care about us. And that's what they're learning from me, is that I do care. It's going to be tough. To turn it around is going to be very, very tough. But you know what? The people have had to pull in their belts. And what I'll say to people now, If we actually have an opportunity to be government or in a position to have balanced power in that parliament, you know who's going to be pulling the belts in? The government. We are going to ensure that happens. You can't do it anymore, but the government will have to start pulling their belts and you show by example.
00:13:12
Speaker 3: Well, you're right.
00:13:13
Speaker 2: There's certainly going to be a lot of work to do. The latest inflation figures released today don't make for happy reading. Headline inflation has surged from 3.5% to 4% last month, which is well and truly outside the Reserve Bank's target of 2% to 3%, all of which means we're probably looking at another rate rise in November. Do you think Jim Chalmers, and I mean this as a serious question, do you think he knows what he's doing?
00:13:38
Speaker 12: I don't believe he does. And I blame his colleagues as well. And I blame Albanese as well. You know, they are a team. They should be looking at this. If they don't bring down the inflation rate, well, interest rates have to go up. Or if they don't curtail their spending, stop the spending, then you have to balance it out and you have high unemployment in the country. You've either got companies spending back or you have high immigration to control the inflation that's happening in Australia. Productivity is way down. compared to a lot of other countries. So this is poor governance that's happened over the years, over the period of time. So, like I said, if you're actually going to spend the money, you don't spend it in giving it to multicultural organisations of over $ 325 million. You don't give $ 60 million to Ukraine. You don't give $ 67 million to these media outlets. You stop wasting the money. And you stop, you know, hiring all these bureaucrats and paying them exorbitant wages. And I'll tell you another thing that I'll be looking at. No bureaucrat will earn more than what the Prime Minister does. That'll be reigned right in under a one-nation government.
00:14:48
Speaker 3: So that's not just a thought bubble. That will be your policy.
00:14:51
Speaker 2: No bureaucrat will earn more than the PM, which is, what does the PM earn these days?
00:14:56
Speaker 12: He's on about $ 650, 000. Some of these bureaucrats on head of the ABC and some of these vice chancellors, they're on a million dollars plus. So a lot of these heads of these departments are on well over $ 700, 000, $ 800, 000.
00:15:11
Speaker 13: It's ridiculous.
00:15:13
Speaker 12: And they shouldn't be getting this sort of money. This government has blown out the bureaucracy by about 40,000. 80% of employment in this country has come through the bureaucracy, government jobs. So I'm hearing people also, they're putting on migrants into these positions, not Australians, they're putting on more migrants into these positions so they don't end up on the welfare system. So the whole system has rotten and it's from the head down. So we need to get rid of it. and we need to clean up this country and get rid of the duplication that we're seeing in these government departments. So it'll be a natural attrition. These ones that leave the bureaucracy, public servants, they won't be replaced. They will actually... And not this big payout of redundancy. So you won't be getting that at taxpayers' expense. So it'll be a natural attrition.
00:16:09
Speaker 2: After the inflation figures were released yesterday, Jim Chalmers reasserted that the war in the Middle East was the main reason behind the spike.
00:16:16
Speaker 3: Here's some of what he had to say.
00:16:18
Speaker 7: The main reason why inflation in annual headline terms went from the middle threes to four is because of the extra pressure from the re-escalation of the war in the Middle East.
00:16:31
Speaker 2: But, of course, that's very different to what the Reserve Bank Governor told us yesterday.
00:16:34
Speaker 3: Here was her comment.
00:16:37
Speaker 14: Inflation is too high and has been driven by domestic capacity pressures.
00:16:41
Speaker 12: The inflation impulse from the Middle East conflict is in addition to this.
00:16:46
Speaker 2: And then the Prime Minister was asked who was right, his Treasurer or the Reserve Bank Governor, and Elbow said both.
00:16:52
Speaker 3: Take a look.
00:16:53
Speaker 1: Who do you agree with?
00:16:54
Speaker 2: I agree with both of them because they are not saying contradictory things at all. Pauline, is the Prime Minister right that everyone's right?
00:17:06
Speaker 3: No, he's not.
00:17:07
Speaker 13: You see.
00:17:08
Speaker 12: The pair of them won't take responsibility for their poor governance of this nation. We had high inflation rates even last year before the war started. So it's not helping by no means. But like the governor has said, Bullock said, going back, you know, a year, a couple of years ago, that the government needs to rein in their spending. So we've had 16 interest rate hikes. We're going to have another one, looks like, in November and possibly more next year. So I feel for the people out there because a lot of people are going to lose their homes. A lot of people are going to lose the roof over their heads. And that's due to this government. So if you think about voting Labor again, you really want to have a good look at it and understand the future that you may be facing because you're going to be living in poverty. And that's exactly where they want you. This is a socialist government who wants to take the wealth away from people in this nation. Business people are screaming out. They've just about had a gutful. We're losing industries, manufacturing, small businesses going under. This is because of this government. We've never been in this mess as what we are today. So people really need to start thinking about it. And if you're on a welfare payment... Is that why you're voting for Labor? Because you want your neighbour or your family to pay for your welfare payment? That comes from taxpayers working hard and going without so you can have your lifestyle, sit around doing nothing. Too many people out there are unemployed and collect happily, collect their unemployment benefits. And I'll quickly say this. A tradie put in an ad for someone who wants to put on an apprentice. And guess what? 300 applications. He rang all of them.
00:18:47
Speaker 3: Guess what?
00:18:48
Speaker 12: Weren't interested in the job. It was a process they have to go through that they've applied for.
00:18:54
Speaker 15: That is not on.
00:18:55
Speaker 12: So I say to the people out there, wake up yourselves, take responsibility, put your own roof over your own head and not leaving off possibly your family or your parents or everyone else and feeding off your friends or your neighbours or your family that are paying you away to sit around and do nothing because you want your lifestyle. It has to change, James.
00:19:16
Speaker 2: All right, just before I let you go, there's a couple of things I want to quickly get your thoughts on. First, the Islamic preacher in Melbourne who posted a sermon on Instagram calling for Muslims to take up arms against Jews and Christians.
00:19:27
Speaker 3: As a reminder, here's what he said.
00:19:29
Speaker 2: He said, for the sake of Allah, it includes the obligation to declare enmity for his sake, opposition for the sake of Allah. It is to declare opposition indeed to take up arms against his enemies, to shun them and to stay far away from them, both in word and.
00:19:44
Speaker 3: Indeed.
00:19:44
Speaker 2: Are you surprised he seems to have essentially gotten away spewing that kind of hate?
00:19:51
Speaker 12: I'm disgusted that nothing has happened by the Premier of the state of Victoria or the police themselves to actually go and arrest this man. We just recently passed the hate extremism legislation in Parliament. Under that legislation, even though you say something that could be reckless and cause, create violence, you can be charged on that. He hasn't been charged. I want to know why. And also, although he was reading from a Quran, the first passed about the Jews and the Christians, but he was reading from a book, that is still under the legislation reckless. Regardless of whether it's in print or out of a scripture, if that could cause hatred, which it's shown, he should be charged. So the Premier of Victoria or the Police Commissioner of Victoria, why hasn't this man been charged? I'm sick and tired of one rule for some people in this country and another rule for others.
00:20:47
Speaker 3: I think you're absolutely right.
00:20:48
Speaker 2: A lot of Australians would also say we would like an explanation to what the heck is going on there. Very quickly, I'm talking later to my panel about a pro-Palestine rally planned for next Wednesday, which is October 7, marking three years since the slaughter of Israelis. Should the New South Wales government allow pro-Palestine rallies on October 7?
00:21:08
Speaker 10: No, no.
00:21:11
Speaker 12: If I was in any form of control or charge, it wouldn't happen. I would have the police out there in force, and if you want to go out there and try and protest, don't give them any licence to actually protest on the streets. Do not allow it to happen. If we want social cohesion in this country, then we've got to take a stance on this. It's not wanted, people don't want it, and I wouldn't allow it. That's my stance, but I'm very strong on this.
00:21:37
Speaker 2: Pauline Hanson, always great to catch up.
00:21:39
Speaker 3: Thanks so much for your time this evening.
00:21:42
Speaker 2: All right, after the break, which major council in this country spent more than an hour and a half discussing whether or not.
00:21:49
Speaker 3: Australia Day was worth celebrating? I'll tell you after the break.
00:21:52
Speaker 2: And colonialism is once again in the crosshairs as schools increasingly decide to drop the names of European settlers from their house names.
00:22:02
Speaker 3: My panel will talk about that next.
00:22:08
Speaker 2: The Melbourne City Council has voted in favour of a motion recognising that January 26 is the official date of Australia Day and that it's outside of the council's remit to change it. It's ridiculous they had to vote on that because, well, none of it's up for a vote. It'd be like me voting in favour of a motion that the sky is blue. I could vote against the motion, but to what end? The sky would still be blue and Australia Day would still be January 26th. The Melbourne Council also voted in favour of, and I quote, assessing the potential of reviving the city's annual Australia Day parade, which doesn't mean they will, it just means they'll assess whether or not such an assessment should be assessed. But here's the bit of news I want you to catch. The Herald Sun reports that the meeting to vote on this stuff went for 100 minutes. That's right, the people charged with running Melbourne spent more than an hour and a half voting... on whether or not January 26 is January 26 and whether they could possibly potentially contemplate whether or not it might be worth further investigating a parade. Thank the good Lord there aren't any pressing concerns in Melbourne that they should be worrying about. Joining me now is GXO Strategies Director and former Chief of Staff to Bill Shorten, Cameron Milner, and Shadow Assistant Agricultural Minister, Sam Birrell of the Nationals.
00:23:28
Speaker 3: Cameron, after 100 minutes of debate....
00:23:32
Speaker 2: What did Melbourne taxpayers, or ratepayers rather, really get for their money?
00:23:38
Speaker 14: Well, they confirmed the bleeding obvious, didn't they, which is Australia Day is on the 26th of January. So I'm glad it took them 100 minutes. Most of it would have taken you maybe less than a minute. But in the end, I mean, look, Rashida Campbell, who's the Deputy Mayor in Melbourne, is actually bringing some sensibility to this council. You know, he's actually standing up to these woke lefties who just want to get rid of things like Australia Day from the agenda. So congratulations to the councillors who did actually vote for that motion and confirm it and put the lefties in the corner in the Melbourne City Council.
00:24:07
Speaker 2: It just shows you how left that council is, that the motion was, in my view, so lame, but it still represents a win and represents progress, which is an incredible thing. Sam, who actually benefits... from all of these culture wars. And when I say culture wars, I should add I don't believe standing up for January 26 is the wrong side of the culture war. You're just responding to those who started the war in the first place by wanting to change the dates. But at the end of the day, who benefits from all of this stuff? I mean, a pothole is not filled, a rubbish bin is not emptied, a park is not mowed, and yet councils busy themselves with stuff like this.
00:24:51
Speaker 3: Well, that's right, James.
00:24:52
Speaker 9: I mean, it's often said that Australia is one of the most over-governed countries in the world. It's probably too much to hope that we could get rid of a level of government, but at least we could ask that the levels of government focus on what they're supposed to be focusing on and certainly focusing on national issues like... you know, or even international issues in some cases. Some councils get very wound up about global issues, which they have no ability to change or influence. But they should really be focused on what the ratepayers pay them for and what they put them there for, which is not deciding what our national day should be and not getting themselves involved or passing motions about who's right or wrong in foreign conflicts.
00:25:35
Speaker 2: This, of course, Cameron, is a gross generalisation on my part, so I'm not talking about everybody by any means, but sometimes I'll look at the stuff local councils go on with, and I think these people, did they figure out they weren't quite good enough to go into federal politics, so they just went into local politics where they found a platform.
00:25:54
Speaker 3: On which to grandstand? Because there's a lot of that around the country.
00:25:59
Speaker 14: Well, I think there are when you've got Greens and lefties. I mean, I think there's some really good councillors out there across Australia who do really good work, especially in regional communities. They actually are community leaders who get elected to these councils. But these inner-city enclaves that get Greenies and woke lefties being elected who've got to move a motion about Hamas, move a motion about Palestine, you know, this is crazy use of local government time. But to the councillors who do the job really well, it's a smear on their good time that some of these people do this with their local government time. and waste ratepayers' money and ratepayers' time.
00:26:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, good point.
00:26:32
Speaker 2: All right, while we're talking about Australia Day and the battle over what that means, schools right across the country are increasingly ditching so-called colonial names that have been used for their sporting houses. The latest one to do so was Applecross Senior High School in Perth. last month replacing its four existing school names, which were named after four ships connected to the colonisation of WA, with new names and symbols. And here's what they've said that reflect our community, our place and our connection to Wadjuk.
00:27:06
Speaker 3: I think it is Noongar country.
00:27:09
Speaker 2: Cameron, are these schools reflecting their communities, as they say, or are they engaging in a bit of social engineering, do you think?
00:27:17
Speaker 14: Oh, isn't it the most appalling virtual signalling? You know, virtual signalling from these people. I mean, these are educational elitists who would rather not have their kid learn how to speak English, not learn how to add up and subtract, not do the basics, but, no, the house has been renamed to a First Nations person. I mean, for goodness sake, why don't teachers get back to the basics and actually teach?
00:27:38
Speaker 2: Sam, my concern with this is the rush to cancel names of Europeans who were key... to settlement in Australia risks erasing students' knowledge of Australian history, does it not? We talk a little bit, we'll talk quite a lot actually about Indigenous history while erasing all remnants of European history in this nation.
00:28:02
Speaker 9: Yeah, James, and there's a place for it all. I mean, you know, the river that I grew up on here is the Goulburn River, named after Frederick Goulburn, who was a colonial administrator in New South Wales. It's Yorta Yorta name is the Kaila. And we often discuss this river in terms of both names. But it does seem that there is, as Cameron says, this virtue signalling about wanting to change all of these things and somehow not acknowledge that there is a colonial history. It's a part of Australia's rich fabric, along with Indigenous history, along with the migrant culture of people who've arrived here. But to sort of want to get rid of one aspect of that, it's not healthy for our social cohesion. It's not healthy for our democracy.
00:28:46
Speaker 10: And just.
00:28:47
Speaker 9: In terms of what really is important, I'd like to see people focus a little bit more when they're considering Indigenous issues, not on some of the virtue signalling and name changing, but on the plight of young Indigenous people in the northern parts of Australia, which has been highlighted by some terribly, some tragic news in recent times. Our focus and our effort should be on those young Australians. They are young Australians. They deserve the same chance as all other young Australians. And we need to make sure that we're not doing the look at me, I'm virtue signalling, but let's go and help and make sure that all young Australians get that opportunity for safety and education.
00:29:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, amen to that. Couldn't agree more.
00:29:28
Speaker 2: All right, before I let you both go, I want to get your reaction to the Greens choosing David Shoebridge as their new leader.
00:29:35
Speaker 3: Cameron, I'll let you tee off first. What do you think?
00:29:39
Speaker 1: Oh. Another leader, another day.
00:29:41
Speaker 14: I mean, this is a Greens party that's gentrifying before our eyes. I mean, they stalled on 10% of the primary vote and they're picking a bloke who was a poll turtle.
00:29:50
Speaker 1: Oh, goodness me. I mean, they've got no hope. No hope.
00:29:54
Speaker 2: Sam, do you think David Shoebridge can make life a little uneasy for Albanese?
00:30:00
Speaker 9: Oh, well, whether he does that or not is irrelevant. The point is that you've seen how bad Australia's gone with four and a half, five years of a left-wing government. David Shoebridge said today that he wants to replace Labor as the left-wing option. Now, imagine... Look at how bad we are now. Imagine if that wasn't just a left-wing government but a far left-wing government. Australia as we know it would cease to exist and that would be a terrible thing. I think Australia has never needed a conservative government more than it does now. The only option for actual true conservatism fiscal management is the coalition.
00:30:36
Speaker 2: We've got a moment before we go to the break. So, Sam, I did want to ask you quickly, Labor's been accused of hurting regional agriculture and tourism with its working holiday maker visa slowdown and its announcement of significant cuts to backpacker approvals over the next few years. How big a hit for our rural communities is that?
00:30:57
Speaker 9: Oh, it's a disaster. It's an absolute schmuzzle. Because Tony Burke couldn't get his act together and get Labor's migration policy announced... They paused the working holiday visas, and some people who operate harvesting contracting businesses rely on those people coming out. They're experienced people from Northern Europe and the United States and Canada. They're sitting in airports waiting for their visas to be approved, and the harvest starts in two weeks. to Julie Collins, the agricultural minister, because she's pushed for some of these visas to be approved in the last few days after many phone calls from us and the nationals, but really trying to clean up Tony Burke's mess and just shows you how anti-business and what a lack of understanding Labor has.
00:31:46
Speaker 2: Good to talk to you both. Cameron Milner, Sam Birrell, thanks so much for your time.
00:31:50
Speaker 3: All right, stick around.
00:31:50
Speaker 2: After the break, the former head of the RBA has slammed the Albanese government's reckless spending and a new report has handed Victoria an unwanted record, worst managed state in the Western world. Leith Van Onselen joins me after the break.
00:32:09
Speaker 3: Welcome back to the program.
00:32:10
Speaker 2: Yesterday, we addressed the blame game going on between the Albanese government and the RBA over what, or more particularly, who is responsible for high inflation. The RBA governor has blamed domestic spending and, in addition, the.
00:32:23
Speaker 3: War in Iran.
00:32:25
Speaker 2: Jim Chalmers, he's blamed the war in Iran while conceding that private domestic spending might be an issue, but insisting he's made budget. Well, that's the best thing to have happened to the Australian economy since he completed his PhD thesis in on the life and times of Paul Keating. So it was left to former governor of the RBA, Dr. Philip Lowe, to point out a couple of home truths.
00:32:47
Speaker 15: And now we find ourselves running sizable budget deficits at a time where we're at full employment and commodity prices are very high. We should be running sizable surpluses. So we don't have a framework and we're not solving the intertemporal problem. So what we're doing now is spending today and leaving the debt for our kids.
00:33:09
Speaker 2: Joining me now is macro business's chief economist, Leith Van Onselen. Leith, always great to talk. Do you agree with Dr Lowe's comments?
00:33:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. Phil Lowe's just repeating what nearly every other economist is saying, that the federal government needs to reduce spending and take pressure off inflation. Look, let's be honest, the Reserve Bank's hiking race to lower demand in the economy, and it's doing so by whacking households, particularly those with mortgages. And RBA Governor Michelle Bullock, she explicitly said on Tuesday... that demand was too high and that interest rates have to rise to lower demand back down. And a major reason why demand is too high is because of excessive government spending, both the federal and state levels. And here's the ridiculous thing. We are five years past the pandemic, yet government spending is still at those pandemic high levels, which makes absolutely no sense. So what we need is for the federal and state governments to basically help the Reserve Bank out, reduce spending to help lower inflation, because we have a burnout economy at the moment. The Reserve Bank has the foot planted on the brake, trying to slow the economy down, while our governments have got the foot planted on the accelerator, trying to speed the economy up through reckless government spending. So we need to basically help the Reserve Bank out.
00:34:21
Speaker 3: Well, you mentioned state governments.
00:34:22
Speaker 2: The New South Wales Premier, Chris Minns, came out this afternoon calling for state and federal governments to rein in their spending.
00:34:29
Speaker 3: Here he was.
00:34:31
Speaker 10: Look, I'd just say that I think every government has a responsibility to do what it can to take demand out of the economy. South Wales Treasurer and myself have said many times that we have heard the advice from the RBA over the last two years that we need to be careful with public funds.
00:34:51
Speaker 3: Why can't Jim Chalmers simply say that?
00:34:53
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, you know, good on Chris Mintz, because he's basically just speaking the truth. Absolutely. We have, as I said, we've got you know, public spending still tracking at those pandemic peaks. Yet we're five years removed from the pandemic. It makes absolutely no sense. And plus, all our levels of government are basically drowning in debt as well. So, you know, we're facing a massive increase in interest payments as this cheap COVID debt rolls over to high interest rates down the track. And so we need our governments to basically tighten the belts. Australians have to prepare for austerity. And we need a period whereby state and federal governments have a prolonged period where they spend less than they receive through taxes and they start basically paying down this debt. That's what we need.
00:35:31
Speaker 2: Well, speaking of places in debt, should we talk about Victoria? Victoria's been ranked the worst managed state, not just in Australia, but in the Western world.
00:35:41
Speaker 3: I knew it was bad. I didn't know it was that bad, Leith.
00:35:45
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, absolutely. Look, I mean, you know, most Australians widely regard Victoria as Australia's most poorly managed state. We've got massive debt, soaring crime, endemic corruption and wasting infrastructure projects, potholed roads, and also Australia's highest unemployment rate. But a new comparative study analysis done by economist and former fund manager, Mariso Shennessy, has also ranked Victoria the most mismanaged state in the Western world. So what he basically did was he spent 10 days And he basically judged 366 state and regional governments worldwide, and he assessed them on the same criteria. And he found that Victoria ranked the most poorly in the world due to infrastructure waste, due to its soaring debt, due to cronyism, and also its poor accountability. And look, I've got to say, James, I'm a Victorian, and I approve this message.
00:36:36
Speaker 3: Is there a prize?
00:36:37
Speaker 2: Like, do you get some sort of trophy or a symbol to signify you are the worst run state in the Western world?
00:36:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I mean, I think we should. And this should be televised because obviously Victoria's got an election, you know, in November. So it'd be great if everyone knew this. And we got the Raspberry Award because Victoria deserves it. This has been an absolute schmuzzle, this state. And I've lived here my whole life. I'm 48 years old. And I've just witnessed the degradation this century, particularly of Victoria. It used to be very proud. It used to be an excellent place to live in Melbourne. And now it's just become a bit of a cesspit, to be quite frank.
00:37:14
Speaker 2: Hey, we've only got about a minute and a half left, but I wanted to ask you quickly on macrobusiness.com.au, you've written an excellent article telling Australians brace for a $ 1 trillion hit to household wealth. We've only got about a minute, so it's a bit of a mission, but can you explain to me what that means, a $ 1 trillion hit on household wealth coming our way?
00:37:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.
00:37:36
Speaker 1: So it's all very simple. So the housing stock, the total value of homes in Australia was valued at $ 12. 2 trillion in the March quarter. And home values have already fallen by more than 5% nationally, and they're expected to record record declines. I'm expecting a peak to trough decline in excess of 10%. And what that'll mean is that dwelling values or the value of homes across Australia will fall by more than $ 1 trillion in aggregate, which means that's a $ 1 trillion hit to household wealth. And what this basically means for the economy is that HSBC, they've tipped a 13% peak to trough decline, and they think it's going to wipe about 1% off Australia's GDP growth through lower consumer spending, but also through lower turnover in housing-related sectors.
00:38:18
Speaker 2: The hits just keep on coming, don't they, Leith? I was going to say thank you, but I'm not sure I should say thank you after that news.
00:38:26
Speaker 3: I appreciate you coming on the show to talk, though.
00:38:29
Speaker 1: Always.
00:38:29
Speaker 4: Thanks, Leith.
00:38:30
Speaker 3: All right, coming up after the.
00:38:31
Speaker 2: Break, the pro-Palestine movement wants to hold a vigil for Gaza on the anniversary of October 7. There are no words, but there will be words... with Caroline DiRusso and Gemma Tonnini after the break. Next Wednesday will mark the three-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks. And who do you think is preparing to mark the occasion? The pro-Palestinian movement, of course, because nothing says moral high ground like dancing on the graves of your neighbour while complaining about your neighbour. It was the Jews who were victims on October 7. More than 1,000 Israelis raped, beaten, murdered, hundreds taken hostage. The pro-Palestinian movement say they're protesting Israel's response, which might have been more convincing if they had not celebrated the attacks on Israel and started protesting Israel's response before Israel's response had even begun. Israel's response, by the way, the ground invasion three weeks after the massacre of its civilians, was first and foremost to get back their women and children who'd been taken hostage, something the Gazans did everything to prevent and something even the pro-Palestinians in this country protested. Remember how they tore down posters calling for the Jewish hostages to be released? Anyway, there's a vigil being advertised to be held outside Sydney's town hall on October 7, but not to mourn the 1,200 Israelis killed that day.
00:39:57
Speaker 3: Far from it. Have a look at this.
00:40:00
Speaker 2: It's a poster advertising on October 7, a vigil not for Jews who that day experienced the biggest mass slaughter since the Holocaust. It's a vigil for Gaza. And have a look at what's written on the top of the poster. It says, don't let Israel steal the date. Its genocidal airstrikes began on October 7th, 2023. The Australian Jewish Association responded online to the poster by saying the following. Don't worry, Israel can't steal October 7 from you. Just as the Holocaust will forever be associated with Germany, the rape, murder and kidnapping of Jews on October 7 will forever be associated with the Palestinian Arabs who carried it out.
00:40:42
Speaker 3: That date is all yours.
00:40:45
Speaker 2: Joining me now is the panel, Gemma Tognini of GT Communications and News24 contributor Caroline DeRusso. Gemma, how did you respond when you saw this poster? I could not believe it.
00:40:56
Speaker 16: I'm completely unsurprised. These are the gutter of our society, these people. They are, you know what, at a very low level. They're kind of like Jan Brady, you know.
00:41:09
Speaker 13: They can't let anyone else have anything. They're just whinge, whinge, whinge. Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.
00:41:14
Speaker 16: I mean, that's the trite way to treat these mental and moral pygmies. But the reality of it is they're celebrating what they call our martyrs. And I just want to remind our viewers and remind any of those people who might still be on the fence on this issue, if that's possible, but what they're celebrating are people who broke into kibbutzim, who raped, slaughtered children, women, who tied women, young girls like my niece's age, 22 years old, to trees at... the site of the Nova Festival, raped them. They used implements. They used rods of wood and metal pikes. And many women were found having been shot in their genitalia. So I just want to remind my fellow Australians that the people who are advocating for this protest, what the hell they're protesting, who knows, they're the people who are quite happy with this.
00:42:05
Speaker 13: They think it's resistance. They think it's martyrdom. I think they're sick. And I think the government needs to finally just draw a.
00:42:12
Speaker 16: Line in the sand and there has to be a line in the sand about this sort of thing.
00:42:15
Speaker 13: And I'll just share this one story, if I could, James.
00:42:17
Speaker 16: The first hostage that I met on a mission to Israel in the middle of the war, December 2024, she was back at her kibbutzim, which was still, the only thing.
00:42:28
Speaker 13: That had been cleaned up was the blood, to be frank.
00:42:31
Speaker 16: And I asked her what her captors, she was held by a civilian family in Gaza. And I asked her, what they talked about, and she said various things. She tried to humanise herself. But she said to me the most shocking thing she had said to her was that she didn't know. She was told, I don't know why you Jews think you have the right to be here. So I just want to remind people what we're talking about here. This isn't some cosplay bullshit nonsense that belongs in a bad university class, probably the University of Sydney, let's be honest.
00:43:01
Speaker 13: This is fellow Australians.
00:43:04
Speaker 16: not my fellow Australians, trying to rewrite history, rewrite recent history, and it is absolutely abhorrent.
00:43:13
Speaker 2: Caroline, the Chris Minns government should not allow this to go ahead on October 7, should they?
00:43:21
Speaker 8: I think this is pretty revolting. Look, and there's one of these things, from a freedom of speech point of view, like I'm glad that this poster has come out so people can see the absolute stupidity, but that there is different to holding a vigil and protesting and I think that that there is just gauche beyond imagination. As Gemma said, it's absolutely abhorrent and.
00:43:43
Speaker 3: I really struggle.
00:43:45
Speaker 8: Even as, you know, my deepest libertarian senses and freedom of speech and associate just cannot abide this.
00:43:53
Speaker 13: It is absolutely revolting.
00:43:56
Speaker 8: But the bit that I was slightly amused by and what Gemma said was absolutely 100%. It won't come as any great surprise to you, James, that I agree with her and we're on a unity ticket here. But one of the groups that is sponsoring this event is is the eastern suburbs for Palestine.
00:44:15
Speaker 13: Like, tell me your head's up.
00:44:17
Speaker 8: Your backside without telling me your head's up your backside. Like, tell the entire country that you have absolutely no credibility. That was the first thing I noticed on that poster and I rolled my eyes and I thought, these people don't have enough problems.
00:44:34
Speaker 3: They don't.
00:44:34
Speaker 8: Because if they had proper problems, they would be being more productive workers with their time elsewhere in society than carrying on this absolute load of manure.
00:44:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. Couldn't agree more. I just cannot imagine how.
00:44:52
Speaker 2: After what we saw back in the day, you know, the Opera House protests, et cetera, I just cannot believe the government will not find a way to stop this.
00:45:01
Speaker 3: It's obscene.
00:45:01
Speaker 16: James, Chris Minns was on the record a couple of weeks ago when our colleague Sherry Markson launched her book.
00:45:08
Speaker 13: along with Alex Rivkin.
00:45:10
Speaker 16: And he said something to the effect of, you know, that was a, I think it was a bullshit response.
00:45:14
Speaker 13: I was a baby Premier.
00:45:15
Speaker 3: That's right.
00:45:16
Speaker 13: You know, here's your chance, Premier.
00:45:18
Speaker 3: Yep.
00:45:18
Speaker 16: Here's your chance to make it about more than just rhetoric, more than just, oh, mere culprit in hindsight, don't blame me, I didn't know what I was doing. Here is your chance to put your goddamn money where your mouth is.
00:45:29
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, Caroline, and I want to move on in a second, but to my mind, if on October 7th, You have a pro-Palestinian rally in favour of Palestine and Gazans. That comes to me so close to incitement, it's not funny because you're effectively justifying what was mass slaughter. I just cannot imagine how that could possibly go ahead. And if Chris Min says, well, we don't have the laws to be able to stop it, well, you've been Premier for the last number of years since October 7, 2023. Three years. You've had the chance to make the laws. I want to talk about Sydney University. I forget which of you mentioned it earlier, but it was going to come up. They announced three independent reviews into campus security, student representative group funding and into student conduct rules. These three reviews come after a group ran in the student council election under the slogan, globalise the intifada.
00:46:25
Speaker 3: Gemma, we're going to have some reviews, three reviews. Is this action?
00:46:30
Speaker 16: Well, nothing says a line in the sand like three reviews. My goodness, they must be quaking in their boots. I mean, again, James, we had Mark Scott giving evidence at the Royal Commission recently or in the last couple of months, whenever it was, saying, you know, we were blindsided.
00:46:43
Speaker 13: Great, you were blindsided. You've had time. What have you done? What have you done?
00:46:47
Speaker 16: The Archbishop of Sydney, the Catholic Archbishop, I believe others also last week when this story broke, slammed the University of Sydney for its repeated inaction.
00:46:58
Speaker 13: I mean, imagine, imagine quaking in your boots. We're going to have a review. Oh, my giddy aunt. What a lack of leadership this country has.
00:47:07
Speaker 2: Caroline, the Australian newspaper reported that these reviews were ordered after the Prime Minister, the New South Wales Premier and the Education Minister all petitioned University Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott to do something. I mean, what does it say that you had to have everyone from the PM to the Education Minister knocking on your door saying, hey, are you going to do something?
00:47:28
Speaker 3: And then he responds with three reviews.
00:47:32
Speaker 8: Well, he's evidently an insipid human being, right? I mean, the three reviews... shouldn't even be necessary. You should have just done your job in.
00:47:39
Speaker 13: The first place.
00:47:41
Speaker 8: Now, if this rabble appears to run the university, well, then the Vice-Chancellor should just be sending his paycheck to them, you know, on the 15th of every month when it lands in his bank account or whatever.
00:47:54
Speaker 13: Who runs this show?
00:47:56
Speaker 8: Either you're in charge and you do your job properly or trot off Go and be a medical receptionist or something. Go and do something else. If you are not capable of doing the job, vacate the space. The idea that three senior people in government had to call you and tell you to do something and then what you do is have a review just tells us all that you are so far out of your depth and enough of this, like, bouncing from one cushy public job to another, mate.
00:48:30
Speaker 3: You're useless. Just go.
00:48:32
Speaker 2: You're absolutely right. I've got to finish it there, ladies. Thank you for taking the time. I really appreciate it. That's it from me.
00:48:38
Speaker 3: Stick around. Up right now is Shari Markson. Good night.
Speaker 1: This is the Vault Report.
00:00:14
Speaker 2: Well, good evening and welcome to The Bolt Report. I'm James McPherson. Here's what's coming up tonight. How is it that an Islamic preacher who said Muslims should take up arms against Jews and Christians seems to have gotten away with it? Pauline Hanson is determined not to let that one go, and she'll join me in a moment. Everyone knows things are bad in Victoria, but it's even worse than you think. Victoria's just been ranked the worst managed state in the Western world. Leith Van Onselen will join me later to explain why. And why are so many Australian schools erasing the name of European settlers from their sporting houses, replacing them with Indigenous names for plants and animals?
00:00:53
Speaker 3: My panel will get into that shortly.
00:00:56
Speaker 2: But first, Senator David Shoebridge has been voted in as the new leader of the Australian Greens. Faced with the choice of far-left Sarah Hansen-Young, extreme-left David Shoebridge and intergalactic-left Maureen Faruqi, the Greens opted for the sensible centre.
00:01:14
Speaker 4: For the ballot of leader, the three nominees were David Shoebridge, Merrin Faruqi and Sarah Hansen-Young. The results on primary votes were David Shoebridge, six votes, Merrin Faruqi, three votes, Sarah Hansen-Young, two votes. David Shoebridge has been elected as the new leader of the Australian Greens.
00:01:35
Speaker 2: The deputy position was filled by little-known Victorian Steph Hodgson's May. It was an extraordinary ballot in which more than half the Greens party room members put themselves forward for leadership roles.
00:01:46
Speaker 3: I'm not sure what to make of that. Does it demonstrate just how much talent they have?
00:01:52
Speaker 2: Probably, if you're in the market for a champagne socialist, you'd find no better one-stop shop than the Greens' recently renovated $ 2. 2 million parliamentary meeting room.
00:02:02
Speaker 3: Well, maybe it demonstrates how bereft they are of talent.
00:02:05
Speaker 2: There simply wasn't an obvious standout candidate. It was less a leadership election than a battle of musical chairs where literally everybody bought their own chair. Maureen Faruqi, she believed she was the obvious standout, despite attracting only three primary votes, one of which would have been herself. Never one to complain, though, she immediately congratulated the new leader.
00:02:28
Speaker 5: Yes, I have experienced racism in the Greens. The level of racism that is directed at you, though, when you are a public figure, a person of color and a woman, where the intersections of sexism and racism become really visceral is just another level.
00:02:46
Speaker 2: Sorry, that was Maureen Faruqi complaining about racism in the Greens back in 2023. Here's the gracious statement she posted today on Instagram saying, this morning I stepped down as deputy leader of the Greens to put my hand up for leader. Of course, I'm disappointed the party room chose another direction and I know many others will feel the same way. I'm sure many others do, just none of her colleagues. Her statement continued, I've long advocated publicly that Greens leaders should be elected by members with enough time for thoughtful deliberation on who is best to grow our party. I share members' frustration that the opposite happened this week, which is, I think, her way of saying, congratulations, David Shoebridge, you have my full support. Oh, hang on, the statement continued with this. I believe I can best play my part outside the constraints of the leadership team.
00:03:44
Speaker 3: And that was it, which may be part.
00:03:46
Speaker 2: Of the reason why all but two of her colleagues declined to vote for her. Just on Marine Faruqi, we know what she's been like as deputy leader. Can you imagine what she'll be like without quote unquote constraints?
00:04:01
Speaker 3: Start the popcorn.
00:04:02
Speaker 2: While Marine Faruqi, who hates Donald Trump, was complaining the election was unfair, newly elected leader David Shoebridge was gently reminding Anthony Albanese that the Greens still exist.
00:04:14
Speaker 6: We are not here to make the Labor Party any better. The Greens are here to replace them.
00:04:21
Speaker 3: That's right.
00:04:21
Speaker 2: The Greens are now promising to do to Labor what One Nation are doing to the Coalition, which hilariously prompted this response from Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
00:04:31
Speaker 7: I'm told that he was particularly focused on the Labor Party in his introductory remarks. I think it's really important. that we focus on the risks posed to workers and to our economy by One Nation, the Liberal Party and the National Party.
00:04:49
Speaker 2: I say that's hilarious because Jim Chalmers is sounding a little like his colleagues in the Coalition who've been urging One Nation to.
00:04:55
Speaker 3: Focus on Labor.
00:04:57
Speaker 2: Apparently nobody likes having their own medicine prescribed back to them. David Shoebridge continued with his attack on Labor, although I thought this... Far be it from me to defend Anthony Albanese, but I did think this bit was a little unfair.
00:05:10
Speaker 6: This is the moment for the Greens to fill the vacuum that has been left by the Labor Party rushing to the right.
00:05:18
Speaker 2: I'm not sure anyone could accuse the Albanese government of rushing to the right, but perhaps that shows just how far left the Greens really are. When you think that pretending to care about immigration, defence and government spending is rushing to the right, well, you're so far left, you've broken the compass.
00:05:36
Speaker 3: The new Greens leader carried.
00:05:38
Speaker 2: On, saying the Albanese government was responsible for the rise of One Nation.
00:05:43
Speaker 6: Labor has created the circumstances for One Nation, and Labor is not the answer. We know that One Nation didn't come, didn't create itself. It's the classic post turtle. Sits on a post. You know it didn't get there itself. You wonder what it's doing there.
00:05:58
Speaker 3: I'm wondering what a post-Turtle is, but I like it. It's a good line.
00:06:03
Speaker 2: And what Shoebridge lacks in common-sense policies, he certainly makes up for in rhetorical flourish. And that's why Shoebridge will at least be an improvement for the Greens on Adam Bant, whose whiny demeanour irritated the electorate no end, and Larissa Waters, who... always came across as the person elected to replace Adam Bant because, well, she was as close to a normal person as they could find in the Greens party room.
00:06:27
Speaker 3: Shoebridge would send.
00:06:28
Speaker 2: The country broke and leave us defenceless in the face of foreign adversaries, but he'll always be good with a line.
00:06:34
Speaker 6: I tell you what, as you travel around the country, the call I'm not hearing is, what do we want? Gradual change.
00:06:40
Speaker 1: When do we want it?
00:06:41
Speaker 6: In due course. That is the dead politics of Labor.
00:06:46
Speaker 2: Oh, I tell you what, it is going to be fascinating to watch the way Anthony Albanese handles this. David Shoebridge promised to step things up between now and the 2028 election. And this next part of his press conference, I have to admit, did make me smile.
00:07:01
Speaker 6: We're going to cross the country. We're going to deliver that sense of hope and opportunity that Australians are begging for. And we are also going to meet the climate crisis.
00:07:12
Speaker 2: So they're going to cross the country and meet the climate crisis. I guess they'll be crossing the country on pushbike then. I mean, the new leader of the Greens could drive across the country, but can you imagine how much of a pain that's going to be? Now he's the leader. Remember this scene from earlier in the year?
00:07:29
Speaker 6: I was just pulled over by police on my way into Mardi Gras at Nimbin.
00:07:33
Speaker 8: Have a look at this footage.
00:07:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, Senator David Shoebridge.
00:07:37
Speaker 9: Is my name.
00:07:38
Speaker 10: Oh, OK, yeah.
00:07:40
Speaker 2: Oh, now when he's pulled over and asked for his name, he'll need to say, yeah, Senator David Shoebridge, leader of the Australian Greens, is my name, which is quite the mouthful, though I suspect he'll rather enjoy saying it. Who says leaders don't have their cross to bear? Shoebridge didn't mention Palestine today, which I assume was an oversight on his part, and probably confused Greens voters who've spent the past three years thinking Greens was a reference to the Hamas flag. Of course, Greens is supposed to be a reference to the environment and David Shoebridge briefly remembered in his press conference today to warn voters that this summer could potentially, I dare say hopefully for the Greens, be the mother of all disasters.
00:08:20
Speaker 6: This summer could potentially be the mother of all El Ninos, with floods and the disaster that that happens. And the person I want to work with in a leadership team to face down that climate crisis, to keep coal and gas in the ground, is my dear colleague Steph Hodgins-May.
00:08:36
Speaker 2: The mother of all El Ninos, we can only hope. You've probably never heard of Steph Hodgson's May, and to be fair, the former Greenpeace activist has only been in the Parliament for two years.
00:08:46
Speaker 11: I am part of a generation who has grown up not having the sorts of opportunities to live a good life that we deserve.
00:08:55
Speaker 2: A 41-year-old federal senator on a base salary of $ 239, 000 a year complaining she's never had the opportunities to live the good life that she deserved. She may be new, but she'll go far in the Greens. Although I think she should work on not smiling so much when warning us we're staring down the barrel of impending climate doom.
00:09:16
Speaker 11: I am looking forward to working with David to bring a bold vision to confront the impending climate crisis that is here now. As David said, we have the biggest El Nino coming down the barrel.
00:09:29
Speaker 2: So the Greens now have a new leader and David Shoebridge now has two years to take his party from the political wilderness to the promised land. Judging by today's speech, he's planning to get there on a bicycle during an El Nino. The interesting part, we'll be watching how Anthony Albanese responds. Well, joining me now is One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, or should I say turtle on a post?
00:09:54
Speaker 3: Pauline, welcome to the program. I want to talk about David. Thanks, James.
00:10:00
Speaker 2: David Shoebridge in a moment, but I want to ask you first what you thought about Maureen Faruqi's dummy spit after losing the vote.
00:10:08
Speaker 12: It doesn't surprise me. She would be scathing. of having a white, privileged, colonialist male take this position as leader of the Greens. Here's, you know, over a coloured woman. My God, how dare they do that? So I can just imagine her, that's why she's angry about it. And if she'd won it, she wouldn't be saying, oh, the membership should be actually having their say in this. So anyway, her colleagues didn't clearly want her. Three votes, one would have been her own. So anyway, you know, to listen to all the rhetoric that's coming out of Shoebridge's mouth now is what I hear in the floor of parliament. They have nothing to offer the people of Australia. They want to open up the floodgates to mass migration, you know, and then you've got the climate change debacle that's going on, the.
00:10:56
Speaker 3: Great Barrier Reef.
00:10:56
Speaker 12: The Great Barrier Reef is so pristine now. It's all the fear-mongering that goes on all the time. And they don't care about Australia. I rarely ever hear them standing up, fighting for the ordinary average Australian out there. And it's a real shame. But anyway, I think they'll fall into a heap. The people are waking up to them.
00:11:15
Speaker 2: I saw you laughing when I introduced you as a turtle on a post, and I know you'd be familiar with what David Shoebridge said.
00:11:22
Speaker 3: What is a turtle on a post, Pauline Hanson?
00:11:28
Speaker 12: Well, actually, you'll have to explain it to me, because I'm going to ask you for a please explain there, because I don't know. How will you refer to me as a turtle on a post? So anyway... Do you know?
00:11:39
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't understand it either.
00:11:42
Speaker 2: Although he did allude to the fact that he believes if it wasn't for Labor's poor performance, there would be no One Nation.
00:11:49
Speaker 3: Does he have a point there?
00:11:53
Speaker 12: Look, I think it's been poor performance by both the major political parties and the National Party over... you know, a couple of the last decades, that people have actually had a gutful of them and they don't see that they've got the interests of the country or the people at heart. And people are crying out for change. I stopped in Laidley today for a couple of hours and Toowoomba as well and I spoke to locals that actually came up to me and they're really hurting, James, they really are. They want change. They said, no more, we're fed up with the major political parties. A lot of people are also saying, we voted for Liberals no more. They don't stand for anything. And they say, with you, you're consistent. We know where we stand with you. And they also say that we know you have the country at heart and you really care about the country and you care about us. And that's what they're learning from me, is that I do care. It's going to be tough. To turn it around is going to be very, very tough. But you know what? The people have had to pull in their belts. And what I'll say to people now, If we actually have an opportunity to be government or in a position to have balanced power in that parliament, you know who's going to be pulling the belts in? The government. We are going to ensure that happens. You can't do it anymore, but the government will have to start pulling their belts and you show by example.
00:13:12
Speaker 3: Well, you're right.
00:13:13
Speaker 2: There's certainly going to be a lot of work to do. The latest inflation figures released today don't make for happy reading. Headline inflation has surged from 3.5% to 4% last month, which is well and truly outside the Reserve Bank's target of 2% to 3%, all of which means we're probably looking at another rate rise in November. Do you think Jim Chalmers, and I mean this as a serious question, do you think he knows what he's doing?
00:13:38
Speaker 12: I don't believe he does. And I blame his colleagues as well. And I blame Albanese as well. You know, they are a team. They should be looking at this. If they don't bring down the inflation rate, well, interest rates have to go up. Or if they don't curtail their spending, stop the spending, then you have to balance it out and you have high unemployment in the country. You've either got companies spending back or you have high immigration to control the inflation that's happening in Australia. Productivity is way down. compared to a lot of other countries. So this is poor governance that's happened over the years, over the period of time. So, like I said, if you're actually going to spend the money, you don't spend it in giving it to multicultural organisations of over $ 325 million. You don't give $ 60 million to Ukraine. You don't give $ 67 million to these media outlets. You stop wasting the money. And you stop, you know, hiring all these bureaucrats and paying them exorbitant wages. And I'll tell you another thing that I'll be looking at. No bureaucrat will earn more than what the Prime Minister does. That'll be reigned right in under a one-nation government.
00:14:48
Speaker 3: So that's not just a thought bubble. That will be your policy.
00:14:51
Speaker 2: No bureaucrat will earn more than the PM, which is, what does the PM earn these days?
00:14:56
Speaker 12: He's on about $ 650, 000. Some of these bureaucrats on head of the ABC and some of these vice chancellors, they're on a million dollars plus. So a lot of these heads of these departments are on well over $ 700, 000, $ 800, 000.
00:15:11
Speaker 13: It's ridiculous.
00:15:13
Speaker 12: And they shouldn't be getting this sort of money. This government has blown out the bureaucracy by about 40,000. 80% of employment in this country has come through the bureaucracy, government jobs. So I'm hearing people also, they're putting on migrants into these positions, not Australians, they're putting on more migrants into these positions so they don't end up on the welfare system. So the whole system has rotten and it's from the head down. So we need to get rid of it. and we need to clean up this country and get rid of the duplication that we're seeing in these government departments. So it'll be a natural attrition. These ones that leave the bureaucracy, public servants, they won't be replaced. They will actually... And not this big payout of redundancy. So you won't be getting that at taxpayers' expense. So it'll be a natural attrition.
00:16:09
Speaker 2: After the inflation figures were released yesterday, Jim Chalmers reasserted that the war in the Middle East was the main reason behind the spike.
00:16:16
Speaker 3: Here's some of what he had to say.
00:16:18
Speaker 7: The main reason why inflation in annual headline terms went from the middle threes to four is because of the extra pressure from the re-escalation of the war in the Middle East.
00:16:31
Speaker 2: But, of course, that's very different to what the Reserve Bank Governor told us yesterday.
00:16:34
Speaker 3: Here was her comment.
00:16:37
Speaker 14: Inflation is too high and has been driven by domestic capacity pressures.
00:16:41
Speaker 12: The inflation impulse from the Middle East conflict is in addition to this.
00:16:46
Speaker 2: And then the Prime Minister was asked who was right, his Treasurer or the Reserve Bank Governor, and Elbow said both.
00:16:52
Speaker 3: Take a look.
00:16:53
Speaker 1: Who do you agree with?
00:16:54
Speaker 2: I agree with both of them because they are not saying contradictory things at all. Pauline, is the Prime Minister right that everyone's right?
00:17:06
Speaker 3: No, he's not.
00:17:07
Speaker 13: You see.
00:17:08
Speaker 12: The pair of them won't take responsibility for their poor governance of this nation. We had high inflation rates even last year before the war started. So it's not helping by no means. But like the governor has said, Bullock said, going back, you know, a year, a couple of years ago, that the government needs to rein in their spending. So we've had 16 interest rate hikes. We're going to have another one, looks like, in November and possibly more next year. So I feel for the people out there because a lot of people are going to lose their homes. A lot of people are going to lose the roof over their heads. And that's due to this government. So if you think about voting Labor again, you really want to have a good look at it and understand the future that you may be facing because you're going to be living in poverty. And that's exactly where they want you. This is a socialist government who wants to take the wealth away from people in this nation. Business people are screaming out. They've just about had a gutful. We're losing industries, manufacturing, small businesses going under. This is because of this government. We've never been in this mess as what we are today. So people really need to start thinking about it. And if you're on a welfare payment... Is that why you're voting for Labor? Because you want your neighbour or your family to pay for your welfare payment? That comes from taxpayers working hard and going without so you can have your lifestyle, sit around doing nothing. Too many people out there are unemployed and collect happily, collect their unemployment benefits. And I'll quickly say this. A tradie put in an ad for someone who wants to put on an apprentice. And guess what? 300 applications. He rang all of them.
00:18:47
Speaker 3: Guess what?
00:18:48
Speaker 12: Weren't interested in the job. It was a process they have to go through that they've applied for.
00:18:54
Speaker 15: That is not on.
00:18:55
Speaker 12: So I say to the people out there, wake up yourselves, take responsibility, put your own roof over your own head and not leaving off possibly your family or your parents or everyone else and feeding off your friends or your neighbours or your family that are paying you away to sit around and do nothing because you want your lifestyle. It has to change, James.
00:19:16
Speaker 2: All right, just before I let you go, there's a couple of things I want to quickly get your thoughts on. First, the Islamic preacher in Melbourne who posted a sermon on Instagram calling for Muslims to take up arms against Jews and Christians.
00:19:27
Speaker 3: As a reminder, here's what he said.
00:19:29
Speaker 2: He said, for the sake of Allah, it includes the obligation to declare enmity for his sake, opposition for the sake of Allah. It is to declare opposition indeed to take up arms against his enemies, to shun them and to stay far away from them, both in word and.
00:19:44
Speaker 3: Indeed.
00:19:44
Speaker 2: Are you surprised he seems to have essentially gotten away spewing that kind of hate?
00:19:51
Speaker 12: I'm disgusted that nothing has happened by the Premier of the state of Victoria or the police themselves to actually go and arrest this man. We just recently passed the hate extremism legislation in Parliament. Under that legislation, even though you say something that could be reckless and cause, create violence, you can be charged on that. He hasn't been charged. I want to know why. And also, although he was reading from a Quran, the first passed about the Jews and the Christians, but he was reading from a book, that is still under the legislation reckless. Regardless of whether it's in print or out of a scripture, if that could cause hatred, which it's shown, he should be charged. So the Premier of Victoria or the Police Commissioner of Victoria, why hasn't this man been charged? I'm sick and tired of one rule for some people in this country and another rule for others.
00:20:47
Speaker 3: I think you're absolutely right.
00:20:48
Speaker 2: A lot of Australians would also say we would like an explanation to what the heck is going on there. Very quickly, I'm talking later to my panel about a pro-Palestine rally planned for next Wednesday, which is October 7, marking three years since the slaughter of Israelis. Should the New South Wales government allow pro-Palestine rallies on October 7?
00:21:08
Speaker 10: No, no.
00:21:11
Speaker 12: If I was in any form of control or charge, it wouldn't happen. I would have the police out there in force, and if you want to go out there and try and protest, don't give them any licence to actually protest on the streets. Do not allow it to happen. If we want social cohesion in this country, then we've got to take a stance on this. It's not wanted, people don't want it, and I wouldn't allow it. That's my stance, but I'm very strong on this.
00:21:37
Speaker 2: Pauline Hanson, always great to catch up.
00:21:39
Speaker 3: Thanks so much for your time this evening.
00:21:42
Speaker 2: All right, after the break, which major council in this country spent more than an hour and a half discussing whether or not.
00:21:49
Speaker 3: Australia Day was worth celebrating? I'll tell you after the break.
00:21:52
Speaker 2: And colonialism is once again in the crosshairs as schools increasingly decide to drop the names of European settlers from their house names.
00:22:02
Speaker 3: My panel will talk about that next.
00:22:08
Speaker 2: The Melbourne City Council has voted in favour of a motion recognising that January 26 is the official date of Australia Day and that it's outside of the council's remit to change it. It's ridiculous they had to vote on that because, well, none of it's up for a vote. It'd be like me voting in favour of a motion that the sky is blue. I could vote against the motion, but to what end? The sky would still be blue and Australia Day would still be January 26th. The Melbourne Council also voted in favour of, and I quote, assessing the potential of reviving the city's annual Australia Day parade, which doesn't mean they will, it just means they'll assess whether or not such an assessment should be assessed. But here's the bit of news I want you to catch. The Herald Sun reports that the meeting to vote on this stuff went for 100 minutes. That's right, the people charged with running Melbourne spent more than an hour and a half voting... on whether or not January 26 is January 26 and whether they could possibly potentially contemplate whether or not it might be worth further investigating a parade. Thank the good Lord there aren't any pressing concerns in Melbourne that they should be worrying about. Joining me now is GXO Strategies Director and former Chief of Staff to Bill Shorten, Cameron Milner, and Shadow Assistant Agricultural Minister, Sam Birrell of the Nationals.
00:23:28
Speaker 3: Cameron, after 100 minutes of debate....
00:23:32
Speaker 2: What did Melbourne taxpayers, or ratepayers rather, really get for their money?
00:23:38
Speaker 14: Well, they confirmed the bleeding obvious, didn't they, which is Australia Day is on the 26th of January. So I'm glad it took them 100 minutes. Most of it would have taken you maybe less than a minute. But in the end, I mean, look, Rashida Campbell, who's the Deputy Mayor in Melbourne, is actually bringing some sensibility to this council. You know, he's actually standing up to these woke lefties who just want to get rid of things like Australia Day from the agenda. So congratulations to the councillors who did actually vote for that motion and confirm it and put the lefties in the corner in the Melbourne City Council.
00:24:07
Speaker 2: It just shows you how left that council is, that the motion was, in my view, so lame, but it still represents a win and represents progress, which is an incredible thing. Sam, who actually benefits... from all of these culture wars. And when I say culture wars, I should add I don't believe standing up for January 26 is the wrong side of the culture war. You're just responding to those who started the war in the first place by wanting to change the dates. But at the end of the day, who benefits from all of this stuff? I mean, a pothole is not filled, a rubbish bin is not emptied, a park is not mowed, and yet councils busy themselves with stuff like this.
00:24:51
Speaker 3: Well, that's right, James.
00:24:52
Speaker 9: I mean, it's often said that Australia is one of the most over-governed countries in the world. It's probably too much to hope that we could get rid of a level of government, but at least we could ask that the levels of government focus on what they're supposed to be focusing on and certainly focusing on national issues like... you know, or even international issues in some cases. Some councils get very wound up about global issues, which they have no ability to change or influence. But they should really be focused on what the ratepayers pay them for and what they put them there for, which is not deciding what our national day should be and not getting themselves involved or passing motions about who's right or wrong in foreign conflicts.
00:25:35
Speaker 2: This, of course, Cameron, is a gross generalisation on my part, so I'm not talking about everybody by any means, but sometimes I'll look at the stuff local councils go on with, and I think these people, did they figure out they weren't quite good enough to go into federal politics, so they just went into local politics where they found a platform.
00:25:54
Speaker 3: On which to grandstand? Because there's a lot of that around the country.
00:25:59
Speaker 14: Well, I think there are when you've got Greens and lefties. I mean, I think there's some really good councillors out there across Australia who do really good work, especially in regional communities. They actually are community leaders who get elected to these councils. But these inner-city enclaves that get Greenies and woke lefties being elected who've got to move a motion about Hamas, move a motion about Palestine, you know, this is crazy use of local government time. But to the councillors who do the job really well, it's a smear on their good time that some of these people do this with their local government time. and waste ratepayers' money and ratepayers' time.
00:26:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, good point.
00:26:32
Speaker 2: All right, while we're talking about Australia Day and the battle over what that means, schools right across the country are increasingly ditching so-called colonial names that have been used for their sporting houses. The latest one to do so was Applecross Senior High School in Perth. last month replacing its four existing school names, which were named after four ships connected to the colonisation of WA, with new names and symbols. And here's what they've said that reflect our community, our place and our connection to Wadjuk.
00:27:06
Speaker 3: I think it is Noongar country.
00:27:09
Speaker 2: Cameron, are these schools reflecting their communities, as they say, or are they engaging in a bit of social engineering, do you think?
00:27:17
Speaker 14: Oh, isn't it the most appalling virtual signalling? You know, virtual signalling from these people. I mean, these are educational elitists who would rather not have their kid learn how to speak English, not learn how to add up and subtract, not do the basics, but, no, the house has been renamed to a First Nations person. I mean, for goodness sake, why don't teachers get back to the basics and actually teach?
00:27:38
Speaker 2: Sam, my concern with this is the rush to cancel names of Europeans who were key... to settlement in Australia risks erasing students' knowledge of Australian history, does it not? We talk a little bit, we'll talk quite a lot actually about Indigenous history while erasing all remnants of European history in this nation.
00:28:02
Speaker 9: Yeah, James, and there's a place for it all. I mean, you know, the river that I grew up on here is the Goulburn River, named after Frederick Goulburn, who was a colonial administrator in New South Wales. It's Yorta Yorta name is the Kaila. And we often discuss this river in terms of both names. But it does seem that there is, as Cameron says, this virtue signalling about wanting to change all of these things and somehow not acknowledge that there is a colonial history. It's a part of Australia's rich fabric, along with Indigenous history, along with the migrant culture of people who've arrived here. But to sort of want to get rid of one aspect of that, it's not healthy for our social cohesion. It's not healthy for our democracy.
00:28:46
Speaker 10: And just.
00:28:47
Speaker 9: In terms of what really is important, I'd like to see people focus a little bit more when they're considering Indigenous issues, not on some of the virtue signalling and name changing, but on the plight of young Indigenous people in the northern parts of Australia, which has been highlighted by some terribly, some tragic news in recent times. Our focus and our effort should be on those young Australians. They are young Australians. They deserve the same chance as all other young Australians. And we need to make sure that we're not doing the look at me, I'm virtue signalling, but let's go and help and make sure that all young Australians get that opportunity for safety and education.
00:29:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, amen to that. Couldn't agree more.
00:29:28
Speaker 2: All right, before I let you both go, I want to get your reaction to the Greens choosing David Shoebridge as their new leader.
00:29:35
Speaker 3: Cameron, I'll let you tee off first. What do you think?
00:29:39
Speaker 1: Oh. Another leader, another day.
00:29:41
Speaker 14: I mean, this is a Greens party that's gentrifying before our eyes. I mean, they stalled on 10% of the primary vote and they're picking a bloke who was a poll turtle.
00:29:50
Speaker 1: Oh, goodness me. I mean, they've got no hope. No hope.
00:29:54
Speaker 2: Sam, do you think David Shoebridge can make life a little uneasy for Albanese?
00:30:00
Speaker 9: Oh, well, whether he does that or not is irrelevant. The point is that you've seen how bad Australia's gone with four and a half, five years of a left-wing government. David Shoebridge said today that he wants to replace Labor as the left-wing option. Now, imagine... Look at how bad we are now. Imagine if that wasn't just a left-wing government but a far left-wing government. Australia as we know it would cease to exist and that would be a terrible thing. I think Australia has never needed a conservative government more than it does now. The only option for actual true conservatism fiscal management is the coalition.
00:30:36
Speaker 2: We've got a moment before we go to the break. So, Sam, I did want to ask you quickly, Labor's been accused of hurting regional agriculture and tourism with its working holiday maker visa slowdown and its announcement of significant cuts to backpacker approvals over the next few years. How big a hit for our rural communities is that?
00:30:57
Speaker 9: Oh, it's a disaster. It's an absolute schmuzzle. Because Tony Burke couldn't get his act together and get Labor's migration policy announced... They paused the working holiday visas, and some people who operate harvesting contracting businesses rely on those people coming out. They're experienced people from Northern Europe and the United States and Canada. They're sitting in airports waiting for their visas to be approved, and the harvest starts in two weeks. to Julie Collins, the agricultural minister, because she's pushed for some of these visas to be approved in the last few days after many phone calls from us and the nationals, but really trying to clean up Tony Burke's mess and just shows you how anti-business and what a lack of understanding Labor has.
00:31:46
Speaker 2: Good to talk to you both. Cameron Milner, Sam Birrell, thanks so much for your time.
00:31:50
Speaker 3: All right, stick around.
00:31:50
Speaker 2: After the break, the former head of the RBA has slammed the Albanese government's reckless spending and a new report has handed Victoria an unwanted record, worst managed state in the Western world. Leith Van Onselen joins me after the break.
00:32:09
Speaker 3: Welcome back to the program.
00:32:10
Speaker 2: Yesterday, we addressed the blame game going on between the Albanese government and the RBA over what, or more particularly, who is responsible for high inflation. The RBA governor has blamed domestic spending and, in addition, the.
00:32:23
Speaker 3: War in Iran.
00:32:25
Speaker 2: Jim Chalmers, he's blamed the war in Iran while conceding that private domestic spending might be an issue, but insisting he's made budget. Well, that's the best thing to have happened to the Australian economy since he completed his PhD thesis in on the life and times of Paul Keating. So it was left to former governor of the RBA, Dr. Philip Lowe, to point out a couple of home truths.
00:32:47
Speaker 15: And now we find ourselves running sizable budget deficits at a time where we're at full employment and commodity prices are very high. We should be running sizable surpluses. So we don't have a framework and we're not solving the intertemporal problem. So what we're doing now is spending today and leaving the debt for our kids.
00:33:09
Speaker 2: Joining me now is macro business's chief economist, Leith Van Onselen. Leith, always great to talk. Do you agree with Dr Lowe's comments?
00:33:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. Phil Lowe's just repeating what nearly every other economist is saying, that the federal government needs to reduce spending and take pressure off inflation. Look, let's be honest, the Reserve Bank's hiking race to lower demand in the economy, and it's doing so by whacking households, particularly those with mortgages. And RBA Governor Michelle Bullock, she explicitly said on Tuesday... that demand was too high and that interest rates have to rise to lower demand back down. And a major reason why demand is too high is because of excessive government spending, both the federal and state levels. And here's the ridiculous thing. We are five years past the pandemic, yet government spending is still at those pandemic high levels, which makes absolutely no sense. So what we need is for the federal and state governments to basically help the Reserve Bank out, reduce spending to help lower inflation, because we have a burnout economy at the moment. The Reserve Bank has the foot planted on the brake, trying to slow the economy down, while our governments have got the foot planted on the accelerator, trying to speed the economy up through reckless government spending. So we need to basically help the Reserve Bank out.
00:34:21
Speaker 3: Well, you mentioned state governments.
00:34:22
Speaker 2: The New South Wales Premier, Chris Minns, came out this afternoon calling for state and federal governments to rein in their spending.
00:34:29
Speaker 3: Here he was.
00:34:31
Speaker 10: Look, I'd just say that I think every government has a responsibility to do what it can to take demand out of the economy. South Wales Treasurer and myself have said many times that we have heard the advice from the RBA over the last two years that we need to be careful with public funds.
00:34:51
Speaker 3: Why can't Jim Chalmers simply say that?
00:34:53
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, you know, good on Chris Mintz, because he's basically just speaking the truth. Absolutely. We have, as I said, we've got you know, public spending still tracking at those pandemic peaks. Yet we're five years removed from the pandemic. It makes absolutely no sense. And plus, all our levels of government are basically drowning in debt as well. So, you know, we're facing a massive increase in interest payments as this cheap COVID debt rolls over to high interest rates down the track. And so we need our governments to basically tighten the belts. Australians have to prepare for austerity. And we need a period whereby state and federal governments have a prolonged period where they spend less than they receive through taxes and they start basically paying down this debt. That's what we need.
00:35:31
Speaker 2: Well, speaking of places in debt, should we talk about Victoria? Victoria's been ranked the worst managed state, not just in Australia, but in the Western world.
00:35:41
Speaker 3: I knew it was bad. I didn't know it was that bad, Leith.
00:35:45
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, absolutely. Look, I mean, you know, most Australians widely regard Victoria as Australia's most poorly managed state. We've got massive debt, soaring crime, endemic corruption and wasting infrastructure projects, potholed roads, and also Australia's highest unemployment rate. But a new comparative study analysis done by economist and former fund manager, Mariso Shennessy, has also ranked Victoria the most mismanaged state in the Western world. So what he basically did was he spent 10 days And he basically judged 366 state and regional governments worldwide, and he assessed them on the same criteria. And he found that Victoria ranked the most poorly in the world due to infrastructure waste, due to its soaring debt, due to cronyism, and also its poor accountability. And look, I've got to say, James, I'm a Victorian, and I approve this message.
00:36:36
Speaker 3: Is there a prize?
00:36:37
Speaker 2: Like, do you get some sort of trophy or a symbol to signify you are the worst run state in the Western world?
00:36:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I mean, I think we should. And this should be televised because obviously Victoria's got an election, you know, in November. So it'd be great if everyone knew this. And we got the Raspberry Award because Victoria deserves it. This has been an absolute schmuzzle, this state. And I've lived here my whole life. I'm 48 years old. And I've just witnessed the degradation this century, particularly of Victoria. It used to be very proud. It used to be an excellent place to live in Melbourne. And now it's just become a bit of a cesspit, to be quite frank.
00:37:14
Speaker 2: Hey, we've only got about a minute and a half left, but I wanted to ask you quickly on macrobusiness.com.au, you've written an excellent article telling Australians brace for a $ 1 trillion hit to household wealth. We've only got about a minute, so it's a bit of a mission, but can you explain to me what that means, a $ 1 trillion hit on household wealth coming our way?
00:37:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.
00:37:36
Speaker 1: So it's all very simple. So the housing stock, the total value of homes in Australia was valued at $ 12. 2 trillion in the March quarter. And home values have already fallen by more than 5% nationally, and they're expected to record record declines. I'm expecting a peak to trough decline in excess of 10%. And what that'll mean is that dwelling values or the value of homes across Australia will fall by more than $ 1 trillion in aggregate, which means that's a $ 1 trillion hit to household wealth. And what this basically means for the economy is that HSBC, they've tipped a 13% peak to trough decline, and they think it's going to wipe about 1% off Australia's GDP growth through lower consumer spending, but also through lower turnover in housing-related sectors.
00:38:18
Speaker 2: The hits just keep on coming, don't they, Leith? I was going to say thank you, but I'm not sure I should say thank you after that news.
00:38:26
Speaker 3: I appreciate you coming on the show to talk, though.
00:38:29
Speaker 1: Always.
00:38:29
Speaker 4: Thanks, Leith.
00:38:30
Speaker 3: All right, coming up after the.
00:38:31
Speaker 2: Break, the pro-Palestine movement wants to hold a vigil for Gaza on the anniversary of October 7. There are no words, but there will be words... with Caroline DiRusso and Gemma Tonnini after the break. Next Wednesday will mark the three-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks. And who do you think is preparing to mark the occasion? The pro-Palestinian movement, of course, because nothing says moral high ground like dancing on the graves of your neighbour while complaining about your neighbour. It was the Jews who were victims on October 7. More than 1,000 Israelis raped, beaten, murdered, hundreds taken hostage. The pro-Palestinian movement say they're protesting Israel's response, which might have been more convincing if they had not celebrated the attacks on Israel and started protesting Israel's response before Israel's response had even begun. Israel's response, by the way, the ground invasion three weeks after the massacre of its civilians, was first and foremost to get back their women and children who'd been taken hostage, something the Gazans did everything to prevent and something even the pro-Palestinians in this country protested. Remember how they tore down posters calling for the Jewish hostages to be released? Anyway, there's a vigil being advertised to be held outside Sydney's town hall on October 7, but not to mourn the 1,200 Israelis killed that day.
00:39:57
Speaker 3: Far from it. Have a look at this.
00:40:00
Speaker 2: It's a poster advertising on October 7, a vigil not for Jews who that day experienced the biggest mass slaughter since the Holocaust. It's a vigil for Gaza. And have a look at what's written on the top of the poster. It says, don't let Israel steal the date. Its genocidal airstrikes began on October 7th, 2023. The Australian Jewish Association responded online to the poster by saying the following. Don't worry, Israel can't steal October 7 from you. Just as the Holocaust will forever be associated with Germany, the rape, murder and kidnapping of Jews on October 7 will forever be associated with the Palestinian Arabs who carried it out.
00:40:42
Speaker 3: That date is all yours.
00:40:45
Speaker 2: Joining me now is the panel, Gemma Tognini of GT Communications and News24 contributor Caroline DeRusso. Gemma, how did you respond when you saw this poster? I could not believe it.
00:40:56
Speaker 16: I'm completely unsurprised. These are the gutter of our society, these people. They are, you know what, at a very low level. They're kind of like Jan Brady, you know.
00:41:09
Speaker 13: They can't let anyone else have anything. They're just whinge, whinge, whinge. Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.
00:41:14
Speaker 16: I mean, that's the trite way to treat these mental and moral pygmies. But the reality of it is they're celebrating what they call our martyrs. And I just want to remind our viewers and remind any of those people who might still be on the fence on this issue, if that's possible, but what they're celebrating are people who broke into kibbutzim, who raped, slaughtered children, women, who tied women, young girls like my niece's age, 22 years old, to trees at... the site of the Nova Festival, raped them. They used implements. They used rods of wood and metal pikes. And many women were found having been shot in their genitalia. So I just want to remind my fellow Australians that the people who are advocating for this protest, what the hell they're protesting, who knows, they're the people who are quite happy with this.
00:42:05
Speaker 13: They think it's resistance. They think it's martyrdom. I think they're sick. And I think the government needs to finally just draw a.
00:42:12
Speaker 16: Line in the sand and there has to be a line in the sand about this sort of thing.
00:42:15
Speaker 13: And I'll just share this one story, if I could, James.
00:42:17
Speaker 16: The first hostage that I met on a mission to Israel in the middle of the war, December 2024, she was back at her kibbutzim, which was still, the only thing.
00:42:28
Speaker 13: That had been cleaned up was the blood, to be frank.
00:42:31
Speaker 16: And I asked her what her captors, she was held by a civilian family in Gaza. And I asked her, what they talked about, and she said various things. She tried to humanise herself. But she said to me the most shocking thing she had said to her was that she didn't know. She was told, I don't know why you Jews think you have the right to be here. So I just want to remind people what we're talking about here. This isn't some cosplay bullshit nonsense that belongs in a bad university class, probably the University of Sydney, let's be honest.
00:43:01
Speaker 13: This is fellow Australians.
00:43:04
Speaker 16: not my fellow Australians, trying to rewrite history, rewrite recent history, and it is absolutely abhorrent.
00:43:13
Speaker 2: Caroline, the Chris Minns government should not allow this to go ahead on October 7, should they?
00:43:21
Speaker 8: I think this is pretty revolting. Look, and there's one of these things, from a freedom of speech point of view, like I'm glad that this poster has come out so people can see the absolute stupidity, but that there is different to holding a vigil and protesting and I think that that there is just gauche beyond imagination. As Gemma said, it's absolutely abhorrent and.
00:43:43
Speaker 3: I really struggle.
00:43:45
Speaker 8: Even as, you know, my deepest libertarian senses and freedom of speech and associate just cannot abide this.
00:43:53
Speaker 13: It is absolutely revolting.
00:43:56
Speaker 8: But the bit that I was slightly amused by and what Gemma said was absolutely 100%. It won't come as any great surprise to you, James, that I agree with her and we're on a unity ticket here. But one of the groups that is sponsoring this event is is the eastern suburbs for Palestine.
00:44:15
Speaker 13: Like, tell me your head's up.
00:44:17
Speaker 8: Your backside without telling me your head's up your backside. Like, tell the entire country that you have absolutely no credibility. That was the first thing I noticed on that poster and I rolled my eyes and I thought, these people don't have enough problems.
00:44:34
Speaker 3: They don't.
00:44:34
Speaker 8: Because if they had proper problems, they would be being more productive workers with their time elsewhere in society than carrying on this absolute load of manure.
00:44:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. Couldn't agree more. I just cannot imagine how.
00:44:52
Speaker 2: After what we saw back in the day, you know, the Opera House protests, et cetera, I just cannot believe the government will not find a way to stop this.
00:45:01
Speaker 3: It's obscene.
00:45:01
Speaker 16: James, Chris Minns was on the record a couple of weeks ago when our colleague Sherry Markson launched her book.
00:45:08
Speaker 13: along with Alex Rivkin.
00:45:10
Speaker 16: And he said something to the effect of, you know, that was a, I think it was a bullshit response.
00:45:14
Speaker 13: I was a baby Premier.
00:45:15
Speaker 3: That's right.
00:45:16
Speaker 13: You know, here's your chance, Premier.
00:45:18
Speaker 3: Yep.
00:45:18
Speaker 16: Here's your chance to make it about more than just rhetoric, more than just, oh, mere culprit in hindsight, don't blame me, I didn't know what I was doing. Here is your chance to put your goddamn money where your mouth is.
00:45:29
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, Caroline, and I want to move on in a second, but to my mind, if on October 7th, You have a pro-Palestinian rally in favour of Palestine and Gazans. That comes to me so close to incitement, it's not funny because you're effectively justifying what was mass slaughter. I just cannot imagine how that could possibly go ahead. And if Chris Min says, well, we don't have the laws to be able to stop it, well, you've been Premier for the last number of years since October 7, 2023. Three years. You've had the chance to make the laws. I want to talk about Sydney University. I forget which of you mentioned it earlier, but it was going to come up. They announced three independent reviews into campus security, student representative group funding and into student conduct rules. These three reviews come after a group ran in the student council election under the slogan, globalise the intifada.
00:46:25
Speaker 3: Gemma, we're going to have some reviews, three reviews. Is this action?
00:46:30
Speaker 16: Well, nothing says a line in the sand like three reviews. My goodness, they must be quaking in their boots. I mean, again, James, we had Mark Scott giving evidence at the Royal Commission recently or in the last couple of months, whenever it was, saying, you know, we were blindsided.
00:46:43
Speaker 13: Great, you were blindsided. You've had time. What have you done? What have you done?
00:46:47
Speaker 16: The Archbishop of Sydney, the Catholic Archbishop, I believe others also last week when this story broke, slammed the University of Sydney for its repeated inaction.
00:46:58
Speaker 13: I mean, imagine, imagine quaking in your boots. We're going to have a review. Oh, my giddy aunt. What a lack of leadership this country has.
00:47:07
Speaker 2: Caroline, the Australian newspaper reported that these reviews were ordered after the Prime Minister, the New South Wales Premier and the Education Minister all petitioned University Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott to do something. I mean, what does it say that you had to have everyone from the PM to the Education Minister knocking on your door saying, hey, are you going to do something?
00:47:28
Speaker 3: And then he responds with three reviews.
00:47:32
Speaker 8: Well, he's evidently an insipid human being, right? I mean, the three reviews... shouldn't even be necessary. You should have just done your job in.
00:47:39
Speaker 13: The first place.
00:47:41
Speaker 8: Now, if this rabble appears to run the university, well, then the Vice-Chancellor should just be sending his paycheck to them, you know, on the 15th of every month when it lands in his bank account or whatever.
00:47:54
Speaker 13: Who runs this show?
00:47:56
Speaker 8: Either you're in charge and you do your job properly or trot off Go and be a medical receptionist or something. Go and do something else. If you are not capable of doing the job, vacate the space. The idea that three senior people in government had to call you and tell you to do something and then what you do is have a review just tells us all that you are so far out of your depth and enough of this, like, bouncing from one cushy public job to another, mate.
00:48:30
Speaker 3: You're useless. Just go.
00:48:32
Speaker 2: You're absolutely right. I've got to finish it there, ladies. Thank you for taking the time. I really appreciate it. That's it from me.
00:48:38
Speaker 3: Stick around. Up right now is Shari Markson. Good night.
