From the Skyinging Center.
This is Paul Murray Live. Thank you guys. We're going to Sunday night. Yes, our old mate Paul Murray is living his best life in the US. He'll be back with you on Wednesday. Tell you Danika will be in the chair to start your new week. Just imagine Paul. I'm thinking NASCAR, rodeos, fast food, cigar bars. Maybe I'm sure he'll kill you him and he gets back. Some great guests up tonight, including James Ashby, Pauline Hansen's One Nation right hand man. Now he's fresh and contesting the
election in Queensland in the seat of Keppel. Very tough fight. He'll update us on the numbers, but I think he had a nine point four swing percentage swing to him, grabbed twenty five percent of the vote, smashed the Greens candidate, which is always good news, and saw a sixteen percent swing against Labor in that seat. All those former labor voters obviously swung over to the LMP who won, or to James himself. He'll be joined with us as well
by former Sydney City Labor councilor Linda Scott. I want to get her view in particular tonight on an issue that really bugs me. This is the quality of local councilors and the quality of local government these days. Now in Victoria, three recent Victorian council candidates, they were charged over those violent demonstrations. You remember the big demos outside that weapons expo recently in Melbourne, people punching horses and
throwing stuff at police. And later the federal oppositions Keith Federal join us on what the Trump victory might mean for the energy debate, in particular in this country, giving given that the returning president's attitudes to renewables, we know what they are, we just saw some of them there.
Plus what advice Keith might give to our old mate, Ambassador Kevin Ruddy, what's increasingly, I think looking like an impossible task ahead for that Australian ambassador and his boss, Prime Minister Alberanezi, along with Keith Lisa Godard on what what you can do when your past comes back to haunt you. Now remember anything, and I mean anything that you post online lives somewhere for life and Kevin's found
that out. But a question first up tonight, I want to pose for you, what do Kamala Harris, Stephen Miles, the ex Queensland Premier, and the Melbourne Lord mayor new Melbourne Lord Manor Nicholas Reese all have in common. Now, Reese is a bit of an odd one out there. He just won an election. The other two Harris and Miles, of course, were literally thrown out of office with crushing defeats.
But what do they have in common though, is all three could not run a campaign based on their pasttrack records of governing at a national, state and local government level, because all three were total failures in the job they were doing. Now they had to run on something called the vibe, whatever that is, and either expensive promises they never intended to keep or could afford to keep. Now, Kamala Harris was probably the worst vice president in American history,
and boy that saying something. Remember she did not give one open media conference for the entire campaign, instead carefully choosing US TV network she thought would give her an easy run. Not very hard when you look at the mainstream US media, by the way, But even then she tripped up badly.
Would you have done something differently than President Baden?
During the past four years.
There has done a thing that comes to mind in terms of and I've been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact.
She how lucky we was. She didn't win.
And remember right at the start, when the woman charged with border control her on the southern border was forced to admit she had never even been there.
We are going to the border.
We've been to the border.
So this whole, this whole, this whole.
Thing about the border. We've been to the border.
We've been to the border.
You haven't been to the border. And I haven't been to Europe.
And I don't understand the point that you're making.
Seriously, and I haven't been to Europe? What does that mean?
I mean?
Then she kept using the word wi, which meant someone for her office went down to the border even though she was in charge, trying to pretend she was the previous four years had never happened, was never going to work, leading to a Trump thumping that we saw during the week. Now it allowed Trump to constantly ask his rallies, do you feel better now than you did four years ago? Now clearly the answer was a resounding no. It was such a dumb thing for her to campaign to do.
What choice did she really have? The US like Australia as we know it was in the middle of a cost of living crisis. Add to that the one big thing she was in charge of the border that was a massive fail, millions of illegals pouring in from Mexico from countries all over the world. American saw major cities like New York San Francisco swamped, turning neighborhoods into dangerous slums. Now Harris also had zero foreign affairs successes, and no one had any clue if she even knew where Ukraine
even was, let alone a position on China. Trump time and time again talked about zero wars during his four years in the House, in the White House, but she couldn't do that. That was largely true. And Joe Biden, he did nothing to help her. And you get a sense there was some little feeling of vindication when she lost.
Let's go to Queensland in miles. He was handed that poison chalice when the despised Anastasia Paliche quit post COVID and after an almost ten year run of labor governments and he had to go to the polls and was never really going to win Queenslanders over. They were angry over youth crime wave that has been sweeping major cities in that state for years. They still blamed labor for COVID lockdowns. The pre planning for the Brisbane Olympics was and still is a shambles, and Miles, like Harris, had
this irritating habit of laughing at nothing. I mean, the bloke tried hard in the campaign. He probably did a bit better than expected, but like Kamela, his past came back to haunt him in a contest of much less note unless you work or have a good memory of the good old days of Melbourne. The recent Lord mayoral contest saw former Julia Gillard advisor and Sky News regular, he was a regular on Paul Murray Show, and former
Deputy and Acting Lord met Nicholas Reese. He won now During his campaign and after his victory, Reese bobbed up on radio and television promising a quote cleaner, greener, safer CBD of Melbourne. I mean, I beg your pardon, Nick for four and a half years. You're at the top
or near the top, running the city. If it was not safe, and it was dirty, and it is smeared with graffiti on almost every hard surface and overrunning parts by homeless people, with one unfortunate bloke stabbed to death recently. So where were you? And Reese? Of course oversw oversaw during COVID, the destruction of easy vehicle access to the city, spending millions of dollars installing little used bike lanes that are despised that he now says, oh well, I'll have
a look at dismantling them. Not all of them, but some. He also promised some fanciful idea of council paid security staff wandering the streets seven days a week, twenty four hours a day. If that ever happens, I'd absolutely be staggered. And it doesn't say much about the rest of the candidates that Reese actually won something that Harris and Miles could only dream of. And that brings me to Prime Minister Albanezi and his election next year, maybe as early
as March. Just what does he campaign on? Because if you ask the Trump question, do you feel better off after three years of labor? The answer, I think, in general would be no pump priming the economy with a Ponzi scheme of flooding the nation with migrants means we have a housing crisis and a cost of living. Interest rates have either gone up or been on hold for his entire term. Australians are waking up to the damage Chris Bowen's Green Dream will do to regional Australia, carpeting
rural landscapes with solar factories and wind turbines. I mean those three issues will be the issues of the campaign. Economy, cost of living, housing and immigration. Add to that what Trump win will actually mean in trade sense, and you work out why even more urgently he needs to rush off to an election. But with what platform? Sixteen billion dollars to pay off a student X debt. I reckon the people who benefit from that r either labor or
Green voters. Anyway, big promises on building houses that seem to be going nowhere seems to me just like in the US the labor campaign might be aimed at the slogan at least I'm not Peter Dutton and I won't build nuclear power stations. Look, voters are smarter than that, and you'd think that Peter Dutton even himself, would admit he's not the p if A candidate. Like America, it comes down to a choice. In the end of the
lesser of two evils. So let's bring in our first panel now, One Nation Chief of Staff James Asby and former labor counselor Linda Scott. Welcome to you both. Let's get into that US election, and it's impossible to ignore. Let's have a look at Bill Maher, who I reckon made a pretty blunt point about why celebrities couldn't get.
It done for Kamala Harris, and it just made me think, I'm sure every single member of the Orient Live cast was a Horror supporter, but what if one of them wasn't? What if one of those cast What if one of those cast members was for Trump? Would they have felt comfortable saying so? I really don't think so. They would have had to keep it to themselves. That's not a good place for us to be. You're glass, you're blass, and your snobs and people are like that.
James, let's start with you. What do you put Trump's victory down to him? Mean? We learned today that he has swept every one of those swing states.
What I found remarkable about Trump I think people are always better their second time around, particularly after he's lost.
And you know, I saw a different Trump at the end of this campaign.
When he came out and did his victory speech, he was more about everybody else who was standing on that stage than himself and I thought that really told me we're in for a different four years in this electoral term once he takes office. But you know, it goes to the heart of the fact that you can have all the celebrity endorsements you like Albansi or Kamala Harris
doesn't work. People saw through it, and doesn't matter whether you've got Tyler Swift or you've got the some of the Canon Brooks or whoever on your side here in Australia, it doesn't work.
If you woke, you go broke.
And that's exactly the path that this Labor government has put. Not only the country on a trajectory of going broke, but every household that lives within this country is feeling the pinch under this government. So they've got some major changes ahead of them if they're going to remain in the game. I know you said that Peter Dutton is not the most like guy. I'll tell you what, if people had the chance to meet Peter Dutton personally, it'd
really liked the guy. And I back him one hundred percent as being our next prime minister.
And I'm not even within his party.
I just know the man and his character, not as close as some others, but I think he would be perfect for this country and he's.
Not all show.
He doesn't need celebrity endorsements to get elected. What he's got is a plan for this country like one nation does, and we as a party would be very happy to see him elected in the next six months, especially if we've got control of the Senate again.
Lindra, I tend to agree with James assessment of Peter Duttonham.
And I've met him.
I've interviewed him in his own electorate for television and he's a different personality when you meet him. But I mean, I think, Linda, I've spent too much time in Victoria. I mean, Peter's got the same problem that Tony Abbott had in Victoria. It's a very left leaning state, Victoria, the most left leaning in the country, and it's going to be difficult for Peter Dutton. I mean, he can win it without winning seats in Victoria, I guess, but
they really do need some of those seats. What do you make of Peter Dutton's comparison to Donald Trump and the people trying to paint him as a Trump light.
Well, look, I too have worked with Peter Dutton as the head of the Local Government Association here in Australia. You know, we worked with him, We worked right across
the Parliament to advocate for local governments. But I do think that having come out of his last portfolio as Health Minister trying to introduce a co payment for Medicare, and now his major policy announcement being about the introduction of nuclear power, as you say, in places like Victoria, which I know you know so well and other parts of Australia, that is going to go down really badly and Australians will look at that as a Trump align agenda.
And we know from a polling coming out recently that Australians are concerned about that Trump like really extreme right agenda coming and being imported into Australia by people who are very, very conservative.
James, You've just bought a campaign in Kepel and you did very well. Congratulations on your effort. Pity you didn't win. But what I mean we're talking here about what might make up the issues in the next election campaign, and you've got to look no further do you than the US. I mean it's the same things. It's cost of living, it's immigration, it's energy, they're exactly the same issues. When you were door knocking in that seat, what was the biggest issue that came up.
For you, Well, in this area, and I think across most of regional Queensland, and I would encourage Peter Dutton to have a look at this is our health predicament across regional parts. It's too long a waiting list for you to get any elective surgery done. But the cost of living is certainly binding most households, and the biggest
concern there comes down to the cost of electricity. So if Linda and her cohorts within Labor think the answer is renewables, well we've already seen that the cost of implementing these and the swaths of prime agricultural land they've got to be covered in wind turbines or these solar arrays. They're just destroying regional communities. It's not happening in your city. You don't want them, and you're allowed to say you
don't want them. But for us here in regional paths, we've been told you're getting them whether you like it or not, and people have had a gupful of that. They're all for rooftop solar on their houses, it'll bring down the cost and so forth. But to actually rely on a baseload power grid that will stay alive for industry and keeping the lights on at home and keeping
it at a cost that we can all afford. Peter Dutton has tapped into the right cord there and insaying to people, well, let's have this discussion about nuclear I'm willing to nominate the places where I'm prepared to put them. Now it's up to you as a community to say whether you agree with it or not. Because the path we're going down with renewables just will not work. And it might power the cities and some of the communities for a third of the year, but what about the
other two thirds of the year. You've got to have bayside power consistent. And if we want to maintain the industry that we've got in this country for the long haul and develop new industries, power is everything and it adds to the cost of living. So if we go down those two paths, fix our health system and make sure that power is stable and reliable and cheap in this country.
You will fix a lot that's going on in Australia right.
Now, Lindra, I'm going to give you a job you might want or not want. You've just been promoted to senior advisor to Anthony alban Easy. You're going to have an election sometime in March. You're the one who's going to get us over the line. What are you telling him about some of the things James just talked about. I mean, forget health for a moment, because that's largely
a state issue. But on energy are telling Are you telling Anthony alban Easy to continue to say nuclear is too expensive, it won't work and we're not going to do it, or does he have to soften that message?
Well, the Prime Minister doesn't need my advice. He's already telling or not, which is he's already telling Australian's the truth, which is that the land that will be taken up by renewable energy projects in Australia across the nation is
about four percent. It is correct that we need to work hard to get those planning provisions in place so that local people can see the contribution benefits that these projects are leaving in a community and that that is a very tangible benefit and I certainly fought for that as I know our local governments across Australia, particularly those
in regional areas, experiencing this energy transition. But the lie that nuclear power is going to have an immediate impact on people's household energy bills, Australians know that is a lie. They know that there is no solution the nuclear And here's what else they know, James. They know that in those communities that have been named as places that may be under a Dutton federal government the subject of having
a nuclear power plant, they were not consulted. Peter Dutton made those announcements, he had not consulted the mayors of those communities. He had not consulted those communities. So this coming federal election will be a referendum, particularly in those communities, about whether they want nuclear power in their backyard or not.
James, that will be a really.
One of those communities, James.
Four.
One of those communities is where live and they're happy with it.
Is.
Yeah, Labour's just wheter than lovehouts the Yeah, just Labour's just passed misinformation and disinformation in the Lower House, and they're expecting to get up through the Senate.
Linda would not be able to back up four percent.
As a fact, And that's just disinformation, that is deliberate lies that you're telling the people. No, no, talk about no consultation in my community here. We've got a town just to the western me here called Bouldercombe that has not been consulted on one of the largest battery installations. The town is up up in arms over it. They don't want it. They've already got one that's already caught on fire. Now they want to install one which is
three times the size. No consultation, they're not even interested in listening to this community. And we don't want to see the wind turbines that go beyond Clark Creek.
We had no consultation on those.
There's prime agricultural land that's been destroyed as we speak with wind with solar installations.
So again no consultation.
And we're running an extra ten thousand to thirty thousand kilometers of additional transmission power lines to get this power back in to where people live. I'm sorry, where's a consultation because the cost attached to this as off its head.
Well, Linda, I mean, I'll let you respond, but I mean there's an issue in Victoria as well, where they're going to run this massive transmission line out of the southern parts of New South Wales all the way through prime agricultural land in Victoria to just north of Ballarat. The farmers along that route saying you're not going to
put it through my property. I'm not going to take it, and the Victoria governments pass legislation said well, bad luck if you won't agree, we're going to do it anyway. I mean this. I know these seats are largely held by the Nationals or the Liberal Party, and Labor are never going to win them anyway, but that's sort of discontent within the regional and rural Australia. Anthony Albanezi and his ministers have to be very careful not to let that take hold. Surely.
Look, there's no doubt that these projects are complex and they're difficult, but nuclear power is decades into the future and more complex and more expensive and will cost households more money for their energy bills. So renewables are of energy.
And let's be clear, there's no argument that that building process for renewable energy again is challenging, but it will only take up four percent of Australia's land mass and there's got to be a planning scheme in place that allows for contributions so that communities can.
See the benefit.
Let me give you a practical example. The former mayor in New South Wales of Parks Ken Keith converted his property into a solar farm. He had sheep grazing underneath the solar farm, with enough space between them to allow enough sunlight to grow enough crop for grazing. It was a great multiple land use, very profitable for its owner and enabled renewable energy to come into that part of New South Wales, enabled him to keep sheep.
Would do all sorts.
Of solutions that our brilliant Australian we argue have put in place to facilitate cheap, art greener energy right across Australia. Farmers know what they're doing. They're not and I don't want to have them criticize them on a show like this. Well, we know they're creating great innovative solutions to these kinds of challenges.
How would you like a twenty story wind turbine next door to your house?
We've got all sorts of wind turbines going.
Offshore in the next to your house.
Well, I don't live next to the ocean. I can't afford to do that, Steve, unfortunately. And I don't live next to a paddick. I live in a tiny, little inner city terrort.
So we could debate this all night. Let's move on, James. Look your boss Pauline Hanson. She gave a really emotional interview to my old made Andrew Bolt happened on Sky this week about your legal battle with Senator Marine Feruki or Pauline's battle with her. Let's just take an up a brief look at this.
You know, I just feel that the country's changed so much in such a way that people can't say what they think anymore. The thought police are out there, everyone shut down to having an opinion. It's not the country that I grew up in.
James. That's very hard to watch. I've interviewed Pauline, as you know, plenty of times, including face to face in her house in Queensland. How hard has this been on her? I mean I've never seen her like that, and she's been through death threats, people throwing stuff at her. She's been through everything, thrown in jail, never seen her breakdown like that.
Ever, I think what's hard to hand there is that a simple tweet that was found offensive and that's the definition that's cost Pauline Hanson nine hundred thousand dollars as.
It currently sits.
And what was she found guilty of putting up a tweet that was merely seen to be offensive by Marine Ferouki.
And why was it offensive? Well, because she's a woman of.
Color, and she is a woman, and that's what the judge found in this case. And this sets very dangerous precedence for every single one of us, Steve. This precedence means that to have an opinion that may go against a minority or somebody of color can land us all in the same situation as Pauline Hansen. And nine hundred thousand dollars is a lot to swallow, because I know it cost us about a bit over three hundred thousand
dollars in legal fees already. And then of course the judge is ordered that this is the crazy part.
The judges ordered two things.
Take the tweet down a big deal, but pay her costs other six hundred thousand dollars plus that we anticipate paul En Hanson's on the hook for and so therefore we've got to appeal.
I can understand why she's upset.
I was upset, and it's hard to watch your boss go through that, especially when she was self offended herself by the tweet the marine Ferouki put out. But it just seems as though one's allowed to offend the other isn't.
And that's why it's so important. And I think the people of this country who's got behind Pauland so far we're you know, we're about halfway in raising the money for that case to appeal it in the federal court, and it's already been decided that if we can't even win that we will go to the High Court because
there's a very strong case that Pauline's got here. Eighteen C puts every single person who puts out something that could be deemed offensive in the firing line for a same bill you lose your house over.
Well, look at the high Wire Act.
We tread when and do programs like this every night of the week live like we're doing right now. I mean, it's very easy to say something off the top of your head that you might sometimes regret, but you'd end up with a million dollar with a million dollar bill that you've got to pay for someone else. Linda, I want to talk about the great socialist state of Victoria. They're now going to bring in and I'm seventy years old next year, so I'm closer to death than I
am to birth. They're going to bring in a death tax. They're going to hike probate fees. It means people could pay thousands of dollars to enact the wills of relatives. Herald Sun's reported that fees for a state's value between one and two million dollars. And that's anyone, let's be Frank that's got a house will jump from six hundred and eighty five dollars to two thousand and four hundred.
This is nothing more than a broke state taxing people by stealth when they're dead, and the relatives have got to go through and find that money. One of the government ministers, Linda said, oh, well, if you don't have that money in the bank, you can put it on your credit card.
I mean, seriously, well, look, Steve, I know you're Victorian, so I know I'm sure you're very across is my understanding of the reforms to the scheme to ensure that it's fairer and a more progressive system of fees. And so that for from these reforms, twenty percent approximately of Victorians will have no probate fees to pay, and that simple estates which otherwise would have been subject to a fee,
will no longer be subject to a fee. And then as the increase in the size of the estate increases, there is a slightly higher well.
Six hundred fee. Six hundred percent are who got the state of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars six hundred percent hardly a small increase.
I mean, let's be clear, these are presumably costs that are incurred by the state government. And so either you do this taxation structure in a way that is progressive, or you have a flat tax, which is pretty unfair. You're clearly charging the people who can waste afford it the same as the people who have in some cases multi million dollar fees, or as you say, you have no tax, and then other Victorians pay it in a different way through waste levies, or through reduced hospital services,
or through reduced teachers in schools. So all these things have to be paid for. It's just about how you're allocated. And I think having a progressive system of taxation that in this case leaves twenty percent of Victorians with a small simple estate to pay no fees is a fairer system than the kind of system that is currently in place.
I'm sure the government will listen to consultation and receive feedback from communities reasonable to think about how fairly we can do these kinds of state government and territory government fees.
James, is there approbate death tax in Queensland? Do you know you're too young to even have poot?
Thank goodness?
Well no, I've been through a few family members that have died of reason. But look, you know, we had a fantastic premiere in this state many many years ago who led the way so job occuped us and got rid of death duties. And guess what every other state followed, and now Victoria wants to go and put it back on. These are the problems that these desperate states are returned to and this is, you know, the debt that we've got in this country. Don't be surprised if Anthony Alberanezi
thinks to himself if he's reelected next term. Hey, here's a quick, short fix. The Victorians rolled over and let us do it, so we'll do it nationally.
Don't you have no evidence for that whatsoever. That's just ridiculous.
No, Hey, he stood for it once before.
He's been on the record as saying he supported death duties, So don't hold your breath there.
Yeah.
No, I wouldn't be too confident now. I don't want to whind Linda up too much, James. But The Courier Mail in Queensland reports today that Brisbane taxpayers have been slugged one hundred and thirty five thousand dollars over the last two year. Is for welcome to country services. I mean, I can understand welcome to country. It's say, you know, a big event like a Grand Final or Baptist or
a royal tour. But I would have thought for the people doing it, it would be an honor to do it rather than charging for it.
Looks ANZACs when you go to an Anziic Day ceremony, that's exactly right. People do that for free, and you'd expect that the Indigenous who claim to own and represent the land be so proud of it would come along and do these things themselves. But I caught up with our mayor here locally in Livingstone, and I barred him up today and I said, please tell me we aren't spending these ludicrous amounts of money on welcome to country
ceremonies here in Livingston as well. He said now quoting, he's going to go and check it out on Monday. So I hope they put a stop to it. Look, we shouldn't be doing welcome to countries every time they open either parliament or just do one ceremony at the start of the parliament perhaps and don't worry about it for another three years. And I hope councils do the same thing. If you've got a four year term, do one at the start. Perhaps this is the way we
can all come to a happy agreement. Do one at the start of the term, and no more so.
It's a blamement, Linda, sensible, don't you reckon, Steve.
I don't think anyone should be suggesting that Indigenous people should not be paid for the work that they do. And when Indigenous Australians come into a welcome to country that is worthy of being paid for their time and services.
In fact, when you look at Australia and particularly in our capital cities, and you speak to people who want to come and visit Australia, one of the biggest things that came up, for example, in my former council's tourism strategies, was that people spoke about wanting to have more opportunities
for an authentic Indigenous experience. Depending on what kind of welcome to country ceremony is put in place, these can be really interesting culturally educational opportunities for Australians but also visitors to Australia to learn more more about this nation, the history of the land and what has happened here.
I don't think anyone should wishing.
They never hear another one in their life.
Again, the problem is.
That's the case.
Indeed, the research that we.
Turn into they turn into political lectures. So the person doing it lectures you about what happened in two hundred years ago, and you've got to sit there while you're waiting for the game to start, while you're getting a lecture about indigenous politics. Anyway, I want a bold prediction, Linda, from you week ahead, what's going to happen?
Look, I think there's going to be so much more blood letting about the US election, and I've got to tell you, I mean, I just want to get on to the end.
Of the year.
Like so many other Australians. My bold prediction is that we're going to see more Christmas decorations earlier in shops than ever before. I'm already seeing the Christmas decorations, the food coming out. It's absolutely amazing. I just think people are exhausted from twenty twenty four looking to the end of the year, So get ready for Christmas. It's coming.
James.
Look, there's one thing I can agree with Lenda on tonight. I think it will come down to the trade war discussion and how it's going to impact on Australia.
That'll be the big talk topic.
Look, do I think Trump's going to destroy our industries that we export overseas?
Know they said.
Prior to the election that he was an unpredictable president, and now every journalist wants to predict the future now. So it's very much going to be about a trade war discussion.
It's going to be very interesting. James, Ashby Linda Scott appreciate it very much. Thank you for joining us on this Sunday night. We'll back after the break. Welcome back, thanks for joining us on this Sunday night. Steep Price here for Paul Murray. Paul, as you know, has been in the United States. He's still over there enjoying I'm sure Donald Trump's America. I've heard a few rumors about what he's been up to. We better leave that to him to tell you when he gets back. Plenty to
discuss you though. In Australia, Let's bring in National's MP Keith Pitt and Lisa Goddard from ADNI Media. Welcome to you both. Great to see you. Paul might be enjoying Trump's reelection, you too, but I'm not sure labor is especially enjoying it. When you look at Donald Trump's energy policies, they are so different from their reckless fixation on renewables. That's not going to stop labor though. Check out what Mark Butler said to Andrew Clenel this morning on Sunday Agenda.
But it won't stop the global investment shift, which is very much in the direction of NAT zero. Technology, whether that's in energy or in vehicles. Will continue our case for global investment to come to Australia because we have some of the best solar resources on the planet, some of the best wind resources on the planet, and some
of the best scientists as well. You know, perhaps there's a there's an upside for us in terms of the investment shifting a bit more away from the US than it has under Joe Biden's term.
Keith, you're up against some election next year. I'm punting on March twenty twenty five. Now that has to be music to your ears, doesn't it. That's exactly what you want their policy to do. Well.
I also heard you earlier guess around this four percent not being very much. That's four hundred and twenty six million hectares have cleared and partially cleared agg land in this country. So at four percent, that's sixteen million hectes plus just on agg land alone. The entire Australian sugar industry is only three hundred and fifty zero hectes. Right, this is madness. And if you look at emissions as a total, so you've now got the four biggest of
it in countries China, the USA, India and Russia. Sort of fifty seven percent of the world's emissions either out of Paris will simply not do anything, and China alone increases their emissions by the equival of Australia's a tire annual contribution. I think I know who's got this wrong, and it's Butler and Labor and all of the rest.
Of them, Lisa. The Trump election should make it a little easier, perhaps the alban Easy government to pull back a little bit. But with Chris Bowen in charge and with Butler there and Anthony Albanesi, it seems they're not going to do that. So they're going to roll the dice on an election campaign where they're going to trash nuclear and say there's no point using it in any mix, and they're going to push renewables. That's a big risk to take, I think politically, a really big risk.
Bowen will just continue to double down. You've got Cop twenty nine. He's already indicated that's exactly what his plan is. They have no plan that we can see that they intend to walk this back in any way. But the big question is they haven't yet set their twenty thirty five targets, so there will now be pressure and question. So they are going to forge ahead. What is their target? Because all the predictions where they weren't quite going to
hit their twenty thirty current rate. But again, look at what when we don't talk about these polls all the time. It's not climate change that people are concerned about at the moment. It's cost of living. And that's what you saw in the US election. It was cost of living. It was the economy. It wasn't about environment.
Yeah, well, Keith, it's cost of living. It's immigration and its housing. And you know, the rush to green energy is falling way down the ladder of priorities. I mean, it seems that what this Albanezi government is fixated on is that religious push, but they also want to destroy the greens and be seen to be nice and clean and green themselves. There's no time for them to change
their attitudes to any of this, is there. I mean, Anthony Alberteze couldn't stand up next week and say, oh, well, you know, maybe I do need to start thinking about nuclear and that's never going to happen, is it.
Well, what they should think about is how much people can afford, and they just can't pay. Labour's policies have moved too far, too fast, and at too much cost. For the Australian people. They simply can't afford what labor's proposing. And then you want to take away tens of millions of hectares of productive agg land and cover them with solar battles and take away their jobs. You want to force it into regional areas where they simply don't want them.
And the alternative from US is a small footprint, very dense energy nuclear reactor that works. I know, a choption I'd like to be proposing, and that's the coalitions. But you're right, Labor will not change. They are ideologically wedded to this because of the Greens.
Lisa, It's interesting. I mean, a lot of the Poles typically got it wrong again in the United States, and I think one of the things you can put that down to is that when people were polled, either face to face or online or by phone, they weren't prepared to say, oh, yes, I'm going to vote for Donald Trump. You know, I don't like him much as a bloke, but I'm going to vote for him because the other
mob hopeless. If you're poll the Australian people, they don't go to a dinner party and say I love nuclear but they probably secretly themselves think well, goodness sake, it's got to be part of gas and coal and all of the other solutions. And so maybe the nuclear, the embraceive nuclear by the wider public might be a lot higher than what we're seeing in these poles.
Well, I think one, it's the people who are taking the time to answer the polling as well. I don't know about you, but when I get those phone calls, I hang up. I haven't got the time and I don't want to give them the indication as to what I'm thinking. So one, I don't know how accurate it
is the pool of people that they're polling. And two, I think more and more the Coalition have to be out there on the front foot like Keith is, like the rest of the coalition is talking about the benefits of nuclear and putting it into a cost perspective for people so they can look at that shock every time they get their next electricity bill or their gas and look at, well, this is the alternative, and not be
frightened by it. It's about taking away that fear. And we saw Labor the first time that the Coalition raised this. The first thing Labor went to the scare campaign, So that's what has to be addressed. It has to be addressed both through traditional media, through being out there speaking on the news, through doing it through newspapers, but also through social media, because that's where Trump did really well.
He broadened himself out. It wasn't just about relying on traditional media because they didn't give him a fair audience. He then took it to things like podcasts, talk to the people directly. That's what the Coalition needs to do, particularly around Nuclear Keith.
When you see the victory by Donald Trump and you compare it to what Peter Dutton's going to have to do come March or May whenever the election, is to sell himself to people who are unsure. Does the victory by Trump give you some more confidence that Peter Dutton can sell himself as an alternative PM?
Well, this will sound strange. I actually agree with what James Ashby said earlier. If Peter Dutton could meet every Australian we'd never be beaten. He's a genuinely good person. And you look at what Trump's done in the US. He's won the popular vote, the presidency, the Senate and the House of Reps.
It's just extraordinary.
And we will need to do something like that here if we are to defeat the Albanezy government. We've got a long way to go. Twenty seats. It's an awful lot to win. We've got the Teals, we've got multiple billionaires all over the place, You've got lots of surprises in terms of candidates, and we're not entirely in the field yet.
We've still got a lot of pre selections to do, included in Queensland.
So hoping now the state elections out of the way, we can get on with the federal campaign.
On those pre selections. In breaking news tonight, the former New South Wales RSL president James Brown as one pre selection for the Liberals in that seat of mckeller. That's the old seed of Bromin Bishop. Of course, it's held currently by one of the Teals, Sophie Scamps Lisa. These till candidates that got up at the last election, and a lot of that was around climate change and energy.
Do you think that most of them are going to be able to hang on or are they largely going to be knocked off again by the Liberal and a seat like mckella maybe goes back to the Libs.
Well, Steve, they've been quite ineffective and how often do you hear them now going out there and championing climate change. They realize that it's not the popular number one issue of the day anymore, so you don't really hear them speaking about it. I think if you elected a teal, you'd be looking at them and think of, well, how effective have they been as my local member. What I like about looking at that pre selectional list was actually
how many people nominated? And there will be people saying, look, it should have been a woman. I'm a firm believer and it has to be based on merit, and I think they've got a strong candidate and I do think that last time it was a fight against you as a protest vote against Morrison, so this time we hopefully will see those Libule voters come back.
Keith, how much is this campaign going to be about both leaders? I mean almost turning it into a presidential campaign. I mean, we've got a very different system of the United States. We don't have that complicated system, but we do vote for our local MPs. But it is going to focus in on the character of these two men. Anthony Albanzi won the last election largely by saying, well, you know, things are going to be better under me.
He's not going to be able to make that argument this time because it's not.
I hope he does.
That'll be great for us, because I think every single Australia knows they are not doing better under the Albanesi government. But if you'd asked me, you know, two terms ago, if I thought someone could win off a thirty three primary, I would have said, you know, not on your nelly. But it will be a contest around the leadership, but in the regions in particular, it will be a local campaign about your local champion. And that's one of the reasons that the coalition has been so successful in the
regions now. I think any suggestion that we should change to a presidential style campaign that's only about the leaders well, that will be fought off with great ferocity by the local MPs. I can tell you.
Now, including Keith Pitt, Keith and Lisa stick with us. Will be back after the break. Welcome back to see prussing for Paul Murray. Paul will be back with you on Wednesday. Keith Pitt and Lisa Goddard still with us. Just before I get onto another subject, Keith, your Queensland mate, Kevin Rudd. Can he survive as ambassador to the US with that result this week?
Well, I've got a bit of a different view to some of my colleagues. I think, of course he will because the Prime Minister will want to keep him there. And I'm of the view that no country or no leader of any other country can tell Australia who at Sambassas should be. And that's a view I hold pretty firmly. And I know we're going to go to our tip of the week later, but I'll give it to you early, mate, Kevin run. He'll become our greatest expat golfer. You'll see
him on the Trump Tour. He'll be at the Trump Invitational, He'll have a box of titleists, he'll be out there going on.
He doesn't strike me as a golfer. Hockey was not a bad player, but not Kevin. I can't see Kevin playing golf. Let's go back to Mark Butler. He was on Sky this morning talking me with my mate Andrew Clanell. He was asked about the latest information on former immigration detainees who the High Court side of the course can't now be tracked with ankle monitors or given curfews.
Incredible.
The government has now vowed to detain them, send them to a foreign country. Here's what Mark but they had to say this morning.
I mean, they shouldn't be here, They're not owed protection. They've committed crimes in Australia and were determined to do everything we can to remove them from our country.
But which country would take them?
Would it be the US? Would it be Nauru? Who would want people with these sorts of records?
Well, again, I say that's the matter that Tony Burke is working hard on right now. He was prepared for that High Court decision. It's not the decision we wanted. It's a decision we argued very strongly against in the court. But we knew there was a risk, of course, that the High Court would find against the government. It's done that before, It did it twelve months ago, so we were fully prepared for that scenario and Tony Burke is already acting on it.
Lisa.
He's delusional, delusional about the fact that we are going to spend money now to pay other countries to take these people who, yes, we all agree on one thing there they shouldn't be here. But what's the solution. It's just a lot of words. There was no real responsible answer in that at all. They're working hard on it. Well, I think they've been supposedly working hard on this now for over twelve months. But it doesn't change the number of cases in courts. We have to be careful about that.
But who is going to take them if that is the plan. It's already cost seventy three million dollars to the taxpayer to get to this point. So I don't understand the policy here, Keith.
What is it about labor and illegal migrants and people who are criminals in the country. They just don't seem to be able to work out what they want to do well.
They keep picking incompetent ministers. So what we've seen now is we've seen hardcore criminals released, some of them put back in, some of them released again. The Australian people were told that they were safe because they had ankle monitoring and all those ankle bracelets and monitoring, and they knew where they were. Now they don't. No one knows where these individuals are, No one knows.
What risk they placed.
They've already actually committed other offenses while they're out.
And this is just a result of the.
Absolute shambles that his minister Giles is doing. And what are the apprentices of Australia the Albanzy labor government. So now I have him as the Minister for Training.
Yeah, it's just incredible. Now, look, I've got a big issue with state governments that go broke. Here's a really good example when the states badly run. I'm talking about Victoria, where I happen to reside. They're completely busted. They've got a massive debt, all of their major builds are over budget. But have a look at this Channel nine report that gives you a great example of what happens when a state government goes broke. They can't even fix potholes.
The data doesn't lie. Three years ago Victoria resurfaced eleven and to half million square meters in regional areas, roughly the size of five hundred and seventy four mcgs. Last financial year we resurfaced roads the size of just twenty one mcgs, which is less than four percent of previous totals.
Keith makes mind have spent thousands of dollars getting their suspension fixed. It's just ridiculous. What this mob of let happen to the roads of Victoria.
Well, it's kept tire shops busy and suspension shops busy, but it's also incredibly dangerous. If you're blowing tires on the road, you end up in the bush and in the trees. And don't forget the Albanezer government's brought a million extra people in in the last eighteen months that are also driving on those roads. If you don't maintain them, this is what happens. The water gets under them, particularly
in bad weather. It's incredibly dangerous and I just it's a fundamental responsibility of state governments to maintain their roads, and clearly they are not.
Lisa, have you got a bold prediction for the week? I'll be interested in hearing this. We think we've already got Keith's preview, but we'll let him have another go on a sec you've got a bold prediction for us?
I do christ of Phil's government is going, it seems line by line through what labor has done up here for the past nine years. So I expect we will see it more exposed, more headlines saying like five hundred million dollar blowout on Olympics, A thirty seven billion dollar blowout on the hydra that they can. So that's what I expect. We'll come from Queensland this week.
Yeah.
Queensland really needs to get it tacked together over that Olympic stuff. I mean it's just a shambles. Keith, what's your prediction?
Kevin will go all out on the handicap and it won't help.
He's not going to be a goal for mate. I'm a golfer. Kevin Rudd is not a golfer. Let me tell you, Keith, You're normally accurate, but you get in all good on your gang. Lisa and Keith, thank you very much, appreciate your time coming up after me. The Royal Reports on tonight and Danika will be in this chair tomorrow night.
Yeah,