From the Skying Center. This is Paul Murray Live.
Had a gang come on into the band cave. We've got a lot to get through in the next hour. Now, Sunday night is the one for the hard cause. The true fans watch us live here on a Thursday night. Thank you for doing so. Remember highlights at sky News dot com dot Au. Now what do sun Corp Stadium in Brisbane, Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, the Adelaide Oval and
the SCG all have in common? Well, according to the numbers that were released today, they all have just enough seats for the number of people who lost their job in the past month. Think about that, Sun Court, Marvel, Adelaide Oval, SCG in and around fifty thousand seats. Thirty five seven hundred people lost a full time job last month seventeen thousand lost a part time, giving us a total fifty two thousand, seven hundred. The capacity of all
of those stadiums is close to that number. Some a little up, some a little down.
Now.
I don't know about you, but losing your job is one of the great fears of life. Obviously, we hope nothing happens to anyone that we know, let alone that we love, but certainly losing your job is something that a lot of people. Once you hit a certain age as well, you become frightened about because the bills always keep coming, and maybe you've made a series of decisions that mean you probably have to work a little longer
than you ever planned on doing so. But think about that a football stadium of people who got the traumatic news that their job was over.
Now today, some of the.
Reaction to this is worth talking about because to me, it doesn't actually reflect the emotional toll on those people. To lose your job is traumatic. It is difficult yet because it's all just numbers, and the numbers are being interpreted by people whose either jobs are safe like a public servant or a politician, or they expect their jobs to be safe in the private sector, talking about it either.
In the media or in the economic circles.
This is how it all played out tonight on some of the television news is now. Remember the story is not the unemployment rate. The story is not the participation rate. The story is not how do we compare to other countries around the world. The story is that fifty two thousand and seven hundred people lost their job in just one month. That's an awful lot of trauma. Here's how it played out. However, on the six pm news, The News.
Justin and the latest report card into Australia's jobs market has just been released. The unemployment rate remains steady of February at four point one percent. That figure maintained by a fall in employment by fifty three thousand people. Unemployment rate has remained stable at four point one percent in February.
Is very satisfying to see the unemployment rate remains stable.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics points to a fewer older workers returning to work over the past month.
Big surprise in the sense that we did see a fall in employment.
Now again, it is always interesting, like if a factory shuts down and it's going to be four hundred jobs, then you often read that in the headline. You know, factory closes or factory about to close, three hundred jobs at risk. If a chocolate factory closes down, they send out a reporter to talk to the people as their jobs are.
Disappearing before their very eyes.
But how is it that there's just no emotion at all about a number this big I was listening on the ABC, But earlier today, I don't have the example for you, Bob.
It was this conversation.
About, well, look, you know, seasonally in January, lots of people they go, they change their jobs. You know, some of the casual jobs disappear. But that's not what happened. Thirty five thousand, one hundred full time workers holiday pay, superannuation, regular guaranteed income or close to it, over fifty two weeks of the year gone disappeared from the Australian economy. Those aren't jobs are people who are hired in the lead up to Christmas and increasingly the retail sector.
Not a lot of those jobs are front facing.
They're often about putting things in the little boxes and setting them off because that's how people order things today online.
So how did the Treasurer deal with this? Now?
He knew instinctively that the media always gives the benefit of the doubt to a labor government. If this many people had lost their jobs in one whack in one month, and maybe it wasn't a government that most of the media liked, they would focus on the humanity. But because this is a government that they do like, and they hope that this is just a thing they cover now and the lead up to the giveaways coming on Tuesday.
This is how the Treasurer spoke about it today. The labor force number today. I know you were out of time, but what does that say?
Are you worried about what that number suggested in terms of it?
Maybe a softening.
Oh, we are seeing a bit of a softening in our labor market where we've still got incredibly low unemployment by historical standards, even with all the challenges in our economy, domestic and global, we've had the lowest average unemployment under this government than any government of the last fifty years.
So I get it politicians want to quickly pivot out, but that is the reality of what took place today that in the past month that many people all of those different stadiums again from the seg to Suncorp Stadium, Adelaide Oval, Marvel Stadium, which packed to the gills, are incredible places to be full of life, but when you look at them empty, they are examples of the number of people who have families who have to deal with the trauma of losing jobs. None of that is the moment,
of course, for celebration. But also we seem to lack compassion in often the way that we talk about these stories, and I'm not entirely sure why now. Of course, there are some parts of the media that will do a half day story on things like three million people being this close to homelessness, but you know, it's generally only this program that'll talk about it with frequency or with persistence or consider it to be a true test of
how badly things have gone under the current government. Again, watch the way the media works in the next couple of days and they'll lead up to the budget. Remember what their reaction was to the two little too late tax cuts. They took the annualized number and said the average person will be oney six hundred dollars better off.
But of course you.
Don't pay your tax annually if you are the majority of taxpayers in Australia, and that's pay as you go. You pay it weekly, fortnightly, or maybe your pay cycles monthly, which is why the fourteen dollars a month figure for those earning around forty thousand dollars was the focus and why it was considered in my view, too little, too late.
Other stories around today here that again we've lost track of where we are as a country if three million people are this close to homelessness, and another report says that younger generations believe you need three hundred thousand dollars a year that's the job that you need to be able to buy a house. And even then it's not the dream house, or even pay for the rent for the place you really want to live in, not the one.
That you're currently living in. We've got a problem right.
Now.
There are lots of solutions to all of this. The Greens will have a left wing populist approach to it. One nation has a right wing populist approach to it. But there's clearly a problem, a problem in the way our society feels, and the great golf and distance between and the numbers being spat out from a computer in camera, spun by the politicians, discussed by the media, and the
reality of what is happening on the ground. And also there seems to be a real move to try to pretend that the great straw man of this campaign is not the failures of the government, it's not the lack of detail from the opposition.
But apparently this election.
Is supposedly some sort of faux referendum on Donald Trump because the very same news services that failed to mention the human cost of things desperately want to turn this election into some sort of, as I say, proxy referendum about Donald Trump. A story has been brewing for the past couple of days that our government and opposition are getting all hairy chested because they will not negotiate and
will never give up on the pharmaceutical benefit scheme. Now, of course, no one is threatening the pharmaceutical benefits scheme. Some reporters who got in touch with the drug industry in the United States, and the drug industry apparently has a problem with it. But Australia is never changing Medicare or never changing the pharmaceutical benefits scheme, both of which fully exist under the current free trade agreement with the
United States. And then again, another news service tonight has been able to find a lobby group somewhere saying that Australia should be punished for our attitudes when it comes to banning kids from social media. How is a football stadium of people losing their jobs in one month not enough of a story that you have to go and kind of make up the stories about the big orange man who needs handsome boy Albow to stand up to him.
Team First it was tariff's. Now the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme could possibly come under attack from the Trump administration.
Yes, Tash, there's a lot of nervousness around what the US President will do on a for second, when we expect another round of tariffs. The other worry for the government is a potential battle with US pharmaceutical giants who are currently lobbying the US President to impose tariffs on Australia to punish the government for making these medicines cheaper. They have called Australia's PBS scheme egregious and discriminatory, and they've urged Donald Trump to retaliate against Australia.
There have been millions of people that have suffered as a result of this government being in charge for the past three years.
Take your pick.
Ten million people lost fifteen hundred dollars as a guaranteed tax return in the first Albanese budget. That fifteen hundred dollars that would have become three thousand dollars that would have become four and five hundred dollars the third time around would have been a serious amount of money. That meant people would have been able to do things like payer for a credit card, maybe buy a new.
Fridge, do something to get through the year.
Instead, No, that was all the way, and the money that had previously gone into that guarantee of fifteen hundred dollars for ten million workers has been spread about for political benefit, particularly on things like student debt and other little ideas which are about saving the Labour Party's backsite.
So until you are four and a half thousand dollars better off, and that will not be coming in this budget, regardless of what they say that you are already behind in terms of the decisions made by government, let alone twelve interest rate rises, let alone the cost of living increases which have been so relentless over the past three years. And all of this, of course was from a government
that promised to make it better. So rather than deciding whether you rehire the people who lied their way into power, there are so many very powerful forces in our country who want to distract you by thinking that rather than voting for the Australian Prime minister who has done a poor job over the past three years, the chance to vote against the American president, who the majority of Australians
do not support, I do. You may, but that's their whole calculation, and I think it is probably going to work, which says a lot about the way that the people who are paid to talk about our country care so little about the people actually in the country that are suffering, who have been the people who have been punished by
a government that promise to do better. Watch this space, because apart from running against Orange Man bad or trying to pretend that Peter Dutton is Donald Trump, and that'll of course mean that he has to say I'm not Donald Trump, and then the right wing will turn around and say, well, if he's not Trump enough, I'm not
voting for him. And we basically get twenty twenty two as opposed to twenty nineteen, where if you are on the set of right, if you are on the conservative side, if you are on the traditional side, if you are somebody who wants to punish this government, okay, you can vote minor party, but your number two preferent has to be four the Libs of the that's because they're the party that are the only ones who can form government
to take it off Anthony Obernezi. And if that doesn't work, well then they just try to buy your Vonte, won't they.
A seven point two billion dollar announcement today? Five million dollars ten million dollars, two hundred million dollars, three billion dollars, three hundred and fifty million dollar, two billion dollars, thirty seven million dollars, eight hundred and forty two million dollar, two point four billion dollars, eight point five billion dollar, four point eight billion dollar, one billion dollars, three point
four billion dollars. The maximum amount they'll pay for a PBS prescription is just twenty five dollars.
Stiment charmers will stand up, as you know, on Tuesday.
Night and outline all of our revenue and our spending measures.
He made another multi billion dollar announcement today, but he didn't use the number. It's almost like somebody in his office might be having the job of hate watching this program.
I don't worry.
He'll eventually get back to it again when he's all cocky and thinks that he's about to get his second term. Pretty extraordinary, isn't it When a football stadium of people lose their jobs with the prime minister who's already told us that we're going into deficit, is spending that much money, fifty billion dollars and it's not even the end of the third.
Month of the year. Now.
I often like coming up with a little tag moniker, a nickname if you will, for the greatest prime Minister of all time, and we all know that it could be things like Airbus albow or Were's elbow because he's flying all around.
Well, then of course there was upgrade albow.
But the one that I'm kind of proud of because I think it actually says an awful lop really quickly, which is each way albow. I said it before it became Prime minister. I stand by it right on today. Says one thing, does another said one thing before an election, does another thing after the election. And I know there are some people in the camp of press gallery who hate the term because they know that it sticks. But it sticks because it's perfect example. Remember this government got
all hairy chested banning TikTok from all government devices. You can't log into a computer in Parliament House, you can't use a taxpayer funded phone, or maybe just the phone while it's connected.
To the WiFi in your office.
And that were telling us this was very important because, among other things, TikTok is Chinese surveillance app.
Is on government?
Is it a risk too for the general population.
Look, this has been informed by security agencies advice on work that's been done and provided to government. So that's the decision we've taken is around government issued devices.
But I say each way albo because while one decision is that when you're using the Wi Fi in Parliament house, you're not allowed to go on the TikTok, But as soon as you go outside then you can use tea like many labor MPs do. Now presumably if they're being super safe, they're doing it on a private phone.
But wouldn't that private.
Phone at times be used on networks that are the very ones that TikTok is banned from.
But nobody wants to police this because all these people, well, they want to be famous.
And Paul Bergala, who was an advisor to Bill Clinton way back in the nineties, he referred to politics as showbiz for ugly people. You may all have seen a version of this one hundred times over, like Washington is Hollywood for the ugly, or even in the Turnbull Times. At one point he said modern politics is show business for ugly people. Now again I'm not passing judgment on physical appearance, maybe more so sort of.
What's it there? Yeah, that's right.
And when it comes to the Prime Minister, he is, of course somebody who has made a decision that in the past three years, not only does every politician get a pay rise, public servant gets a pay rise and everyone who works for politician gets a pay rise. There's actually extra people who now work for politicians and what's the job that we pay them to do?
One hundred and fifty nine million dollars worth over four years to give.
Every MP an extra member of star to cope with the increasing workloads due to larger constituencies and the growing demands of social media. Yeah, there are people who basically work full time on showbiz for ugly people. And there's one thing for you to turn up on television. But when you can be your own social media influenza, you
get to carry on like this. Here are some examples of people inside the Parliament who I've got to say would be better off auditioning to host play school than pretend to be somebody who sits around the cabinet table making decisions for all Australians. One of them Anika Wells, the aged care and sports minister who loves a freebie.
I feel the.
Need, the need to explain our half a billion dollar in spending women's health through the lens of top gun.
This one's for the lads.
This is policy as pop culture, your pre election guide to the big issues.
These people are able to host their own shows because Peter Kierlil This is the bloke who, of course was carrying on pretending the bosses, who wanted to be able to within small business, takes a big client to lunch and then write it off against their tax as sort of you know, monocle wearing top hat, owning cigar smokers his efforts.
I hope you plays hod the no Peter, this is the mapping social cohetor report.
Okay, what about Julian Hill.
This is a guy who's really down with it.
Merry Christmas. He's a very special Christmas story. Tw was the night before Christmas went all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. This is what they do, they say.
It's important political communication, and it's important to reach people who wouldn't normally interact with no, no, no.
This is about them.
Making themselves sort of little local celebrities, or fingers crossed setting themselves up to be celebrities post politics. It's kind of weird, right you can't simultaneously be somebody who's carrying on like some of these people do on the internet. Oh but I'm also super serious and I can make all of the decisions. Pick a lane. Another example, I think this is a Greens MP. His name is Stephen Bates.
What every MP got an extra staffer? The cost one hundred and fifty nine million dollars and most MPs use that one staff to make them look awesome on the internet. But the absolute roll gold champion of this sort of baby talk on the internet is the person who at one point was responsible for the Australian Border Force.
Behold clueless Clara O'Neill.
Is that footy legend Basha will We? Is that champion runner Peter Bowl? Is that AFLW superstar Emilia Yes?
Here?
What is that member for Will's Peter Khalil?
Of this more?
What do you say?
No?
Some of my automos telling me to tell you you're telling me.
And then if I offer any comment on this there will be a formal complaint so just imagine what I'm thinking.
Miley Cyrus songs that aren't Raally.
Moore, ten health benefits of.
Smiling, five habits of constructive people who want to work with others to get great outcomes for Australians.
And all of this clearing is a message that is coming from the head office, because this sort of baby garbage is what is going on at the head office of the Labor Party, pumping out, you know, cool hits like this.
We authorized p rickson ALP camera.
Some of you decided to confront the Prime Minister about some of these rub which is running around now.
Again.
I understand there's certain ways we appealed to certain people. Some people think the best way to get in contact with somebody or to tell what you're doing is to write an article for a local paper, be it in your city or maybe if there's one in your local area. Okay, I get it. Everyone is going to try to get into your social media feeds. But the baby talk stuff again, the Prime Minister was confronted about this today. He has no interest because he must be cool with it.
The ustrating Labor Party posted this on Instagram.
We're just wondering your thoughts on it.
There many things you don't mind it.
I'm not going to look at a video, yeah, but you want lots of people to look at the video the video of.
Somebody kind of faux stripping. But it's a Medicare card, now, I get it. Shows like this mightn't be the way that you'd like to get you news. Maybe you like things that are cut up in super short stuff and it's on the cool fine, right, And I don't mind the people who want to be the independent media or the social influencers who want to get the word out.
But when it's the politicians who firstly are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and depending if you're a minister, able to go to lots of stuff for free, who have staff members who are paid for by the taxpayer to exclusively make you look awesome, there's something kind of weird about it, right. I look forward to the endless trolling that will now happen on the internet. The any problem is I won't see.
It now on this show.
I have made many a time, many a point that sixty three percent of a bottle of Bundy rum is taxation. I talk about these so called vice taxes otherwise known as excise.
This is the laziest way.
That governments of all persuasions have made money for a very long period of time. Smokes, petrol and all the rest of it. And this government we know, despite the fact that they are totally focus on everything to do with cost of living, apart from taking fifteen hundred dollars off ten million people at once that, by the way, by now would have paid out four and a half thousand dollars to ten million workers.
But don't talk about that.
They want a gold star because they're not going to put up beer taxes for the next couple of years. Well, this is after of course, they have put up beer taxes and cigarette taxes and petrol taxes for the past three years, so much so that as you can see what they tax the little gray thing in the middle is what they plan to make out of it this year, and then the ones to the right of that are what they do next year, the year after that, the year after that.
As you can see, this is the total.
Way that they were able to get their million nine billion dollar budget surplus last year. It came out of those taxes, not great economic management. It was about smacking those people who use those things, and I must say I'm a little chuffed every now and then when other people decide to meet us where we have been for the past three years. I am every budget night for
the past fifteen years. But props to the Herald forgetting there, whether you're sinking a beer at the pub, filling your car with fuel, or buying a flashy new set of wheels, a handful of taxes, widening the hole in your hip pocket and helping to bolster a budget that Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down on Tuesday. All right, let's take a quick break, we'll get into the debate. We'll find out who is going to be the winner or loser of the week. Or you need to do is send
me an email to Paul. Let's go ONews dot com dot au.
And do whatever you want on TikTok. Don't care.
Now if you have been a committed view to this program over the past fifteen years, I've got a present for you tonight. Christy McSweeney and Darren Barnett together. As Darren said as he sat down, the last time he was here was when Trump was president. The first loving to see you.
It's been too long. That's all my fault.
All right, Let's talk now about something that I wanted to ask you both about this upcoming election. Who has the most Who has the highest wire act next week?
Jim Charmers or Peter Dutton.
Now, Jim Chalmers obviously needs to hand things out while simultaneously putting it on the credit card.
Peter Dutton a couple of.
Days later well has an opportunity to put a big idea that may well either seal the deal or reset the conversation, depending on where you think the polls are right now. So, Christy, who has more riding on next week? Dutton or Charmers?
I think it's lineball for both of them, Paul, It could go either way. There's advantages and disadvantages for either. Certainly the Government's major advantage is that it gets to be the Jim Chalmers show instead of the Elbow Show. They get to have an excuse to hide the Prime Minister for some time and see their best performer and
somebody who does resonate with that middleist. Only that thirty percent of the vote that both the major parties are fighting to get to that gives them an excuse to do that they don't have to worry about the press asking why is the Treasurer out front and not the Prime Minister, because we all know the treasurer polls a
lot better. He of course has to announce a budget in deficit after going for the last three months with the phrase where the only government in the last two decades it's released two surpluses, so that narrative didn't work. They've had to bring a budget and it's going to be in deficit. For Dutton's disadvantage, he has to put together a budget in reply, which he wasn't anticipating to do. So that needs to be hefty and it needs to
have some content and some substance to it. So advantages and disadvantages to both parties in a budget that nobody thought that we would have.
Well this is because of course the cyclone, which is going to affect the budget for one point too. If anyone believes that seriously, Southeast Queensland was yes, I was there right, I was there shut down for three days, but people didn't lose their job as a resultant, But everyone who works for the federal government still got paid through that time. And New South Wales farmers are saying that there's seventeen million dollars worth a damage to northern New South Wales.
So anyone who thinks, oh, you.
Know, because the planes didn't take off for two days, the budget's in death police, we all know.
But that is more flooded again though Paul, well, it did, but not to the same extent. I think they're kind of getting used to it.
Yeah, sadly, its.
Sadly, it's terrible, but look, I think the gym show is a good thing for labor, no two ways about that. He'll have to offer some cost of living relief. So it's going to be a goodies budget. It's going to be one where everyone gets a prized There'll be an energy rebate, There'll be payments for various bits and pieces. They're probably going to do a big ticket item on childcare. Do they do that then or do they save it for the campaign? Who knows. But I do think there
is some pressure on the opposition. I'm not troubled by this narrative that they haven't got their economic policies out there. No one's really listening yet. But I think the game starts next Tuesday, and the first big question will be do they back in the rebates on energy and other things or not, and that sets the frame for the entire election because labor, if they don't back it in, look they say, oh, that might be inflation. But that's like Beasley when he opposed Howard's tax.
Come.
You know, I'd stand between a voter and a bucket of money.
I mean, they've both got the ability to lay a trap.
But that's that thing where look, institutional advantages to the government because you've got all that preview and all that sale. But then there's an opportunity that is there for the opposition because they're the last ones to put the trap down for again, how the government responds to it. It all depends about whether we go off to an election and the immediate week after or whether it's a cup
weeks after. But something that I think is very different than all of the elections we've talked about over all the years, on all of the versions of backgrounds that we've done this show on.
Which is half of all people vote early.
Now, so to me, I think you have to make the assumption that the last day of the campaign is the first day of early voting, and then the entire early voting period is just hammering home the points that have already been made, not saving something for the Friday before the next Saturday, because people are making that decision nice and early. And what will be interesting is that I think that, yes, the expectations game is going to be.
Particularly high in and around Dutton. But look at what he did do out of his.
Two most recent versions of this speech. Nuclear energy was confirmed in the first, and cuts in immigration and foreign home buyers foreigners being able to buy homes, the ban on that for a couple of years that tests seventy three percent with marginal seat voters. Don't be surprised if I think the biggest idea they have on the table could be coming on Thursday. We of course have the pub test the following Monday, March of thirty.
First.
We've got a full house, and thank you to everyone who's already reached out to us where you'll be able to ask Peter Dutton whatever questions and I'll be live here Monday week here on Sky News. Now I want to talk about the trump of it all because it feels to me that there would be certain people in certain sections of the Labor Party who if they hold on to government majority or minority. We'll say we always
had it in hand, guys, four D chess. We always knew that if Trump would get up, then we would do this and we would do that, because I think that the Trump of it all is going to be a big shadow and an echo over this election. And just like national security has worked for previous governments at previous times, I think a multiple week conversation about insert thing that they may or may not put a tariff on, even if you haven't heard a word from the White
House about it. And we've had two of these now in a week, about PBS and also about social media in big tech. The White House hasn't said a word, but you get six pet news coverage for an imagined threat that the White House has not talked about. That's exactly where Anthony Albanezi wants to be, isn't it, though, Darren?
Where he wants to be.
Standing up for Australia and pushing back against a leader that I like that most of our audience is all in on. But the reality is in polling sixty percent of Australians don't like what he's doing.
Well, certainly, if you look at the Canadian government, they were cruising to an absolute shell lacking and they're now back in front. Yes, I realized they share a long border with Trump, but that narrative that you described, you can roll that out a couple of times a week through the campaign and then you let Peter Dutton run the argument of are you TMU Trump or not? And
that's unfair, but politics isn't fair. So if that's the story that gets resonance, and it probably will, he will be stuck to ending when the government will be putting little fires out that need to be put out by somebody.
Well, and so christy to that point right obviously, I mean the pet Duddon's made it very clear long form interviews press conference as I ain't Trump, I am Trump. But that is going to happen, mark my words here. That's going to have a thing on the right right of Australia.
Right.
I'm not going to say the far right, because that's where we start to give new extremism. But there are people who are all in on Trump who were going to say, well, if he's not trumpy enough, then I'm not for him. And then we end up at a scenario where who knows where preferences go, and remember nine percent is currently the polling number for one nation. Nine percent, so traditionally fifty to fifty when it comes to preferences.
Twenty nineteen it was basically seventy five percent of preferences that went to the Libs. If you've got seventy five percent of nine percent that's out there, that's what makes them competitive. So any free advice to the Libs about how to deal with the Trump trap.
I think dun and I've said previously on the network that I don't think he's put a foot wrong. Labor knows he hasn't put a foot wrong in falling into that trap. They are trying to bait him. The Greens are trying to bait him as well. However, they are stepping up their attacks. The PBS confection argument, as you have pointed out, gives Labor an opportunity to put the words Trump and Medicare and Peter Dutton all in the same sentence. That's exactly where Labor wants to be. That
is them escalating their bait. And so I think Peter Dutton's been very deft. I think he has played a very very fine line. But at the same time. Look, there's no doubt the coalition knows that nine percent one nation and actually Paul, on some polls one nation is tracking at thirteen percent, particularly in states that you wouldn't expect, states like South Australia. This is not an isolated Queensland
poll tracking for one nation. Palmer also achieved five percent at the last election in Queensland, somewhat less in other states, but that is part of that. Those people who vote for that Trump like narrative, particularly more so Palmer, I think, than one nation, but certainly grabbing votes from the coalition, and it's going to be really, really tough. I think this election is a preference lottery, as you have so rightly described.
That's the thing I mean.
I say those one nation polling numbers and awareness about preference is not about assumptions about preferences.
That's the understanding of the election.
I think it'll be fascinating to see what happens in the sixth Senate spot. In most states, Yes, it's now in play for someone who displaces some of that coalition vote. They're not going to get three. In Queensland, it'll be a re elected Paul end Hanson or I think it's Malcolm Robbins at this time then or with the South Australia always kicks up someone unusual. Ralph Babbott made it
last time in Victoria. I think that sixth Senate spot across the board, because it tends to go right rather than left, that sixth spot, that's what's going to be fascinating.
Well also, I mean you know Lamby's running people everywhere, but also worth noting here too, And I'm not going to get full to the level of prediction that I can be held accountable for, but I have a little feeling looking at the state based results, legalized cannabis is going to go knocking on a door somewhere at four a Senate spot because of eventually the preferences that will wash from Labor to the Greens or Greens to Labor,
and then where that ends up. Because I think there's a bunch of people on the left of Australian politics who don't want the craziness of the Greens, but they believe not just in the issue about legalizing cannabis, which has got two people elected in Victoria, got one person elected in New South Wales. I don't know finally what happened when it came to Western Australia, but they had two people in their Upper House until the most recent election, so that's one of those little ones.
So I will ask the same question of both of.
You that I just had have mentioned before again, I love this little Thursday group. May it continue for as long as you wish, which is, what's the one thing that nobody else has noticed? And I don't mean because we're all smarty pants, but because there's only so many minutes in a day, so many news bulletins around, a little trend, a little policy area, a little campaign thing. What's something that you just like everyone to pay attention to?
Christy for me, Victoria thirteen states four to hold under four percent, five to regain that the coalition has lost under four percent, and four to acquire from libor. Now they're all under eight percent. But that's it. Victoria has never had so much focus in a federal election. I will say, you haven't seen a Labor Party machine until you've seen a Victim Vitorian Labor Party machine. And Darren will back me up here.
So you've already got the red shirt on.
I know, right, I know it's battle ground it's battleground Central. It's got the most skin in the game for this election, I think, but it's also got the most resources.
Yeah, I mean personally my sense about Victoria's I don't think it is as bad as some of the police suggests. But that's when we're talking about all of Victoria. What's happening in the suburbs. I mean, because we know that by elections, labor in the suburbs is getting smacked around a bit here, right, So we'll see what some of those margins are.
Darren, again, your big brain.
What's something that just you know, you'd like just people to take note of before the weekend.
I live in the set of Wentworth, as you know, there's a lot of my moderate Jewish friends have Ronox signs in their windows.
That's the liberal. The Liberal.
She's been doing a lot of outreach with the Jewish community, obviously, Peter Dutton's been very strong on it, and there's even talk of a nanty Semitic orse nanty semitic component to those coming into Australia. I think gold Steam and Wentworth. I'm not saying that they will change hands, but I think there's a play on to try and convince as many Jewish voters as possible, including the Moderate Jewish statement who would have voted for Allegra and voted for Karen Felds.
They are absolutely targeting that vote and it could be quite instructive on election day in those two seats.
Also, I agree one without notice to both of you here before I get to a winner and loser of the week doesn't have to be a political Whatever you want from the news that's around this week is in it around the teals, the money behind the teals. I noticed tonight a Leegra spender and Zalie Stegelder both said we're not getting money from the tees anymore because we're up and running and we're our own little thing and we've left the nest. So they're not going to be
taking Climate two hundred money. But they're up and running, and instead Climate two hundred will apparently be just moving there money to the.
Lower profile teals or the.
Ones that they think might become future teals. So watch that space in the next of the while. And if you live in one of those suburbs, I'm sorry about all of the signs you're going to see. As for the major parties that are fighting back against them. You got to convince people to put a sign in the in the yard or people think that the Teals already won the seat. Anyway, a winner or loser it for the week.
I'm going to go I'm Frety mad Well. Winner of the week is the Richmond footy Club forty one points down and I don't beg for them. I'm an essent supporter. I know you are, but forty one points down people said they wouldn't win a game for the season. And the losers of the week Carlton, because I've always.
Hated it, I've made nice to see you again again. You welcome back anytime, Christy your winner or a loser of the week?
Mate, Paul, how can I go past here in Melbourne? The Grand Prix, the winner of the week? It remains in Victoria. It hasn't quite been stolen away to the Middle East or somewhere else quite yet.
Sydney. It's here.
Sidney hasn't nabbed it from us yet.
They just add, they just add add the number of races.
What twenty five last year. I think they'll be growing in the next little while. Thank you guys, do appreciated. Yeah you go we keep it. We're broke. We need Yeah. All right, thank you guys, do appreciate it. I have a wonderful weekend. All right, quick break.
I want to stick with Victoria, but I also want to tell you about something that you might be able to watch this weekend that is one of the most important things you've ever watched. Which is not a way of hooking you into watching this program. It's a way of telling you about something that you are absolutely going to want to see more in.
Thank you so much for watching.
Now, before we finish up for this week, I wanted to take a little bit of time to talk about two things at once. Him here Today we got confirmation of what we have known all the way along about the crime figures in Victoria.
They have been terrible.
We've spoken for as long as we've been on the air about the problems at the moment. Now, even when we showed you the crime statistics a couple of weeks ago, there were people in the Turmbul Times trying to pretend that there's not really a crime crisis as Labour vows to introduce its toughest bail laws ever, is Victoria.
Truly in a crime crisis.
Well, guess what we learned today, Yeah, it's in a crime crisis.
These stats this.
Time came from the Victoria Police and they released about the number of people who have been arrested for what crimes, including youth offenders.
His how it's explained on Channel.
Seven, criminal offenses are up almost sixteen percent, theft from a car the fastest growing crime, up nineteen percent. Retail and car theft also up significantly, with family violence order breaches increasing by eight percent.
Now we know this to be the case, but also while the total number of youth offenders is down, the crimes are up because a group of young offenders keep committing the crimes.
Hence why there's a.
Need for proper bail laws, which are currently being debated by the Victorian Parliament. For their part, Victoria Police is getting all tough when of course they should have been.
Tough for a few years.
Now we are and have reached levels of crime never experienced in this state, certainly since electronic records were kept or initiated in nineteen ninety three. We'll see more victims, We'll see more communities being terrorized, We'll see more people being injured. Potentially, they will see more people potentially being killed. The bar laws need to be implemented as soon as possible.
So the light goes on for some including over at the turnbul Times that yeah, there's a problem, and the Victorian government trying to do a few things on the edges, hopefully will make some changes. But there are fundamental problems that are in and around the story of crime and particularly youth crime right across the country, but again quite specific to Victoria. And here's how I talk about two things at the same time. Now, let me be very clear.
I'm a person who believes that there should be punishment for the person who commits the crime. This does not level things out because the person who's the victim is scared for.
The rest of their lives.
But obviously not every crime results in somebody going to jail for the rest of their life, so again punishment must be more severe. What I also want to mention here too is what is dawning on the people who just a couple of weeks ago were saying there's no crime crisis here. This again is what was in the turbul times. Cost of living and family violence push up Victoria crime rates to the highest level in almost a decade.
That's why.
I talk about cost of living every night. That's why we campaigned aggressively about the lockdowns that played out in Victoria. And while all of the Karens were patting themselves on the back that we must stay inside, we must stay inside because the woof flu may kill us, all the reality was that there were an awful lot of kids who may well have never committed a crime, who were forced to stay in homes that the last place they want to be is those homes.
So I hope all of.
The Ice stand with Dan crowd are proud because what you are seeing is one of the results of forcing people to stay with their captor. And again, it is always really complicated about a conversation about how to make sure that we can do things to prevent crime. But one of the things that we could do to prevent a generation turning to crime in places like Victoria is to make sure that if they need to leave their abuse, so they're able to not to lock them in the house.
With the abuser.
To try to offer as much assistance as possible to people who are having serious problems when it comes to cost of living, like say fifteen hundred dollars for the load of middle income tax offset. That guaranteed that that family would have had fifteen hundred dollars every year for the past three years before and a half one thousand dollars to help deal with the cost of living. That's why I talk about it each and every night. And I also want to point you to a phenomenal piece
of television. I was up very late last night, almost up until the sun came up, because I had to watch every single minute of every single episode of a show called Adolescence. It's available on Netflix, and depending on how you watch Netflix, go and watch it the way that you would normally watch your Netflix. This is an incredible show and one of the most beautiful techniques is that, like a play, each one hour episode, and there's only four of them, is one shot.
I'm arresting you on Suspicion of murder? Do you understand? Adolescence is not a who done it?
It's a why done it?
How did this boy end up in this place?
You sor?
And he's going to wrastle on Suspicion of murder?
Now, The reviews are all amazing about the technical achievement, and that's absolutely the case, the acting, which is phenomenal, the.
Father who is also the writer and creator incredible.
But what I love most about this show and I just found so impactful that the second that it was over, I went and hugged the kids and told them how much I love them and promised to be a better dad, and all the rest of it was because it's not about a classic story of drugs or abuse or anything like that. It's just about howevery normal family ends up in a scenario where something really terrible happens because one
of their kids has clearly broken the law. And while they're promoting this, the bloke who is the father, who is the writer, is saying this about what we need to do to stop kids before they become criminals.
Our main name, if I'm really honest, The objective for me and Phil and for everyone that was involved in the piece, Jack especially, Do you know what I mean is to create conversation in homes with fathers and sons, and fathers and daughters and mothers and sons and mothers and daughters, to try and create that conversation about how to navigate the world today. Do you know what I mean?
Really?
Because I think one of the main aims we found as we were doing the research and as we were discussing it is how much the Internet and how much phones and laptops and iPads parents, but also teach our kids just as much as we and the school dude, you know what I mean today. So I think a lot of the stuff is coming from the Internet.
It's an unwantivy show in the world right now, adolest It's on Netflix, and I guarantee it'll start a conversation we all need to have.
Go Yankee, see you next week.