From the Sky News Center.
This is Paul Murray Live.
Good evening and welcome to the show. Calab Bond in the chair tonight. Paul is actually putting his family first for once tonight. His words, not mine, he told me he could say that. So they've got the only other Baido in the buildings to come and bilin. We will get into all of the day's news. Caroline Marcus here on the desk, and plenty of others. Don't go away. Well, Albinocchio could not have moved any faster. Actually he could have. He could have just flat out ruled out any changes
to negative gearing yesterday. But the PM was out there this morning saying there were no plans to do anything. Frankie Jr. Take it away.
What a difference today, twenty four little hour.
Now, clearly the message came through that not ruling out one of the policies that killed Bill Shorten in the unlosable lietion of twenty nineteen wasn't playing all that well. I'll tell you what. It seems to be getting under his skin though, because he was a bit tasty doing the morning TV rounds today. Here he was with our own Peter Steffanovic this morning, Well.
We have no plans to touch it or change negative gearing. What we did with our income tax changes was to deliver a tax cup for every Australia.
Live doing you live, you were deceps doing that.
Guess what, Pete, Well, well if I did so to plead it, Dutton because they voted for it.
Not a happy chappie our Albinocchio. He gave the Today Show the same treatment when he was asked about his fiscal management.
You know, and as economists have told us as well, that two point seven percent rate is really just mirroring the rebates, the energy rebate that's out there and actually the inflation rates three point five nine. Michelle Bullet hasn't moved the rates the interests.
That that's not right, Sarah, with respect the poor fel Now, it's all good and well for him to say that there are no plans to change negative gearing or they're not considering changing negative gearing.
But we've been in exactly the same position before, of course, when it came to Stage three tax cuts, as Stefanovic pointed out before, I mean they said before the election that there wouldn't be any changes to them, and they kept saying it after the election, they said it all the way up to this year. But of course that's not what happened, is it. We later found out that the Treasurer Jim Chalmers had asked the Treasury to do modeling on changing the tax cuts just after the twenty
twenty two election. So here we are again. The government has commissioned the Treasury to do the modeling on changes to negative gearing, just like they did on Stage three tax cuts, which they changed. And yet we're meant to believe that this time it's for no reason that they're not actually going to do anything. I mean, fool me once, Shame on you, and you know the rest. But the government would have to be genuinely brain dead if they are considering this in any way, and not just because
Shorten did it in twenty nineteen. We have been here before. Labor banned negative gearing before. Let's go back to nineteen eighty five. Next Saturday night, we're sending you that to the future Thursday night. But you get the point. Paul Keatings, Treasurer, got rid of negative gearing in July nineteen eighty five.
Now I know it can be difficult to get your head around what it is, but basically, it's where property investors offset the losses on their property, which is the difference between rental income and what they have to spend on the place against their other income. It's a tax write off, like any other claim that you might make
for expenses that relate to work. Keating told Cabinet all that time ago, back in the eighties that the government cannot continue to tolerate a situation in which the general body of tax payers effectively subsidizes the property investments of a particular group of usually high income tax payers. Now, this was meant to raise fifty five million dollars in the first year, but it actually only raised eleven million dollars because investors found other places to put their money
and they claimed different tax breaks. Now, vacancy rates in Sydney and Perth went through the floor one percent in Sydney, one point four percent in Perth, and rents went through the roof. Investors went bunter and now for the whole thing didn't work. Keating brought negative gearing back quietly in
nineteen eighty seven and it's been there ever since. Now, some commentators have pointed to the fact that it was only Sydney in Perth that suffered in the eighties and say that on that basis getting rid of negative gearing would make no real difference to rental prices or rental availability. But the vacancy rates right now across the country are extremely close to what they were when negative gearing was
abolished in the eighties. It's one point six percent in Sydney, point seven percent in Darwin, one point one percent in Brisbane, point six percent in Adelaide, one point one percent in Hobart, one point six percent in Melbourne, and point seven percent in Perth. The national rate has effectively been stagnant around one point two to one point three percent since March twenty twenty two. So when the availability of rentals is that low across the country, you can't tell me that
scrapping negative gearing won't hurt the rental market. And even if you are to assume that it won't drive rents up, it's all these properties in the rental market are going to stay in the rental market because we're certainly not building them fast enough to keep up with demand. So if for a mom and dad investor can't afford to keep the property because it's now costing them too much money. It means that they have to sell it. And remember
we're assuming all these properties are staying in the rental market. Now, the people renting these places aren't magically going to have the money to buy them as an owner occupy. So the only people who will be able to buy them and keep them in the rental market are even wealthier property investors who can afford to cop the loss now in the hope they'll make it up in the property value further down the track. So Albow, the workers champion,
apparently meant to be looking after the battlers. He would force ordinary hard working Aussies to sell their investments and effectively be redistributing wealth from the working and middle class to the rich. I mean, slow clap, buddy. Surely they can't be that stupid. While we're talking about the federal government, they brought in all these rules earlier in the year making it illegal to sell vapes. Now, anyone who's walked into a tobacconist or a convenience store, you will know
it's done absolutely nothing. You can still buy them anywhere, and it's just helped fuel the illegal vape and tobacco market, which is now going gangbusters. One hundred tobacconists in Victoria have now been firebombed and organized crime gangs are fighting over who gets to control the market. That's what they're fighting about. They're literally bombing shops to stop them buying illegal cigarettes from the other mop. Now, anyone who's watched Me or any other show on this channel will know
how stupid I think all this is. The ridiculous tobacco excis has created a massive market for crime games. Banning vapes, it hasn't stopped kids from vaping. Is just poured more money into the pockets of bikies. And the government kind of worked out this wasn't working, so the Greens got on board and said, look, why don't we let pharmacies
start selling vapes with a prescription in July. And even though the pharmacies don't really want it, it's not in their wheelhouse, they say that it'll make them a target. From next month, you'll be able to buy a vape at a pharmacy without a prescription as long as you're over eighteen. So any adult can buy a vape legally, but you have to go to mister pharmacists to get it, even though you can walk into any supermarket and buy
a packet of darries. Of course, we know that vapes aren't as dangerous the cigarettes, but they're much more readily available. The ciggi's try and make it make sase. But now Western Australia says they're going to bring in tougher rules to override the federal government and stop people from being able to buy a vape to the pharmacist without a prescription.
The majority of vapes are illegal, but they're still so easy to get.
Can I get all I want?
Doctor?
You can get it?
Many of you want.
Bro.
The state government now bypassing federal laws to stamp out vaping without a script. A recent nine News investigation confirming what everyone knows. The devices are easy to get and everywhere Perth retail is vaping with one hand, are legally selling them with the other.
How much do you sell them for.
Seventy each?
It's been too easy, it's been far too easy, and it's been aggressively targeted to children.
The federal government's new laws would have let pharmacies sell vapes without a script. The state government is rewriting WA's regulations to uphold our current rules, meaning here you still must have a prescription to legally buy a vape.
None of the laws or compliance will be targeting the users of vapes, targeting those organizations who continue.
To flout the law.
Now, the pharmacy model is not perfect by any means, but let me get this straight. Illegal vapes are being sold out of dodgy shops all over the country, all over WA, and so the West Australian government is going to ban the one legal way to buy a vape that doesn't line the pockets of organized crime games that could actually take some market off of the crims. The bikis the Hill's angels. I mean, they may as well send a thank you letter to the West Australian government.
If the ban hasn't worked to this point, then what on earth makes them think it's going to work now?
Now?
Saturday, of course, is AFL Grand final Day. I mean this is like Christmas to Ozzie Rules fans like me that the last Saturday in September, it just has a feeling about it. Mike Brady gets up and sings up there, Kazale, how good is Mike Brady. I can just feel it already. My spine is tingling. I could hear my producers singing in the back room just before when they were playing that. Now, I'm sure some people might get the same thing with the NRL Grand Final, but I'm an Adelaide boy, so
you'll have to indulge me. You know where my loyalties lie. And I don't have a dog in the fight because I am a crows Man, just like our great Chris Kenny. And I don't know this might be a bit sacrilegious to say now that I live in Sydney, but I really want the Brisbane Lions to beat the Sydney Swans,
and I want it for their coach, Chris Faken. Now you might remember he was dragged through the mud after a report into supposed racism at Hawthorne Football Club implicated him and the former coach Alastair Clarkson, who's now at North Melbourne.
Now.
The bloke who wrote that report, Phil Egan. He's since been charged with more than seventy counts of fraud, accused of stealing nearly eight hundred grand from the Aboriginal organization for which he worked and the allegations were thrown out by the AFL after two reports it commissioned into the matter found there was a complete lack of evidence. Now, Fagan seemed to fear a bit better mentally than Clarkson, who had to take some time off at North Melbourne
to get himself together. Fagan kept coaching at Brisbane. But I really want him to win, to stick it up the doubters and prove his extraordinary strength in the face of allegations of racism that two independent reports found had no basis. Of course, we know these days you throw mud and it sticks. Sometimes it sticks forever. Accusing someone of racism is just about one of the worst things you can do these days, and a flag would be
the perfect up yours. I hope he gets it. But let's get back into the negative gearing discussion and plenty of other news of the day. Joining me here tonight in the man Cave is Caroline Marcus. Down in alban is Michael Kroger. Thank you both for being here. Caroline. We played the comments before from elbow. He was looking pretty testy this morning. This is getting under his skin.
Oh, it absolutely is, and he really wears his emotions on his sleeves, so to speak. He really shows when he doesn't like a question, doesn't he, because it almost becomes an attack on the journalist who asks the tricky question. We saw it this morning with our own Pete Stefanovic, who actually asked him some tough questions. And isn't this exactly the same kind of language that he used back when he refused to rule out changes to the stage three tacks? Jack, It is exactly the same, so we
know the direction this is really going in. But when Pete tried to ask him about that, he repeatedly told him he wasn't listening to him. Well, he was listening, and he wasn't answering the questions, the very simple questions he was being asked, And that's because he doesn't want to see the polls go even further down. He wants to it would seem just thrust this upon voters at the last minute, and he changes to the negative gearing
or capital gains tax. And the truth is, Caleb, it's not just changes that would affect the very wealthy, which is what the government is trying to steer the conversation into at the moment, isn't it It affects almost a million Australians, many of which are mum and dad investors who might just have one investment property. That would be
the majority of cases. Yes, there are people who have multiple properties and they're super wealthy, but there are mum and dad investors who are doing it tough, who are struggling just like everyone else with the cost of living, who are going to be impacted. And again, it doesn't seem fair to change things midstream when they haven't got a mandate to do that, correct.
I mean, I'm one of them. I bought a property when I was twenty one years old in Adelaide, and of course I've since left Adelaide and gone into States or not living in it. I have someone else in there paying for part of the mortgage. And this is the point, Mirchael, right, most people who have a negatively geared property are mum and dad investors. They've been smashed
by interest rates in the last couple of years. They're not turning a profit on this property, but they're keeping it in the rental market, which is thoroughly strained right now because they have negative gearing available to them. As I said before, Keating scrapped it in eighty five. He brought it back in eighty seven because it didn't work. Why would Labor possibly think this would be a smart idea, because.
Mate, he's got no other ideas, and he's under pressure from the left. When in doubt, if you're on the left, you just pressure elbow and eventually he will fold on a thousand issues that don't bear repeating. I mean, Labor have never won an election promising a tax increase. We won one with the Gst election in ninety eight, and John Howard escape by the skin of his teeth.
You go to an.
Election promising massive tax increases, which Labor did in nineteen more we saw what happened. If he goes to the election with changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing, it'll do him huge electoral damage, no matter what he does in terms of grandfathering, or it's only five properties or more or whatever it is, because people know that's
the first step. You know, once you get on this slippery slope, it's five properties down to three properties, et cetera, et cetera, And then ultimately you get to the Greens. You know the Greens. You know magic pudding solution, which is to tax capital gains in the sale of the family homes. That's ultimately what the Greens want, and that leaks into Labor Party thinking. It's like, well, what's so special about the home. It's just just an investment. It's
a property I live in. So ultimately that's the Greens, that's the Greens policy. That would seep into Labour's policy five ten years down the track. So if Aobo starts this, people just not going to trust him. You can't trust this bloke. I mean, he makes He said he wasn't wasn't going to change Stage three tax cuts. He did, he wasn't going to do anything with souper. How many times did we see that before the he did. He's now taxi, unrealized capital gains and super funds. I mean
what I mean. The guy doesn't understand economics. He doesn't understand the investment community, and he should. But the one thing he'd be sure upon is calib that the if he brings in tax on capital gains for investment properties, he won't be making it retrospective. He won't be making it retrospective because that would affect him. Now, that's not the reason he's not bringing that's not the reason he
would he wouldn't be bringing in. But my point is Albanezi is collapsing under the weight of the left and he's got no other ideas and him, you know, he just might do something out of desperation.
Well, what really irks me about it, Caroline, is that it's a return to the politics of envy. You know, it's setting it up as all you know, you, you poor bastard who's struggling away in your rental property. It's because the landlord is raking in loads of money thanks to negative gearing. Most investment properties, as we alluded to before, and not owned by or actually shouldn't say that most investment properties aren't owned by wealthy people. The majority of
property investors are not wealthy people. Their mum and dad investors who have won two maybe three properties, which is basically their retirement fund. Right, there's superannuation, and so it's being set up as you should be worried that these people have more than you. Well, that doesn't move us forward as a country, doesn't put any money back in anyone else's pocket.
Well, it is class warfare what that's all about, really, and it's not healthy, I think for Australian society. We already have a tall poppy type of syndrome. But these are not tool poppies, as both of us have pointed out their momentad investors. They're people who are struggling with
the cost of living like everyone else. But ultimately, I mean, I think we do obviously have a housing crisis in this country and the government is getting desperate to get some wins on the board because honestly, nothing is going in their favor and they have to do something. I just don't think this is it, but they do need to address. Any government who wants to be successful in
this country needs to address this housing crisis. I don't think this is a solution, but it's just an act of desperation.
The solution is to build more houses. Well, of course we know they've completely failed on that. Now onto global politics. Now everyone's sort of paying attention to Lebanon and Israel. As the war is moving further north israels Is. They're now preparing for a ground invasion. Penny Wog spoke on this today. It's basically what we've come to expect from Penny Wong. She's calling for a cease fire. A number of other nations, the US as well, are calling for
an immediate twenty one day cease fire. Here was Pennywong today.
We condemn his Bela's continued to attack on Israel, but I do say again Lebanese civilians cannot be made to pay the price of defeating Hisbellah. The global community has made clear that this destructive or must stop what has happened in recent days only makes an immediate cease fire in Gaza even more urgent. You would have heard me say this before, and I say it again. Lebanon cannot become the next Gaza.
Michael, where do you think we're heading here?
Well, first of all, let me say, you know, shame on you, Penny Wong. You met the Prime Minister of Palestine, which is the West Bank. Basically, the prime minister that Penny met wasn't elected, by the way, He was appointed by the Palestinian authority, who themselves haven't faced an election since two thousand and five. So an unelected prime minister appointed by a government that my friend Michael Danby likes to say, is nineteen years into a four year term,
and it's twenty years on January nine next year. Since mackmurder Bass was appointed. So these are the people she's meeting, and she doesn't meet the president and of Iran, who was elected, by the way, in a rigged election. Nevertheless, she doesn't meet him and say, why don't you stop funding the hooties and Hesblah and Hamas. Where's the meeting with the president of Iran. He was there in the building,
he gave a speech. Why doesn't she meet the president of Lebanon and call on the Lebanese president and a prime minister and parliament to expel Hesblah, to call on hes Balah fighters to leave Lebanon. Why isn't she doing that? No, No, it's usually all about Israel. It's winkwink about Israel. Look, this government are not supportive of the Jewish community. They're not supportive of Israel, and Israel have to take the law into their own hands, self defense, in their own hands.
They've decided that after years and years of bombing of the northern parts of Israel, I was near the Lebanese border in January, just two kilometers from the border, you know the kubbutzos that had been empty of people because it was unsafe. Tens of thousands of people had to leave northern Israel because of the threat of haz Bala. Israel have had enough, They've drawn a line in the sand, and I think where it's heading. I think they're going
to continue to bomb hez Bala positions. And whether there'll be a ground evasion, I'm not so sure about that. Maybe there will be, maybe there won't be. But they're achieving a hell of a lot through through their bombing campaign, and sadly, innocent Lebanese are getting killed, and which is why the Lebanese government should be calling on haz Bla to leave, to leave Lebanon and go to Iran where they'll be welcomed.
Well, there's you know, sixty thousand odd people who haven't been able to live in the north of Israel, Caroline because of the fighting with Lebanon. And it's all good and will to.
Call fighting with Lebanon.
Buckets that Israel, which I hadn't reacted to until very recreat and it's.
All good and will to call for a cease fight. Very easy to call for a sea fire from the other side of the world, and there's no one on the face of the planet apart from maybe arms dealers who wants to see war ongoing, But the reality is that this conflict has been happening since October the seventh, as if they're just going to pack up now and say all over, Sorry, don't worry about it. You can just keep firing and ask nothing to matter.
I noticed how these calls for seaesfire, Like, where was Penny Wong on October eight when Hesbelah started firing the first of its eight thousand, more than eight thousand rockets Now at Israel? Was she calling for a ceasefire from Hesbela then No, exactly like she did with her mass. The urge for restraint is always directed at Israel. Israel can get attacked by all these Islamis Jihades as much
as they want, and she says pretty much zip. But as soon as Israel starts defending itself and it's people, which it has an obligation to do, that's when she decides to speak up and calls for a ceaesfire, which really is code for Israel, lie down and take it. Why don't you don't defend your people allow them to continue firing rockets. I mean, let's not forget as well as the sixty to seventy thousand Israelis who are still displaced.
As you point out, there were also a dozen Drews children who were killed playing soccer on a soccer on a football field not that long ago by Hesbelo rockets. Where was the international community outrage about that? It's always reserved for when Israel fights back. People hate it when Jews defend themselves. And the truth is as tragic as civilian deaths are in Lebanon and in Gaza. The fault falls clearly and squarely with the terrorist organizations that use
their own people as human shields. Just like commasters, Hesbela hides behind its people and they are the ones that there needs to be absolute moral clarity from our government and from Penny Wong that that's where the fault lies.
And I think they forget sometimes the decease fire involves two parts exactly, not just one. You can't just expect one to put down their guns and think the other is not going to do the same. Let's come back to Australia. One of the few things that Labor has done, good thing that it's done recently in amongst a few other dodgy decisions by Tenure plybisic. They have approved three coal mines here in New South Wales because of course they know that they need the money from these resources.
But the teals true to what they are not happy about it. Kylie Tink was one in The Australian Today saying that this decision fails young people, it fails future generations. Monique Ryan. Of course, down in Kuyong, nowhere near any sort of coal mines. Is the people of Couyong here deeply about climate change and they want Australia to reduce its carbon emissions, not open new coal mines. Michael. Once again, these people just don't get it. I mean, you know,
they would rather we keep it in the ground. They know, of course it's going to be burnt. It doesn't matter whether it's bird here or it's burd overseas. It all goes into the same atmosphere. So they say keep it in the ground forever. A bugger everyone else who's not going to have access to any sort of cheap power.
Just leave people in poverty. That'll be great. But I think that the worrying angle is that if you end up in a position where it's a hung parliament and Albanesi needs to go off to support from mobs like the Greens and the deals, these are the things they're going to be asking for, and we could be in a position where Albanizi has to think seriously about not approving any more coalmandes.
Of course you will. A minority labor government would be a nightmare for this country. I mean, just imagine the Albanesi government having to negotiate every day that the parliament sitting with the you know, the anti Semites, and you know amongst the Greens they're sort of extremely fascist Marxists
of the near left. Then you've got these teals who you know, sitting there, sitting there in a rich, first world electorate with heating electricity, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars salary, government cars, free air travel, staff, phones, everything, all you can eat and drink at the public's expense, living first in the first world luxury. You know, we
export a lot of this cold monique. We export a lot of it brings income to Australia and jobs for ordinary blue collar Australians who don't have the advantages that wealthy members of parliament have. But I'd say this also, the good news is that the gloss has gone off the Teals. You know, the macro point is that it was peak pro teal in May twenty two. The gloss
has gone off them. I think the gloss has gone off them in seats like Kuyong, where Monique Ryan has been a very poor member, achieved or nothing, although she takes credit for some things in the education space. I think there's a big buyers remorse in Keyong where they swapped Josh Friedenberg for Monique Ryan, who has had little
or no influence in Canberra. And I think the good people of Kyong are looking forward to electing Emilia Hamer, who's our new candidate, who's a brilliant, young professional woman. And I think Emilia is probably our slight favorite to win that seat over Ryan, and that would be great Victoria and great for Australia.
Well, let's see how it goes, because we're not suggesting that any particular Green is an anti Simmer, but I just hope that the Teals can know.
Oh sorry, sorry, a Caleb Jennifer Leong in Sydney, the Green's member who has made some very anti Semitic statements. I don't know how you could include anything other than her statements were the statements of someone who who's who's uttered any Semitic words.
And Marine posing. I know you're covering yourself legally.
Yeah, I'm just following that.
You're a good man, you're a good man, and you're a good man Cala, but not that good.
I think the party itself is coming very close, and I've said this before to being an anti Semitic cult, and it's very very and I'm not going to name individuals except Marine Fruki posing happily and posting it to social media a picture with young people at a climate protest holding signs saying Jewish people should get in the bin and the world would be a better place. That is difficult to argue that that's not anti Semitic. She
did delete it. She did delete it and claims she didn't see it, but she was standing next to that sign. I don't think anyone else would be given as much of a breathing rumor she has. And to follow that up with saying that refusing to say hamas should be dismantled several times in an interview and coming out after Israel's operation on the Hesbala terrorists with the page attack saying that Israel needs to be come under sanction for that, like she's inexcusable.
No, you're quite right. Before we go winners and losers, Caroline, Oh.
It's hard to pick a winner. I've got to say, Unfortunately Islamic Ji Hartes because they've convinced all these useful idiots, including Penny Wong, to get on their side. And my loser has to be the UK Prime Minister. He has done after calling hostages Israeli hostages sausages, now followed up by a story after the story of his grifting at one point Penthouse.
It's crazy, isn't it, Michael, Your winner and loser of the week.
The Australian Football League have had a great year and they'll have a great Grand Final on Saturday. It's a brilliant, brilliant competition and the AFL have done a fantastic job in entertaining many Australians during the year. I was going to say, key, you starmer for exactly the same reasons, but look without without betting, without betting an old drum Elbows had another shocker, so I think he'd have to.
Here's the domestic loser of the week. I don't think anyone can surpass his failures during this week.
Thank you both. We'll be having a sausage is all on the weekend for the Grand Final. I don't know that too, Kiyos Starmer will more after the break with Christy McSweeney and Kristin Abraham. Donald Trump got shot in the year apparently because the Secret Service were on the phone to tech support. Can you believe it that?
More?
After the break, Welcome back Caleb Bond in for Paul Murray tonight, let's continue the debate, joining me and our libertarian commentator Kristin Abraham and the PR Council's Christie McSweeney. Good to have you both out of Melbourne tonight. Now, the Secret Service, I think at every single turn, we keep seeing exactly how they bungled that attempted assassination of
Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. And we find out today amongst a report that's been released by the Senate, and there's a whole lot of stuff in here that is just thoroughly damning. They bungled it at every single point, including a drone that was sent up that could have spotted the shooter, did not go up because they were on the phone to a toll free tech support line to try to get the thing in the air. Christy McSweeney, how does this happen?
What's tech supporting phoning a one eight hundred tech line? I mean, what's the Secret Service doing phoning tech support? Anyone who works in an office in a large corporation or the public services thinking, oh my goodness, not the Secret Service as well. They have to do battle with it to do their job too. This report has been significantly politicized. It was something that Republicans pushed for after
the assassination attempt. They wanted to expose that it was some type of anti Trump racket, despite that civilians and first responders were fatally injured. So, yes, we can talk about the politicization of it, but the Secret Service not doing their job properly has put the lives of innocent people, with first responders at risk as well.
Well. Not only at risk, people were killed there, and Kristen I can't get over. One of the other things that came out of this report is that they didn't even think the Secret Service, once they were made aware that there was a possible shooter on the scene, didn't even think to get Donald Trump off stage. The quote is it didn't cross my mind. I mean, isn't that the first thing that you were Secret Service agent? My
job is to protect Donald Trump. Maybe I'll get him off the stage when there's an active shooter nearby.
It blows my mind that it didn't cross their mind when that's exactly what they're hired to do. But this report just shows how inaccurate movies and TV shows are because the Secret Service is meant to be the epitome of you know, protection, and clearly it's just incompetence after incompetence, but anything, you know, I assume anything that the government touches turns to ineffective and inefficient. I have to ask myself it's either grossing competence or it's purposeful that this
has happened. And why has Trump paid for private security? Because is he willing to bet his life that it's either grossing competence or deliberate And either way it's not great.
Well, yes, I mean he ought to have more protection, but I mean, if that's the protection they're offering them, I'm not sure you'd take it up. It's not exactly like what was what was the Clint Eastwood film I think was it in the in the line of fire. Anyway, they just don't live up to it.
To it.
Let's talk about our mates over it. At the ABC. The new chairman, Kim Williams gave a speech last night at the Low Institute Media Awards and he spoke about fake news. We've got to drum out the fake news. Take a listen.
Our younger journalists have a much more activist view of the role of journalism and a much more policy prosecutorial approach. Not only is it to be discouraged, it is to be ardently opposed.
He's quite right in saying that. But I've yet to see any cleaning up actually be done at the ABC. Christy McSween him and we've been talking about Heston Russell. Of course we know about the nonsense they made up about Russian collusion with Trump etc. You want to look for places of fake news, the ABC is the halb of it.
I keep saying it.
Caleb.
I grew up a regional Australian in the eighties. There's two channels, the ABC and basically anything that played football. And if it wasn't for the ABC in the regions, myself and thousands hundreds of thousands of other regional young Australians wouldn't have.
Access to the world.
So they do an amazing job in regional Australia their city news rooms, you know less reflecting the bastion of objective reporting that people in the regions come to depend on from the ABC. And for the CEO to sit there and first of all, you didn't play the part of the clip, but he spoke about fake news and this information which you mentioned, while he has this absolute
scandal hanging over his own head at the ABC. There is not a politician or CEO a love who would do that, bar perhaps maybe Andrew Forrest in Australia to go and say that while you're under that type of investigation. It was incredible that he that he made that statement.
I should point out Kim his chair and not CEO. But still, I mean, he's got control of the board, right, or at least he's president of the board. Yes, of course, so he should be more concerned about this stuff than anyone else. But you talk about the regional reporting, Christie and Kristen. I listened to the ABC because I figure you have to sort of pay attention to what the enemy is doing and what the competitor is doing, and they do do a lot of good work on regional radio,
et cetera. But I was listening to the World Today during the week, which is midday every day on the ABC. We played this clip on the Lake Debate the other night. But the bit of regional reporting that they played there on Wednesday yesterday, I think it was was about a transgender op shop in Ballarat. I mean, if that's the sort of regional reporting we're getting out of the ABC at the moment, God help us.
I'll give you that one pilot, all right, I'll give you that one.
Go on, Christian.
Yeah. I thought his comment was laughable, to be honest, because those young people at the ABC had to learn it from somewhere, and you were talking about a different segment that kind of sits under the ABC. Triple J, which is the youth broadcasting service, which also sits under the ABC. I'll read you a headline from twenty nineteen.
It says a generational shift what Triple J overhaul means. Now, they cleaned out their thirty something year old hosts and they brought in a bunch of twenty something year old hosts. Now the one of the amazing hosts on there was Tom Tilley, and he was thirty seven years old. He ran an informative segment called Hack, which is meant to inform young people, and he showed both sides. He showed whether it was labor or liberal. He grilled both sides,
whether a pro nuclear anti nuclear, grilled both sides. Now it's very one sided. But those twenty something year olds didn't give themselves the job. It was senior people within the company that said, hey, let's do this as part of the overhaul. And a fish rots from its head And it seems like to me Kim Williams was dodging a bus and it just happened to be young people that went under it for him.
Well, Kim wasn't there at the time. But I mean, this has been going on for a long time now. I know Tom Tilly. I liked Tom Tilly. He was hard done by I think. But I'll tell you what, if the ABC wants someone in their twenties, give me a call, Let's negotiate. Let's see whether you're willing to Let's see my twenty there you go. Let's see if you can get some diverse voices. Quote unquote on the network. Now, of course we've got the AFL Grand Final on the weekend.
I was talking about before you got the Sydney Swans the Brisbane Lines are going to face off. But Peter, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, can you believe it, have come out and said that the Western Bulldogs should change their name from the Western Bulldogs to the Western MutS because apparently, quote unquote the Western Bulldogs promotes breathing
impaired dog breeds. Christy mcsweeteney, of all the things to worry about in the AFL, the Western Bulldogs gotta get rid of them, got to get rid of them?
Well, it could catch on, Caleb, have you been out there? So?
Look, I don't know.
I think this is ridiculous.
The Doggies are the Doggies, The Western Bulldogs are Western Bulldogs and that's the end of it. If anyone wants to mess with football fans in Melbourne, good luck to them. I don't think they're going to get very much support out there in Footscray or anywhere else west of Melbourne or the rest of Victoria.
In answer to your question, have I been out there? Yes, I did go out there. When I lived in Melbourne. I did it twice, first and last time Christian Abraham Wuthering Heights. Right, there's going to be a new film adaptation of it. It's going to have Jacob Alrdie who is an Australian actor, Margot Robbie, of course Australian actress. But Jacob A. Lordie is going to be playing Heathcliff.
And this has created a controversy because apparently Heathcliff, and it is written in Wuthering Heights that he has quote unquote dark skin. So there's all this uproar. How can a white man Jacob A. Lordie be playing Heathcliff. Now, my understanding of Wathering Heights is that it refers to him as being dark skinned because his character is generally dark and he's portrayed as a gypsy. He's not portrayed
as a black man. God forbid a white man play this role like it has been done before Rape Fines, plenty of others have played it, but of course in twenty twenty four, White Man Bad.
Yeah.
I'm not going to pretend that I have read the book, but generally, when you're talking about a book versus real life, you're comparing your imagination to the real world as well. But my understanding is the book has a racism theme and how racism impacts it. Sounds like this discourse is just a projection of that, to be completely.
Honest, Indeed, winners and losers of the week, Christy.
Oh, look, I think the winner of the week is the far right alternative dark web press that never gets an airing. But we've seen so much of it in the federal court this week in a defamation trial. I've never even heard of therese websites, so they are jumping up their currency. So that's a win for strange dark
web media organizations getting an airing. And of course Jim Chalmers, how could we say that he's not the loser of the web as well on applying to Beijing and the Labor Party leaking left right and center, literally leaking left, trying to stitch him up while he was out of the country.
Very good point, very quickly, yours, Kristin.
It would have to be the winner. Peter Stefanovig for a ripper into This Morning with Anthony Albany is here and on the other food it's Anthony alban is he because that was a shocker.
It certainly was Christy and Kristin. Thank you so much, don't go away, Megan Kelly coming up after the break well, Paul will be back on Sunday in Springvale in Melbourne for our town. I'm sure the joint will be jumping after the Grand Finals, so don't miss that, and don't miss the US Report tomorrow at eight pm. I'll be in for James Morrow with all the latest on the presidential election. Nor should you miss the Sunday show down at seven pm or the late Debate straight after this,
which I'm usually on. I'm hosting every bloody show at the moment anyway. That's it from me. But before Paul took off he spoke to Meghan Kelly, which will bring to you now good night.
The single best person will love to talk to each and every week is Megan Kelly.
Now.
Even better than being able to listen to her podcast or find it on YouTube, you can listen to her show live each and every night on Serious XM. They've removed the VPN, which means you can listen to it live here in Australia. Download the app, subscribe and she's on the Triumph channel. And please to say, well, we're couple dressing this evening. What is this color of which we are currently enjoying?
It's all the rage right now. I think it's cabernet. That's what I've heard it refer cabernet. So we're in a mood, which we always are. But if you want to be on point this season, this is the color that you need to wear.
This is it. You know, we'll imagine I've got boat shoes underneath it. I'm very very on point all right now. Kamala Harris a big economic speech and she's going to have eighty different pages. I wonder how many will be pictures. But still, then she goes and does an interview the person who she's doing the interview with and we talk about home games. This is the ultimate home game. Is the lady who was on Bill Marshaw on Friday saying
I need to ask a serious questions. That's the one who's going to be interviewing her lighta to die.
Let's say you don't like her answer.
Are you going to vote for Donald Trump?
No, I'm not.
I'm not running for perfect. She's running against Trump. We have two choices, and so there are some things you might not know her answer to. And in twenty twenty four, unlike twenty sixteen, for a lot of the American people, we know exactly what Trump will do, who he is, and the kind of threat he is to democracy.
It's truly such a joke. It's such a joke. I guess this is how you get Kamala Harris to sit with you. You just say you don't have to ask her anything hard or serious. We actually don't really need to know her policy positions, so we're probably in store for another tell us, what brings you joy? How exciting is this for you? What's it like to think of yourself as the first female president. We're going to get
a bunch of nonsense. And I'm sure this has been pre arranged between Stephanie Rule's camp, who, with all due respect to Stephanie Rule, is no one, I mean nobody. It's like, when you think of who am I going to sit with, you don't think, oh, Stephanie Rule. Yeah, okay, that's a possibility, Elver on MSNBC. You'd be thinking about Rachel Maddow or maybe even like Mourning Joe, But nobody's
thinking about Stephanie Rule. So to me, it's pretty obvious that they either saw that interview or she'd been trying to get it, promising them no hard questions, and that's what letter to say that I'm Bill maher and that's how she got it. So it's a fail and we'll see maybe she'll surprise us all and ask us a hard question or two. What I'm noticing with Kamala Harris is even if you don't ask her a hard question, she fails. So either way, I'm in favor. Just get
her talking more. Since she started talking, even the little tiny bit that she has, her numbers have started to fall. That's why the Democrats plan to keep her quiet and behind closed doors and only on script in front of others. Was a good one, but they're getting beaten for it, so they've got to put her out there a little bit. So it could be Stephanie Rule, could be sitting down with NBA players. That thing with Dana Bash was a debacle and her the enthusiasm, the Democratic enthusiasm since she
started talking, has dropped five points. Paul so fine and by me, if it's Stephanie Rule or anybody be nicer if it were real journalists. But we'll take what we can get.
As you know, there's like thirteen thousand poles a day that come out. Some are ludicrous, the state poles with a sample of you know, four people in their neighbor, Oh she's up or he's up. Then there's the more serious, more complicated ones, like a whole bunch of dropped in the past twenty four hours, and they kind of tell the same story, which is whatever backward steps we're in and around the debate, where now back to dead level
or sometimes Trump winning nationally. If Trump is winning the popular vote, he's going to get all stipend in the swing states. She's done. So you like, what do you notice out of these things?
It's good news for Trump. It definitely shows that there's more momentum on the GOP side, that whatever balance she got from being the subed in candidate and then that fawning fake DNC that we all watched and from the debate has been erased or muted because it's not being reflected in these poles. And you know, Trump now he's up four I think in he's up four or five in Arizona, he is up four or five in Georgia.
It's tight in North Carolina, and this gubernatorial candidate who's currently the lieutenant governor, who's kind of a hot mess falling apart, is not going to help him. But I just have a tough time believing that North Carolina, which in its roots is read, is going to vote for Kamala Harris because of this guy Mark Robinson and his implosion at the gubernatorial level. I don't think he's going
to win governor. But anyway, it's not great. But if you just look at sort of where the poles have gone now versus where they were in August, it's good news for Trump almost across the board, and nationally they're showing tied. Like you say, tide is huge for Trump.
If you look back at the twenty twenty. Of course, all the posters got Trump wrong in sixteen by a lot, and then in twenty twenty they tried to adjust their numbers to try to learn from their mistake that they had been underestimating the Trump vote, and they still got
Trump wrong. They underestimated him again. We went back and looked at the real Clear Politics numbers just for Pennsylvania in twenty twenty, and out of ten major polsters, two overestimated in favor of Trump Trafalgar and I think insider advantage and eight seriously overestimated for the Dems, including by like eight point five points percentage points. So they did not figure it out by twenty How to correct for undercounting Trump voters? And what reason do we have to
believe that they figured it out by now? None? So anything close to a tie is very good news for Trump. If I if I could pick who I'd rather be right now, one hundred percent, I'd picked Trump.
If you want to know that's happening in and around the election, the media that covers the election, and some common sense just to cut through the garbage. Megan Kelly, her show, The Meg and Kelly Show. You can find it on YouTube, you can get the podcast, or you can listen live now in Australia at Serious XM. Love Your Rockstar. And again I thought this was sort of mow, not mow.
This was purple.
But you know, I'll go with the cabinet. Cheers my Babin.
I can't I can't believe how adorable we are. Cheers to you as well,