Late welcome, late pay.
Thanks for joining us. I'm James Macpherson with Liz Storer and filling in for kleab Bond is Joe Hildebrand. A lot to get through tonight, including Californian Governor Gavin Newsom funds a massive statue. Guess who it's of. We'll confirm your suspicions a little later in the program. Plus, when we look at what's making news tomorrow, new data shows just how badly our children were affected by COVID restrictions, and police name the person they allege is responsible for
the fake caravan terror plot. All of that and more when we look at what's making news tomorrow. But first, here's a question that the Labor Party need to answer. Was it racial profiling or was it just a normal part of modern politics where the community is divided up into voting blocks. Labour need to answer that question because they held a Chinese only town hall meeting in the
Melbourne suburb of box Hill last night. Now, local residents in box Hill received a pamphlet in their letterboxes inviting them to hear Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Victorian Premier or former Victorian Premier Dan Andrews address quote concerns for the Chinese community. But when non Chinese residents showed up and tried to enter the meeting, they were told they couldn't do so without a valid ticket, and to have a valid ticket, you could only access it via the
social Chinese social networking app we chat. Here's what happened when non Chinese people tried to get into the event.
And I said that I'll sign in now, happy to sign in now?
Yeah, so we're happy to sign in.
They're only allowing people of a very specific archetype in these doors.
It's a closed doors meeting.
Would yeah to.
Attend what's a public meeting? But apparently if you've got a tip pick.
Is a posit balad.
We just said, that's not with us, that's not that's some part of this event.
Well, so locals are getting these in the mail and they're coming here, registering their name, registering their dress, talking to the police, not being allowed any closed doors.
Tony Wong, why has Labour being restricting freedom of speech for Australians?
Can you answer to that? Why weren't Australians.
Allowed in tonight to this event? Why we are only Chinese people allowed in doesn't look good, does it. When Labor asked what on earth is going on, they put out this statement, the event was organized as part of Labour's outreach to the Chinese community to understand their concerns ahead of the federal election. Connecting with multicultural communities is normal and important for any political party. Then they went on to say, it's unfortunate that protesters sought to disrupt
the event. We thank Victoria Police for ensuring the event was able to proceed safely. Now it's true, there are about one hundred and fifty people protesting outside the event. They were protesting the presence of Dan Andrews, and I think we would all agree, go you good thing. They were also protesting the Chinese Communist Party. The Labor organizers say that it was protesters trying to get into the event to disrupt it. Those trying to get into the
event say no, no, they were just normal residents. Here's Christopher Bruin who disputes the Labor Party account of what happened. He spoke to Andrew Bolt earlier this evening.
There's multiple videos that I published which include a police officer walking over to the protesters to check everything's okay, and then the protester laughing and saying no worries. The police needed them to move in a certain direction. That was happy to I cover protests. I cover riots. If you have protesters who are going to cause a problem, they don't do what police ask they don't laugh. In spianshe yeah, no worries, We'll move over here. Yeah no,
always will go over there. They start arguing with the police.
So there's a fair bit going on here, Joe and Liz. The bottom line for me is, I mean, if labor want to hold meetings with a particular group, whether it's Chinese or Christians or pensioners, and only that group, then they're free to do so. It's called freedom of association. Then again, just because you can doesn't mean you should,
and just because something's permissible doesn't mean it's wise. It's not a good look for Labor, particularly when they're making such a big deal of social cohesion and we've got to bring everybody together then to be dividing people by race, and perhaps more so when there are tensions and I'm not talking about Chinese Australians, but there are tensions between Australia and the Nation of China. Not a good look.
No, well it's worse than not a good look. Sure you can hold a campaign event, which, let's be honest, that's what this is, to shill for votes in a particular cultural society. But it's another thing entirely to then refuse entry to anyone who isn't Chinese. These are public servants, we pay them, we elect them to serve us. We
ought to have equal access at all times. Now, this is a town hall event, and yes you are targeting the Chinese community in box Hill, understood, go for your life, but you don't get to bar other people from that town hall event. Everyone should have the same access to you. You tell us that, oh we're all Australians and this is the beauty of a multicultural society, and then you want to participate in sectarian politics. No, that's not how
this works whatsoever. And even if it was the case, which I think DeBruin debunked this, but let's say it was the case that people had invalid tickets, Since when is this a ticketed event. A town hall held by government officials is open to all in sundry, What were you like vetting people who bought tickets? I doubt it. These people rocked up, they expected to attend, and you saw them there. They weren't being nasty, they weren't being weird,
they weren't being rowdy. There was absolutely no good reason to refuse them entry.
That is none of that is true. None of that is true.
It was an event where people were invited to respond to an invitation. If they did that, they would get a ticket and they would be able to go in. If they didn't, then they didn't have a ticket and they're not able to go in.
It's the most the way.
I've never heard of a ticketed government held town hall. Really, I have attended countless town halls. I've worked for three MPs. Every Tom, Dick and Harry you can saunter in. It doesn't even I don't think.
It's not in the town hall. It's a meeting. It's a meeting with members of the tripes.
Yes, exactly, Hence the term town hall, the idea. They even have town halls on the phone. Some of my MPs. These people public access to these members of You.
Don't think you can to any event you want to go to just because you want to go there, or just because a politician is in there. I mean, it's like saying I'm going to rock up to the lodge and barge in because the PM's meeting with the Australian cricket.
Teams and I were turned away other than being white.
A meeting specifically for the Chinese community. So they want to talk to the Chinese.
Lets said, We're okay with periodic white Australians.
Let's see if they can understand English.
Local labor MPs and candidates sincerely invite you to attend as they share the latest developments on issues of concern to the Chinese community, Chinese community. So it says Capital c yet Chinese community meeting Chinese Australians, especially the efforts and acknowledge and achievements of the Federal Labor, Federal Government in improving Australia China relations. With guest speakers the Honorable
Senator Penny Wong and former Premier Daniel Andrews. Now, if people want to go out and protest against Daniel Andrews, that's absolutely fine. They can jump up and down and he's you know, he's done some terrible things during COVID, and we're going to talk about one of those horrendous impacts later on in the show. But the idea that just because you're angry about something, or just because you're jumping up and down about an issue, you should be able to bard.
They weren't.
Even they were just trying to protest.
And protesting then they just had to buy a ticket or register a ticket.
I don't have to pay for it.
No reason why people in the community couldn't simply come along.
Absolutely because the ticket.
This wasn't a security issue, isn't any kind of I went.
To a ticketed event at a local public high school, and you know why, because they put all the people in a building and you're only allowed to have a certain number of people in a building.
Well, they haven't even stated that concern.
Maybe you should have fed.
People who had responded to the event.
Sectarian politics, where's your townhole for?
They do it the community.
Where's your town hall for the European population?
All the time politicians, politicians have met with the Jewish community over the concerns they have.
That's totally different, and they don't. They meet with different No, and they do meet with different group.
That's what they're doing is a town hall to get the town hall description.
No, it was called the town hall, I dare.
Say you've never even been to one, mac. I've attended countless town halls. The idea is that anyone from the community can come.
Okay, so imagine it wasn't called the town hall, it was a meeting with the Chinese community. Would that make it different?
What if a few European Australian words in what Chinese saying there has never been a townho So you're saying there has never been a town hall event in which anyone from the public can just show.
I'm not saying what.
I've certainly never attended one where news Crop.
At this company, we have town hall events.
All the time for news employees.
Were wandering way, What if anyone who does, if.
You want, anyone who's not from news Crop does get turned away and that.
But it's a townhall.
You have to let me because it's a town hall, town hall for a particular community, for a particular.
I'm sure any Aussies watching tonight who aren't Chinese share my concerns.
I'm not Chinese. You have to have just a special.
One for Chinese people where.
Different different parts of the community.
All the time I've been to that sectarian politics in a nutshell. Why are you're assuming, based on the color of someone's skin that they have concerns.
It says on the thing, if you have concerns, they're just going to come to this meeting.
From the Chinese in the United Yes.
They clearly want to speak to the Chinese.
Kingland have concerns about these.
It's not wrong.
But you guys argue the exact opposite. When we're talking about, say, representation in parliament. Oh, we've got to have this many indigenous people. Oh we should have this many Chinese people. Politicians meet and then when politicians want to shield for votes from a particular culture.
They do it all the time.
They do robbish color of their skin.
That's okay. No, politicians meet with different voting blocks all the time from all identity places.
Of the community.
No, it is one hundred different when they're simply rocking up attending an if Tar dinner, they're simply rocking up participating in Dwali. That is totally different. Yes, they are pressing the flesh with different cultures within our society, but it's totally different.
If politicians wanted to meet government.
Members and totally saying we just want to meet with the Chinese community in this specific.
Politicians said, we just want to meet with the Christian community about concerns Christians have. Oh yeah, well they've never done that, have they? Let me finish an example.
That's a great example.
I just want to see if the principle that you are espousing follows. If they want to meet with the a whole lot of Christians about concerns the Christian Church have and a whole bunch of atheists want to come in, would that be okay for them to say no, no, no, we want to talk to the Christians specifically about Christian issues. Would that be okay?
Well, firstly, that never happens. Where's the town in popularity asking.
About the principle of the thing?
Principle of the thing is that they don't do that. They simply go to Christian conferences and take the stage.
Sources won't be able to walk into those Christian conferences anyone, whether they've got a ticket or not.
No, because it's a church holding a conference I am talking about of parliament for the Chinese in this community, sectarian politics.
Example that you can go in if you're interested in these things and you've therefore said yes, I'd like a ticket, I'd like to go to this thing. Then you can go. And if you've got your ticket, you're fine.
And you have to know that it wasn't a matter of that.
We saw the people on the screen. They weren't being argie bargie.
They weren't they didn't have a ticket.
They thought they had a valid ticket. Clearly a can we told that their tickets were invalid.
Let's move on to something. I want to move on to something really important, as important as social cohesion and all of this stuff is let's talk about wombats.
One.
Bats are really important. In fact, the whole country stopped today to talk about wom bats because an American influencer. Well, I'm sure you know what happened, but if you've not seen the footage that this American influencer filmed, his what happened.
Just caught a baby one. But look at the mother. It's like, oh cheat it after he.
Thank, okay, mama's right there and she has pissed.
Let's let him go.
Well, I'll tell you, Anthony Albanese, he's finally found an issue he can get his teeth into. He was quote unquote outraged.
Now, I suggested this so called influencer, maybe she might try some other Australian animals. Take a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there.
Finally, Anthony Albanese found a spine. It was just a pity it was over a wombat. If only he was so concerned about the welfare of Australian people. Immigration Minister Tony Burke, he said he couldn't wait to see the back of Samantha Jones and Penny Wong, the Foreign Minister. She weighed in as well, saying it was a dreadful thing to separate a baby from its mother and she
was happy for Tony Burke to take action. Tony Burke, who's done not much at all about the visas of people sprouting all sorts of hatred in our community, is going to review immediately that woman's visa with the idea that she will not be allowed back to Australia if in fact she's already left. What do you make of this, Joe.
Wombat deportation is too good for a bring back the death penalty? This is an outrage. How stupid can you be? And obviously the answer is an American, but like, honestly, how stupid would you it? Only just to double that to square that an American influencer. I mean, firstly, she should be deported just for being an influencer. Secondly, she should be deported just for being American. And I'm half American,
so I can say that not racist. And thirdly, the wombat, like, this is a country where you can get arrested for bringing in the wrong type of banana, and she thinks it's okay to go and grab a baby wombat.
Surely grabbed it for like sixty seconds and then she put it back in. Wombat years were harmed in the filming.
Nobody wom bat years sixty seconds is like three and a half months.
Oh, I didn't realize that if you're.
A baby wombat as a proportion of that, that's lot.
This Is it right for our politicians to be all up in arms about this or does it just make a bit of a joke of our political leaders a.
Serious country when you've got the highest office in the
land talking about some American influence. So grabbing a baby wombat for sixty seconds, maybe you could afford yourself such a luxury alb and easy if we didn't have a housing crisis, a social cohesion and crisis, and energy crisis, a fertility crisis and eighty f recruitment crisis, and I could go on till I was blue in the face, maybe then you would have the luxury of being able to address such a menial issue of zero national importance in this country.
But you don't. This is just laughable.
This is not a serious leader, This is not a serious man.
He should have just gone, I'm.
Not addressing that. What the heck have I got to do with wombats, the fact that Tony Burk's coming out so I'm revisiting her visa. Oh yeah, But detainees who have literally murdered and raped people in our country, they get to stay.
You won't, won't check.
Those guys out. This it's utterly laughable.
It's not even worth talking.
What about What about when Barnaby Joyce detained pistol and boo from Johnny Depp and Amber heard?
Was that also ridiculous reaction?
Yeah?
It was.
Yes, she didn't do anything illegal, But I think Anthey Alberizi took the opportunity there to try and unite all Australians because he was, you know, empathetic towards this poor animal, and he thought the winner.
Well, if you work in coms, it might be time to diversify your skills because AI has announced that they've got a wonderful model for creative writing and they're about to release it. Can you imagine how many sectors this puts out of a job? Sam Oltman, who's Open AI chief exec, tweeted, We've trained a new model that is good at creative writing. Not sure yet how when it will get released. This is the first time I have been really struck by something written by AI. It got
the vibe of metafiction. So right, So if you're a script writer, if you work in comms anywhere, if you're a journal you want to pay careful attention to when and if, as sam Oltman says, this thing will be released, because we've already talked at length about how this thing can write a great email. If you're like I need to fire fifty employees under these circumstances, write something that's really professional, really polite. AI just spits it out within second.
There's a lot of people who have already been using this. In fact, even if you're sending a DM or an email. Nowadays, if you're on Instagram, if you're on Facebook, there's a little AI helper saying, hey, do you just tell me what you want to say? I'll write it for you. And if you write it and you feel like it's a little bit clumsy, you can just click on the little AI symbol and AI will be like, here's a
better way of saying what you've said. People are loving this, and were's human beings are losing the capacity to communicate with each other at lightning speed. It's frightening. But when you consider this being released a specific creative writing AI, we're talking about a whole different kettle of fish, Like this is its main job, it's what it's been trained to do.
I don't think it's going to take off because it's really not creative. It's an aggregate of what everybody else has written, and it's really good until you realize it's AI. And then who wants to read a novel written by AI? Because the emotion is all fake the human experience when you realize and I think we're wowed by what AI can do, but the content becomes meaningless when it's just algorithms.
Really well, it does if you know that there algorithms, they're plenty of people who buy I'm not being snobbish about this or whatever, but you know, there are plenty of best selling books that follow a really specific formula. So you even have books that have the so called author's name on the title, but it's not even written by them. It's written by someone else, so like Tom Clancy, you know, actually written by being another Jack whatever it is, or something or one of them. I'm sure AI could
do that very easily. But again, this is already AI is writing. It's writing emails. We know it can do that. That actually makes sense because you say, all right, this is you respond to this stimulus.
Based on everything you've aggregated from the web.
We know that AI is already writing journalism, so it's writing things like sports reports and you probably read it without even knowing that. But to be able to do actual creative writing, to be able to write something that is meant to and the whole purpose of creative writing is that it makes the reader feel empathy with the characters in it, and so you have to feel a connection. If it does this successfully, it means that a human being will be feeling an emotional connection with a robot
or with a computer program. Now that is terminator level crazy stuff.
That the other problem. If it can do that, then the.
Other issue they've not resolved yet here is the copyright issue, because to train AI to write creative novels, the AI has to consume a huge realm of fiction, of news art doing seconds. But New York Times is now suing creators of AI because they've been using New York Times articles and journals to train AI but without permission because it breaches copyright. There's a whole lot of authors who
are also launching a class action at the moment. So that's a big issue with AI that they've not yet resolved because you've got to have material to train it, but all of that material is under copyright.
But also, nothing is going to be a lightning rod for the public imagination if it's been done before, Like writing Shakespeare again, isn't Shakespeare. Why Shakespeare is amazing is because he was writing something new. He was bringing new ideas about what it meant to be human into the public domain and people were going, oh my god, that's incredible.
That's something we've never seen on the stage before. So again, something like, if you take like a high end kind of blockbuster like Hilary Mantell's Wolf Hall, would AI be able to say, instead of just aggregating everything that's been written about the Tudor period, able to say to itself, what would be a really good and popular idea for a novel. Most British people, who are the highest per capita book buying public, are fascinated with the Tutors more
than any other period of history, which is all true. Therefore, I'm going to write a fictional history of the Tutors from the opposite point of view that everyone else has already seen it. And I am then going to get inside the head of that protagonist and make him sympathetic to the reader who has already known him as being one of the monsters of history.
Now that's what Hillary Mantel did. If AI can do that all over just scamming.
Liz, you raised a great question or fair you were talking about the fact that the real thing that AI raises now is what does it actually mean to be human? When robots start doing things that humans do and we can barely tell the difference, the question becomes what really does it mean to be human?
And this will be.
The question of the twenty first century and for centuries to come if we're around for that long, because this is what we're going to be competing against. Then we've got guys like Elon Musk saying, unless we want to become monkeys on our own planet, we are going to all start having these chips implanted that enable us to keep up with AI. So when I'm sitting here at the desk, I've got every fact and figure in my head ready to go. It's almost like I am reading
off my own knowledge base, which isn't human. It's being generated by a chip in my brain. And he's saying, those who will refuse the chip, you're just going to be left behind it when.
We become a monkey. This is if AI become the humans. Sorry, what he's saying is there will be an advanced species and advanced rate of AI that will be the Well.
This is the first time in human history that we have created something with the capacity to become far smarter than us. We have been the smartest beings on the planet for as long as we know, and now we're dumb enough to invent something that could overpower us. To Syria, Now where sources on the ground say the death count is more like ten to twelve thousand, following absolutely savage rounds from the terrorists that now run the country following
the fall of the Assad regime. Now, you were probably told at the time that the fall of the Assad regime was a great thing, because what a bad regime it was. As I've told you several times, these terrorists that toppled said regime were backed by both the US and Israel for many years.
This was a coup.
It was not something that happened organically. And today I found a clip from two thand and fifteen, a whole decade ago, of Donald J. Trump saying, hang on a minute. These terrorists that my country is funding, how do we know that they're going to be better than a SAD.
Let Isis and Syria fight and let Russia. They're in Syria already. Let them fight Isis. I've watched a SAD, and I've watched a little bit on the other side. The problem is the other side of a side. We have no idea who they are. They probably are racist, I'm saying, are we been off with a side? We have no idea who these people are.
Those words have proved prophetic. But what is actually hard to believe, not if you've read the books I have about the CIA world tour, as we colloquially put it. But what a lot of people find hard to believe is that, indeed the terrorist rampaging through Syria now leveling entire villages, if the people on the ground can be believed, and trust me, if you've seen the footage I've seen of bodies strewn on roads, mass graves, it's pretty believable.
This is dark hier times. People find it very hard to believe that this is the doing of the US government, aided and embedded by Israel because they decided it suited their purposes better for Syria to be a failed state run by terrorists. Now, this isn't a once off. The CIA has done this many times over. Here's Representative Ron Paul. He's a Republican talking way back in two thousand and nine about historically, funding terrorists to do the West's sturdy work hasn't gone well for US.
You know Hamas.
If you look at the history, you will find out that Hamas was encouraged and really started by Israel because they wanted Hamas to counteract. Yeah, Sir our fact he said we are That was better then and served as purpose.
But we didn't want Hamas to do this.
So then we as Americans say, well, we have such a good system, We're going to impose this on the world. We're going to invade Iraq and teach people how to be democrats. We want free elections, so we encourage the Palestinians to have a free election.
They do and they elect Harmas.
So we first indirectly and directly through Israel, help establish Hamas. Then we have election that Hamas becomes dominant, so we have to kill them.
You know, it just doesn't make sense.
We did it in Libya with Gaddafi, we did it in Iraq with Saddam Hussein. And one thing that it's true of each and every single one of these countries is they're not better off today having the West having gone in there being like we're bringing democracy to her country near you. We just want to spread human rights. This isn't about our vested interests in the area at all.
We're just here to do good things and liberate the people. Again, if you look at any one of these countries, they're not better off, and here we are once again seeing this play out in Syria without being slaughtered. And this is why I've heard so many people be like, why is the media so silent about this? The media is silent because they cherry picked stories. And this story is a story of Western imperialism gone wrong.
Once again.
You got rid of one bad regime and you thought that they'd be better off under terrorists. Sat the twenty four million Syrians, they can just live with it now. Who cares we are there to save the day. It is unthinkable. It is absolutely unthinkable that we are still doing this.
I think, well, the problem, I mean, Western imperialism, you could argue, is responsible for everything that's gone wrong with the Middle East, except that they were all fighting each other long before the West came along.
But the problem that.
Small interjection there.
I remember, I still remember an article in the La Times in twenty sixteen that busted wide open the fact that there were Pentagon terrorists in Syria, fight in CIA funded terrorists in Syria. So even with you saying, oh, well, you know they were fighting amongst themselves long before we got involved, even that is just it's it's nonsense. The West creates these all the terrorists are fighting, We have to get in there and fix it.
Well, there's different things going on, So there's there's there's whether or not you've got an official national US national policy, or whether you're talking about COVID operations done by the CIA. They're always what the CIA, what the well the war in Iraq wasn't. But what the CIA does is go in. It finds divisions that are already there, will find opposition parties that it thinks could be a viable alternative to a regime they don't like, and they basically encourage them.
They help them out with propaganda, they help them out with arms, and they usually just you know, support something that's already there. So it's not like them and booclav is running around doing cups. And they've done heaps of that stuff in South America and Central America. They've certainly done it in Syria.
And I remember very much. I remember, I remember. I mean a side was no picnic either.
I mean a side killed well over a thousand people and millions more have died and been displaced since. But the problem is, and this is the problem with the Arab Spring, and that started springing up everywhere from Guenesia.
And Libya Egypt as well.
The same thing happened Syria is that it's often started by students. Is often started by pro democracy, pro West students who want what the West has got, who want more freedoms from an oppressive, dictatorial regime. But those movements are almost immediately infiltrated by extremists. So you've got the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in particular, and then you've got outfits.
That either are or related to.
Let's start those student movements.
But no, the student movements, the student movements, the CIA is not behind the Arab Spring. I can promise you that would have people in there who might be encouraging certain prayers. But they want what an obamastration wants, or whoever a US administration wants, is to replace the Assad regime with a regime that is better and more democratic and more disposed to Western interests.
The problem is that.
It's their own interests, yes, every time disgusting.
The point is that the point is that these movements get infiltrated by terrorists, by ISIS or al Qaida or Brotherhood, whatever, and whatever assistance America gives covertly or overtly to these regimes.
Almost instantly goes.
So when a FORMACYIA guy at the time spoke about it and said, the problem is you give a gun to a moderate and that gun immediately ends up in the hands of an extremists because the extremist simply takes it and says, give me that.
Gun, I'll kill your entire family. And that's how it goes.
And so we know that wasn't the moderates in Syria.
Not the case in Syria. That is exactly what.
I Sycamore was the most expensive. The US sunk a billion dollars into arming and training these terrors.
These exact the.
Free Syrian Army started up. It was a pro freedom movement, the pro liberal movement, and it got immediately taken over by a whole bunch of different factions, including some who are aligned with ISIS, some who are aligned with l Qada, some aligned with other extreme groups, and they all get mixed up. It's not the CIA is not going around saying, oh, what crazy Islamist terror group can we give all our money to. It's a bit more complicated than that, but yes, it does have the result of creating.
Terrorists is new ones. I'm sure.
I'm sure that was the case.
Absolutely, this is what both lots of terrorists.
That's right.
So you give you give money or arms or whatever it is to a group that you think is moderate, and then it ends up being why are you.
Giving weapons to someone in Syria in the first place?
Because of people?
No, he didn't. I think father John Whiteford's tweet. He's obviously a father, he's a Christian himself, and this tweet has been shared by My goodness, I've lost count of how many shares. He's summed it up perfectly. He says, as you see the unfolding tragedy in Syria, keep in mind, this is your tax dollars at work. This was brought to you by the US government, the state of Israel and Turkey. They said Asad was bad, this is what they replaced Asad with.
Well, they didn't necessarily replace Assad with this, I would say, which is how this is what happened. Government foresight of consequences.
They do have foresight of consequences.
I think they genuinely and found that bad guys in the Middle East are always replaced by worse guys.
That is nonsense.
We are responsible and every single drop of Ala white and Christian blood being spilt in Syria today is on the US, expected and trained by the US.
It's period. The consequences of what's happening is on the heads of those who are perpetrating the crimes, and they are Islamists who are doing what Islamists have always done, made some bad choices, but it's on the Islamists heads. Let's go on to one more thing before we go to a break, and that is the Greens have reiterated their determination to introduce legalized cannabis, especially if they held
balance of power in a minority government with Albernizi. David Chubridge of the Greens says, quote unquote, it's high time to legalize cans. Already did there, Joe what good now? One of his big arguments, of course, was if we legalize cannabis, think of all the money that the government will be able to take via taxes. The Greens that estimated it will be worth twenty eight billion dollars in
just ten years of taxes through cannabis. Well, there's been some new cost things done by an independent group and they're found it won't be twenty eight billion, it'll be seven billion, which is still a lot of money. But
it just shows you the Greens economics. I don't know, maybe they were smoking chof when they did their math, but David schubrit says, never mind that it's twenty one billion dollars short of what we thought it would be, it would still be a great thing because quote, the future we see is adults being able to make adult decisions about their use of cannabis. It's about going to a really chilled out place, a cannabis cafe, a dispensary and having a cannabis infused latte after a really intense
week at work. Well, thank god for the Greens. That's just what we need when productivity is down the toilet. We need the introduction of cannabis so we can all just chill out. That'll really help the country man.
Just fully stressful day of work man, just need fully chill a little bit.
This is a bad idea and it's the last Australian moral after a riff of the bog.
I absolutely oppose any move by the Greens to legalize cannabis. If it's going to be done by anybody, it should be done by the legalized cannabis Party at least have it in their minds when they're due.
But hey, according to max line of reasoning in the previous topic, the West funding terrorists in Syria. If the Greens do legalize this, they're not responsible for any of the societal outcomes.
So do it, Greens.
It should be absolutely fine moving on to the next.
If that was my logic, I could not follow that at all.
But literally your line of reasoning, the West can literally create these terrorist groups and then be like, ohady.
There is that is I had that level of control, the world would be much different.
I leave you this evening for an ad break. The Libs are begging Dunton to be a bit more heavy handed. Where's your big policies?
Mate?
Now, all of us who know that we've got our finger on the poles or world politics.
At the moment.
England has their Parage, the States have their Trump. Across Europe, figures arising, whether it's Maloney in Italy or what's his name in the Netherlands. Here at Bilders, the names are piling up. Australia doesn't legalize, don't have anyone if you're looking at our two major parties, And all I can say is if his own party is begging Dutton to pull his sts up and do something a bit more drastic and bulshy just tells you he's probably not the man for the job.
There you go.
We're going to go to a break. When we come back, we'll look at what's making news in tomorrow's papers, including new data that shows just how badly COVID lockdown's affected our kids. That's coming up in just a moment. Welcome back. Let's take a look at what's making news in tomorrow's papers. Liz, you've got the Advertiser from South.
Yes, I do, and what is happening. This is a horrendous story. We've all been talking about how badly school kids are doing post COVID, but what a headline. Eighty thousand COVID kids missing. There are eighty thousand children missing from the mainstream education system, and many of those disappeared from classrooms during the COVID pandemic. Many have never returned
to school after lockdowns and learned from home periods. So the Advertiser is spooking their four part doco series Lockdown Kids, How to Break a Generation, which delves into the long term effects of lockdowns on kids. I mean, it's all a little too late. Couldn't we have figured this out at the time.
That no, we could have because that was disappearing.
So right after just the very first lockdown in New South Wales, I think it was about a month or or two, there was an inquiry that the Teachers Federation, who frankly were backing the lockdown. So it's quite ironic that it was their own inquiry that revealed this, found that three thousand kids who were in school before the lockdown weren't in school afterwards. They just disappeared. So they just disappeared out of the system. They're not coming back, right.
And I saw this and I went what it was reported in the City Morning Herald in a very like I should have put it on the front but and I'm like, where are they going? And I have not been able to get this out of my head ever since. I've been railing about it on sky here on the radio, I've been writing about it, and no one's been able to tell I've spoken to education experts and said, where
are the rest of them? This was in one state and it was just high school students in the public system after one lockdown, and you think how many?
Is the title?
And we've finally got this figure and this is something all the news court.
Masters are doing. So it's absolutely fantastic initiative and people who called for school closures should be.
Very very very very ashamed of themselves and never comment on public policy matters ever.
Again.
Anyway, let's get to the Canberra Times now, speaking of public policy, I just this story three hundred and twenty thousand dollar spending omission the Department of Parliamentary Services failed to include three hundred and twenty thousand, eight hundred and fifty eight.
I love the details.
Dollars spent on executive coaching services from one provider in one financial year and it's twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four annual report. Now, I just love how the public service and again not you know, not the real public servants like the you know, the cops and the nurses and the teachers and the age care workers, but the actual bureaucrats in Canberra they just managed to outsource all
their own jobs. Like, how could you spend three hundred and twenty thousand on executive coaching services?
What sort of coaching do you get for well over a quarter of a million rollers.
That's right, here's out of an executive. Don't waste money.
And if you just send the money, try and include it in your report skipping.
I do write that money in your annual report, so you know how much you're spending.
It's quite amazing you and I leave that amount out of our tax return and see what happens. The front page of the Daily Telegraph has got, of course breaking news. They're reporting that sayat iran Aka, a thirty five year old Sydney businessman who fled Australia by boat while on bail over an alleged six hundred kilogram drug importation, is the man police belief is behind the contrived terror caravan plot. Akka is a former jim and childcare owner, and the
newspaper reports he's been moving between Asia and Turkey. Police believe he was possibly using the hoax caravan plot as a bargaining tool to get back home to his family in Sydney South. His family are not accused of any wrongdoing. So that's the latest update on that issue. It's all in Tomorrow's Daily Telegraph. Liz, you've got the Australian newspaper, Yes I.
Do, and the biggest splash reads price of broken Bowen vow. Chris Bowen has fired the starting gun on an election fight over electricity prices, despite households facing a nine percent bill increase, declaring that the coalition's plan to keep coal in the system for longer would lead to even higher
costs for Australians. How do you figure that, buddy? The Climate Change and Energy Minister said Labour's plan to massively expand generation from renewables was the key to bringing energy prices down, rebuffing calls from business to slow down the solar and wind roll out in favor of a short term focus on coal and gas. Talk about doubling down when you're losing, Like there's no wins under his belt in this respect. And yet here we are coming up to an election. You'd think maybe a little bit of
a moderate tone might might lure a few more voters. Look, we're looking at the possibility of including a bit more colon gas going forward just to get us through this transitionary period.
Nope, Well, I don't think he can afford to concede any of them, and talk about pressure. Mark Nicholson on Kenny this afternoon pointed out just how much Bowen was sweating in that press conference, I mean very humor da he looked like a man who was really feeling the heat, no pun intended. I had to laugh though, because he was asked about the two hundred and seventy five dollars price reduction that we were promised, and of course he said, well that was all based on modeling done in twenty
twenty one. But at the time when the promise was made, and Anthony Albanezi was asked, but how can you be sure this is just modeling? Anthony Alberanezi said no, no, no, I know that we'll be able to do this. Then Bowen went on to say that the price rise is proof of why the government's energy rebate is good policy. So the price rise we were told would not happen is the wisdom of the government using taxpayer money to try to mitigate the price rise that we're told would
not happen. They're just doing well on every level.
Yeah, just win win.
I'm glad if you actually, if you take all the sarcasm out of that comment.
It's perfectly true.
Speaking of which, another big win for the PM is he's stealing up for a food fight with Donald Trump. He's in talks with the administration inded this has been raised with the Energy Secretary during meetings with Kevin rad another outstanding performer, who said, basically, will cooperate with you on critical minerals if you can, if you.
Carve out Australia on tariffs.
And of course we have the steal aluminium tariffs that we've already been hit by, and then we've got the food tariffs as well, so PM steals for food fight
get it steals because it's a steel tariff. After critical offer fails to win over Trump, the Albanezy government will promise the nation's and food producers it will fight to protect them from Donald Trump's next round of tariffs, as it offers the White House billions worth of operate of cooperation on critical minerals to shield Australia from the.
Escalating trade war.
And you know who didn't operate or share cooperation on critical minerals, Ukraine And look how that ended. So I think that figured out what the US is interested in. Oh they like critical Oh you like some critical minerals. We've got some critical minerals.
Why didn't they do this in the first place? It was like this assumption that you guys will let us off the tariffs you did last time and where mates, knowing that Trump is on this spree of just show me the money, show me what you can do for me. Otherwise I'm not coming to the party. Everyone needs to pull their socks up. I'm sick of being the cash cow for the entire world. This is what they should have come to the table with.
Wouldn't have been a good deal if it was just about the steel, no element.
And hasn't it worked out better for the Labor Party that they weren't able to stop the tariffs because now they've pivoted Donald Trump is the enemy. The Labor Party is standing strongly for Australia's national interest. We're going to fight for you. Trump is Evina Albaniez's making a lot of mileage out of this. I think it's one of the best things that's happened for him. Tough, strong stand exactly nation against tariff's and against people who mishandle wombats.
We're going to go to a break when we come back. Gavin Newsom funding a special statue gets to itself will show you in.
Just a moment.
Welcome back. Well Californian and Governor Gavin Newsom isn't liked by everybody, Liz, but there are some people who really love him.
Well, yes, and it is he himself. Find yourself someone that looks at you like Gavin Newsom looks in a mirror. Here's our cousins at Fox News telling you all about this new bust that he has erected in his honor.
Gavin news in love with himself and we have proof.
As if we needed any.
More, A new book reveals k new some secretly funded a statue of himself. Gavin's bronze bust sits in a San Francisco City hall hallway with several buttons unbuttoned. Total cost one hundred years. What about that bust? Well, the first thing that came to mind when I saw this was, wait a minute, his hairline is way higher.
Now, given this was partially funded by the governor himself, you want to know by how much? Like was he going to get one from the city? And he was like, na, nah, that's crappy. Want I wanted bronze? In fact, how much for a twenty four carrot gold one? And that's when he started pitching.
In kind of upgraded it, and then you wonder about Dan Andrews. That statue is still to be built. That was one hundred thousand dollars for the Dan Andrews statue. Dan Andrews add a bit of his own money and sort of you know, Embellisiam, I.
Know, I mean, I'd look Kevin new here are we saving the American taxpayer's help? It's very interesting all the narcissists throughout history that have built giants, staff pharaohs, most of themselves, the pharaohs and all that stuff.
You know, who never built a statue of himself?
Who's that?
Hitler?
Off Hitler? That's why there are no statues of Hitler anywhere. Hitler did not even Hitler thought that building a statue of yourself made you look like a bit of a douchebag.
To think about that as a benchmark.
I don't know if we've got it, but I believe that our team have put together some sky News busts that we could see bad as a.
Bust if I would contribute to that.
How much are we talking because.
Very quickly before we go, we all know that our kids aren't doing well at school. Educational standards are slipping and we think we've found Why have a look at this sign outside Harvey Bay High School. The Queensland Education Department have been asked to explain how on earth was that sign allowed to be put up outside the entrance to the school. You can see spelling is not their forte. If you want to know what's wrong with our schooling system,
there you go. You can find out at the front gate of Harvey They just couldn't fit it, you know, because it's crammed onto the end there.
They're like, you know, the real spelling school is stupid?
Are they going to know?
Yeah, they spelled it right, I reckon, it's everyone else. It's spelling.
The sea has to be a cave.
That's all we've got time for stick around. Coming up is the Reader Penny Show. Good Night,