On Sydney Now you can't handle the truth.
The straight shint, our straight shootor on a Thursday afternoon is the former Minister in New South Wales and the coalition government, David Elliott, longtime Liberal Party members, so he can give us an insight and exactly what's going on.
In the Liberal Party at the moment. Hello David, Hello Clinton. Alan Stockdale.
Well, if I had to write an episode of Yes Minister dedicated to how you'd send the political party into implosion mode, I'd probably include two entitled geriatrics from another state, and that's exactly what we've got at the moment. And Allan has actually done something that many in the Liberal Party have been trying to do for decades, and he's united everybody, but they've all been united to oppose his role in the restructure of the party.
So it's been very well reported now in the past twenty four hours. We brought your news yesterday about the comments that he made a tele conferences to a women's council meeting. Completely can't read the room clearly onl On Stockdale, but just for a bit of background because some people aren't quite aware of what's going on here, Alan Stockdale and Richard Austen former how a government minister had along with Peter Seaton, had been appointed to try and sort
out the Liberal Party rewrite the constitution Eastern Victoria. He's not from New South Wales.
That's right. There was and there was probably a good reason for Peter Dutton the stepien, particularly after the devaka with the local government campaign, and there was a you know, and it was the party does have some issues when it comes to fashionalism. But I must say, when we're looking at the demographic that we have to now appeal to, and looking at the demographic that is represented in that three person committee, you have to ask yourself if we're singing from the right song sheet.
And I think.
If I was, if I was Alan Stockdale, i'd resigned today. And I think that there should be people in the Liberal Party calling for him to resign because he's put us, he's put the party reputation in disrepute.
Yes, it was a jake.
We've all made stupid Jack's goodness, I'm king of Stupid Jackson. But you know, when you've got this issue with being so sensitive and you've got that's the issue of demographics and of representation, and you've got a person that doesn't really understand politics in this city, let alone this state. I think it's proof positive that that that the reform that he's going to be trying to bring in will be probably just knocked on the head out of spite.
So his term was to end, I think at the end of this month June, and they're seeking extension because they actually haven't finished rewriting the constitution.
Yeah.
Well, I mean nobody has seen a draft version of that. I hoping that Mark Spietman and Susan Lee have seen a draft. But nobody's saying that we didn't need to have federal intervention. We certainly did need to have federal intervention. But I think we got it wrong when we when we picked, when we picked a couple of old blokes from Victoria, I mean, I can't imagine going down to Victoria or South Australia and giving them instruction about how to do politics.
Just couldn't imagine it.
And this is all the same day it was revealed in the weapon, it was revealed yesterday, and the same day that the AEC declares that the Liberals have lost another Blue Ribbon Sea.
That's exactly right.
I mean, and this is an issue while we're talking about quotas, which I don't agree with, but we're talking about diversity in while we're talking about who is our new constituency. Well, yesterday was proof positive. Our new constituency are working people from the outer suburbs.
That's all we got.
We've got Lindsay, We've got Barrera, We've got Mitchell, and we've got Cook.
That's it.
So if you're wanting to find out in this town, particularly who our demographic is, it is Lowell, middle class tradees and and families that live in those out of perimeter areas. And now we've got to build on that. We can't lose them. And that's exactly what we're doing.
A lot of people because they tell me in that demographic bi legal cigarettes.
And they've been telling me now for the last year.
The Reeks, I've been banging on about this for a long time now, but they've been telling me about this for the last year.
There's a simple reason they do.
They're law abiding citizens usually, but the reason they're doing is because the price differential.
Is so bad.
I took my hat off to Chris Mins this week for becoming really the first politician to actually argue against the excise or that the level of it.
Well, and all power to Chris and I think I'm seeing him next week and I'm going to give him a wrap for this because ten years ago, when I was first made minister and the Justice portfolio, as the tobacco industry came and spoke to me and they said, listen, this chop chop is bad news. It is going to
forfeit the taxpayer. It's rightful excise, Okay, that's a good consideration, but it's going to be used to do everything from funding counter terrorism organizations to money laundering everything that the tobacco industry and you can say what you like about them, but they did their work on this particular brief. Everything that they told me was going to occur has now occurred in the last couple of years, and I think that mean this is in the right space to push the envelope on this.
He is dead right.
This is this is prohibition all over again. And the criminals, like they did in the nineteen thirties in the United States and now using tobacco, particularly the cost and the illability for people to afford tobacco. They're using that as low hanging fruit when it comes to funding their operations, and I think it just goes to show how disengaged Canberra is for their just immediately dismissing Chris on this.
And I also think that it should be bipartisan. I'd like to see the opposition jumping up and down about this as well the new stuff I was opposition. I think I think Mark Speakman should be getting on this issue and making sure that the Premier has as the maximum amount of politically a cover that it can get.
Jim Chalmers shot it down pretty quickly though. Does it help in practice because you're in power when there was a liberal government, a coalition government power in Canberra? Does it help when there's a labor government? Canbra a labor government in New South Wales to negotia on these sort of things.
You know what, I never really found it. I had just as good a relationship with Catherine King when I was Transport Minister as I did with the federal Liberal Transport Minsisi is that's the beauty about Australian politics. We actually have personal relationships on both sides and it's important that there's a bit of a level of trust there.
Charts I thought it was quite bizarre him just basically immediately dismissing it, because clearly when the Treasurer is dismissing something, it means that he's worried about the bottom line.
Well, I was coming down though.
That's exactly right, and this is this is what I could. I don't think he understood exactly what the Premier was trying to highlight the fact that there we are forfeiting exercise by the illegal tobacco.
You're also, by.
The way treasurer are potentially aiding money laundering and criminal activity. So if your argument is, oh, well I can't afford it, well you can't afford not to.
This new south Well's health that has the job of And I spoke to an inspector at length off air this week and he went to chapter in verse how it all works, and he does his best, but he concedes it's just simply not enough of them. Chris Mins is indicated that might need to move responsibility to the police. When you were a police minister, had police express concerns about the growing market?
No?
Not. The irony is that I had my eye on this issue as the counter terrorism Minister, not necessarily as the Police Minister, and for those reasons because it was
very much a health in the health jurisdiction. But I think when you're looking at the element the type of people that are benefiting and profiting from a legal tobacco, then it does become a police matter because not only is it important for the police, who there's fourteen fifteen thousand of them out there, so they certainly have the ability to run an operation, an ongoing operation, or to maintain compliance, but also they know what to look out for when it comes to a legal activity and people
that have got unexplained wealth, they know what to look out for. A Department of Health inspector is not going to then have suspicion that the bloke that's selling illegal cigarettes also has a maserati and his wife's full of plastic because she's had public she's had plastic surgery, you know, three times last week, and the kids are all driving sports cars. That's that's not something that a health inspector would be trying to look out.
Police can police can do that. King's birthday, not the Queen's birthday, The King's birthday long weekend this weekend. Have you met the King?
I have, I have and in fact it's also my birthday. Thanks for thanks for mentioning that you can get the point always probably the reason why from a very young age I was a staunch monarchist because I was scared they were going to take away my birthday holiday. Yeah, tomorrow's column, I'm dedicating to the Royal family, nine of them who I've met, and I'm talking about my personal experiences.
Which one do you think i'd want next to me in a pub brawl, in a brawl, in a pub brawl, not just not a rugby pub brawl.
How does Prince Andrew go?
He doesn't get him. I've never met him, and I'm glad. You know, I got enough schemeal in my life to worry about somebody.
Case. Well, look he's he's married into the royal family. I'll go. Mike Tindall, the former rugby player.
The only one that's married in uh that's mentioned that I've met, and I'm I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm going to be brutal with her.
Is Megan Markle?
Yeah, yeah, Well I hosted the Invictors Games, of course, and so I had a febit to do with it.
Harry's baby yeah.
Yes, So in the three different jobs I've had as a member of Palmer's, an army officer and with my involvement with Sint John Ambulance, I've met nine of them in that capacity. One of them gets two mentions because this person I think changed after a certain event happened in their life.
Who's that? So? Who would you want next to in a pub? Braugh? So, okay, it's not Andrew.
Although I did see some vision of Megan Markle dancing around while she was pregnant today that that's been released as Harry Fort.
No, Harry, I think really can because he was he was a I told you, But no, he's not the one that i'd want.
Next to me in a pub. We'll have to read tomorrow.
I have to read tomorrow, and I'd be very keen to get your feedback.
David Elliott in the Telegraph. Thank you mate, Thank you David Elliott