From the Sky News Center. This is Paul Murray Live. Happy Thursday.
Welcome to the nan Kid, Come on in, take a seat. Now, about the lady you've just seen on television, You know
how much I admire her personally well professionally. Now as well as always, Shari's reporting that she brought you at the start of the show an hour ago led the world all right, literally as you would imagine here at Sky News Banker Televisions, all the different news channels around the world, the only one that was reporting the delay this one why because of Shari's reporting, So congratulations to
her and her team. The rest of the world now follows the breaking news that was supposed to be the beginning of a light at the end of the tunnel, which may well be delayed because of the behavior of Hamas. The Israeli government was apparently going to be meeting in the past hour or so to start to ratify a process that would eventually lead to hostages being released.
But as Shari.
First brought you that information, it is currently laid fingers cross things get back on track sooner rather than later. But all of this incredibly precarious world under Sherry and her team more details at skynews dot com dot au now tonight. On this lit'll Telly show lots to get to, including Albo rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic or refreshing his government for the next phase of its awesomeness. I think you can tell which way I'm going to
go on this. And and Banta's leader of the Greens is now begging, begging Australia to give the Abaneze government a minority, which would mean he gets more power.
What will he do with it?
Well, not to stop Dunton, but kill off Conservatism.
We'll get to that in the second.
And the one of Omegan Kelly on fire for the first time in twenty twenty five Yady Place.
You see her right here every.
Week, so he goes there because he's like, well, I'm royalty and everyone loves me. I make people feel better when they see me. The mere sight of me makes people feel But you're in the wrong country, son, go home.
First bit of whild weather, not just what happened in Sidy.
In fact, as we speak about twenty thousand homes in and around the southeast of Queensland currently in a world of pain with actually no power whatsoever. The Qurey Males front page referring to what was a tornado or something similar to it? Now obviously that's people's descriptions of it, not an official readout from the Weather Bureau, but a huge changing temperature today meant that there was a big storm as we speak. Plenty of people are just double
checking the damage. But at the very least this is the latest that we got from the authorities in Queensland.
Very much indicative of a very energetic atmosphere as well, fuel by very unstable conditions are on the Darling Downs especially, and even parts of the Salt Burnett could see some severe storms this afternoon.
Needing I mentioned when we were on the air last night, but what about that storm in Sydney. If you happen to live through it, like millions of people, did you know how frightening it was for everyone else? You can have a look at the pictures lightning strikes, one of seventy three thousand that took place in and around New South Wales as that storm was rolling its way from
west to east. As I told you, a person has died as a result of a tree falling on their car in Cowra about one hundred thousand people ending up without power at some point in time in the past twenty four hours. But I want you to see again that's seventy three thousand lightning strikes. This was I think from the weather Zone people and it was up on the Herald's website, but worth showing you. Seventy three thousand lightning strikes bang bang bang, bang bang in and around all of Sydney.
Now.
I double checked with the Rural Fire Service about whether any of these resulted in fires that would have obviously been instantly put out when it comes to rain in some parts. But as we know, lightning can start fires and with strong winds all the.
Rest of it.
At this moment, there is no sign of anything other than what has passed in the past twenty four hours.
The cleanup job pretty massive.
Here in Beecroft. The rain had still been marketing and down this morning. STS crews hard at work working to clear one of more than two thousand and two hundred jobs that have been called in across the states.
So summer, you may say, but what specifically this summer is causing?
What happens?
The joy of this network is that we've got to Weather Channel who can tell us that rainfall is just going to continue thanks to that low pressure system offshore, and we will continue to see those storms.
Throughout Friday, Saturday and even into Sunday.
But something is really fascinating at times like this. As always, we admire the professional people that are involved in the emergency services in every part of this country. But I also admire the many thousands more who are part of our response to storms big and small, to fires big and small, to car accidents, to all sorts of things. The volunteers who work for the state emergency services or the rural Fire Service or the country Fire or whatever
the version is in your particular state. Now, these people, on top of their normal life, where they've got their families and they've got their jobs and they've got everything else. In the middle of the night, phone goes off, Bang, they jump, they go to no financial return. It is only when there are extreme events, and this happens every few years, where an awful lot goes on for an awful lot of days, and sadly a lot of people lose their lives, that there's some sort of parade in
the street or major thank you. But I want to be very clear that we think every day the people who volunteer their time or work professionally to go towards people in a time of need. Now, these are all statements of fact, all obvious things to mention, all things
that we know. And there's a very good chunk that quite a few people watching us right now, either currently or at some point in their life life, knows somebody or were the somebody who has been doing the volunteering, working the hoses, working the chainsaws, all.
The rest of it.
But there are other people in the media who seemingly forget about this volunteer spirit. Now there's a lefty who writes in the Turbul Times, otherwise known as The Guardian, and she has moved to a regional area and apparently there was a little bit of a spot fire and of course quite a panic where she lives. I'm glad the fire is out. Everyone's okay. This is not a nan nah about that. But it's what she wrote about this experience of a community coming to her aid that kind of made me think, what.
World do you live in?
Mate? She says that after the fire had been there, all these people sort of came out of the woodwork. So many people materialized as if by matter transporter, sort of like being beamed in Star Trek style. They arrived and the utes on the back of trucks. They seemed to appear out of the scrub. I really don't know how They worked, spraying water on the flames and wedged as wedge tail eagles rose above the paddocks to pick off the wildlife fleeing.
From the melee. That's how it went.
Hour after hour they came and went from the road, working with chainsaws, in bulldozers, on fire trucks, in their own utes, the volunteers, and a whole collection of people who had obviously focused in in and around the paddock where it was all taking place. How is this a surprise to anyone? How is this a surprise to anyone whose job it is, in part to comment on regional Australia. This is what happens, This is what has forever happened
in Australia. Now, while many publications want to talk about what the cause of the intensity is or how can be done to potentially avoid those intensities, that reality is that as long as there has been humans in Australia, they have gathered together to try to manage the land of most recent years, when our tools have got better
and our capacity to get to a fire faster. As soon as you see smoke in a regional area, if you're safe, if your property safe, you head to the place where it is, because you can help put it out, because you don't want anyone to go through the travesty that is a fire. But again, I get back to this worldview of this person writing for the Guardian, who you know, a very florid writer. I'm sure is a lovely person, and I'm glad that they're okay, okay, But
what about this bit in the end. The whole week reminded me that though the world may be a challenging place in twenty twenty five, none of those people cared how we voted. They just turned up, leaving their families behind on a public holiday to give hours and days of their lives to put the fire out at someone else's place. There But for the grace of God, et cetera. Because you don't don't talk about that in Agarni. Because of them, no people or animals, buildings were lost. Those
volunteers gave me perspective, They gave me hope. Well, I'm glad you got the hope now, but why did you or anyone else need this reminder? When it floods you do not care about what anyone in the vicinity of you who you can help thinks about any issue in
the world. I would believe that ninety nine point nine nine nine nine percent of people that even if they were at war with their neighbor and something was going on where their house was a threat, they would try to save their neighbor, let alone the people who help complete strangers. It's what we as humans and decent humans do. But it's something in particular that our version of this in Australia is nothing new, but it's breaking news to people who write in some parts of the Australian media.
Now again, I'm glad you learned the lesson. My point here is that there should have been no lesson to learn. While people who work for The Guardian would hate every word of anything that I say on this program for as long as I have been on the television, that would not prevent me or anyone else from trying to put a fire out in their backyard or trying to save their life. If I was in proximity to be able to do so, or to save their property. I
would hope it to be vice versa. I would trust that it is vice versa.
But some people get so wrapped up.
In this concept of this side, that side, left versus right, that somehow there's some giant emotional mote between humans that means we won't take care of each other because of what we believe. And yes, there are parts of the world that have war and have sectarian none of that's
in Australia. None of that is in Australia. It is in part why the conversations of the past couple of years have been so focused about making sure that regardless from where you come from, what family connections you have, what other flag you may call your own in terms of your past, the only one that matters is.
Ours about our collective.
Humanity, which is on show every single day. It's on show when you call trip below. It's on show if a volunteer is the nearest person to help you, and it is on show when a stranger is close enough to be able to help. I'm glad this person learnt their lesson. I'm sure there will be a series of angry get squares from other people at their publication. This is not about that. It's just about someone who was surprised that we help each other. Yeah, that's what we do.
We've always done it. Meantime, Prime Minister today well rearranges the deck chairs on the Titanic. If you believe the book is he's headed to well, the back door may well be pushed not just in a minority, but out of government and all of this because as you know, Bill Shorten is well having the forever farewell from Australian politics. This is after he's got a job at the University of Canberra. One of the people who helped give him the job was the person who he had hired to
do the review into the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Now wonder they call it the Canberra bubble. You work for me, I work for you this way, that way anyway. Well, those that have all got the promotion are Katie Gallaher and Ali Amanda Rishworth and Annaka Wells. So let's have a look at this list of winners who get all the more powerful as the Prime Minister try to change
things in the lead up to an election. Katie Gallaher, Finance Minister formally of course, the Chief Minister of the Act and anyone who's been really following along was accused of being one of the mean girls. Now, of course she gets another promotion, another job, presumably a little bit of extra money that comes with it. Happy to be corrected. Remember she, of course was the one who lied in parliament.
She gets a promotion. She's of course sitting around with Jim Charmers and the Prime Minister trying to pretend that, oh, we've saved the budget an awful lot of money and it's way better than we've ever been, despite the fact that the Financial Review says that labor is losing control of a broken budget and the government spending, according to independent analysts, is now one and billion dollars in hidden
spending because it's all off budget. So what a funny way that your budget looks better if you're able to move more than one hundred billion dollars off the budget. Another person who gets a promotion today an a Lee. Now you know Anne as a person who had been around the media plenty. She did some deradicalization work, I
think the in Western Australia. She's also pretty famous since they came to government and she was still a minister of being sort of chief actor behind the Prime minister, you know, all the pulling faces and all the rest of it. And because she's so good at pulling the faces, well she is going to end up with the new job.
Okay, But of course she's also.
An example of how this government is getting left her by the day. Her further elevation and getting closer to power in Australia. Well she's now just a little bit closer to being able to be in a position well maybe they could move Australia day. She's one of the ones who thinks it needs to move. And if you disagreed, apparently it was all racist trolling that she received. What about Amanda Rishworth, I think she's from South Australia. Now, this is the genius who decided to follow on and
get rid of the Cashleist debit card. This was one of the first things the Labor Party did and they were proud of it. And look at me, I'm holding up a photo when everyone on the internet who doesn't
read the details just sees the photo. Of course, the decision of this government to get rid of the cash lists debit card has created huge problems like in Suduna in her home state, one of the areas in regional Australia that have said when people have been freely able to spend welfare money on things like gambling, drugs or alcohol, they are right back in the problems that they were before the government started to turn around and say, no,
this gift from your fellow taxpayer, this welfare, this support is only for the things that matter, like food and housing and things for your kids. But no, no, she moves further up the pole. And interestingly today someone at the Daily Mail reported on a pretty eagle eyed reader of government reports because while we know the acknowledgment to country is almost anything that this federal government does, apparently there was an acknowledgment of autistic people which was also
delivered by this minister in a report. It was about acknowledging autistic people their families, cares and support networks in the same way they talk about the traditional custodians of the country.
They get woker by the day.
Anika Wells she moves into cabinet. Now now she's a minister from Queensland seat of Lily One that's under attack from both the Liberals because of cost of living and the Greens because of the rental and housing situation that is around. She apart from other things, is also the Sports Minister. And remember, despite the fact the Prime Minister said to all of his MPs as soon as they became ministers, don't go to the Melbourne Cup, she went to the Melbourne Cup. And she went to the Melbourne
Cup with a bit of corporate hospitality. She was also accused of arranging taxpayers travel to just accidentally be in Melbourne on the day before the Melbourne Cup was there to be run. She represents one of the poorer electorates in Australia, yet she has got it down pat She's got the upgrade elbow just running.
Through her veins.
More of the people who get promoted under a government whose decisions have made the country go backwards. Citizenship, let's talk about this here because of course we welcome anyone from lots of different parts of the world. Why because if you're able to fit the criteria, do the tests show your passion, you are welcome to help us write the next chapter of our country. You leave the worst of wherever you've come from behind and you live the best
of what happens here. Interestingly, the Herald Sun revealed a story today that about a third of all of the people who have been sitting for citizenship tests have actually
failed them. The Herald someun can reveal that more than one hundred and eighty three citizenship tests were taken, but only one hundred and twenty two thousand past, So a third of all people who wanted to come and were allowed to sit the test and presumably had a chance of coming into the country where they failed the test, meaning that the near record migration which has happened under this government could have been even a third larger in
the past twelve months. Remember the ABS data that shows that net permanent and long term arrivals from January September last year was three hundred and ninety eight hundred.
And fifty people.
That's higher than the previous record, as in the most number ever into the country, which was set by the same government in twenty and twenty three. And while we accept anyone from anywhere because they are relevant to the story of the future for all Australians, the reality of the numbers of people that this government has been pump priming into the economy to make the federal budget look good creates an awful.
Lot of problems.
With twenty seven million people in the country right now, when you add another million in just a couple of years, guess what happens. All of the cues get longer, the cues for a rental property, the cues for a hospital bed, the cues for a place at your local school. So those numbers could have been even bigger by potentially a third. But remember what their promise was, Oh, I don't know. In twenty twenty four, they're definitely going to get to on top of immigration please.
Now.
In and around Australia Day and the endless debate around it, there are the two views the minority of view, less than twenty percent of people who share the Lydia thought view of things. Invasion Day, Terrible Day. Somehow will keep all of the modernity, but could you somehow hand back the keys to I don't know what the plan is here right for a huge proportion of people, or the best part of seventy percent of people, Australia Day is just how good's this joint?
Not Wide Pride Day, not Southern Cross Tattoo Day.
It's a day where you just celebrate the awesomeness and the peace that is our country. Yes, we're aware of sins of the past, but we are aware of the opportunities of the future. And that opinion poll which came out this week showing sixty nine percent of people showing support for Australia Day to remain on January twenty six is not breaking news to any of us, a little bit like the volunteer spirit has not breaking news to
any of us. And perhaps maybe it's something to do with want to reject wokeness yet believe it or not, this constitutional scholar writing yes even in the Channel nine newspapers says that it's time for lefties to wake up and reject wokeness. And we know what's been happening over in the United States, and fingers crossed what might be about to happen here in Australias. We seem to have gone past peak wokeness. But I'll tell you why I.
Think things have slightly changed in the past ten years.
It's because, for an extremely significant number of people, Australia Day, January twenty six is the day where people decide to join the greatest club in the world, Australia. It's where they decide to put up their hand to pledge to honor and support everything to do with this country, and
they make a better life. So rather than just stabbing around in the dark, I wanted to work out just how many people have become Australian citizens, not over the past ten years overall, but in the past ten years, including the one that's about to come up. How many people became Australian citizens on Australia Day. Well, we got this number back from Home Affairs which tells us one hundred and eighty two hundred and ninety eight people have become Australian citizens.
On Australia Day.
That's why I think part people's attitudes toward the day has changed, because for many people it is the day they became an Australian For one hundred and eighty thousand people, double the number if they've got husbands or wives, Quadruple the number if they've got grandparents or kids. The number
gets very big, very quickly. So there's no giant surprise that the same people who don't carry all of the Lydia Thorpe worldview are now starting to not just become the majority, but the extreme majority.
Which is good to see.
And that's what I look forward to most each and every Australian day, apart from the celebration of the freedom and the peace and all the rest of it.
I love the idea.
I love the idea that it's the time when my grandmother and plenty of others have joined this country on that particular day. If you are one of about fourteen and a half thousand that are going to be joining us as official Australian citizens on the twenty sixth, welcome, Welcome to the great country in the world. And I can't wait to see what you do with the privilege of being here and being part of the greatest team in the world, Team Australia.
But of course all that doesn't.
Extend much to corporate world, because you see that Lydia Thorpe view, the Lydia thought view held by less than twenty percent or these people either work for or in or certainly know how to use the Internet to yell at companies in the CBDs of Sydney, Melbourne and of
course in Bruceban plenty of others as well. And we learned today via the Australian newspaper, the corporations including telstru Commonwealth Bank, Australian super are going to allow their staff to work Australia Day and then take another public holiday off somewhere else. Whatever public holiday they choose to take, they've got one in the bank and they'll be able to do so one may be more culturally appropriate to them.
Championing the move is a win for employees after flexibility around their time off, despite few taking up the offer. Other businesses that include all of this would e Y which also offer flexibility around Australia Day and we'll avoid holding any major celebrations and have instead put the onus
on employees. I'd be fascinated here. If you are a business that happens to offer this service to your employees on Australia Day, do you still charge the public Holiday surcharge for that day even if the people aren't working, or of course, do you still want to collect that cash as if one hundred percent of people are rather being put out for working, that's why they get the penalty rates or the service that you are providing, because those people either did a lot of work the day
before or a lot of work after that you need to be paid the Public Holiday searcharge of course, don't dare pull at that one, Paul, because we all know what's about.
To happen if I do. Now. Jobs.
Let's talk about this here because today our unemployment numbers came out. They were fascinating to read to see as a indicator into the economy. Well, we are now at four percent and it comes to unemployment that is a little bit higher than where it has been of recent times. However, what it shows here is there is a big difference between full time workers, people who might most likely work in places like those offices that may or may not be observing January the twenty sixth or people in the
casual sector. Because the casual numbers, as they always do in December for obvious reasons, in around the Christmas sales, well they went through the roof. In fact, if you have a look at the numbers, full time employment down twenty three thy seven hundred people meaning full time employees with all of the benefits that come from full time employment down twenty three thousand, seven hundred, part time employment
up eighty thousand. So it means overall there are more jobs in the Australian economy.
But what types of jobs? Clearly ones that are not.
As secure as full time work and do not have the same sorts of are entitlements that come with it
and further protections. That's part of why the story is worth noting here because of course it has a flow on effect and as always there's a new piece of information each and every day that will tell us whether we are or aren't going to get an interest rate because as millions of Australians at least thirty percent my view, probably the best part of fifty or sixty percent of people, they are trying to pay off a mortgage at the moment, they are trying to pay off a home, which is
why they are paying particular attention to the Reserve Bank of Australia and what decision it may or may not make at its first meeting of the year in relation to interest rates, and all of that happening in the first week of February. So it does it help or doesn't hurt? Well, if you read this article, apparently the prediction when it comes to an interest rate cut, well, because of today's jobs start, are probably not going to happen. But if you read this article, the market believes there
still will be a rate cut. And then if you read this article they say there's no need for a rate cut, but so GOODLFE trying to work out exactly what is going to happen in February. But I think on the behalf of all of Australians, of course the rate should be cut. Why because we are in a per capita recession. The citizens, the grunters, the workers, the normal people are currently going backwards. Sure, the federal government's powering on because of course it's all other people's borrowed
or pushed off the book's money. Australia does need a rate cut, and I know the Prime Minister thinks that automatically is going to politically help him. I don't think that because he's had an opportunity to manage an economy and interstrates have gone up twelve times on his watch. If it falls down to whether pressure has been at the eleventh or the tenth, I don't think anyone's going
to be singing hallelujah. Also under this government. Remember that because when pay rises are being handled out, particularly in the government sect, and nobody needs productivity to come with it, meaning the living standards for Australians right now, because everything costs as much as it currently does, despite the fact they promised at the last election and everything would get better, that living standards are at the worst since nineteen fifty nine.
And then more news.
About how tough it is in small business. Again not news to you, not news to me. Might be news to someone over to the Turnbull Times. But in Channel nine today they were working off for some efforts from the Commonwealth Bank showing that the majority of small businesses are struggling with cash flow. Eighty percent of small to medium businesses have experienced a lack of cash in the past twelve months. We're not talking about physical we're just
talking about the flow through the business. For more than a quarter of small businesses, this has meant that you have to dip into personal savings and guess what that means, You don't pay yourself. This is the reality of life for anyone who is involved in small business. It is not news to you. It is not news to me. It is definitely not news to anyone who has ever had an ABN tried to take care of themselves or maybe employ a couple of other people. But the banks
have underned just how tough it is. This is on top of how tough it is when it comes to everyone else in the economy, just how tough it is for everyone who's trying to pay something off. So the Prime Minister may well like to fool himself that we've turned the corner and everything's okay and everything's awesome, and
in the review measure mirror is all the bad times. Well, as I'll tell you in a couple of moments, there are plenty of things that might look good on paper when you compare them month to month, but when you compare them election to election, they are bankrupting Australians more in a sec Meghan Kelly as well here on Paul Murray Live, you're gonnaway see me an email Paul at skynews dot com, Bell at you, thank you very much for watching Don't Forget Podcast podcast podcast. I want that
podcast to go as far and wide as possible. Obviously you're on the front line. You're watching us live. If you're watching us the day later because of the time we're on at night each and every night, you can as the front line too. But a way to stay in touch with everything we do here at Sky News. But Paulmurraylight particular is to always make your homepage skynews dot com dot Are you plenty of action happening. There lots of videos up on YouTube, but go and find
our podcast. It's a way of guaranteeing that, for free, you're able to listen to the entire show each and every day. The homepage as always skynews dot com dot Au. Before I get back to more serious things, Megan Markle is back again.
Now.
We know that she had timed her last publicity run through the LA Fires just ahead of.
The apparent return of.
Her to Netflix, this time as some sort of a baker and butcher and candlestick maker and all the rest of it.
But no, that's now been.
Delayed so to prove that she was not just doing a publicity stunt. She's turned up again. And anytime she turns up, we don't talk about Megan. We talk to Meghan.
The last thing I.
Would do is inject myself into somebody else's suffering for a photo op.
It's disgusting, there's something wrong.
With them teeth. How are your chompers? Mine? Terrible?
But it wouldn't be a giant surprise. After a lifetime of fizzy drinks, a little too much smoking, bad for your health, terrible, don't do it, and a whole bunch of other terrible ways that you can abuse your teeth. But of course I'm lucky enough that despite the abuse that I have given those teeth, when the time is right, I am able to go and get them fixed and get them taken care of. In fact, I am so used to going to the dentist that I can even
fall asleep in the dentist's chair no drugs. That's how used I am to the process. But there are plenty of people who are not in that position. And you know on this show that I see it as the responsibility of those of us who do have comfortable experiences to be able to look and try to help the
people who do have uncomfortable experiences. And in Australia, of course, we have a pretty amazing system where you can go to hospital, get almost anything done and not have to pay anything or very much, because of course of Medicare. Now that means yes, billions and billions and billions and billions and billions and billions and billions of dollars, but it is a social compact between our fellow Australians and the people who need it. It's essentially a giant thing
on the behalf of the country. We say, that's a right, mate, I want you to be okay, we'll take care of it. But there is a part that is missing, and it is dental. Now, I know that the Greens are the ones that are running around with this at an election, but it is amazing how little conversation we ever have about whether your teeth and all of the problems that can come if you do not take care of your teeth, that can result in you getting very sick, very quickly.
In fact, plenty of people have tried to discuss for some time about why isn't dental included in medicare put simply the cost. In fact, the Graden Institute, who is quoted inside that article did a report filling the gap of universal dental scheme for Australia. Now, surprise, surprise, the number that they've come up with is about five point six b for billion dollars a year. That money does not fall from the trees. That money would have to
come from somewhere else. There are people who believe that the way that that money could come about is by increasing the Medicare fee. That people over fifty thousand dollars a year have to pay. I don't know whether that's the right way to do it, but maybe there are things that could be stripped out of the federal budget that may not be able to pay for every person to go onto Medicare for dental. That may not be the full five point six billion dollars, but maybe there's
another five hundred million dollars. Maybe there is a billion dollars somewhere somewhere else in the government and what it spends and what it chooses to spend, and it chooses to spend because they think there is a political return
in it. I'm again not sitting here for the Greens policy pretty much just saying, fine, your latest billionaire, turn them upside down and they'll end up paying for everything, and not somebody is sitting around and saying that the GST should be jacked by five or seven percent, because of course all of that money ends up going back to the state governments. But I am talking about priorities. We've talked a lot this week about examples of priorities.
This goverment spends two hundred and fifty count them, two hundred and fifty million dollars one quarter of one billion dollars on government advertising. We're essentially they're trying to use taxpayer money to push the Labor Party on all the different things that they think you want to know about the government, so hopefully you will end up voting for
the government. And I know, despite how bad I was at matts at high school, the two hundred and fifty million dollars is not five and a bit billion dollars. But maybe there's another two hundred millions somewhere. Maybe there's another one hundred million somewhere. Maybe there's a way to get just one in ten of the five and a billion dollars that are required to take care of the people at the absolute extreme end of things, because there is a problem, and it's not just me pulling on
heartstrings and doing beauty queen speeches. No one believes that was ever going to fall out of my mouth. But I was tempted to talk about this and talk about priorities when I read this in the Courier mile today where they say that a significant pediatric dentist is talking about the system that exists for the poorest and the most vulnerable of kids that their teeth are just left
a rod kids. Okay, if we live in a country that does not have roll gold for every kid in the country, we've got a problem.
Okay, we do have a problem.
Maybe not roll gold, but at the very least it should not be haves and have nots. Kansland has a third world dental service as hundreds of children are barbarically left floundering on an eighteen month wait list with multiple oozing abscessors and teeth rotting to the roots. Sorry if you got us at week's stomach, but that's what a top pediatric or kid's dentist says. Three thousand, five hundred and sixteen adults and children in Queensland are waiting for
treatment under anesthetic, meaning their teeth are that bad. Tim Keyes, who is the pediatric dentist featured in the article, says if a child had a big abscess on their arm, they wouldn't be left to suffer. I see at least one child a week that needs to be sent to the emergency department as their face is swollen with abscessors. The child may end up back in the emergency department several times. That doesn't seem a sensible way to run things.
It is barbaric. I completely agree, I truly do. Will anyone have the priorities or the will or the want to actually change things, I don't know. Well done to somebody who actually gets it when it comes to one of the things that is constantly going up.
But that is of course insurance.
Now, as we know in Australia, we've got a world of pain at the moment when it comes to cost a living, despite the fact the Prime Minister says the worst is behind us, nothing to see here, Everything's okay, everything's unky dory. Well, of course it ain't. And for many people they use their own money to try to insure a boat, a car, or a house, all of the different things that you try to ensure because goodness forbid, flood, fire, rain or a lunatic will somehow do damage or destroy
those very things. And as we've learned over the past couple of days, because of these insurance companies, not just being Australian based but internationally based, the amount of money they're going to have to spend rebuilding things in the la fires means we could end up paying more for insurance here. Frank Carboni, Fairfield Mayor Western Sydney. He says, we've got problems that need to be dealt with here. And he says that people in Western Sydney cannot afford
to actually end up paying more for their insurance. And I check this today. Don't compare things week to week, month to month. Let's compare them last election to this election. The increase in the amount that you are paying an insurance is up at least eighteen percent.
Eighteen percent.
Again, they can pretend there's all sorts of things that they believe to be priorities. Someone doing something either to raigin in the insurance companies or to limit the amount of money that they are able to constantly charge and in some cases overcharge. I think there's an opportunity if you've got an idea, if you work in the insurance area, not space. I hate those words. Send men in our ports Gonews dot com dot A you Joe Biden this.
Time next week. Bye bye, I see you later. Goodbye.
No longer president of the United States. We'll get the new one. Who's the old one? Well, today, Joe Biden plenty of time on the television. First, of course, he was announcing what is now the delayed ceasefire agreement. Let's see whether the Hamas can get their act in order. And that thing slowly moves into place. By the way, that's an incredibly fragile deal. I'm glad it's happening, but
it's a very bitter light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, something happens on Sunday, and then he had to wait six weeks and then he got a wait and it's really really fine times right. Well, he also go to speech today, this time from the Oval Office, where he was looking back at his amazing career and talking about oligarchies.
Today, an oligarchish taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threads our entire democracy, our basic grades and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. We see the consequences all across America.
So the most powerful man in the world, who had the most powerful job and control of the Parliament for two of his four years in power, says there are now too many rich people with too much power.
Wouldn't that be something that happened on his watch? More than to sake Meghan Kelly here on Paul Murray Life, it's great to be back at work.
But what makes work fun is when you get to hang out with people like the wonderful Megan Kelly. It's been too long while summer's been great here. She's been living one heck of a big news winter, and she joins us now from the United States, Rockstar, Welcome to twenty twenty five here on Paul Murray Live.
How are you.
Oh, it's wonderful to be back with you. And I can't even imagine what summer feels like anymore. We are going through such a cold stretch here in the United States and in the Northeast, I mean even Washington, d C. For this inauguration is going to be for reason, it's going to feel like it's around ten degrees. It's lovely to picture you guys in the heat, sunning yourselves getting ten. You don't know how good you have it my eyes.
Now we'll get to your most recent trip to Washington, just a couple days ago. But the anticipation of the new administration this time next week, Trump finally back in power, things are all starting to fall into place. But also it feels like a lot of the vibes that we talked about and reveled in towards the end of last
year have really kicked into this year. And yes, there's going to be super lefties that no doubt will be screaming, but the majority of the country seems ready to get rid of Biden, get rid of Harris, and go all in on Trump two point zero, who seems to be a much better version of the bloke that was there four years ago.
Hal it's genuinely exciting. We've got already company after company saying they're abandoning their DEI practices. They're done with DEI, major American corporations admitting now that was a mistake, We're not doing it. We have the House passing a bill that would ban boys from playing in girls sports k through college, including two Democrats who voted for that thing. And let's not forget who control the Senate and the White House as of January twentieth, so that thing's looking great.
We've got all the tech giants going in and bending the knee to Trump, from Jeff Bezos obviously Elon's already on team Trump, to Mark Zuckerberg, who not only got rid of DEI at Facebook now Meta, but is saying what we need is more masculine energy, and he's removing the tampons from the men's rooms inside of his company. Small gesture, but I'll take it given what we almost
had getting sworn into this White House. And then on top of that, you have Pete Hegseth testifying yesterday that he's seen some numbers that show the recruiting numbers in our military have already gone up.
When you're in the room, what do you see that we don't see on TV's. It's this sort of a sack at that's going on from certain people, sort of you know, half the rooms giving you a dead stare the other half of the rooms going it's okay, it's okay. What can you say that we didn't on Telly because you were in the room for higgshit.
Yeah.
First, it was really lovely that everybody there who was behind Pete. Almost everybody was somebody who had served with Pete, Guys who had been on the front lines with him and absolutely loved him. There were a couple of translators that helped Pete's unit out in Afghanistan who Pete was incredibly helpful to when the whole disastrous withdrawal happened, who decided to show up. They were front row, both of these guys standing there for Pete, Hegseth, and a ton
of family members as well, of course. But then what I noticed over on the Senate, you know, semi circle in front of us the dais was helpathetic. Some of these actors were like Elizabeth Warren running over to Tim Kane like good job, and then he'd be like you too, like little schoolgirls like today. And then a couple of them, like Blumenthal, their hands were shaking. They were so nervous it was ridiculous. I'm like, would you get it together? You a senator tried to be cool. Those were some
of the dynamics that I thought were most interesting. I thought Pete seemed relaxed for him, you know, I mean far more so than your average nominee, because he has had a lifetime on television, so as you know, it gets easier the more you do it, and the red light becomes a lot less scary the number of times
you've sat in front of it. And for me personally, just on a personal it was kind of strange, Paul to sit there and see all the members of the press, the photogs clamor into the room, sit down right underneath the dais, so like they were photographing the senators just by doing this click click like behind just click click like in their face, and then they'd bring their cameras down and turn them on Pete and sort of the
rest of us, and you know, take us. And I appreciated that, because, while I was there as a guest of Pete and Jen, I never want to get so high and mighty or connected or whatever that I forget. I have more in common with those people there than those people up there on that semi circle. Those are my people, the guys with the cameras, not those people up above them doing their little high fives over how they tried to get Pete.
Forgive me, but you and I might be two of the only people with excit to a camera or a microphone who are not exactly bedazzled by Michelle Obama. I don't care that she's not going to the inauguration. I don't care whether she is or isn't in the same house as her husband. I don't care what she says in advocacy of a candidate one way or the other. I've never got the Michelle Obama theme. Does anyone care that she's not going to be there when all eyes are on Trump and his wife.
I kind of like it. I'm not gonna lie. I'm a little beyond not caring. I'm like, good, why you know, seriously, you're out there, you know, endorsing that he's a misogynist hitler s tape because stay home. No one wants to see you. You're right, we shouldn't come. I'm glad you skipped the Carter funeral so you wouldn't have to sit next to him. Maybe we don't know why. I don't
mind not seeing you at the inauguration. She not only does she hate Trump, she doesn't think much of America, so she can set this one out now.
Obviously, what's happening in Los Angeles very serious. I jokingly referred that, you know, don't forget about all of the victims here. Megan has had her show delayed by Netflix, so she had the whole pr thing ready. She was out there with the baseball cap. She was expecting that the show was coming out in a couple of days, but now it's been pushed off again. So can we think about all the victims of the LA fires place?
This is almost as disgusting as the trip to Uvaldi after the mass school shooting. She is all about one person, her, not even Harry. I don't think she cares about him at all. She cares about herself. What sort of absolute creton would go to these fires in her position and make sure they get on camera and that news stories are generated about them helping the poor City of Los Angeles residence who's homes burned. She doesn't need to do that,
she as you and I both well known. If you want to help out, there are ways to make donations, and you can keep them anonymous. That's what I do when I make my donations, I keep them anonymous because I'm not looking for credit. She one hundred percent pr move. That's why she was there. She wanted to get on camera. She's really thinking every opportunity she can improve her terrible reputation, and people finally love her as they're supposed to. I don't understand why they don't.
That's her.
Then there's Harry, who still thinks he's prince, and hello, you're not. You're not our prince. We're not royalty, do us. We don't give it about you at all. In fact, we dislike you greatly and We really wish you would go back home. None of us even want you to live here. We were praying you would stay in Canada so you will not be treated like royalty here. We really couldn't give twos about your views on the Constitution
in the First Amendment. They issued a statement in response to Meta saying that it's getting rid of its censorship program.
They want us to know that they oppose it. Why do we care what you think, girl number forty with your suitcase. No one cares at all, but you think about anything, certainly not Facebook and its censorship program. And Prince Harry, Prince Harry is one of the world's least favorites of the First Amendment. He's never seen a first memic case in which he chooses the side of free speech.
So anyway, what media organization has he not sued? And event I'm sick of their opinions, sick of them, especially him, because he's not even one of us, not even an American, coming over here judging us in our constitution and so on. So he goes there because he's like, well, I'm royalty and everyone loves me. I make people feel better when they see me. The mere sight of me makes people feel but you're in the wrong country, son, go home,
by the way. They don't even feel that way about you there, so maybe it's I don't know where you should go.
I love when you do the royal voice. I'd forgotten about the royal voice. Well from all of us that I your subjects. Queen Kelly, we love you, We'll see you again.
Takes wake until the next time.
A good is she She's fantastic hersheb by the way up on YouTube and also ats Serious six Same. She's got a great podcast as well, the Megan Kelly Show Fortnight's Wake at her website, but also highlights of more of our chat is available's god News dot com dot A quickly before we go Sydney and its trains, there won't be any more industrial action at least for another few days. The industrial courts have stepped in, meaning the trains should be okay for the next few days. If
you have to ride them, enjoy. If you don't enjoy even more see your Sunday