Lately, General Man, Welcome to the Late Plain.
Well, good evening and thanks for joining us.
I'm James Macpherson with Liz Staorer and Caleb Bond coming up tonight. We were going to show you all the fashion from the Grammys Awards. However, the big story was the lack of fashion, in fact, the lack of any clothes at all.
Will show you some of that a little later on.
Plus, when we get to the papers, the Environmental Defender's Office looks set to be stripped of their charity status, and business leaders urging the federal government to ditch their renewables goals in order to save small business. We'll get to all of that, as I said, when we look at what's making news tomorrow. But first you might imagine the Australian Defense Force exists, you know, to fight wars. As Rush Limbaugh once said, the military exists to kill
people and to break things. But those at the top of the Australian Defense Force as well, they have different ideas. They seem to regard our military as a sort of camouflage Petrie dish in which to indulge their woke fantasies. They've currently advertised a one hundred and thirty thousand dollars position for a quote gender Diversity and Inclusion officer. Now, the task of this person in our military is to
make science and technology research within the ADF more gender diverse. Now, back in November twenty twenty two, there was research done to show that if Australia went to war today, we would run out of ammunition within one week, and the ADF's response to that seems to be, well, we need more women. There was a report last year that said of our six submarines, only one of them is actually operational. So the ADF reply with, let's get some non binary sailors as well.
That's craziness.
As was pointed out by Shadow Defense Minister Andrew Hasty, he said, the no fail mission of the Defense Force is to fight and win Australia's wars. Everything must support this vital mission. Our military, he said, is not a test tube for social engineers or the plaything of political activists, and he's absolutely right. For a start, we live in
perilous times. Everybody agrees this is one of the most dangerous environments we've ever faced in terms of geopolitics, and our Defense Force is engaging in woke nonsense like this. On top of that, everyone knows the budget is tight at present, Australia spends less than two percent of GDP on defense. That's not enough in the best of times, let alone when, as I said, when times are perilous. So to be wasting the little money we have for
defense on a gender diversity officer seems to be quite reckless. Third, we all know that there's massive problems recruiting soldiers to the ADF and maybe one of the reasons for that is what young men want to go and fight for a country that seems more concerned with recruiting women and non binary officers than even having enough ammunition to actually fight a war.
And finally, it's a bit of a worry.
When the people at the top of our military seem to be, if not on board with this, at least shrugging their shoulders at it and allowing.
It to go ahead.
And if you think that there's not a problem, consider last July, the Australian Defense Force put out a press release boasting and I quote, doubling down on diversity. While America is running from diversity, the ADFRE doubling down caleber Liza. They actually listed six diversity areas that they are focused on.
This is July last year.
I'll name them for you, though you'll be able to guess what they are. Women, first Nations, LBGTQIA plus linguistically diverse. I thought was interesting because you can't have too many soldiers for whom English is a second language. Ready aim and the other two groups were disabled people and autistic people, whom, of course they described as neuro guyverse. This is the focus of our top military grass at a time when everyone says war could be imminent in our region.
I thought you were going for linguistically diverse there when you started stuttering between giving us the last two options there. I actually want a diverse military. I'm going to say, I want a diverse military. I want a diversity of weapons. I want a diversity of tanks. I want a diversity of killers. That's what I want. I want them to be able to do the job. I don't care whether they're fat, shorts or whatever. I just want them to actually be really good at the job.
And that's the silliest thing here.
Right We're talking about a gender diversity officer who is trying to make the research team in science and technology, more gender diverse.
What does it matter.
I mean, we're not even talking about soldiers if we're talking about people who are doing research in this the military, right. I want the best minds in the country working in that room. Again, I don't care if they're gay, or they're straight, or they're black, or they're brown, or their brindle.
I want the.
Best people in the country in that room working on technology and science that will.
Defend my country.
I'll pay obscene amounts of money to get the best people from anywhere. It shouldn't even enter the discussion. And what you have is while the US in particular, which is leading a revolt against all of this stuff across the world and particularly through the corporate world, and most of the corporate world exists in America and that will eventually have flow on a fix to the rest of the world. But while America is having a revolt against this stuff, you have the government and its arms in
Australia doubling down and going even harder. And you have to wonder whether they're going even harder. Almost as a little fu to Trump to say, oh, look at us, where different. But I'm afraid to tell you people are sick of it. They're sick of it everywhere. They're sick of it in the US, the sick of it in the UK, they're sick of it in Australia.
And as Peter Lee.
Said last week in The Australian, the ex Army Chief and you alluded to it, the reason people don't sign up to the military anymore is because there's no national pride and they don't feel like this country is worth defending. And then they look at this and they go, oh, maybe I will go and join the military. And then they go, oh, damn, I'm not a woman. I can't make it.
I mean, why would you want to sign up?
But the numbers don't actually hold this up. Do you know how many applicants we had to the ADF last year? Go on, sixty four thousand. Sixty four thousand people applied to join the ADF. Now, at the beginning of twenty twenty four, we were four thousand, three hundred short of the authorized military strength. We are four thousand, three hundred short of the permanent numbers that the ADF is allowed to have. It's now twenty twenty five. Guess how many
we are short? Four thousand, three hundred the exact same number. How is this possible when you had sixty four thousand applicants. I'll tell you why. The average time that it takes them to process these applications three hundred days. Who were among us would apply for a job and wait three hundred days to hear back. These people are just going
off and finding other jobs. How is it possible that not even ten percent of those sixty four thousand applicants were up to scratch, Especially at a time when you've got these six diversity points. You want more women. You're lowering your standards. You're like, hey, if you have a disability, we will make exceptions. Prior to this, that was unheard of. People simply weren't allowed into the forces unless you were
sound of mind and very sound of body. There's you know, there's quite ruling links that you have to go to to prove yes, I'm fit enough. I don't know if any of us would even make it in there. I'd love to know.
Tell and I would probably be general.
I'm speaking for all of us, Mac, and you know I am. But do you want to recruit people or not? Because you know those numbers now? And I think it's quite obvious that the answer is no. How is that even possible, especially at a time when, as Mack said, perilous times you're always bashing about, oh, we need more people, We're not getting enough people. We're just not recruiting enough. People are leaving, there's turnover, we're not even at replacement rates.
You had sixty four thousand applicants. Where the hell are they? And how have you not done something about this cumbersome, clearly ineffective procedure whereby you are onloading people. Why haven't you done something about that? The question I'm asking is very simple, do you want to recruit or not? And if you look at the raw data, the answer is no.
This is why we need a doze to go and clean this crap up.
But maybe the problem.
Is that all the people who are applying as straight white men, and they're turning them away because.
They're not In terms of that, you know, you talk about the lengthy application process, right, but what if what if people just put their pronouns on their resume?
It would speed up the.
Process because then they could sift through the ones that they wanted. Your comic Caleb that maybe it's just an f you to the Trump administration. The great irony of that, of course, is that if war does break out in the Pacific, the first phone call the Australian government will make will be to Donald Trump to say, hey, get your stuff down here, we need help.
So good luck with that if that's the case.
I'm going to say that you said before, Liz, you know who among us would be able to make it.
I'd put you at the top.
I'd put you at the top because you could stair someone down with a gun and kill them, no questions asked.
You would be fiering.
You would be fier But do you.
Think Liz would take orders from anybody? That's a fact that you'd be caught mustered within five minutes.
It's so true.
As if they were rolling out this kind of crap. I've been kicked out on day one, I'd be like, you.
Shut up exactly.
Well, speaking of the US, who will come to our help if there is a war that breaks out, they're looking at the way they help people around the world through USA. Now that's their foreign aid arm and they currently spend forty million dollars, sorry, forty billion dollars a year providing foreign aid through US Aid but Trump has put a nine month suspension on all aid while they review what's actually happening, because they found out.
Through Doge looking at all that's going on.
They're spending money on condoms for Gaza, there's climate justice marketing services for people in Gaboon.
There's clean energy programs for women in Fiji.
All of this under foreign aid, which clearly is a waste of taxpayer money. Now, when Musk and his Doze Committee went in to look at how money was being spent by USAID, security tried to keep them out. So Trump has now put on leave up to one hundred us AID staff, some of whose emails have been revoked as they look at what's going on here now.
Stephen Miller, who's the.
White House Deputy chief of Staff, pointed out on CNN one of the big problems with the way foreign aid is being dispensed by America is that those responsible for it are all lefties.
Have listened to what he said.
There's two million employees in the federal government. Overwhelmingly the career of federal service in this country is far left left wing. The American people, I don't know that to be a fan. Well, I'll give me you a great example. We looked at USAID as an example. That's ninety eight percent of the workforce either donated to Kamala Harris, another left wing candidate, just as an example.
Okay, but we're just saying an entire workforce is having a point.
Wait wait, who WHOA?
Did you just say that saying someone voted for Kamala Harris is demonizing them? No, so of course your suggestion is that there's a by so you use the word demonizing. You just said that I'm demonizing somebody by saying they voted for Kamala Harris. Let's get back on I just I am on track. Let me stay on track. What I'm saying to you is this, there are two million employees in the federal government. Right, they're overwhelmingly leftist turn to.
The reactions has been extraordinarily is from USA. They don't want anyone scrutinizing the money. But when you've got forty billion dollars annually, if you don't have someone looking over that regularly, it's ripe for corruption and graft. On top of that, if you really believe foreign aid is important, as I think all of us would, then it's incredibly important. To scrutinize it to make sure that money is being used.
Well, well, I.
Think the whole idea is that it is deliberately used badly, like us AI d is that guy referred to it because he's like, this is not aid and the Trump administration knows it. It's been used as a front for the CIA for many, many years, worst cap secret. Look it up. Don't take my word for it.
And one of the.
Best examples of this is the one hundred and seventy seven billion that's been sent to Ukraine, and Zelensky sat there saying, well, I've only received seventy seven billion. I've only received seventy seven billion. They keep saying one seventy seven billion, where's the other one hundred and what most people don't know, again, don't take my word for it, look it up, is that Ukraine is a very long
history of selling weapons on the black market. Between ninety two and ninety eight, they trafficked, for one of a better word, sold off that was stolen or lost in terms of arms in the UK, thirty two billion American dollars worth of it. And it's now again look it up. It's being said by those in the know that over half of the arms being sent to Ukraine is being sold by the Ukrainian military on the black market because they're pocketing the money. The US doesn't send them money.
The US sends them arms, and they're like, well, we want money and we want to be able to spend it however we like. And this is what USA does. It just dolls out ginormous, like mind blowing amounts of money in foreign countries in which they want to create a stronghold. They'll fund resurgencies against governments they don't like because that government is acting against US interests. They use this not as aid, and heck, we do the same thing with our aid. We all know it's not very ad.
We're trying to buy the favor of certain countries or in the case of establishing American hegemony in different regions, buying up these NGOs. So these NGOs go, Okay, all this money available to us through USAID, We're going to start up an NGO, get the money from the government, spend it as they will, and then guess who's some of the biggest donors to the Democratic Party these NGOs.
So it's also been this brilliant money laundering type of exercise for the Democratic Party within the States for a very long time. So there's another reason why Trump is just like, I am gotting this thing. Say goodbye to your gravy train, and we are having another look at what this agency is actually doing. The fact that their budget, USAID's budget is bigger than the State Department and the CIA's combined. And yet this is an independent agency. An
independent agency, are you kidding me? Funded billions and billions of dollars by the US taxpayer that has no idea how this money is being spent, not for real.
And that's the.
Most bizarre thing about it is that you have an outfit that is charged with distributing foreign aid, but it is an independent agency, so it operates as an independent arm of the government, which is like, for instance, in Australia the Communications and Media Authority, which has a certain level of separation from government because it regulates the communications and media market and you don't want the government itself to interfere in it.
You can understand that.
But when we're talking about foreign aid, which is surely a decision of a government to make about your money goes, that is a separate, independent entity that is allowed to spend the money as it wishes without the interference of the government and the president.
That's literally insane.
I mean, the decisions that are made about where foreign aid goes in Australia are made by a minister and their department. They're not made by a separate organization that independently gets to spend billions and billions of dogs.
However it wants.
The Prime Minister can stand up and say this is how much foreign aid we've got. It's put down in the budget and this is where it's going to be spent, bing bang boon. In the US, they can't do that because it's literally taken away. And that's what Trump is trying to do, is wrestle that control of this money. He could spend as much, he could spend more, he could spend less, but that surely should be the prerogative of the present to decide how that money is spent.
At the moment, he can't do that.
When the people he has sent to work out and look at the books go down to the office, they try to block them from coming in the front door because they know what they're going to find.
Marco Rubio has said they've got three objectives now with going through the books with a fine tooth comb, rooting out waste, blocking woke projects, I would suggest there's a good number of those, and stopping all projects that are counter to US interests. Have got quite a bit of criticism because you've said the purpose of usaid is to make America safer, America stronger, and America more prosperous. So you would have thought maybe the first thing was to
help the poor in the down and outs. But they're saying, no, no, no, even our foreign aid has to be to America's advantage. I think that's the right of every sovereign country, So get control of it and make sure it's for your interest.
Indeed, in Mariny, Americans at the moment are just like, how do we call a foreign aid? Like, we have enough problems right now, can we just cool it? And that's exactly what Trump has done with this nine month period, just being like, while we go over the books, nothing, no one's getting a scent. We are absolutely just going through everything making sure this is up to scratch and good on him. Who wouldn't be if you're an American taxpayer, you'd just be like, well, thank god.
The charity begins at home. As indeed, speaking of charity beginning at home, Remember when Donald Trump, after his inauguration, went to a national prayer service at an Episcopalian church and the bishop marrying bud gave him this treatment.
The people who our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor and poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who washed the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts and hospitals. They they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.
Yes, remember that.
And the faces of Trump and Milani and JD. Vans as they listen to all this go on, and she goes on about how transgender people are fearing for their lives now in Trump's America was all quite odd, and you'll remember that Trump responded afterwards. He said, the so called bishop who spoke at the National Prayer service on Tuesday morning was a radical left, hardline Trump hater. She brought her church into the world of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone and not
compelling or smart. She failed to mention the large number of illegal immigrants that came into our country and killed people when he were deposited from jails and mental institutions. It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA. Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job. She and her church owe
the public and apology. Well, they certainly owe the public and apology, but I think they also owe the public affair deal of thanks because we now know why she went so hard on Donald Trump in that sermon. It's because her church made fifty three million dollars out of the Biden administration to resettle migrants in America under programs that Trump has now paused.
So this wasn't her.
Genuinely standing there saying I'm so worried about the state of the world, and I'm saying this because I'm a Christian.
I'm saying this because it lines the pockets of my church.
And of course, at no point did she mention the fact that they got this fifty three million dollars to resettle three thousand, six hundred refugees in America last year.
Sorry that was twenty twenty three.
Last year, they had six four hundred people that they resettled in America, pocketing all this money through another arm they called the Episcopal Migration Ministry. Isn't it, Candravenien, isn't it that the man walks in who's decided to cut off the flow of money, Because you're just making shed loads by getting a bunch of people to come over to America. And that's a lot of money. Fifty three million dollars for a few thousand people.
That's not a bad racket.
He turns the tap off and all of a sudden, Oh, she's so worried about these migrants and these transgender people who are fearing for their lives.
No, she was worried about the bottom line.
I don't know if you should be too critical calib I mean, Jesus said you can't serve God and money. But the bishop is going to give it a shot anyway.
So the fact is they get up this fifty three million dollars.
This is not for providing anything for these refugees. This is simply connecting refugees with service providers. Oh my god, it's a pretty great job. And then American government they pay for the airfares for these refugees to arrive in the US.
If these refugees end up paying back the government the.
Cost of the airfares, the Episcopalian Church gets twenty five percent of the airfares as a bonus for helping these.
People settle well.
So clearly this bishop had a massive conflict of interest which was not shared from the pulpit. If the church want to help the poor, then the church should help the poor foot the bill themselves. But you can't be claiming to be the church helping the poor when you're expecting the taxpayer to put the hand in their pocket and do it. Anyway, this bishop has clearly ruined the Episcopalian Church, and now she's trying to ruin the country.
But when you consider they got fifty three million to settle three thousand, six hundred and like you say, not actually settle them, just connect them with the Organization the Middle we will settle them. And the article says, we don't know the figure for last year. That is twenty twenty three's figure. We don't know the twenty twenty four figure, but they settled almost double the people last year. So you can imagine we're probably talking in the vicinity of
well over one hundred million dollars last year. So she is seeing a lot of shiggy walk out the door, and she's very unhappy about it. But what she thought she was going to achieve vibrating a brand new president which got overwhelmingly the popular vote. This guy is missed her.
Everyone wanted him. Okay, there's no denying that. And she thought instead of uniting Americans, who a lot of them are Bible believers and would have tuned in and been like, yes, this is the National Prayer Service, instead of uniting Americans and getting a powerful message that everyone could get behind, she basically picked out the entire Trump campaign's main bastions of what they campaigned on and begged him not to do it, all the LGBTIQ stuff as well as the
refugee stuff. I mean, talk about screaming into a pillow.
Who would have thought that bullying Donald Trump is not the big way to get the man to change his mind. I'm not sure she has much political smarts this last.
Yeah, and she may be putting people off church in the US, but I'll tell you, people are turning to God in Victoria. At least year twelve students are because they'll need a miracle if their exams are to go.
Well, if you look.
At the track record of the Victorian Education Department, that's if they don't get leaked. Well that's where I'm going with this, So I mean it goes from bad to worse. You remember that last year year twelve students were trying to do their exams in Victoria, but the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and a few problems with the exams.
That is that about half of them were leaked prior to students sitting the exams, and then thousands of students, having prepared, couldn't actually do the exams, and then they had to work out how are they going to assess them not having been able to actually sit the exams. So the whole thing was an absolute mess. Well, it's twenty twenty five, a brand new year. Hopefully the Education Department in Victoria are going to do better, but it
seems not so. The Education Department decided to put together a website.
How hard could that be.
It's a pretty simple website, just you know, so people can access basic data like enrollment details, your exam timetables, and you know, maybe you could get access to your own academic record. Now, the first point of interest with this website that is going to provide these pretty basic points of data is the Victorian government was going to spend two point four million dollars on a website. This
website isn't designing rockets. It's just so you can access your exam timetable and get hold of your academic records. Two point four million dollars. But you know what Victoria is like. This thing is not going to come in on time or on budget. It's not being produced yet
and it's already twenty five percent over budget. A report in The Herald's Sun revealed that the Student Portal Project, which will give senior students access to enrollment details, exam timetables and academic records through a new digital channel, had its delivery cost cut. I'm from two point four one million to three point zero three million, and the projects revised delivery date also appears to not have been met. What I don't understand about this, Caleb is Ben Carroll
is the Education minister in Victoria. He's also the Deputy Premier. He put his hand up for leadership of Victoria when Dan Andrews resigned I mean, you think Jacinta Allen is bad. Thank god this guy didn't become the premier because his department screwed up exams for thousands of kids. Now they can't even get a website in on time or on budget.
Well, clearly we need a Minister for Websites to start looking after this stuff. I mean, for goodness sake, I was staggered when I read that number. Even two point four one million dollars turn out to build a website that's got some timetables and exam results on it, and then it becomes three million. I mean, I'm pretty sure one of my best mates at school, who's quite appted in has ability in all of these areas, could have.
Done it for a fraction of that. I reckon he could have done it for a few grand to be perfectly honest.
Another one of these government contracts that I wish I could get my hands on, because I'll take the three million dollars and then I'll just outsource it to some bloke in Manila who I'm sure can do it for a fraction of that. But my favorite part of a well.
The sound of it, that's what these guys have done.
Probably my favorite part of all of this is that they had already decided that the delivery date was going to be March this year, twenty twenty five, and then someone in their wisdom decided that they should change that to August last year, twenty twenty four. I'm assuming they'd only just been hired, because anyone who's been in government for any period of time knows that you don't bring.
The delivery date backwards to make it sooner. You always send it further down the line because it gets.
Pushed over the edge.
Who thought they were actually going to this is going to come fast. It's a government project that's going to come faster now.
It's been taking Victorian bureaucrats, so they probably decided we'll make it due in August twenty twenty four. But they made that decision in October twenty twenty four.
That's right of your o thing they have.
But this is typical in Melbourne, right, us in Melbourne over Christmas and you're trying to travel on public transport and they've got this my key system, which is absolutely hopeless.
Right.
I can't believe this education portal has never been done anywhere else in the world. Wouldn't you find one. I don't know in New South Wales, maybe Queensland's got one. Maybe there's one in New Zealand. You would find one and just buy it off. The showf Coffee implement it the same with their transport system, the New South Wales transport system.
You tap on, you tap off. It works perfectly, but.
Victoria had to invent their own and it's cost them a huge amount of money, well over a billion dollars.
Still doesn't work properly.
And it's delayed because they've been trying to upgrade it so you can use your credit card and that's all been delayed and it's blown out again. Was the story the other day, Danny.
The latest thing, right, So when you go to the train station, this is just last week, you've got a person telling you via the announcements, tap on, but it doesn't actually tap. You've got a hob of the card overpping. You've been told to tap, but if you tap, it doesn't work.
But it's been over a billion.
Dollars cover and you're look like a failed magician being.
Like But because I was down in Melbourne on the weekend and I don't know how many Mikey cards I now have because I forget to take one with me. Every time I go back to Melbourne, I must have through coat and jacket pockets in my wardrobe at least a dozen Markeye cards because in Victoria, for those who don't know, you can't actually tap with your phone like you can in South Australia and New South Wales and most.
Of the country.
You can't do it in Victoria. So every time I go down there, I have to buy the Micie card, which is six dollars and then put the credit on top of it in order.
To use it.
I must have hundreds of dollars sitting on Mici cards in my wardrobe.
I got to tell you, I was at Southern Cross station and I'm trying to use the Mikey card and it is not working.
I've put fifty bucks on it, right, I'm trying to get this thing to work.
Finally I give up, but fortunately they've got like an information booth and there's three people standing around all.
With here to help you t shirts or whatever.
So I over I couldn't help.
We spent ten minutes trying to work it, and then said I don't know what to do with it.
The public and It makes you feel very helping. Is just doing what I've been doing for the last five minutes to no avails.
It makes you feel so silly.
I was on a train on Saturday from Warrigal to Melbourne, right and these kids got on the train clearly without a Markey card and they were carrying on and yelling and shouting.
Bunch of buffoons.
How did they get on there? Is it not like Sydney where we have the barricade.
You get on and off, So it's like if you go to a train station in Sydney that isn't a central law whatever. You just tap on anywhere when you arrive. There's no gates. So they get on at Warrigle where I got on, and it's like that, and they got off. I think it danned it on, which probably tells you
half the story, doesn't it. But they carried on right throughout the trip, and the inspector came down and checked all our marking cards and he walked past the kids and I thought, hang on a minute, and he got a bit further down and then he turned around and came back and the kids said to him straight up, we don't have iikey cards and he said, I gathered that, but please don't vape.
On the train. What am I doing paying to use the train?
So if you have the inspects, I know you haven't got a mikey, but can you're not vape.
So if you're asked by an inspector on Victorian Rail like do you have a ticket?
You say no, but neither of my vape.
I'm not vaping, so let me get away with it.
He's like, yeah, I know you're breaking that law, but the other one, don't break that one. To the UK, now, where counter protests have been running rife through the streets of London, you've probably heard of activist Tommy Robinson.
This guy is a.
Very colorful character. He has gotten up to a lot in his time. He's known as like an online jock, but goodness me, he's done a lot of unsavory things, including forging documents, flying into countries on the different identities. But he gets around the world and he does expose quite a few things going on in what you might call the deep state. Well right now, Tommy Robinson is
serving eighteen months in jail in the UK. This is for a case that dates back to twenty twenty one where he was found guilty of libel against a fifteen year old refuge but being Tommy Robinson, he then disregarded the injunction related to that label and went ahead and repeated it. So now he's in jail for eighteen months now. Whether you think that that's good or bad, I don't
know that you should be jailed for words. To me, that seems rather and I think Elon Musk agrees with me because he's taken to Twitter to say release Tommy Robinson. Because one of his good pieces of work was a sizeable documentary you can find it online that was all
about the grooming gang scandal. And it was this piece of brilliant doco work by Tommy Robinson who just gets around with a camera by himself, doing all the work that journalists are supposed to do but don't because they have vested interests and the media bodies that they're working for wouldn't cover the work anyway. So he publishes this doco on x It goes absolutely viral, and now we all know about the Pakistani grooming gangs in the UK and what has been happening for well over a decade.
So this guy is currently behind bars, and check out the scenes in London, not only a protest demanding he be freed, but a counter protests saying no cap him in there.
Now.
One of the think has really exacerbated the situation is the fact that Tommy Robinson, among other things, has always been very hardline anti Islam in the UK, and we know that well, there's a lot of Islam in the UK. Now a lot of British people are feeling completely overwhelmed, completely overrun by the amount of immigration, legal and illegal in their countries, and the vast majority of them from
Muslim countries. So I'm wondering how much of this protest has to do with the fact that they could actually give a sod about Tommy Robinson and the reason why he's behind bars, which again I think in this case is questionable. He had to pay out to that fifteen year old refugee one hundred thousand pounds. I don't know what he said, but good grief, one hundred thousand pounds.
But I think that this outlaw and he actually is, has become the face of this movement now because he is a champion pushing back on the mass immigration, and that's who these people are rallying behind because we don't cover it enough. But these protests in the UK are happening on a weekly basis. Now, tens of thousands of Brits are taking to the streets saying we want our country back.
He has become a lightning rod. And it's quite similar I think to that case last year where a number of young girls were stabbed at a Taylor Swift dance lesson right, and there was misinformation put online saying that it was a refugee who'd done it, and that caused protests all over the UK saying, you know, we should be safe in our own country.
So the thing that becomes the cause.
Of it, or the face of it, or the lightning rod for it is often questionable, but it is because there are underlying issues in a country that eventually lead people at a certain moment to come out and say we need to do something about this.
I mean, you're talking.
About a country in the UK. Well, it will England in Wales for this statistic, but we're talking about a country where the number one name for boys in twenty twenty three was Muhammad. I mean, oh it was last year in the UK, right, So no wonder people feel like, well, hang on a minute, this doesn't look like the country I grew up, and this doesn't look like the country I recognize. And if it's Tommy Robinson or it's someone else, it doesn't matter. Someone becomes the lightning rod for it.
And even if an imperfect person, as Robinson quite clearly is, start saying what a lot of people are thinking, they'll put aside their differences with him and say, well, at least he's saying the stuff that needs to be said. And that's the danger in people not saying what is plainly obvious, because if you won't say it, someone else will, and it may will be someone unsavory who starts saying it.
Yeah, the silence of conservatives on matters of truth makes heroes of rogues or as you said, outlaws, and then of course the whole issue gets muddied. Right, So the right protest about immigration levels and a discussion on that gets confused with the character of Tommy Robinson, yes, and the whole thing just and.
Then they can besmirch everyone who's protesting in his name, oh radical right wing bunch of rabble. So yeah, it definitely plays off against.
It if conservatives don't speak about the issues that people on the street feel strongly about, and these are issues that people really care about. Then some rogue talks about it, and then you end up with what we end up with.
We're going to go to a break.
When we come back, we'll look at what's making news in the papers, including the federal government being asked by business please reconsider your renewables targets.
You're killing us. It's coming up in this a moment.
All right, welcome back. Let's take a look at what's making headlines tomorrow. Liz, you've got the Northern Territory.
Time, Yes, I do.
Future of EDIO unclear. This is good news. We don't like the Environmental Defenders offers legal activist group. The Environmental Defender's Office sounds so great, doesn't. It could be stripped of its charity status if a watchdog finds it breach public trust by coaching a witness against Santos. Hot tip if you're a witness against Santos, you really shouldn't need coaching. I could do an hour long monologue for free without
drawing breath. Shadow Resources Minister Susan McDonald has referred the Legal Activist group to the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission. Here's hoping that the commission finds that they're guilty and this guy does this guy, this place does lose its charity status. It's arguable that it should have it at all in the first place.
We had to pay nine million dollars I think to Santos as a fine for being found guilty of coaching witnesses against them, and part of the Charities Commission says that anyone who has charitable status should avoid serious risk to public trust and confidence in the charity sector, and it would seem that they have done that.
Indeed, I mean this thing gets public money as well. They should be getting zero public money because they are spending government money, taxpayer dollars to fight in often in many cases projects that have actually received the support of state and federal government. So the state federal governments are paying to send out a mob to fight against the projects that they are supporting and putting taxpayer money into.
It's just ridiculous.
Anyway.
DIO sounds like some sort of STD or something. Oh you've got IDIO won't go near you, which.
Is probably amazing.
Probably let's go to the front page of tomorrow's Herald's son Premier's shock admission reads the headline, Well, I wonder what just Center Allen has come up with. Allen concedes more must be done to keep people safe. You don't say and vow's action. Well, we'll wait and see. Bail laws are too soft. That's just Center Ellen's conclusion. She has conceded Victoria's bowl laws are too soft and has ordered an immediate here we go a review. Well, I think we can all wait with baited breath for that
review to be concluded. Sometime around twenty fifty eight. Just last year, there was a sixteen year old in Melbourne who was driving a stolen vehicle recording himself live streaming on Facebook or whatever platform. It was boasting about the fact that he was driving a stolen car and doesn't care if he's picked up by the police because he'll be back out on the street about ninety minutes later
doing it all over again. In fact, this sixteen year old actually talked about how ridiculous it is that you could be charged with murder as a young person in Victoria and back out on the street in just a couple of weeks. So when you've got teenage boys driving stolen cars, live streaming themselves joking about how bad the criminal justice system is in Victoria. Do we really need the premiere to suddenly have a Damascus Road experience and realize what everybody else has known for a long time.
But this can be a review, so that surely will.
So you know, it's just a matter of time before it's going to be perfect. Honestly, I don't know a single state or territory whose bail laws aren't a complete and utter nightmare. And this is something that they just outright state. When you're doing criminal law at UNI, all of the lecturers who are lawyers themselves are just like, God help you. And at the end of the day, what it comes down to is judicial discretion. It comes
down to the magistrates. So when you hear of these cases of these kids committing fill in the blank and walking free three seconds later, you've got to ask, has this magistrate got rocks in their heads? Especially at a time when like Queensland, like Victoria, we're seeing these kids go on crime spreeze with the full confidence that there will be no punishment meet it out.
And I think it shows that you said to Alan is worried. She's concerned that she could well lose government next year when they go to a state election. And what a turnaround from Daniel Andrews who was returned in twenty twenty two with an extra seat, to the woman who replaced him being very concerned that she could well lose government. I've said it at the time in twenty three when she took over as in many other people, she sinder allen ate no Daniel Andrews, and I think
she's proving that quite well. Let's go to The Australian to borrow, where it says eighty two percent of no charts. Funny about that the nation's largest business body is predicting Labor will have to revisit its renewables target of twenty thirty amid crippling energy prices and looming supply shortfalls, calling on Anthony Albersi to hold urgent talks with gas executives to unleash the shackles of the resource so it can
play a bigger role in Australia's energy sector. Every time we come across one of these stories, I feel like I'm bashing my head against a brick wall because for how long have we known? For how long have we been saying that we are not going to meet these targets by twenty thirty And then once we get to twenty thirty, they're going to set a target for twenty thirty five, So you know, it's all stuffed. And as the problem for us is that if you assign up to the Paris Accords as we are, if you set
a target, you can only revise it upwards. You're not allowed You're not under the terms of the Paris Agreement. You're not allowed to revise your target downwards because you realize you can't make it. So the only way to actually get out of it is to pull out of the Paris Accords, as we should do. But every expert in the energy sector has known for years and has been saying four years that we're not going to meet these targets, and we're still talking about it.
And Chris Bowen's response to this is that we have to have more renewables because coal is too unreliable. But of course the reason that coal is unreliable is because the government have created zero incentive for coal fired power stations to receive.
Adequate Oh and they've got read if they haven't been blown up by the government.
Yes, so the ones that are remaining are like, dear God, you got rid of a pile of coal power stations, and now the ones remaining are happening to work double time to make up for the deficit because you stupid flogs have realized in hindsight, Ah, we needed those. Yeah, actually we can't keep the lights on without And this again, now gas is okay, gas was so bad we couldn't have gas. No, no, we weren't going to be relying
on gas. Okay, we're going to be relying on gas a little bit just to prop us up while we get over the line. Okay, now we need a hell of a lot more gas. And he's convening these meetings again. How is the sector supposed to cope when for years they've been told, actually, sit on your laurels. We are not going to be putting the pedal to the metal in your gas sector. We're very like question mark about it. And then all of a sudden you have them turn
around and be like, we need you. I mean, what kind of infrastructure, the people, power, all the rest of it. Are these poor people having to be like, oh great, now, all eyes on us. We've got to keep the lights on after you've been telling us for years we're all but redundant.
Indeed, well, I'll tell you one place where the lights ought to go off. It's this blokes mosque. This story
word spreads radical back's new outposts. Now you will remember this guy from last year and since October the seventh, of course, he was talking about, you know, trees killing Jews, etc. A cleric could have newly established Islamic center in Melbourne backed by radical Sydney preacher with him, Haddad has lamented that young Australian Muslims are being brainwashed, falling victim to liberal ideologies, and that the first words spoken by a child shouldn't be mother or father but Allah.
Well there you go.
I'm glad I'd take parenting advice from this blow. Had you even poach a kid to say allah before it's his mum or dad? For Heaven's sake. But isn't it funny these Muslim boys and girls are being taught about liberal Western ideologies?
Hmm?
Would that happen if you weren't living in Australia? What do you think was going to happen? For goodness, say well.
I mean, the fact is they can practice their religion anyway they want it. If they think kids should say Allah before they.
Say Mum or dad, that's their prerogative. The question we've got to ask is, what are.
You doing in my country?
Is that the sort of culture of a lot to foster? Are we happy about that?
We are?
We think that's problematic. Maybe we should reflect that in some of our policies. We're going to go to a break when we come back. Fashion or rather no fashion, no clothes at all. At the Grammys, that's a moment.
Well.
I think the US selection proved that we really don't pay much attention to celebrities anymore. And I think they know it, which is why the Grammys they're going to such extreme lengths to try and get our attention. Check out this outfit from Jaden Smith. He's the son of Will Smith. He literally went on the red carpet with a house on his head. I'm not quite sure the significance of that. Maybe there is no significance at all. He just wanted to get on the Late Debate mission.
I mean, some people can't even afford houses, and he's walking around with one on his head now.
And I got to tell you, I thought that was the worst thing on the red carpet. And then along came Kanne's girlfriend, Bianca sensory, sensory by name, but not sensory by nature. She was basically wearing one leg of stocking. Evently, karannye with all his money, couldn't afford to buy her address. And I would have thought, Caleb, somewhere between the burker and that travesty, you know, maybe humanity could find I don't know something that would be, you know, between the two.
I don't know, like clothes.
Yeah, I mean, look, if you or I walked around in the nick, we probably get nicked for public indecency. But that's art, Caleb, that's oh, for goodness sake, if you're a celebrity, you can get away with it. Day.
I think they need to check into an institution very quickly before we go. He at tasked.
I don't know if you've used it, but you can go on there and advertise for all sorts of odd jobs to be done around your house or even at.
The local park.
One bloke who's put up an ad saying, look, I'm having a picnic in the afternoon or later in the morning. I need someone to get down there in the morning as soon as the park opens and reserve the park bench for me. He is offering fifty dollars for someone to go to a park in Randwick and sit at the table for two hours so he can come along later and use it. Fifty bucks doesn't sound like a bad deal for me on a lazy morning.
But how about this one.
I saw this last week or a week or two ago a blog advertising in Sydney for a fake girlfriend five hundred dollars because he's going to a family dinner and obviously mum keeps asking you know you've got a girlfriend yet, and he's like, I will literally pay five hundred dollars for a girl to come to family dinner and pretend we're together again.
That seems like a pretty good deal to me.
He mustn't see his family often, though, because this is if this is gonna be a long standing ruse, you're just gonna have to be like, next time you see them, yeah, we broke off. I mean, don't go to be a long term plan.
One hundred dollars for someone to pretend to break up with me. That's it from us.
Stick Around. Coming up is The Reader Penney Show.