From the sky in Center. This is Paul Murray Live. Thank you, Charwy you join us on a tough night. There's some news that is coming out of Washington, DC. You know, I've had the helicopter and the plane the collision that took place quite a few hours ago. The main headline on the Australian's website right now is that there are, according to their information, God bless their souls, no survivors in relation to what has taken place in Washington.
Our worst potential fear here is it sixty four people have died. Sixty people were on the flight from Kansas to Washington, d C. There was at least three crew members that were on the Army Blackhawk helicopter. Fox News is reporting in this hour and it's just gone five am in Washington, DC, as it's nine pm on Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra at time APM in Queensland. They are reporting that it's not referred to as a standard black Hawk helicopter.
Obviously the consequences will become a lot clearer. Sunrise is due in Washington officially in the next two hours first light. We'll obviously be slightly before that. The rescue efforts happened going all night. That weather is about one degree and I've just received a message from our production team, thank you guys, that there is going to be a briefing from the Mayor of Washington, DC at seven thirty local times, so that's another two and a half hours so before
midnight here in Australia. We'll get more information. If I know anything more between now and the end of the show, obviously I'll bring in more information and I'm going to have a chat to a pilot about what you do when you see something coming towards you. Are you able to make the evasive action? Is it something that you've got to wait for somebody to give you permission to do. What role does the tower play in all of this?
That's the biggest story that's happening in the world. There's huge stories that are happening here at home, including what Charry just broke to you about the specific locations that were left on the note inside the caravan with the explosives. On top of that, people are being released as we speak by their captors in Hamas. These are live shots of three people that are being released in the process of it is a twenty year old woman who was taken from the idea of surveillance unit in an army
base on October the seventh. One is also a twenty nine year old woman who was taken from their home on October the seventh, and one is a seventy nine year old now eighty year old man who was taken from his kibbutz again on the day when we know more and we see more pictures, but when one of the emphasis of the Israeli government was to end hamas fairly Obviously, the slow release of the hostages and the number in which people are carrying the flags, holding the uniforms,
they're trying to send a message about what power they still have over the region. But obviously this is part of the process. As people leave every few days, three more out. We will tell you more about that as it all rolls on. Plus, I'm going to have a chat to somebody in and around the beer brewing community of Australia about our conversation about excise. Now, as I've spanged on about all week, sixty three percent of bottle of Bundy rum that's tax. It's a little less, but
it's still a lot. When we're talking about beer. How do we fight it. The sneaky taxes, we'll talk about that, and remember Chris Bowen's promise that you'll be able to buy whatever car you want under the new environmental rules. Well, guess what, there's a good chance he was lying. On top of all of that. Big weather issues were taking place, particularly in the north of Queensland, in and around Cans A little higher, a little lower. How's this? There was
so much rain that in some parts. In fact, at mant Sofia nine hundred and twenty five millimeters the best part of a meter of rain had fallen in just twenty four hours eight hundred and seventy three not too far from there as well. Here's the latest coming from the emergency officials in that part of the world.
The threats not over. We asked the community up there to stay in contact with our alerts because as this tropical low forms and moves back towards the coast, we're going to see pretty well similar rainfalls again, if not more.
The local officials, of course, they want you to stay across all the information that's coming from local council as well as local radio. We'll try to give you the information air support all night here on Sky News, but it on Fox still Flash or Free to Wear Las.
One of cyclone Jash Park, which some of our residents still haven't actually got over. They still have houses in disrepair, so it's going to be quite traumatic if we happen to have another event.
Poor buggers for an explanation of what exactly was behind all of this, and yet I get it. It's the way that things work, and sadly it's the tragic tale of a country that has always been subject to the foibles of the weather. Here is the latest from Sky on New's Weather our twenty four hour Weather channel.
Four hundred and nine millimeters in the last four days and the potential to see up to a meter by the end of the week. We do have right now a tropical low and a well developed monsoon trough continuing to allow these storms to fire up and produce heavy rainfall.
Now, speaking about weather in the broader issues of climate, we know that lefty people, whenever there are events like this, they're going to say the same thing over and over again, climate change.
Of climate change, climate change, climate chain, climate.
Change, climate change, climate change, the promise meaning that if you follow what they want to do, then somehow the weather will change. The only problem is that even if Austrated did everything that the lefties or the un wanted, we will not change the weather. Why because, as we have shown you many times, independent group the tracks each
nation and how much that it produces. When it comes to CEO two, you can see that China, the rest of the world, the United States, India, or a whole bunch of other places weigh in front of us Australia one percent of the world's problem. Of course, we're supposed to be hitting the zero of one percent of the world's problem. By twenty thirty the government has signed into legislation forty three percent of one percent of the world's problem.
Part of the way they were going to get there was a piece of legislation which we were told was dead, buried and cremated. It was gone, it was not to return. It was a bad deal. It's called nature positive. Now this has been building for some time. There was a deal that was done between the government and the Greens, Pocock and the rest. There was a pathway through the parliament. But because the devil is always in the detail, and people were aware of what the detail was.
Whole idea of this nature positive bill. There's nothing positive about it.
I might just say it's effectively putting the foxes in charge of the chicken coop. It's going to be a wet blanket over the WA economy and that would be disastered, not just for the WA economy, with the national economy as well.
They killed the legislation. They also killed the legislation because the leader of Western Australia said, please don't do this until after I'm potentially re elected in a few weeks time. At the time, Roger Cook said that he'd spoken of the highest levels of the federal government to reiterate his view that the bill in its current form should not
be progressed. Why because one of the reasons why West Australia was one of the strongest states that voted no at the referendum that Anthony Abeneasy was pushing for half a billion dollars a couple of years ago. That was his priority when cost of living was out of control, when his government was taking fifteen hundred dollars off ten million workers. Remember how all of this was supposed to
go well. Of course, the Cultural Heritage legislation, which meant that it was virtually impossible to do anything to major properties or even your property in Western Australia were so heavily rejected that even the people who introduced the legislation who now have left the Parliament have now acknowledged there
was a bad piece of legislation. Those that are critical of nature positive have said that it is a backdoor way of achieving exactly the same thing, this time not under the cover of Aboriginal heritage, but instead about trying to do our bit to cut forty three percent of one percent of the world's problem when China, remember, can pollute thirty times more than we do, and they don't have to pull in their heads at all until at least twenty thirty, and then zero is not twenty forty
or twenty fifty, but is allegedly twenty sixty, as if any of the politicians that signed the deals now will be around to enforce that or punished China when it
inevitably does not hit such a mark. But because we have a Prime minister who has always been the type of each way on something where understands that his government will both write the legislation and pull the legislation that he also needs to make sure that people on his left flank who will not have to live with many of the consequences of this legislation, well, he still wants them to either vote Green and then preference the Labor Party,
or ideally vote for the Labour Party first. So we noticed at the time that the Prime Minister did not say that this thing was gone. He did not say that this thing will not be reintroduced. Instead, our assumption was that they would either find a way to do it before the next federal election. But that was when
we didn't think Parliament was coming back. The Prime Minister dragging and trying to avoid an election for as long as possible for the most obvious of frightened reasons, might have a chance to put it back into the Parliament and well live up to the deal that he'd already done. This could be in place by election time. But mark your words, if they get re elected, especially with the Greens being the dog that's going to wag the tail, they were most certainly introduce it. And this is a
big issue in Western Australia. As I've showed you in chapter and verse about the number of marginal seats in Western Australia. The Labour Party is only able to form a majority because of how well it did in Western Australia. Electoral gravity would suggest they could lose a couple of the four seats that they won over there, and that would of course push them into minority. And there's a bit about the Prime Minister and what he thinks is going to happen at the election that will shock you
in a moment or two time. But while downder the front page of the West Australian, they scream loudly. Then Anthony Aberze's failure to say that this thing is dead, buried, cremated, gone, not coming back, not two point zero, not a new version, not a side door, is going to put him in
a world of trouble. As they have said about nature positive put simply, this would ruin in part the West Australian economy, including many of the seats Labour already takes for granted, little ones, the ones they were able to win at the last election. Now, interestingly, the West Australian Premier, when asked about this today, has doubled down. Now, of course he's in the middle of an election campaign, or on his way to an election campaign, hoping for a
second term. Of that third term, I should say of that Labor government. Well, let's have a look here. The West Australia Premier has warned East Coast Lata sippers about the nature positive laws. This was the Premier speaking today in Western Australia about the laws that Albo might bring in before the election, but beat your life he will after the election. I hope you're paying attention WA. Look, I'm barracking for Wa. I'll stand up for Wa.
I always do, and on nature positive laws, I stood up for WA.
Meantime, the opposition leader via The Nightly, which is a subset of the West Australian newspaper, says here that the nature positive laws are a two card trick. Dare I say? And each way albow. Here is what the alternative prime minister had to say, knowing that if he's going to get even close to minority government, he's got a win big in Western Australia. This could be the difference. As we know in WA.
The Prime Minister's been playing this two card trick which hasn't worked. And the fact is that the Prime Minister, I think is being deceitful with the population in wa Wa and its economy thrives on mining and agriculture. And we now find out that there's a secret deal that's been signed between the Greens and the Labor Party about introducing a bill which will stop mining in its tracks in wa.
Pay attention, don't get annoyed after the election. Be aware of what is happening right now, right now, because if Parliament does come back for a couple of weeks, because we might be towards an April or even later election, they will have a chance to go back into the parliament.
If they do go back into the parliament, well, will this be what they need to keep Green's preferences watch this space Western Australia in particular, but also part of the fight to cut forty three percent of one percent of the world's global emissions. Australia is apparently going to well. Has actually put in place a new regime to make sure that the cars that you want to buy are either going to become more expensive or maybe potentially not available.
Why because they pollute too much. We look at the figures today, top five cars that were sold in Australia last year. Number one the Ford Ranger, big massive beautiful car. And I'm a old man, but I can still recognize game game, recognize this game. I think they said thirty years ago, but you get my point. The toy out of highlux. Anyone wants to give me one, I'll take it in black. As long as it's got Apple car play, I'll be having a great old time. Or in Izuo
Zuo Dmax ut These are some of the cars. Mitsubishi Outlander. I think it's another one, but basically not a small car. None of the top fives are anywhere near by catchbacks, and none of them are of course electric. And remember a couple of years ago when on the very same day the government was increasing the tax on petrol tax to now fifty cents per liter. They increased it. They were trying to distract by saying, oh, you'll say hundreds
of dollars, no, thousands of dollars under these new environmental standards. Eventually, and ridiculously there was a compromise on these things coming through. But remember bowing in the electric car. Everything was going to be excellent. This is the future now again. Can I just say this, while I am a petrol head and I love my V eights and brom brooms and old school cars, and I'll hopefully own as loud a one as I can before I die. I'm not anti
electric car. If it works for you, good luck to you, all right. The acceleration pretty amazing. The electric moke that might be coming out, that'd be a fantastic car for me to drive around on the beach if I ever get the chance to do so in Queensland or Western Australia. Again, but as the market shows, the extreme majority of Australians want the cars that they are currently purchasing to be
the ones that will do the job. Do the job as a trainee, do the job driving around a family, or do the job towing something when it comes to a caravan, boat trailer or anything else. Well, you may remember that as a way of trying to settle the horses that were being startled, because were the cars that Australians buying going to be the ones that you wouldn't be able to buy or would have a price increase because of the rules. This is what Blackout was saying.
Car companies can continue to import any particular model they wish, they must meet.
A standard across their entire fleet.
No model will be mandatory, no model will be banned. Oh you can trust him, right, like Casanova's never done anything wrong, has he? I'll keep it alive for you, Rayd. Don't worry Casanova Bowen Why because everything he touches. Matt Canavan regular on the show Monday Nights. He couldn't hit it harder about how bad the idea was, about how the prices were going to go up, and he saw
everything that was coming. Guess what he was right? Because I see today that there are lots of Australian cars or people that are cars that are sold in Australia the people like to buy that are now canceled. But guess what they found remarkably a different way to achieve the same goal. It's not the environmental rules. Instead, there's new design rules that just happen to rule out many
of the cars that also are high polluting. Changing the Australian design rules for passenger vehicles imported into Australia means a handful of popular models will no longer be for sale. This website had already reported about the news of the Mitsubishiet motors basically getting rid of sixty percent of its range, acting the Pajero Sport that'd be a big seven seed of four wheel drive, the rather popular ASX, a small suv, and the Turbo will plug in hybrid Eclipse Cross all
big cars. There's no manned. No one will be told they cannot buy the car are with this hand and this regulation. But with this hand and this regulation, we're going to say no, too arduous, and the car company say they're not going to sell them. They're also not going to be selling a Suzuki as well. So don't you love the way they do this. They come out they promise no one's going to be adverse as a result of this decision, knowing that another decision is coming
down the pipe. In Canavan we trust, and obviously Canavan often is right. But because they like to other him and other us and other you and ignore the conversations that we take place here, they'll say nothing to see here. But you've got to do yourself and your mates a favor.
You've got to take the content from this program at skynews dot com dot au comes up a couple of hours after the show, or definitely it's up by tomorrow, or go to YouTube find sky News, find this editorial this bit the thing I am saying now and post it on your socials, Send it as an email to a couple of mates. Read the word because surprise, surprise, what we always knew was going to happen ends up
happening because they don't tell the truth. Speaking of, let's get to the Prime minister who's getting rather cocky about the upcoming election, which is a strange place for him to be. Now he may know the secret source, he may well have already gone to the part in the book where he knows what the outcome is. But right now, in just a couple of months before an election, the polls aren't great. Instead, Pole's pretty good for Peter Dutton,
take your pick. Voters swing to Dutton as Australians expect to be worse off in twenty twenty five, Dutton catches Albanezi as preferred prime minister, or the majority of voters tip of the coalition to win the next election. Now I get it. When you are the one who's on the wrong side of those headlines, you're always going to back yourself in. And it's one thing to say, look, Poles, they come and go media. Whatever truth is, nothing is inevitable.
We will achieve what we want to achieve. That's the real person's answer, right, because you've got to have the self confidence. And I understand that everyone is going to be standing for Parliament, including the independent that you've never heard of, is the feed inc be independent who will probably get fewer votes, and even members of their family they will, for a small period of time think they're going to win. As for every major party candidate everywhere,
they think there's going to be a chance. As for all of the people inside all of the different political parties, including the Tels that's a party by the way, they'll think they're going to have a record election. Great confidence, confidence, confidence, Fine, but there's a very fine line between confidence and arrogance. And I'm pretty sure Australians don't like arrogance. Perfect example of it though, is our Prime Minister. It's one thing to be confident in the outcome of a federal election.
It is confident about what you know to be the lines of attack that you haven't said yet, the television advertising, the way that you'll try to promise, bribe and bs your way to an election victory. Fine, be confident, But he went on one of my mate's podcasts. This is the Squizz podcast. The Squiz is a great podcast as well as Squids as Squiz News, Squids Kids. I promote all of them because good interesting listening about what's going on in the world and interesting way of telling news
to your kids. Don't leave it all to the ABC. This is what I told my mate Kate.
I think only labor can form government in our own right. I can't see any path for Peter Dutton and the Nationals for that matter, to get to seventy six.
No path. There's a very narrow path. There is a very high hill. But the reality is that the maths is clear. If both of the parties end up at seventy seats, then there's a negotiation with the cross Bench. Will they be able to find the six relevant votes to essentially guarantee that they stay in power for at
least the start of the term or presumably the whole term. Yes, the cross Bench would be big enough for that generally speaking, though it is a more left leaning cross bench, so it's not impossible to suggest, well, well, they'll probably go this way. But then there's a collection of people that will say because the teels represent places that used to be liberal, they're probably going to end up going that way.
Who knows where Catter or SHARKI are going to go, So maybe things can push that way so we can find six there. But to arrogantly say no path, that's different than saying, look, I'm pretty sure I know that we're going to win the election, and let me tell you why. But a bloke who says no path is a guy who is going to be blind to some of the areas of attack they're going to be coming
from the opposition. Now, remember we showed you even left wing journalists who say that the government may lose between seven and ten seats, they can only lose a couple before they start going into minority. A minority government is very different than a majority government. So he could be as full of himself as he likes, but he clearly knows something that the polsters don't. And if he wants to put his money where his mouth is, he could
put some money down with bookie. I don't know whether it's legal to bet on yourself at an election, but it will make a pretty penny. In fact, currently today's odds for the Labor Party is more than two bucks, so he gets one back for everyone he puts down. I think maybe a little more. Anyway, you get the point the same when he goes over the lad Brokes, it doesn't matter. All the big bookies they're all saying right now Coalition favorites to win labor more than two dollars.
In fact, two twenty five blows out to two thirty ones. You have a look at the lab Roke numbers and look, if you don't have the cash to put the bet down, you can always ask the Prime Minister. I mean, he's hardly skint. Didn't you just buy that joint for four million bucks at the Central Coast? Because whatever he can. But if it was a liberal who did it, it'd be a mansion man and all the rest of him. But maybe the reason that he is so confident is
perhaps he already knows the outcome of the election. Somebody has already given him a spoiler alert. As we know, he's very close to the Chinese, and by that I mean the Chinese government, the CCP, the people who of course put all of the weights on the information that people learn back here in Australia and our very clever digital team. Well done to Jack and Tim at Sky Neese dot com that I use today. You know that new AI thing which is freaking people out. That's the
Chinese version of what's out in America. They decided to ask some questions about the upcoming election, and the Chinese AI says that Albanese is the better choice for prime minister. Prompted to Skuy by Sky News as to which leader would better serve the interests of China, the chatbot said mister Aberenesi was Beijing's number one pick. Anthony Abernesi would likely be China's preferred choice, says the AI bot. His government has shown a willingness to engage diplomatically and prioritize
economic ties while addressing security concerns. The write up, however, for Peter Dutton is that he is to be more adversarial by the Chinese, a little hawkish when it comes to China and our national defense. Dutton's emphasis on defense security and aligning closely with the US could make him a less favorable leader from China's perspective. And of course, China would do nothing, nothing at all to have influence over the local language media that has course signed off
by Beijing. I'll have nothing over the TikTok videos that will or won't be favored. Of course, that'll be a conspiracy theory for me to even suggest it, because everything China does is above board right now, as you will have seen today, plenty more reaction to what we were telling you last night about the police, the caravan and the explosives. Charry markson tonight excellent reporting where she has actually put some meat on the bone. In fact, if we can move that up now, guys, that'd be great.
Which is this was her reporting about the locations that were apparently mentioned in the note in the caravan found what ten days ago, I.
Can tonight reveal the two targets of the caravan filled with explosives. The addresses written down inside the caravan were of the Great Synagogue in Sydney and the Sydney Jewish Holocaust Museum.
And a little example about how the political leadership, including the bloke who thinks will be the Prime minister after the current Prime Minister, is not up to it. This was Jim Chalmers today. Remember how afraid the Jewish community is for the most obvious reasons, after the relentless intimidation and threats to their safety and damage to their property.
Look, this is obviously a terrifying development, and what it shows is that the fears that a lot of Australians in the Jewish community have are not always unfounded. And what it shows is that the fears in the Jewish community are not always unfounded.
What so a suggestion that there's been crying wolf for a while, but now the wolf is actually there. What a despicable thing to say. But this is a bloke who is despite the fact that he's factionately of the right, this is another lefty. When there is a generational change to this bloke or his like as leader, get ready for a far more aggressive, far more left wing, far more sort of Paloche or Andrew's style of leadership, not
the Chris Min's style of leadership. That's playing it out in a bit of common sense in you so whilst right now? Of course he said sorry, But of course he wouldn't do it in front of a camera, he wouldn't tweet it anywhere. He just said it to the people who asked I apologize. My intention was to share and acknowledge the very real and understandable fears of the Jewish community in the light of recent events. I could have and should have expressed that more clearly, and I'm
sorry I didn't. We didn't do it once, we did it twice in fro had two different cameras at two different times from the same spot, meaning you're meant to say it, yet just annoyed you got called out. As for the actual investigation, another part that police seem rather annoyed about today was the fact that we know about
this at all. Remember I'm pro cop and I give them the benefit of the doubt, but they are starting to push it when they're going after the media, who have every right to report on a legitimate story like this. The investigations ongoing, as the Commissioner indicated, has been significantly compromised by the media reporting on this, and.
They need to get on with doing their job without people wondering what is happening.
We will brief the public when we have something material to say.
All right, And a second, I'm going to talk to a pilot about how you navigate close calls like obviously, what you would try to avoid by what has happened in Washington, d C. What's it like to be in the cockpit, what do you do, how much are you in charge? Of versus what do you wait for the tower? What are the sounds, what are the alarms? Real good insight into that. As the story breaks in the early hours of the morning, there that apparently no survivors. I
hope that to change and change for the better. But that's the early reporting and that certainly what's up right now on the Australian website. More details at skynews dot com dot au. A couple of other things worth mentioned in congratulations to the men and women of the police and Victoria because they're getting a pay rise. They're getting a bigger pay rise and the one the government was offering, and that is in part because of the campaign that
they have led. I'm pro cop. I'm pro cop because these men and women, they run towards the situations that are often the worst things that will ever happen to anyone in their life. They do it all day, every day. They deserve their pay. They deserve more than what they've got. But four hundred and fifty million dollars deal four point five percent annual pay increase over the next four years. That's half a percent higher than the four percent that
was rejected by the members. Each year the police associations say that industrial action taken by a police and the PSOs will now cease in accordance with the announcement that has just taken place. And what about very interesting, very interesting take on the Northern Beaches of Sydney about what their local federal MP, Zalie Stegel, of course, who defeated Tony abbott ree elect did in twenty twenty two and would think that she's a good chance of being re
elected again. What's her response to the local council that's got an awful lot of deals on it big times zalibackers, that have increased the council rates on her constituents by forty percent. Local governments are experiencing the same pressures on their budgets as residents and small businesses with insurance, premiums, wages, energy and construction costs continue to rise. So you're against
it or you're for it. I urge all local governments proposing rate increases to do so in a manageable way so that residents are not unfairly burdened and prioritize cost savings. Clearest mud right, Oh, they're under the same financial precisces as everyone else. Yeah, but if a business put up their prices by forty percent, you'd be the first to
say these terrible profit making businesses. But because most of those people on the council are going to be the ones, they're going to try it back hurring at the upcoming federal election. Softly, softly, this is a local matter. Change the subject climate change. Pe d Dutton's about you get the play. Meantime, some good reporting from the Daily Telegraph about just how much money the Northern Northern Beaches Council is spending on the upper each lines of the Northern
Beaches Council. Remember I showed you last night people from wanting the more than one hundred thousand dollars for jobs that either I can't understand a one hundred thousand dollars for pr jobs at the council while they're wacking it up by forty percent. Northern Beaches Council fatcats are paid more than almost any other senior council staff in Metropolitan Sydney, a record spend of two point eight million dollars on
salaries while having just four senior staff last year. The twenty twenty three to twenty four Annual Report shows the Northern Beaches Council for senior staff with a total of two point eight point four six eight seven seven million dollars. The figure does not include so on top of this we now can take it to three point two because for five hundred and forty four two thousand dollars you
get the renuneration package of the CEO. That person's paid more than the premiere of New South Wales, certainly paid more than the local backbencher, and almost paid as much as the Prime minister. Oh, I know, but it's the locals. It's the locals who've got to end up with a forty percent rate rise. What a disgrace. Quick break back with more lots of breaking news from the United States. Also what's playing out and Gaza right now? At everything
you need to know here at home. Also I'd love to know who do you think is the winner and loser of the week? Jump onto the Facebook page just go searching for Paul Murray Life our Pilot about what's happening in DC. We are again about ninety minutes away from when the sun's going to come up there? Can we take some light pictures from Gaza though, because the release of three more Israeli hostages happening as we speak. Two of the hostages being put into cars before our
very eyes. We'll try and take some live sound if we can hear. Guys too happy to hear from another report, hear some live sound if we can the engines. Now three people are being released, two younger women and an older gentleman. It is the two younger women that we believe you are seeing the direct pictures of right now.
Part of the hostage deal has been is that members of the IDF, female members of the IDF, they will be released first in this first phase of things, before in the second phase of ceasefire, that's when male soldiers will be released. The Red Cross have done the inspections. They are the ones that are moving people on. But again, I just want you to hear that the live sound as people are being handed over, plenty of supporters of the people who've kept them in captivity for almost five
hundred days, cheering and waving their flags. The sounds of Hamas supporters is what you can hear. In about an hour's time, you'll hear things from the Israeli side. But this is Gaza right now. All right, we'll return to that when there is a little more, we'll make sure that we put it in what we call the box, which means you'll be able to see the light pictures while we are talking about everything else as it happens.
If there is any further dramas on top of the obvious sense of relief that will be there for those three people, and whether they are peacefully handed over, which we would expect to be the case, you will see
all of that as we discuss things here. But as we see what's happening in Garza, we know what's happening in Washington, d C. Which is that the sun doesn't come up for another little while, but we know that an awful lot of people have died, and they died in that collision between the Blackhawk helicopter and a small plane with about sixty people on it that was flying from Kansas to Washington, d C. Barron Bailey is a man who is well known to viewers here on Sky News.
He is a former pilot, or he's a pilot. You're always a pilot. I think that's the case, like being an Olympian, you are forever and I wanted to reach out to him about the experience and some of the technical stuff here, because the tragedy is all very obvious. Byron,
give us an idea. When you're piloting an aircraft before we get into the specifics of this aircraft and something is flying towards you, are you putting trust in the tower to tell the thing flying your way to get out of the way, or at what point are you able to use the controls to go up, down, left or right.
Well, that's a tricky question because you're never going to be in that situation. If you're above one thousand feet. You've got a thing called TEACAS. It's collision avoidance system traffic avoidance system, and it will tell you to climb or descend. And that's what happens in controlled airspace with aircraft that equipped just clear the air. By the way, former fighter pilot there, we got Triple seven, Captain, I'm flying profit jets still, so he's.
Still up up in a way. That's the main thing here.
Okay, sure we talk about first of all, the original airliner. I'll tell you what the pilots did. They flew from Wichita. They were cleared for the ils that's the instrument approach on runway zero one at Reagan and National Airport. That's quite a busy airport, not as busy as New York, but it's still a pretty busy airport. Oh, you disappeared, that's all right.
You'll see the pictures of that are going to wear, which are the original footage, so yeah, they're clear there.
Yeah, and turning right and the bright object you could see it's about to explode was the airliner. Now, what happened was the airliner was coming in on an intimate landing system for runway zero one, which is the long runway at that airport. They then asked a sidestep right onto runway three three, which involves a slight jink to the right and then turnback left onto a heading of three three zero to land on runway three three. They had completed this, they were on short final below four
hundred feet. Both pilots would have been looking ahead at the landing zone, totally engrossed on what they were doing. They wouldn't have been aware of the helicopter. Now, talking about air traffic control, a different frequency between the chopper and the helicopter and the airliner. It's so busy there that you have multiple controllers on different frequencies. But this is a fairly common thing for these helicopters from the military base to fly low level across the Potomac. There's
hundreds of flights to day. They're generally under five hundred feet, so the only time they could ever conflict with an airliner on approach is when the airline is on very late final. What happened was the air traffic controller asked the chopper pilot, can you see the regional jet on final? The pilot of the helicopter said a pirmative, I can.
So.
The air traffic controller then said, pass behind. Now that's a pretty simple instruction. The airline is basically occupied doing an instrument approach and his head's down. He just did every thing perfectly. The chopper he is on a C and B seeing on visual flight rules. He should have passed behind, but he didn't. One of the problems is that it was a training flight. Now, helicopters are the
reverse of what happens in a airline. For example, the captain or the pilot flying generally sits in the left seat. In a helicopter, the training captain would have been in the right sorry. The pilot under training would have been in the right seat instead of the left. This was a training flight. They were obviously lost sight. Said they had the guy in their lost sight of the of the airliner and flew into it. As far as I'm certain, the pilots on the airliner did nothing wrong, they were perfect.
The air traffic control just did everything that he's done hundreds of times. And you rely on military guys to do the right thing, then me, being ex military, pretend to be a little bit more do our own thing at times.
But okay, so give me a little bit of detail here which obviously look full investigations, all of the full absolutely hooted. What all of those moments Again, we find out those as the days and months roll along, But I would absolutely trust your sense of what's happened here. A military helicopter and a flight that's a plane that's a small regional airline. Do they have the black boxes that the big aircraft have, meaning that there is a form of data that we will get to see here.
The flight data recording, cockpit boys, recorder years the airliners have that. It's all sort of modern. Even Ridge law and private jets have them. I'm not sure about the helicopter but this was definitely the military failing to obey having told traffic atro they had the airliner in site. It was up to them their responsibility to pass behind as they were instructed to do, and they didn't. So that, unfortunately, will be the finding. And it happened a short final
into a major airport. It's very tragic, and the water tempts tore their three degrees celsius. Anyone that survived the actual plunge in the water would have actually hid from thermal shock within a few minutes.
I'm thinking, yeah, correct, I mean it's a you know, it's a one degree above let alone, as you say that the below that it would be there with the search that's going on. Byron, Thanks so much, mate, I really appreciate it. I always love when Borron pops up in our new services or here on the programs, are in the documentaries. How good to have an inside word there and inside about how it all works. Very grateful
to have that inside Quick break back with more. We'll talk about again tax on your beer and why howboy should get rid of it?
A second.
Oh, I've been talking about the taxes that you don't really know that you're paying, particularly when you just go and do things like have a little drink at the end of the day, look forward to one on the weekend. Now we all know that for some time excess has been part of the way federal governments hold the whole joint together. But this federal government has upped the amount of extra little taxes on everything from petrol to bottle of booths up to the best part of forty something
billion dollars. It's a difference between a budget surplus or a deep deficit. And there is something in my view, particularly that I don't like about going after people with such a high rate of tax for doing little things. I want to have a drink at the end of the day. Now there are businesses on the other side of this, and how much tax they are forced to hand back to the federal Government's all part of the conversation we need to have. Kylie Lethridge is with the
Independent Brewers Association and she joins us. Now, Kylie, thank you so much for the chat.
Thanks for having us.
Paul, Now, I can't stand XS taxes because it feels to me like a sort of sneaky backdoor way of constantly hitting people. Give us an idea with your independent brewers. How much tax are they paying per bottle can or skewy?
Sure thing? It's a complicated scenario called the simple facts are. It's one of the oldest taxes around excise in which is the framework in which Australian beer, spirits and fuel operates under. Wine operates under a separate arrangement called the wet tax. It is, as I said, one of the oldest, introduced originally as a syntax and increases twice a year. We are now the third highest tax beer producing nation in the world, and I'm not sure that that's something
to be proud of. The reason that it was introduced to mitigate the health impacts of excessive consumption is now our argument is we're way past that, and there's a real need to relook at a fair and equitable playing field for alcohol producers. Not saying that we shouldn't get a free ride, but that we need a fair and equitable playing field. So it makes that quintessential be around a barbecue at the local meeting place at the end of the day still affordable for the average Australian.
I think people absolutely understand that. You know, there's ways government can make money. But this seems to be a sneaky one which has been being dial up for some time. Give me an idea if you are a small brewer operating in a country town, is what does this high amount of tax do to your business?
When you consider that our six hundred and seventy five odd independent craft brewers around the country, as I said, employing people meeting plays part of culture, part of community, very much part of community, are employing more than fifty one percent of the beer market. Should the trend continue, those jobs are lost and those important meeting places are lost as well. And the more and more our nation experience is some of these challenges, the more and more
those local meeting places are important and valued. Again, just to reinforce the size and scale of who we are. Craft brewers for decades have been leading the charge in low and no alcohol with the adult beverage of moderation. And when you consider that more than half of us are producing one hundred thousand liters a year and less.
When you compare that to the large foreign known multinational brews who are producing five hundred million and eight hundred million liters, it's just becoming more and more difficult for us to be able to succeed when you consider not only federal taxes and the fact that they're hyped twice a year and that long term, decades long legacy of that tax, but also state tax is another legislation and regulation that appiled up when a state or a federal government is in financial debt.
I think I know the answer, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Do you pay if I buy a sixty from one of your brewers? Do I also pay GST on top of that?
If you do?
Right, so we have a tax on top of a tax that is existing right now.
Then absolutely that's the case, and as I said, has been that way for many a decade. And when you know also that we then in some instances pay another tax to get it out of one vessel and sell it in a different vessel, out of a tank into a keg, out of a keg, into a bottle, into a growler, and some other ways in which we distribute. There are multiple layers of tax that we pay. And again, one fifth of that full strength six pack.
Is taxed.
Just at right just a starting point, What reaction, if any do you get to the calls that you've made. I know that you know other parts of the industry are trying to make their point as well. Government's going to try to delay this for as much as possible. But how to members of the public support the campaigns.
We've had enormous support in the last twelve eighteen months to two years, Paul. We have researched done a few years ago, the first research with the kind which actually ask consumers that you know, if you knew if you knew that the beer was.
Made by an Austrained owned business, would it encourage you to buy it over the foreign owned multinational or the supermarket home brand which many Austraints don't know exist.
And seventy four percent of those consumers in those focus groups that absolutely they would buy local if they could. We did some recent consumer polling in twenty twenty twenty four late twenty twenty four which says sixty percent of soft voters would absolutely call for an agency investigation into the beer market in Australia and would also want their tax reduced on their standard beer. Again that point of the pub so where Australians do know who owns their beer,
they absolutely support it where they can. But when you're facing a cost of living crisis, which we know we are. Then those disposable dollars are just not there. We know that from retailers and from our members. They might consumers might be splashing out, but they're certainly drinking less than
buying a four pack instead of a six pack. They're buying individuals because they still want that flavorsome again handcrafted beer, but there's just not the disposable income to stretch to where they So we are calling on consumers as well as government of all sides and all shapes and colors to be able to support o Australian owned independent craft rulliance sector before there isn't.
One good stuff Coylie, thanks for the chat, look forward to staying in touch.
Thank you, Paul.
Now a little reminder Sunday night. We've got to show on Sunday night as well. Where the one that's on five nights a week and if you would like to join us, please do so nine o'clock so series link if you're on foxtell favorite it, if you're on Flash or promise me you're going to be back if you're watching on Free to Wear or the Sky News app. Okay on Sunday nights, we don't just have the sort of first crack at the news, but we're also going to be starting, or we have started, a new segment
called State of the Race. This is where good serious, hardcore political people like you can know exactly what's going on, not just sort of some of the top one stuff that you might get throughout the rest of the week. So make sure you join us Sunday night. Have a great weekend. Gay Yankees, M