Afternoons with Michael McLaren - Thursday, 5th June

you text messages from here. It's cold. Yeah. It is one three one eight seven three the open line number. Of course, you can set us a text at any point zero four six zero eight seven three eight seven three, and there is the email two GB dot com. Click on the feedback icon. After one o'clock, I'm going to have a very important conversation with Professor k Cook. Kay is the Associate Dean of Research at Swinburne University. They've been looking at the issue of child and family support. Now.

I appreciate this as a particularly difficult subject for many people to discuss, but perhaps you would like to share some of your opinions on this later today when we speak to the professor. The catalyst is that more than one point two million separated parents have child support arrangements, about one million children the recipient eighty four percent of

parents receiving the payments of women. But according to a new report from the Commonwealth Onwardsman, thirty two percent of complaints about child's support or the scheme claim that it's been weaponized by ex partners. Now, I've had a number of people speak to me over the years, knowing what I do, and say, listen, at some point you raise this issue and look, to be honest, a lot of them seem to be fathers, saying, you know, I'm being told I've got to pay this sort of support, but

I'm denied access to my child. And look, it's a world I know very little about, thankfully, because I grew up in a stable, loving family home environment and that's the environment we've got at home with our daughter. So touch would thank god this hasn't been something that I've had to intersect with at a personal level, but I would know people that have. When you look at the numbers one point two million separated parents, one million children.

Chances are we all know at least one person or a few people for whom this is the arrangement, and for many it works fine. You know that love has broken down and the husband and the wife have gone their separate ways, and one earns more than the other or whatever it is, and so there is an arrangement made that through the separation there is some continuity of financial arrangement, and one partner gives money over to the

other or vice versa for the betterment of the child. Now, you know, people, normal people say, well, look how that makes sense. That makes sense. You know, we've fallen out of love as a married couple, but we equally love the child, and raising children's in expensive business. And so okay, we appreciate that we no longer live under the same roof, but we have a commonality there, a common interest financially

with the child, and we'll make this work. But clearly, in a lot of circumstances it doesn't work, and clearly in some circumstances it is being weaponized by ex partners. So I want to speak to Professor ka Cook and the team there at Swimburn have been looking at all of this. Some of the numbers will surprise you later on Anna Cordai Entertainment Experts. She's here with Screen Talk Leaver a bit of a look at the Sydney Film Festival that's getting under way. We're giving away double passes

with track of the day of course. Also we'll have the midday movie review with Anna. It's a shocker. I'm told it's coming up. I think it's tomorrow on TV this one say get a bit of a foretaste. Jim will be here with Sydney Siders after two o'clock as well. Professor Barney Glover impressive human being Professor Glover. He's now

the Commissioner of Jobs and Skills Australia. And there was a report out in the newspapers today suggesting that the Federal Labor government want to get the split between those going to university and those studying vocational courses, TAFE degrees and the like. They want to get that closer to fifty to fifty for too long, and they're right to

point this out, my dude. They've been guilty, as have the Coalition in encouraging this, but for too long governments have been trying to push people toward universities, and they've got targets. Back in two thousand and eight, there was a report that wanted forty percent of the Australian populational workforce to have a tertiary degree by twenty twenty. Last year there was a report, I think it was the University's Accord Report or whatever it was released last year

up that figure of fifty five percent. I mean, these are just you know, some would say it's just some government bureaucrat or whatever throwing a dart at the dart board. Oh fifty five percent, Yeah, let's have it. Why why do we need fifty five percent of the workforce to have a university degree. I'm not against universities, let alone degree they've got one. I know people have got three,

and in a number of circumstances they're essential. I mean, you're not going to be a lawyer without a university degree. You're not going to be an architect without a university degree. I don't think you should be an engineer without a

university degree. But there are a number of degrees out there which really I think is sort of surplus to requirement and people go and they do them because between government dictate and parental pressure, they think, well, I better do this because otherwise I've sort of wasted my schooling or I've wasted my good atar or whatever it is.

And they're not considering going into a trade, whereas if they did do that, they probably get paid more earlier, they'd probably have a guaranteed job when they went through their apprenticeship, and for the broader economy, they would be making arguably a more valuable contribution to the GDP of Australia. So we need to debate this and discuss this, and it doesn't just have to come from government. I think

there's there's a role here for parents. I have no doubt there's a lot of parents out there that push their children to go to university, even if the passion of the child has nothing to do with what a university can offer them and don't do with trade. That's not for you. You know you're smart, you should go to university, is the argument, Okain the number of circumstances, yeah, sure, but not in all And I think we need to recalibrate that conversation. So do that with Professor Glover later

in the show. Anyway, as I said, that's just a few things on the agenda. It's what you're thinking about and what you want to talk about that really matters, and you let us know one three, one eight seven three is the best way of doing that. Seventeen past twelve. Well, look, here's a headline for you to start the day. White British people will become a minority in the UK population

within the next forty years. Just think about that. White British people will become a minority in the UK population within the next forty years. Now, for those of us who have British ancestors, who've studied the kings and Queens of England in school history classes, who speak the English language, who think of pork Pie's big ben, red phone boxes and all of that, when we think of Britain, the idea that those aisles before too long will not be majority white does, I think take a bit of getting

used to now. The headline comes from a new study by Professor Matt Goodwin. He's of Buckingham University, and he used something called the cohort component method. I think that's something many demographers utilized to try to predict the trend going forward. And as the professor says, unless there is a radical change of policy, the share of the UK population that is white British will fall sharply from just over seventy percent today to below thirty four percent by

the year twenty one hundred. In other words, a tourist to London in say, seventy years time will be walking among a very different demographic as they take in the sites of Piccadilly Circus compared with a visitor in the nineteen nineties. Now, I guess the story here isn't so much that it highlights a changing population. Cities in particular have never been static entities. But it's the pace of change playing out before the British public's eyes that is

the story. And whether that change is net positive or not. If it all happens too fast, the existing cohort will revolt, and that'll be out of fear that their customs, their language, laws in general way of life are under threat. I mean, that is simply the natural reaction, and it'd present itself in Bangalore as much as it would in Birmingham. But

you see, none of this is by accident. The trend now presenting in the data is the result of years of government policy in Westminster by both Labor and Conservative administrations.

As the UK Telegraph points out, Professor Goodwin's report fellows a period of unprecedented legal and illegal migration to Britain, those numbers hitting a record high of nine hundred and six thousand in twenty twenty three alone, and as we speak, the British Southeast Coast as being swamped by an endless wave of inflatable dinghies loaded with so called asylum seekers effectively waved across the Channel by the French. Now, all of those that are eventually granted the right to permanent

residency accelerate the demographic change identified by Goodwin. Now, of course, in some areas, especially some of Britain's bigger cities, the proportion of the population that has Anglo, Saxon or Celtic ancestry has already slipped into the minority. The twenty twenty two census found both London and Birmingham had become minority white British. Many other areas in the old industrial North would also be the same. But of course one skin

colour matters nought. It matters nought. In the post Martin Luther King world, the sensible people have to appreciate that we don't judge someone by the color of their skin, but rather by the nature of their character. In other words, one doesn't have to be white to be British. Britishness, like Australianness, is more a state of mind. It's a membership of a shared set of values and ideas, much more so than it is a shake of the old

family tree. So all of those trends and population changes, they only matter if they come with associated shifts in attitudes to the traditional ties that bind Now. As Professor Goodwin found, by the end of this century, most of the people in Britain will not be able to trace their roots in the country back more than one or perhaps two generations. Now again, they need not matter as long as the process of integration is robust and effective.

But as he goes on to say, quote this raises enormous questions about the capacity of our country and leaders to unify people around a shared sense of identity, values, ways of life and culture and avoid the very real risk of us becoming what keirstarm At, the Prime Minister,

referred to in May as an island of strangers. End quote well, Sadly, Britain's leaders have shown scant recent capacity to unify people around those said values, culture, etc. And you get the feeling that, having stuffed themselves like a firegras goose full of post colonial guilt, they're petrified to champion the institutions and the cultural pillars that built one

of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known. But unless they get on the front foot and start asserting what makes great Britain great, and no diversity in and of itself isn't top of that list, they risk returning to an age before the evolution of the nation state, or at the very least, a nation state where the traditional British values are usurped by those of somewhere else. Now,

as they say, demography is destiny. And when you dig a little deeper into Professor Goodwin's report, the UK born fertility rate is one point thirty nine. Now the foreign born rate is just to touch under two. And if that holds true for a bunch of decades, the face of Britain is guaranteed to change, even if immigration is substantially rained in. But of course it won't be. But nonetheless, the mathematics is true now Obviously it's a similar story

out here. The face of Australia has been evolving since the nineteen fifties and that evolution is clearly gathering pace now. Again, just like with Britain, it need not be anything to fear or worry about, as long as government demand adherence to the rules, institutions and cultural norms that were the cornerstone of our extraordinary success. They are the magic ties

that bind irrespective of someone's heritage. But there's no doubt that the pace of change even here is proving a challenge, and it does present genuine questions about what such huge, indeed unprecedented changes in the composition of the population will mean for the future of nations all over the world. In fact, undergoing such an alteration twenty six past twelve, a lot of feedback about all of that. You can keep that coming in zero for six zero eight seven

three eight seven three. Steve's buzzed in, Hi, Steve, Yeah, hey Michael, how are you good mate? Thanks?

much support. I mean, you caused it, Fellers. So it's you know, it's a strange old system, but it's there are long term consequence Now, as I said, it need not be negative if people who arrive in whatever country around the world adopt and absorb the cultural and legal and whatever framework that is existing in the country. But if people come in and then want to change it, then we've got a problems.

their politics today. And that is, well, what are we looking at now, ten to fifteen years almost or ten years I think after that decision by Angela Merkel or close to now probably, and yet it is it is still manifesting one way or the other in the way that people vote and talk politics in Germany even to this day and will continue to Thank you, Steve, I appreciate your call. One three one eight seven three Over to Perth quickly here. Now we've had a debate in

New South Wales. I think most jurisdictions have about e scooters and e bikes and we've spoken to Harold Scrooby, We've spoken a range of people about this, and we know that the state labor government in New South Wales is favoring an acceptance model for a lot of these what are they called e chrow mobility devices or words

to that effect rather than blanket bands or heavy restrictions. Now, obviously the main issue is no one can really argue or work out how all of the different ideas they're looking at could possibly be policed, you know, speed limits and this sort of thing. That won't happen. So it looks like it will be semi open slather at some point when it comes to escooters and e bikes in New South Wales, there'll be some restrictions, but how can you police love them? Now, let's go to Perth. This

has just come through today the City of Perth. The council there is set to suspend the hiring of e scooters from today and that is following a fatal collision in the city over the weekend. It killed a fifty one year old pedestrian. The man was, according to the ABC, out for dinner in the Perth CBD Saturday night when he was struck at an intersection by an e scooter. Now he's believed to be the first pedestrian to die in an e scooter accident in all of West in Australia.

A UK tourist as I See being charged with causing death while driving dangerously under the influence of alcohol. Perth Deputy Lord Mayor Bruce Reynolds said that the hiring of et scooters would be suspended from midday today in response. Now, the Premier of w A, Roger Cook, was asked about this at a press conference about something else, and he said, look, he supports supports the suspension given the circumstances, but he said it would be a pity to permanently ban the

use of the scooters. Okay, So this, I guess, is the question off the back of this very sad story in the West. And you know, I don't want to sound like the gun lobby in America that's that run that line. Oh, you know, guns don't kill people. It's only bad people with a gun. You know, that's just a minute. But when we look at scooters or e bikes or whatnot, we need to ask the question. And I don't know if I have the answer because I haven't looked into it enough. But many of you have.

In many of you on these coastal communities and northern beaches the Shire. I mean, you're living with these things all the time, whizzing around, So you can tell me is it the device that's the problem, or is it the individual that utilizes the device. That's the problem. Now I'm not going to reflect on what's happened in Wa.

This will be a court matter, but suffice to say, generally speaking, if somebody is intoxicated and they get into a motor vehicle, non e anything, it's just traditional combustion injured motor vehicle and they kill somebody. Nobody's out there saying, look, what we should do is ban higher cars. No one says that. Okay, let's look at drink driving rules, let's

look at alcohol limits, this sort of thing. Now, I think really where we need to go, be it in your South Wales, WA, Queensland, ac wherever with these emerging technologies is down the registration path, registration and insurance and identify as like number plates. I think that's where you've got to go. Is sure, there's got to be speed limits and there's got to be restrictions where motorized mechanized devices can operate. I've got a big problem with e

things operating on footpaths. They're going faster than a pedestrian. Therefore there is the inclination toward danger. So we've got to look at that. But there is a movement out there, and I understand it. There's a movement out there saying, look, well let's just ban these things, ban e bikes, ban

e scooters. But that's not going to happen, okay. So I think we've got to be practical and say, how can we restrict the use in the same way we restrict the use of motor vehicles if we I mean, you can't drive a car just anywhere, stick to the road. So there's restrictions about the use of certain devices that are motorized that can cause damage far greater than if a human were to bump into another human. And so

this this is where I think the focus has to be. Now, whether the proposals the state government here seem to be mulling over about certain speed limits depending on the type of track you're using and all this sort of thing, whether that goes far enough or is missing the point. I'll leave for you to decide and you can tell me one three one eight seven three. I appreciate. I understand why in the West they're suspending the use of

e scooter hiring following this tragic event. You essentially can stop the hiring, focus on what needs to be done, and then restart the process when you have the correct regulatory framework in place. But there will be some even over there, so let's just ban these things are good. I'm not sure that's a practical or be even necessary. But there again, I say again on the record, I don't live in a part of Sydney where these things are whizzing around every I mean, we get the e

bikes and they're just being dumped near the canal. I just I don't know who gets on them, but that they you know, like like mice or mushrooms. I just keep producing every day more of these green, stupid things. No one seems to be using them, but a lot of people want to dump them near a canal. Funnily enough, But is the way to go to ban them or is it to regulate it? You can tell me one three one eight seven three. Keep the text coming as well.

Zero four six zero eight seven three eight seven three. Ye have some fantastic feedback coming in. Thank you for all of that. Zero four six zero eight seven three eight seven three. Jacks says what a number of people say. Says simple solution to the e bikes and the scooters has just enforced the laws as they stand enforce the laws as they stand. Well, the law at the moment I think says that you are not allowed to have

an escooter. I think that's the law, and of course that is far more oddered in the breach than the observance. As we've said, I don't know anyone and I know people that have the scooters. I don't know anyone who has been told off by the authorities because they're in possession of something which I think, certainly up until the week before last was illegal in New South Wales. And he says in Thailand fourteen thousand people died on motorcycles

in accidents last year. Are they going to band those Well, no they're not, And I guess in part that is the point. Scotty says. In Europe, these scooters are all over the place and just left disregarded. I was with a friend in Barcelona and he tripped over one that wasn't even being used. We don't want that. Sydney's already a bit hazardous enough for pedestrians as it is. Thank you, Scotty. No name on this one, but they say what many are saying on the text, if you register and enshore.

But that's one step. But of course if they're then hide out without idea, one could just run off if something bad were to happen. Yeah, that's true, that's true. But I suppose if you made it a little like high cars, that business model, then there would be a traceability to a degree back to who was in person of the vehicle at the time of the incident. Not as simple as a high car. I get that, but that should be maybe where we're hitting Michael, good afternoon.

next bus and went into work and worked. Said listen, you're too distressed. You're in too much pain. They ranged for someone to take her home and she spent the next two weeks getting almost daily video. So I'm out there myself. I'm retired and on my walking group. As you walk along, they ride past you. They don't bother ringing bells or letting you know they're coming, and they just fly past. The old courtesy is ringing the bell as you went past as you ride the bike, just

to let someone know you're coming. They've got to do that. But they've got to do something with the e bikes by slowing them down, yes, so that they just can't speed past you at thirty k's yep.

to operate. Now, whether that's only on bike paths or only in certain conditions, not just raffity's rules, which seems to be the case at the moment. I mean that's it's got to happen fast, because what happened to your daughter sadly happens too frequently and it's got to stop. It's got to stop. Government to have a duty of care. Thank you, Michael, I appreciate the call, and we send our love to your daughter.

aftermarket scooters? And then on top of that, you've got deliverer people and all that that come through the campus and they leave the road doing forty to fifty k's and just go straight through the campus at the same street. And we had a few accidents which were quite bad.

the scooters. The kids have a vendor and whatever they do after exams, and you know, we're fishing them out of the creeks in the lake.

So what are we going to do? And this is something that government all over the continent, indeed all over the world and grappling with at the moment, because in so many circumstances, governments and legislation react rather than preempt a problem arising. Now I mean, yeah, smart people. Anyone with the Nike over twenty could have told you these sort of problems are going to come when these devices

started coming on mass. But government sort of undernard and just waited for it to happen, and probably people early on to all this is fun, look at this new bit of kid. And now we've got a problem, and it's a big problem, and so they're scrambling with reviews and legislation and who knows what has to try to rectify the problem. But I mean, yes that your ideas are as good as the government's. Believe me. Thank you for your call. Tony in Brisbane.

appreciate that thought as well. Thank you. It's fourteen to one three one eight seven three the open line number more after this. Great to be with you on this cold but beautiful Thursday. Was gonna say morning afternoon, now, isn't It's eleven minster one one three one eight seven

three now. Yesterday we had a real triumph of radio, probably ACCRA Award winning stuff, if I'm not being too immodest, when we played guess the grunt, and we had a very successful person that could decipher the Monica seller's grunt

as opposed to Maria sharapovn Arena Sablenka. There were degrees of decibels being reached there that I think almost defied science, but in a sort of flurry of extensive research after the program, we uncovered what we believe and I can't sort of in a Guinness World Record since prove this, but I believe this to be true. The most extraordinary female tennis grunt e woman would be grunty, wouldn't it grunt it that has ever participated in the world of

professional tennis. Have to listen to this. I mean that is just a can we have that again? G I mean that that is something I just people who just tuning in this. This is from the tennis court. I just hastened to add, So have a listen to this. That's extraordinary. That was just in the warm up. Now if you can tell me who that was, you know, the a bomb of tennis grunts two g be prize pack coming your way, all right, one three, one eight seven three. Now I'm willing to put I said, yes,

I'm willing to put ten dollars down. No one knows who that was because it's it may not be a household name. It might be some parts of the world, but not here anyway. Just before we go back to calls on more substantive matters, as you think about who was that and you're grateful that you don't live next door to them. Now this is this extraordinary lady in full flight mid set. Have a listen to this now. I think they were cheering because you finally shut up.

I don't think there is could take it anymore. The dogs were barking in the neighborhood. I un'tbelieve you know if you know who that is, or you want to have a crack one three, one eight seven three or two JB prize pack will come to the winner. All right, let's get back to all these calls about e bikes, Matt's at Gosford and a Matt Hey maybe done better than that woman. What's on your mind?

get walking. You know, they're right across the wide walking path. You know, it's very hard to we neither way.

Thank you safe driving Tony todayry Tony, Sorry, just just hold that thought. The line's terrible, will fix the line up, will come back to you. Michael at Penrith today, Michael and cool.

in externally to the bus. Obviously for people who are vision impaired or whatever, that would be a great asset as well. So I think that's part of maybe what needs to be done Michael, in the broader gamut of things. Thank you for the call. Now, look I've got I've got a Gazellian calls and techna all of the people saying Maria Sharapova wrong. Now someone said it's Sharapov. I know that grunt anywhere. I don't know how, but it wasn't her. It wasn't Sharapova. It was somebody else one three,

one eight seven three. And now Bernadette, I think is going to have a crack of this. Bernadette, who was the Gruntette?

all going to a very very good cause. All right, let's say if we can find the winner before we move on, Mark, who do you.

It wasn't her. One three one eight seven three. We'll take a break and we'll recalibrate and come back with something a little more substantial. Okay. Now, I'm just gonna say we're going to give a two GB prize pack away to the I was a k a little earlier, was it? Who was it that just got that from from the Inner West? Sorry narrator yep. So I'll tell you what we're going to do. Narrat We're going to give you a Tarronga pack anyway. Okay, so you get

the family pass to Taronga Zoo. We've got another one when we get the actual answer tomorrow. No more, cause we'll deal with the grunters tomorrow. And someone Steve said, oh, was there mail grunts? Yeah, there's mail grunters. That might be one for next week. We're going to have guess the heat grunter. We've got all of that for you next week. But today, being Torono Giving Day, let's give one of these way anyway. So it happens to be World Environment Day as well. Today the Zoo aiming to

raise money for their brand new Taronga Wildlife Hospital. I heard Mark talking about that earlier. The current hospital is fifty years old, you see, and it's operating way beyond what it was built to manage, taking in one hundred and twenty five animals each month. So on Taronga Giving Day, they're asking for our support to raise that final three percent of cash that's needed for the project. I'm sure

we'll get there. Not only that, all donations made today will be quadrupled by some very very generous and kind sponsors. So the new hospital will provide expanded surgical, rehabilitation and quarantine facilities to meet the growing demand. And it will include a marine recovery center, modern surgical facilities, and an intensive care unit and rehab spaces and a whole stack

more so it'll be state of the art. You can donate, by the way, by visiting give dot dot org dot a year as we mentioned earlier, but one of those family passes coming away narrative one three one eight seven three. Okay, right on quarter past one. As I said earlier, I want to look at an issue today. It is often pushed to the side because of just how combative, confrontational and upsetting an issue it can be. And that is

the world of child and family support. Now. As it stands, more than one point two million separated parents have child support arrangements and it's for around a million children. About eighty four percent of parents receiving payments are women. But according to a new report from the Commonwealth Ombudsman, thirty two percent of complaints about the child support scheme claim it is being weaponized by ex partners. Now, if that was one or two percent, you think, okay, that's a glitch.

Thirty two percent of complaints say that it has been weaponized by ex partners. Clearly there's a problem now. The report also found that thousands of parents simply aren't being paid support. In fact, one hundred and fifty three thousand have a combined one point nine billion dollars in unpaid child so now, the report from the Ombunsman calls out Services Australia for not using its powers to stop this from happening. I wanted to speak to Professor k Cook.

Kay's an Associate Dean in Research at the School of Social Sciences, Media, Film and Education at Swinburne University. She's with me on the line, K. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it, no problem.

transfers can work perfectly. We're not talking about sort of a sixty ish percent of the caseload where there's no problem. But so that's thirty percent that private system can be used to say yes, absolutely, I'll pay you money and never pay them and there's no recourse all right.

both contribute financially to the upbringing of the child. And so that's completely appropriate. But when you look at the thirty odd percent, I mean, that is a very big percentage that are saying now this is being weaponized, now that it can be a loaded term. So when we say weaponized, what are we really talking.

control and violence against someone remotely. And women who receive family tax benefits for their children are compelled to enter the child support system. So it's the compulsory engagement in this, and then it relies on both parents submitting tax returns, accurate tax returns, women receiving family tax benefit. The government

pays really close attention to that. You can't receive family tax benefits if you're not lodging a tax return or if they think you're minimizing your income, the government's not going to give you benefits. But for the paying parents, particularly if they're self employed or they have business structures, it's much more available to them to not lodge returns, and we see sometimes it's decades people not lodging returns,

or they can minimize sorrow in my jobs. Of course, the posts coming right at the same time, and the dogs are going bananas. Now it's much easier for payers support to use their business structures to delay tax returns, to minimize payments, to move money into their business to make it look like their income is very small, so that then they don't need to pay as much tax. But they also then aren't contributing money that they have

to their own children. So it's both tax evasions through often through legal means, though legally using business arrangements to minimize your taxes, but it's also minimizing the support to their own children.

I'll get them in the pocket. I mean, is the catalyst identified for why some of this is happening.

feeds into the system. The proportion that each parent has of caring for children feeds in and that's used to calculate the amount to be paid. So the more overnight care you have, the less you need to contribute as a cash contribution, and the more ur earn relative to the other parents. Then each parent gets a self support amount and the rest is used to calculate, well, then what's children share of that money. So we've created this

system that can be weaponized. Every dollar and every night can be fought over to the death and when For a lot of people it works fine, But for people where they're looking for those leavers to exert control. Our research has found that payments are most often withheld or can be most often be held right before Christmas, right before the children's birthdays, right before school starts, so that it's the resonant parent who's eighty four percent of the times,

the mother that it looks bad to their children. They couldn't buy them a Christmas present, they couldn't buy them new school shoes or write books, they couldn't get them a birthday present. Nor haven't party used by some parents to cause harm to their ex partner and through that cause harm to their own children.

All of this has come up in the report, but it does seem the Obmuinsman's report was pretty scathing of Services Australia. Now they administer the scheme, do they not? But the argument is they're not using the available powers to them to stop the abuse.

their income. Because the systems built on this sort of white picket fence view of people in full time waged employment that doesn't change over the course of the year. That's not how people work anymore. The gig economy, casualization incomes do change, so paying parents sometimes they're able to

afford their annual child support amount, sometimes they're not. So the system lets parents ring up and say, oh my my income's not going to be two thousand dollars anymore this month it's actually dropped to two hundred dollars, and Services Australia takes that often with no evidence and the kicker is so going right back to the beginning where I said that fifty percent of the case load just receive cash payments privately, that income that they're meant to

get in child support is used to reduce their family tax payments. So every dollar of child report you get fifty cents less of family tax benefits. So the fifty percent who just get at cash in hand, the government assumes that every single dollar of expected child support is paid, whether or not it is. And the real kicker is say these parents are estimating their incomes, not lodging tax returns for a decade. That can go on for years

and years and years. Ten years later, often when the child turns eighteen, the parent will lodge all of their tax returns. Instead of having to pay say one hundred dollars a month in child support, they really should have been paying a thousand dollars a month retrospectively, so for a decade Services Australia. The legislation says that Services Australia

retrospectively recalculates all of their child support. So now they've been overpaid family tax benefits even though they didn't know they were meant to collect that money, and so now they are the government and the government will vigorously pursue them.

I'm willing to obviously support the child or children from a different location now and I've moved on and she's moved on or whatever. But I've got evidence that the money I'm giving isn't really being spent on my child. It's being pocketed by my ex wife and she's going and buying nic shoes with it or something. Now, what happens in those circumstances, because again, the temptation would be to withhold the cash and they will look more than happy to support the child, but there's no evidence the

child's getting it. So you know, I don't want to prop up my ex so's the's what happens there? How does Services Australia come in there? I mean, what do you do well?

Every single dollar goes to food, heat, housing, children's clothes, books, school, That's what the evidence, the data says. There is always going to be outliers, particularly when you're talking at higher incomes. But the evidence doesn't support that women are the fastest growing group of homeless people in Australia. That's true because of things like this.

make it work. You know that you've fallen out of love with the ex or whatever it is, but you both still love the children and you appreciate. Okay, to raise a child, it's an expensive business. And I've got an income and she's got an income or whatever it happens to be, and okay, we both contribute, we do our best, and we do it as amicably as possible. And in sixty percent of cases it seems that's the way it works. And that's good, but clearly in a

lot of circumstances it's not working. It's not working that way, it's not working at all. The children are obviously the ones that are missing out, and there are multitude of reasons for that. Now you might wish to comment on that. I'm happy to hear from you. I'm already seeing, as I said, some texts coming through and trying to put a few of those de kay as we went live one three, one eight seven three. Let's go to the news room ereon Margaret Afternoon.

two million dollars. And an eleven year old girl has saved her young sister from the path of a runaway car which smashed through the window of a restaurant in China. It had been heading straight for the toddler before she was snatched to safety. In Sport League Imortal, Melmaninger says he's close to finalizing a deal to become the inaugural coach of the Perth Bears. Maninger will need to step down as Australian Test coach, although he wants to have

a role in this year's Ashes tour of England. And there'll be more news at two o'clock on afternoons.

morning frost Tomorrow will be cloudy after that. Top of just thirteen, then a max of twelve on Saturday, potentially two mill of rain coming through Liftgo thirteen and some sunny weather today. Bit of frost earlier that should have baked off by now, so I said thirteen the top up to fifteen for Mudgie today and bathist Orange just twelve eleven at Katombah and sixteen for spring Wood tomorrow.

Thirteen the top for Lifthgo, bit of frost and then cloud after that, then apart the cloudy Saturday, the top of just eleven degrees. Now, before we take a break, news just threw from the inner Suburbs. I had a text just a moment ago from Andy saying that he's seen a pedestrian hit by a t in Surrey Hills. Now we've just the team that's just spoken to New Southal's ambulance and they've told us they've just arrived on scene the last ten or so minutes. So Andy, thank

you for letting us know. This happened on Devonshire Street in Surrey Hills. So far it's believed to be a man in his thirties or forties. Paramedics are still assessing the situation as such, we don't yet have any information as to his injuries or the state of play. But if you are down there, you can give me a call and tell me what you're seeing. One three, one

eight seven three of till the team off air. It does appear as though a pedestrian it could well be a man in his thirties or forties, has been struck by a tram in Surrey Hills there at Devonshire Street, where any further details will bring them to you as soon as we possibly can. Steve just mentioned reports of an accident there at Mona Vale. I just had to call off air from somebody saying a car appears to have flipped on Warata Street there at Mona Vale, that's

in front of the Monavale Public School. I think so our person on the scene suggesting that ambulance and fieries are on the scene. Traffic already they're really bad in both directions, So that looks like what might be happening there at Monavil if corresponded as on the money there a car appears to have flipped Warreta Street in Mona Vail, but the services of their the emergency services are there. The feedback about the family support payments is coming through

thick and fast. A lot of it is very interesting reading a lot of it very interesting reading a lot of men writing to me saying that the system is just not working, not so much in their favor or in someone else's favor, that the system is just not working. I'll get to some of those later in the program. But as I said, a lot of men writing to

me saying this recently isn't working for us. And they're giving me their experiences and what they've paid and the lack of time they've been given in return to spend with the children. And as I said, I've got no expertise in the space at all, thank god, but a lot of people do. And maybe it's the ones that have had a bad experience that want to talk, because for everybody else it's just okay, you move on. Those that are talking are saying something's really got to change here.

Just before we just before we go to Ander and Entertainment, Michael, you're out there on the roads and you've spotted a bargain, have you?

you up. But for everybody else, well done. Now, just regarding the light rail, just an update here, there are no light rail services running between more Park and Central. That's due to that incident requiring emergency services at Surrey

Hills that we spoke about. Light Rail services continue to run between Moore Park and Randwick and Moore Park and Junior's Kingsford, but passengers are advised to delay their journeys or consider an alternative transport option obviously, So just there's a consequence obviously because of this incident involving it seems a male pedestrian and the light rail, the tram at

Devonshire Street, Surrey Hills. No light rail services running at the moment between Moore Park and Central due to that incident. All right, we'll keep you up to date on what's happening there throughout the afternoon one, three, one, eight, seven three, Now on afternoons screen torch right on twenty to two, Bang on the dot. So let's bring it Anna cor Day the Entertainment Extraordinary at nine we call this little Segmund screen talk.

But there are new films, award winning films, buzzy films, documentaries, foreign films, animated short films, everything that you could want. I'm so excited. I'm going to be seeing Sorry, Baby Eddington, Life of Chuck. Of the three that I've picked so far, still have a few more to pick. But everyone should check it out because it's such a great film festival to support. So you can have a look at the program at SFF dot org dot au.

Neither are happy about their forced partnership. But if you've watched any bad cheesy romance Michael, you will know that their time together will lead to much more than just a working relationship. And you are going to end up with a clogged artery from the sheer volume of cheese that you are going to consume watching this movie. So don't forget Midday Tomorrow on nine it's unmissible.

Everyone is going to love that. And then of course, you know it's going to open up the franchise to a whole new generation as well. I mean, I've got two nephews who are purple belts in karate and they are absolutely going to love this movie.

for blood and revenge. It's a decent spinoff movie. It's no you know, Keanu Reeves led john Wick film, but he does make a cameo. But I do think fans of the franchise. I think they'll be pretty happy with this output. It's bloody, it's violent. Ana de Armas is kicking some serious but all.

That's Jessica Lang, Pierce Brosn and Kathy Bates, a great drama about an aging Broadway actress. But yeah, skip the al Pacino movie. Oh okay, I can't believe I'm saying that.

spanner in the works. He's fallen in love. Everything is now at stake, and a big shipment of cocaine goes missing and their empire is under attack. It's a great eight part series. All episodes are on stand today and it's already been renewed for a second season. So that means you know what's good.

is forced to face and reconcile his past. This is a big Aussie cast, It's a big Aussie production, all filmed in Tazzy as well. I personally loved the book. So this is top of the list for me for this week and it will be out tomorrow.

gets going. I will just say the first episode I wasn't totally convinced about the series, but because I love Owen, I gave it another episode to get me convinced, and it absolutely did. By episode two, things really get picked up and going. By then it's not a total hole in one, but it's an easy watch. And you know Owen Wilson, he's so charismatic and charming that you'll stick around just for him. And that one's streaming now.

to that, my child support sky rocketed up. There seems to be again. I don't know the system intimately, but my understanding is that the more care is given to let's say the mother, the more time they're obliged to look after the child or whatever the terminology is, the higher the financial compensation. So if there's a please correct

me if I'm wrong. But my understanding is if let's let's say the father says the guy I want fifty to fifty, but isn't granted that let's say it's ninety ten or eighty twenty, as might be the case a lot financially. That is also reflected in the support. So the more care that is given by the other partner, the higher the payment they get, generally speaking from the individual who doesn't have as much care duty, even if

they are seeking greater care duty. So I think this is where a lot of people say, hang on the systems mill to be blunt, bugget another one here says, look like you, I've got no skin in the game. But he says, here, we're dealing here with child support,

not spousal support. And when you know that this is one of the distinctions that often needs to be made that as someone wrote to me earlier saying, look, and I don't begrudge at all giving everything to my child, but when I see the money go to my wife, my ex wife, and there's no evidence it's filtering through to my child, that I've got a problem if essentially

propping up financially my ex wife. I'm not making comment on any of that, but I think if I was in that same position, I have a knows how to joint as well. But if that is going on and the system is cumbersome or with the tax arrangements, it's difficult to try to rectify that financially. I can understand a lot of people being upset. Now to political news, Ted O'Brien, the Shadow Treasurer, has just popped up on

sky Is. You know. We interviewed him at the end of last week where he was coming an ring whether the Coalition might be able to cut a deal with Labor over this super tax, and I said, Ted, surely there's the things so it's a dog and forget it. He's oh, well, he's tough at his position. Since we spoke, have a listen.

It will still go through. The Greens will get this one through with labor, but they can prosecute the case against it. Just to repeat, by the way, the L two and L three light rail services are not running between more Park and Central due to that incident requiring emergency services at Surry Hills we mentioned earlier. Any further updates, I'll bring them to you. Notes coming through thinking fast about problems with the rail and the light rail and

the roads today. This one from someone saying just letting you know the train service from Paramata to Leppington has stopped due to someone with a medical condition at Canley Veil station. I'll see if we can get some details on that after the news.

clarification on that. Indeed that is the case. I've just had a photo said to be by the way of the situation of the car roll over at Mona Vale. It is up on its side, no doubt about that looks like and I think it's an SUV from what I can see, but I'm not certain Emergency services are there. But obviously the traffic in and around Mona Vale's are mess because of this, so if you are there, just bear in mind it's going to be slow going for

a while. We did report early today we had a message from a listener that something had happened involving an individual and the light rail at Devonshire Street, Surrey Hills. Sadly I inform you that a man has died after being struck by a light rail carriage. It was just after quarter past one today and we brought you that news pretty much straight away. Emergency services were called to Devonshire Street following reports a pedestrian was struck by a

light rail carriage. On arrival, officers attached to Surrey Hills Police Area Command found the man, believed to be aged in his forties, under the carriage. The man was treated at the scene by New South Wales Ambland's paramedics. However, he died at the scene. He is yet to be formally identified. Police established a crime scene. An investigation into the cause of the incident has commenced. A report will

be prepared for the information of the coroner. A tragedy there at Devonshire Street, Surrey Hills earlier today, as I said, L two and L three light rail services are not running between more Park and Central due to this incident. Passengers are advised to delay or consider alternative transport. L two and L three light rail services are still running between more Park and Randwick and between more Park and Junior's Kingsford, as well as between Central and Circular Key,

but between more Park and Central they're not. That's due to this fatality. Earlier today one three, one, eight, seven three there.

Do you know how old Sydney Harbor is, Michael, how old the harbor? How old the harbor is?

much a part of Sydney Harbor for sixty years. It was called the Sobrayan and it was bringing out all passengers from Britain. It was the biggest composite ship that means wood and metal ever made sailing ship. And then when it had done its time, the government bought it and it became the Boys Home the Adolescent Juvenile Delinquents

or something. It was anchored off Cockatoo Island, which was the home for the delinquent girls, and it was you know, they made sure it was far enough from shore so that the boys couldn't swim ashore.

extra travel time. That's due to an incident requiring emergency services at Cabramatta earlier. Today frequent services are operating, some with changed stops. For updates to services, you can check transport apps, information screens and of course listen to the announcements. But there was a situation earlier at Cabramatta and that

has affected some of the trains on those lines. Okay, Now back to Sydney Siders, which is what we're about at this time of the day, and the story of James Ranulph Jackson.

You know, if you're on a farm and your missus has passed away, eleven kids, where would you move to Darlinghurst? They moved to Darlinghurst. James spent the rest of his life living around the Harbor, but he moved to the North Shore now. He left school at a very He took up an apprenticeship as a decorator with a decorator, but he was smitten by the desire to be an artist,

and he studied. He studied drawing at the Royal Art Society, of which he later became the president and so on many years later, and at an art school in Sydney. He applied for the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, which was so prestigious couldn't list the number of famous artists who went there, but he didn't get in. So determined he packed up and he sailed to London and he studied under a wonderful Welsh artist called Sir Frank Brangwen, and he was really top artist and teacher. Then he

went to Paris, as you do. He spent a year living in the Latin Quarter and he studied at the Academy Colorossi, and that was under Philippe Colorossi, who was Italian. As you may have guessed, he was a famous sculptor. And he studied there in Paris, he was exposed to Impressionism.

He became a wonderful Impressionist artist. And he returned to Australia in nineteen eight so he got public wrec You know, we were saying that he's not known to the general public today, but he was recognized very early in his career. In fact, in nineteen fourteen, the Art Gallery purchased the first of sixteen of his paintings, which are in the New South Wales Art Gallery.

seventeen to nineteen twenty six. He had his first solo exhibition at the Gayfield Show Art Gallery in nineteen twenty and in nineteen twenty three, as we've already noted, two of his paintings were included in this incredibly important Australian art exhibition in London which broke the careers of just about you know, everybody in Australian art was involved.

was a James R. Jackson painting that created it. Oh nice because there was a public subscription raised to buy this particular painting and it was the first painting ever to be part of the collection of the Manly Gallery and it was called Middle Harbor from Manly Heights. So also he is part of a very famous ex collection at the Mossman Gallery and that's the Balnaves collection which was donated by mister Balnaves, guru of television, and there.

But the Great Depression came and things were a little bit tough because they were living at Seaforth and they decided that the best way to make it through the Great Depression as artists was to rent out their house to somebody else and travel and they went camping and they lived down at a place called Lanyon near Canberra. They lived on the Murraham Bidjie. They lived on the Higgins property in Gloucester. And Dora was from Bathist, so they visited Bathist and they were sort of camped out

with the kids. You know, what a great way to grow up. And they painted together, of course, and then came back when the depression was, you know, starting to ease a bit in thirty six, and they had enough money there to set up a studio in Mossman. You know that's going to cost you a quid these days. And as I said, he was a member of the Australian Art Association. He was one of the first fellows of that association and he became vice president in nineteen

sixty five. It was a group of artists who were Impressionists, but they were a little more conservative perhaps than some of the others, and they were opposed, for example, to modernism. I don't want to bore our listeners who couldn't care less about art, but modernism is like the Northwood group, Roland Wakeland, Lloyd Reese and so on. And these people preferred to stick to the more traditional Impressionist stuff, and.

because you know, when was Cockatoo Island joined to the mainland. Well, if you look at his paintings, you'll see, you know, he painted that in nineteen forty and it wasn't joined, but by the end of the war it was, so you can you know it's it's a wonderful fascination and he was a terrific artist. It's a great story. James Jackson, thank you.

Earlier and replacement buses have been requested between Central and more Park, but they're not yet running, so passengers can also consider catching regular route buses between the city and more Park or trains between Central and Circular Key. The L two and L three light rail services are still running between More Park and Randwick and between More Park and Juniors, but passengers are advised to allow plenty of extra travel time and check information displays it stops for

service updates. Transport NSW dot infos also where you can go for updates. But that terrible, terrible story earlier about the man who has lost his life and there's obviously knock on effects with the way that the light rail is operating in Sydney as is completely understandable. But just to repeat, the L two and L three light rail services are not running between more Park and Circular Key due to that fatality earlier in the afternoon.

two and point nine? You know, just sort of on the back of your hand.

this jacket. My social media channels just went into meltdown with people commenting about my damned jack. They didn't have clue who this bloke who is asking these questions of Gladys and doctor Kerry chair wearing this really silly looking jacket.

We'll be looking at that after four o'clock. David Elliott's my straight shooter talking about the Liberal Party. He will have a few choice words to say about mister Stockdale. I can't imagine today, miss Elliott, So make sure you're listening after four thirty for that. And we're going to

have a look at the Sandwich generation. Yeah, the generation that is stuck in between looking after their children and in some cases grandchildren and their parents as they age and the challenges that they're facing.

suppress violent crime from escalating on Sydney streets. Australian and European officials are working to resolve the remaining sticking points as they try to negotiate a free trade deal, and US President Donald Trump assigned a proclamation to suspend international visas for new students at Harvard University as he tries to stop foreigners from enrolling at the Etlite University. Current

students are now also under review. In sport, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored his one hundred and thirty seventh international goal for Portugal as they came from a goal down to beat Germany and reached the nation's league final. They'll meet the winner of the France Spain semi final, and there'll be more news at three o'clock.

than that. We remember in the US in two thousand and seven eight nine, they had these in called liar loans. The idea of basically the Brokens who were put through whatever paperwork they wanted to put through to pretend that borrowers had this opacity to repay these loans. This is echoes of that.

current problem. Twenty twenty two is the latest that these allegations seems to pertain to. So yeah, obviously a massive deal, you'd hope, and I'm glad the regulators look at this sort of stuff and making sure this is being taken a task if indeed it did happen. Again, we have to wonder whether or not this is a nice looted incident as well, but we'll find out in due course.

For now, pretty serious misconduct allegations as I said, Westback is already winding down rams, but probably not before time.

opposed through vocational training. The federal government seemed to want to get that back to more toward a fifty to fifty split. I'm in favor of that on face value. I get Professor Glover's thoughts straight after this just about to go twenty to three. Thank you for your company this afternoon. Well Skills and Training Minister Andrew Giles in the News today, aiming to shepherd more school leavers into

vocational education and training. He makes the point that Australia should be aiming for a roughly fifty to fifty split with students going to university and into vocational education and training. I think there's a lot of merit in this, but for it to happen, the suggestion in Today's Financial Review is that it would mean pushing tens of thousands of prospective university students toward Taife and other vocational courses in

the coming years. Now, someone who has spoken about this extensively is Professor Barney Glover, and in fact he made the point to the same newspaper but at the end of last year that fifteen years of government policies designed to encourage young people to enroll in a university have tipped the scales too far, leaving graduates without bright futures and at the same time vast tracts of industry without

the skills they need. Well, Professor Barney Glover is now the Commissioner of Jobs and Schools Australia, so he certainly qualified to speak in this space. He's also a former university man, so he's very well qualified to speak in this space. And he joins me on the line, Professor, thank you for your time.

training and tape pathway, so that's true. One of the obligations I think on the part of government, state and federal and territory governments is to encourage better careers advice in school and better encouragement of young people and better advice to parents and those who influence young people about the great opportunities of a TAFE course and a vet

pathway into a career. We've also got to be looking at the opportunity for graduates from higher education to say well, I also could value and get value in my career aspirate from doing a vocational education and training program as will to give me really significant practical skills. So yes, we need to do a reset. We need to rebalancing of our post secondary education system in Australia. By the way, over the next decade and beyond, we do need to

grow our high education system as well. That's the scale of the challenge. But as a minister made very clear, we need to get the balance right and we need to encourage more young people into vocational education and training.

and we need a return on that investment. And if you've got a lot of people going to university but coming out in degrees that in some cases are flooded with graduates, but the job market just doesn't have the ability to absorb that skill, that may not been the wisest, all the most productive investment from a federal taxpayer's point of view.

We need a very strong construction sector for the infrastructure we need for decarbonization and zero we have a commitment to advanced manufacturing with the Future Made in Australia initiatives. There is a significant program of work for this country over the next decade and beyond, and we're going to need both higher education qualified young people entering the workforce, but in greater numbers than we have at the moment.

We need to encourage young people into VET programs and yes, the lifetime return on that investment for the individual and of course nationally is a critically important part of that. But we must appreciate I think there's great opportunities for young people. One thing we're not doing well enough is consistently across the board getting the right careers advice to young people at that crucial time in their secondary schooling

and even earlier. I know there's a program in South Australia announced very recently by the Melanowskis government to have primary school kids having a taste of what a trade might look like, get them early and interested in opportunities. We don't need to necessarily coerce them into a particular pathway, but we've got to make sure they've got all the information necessary to make the right decision. We need very, very good VET in schools programs around Australia, consistently high

quality to provide that alternative in the school system. Better pre apprenticeship and pre pre apprenticeship opportunities for young people. One thing that makes a difference with an apprenticeship is having a pre apprenticeship taster and to be supported well in the first year. So there's a lot we need to do to do the rebalancing, but I think the benefit it says you just put it very very important to the nation, absolutely to the individual.

this is being top loaded. But regarding the apprenticeships, and that often goes hand in love with the vocational side of education training, We've had all sorts of schemes and ideas over the years about how that should work, but there seems to be a constant squabble between who should fund it the apprenticeship, Should it be government, should it be the employer, What are the rules and the details around it, and a lot of it's from my point of view, seems to get bogged down in the minutia

of the apprenticeship. How do we empower the apprenticeship program to incentivize people to say, okay, well that's the available so I'm going to go and pursue a trade.

better funding for young people doing apprenticeship. We all know that they don't get paid a great deal, so anything that provides some additional support is both a cost of living benefit but also a longer term attractor for young people to enter into into an apprenticeship. So there's still more the government I think we'll be doing in relation to apprenticeships. That's a positive thing. We've going to make sure. Of course, the industry and the business is leaning into

this as well. They've got to be confident enough about the pipeline of work that they have ahead of them to take on young people, in particular into apprenticeship. So that's a confidence issue in the economy. That's an important thing for them wealth and for the Treasurer to be aware of. Let's make sure business is confident enough to put young people on and we need to be put

on large numbers. So one of the big reports we did at the end of twenty twenty three was that the clean energy workforce we need in Australia thirty seven different occupations that support the clean energy transformation in this country. We need huge numbers of additional apprentices in the electrical traits, for example, over the next decade. So we have all of the data to tell us this is a great

opportunity for the country. We need business to lean in and to be confident about taking on apprentices and we need the government to have the incentives right to actually support the program. But I'm confident that that work is not only underway but beginning to show signs of making a difference. And one of the other elements, of course, and all of this is we want more young people into theirs. Let's make sure there are no barriers to

young people going into vocational education and training. So one thing that jobs and skills are greated advocating for is a more harmonious, terist education system, make it easier to move between bat and hire. Let's have fewer barriers. The government's response for the that side of that is, let's get rid of any financial hurdle with free tape and th free tape, all of those things I think are

important initiatives. We need them now to demonstrate that they'll be successful and to measure the success of that over the next few years.

government set all of these targets. But why are they It seems very obsessed in the federal government level here and around the world with getting people through universities and less obsessed with getting them through tapes and vocational training. What is it about the university sector? The government continue to say, we've got to get this percentage through the gate. Even if the economy isn't demanding.

the impact of generative AI. What's that dont mean? Can we lead the way? We need strength in our research capability in this country. Universities do that in spades. We need to make sure their resource to do that.

And it's also an area whether a great job opportunity is great career paths, great lives for young people and great opportunities for mature age workers to reskill and up skill. So it's not just for young people and we need to get that message across.

with the time we had with Professor Glover. The apprenticeship seems to be often the boondoggle in the whole story. Okay, track of the data said earlier, got a double pass to the Sydney Film Festival, as Anna was saying, a stack of stuff, probably something for everyone there. So if you want the double pass one three one eight seven three. The Film Festival, by the way, creating bold, inspiring cinema from around the world, June four, three to fifteen. So

we're right in the middle of it now, it's just started. Now, I should say. For tickets in the full program, just go to SFF dot org dot au. And here is your question. The Rubik's cube was solved in just twenty two point ninety five seconds on this day in nineteen eighty two by an individual in Buddha pest. What are the colors on the traditional Rubik's cube? What are the colors on the traditional Rubik's cube? All right, if you know one three, one eight seven three, this might just

inspire you a little bit. Let's say, for us, hey, Robert at macquari Field's well done, the answers being white, yellow, red, orange, green and blue. Clinton is up next.