From the Skyinging Center. This is Paul Murray Live.
Thank you, Sherry, come on into the man cave. We've got a big way to end our week, including the Prime Minister. It won't be calling an election this weekend, but it'll be thinking about it. It wasn't in Question Times today. I'll explain why, and it was all of a bit of politics, but I'll get to that in the moment or two's time.
Bear with me.
But believe it or not, people who would like to smoke pot legally in this country look like they're going to pose a bit of an electoral threat, not just to the Greens but to labor as well. Let me explain all of that in chapter and verse And did you know where then an ac DC came from? From the greatest band Australia as ever produced answer will be
known tonight. As always, we start with the most important thing in the greatest country of them all, that being this one, and that remains what is happening in North Queensland. Lots of rain, lots of floods, lots of problems that people are having to deal with. Now here is an indication that the worst is not behind us yet. Because remember even if the rain stopped, there's reign that will
be flowing down towards the sea. And be that Mackay, be that Townsville, be that Cans, be that Ingham, all of those places that we know and love, they're about to cop even more.
Having his reign is now sitched in to central parts of Queensland. So thankfully for Ingham and surrounding areas, the worst of the rain is done. The floods won't get to the same heights again, despite the fact that in Queensland there's potential for still another five hundred millimeters over the coming week.
These yes, of course, but it's about what ends up flowing that way. So all the coverage will be there all weekend long. Remember where you happen to be and how you watch us, but it's Sky News Regional Flash or Foxteurl all through the sky News app. However you watch us, will keep the information there and also don't forget to keep an eye on our weather channel all week in and make sure the homepage as always is skynews dot com dot au. For his part, the Prime
Minister was in North Queensland today. He toured some of the sites with the Premier of New South Wales, New South Wales of Queen's Leak, David Cruci Foley, Queensley.
We've taken the opportunity to pre deploy and to restock some resources in the knowledge that there could be some more rain in the next few days, and that looks like setting up a couple of different hubs and making sure that we do what we did ahead of this event, pre deploy the likes of swift Water to rescue and sees and ergon Cruz.
Now, of course there are people in need, and it's always important that the Prime Minister cares about those people and goes and talks to them. The timing is interesting, though in a more cynical mind than yours or even mine, might suggest that he was there today because he knew that he didn't have to answer questions in Parliament and he was able to do pretty softer appearances on breakfast television this morning.
But of course his heart's in the right place.
Today we're announcing eight million dollars CO funded Community Relief Fund, providing up to a million dollars for the Local Government Association to eight of them that are impacted by this flooding.
Ben More than the appearance of the politicians are of course the people, and how are they holding up after yet another day of tough times.
It's pretty crazy and it sucks. With nothing.
We've had to swim from our houses to the shops and they haven't been open either. All right, let's get to the politics of the day now. On Thursday night, I can take a little time to start pulling apart some of the lies that are building up by a government that has got virtually no good record to run on, apart from putting a whole series of land mines into the federal budget, the meaning it will be in deficit for the next forty years. So of course their single
plan is to run against the opposition. Hence why they keep doing this over and over again about a policy which has been recently announced by the opposition.
When they say they're putting their money where their mouth is, they mean a ten billion dollar plan for you to shout the boss's.
Lunch, and that side of the house is focused on long lunches.
This man favors long lunches over public hospital.
The only policy they have is free lunch serving bosses long lunches, a taxpayer expense that'll spend billions on free lunches for possible, always about lunch with these folks.
A particular example of an MP who is twisting this as hard as they can is on the Chinese surveillance app TikTok, which last time I remember was banned by all official use in Parliament House, So presumably it's somebody with an outside Wilwei phone.
Long lunches paid for by the taxpayer.
For bosses are the lips for real?
What's next putting your feed up at your desk at work smoking a cigar? You know what? Seriously, one point six billion dollars a taxpayer dollars are going to go down the drain so Peter Dunn can help his business mates have a nice long lunch at the expensive workers It's absolutely ridiculous.
Oh we had it all bosses, evil cigar smokers. Geez.
I wonder why his efforts turned up in some of my social media feeds, not via TikTok, but when it was repeated on Instagram all right.
Time to actually tell the truth about.
What the idea is that they are trying to make it seem like is just for the taxpayers of Australia to be subsidizing the monocle wearing, cigar smoking top hat owning evil bosses of Australia. Now, there is a rule in Australia when it comes to big business. Now, big business is to find in lots of different ways, but for the purpose of this conversation, it is any business
that has a turnover of more than ten million dollars. Yeah, a bank, a mining company, a finance company, a media company, all of these things would be the example of said businesses. And there is a system that currently allows them to avoid fringe benefits tax when they are taking clients out to lunch. The alternative treasurer Angus Taylor explains, a large company can cater for a lunch with food and our cohol in its boardroom worth thousands of dollars and can
claim that cost as a tax deduction. But of course this is not extended to the world of small business. Small business again, as defined in this policy, is a business with a turnover of less than ten million dollars. Now, that would be the extreme amount of small businesses in the country. So let's actually have a look at the policy.
Put simply, the policy is that if you have a ABN, you're a sole trader or you're a small business of any kind, the same rules that apply to the absolute big end of town would apply to you.
To small businesses with a turnover up to ten million dollars, we will offer for two years a tax deduction of up to twenty thousand dollars per financial year for business related meal expenses at local cafes, pubs and restaurants.
Wow, how shocking have you got your Rocky Patel B fifty two ready? That's a cigar of course, because that's the real big end of town. The idea that up to twenty thousand dollars if you take somebody out for a meal to say say thank you for them using your small business, or as a way of trying to get new clients for your business, that you would have the same tax.
Free status as the big corporations. That's it.
That's what labor is trying to pretend is taxpayer funds going to bosses while their workers aren't going out to lunch.
Now.
Of course, the Labor party, desperate to change the subject with a very compliant media, have no interest in what the truth is. After all, these were the people who tried to pretend that the liberal government of years ago was going to privatize medicare. It doesn't matter what's true or not. It's just about what they can sell, how they can change the subject, how just as they did in twenty twenty two, they can lie to people to
get into power. We know they lied because your power bill is not going down by two hundred and seventy five dollars that was promised by twenty twenty five. We know that their promise was that cost of living would be lower under a labor government. Instead pick your indices. All of it is up. And one of the reasons why the Labor Party is so able to tell this lie, so able to pretend what this policy is as opposed to what it actually is, is because virtually none of
them have any experience in small business. Many of them have either worked in and around the political world or in the adjunct for the Labor Party of the Union movement, where of.
Course the boss is evil and the bosses and they ever trying to.
Rip off the worker, as if we're back in the nineteen twenties. But the reality of Australia and its businesses is that the extreme majority of them are small. The extreme majority of them are the ones who would benefit from the policy. These are stats from the Australian Bureau Statistics,
you know, that far right wing think tank. It shows that what ninety seven percent of all business in Australia, what two and a half million of the two point six million businesses are small businesses in this way, these are people who either have no employees, it's just themselves a sole trader and an actual fact, sixty one percent
of small businesses don't have any employees. It's just a person with an ABN who might be going house to house when it comes to cutting hair, or front yard to backyard when it comes to cutting somebody's lawn, or somebody who's helping you out with your pool header. Those types of people, you know, the big end of town, who shouldn't dare be allowed to go to the pub and pay for a parmy with their business and not have to pay fringe benefit tax on top of it.
Now again the vast majority of the vast majority of Australian business are sole traders. And the Labor Party just does not understand this. They didn't understand it under Howard, they don't understand it today that the people who are the workers of Australia. Are not just the ones who are wearing high vis and part of union membership on building sites. They are not just people who work for the public service and a part of the union movement.
They are people who have decided to go out on their own and try to shape their own financial future. These people are no burden on the Australian taxpayer. These are the people who work their backsides off and if they do have somebody else working for them, they pay everyone else before they pay themselves, which means often they
don't get paid themselves. These are the people who find it incredibly hard to get alone, have had buggerow holidays, and of the people who without them, our country would absolutely collapse.
Believe me, if.
Small business disappeared, you would notice it far more than if big government did.
Now, the whole point.
Of this policy, the one that is sagar jumping bosses, is for ninety seven percent of businesses in Australia, of which more than sixty percent are sole traders, to be able to have the same tax benefits as big businesses. It means that you would be able to take a client or a potential client to the local pub. You would be able to pay for the lunch, but there'd be no tax implications when it comes to fringe benefits tax. Now, this has two reasons for being. One is that it
takes a financial burden off businesses. It means that they have an ability to claim off their own tax or not have to pay extra tax. I should say on being able to grow their business. And of course the bigger their business growth, the more tax goes back to the federal government. But they'd know nothing about it. Literally, we had a look today. You cannot find serious members
of the federal government with any small government experience. Oh, the Prime Minister worked as a bank teller for a year in the eighties, or somebody worked as a checkout person making their way through university. But that's about it. With the exception of the most prominent small business person in the federal government, and that is Senator Don Farrell, the Trade Minister who launched a wine brand in between his two times in the Australian Senate. There's not a
lot to show. And that's why they can so easily attend that boss equals billionaire rather than boss equals someone who pays themselves after they pay everyone else, who often has to go into their own savings or put their own bills off, so the people who work for them
are guaranteed of their fortnightly or monthly wage. The other issue is that the cafes and restaurants and even some community pubs around the country are in a huge amount of trouble right now because you know that cost of living thing that they promise to do better, but it's only got really worse since this government came to power. Well, everything costs more for these businesses. Their power bills cost more, the cost of the employee costs more, the insurance costs more.
Whatever it is that they cook, clean or sell also costs more. So, as you've seen as part of more than a football stadium of businesses that have gone busts since this government came to power, a very significant number of them are in the hospitality industry and that does affect everything from the local mister Whippy van all the way through.
To a local motoring.
And in fact, if you have a look at these stats, even more of them are in trouble than the ones that have blown up since this mob came to power. Sixty five percent of hospitality businesses consider themselves to be in a medium risk about whether they will.
Exist into the future.
So fourteen percent are in a absolute world of pain, and then the rest they're going okay. But the vast majority, what the best part of seventy nine eighty and a bit percent, they're in financial stress right now. So if it means that the policy that we'll see that small businesses and old traders will be able to use the same tax rules as big union and big business to be able to go out to lunch, guess who the beneficiary is going to be the people who sell you
the lunch. So next time you see one of these videos, feel free to say, so, why shouldn't small business have the same tax rules as big business? Or do you just not care about the vast majority of businesses in this country? Or you could just write back and say
why do you hate sole traders? Or maybe the next time one of these MPs or their staffers have you around to cut their hair or you around to pressure wash their driveway, you should remind them that you're a boss, even if you're only a boss of yourself.
Now, a little further to.
What I was just mentioning, and it is of course the role of social media and the Internet growing ever stronger and, particularly when it comes.
To politics, even more determinative.
About which way elections are going to go. Now, we all know that the Trump win was very largely fueled by not the big tech bros getting behind the president, but the people who supported the president playing a much
better social media game than Kamala Harris. Remember, Kamala Harris was trying to pay influences where millions of people who were supporting Trump were already making the memes and the videos and the little videos that you saw all over your social media pointing out the idiocy of the Democratic Party, the absurdity of some of its supporters, the madness in most of the media, or of course, the endless failures of the candidate themselves. So we've got to pay attention
to how this is going to play out here now. Interestingly, I spent much of this week trying to have a look at who has the stronger hand when it comes to social media, not just in the content that they make, but if they launched it exclusively on their own platforms, who is more likely to see it? But that's the stuff they don't pay for. There's also plenty of things that people do pay for when it comes to their
own promotion on the Internet. As you know, if you have a business page for your crazy boss behavior with a business, you were able to boost your post by paying people like Facebook or Meta or alphabet ie Google to help spread your message far and wide. And certainly
the Tiffany Tels know how to do that. After all, we know that their little pocket of Australia and I mean their politics and the people who backed them have got plenty of cash and so far, apparently just in the past few months, they've spent more than one hundred and fifty grand on Google and Meta ats put simply
Facebook and YouTube ads. From October twenty eighth last year to January twenty five, meniek Ryan spent seventy one thousand dollars on Meta ads, while spenders spent about fifty seven seven thousand dollars more than twenty eight thousand dollars on Google ads as well, putting them amongst the highest spending individual candidates at the election. Of course, the air support that helps fund.
Their community campaigns.
But remember we've got good billionaires and bad billionaires in Australia. When it comes to political donations, well, they do know how to spend a dollar on the internet. Climbate two hundred spend four hundred and twenty six thousand dollars across Google and Meta for advertising. The Progressive Independent Funding Group do you have to call them directs that money to advertising political candidates and promoting itself to receive further donations.
Of course, they took on one to comment to the story. The Australian government was the biggest spender on Meta in the past three months. They paid three hundred and forty eight thousand dollars in ads to flog themselves. You know, the two little too late tax cuts are amazing and here's the YouTube ad to prove it. But it also does worth pointing out here about how these ads are going to play out in the overall fightwe Anthony Alberanezi
and Peter Dutton. Who is going to play the better social media game?
Now?
I always think that the single best way to make a point on social media is to do something funny. If I see another politician just standing in front of something telling me I don't care, I want to see a good social media game where people are turning around and they are making the most.
Of the tools that exist to you.
Now, that means with one laptop and one clever person, you can come up with a point that an advertising agency would have spent way too long on. It also means you can hit hard and you can hit fast, and they.
All do it.
But let's have a look about who has the strongest hand when it comes to social media. On Facebook, the Labour Party has three hundred and twenty two thousand followers, the Liberal and National Parties together three hundred and seven thousand, the Greens three hundred and three, one Nation has one hundred and thirteen thousand, and the United Australia Party, which is now deregistered but still exists in a digital sense, has one hundred and seventeen thousand people. On X two
hundred and fifteen thousand people follow the Labor Party. Now, I know there are state versions of this, but I'm talking about the federal parties, the Libs at one hundred and eighty two, the Greens at one hundred and thirteen, one, Nation at forty one thousand, and again United Australian Party, who as I understand, deregistered, not running at the election, but still have an ability to talk to nineteen thousand
people at once. Maybe Instagram's your thing. Well, that is a slightly more level playing field amongst the two parties of government.
But have a look at the Greens at.
One hundred and sixty nine thousand people, they are more than one hundred thousand people than the Labor Party and well and truly about one hundred and twenty thousand more than the Liberals do one Nation and the United Australian Party.
They exist on Instagram, but.
They've decided to put their efforts into other areas. So it means that things like the long lege unch lie is able to be amplified, probably louder by the Labor Party on all of its social media forms, as say the Liberal Party either launching an attack on the government or defending and explaining its own policy. Which is why in social media, the second somebody creates something that's coming after you, you have to respond with something that's going
after them. You have to do things that are clever, that are different, that use things like animation, but again most importantly humor. Because I don't know about you, I'm not really sending that many reels amongst family and friends about boring politicians saying boring politician stuff. But if it's funny videos of Joe Biden falling up the stairs or Kamala Harris saying something stupid or some idiot at MSNBC melting down because Donald Trump isn't dead in jail yet,
you're more likely to afford that stuff on. It's something that I hope the conservative side of politics knows how to play will only find out all together. But what about the individual messaging of politicians in this country, Well, let's look at the party leaders. Albo's got four hundred and twenty seven thousand people who apparently like his page
on Facebook. I've not gone through and double checked how many of them are paid for versus how many are organic, but it absolutely smacks the number of people that are following Peter Dutton or even Adam Bant. Pauline Hanson is actually the champion here with Pauline Hanson's please explain which is generally the main place people will go to get information.
All the funny cartoons that they put out, which is why they have such a strong game, and that's how they use humor through those great videos having a go at everyone else, and it means they're able to get their message out. Ralph Babbitt no slouch either in front of Peter Dutton and Adam Bant with his personal following where he is much more aggressive and a much more savvy player of social media than the conventional media would want to give him credit for. He's actually worth a follow just to.
Have a look.
At times a little trumpy, but quite often in the right place.
Well.
In terms of their followings on Twitter, it won't surprise you that Anthony Alberanezi when it was a lefty site, has more followers done at one hundred and seventy six, had and Bantered two hundred and thirty two, Hansoon one hundred and fifty six, and again Ralph Babbott's strong for a essentially one man band operating up the corner of the Parliament at seventy seven thousand and finally on Instagram and I know there's are lots of numbers, but they
are showing you that the Labor Party and Albo in particular does have an advantage in terms of how many people they can get to, how many minds they can turn before the truth starts heading their way. On Instagram, Albow again four hundred and thirty thousand. Well, everyone else is behind Daylight which is running second, and Daylight Mark two is running third. Which brings me to how do you beat this algorithm? How do you get a ram? The power of those that have accumulated their power on
social media. Well, you you may have only one hundred and forty followers, you may have a thousand members of your family, but together, collectively, the people will always dwarf the organizations, the political parties, or the single politicians. So this election, if you want an outcome, do your bit. Be what they call in the United States a force multiplier.
If you see something that you like on the Internet that is in advocacy of the person that you want to vote for, or more importantly helps pull apart the person who you don't want to vote for, share it. Don't be afraid at what comments or eye rolls you may get from family members. But also, and most importantly,
share articles that tell the truth. Share the videos like this one that explain the truth, Like follow, subscribe things like skynews dot com that are you our Facebook page, my Facebook page, just go searching for Paul Murray Live, or of course our YouTube channel. Spread what you see because as important as it is that you are here
each and every night. The way that we can win this thing is for you to be there tomorrow morning, tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night in your community spreading the word because it will move votes and I'll have more of it for you in a moment of two's time here on Paul Murray Live. You can always send me an email Paul at skynews dot com dot au. Otherwise, as I say, jump onto the Facebook page in a moment of two's time after the break.
The latest attendants by the press gallery to get dartin.
It's not that, but we'll poke fun at it because hopefully somebody will post that video more on a sec As we know when it comes to those that are of the left persuasion. So everyone inside the camera bubble we except bear few, and certainly those that guard the bubble, like of course much of the media. There is one name that over and over again the Labor Party thinks will somehow naturally get Australians to forget the past three bad years of this government.
Peter Dutton. Peter Dutton, Peter Dutton, Peter Dutton.
Peter Dutton, Peter Duttin Peter Dutton Peter Dutton, Peter Dutton, Peter Dutton.
Now we've said this multiple and many times that they're advertising, despite the fact that it has all got worse under this government, are trying to pretend.
It'll get worse under the next one. Black and white music, a scary voiceover, and the black and white voter.
You know how they play well, of course, the pratorian guard of the Prime Minister and those who believe that they know more.
Than any voter in Australia, with a few exceptions.
And again I apologize to my friends when I use the broad brush, but alas I must, and that is of course much of the Camber Press gallery. We know that they are more than happy to run the lie over and over again that it's Peter un't Peter Duden, Peter duddon nothing else, which is why the Prime Minister, just after losing the voice vote, set up the dirt unit to find bad news about Peter Duden or his government to dispense to many people in the press gallery.
Not planning a trip there anytime soon.
And of course one of the high priestesses of this collection of reporters is nasty Nicky Sava. Writing now in the Channel nine newspapers. But previously will being a self admitted liar about her own behavior when she was in the press gallery. But now of course she's all above it, and because her CV got liberal in it somewhere, she's
of course fed it everywhere as an honest broker. Now she of course has decided to write today in the Nils pair Pa well, she firstly decided that immigration, of course any discussion around it, well, of course it's all racist, isn't it, Despite the fact that the one point three million people being added to the rental lines, hospital cues. That's why we talk about immigration. It's not about where people are from, what they believe, what they look like.
It's about this year number of people being added to the existing problems in the country.
But I digress.
What was today's offerings from nasty Nicky Saba, Well, it was Trump's reelection has enabled Dutton the chance to play the role of a lifetime because of course Peter Dutton
is Donald Trump. In Australia wouldn't want to Donald Trump, so therefore you don't want Peter Dutten, the opposition leader, probably couldn't believe his luck when Donald Trump was re elected, He gushed about how happy he was about it, no doubt relishing playing his role of a lifetime as little sir echo the big brain that comes up with this stuff.
He might live to regret that though Trump made it profitable for leaders to smear and sneer at experts, including scientists, electoral commissioners, all those holy figures amongst US intelligence chiefs, economics, the courts.
Oh but not political reporters.
Dunton's brutish strategy, she goes on to say, which crosses the line into inciting community tensions.
Oh yeah, it's Dunton.
Who's the one driving around in the middle of the night, riding fther.
Or setting a fire here or there? Or what was that thing that.
Laura Tingle said, Oh, that people will be turning on foreign looking people at options, Oh yeah, or Peter Dutton apparently, And it has brought the coalition back from the brink. However, senior liberals note, which is code for I'm talking to people inside who also don't like what that brutish future Trump is trying to do.
That it is okay, It is okay.
That it's not as well placed this time at the electoral cycle as other oppositions.
The poles aren't even good enough. You see, if the Reserve Bank, and of.
Course she's now one of these people who says that despite the twelve interestrate rises that have gone on for how long, that if somehow it ticks back by one or two, Australia will be jumping in the air. They've had to pay fourteen thousand dollars fourteen thousand dollars extra on a homelane of five hundred thousand dollars twenty eight thousand. If it's a million, do you sums add fourteen every five hundred thousand?
I don't know.
But if the Reserve Bank cuts its interest rates twice and Albo calls an election for May, maybe treating the voters as mugs as badly as they have in the past will result in a bad.
Outcome for Dutton into the future. You want to talk.
About treating voters as mugs. The central advertising campaign of the Labor Party is it will be worse under Albinizi. They are literally running the same play against the Libs as the Libs ran against Labor. But of course it was true three years ago.
Take your pick, three.
Million people this close to homelessness, three and a bit million people who by this time in the week will have run out of food for their family. Even the ABC showed today that in many and most suburban marginal seeds the financial stress is close to ninety percent al But Peter Dutton's going to sound like Trump, even though as you will have seen many people who are yes as all in on Trump as I am. But the
people who say that dudn't aint Trump enough. This is not a Goldilock selection where you can be a little too Trump, a little not Trump enough, a little just right Trump.
It's not about that.
It's about holding a government to account that promised to do better but everything got worse. But don't you love how they spend things in the media. Oder be as important as those people.
Now.
The Prime Minister's going to be worried about what's happening in Victoria this weekend because Victoria actually has one in three of all federal labor EMPs come from Victoria. In fact, twenty four of the thirty nine seats they come from Victoria. And the Prime Minister's pole numbers are starting to fall apart in Victoria, and there are two state by elections happening this weekend in Victoria. One is Piran right in the middle of sort of the nice bit of Melbourne.
It's all kind and I like Melbourne very much, but it's a bit of a fancy bit anyway.
It's gone green for the past couple of elections.
A former Labor MP is actually going to be endorsing the Liberal to take over. And then there's one in the Urbs in where a bit now Labor have held this seat for a long time. They should have been enough margin to not even worry about it. But with the Labour Party vote as low as it apparently is right now in Victoria, there is a very good chance that both of these seats are going to be lost, and if they are lost, and that is going to cause big trouble for the Prime minister.
Now.
John Black is the former ALP senator who believes that Dunton has got a very good chance of forming minority government and can see a case and has made it many times in the Financial Review about how the Labour parties fall is going to result in a change of government. As I've said in the past before, I think that's a little over optimistic. But he's of the Labor flock
and he's willing to say it. So why should did you pay attention to state by elections in Victoria when it's not going to affect what the government's going to be well because of where the seats are and what the crossover is, have a look at these Wherribee is in the federal seat of Laila. Now they won that pretty easily at the last election. If Werribee can't be held onto the Labour Party, then will they be concerned about holding onto Lala at a federal election. The Greens
easily won the seat of Melbourne. Paran has significant part in that seat, as well as the Teals who only kind of squeaked home if you remember in Kuyong in twenty and twenty two. As John goes on to say, the Federal Parliamentary Party's vote in Victoria has been tracking the decline in the state vote, albeit with a small lag. Forty percent was their vote just after the aston by election when they were the honeymoon phase in mid twenty
twenty three. It's now down to twenty five percent federally in January of twenty twenty five, in both primary and two party preferred vote terms. Labour's federal vote is the most in the most recent Sydney Morning Herald in an age Resolve poll, is down almost eight percentage points. If State Labor and the Greens can't hold seats like Werriby and Peran, then things are going to be terminal for the Albanezy government. Stand by, pay attention to what is
happening on Saturday. You'll see all the results play out here also another reason our homepage skynews dot com dot au. Now, let's talk about what is happening with the Premier of Victoria, just In Allen and of course her Labor Party there. Now, even though it was a relatively easy win for them in the lower House last time, they actually didn't win
a majority in the upper house. And as we know, the current public polling is terrible, so much so that if they do lose these two seats, we may will end up with a new Premier Victoria in the next couple of months ahead of next year's state election. As you can see, the primary vote for the Labor Party, this is the State Labor Party is now down to
twenty two percent. According to these poles. You can see it absolutely fall off a cliff in the past twelve months, you can see the Liberal Party is an absolute direct beneficiary. So unlike say the federal vote, where Labor is going down, the Libs are going up, but there's a whole bunch that's going to others that is not being repeated in the state pole that we are looking at right now
in Victoria, you can also see that over time. You can see when the government first came to power back in the twenty twenty one you can see the blue line going from the middle of the page to the bottom of the page now to the top of the page, and the Labor Party going from the top of the page to the middle of the page to the.
Bottom of the page.
But what is really interesting to note, and this is where something is even bigger than the Victorian government, is that because they don't have a majority in the upper House, the only way they can get something passed regularly is with the support of Labor, Greens and the Legalized Cannabis Party. The Legalized Cannabis Party got multiple people elected at the last state election. The Animal Justice Party also got someone elected, so they have a collection of people that they need
to get onside before anything can be passed. Now, at that last state election, Greens and the Legalized Cannabis Party they were the ones so, as I said, are now going to form the majority. And here are two of those people now. Interestingly, they have long said that if they don't get what they want, which is either the full legalization of pot in Victoria or something very close to it, then they will no longer support the government, meaning it would have no regular, guaranteed path of things
through the Upper House. This week they were talking about how that they believe that every Victorian should be able to have fifty grams of marijuana for personal use and there be no problems with said happening.
Now.
I don't smoke pot, but let's be honest, there are many people who do in Australia. But more importantly, I want to talk about the politics of this legalized cannabis movement because I think they're going to have quite an impact. It's certainly the state elections, but maybe the federal election as well. I'll get to that in a second. As for the people who are representing this move to fifty grams of it, we will leave absolutely, Will we leave
anything in the locker room, Absolutely not. We're quite happy to push the envelope as hard as it needs to be pushed. If we can't agree, well, you know, we're not here for the catering. We're here to get things done and we'll do what has to be done to get that done, which means they are willing to essentially maybe not vote for anything that the government is going to try to do in Victoria unless there is a
change to marijuana laws in Victoria. Now, please don't think of this as me advocating that that's what should happen. I know what the consequences are of these things, but there are enough people in Victoria who are voting for that very thing to happen that a government that is desperate to hold on to every single vote they can, they may well cave and give this movement what it wants.
You see.
Another thing about the legalized cannabis movement is that they, I think, are going to start taking some votes off the Greens. So maybe who don't people who don't like the social policies, the housing policies, or the general douchiness of the Greens, They're going to go somewhere else. As personal popularity polling has shown us that the Greens are getting voters off side. Adam Bant particularly is in a wall of pain, and one of the groups on the left that are going to take advantage of that is
this Legalized Cannabis Party. Now they don't just have two MPs in Victoria, they've got two in Western Australia and one in New South Wales. So this is a national movement of people with enough support to get people elected
to parliaments. This would mean that, as it follows, if you can get elected to a state parliament, then you can probably start to push your way towards the final Senate spot, and being of the left, preferences will float at them through Labor, through the Greens, or up from Animal Justice, and there's every chance that we could end up with a Legalized Cannabis Senator after the next election. Because if you have a look at this, half a million people voted for the Legalized Cannabis Party at the
last federal election, one hundred and twenty five thousand. We're in New South walest it was more Senate votes than the Libertarians, the Shooters or Animal Justice. In Victoria it was one hundred and fourteen thousand more votes than the Libertarians, the Shooters or one nation in Queensland, they almost got one of the last Senate spots. Thankfully it went to Paul En Hanson of the last election, because they did
have more votes than the Libertarian or Animal Justice. As for the actual number of people voting for these people in state elections, and again please do not confuse me with suggesting that they are the answer to all of Australia's problem or that I think that their policy is the right way to go. But you're a fool if you don't actually understand what is happening in the electorate.
And in the same way that there are lots of people who do coalesce around the Libertarian Party who were forming United Australian Party, voters and their preferences matter when it comes to the Liberal Party either forming minority government or maybe getting over the line. This also plays into
the Labor Party. In the Victorian state Upper House election in twenty twenty two, they got one hundred and fifty three thousand votes, which was more than the DLP or the Lib Dems, both of whom got elected themselves as well the Shooters. In one nation in New South Wales, they had more votes than the Lib Dems, who got elected, the Shooters who got elected, and Animal Justice who got elected. And in Queensland there is no Upper House, so the only place you can look for there is what happened
in the lower House. And in the nine seats that they ran, there was forty nine thousand getting more votes
in Queensland an Animal Justice or the Libertarian Party. So the point is this, may I make a prediction before your very eyes, no matter how glassy they may be, if you're liking the numbers that I've just shown you, I think there's going to be an increase of this vote, either because people think it's the right thing to do, or secondly because maybe the Victorian government is going to be the first to go as close as possible towards legalizing pot or maybe because it's a way of voting
left but not having to deal with the baggage of the Greens. But watch this space, they're going to go close to winning a Senate seat somewhere where let's all find out together on election nights, speaking of the Upper House and minor parties, that wonderful mate Pauline Hansen. Now, by the way, people say, why wasn't Pauline on the show as much as she used to be.
There's no falling out.
It's just literally too late for her too often. But certainly James is here in his here every Sunday night. So they've had plenty of policy announcements today, and I want to cheer a couple of these things on I showed you the one where their idea is that if one person in the couple is working but the other person is staying at home to take care of the kids, that rather than the one person paying tax for them, the reality is that it should be averaged across couples, meaning you pay less.
One nation proposing couples with children could split their taxable income, pointing to an example of one parent earning one hundred and twenty thousand and one parent staying at home. Currently, they paid twenty nine thousand, four hundred and sixty seven dollars tax, but splitting incomes at sixty thousand dollars each would reduce their tax to nineteen thousand, nine hundred and thirty four.
That's a great idea, absolutely spectacular idea. I just randomly told a few people about it on the weekend, and they thought it was an absolute ripper. I then told them what party it was from, and they went back to their normal corners when it came to being of the left and people who would be more willing to vote for it in the sensible center or of course the evil rights it just referred to amongst the very
clever circles. Well, Pauline's got another idea, and it's about how to save us the taxpayer tens of billions of dollars by cutting garbage out of the federal government. The party has estimated it will save thirty billion dollars a year by abolishing the departments or agencies or regulations related to climate control A for the twelve and a half billion by getting rid of the National Indigenous Australians Agency.
Savings would also be made by applying income means tests to the ndies, getting rid of the Therapeutic Goods Administration and rolling its functions into the Department of Health, as well as pulling out of UN commitments like the World
Health Organization or the International Criminal Court. One Nation policies would then allow aged and veteran pensioners to be able to earn more without penalizing their government support payments, as well as the income splitting that I spoke about before, and they also want to lift the tax free threshold for self front of retirees to thirty five thousand people. You know on the show for as long as I've had it, I love a conversation about a cross bench
I love a conversation about a minor party. I just think that whatever you do with number one, make sure that with your number two vote, you vote for the party you want to form government, because we might actually to get a government that we want for in a secure On Paul Murray Live including ACDC. Why is it named that the story next? Thank you so much for watching Late to Bait A few minutes up. Remember my
email Pulitsgoynews dot com dot au. So there is an election which has just begun formerly in the beautiful state of Western Australia. We look forward to being there with our town in a couple of months time. Thank you to everyone who's already reached out for Batemans Bay. By the way, looks like we're going to fill the room and it's a bloody big one. Now, let's be honest this election. Despite the fact that Roger Cook is terrible.
His record in the pandemic was awful, doesn't look like Wa wants a change.
In fact, if you.
Like outsiders, the Liberal Party's paying eleven dollars. Otherwise a dollar one means every expectation is that label will win, and win pretty easily. So a lot of the media's attention is on somebody who would like to represent the Liberal Party and get into parliament and maybe one day becare I'm the leader and maybe one day at the
next election challenge to become Premier. And it is that like Basil's emplus current Lord Mayor of Perth, and he's had a pretty good ride, certainly when it comes to the national media giving him plenty profile pieces, particularly the one in the AFR about the man who would like
to be the King of Wa. But then the numbers have sort of changed and Labor looked like it was going to get re elected, so people are sort of viewing it not quite as a change of government, but as the beginning of someone new and potentially dangerous the Labor Party coming into the parliament.
Now I think it's crossed that happens.
I like Basil and I think that'd be good representing his area and it'd be good to take the fight up to the Labor Party. But I want to tell you a quick little story about how the media helps
the Labor Party. When Basil's emplus, on the first day of the election campaign, was formally launching his campaign at I think a bowling club, there were protesters who turned up and they were holding signs and the protesters were very, very angry, and the media followed this as if they were legitimate members of the commedia, that the community who've just woken up and said, I am deeply, deeply offended.
Guess what if you look really closely at the bottom of those pictures written endorsed by the Labor Party, it's a Labor Party stunt. Yet for some reason the Perth media, now kind of wanting to stay close to the remaining Cook government, was happy to run this make it look like it was organic. In fact, here is the premier admitting that was the truth.
It was a wa labor activity. I was unaware that it was going to take place. Well, well, of course I was completely unaware, but thank goodness to day with that. Please, here's the deal.
If your job and I'm saying anyone anywhere ms self included, Okay, if you've been around for long enough and you know the difference between something that is real or organic. You have to call it out, you don't sort of run and then turn around the next day. Otherwise there's no point in pointing out what the actual truth was. And finally, ac DC one of the greatest, if not the greatest Australian band of all time. Well, they have a little story to tell, and it is the story behind their
very name. You know the songs, oh I finally we could play more, If only we could play more.
Anyway, I'll do it on the way home in the car.
So where did they get their name ac DC? It turns out they got it from an appliance. The founding members were brainstorming names for the band ahead of a New Year's Eve show when their sister in law, Margaret, suggested the name ac DC, which was inspired by her sewing machine ac Adapter. She's also the one who suggested putting the lightning bulk in the logo. So good on your marg You're the one who changed rock and roll forever.
Speaking off, I'll see you again on Sunday night. Have a great weekend, ga Yankees,