From the Skying Center. This is Paul Murray Live.
Thank you so much, Harry, thank you very much for watching Noes Brooks No Lefties is the plan for tonight. If you want to join us, you can always send me an email words gudies dot com, dot you, or enjoy the groove on the couch that you have right now. Does the name Jack Carlson mean anything to you, Well, let me try to jog your memory with a photo of Jack.
This was only taken this year.
Now, if Jack doesn't automatically come to mind, perhaps you've seen a representation of his most prominent moment when he was arrested in Queensland decades ago.
You may have send the.
T shirts about Democracy manifest Well, it all comes to this moment of television news footage from way back when when Australia was a lot more fun and Queensland was frankly a lot more fun too. Now, Jack was a man who has had some alleged petty crimes that he had committed in his life. Well, the story is that the man behind the footage you've just seen Jack passed away. In the past couple of days, the internet has gone wild because it's an opportunity to relive this moment of
which I'm talking about. Now, if all of this is a bit of a garbled mystery to you, then let me educate you about why the passing of Jack Carlson is something that is popping up on many of your social media feeds. He was eating a Chinese meal when police went into the Chinese restaurant in Brisbane in the Fortitude Valley. He was then put in the back of
a car. What happens between the restaurant and being put in the back of the car is a bloke who was laying it on with a trail quite theatrical and hamming it up from the cameras, and the footage, once resurfaced about fifteen years ago, became an Internet sensation.
Behold Australia as it used to be.
Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest.
Have a look at the headlock. See that chap over the head. This is the bok who got me on the penis before.
See why people like this and they watched it over and over and over millions of times, both.
Here and around the world.
Now the next bit is what he became equally famous for, which was not just conversation about democracy manifest like I'm sort of over the top any community theater performer. But it was the next bit about the Chinese meal that also sticks with people to this day.
Well, what the reason? What is the charge eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal. Oh that's nice. Headlocks up, Yes, I see that.
You know your judo.
Well, look, I know there are more serious things, and there was that this was nothing to do with the serious crime. In fact, the belief was that he was actually falsely arrested. But he's made an awful lot of attention out of all of this. Again, now he hasn't made any of the money, or he didn't make any of the money about all of the noise around him. But of course I think he kind of enjoyed the hamming up.
Well.
Channel seven and the reporter Chris Reason, Yes, that famous one of Lindt Cafe siege fame. Well, he used to be a reporter in Brisbane when he was a junior reporter. He was the one who reported on this story. So decades later, earlier this year, as Jack was pretty cooked with cancer, they all got together. I'm talking about the police, I'm talking about Jack and the reporter where the record was set straight about this somewhat famous internet video.
So you accuse me of grabbing him by the penis, and I said, I didn't grab you by the He said no, I just made that up.
A bit of fun to start tonight's program. Jack Carson sadly passing away. But the video that will live Forever reminds us of a different time where I don't know what was going on apart from the arrest, but the arrest itself was hammy and will live forever. Enjoy a succulent Chinese meal. Now still in Queensland, but something way more serious. As we know, the union movement is very powerful all around the country when it comes to its control over.
The Labor Party.
It is particularly the case in Queensland now, so much so that May Day May the First, which of course is all about the eight hour working week and basically sort of a union based public holiday, is one that is still marked in Queensland when it is not marked in other parts of the country. The then Prime Minister and then Premier marching in the lead up to the twenty twenty two election, showing without fear that they were,
as they say, union strong. But there is one union in particular that has an awful lot of power in Queensland. It is called the United Workers' Union. Its boss is a man called Gary Bullock. Now, this faction of inside the Labor Party is wildly strong, as the Financial Review said when it did a profile of this man, connected to the union power and connected to so many MPs en ornament, you peril the man who runs Queensland. An actual fact, for way longer than she should have been premier.
One of the reasons why Anastasia Paliche held on of the job was because she was kept in power by the very union boss who I'm talking about tonight. Of course she is no longer the premier because the union saw what was coming, which was an almost inevitable loss under her, so they rolled the dice unto what now seems yet again an inevitable loss under Giggles Miles. So that's the union, that's its connection to the Labor Party, and the person in charge of the union is a
singularly important figure in Queensland politics. So there was a very interesting that dropped today surrounding the building that the union is in now. According to the Australian newspaper, they had an exclusive story this morning was that Gary Bullocks United Workers Union secretly recorded conversations in its Brisbane offices. Now there's a lot of detail but not specificity here. They are a union with deep, deep pockets and no doubt its boss would be more than willing to take
a swipe at people like Sky News. So I am not suggesting anything other than what has been in the press today. But it's going to be a sticky story because the union is so powerful and many of the MPs come in and out of the offices because they want to, for want of a term, politically speaking, kiss the ring well, the United Workers Union was recording conversations twenty four hours a day throughout a network of closed circuit television cameras installed inside and outside of its Peel
Street Brisbane office in South Bank. The story continues, headed by mister Bullock, a member of the ALP National Executive. The union has claimed it was an error by contractors that led to an upgrade of CCTV devices to include
recording audio as well as video. The officers of the powerful union, which includes mister Miles and several cabinet ministers as its members, has been the purported location of high level political discussions with government ministers, labour MPs and other unions over the years of the nineteen member cabinet in Queensland. Twelve twelve ministers belong to mister Bullock's left or are
card carrying members of that YOUWU. So the idea of conversations being recorded inside and outside of the office, well, it has some interesting potential implications here, but I need to be very clear, says nobody has ever listened to any of the tapes via the couriermal today.
According to the union, the error in its.
CCTV devices recorded both audio and video, stem from a contractor's upgrade of its system, and the issue has since been rectified. In a statement, mister Bullock revealed that the union had installed cameras through the office for many years to ensure the safety of staff. None of those cameras had audio capacity until they replaced twelve to eighteen months ago. Now all of this is in relation to a workplace dispute about somebody who used to work at the union.
The union is doing everything it can to avoid what tapes they may or may not have being handed over to the court.
If they ever do, we will most certainly tell you what is on.
Them something else that you may will or not heard. Thus far this evening was the Yes campaign, as we remember last year in the referendum, well first under the Prime Minister's tutel edge, it went from sixty percent Yes to sixty percent No.
But you know he's a political genius.
But also we know that the money was will and truly on the side of the team that ended up getting forty percent of the vote, as The Guardian ended up reporting Yes campaign groups received more than five times as much in donations as the NOD side in the Voice referendum. So ultimately, of course, money did not matter. People powermattered, and people made up their own mind no matter what the ads told them or what type of
ad was before them. Now at the time, the erstwhile fact checkers that are happy to pounce upon what they believed to be misinformation at any one time, well, they of course, very proudly and loudly screamed that no, the federal governanent is not bankrolling the Yes campaign, and that's true. But there's something on the edges here that is obviously not of the Federal government's knowledge, not of the Minister, the Prime Minister or anyone in the federal government's knowledge.
But it does seem like payer funds found their way to the Yes campaign. For this, we turned to Tasmania and a report which came today from the Order to General in Tasmania. Now the Order to General, who has just been recently appointed to a ten year term, is of course somebody who goes back and is essentially independent of government and is like an umpire reporting back on what they do or don't do. The report, which was published today was into a thing called the Tasmanian Community Fund.
As the ABC reports today, the Tasmanian Community Fund gave five hundred and fifty eight thousand dollars grant of public funds i e. Taxpayer funds which were meant to be spent by the Tasmanian Community Fund on the business of the Tasmanian Community Fund. Instead, somebody decided in there to send more than half a million dollars of taxpayer money
off to the people essentially running the Yes campaign. An organization that campaigned for the Yes vote in the UN referendum received a five hundred and fifty eight thousand dollars publicly funded grant, but the process lacked documentation and was flawed. According to the report released today, the board of the Tasmanian Community Fund agreed to give the grant to the Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition in June of last year.
During the campaign, the report found that they used the money one hundred and twenty thousand dollars of it for a national cross media campaign including television advertisements, social media posts, opinion.
Pieces why did they have to be paid for? But anyway? And media releases.
And for the fifty one thousand dollars of the more than half a million dollars in taxpayer money that was meant to be for businesses sorry for their activities in and around Tasmania, of course goes off to the national Yes effort. It also found that the grant was used for information about the referendum, including workshops and promotional material in libraries, while one hundred thousand dollars of the five
hundred thousand dollars was unused. Now in their defense, the Community organization says, we weren't given due process in this Auditor General's report. We have a defense fall of this, but it wasn't entered into buy the Auditor General.
But What a fascinating little side note.
What was it about the Tasmanian Order, A general who decided I'm going to go and find where this group spent its money. Where the complaint, of course, came from somebody who was supporting the no campaign. It's a Liberal Party senator from Tasmania. Now I assume, and we have to assume, because we think the best of people, that this.
Is the worst of it.
The potentially half a billion dollar, half a billion, half a million dollars of taxpayer money that was supposed to go for something else was rerouted to one side of a referendum that the fact checkers say, of course was not being publicly supported with taxpayer funds. Well, of course it wasn't happening officially. But is anyone anywhere are going to ask the question about did this happen anywhere else?
Now?
I don't know, but so often in this country, of course, something happens as long as nobody sees it while it's happening, then of course there is no interest in looking into what really happened. For example, federal government absolute lack of interest at a proper COVID inquiry, a Royal commission to guarantee to make sure that the failures of the states would be exposed, not just the political blame game of the former federal government, which of course is what they're
currently looking into. A royal commission that would ensure that the absolute policy of this country is yet, don't cancel school days unless there is literally something like a natural disaster that is bearing down on the school, to make sure that people don't die alone. But of course, because there is very little accountability these days, the people who made all of those terrible decisions, like Dennie Andrews, get to walk off and get a little gold medal. No
further questions, pension forever. Well, is anyone else going to have a look at other community groups? Is anyone else going to, like a fine tooth going go back through the Australian Electoral Commission declarations about where the money came from? Because I hope this is the one and single example.
But it's a pretty big one.
Meantime, greatest Prime Minister of all time in his mates, they have a new way of being able, of course, to dismiss any argument that exposes the flaw in their argument.
Misinformation misinformation, misinformation.
The misinformation which is there so misinformation.
So much so that they of course seek to censor the Internet by finding social media companies literally millions of dollars if they don't take down the misinformation. Misinformation will of course be defined by bureaucrats that will be informed
by left wing fact checkers. Well, as we told you last night, the Prime Minister was involved in a little bit of misinformation still up by the way on his social media account, so therefore technically that social media account would be on the wrong side of his potential misinformation laws.
Was this compilation CD that's meant to represent the one that teenagers listened to in the late nineties early two thousand's called so Fresh, with a list of compilations about how they're helping when it comes to cost of living,
because you see, they're so helpful. Well, as you may will have heard by now that thankfully that misinformation has been dubbed in and according to skytes dot com that I used today, they were able to work out that the social media companies have now started to put some asterisks underneath what was meant to be just a playful little joke where many of the things are listed as being so helpful in twenty twenty four, don't actually kick in until sometimes twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six, and
then of course not even until later parts of twenty and twenty four. Nothing to see here, right. Incidentally, as well, we learned today that you know how we're paying three hundred dollars off the power bills of every household in the country. All of that business, well, that system hasn't even started yet.
Now.
Of course that was the first of July. That was all supposed to happen. It is now the start of August. It hasn't happened. Why because apparently a couple of state governments have not already signed off on the project. So presumably it keeps being extended, that the twelve months starts from the moment it begins, or they just aren't going to spend last months. But of course no one would be interested in any of that, because it's all Peter Dutton.
That's the problem, the problem, the problem. But as we have shown you using the data, and yes, putting a very strong opinion on top of the data after we show you, but the data is clear that regardless of whether it is left right or center opinion polling in this country is very clear. More people disapprove of the Prime Minister's job and the job that he is doing
than people whom approve. Newspole essential of all of them are in negative territory, meaning the number of people that disapprove is higher than the number of people who approve. So the crisis flare has gone up from the Prime Minister's communications office in the same way that they were preparing to disseminate information that their dirt unit on Peter Dutton. Well, the message has gone out we're in a little bit
of trouble here. So plenty of people, particularly the Channel nine newspapers are offering free advice about how the government can save itself from itself, like as we showed you last week. N asked Nicky Sava, who was out there saying that despite all of the achievements of rate rise would almost bury Albanezy. Well, as we know that we know rate cut until at least six months, and the Reserve Bank still says today that they are more likely to go up.
Than come down.
Meantime, the same organization this time says if this government is forgettable, the one thing that they're canning on you is to remember the last one.
We mentioned this a little.
While ago, and then there is today, complete with the image of a prime minister who is very close to being underwater. Now he's already underwater in their own polling. He is underwater. What that means is that your disapproval rating is higher than your approval rating. But we couldn't dare show him underwater with just his hands above because
that would denote panic. Well again, one of the friendly faces and friendly voices are offering some free advice about how the Prime minister can save the.
Government from itself.
Anthony Aberaneesi has finally woken up to the reality that it needs to change and fast.
Now I don't see any evidence of this.
Literally today he was gas lighting and lying about spending and inflation on these very ways. What under Peter Stefanovic for not letting him do so this morning. But let's get back to what apparently is the changed prime Minister, which will miraculously be more approved of than currently disapproved of as Prime Minister, Albanezi has been on the endangered
list for a while. Now it was this interesting, they would all have told you there's nothing to see here, kind of like the same logic of a media who told you that Albo's completely okay, Harris is completely rock solid mentally and knows what she's talking about. And her new vice president, of course, isn't a lunatic. You know, all of these people, they just they would never lie
to you for the narrative, would they. As the Prime Minister, Albernizi has been on the endangered list for a while, the reasons can be outlined bristly.
Now. Of course, all of these are the things that we've been talking about all the way through.
But of course that's all nasty conspiracy theories, untruths spoken on the airwaves of Sky News in primetime. But guess what they're facts. The Long Voice referendum campaign left an increasing number of voters disillusioned with Alberuzi and his government. Now, so disillusion of course, he's trying to pretend that that's of the left, that it's the left wingers who were upset because it didn't happen, But of course it was
sixty forty rejection of the prime minister's position. So disillusion does not mean what I think this bloke thinks it means. He also says here that he seemed to be removed from the chief concern about cost of living.
Jeez, who's the bloke who's banged on about cost.
Of living every night since this bloke became Prime minister.
Every night.
Who held them to account on their first budget, their second budget, their mini budget. Who told you about the fifteen hundred dollars they took off you at the height.
Of the cost of living situation.
Who called the two little too late tax cuts exactly what they are and that they would have no political consequences.
Well, the other guy continues.
In the past two weeks, Albanezi has taken a few small steps aimed at saving the government's skin.
The Republic portfolio was ditched. Oh, that's going to save him.
He's also signaled in the wake of the Voice defeat that he's pushed off consideration of big ticket action on reconciliation with First Nations people into the future.
Now I get it.
Those that are easily pleased think that the Australian public will even notice those things as it was, as it will be. Cost of living and the economy is at the absolute heart of Australian politics. It is boring for people in the press gallery to talk about because for them, while they live in the real world. Of course, like everyone else, it's not as interesting as the internal palace intrigue. It's not as much fun as dredging up former Liberal
leaders to hang dirt on Peter Dutton. But of course the reality is that cost.
Of living is the number one concern for Australians.
Things have got demonstrably worse than when this mob promised it would get better. And while the teals not moving and no data proving it shows that the change of government is unlikely.
If the Prime.
Minister continues to have a greater disapproval than approval rating, if the polls keep telling us that more than half of the country things that we're headed in the wrong direction, who knows what's going to happen at this next election, no matter how much free advice they get from their
own cheer squads. Now, the reality of life since September eleventh in particular, and then the Barling bombings not too long after, is that whenever you're in a crowd, you know there's a lot more security than there used to be before both of those events. There's also a little fear that some people have from time to time when they are in these big crowds about what might happen. It's something terrible going to take place here and a lot of people are going to get hurt. Now, thankfully
this has not happened. That, of course, had happened a few years ago, I think twenty seventeen at an Arianda
Grande concert in Manchester in England. But as you know, the Taylor Swift phenomena is one that if there's not a young person in your life, you may not be completely across, but you may well, of course know that you was the Time Woman of the Year in part because of con her place in the culture, which of course is sky high where people of all ages, all sexes, all genders, all the rest of it all races that Lava absolutely LoVa well.
She's currently touring around in Europe.
She was in Austria and amazingly her concerts which are just as anticipated in Austria as they were in Australia, just as loved as she is in America. There are a whole bunch of little girls, their moms and their mates who weren't able to go to those concerts in the past few days because Islamic State was planning to kill people at those events. He's a bit more information coming to us from the United States, specifically CBS.
Police say two suspects who radicalize themselves on the internet are now in custody. One of them swore allegiance to Isis then carried out concrete preparatory acts for a terrorist attack. The bomb squad was called after police saidie found the suspects in possession of chemical substances. A catastrophe averted that all three concerts had been canceled as a precaution.
Frightening, absolutely frightening.
Now, of course, we should never let the terrorist wings, which means we don't just recede from the public. But it is yet again a reminder to us about how the police have to get it right one hundred percent of the time. Thankfully they did in this case. But when officials tell us that there is a raised terror thread, there must be something behind it. We must heed when they say it. And also the vigilance that has frankly slipped away in the past twenty years or so needs
to come back. Your awareness of the space around you will help save the lives of people around you. Always keep an eye not just for the shifty person, but for the bag that's been left by itself, the door that's open that shouldn't.
Be, all of those things. Remain vigilant.
Take care of yourself because the people whose job it is full time to take care of us will they do an incredible job and they get it right so often, so well, Dounder all of the police. But what a reminder about what we take for granted that we should never take for granted, which of course is our own safety. Now, as the Olympics wrap up and many more people will join us back here each and every night, Remember we'll be here Sunday night to Thursday, same bat time and
same bat channel. Videos are still doing pretty well. It's goings dot com dot au. Australia has had an incredible Olympic Games. As you know, it's the best we've ever done. It's incredible that every night there's not just one, but probably a couple of medals that have won. At any time, it doesn't matter what type of sport it is, there's always this incredible little story that comes out of somewhere.
And I've got to say, I know I might well be speaking just a little bit too soon, but hasn't it been amazing for the best part of two weeks to see people wrapped in the Australian flag and not one,
not one hot take anywhere about Jess. I wish there was a different flow that were holding up just pride, pride in their country, pride in their national flag, the use of the national flag as the thing that represents your country with the loved it, loved watching that, and like everyone else, I've also loved watching sort of some
of the kookier sports. Of course, gold medals have come from things like BMX Australian gold medals, not yet from things like speed climbing, but if you ever get the chance to have a look at that, wow, Literally they climb up a wall and they do so within less than five seconds. But then there's a whole bunch of other sports which have been new to the Olympic games like golf for three on three basketball or of course full normal basketball and football has been.
In the Olympics for a while.
But I've got to say, while people are searching for their hot takes, and again I might have spoken too soon about how while it's been an incredible games, wouldn't it have been a better grames if they weren't green and gold, and they weren't looking at the evil Australian flat in all that crap. I've got to say this a bit of a DeBie down trying to find a way to say something about the Games that was negative when for obvious reasons, lots of people watch, lots of
people are interested in. We're loving the idea of how much pride we all get from this little moment. It's nice to have a collective experience. It's not about politics and identity and all the rest of it. It's just about yeay, cool, go Australia. Well, save the games for the sports whose zenith is the Olympics. Was an opinion piece which popped up in the past couple of days.
What simply this person thinks there's too many.
Sports at the Olympic Games and things like tennis and golf and even football should not be part of the Olympic Games. Why because they've got their own global tournaments that are massive. Tennis players dream of winning a Grand Slam, golfers dream of winning a green jacket, not a gold medal. Cricketing nations, it's the ashes for everyone else, of course, it's the fief of football World Cup by that men's or women's.
Isn't that what the Olympics are all about. He goes on to say that.
Singular determination of striving for gold paying off on the world stage, that's the stuff.
That dreams is made of. No no, no, no, no, no no no.
I'll tell you why this hot takes wrong because so often golfers, footballers, lots of people, like tennis players, they represent themselves. Yes, technically they're from a certain country, but they represent themselves.
Anyone needs to.
See the reaction of Novak Djokovic to his gold medal where he was able to win one for his country to be no different in terms of the hierarchy of athletes representing their country than everyone else in judo or swimming, and.
It's nice to be on that level.
Well, the professional athlete is able to go back in five star treatment and not have to sleep on the cardboard beds, all of that business.
So the Olympics are fine as they are. I love when they add sports.
I wouldn't be surprised if eventually sports like boxing slowly disappear for absolutely non controversial reasons, which may well play it in the next few days in the medal tally, but by the time we get to Brisbane twenty thirty two. I've got to say these two weeks slightly change my attitude towards the ex excitement of what may be lying ahead.
More sports, not less, more chances at gold, more chances of representation, and more opportunities for people to wear their national flag and be at one with their teammates as well as their country plays. When it comes to the American political system, A couple of very good friends sent me a message after watching the show over the past couple of days, saying, hey, well, what are you going about. Trump's still winning? Let me explain why they turned around.
They explained why, and now I'd like to explain.
To you now, as we know, the current media narrative.
Is Kamala Harris through the roof every pole going her way, many of those national poles.
You know how irrelevant those are.
Oh, this new vice presidential pick, he's going to scare everywhere.
It's all falling apart.
In fact, that's the narrative, which, surprise, surprise, the same people who said nothing to see here on so many other issues and now telling.
You look, look, look, look, look look.
But of course they're not even answering questions about what the hell would they do if they won.
Trump is getting his unsettled by this change in the environment. You could see it in his tweets and sign and there is a kind of grinding quality to the Trump campaign rate now that plays very badly against what you saw to Nate, which was very joyful and positive, and there was this feeling of possibility.
All right, Spinspinspincent's been narrative, narrative, narrative.
Let's look at some numbers. Are these the numbers that will forever be there? No, But for those people that are feeling a little bit wobbly, this is the stuff that reassured me as a person who would not like to see the Democrats get four more years to be rewarded for their failures on the border. Ten minion extra people moving into the United States without the paperwork, no right to do so, not to mention the economy that has caused so much trouble for such a long period
of time. And of course they should pay a punishment for the lies they said about the competency of Biden. Now, supposedly this vice presidential pick is the one who's going to be able to sort of speak Republican.
To mind meld with Middle America.
The only problem is, of course he is a hardcore lefty who just dresses and acts like a folks see middle of the road person, but the actual policies put in place are as wild as you would see in New York or in California. He's also one of these people that once you point out the falls, well he of course changed the subject or pretends that you're starting
a culture war. Well, actually, if you have a look at his voting, at the people who vote for him that made him governor basically the numbers that have for him are basically no different than every other Democrat. In the cities, they love you, in the suburbs, and further out they can't stand you.
Tim was one in twenty twenty two, obviously, but he didn't show any new strength in the parts of Minnesota where the Democrats have really fallen behind in the Trump area. And if you're talking about boosting the Democrats in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, you're talking about can you do something in those parts of those states where the Democrats have been losing all that ground? Looking at what was that in Minnesota, you don't see that value.
Add you mean he's exactly the same, exactly the same as Kamala or Hillary or Biden, or you get the point.
Or they're all the same. Right, Some win, some don't.
But there's no great wild support in the Trump world that will magically flip because this guy, you know, went hunting once. Please, I'll do the stolen Valle thing in a few days time. But of course, as you know, we like to show you the map. You need to get to two hundred and seventy electoral votes to win the presidency. Currently the swing states put it, but the Republicans very close, needing just nineteen votes to get there at two fifty one, the Democrats needing an awful lot.
More So, let's have a look at the swing state poles. Forget the Harris is up by one, Harris's up by two Nationally in the swing states, what would happen. Trump's up in Arizona, Nevada, He's up in North Carolina, Georgia, Harris up in Wisconsin and Michigan. And in the state that will decide it all, Pennsylvania. Right now to night, latest polls that have come out since the change since August ticked over. Trump is up by one point eight.
So if there was an election held right now, he would win, and he'd have seventeen extra votes in the Electortot College, you would actually end up at two hundred and eighty seven. One of the reasons why you may well see some other forecasts in other places.
They start to.
Move Pennsylvania back towards the Democrats. If that happens, they win, but right now they're not quick break back with more plenty to talk about here on Paul Murray Live.
No Sooks, no left He's after the break. But I'd love to know who you think the winner and loser of the week is.
Jump on the socials told you no sooks, no left.
These and they're in Melbourne for us right now.
Christen Abrams a wonderful libertarian and a man who's ready to fight fire with fire, because that's the way it always is, is the lovely Michael Kroger. Never give fight, fight, fight, as the great Man said, just a few fight fight.
Yeah so.
Jim Charmers today says that he supports the Queensland Government's ridiculous idea which no money, no planning will never happen, that they will build twelve petrol.
Stations in Brisbane to bring down the cost of pairer.
This is utter almost said it rubbish, like it's such garbage all right now, Michael, you know this is a desperate government fingernails being dragged through the streets, fascinating stuff about unions and cameras and all the rest of it. Right, But as as low rent, desperate promises.
Go, this is about as bad as it gets.
But to hear the Treasurer back it in, tells us everything about how they've got no idea what they're doing.
Mate, what what?
I don't know what?
I honestly don't know what to say. I mean, when Miles said he was doing this for thirty six million dollars worth of borrowed money, I thought this guy has gone bonkers. He's completely lost the plot. He's had too much son up there in Queensland. But then when Jim Charmers put the credibility of his position on the line,
meaning that's basically the position of the government. So I suppose Peter Stephanovic, if he had over one again, do you support your Treasurer's view that the Queensland poor old taxpayer should put thirty six million into petrol station. It's just there was any doubt about Charmer's credibility. This has totally destroyed his credibility. Let me simply say this. I know there's tens of thousands of viewers watching in Queensland tonight,
so I say this to them. Put your hand up if you would like to invest any of your money in a petrol station run by Steven Miles. There are no hands up. Bank of Queensland, the head of the Bank of Queensland.
Would you like to ring.
Him tomorrow and say we're on the hook for the thirty six mil I mean, this is a preposterous idea. I remind of the great nineteen seventy one business, the Burke's Actu Store in Melbourne, which is a store where Bob Hawk and the act You went into the retail business. They had did some good early on in relation to busting a price cartel, but putting that aside, the act
You thought they could run a retail business. You know what happened a few years later it went bus And the only advice I'd give it, well, the only advice I'd give to Stephen Miles is this is this. Stephen, if you're proposing to go ahead with this preposterous idea. Give John Howard a ring because John Howard's father ran a petrol station, as did his grandfather. If anyone and John used to work there as a boy, he was
in Dullich Hill in New South Wales. Ring John, He'll tell your heart it is to run a petrol station. Give him a ring, Stephen, because you have got no idea what you're doing. This is preposterous and Jim Charmers, shame on you.
Yeah, I mean look again, Christen, it's not going to happen at this stage. The government doesn't look like it will be re elected. There's no detail in and around it. But it takes the next level when rather than ol I haven't read it, I haven't heard about it.
Sorry I didn't know about that.
Like there's many ways they all bat it away instead doubles down again. But also what does the promise speak to about what the government thinks. The expectation is that the voters have of them to fix every one of their problems and think there's no financial consequences to anything.
It's not every one of their problems. The government is causing this problem and let's address the elephant in the room. We pay nearly fifty cents per liter on fuel in excise tax that goes to the government, and can't Miles turn around and pick up his phone and call charmers and go, hey, maybe let's address the cost of living in a real way. Maybe let's reduce excise tax. Remove it ideally, but let's reduce it because that would actually
do a lot more than the government. Starting up some petrol states is taking a page out of Venezuela's playbook, going from prosperous to poor and the government. Everything the government touches turns to inflation. So don't you think that the petrol stations will do exactly that. It's ridiculous.
Yeah, but again it's this this idea, and as you say on that policy, in particular, when cost of living hurts the way that it does, and they've had two surpluses, right, they could theoretically do without the money because they haven't worked out even where to spend it, right, But they this year increased the taxes. Remember they distracted everyone with the oh, there'll be a thousand dollars saving with the the you know, the ute tax and all the rest of it.
The next to well, well, of course rubbish.
That said, let's get to the politics in and around this, because it is interesting to see here the flare go up and the Channel nine papers trying to find ways to pull the PM out at the moment. But also fundamental to that is them having to recognize he's in trouble, and he's in trouble because of the economy. Under mental promise was to change the cost of living. It is fundamentally the exact opposite. And as we know, interest rates the elbow dozen of twelve and the few was on. No,
it's the thirteenth that's going to worry people. No, no, No, twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight and seven are still problems for people right now.
Michael. Look, people have no money.
I don't think this government's got any idea how desperate people are. The interest rates are killing people, they're cutting back on food. I mean, I don't think they've got any idea. People can't afford their insurance, they can't afford petrol, they can't afford anything. I think so many people are on the bones of their backside.
Mate, and.
You know Albaneze, he gets off scott free in a lot of these interviews Thank goodness for Pete Stephanovic. Well done to him this morning. The best interview, the best interview of a federal leader since Jonathan Lee's interview of Bill Shorten during the nineteen twenty nineteen campaign on the cost of the cost of his promises. But Albo's getting away with murder. But the good news is, you know, the good news is that the working middle class voters.
It takes them a while because I don't concentrate on politics as obsessively as some of us do.
But after a few.
Months, Mate, they get it and they're now working it out. It's taken people a while, but Elbow's voters sinking, sinking, sinking, and they've now worked out. This guy never had a plan. He never had an idea how to reduce prices two hundred and seventy five dollars in the electricity market. It was all bulldust.
Well, he's really funny that he said, he's you know, no, go go, go, go go.
I love it.
I think it's really funny that he said that he's working arm in arm with the RBA. But the RBA is doing nothing today, so is Elbow doing nothing? Because clearly that's what's happening to our economy at the moment that people say that spending is like drinking and inflation is the hangover. Unfortunately, we have to go through inflation to be able to sober up. But it looks it's like to me, the Labor Party has a drinking problem.
And the perfect example of that is the three point six billion dollars that they've just promised for childcare for them to buy votes for the next election at the expense of mortgage payers and the economy. But it does kind of make sense that they're targeting childcare for this because mum and dad will both have to work two jobs to survive these days, and someone's going to have to raise the kids because mum and dad aren't going to be able to do it well.
And also really important, remember there was the age care nurses and there's the childcare sector, both of course heavily unionized, where a section of their pay packet every single fortnight week month is going to be coming from the federal budget. All right, So in the same way that all of the money that you pay a soldier, part of the money that goes to those two sectors. And of course what's very important to note here is that Michael, this
is forever spending, all right. This is one of those things that's there for a year, there for two two years, and of course anyone who touches it, Oh they're trying to go after child they don't care about your kids.
That you don't care about Nana.
And Popper, all the rest of it. Forever in the federal budget. This has been baked in yet again. The consequences of all of this when according to their own report, the Intergenerational Report, is we're going to go into structural deficit for forty five years. All of this stuff makes those deficits deeper.
Michael, Well, look, I should declare, as I always do when we talk about childcare, that I have a financial interest in that sector. But putting that aside, Look, the problem is this mate, this blog can't control his expenditure. They're spending one hundred and thirty five billion dollars more out of the federal budget between twenty twenty three and twenty twenty six. And you know, of course, childcare workers who do an incredible job, and I know a lot
of them, they are an incredible job. Of course, you know they deserve a payrise. You love a lot of people in that position to get get a really good pay ride, of course, but the federal gup, it's got to draw a line in relation to its other spending, its infrastructure spending that he just can't control himself. And as I said before, you've got to make some enemies
in this business. If you're the federal treasurer. You can't be you know, like like you're at a lolly shop handing out freebiester kids and including great hand well indeed they've got they've got the hand out frequently. You've got to make hard decisions as treasurer. And I'm afraid Jim's not the right man with his PhD and Paul keating it ain't it ain't good enough, and he's Jim Charmers
is weighing on this government. He is part of the reason their vote is going down because he's a weak treasurer. He's just a commentator. He's not across the detail and he doesn't have a backbone.
I'm with you guys, Thank you so much. I talk too long, which means you don't get enough time tonight, but thank you very much, See very soon.
Michael Croker and Kristin abram all.
Right, after the break, somebody who is helping people at a time when there's lots of people that are doing it tough. I love introducing you to people who are actually getting their hands dirdy on the ground helping people. You can help them after the break. This week is National Homelessness Week, and as you know, there are way too many people who sleep rough. It's not their choice.
There's a great amount of complication around all of this, and the Census told us that there's more people doing it than ever before.
Salvos told us this week that.
Almost one in four people who are in serious financial stress right now are worried about potentially ending up on the streets. Well, for those who are, there is a service for people to help them and to help them to have a sense of cleanliness and to also have a sense of pride.
It's called Orange Sky.
Shane Herritt is the person who has been running it for a long time now, has received many in awards and honored to be able to talk to him tonight because he's doing incredible work.
Love you to see you mate again.
Normally we do all the other politics and all the rest of it, so it's not about politics. This is just about well, doneder normal people doing big things. Tell us basically what Orange Sky does, helping people on the streets.
Yeah, and really appreciate you taking the time to talk about such an important issue obviously impacting so many people. So yeah, our own Sky was the world's first laundry and shower service that was mobile and built in vands to be able to support people who are experiencing homements,
this or just having a tough time. So we show up at over three hundred shifts all around Australia and we're powered by an amazing team of over three and a half thousand volunteers who keep the vans on the road and keep those watching machines spinning.
Because this is the thing where you know, just because you don't have a place to stay doesn't mean that you have to have dirty clothes. We all know what that feeling is like if you've ever been on a long plane ride or you're just back of a bus for a couple of days. So let alone that process
of once a week. We also know that there's an awful lot of people and you've done some other survey work around all of this that are right on that edge right now, and it's a scary place to be and you see people on both sides of that age, the people that are right up against it and the people that are on the other side of it and are sleeping rough. Does it feel like things are getting busier for you, there's more people you need to help.
Yeah, we're definitely getting busier, and so compared to last year, we've seen an increase in demand by about twenty one percent. And it's not just in demand, it's also different people showing up. So when we started about ten years ago, the mission really was focusing around those people who are sleeping rough and experiencing homelessness. And as we've evolved, what we've seen it's actually just connecting with people who are just experiencing sort of hardship or having a tough time
or maybe a bit disconnected. So at our services, we're seeing a lot more families turning up. We've seen young men and women, we've seen retirees, we've seen people who are working multiple jobs who still are struggling just to make ends meet, and the attorney into services like Orange Sky for the extra help. So we knew we were busy and this research that we've done just reinforces that more so.
Again, I mean, that's that's wild.
It is wild that there are people who and this is not a new phenomenon, but there are more of these people than seemingly ever before, certainly for some period of time, which is people who have jobs who don't have somewhere to live, the rental crisis, whether prices are too high and there's not enough places, let alone of course you know people who might be right on the edge, relationships, all the different reasons why people are not able to
get there. But give us an idea of some of the other things that came up in the research for you.
Yeah, absolutely so. The research that we did showed that sort of three and five of the respondents we're making moderate to significant changes to their lifestyle. So this is much beyond the old giving up the act and toast or the open pat like. This is taking on second jobs, cutting back on the essential spending, or changing their living situation,
which obviously has flow and implications. One in ten so they skip to meal just due to lack of funds, and then one in five had to end up borrowing money selling something just to be to pay a bill or rent so all of those obviously huge deals, and then I think what worries me is more to flow and implications from skipping a meal or having to borrow money just to pay an essential item.
Yeah, and then you just go further and back and you're chasing your tail and then eventually just yeah, you fall into a very bad place.
Your website, Orange guy dot org. That are you.
People can donate, people can obviously volunteer all the rest of it. But congratulations to you and your organization. Thank you for what you do, and I'm sorry you're as busy.
As you are.
Thanks for having us.
Lennie, thank you very much. Shane.
Of course, one more time Orange guy dot org. Did you donate help them out? Because again we always talk about government business all the rest of it. I care about what's happening right now tonight. Think of how cold it's been tonight. People help. I always would like to see government do more to crack off bigger checks to go directly to the people who are doing it. Until then, it's you and me Orange sky dot org dot that's our show for the week. Thank you very much for watching.
We'll see you again Sunday night. Go Yankees.