Late welcome, Late plain.
Well, thanks for joining us. I'm James Macpherson with Liz Storer and Caleb Bond coming up. Police complain that unisex uniforms are damaging their ability to do their job. We'll explain that fully a little later in the program. Plus, when we look at the papers, attempts to declare every creek in the New South Wales Shire as an Indigenous sacred site, and the government and out sweeping reforms to veterans affairs, all of that, as I said, when we
look at the papers. But first, if you've ever thought environmentalism was a quasi religion, where you're going to love this story. Climate chaplains are being employed in organizations to help people deal with climate grief. NPR, that's National Public Radio in America have reported the eco chaplain is a twenty first century invention, and well, no one knows exactly how many there are. Chaplaincy experts agree the number is likely less than one hundred. They have been operating in Australia,
the US, Canada and the UK. Now caleber lives you'll be fascinated to learn these climate chaplains, novel spiritual leaders have been developing spiritual rituals to help people close rituals to help people deal with climate regret, that's where you feel like you didn't do enough to save the planet. Climate complicity, where you feel guilty because you have played a part in the degradation of the planet. Climate lamit, where you're just generally sad, and helping people deal with
saying goodbye to species that are becoming extinct. Now, NPR went along to what they called a climate Grieving circle where people sat around together led by a former Buddhist now turned climate chaplain in breathing exercises where you exhale and as the way you're laughing, this is a very serious attempt to help people with climate grief. As you exhale the plants and trees they inhale, and you become
one with creation and contribute to the healing of the planet. Now, there's a bit more to this, and I don't want to make it sound too simple, because Caleb, they've got chaplains who deal with younger people and older people, because the issues are different. For younger people, you're trying to help them deal with climate fright, where they are just
petrified of wildfires, hurricanes and a second Trump presidency. And then you've got Chaplains dealing with the older generation who are just mourning the fact that decades of climate activism tying themselves to the port of Newcastle has done nothing to stop the climate crisis. And so I think this is a wonderful thing, Liz, that we need to see more of. I think a lot of people are going to be helped by this.
I want this job.
I bet they're all in six figures. And I would just begin by being like, why are all so stupid?
Why are you all so stupid?
Has anyone shown you definitive scientific proof.
That see is destroying the planet?
Did you know it's actually the most important nutrient for life on Earth? Without it, we'd all be dead, There'd be no plants, there'd be no humans, nothing, And in fact, science shows they were running short of it before we rocked up and started pumping some extra into the atmosphere. After my consults, they'd all leave climate change denials.
I'd be like, give it ten years.
You're going to feel real stupid. Do not waste any more time on your regret. You're grieving your anxiety and depression.
That's conversion therapy.
Illegal.
This is just This is so sad, and it speaks to the state of people's mental health in today's world and the fact that no one driving this wave of mental health around climate change.
Nobody is answering for this.
All the fear porn that is being pumped in to our young and yes the older people as well, being made to feel like all your life you didn't even know about this, and you've trashed the planet and you've ruined it for generations to come. Genuine vulnerable, conscientious people are now made to feel like you're to answer for what we're now facing and the coming generations who now need to live in caves otherwise there's no way we can survive here.
To be fair, they're not just old, they're whites as well.
So I'm just at a loss. I am. I am completely at a loss, Like we are staffed.
As a human race.
If we need to have bloody echo chaplains, I might leave my glasses off because it's harder to see the world with my glasses off, And at this point that's kind of how I want it. Like if nothing will show you how far we have fallen, like the fact that we now have quote unquote eco chaplains, presumably in schools and workplaces and nursing homes and whatever else, holding people's home. But when you said before, this concept of them having these breathing circles, right, and so they're saying,
you know, inhale and then then exhale deeply. Now, surely there's a big problem with that, because every time you exhale, you are exhaling carbon dioxide and you are contributing to the carbon emissions flying out into the atmosphere. So surely in these breathing circles, they should be encouraging you to hold your breath for as long as possible until you go purple in the face and drop dead, because that's the best thing you could possibly do for the planet.
And by the way, it alleviates all your climate anxiety. But you know, we make all these jokes, but it is really sad that there are children, in particular, children who are genuinely concerned that the world they are living in today, that they are growing up in today, may not exist by the time they are eighty years old.
I mean, there's a lead to believe that the whole joints going to fall apart and the world's going to implode and it's going to be like and the dinosaurs became extinct and all the mediaors came and took us out, like it's not gonna happen. It ain't gonna happen. There's this little thing called evolution, right, and when things change, the atmosphere change, the climate changes, as it has always changed.
Some species survive and some species don't. It has ever been thus But you know what, we are the smartest. We're at the top of the tree. If anyone can find a way to adapt to the planet being you know, one and a half degrees warmer or whatever it's supposedly going to be, it's human beings who can do that. Like, it ain't going to be that big of a problem.
But kids are genuinely worried that the world is not going to be here by the time they're aty, that they're all going to cark it because it's too hot. I mean, I know it gets pretty hot in Australia, but try living in some other parts of the world where they never get any rain and it's hot all the time.
This is this is like the religion of choice for urban atheists, who just prove the point that you can say I'm not interested in religion, but if in the end you are innately spiritual, you have to come up with something. So, you know, climate activitism's got its saints, you know, like Greta Tunberg. It's got its sinners like BP, it's got its evangelists El Gore, it's got its penance, you buy your carbon credits, and it's got all the
hallmarks of religion. Being say no, I'm not into religion, and yet you're completely into religion as if you were following any of the mainstream religion.
And people must be made to believe in it because we have not even seen the beginnings of the price. The government is going to increasingly demand that you pay for this religion, whether you believe in it or not. You don't get to subscribe from this. And this is why I can't believe people have relinquished the scientific argument so quickly.
We're told that the science is settled.
Well, of course, the science is settled when you gag everyone who disagrees with you. Because what governments around the world, particularly Western governments, are increasingly requiring of their people in the name of this climate change, gender is going to become.
More and more and more onerous.
That is why we're not allowed to question it, We're not allowed to cast.
Doubts on it. And now we're supposed to take it.
So seriously that we have chaplains to deal with people's climbing anxiety about an issue that I genuinely feel sorry for these people because they think.
That this is one hundred percent real.
This is all going to happen imminently unless everyone changes at the speed of light. Even the evangelists that Mac just talked about, even the governments themselves perpetuating this narrative, dolling out these onerous policies that are only going to get worse and worse.
Even they are.
The ones that we catch out every other week spending millions of.
Dollars of our taxpayer dollars.
On their flights for trips that could have been a ten minute car ride.
No, no, we've got to save the planet. Not if you're them.
They are laughing at you, These people buying beachfront properties while preaching to the plabs that we're all.
Going to be underwater in a matter of years.
It is utterly ridiculous, and so more than anything, although it is extremely funny, I get angry when I read stories like this, because you've always got those of us humans that tape things to the nth degree. There's still people post COVID wearing masks and being deathly scared that they're going to transmit it to someone or that they're going to cause issues in that space, because they're extremely conscientious and they're genuinely still scared.
It's abominable.
Well, if you've caught the climate disease, I'm glad to tell you that the later bait is the inoculation. Please get your dose every single night at ten pm here on Sky New. Speaking of the environment, you may have heard the story earlier in the year that the federal government wants to set up an environmental cop on the beat. It was one of their election promises that they would set up a federal version of the EPA. Generally that's
Protection Authority, it's called in the various states. The federal version would be called Environment Protection Australia. Well, the federal government, sorry, is in a spot of bother because they're struggling to get this legislation through the parliament because, as you would expect, the opposition the Coalition saying this thing goes too far, because essentially what the government has suggested is that it would perform all the sort of jobs that the EPA
currently does statewide. You know, it monitors environmental issues with developments and minds and this sort of thing, but the federal government wants to actually give it enforcement powers. So it would essentially be able to make decisions instead of the Minister, who at the moment is tenure plip a second. We'll get to her in a moment, but it would be able to make decisions about developments and minds and these sort of things instead of the minister making that decision.
And of course, when you think, well, this mob is the Environment Protection Authority, it's probably going to make decisions that are not necessarily about the economy and what's good for the country. They're going to make decisions that they
think are supposedly good for the environment. So the coalition says we've got to water this thing down, we want less powers given to it, and the Greens, on the other hand, which is the other mob that might be able to get it through the Parliament, say no, we actually.
Want to beef it up further.
Now you can imagine what it would look like if the Greens got their hands on it. And Tanya Plipasek, who is the minister in charge of this thing, you will know, recently denied a gold mine in New South Wales because supposedly there's some indigenous heritage problem here, even though she overruled the hand picked Indigenous heritage advisor within her department and took the word of someone else against the word of the local indigenous people. So she can't
get that right. She's been roundly criticized for that. She can't get this Environment Protection Authority legislation through the parliament. So what do you reckons She's decided she needs to do to take the heat.
Off her portfolio.
At the moment, she's dabbling in some fashion modeling. Yes, that is a real clip that Tanya Plibasik posted on social media. It's good to see that she's taking the job really seriously right now. But you can just imagine, and we talked about the eco chaplains, right here's a mob that they can go and work for it, but they will be federally employed ego chaplains in every school
across the country once the EPA is established. But knowing how Tanya Plibasik has recently conducted herself as the Minister knocking back of mind that the local indigenous population says they want a need because they want the jobs that the EPA in New South Wales said.
There was no problem with that.
The Premier of New South Wales, Chris Mins, has no problem with she's making political decisions I believe to advantage herself in her electorate in suburban Sydney as opposed to what is good for the greater good of the state of New South Wales in the country. So if that's the attitude she takes his minister, imagine what this EPA would do if she managed to get it up.
Well, imagine what will happen if we get the hung Parliament at the next election and the Greenens and their price, because the Greens not only want this organization which will have the power to approve or disapprove developments without reference to anybody else, which almost convinces me an organization that doesn't have to reference tenure plipar sc you could almost say.
Could be might be an improvement.
That's how bad.
The only people who will get appointed to the EBA will be like Tang your plibosec on steroids. Well, these people will make the social workers look.
Like like g Stapo.
Like these these people appointed because it will be under the Albanzi government. If they can get it across the line, it'll be ten times worse. And then the minister government loves to do this gets to go.
It wasn't me, it was.
The EPA and these are their recommendations.
Government is well practiced in blaming public service.
Exactly, so they'll just be like vet every mining proposal, logging a thing of the past, like they'll do the dirty work for the government, while the government simply says, well.
Okay, good point. So while Labor are willing to compromise on that to get coalition and support, the Greens are saying no, no, that's got to remain.
End.
They want a climate trigger, whereby every development is assessed as to how it will affect the climate crisis. So you can imagine not just the bureaucracy, but the cost that this will impose on pretty much every development that's imaginable. It will literally bankrupt the country because nothing will be affordable.
It's a nightmare waiting to happen. And anyone reading about this today goes.
It's bad enough as it is.
We've already got state governments passing laws that dictate what developments have to look like. So we've got the cultural heritage type stuff vetting projects here, there and everywhere. Then we've got the environmental in Victoria, you've got to have double glazed windows and white rooms if you're in this specific area.
All the rest of it.
The state governments are already implementing local governments as well. Enough red tape to curl anybody's hair, and now you want an EPA on top of that. The Coalition has taken a common sense middle ground here where they're saying, look, if it's a compliance only role and it's simply a watchdog of sorts to say, hey, you're not obeying the laws, the environmental laws that are already passed, already up and running.
You guys are breaking the rules.
We'll vote for it if it's compliance only.
The Greens want to be fed up.
There seems to be absolutely no middle ground here. Either Labor agree to giving this thing like weapons grade powers, or they water it down. Here's hoping that they come to the coalition's party and not the Greens.
Otherwise we're screwed and just on that tenure plbisk Instagram thing. Isn't that an example of what they call fast fashion, which is really bad?
Yeah, where is the sustainability unless you's had all those suits for ten years apiece, in which case it's okay.
That is true.
They may well be of good quality. But of course the other problem with it is, and I know we all disagree with the decision that Tanya Plibasik has recently made about the Goldman and Blainey, but I prefer these decisions to be made by the minister rather than faithless buau arrest right is because not only exactly because not only is it something for them to hide behind, it abrogates the.
Responsibility of the minister.
The minister, much like the Prime Minister and all politicians, are elected to make moral decisions on behalf of the public.
That is why we elect them.
We elect them to make decisions that we want them to make. It's not then their job to farm that decision making out to other people's well within the purview of the public service to come back and make recommendations to ministers, but it should ultimately be up to the minister to make that decision. Otherwise, well, why have the ministers. Let's just cut out all the crap in Canberra, just at the public service, run the Taylor. We have questions, Yes, you have questions.
You said that our politicians are elected to make moral decisions. Yes, well they've been in government two years. When will they start?
Well, I don't know.
It's not my job to tell them when to do their jol I'm just saying that what we elect them for.
We know they.
Abrogate the responsibility all the time. But that's the idea of the system, right. It doesn't always work, but that's the point.
Onto more environmental madness.
In New South Wales, there's a new Plastics Project Action Plan. You thought they'd stop at banning plastic straws while you're sucking on your soggy paper ones.
You thought they'd stop at banning plastic cutlery. No, they're taking it one further.
Forcing cafes to accept reusable cups and standardizing the packaging four disposable cups are among the ideas the New South Wales government is putting out for consultation on Monday, being today.
Other ideas listed in the.
New South Wales Plastics the Way forward action plan include banning the release of helium balloons. Yeah, that'll save the planet quick smart, Banning plastic sticks for lollipops. Off, we are saved in favor of paper or wooden alternatives. Banning the plastic ties on bread bags, Yes, that has kept me awake at night. And tethering lids to plastic bottles accepted in return and earn schemes now.
Other states have already implemented these. In fact, it wasn't until today that I found out it is law.
It is law New South Walians that you cannot release more than nineteen helium balloons. You're having a party, you want to make a statement, you want to make all the kids go woo. It is literally written into legislation in our state that you cannot release more than nineteen helium balloons twenty you've broken the law. I mean, we are just getting to the well, we're well pass the point of ridiculous when this is what the government is turning its attention to. Thank you for looking after the
big issues. Yeah, we can't ban kids from accessing pornography online.
We can't stop rampant crime in the streets.
We can't even send immigrants back to where they came from if they break our laws in the worst of ways.
But you can't release more than twenty helium balloons, so you know they're doing their job.
I'm so pleased to hear that.
I feel a lot better.
The problem is, I mean, we're sitting here thinking this is ridiculous. But if you read the Sydney Morning Herald comments underneath this article.
Everyone's loving it.
Everyone they've gone further.
They're saying this is not enough.
Let me read for you some of the comments. People in the comments they want to ban fridge magnets because they never break down fridge magnets. Other people said, you know synthetic football fields. They want to get rid of astrotypes.
Oh yes, AstroTurf.
Someone just went on there and said, let's just ban cars completely. Sure. Someone else said this is serious. They said the problem with plastic coffee cups. We should ban people walking with coffee. Then you wouldn't need to take away coffee cups and have your coffee. These are serious comments. In the Sydney Morning Herald, someone said polysh styrene beads in bean bags, Well, how does a bean bag work if you can't have those beans? Beans in the bag, and my favorite one band bin liners.
Actually, actually I have.
A member of my family who shall remain nameless, who literally he won't allow bin bags.
They just have to clean out their bin risk.
Like, what is the difference?
What difference are you making?
But to the plaint the point here always is that you know, we as a species progressed, we keep progressing. We find ways to live. Well, I'm getting to the point. We find ways to make life easier and whatever, and we sort of got to the pinnacle of that, and now we're like, okay, let's go backwards. Like we develop products that are good tea use and easy to use, let's go back to all the products that we replace them with because they were no good. No, no, no, let's
go back to the ones that were no good. Let's have the paper straws, let's have the paper sticks, all this sort of nonsense.
Right.
The problem, as far as I can see here is litterers, right, because the issue with all the plastics and I know they don't break down whatever, but the issue is that people discard them. They chuck them out of car windows, and they put them in places where they shouldn't be, and then they end up in the ocean, and then fish consume them, and then the fish are all full of plastics, and then you eat that as microplastics when
you look up your fish, et cetera, et cetera. Why don't we just go full Singapore on people who litter their plastics and then there's no problem. We can dispose of the plastics properly, and that's fine. It's the people who are chucking them out willy nilly, just letting them go in the environment that are the problem. And not only is it bad for the environment when they do it, it looks bad. Let's just crack down on the litteris and then you've got no problem. As far as I'm considered, good.
Part about this, and I'm actually being serious now, the good part about this action plan the way forward with plastics is that they are addressing the issue of microplastics. We were talking about this last week where scientists found more microplastics in people's brain tissue. Apparently it absorbs more in the brain than anywhere else in the body, and they're getting quite concerned about it. They said this should
be an international emergency, and nobody's even talking about it. Well, New South Wales Plastics Actions Plan is and I quote this strategy, which is open for consultation until November, also proposes to phase out plastic microbeads from cleaning products. That's right, we keep putting them all over our houses, inhaling them,
cleaning our plates, with them, eating off them. They're looking to phase them out by twenty twenty five and to publish a list of chemicals to be phased out of food packaging, which of course the food then.
Absorbs by the end of twenty twenty seven.
So that much I was like, yes, let's talk about those plastics. Not really concerned about the others, but the ones that people are unconsciously consuming. Most people aren't even aware of microplastics at all, and it is affecting their health in ways that we don't even know yet because we're not far enough down the microplastics rabbit hole.
And that's fair enough, that's a health issue as opposed to an en mental one. But my biggest problem with all of these policies is that it's like it's the height of Western concern for the environment, whereby we say, well, you know, if we eliminate the plastic straws, and we eliminate the plastic cutlery in the coffee cups. We've saved the planet. We here in the West, we have single
handedly saved the planet. Now the effect, of course that has is that everyone runs around thinking, well, there's no problem if the planet is completely saved because we got rid of the plastic straws. No, and the rest of the world is I talk about littering. I mean you look at some developing nations where they have no concern for what they spew out into the atmosphe which was mostly our coal. Anyway, we can't burn it, but we let other people burn it and staff just being put
into water ways and all over the shop. That is the real damage that is being done to the planet. So we can eliminate every single plastic straw in Australia and it will do nothing for the planet. But we feel warm and fuzzy, and that's the most important.
Well, I mean the insanity of it. And my favorite one that you listed was the plastic bread tags. So you ban those, right, but the whole loaf is wrapped in plastic.
It's ridiculous.
And as for the wooden sticks for your lollipop, can you just imagine you're chopping down trees left, right and centrance.
See why are you destroying the forest. Well, that's what we've done with the wooden cutlery instead of plastic.
Now, that's what we've done with the paper straws. What do you think they're made out of instead of the plastic straws. So how this is environmentally friendly is a rather large question mark.
Same with all the single use.
Plastic bags that used to be in the supermarkets, and now everyone's got covered full these thick cardboard like bags that still managed to rip somehow whenever you buy anything remotely heavy, which means.
That you've got to go back, you've got to buy more.
And the Coles Woolies and the lights are laughing all the way to the bank because you've got to pay twenty five cents apart.
So with the western world going mad, we've decided we're all moving to Hungary because at least in Hungary they've got some brains, especially and not least on asylum seekers. They're refusing to pay a massive fine handed out by the European Union because they won't accept asylum seekers. During the period twenty fourteen to about twenty twenty, millions of asylum seekers came into Europe, and of course Germany in particular took so many it's completely changed the dynamic in
the country. But Hungary said, no, we are not accepting asylum seekers and if they come, we'll put them into detention camps until they leave. Well, for not accepting these asylum seekers, the European Union imposed a fine of two hundred million euros to give you an example, that's about three hundred and thirty two million Australian dollars, and Hungry just said, well, we're not paying. So the EU have
given them one more deadline to pay. I think September seventeen is the deadline, by which time if they don't pay this fine, then that amount of money will be deducted from what they received from the EU budget.
So that's what's happening.
But Hungary are not impressed and they are unmoved. The government State secretary today said that if Brussels are so intent on having illegal migrants, then they can have all of ours have a listen.
The Hungarian government's anti immigrant rhetoric was furthered when a senior officials said Budapest would buzz illegal migrants to Brussels.
Pro Pounio brus or aquario kag word you angeried yugbh akiktun akikaatic di Mirio Coltos startung A, Mario fell Indianhan Edukat.
Now, of course calib that's a brilliant idea. But if they do bust all these illegal migrants to Brussels, then they'll get another EU fine for breaching their carbon emissions limits. But the leaders of Hungary have said this asylum seeker issue is an existential threat to national sovereignty and to social cohesion, and they are having no part of the EU's fetish for taking everyone from everywhere and allowing them to join their country.
They should be given carbon credits for putting them on buses instead of planes, to be perfectly honest, But they are so right, and they're the only country just about in Europe that he's standing up against this nonsense. And it's hard to be a lone voice in the wilderness. But they're saying, look around Europe, and you only have
to look around Europe. Look at the EU elections just a couple of months ago and the response, the overwhelming response of Europeans to the mass migration that they have seen in their countries. They don't like it. They're standing up against it because they've seen what it's done in terms of change of culture, they've seen what it's done in terms of the allocation of budgets, they've seen what
it's done in terms of housing. And some of these things sound very familiar here in Australia, and not on the basis of illegal migration here, all on the basis of quite legal migration. Mostly Hungary is the only country just about that is saying no, we are not on board with this, and for that they cop a two hundred million euro fine. Is it any wonder that the UK pulled out of the European Union? Is it any wonder that brex had got up because they saw this
stuff coming? And this is the problem with big governmental organizations like the EU, because you know, if you've got all these different little countries with their different little agendas, how are they ever going to come together and adhere to one policy.
It ain't going to work.
And it's in situations like this where they try to impose clearly damaging policy across the entire continent. Someone has to say no, But then they're the lepper for doing.
So what kind of policy is this that you are forcing European Union members to just take your legals and if you don't, we'll find you extortionately, Like, what kind of union is this, what kind of parliament is this?
What kind of laws are you creating?
You are literally changing the face of Europe forever, which has already happened. Those indigenous to these countries are.
Completely up in arms about it.
You're quite right to raise the European Union election that happened recently, very comprehensive results centered around the fact the Europeans themselves are sick to death of seeing their countries change.
And I'm not surprised it's.
Hungary who taken action in this and said we are just simply not complying. These guys are very very strong about national identity. They've got some of the best measures in the world encouraging Hungarian women to have as many babies as possible, like they want to keep Hungary Hungarian period, and their own parliament takes very serious measures to ensure that can happen. So how dare the EU come along and just say no, you too will be flooded with illegals, Whether you like it or not.
I wish we saw more of this in Europe, because the.
People of any number of these European countries would back their own government if their government was to put their foot down.
It's a shame we're just not seeing more of this.
Hopefully they'll all grow some gonads watching Hungary stare stand its ground and say well, why aren't you Why aren't my government doing this as well?
And that's a great point. Citizens love it because you elect people to represent you. But instead we always hear this fluff about well as good members of the international community, and such a community doesn't exist anyway. There's no such thing as an international community. But to see a government say we are representing these people were interests of the
World Economic Forum or the EU or somebody else. And remember during the Voice campaign, we were all warned if we didn't vote yes to the Voice, that Australia would be an international pariah and internationally we would be shunned. And so we did vote no to the Voice, and nothing happened. They constantly use this fear mumbering if we don't do what they want, then the international community will
be uprated. The Hungarian politicians have just said we don't believe that, and we're not intimidated and we'll do what we want.
Good on them.
It's a novel idea, is that a government representing their own people. How strange we haven't seen that.
For a little while.
Our bit of breaking news tonight the Prime Minister Anthony Alberizi has announced that there will be a national ban on children using social media. We haven't been told yet what the age restriction will be, but he will tomorrow announce that there will be a national restriction on children using social media. And of course this comes after the concept being bandied about for a while and the States
getting on board over the weekend. It started with South Australia Premier Peter Malanowskis yesterday announced that there would be South Australian restrictions from the age of fourteen.
Take a listen. The law is more than.
Just a punitive measure on social media companies. It is also an enabler for parents, teachers, other leaders, mentors out the community to get kids be able to engage with them in more healthy means. We see kids being done harm. We know that's true from a growing body of international, peer reviewed research. So it's time for governments to act, and I don't think any leader around the country should sit on their hand in this matter.
Then the Victorian government jumped on board. Today Premier j Cintra Allen announced a very similar policy.
So it's time to give parents the power to push back, not against kids, but against the tech giants.
That's why we're going to put age limits on social media.
These rules won't target parents or kids, but they'll target the tech giants because they're the ones we need to hold to account.
That announcement, by the way of putting an age limit on social media, made on social media on Jacinthra Allen's Instagram package and a little bit ironic, isn't it. Now. This proposal, as we know, has been backed for some time by the opposition. The Shadow Spokesman for Communications David Coleman, supported the idea today again.
Because what we're seeing with the mental health of Australian children, especially girls, is a crisis. It is completely unacceptable and in action is not an option.
Now. Look, I think we're all sympathetic to the idea that children should not be on social media.
We know the damage that.
Social media does to children and more broadly, the damage that ready access to the internet is doing to children. We see it in the mental health statistics. We see it in the loneliness statistics that have shot through the roof in the last decade or so as this has proliferated. The only problem is we don't yet know what age the Prime Minister is going to set this at. And it's probably better as a national policy as opposed to a state by state one. I just couldn't work out
how that was possibly going to be workable. Where WA might say fifteen, and Essay says fourteen, a Victoria says thirteen, and on and on it would go. But there is no way to actually implement monitor do any of this without having a system whereby to track the age of the people who are using social media and the ages we're talking about here fourteen, thirteen, et cetera. Kids don't have driver's licenses or.
Anything like that.
About the only form of identity they have is their birth certificate. So is it now going to be a system whereby I have to hand my birth certificate over to Facebook in order to get a Facebook account. I think a lot of people are sympathetic to the idea. I still don't know how it's going to be working.
I have said all along.
It is not a coincidence that all of a sudden, this issue that has been an issue for years, youth, young people and social media very bad combo, whether it's body image, the number of eating disorders.
They've seen those increase over two hundred percent over.
The last few years, which is why Coleman made a direct reference to it being particularly bad for young girls, which you just heard him say, just that.
It is not a coincidence that just weeks.
After this government passed a digital ID bill, all of a sudden this issue became bigger than Ben heard.
Now.
I'm not saying that's how it will start out. They might start out using other measures, but just wait for a few months to pass before the government starts crying these measures aren't working. We're going to have to implement the digital ID because there's no other way to stop you from.
Getting on here underage or not.
I'm telling you this is exactly what this is about, in my humble opinion.
And that's all it's about.
I don't disagree with you, but if there is a way that and tech giants have to agree to this too, that's the other funny thing about.
This, although we thok you by the government, Well we'll see how they go.
They're not doing a very good job forcing X or Facebook to do anything at the moment.
Well that's free speech.
But if they can come up with a way to correctly identify the age of a person.
As Caleb just said, they really can't.
What a credit card, driver's license?
Could you not use those for a kid? For a fourteen year old?
Will even an eighteen year old doesn't necessarily have a credit card?
All right, you're right, they're never going to be able to do that, but this is the possible way. They've got to be able to do that. And take your point way it will lead to something else. But there is an issue with social media with kids, and they should try to find a way to keep kids off.
Sure, parenting, parenting, Yeah, I agree with you on that, but it's incredibly the pressure that parents are under with kids to get on social media is more than you could imagine.
I understand that, I understand, but isn't there And I say this is someone who is not a parent, But I know parents who have enforced you know, no device policies upon their kids and they get so much pushback. But as a parent, they've gone no, I'm drawing the line in the sandy.
We've got laws that a pub is responsible not to allow people under age in sure, so, but you could say no, that's a parent's job to make sure a kid doesn't go into a pub. But there's an example of where you've got parents and government working together for the well being of children. This is just another example of that. So I don't buy the argument that it's the parent's job and there's no place for government at all in something that is causing as much harm as you outline in your introduction.
But you can monitor the thing that's happening at home.
This is something that kids are in bed on their devices that their parents what happens.
All over the place.
Kids don't just access social media or the internet at home. They can access it literally anywhere. That's the problem.
The problem is not when they've got access to a computer at school.
No, that is not.
The kids are on all sorts of things. Kids aren't just on Wikipedia.
That awesome, and that falls on the school.
Like school computers should not be able to even give you access to social media. That's not what school computers are for. You shouldn't be able to watch porn on a school computer or a tablet that you've been given by your high school which you're able to take home. There should be very severe restrictions on those. Otherwise, schools shouldn't be handing them out.
Yeah, I do disagree with you.
I do think parents needs a happening.
We're going to go to a break. When we come back, we look at what's making news in the papers, including attempts to declare every creek in a new Southweales Shire as an indigenous sacred site.
That's coming up soon.
Welcome back to the late debate. We're going to look at what's making news in tomorrow's papers. The reason I'm laughing is because you should hear what these two say during the ad break. But now we're back on air, Liz, what have we got in the papers tomorrow?
To the front page of the Camera Times. Now. New veteran agency.
The federal government should establish a new agency to focus on veteran well being in a way the Department of Veteran Affairs has failed to do.
Sweeping Royal Commission report into.
Defense and Veteran suicides has found it is not the only agency recommended in the three thousand page report, with the Royal Commission urging an independent oversight body be established to drive reforms after the failure of successive governments to act on a culture which has led to an average of three deaths by suicide each fortnight. So this Commission, you may remember, was a established in July twenty twenty one. They've finally handed over their findings three thousand pages long.
You just it's one of those stories that you can't believe it's taken us this long to address.
And it's much like when we had the Royal Commission into aged care, and it's one of those things that sort of if it's out of sight, it's out of
mind for a lot of people. But these are people who are extremely vulnerable, who have served their country, who have, if they've been in war, seen some of the most awful things that anyone could ever see, and then they come back to Australia and oftentimes they're just sort of thrown into the wilderness and told, well, you're not really attached to us anymore.
You've got to go and fend for yourself.
How hard must it, Well, we know how hard it must be, because we know that the suicide statistics. How hard must it be to go and do that without any support. The fact that that success your federal governments, you know, for time immemorial basically have ignored this issue as they did with aged care, is an absolute discs. It's good that we have a Royal Commission and we have a report. The next task is to implement what comes out of this report, this Oversight Body being one
of the many recommendations that has come out. That's where the rubber hits the road, and that's when we find out whether the government actually cares about this.
According to one of the media reports tomorrow, the number of suicides of ADF members or former members is twenty times higher than the number of soldiers killed in active duty over the last twenty five years. So the defense bureaucracy is a greater threat to Australian soldiers than the enemy. And it's quicker to join the NDIS and get help than to get help from veterans affairs. So we have to do a lot better with our soldiers.
Indeed, let's go to the Australians Varro where there's a curious little story. It says every creek.
Is an indigenous site.
Oh no, we're not going to have any.
Water lifts soon.
The historian who helped convince Tenure Pibcic that Regis resources one billion dollar gold Blainey would destroy indigenous heritage had earlier tried to register every river, creek, lake and swamp in the shire as an Aboriginal site. And this is the woman whose word, Tanya Plibasek, took over the local indigenous people, over the EPA of New South Wales, over the premiere of New South Wales, over her own indigenous
advisors within her department. Now, clearly this woman was pattern is just desperate to get her hands on absolutely seeing anything she can. She's just trying to create trouble and wreak havoc, clearly. But can you imagine if that's the sort of person that the Environment Minister is taking advice from. Imagine if we applied that across the nation. Every waterway
in the country is now some sort of sacred Indigenous site. Because, of course, every waterway in the country I'm sure at some point had an Indigenous person drinking from it, or fishing from it, or using it it in some way. Surely you could say that about every bit of land.
In the country.
See, why don't we just declare the whole joint an indigenous heritage site.
Let's blow the joint up, move somewhere.
Well, it actually goes further than that, because it's not just about you know, surely every lake was used by an indigenous person way back when. But indigenous spirituality says that all of creation is alive and it's all spiritual. And therefore, when you get that kind of religion that Goid's government decisions, all development finishes because you can't touch
anything without upsetting the ancestors, the spirits, et cetera. So if you're going to embrace indigenous spirituality as a way of deciding policy, you really are completely changing the entire country and everything we've been able to do to this point in terms of development, progression and so on.
Indeed, that's the end of development.
She does say in this application to have them all recognized as sacred. Quote all waterways in the Nomina are known to have deep spiritual significance end quote.
But if that's the bar, then, like you.
Say, everything spiritual, everything has spiritual significance.
So you can't touch anything period, or you.
Could just take the water and turn it into spirits and then it has some spiritual significance and I'd be more on board with that.
Let's go to the front page of the Courier mail. There's an interesting little story right on the bottom left hand corner of the front page. Principal Spooking Labor, a school principle married to a former labor minister, used her government email to promote an exciting election commitment by Stephen Miles. Now, obviously governments make commitments to schools, but this principle last week sent out an email to staff saying I'm thrilled
to share some exciting news. The Minister for Education has announced that if we elected, our school is set to receive a state of the art prep precinct, including multipurpose rooms and a security fence. This is a significant investment, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Now, clearly that email then starts to seem like an advertisement for voting Steven Miles into government in October, which is a big no
no if you're working in schools. But then to add to that, it turns out this principal's husband was a minister in the Anna Bly government back in twenty ten, twenty eleven and twenty twelve, So not really the dune thing, and she's being pulled up by the Education Department.
Someone needs to tell that principle. Ain't nothing going to save giggles.
Now to the front page of the Northern Territory News, just before we leave for an ad break. NRL and TE officials condemn violent grand final clash, shame.
On the game.
The splash reads a shocking on field brawl which marred a Northern Territory Women's Rugby League Grand Final provoked further post match fights among spectators, forcing police to deploy tab sicken spray on fans.
I mean this got wild.
Check Out that picture on the front page. Looks like a lot of hair pulling is happening. Honestly, I think this is probably the most interesting women's.
Rugby has ever gone. I would have tuned in had I known, I know, be in such an extravagance.
The means footy codes lost the biff long ago. I got to start watching the women's staff to go back the old days.
We always told we've got to get women involved because it'd be kinder, softly gentler.
Nah, clearly not, clearly not We're going to go to a break.
When Joe Biden left office, so he's still in office, but you know, was not continuing. We thought, who are we going to get laughs from now? But Kamala Harris, he's providing plenty. We've got more of those after the break. All right, welcome back with the Kamala Harris show. Rolls on Caleb. What's she doing these days?
Well, you thought they were working hard over time to pump up Joe Biden. You should see what they're doing with Kamala Harris. Associated Press in the United States put out a bizarre piece about her food habits and had such subheadings as caramel is a favorite, beautiful music, collared greens in the tub, golden arches, of course, Manny McDonald's, and Dorito's is a go to snack. All the things I wanted to know about the potential president of the
United States. And to quote this puff piece from AP, this is her on the campaign trail in Savannah. At Dotty's Market. She says, I want a slice of that. Caramel is like my favorite? Harris says, oh, chocolate and caramel. She added, after appearing to digest the description, the cake was covered in a white frosting with caramel on top and drizzling down the sides. Fantastic. Harrah said, well, there you go. I'm convinced you should be president.
Well, as if that's not bad enough, she made a speech about coffee cups recently that made no sense whatsoever until someone put it in the closing credits of Seinfeld and suddenly it was perfect.
So you know how those leads all right, because this is what I'm just not speaking, Okay, So this is so you know how those it's on the Starbucks cups. They're white, right, and so if you were a lipstick, they get all over the lid. And so then I find myself in meetings if I'm the only woman, and that's kind of it. So I keep taking the lid off and having my cup out so that I don't have that big good stick. So I said, can we do something about the color of the lid.
And then there's the viral clip of her on the campaign trial on Saturday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, comforting a distraught woman.
Oh, it's gonna be good. We're gonna be good. We're gonna be fine. We're gonna be fine. We are all in this together. We are. We're gonna be Yes, we are, Yes, we are. It's all good.
It's all good news, standing strong, right, you love her absolutely?
Yeah, that's right. Who says this is a relative and you're.
Just a.
World's going to be all right. We're just going to hug it out with Kamala and everything will be good. That's it from us stick around. Coming up is the reader Pennahy Show in just a moment,