Line is Sharry Good evening Steep Price with you filling in for Sharry again and back tomorrow night at six with my Friday program coming up on the show tonight, The spectacle, it is the way the Americans select their next president, goes next level.
In Milwaukee, newly crowned Vice President j d Vance, with his wife and mum in the audience, makes his first speech, and tomorrow for my President Donald Trump, after surviving that assassination attempt at the weekend, he'll speak for the first time. Take you to Washington and Trudy McIntosh first up tonight. The other story, of course, that's dominated this week, the lid finally blown off the murky underbelly of activities on
Australia's building sites led by the militant CFMEU. Queenslian Senator James McGrath will join us to talk about that and back to the cost of living crisis. With unemployment figure nudging a little higher today and I think it under counts the real story. By the way, we'll talk to the hospitality industry. It's a figure tipping one in ten cafes around Australia, maybe in danger of closing. But let's start in the United States. It's the center of the
world at the moment. It's the big third day of the Republican National Convention. Donald Trump's running mate, jade E Vance, introduced himself to the nation and the world.
You have to say.
In his first speech as the nominee for Vice President, Andrew just spoke of his amazing book that he wrote. He spoke of his heart upbringing in Ohio, making the case that he and his party best understand the challenges facing Americans and the working poor. He even spoke fondly about the woman who raised him.
In my life, I had a guardian angel by my side. She was an old woman who could barely walk, but she was tough as nails. I called her Mammo, the name we Hillbillies gave to our grandmothers. I mean, Memo raised me as my mother with addiction. Ma'am All was in so many ways a woman of contradiction. She loved the Lord, ladies and gentlemen. She was a woman of very deep Christian faith, but she also loved the F word.
I'm not kidding. She could make a sailor blush. Now, thanks to that mamm All, things worked out for me. After nine to eleven, I did what thousands of other young men my age did in that time of soaring patriotism and love of country. I enlisted in the United States Marines.
JD then go down to business speaking about what Donald Trump should be the next president of the United States.
Leader who rejects Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's green news scam and fights to bring back our great American factories. We need President Donald J.
Trump.
For decades that divide between the few with their power and comfort in Washington and the rest of us only widened from Iraq to Afghanistan, from the financial crisis to the Great Session, from open borders to stagnating wages. The people who govern this country have failed and failed again. That is, of course, until a guy named Donald J.
Trump came along.
President Trump represents America's last best hope to restore what, if lost, may never be found again, a country where a working class boy born far from the halls of power can stand on this stage as the next Vice President of the United States of America.
Like all good speakers, he got better, I think the longer that he went. Let's get the lightest first up tonight from the US with Sky senior political reporter Trudy McIntosh's live in Washington, DC, where it's very early in the morning. I guess a lot of people sat and watched JD in America who had not seen him before. What sort of feedback are you getting, Trudy on that speech that he made today.
Yeah.
I think that's the key point, isn't it state that lots of Republicans, broader Americans wouldn't have known Jdvance was. If you're in the inside the Beltway, the MAGA crowd, they would have known who JD.
Vance was.
But it was an opportunity, as you say, to sell his hillbilly rags to riches stories. There was some great insights there into how he grew up, but drawing that together with the broader American story and trying to win over and prove kind of a generational change. Trump quite old as we know, and Jdvans at just thirty nine, a younger, fresher face as selling the same MAGA message. I also thought, though last night, there was some other
fascinating parts of that convention. The fact that Donald Trump's eldest granddaughter got to the stage, an opportunity to humanize what is a very tough and polarizing figure here in American around the world. She spoke about these stories. You could see Donald Trump beaming at the time as she spoke about el he sneaks your candy and all those things that granddads liked to do. I thought that was a nice touch to show the human side of a rather polarizing man.
Yeah, she talked about how she goes and plays golf with him. When she's winning, he doesn't like it, he tries to beat her. It really did soften the image of Donald Trump. And given what happened last weekend and given how he has handled himself Donald Trump I'm talking of since that seems to be what the theme of this Donald Trump trying to get elected in twenty twenty
four is going to be like. As opposed to what you'd have to say, Trudy, back in twenty sixteen was a very bombastic Donald Trump who was very loud and aggressive. I think what happened last weekend fundamentally is going to change the way he presents himself to the world.
Well, and how could it not that you are literally a centimeter or so or the head turn away from being dead That is a huge clarifying moment for anyone, let alone a man running to be president again. Donald Trump, I would think this time around, has been much more disciplined in his campaigning. We have three weeks on from that disastrous debate from Joe Biden, and in the wake of it, Donald Trump didn't go out and blow things up. He just was quiet. Whilst your opponents struggling. Let them
continue to struggle publicly. The real test, I suppose, comes at his speech tonight here local time. It's slated to be around an hour and a half Donald Trump speaking at the convention, but he's promised he's rewritten the speech compared to what it was before that assassination attempt, promising a message of unity. I imagine he'll still have a few barbs in there. He's got an hour and a half plenty of time.
Just briefly, back on JD. Vance, I think that's an inspired choice. I mean, I didn't know anything about him till we saw him today and people talking about his book and the Netflix movie. But this is a thirty nine year old guy who dragged himself up by his bootstraps. But more importantly, I think truty and we've seen it in Australian politics. It signifies a generational change. I mean you could say that about you know, Peter Costello shadowing John Howard or Paul Keating shadowing Bob Hawk.
You always have.
To have if you want to continue win elections, someone in reserve who is going to be a great replacement, which is exactly what the Democrats don't have.
And I think the choice of jd Vance as well shows how secure Donald Trump feels in his position. With vice presidential picks in American history, normally presidents pick someone who's a compliment to them, who's going to help win over an area of the American voter base that they don't have. Think about John McCain picking Sarah Palin, a woman. Same with Joe Biden picking Karmala Harris, an African American woman.
And normally that's the sort of reason why, a very brutal, real politic reason to pick someone with jdie Vance, that's not what this is. This is someone who now believes in Trump's agenda from those russ Belt states. Joe Biden's sons apparently as well a Steep were quite instrumental in convincing him that JD was the one.
You're in them all there in Washington and the current president flew back to the East coast today. Now this is going to be a big story, obviously. President Joe Biden, he was asked in an interview would there be anything that would encourage him to step down from being the nominee. He said, well, a doctor's opinion that my health would
suffer might be a reason. He then suddenly comes down with COVID, jumps on Air Force One, doesn't come back to Washington, flies to Delaware, where he and Jill will spend the weekend. Are you tipping we might see a fundamental shift from the Democrats here. Will Biden perhaps possibly step down over the weekend?
Well, if this was Australian politics, let's be real, he would have been knife three weeks ago, the day after the debate.
That's how it works.
Back home back here, because he'd already been through this primary process, it's harder to do that. Joe Biden has to call time, essentially on himself, the huge intervention yesterday though Chuck Schumer essentially his camp. It seems leaking this meeting he had last Saturday here in a mint errecka where he told Joe Biden in no uncertain terms, you have to go. Then we saw the leak of Nancy Pelosi. She also had a meeting in the last week or so with Joe Biden showed him the polling says you
can't win. Joe Biden's response, apparently is I don't believe those polls. We've seen somewhat of a softening. I'll point out the New York Times and CNN both reporting very similar lines out of the Biden advisor camp. They're saying he's now more receptive to the idea of dropping out, not that he's decided to do that. He wants to be convinced that Kamala Harris can win, but the first sign from the Biden camp that they are thinking about his future.
The head of the Secret Service was in Milwaukee today. She was pursued by the media asking questions about how that rally could have been so badly treated by the Secret Service protection of Donald Trump.
Is she going to hang on to her job?
And I can't believe she's not already put her hand up and said, look, we screwed it up and I'm quitting. This is Kimberly cheetle.
Yeah, it's incredible the revelations that came out yesterday. It was overshadowed here in America by the convention and by the Biden news. But she told lawmakers apparently on this call that happened that has been leaked now, that more than an hour before the shooter, Thomas Crooks took a shot at Donald Trump, that he was a person of interest from police, and twenty minutes before snipers had seen someone on a roof of that building. So there are
huge questions here. As you say, though, I'm not sure if you've seen the vision, there's this incredible moment on the floor of the convention last night, Republican lawmakers, a Senator Marcia Blackburn literally harassing this woman, the Secret Service Director, publicly in the corridors with the cameras there. That's only what journalists do to see politicians publicly doing that. It shows the pressure that's on. Just a warm up two. I'd have to say she's due to appear in Congress
next Monday. That is nothing compared to what she's going.
To face there.
Trudy macintosha, as usually you're doing an outstanding job. I'm very jealous of you standing there on the mall in Washington, DC. Keep it up and I'll talk to you again soon and we'll see what unfolds over the weekend. Isn't she fantastic?
Truly doing that? Now back home, I just need to return briefly to the scandalous behavior of the construction arm of one of Australia's most powerful unions, the CFMEU, a major labor party donor, as we know seen not from a government inquiry but from as a media investigation to have been really an alleged organized crime like outfit infiltrated by outlawd motorcycle gang members using bullyboy tactics. That's new too tame, I think, more like standover tactics, threats of
violence and allegedly demands for bribe money. Now, this week's been a disaster for state labor in Queensland, New South Wales and particularly Victoria, where the current government has been too close for too long to this outfit. In my view, their leadership from the socialist left have been only too happy to take political donations and volunteer labor from the CFMAU. These boats go out and man polling boots and answer
phones during election campaigns. Now this week started with a nine newspaper, nine newspapers opening a lid on this stuff, and now that it's out in the open, it needs to be properly investigated, not by the union itself but with a Royal commission led by a non politically aligned judge. Just today in the Herald Sun we learn of more
shocking allegations while whistleblowers telling how secured tenders. So someone who's put in a tender to work on a Victorian government project and wins that tender only to be replaced because the union doesn't want to work with them. It's reported in some instances the unions the CFMEME used preferred contractors didn't even have equipment needed to do the job, so they had to buy it off the company that won the tender in the first place, and they were
run off the site. One was allegedly told okay, mate, if you want a meeting, bring twenty thousand dollars in cash to a meeting at a footscrape pub to broker a deal via the CFMEAU to get onto a government infrastructure project. Company to their credit said no, but you can be sure someone else did, and of course in the middle of the current federal government shutdown the cop on the beat. They shut it down the ABCC in
one of the first acts of the Albanezy government. Why would they do that, Well, Minister Tony Burke claimed they were being petty and investigating things like flags on building sites. So the CFMEU flag stickers on helmets, well that's where the union domination of projects start. If you have a CFMU T shirt on and someone on the site's not a member of the union, or on the crane doesn't have a CFMEU flag flying, the site doesn't work, gets
shut down union domination. Then what follows is unreasonable union wage deals. If not, the whole site gets shut down. The union runs conditions on every one of these sites, lunchrooms, bathrooms, ross the days off to make a three day long weekend, I mean small beer to start with, big problems if you don't play though by those union demands, the union rules. And remember the money paying these blokes is taxpayers money.
And as the Herald Sun reports, this happened on the twenty six billion dollar East North Northeast Link still being built. By the way, the thirty four point five billion dollar suburban rail loop which has hardly even started. Big money, big honeypot for this union, and we deserve to know what happened in full sight of the government funding it. We need to know about the contracts. We need to know who lobbied to shut down the ABCC. It's time for all of this to come out of the shadows.
Let's bring in Liberal Senator James McGrath from Queensland. James Labour's being accused of being week on this issue. Anthony Albanez. He was in Queensland today. He was asked about the growing calls to do the right thing and de register this mob. Here was the PM's response.
If you do register a union, the union officials can stay in place in an unregulated way. We don't want that and I'm surprised that Peter Dutton seems to want that to occur. What we want to do is make sure that any corrupt officials are removed.
James, what what does that mean?
This is alban Easy being at his most weakness. Ever, if he was a real Prime Minister, like say Bob Hawk who de registered the BLF, Albanesi would have sud have no problem about standing up to the thugs in the CFU. There's absolute nonsense what he is sprouting at the moment. It just shows how weak he is. And
it just also shows that money talks in politics. And there's six point two million reasons why Albanese is not going to stand up for CFM you, and that's because that's six point two million dollars that went from the CU to the Labor Party since Albanese has been Prime minister.
Go back to when the Labor government was elected. I mean they promised during the election campaign to get rid of the cop on the beat the ab CC and they said, oh, well, they were just you know, picking on people who had c FM EU T shirts on or Eureka stockade stickers on their helmet.
No they weren't.
They were actually in there trying to make sure that these projects were properly managed and that there was not corruption on building sites.
Totally. And you look at why John Howard first brought it in and then reintroduced under Tony Abbott. There is a reason why we have to have the cop on the beat and that is because of the cf MEU.
And there is a.
Reason why Labor abolished it twice, and that's because the CFU are their paymasters. I speak to you from Queensland, where we've got all these projects that have gone massfully up in costs because of the demands of the CMU. You speak to anyone who's in the construction sector across Australia and they know how corrupt and how dodgy the CMU is. And it hasn't just happened in the last day.
This has been going on for years. So for the Prime Minister or Tony Burke or anyone in the Labor Party to express sort of some oscar driven shock at Oh, we didn't know these people are corrupt is absolute bs.
Everybody.
Everyone knows they're corrupt, and that's why we needed the Australian Building Construction Commission on the beat.
James, I mean, as I understand it. I mean Queensy's got an election in October. The CFMEU has not been deregistered, but it's been put in administration in places like New South Wales, Victoria, and that spills into South Australia, but not in Queensland. So presumably they're not in administration, they can continue to operate financially.
What do you make of that?
It shows who are owned Stephen Miles. The only reason Stephen Miles became premier was because of the union bosses. They all had a meeting decided to get rid of Palichet, and the CFM of you were intrinsically involved in the machinations to get rid of Palachee. Stephen Miles is of the left, the cf you are of the left. They're in this together. The scary thing for Queensland is should Labor win the election in one hundred days time, that means that Stephen Miles and the CFM of you will
be running a mark. It shows to Queensland that Stephen Miles is all about himself, all about his union mates, and is not about the taxpayers and the voters of Queensland. It is shameful.
We had a couple of members of that union in the Federal Court today. It was a case that goes back a couple of years. They'd obstructed a crane that was trying to work on a on a union site. The court find the union one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. But at the same time the minister who's now the premier to Sendor Allen of the Socialist Left, whose husband happens to be an ex CFM EU member. She says, I didn't know any of this was happening. No, I'm
completely shocked. She's been the minister for all of those projects, all of those major big build projects. She was the minister responsible where all the trouble was happening. Had a letter written to her from an Indigenous labor higher firm complaining about bullying, and she took a year to reply.
Well, I'm impressed that she replied at all, considering her links to the union and the links to the Labor Party of the Union, and it probably was one of those letters that has said we acknowledge you for the fact you've sent us a letter. But this is I cannot emphasize this enough. The links between the Labor Party and the CMU run deep, and the main reason it is because of the money that goes from the CU
to the Labor Party. So whether it's the Premier in Victoria or the Premier here in Queensland, or Tony Burke or Anthony Albanesi or Sally McManus, for any of these people to say they're unaware of the conduct of the CVMU just says to me, what Rock have you been hiding under. Seriously, there is what rock. Queensland is hurting because of the CIM. Australia is hurting because of the CMU, and we've got a prime minister and we've got labor premiers around this country who are not standing up to
these thugs. Someone needs to dig up Bob Hawk and bring him back and show Anthony Albanasi how to be a labor prime minister and stand up to the thugs in the Union movement.
Now, Senator, I'm not pulling your leg.
Chris Bowen in the press club yesterday actually said that this would not be a bad idea that Australians will be able to use their electric vehicles to charge their homes and be paid to put their cars stored energy back into the electricity grid under this proposal that Chris Bowen said would work. He wants this rolled out. I almost can't believe I'm saying this. Over the next year or so. Where are we living what planet are we living on? I mean, how could.
This possibly work?
And when you think about it, I mean I had to think about this today. So to be suburbs like tu k or Willaa in Sydney, the richest suburbs in the country. They'd all have their teslas pumping energy into the grid and being paid by the taxpayer to do it, where everybody who lives out in a normal working class suburb Western Melbourne or Western Sydney or wherever, they just be paying more for their power bill.
Margaret Thatcher said, when socialists run out of money, they come after yours, or under Chris Bowen, when labor run out of energy, they come.
After your electricity.
This is one of the stupidest, dumbest, craziest ideas I've ever heard of. This is beyond April Fool's parody. The fact that Pete, You're going to power up the ev drive around and then come back and then power up your house. I want to say to labor, you don't need electric vehicles to do that. We've got these wonderful things called.
Coal and gas.
Let's bring in nuclear. Hell, let's have solar, let's have wind. Let's how that's how you power people's houses, not electric vehicles. This is something out of It's beyond yes, Minister, it's beyond utopia.
This is just this is stupid. It's stupid, and he is.
Taking the Australians for a ride with this type of madness. The sooner we get rid of this labor government, the better.
Well, when you go out in your electric car, I don't have one and I don't intend to buy one because I don't like them. But you would go out, So you went on a trip from Brisbane down to the Gold Coast and back on a Saturday because you wanted to have a surfer, You wanted to go down and sit on the beach for a while. When you get back home, the car has less electricity in the battery than what you're left with, so you've got to recharge it. You're not putting electricity back into the grid.
So what's Bowen actually talking about here? So I just can't believe that someone who you know, he has to be reasonably smart to be where he is in public life, but he's turning into a full mate.
He's depriving a village somewhere of their idiot. For someone to come up with an idea like this and say it out loud at the National Press Club and expect Australians to go what you're going to power a car out of the grid, drive around, it's going to come back empty and then you're going to power the house. This guy, he's one step away from all of us putting a hamster wheels in our house to make sure that's how we power up our TVs and our heaters in the middle of inter This guy should not be
sitting around a cabinet table. He shouldn't be sitting around a kitchen table. You know, he should be sent out somewhere and just be painting rocks white. That is his level of experience. I wouldn't trust him with a toaster or anything else.
So gra great to catch up. Thank you very much for your time. Now after the break, another council moves to change the date.
Of Australia Day. Here we go again.
We do not normally wait to December to have these conversations. Plus a treaty for Victoria is one step closer to becoming reality. Welcome back Steve Price in for Shari, who will be back on Sky next Tuesday. Now I want to go regional in our double regional Council, which is
of course in the central western New South Wales. Will they've come out and recommended shifting Australia Day celebrations from January twenty six, which this year is a Monday to January twenty four, so I think January twenty six must.
Be the Sunday.
They want to do it on the twenty fourth, a reverse long weekend if you like. Seriously, can't these local councils, and I keep saying this, concentrate on their cool businesses. I bet the state of the roads out west heading to Dubbo and heading past Dubbo are not that great.
All the rural.
Roads in Australia at the moment suffer from major potholes no matter which state you're in. Councils have simply run out of money. State governments haven't got money and so they're not repairing them now. The mayor of Dubbo Blow called Matthew Dickerson, says the reasons for the proposed change of date was quote convenience for council staff. Hello, as
well as quote Aboriginal sensitivity. What about honoring your country on the day designated for it until a government in Canberra chooses to shift the date and then you can do it on that date. Joining me to discuss this is the Center for Independent Studies Indigenous Forum director Warren Mundine. Great to see you again, haven't spoken for a while. For an Indigenous and non Indigenous people in Dubbo would have had more important things to think about and fix than this they do.
This council is totally out of touch.
It actually has a bit embarrassing for me because I was a long term Dubbo City councilor and I was Deputy Mayor of Dubbo for a while.
This council is totally at a touch. I'm sick and tired.
Of councils making up their own minds when to celebrate Australia Day. Australia Day is a national holiday for all Australians. Now what do they do if Anzac Day falls on a Sunday? Are they going to change Anzac Day? Are they going to change every holiday just because it's convenient for their for the council staff now offenses mate, but
it is our national holiday. Earlier this year we had Woolworths and a number of other corporates who are actually you know, don't actually want to support and celebrate Australia Day, didn't want to even put out banners or anything like that. Look, all I'm going to say is Matthew Dickinson and I know Matthew he was on the council in Isaiah over twenty years ago.
Is that he's still there. He's still there.
Well, I don't know what he does for a living, but he's still there.
My suggestion is stick to the public holidays. Celebrate Australia instead of worrying about you know, some minority who's worried about this and worried about that. Actually bring Australians together and celebrate this incredible country, this multicultural, multi faith, multi everything you can think about ethnic group. We brought people from all over the world and we've built this incredible.
Great country.
And you know, and for over more than fifty years we've got rid of all the race laws.
Here.
We bend over backwards to celebrate things. Why can't we just celebrate us being together.
Well, there's a double form.
A Dubbo resident and someone who knows the town so well. And I've been to Dubbo. It's a great regional town of New South Wales. It has so much potential, but it does have problems. So the council should concentrate on doing the things that's voted in to do, which is pick up the rubbish, look after the roads, try and keep the rates as low as possible, make sure that they put pressure on state governments to give the region
decent health care. Campaigning about things like this is just nonsensical.
Well, it's a divisive it's insanity, it's sacrimonious.
You're right.
We had when everyone was talking about what was happening in Alice Springs and what was happening in Northern Terrety, Northern Queenslana, around Cairns and towns and other places through the Kimbles, and it was also happening in Dubbo. It was also happening in the western part of New South Wales. If Dubbo was really you know, wants to bring people together, Australia Day is a perfect day to do it.
It's about all of us.
Coming together, focusing on what's good about Dabba, was good about Australia, and actually make people proud of this country so that we're all working together to.
Make it a better place.
Rather than look, I think we should move it because we'd like to have a nice long weekend or anything about it is not about a long weekend. It's about the celebrating the wonderful people in this country. All the migrants who come here, all the people here, like myself, have been here.
For thousands of years.
It's about bringing it all together and making this country even better.
Warren, you mentioned Alice Springs. It must break your heart to again see what's happening in the Red Center. We had a number of police officers who were assaulted by an indigenous group on the banks of the Todd River. Had to put back in the curfew. Then the curfew goes off. I mean, if the curfew works, leave the body curfew. Why are we talking about putting it on taking it off?
If it works, is there not a reason to leave it?
Look, excuse me.
The curfew is brought in because of the failures of government after government after government at the federal and territory level to dealing with the real issues of what happening in these communities out there. You know, the curfew was brought on because it is a measure to get control of the streets again, and it did that.
So you're right, we need to keep the curfews.
Rolling gone and making sure that the streets are safe.
That's only the beginning. The second part of that is.
To deal with the real issues of why there are problems there, and that is to look at those remote communities, look at why they're coming into Alice Springs, look at the problems in Alice Springs, and I I've got a paper coming out soon about my solution to these one get every kid to school percent of the time.
Get every kid to school.
And get an education so they have opportunities in life to get jobs, to run a business and do things. You know, without education, you know, you can't improve your situation and can't improve your life too. Get jobs, get investment in that. And you can't get jobs and investment and businesses going to these places unless you control crime.
So the second and third part is businesses jobs. The third part is get the seats safe, make sure the police are out there, support the police in their doing their job and making the community safe, and the rule of law to be enforced. And the final thing is there are more you know, one stage back in the eighties there was more money going into Alice Springs and the for Aboriginal people than the entire New South Wales.
So you've got to start asking questions. You know, this community is what twenty six thousand people are, So what's happened to all that money, what's what? What's the services that were paid to do X?
To fix things? Have they done x? You know? Senator sent an.
Price and send it a little and even supported by Senator lydia For put a motion up in Parliament that they should have an inquiry, a performers inquiry about where the money is gone, has it achieved what it's supposed to be doing, because it obviously hasn't, And how do we fix all these things? And the Greens and the Labor Party and some of the cross benches voted against it.
It's a common sense approach, you know. I do this in business every week.
Everyone that we do check things out and make sure that they're working.
So they should be doing the same thing.
That's the problem, Warren Munday, and you talk too much common sense. Great to catch up with you, and I think your ideas absolutely need to be prosecuted. That's warrem Undine. They're plenty to come after the break beach is closed. You won't believe this. After an offshore wind herbine crumbles into pieces and falls into the sea. Is this what we can look forward to under Chris Bowen's Green Dream?
Plus my panel have joined me up next.
Welcome back, Steve Price, Infshari Markson and don't forget of course, Donald Trump's addressed to the Republican Convention will be tomorrow. You'll be able to see it right here on Sky Live. I presume it'll be about the surround about the same time as Jodie Vance spoke today, which was somewhere between eleven am and midday Eastern time in Australia. So that'll be live here on Sky It's going to be fascinating to see what mood he brings to that speech. Let's
bring in tonight's panel. Joining me is National Affairs editor at the Australian newspaper Joe Kelly and commentator and my old mate Jason Morrison. Great to have you both with us. Can I ask you, Joe first, what did you make of JD.
Vance today?
Well, look, I didn't see j D. Vans today, Steve, but I think that he's very aligned with a lot of the trumpest philosophy, even though he may have had initial concerns, particularly when it comes to foreign policy. I think that there are risks though with him, and I think the questions about divisiveness in American society, and I think one of the ways we saw that was when jd Vance, following the attempted assassination on Donald Trump, put the blame squarely at the feet of the Democrats and
Joe Biden for their rhetoric. Now, I think some of the criticism of Donald Trump was over the top, but I think that comment, which in large part I think helped seal jd Vance for that vice presidential pick for Donald Trump, was quite divisive, and his selection is very revealing. I believe Steve.
Jason, europe and News junkie, you would have seen a bit of it today.
He started slowly.
I thought, I thought he might have been a bit more of a firecracker, but like all good speakers, he wound up. I thought he ended pretty well. It was a lot of emotion there. His mother, who he's described as having historically a drug addiction problem.
She was in the audience. It was very US, very American.
It was. It's a remarkable story.
And you know, for all that is said, you look in the history of nations, including our own, we're shaped in better times by people who are prepared to put their lives.
On the line for their country.
And I think that's something that has been missing a lot in American politics for a long time, probably not enough of them in the Senate, enough of them in the reps, and in Australia a similar story.
I don't have a problem at all with the man's background.
In fact, I think that kind of you know, we hear diversity thrown around this as the word of the moment.
That is diversity.
Someone who's come from a rotten upbringing, has brought themselves through the walls of it and then gone to serve the country and now putting the hell up to do it again.
I think it's amazing. And you can say what.
You like about the man's politics, and he's speaking capabilities.
He'll connect with.
A lot of Americans at the time when a lot of Americans need connection.
Yeah, and he speaks honestly about that background. He's not using it. I don't think, you know, as a self promotion. He talks about how mates of his who he went to high school with they ended up being junkies and died overdosing on drugs. You know, you can take the road to the left or the road to the right, not politically, but you can make yourself a better person.
You can go and join the Marines. You can fight for your country, you can become good enough to go to Yale Law School and then you run your own venture capitalist business. I mean, Joe, They're the sort of people I mean, put to one side, perhaps some of his more sor the right views, they're the sort of
people you're wanting politics. You look at the people occupying political jobs in Australia these days and you know, on the Labor side most of them have been worked their way up through the Labor Party and those on the Liberal side are either lawyers. Doton's a bit of an exception being a copper, but we don't have enough real life experience in our parliament.
Well, I think that's right, Steve. I think this goes to that idea of American exceptionalism, America being the land of opportunity and making something of yourself. And in terms of Australia's political system, I think that we see far too many politicians essentially being products of their respective political machines, so being staffers or indeed on the later side of politics,
just simply coming up through the union movement. And the lack of outside experience I think is something that voters are aware of I think they like a sense of authenticity and they like Australians who have real world experience, and I do think that is something that is slowly missing from Australian politics at the moment.
Hey, Steve, I'm Jason about this talk about Yeah, I was just going to say, in Australian politics people with real world experience are about as.
Scarce as astronauts. It's a joke and that is desperately what we need.
And Trump's brand is an outsider and He's brought another outsider into it.
I think it's fantastic.
Let's talk about the CFMMEU. Jason, you've been around long enough. You and I both have been in television radio wherever we've covered union stories, standover tactics, you know, concrete pause that get interrupted at nine o'clock in the morning because the done he doesn't work on a CFMEU side of what else? We can give a million examples. How is it that no labor politician in the whole country had ever heard about the fact that the CFME MEU might be crook.
Follow the money, follow the vote, simple as that they need the votes, the support of the CFMU types to get to their roles and then the.
Money to stay in power. That's the answer.
It's sick and this kind of I can't believe it when watching Sally McManus kind of carry on like.
I just never knew it was this bad. Really, Like what channel you been watching?
Even the ABC has been telling you for a while, has been pretty shit house. It is extraordinary that this has become for most people in politics, a week of awakening rubbish. Everyone knows what's been going on. It's been going on for a very very long time. And all those things you've talked about, they are commonplace, and they go through waves of being kind of controlled and whatever, perhaps when the governments are in or out and the
labors at the back benches and whatever else. But the whole joke of it is that every person in that house, on the labor side knows this game.
And to be pretending otherwise.
I mean, really, do you think we're all We've got manure idea in between our ears?
Is that what you think?
Joe?
What did you make of Tony burkein and the prime ministers react to this?
Well, look, I think there's a very deep level of irony, But perhaps hypocrisy is a better word. Steve alban Easy and Labor were elected partly on a platform of integrity. We're going to do things differently, We'll change politics, will clean the place up. So they got into government and they established a National Anti Corruption Commission, but at the same time they decided that they were they were going to remove the Australian Building and Construction Commission, the tough
cop on the beat in the building sector. And then they decided that they would reward the union movement by passing a whole series of industrial relations reforms giving the unions exactly what they wanted, changing right of entry arrangements, the definition of casuals, labor higher arrangements. So I think that there is a very deep level of hypocrisy and
irony to this. I agree with Jason's comments that I don't think really anybody you know on the labor side of politics could have been surprised by any of this. And I think what it does is it shines a spotlight on the fact that Labor has only promised to or take an action to fight corruption in areas convenient for them, and they have delivered in spades for the union movement, including the CFMEU, since they were elected to government.
Jason, knowing you were coming on tonight, I.
Deliberately searched out this story.
We've got a beach in the United States rolls to close you can't swim in summertime because a giant offshore wind turbine blade broke off, smashed itself apart, and were washed ashore. And we're worried little Johnny or little Jenny are going to step on the blade on the bottom of the ocean.
This is unbelievable.
Yes, comedy stuff, isn't it comedy?
But you know that scene has coming to a beach near you in eastern Australia because the genius Chris Bowen has exactly that plan.
For offshore New South Wales at the moment.
And in case you think that the windmills in America are big, you ain't seen nothing yet, because the ones coming for the East coast of Australia down south off Coyama and off the Hunter area of Newcastle as high as the Barangaroo Tower the size of it. They're going to be sitting on barges floating chain to the seafloor, with chain links on the chains that are as big as I am tall.
This is madness.
This is madness from a country there's got coal. This is madness from.
A country that's got gas.
This is madness from a country that exports uranium to the world to generate power. We've got all this stuff and we're committed to these fruit loop ideas of putting these things here. And yeah, you know what you've got there in America with the polluted beaches from the bits and pieces, that's only half the story, not to mention the mangle birds and everything they're flying and.
Out of these things.
It is comedy stuff, yet it's Commonwealth government policy.
Explain that.
I knew you'd love it.
Joe Bowen was at the Press Club yesterday and he endorsed this idea that you'd be able to get your electric vehicle at home, plug it into your house and keep your lights on and then export the power that you've got left over back into the grid.
Is this bloke serious?
Well, these are the sorts of policies that labor has to pursue, Steve. So they're caught between two worlds. On gas, they are opposed to nuclear. We have qualifired power stations preparing to exit from service. So Australia has systematically destroyed its comparative advantage and energy policy and Labour's solution is to focus on renewables. So Chris Bowen's big initiative since he came to government, and he's had a huge influence
over the character of this government. His big initiative is for a five fold increase in renewable energy by twenty thirty. So increasingly there'll be real life practical differences and the way people will be living from day to day.
And Chris Bowen has just.
Given Australians a practical example of that.
It's just it's just not going to happen. Jason Morrison, joke, Joe Kelly. I appreciate you both joining us tonight. Thanks very much. Having to have a good weekend now coming up after the break one in tent. This is a real crisis point for the hospitality industry.
It's being revealed.
One in ten cafes are going to go broke over the coming year.
We'll have that up next.
Welcome back to Steve Price in for Shari James Morrow will be in for Paul Murray at the top of the hour. I keep saying cost of living crisis is the biggest issue in Australia. It certainly is that's what the next election will be fought over. Worrying data released today by creditor Watch has forecasts at almost one in ten cafes, coffee shops and restaurants is tipped to go
broke be closed over the coming twelve months. Joining me to discuss this, chief economist at creditor Watch, Anika Thompson, Anka, great research. You just need to walk around your own suburb and you can see that happening. I mean I walk up and down the dan and On Road end of Chapel Street and there's more empty shopfronts than there are ones that are open. Yeah, that's right, Steve.
But what the cafe and restaurant sector is really experiencing now is a perfect storm of factors and unfortunately all negative factors here in them. They've got high intrast rates, which is impacting consumer demand and discretionary spending. But at the same time, the utilities bills are increasing, their rents
are increasing, and their labor costs are increasing. So they've got costs increasing at the same time as demand is slowing, and that's really having a shocking impact in the rest of on a cafe sector.
At the moment, I think you you might be a little optimistic. I mean I'm not an economist like you, but I would have thought one in ten might be a good news story. I think it might be higher.
Well, it'll be you know, it'll vary across. This isn't Australian wide figure that we're giving here, and very you know, depending on whether you're looking at CBD or regional areas. We're actually seeing regional areas perform better than some CBD areas and inner city areas. Instent areas really stuff are because of high rents, whereas some of those areas and regional locations can can sort of get through this because their rents.
Some as high.
So you're right, like if you're walking downtown on Road in Chapel Street, you might see more than one in ten shops closing, your cafes and restaurants closing. Then you wouldn't say a regional area.
Well, you're in the in the once great city of Melbourne. I mean, part of the problem for these business is that we had the biggest lockdowns during COVID in twenty twenty twenty twenty one. The CBD as you'd know, and it could got hollowed out, and a lot of the businesses and particularly government departments where public servants work, they've not been forced to come back into the office. They're still allowed one or two days, maybe even three days
a week to work from home. And so those little cafes suddenly, you know, probably only got twenty or thirty percent of the business they had pre COVID.
Yeah.
Right, Melbourne's CBD has certainly seen less foot traffic come back in terms of office workers during the week. So what's happened is restaurants and cafes have seen just a structural change in the way their customers you know, shop at they'll enter their premises. So in Melbourne's CBDs you're talking about specifically, you'd have less traffic during the week, but at nighttime and weekends you'd be still quite busy.
But the problem is labor costs a lot more at nighttime and that weekend, so it sort of doesn't help your cash flow. You know, they're still experiencing a lot of pain because of that weekday trade is much lower than it was pre COVID.
Well, Anika, thank you very much for joining us. You're absolutely correct. Thanks for joining us tonight. I must say I was talking to a restaurant owner who owns a number of restaurants in Melbourne, and he's paying up to sixty seventy dollars an hour to his barista. You know, if you've got to pay all your wages on top of that, that makes it even worse. Don't forget live coverage of the Republican Convention tomorrow on Sky from seven in the morning. I think Donald Trump will probably speak
at around about eleven eleven thirty. That's when he'll speak. James Morrow in tonight for Paul Murray