From the sky Center. This is Paul Murray Live. Thank you, KG. I'll have something to say about the senator from Tasmania. Don't you love to ask a question about the government on the opposition? Please? We know how to game anyway. There are two things you need to know about this budget before I get into anything more complicated. Which of two numbers?
Will you remember five dollars available as a tax cut in fifteen months or one t for trillion dollars debt that we're going to rack up this year this year in this country, one trillion dollars. In terms of the politics of what you have just seen, Yes, it's something extra for them to say going into an election, but I tell you what most people I believe we're confronted with, will you remember five bucks or one trillion dollars? They're going to remember one trillion dollars because five bucks it
ain't going to change anyone's life, all right. The five things you need to know about this budget. And I've got to be honest. In the fifteen years I've done these budgets, this one is the easiest to decipher, the easiest to read, because it is like an essay written the night before it's due. There was no plan for this budget, hence why there's nothing big and serious in it. There's just a splashy announcement to get a headline, so everyone moves on to the next day, which is when's
the election going to be? When's the election going to be? This was more like a speech to the National Press Club than it was a statement of where the economy is going to be going and what they're going to be doing in the next few years. But as always my tradition is to tell you the five things that you need to know about this budget. Let's get going now. Will you sell your vote for five dollars because that's the price this government thinks is what your vote is worth. Now.
They believe that the two little too late tax cuts that were around last year fourteen dollars for people on forty thousand dollars, and so it was twelve dollars for people on forty thousand dollars. Now they're promising you an extra five dollars a week. But guess what. This five dollars a week doesn't kick in in July one, So vote for us in April or May and then you'll get this in July. No, no, no, no, no, you have
to wait and entire fifteen months before five dollars. That is how little they think of the political debate in this country. That is how easy they think the people can be bought. I disagree, as the Treasurer said in his speech, And even the bloke who is trying to sell you this lemon of a used car knows he ain't going to make it out of the showroom. Is a good idea.
These additional tax cuts are modest, but they will make a difference. The average urner will have an extra five hundred and thirty six dollars in their pocket each year when they're fully implemented.
Now, again, devil is always in the detail. They want the headline to be surprise tax cut in budget. So people that are sort of half paying attention, maybe the only time they'll see in newspapers at the survey tomorrow. Maybe they'll half hear something on FM radio tomorrow, and sure that will be part of the coverage. But again the devil is in the detail. The federal election happens before July the first. The next financial year starts July
the first. Generally speaking, when there are decisions that are the centerpiece of a federal budget. Those decisions are due on July the first of that year. No, no, no, this one kicks in July the first, next to you, and then there's something else maybe twelve months after that. Let's be really serious here, but this is extraordinary, the low grade salesmanship of a bloke who was not a doctor
of economics. He's a doctor of spin. Remember that was his speciality was how did Paul Keating sell his economic policies? Well'll tell you what, while Porul Keating will no doubt come out and say greatest thing ever, because remember he said that about Bill Shorten, and then when Bill Shorton lost, he turn around said why would anyone vote for the dumb ideas of Bill Shorten. I'm sure he comes out
and says greatest idea great great government. But compare introducing the GST, floating the dollar, deregulating the banks to this garbage. This is the dregs of the great minds that have
run our country. And they honestly think that for five dollars a week in a year's time, you'll forget twelve interstrate rises tens of thousands of dollars extra that you have had to pay off your mortgage, that you will forget that this government increased the tax on petrol to fifty cents in one liter, that you will forget that if you buy something like a bottle of Bundy run
sixty three percent of that is tax. That you will somehow magically forget that three and a bit million people in this country do not know where their food is coming from by the end of this week. Five dollars What an insult? What an insult? And to watch the Canberra class just all together because that's the team they like, and that's the team that will tuck them into bed
faed income. In the real world, five dollars doesn't change anyone's life, let alone those people who are just I mean, there's three million people that it is close to homelessness, three million. But you'll be distracted, you'll vote for the very people who are going to offer you five bucks in one year. It is outrageous. And by the way, I love how the little spin is working on this.
When my friend and colleague Andrew and Clonel fronted the treasurer with a five dollar note to kind of drive home the point of how ridiculous all of this is Listen to how Jim Channers tries to say, well, we deserved it for last year's budget as well, and if you put last year together with this year, that's lot of money. Remember twelve dollars a week, we're now talking about a grand title of seventeen dollars a week for people forty thousand dollars fed Incan have a listen to
this bloke. I'm honest, there worth about that much a week.
And in combination with the tax cuts that we're already delivering, the average taxhout's about fifty bucks a week.
But I've talked about these ones. You don't get to a pineapple this time. You just you're giving people a cup of coffee a week.
Aren't you.
Well, this is about topping up the tax cuts which are flowing already.
What we've tried to do here with this fifty bucks a week and three.
Tax cuts, well cumulatively fifty bucks a week.
Too little, too late, Too little, too late. Now again, just a little news for all those people that are packing up their laptops after sitting there and being very obedient people doing what the treasury officials and the Treasurer says. Covering this budget before they go off to the bars of the Act. A poll was done in July of last year that showed more than seventy percent of Australians could not name a single thing that made their lives
financially better under this government. They didn't remember too little, too late last year. They will not remember five dollars in a year's time, they'll remember a trillion dollars. Because that number is a shame. It is a disgrace, and
I'll get to that in further detail. But if we want to combine the upsides of this government were too little, too late last year and four fifths of bugger all this time, you should remember that if you go back a couple of budgets, right back to one of the first that was delivered by Grim Jim Charmers, he took what was called the low to middle income tax offset off the table. This was a COVID era payment that
I believe should have continued until this day. And in my view, if Peter Dutton wants a nice little winner, this should go for the next couple of years because that was a guaranteed fifteen hundred dollar tax return to ten million workers. So this bloke wants to say, oh, twenty five dollars a month with your power bills, thank you, mister charmers. Five dollars a week tax cut in twelve months time, thank you, mister charmers. He took fifteen hundred
dollars off you. You would have had three thousand dollars more. Instead, We're all supposed to think that these crumbs off the table that add up to a big enough number to stand there to deliver with all of the smugness, the address that he delivered tonight. Honestly, it is the second thing about the five things that you need to know
about this budget. I've got plenty of other people to come in debate, tell me I'm right, tell me I'm wrong, But more importantly, I just can't hide this one tonight. This is a disgrace. The budget gets worse over the next decade. Now, regular viewers of this program will know that I have been laser focused on I think called
the Intergenerational Report. This was produced by the same people who produce the federal budget, Treasury, and it says that the Australian federal budget will be in deficit, not for five years, not for ten years, but in fact all of the way through the twenty twenties, all the way through the twenty thirties, all the way through the twenty forties, all the way through the twenty fifties until after the Jetsons was set, which is twenty sixty two, forty years
of deficits. Yet the ones we get an insert into tonight is forty two billion dollars this year, thirty five billion next year, thirty seven billion after that, thirty six billion after that. Put it all together, that's one hundred and fifty eight billion dollars in the next term of government if this one gets returned, because apparently they can
buy you off with five dollars. How patronizing. Another thing, by the way, you know, all those politicians, including Jim Charmers, including the Prime Minister, they've got three pay rises in this election term alone, since the last three, and we deserve another three or are guaranteed four years for five bucks. It is so insulting, is so insulting, and it'll take
a few weeks for the data to come back. But normal people, normal people will view this with the middle finger that it deserves, which brings us to one big, ugly number, one trillion dollars one thousand billion dollars, not in five years, not in ten years, not in twenty years, this financial year when Australia will hit that amount of debt. And the political class and political generations and the dregs of good governments have been ringing this up for years.
But what is a particular disgrace about this number is the Jim Charmers and Anthony Arberanezi and Kadie Gallaher tried to use the number of a trillion dollars debt to bash Scott Morrison around the head. Remember actually this I think from before the election, a Liberal Party trillion dollars with a debt. Well, the number was not a trillion dollars. Instead, the trillion dollars will happen on this government's watch this year.
Put it this way, Australia will owe a trillion dollars in debt before you will get five dollars a week in a tax cut. That equates, by the way, at thirty six thousand, six hundred and seventeen dollars, which is now owed by every single Australia from the one born, yes, the one who died tomorrow thirty six point thirty six thousand, six hundred and seventeen. But you know, the truth is all this debt is going to be paid by future generations.
So let's, just for fun, take a trillion dollars and divide it by the number of people that are eighteen and younger in this country, because that number is one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars. Oh, we're building for Australia's future. No you're not. You're bankrupting it. Oh we really care about the next generator. No you're not. One hundred and seventy five thousand dollars for everyone under the age of eighteen, honestly, and these people, these numbers get
worse because have a look. Last year, nine hundred and forty billion dollars. This year one hundred and two, sorry, one trillion dollars. Next year are trillion dollars, another seven billion dollars added on top of things here, sorry, seventy billion dollars. Then it's one point one, Then it's one point two. But up, up, up, up up, which is why when you have a deficit every year, it goes on top of every deficit that's ever been delivered before. And you want to know by the way about why
this is a problem. This is from the federal budget. This is the bit where you go and have a look at the expenses. Okay, the amount of money we spend on things. Unsurprisingly, that amount of debt is going to take more money from the federal government than the federal government gives to financial support for people with disabilities. That amount of servicing that debt is going to be
more than the pharmaceutical benefits schame. So think about every single drug in every single chemist, for every single Australian that is discounted by the tax bar. Well, guess what the entire cost of that system is cheaper than the debt bill we have starting this year. It is outrageous and the fact that these people think that they deserve another three years. Remember what they said when they were pretending it was the Liberal Party that passed the triuting
dollar threshold. Ah, it's this government this year, this treasurer, who will take that moment in history?
Only a liberal government could spend one hundred billion dollars in one night, rack up a trillion dollars in debt and debt and still have workers go backwards. This is a prime minister with a budget for the trillion dollars in debt and not enough.
To show for it.
The reason why we've got a trillion dollars in debt now is because this government sprays around money for political purposes. That budget which is absolutely heaving with a trillion dollars in Liberal Party debt. No wonder, he has no credibility, No wonder they racked up a trillion dollars a debt with almost nothing to show for it.
All right, Number four, small business got screwed, and I mean badly in this budget. Something that has been around for a little while to think, call the instant asset. Right off, this is the one little break that people and small business have had, which means if you've got a lawn mowing business, you can go and buy and new maler, you write it off against your tax. If you've got a cafe and you need to get a
new chip fryer, you can write it off against your tax. Previously, it's gone up to about twenty thousand dollars, then in COVID went up to one hundred thousand dollars. Then it came back to twenty thousand dollars, and tonight it disappears more businesses than ever are hitting the wall at the moment. Many of them are these small cafes and restaurants, and sadly there'll be more of them because the little break you got has been taken away by the bloke who've
got three pay rises in the past three years. And finally, this is the most important political point, apart from the five dollars versus one trillion dollars. Labor is setting the plate to blame Trump for bad times. Listen to just how many times a certain word got used in a budget about Australia.
Yeah, global at global global, global global and global globals globe globalization global.
That's code for Trump. Now they'll say it's the Chinese economy, it's the global No, no, it's code for Trump. Because on April the second, Donald Trump is going to make his next round of decisions when it comes to tariff's. Now the Australian steal an anilminium industry has been, of course affected by twenty five percent tariff one that, of course, this Prime Minister was somehow going to save us from Karen Rudd over there in Washington was also going to
say no, no, of course it didn't happen. But who knows what the next round is going to be. And I guarantee you, I guarantee you that if Trump hits Australia with something similar to what he did with steal an aluminium, labor will win the federal election. Why because while I might be Trump and I'm not jumping off the MAGA train, the majority of Australians do not like Donald Trump. The majority of Australians do not like the
way that he is running the world. In fact, in places like Canada, where their government was running so badly Trudeau had to go, they were trailing. Now they're leading. Kiir Starmer, who was starting to fall behind Niger Ferrag is now leading again. Why because they're pushing up against Trump. In fact, a pole was put out yesterday telling just a simple question, what annoys you? Apparently more people in Australia, according this survey, are annoyed by Donald Trump than the
cost of living. Now I don't quite believe that, but you get my point. So this government is betting that they can buy your vote for five dollars that you will ignore one trillion dollars worth of debt. That small business is so small it doesn't matter, and that Donald Trump will do something that means we debate him, not them, for the next few weeks. Chris Kenny joins me in the room right now, of course, Kenny report five pm.
That's when Primetime starts each and every night. Andrew Bolt, the King of all Things, is of course in Melbourne, and you can see him at seven o'clock Australian Eastern daylight time. Boys, that's enough from me, Chris, your thoughts.
Look, this is the budget where Labor has laid politics completely and forgotten about economics. But what they've really revealed is just how broken the budget is.
Think about this mob.
They will spend, spend, spend, even when they have to put it all on the credit card, to buy off the unions, to put more public servants on the staff so they can work from home and get more pay risers that they will never they will never be caught short when it comes to spending. Yet the best they can do in this budget, this election eve budget, is to give a five dollar tax cut more than a year down the track from now.
Now.
That just shows how bare the cup it is. They're so, they are so stuck for money, they have blown so much money that that's the best they can do. And of course it's not there for relief. It's not going to help anyone. It's there to try and distract the media, try and have the discussion about that, rather than the billion dollars you're talking about a billion dollars of debt. We used to talk about it a decade ago as some sort of horror story that could never unfold. It's
here within the next few months. And what's worse is over the next few years it goes to one point two billion dollars and people are going to be paying for this in decades to come. There is no plan here to fix the budget, to restore the budget, to encourage growth and productivity in our economy.
There's just no way out.
There's just more debt and more of Labour's big government solutions, including in immigration.
They saying there.
Will be more than a quarter of a million additional people coming into the country next year in net terms, and they've always overshot their budgets. That's another area where if I was Peter Dutton, I would be coming in with a much lower figure than that.
Twenty eight billion dollars. Andrew Bolt is what it's going to cost annually to pay one trillion dollars in debt twenty eight billion dollars. That a year's time becomes thirty three, then it becomes thirty seven, then it becomes forty one
billion dollars a year. Again, that number puts you in front of the farm pmaceutical benefit scheme, in front of the financial support for families, in front of what we pay people totally for the doll in front of what we pay people when it comes to childcare, in front of what at the moment when it comes to army capabilities. In fact, it'd be almost three times more than that. Andrew, this trillion dollars is the number I think they remember, not the five dollar flash. But what do you think?
Look, I totally agree that the debt is the big story here. I think it was really telling. It's symbolic of where the country is and how this is a budget not for building Australians, just for carving up a vanishing pie. That the two fastest growing items in this of spending in the years ahere tore a interest payments on our debt and b the National Disability Insurance scheme.
You cannot tell me the seven hundred thousand Australians really are permanently and seriously disabled, but they need to hand out one in thirty five Australians. It just shows we're becoming a word fare country. There's nothing in this budget about building us and there'll be a lot of people. You know how it is poor when you're at university, so you're eighteen, nineteen, twenty twenty one, you tend to be at the left and you're thinking, I like a
big government. I like these handouts. Hey, they're going to forgive student debt for instance. You know, so people who paid off their debt they're now going to have to pay off someone else's student debt as well. I want to tell them, this big spending government, it's not me that's going to end up paying back whatever it will be in ten years time. For ten years at least, we're going to have more and more and more deficits adding to the debt before we even begin to start
paying it off. Ten years from now. It won't be me paying it off. It's going to be these eighteen and twenty twenty one year olds who'll then be starting families ten years from now, trying to work hard, trying to build something, maybe trying to buy their house if there anyone can afford it then and they will start having to pay off this that's there, that is being wrecked up right now and in the ten years to
come under this government. And I have to tell you, you know, when you're young, you tend to be of the left. When you're older, you tend to be conservatives. You can see the consequences is a lot of kids in eighteen nineteen that are going to have to grow very very fast and realize this government is an enemy of their future.
Well, again, we did the numbers right. We grabbed the calculator and had a look eighteen and under what is it? One hundred and seventy five one thousand dollars a trillion dollars divided by every person who is under the age of eighteen increases one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars. Now I get it. It isn't the individual, it's the country. And the whole point is this, for every dollar we have to spend, so in this case, what next you
twenty eight billion dollars. That's twenty eight billion dollars that we don't spend defending ourselves, feeding the homeless.
Or to keep their own taxes, their own hard earned money. I mean, it's essentially criminal what they're doing to the budget here. It is intergenerational theft, absolutely. And the other thing I think that's at the core of all this, and it's hardly mentioned of course today, is energy and the self harm we're doing to our solves here. It's hurting families, it's hurting small business, it's forcing manufacturing a
big business offshore, and it's all deliberate. This government is pretending it can change the global climate by destroying our energy grid. No other country, no other modern country, even attempting to do this because they know it can't be done. They mock a nuclear alternative, even though most of the developed world is going to nuclear because they want to
get rid of emissions. Yet this is increasing the costs of everything we do, reducing the power of our economy and getting rid of investment.
And now they're borrowing more.
Money because everything extra spending now is borrowed, Borrowing more money to throw people rebates to try and keep their power bills down.
Absolutely criminal. I think I'm inntioned in a haze my memory at the past twenty minutes. But there's about my anger about what's happening here. The bar is so low for the left when it comes to this government that it goes from. And I'm going to play out a little metaphor here. All right, if you've ever walked up to a poker machine and you've seen five dollars in it, and you've gone, well, no one's here. All right, gamble,
you're winn a bit, you're winnaby. You get up to one hundred bucks, and you really should walk away when you're up one hundred bucks. This government has peed away one hundred bucks and has now gone to the ATM and got another couple of hundred bucks to keep playing. Like the idea that their narrative, Andrew has been, we fixed the joint two times in a row. We had
more money and we were able to pay. And now they want a gold star and to be returned to the job for three years when on their management it's totally evaporated. Yet again, what is all of the narrative out of the lock up? Surprise tax cut, surprise tax cut, No, no, no no. The pilot of the plane has just whacked it into the mountain.
Well, what's so grossly responsible? About this this budget is that it's adding to the dead one hundred and eighty billion dollars more debt, but from now to twenty nineteen, one hundred and eighty billion dollars at a time when you've got very low unemployment, so you're not paying out a lot in welfare, and you're getting a lot in taxes. You've got mass immigration that adds to the tax takers. Well, you've actually got growth the moment, we're not in recession.
You've got all this going for us, and they still are going deep, deep, deep in the red, and further in the red than they thought just a year ago. Right at the same time in this budget speech, Charmer says, well, actually, the outlook ahead is really not good.
I mean, you know, you've got.
China maybe going through recession. You've got tariff wars, you've got a couple of real wars going on, and all this is absolutely true, and world growth has been trimmed. Yet we've got nothing in that coboard to deal with this. Should we need, you know, the whole stimulus thing again, and all that it's being blown in good times, leaving us with nothing for bad times. I think this is so grotesquely irresponsible.
So again, let's let's take a breather and talk about the politics of this right. What does five dollars buy this government? Chris? Because I'm not sure it buys them a vote, but does it buy them a headline? Does it buy them a circuit breaker? Does it buy them sort of tactical advantage? Because with the Libs coming out and saying no, there's two days of no before we find out what they're going to do. And I'm going to get to our free advice to the opposition in
a second. What does the five dollars a week in a year's time by the government.
I think everything we've seen from Jim Chalmers and Anthony Alberanisi in all of their political lives is supremely political, supremely short term and political. And I think this tax cut ruse in the budget is entirely to get some decent headlines tomorrow, to have the camera press gallery talking about tax cuts instead of debt and deficit as far as the eye can see. And sadly as you and I and Andrew know, it'll work with most of the media.
It'll get them a.
Few days of that and then they'll call the election and off they go. The tax cuts are not meaningful, that it's not reform. They swallowed up by bracket.
Creep within a year or two anyway.
So it is a short term bit of politicking, and it's got and it's a seventeen billion dollar short term bit of politicking.
I think also, Andrew, it's worth noting, as I mentioned before, right after everything that happened last year and last year's budget, seventy something percent of people tell you Gov they can't remember a single thing that's made their financial, their life
financially better as a result of this government. There was also an essential poll which happened many months after the budget last time, and people didn't even know or remember about the tax cuts, which of course is the justification for spending hundreds of billions of dollars of our own money to tell us they're giving our own money at the circle here, we've got a very narrow period of time between now and the elections. So same question to you,
what is the five dollars buy them? And how long does it last?
I think the five dollars buy some contempt. I mean you saw can heatly go out to bent Along and interview locals. I said, you know who's asking them. Will five dollars make you vote Labor? Absolutely not. Don't touch the size. I mean, of course it won't five dollars. I mean the way coffee prices are going, that won't buy you even a cup of coffee a week for your family. It's insane. It's just as you say, to buy a headline in order to hide the real truth.
And this is the whole thing about this budget, right. So much of the budget is actually designed to hide Labour's failure, so miserly.
Tax cuts, the fact that our growth.
Is anemic and living standards have fallen. You've had a little one hundred and fifty dollars handout for your power prices to hide the fact that Labour's absolutely stuffed the electricity system and set your electricity bills way up instead of down. You've got a little handout come wealth to rent a systems, and you've got a handout for a few lucky Australians buying the first home to hide the fact that Labor led in a million immigrants without having
the housing for them, causing a housing crisis. It goes all the way through this budget. It as a fig leaf for Labour's failure.
Well, by the way, when you're talking about migration, and again this is and I know, you know, nasty, nicky Saffa, she'll say you're not allowed to talk about this because the dog whistles. You know, Laura Tingle will be worried about whether there's going to be riots at auctions, remember all of that garbage, clap, clup clup. For some reason, in the budget there is not a four year projection
about net overseas migration. I spoke to Sherry Markson, who of course covered this as part of the budget lock up, as well as looked at the numbers myself. All they produced are numbers for the next two years, which is going to be two hundred and sixty thousand plus two hundred and twenty five. But if you put together the past four years, it's one point twenty five million people.
Yeah.
Man, don't forget these these are estimates. And so they're estimating two sixty for next year, which is what they estimated for this year and got three forty five. So they keep over shooting their estimates. And I would have thought that that target is too high anyway, And Peter Dutton or to be talking about something below one fifty given our housing crisis. So I think this is something that will play out in the next few days and early in the election campaign hopefully.
So what I think is going to be very interesting years. If Alba wants to he can call an election at any time. If Alba wants to take the low road, he can do it tomorrow morning, or he can do it on Thursday at five o'clock. And they will deny Peter Dutton the chance of having thirty minutes uninterrupted on taxpayer television and here to be able to actually put out his main ideas and put simply obviously they're going to try to offer up some sort of a tax cut.
I love that all of the people who aren't asking the Treasurer where is it going to be? How are you paying for this, will of course suddenly all care about where the money comes from when it comes to the lips. I've got a couple of ideas about what I think are either the conversation changes and the rest of it. But again, Andrew, maximum pressure Peter Dutton Thursday night. He'll be with us Monday night in his own electorate
taking questions from the audience. He's got to basically put a number, and it feels like he's going to be pushed by the Camber insiders to a what's in it for me number? But what do you suggest should be his main meat on the table Thursday night?
I'm afraid is.
Left it a bit late to do the comprehensive cell of what this country needs. We know what happened also when Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey said, look, this country has been too hooked on welfare, we're going to cut that back and they hit a wall. So Peter Dutton is going to be very concerned about not going too far and have time to sell that anyway. But I do think you will need to offer bigger tax cuts. You know, don't spend it, sir Peter, give it back.
That's the number one and number two cut immigration, cut immigration. It's going to have an effect on the budget top line, but I think it's going to make life easier for most Australians. And is that housing crisis. Those are two things for a start. He's also got to promise lots and lots of cutting of red tape, faster approvals, I mean absolute, almost instant approvals for.
Getting gas we can't have.
But this government's been up to even closing a one billion dollar gold mine because of some banded b Aboriginal dreaming that the traditional owners have never even heard of themselves. I mean, this kind of nonsense has to stop. So I just think it's got to be pedal to the metal on development, cutting, red tape, cutting in integration, cutting taxes.
All right, Chris Kenny some question, Yeah, I agree with all of that.
I agree also that I think Peter Dutton and the Coulition should have been out on this stuff every day all of this year.
They haven't done enough of it.
Energy is big and that's why the nuclear thing should have been pushed a lot harder. The nuclear argument isn't nuclear because we want nuclear, but because what we're doing at the moment is failing drastically and can't work. They need to explain to Australians that Labour's renewables plus storage model cannot work, does not work. We'll just continue to put prices up and get rid of energy reliability. So you need nuclear, but you need gas in the meantime,
No matter what, you need more gas. We need cheap, cheap, affordable energy and cheaper reliable energy is the number one economic advantage that this country was founded on, and labor has completely squandered it. You've certainly got to go for a steep cut in immigration as well. And when it comes to cost cutting, I'm afraid they're going to have to buy the bullet to and talk about the NDIS. The NDIS is a runaway train at the moment, and it's not just helping people. It's being rotted and it's
wasting money hand over fist. It'll cost more than our defense budget soon. And we need a defense force, and we need a government that's of the right size and affordable. So there's a lot to do cutting out just duplication between state and federal governments. No one's ever had a proper goal that, and you'll save countless billions doing that. But it's time to stop just playing around and matching matching with politics. You've got to come up with the
right reforms. If he does anything on tax I would index the tax.
Rates, get rid of bracket creep forever. Yeah, great point.
By the way, when we're talking about you know, add one more thing, can add one more thing.
Of course, of course, family goodness, it.
Is not a budget. It's not just the budget art in this I think it is absolutely crucial for Peter Dunt't to pick a fight with Donald Trump because, as you've said, Paul, I mean labor has been and a labor's been doing this for the last week in a bit, trying to harness an anti Trump sentiment and say that Peter dutt is a mini Trump and has been wisely resisting the temptation urging him by others to be a
Donald Trump. Donald Trump is making left wing leaders around the world, like you said, Canada, Britain, elsewhere more popular for standing up to him, and he better stand up to Trump before albanize he pins this mini Trump on him, because what Trump has proved that this is an era where it's not about make America great again, it's make your own country great again, and that means taking on Donald Trump. And I think that's going to be a really important message for him to do.
I agree completely again, I am running from Maga, right, I got the red hat. I listened to Bannon plenty right. I'm aware, right, but the realities in this country, you can't ignore what the majority of you is. It'd be fascinating to see that happen.
Well, but he's wrong on tariffs too, and we need free trade in this country. So you've just got to stand up to him clearly on tariffs.
By the way, lads, I did of a research a job last which I think just means homework really or a lot of googling. To compare the lastyear's budget to one twenty years ago. The total number of government organizations in two thousand and six was seven hundred and ten. Last year thirteen hundred and twenty two. Don't talk about work from home, don't talk about the number of public servants. Talk about the number of organizations, because then you can
flick and flick and flick. Thank you, lads, plenty more to fire up about here tonight. Is always going to send me an email poldsgunews dot com, do AU Jane Hughes, Shadow Finance Minister Holly Hughes, who's free to say whatever she wants, of course, from the Senate. Joe Hildebrand and Clive Palmer next, thanks very much for watching Clive Palmer joints us in a moment or two time. I'm sure he's got plenty to say about one trillion dollars in debt There are only two numbers you need to remember.
Out of this budget. They're going to try to with five dollars tax cut, but you don't get it this year. You got to wait till next year or this year. This year Australia passes one trillion dollars in debt. What an extraordinary and shameful number. Do not be distracted by the rubber duckies that they want you to be distracted in like a kidner bath. Pay attention to the fact that the water is overflowing and the lady from Amy ain't here to help. Jane Hines, the shadow Finance minister.
If there is a change of government, that'll be her job in part to deal with it, particularly when it comes to things like the public service. She of courses in Canberra. Jane, nice to talk to you, but this year's the year we cross a trillion dollars. Yet these people want a gold star for five bucks in fifteen months time.
It was a profoundly disappointing budget tonight, Paul. This is clearly a budget not for the next five years or fifty years. It's a budget for the next five weeks. It's an election budget, pure and simple and at a time when Australian's living standards have collapsed far further and faster than ever before, and our security environment is more dangerous than it's been since the Second World War. And
that's according to the Prime Minister himself. This budget profoundly fails Australians to deliver more economic resilience and security and more national security. That's a real problem for Australia.
We are going to spend this year, according to this budget, twenty eight billion, four hundred and twenty nine million dollars on paying off that one trillion dollar debt. That is more than the seventeen point nine billion dollars that is support for families, that is more than sixteen point nine billion for the job seeker payments. That is more than we pay in the childcare subsidy of sixteen billion dollars.
Is this not a screaming admission of defeat that a government who had a couple of years of good luck decided to bake permanent spending in to the tune that we now have this absurd scenario where that much money is being paid off on debt that should be being spent because the money keeps coming in on providing services to the people who need.
And there's no economic plan to deal with it.
This is our concern.
There is red ink as far as the eye can see. Two windfall surpluses that, let's face it, the Treasurer claimed were from good economic management, not high commodity prices and high taxes. And now the deficit seems to be somebody else's fault, that's caused by global factors and pressures on the budget that can't be helped by him. But in fact we've seen spending now at twenty seven percent of GDP.
That's higher than it was at any time under the Coalition, higher than it was during the last year of COVID, which is quite extraordinary. Twenty seven percent of GDP. But spending is going up by three percent while economic growth is only going up by one point five. That's an unsustainable trajectory. No wonder, we've got deficit after deficit, and you're right, that's going to be passed on to the next generations.
Last year in the budget, the total amount that was spent on welfare was thirty six percent. In this budget it's thirty seven percent. We have a scenario where there is three hundred and ten million dollars coming off every pay as you go tax payer right, and a proportion every year under this budget has gone more and more and more to welfare. Reality is, if you sit here to an it and say that's wrong, that should change, that should go backwards. They use that clip in an
election campaign. But can we really afford for the size of the budget to increasingly be about welfare?
Absolutely not. We need to make sure that we get our spending under control. And there are some parts of the budget where there's spending pressures are immense, there's no doubt about that. And I think of defense, I think of NDIS, I think of age care and health. But if that's the case, then surely we've got to look at where the spedding is wasteful and wind that back. I know that I've spoken to you in the past, Paul about the thirty six thousand additional public servants that
have been appointed under this government. Well, tonight we found out that it's in fact forty one thousand new public servants that have been appointed under this government. So that's a greater than twenty percent increase since they came to government. It's forty new public servants every single day.
And I'm not entirely.
Sure that you'd find an Australian out there that feels that they are better served by this public service than any other, and certainly not twenty percent better served by the public service. In fact, the wait time to get an age pension has blown out to around seventy six days it was around thirty under the Coalition, takes five times longer to get a low income card than it used to. And if you the size of the Health Department, for instance, has increased by about forty percent, but bog
billing has collapsed. The size of the Environment and Energy portfolio has increased almost doubled actually, but at the same time approval times have been pushed out. And guess what emissions are up. So you can see that services aren't necessarily better just because you've got a bigger public service. That's a real failing here.
On Thursday night, do we see a speech from Peter Dutton that will look and sound like a budget, or like a campaign launch, or like a statement of values. Will we know something by this time on Thursday that we don't know now about what your plan is for the country.
On Thursday night, you'll hear from Peter Dutton not just a statement of values, but a vision of where the Coalition want to see this country go. It's so important that we restore our lost economic prosperity, that standard of living that has disappeared under this Labor government gone backwards by eight percent. But most importantly, we have to bring down energy prices. We have to make sure that housing
is affordable for Australians. We have to rain in that runaway migration program that's run out of control under Labor one point eight million arrivals over five years. That's entirely, entirely unsustainable. And we have to make sure that we deliver on our promise to keep Australians safe. So on Thursday night you'll hear from Peter Dutton, not just about today, not just about the next five weeks, not even just about the next five years, but about the next fifty years,
because that's what Australians want to see. They want to see a strong leader that's going to deliver them the prosperity and the security that they expect and deserve.
Good on you, Jane, thank you for staying up super late for us. I really do appreciate it. We'll talk to you again very soon. Also staying up late for usuce evening is the man who has brought the trumpet patriots to the Australian political sphere, none other than the Great Clyde Palmer. Lovely to see your mate, Canberra. What a fun timing year this is as they pit land money up against the wall.
Well, you're right, Paula, we should talk about solutions. I think we've got solutions for the problems he mentioned, especially the trillion dollars of debt. We can deal with that very effectively. You know, China has become a major manufacturing superpower, conquering export markets in Europe and the United States everywhere else on the back of Australian iron ore. Ninety percent of exports of imports of a China's ironore comes from
the Pilbra. All we need to do is put a fifteen percent license fee on that and that money can pay off the debt for us. Much rather have them do it than have the taxpayers do it, So that's an easy, easy fix. We did it in the nineteen sixties we had a license fee on our iron ore. We can do it again. Why shouldn't we participately participate in the supply chain.
So why shouldn't we do that?
Every other country in the world's done, And if you go to Saudi Arabia, Cuta and every other predominant country which is virtually got a monopoly in minerals, takes that advantage for their people, but our politicians are too weak to do it. That solves a debt crisis for you in one slice.
Yeah, there wouldn't be a barbecue. That doesn't get everyone's head nodding when we say, geez, we all pay too much tax. This income tax again from those that are the pay as you go this year three hundred and ten billion, next year three hundred and twenty seven bidion, the next year three hundred and forty six billion, the
year after that three hundred and sixty eight billion dollars. Now, okay, tax cuts here in major How do we change this system where the single greatest source of revenue for the federal government is that the man, woman and child that is out and about doing their bit for forty hours a week. Well, it shouldn't be.
It should be said fairly across the community, across corporate taxation, and multinationals dealing in our country should pay a fair tax. Fair part of the burden.
So it'sok, just a question of.
Us being realistically restoring what the tax should be in this country. But we, if we are smart, use our assets correctly. We don't need as much tax. We don't need to expand the budget the way we have. We don't need as many public servants. As Jane said, I mean, there wouldn't be one public servant in Australia that knows his life couldn't be more productive, he couldn't be doing he wouldn't be better appreciated. If we reformed the public service. We certainly need to do that. If you look well
Elon Musks done in the United States. He's found five trillion dollars of the US budget. He wants to return eight thousand dollars to each American citizen because they have been getting ripped off for years and years by the bureaucracy. You know, we've got five trillion dollars worth a Super. But you see Kevin Rudd and the Prime Minister going to Washington and say, oh, invest in the United States, and yet the Australian government gives people that concession tax
to put their money into Super. You think what would go with that would some of that should be invested in Australia to develop our resources rather than have our capital coming from the United States and from China when we're the second biggest super trench in the world. I mean that will create jobs, industry, growth and exports. And instead of exporting say I and or at a one hundred dollars a ton, you can export steeler two thousand
dollars a ton. That'll fix our balance of payments. I mean, none of these people have got any experience in business, international and international trade. I mean, I've got twenty three billion dollars in assets. That's my life's work. I don't think Elbow's got that. We've got over three billion dollars of exports every year we've made that happen. There's nobody in Treasury that's done that. It's not these sort of public service policies. Ninety nine percent of liberal and labor
policies are the same. Why because they come from the one source debureaucracy. They don't come from individuals. We haven't got our best people making our policies, and our people deserve that. We've got three point seven million households in
Australia that go to bed Hungary. We can solve the housing crisis by having a fast train one hundred and twenty kilometers outside of Sydney or the capital cities like they do in Tokyo and Yokohama, and develop some of our cheaper land and be twenty minute coqit to the city. We can have the deposit for our homes from our super and we can cap interest rates at three percent like they do for Fanny mac and May in the United States. The government can use that strength to help
its people. Australian should come first, not the government.
Well, and I've got this. I heard you give a speech, and I've heard you give interviews, and I love that. One of the things you relentlessly bring up is the number of people that are going hungry. As you know that number three point seven million people food banks the source, right, not some farholds. Yeah, there's a household. So it gets me more. It's more than people, isn't it. Yeah, it's this, the number of households that don't know where their food
comes from. This week, you're the only person with access to a microphone and a camera who brings this up. Tonight was an opportunity for the federal government to say this is not on we will change it. But it's you and I talking way after the rest of them are off. You know descinct tins at the pub.
Well, it's two hundred million dollars to fix the problem to feed hungry Australians. Yet the Australian government Albanezi gives one million dollars a year the food bank and those people work hard with getting food out to hungry Australians.
We don't want.
Labor liberal Greens, whoever they are, as Australians, we don't want them and their children not being able to eat. Now, country, how bad's politics got in this country. We can't protect our own citizens and feed the people that live here. It's a disgrace. And why does it happening in course of higher interest rates? And that's why it's happening. But we said before the last election what was going to happen, and it's happened. But now we've got to have compassion
for the people. And you imagine your children poor going to bed hungry at night. And of course a lot of the children, not the parents, are the ones that are giving up their food for the children having one meal a day, they're struggling to keep their houses. We've got increased immigration that's coming in the banks are taking people's houses, and we've got one hundred and twenty thousand
homeless Austrayians in this country. And all we need to do is use our resources correctly and turn it around. It's our party that is the alternative government that's got the alternative policies. It's not the Liberal and Labor uniparty, which get the same policy ideas from the same bureaucrats every year. The budget has the same headings every year. It's just up and changed and manipulated. We need massive changes across the board and we need I have it.
I've laid that out in the press club pretty clearly what needs to be done. And I've got no personal interest in this. I'm seventy one years old.
You know.
I've had a successful business life. But I can help this country and I want to see us prosper I'm an Australian, I'm living here, my children are living here. I want a better country.
Last question, let me get in before inevitably everyone on breakfast television does it, and that's what becomes the news today. How do you feel about five dollars that will come your way because every taxpayer is going to get it. How do you feel? And what's your message to the Prime Minister and treasurer about five bucks? What will you be doing with your extra five dollars a week?
I just say he's a scrooge, you know, five dollars to solve Australia's problems. Every citizen's of bloody insult. He should stick it up his kaima. That's what I say with his five dollars. What a ridiculous situation to say, here's five dollars. Your power bills going up one thousand dollars, you're losing your home, but.
Here's five dollars.
Everything will be right right.
Vote for the Labor Party, vote for the Liberal Party, it doesn't matter. They're all the same everything that Labour said, they'll do what this Peter Dutton said, will match it. That means he thinks it's a good idea. He should be saying that's a crazy idea. We're not going to match it. We've got a better idea. He doesn't say that, He just says, will match it, will match it. I don't want a labor government. I don't want a liberal government.
I want an Australian government fighting for the people.
All right.
And the trumpet Patriots is the party that you will have on the battlefield in one hundred and fifty seats and all the Senates and all the rest of it. Thank you, Clive, do appreciate it. We'll talk again soon, mate, Clip Palmer there in Canberra, and I agree with him about the insult again how much money people are in the bob But here's five dollars from the bloke who's had three pay rises in the past three years over the electoral cycle. Unbelievable. All right, Holly Hughes, Joe Hildebrand,
let's get into it. We've got an extended edition of the program going all the way to We'll liven Toquock austraight in eastern daylight time. Then the late debate will pour through the papers. And will they focus on five dollars or one tribune dollars? Debt warnes I's been locked up not for his sins or anything that he's thought to the middle of the night, but because he's been studying the budget. And a man who looks like he's got a pep in his step, like Labor's just one
at all. Informaticasy advisor and dear friend other than Joe Hildebrand Holly Hughes, the old sparring partner in camera. Thanks for being there, made of course a little baby. But remember she can say whatever she wants because they can't touch her now, all right, so free Joe. Yes, the question I have been asking over and over tonight is what number of people remember out of this budget five bucks a week in a year's time or a trillion dollars debt this year?
I think if labor has its way, people I think trillion dollars in debt. People just can't get their head around that. People, you know, economists might hold their head in their hands. Commentators might write columns in newspapers like me and mine but and say this is terrible, this is structurally you know, unsustainable, whatever.
Whatever.
People just look at it, and they look at the little explain and they think, what's my income?
What's in it for me? They won't see.
I think they will hear the five bucks obviously if they're watching the show, but they'll also hear fifty bucks a week, which is going to be the total of the labor tax cut. Offering by twenty twenty seven. And again I think people, you know, people want to Obviously, this is a budget frame very much around telling people, don't think about where you are now, think about where you're going to be in the future.
And I think people look at that.
I think people are probably naturally optimistic or at least want a reason to be hopeful, and they will look at the budget's little corcoat. I think, oh, I could be about you know, three grand a year better off. Interest rates are on the way down. I've got to say, I think it's a pretty good budget.
It's not okay, So all of that messaging about turn the turn the corner, that's that's the central thing that you think people are buying into Holly. Again, people have made very clear points about that triggering dollars. So the slightly different version for you is five dollars change the conversation. I mean they're going to say, oh, but you've got to put it together with the other one. Well, if that's the case, remember when they took fifteen hundred dollars
of ten million workers. All right, because we can subtract fifty from fifteen hundred. If we're going to play that game, but obviously you know it's a sort of lone voice in the wilderness that's been talking about that one for the past three years. Holly thoughts on the budget that you've been well and honestly, I think it should be one of the things I announced on Thursday that you're bringing it back.
Absolutely yeah, anyway, so I will be with you on.
Thursday learning what's there. So I think this is an incredibly disappointing budget. This is a budget for an election. This isn't a budget for Australia's future. I think Joe's drinking the kool aid just a little bit too much tonight. But you know what, you won't hear a lot about and I hope there are some journals that have the intellectual fortitude to look a little bit deeper than these headlines that you're going to see from Chalmers in the Spin team.
But we've been having a quick look.
Through Budget paper number two, which is probably the thinnest budget paper t who I've ever seen, and it's when you start looking at other things that are going to impact people's lives. We've seen correspondence tonight from Suicide Prevention Australia. There is zero money in this budget for suicide prevention, they have completely vacated the field, even though after moving it into the Health Department said that they would properly
fund it. So there's one organization and one sector of our economy who's being completely ignored at a time when mental health and these sorts.
Of pressures are rising.
The ndis what they've put more money in for. And I noticed Chris Kenny made some comments earlier tonight, and I'm going to tell you his spot on and at some point I'd love to have a longer conversation with you about it and it's sustainability. But the only money they've put in tonight is for more lawyers, for more legal fees. And what that tells me is they're not
going to do anything about the sustainability of it. They're not going to do anything about tidying up scheme and making it fit for purpose for people they need.
They are just going to make.
It more difficult for participants in they're found is who genuinely need the support by hiring top tier law firms to fight them every way to the tribunal until they just give them what they wanted in the first place. On the steps which is exactly what's happening now, so we need to look a lot deeper.
Unfortunately, I don't think many in.
The press gallery are probably going to have the capability of doing so.
And if you listen to Joe and certainly a.
Lot of his colleagues, it's a cheer squad that this is an election winning budget and I just think it's pathetic.
Yeah, well again, I just think the five dollars goes away in vapors. I think that's where many of the front pages are going to be. And then of course it's about Dutton on Thursday, and Philip Kurry's writing in this in the Australian Financial Review tonight that election could be called as early as Friday, meaning that whatever the
noise of the budget, it melts away pretty quickly. Now I know you're not the government, right I remember this feeling when it was me sort of trying to benefit that out Morris and all the rest of it.
Right, So if I was the government, everything would be fine. Everyone would be happy.
Me too, all right, So how do we morally is a country justify that payments for Commonwealth debt management next year? Sorry to do the glasses thing, but it's terrible twenty eight point four billion dollars. However, support for families is just seventeen billion, job seekers just sixteen billion, childcare subsidy just sixteen billion. Financial support for care is just twelve billion.
That's a screwed up budget when you are spending multiples of the money you spend on a care, on family, support, on job seeker to pay off debt.
Yeah, well, obviously that's terrible. As you know, it is more complicated than that. They have saved abount sixty billion dollars in the amount of interest they are paying on debt.
And then again, one of the.
One of the reasons you end up running higher debts and not getting back to service as much as everyone would like to is because you are recognizing that you have to pay for those other things. So that is why the debt exists. So it's not comparing apples with apples. Quite frankly said that is that is an amount of money you pay not at the expense of those other things, but so that you can pay for those other things.
Aren't where I could double, I could double the doll I could double carers pinsion, Yes, but.
That meant that everyone on cares pensions. Everyone on the doll would have nothing until you got back into surplus. And most people who are as I you say, are as you say, leaving a hand to mouth existence, even people with families with two jobs of struggling to put food on the table. You can't just say, just wait a decade, we're not going to give you anything.
We're not going to give you in my.
World, you get the load of middle income tax, which is an extra fifteen hundred bucks but anyway.
Which is half of what people will be getting in tax cuts in a couple of years time.
But again, you're talking about a couple of years time. July.
You're talking about ten years.
Like July one on.
July one, next year, bucks on July one, next year one in fairy floss, and you're in a corn slab.
There's already been forty bucks on July on.
Hang on, but again, we can't be sliding this up and sliding this down, right, like you know the far right wing think tank H and R Block. All right, when double checked them before about what the breakdown was of the Reji stage three forty thousand dollars is twelve bucks a week, all right, So now it's seventeen, not fifty seventeen. So so this is this I think is part of the danger that for want of a better term,
low information. I busy people. They're just going to hear the five and the ten and the fifty all of that, right, But the actual number.
For someone on forty thousand dollars, yes, because they don't pay any tax for the first eighteen thousand dollars that they soon need the.
Money amount of tax to pay off everything that's more expensive.
And the other one that is where the tax cuts have been targeting. It is in that eighteen to five seventeen dollars.
I put it at the lowest tax right, that's right, gets you're high. But if even guess but even if you're the highest tax break, you still get it.
But that's how our tax works.
Time fifty Yes, I am very well aware, so have the brain.
Then let me get a word in Joe.
Fifty thousand dollars is what the average Australian has had to find since this government has come into power. Be at extra mortgage bills, cost of electricity, cost of groceries. Five bucks a week from the first of July next year is not going to touch the sites.
It is an insult. It is an insult to the intelligence.
Of every Australian if we think that they are going to be somehow conned that a five dollars tax break in you know what is at fourteen and fifteen months time, is somehow going to improve their standard of living that has fallen faster and further than at any other time in history since Albanese has been elected. You guys are kidding yourself. Put the kool aid down and starts. Don't talk to real people.
All right, We're going to take a break out in a moment or two times. But before we get there, can we have a look at some of the reaction that is coming out of Canberra now. In the camp of press gallery there's all the different media organizations and in the hallways there's an opportunity for the different lobby groups, advocacy groups to step forward and give their hot take. After having a look at the budget.
He's just some doesn't do anything to boost productivity, to boost investment and to drive growth.
It's very much a pre election budget with a sugar hit driven by some further personal income tax cuts. This budget is far more uitable for what it doesn't contain than what it does. For the fourth time in a row, the Albanesi government lied.
To us when they promised to leave no one behind.
There are more mixed reactions. We'll get to those in a moment. Quick break back with more plenty to talk about here on Pumari Live. This year, Australia's one trillion dollars into debt. Pretty big number. Break it down by people that are eighteen and under. That's one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars for every future voting Australia. Well, I want to see here in conversation. Jeez, it's good to have them back. I don't know why this is
not happened sooner. Lovely Jehuldbrand, wonderful, Holly Hughes, Thank you guys. Do appreciate it being around talking everything to do with the budget. Let's let's talk about something that was said multiple times by Jim Chalmers, the word global. I think it was nine times in the first couple of minutes, and I think it was not particularly subtle. Whom he may will be making a reference to. I think that, you know, again, all the Labor Party people, if they win,
they'll say forty e chs. We always planned it, Okay. The reality is that when they say this.
Global global, global, global, global global and global global globe globalization global.
They mean Donald Trump. All right. They're not talking about China. They're talking about Trump. And I think that not so subtly, not so secretly, their hope is that Donald Trump changes the political fortunes in the way that he has for other center parties around the world, and specifically, April second is the announcement from the Trump administration about the next round of tariffs. Now there is some suggestion tonight he's talking about some exemption, so maybe austraight A is able
to get that special relationship and it doesn't apply. They're more focused in and around on China. But if an election was to be called Friday, or was Saturday, Monday or Monday, well that falling in a campaign would be manner from heaven for the Prime Minister. Joe again, I'm preparing for the MAGA hate right, but I've got the red hat a. Listen to Steve Bannon. I'm all Trump right, but I'm not going to lie that I don't see
what the consequences are. And any leader that stands up to a president who's putting attacks on your exports is going to do well in an election.
Yeah, I think you absolutely bang on. I'm not of that hysterical orange man bad camp. I think Donald Trump is what you get if you have someone as absolutely hopelessly incompetent as the American Democrats are and have been for a very long time. And I'm more obsessed with work identity politics than the interest of working people. So Donald Trump, quite frankly, is what the Democrats deserve to get, and they need to take a long, hard look at themselves.
Having said that, he's not the messiah and the idea. Firstly, he's unashamedly not the messiah. He wasn't elected to make Australia grade again. He was elected to make America great again. He stands for America first. He stands for America exceptionalism. And it is very very clear that even as long standing and loyal a friend as Australia, of whom the United States has not one more loyal friend. I mean, we have done things for them that France hasn't done, that the UK hasn't done it.
Literally put undred million bucks in their pocket.
Put eight hundred million bucks in their pocket for subs we may never see and he's just gone, I don't care, screw you.
And that's why. And that's why the.
Taroft thing in terms of sheer volume, sheared amount of money that the steel tariffs, for example, is not a huge amo.
Breakfast TV being filled with Donald Trump versus Australia.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think this is where if you sort of get on board the Trump train and don't when to get off, it can be damaging. And I think that is one of the reasons why Labour's stocks have risen recently. Why I think a lot of people in the party are feeling a lot more bullish, and I think Peter Dutton.
And again I've never been.
A fan of the sort of campaign to demonize Dutton because I know that he's a genuinely nice guy and I've met him many times. But Peter Dutton is clearly struggling now to carve out exactly what he stands for. He has people on the right jumping up and down and say you've got to be more like Trump.
This is why Trump's the perfect witch.
That's right, And I hate it on the left saying I vote Librol, but I don't want to see Trump isn't here in Australia and coming out.
In the FOLKUS group. So EDI is an issue you're.
On, especially in a place like potentially Victoria, where there is this opportunity of a whole collection of people who may vote Liberal for the first time. Holly, how does your party traverse the next couple of weeks in relation to the Trump of it all? Now? I don't want to see how a bunch of Liberals coming out and saying I hate Donald Trump. But I do want to see a bunch of people coming out and saying sorry, I'm standing up for Australia, because that's going to be
the game the government's going to play. And the way the news cycle work, of course, is Trump says something in the middle of the night, breakfast news is all covering it, and then the reaction to the breakfast news becomes the six pm news.
Well, I think the reality though, when you look at Trump, it was make America great again. It wasn't let's make everyone in the world fantastic. It was make America great again. And I think that's why a lot of Americans did flock to support Trump. What we haven't seen from Alberanzi at all is anything about making Australia great again. In fact, he goes out of his way to downplay Australia to Cawtao,
to China. You know, it wasn't that long ago we had a Chinese warship and god knows what else circumnavigating our country and it was a virgin pilot that had to let us know. Anyone in this country would be proud of Australia if we could see our leaders standing up for Australia. Instead, we have pressed demonizing ADF personnel. There seems to be this like a lack of pride in our country. The Pes referendum did nothing but further divide this nation.
I don't think it's about Trump. I think if you want.
To see some of the success, you need to show Australians you are standing up for Australians, for our economy. You're not just prepared to ship our coal to India and China, but you're prepared to secure our energy supply in Australia.
You want to make sure that national security is there for Australians.
And I think this is where everyone with their Trump arrangement syndrome gets carried away. It's not about Trump, It's about showing leadership in this country. And I think if you looked at Peter Dutton and you looked at Anthony Albanezy and said, you know, which one do I want DJing with a beer at my barbecue and which one do I want running the National Security and Home Affairs? I can tell you which one Australians is going to say in both cases, and they'd be right, because Peter
Dutton will keep this country safe. You will put Australia's interests first and won't be so caught up with being China's handsome boy and whatever else Albanezy is sucking up to just so that everyone still likes him.
Now, I want to get a little again, some more reaction from people in camberri A, get a little more mixed here about what they thought of Budget twenty twenty five twenty six, our fifteenth year on Pulmurray Love.
The Government has made some bad choices in this budget. We've prioritized tax cuts for the wealthy ahead of actually raising the rate of job seeker.
We saw two point six billion dollars invested in wage increases for our incredibly hard working hkre nurses and that's fantastic.
If the government really wants to see eighty percent of Australians have a tertiary qualification by twenty fifty, they need to be thinking about the students who are currently having to think about their grumbling stomachs over their studies.
I do like when the National Union students stands up on budget not I like them, and I liked the doing it on the iPhone, trying to do it and get half their hex stet white more plas more. I was going to say, this might the.
Fact they're more likely to go into higher.
Paying if paid mine. Now I'm going to pay that.
Yeah, A good line, good line. All right. I've got a couple of minutes left and I want to ask you about this, this weird moment that we're in right now. When we see mister Menique Ryan Yanking signs down, when we see sort of the fever pitch that feels like the last week ind of an election campaign, not maybe a week before it gets called. This period of time, there are multiple resets that happened. But one thing that everyone needs to understand is whenever the election is called,
half of everyone's going to vote early. Okay, So the actual election campaign really needs to be not sort of moving up to that one weekend before the election. It kind of has to be front loaded with information. But Holly, your sense about the country right now in terms of just that feeling in the air right where those of us that are those of us that are hyper interested
in politics are hyper interested in the timing. But I'd also imagine there's a certain percentage of Australians that are like, can you all come down please? It hasn't even started yet.
So last weekend, the weekend before, I don't know whenever, the F one was in Melbourne. Ye, my daughter's a huge F one fan, so I took her down there.
It's got me out of throwing an eighteenth birthday party. But we went all around.
But my husband and I were walking with her through the airport to the plane and we literally heard two guys who worked for an airline, a big airline, walking down the terminal going, oh, there must be some kind of election coming up.
So like, there are a lot of Australians out there.
Who I mean, We're sitting up nearly eleven o'clock at night, still discussing the budget on the budget night. I'm here for budget estimates on Friday. Even if he calls it Friday morning, we leave it. You know, we talk about it all day every day. There's a lot of Australians who don't even know there's an election on.
But there's a lot of Australians.
Who were kind of thinking there might have be anyone in December, and then the election campaign really kicked off on January first, and we've been in it since then, and it's I think there's for the people that live it and really are in it, there's almost election fatigue already.
But there's a whole sway of Australians out there who are just trying to keep their head above water, but quite frankly, probably don't even know what's really going on, and in fact aren't probably sure there was a budget tonight. So you know, there's a whole lot of straders who don't even read the papers anymore, that don't watch the news anymore. They get their news off social media and TikTok. So God to help us all.
Yeah, I mean, I mean, Joe, you know my superpower of ADHD. On nights like this, I've literally got the three TVs I've got a radio, you know, like I'm doing all of it at once, right, so you're trying to sort of see, you know, which way right is
the world going. And Okay, there's certain people that are going to be into all of that, and it's not irrelevant in the process because the people watching and reading and listening are the ones they're going to be leading family conversations about budgets, about politics, all of it, and the next of the while. But also I think that I was listening to some people around the place and it's basically like, that's it. The election has been decided.
Of the elections over your Labour's wont it. No, No, they haven't the idea that any one night, unless obvious a catastrophe. Again, if you're somebody who thinks Labour's just spiked it and they're over the trial line or they've kicked this whatever, six different sporting metaphors in one, you're wrong. If if somebody thinks the Libs are completely gone, they will nature settle down again, you're wrong. Is this fair?
Just to offer a little bit of caution to those that might be overly emotional, excited or downstruck.
It is very important to remember forever in a day that this is Australia and we have compulsory voting, and that means that elections are won and lost by the most apathetic voters in the middle, which I think is actually an incredibly ameliorating safety net. But lot means we don't swing to the wild extremes where you've got to
get out of the vote. That means that Trump is doesn't work here because Trump can upset more people than he appeals to in America, but half of the people he upsets don't be bothered going out to vote at all, and everyone he appeals to comes out to vote. That just doesn't work here, and so so I think you are absolutely correct. I think that this is why ideologue's on the left and people who you know are obsessed with sort of culture war issues on the right do
not have the read of the electorate. And that's why you can look at Twitter and the sort of stuff they're banging on about even to this day is completely divorced to what you will hear anyone talking about in the supermarket checkout and over the kitchen tape week. And I think you're right about you know, pre pole voting. I think that always, that always favors I think two
parties in a different scenario. One is the incumbent government because people think, oh, yeah, it's all right, I'm not going to bother waiting through the whole thing.
I'm going on holiday. He is you know, they can have it again.
If you are just waiting for the brick bats and there is nothing you could do to change my mind, I'm going to kill you.
And when you have a really narrow, tightly held race.
Like this one coming up, I think that will therefore favor the incumbany a bit.
Love you mate, love your senator. We'll talk to you again very soon. Thanks you for watching our extended edition and conversation about everything to do with the budget. More highlights and greater analysis up at skynews dot com dot
are you make sure that is your homepage. You can find us on all of the different socials and you can always send me an email with your thoughts on all of this the coverage as well, and please tip me off about some of the other stuff that's happening in and around the media, how they have handled it, how they have spun it, how no doubt they have given the government the benefit of the doubt that is
paulat skynnews dot com dot au. Tomorrow Night back to normal, normal timeslot, normal show, and that means Megan Kelly, see you tomorrow