Welcome to the late Plase.
Good evening and thanks for joining us.
I'm James Macpherson, with Liz Storer and Caleb Bond coming up tonight. A school teacher receives compensation after being sacked for having an untidy desk. I live in Liza, both quickly shuffling their papers on to make sure they'll retain their jobs at Sky News.
How have I not been sacked already?
When I worked at the TiSER, they used to have to come along and literally take piles of paper off my debts because quote unquote in a newspaper newsroom it was a fire hazard.
There you go.
Well, we'll get to that and other stories like it a little later. Plus, when we look at what's making news tomorrow, a report on how many Australians are traveling overseas to select the gender of their baby, something that's illegal here in Australia. And on the front page of Tomorrow's Australian newspaper all the information about the Liberal leadership vote.
All of that coming up shortly.
But first, if you thought net zero was an absolutely crazy idea, we'll wait until you hear what Twiggy Forest's latest green fantasy is the Australian billionaire reckons net zero is for WIMPs. He wants what he's calling real zero, which calls for a complete ban on all fossil fuels from twenty forty. He told the Sidney Morning Herald today, I believe net zero is an effing con Real zero
is serious. Just stop burning fossil fuels. You'll get rid of climate change because so much swings off that, and you'll lower your cost of living and increase your standard of living. And by the way, every politician knows that's what they're there for. This is the kind of statement that would make even Adam Bant blush. Fossil fuels gone completely within just fifteen years, running the whole world of
breezy days and sunbeams. The problem, of course, Liz and Caleb, is that to make wind turbines and solar panels you actually need fossil fuels.
This is not zero, real zero. This is just real stupid.
I mean, I can't believe it. He's cracked the code. You know, eight billion people on the face of the planet, and the only person who's thought, yes, the answer here is to just turn off.
All the fossil fuels is tweety forest.
He's worked it out, well done, twigging. There may well be a reason that you're the only bloke who's running around talking about real zero.
Because it would do the exact opposite of what you say. I mean, he says it would have a decreased cost of living. I mean, where on Earth does he get that from?
Yes, what will turn off all the coal and will turn off all the gas, and then the lights won't be able to Actually, he's right, Sorry, I've worked out he is right. There will be a lower cost of living because you won't be able to turn the lights on because there won't be enough power, and so your power bills will go down dramatically. That's the only way I can possibly see. And your gas bill, of course,
because that'll be outlawed too. It's the only way I can possibly see that he could argue that this would result in a reduced cost of living, and the idea that it would just, you know, magically save the planet overnight. You know everyone's going to buy an electric car. How does that go for your cost of living? Et cetera, et cetera. It's all good and well when you're one of the richest blokes in Australia to run around saying, well, just turn off the fossil fuels and that'll fix the world.
You can well afford it, but the rest of us can't. That's always been the problem with net zero, let alone real zero, which he says, but he reckons this is great for business.
I mean, he says, everyone else is pulling out.
Of these renewable projects in green hydrogen, which he has also pulled out of, by the way, he was all about it, but.
He says this is great.
No one else is doing it, so I'm just hoovering up all the business and making lots of money. I mean, if you're making money, good for you. But you can't tell me that the rest of us are going to be better off with real zero.
And how does he figure that that could be remotely possible by twenty forty when we're failing every single twenty thirty times. Anyone set here in Australia with all the experts, especially the energy companies, up in arms saying, look, we're just not going to get there. Okay, it's not feasible. Can someone remind this guy. I appreciate the passion. I appreciate that he had a near death experience in twenty sixteen which he had his Road to Damascus experience and
emerged from that this green zealot. But can someone remind him Australia is responsible for one point three percent of global emissions, so it really doesn't matter what we do, even if we do go back to living in caves, and for as long as Trump is in office, which is going to be a while yet. And America, one of the top three emitters in the world, isn't participating in the Paris Accords. We also know China and India, the top two biggest emitters, could not give a flying
rip about emissions. All of this is porky pies. All of this is absolute nonsense. Like I say, appreciate the guy's passion, and maybe if I owned a company that was worth fifty billion dollars, I too could have the time and passion to pour into a pet project. But when you're talking about the guy that has his fingers in this many Australian pies and the real world consequences of what he's talking about, it's just laughable.
And this business about just turn off the fossil fuels, don't use them at all, and there's an idea built into that that most people want to turn off the fossil fuels, that they'd be quite happy to do away with it. But we see time and again that that's simply not the case. I mean, you look at electric vehicles for instance, which of course the Labor Party told us before they won the election in twenty twenty two, we're going to make up eighty nine percent of all
vehicle new vehicle sales by twenty thirty. The federal transport departments now revise them back to twenty seven percent, which is a hell of a discrepancy. But at the end of the federal government took off the subsidy that they were applying to plug in hybrid vehicles, and that had actually been one of the fastest growing markets of electric vehicles, and all of a sudden, the sales of plug in hybrids had last month in April because the subsidy doesn't
exist anymore. So people, when they're given the choice without any government interference, will continue to buy the product that uses fossil fuels. There's no great desire amongst people to walk away from fossil fuels. They'll only do it if the government gives them a dirty wad of cash in their hand in order to do so.
Well. I'll tell you who won't walk away from fossil fuels. You mentioned them. This is the Chinese.
So can you imagine within fifteen years no fossil fuels used in Australia. But the Chinese, meanwhile, are going from strength to strength. Talk about a way to not only bankrupt your country, but to make it completely defenseless. But Tweini going from net zero to real zero. You mentioned a green hydrogen. He believed that would be a super fuel of the future, but he's failed with that. This is typical of those who espouse the green dream. The
more it fails, the harder they double down. You know that the Albanezy government's answer to the increasing cost of electricity is more renewables. So the worse it gets, the more they double down on their mistakes. That's exactly what Twiggy is doing. But I guess he can afford to so good?
Well can he afford to?
Because we know that Trump is looking to ban those green energy tax credits that Biden came up with.
He says that's boguus.
It just allows companies to keep burning fossil fuels while patting themselves.
On the back for saving the planet and doing such a great job.
He reckons he's just gonna I don't know, sweet talk Trump around, but I do not see that happening.
By the president who got elected.
On a drill baby, drill platform, and he means business to South Australia now, where parents that whose children attend a private Catholic school in South Australia have been very very angered, rightly so, and extremely disappointed in their school when a recent sports day revealed a boy was completing against their girls. It's a thirteen year old transstudent who absolutely came first in both running, high jump, javelin discus, beat records some of which were up to thirty years old.
So the parents are naturally saying, excuse me, this happened last year with the same student. Our daughters are losing to this biological boy. Why are you allowing this to happen. But once again, Catholic parents and Christians across Australia, you can't count on the government to back in basic biology. Here's what the Education Minister, Blair Boyer in South Australia had to say.
He said, I can see that they are angry.
But what I would say to them is the minister, I say to all our schools, I want them to be places where everybody feels welcome. And what can you expect from a government that has enshrined in law a denial.
Of basic biology.
This is the South Australian Departments of Education policy.
It reads the goal of full.
Participation by gender diverse children and young people in all types of sport. Activity includes participation in competitive sport.
All children and young people.
Must be supported to participate in events that align with their gender identity. This includes all sport run by schools, including inter school competitions and school sports South Australia.
So what is the school supposed to do.
It's got all these rightly angry parents on their hands and the poor schools just.
Saying, look, this is the law. We have to do what the law.
States, and that is to allow this boy to compete and beat all of your daughters. This once again, every time this comes up, it does my absolute head in because once you've changed the law to profer feelings over facts, all of the schools hands are tied, and rightly so. These Catholic parents who pay top dollar to send their child to a private school in the.
Hopes that they won't be exposed to this kind of gender ideology.
They're angry, the school's helpless, and the politicians just give off these one liners of we understand you're angry, but we don't care.
We don't care, or the Education minister with that statement, I can see that parents are angry. The question I would ask is, so why do you think, minister, that parents are angry? Any idea as to why they might be upset? And parents, by all reports, are ropable, not only because their daughters are being unfairly disadvantage on the sport field, but the very reason they sent their kids to a Catholic school was to avoid much of the nonsense that goes on in the public system, only to
find the Catholic school can't protect their kids either. They put the concerns for one child above all the other kids. That's the first mistake. The second mistake is they're going to destroy girls' sports. How many of these kids will be back on the athletics track next year having learned there's no point competing because there's a kid who obviously has an unfair advantage being of a different gender is going to destroy them all over again, so girls will
just quit playing sport again. You're starting to normalize a falsehood. You're teaching children this gender ideology, theory that there are numerous genders, that genders are interchangeable. But the worst thing I think about this is you're undermining the goodwill of good people towards a kid who I presume has gender dysphoria. According to the news reports, many of the parents were at pains to tell the journalist, we don't want to see this boy abused. We don't want to see this
boy ostracized. It's not about this boy and making an example of him. It's about fairness for our daughters. But when you ignore basic biology and fairness, then you drive parents to getting really upset, and whatever good will they had towards this student threatens to be undermined. So you're doing the young boy with gender dysphoria a disservice by allowing him to participate in girls sports.
And surely fairness is the number one.
Issue here and it always safety, it always has been right.
So this is not legislation that should be noted.
It's departmental policy which could change at any time, and I would have thought, as a Catholic school, you don't have to follow departmental policy because you're not operated by the Department of Education.
You can do whatever the hell you want. And they've still made the choice to do this. But the policy itself, which is.
What the minister has backed in and I thought Blair Boy was smarter than this.
But the idea that the number but one thing.
Is inclusion, well to that, I would say, and I understand that the goal, which is to not ostracize any.
Particular student on board with that.
But I would say, if you had a student who was in a wheelchair and he said that he wanted to compete in the cricket team, do you think they would change the composition of the sport in order to accommodate one child in a wheelchair in the cricket team. Probably not, because he can't bat, he can't bowl, and he'd find it very difficult to field.
And so you say, well, sorry, there are.
Just some things that you can't do because of a physical position you are in.
And surely we can also say that to a child with gender dysphoria.
If you identify as a girl, that is fine, and we'll support you whatever, But you can't compete as a girl in the school sports because it's not fair to the biological girls in the school and it's not safe on a physical level, particularly once you've gone through puberty for the girls to be competing against. You just have to accept that sometimes those things aren't available to you because there is something different about you. I don't think
that's to exclude someone. It's not to say that they are lesser than It's just to acknowledge an obvious truth. And of course it's the same in the military, right I mean I wouldn't qualify. I mean, the rules may be different these days.
I don't know.
They may have loosened them because they're just so desperate to get people in. But once upon a time I would not qualify for the military because I have problems with my left leg. It's shorter than my right leg, and my foots bung and all this sort of stuff. So once upon a time they say, no, you cannot participate in the military because you are not a fit and able person to go out onto the battlefield.
And they're going through.
This discussion in the US again with transgender people at the moment, and you know that Trump said when he came to power again that he would get rid of transgender people in the military.
And the day is ticking down.
June sixth is the day that they will all be booted out. And the Defeend Secretary pa Hexith has said, look, you have the opportunity to leave now if you want, but if you don't on June sixth, we will remove you.
Here he is talking about this policy.
We are leaving warkness and weakness behind. No more pronouns, no more climate change obsession, no more emergency vaccine mandates.
No more dudes in dresses. We're done with that.
We're focused on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards, and readiness.
And of course all the usual suspects have come out and said it's discriminatory and how dare you and it's shameful and all this other stuff.
But I'll make the same.
Point as I made just before about a transgender child competing in sport as a girl who is obviously a boy. If you are a transgender person, you know, maybe they're off jobs. You can compete a complete sorry within the military. But if you're a transgender you have suffered from or are suffering from a mental disorder, which is gender dysphoria. It's in the DSM. It is a diagnosable mental illness. Now we have ways we say we can treat that.
It's the only mental illness on the face of the earth where we actually lean into what is the problem to say we can then treat it. You're a person who is fundamentally, whether you like it or not, suffering with a mental battle, and so on that basis, it's not unfair to say that you're not a fit and proper person to serve in the military, just as you would say to someone who's got a gammy leg that they're not a fit and proper person to serve in
the military. You want your best and brightest and certainly people you don't have to worry too much about when they're on the front line serving in the military. And if you've got someone who is being treated for a mental illness and they are transgender or any other mental illness for that matter, they're not what the sort of person you want on the front lines, because they are a liability and a risk.
It's as simple as that.
Beyond that, there's the ongoing requirement of medication, especially once
they've transitioned to sustain that. And furthermore, Donald Trump pointed out that if you've got a group of people men asserting to be women and then requiring everybody else to honor that his words, falsehood, then you're lacking the humility and selflessness that is required to be part of the military, where you're literally willing to lay down your life, not demanding that other people use the correct pronouns for you on the battlefield.
It's interesting.
Andrew Hastiback in twenty seventeen, of course he's the opposition defense spokesperson. He pointed out that the reason he left the military was he was sick of social engineering. And of course we have difficulty now recruiting people for the military, he says, that's the reason he left. He quoted figures saying that Australian taxpayers had spent a million dollars on helping military person and l to transition to the opposite gender.
Is about twenty seven people over the five years up to twenty seventeen, he said, and this continues in the Australian military. So while the US military have said we're not doing this anymore, we're focused on one thing lethality.
The Australian military last year had an International Day against homophobia by biphobia wherever it is, bisexual phobia whatever the word is for that, and transphobia, and they had a big article on the ADF website with a transgendered person who's serving in the military saying getting a transition is the best thing that ever.
Happened in my life.
And so you've got two very different approaches to this issue between Australia and our main military ally the US.
Well, Trump knows that in these tenuous geopolitical times, you need a weaponized military, and that's what he and Heg Saith, who's the Defense Secretary now in the Trump administration, have repeatedly said, we're returning to Mission first principles.
And this is that.
Just last week they ordered the Pentagon to order that all their bases, all their military schools, all their military academies, review their libraries and get rid of all books that involve LGBTIQ matters, as well as any books and literature exploring racial identity. They have absolutely had it with this.
Kind of stuff.
One of my favorite Hegseth quotes, he said earlier this year, he said, our diversity is our strength is the single dumbest phrase in military history, because, of course, when you're talking military, only one thing matters, and that is, as you say, the best and the brightest are on the front lines. It doesn't matter whether they're operating drones, it doesn't matter if they've got guns in their hands, it
doesn't matter if they're peacekeepers on the ground. You want people that you can rely on in all circumstances and are in no way going to be a liability to to the Dean.
It's interesting the changing perceptions on this.
Back in twenty nineteen, a Gallop poll found seventy one percent of Americans had no problem with transgendered people in the military. As of February this year, that seventy one percent has fallen to fifty eight percent, so more Americans are becoming persuaded that it's not the place for transgendered people in the military. But regardless of that, you don't do a poll to work out who should serve on
the front line of your military. You talk to your military people and say what's the best way to protect the country and.
Just do that whatever it is.
Speaking of Poles, Anthony Albanesi, of course won the pole and is now getting his front bench in order. They'll be sworn in tomorrow morning at nine o'clock. So he've got two big news events tomorrow, the swearing in of the Labor government's front bench and of course the Liberal Party selecting.
A new leader.
Anthi Albanzi has made some big changes, although at least that's what the newspaper headline says. Albanzi makes big changes to the front bench. I'm not so sure Anthe Albanizi makes the changes as the fact.
It's funny, isn't it.
The Labor Party, they get into government and then you work out it's actually decided there by quotas for men and women from the left, from the right, from Victoria, from New South Wales.
It's very very democratic.
Anyway, Anti alban Ezi reckons he's got the best people selected for the front bench.
I've changed to arranger portfolios around.
I've got people.
Who are I think, in the best positions.
That's what happens.
And just as there are new members entering the cabinet, there were new members last year as well, so there's.
A couple of interesting changes that have been talking points today. Tanya Plebisec of course, has been moved from the environment portfolio to Social Services, which most people have been saying today is an absolute coulder sack. It's funny, Liz, because Tannya Plebersec is regarded as one of the smartest people in the labor government. But how smart are you if you go around boasting that if you'd stood for the
leadership against Ante Albanzi, you would have won. Consequence, she finds herself now in Social services writing checks for welfare. Another interesting one, of course, is Chris Bowen keeps his Energy Ministry portfolio, which is why I'll be down shopping at what's that store called Dusk where you buy the candles.
I'll be down there tomorrow.
Mark Butler gets not only health but the NDS and caleber I reckon. That's an interesting one because I would have thought the NDIS is so cumbersome and in so in need of reform. Can you really do health and NDIS or should they have someone specialized to deal with that one? And I would love to know what you think about Michelle Roland as the Attorney General.
It's funny you should ask games, because yes, I have some thoughts.
I mean, talk about failing upwards. So I mean she was an abject.
Failure as Communications minister, you know, because she pushed the miss and Disinformation Billain we dislike her for that, but that was an abject failure. I mean they pulled the legislation because they knew it wouldn't get over the line, right, So who one big piece, you know, a bit like albow and the voice.
Her one great.
Achievement that she would be able to go out and trumpet and talk about what she did when she was Communications minister, the Missing Disinformation Bill.
She couldn't get it over the line. So she's failed at the first hurdle, fall at the first hurdle.
When it came to being communications minister. And now somehow she's Attorney General. I mean, as Paul was saying before, you know, she failed with one piece of legislation. So now they've just put her in charge of all the laws because that's definitely going to go well. And Anne Ali being brought forward into the cabinet. I mean, again, she's reasonably in offensive, but I didn't see her do a particularly good job as a minister in the last government.
Of course, carried on about Palestine and whatever along with Ed Husick who's been booted, but there was nothing particularly impressive about her.
She makes it into capall business.
She's been an academic before going in.
Well, well, who would know more about small business than an academic?
James, come on, seriously, what are you talking about? But this is this, this is the thing.
I think it's good for people to actually see that the inner workings of how this stuff happens in the Labor Party, because none of it is about merit. It's all about you know, who owes who a favor and what faction you're sitting in, what state you come from, etc.
It is like the definition of jobs for the boys.
If you are.
Aligning yourself with the right guy, you get yourself.
In the right position for the job. It's not about who is the best person to do it. I mean, you can't tell me. And you know, I had issues with Mark Dreyfus when he was Attorney General last time, and perhaps he's getting a bit long in the tooth, and his demeanor certainly changed a lot after his wife died, and I wondered whether perhaps he should have just given up politics because he just wasn't in the right place.
But you cannot tell me that Mark Dreyfus would do a worse job than Michelle Roland, or conversely that Michelle Roland is going to do a better job than Mark Dreyfus case would do as attorney general.
For heaven's sake, not whatsoever.
But as we've said repeatedly, it's faction deals.
You got to do the deals.
And Albanezy is basically doing as he's told by the ruling faction leaders. And when you've got as much of a majority as that guy does, who cares anyway, be prepared for a lot more of this in the years to come. Overseas now where an interesting video of three world leaders has gone a viral today with people claiming.
Is this cocaine? Is this cocaine in this meeting on the table.
Of course, the press, particularly the French press, because as you'll soon see in this video, President Macron is featured, is saying this is scandalous what people are trying to make of this, it's just a dirty tissue for.
Crying out loud.
But watch this video of Macron, German Chancellor Merz and Keir Starmer pay close attention to the white thing on the table and see what you make of it.
It's a lot more.
Literally, they made a lot out of that sheepish expression as Macron removed it from the table and kind of looked funny.
But I want argues he'd do that even if it was a dirty tissue. But of course, the people who love using a I didn't miss a beat. Within seconds, this video made the rounds on the interwebs, with people saying no, no, if they'd actually been doing coke, this is what that gathering would have looked like.
Never was it white powder?
Was it a tissue?
I cannot believe how much this went viral today. People were posting it millions of views on the Twitter sphere.
It was an absolute storm in a tea.
It's clearly a tissue.
I mean, you know, besides the kokes that we're not suggesting that they were doing coke, But you know, honestly, I'd be more worried about the dirty tissue on the table. What sort of grub leaves their dirty tissue sitting on the table and mean only things to get rid of it. When the cameras finally start going, because he had no problem when they all walked into the room, income sirk here and all the cameras along with them. It's only
when they start taking photos. I'm not better, get me dirty chip, Like, mate, didn't you learn anything when you were a child.
I think his parents need to be spoken to.
We know conclusively that it was not drugs. And the reason we know is because you've got the French, the British and the German leader.
But who's absent Hunter.
Biden is not there, so we know it's a perfectly legitimate thing. And as you said, Caleb, they walk into the places media already there. They're joking that. Some of them look down at the table. They don't do anything. It's only when they get ready to pose for the photo they tidy up the desk as any person normally would do. The fact that some people who I guess pursue credibility, like Denesh Desuza, is pushing this ridiculous conspiracy online.
I don't know how he hoped to have credibility with anything else when he's coming up.
With rubbish like this. But there you go.
Well, let's be honest, some world leaders may well do a bit of job if they were on cocaine.
You know, Joe Biden probably could.
Have done with a little bit from under it could have, you know, pepped.
Him up a bit.
Anyway, while we're talking about world leaders, Donald Trump may well be in for a gift from they're offering him. The Katari government are offering him a brand new plane, a Boeing seven four seven that he says, if he takes ownership of it, will be turned into a new Air Force one. There are two planes that currently operate as Air Force ones. They are both seven four sevens, but they're thirty years old and they're in need of renovation.
So the Qatari government said, look, mate, we'll fix you up here, will lend you one, and I'll give you one actually, and you can sort of do that up and use it in the meantime, and then at such time as the other two are available, they can come back into service. So Trump is already saying this isn't a done deal yet, by the way, but he's already saying, yep, fantastic.
I'll do it up.
I'll fly around in it, and then at the end of my presidency in twenty twenty nine, it'll go into my presidential library. And of course people have hit out and said, but hang on a minute, can you really be taking gifts from a foreign government. I mean, you know, maybe a box of chocolates or something when you go to visit a foreign dignitaries, okay, or they give you some sort of local souvenir. But when the Katari government saying, hello, mister Trump, here is a Boeing seven four seven, is.
It not a little bit over the line?
Trump says no, he posted on his platform truth Social So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a gift free of charge of a seven four seven aircraft to replace the forty year old Air Force one temporarily in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the crooked Democrats that they insist we pay top dollar for the plane.
Anybody can do that. The dims a world class loses MAGA.
So basically, if someone offers you something for free, you may as well take it.
I mean, joe by ilk.
Peterson I think would probably be well on board with that. I wouldn't let the thing go anywhere near the air without checking it at least ten times.
I mean, look, if.
You thought he is the greatest way to monitor a foreign government, would it not be for a foreign government to give you a play where you know you've got communications with the military and all this sort of stuff on board and then tap it and keep an eye on what the US is doing. Like you know, I get what Trump's saying saving a lot of money, but there are some serious integrity issues here.
I mean, there's the perception of a conflict of interest, right, and that the Katari government. Let's be honest, no one gives away any something for free.
So there's the perception issue.
But the security issue is massive. You know, it's not a trojan horse, it's a trojan plane. There's the added factor that Katar, of course, we're harboring hamas leaders not that long ago and have connections to terrorism. Imagine if Obama took a plane from a Muslim country, the right and the Mega supporters would have gone off their heads at.
This kind of stuff.
The biggest issue is not a Boeing jet from Katar or a jet from Qatar as a gift. The bigger issue is Boeing itself, which is one of the great American companies who've been working on a replacement Air Force one since twenty eighteen. It was meant to be done by now, but now they're saying it'll probably be twenty twenty nine, maybe even later than that, before it's ready. They were given a contract of three point nine billion dollars.
It's gone billions of dollars over that. The real issue is why can't American companies make stuff like they used to? That's what we should be talking about, rather than whether or not it's appropriate to take a gift from Katar. Trump should be focusing on Boeing, not on freebies from Qatar.
Indeed, and Boeing has had all kinds of troubles, as we've talked about on this show before.
Weirdly, the whistleblowers keep.
Turning up dead. That's that's very strange. But there's two encounting. I just love how Trump keeps referring to this is just a fiscally smart move for the country, Like.
Why wouldn't we It's worth millions of dollars.
This is something the taxpayer doesn't have to pay for.
No conflict of interest to see here.
Trust Trump, the businessman, the ultimate businessman to try and sell this, says, Oh, guys, at least we're not saying for it.
Isn't that a great deal?
Who's going to look a gift hors in the mouth. Meanwhile, everyone's looking at that gift oft in the mouth, being like from Qatar. Really, to be clear, the Qatari government has not said that this is a done deal, so we don't know that it's actually going to go ahead. But obviously Trump is well and truly flagged that in the event that they are willing to give it to him, he's more than willing to take it.
But this opens up a really big problem, isn't because if he takes a plane from Qatar, and that's how you then decide that diplomacy is to be done. I mean worldwide, do countries just start going around offering things to everyone else and say, ah, well, let's see how we go here. And of course we know China has been in this business for a long time in a very different way, debt diplomacy, where they offer you money to do things in your country. Of course, there are
no strings attached to that money whatsoever. And don't forget that Daniel Andrews wanted to do that here in Australia. He wanted to sign up to Belt and Road and get money out of China to build infrastructure in Australia, and the federal government slapped that down and said no, it is a massive security risk if you're allowed to take a plane from Qatar. I think that spills bad things for not only the US, but the rest of the world in terms of this sort of debt diplomacy.
I'll give you.
Something and then one day I'll come along and ask you to scratch my back, and what are you supposed to do?
Then imagine how upset Airbus Elbow would be for this news. I mean, Trump gets a plane from Qatar and Elbow gets what a panda from China, So he'd be pretty ticked off Trump. Of course, it's all about corruption and getting money. And of course Trump's off side at Elon Musk. Well, he's just a fascist, according to many in Europe, because Elon Musk has been actively supporting right wing political parties
across Europe. There's a ninety eight year old World War Two veteran who's had enough of the fascist Elon Musk, and he reckons we've beaten fascism once before, we can beat it again. And here's Ted sorry Ken Turner's plan to overcome the fascist Elon Musk.
I'm old enough to see fascism the first time around. Now it's coming back. Eon Musk, theirs man in the world, is using his immense power to support the far right in Europe. I've got this message from mister Musk. We've crushed fascism before and we'll crush it again.
So there he goes over the Tesla. I got to say, Caleb, and this, I reckon. This is actually a great advertisement for the Tesla because it doesn't come off that having been run over by a tank. It's just turned into a convertible. But it survives pretty well. But get this old guy. I mean, he's worried about the fascist elon Musk when he himself is living in a country where you'll get arrested for silent prayer outside an abortion clinic.
Give me a break.
Yeah, I mean, look, you know that's kind of taking trump to arrangement syndrome to another level, isn't it. When you decide to fire up the tank and drive over a Tesla vehgle one less electric vehicle in the world, probably isn't a bad thing.
So I might give him his dues.
We've got a dirty diesel tank running and he aspects us to think he's moral.
But on the other hand, I do have to say, if you were ninety eight years old and as healthy looking and as sharp as he is, and you got to drive around in a tank and destroy stuff, I'd be doing it all day long, whether it had political motivations or not.
I aspire to be like Ken Turner when I'm ninety eight.
I have to say, Liz, what do you think of it?
Well, there were rumors that this was a paid actor and that Ken Turner was a war veteran that actually died in twenty twenty, and there was posts used to prove this by the association that he used to be part of. And certainly if that's true, it just goes to show there's nothing there's no low the looney left won't stoop to.
I mean, if that's true, true, that.
You're actually piggybacking off a legitimate war veterans legacy for cheap political theater like this, that's just beyond disgusting.
All Right, we're going to go to a break.
When we come back, we'll look at what's making news tomorrow, including increasing numbers of Australians traveling overseas so they can select the gender of their baby, that and more in just a moment, welcome back. Let's take a look at what's making headlines tomorrow. We'll start with an interesting story on the front page of the Adelaide Advertiser. The headline reads, I picked a girl. Caitlin Bailey, she's a single mum with three kids now having a fourth, traveled to the
US to select the gender of her baby. Spent forty five thousand dollars to do so. This, of course is banned in Australia. But she wanted two boys and two girls, so that's the pathway she's taken. And apparently, according to the papers, this is an increasing practice amongst Australians who, as I said, it's illegal to do it here, so they're going overseas, for instance, to the United States, where you're allowed to do it. There's good reasons why this
is banned in Australia. You don't want to upset the balance of sexes. That's an obvious one. But more importantly, you're commodifying children, aren't you. You're turning them into an accessory or you know, a designer child. And what happens in the event that the IVF process doesn't go as promised, and you know what, you ordered a boy and you get a girl.
What happens, then.
Sex selection is just completely morally bankrupt. I don't buy into.
It at all.
I'm surprised that the States haven't outlawed this as well.
For obvious reasons.
What happened to I'm just happy as long as the baby's healthy, and you know, you leave that up to God, or if you don't believe in God, you leave that up to fate.
It's God regardless.
But yeah, I just find this very very distasteful for obvious reasons.
It's just and biologically bad. It's obvious why this is bad. Just look at China, I mean, and it's not by process survivor if that they'd be.
But for decades, particularly when they had the one child policy, everyone wanted a boy, and.
So you had sex selective abortion.
If you knew we're having a girl, that'd get rid of it, and baby girls would be dumped in the street because parents didn't want them.
They wanted to have a boy.
And now that's all good and well when you're a parent saying, well, I'm going to have the boy because the boy earned a bit of income and all this sort of stuff, But then what happens when you've got seventy percent boys, thirty percent women.
It hadn't been able to find anyone to marry.
It just stuffs up the whole equilibrium of the world. You're getting into very dangerous territory when you start allowing this kind of stuff, as you say, is I can't believe that the US does allowed. Maybe that's one thing instead of, you know, taking jets from guitar. Donald Trump should take a look at that one. On the front of the Olds tomorrow, he says, narrow path gives libs little Lee.
Way Boom boom.
Susan Lee is confident of pipping Angus Taylor by a couple of votes quote unquote in a tight leadership contest to Pete replace sorry Peter Dutton as opposition leader. As the combatants made last efforts to swing a rump of undecided Liberal MPs to their camp. Senior Liberal sources set a close victory for the acting opposition leader on Tuesday could trigger a shaky early tenure for Miss Lee, who
could need to bring warring moderates and conservatives together. And of course, we learn tonight that we may well see Tim Wilson throw his hat in the ring tomorrow, which could spice things up a little bit. I don't think it particularly matters at this point who Cliff is the leadership.
They ain't going to be the next prime minister, so whoever you are, your the seat warmer.
Essentially, I would have thought a close vote is the worst result, right, because as The Australian points out tomorrow, it's going be very difficult if you don't have clear and overwhelming support to bring everybody together. And then in addition to that, you've got the Nationals who are leaving open the possibility after their meeting this morning that they
may dump net zero. So if the Liberal Party were committed to net zero and the National Party were not, that's another problem that whoever leads the Liberal Party is going to need to deal with trying to keep their own party together and trying to keep the coalition together.
Indeed, like you say, though, Caleb, I don't think it really matters whoever takes this poisoned chalice. He's going to spend at least two terms in opposition, and to be honest, I don't think it really matters.
We all know who the strong players are in the.
Opposition, most of us Grace the Sky News, most of them rather Grace the sky News screens every week. Those are the strong contenders for future government.
But right now you just need a pincushion, as a lot of people call it.
You just need someone who's going to stick it out in opposition. Whoever gets this is never going to be Prime minister.
And it doesn't matter from that perspective in terms of who would be the next prime minister. But it probably does matter to some degree in terms of how many seats you can claw back at the next election to set you up for what you want to do in
six years time. And your two options essentially are a woman who added an extra s into her surname because humerology told her to do so because she thought it would change her personality, and the bloke who was shadow Treasurer who ran around saying that you know, we won't back in the labor tax cut.
I mean, like they are the two best options we've got.
Choby, what's crazier adding a consonant to your name to change your personality or believing that if we all stop using fossil fuels will change the temperature of the planet.
She's not as crazy as some.
It's a very good point.
Now, the story on the front of the olds tomorrow, US China pullback from reciprocal tariff's war. China hailed on Monday substantial progress with the US after talks in Geneva on dialing down their trade will yielded dramatic cuts to import tariffs. Donald Trump had imposed duties of one hundred and forty five percent on imports from China last month as part of a global tariff blitz weill. Beijing hit Washington with the retaliatory duties of one hundred and twenty
five percent, as well as the blanket levies. China has also been hit with sector specific tariffs, et cetera, et cetera. But we hear now that the US tariffs will fall to thirty percent and the Chinese to ten percent.
So finally we get a little bit of movement here. And look, you know, Trump always plays the long game on these things.
You know, everyone got upset about the stock market, but the stock market's gone back to exactly where it was before all of this happened. He always wants something in return, and he's slowly working his way towards it.
And they've got to do something about China otherwise America will no longer be the superpower of the world.
And for everyone who.
Hates America, what would you prefer China ruling the world. So Trump's got to address the imbalance with China, and.
He's doing it absolutely and hey, it works there remotely.
Friends.
Again to the front page of The Herald Sun, now Alan's big cell. The splash reads exclusive premiere steps up blitz on crime with jail beds, boost seven hundred and twenty extra guards and tougher sentences for attacks on prison staff.
The article reads, almost one hundred new beds will be opened in children's prisons and three hundred fast tracked for adult jails under a seven hundred million dollar expansion of the state's corrections system prompted by the Allen government's tough new bail laws.
The package will also.
Fund and estimated seven hundred and twenty new jobs. Wasn't it just last month we were talking about the prisons that would never open in Victoria because they were infested with more and they too cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and they're just sitting there, absolutely useless, never to be opened, and we haven't heard anything further regarding that.
I think I was something like four hundred old beds and they were going to have to redo the whole thing because the bill just got infested with lock. You know, good on them for saying I will build some more, but you already had them there. For heaven's sake, you just got a dodgy job done last.
And don't forget Former Police Commissioner Shane Patten got on the wrong side of Justinto Allen when he suggested bail law should be tightened and she said, well, we can't do that because we don't have enough money to house the extra people that would be incarcerated if we tightened bail laws. Well, it turns out Shane Patten was right. They've suddenly found the money and they're doing something about it.
Let's go to the Career Male. Interesting story on the front page there for Queenslanders toll story Bridge push reads the headline repairs needed on bridge. It has just twenty years left. Queensland's iconic story bridge is disintegrating so badly it could soon be turned back into a toll bridge for the first time since nineteen forty seven. Or Brisbane ratepayers maybe slugged a special levy to pay for repairs. According to a new report. The bridge is eighty five
years old. Over the past five years, they've spent eighty million dollars over the last five years.
Repairing the bridge. It's riddled with rust.
Now they're asking the federal government to stump up four and a half million dollars, not to repair the bridge, but to put together a business case as to how they might be able to raise the money needed to keep this bridge operational. It's kind of unbelievable that they would get themselves into a situation where they have so little time, needs so much money, and considering tolling Queenslanders to use the bridge. As I said, hasn't been a toll bridge since nineteen forty seven.
When you go to a.
Break, when we come back, a school teacher is compensated after being sacked for having a untidy desk.
That's coming up in just a moment. All right, welcome back to the program, Liz. I've got a question for you.
A clean freak or you're a messy kind of perpose.
I'm messy, but it's organized chaos. So on that front, I am with mister Murphy who has lost his plea against dismissal. He tried to challenge it, but the Fair Work Commissioners said that while his firing from one of Melbourne's leading Catholic schools was harsh, it was not unreasonable and in fairness to the school, it wasn't just his messy desk. It was his failure to provide timely feedback to students, poor dealings with colleagues, and his untidy desk.
So it must have been pretty.
Bad to actually get a mention in their case against this teacher.
Like but still, you know you're drawing up we want to manage this dude out of the joint whatever we're going to get rid of him, Like who actually goes yes, Well, write down the untidy desk and give that to him on his dismissal slip. Like as I said before, if that's grounds for dismissal, I don't know how I still have.
Is it all connected? What's that old expression untidy desk? Untidy mind?
No, but it's like the man killed a man.
Scientists who you know solved the problems of the world, they all have untidy discs because their lives are just crazy, right, That's how they have the creativity in the and the lateral thinking to come up with these.
And this fellow was teaching Latin religious education, Italian and classic Greek.
You don't exchange someone to Aliba. I don't have a tidy here's.
An absolute BRAINI act. I think he's been had done by fourteen grand. Is no compensation for being sacked for an antidy disk as far as I'm concerned, I'll tell you what. One bloke who won't be getting any compoent Radley so dumb criminal of the day. He may well be the dumb criminal of the year. At ten past twelve this morning in Collingwood in Melbourne, a guy decided to break into.
The cop shop in Collingwood. No, I'm not joking.
He started with a cop car and then he broke a window to get into the cop shop. And of course the copper's got the call and said.
You've got to go to a break in. Where is it? It's at your police station.
I mean, how dumb do you have to be to break into a police station.
If there is one place where.
You are likely to get caught for committing the crime of breaking enter, I dare say it's a police station.
Would He just wanted to be with his fellow Collingwood football so.
He wants to be in the prison bar.
We gotta go. That's it from us stick Around. Coming up is The Reader Peddy Show. Good Night,