Live on Sky News. This is Sharry.
Good evening. It's great to be back with you tonight.
A big thank you to Caleb, Denika and Steve Price.
For filling in over the past few weeks.
Well, let's start tonight with a massive deception on voters over the pivotal issue of President Joe Biden's mental acuity. White House advisors, journalists, and members of Congress are now in the spotlight for the protection racket over Biden's cognitive decline. The detail that's now emerging about Biden's incompetence during his time as leader of the free world is utterly breathtaking.
It's a matter of utmost public interest. What could be more important than the ability to think and function of the man who has the power to launch nuclear weapons. Yet, as more evidence emerges about his serious decline, the protection racket around him is being exposed. In October twenty twenty one, Biden was reportedly incoherent and rambling during an address to
Congressional Democrats. In fact, he was so inarticulate that he never met with the House Democratic Caucus again, according to The Wall Street Journal.
That was less than a year into his presidency.
Then in twenty twenty two, Biden lost his train of thought and began mumbling during a call about Ukraine with G seven world leaders.
The Wall Street Journal reports that.
He nearly hung up without giving Emmanuel Macron his say. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had to step in.
Now.
These world leaders all knew there was a problem with Biden, yet apparently kept its secret that the leader of the Free world.
Was struggling now.
This report also reveals that some cabinet secretaries only saw the president on a monthly basis. Some officials describe Biden as unusually removed from the rest of administration, or, as former administration official put it, not engaged in the hands
on business of governing. Well, what seems to be emerging is that it was Biden's team running the United States, not necessarily the president that voters elected, and Massachusetts Congressman as Seth Moulton said that Biden didn't recognize him at an event in June, despite their long friendship. Even Special Counsel Robert Hurr back in February described Biden as an
elderly man with a poor memory. And there are so many more examples, all emerging in outlets like the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.
But where were.
These investigative journalists a week ago, a month ago, or over the past three years, especially when it was obvious to any casual observer that Biden was in a state of sad decline thanks to clips like these that went viral.
I don't want to I don't want to well, I mean, choose my worries. I was just thinking, Uh, anyway, I just look, I mean Putin's Club Tarcher.
Yeah, it was in February February January, after I reading elected for late early February.
Yet the White House claimed that reports of his mental degradation were all fake.
News, instead of talking about the president's performance in office, and what I mean by that is his legislative wins, what he's been able to do for the American people across the country. We're seeing these deep figs, these manipulated videos.
And they got away with this blatant lie thanks to their allies in the media, who pretended there was no issue at all. They said Biden was sharp as attack and would run again.
President Biden, who I've been around numerous times just in this last year, is sharp.
He's focused, He's bright.
He is sharp, intensely probing and detail oriented and focused.
This is a man who is sharp, who is on top of his game, who knows what's going on.
He's smart, he's on his game.
For years, the political and media elite lied to the public about a matter of no less importance than the president's cognitive ability. This is an incredibly grave offense. And even as Biden was about to step down, his confidants were insisting he'd stay in the race.
This version of Biden, intellectually, analytically is the best Biden.
Ever, absolutely the presidents in this race. You've heard him say that time and time again, and I think we saw on display last night exactly why. Because Donald Trump is not going to offer anything new to the American people now.
Want to be crystal clear, He's made a decision, and that decision is to accept the nomination and run for reelection win reelection. And I think that there are those out there that need to hear it again that he made a decision. He's going to be the candidate, He's going to be the next president.
It's shocking how comfortably those in power mislead voters and when they're caught out as they have been this week, how they just explain it away. This all further erodes voter trust in the political establishment. Assistance that Biden was fine and the clips of him rambling were all fake news. Well, this is especially hard to swallow when even Jodge Clooney said Biden is not the man he knew a decade ago.
Yet Clooney too was happy to mislead voters just a month ago, fronting a Hollywood fundraiser that raised millions Or shouldn't he feel guilty about taking millions of dollars from donors for a man he knew wasn't up to the job. And the question that many commentators are now asking is if Joe Biden is not fit to run again, well,
what makes him fit to remain US president? According to senior advisor for Trump and Bush administrations, Christian Witten, well, he's not fit to remain in office now, and that full interview will play you. That clip is coming up in a moment, and the mystery surrounding Joe Biden only grows with the only sign of the president since his bombshell move to quit the presidential race just.
A phone call.
This is highly unusual behavior that phone call going into a Kamala Harris campaign event today. Then there's this suggestion from Biden himself and his aides, and even repeated by our own Prime Minister Anthony Albernizi, that Biden acted selflessly in the national interest in stepping aside from the race.
Well, his move is far from selfless.
Biden was hanging in saying that only God Almighty could stop him from running. Selfless would have been Biden announcing he wasn't going to run a year ago, not after the primaries were done and dusted, not after he'd deprived voters of a democratic process where potential nominees would face
thorough debates and interrogation. In fact, Biden only stepped back when forced to when the most powerful figures in the Democratic Party, Obama and Nancy Pelosi, intervened, threatening to remove him the hard way, whatever that means if he didn't go well. This says a lot about who really calls the shots in the United States, and as we've seen, it ain't the president.
Now.
The failure of the Secret Service was today laid bare in a grilling by the House Committee, but only more questions now arise around the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. We'll get to that later in the show. Plus, Kamala Harris shows up the broad support from her party, inching closer to becoming the official nominee, but many are asking whether she is up to the job. And Joe Biden snub to Benjamin Netanyahoo canceling their meeting after he'd already arrived in Washington.
You have to ask with friends like these.
Also on the show tonight, more painful polling numbers for Albinizi as Dutton Gain's popularity. Will break down the latest data later, and the world's first blood test that predicts the risk of heart attacks.
And even strokes in patients.
The lead Australian researcher behind this will join me later in the show.
This is amazing.
But now let's stick with the US politics and bring in tonight's panel former Speaker of the House Bronwyn Bishop and llenp Senator James McGrath. Welcome to you both. Great to see you, Ron Wind. Now let's look at what happened today. Joe Biden phoned into Kamala Harris's campaign event. This is the first time we heard from Joe Biden the voters haven't seen him.
This is the United States president. He's said in a.
Statement posted to his Twitter account that he wasn't running for the presidency yet, no event at all, even though the White House doctor says he is recovering well from COVID.
Don't you think this is quite unus usual? Brunwin?
That a phone call and he hasn't actually addressed the public, the voters, the people yet.
Yeah, it is distinctly odd.
However, he's about as relevant as yesterday's wrapping on the fish and chips. He's now past history. It's a new game in town. It's called Kamala kamala, if you like. But the problem is that there seems to be a reluctance to let go of the frailty of Biden.
He won't be seen again. He won't be there to.
Be in the way of her shining on the platform as he sets out as she, pardon me, sets out to be.
The winning candidate.
And so there has to be a whole new strategy, and it'll be a question of tying her to him as part of the conspiracy to cover.
Up what has gone on. But it's going to be very personal.
She's indicated already she's going to personally attack Donald Trump by saying I was a prospers, I know him. He's been convicted, so Trump has to be personal too, but it has to be tying it to policy. No compassion for women who can't put a food on the table of their family, or no compassion for the women who are attacked by the illegals who come across the border, tie her to a failure with that failure to protect the border, because.
It's the one thing that she was given the job to do. So it's a whole new ball game.
I mean, it's interesting, James, because the reason that was supposedly presented to Joe Biden is that the polling shows.
That he can't beat Trump.
Yet Kamala Harris is even more unpopular with voters.
So the question is.
Whether she would have a better chance of beating Trump, or whether there might be there might have been another Democratic candidate who the party could have found, who would offer voters a second option if they don't want to support Donald Trump, but that process seems to have gone past them.
Now voters have been deprived that option.
The Democratic Party is not living up to its name, is it. We've had twelve months of hide and seek where people are trying to find out who is who is the real President Biden, Yet he's been hidden from people, are hidden throughout the primaries, So we have an engineered process. And now it looks like the faceless men and the faceless women of the Democratic Party are effectively imposing the vice president on the Democrat Party as their preferred candidate.
We should be concerned about this, and I don't necessarily want to disagree with Bronwyn because it won't end well for me. But he is still going to be president for the next six months. And we've got a apricious rusher. We have communists China eyeing off Taiwan, and they're all looking at this weakened US president. This is very, very dangerous for a settled world order when we've got chaos in America.
It's a very good point because, as I just mentioned in my opening remarks, I mean the stories that are coming out now, the detail in the New York Times, in the Wall Street Journal about just how very senior advisors at the White House, close to the President, even senior Congress members knew about his incoherence, his a competence, how he'd lose his trail of thought in meetings. This is now all in the public domain. These leaks are happening.
All our enemies have never been more aggressive, not in decades. This is the most volatile global situation we're seeing with this axis of evil farming with China, Iran, North Korea and Russia and bronwin.
They're seeing that the president of the United.
States, if these reports are to believed, and why wouldn't they be, but like believe they're incredible media outlets that effectively he's a puppet.
Figure, absolutely, and has been for the last two years. I think we've seen Obama have his third term, and if he had his brothers, I think he'd like to put his wife in to have a fourth term.
But that's not going to happen.
It's going to be the current vice president. But everything you've said about the drastic rammifications of the world for the next six months have been true for the last last eighteen months. But the reality of it is is if there's to be a change, then Trump has to win. And Trump is to win, he has to realize he's no longer fighting Biden, He's fighting Camela.
Now.
The great mystery is why Donald Trump was nearly assassinated just a week ago. Well, the Secret Service head Carrie Cheatle, faced intense questions today over the shocking failure of security to protect the former president. Just two minutes before the first shot was fired, locals tried to alert police.
To the shooter's location.
It was such an a non as failure that the former president came within a whiskers breath of being assassinated.
Have a look why did the Secret Service not? Can you answer why the Secret Service didn't place a single agent on the roof.
We are still looking into the advanced process and the decisions.
That doesn't look like suspicious behavior.
That looks like threatening behavior to me.
And the rally wasn't pause at that point either, correct.
I can tell you, as I stated earlier, sir, that the moment that the shift surrounding the president were aware of an actual.
Threat, that's a threat right there.
I have no idea how my statement got out.
Well, that's have you provided all audio and video recordings in your possession to this committee as we asked on July fifteenth?
Yes? Or no?
I would have to get back to you.
That is a no.
You're full of today, you're just being completely dishonest.
It was intense and hostile questions. But the truth is that there was over half an hour period in which people on the ground raised the fact that there was someone suspicious, a potential shooter on the roof. They raised it with law enforcement. Law enforcement raised it with the Secret Service, and James what we saw today were frankly unacceptable, inadequate answers.
Totally unacceptable answers. And if you can't protect the former president and the presumptive Republican Party candidate, how can you help protect the free world? And this is a serious question to be posed to the American Security Services because it goes to the funding of the security detail around President Trump, and it also goes to actually what happened
on the day. And it's one of those cases where they need to have a very thorough inquiry, but you need to hasten slowly to make sure that it is thorough. But it has to be done in a timely manner. And as much as I love my American cousins and the questions that are asking of the director of the Secret Service, we've got to get to the truth of it and find out exactly what happened and ensure it does not happen again, and someone needs to be sacked or resign over those failings.
And it doesn't matter if people like Donald Trump or not very divisive politician, but it's irrelevant. The bottom line, Branwyn, is that you can't have a secret service that is incapable of protecting a former president and most likely the future president. I don't understand why heads haven't rolled already over this.
Well, the fact that no heads have rolled means that you start to feed conspiracy theories, I e. Why isn't she sacked so she knows something which you speak out
if she were, Why did she come to that? I mean, James and I have both seen witnesses come before Senate and House committees where the witness comes deliberately giving no information and you just have to keep probing and you get them back and back came back, and that that has to happen with her because they obviously know something that they're not sharing.
Well, they need to suppear subpoena documents, They need to seppit the entire computer systems, what our phone devices, They need to get.
To the bottom.
Absolutely, that's a long process, but it does beg the question people start saying, was there an inside job? Was there something malicious going on? Until you see the truth and can confront that sort of conspiracy, that's the sort of thing that starts to prevail.
Yeah, I mean, I mean the footage that has been shared widely on social media of people filming the shooter on the roof saying what's he doing?
And to know that the Secret Service were in that building and no one took any action.
The policeman came up and actually saw him.
Why do I which she needs to answer those questions about why there were those failings, And you're right, if those questions aren't answered, then the conspiracy theories will continue to grow. Now, just before we go, let's look at more low local topic a media topic.
Channel nine has spent over three hundred million.
Dollars on the rights to the Olympics, but its own coverage could be in jeopardy because, as the Cidney Morning Herald, owned by nine, reports, staff have threatened to go on strike if paid demands aren't met.
James.
Just today, the nine chief executive, Mike Sneezeby, was pictured carrying the Olympic torch in Paris. Yet he might may end up with only a handful of reporters to actually rely on for the coverage when they've spent the network over three hundred million dollars.
Well, I feel sorry for the shareholders of Channel nine who have allowed the management to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to get the Olympics coverage, and yet they've got a managing director who seems tone deaf at best. Are all incompetent that he's prepared to run along a French village with the Olympic flame, Yet everybody's about to
go on strike. I don't know what's seen in the water cooler on the executive boardroom at Channel nine or the nine network, but they need to do something pretty quickly and get that ship back in order.
James McGrath from and Bishop thank you both very much for joining me this evening.
Now after the break, is Joe Biden in hiding.
Questions mount over a bizarre phone call from the president as the Democratic favorite interest closer to becoming the nominee. A former advisor in the Trump and Bush.
Administrations will join me next.
Plus, Labor downplays early election rumors again as new polls reveal another blow to.
Albanis welcome back.
Well, as we've been discussing, it seems that Joe Biden has been in virtual hiding since he announced on his Twitter account that he wouldn't be running in.
The presidential race.
This has sparked questions about his willingness to drop out, and there's now a spotlight on Biden's health and what the Democrats and his close allies and none more than Kamala Harris did to cover up and mask his decline. Well, I spoke to former senior advisor in the Bush and Trump administrations, Christian Witten.
About all of this a bit earlier. Christin, thank you so much for your time.
We're seeing more details in newspaper reports of Biden's mental incoherence at meetings as far back as twenty twenty one, less than a year after he was elected president. Yet the White House claimed this was fake news and TV commentators covered up for him.
Do you think voters were seriously misled?
I think they were, although I think they've come to
expect this from a media that is very biased. Basically, this reelection, which has been cast as a rematch for some time, that a lot of the media, the left wing media in the United States, and all of the presidents enablers basically thought they had to do whatever was necessary to defeat Donald trump potential resurgence, and if that included misleading the people and also forestalling a competitive democratic nomination process that would have allowed voters to choose whether
or not Biden Democratic voters to choose whether or not Biden was senile or competent, that was all pushed aside.
I think voters are angry.
Yeah, that's such a good point.
There's no returning to the primaries, and Kamala Harris is now all but the nominee. It means there's no democratic process, no chance for delegates to have their say, and there's no opportunity for other potential nominees to come forward.
It is. It's a real railroading.
You'll notice that one voice that has held back so far as former President Obama.
Everyone else sort of among major figures.
Most other people have endorsed Harris, and I think Obama is just holding back in case there is any resistance to this coronation that's going to take place in under
a month at the Democrat convention in Chicago. So you know, really the Democrats ought to have had a conversation and a debate and a vote over the trajectory of their party, whether they're going to come back to the center, which is what labor just did in the United Kingdom and won, where they're going to stay where they are, which is economics that leads to out of control inflation, humiliation for the United States abroad, and a very woke, culturally activist
domestic policy, which is what they've ended up with without even having a vote Christian.
Why would the likes of Obama, Pelosi and others wait so long to turn on Biden. Wouldn't they have been better off giving the Democratic Party proper time to work out a successor.
I think they're terrified of what might happen.
You know, don't mean to be too quaint, but if you look at the end of the Soviet Union, when they went from what Brezhnev to Gramikos tou Chernenko, people who were clearly deep into their dotage, and it was this fear of what a reformer, of what a new fresh face might bring. Also means a loss of power for them, a loss of ability to put their people into powerful jobs or get lucrative campaign jobs that pay
that can pay for people. So given the choice of opening up a can of worms and a future that's uncertained, or going with someone they know and they frankly could control, they tried to go the method of control.
Joe Biden today phoned into Kamala Harris's campaign event, yet he hasn't appeared in person. There was just a statement released on his Twitter account. Do you find this behavior highly unusual for a president?
Very unusual for a president. He's not a young man, and he does have COVID. On the other hand, his own physician put in writing today for his press secretary that he's recovering very well, that all of his symptoms have pretty much cleared up, Which raises the question.
Why isn't he back in Washington?
Prime Minister Beton Benjamin Nott and Yahoo of Israel is coming and the two men don't like each other, but nonetheless we are too important allies and he should be in Washington to receive him in addition to his campaign duties. So I think probably Biden is very disappointed and very irritated at what's happened. He probably views this as a betrayal by those who are closest to him and the party.
We also saw the head of the Secret Service facing questioning today. Do you think she gave any adequate explanation over the major security failures that led to Trump almost being assassinated?
No, there are still way too many questions. The answers that have been given are duplicitus or misleading.
Saying that this was a sloped roof.
One of the Republican congressmen who's seventy years old, got up.
And was walking around the roof.
It's a very mild slope, and he joked that he could be up there all day. She said that the structure was outside of the perimeter. That's absurd to anyone who's ever fired a rifle, whether you're a good shot
or not. A huge breakdown, one of the most acrimonious hearings I've seen since the impeachment or the Iraq War on Capitol Hill, and it leads the question of what she's protecting, who she's covering up for, Whether there are messages between her and the Homeland Security Secretary who oversees her department that are, you know, say, don't give Trump adequate security. There's more than we're being allowed to see. I think the truth will come out, but it certainly hasn't come out so far.
Christian just finally, if Democratic donors' political advisors and members of Congress came to the conclusion that Joe Biden wasn't fit to serve another term as president, what.
Makes him fit to remain in the role now?
Really nothing does unless he could say, well, he's perfectly fit now, he just didn't, you know, couldn't handle another four years of the presidency. But he's not really saying that. And as we all saw on the stage, all of us, all of us around the world, America's friends and America's adversaries, he's clearly not someone who's competent to handle a crisis right now.
I think he thinks he has to stay president.
He's going to pardon his son and his brother and the rest of his family, but he can't do that until after the election, so he's not going anywhere. But I think it's it's probably an unwise choice for the nation security.
Kristin, thank you very much for your time.
Yeah, thanks my pleasure anytime.
All right, Well, come back to us politics a bit later on the show. But let's turn now to matters on the home front, and it has been a bruising month for Labor in the polls. News Poll showed the coalition up two points in primary vote support, and the latest Freshwater Strategy poll shows the coalition ahead of Albanesi's Labor government by fifty one to forty nine percent on a two.
Party preferred basis.
This is the first time Dutton is ahead of alban Ezi in this poll, and Freshwater Strategy director Leo Shanahan joins me.
Now, Leo, thank you very much for your time.
Well, just how significant is this result that Dutton's now ahead of alban Easy.
Yeah, thanks Sherian, welcome back, glad you did this as much news. Look, it is significant. Look, it's a milestone. It's not a milestone of overwhelming significance, given it still within that kind of margin of error, but it is still a milestone and it's one that the government wouldn't want to be seeing. And I wouldn't be surprised if it's pretty soon replicated in a couple of the other
major polls, including News Poll. Look, it does mean that on these numbers, and you should always say that swings are never consistent across seats. But if that was to be replicated in an election, the government would fall into minority status. Now, on those numbers, we would have the government, the Labor government full innked about seventy one seats and the coalition picking up about eight seats. So that would
mean puts them in a very awkward position. They would have to get the support of the MARS and or many of the Independence or a CATA or a Central Alliance soment remaining government.
Now, let's talk about the key issues that are causing Labor and albin Easy to lose support of the people. I mean, obviously the cost of living is the number one issue, but also you're seeing immigration and crime.
Yeah, look at these issues. Let's just look at some of these key issues. And it's it's really significant because if you look at what what pulses do is not just look at who's ahead and you know why governments. You want to look at why governments fall behind, why old positions are resurgent, and it's the issues on which
people place emphasis. Now, if you look at some of those key issues where labor is losing support, management of the economy, immigration and asylum, crime and social order, these have all risen in terms of importance in the gender of people's priorities, So that is significant to climb. But the key one there and the most significant is the cost and standard of living.
Consistently supplies to anyone watching.
This too, exactly consistently, the cost and standard of living is overwhelmingly the biggest priority, for the largest priority for Australians. If you look at you know our numbers have it by far and away seventy three percent. So it is cost and standard of living in terms of the most important issue and daylight second. Now, as you see in those graphs, the Coalition has opened up a twelve point lead over Albanese's Labor government in terms of cost and standards.
Just to explain that a bit, so voters or Australians at the moment think that Dutton would better be able to handle the cost of living crisis.
Than Albany's by a margin of twelve points. And not only that, it was Labor that had a lead of twelve points on the same issue back in twenty twenty two. So that is a twenty four point decrease in fall in Labour's ability to handle this issue.
And it's fascinating between voters because back in the.
Twenty twenty two election.
Everyone will remember that Albertezi went to the polls and his main campaign platform was that life would be more affordable. It was the cost of living crisis at the time. It was everything from petrol prices to the single interest rate rise.
That happened in the election campaign.
But you know, you fast forward a couple of years and life is far more unaffordable. Everything from grocery prices, petrol, power bills, everything's gone up and people are just struggling even more. And they probably look at the Prime Minister and they say, well, you promised this was your campaign platform. You promised to fix this, but it's just worse. So in effect he decided to own that issue.
He didn't have to.
And it's the key to the trend. It's the key to the trend. The trend is brutal against the government at the moment in terms of support in terms of both primary TPP. The other poles are showing it. And the key is really the ability to handle this cost of living issue. Because you said, they chose to own it. The budget sought to rectify that. To be frank, it
has not worked. And this is also why the alp government probably wants to go to another budget before the election to try and rectify that because the budget has fallen flat.
I mean, the reports just don't stop coming in the media about where the Labor would head.
To an early election.
But as you just said, Leo, the government does probably want to go to another budget first, and the Prime Minister has said very clearly he wants to serve out the full term. He wishes it was a four year term, not a three year term. So I just can't see, and I've spoken to insiders as well, but I just can't see any situation where he does go to the polls later this year.
Yeah, Look, the mechanics of it are increasingly difficult, I think to go to an early election. I thought there would be an early election, but I think the arithmetic is increasingly difficult. October is basically impossible. They're going to go to a September election. He has to call the election within the next couple of weeks. Do you really see an election being called in the next couple of weeks.
But once a rate cut, he wants to say that he's got on top of this cost of living crisis, and the only chime and there's not going to be a rate cut this year unfortunately, so the only chance is potentially in the first quarter next year.
Shanahan, great to have you with us. Thank you very much, Thanks very Now still to.
Come Joe Biden's eleventh hour snug of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin nettin Yahoo even after you're ready touchdown in Washington.
Plus, you won't.
Believe how much tax pay is bogged out for Stephen Miles private chats.
All of that coming up for the break welcome back.
Well.
Donations are flooding in for Kamala Harris, as seems inevitable the Vice President will become the Democrats presidential nominee, and she's now said to have secured enough delicate support.
But even with this.
Dream start, there's a monumental task for her ahead, and the question still remains, is she up to the top job and is the world prepared for four more years of this?
I am not here to replace your mother.
You have that one mother and I'm the second mother.
Mamala, Right, Mamala, you think.
You just fell out of a coconut tree.
You exist in the context.
Of all in which you live and what came before We are going to the border.
We've been to the border.
So this whole, this whole, this whole thing about the border.
We've been to the border.
We've been to the border. You haven't been to the border, and I haven't been to Europe.
Never forget that last interview, wasn't it shocking? We're joining me now to discuss SKY News host kayleb Bond and National's MP Keith Pitt. I mean, Keith, when you look at clips like this and then you've got Biden and then you've got Trump, well it makes you like in canbra look like professional politicians, like the world best?
Of course we're the best of the world. Charry, what else right I say? But like Kamala Harris, I think there's some big advantages and big disadvantages. And I think the first disadvantages I've barely heard of her. I really haven't heard much about her at all, really, But the advantage is she can completely she can completely remake herself between now on the election of November, she can put herself forward as pretty much anything. But as the leader
of the free world, you've got to be concerned. It's a really challenging period of time. There's challenges to the world order. The US plays such a big part in world security. Is this really the right choice for the United States? Well, I guess we'll find out.
No.
I have heard that been said over the past couple of days that a lot of Americans don't know her.
So she can now define who she is. I find that hard to.
Believe as a close observer of politics, but nonetheless that could be true. Cayleb But what about this other point. Many are saying that she was just a diversity pick as the VP, and that she doesn't have the substance to be president.
What do you think of those criticisms of her.
I think those criticisms are quite correct. I mean the idea that someone who was appointed and of course these decisions are often made when it comes to VP. You know, you want to fit a certain demographic or attract a certain vote. And she had the ethnicity and the woman factor right, which was good for a straight old white man who'd been in politics since he was twenty nine, like Joe Biden. But the idea that she could genuinely be president of the United States. I see Keith has
a Bunderberg Ginger Beer sitting behind him there. I'd be rushing to put a bit of bunderberg rum in that at that idea, because she is finally unburdened by what has been, as she likes to say, with Joe out of the way. But her polling has consistently been worse
than Joe Biden's, and that really is a feat. And we've made jokes for the better part of the four odd years that Joe's been present that you know, he's one sneeze away from carking it, and that if he does that, what we're going to end up with is worse than Joe Biden himself, which again is an extraordinary proposition. So for her to actually be a saleable politician to Americans, I just can't see it happening. But the trouble for the Dems is they don't really have anything else.
Well, they might have if they'd had a proper debate process and allowed candidates to emerge, to put the hand up and then be thoroughly tested on a range of issues.
Well correct. I feel like the real problem now though, is that after Trump being shot at, I mean, it's essentially a lay down mazaire for him, it would have to be someone extraordinary to beat Donald Trump, and if you put up a genuinely good candidate who perhaps isn't enough to beat him, you're essentially burning them four years earlier than you'd want to you'd want to go in twenty twenty eight.
The other way of looking at it is you're increasing their name recognition to give them a better chance next time. I mean, that's the optimistic way of looking at it. Increasing the name recognition. I mean, that's why Vivek Ramaswami run this time, to give him a better shot in the future. But Israeli Prime Minister Venture Nettiya, who touched down in Washington, DC today.
Only to be met with the news that his.
Meeting with Biden had been canceled as the as the current president still recovers from COVID. This is a snub, though, Keith Pitt, because the White House physician said that Biden's symptoms have all but cleared. There's been no news that the meeting has been rescheduled for later in the week.
We know they've got a very difficult relationship. In fact, the reports were that Joe Biden wanted to delay his announcement that he was stepping back from the race so that he wouldn't give Nettaya who the satisfaction.
That's unbelievable given.
The US is meant to be Israel's closest and firmest ally.
It is really concerning Shari. I mean, I remember very clearly the COVID period here when we were in government, and you know, you could have a face to face meeting if you lock up in quarantine and you're unwell. But there was lots of things that we had to do,
even though we were quite six. But I remember doing a live speech into the Northern Territory Energy Club in Darwin, hundreds of people attending on an iPad on top of the ironing board in my apartment in canber and with a light shine on my face, I terribly had well. But the idea that you can't even do that, I mean,
that is really concerning. The US has been very vocal about their support, as they should be, that they are backing an outcome in Israel which should ensure that there are no further terrorist attacks, and I think that's something that we should all support. But the idea that they're playing games with Netanyahu in country, I think that's a high risk endeavor.
Yeah, incredibly rude especially to an Ala. Fine, if he's not well enough, or he might still have symptoms, maybe he doesn't want to get Natiya who sick postpone it say, yep, we've had to counsel it.
Cheezy a friend call exactly well, but.
He's already in the United States, is they he's in Washington. Let's turn to Queensland. Premier Stephen Miles is now under scrutiny for taking two jets during his five day crime policy tour. Caleb, what has these politicians obsession with private planes?
I know, and it's been worked out that they could well have taken commercial flights on every single one of those routes, with the times lining up almost exactly to the times that these private planes took off, and they went all up regional Queensland and whatever and all they had to do to get I mean, they took two plants, right, they could have had it down to one plane if they'd simply booted one or two staffers off and made them fly commercial. They should all have been flying commercial
in the first place. But all it would have taken is to put two people on a commercial flight and you would have have the cost which by the way. We still have not been told to go on this you know, magical mystery tour to go and tell Queensland is how a you're going to fix the youth crime crisis that you haven't been able to fix for the last four years.
It is a lot than that.
Yeah, yeah, well, but it is an absolute outrage and the fact that no one, be it Miles or any of his advisors. I wonder, coming into an election year, what people will think and a cost of living crisis, that we spend money on two private plans to go and lecture people in regional Queensland about how we're finally going to fix the youth crime crisis. How will people look at that? No one thought about that?
Just extraordinary Keith Pitt, you're obviously a politician. We've seen this same trend of private jet use by Anthony Alberizi and Labor taking two private jets to a climate change sustainability announcement. You know, is there something that afflicts both sides of politics? Do you think when you guys are back in government, maybe you shouldn't use the private jets.
Shari.
It's a big country and one of the things you've got a great shortage of in politics's time, so that there are always times when it is actually the smart move. If you're the Prime Minister and leader of the opposition, there are genuine reasons to do it. But I think Steven Miles they should change his nickname from Giggles to Stevie.
Two planes.
I think mister.
Bonds hit it right on the head. It was a silly, silly thing to do in an election year. It could have been easily avoided. And it's not like he has a shortage of staff. He could have shed any number. He's got dozens and dozens of them that could have gone on a commercial flight, met them there on site, used the advances and cut it back to one plane and Bob's your uncle. You can probably make the case and make the argument, but it doesn't help a single
person that had their cast ale on this week. It doesn't help a single person who had their homebreaken into, It doesn't address youth crime, and it just makes queenless Anne Labor once again look foolish and uncaring about what the cost of living is for every single Queensland.
I think that's the problem, kayl We ain't a quest of living. Christ families are struggling to just literally provide food, clothing, basic amenities for their children, parents, for their families, even at the cost of going to school, uniforms.
Textbooks, etc.
And yet you see these politicians taking private jets when there are commercial flights available, as you say, and.
You know, the issue is they forget what it's like.
And anyone who has caught an interstate flight lately knows.
That half the time it's canceled. It doesn't matter which our line it is.
Whether it's virgin orquite as they count half the time they counceled half the time.
And they're so expensive.
Yeah, yeah, they are. I mean I flew down to Melbourne and back on the weekend and the price is probably twice what it was two years ago. And I know that was coming out of COVID and they really wanted people to take flights. But the prices aren't going down. But where's the accountability here? I mean, you know, our friend Bronwin Bishop, who was on this panel earlier, of course many years ago, got caught using a private helicops.
The cost of that helicopter was five grand, which she repaid and she paid for doing that with her speakership. She lost her speakership ultimately didn't matter. The multiple times that we have seen since then politicians do things like this, people like Monique Ryan flying from Melbourne to Canberra business class every week, which is less than an hour's flight. You don't need to do that. Have we seen a single one of these people like Miles pay with their job or or any consequences.
She is actually worse than that, because we've seen a grandmother in Perth bashed because of the incompetence of Andrew Giles and the government. A reason that should actually have seen someone be stacked. Sack should actually have led to minister all accountability, but you just don't get it under this government because the Prime Minister thinks it's a sign of strength not to sack ministers rather than holding them
accountable and up to a high standard. Well, Keith and Caleb, thank you both very much for joining me to Night.
After the Break.
A revolutionary blood test that can deduct heart attacks and strokes and patients has been developed right here in Australia. I'll be joined by the lead researcher live next. Welcome back, Well Melbourne scientists have developed a revolutionary new blood test set to save lives by predicting the risk of heart attacks and strokes. And I'm pleased to say the head of metabolomics Laboratory at the Baker Institute, Professor Peter Mikkel,
joins me. Now, Professor, this sounds remarkable. How does it actually work.
So the technology that we're using Sharhi is a process called lipidomics, and so what that allows us to do is take the same blood sample that you would normally give for a cholesterol test or that type of thing, but we measure about two hundred and fifty different lipid species within that single blood sample, and then we use an AI based algorithm to combine all the information from those different lipid species into a risk score that's then better able to predict cardiovascular risk.
And is it accurate? Have you been able to determine whether it can in fact accurately predict whether someone is likely to have a heart attack or a stroke.
Yeah.
Look, so the way that this will work is we won't be replacing the existing tests. So there's already a heart health check and the part Foundation has just released an no CVD risk score, will be utilizing that. But what we'll be doing is the current test that classify people is either low, intermediate or high risk. And those people that are intermediate, so neither low nor high, that
presents a clinical challenge. And so what we'll be doing is retesting those intermediate risk people and then reclassifying a portion of those which contain most of the individuals who go on to have a cardiovascular event into that high risk group. And so of course then they can be effectively treated.
And so how will this work? How soon will it be available to people? Is it something that anyone could go to their doctor, their GP to get this blood test?
Now, So, look, what we've done is we've developed the test, We've validated the test in large population cohorts. But we now need to do a clinical trial with this test. So this is going to take about two years, and we'll be starting this next year. So once that's done, at the same time, we'll be developing the clinical platform so that we'll be ready to roll this out to the public probably about the end of twenty six And so.
If someone is in that intermediary range and they are told that they could actually be at high risk of heart attack, what steps would they then need to take to lower that risk? And is it something they then have a repeat test, say once a year.
So typically if you're classified as high risk, then you'd go on a statin therapy. So to lower your cholesterol, you'd go on a blood pressure medication if your blood pressure was high. They're the two mainline treatments for cardiovascular risk, but of course there are other types of blood cholesterol lowering medication that are used in some instances. The idea is that yes, you would have a repeat test and that might be yearly or every second year.
Look it sounds amazing, and look good luck with the clinical trial. And thank you very much for explaining it all to us tonight. Thank you, professor, and it's great to be back. Great to see you all this evening. I'll see you tomorrow at eight o'clock. And right now, here's Paul Murray.