From the Skyinging Center. This is Paul Murray Live.
Hi.
Happy Wednesday. So much to get to tonight. They are about to cut interest rates in the United States, So why are we not thinking about it until maybe the middle of next year. I want to talk about veterans, and rightly so. Today there was quite an embarrassment when it came to the government. But there's a bigger issue at play than no one's talking me about. And the
Great Meghan Kelly joins us from the United States. First, there is not one, but two major political reasons why I continue to talk about the Beloo gas plans, which were due to begin in the Northern Territory. It employ more than six thousand people, there's five hundred trillion cubic meters of gas. This would certainly underscore and secure the network of renewables that are starting to be pushed around
the country. But of course, the two reasons why this story is one I've talked about is because two seats in the Northern Territory may well be up for grabs because of Tanya Plebisec. Tania Plibisec has made the ridiculous decision to further delay a project that's supported by both sides of politics in the territory that is supported by Indigenous groups and is so advanced that there's literally equipment on the ground ready to get on with it today.
But she's decided because they need those Greens preferences or they need to hold onto as many Green seats as possible. Tenia plibisiqu As I say, has shoved this off into yet another inquiry, yet another delay, yet another excuse why thousands of jobs in the mining sector may not take place. Well, today there was a minerals expo that was in Darwin, and I'm not Tania Plibiseq. We actually saw a politician
worth cheering for. There was protesters at the front of this meeting that took place today in Darwin, and they did what all these protesters always do. But unlike many politicians who simply ignore them or secretly agree with them, we have a new political hero on Austra, on the Australian political scene right now, Lea Fanukiara, the Chief Minister, the brand new chief Minister, the leader of the cop the new Chief Minister in the Northern Territory. Now she
was channeling politicians of many generations ago. But how good that in twenty twenty four. Somebody's got the clarity of right and wrong for their part of Australia and the future of our country that her response to the idiots outside was.
One of the other key things we will do is cease funding of the Environmental Defenders Office following the judgment in the Santos Barosa case decision. We've been very clear on that, very clear on that, and the activist standing out the front, you are wasting your time. Go back to Victoria or wherever else you want to cause trouble, but you are not welcome here.
Play of the Day, Star of the Week, number one on the charts right now our favorite politician in Australia right now, Leo for noooki Ao. What a great way to make it very clear that what was agreed to before an election will happen after an election. That in a place like the Northern Territory, mining matters and something that has passed every single test over years and years and years, that will employ thousands of people and keep
the lights on is exactly what you should do. So I hope that those people do get the message and bugger off back to Victoria, where of course the protests is on every day because we need a convi whatever, go back there. Now. You know I love rugby leading my mighty West Tigers. It's been a long time, a long time, but still I was alive for the two thousand and five premiership. So I'll have to live with
that for the read my life. But I do love rugby league and there was big news today in rugby League that another team will be added to the competition. Now the expectation is that we won from Perth sometime soon, but the massive announcement today was a new team will come via Papua New Guinea. Now the players will be based in far North Queensland. They'll sort of fly in fly out. But this is an area that loves rugby league.
I mean kids in particular absolutely love rugby league and every time a star is up there they go nuts for them. So the chance for them to see not just a sort of home team from Papua New Guinea in the National Rugby League, but all of their favorite players is just awesome dream come true. I've got no problems with this. I also understand that soft diplomacy means that in order to keep places like Papua New Guinea on our side and not drag towards the financial control
of places like China. You need to make sure that they have other things to look forward to rather than what normally takes place in a place like Papua New Guinea. So there is a close relationship between our two countries, and regardless of who who their prime minister is or our prime minister is, it's always hand in glove, as it should be. No one can forget the role of Puppety Guinea in World War two, and Australia also conversely defending Puppety Guinea in World War two. So congratulations to
everyone involved. It's a great thing for that sport. The thing I wanted to mention though, is how it's all coming about. Dollars wise, it's going to cost Australian taxpayers more than half a trillion, sorry, half a billion, not triviion relas half a billion dollars six hundred million dollars or sixty million dollars are year, fourteen years. Is how much the Australian taxpayer is going to pay to set up this club, to build a stadium, to build the infrastructure.
Now again I understand what the reasoning behind this is going to be about soft power in China, but government is also about priorities. Now, this government, by its own admission via the Intergenerational Report, is expecting next to you to be running a budget deficit. For the next twenty five years. Australia will run a budget deficit, meaning we will spend more money than the government will get in income. Ironically they get income out of a gas field in
the Northern Territory. But besides the point, so it's about priorities. What you do with that money matters. And while people will distract by the China of it all, we've got a lot of problems here and I'm not entirely sure that the taxpayer involvement here wins out the argument about
a priority for government. You see in Australia, I've told you a thousand times, so get ready for one thousand and one that three point seven million people last year suffered from aything called feod insecurity, where literally they didn't know where their meals were going to come from each
and every day. And that means that there are food lineans in almost every capital city in the country right now of literally working Australians as well as working poor Australians as well as unemployed poor Australians who are literally lining up for the benefit of charities to give them food. Now, the organizations that do most of this work are certainly the most prominent. Of them. Are three courses that I talk about regularly and we support on this program, OZ Harvest,
Second Bite and Food Bank in particular. Well, I went back and tried to work out at sixty million dollars a year for this football team, how does that compare to the amount of money that these organizations ask for as a dream number from the federal government to help feed a fellow Australians. It won't surprise you, but it's less than sixty million dollars a year. Now. This was their budget submission for the previous budget of twenty twenty three,
but it still stands as their position this year. The Food relief sector has requested an annual federal government commitment of forty five million dollars per annum. That's fifteen million dollars less than is going to go for the Papua New Guinea football team to be made available for those experiencing food insecurity all year round, and for standby funding to assist in natural disasters, preparedness and resilience. I repeat,
forty five million dollars. That was their dream number. Yet the football team in Papua New Guinea gets sixty million dollars. Does anyone honestly believe that the soft power game with China is of greater benefit to Australia today than feeding the people in Australia who cannot be fed. And of
course government is always about priority. Right now there's a surplus, only ever slightly because of things like the Future Fund where magically they're allowed to count that now where previous governments haven't, And of course the mining sector which would also add to their coffers if they let the gas
field go ahead. In the Northern Territory, are you paying attention voters of Solomon and Lingiari, You may well push this government into a minority, and not just a minority, but a minority so close there's a chance that they may not even be able to form it. Now we know people in the Northern Territory are able to hold their rage. They did so on the territory government, will they do so for the federal government? Certainly in and around Ala Springs, they of course abandoned you when it
came to crime. The Prime Minister spent more time flying to and from Ala Springs than in Alice Springs, remember before he buged off the tennis for three days. These are the priorities of government, and the priority here is apparently sixty million dollars our year for the next ten years for the football team that yes, will do incredible good and I fully support its existence and I understand its importance to the sport and its value to the
kids and the wider community Papua New Guinea. But sixty million bucks could be spent here on one area alone that I've identified, that being helping the charities that feed Australians. But when it's other people's money, do they really care? Of course not. This is the mob who spends tens of thousands of dollars on just one party that Karen
was throwing as the ambassador in Washington. This is the bloke that spent This is the mob that spent twenty thousand dollars flying a bloke to India to play the Digerido. And this is the mob that have paid four hundred and fifty million dollars for not one, but two new private planes for the Prime minister. Yes, fact checkers ordered by the previous government, but not canceled by this one. Not to mention four hundred and fifty million dollars on a referendum that are just said hell no to by
sixty percent. And speaking of government money, well we're here are other people's money money. Canon two cares the Hobart Stadium that will be the home of the Tazzy Tigers when they eventually joined the AFL. Again, we can all have our views on this, but let's be very clear. The Prime minister he thought this was a way to help the Labor Party at the last territory, last state election. Of course it lost because it was opposed, but then
backed the stadium. But of course the priorities of government, well they were met very directly when this. Protesters said what about something else?
He wouldn't need a stadium. People need a rod on them.
Let's talk about housing, Prime minister.
Do you want to Yeah, I think you've had to say.
But let's be clear. The people of Tasmania knew of this issue, knew of this priority, and they returned. Eventually the liberal government that is working with the federal gun to get this thing to take place. So I'm not expecting them to go back on a decision that was hard fought, hard won, and is now going to be the law of the land. It's going to happen. So why am I talking about it tonight? Because guess what the cost of the stadium has gone up since they
first announced it, gone up since the last election. Well, Dounder, the ABC for following the paperwork here an application for the building of this thing says that it's going to cost seven hundred and seventy five million dollars. Now that's not these seven hundred and fifteen million dollars that they
were saying just a couple of months ago. Now I need to point out the state government we'll still have its cap at three hundred and seventy five million, so that it doesn't matter if this thing costs eight hundred nine hundred billion dollars. In the end, the most taxpayers at this stage three hundred and seventy five, federal government two hundred and forty million dollars afl Oh, jeez on,
they doing a bit at fifteen million dollars. But don't forget the devil in the detail here about the Tazzi Devils and when they enter the Australian Football League's competition in a couple of years time, the taxpayer, just like it is in Papua New Guinea, is going to be paying for the existence of the club, not just the building of the facilities for the club. In fact, again let's go back to the data, let's go back to the documents, and again thanks to the ABC for doing
the hard yards for us here. In terms of ongoing funding, the Tasmanian government has promised to provide twelve million dollars a year for the next twelve years at a total
of one hundred and forty four million dollars. So it is a better deal, I suppose than the Papua New Guinea thing one hundred and forty four million for twelve years as opposed to six hundred million for ten plus sixty million dollars or one years worth of federal government money, your money for the Papa Guinea team to build a high performance complex. Again, priorities election has been fought on this election has been one on this. But the state
of the books in Tasmania is terrible. Saul Leslake, who is of course a a person renowned as an economist, used to work with the A and Z Bank, used to be on all the time TV and radio are talking about interest rates. Well, he is an economist who is based in Tasmania and he had a little look at the financial future of his home state. He now
says that it's basically a basket case. But that's a basket case that's still got enough there for the AFL to dip into or for them to offer up to the AFL gods the economists saw Leslake, who reasons reporting to his home states finances has been largely rejected by the government that commissioned it. Said on Thursday said the Thursday's budget was in Tasmania's finances apologies or put the glasses on now was on track to be the worst
of any state or territory. It didn't have to be that way, but it is the deterioration of Tasmania's public finances since the mid twenty tens, so that's both sides of politics. Has been entirely attributable to government decisions about increasing spending without any consideration given as to how that spending would be paid for. For example, football stadium and team to play in football stadium, but that race is
one and lost when it comes to housing. Let's get to this here because big news will happen, most likely in the United States in the next twenty four hours. As we know, everything is about interest rates here because apparently the thirteenth interest rate rise under the Albaneze government will be the one Australians won't cop. I'll give you the tip they didn't cop the twelfth, the eleventh, and
tenth or the ninth. As you know, majority of Australians blame the federal government for matters to do with inflation, not as they would like to try to pretend, Reserve Bank, Reserve Bank, Reserve Bank. But interestingly here, as you know, there are well some hope of an interest rate cut eventually kicking in here in Australia. But as Michelle Bullock told us as late as this month, don't express so.
The board's message following its meeting only a few weeks ago was that it's premature to be thinking about rape cuts.
Yeah, she's not planning on that cut happening any time soon. In fact, she says that if we start cutting interest rates too quickly, we're going to start to head into a recession our different. Stephen Conroy disagrees in know that, will say so again a little bit later tonight. Meantimes, she has turned around and said that any conversation about
interestrates being cut in Australia would be quote unquote premature. Well, right now there is a conversation, of course about to take place in the United States, and I'll get to that in a second. But when it comes to homes right now and the interest rates that are as high as they currently are, and people blame the federal government for it not. The Reserve Bank mortgage defaults are the
highest that they have been since the pandemic. In fact, it is expected to go higher than when the borders were shut and people weren't able to go to work and house prices of course started to go through the roof. The number of Aussies late on home loan repayments by more than a month will shortly beat the pandemic peak. High interest rates and stick inflation are continuing to put
financial stress on the households. The credit ratings agency Moody's has said particular problems exist for the self employed, low income people, and anyone with high loan valuation ratio mortgages. In fact, he's a little chart to show you. The one on the left is the peak of the pandemic. The one now is what we are living right the second.
But as I mentioned a couple of times, there is a big decision coming from the United States where tonight their time, our time, you get anyway, next wenting four hours, the United States will probably cut interest rates. There's a chance it could be not by half, not by a quarter of a present, but by half of a percent. Roll the tape on the finance people in the US.
When the Bella Reserve meets this week, officials are expected to mark the end of an era as they cut interest rates for the first time and four years and chart a course lower for rates over the next two years.
So why are interest rates coming down in America? But they're not coming down? And here because don't we apparently have the best economy in the world. We'll debate it, Seving Conroy Broman Bishop here in the man Cave and in Melbourne in a moment or two time meantime, on the subject of cost of living. Some frightening stuff about cafes and smaller restaurants that we're hearing about today is that business payment defaults are narrator record high, and hospitality
is the one that is currently in a world of pain. Also, if you are somebody who was obsessed with the daily coffee or twice daily or three times daily, depending on how much stress there is in your life. According to Corey mart the day hospitality operators say that coffee is about hit seven dollars a cup. Oh but everything's great under Ralbow, isn't it. Remember he was the one who was promising to make it all better if you've voted for him a couple of years ago. As if people
won't remember this whenever they hold the election. Another one we're talking about here is I'll mate Toorney Burke. Now, in addition to being the Arts Minister of Australia, he's the Home Affairs Ministe. Of course, you remember he was the one. He was brought in after clueless Clare O'Neil and that idiot Andrew Giles stuffed up everything to do with the borders, especially the people who had been released
by the High Court after the indefinite detention decision. Well, interestingly, there's another mess he's going to have to clean up here, and it was not of his own making, but it's certainly one that his government has stood by. The Australian newspaper To Day excellently reports on how Labour fueled security fears by scrapping Immigration Direction sixty three. What does that mean?
Labour has quietly scrapped a ministerial direction ordering the deportation of bridging visa holders who were charged with an offense or placed under investigation promptly in the Coalition to escalate its attack on Anthony Aberdez's record on national security. The decision was made in January by the previous idiot Immigration Minister. But don't worry, the Arts Minister will fix it all up. James Patterson is the potential Home Affairs Minister in a Dutton government and he smells a rap.
Just highlights while they should never have been given tourist visas in the first place. If they are genuine refugees and asylum seekers, they should have been assessed for that visa and carefully checked on security grounds before they are given visas and before they brought into our country. But under the Albaneza government we've had a rushed and risky process and I fear that the national security of our country is at stake has a result.
Also in Camper today, the big story was the other shoe to drop after the Veterans' Royal Commission, the Veterans Affairs Suicide Royal Commission. The media more well and truly across this one. The federal government has been forced to publicly release a bombshell report that calls for a drastic overhaul of the nation's military justice system.
A report the government kept secret is out.
How this was leaked well a conversation and of itself, which means we'll have an inquiry into how an inquiry released the report of an inquiry that we weren't supposed to see because the inquiry was only for government. Unsurprisingly, Jackie Lamby is going offload the tubob watch.
You wonder why there's so many cover ups, You wonder why we've been a Royal commission for three years. But the contempt of what happened yesterday, knowing that we're onto this document and then removing that from the website is one of the most awful things I have seen come from this government. It is absolutely disgusting. There was no reason to sit on this. There was no reason to sit on this, and quite Frankly, I think the Defense Minister has them explaining today, but.
I'll keep voting with the government and I'll take their preferences in the lead up to the next election. The actual scandal today isn't necessarily what was reported, although that is terrible, no question right, It's let's go back a week. Remember when we went through chapter and verse the key recommendations of that Royal Commission into veterans suicide. It had been taking place for three years. Everyone said it was urgent,
everyone said it was important. Everyone says they respect the soldiers.
I pay tribute to all those who've endured a difficult day to day in order to make tomorrow better for those veterans.
But a week on from that report being released publicly, the government has promised to implement none of it, Not one recommendation they have said that they will implement as
a result of the Royal Commission. Now, sure they may not be able to say all one hundred and something of them can be implemented today, but surely the government a week on from reading this report would agree with recommendation for the Defense should take steps to mitigate adverse impacts of the posting cycle on members and their families.
Or Recommendation seven that increases employment opportunities for members of the Defense Force who can't be deployed inside the Defense Force to work in other areas of the Defense Force. Or Recommendation twelve still a week on, nothing to consider the emotional intelligence as a performance of people who get promoted in the Australian Defense Force. No response. Yes, today, the leaking of this stuff was appalling, but equally appalling is a week on none of the recommendations are being
accepted by government. What about Recommendation nineteen to protect victims of sexual misconduct from any sort of career disadvantage if they report something, they could say they were implementing that last week. They still haven't said it. And Recommendation forty eight again one of one hundred and something here. They could all and in my view all should be implemented,
but the government is stone cold silent. Recommendation forty eight that when a member of the Defense Force dies by suicide you appoint a legal officer to represent the interests of the decease of the deceased and support the next of kin. I eat someone who is paid for to help navigate through the process. Yes, the leaking of documents is terrible. I'm not pretending it is not a serious issue.
But if we're going to call press conferences, why not call press conferences and say what is their response to the report? You've had a week? What things are you doing? What things are you ruling out? And where is the media who led their news with this report last week and the follow up? Instead? Nothing move on now. Of course, last week in the AFL there was the welcome to country ceremony that seemed to annoy one or two people,
seemingly no one who was doing inside the ground. But still you remember this bloke where we went from forty thousand to sixty five thousand to how many years of continuous contact with the land.
It's a ceremony we've been doing for two hundred and fifty thousand years plus BC and the BC stands for before.
Well Paul and Hansen jumped up in the Parliament and she didn't miss.
Have they not to cater to white people? Then why are white people constantly subjected to them? These welcomes are based on wise that Australia is not our home. So many people tell me they are just over it. Welcome to country, are just radical racial antagonism disguised as reconciliation imposed on children before they even get to school, and in school, placing the hands on the ground is indoctrination.
Now you may have seen that, you've certainly heard interviews with Pauline about it. But what about the back and forth was happening between Lydia Thorpe, who had to remind us that she was still here, and Alexandik who was telling her police Enough.
Many viewers, who in principle wouldn't have had a problem with these practices are getting.
As fed up ANTICI seat, it's a a thought to the port of order.
No, I just want to interrupt this speech. Seriously, Can we just two minutes?
Wope, sports matches, council.
Antics and visor seat colleagues. We're only asking to listen in peace and quiet for two minutes, that's all. It's not a big ask.
Can we just do that?
Why the galleys full of people watching the behavior here is quite childish?
Order. Now, I told you last time that double dissolution election won't be taking place because, apart from anything else, that'll improve the number of people that are on the back bench and the Senate cross bench, but it would be a way of ending her term early, that being Lydia Thorpe. Yeah, bring it on minority government and no
Thorpe in the Senate. Now, I wasn't going to talk about American politics tonight to give you a little bit of relief, But there is a small amount of news that I have to show you, which is there has been a change in whom is now considered to be leading the race. According to five thirty eight, one of
the prediction models. They have been hot on Kamala Harris for a while, but now they say that she's sixty two out of one hundred times more likely to be the president than Trump at thirty eight times out of one hundred. Nate still still says Trump just but the bookies, well, they too are starting to back in Harris.
Now.
So I thought it was important today to show you if all of this is correct, the leader of the free world speaking from her heart like a normal robot.
When you are bestowed with a microphone that is that big, there is a profound responsibility that comes with that. That is an extension of what should not be lost in this moment, this concept of the public trust.
To then.
Understand what the public trust means. It means that you have been invested with trust to be responsible in the where you use your word. It's much less how you conduct yourself.
Enjoy that for the next four years. I much prefer this. We're gonna chuge him.
I'm telling you right now, I'm putting a two hundred percent tariff on which means they're unsellable. Unsellable in the United States. And then you wonder why he gets shut at, right, you know, only consequential presidents gets shot at.
Good stuff. Plenty more to talk about here tonight, we'll get to it straight away. Meghan Kelly is our special guest, Proble Bishop Steve Conroy, and so much to get to between now and then. Thanks for watching. Enjoy the groove. It's a perfect place to sit on the couch. Were here all night. Thank you very much for watching wherever you happen to be, always here to help with Stephen Conray. And he's just here to help all right, you know,
to his soul. It's on his business card. And of course the carry over champions always on Wednesday night it's none other than Proble a bishop. Can you help me out here? Next twenty four hours interest rate's going to fall in the United States? Why do they fall there? But we're not going to have anything until maybe the middle of next year.
Well, a couple of reasons. We didn't put out up as high as they did, and we've did it over a lengthier time. But also you have to realize that our mortgage situation is different. We don't count mortgage repayments in the CPI, right, but we do count rent. But most of our people here are on variable interest rates, and the people who are on fixed interest rates, it's only for a short term then they get to go on to variable rates. So there is always a versus
America where they're on long term fixed rates. So it really does make a difference to how it impacts on one third of the population, and that also impinges on the renters because the cost of housing and mortgages that is then rented out feeds.
Into that as well.
Stephen, is it also fair to say the inflation rate is lower and their growth rate is higher than we are. So why is America about to see half a point come off? But we're being told if that happens, there'll be a recession. Why wouldn't there be one? In America.
Look, it is mindless.
I mean, I'm actually in shock that you could make such a ridiculous statement. The only thing currently stopping the country being in recession is government spending into the economy.
Is racial statement.
Interest rates, Well, it's just an economic fact. I thought we talked about this last week. C plus I plus GG equals government. It's actually part of GDP. But to the core point, you know, Michelle Bullock told us twelve months ago, the problem is a wage price spiral.
It didn't exist.
Then it was we're having too many haircuts and the price of a haircuts.
Going up, which is, you know, just so absurd, it's embarrassing.
And now she's trying to say, if well it interestrates, it would cause a recession.
I mean fair and income.
They cannot keep their line straight from week to week because still and the.
Reserves it.
Is wrong.
Now I've been arguing this, brom and Paul will tell you. I've been saying the Reserve Bank got it wrong last year. They went too late, they put them up too far, and now they won't lower them, and they've driven the economy to the verge of a recession.
Government Almost as long as I've been on about too little, too late tax cuts.
Yeah, but I mean Steven's actually more aggressive in his dealing with the issue than mister Chalmers. The snake charmer.
It's all illusion, you.
Know, I've been I've been doing it when was there, That's what doing since still was there is Stephen.
The longer the short of it is, if you get to pick between the snake charmer and the chair and the head of the Reserve Bank, I know most people will go with the head of the Reserve Bank, and they will put the blame where it belongs on the snake charmer who gets up there and says, I've done a wonderful job. I've given you two surpluses, but I'm giving you twenty five years worth of deficits coming along afterwards.
And we're counting in.
Fantasy of your last government.
No Peti Gastello and John Howard want when they call for government to stop spending if they want the economy in a recession, so they can quickly flip to say no recession, non slabs.
Try to exactly try and and Costello friend what we've got because the joke they tout out they well want to enjoy the debate they want the country like you do, Bromwin, for the government to stop spending and the economy to go into recession.
So you can run.
So you've put us the government to stop spending something about then we can have then we can.
Have economy goes into So I'm talking about coincidence.
All right. Well, when we are talking about government spending, let's talk about sport.
Now.
Of course Australians love their sport all the rest of it, right, and it's a big industry. Right today we learn half a billion dollars over teenage soft diplomacy Papa New Guinea, seven hundred and seventy five million dollars for the Tasmanian Stadium, and yet to gar the debate about what stadium and how much should be in and around Brisbane for the Olympic Games. So rather than any of those three to get into, let's step back government money, taxpayer money and sport.
Stephen again, I understand why sporting organizations ask for it. I have no problem an organization asking for it because everyone asks for it. It's about what you allocate, right, And I'm sorry again I talk about priorities and I just think and I know that you can do this
with any area of government spending. But when you've got a scenario where literally the annual payments for one of these things is going to be higher than the entire ask of the food charity sectors, when we've got our problems here, then it feels like a priority is wrong. But let's talk about Olympics. Let's talk about the tazzy stadium as well. Is there a limit to what people will cop when it comes to their money and sport?
Now, Paul As, I think you do know, but I do have a slight conflict of interest which I have to declare before this conversation. I'm the chairman. I'm the chair of the Australian Professional Leagues, the A League. So the men and the women, you can't spend enough. While I so we're not recipients of very much money from the federal or state governments. But I mean, you'd have to take your hat off to Gilmo Gooughlin the IFL.
They have absolutely hoodwinked the Tasmanian government. They've put all risk on this venture onto the state and federal governments. And Peter Velandi's you again, You've got to take your hat off. And because he has I know that, but he has absolutely taken the government to the cleaners on this one.
He's going to to the to the footy team in pop in New Guinea. Do you think that they'd say the left is going to go particularly nuts about it now?
I think.
I think there's a general understanding that there's a very big game at play in the Pacific region where China are buying, bribing, cajoling threatening a whole range of Pacific island nations.
Australia is their natural ally and Australia has.
To use all of the.
Weapons at its disposal to try and block, blunt and stave off China's attempts to buy, bribe, cojole their way into the region. It's in our national interest, it's security interest, it's in our trade interests, it's in being able.
To get our goods on and off shore. We're an island.
We need to be able to protect our trade routes and Chinese bases like they're talking about in the Solomon Islands. They've been suggesting that they might want to build on and pap in New Guinea. So these are the sorts of things you have to the soft the soft power arguments I think has more cogency than some of the criticism.
So while I think Peter Flanders has absolutely mugged the government on this one because he gets to add another team in Perth and then he gets to have a bigger TV deal and the World Worlds is frozy.
Uh.
Anytime give football, anytime they want to give you a few crumbs off the table, the football is going to be a good days.
I'm sure I'm going to be helping soon in some conversation.
Yeah, he's this here to help? Is this here to help? All right? So we're seeing saying in Queensland right the Olympics coming up twenty thirty two, there is a need for greater facilities. I personally think athletics in Karara, you've already got a pretty good stadium there. Swimming can take place as I think one of the plans may be at the old Lane Park, because as we saw in the French Games and in the LA Games, that stadiums are actually where the Olympic swimming is going to be.
It's not you don't have to build a thirty thousand seat venue for swimming. So there's there's ways around this. But the public can be sort of both sides on this right, which is, you know, too much support is never enough, as we actually would say, which means too much money is never enough. And then once you start to see the numbers and again in and around that Tasmania situation in particular, it does rock some people.
Well. The Tasmanian situation I think is the worst of the three.
With regard to.
Queensland, I think the older seeing that that Olympic Games and other the Commonwealth Games can be done on a much smaller budget. But when it comes to Papua New Guinea, I began first went to Papua New Guinea in nineteen eighty. I formed good friendships there. I remain friends with Michael Samari for many years. I have enormous regard for the people of Pupa New Guinea. You can walk literally at low tide from a small island at the north of
Cape York across to Papua New Guinea. People who are Torres Strait Islanders in Australia, their cousins are as across the way. So it's a very it's a very close relationship.
So does the soft power thing make sense, Yes, it does.
It makes an enormous amount of sense to me, because they love rugby league, they watch us, they watch our television, they send their kids to school here. They're very close to us. And yes, I do think now whether or not six hundred million was littly as you said, he was taken to the cleaners and took the government to the cleaners.
I think that's give me trouble.
But the long and the short of it is, I do think the soft power argument is important and it's a very important.
Nation to us.
Now.
A bit of back and forth in the past couple of days, and I've got to say that I mentioned it on Monday Tuesday. Let me do another version of it here. The analysis of an opinion poll in the Financial Review I thought was a little too generous to the opposition, suggesting that both sides could end up forming minority government. Yes, there was a few teals here and a bit in westerns Indy there, and a little bit
here and a little bit there. But one of the key things for all that to happen is a significant
number of seats to flip in Victoria. Now, part of the theory behind this Dunton could almost get there and be level pegging either in the high sixties or the low seventies with Labor again, is that apparently dissatisfaction with the state government would bleed into the federal political sphere, which would mean that the Victoria Liberal Party would outperform clearly the behavior of their own state leader at the moment,
as we all know, that is bizarre to watch. So I'll ask you this year, Stephen as a man who's going to tell me no chance will win every seat plus fifteen more if the expectation is there's half a dozen to be one in four to half a dozen to be one in Victoria. Who's pulling whose leg? Yeah?
Look, I think that while Labor obviously we won the asked and bi election, that is going to be a very tough seat to hold in a general election. I think Peter Dutton and the Victorian Liberals, who are at an absolute low point and we run a brilliant campaign, fantastic candidate and we took the seat in an incredible historical.
Win, will be tough to hold.
There's a couple of other seats that the Liberals keep.
Talking about, like McEwen and I genuinely scratch my head, got a great local member up there who's been through the wars, he's won, he's lost by twelve votes, went to the High Court, like he knows how to fight a marginal seat campaign. So I would not be as optimistic as the Libs are. I think, you know the Libers are under pressure in a couple of seats there. But I mean you just got to say, look, let's say we lost two in Victoria. Yeah, I'm just randomly
picking a number. You could lose two in Western Australia. You've got no pressure, as you've described on a couple of seats in the Northern Territory. We've just gone from seventy eight to seventy two if we were to lose those. And I haven't talked about New South Wales where there's been a mayhem being caused in the western suburban seats by the Muslim matters votes and their campaigns and hangers on.
You could get to see.
But I would look, it could be almost labor don't know, I said, I'm just that's the word.
That's the worst case, barring a route, barring a route.
So there it goes.
But I think four or five do it?
Four or five or six? In Victoria's a little.
Now what I'm saying four, five or six in victoriaste.
You think that's the other way of looking at all of this. I got thirty seconds.
Well there are clearly Victoria is finally working up to the fact that the Labor Party has not served them well. And basically that means there are seats up for grabbing Victoria. But there are seats for grabs in New South Wales, certainly are in Western Australia. There's boothby in South Australia is Tasmania as.
Long as you can remember to nominate, nominate your candidates.
Yes, that's why we got rid of Don Harwin thinks correct.
All right, Thank you guys, do appreciate everyone's here to help. Perhaps not the host of times, but everyone is here to help and that's what we love. Thank you Broman, Thank you Steven. Meghan Kelly next, the best in the business. On the other side of it, What a week in the United States as we get closer to the election, but the second time we have to talk about someone trying to kill Donald Trump. Megan Kelly is the best
in the business. The only place you'll see her in Australia is on this show, which is the greatest honor of our broadcasting time. Lovely to see a rockstar.
How are you great to be back with your Paul? Unbelievable?
Right?
What a news circle like the.
Fact that there are people that are still referring to it as alleged attempted the downplay the downplay. Right. The only reason Donald Trump is still alive is because one person saw something rustle. And by the way, even when they shot at them, didn't kill the gunman.
No, no, exactly right, And they're referring to it as the incident.
If you check the papers today, many I mean, I have to tell you, I think so far almost all are laming this on him. It's too close to the election, so they can't just get honest about the danger to his life and their role in causing it.
It's his fault.
He brought this on himself with his own incendiary rhetoric. It's not what they say about him, that he's Hitler esque, that he's a threat to democracy. They can't make the argument that he's not a great candidate. We don't like him, we didn't think he did a good job. Those are all fair things to say. If you don't like Donald Trump, they always have to take it too. And eleven, he's a threat. He must be terminated.
We have to end him.
There was somebody on saying he needs a bullet to stop him. I mean, truly, this is beyond the pale, and it can indeed have the effect of motivating psychos like this guy. Now, normally this is a left making this argument that some random comment about some random thing cause some mass shooting, and we on the writer saying that's not true, trying to tie blanket policy statements into the.
Mind of a madman. This guy does not seem like a madman.
He seems a little wacky, seems a little out there, but he doesn't seem to have that sort of schizophrenic trigger that we see in these twenty two year old young men who unleash carnage on schools and grocery stores
and so on. This guy's rhetoric is directly in line with the messages we've been hearing from Joe Biden, from Kamala Harris, from top Democrats about how Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, and he'd been identified as a threat over and over and over again by American citizens speaking with random customs and border patrol officials and others within the State Department for the past couple of years under the Biden administration as a potentially violent man, as
the most dangerous man many of them had encountered as he tried to amass troops to go help fight in Ukraine and appears to have not been on their radar at all. And then you get to what happened down at mar Alago, well steps from mar Alago, which is Trump International golf Course where he went.
And the Secret Service now ahead of this.
Thing, now after the other lady got forced out, is trying to take a victory laugh today saying, oh, my guys, they found the shooter. You know one of my guys saw the ship. Yes, okay, to his credit. Good for that guy who was guarding the perimeter. They say there was somebody. They claim that there was somebody on perimeter patrol. How did he miss the shooter who according to the FBIFI davit in support of the charges that have been brought so in wait for twelve hours. He showed up
there at two in the morning. He got caught at one thirty pm. He'd been there. If they had somebody at the perimeter, it wasn't. Somebody was very good. And what we heard from the local sheriff is Trump still doesn't have the same resources as a sitting president.
I realize he's not sitting president, but has.
The sitting president had a near death experience within the last two months where he got shot in the head.
He hasn't.
It's time to amp it up and take this seriously. And the reason they won't is because at best they don't care if Donald Trump gets hurt, and realistically, many of these Democrats want him.
They want him to get hurt.
Now, I'm not stupid enough to ask you the same question that no doubt you receive seven to nine times via text message every day, which is who's going to win? Who's going to win? But let's just do a little temperature check on what's happening here. The post debate poles, generally speaking, better for Harris. There are some A grade poles that are good for Trump. However, one thing that can't be spun, which is that she is not doing as well as Biden did, and Biden of course only
one just in the states that matter. What's your sense of the race this far out, not the result, but your sense of the race about just how neck and neck or we are starting to see post debate a preference of merge.
I think the numbers favor Trump, but the get out the vote effort favors Harris.
Correct.
The Republican's ground game is weak. It is compared to the Democrats. It's just nowhere near in the same region. Right now, we don't exactly know what it is. The RNC has basically offloaded it to Turning Point USA. That's Charlie Kirk's organization. Charlie's amazing. He's a savant, but he's young. I think he's thirty if that, and this is not really what he does for a living. He's doing all he can. He's mobilizing young people. But who's running this thing?
Where is the overhaul on how they went wrong four years ago? Trump has been saying to be suspicious of mail in voting. My god, that's how you win elections. You bank all your vote in advance, so that if it's really rainy that day or the kid is sick that day, your voters still have a vote in the ballot box. The Republicans haven't learned that lesson, and I'm
very worried about that. I just think Trump's going to have to win by a lot in order to get over that advantage on election Day, and well I think Trump is on t back to win. It's not by a lot, So unless that changes between now and November, it's going to be a nail bier and we'll be there.
The whole way. Thank you, Megan, the MC and Kelly show serious excema on YouTube, but most importantly with us each and every week. Thank you Rockstar.
Great to see your Paul