Listen to 4BC Afternoons with Sofie Formica, weekdays from Midday - 3pm.
Well, hello and welcome to Winter on the afternoons. It is lovely to have your company kicking off a new week together on four BC and four ro Im Sophie Formicah. I'd love you to join me in the conversation today. We'll be also inviting Tourism Minister Andrew Powell onto the program. Shortly he has Destination forty five ready to be officially launched for Queensland. Today, Neil Fergus will join ours, CEO of Intelligent Risks. He's back. We're covering the ongoing drone strikes that are happening in the Russia, Ukraine conflict, the call from the US for Australia to increase our defense budget and of course the Middle East conflict continuing, which is now seeing peaceful gatherings threatened in countries right across the globe, as you would have heard there in the news headlines. Special guests will join me today in the studio. They're about to take to the Queensland stage. I'm talking about Georgie.
Parker and Glenn Hazldein. There'll be my guests today.
We'll also talk motoring with Paul gov Entertainment's covered with Karla Binyaska Evan Lucas will be along for plenty to talk about in finance and of course all of those voices and room for yours as well on afternoons.
And now on full BC and Network stations across Australia Afternoons with Sophie Formaker.
Let me know what you got up to on the weekend. I'm about to go through the fact that it was a massive weekend in the city, thousands of people out and about enjoying it, and so thankful that we didn't get quite as much rain as we thought. The skies did part. There were blue skies as well over the weekend. Today, though, well, it's I Love my Dentist Day, isn't that lovely? I have to tell you I was really sad when my childhood dentist retired, so I can understand why you'd want to love your dentist. There are some people who just absolutely still detest it, even as adults. We know how important it is, though, that dental hygiene. Somewhat ironically, it's also National Rocky Road Day being celebrated today, and if you eat too much Rocky Road, I guess what you'll end up with is a trip to the dentist. But let's have a talk about Rocky Road because traditionally it's just three things, marshmallows, nuts, and melted chocolate, in addition to it being included as a bit of an ice cream flavor, because people do like the idea of Rocky Road ice cream, or it's chocolate ice cream that's got nuts and marshmallows in it. If we just go back to it enjoyed as a treat of those three things, it's a popular dessert, even older than ice cream. So I wonder whether or not you've got a unique combination, and if I've just now given you a craving for Rocky Road, which is what's happened in the office with us today. We spend a fair bit of time talking about Rocky Road and the things that you like to have added to those three ingredients. Are you someone who adds Turkish delight or some sort of chewy jelly to your Rocky Road? I like coconut in my Rocky Road. Some people decide that they're going to go against the grain and add biscuit to their Rocky Road. Carla very quickly pointed out that that's not Rocky Road anymore. You've now turned it into a hedgehog. So you know there might be some of you listening that have a unique combo. And I think we need a little bit of light and the shade today on afternoons because there's plenty of heavy news around. So if you want to also share with me a little of your favorite Rocky Road ingredients, then you know what to do. Jump on the open line wonderuble three eight eighty two or text meet zero four double nine eight eighty eight eighty two. And can you make Rocky Road with dark chocolate or is it just a milk chocolate situation? That's another question. Let's have a look at what happened on this day in history. If we head back to nineteen fifty three, it was when Queen Elizabeth the Id ascended to the throne. She was formally crowned during a beautiful ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
Will you solemnly promise and swear the Government people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland a solemnly primier so to do.
The Queen was just twenty seven during her coronation. It's estimated that more than twenty million people watched that service on the television. Nineteen seventy nine. It was on this day that Donna Summer was on the top of the Billboard chants with this Hot Staff. It won Donna a Grammy for Best Female Rock Performance. It was nineteen eighty nine when we had Dead Poets Society. She released in Premiers Today, at premier and cinemas today.
Words and language, No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.
Such a great film starring Robin Williams, of course, and he won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Happy Birthdays Today, Ozzie cricketer Steve Smith turns thirty six. Are the War Twins Stephen Mark, They're sixty today, Oussie comedian arn Do he turns forty eight, and lead singer of spand Our Ballet is also celebrating a birthday today.
I'm no.
I can tell you what is true. Tony Hadley, lead singer of spand Our Ballet sixty five today And in nineteen eighty four, I was a thirteen year old dancing and bopping away to this weekne Fine.
Week, Fine miss week me.
Every single school dance choose live t shirts, Wham scored their first number one hit in the UK with that wake me Up before you go go and.
Now on afternoons, it's time to find out.
Whilst meeting news.
I tell you what. There was so much to see and do across our city over the weekend. Some might suggest it was a little too much and it might have been really hard for you to decide where to go, what to do. We knew that there was likely to be a little bit of dodgy weather, but thankfully it turned out Sunday in particular, was good Saturday. It may have affected a little bit of the events that were happening. It was a bit more showery if we have a look at what happened across the board. About fourteen thousand people took part in this year's Brisbane Marathon Festival, and that was the full marathon, the half marathon, the ten k, five k and the two k mini marathons. I mentioned earlier to Bill, I had my daughter and her partner running, so we were there to see them at the finish line. And it was a fabulous event and great to see so many people turn out for it, all ages and stages of fitness, some looking a little worse for wear than the others at the finish line. I thought that the start line was wonderful, and I know there were lots of road closures that would have affected people getting in and around the city if they weren't aware of it over the weekend. My question is going to be about whether or not it's the best finishing spot. Didn't quite have the atmosphere that maybe some of the runners were hoping for, and there were infants in prams. There were very fast athletes that were the first to come across the line right through to As I said, the oldest participant competitor was eighty three year old Michael Byrne. Good on him attracted to what was really a scenic course, took people across the bridge. He's now completed the race for the past five years. He's a Gold Coast resident. He's run more than forty marathons in six different countries. He says it's never too late to start. He didn't start running Jared until he was fifty, so you've got a little bit of time ahead, are you. Twenty twenty five, that festival marked the thirty third running of the event. It's certainly grown significantly since it first began in nineteen nine. I just wonder whether or not you found yourself caught up in some of the traffic diversions that maybe you didn't realize were happening, even though we talked about it a fair bit last week across all the shows, I know that there were some people who might have tried to get down to Howard Smith Wolves because they knew that Fester Italia was happening, and might have been caught up in the last of the marathon runners. That marathon, as I said, forced the closure of the story Bridge and all the streets around the CBD. The course went along the eastern Foreshore Boardwalk and went past Howard Smith Woarves, and that's where there was some issues, I do believe, with some of the stragglers being caught in the fact that they were sort of running along that area when there were people who were starting to line up to get their Fester Italiana on. And did you get along to that event? A celebration of all things Italian food, drinks, culture, live music. There was free entertainment for the kids. If you missed it over this weekend, then put it on the agenda for this coming week it'll kick off again on Thursday afternoon and go into Thursday and Friday evening and then all day again Saturday and Sunday, and you won't have to dodge any of the fund run participants or any road closures. This week there was also the Darkness to Daylight that return for its twelfth year. We spoke to Linda Smith last week ahead of that one hundred and ten kilometer run that some people took a part of in a relay, each kilometer representing one of the lives lost to domestic and family violence. Two thousand participants took part in that Challenge TV event, which is wonderful. If you'd like to, you can still donate head to Darkness to Daylight dot org help them reach their target of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. They're about fifty thousand shy of that goal at the moment. And of course the races Darby Day was on. It was a bit of a washout though. Five races on Saturday too unsafe because of partistant partistant, persistent rain, poor visibility. I'll get my teeth in because on the other side of the break a very important conversation I'm being joined on the program by Tourism Minister Andrew Powell ahead of a wonderful announcement today and this new document that will see the pathway for Brisbane well beyond the Games. It takes us all the way to twenty forty five. That's next to twenty minutes past twelve. A promise made is a promise kept and that is certainly the case with the delivery today of Destination twenty forty five. It's a really ambitious plan for Queensland's tourism future. It means that the state will realize the incredible opportunity we have in the lead up to and far beyond hosting an Olympic Games. I think it also clarifies and expands on the unique connection that we have in this state between our natural assets and our economic opportunity. The Premier deliberately married the portfolios of environment and tourism so that that would happen, and the task is to embolden these sectors to work together. The aim is to double the visitor expenditure into our economy so that it hits somewhere around eighty four billion dollars in two decades and will also be employing about twenty five percent more Queenslanders directly. Minister for Tourism Andrew Powell promised he would pop back onto us afternoons when this was all finalized many months ago, and he has certainly been working hard. There's been extensive consultation statewide. I'm pleased to say he joins us now on afternoons. Minister, Good afternoon to you. Does it feel like you're handing in your final assignment.
Good afternoon, Soviet and good afternoon to your listeners. Ah, an introm assignment. Maybe what's the result of out of this as the premiers added to my to do list over the next and a half years as a result, But we might talk a bit more of that in the interview. But no, Look, it has been a big effort. It was one hundred day item for us to launch the consultation on the Tourism plan. As we spoke during that consultation, sixteen regional workshops engaged in the industry, the length and the breadth of the state and to be plunt this plans theirs. Yep, the government's putting it out but it's the idea was to represent what the industry believes it needs to deliver. On that Green and Gold runway in the lead up to the bridge and thirty two Olympic Apparalympic Games, and as you said, for decades afterwards.
And I think Minister, it's really important to acknowledge that you have a vision and you put these lofty goals in place, but it may also need tweaking and adjusting along the way. There are so many variables with every sector of our economy. This is no different. But I think what's exciting here is the clarity of the intention and it's there for all stakeholders.
Yeah, look, it's certainly going to be a living document. You can't have a twenty year visionary document that isn't alive to the fact that situations change. But it's also included some very very specific actions at the back of the planet itself, some of which will deliver in the next couple of months, some that will deliver over the next couple of years, and some that will be worked on across the decade. But it's about, as you say, setting the goals, setting the targets, releasing the potential, letting the world know that Queensland's open for business, particularly in some spaces that is pre obviously not been, and we want to empower our tourism operators, many of them those mum and dad, small family business owners that are at length and the breadth of the state.
Let's talk about some of the specifics the forty five new ecotourism experiences by twenty forty five. The first thing people will say is how do you make sure that these actually help the environment and they aren't just about packing more people into nature. There is always going to be a fine line that is walked when we open up ecotourism, so that we celebrate these authentic opportunities we have at the same time making sure that we conserve what it is that we hold.
So dear, yeah, and you and I have spoken about that before. The operators who will be working in our national parks, in our protected areas or adjacent to them, in the same way we've had operators working in the Great Barrier Reef now for decades, know that they can't trash the environment. That's what they're trying to sell. So it is about light touch, it is about educating, It is about teaching about conservation. It's about creating another generation of conservation worry and some of the examples. I've given this space around our forty five by forty five. You know, we want to deliver the Thorws Point thors Burn Trail on Hinchinbrook Island. We want to deliver the Wongety Trail north of Cannes, the new Whitsunday Skyway at Early Beach, the Narrow Track on whit Sunday Island. Some of them are as simple as day use area upgrades at Lake Eacham on the Tablelands or down at Springbook in the Gold Coast Hinsland. But we also want to know the private sector to know that we want to work in partnership with them on other projects.
Yeah, this is also very clear in terms of the balance between opening us up to the world. We know that we've got markets that we could certainly be seeing more inbound tourism from, but at the same time making Queensland a destination for Australians and for Queenslanders.
Yeah.
Well, there's a specific element of the plan that's all about connectivity, connectivity to the world, and we will be releasing a fund with very strategic goals in mind that we've basically recovered our international airline buying post COVID and recovered from that. We're now going hunting for some specific markets and the biggest of those is India. With one of the things that I've told you that the Premier has given me a few more tasks by the end of this term. He's tell me I've got to get a direct flight between India and Queensland and that's exciting. That is a market that we've not tapped before. But we also heard from the industry. It's one thing to get international airlines into our international airports, but it's then connecting those tourists with our regional markets and so specific around regional airline linkages, but also drive tourism as well as boosting our crews opportunities.
So it's all on the table, Minister. You've gone around and you've spoken to so many tourism businesses. In these first few months of putting your feet under the desk, you were probably away from it more than you were under it, and you know that many of them are struggling with costs and they're still working on getting their visitors back. You know, the roadback from COVID has been bumpy, to say the least. How does tourism sort of move forward and destination forty five fit with some of the more immediate problems. You know, what actual support are you being able to give to those SMA small and medium businesses that you spoke about to help them keep going now, but also to see them grow into the long term.
Well, there will be a product development fund that is not only looking at new product, but how we rejuvenate some existing product. So there'll be the opportunities in that space. But Sophie, I also want to reassure our tourism operators. Within a week of him being reappointed as our federal tourism minister, I met with Senator Don Farrell and the two things I put front and center is that we need to come up with a national approach to addressing insurance costs. That's huge whack for any tourism operator. And the second is we've got to get smarter about our disaster recovery funding arrangements. It's all well and good for us to negotiate a package with the federal government, and yes, we've got to be respectful of the taxpayers dollars, but by the time we get the money out the door, some of these businesses have not been able to stay open or they've not been able to keep their staff on the books, and when times do get better, they've got no staff to open with. So we've got to find a better way. And I want to reassure the operators that whilst we're taking a twenty year visionary plan to the industry, we're also trying to tackle those immediate problems.
We also know that there will be people looking to make sure that the entire state gets a piece of this action and a piece of the pie. We know twenty thirty two obviously is a big deal and there will be focus that's on it. But we want the games to see tourism grow beyond just the southeast corner of the state and really touch the length and breadth.
And that is why literally I jump on a plane early tomorrow morning and we're heading to central Queensland, winds and Long Reach, Cans Townsville, early the coasts. We're not leaving any part of the state missed out. There won't be a part of the state that will miss out. We've got so much to offer and it's right around the state. And to be one Queensland is if there's a part of our state you haven't checked out, you need to go and do it because there are some fantastic opportunities. But we're going to drag in inter state travelers from around Australia. We're going to knock Tasmania and New Zealand off their purchase when it comes to eco tourism, and we're going to be bringing in those international tourists as well.
Well.
I can't say I disagree. I think we have long dropped the ball when it comes to what we have in terms of our natural assets, and that tourism in this state should have grown much faster than maybe it has over the last decade or so that I've been working alongside industry. I think finally, what I'd like to sort of get a glean a bit of an insight from you is that you've mentioned funding now a few times, rightfully, So the next step will be funding and there is some ground to make up. Minister. Are you confident of being able to deliver on this bold vision?
Well, the final proof will be in the pudding when it comes to budget time a little bit later this month. But I think it's important to point out one of the most alarming factors that I came across in my early days was to discover that the previous government was actually going to gut our Tourism Division, both in government and then through Tourism and Events Queensland. I mean the division was going to go from one hundred and sixty million dollars in funding this financial year to sixty next financial year and to seven million in twenty eight twenty nine, and our Tourism and Events Queensland budget, that primary body responsible for our marketing and for attracting regional events and business events, was going to had a savings target that would have seen them cut in half. I can assure both organizations and the broader industry that we've saved those organizations. Their funding is secure and that will ensure that the government is ready to partner with the industry, those mum and dad operators to really deliver on this plan.
Yeah, thank you for your time today. I'm so glad to hear that. I think we underestimate the narrative that we also need to share with the entire population of the state of just how important tourism is and what it does for so many other businesses far reaching, not just as an economic leak lever and the growth that the industry has but all of those other little businesses that you don't think will benefit from tourism that do that are unrealized and have been untapped for so long. So it's an important and really big next step I think for Queensland tourism. We wish you all the very best.
Thanks Sophie. Exciting times ahead.
That was Tourism Minister Andrew Powell, and we're a couple of minutes late into the newsroom. Well, it kicked off the show today. I told you it was a very important today. It's a Rocky Road day today and I appreciate all the texts that have come in. I'm going to share some with you now and also speak to Chrissy who has a little bit of information she would like to share with us about additional ingredients into Rocky Road. Because I said, traditionally it's three things. It's nuts, peanuts, really marshmallows and melted chocolate. And Peter says Darrell Lee. Rocky Road is actually rock Lee Road. It is Peter. And when we started talking about this, Ash who shares the studio space with me, he's in here pressing all the buttons and trying to keep me on track. He said, what is this, he said to people make their own Rocky Road? I said, yes they do, and he said why would you do that when you can just go and buy Darryl Eats? So thanks Peter, you and Ash on the same page, Chrissy makes her own. She's joining us this afternoon on the line. How are you, Chrissy?
Oh good, thank you, Sophie, how are you?
I'm well? Have I now made you want to go and make Rocky Road?
Oh?
Yeah?
I make it really every year for Christmas. Okay, but now I want to go out and make it. And I put in pink and white marshmallow.
Little ones, oh, big ones.
Okay, it's the big one.
Stop them in the half.
Yeah, everything's got to be big for.
Me, Sophie.
Okay, I've salted peanuts.
Yeah.
I put in Turkish to light. But Turkish to light.
That you buy from the delis, you know when you've got a really good Delia.
Yeah yeah, Adam, the one that's covered in powdered sugar. So it's just the cubes, right, yeah, yep.
I put the stars nuts in there and then I pop up snakes right in there and put it and then I you, I chop up glaze cherries. Then I put milk chocolate all over it. It's got to be milk chocolate.
Okay, well, you really go all out. You've got the Chrissy Special for your Rocky Road.
Gor Mate.
It is gor mate. It does sound gourmet, especially when you're throw in those snake lollies. I don't know if I don't know if you're aware that Carla has now stepped onto the Afternoon's team, and she and I have been discussing our Rocky Road recipes and we've decided maybe tomorrow we're going to have a bit of an Afternoon's rock off. So she's going to bring She's going to bring in her Rocky Road. I'm going to bring in mind we might need you to drive some into Cannon Hill. Chrissy with your fancy stuff.
Oh god, yeah, do my recipe?
So okay, win, all right, okay, okay, Well, Ashen and Jared have said that they'd be happy to do the taste testing, so I'll let you know how it goes. Nice to talk to you, Chrissy. You take care. Jess has said, my wonderful partner got me Rocky Road for Easter. He said, the catches. I'm a severely allergic to nuts, so he bought him Rocky Road and then he went and ate it himself. He said, he thoroughly enjoyed it. Usually checks the ingredients for nuts, but he forgot his glasses that day. He said, I also got to laugh at your love your dentist day. I'm currently enjoying chocolate ice cream.
Mmmm.
Well, you know, every now and then we have the dentists pop up on the show to talk to us about that, and I'm always surprised, Jess, just how many people have questions when it comes to looking after our teeth. We know how important it is we outlive them in most cases, don't we. Brett has said, ew, no coconut, but I've got to have raspberry jelly pieces. What do you mean oo, no coconut. Coconut's delicious in Rocky Road, Brett, unless you just don't like coconut, in which case I can't help you. Joseph has also sent me a text about Oscar and the Formula one. Don't you worry, Joseph. I'll make sure that we give Oscar his just desserts Rocky Road style. At one p thirty five when we're joined on the program by Paul Gover to talk motoring. It was a great race. I didn't watch it live, but I did get up and watch most of it in the replay, including Max Forstappen's little dummy spit, which to be quite Frank Joseph, I think he should have got more than a ten second penalty, but we'll get into that in Motoring this afternoon. Stay where you are though. On the other side of this break Finance Time with Evan Lucas. We'll be talking about some conversations that have been had overseas by someone who's widely regarded in the finance world. We'll also talk about oil prices as well. It's coming up to seventeen minutes to one. Thank you. Russ sent through a text to say, Rocky Road. That's what the Broncos are on the Rocky Road. I know, Russ, that's been spoken about great length today on four BC. If you'd like to add to the conversation, sure, but I think we've done that one to death, haven't we. So Saturday we'll see whether or not things improve. Ross from Sunnybank Hills sent through a text. He said Darrel, he's upgraded Rockley Road importantly, he says in caps now includes Cherry gel pieces. Thank you for that very important update. Ross appreciate it.
On four BC Afternoon, It's Still Finance Report.
Evan Lucas now joining us our economic futurist host the podcast Exchanges with Evan Lucas. Good afternoon to.
You, Hallo, Sophie, happy NUITI.
Yeah, okay. From Rocky Road to the Rocky Road of Finance. There was a very interesting conversation that happened over the weekend, a fireside chat that Jamie Diamond was a part of. Now he's the CEO of JP Morgan Chase. Everyone in the finance world knows him, and he was speaking at the twenty twenty five Reagan National Economic Forum and said some really interesting little tidbits that I know has now sort of set the finance world on fire. Not the least of which is he says, I've just been in China, folks, and let me tell you, China, they're not scared.
No, they're not scared. So the one that really caught a lot of people's attention, that you're alluding to is that he's basically predicted what we've referred to as the cracking up of the bond market. So this is where bonds are government debt. They are basically, you know, tradable mortgages. Is the way to say it to those who out there listening about how they work of sovereign governments or sovereign states. And what he's talking about is that he doesn't know if it's in six months or in six years, but the US government and the US Federal Reserve have massively overspent on quantitative easing leading into the pandemic and then even more so during the pandemic. And he is alluding to the idea that the ability to service that debt, what it will mean for that level of debt. All of that is his questioning about where it sits and what that will mean for the way the US funds itself going forward. Now, the catch with predicting the end of the US bond market is that it would probably also predict the end of basically global finance, and it would lead to just an unbelievable amount of defaulting that would be unprecedented in time. So I think you need to take a little bit of a with a pinch of salt, because again there's ways that the particularly the Federal RESERVEO in the US can manage it, but it is again showing that there are deep flaws in the US financial system. And we saw during the month of April when the Liberation Day tariffs were first initially put in. What caught the President off guard was all of a sudden, the ability to fund the US government got very, very expensive. You had to back away from it. So it's just another part of that whole story.
I would argue, Yeah, and I think also just this, you know, he talks about the tensions between not just the United States and China, but also the massive shift that we're seeing that geopolitical and economic landscape just changing so much with trade, and he wasn't shying away from I think also addressing what a lot of people won't, which is saying a lot of our issues are within that. We've got problems now within our own country when it comes to our taxation, our regulation, and our own healthcare system. That will also impact what happens next if there is cracks in the bond market.
Yeah, and again, the reason that governments have been issuing those bonds, as you're alluding to their Sophie, is too fund everyday services that they require. Now that's in the US Social Services, health, the Defense Department, you know, Veteran affairs or huge one over there, and their overall defense spending. All of that is there. And as you liudal to, what he's also pointing out is that their systems are not as good as what you know internally they believe they are. They are some of the worst in the world. Their healthcare system is probably the most expensive on a per capita basis that if you have a look at their education system, it's crumbling around. I think the other thing we forget with the United States of America is exactly that it is the United States of America. It is more like a European union, obviously much more closer country as one, but it has that concept in the fact that if you look at a Nebraska versus a New York State, they are very very financially different and very very financially slash economically different to each other, but they're all part of the one United States of America union. And that's what he's alluding to is that there isn't universal health care, There isn't universal overall achievement that can be delivered through what has currently been done. Plus, the states are very parochial and they do still control a huge amount of power in what they do. So this is why he is now, this is Jamie diamond saying it as it is, because you also now have a president that is clearly not necessarily thinking about you know, every individual state or the whole country. He is thinking about other things that catch his attention very quickly and then lose his attention just as fast.
Yeah, exactly to some other issues. I wanted you to talk us through how OPEK is pushing the price of oil even lower.
Yeah, And a lot of people are asking me why would they do that, And it was like, well, history is shown they do this all the time to punish their competitors. So if you didn't see, over the weekend, OPEK put a other massive supply surge through the global system. So they have put output up about one million barrels of oil equivalent a month more than expected for the third time in a row. They are actually out for the US. We forget the US is actually the per as a country, the largest producer of oil on the planet. You then also have the Canadians, you have the Norwegians. They are non OPEC members and they have been slowly but surely increasing their output as prices, particularly leading into the last eighteen months, have been moving higher. OPEK is working as a unit to basically stop them producing into the future because it makes it unviable to go at current price. You then also couple that movement, which is what they're doing, and it's OPEC plus that plus sign So if we need to acknowledge as well, that's Russia. That's why it's OPEC plus or just OPEK.
They're not.
The Russians aren't part of OPEK, but they do work in a special voting membership group, and so they are also involved in this current movement that we've seen in the oil price. For those who out there driving a car right now, it will mean that the oil price and therefore the petrol price at the bowser over the next week will continue to be around a dollar fifty through the week. It could even get to as low as a dollar forty if it keeps going the way it is, which is very helpful. But there's bigger sort of issues at play here. The other one is that the demand side of it. You've talked about the issues between the US and China. Part of The reason that oil is a bit worried at the moment is that Chinese demand for oil is falling quite rapidly because they can't deliver stuff to the US becau they're getting hit between the eyes with tariffs. So it's all part of the reason why the oil price at the moment is a really interesting economic question that's actually playing out in real time and in the real world.
Well, what's even more interesting is that you say that, and I've just pulled up petrol spy and i can tell you that you'll be hard pressed to find it under one sixty anywhere in the city. It's still hovering around the one eighty nine. General le muck, Yeah, you know. Well yes, but we've also been and this extended long cycle that no one can completely tell you why. So it will be interesting to see now with a little lag. So if the prices come down at the bowser.
Yeah, So this is a state based question that you should be asking some of those people in the space. So if you look across New South Wales, current prices are more around a dollar fifty. You look into Victoria, they're still up around a dollar eighty for the weekend surcharge, which is also something that needs to be questioned very heavily. South Australia is sitting at two bucks midway through last week, though it got as low as a dollar forty six in Victoria, a dollar forty two in New South Wales in some parts. So again that question is a bigger domestic point and a state question that we really need to be raising. Is that you know, I'm not going to say the G word, but are we getting to a price question that needs to be addressed a bit further?
Is it gouge to make sure I'm guessing the right words?
That was your word?
I said it somewhat ironically. It's it's it's a rocky road day today and guess where the cheapest prices are Rockley one nine for e ten. You have to head out to ipswitch rate at Rockley if you want to get that anywhere closer to the city, though you're hard pressed to get at anything under one eighty nine ish one seventy nine and a couple of places. It's crazy. Okay, how are the market's kicking off the week?
So that's what we didn't talk about. But over the weekend we saw an increase in steel tariff's from twenty five percent to fifty percent because the President again had a thought bubble, and that has certainly rushed things around. We were pointing up about point four of one percent, then we were pointing out point one of one percent close for the futures, and now we are down point three. So that's a turnaround of about half of one percent off the back of those tariffs. So down twenty three points to eighty four eleven, so we can't complain. It's still very good, but it was supposed to be an update and it's now a down day and.
So yeah, we didn't really get to that. That was the President saying over the weekend he wanted to double the levees on foreign steel, including Australian steel, from twenty five percent to fifty percent. But from what I read, they're going into bat and hoping that maybe there'll be an adjustment to that.
Again.
Well, again we taught him, who talked about the other thing that's happening at the moment, the taco trade. Trump always chickens out, So watch that space again. As I said, it is a thought bubble, there's no doubt about that, and really reverse out of it. I would suggest, so considering the impact it will have the most on is the US. They only generate about five to ten percent of their total steel demand. Why would you increase the cost on yourself by fifty percent. It just makes no economic or business or financial sense. So yes, I would agree that he'll probably back out. All right.
Tomorrow we'll talk about the inflation data that came out of the US. One of my listeners, who obviously is a fan of what Donald Trump is doing, is saying that he got a thumbs up on that. But we're out of time on that today. I'm happy to do both sides of the equation. Certainly hurting the rest of the world, let's see whether or not it's working for him at home. So tomorrow, why don't we talk about the economic data that came out of the US late last week?
Done okay, well, and we'll blow pros and cons of what he's doing.
Thanks, Evan, always appreciate it. We'll talk again tomorrow. See that is sov four minutes to one. Well, everybody's been asked about the US Defense Secretary telling Richard Miles that it was time for Australia to lift our defense spending. The prime minister has also aimed in attack at the Coalition for vowing to boost defense spending during the election without specifying where that money would go. He has now joined that chorus of saying the government is doing what we should be doing for ourselves, our need and our capability. I'll get into this a little bit further after the one o'clock news headlines this afternoon, will be joined on the program by Neil Fergus, the see of Intelligent Risks. If you've got questions specific to this that you'd like me to include with that conversation to Neil, send them through to us via tex zero four double nine eight eighty eight eighty two. Also next our motoring questions, Paul Gover will be joining us to talk through those. You might be buying, selling, or doing a little research for a car for yourself. It's a good time of the year to be doing it, obviously at the end of the financial year. All of that and more after the headlines next still to come for you. On this Monday afternoon, Neil Fergus will join us. CEO of Intelligent Risk is back. We're covering the ongoing strikes that have happened in the Russia Crane conflict. There's also calls from the US for Australia to increase our defense budget and the Middle East conflict that is now seeing peaceful protests and gatherings across the globe be threatened even further. Paul Gover will also join us this hour answering motoring questions. He's coming to us from India this afternoon. Special guests this afternoon are about to take to the stage here in Queensland. Be joining me in the studio. I'm talking about Georgie Parker and Glen Hazeldein. They're doing a reprisal of Rhinestone Rex and Miss Monica. It's now underway. Karla Binnyaska will have even more entertainment with us today, including an important bit of news that was omitted from Megan Markle's Netflix show, Say it Isn't so all of those voices and room for yours as well on afternoons.
And now on flour BC and network stations across Australia afternoons with Sophie for Mikah.
Yeah, just some more detail on that attack that happened. Actually it was Ukraine into Russia, a Ukraine drone strike that destroyed more than forty Russian planes. According to inside sources, the targeted attack has taken more than a year and a half to execute and was personally supervised by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski. The operation involved drones being taken deep into Russian territory, about four thousand kilometers from the Ukrainian border, and they were transported inside containers that were inside a truck. It's the first time a Ukrainian drone has been seen in the region. This targeted strike follows an attack from Russia. In the last twenty four hours, four hundred and seventy two drones seven missiles were launched into Ukraine. We believe from the sources that we have seen twelve Ukrainian servicemen killed in that action. Another sixty have been injured. Ukraine's ground forces say if it's established that the actions or in action of officials led to the death or injury of servicemen, those responsible will be held accountable.
Across Australia, you're listening to another broadcast from nine radio people you know, opinions that matter, news you can trust.
Well, as I said, bit of news on the global scale for Australia. The US Defense Secretary telling Richard Miles that Australia needs to find an extra forty billion dollars a year for our military in order to satisfy the Trump administration. It equates to three point five percent of our GDP, our gross domestic product. This conversations happening on the sidelines of a security conference in Singapore. So right now, as a nation, we spend about fifty nine billion dollars on defense. That equates to about two point zero five percent of GDP, and there was always plans for that to increase to two point three to three by twenty thirty three. It's not something that the Prime Minister is keen to jump on. You just heard me mention him and again in the news. He's saying that we are doing what we should for where we are, but we know that we also have threats on the horizons and we have a role to play when it comes to our military security and that of our neighbors and our allies. So joining me now on four BC afternoons is Neil Fergus. He's the CEO of Intelligent Risks and Neil, I'd love to know what you made of all of this over the weekend.
Draft and sophy. Yeah, dramatic, isn't it, And particularly the operation that the Ukrainians mounted inside Russia operations spider, where I think they called it quite extraordinary, as you said, reaching all the way to eastern Siberia to an air base just north of North Korea and another air base at Mermantzk which is basically where the Russian Arctic Fleet is based, is just mind boggling in terms of innovation and well courage.
Yeah.
Well, the whole idea there obviously is to be able to take out what could potentially be used in the next round of the conflict.
Yes, and earlier reports, still to be confirmed, indicate that forty one heavy Russian bombers were destroyed. That's about nine billion US dollars of air craft and about one third of their strategic bomber command. That is just mind blowing, we know, and of course sorry no.
I was want to say, but we always know that this comes with retaliation. So it means now that Vladimir Putin's not going to take this one lying down.
No, Well, tragically, over the weekend, well, the Ukraine struck only military targets and there was no indication of any particular loss of life on those bases. The Russians struck civilian targets in cities across Ukraine and one of the largest aerial attacks of the war. And that means children, families, no military targets at all, schools, and energy infrastructure. It's just absolutely diabolical.
Neil to this conversation then around the US asking US to boost our defense spending, considering how heavily we rely on their military aid, what did you make of that? And this push now from Pete Hagsath to say to Australia you need to be spending.
More not surprising because they have been pushing other allies, including Japan, South Korea and Europe in the same vein. Europe has announced that it is seeking to not over night, of course, but over the period between now and twenty thirty six, to lift GDP spent on defense to nearly five percent, which puts into context the request for Australia to upit ANTI to three point five. And again, as you said in the intro, we are just over two percent at the moment, which is really very low. It's also not being spent particularly well. According to some of the senior military pundits like General Mick Ryan. We also have chronic understaffing in our three armed services, incredible amount of vacancies. People are not joining up, so obviously the conditions aren't sufficiently attracted in contrast with other parts of the workforce. We do have some challenges ahead of us, and aiming to do two point five percent of GDP by twenty thirty six according to Heskef and according to some of our own military pundits, is too little, too late.
You know, does do you fear that it puts US in a vulnerable position?
I think in terms of commitments and in terms of concerns about what happens in the Ukraine. Putin is threatening to open up a new front against Poland, and the head of NATO has said if you attack Poland, you attack US, so that conflict could expand. I would like to think it's just Belakos propaganda, which Putin is a master l of, but you can't be certain. And of course China and Jinping and Beijing are watching this all incredibly closely because of their aspiration to have Taiwan reunified with mainland China, and they had a date set for that twenty twenty eight. They haven't said much about that date recently, but they have said it in the past.
Yeah, and I know that over the weekend too, China has come out responding to some of what has been said about them in the US and actually point blank just saying there's no truth to it. We know our Prime minister is going to be meeting with President Trump on the sidelines of the G seven summit that's due to happen in just a couple of weeks. That will be an important conversation.
Absolutely, and the scene is that go with the two leaders will also of course be involved in that and other more detailed conversations about the same issues.
I wanted to also just touch on again Gaza. It seems that we take two steps forward and then about half a dozen steps back. Everybody has seen the horrific pictures of the humanitarian issue that is ongoing inside Gaza, but I think now beyond that, Neil, you know, just this news over the weekend, it's dominating headlines today. We're seeing more and more around the globe people coming together, regardless of which side is gathering and the position that they're taking that we're seeing more conflict now come out of those here in Brisbane peaceful protests that happened obviously in Boulder, Colrade. Now that we know that there was someone who has taken it upon themselves to throw molotov cocktails into a crowd who was gathering, how do we start to sort of control that without that becoming as much I think of the noise of reaching a solution inside Gaza as it happens around.
The globe, Well, it's absolutely challenging national security services right across the West western world, including here in Australia. To be fair to the agencies, I mean, the FBI is declared Boulder of terrorist incident, while the local police have not as yet, and I'm not sure why there's that disconnect, but nonetheless, the assassination of the two Israeli embassy workers in Washington horrific stuff.
And we have the.
Challenges going on here with community tensions arguably pretty much an all time high in Brisbane, well in all the major cities, but Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne particular. So you know, our organizations, the AFP and AGO and the state police forces have joint counter terrors and teams in all the major cities. They are working very very hard to try to identify threats as they emerge. But our challenge, Sophie, is some of these activities are done opportunistically by individuals. The chance of protective security agencies getting advanced notice is deeply limited if people aren't talking on the web, on the net, on the phone, discussing what they might do, what they'd like to do. There's where we have a serious challenge again, not just in Australia, across all the Western liberal democracies.
You know, I think it's really difficult though, doesn't matter how vehemently you might support what the IDF is trying to achieve. It's really hard for anyone with a heartbeat to see the pictures coming out of Gaza and to see deliberate misuse of humanitarian aid to try and achieve some sort of geopolitical goal.
Yes, a former Prime minister of Israel who I hold in the highest reguard, a man called h ol Mayer, who was the last prime minister to get the Palestinians to a peace conference in Annapolis around two thousand and eight. He came out last week and said there is no strategy here anymore. No Israel has lost its strategy. It's also lost to a certain extent the moral high ground it had after the horrific genocide of twelve hundred civilians back on the seventh of October twenty twenty three, twenty two. I beg pardon, he has been very, very forthright, met Nya, who needs to pause and think. It's not just about the optics to the rest of the world. It's about the civilian lives. It's about babies who are melourished already and facing the famine. It's unacceptable.
Yeah, well said. Thank you as always for giving us a little of your time and your insights.
Neil.
You know, I dare say, with the way things are turning in the world at the moment, we're going to have frequent conversations with you, helping us to understand a little better of what's going on. You know, this idea that they're going to continue this fight until there is no Hamas, I think is a lofty one, and they are now saying that, you know, it's all about manipulation. Hamas is saying, on one hand, to cease fire and yet on the other hand, you know, also preparing themselves to be able to defend themselves.
Yes, absolutely, it seems intractable. But the fact that there's been so much violence since the massacre, it's just created creating the next generation of people who will hate the State of Israel for the term of their natural life.
Absolutely, that's it.
Then has to be a breakthrough.
Thank you, Neil, As I said, we'll talk again in the next couple of weeks.
Pleasure take Neil.
Fergus, CEO of Intelligent Risks. As I said, so much going on at the moment, and the one that will dominate though here and the conversation that I'm sure will happen when the Prime Minister meets with the US President is is this push from their defense secretary to tell us what we need to be doing for our spending. I mentioned with Bill earlier, and we've also now seen our a political leader's wigh in on this, Jackie Lamby, who was always very vocal when it comes to issues of defense, and rightfully so, it's just suggested that we also waste an awful lot of money that will become part of this conversation as well. Who's making the decisions on procurement, where it's being spent, and what it's being spent on. It's twenty minutes past one, twenty three minutes past one one double three eight eighty two. If you'd like to share your opinion with me on the news of today, you can also text zero four double nine eight eighty eight eighty two and whether this next story is going to affect you Just a couple of stories closer to home. So Brisbane's bus network, we're told, is going to get a major shake up from the end of the month. It means that some commuters will now have to change buses mid trip instead of taking just one bus from destination A to B. Some routes will follow a new hub and spoke system, basically to hop off and switch on to a bigger bus at the same platform. These changes aim to make things simpler and more frequent, especially to those commuters on the South side. It will take a little getting used to. There are six new routes that are being added, plus the launch of Brisbane's second metro route that's going to run twenty four to seven on the weekends and every five minutes on weekdays. It replaces the one, one one and the one sixty. All of the new timetables can now be found by going to the website translink dot com dot au so We're all being reminded those who frequently commute on buses to double check some of these routes. They will get new numbers and also have some new stop changes. Also expect some temporary closures at King George Square, Queen Street and the Roma Street bus stations for six weekends starting on the twenty first of June, so still a few weeks away before that begins. They'll be doing some tunnel works there. The Lord Mayor has said it's the biggest upgrade to the city's buses in decades. The aim is to move Brisbane from public transport to true mass transit, So I couldn't encourage you more in the next couple of weeks to just be aware of what the changes might be by heading to translink dot com dot au. Also today we're getting an idea of just what's going on with Brisbane's housing market. Home valuations up eight point three eight percent over the past year, which is one of the strongest results right across the country. Prices across Australia rose in May, making it five months in a row, but right here our River city we're up there with the top performers in May alone. Home values in Brisbane rose by nearly a quarter of a percent. Look, this is great news if you already own at home. Don't get me wrong, there are many people who are listening to this and put the big smile on your face. For those who are trying to get into the market, maybe not so much. Across the country, home values rose almost point four of a percent in the month of May, now sitting at more than four percent higher than they were this time last year, and that's a record. According to the latest figures that have been shared for prop Track, things have slowed down a little bit after a big run, but the demand is still strong and that's been helped along, of course by falling interest rates. Borrowers can now borrow a little bit more, and it also means it adds confidence into the market. Prop Trap also has shown that more home buyers used to pay much less for their property, even when adjusted for inflation. The research looked at what buyers were forking out when many of us bought our first homes through the eighties and nineties and into the two thousands, and then converted it into today's dollars. And we know that this always comes up right. You know, many of us who were able to buy property much earlier, sacrificed, came up with a deposit, brought ourselves something when we were much younger than Lament. Whether or not, you know, it's very different.
Now.
Let me tell you the landscape has changed and they've put together the current prices compared to what they were in real dollar figures. So for example, in nineteen eighty, okay, if you bought a house in Northgate nineteen eighty, it would cost you twenty eight thousand, seven hundred and fifty dollars. Flash forward in real money terms now twenty twenty five, it's one million, two hundred and thirty nine thousand, seven hundred and fifty dollars. I mean, that's just massive. It doesn't equate for the fact that we aren't earning anywhere near the same amount of money brought forward into real dollar terms now for sure, Green Slopes, have a look at this Green Slopes. Nineteen eighty house was thirty one thousand, five hundred and forty dollars. Twenty years later, in the year two thousand, that thirty one thousand dollar house had cost you one hundred and eighty nine one thousand, five hundred and now that same house is sitting at one point four five five. So you know, if you've held on to the place you've had since the nineteen eighties, patch yourself on the back. Anyone trying to get into the housing market now will tell you it's a very different landscape. And we know that the median house price now in the city is just about to hit a million dollars. We're like two thousand dollars shy of the median house price in Brisbane being a million dollars and units are sitting at around six hundred and seventy thousand. If you'd like to know how much your suburb is worth compared through the decades, you can give us a call on one double three eight eighty two and we've got the real time data. We'll let our fingers do the walking. We can tell you what it looks like in your suburb for you today, you can text zero four double nine eight eighty eight eighty two. But you know, I much prefer it when you call for a bit of a chat, particularly if you're a first time to caller. And I mentioned as well today a little bit different from motoring. Paul's not in the studio with me. He will be joining us to talk motoring and to answer all of your questions. But he'll be coming to us from India because he was a visitor of Mahindra Motors to go over and have a look at their plant. Somebody wants to know about Logan, all right, Logan Village nineteen ninety forty nine thousand dollars? Is that next call? What it would be in real dollar terms now? Forty nine thousand dollars in nineteen ninety and then the same property now would cost you one million and fifty thousand. So the price in Logan Village from nineteen ninety to nineteen to twenty twenty five has literally gone up a million bucks. It's extraordinary the numbers when you think of it, and you know, if you've got young people in your life who are trying to break into the to the housing market, they'll tell you just how hard it is, particularly when they're working and trying to pull together a deposit to be able to go to the banking and get a mortgage. They're saying, now you need somewhere around one hundred and eighty thousand dollars as a combined income to be able to participate in the housing market in Queensland. Yeah, just to some of your feedback and thank you for it. This afternoon, Peter says, Hi, Sophie, we bought our place in Kenmore nineteen ninety two for one hundred and ten thousand dollars in our neighbor just sold on the weekend for one point one mill. Thanks Peter for that. Linn says, how are you soafe? These ridiculous house prices will only alter if lend has stop lending these outrageous loans and the RBA raises the interest rate much higher than they are. She says, point one interest rates in twenty twenty got us into this. Mintz, the Reserve Bank and lending banks need to get us out of it. She fears for her daughter, who's six, what will a home cost her? Thank you, Lynn, I know you fear for your six year old. I fear for my twenty year olds. John says it's not the boomer's fault. House prices have gone through. The rift didn't suggest it was, John, He says, blame the unfitted increase in immigration, couple with crippling building regulations limiting supply. I think those are two things. I think you can add a few more things to the list. It's been a bit of a perfect storm, a whole bunch of things coming together to where we find ourselves now. Supply still being obviously the biggest issue, and Russ says house prices. As a retired build built few homes in Waterford in the seventies, house and land was eighteen k. Those same houses are now one point four those days long away from the center of Brisbane. But this will happen over and over, will Russ. And we know that there's just and some land finally open up. State governments lifted some of those shackles on a few places that we'll see now hundreds of homes being built in a couple of spots outside of the city where for a very long time they were waiting to jump through all of those hoops. We'll supply change things. I don't know. I think the problem is that there is so much demand that the prices are just going to be kept artificially high, at least in the short term.
Yeah, now on afternoons, it's motoring Monday, as we ask.
The experts, no mistake, Paul Gover.
No mistay to you from Chennai in India.
How are you going. Have you got through all of your own baked beans or have you decided to actually try some of the local cuisine.
No, my baked beans were confiscated at security in Brisbone, but I still have my huge supplies of Museleva.
Thank you all right.
I know that you'll take ar at the Mahindra, the Mahindra test track, or about going past the passive safety lab. But having just having just ridden in the front seat of a calf for two hours for a truly excellent young driver, I can tell you I've seen cars on the road, but nothing like India.
I bet I want to talk to you a little more about the Mahindra in just a second, but I do want to quickly talk about Oscar Pistre taking out the Spanish Grand Prix. It obviously now gives him a little buffer as a leader. He had a great race. I think you know, as you said, slow, steady, cool hand, you know, didn't didn't try to do anything too fancy, started in front and sort of stayed that way.
Yeah, I think that you said slow and steady. He's not slightly you know what you know?
So maybe I meant like a steady hand.
Look he is a very calm individual and he just he executes relentlessly. He's doing a great job and really in the championship this year he's only got to beat his teammate Lando Norrison. At the moment, he's, as we say, he's trailing him up, which is good.
Yeah, of course, the big news out of the race was Max Verstappen deliberately driving straight into George Russell. He copped the ten second penalty in three points, which means now he's got to really be well behaved because he's only got a point for the next couple of races before we hit the end of June that he can afford to lose. But Paul, plenty of people suggesting that, you know, especially if George Russell had been taken off the track, that would have been a black flag, and we don't see them too often in the F one, No.
We don't see them.
But it was deliberate and he's been getting away with this for a very long time and they're cracking down on him. So the blokes have you know, he's a multiple world champion, he's the most calmer blog of his generation. And what's happening now, it's frustration. He's basically frustrated that he doesn't have a carvet fast enough and he's taking it out on his opponent and trying to intimidate them. But the problem is the guys he's trying to intimidate are used to his tactics and they're fighting back, yeah, and.
Calling him out on it too. All right, all eyes will be on the Canadian Grand Prix in a couple of weeks. All right, tell us a little bit more about Mahindra.
There.
You're there because obviously your guest of the brand that comes out of India. What have you seen so far?
A chaos?
I was driving on seeking you the good morning Vietnam. You know that just it's chaos. It's chaos like it's hot and humid. There are truly archoves beside the freeway in one hundred kilometers, arms just lying down next to the arm care barrier.
You are overtaking.
Apparently you can overtake here by simply tooting your horn and driving it. People coming the other way, flashing your lights and everybody sort of opens up and lets them go. There are vast numbers of motorcycles. Most people don't not wear helmets. You would appreciate this as being a very refined lady yourself. Some women sit side settle on the back of the scooter in their sari. It seems to be the upmarket way of doing it. Suziki is the dominant player over here. I have seen so far one European car of Porsche can for all the rest of this stuff here from the local brands.
What do they have to teach us? I don't know. That's why we're here at their proving ground to find.
Out exactly what Mahindra thinks they can bring, particularly the time when the Chinese are.
Doing so well well, well, I would imagine what they're trying to bring as more cars into Australia.
Oh absolutely, yeah, yeah, of course.
And I'm looking across now the car park and there's a couple of camouflage prototypes here. I'll just zip over in a minute take and for happy Ash because he always looks so happy on the control panel.
Have not seen a single electric car.
I know.
The traffic density over here is huge. So it's a different world, and it's a different world, if you know what I mean. Like it's a very different country, very different culture. But yeah, an interesting place to count. So imagine the worst.
Italian traffic you've ever been in.
So it's in somebody like somewhere like Nables, but everybody going much slower and they use the horn here like your parking radar. But while you're going so like to dip that means you know, I'm coming through a little bit louder, that means I'm getting closer to you, and the full on burb that means you really.
Need to get out of the way.
So it's interesting.
It's very interesting.
Yeah, and it's usually all happening at the same time. Quite a cacophony. Paul. We've got questions that have come through from listeners and won double three if you want to one double three, eight eighty two if you want to speak to Paul today or text us on zero four double nine eight eighty eight eighty two. I just wanted to quickly touch on timing. And you know it's now June, we're heading towards end of financial year. For listeners who are looking to purchase, there are going to be some deals to be had with dealerships trying to get numbers up before the end of financial year. Or are you suggesting people should hold on.
Yeah, yeah, no, that's definitely now is the time.
I was looking some research today and there's some huge percentage people who have been waiting, so there's going to be a bit of a rush. And it's the first time since before COVID we're having a normal into financial year saving sort of stuff.
So there's lots of cars with cut prices.
Cars dealers have got demos that they want to go to get rid of, and there are special deals on finances and things. So there's a lot happening at the moment, and it is back to the way it used to be. June is definitely a huge buyer's market.
We want to know whether or not you know anything about deepol Deepal Deep Deep. It's another a Chinese brand, a.
New important and yeah, I don't know enough to have a comment, And that basically tells me that I'd avoid one, simply because although they're part of their distribution is through the same people that do Subau in Australia. But like most of these Chinese brands, simply don't have enough information to give an informed comment.
So on that basis, it's so stier clear.
So what I can see just from pulling up info about it. They've had their mid size electric suv come into the country for this year, and then they're going to have two more models onto the market, the E seven, which is a ute and a Soo five, which is a smaller electric suv.
Yeah yeah, correct, which is a familiar pattern for the Chinese. What they're doing is they're bringing in electric cars because they have the market cornered on basically on electric cars globally, and they start off with a family size this year to get people involved, and then they'll go and then they move from there, so they'll have a smaller to get themselves into a price point while they get the brand at least known a little bit in Australia. The advantage Depail has is that they've got a they've got a proven dealer network. And it's interesting BYD, which is the powerhouse of the Chinese brand, has just taken direct control in Australia. So up till now that had an agency, but they've actually set up a full factory shop in the past week, so that'll tell you what BYD is looking to do in Australia. They're the ones from the ones that I've seen, they're the most aggressive and the one that you would bet the most on them being successful in Australia.
Well, they're also the ones that have got the numbers. They seem to have the highest number in terms of sales that you see them more on the road. But these I've just again just looking at these deep the Chinese brand depail. They look like all the others. It's going to be very hard to tell them apart. It's got a triangle as a logo on the front, but that sort of futuristic boxy look very much like all of the others. Will be very difficult to tell them apart unless you know what you're looking for.
Yeah, well even if you know what you're looking for, you can't tell you. But if you took the badges off ten of them lined them up, you could not tell which one was which.
Okay, we've got questions for you that have come in in addition that are more specific, so we'll get to those on the other side of the break. So stay white right where you are, get yourself a drink of water. We're talking to Paul Gover who's coming to us from India this afternoon for Monday motoring. If you'd like to speak to him, one double three eight eighty two or text us on zero four double nine eight eighty eight eighty two. More motoring talk After this, Paul gover with us as he is every Monday, to talk motoring and Paul questions that have come from listeners this afternoon. Chris from Chapel Hill. He says, I was looking for a new car on Saturday and looked at a demo car first, and then the salesman suggested the exact same car, but brand new for only one grand more. Seemed like a good deal to me, Just wondering why the salesman would want to do this. Does it have something to do with quotas before the end of the month, so he would have been the last weekend of May.
Saturday, I'd be quotas, but they have they will have open supply at the moment, and without knowing how many kilometers are on the demo car, if it, you know, if it's got not too many kilometers on it, then it probably wouldn't be as good a deal. The pricing on demo cars tends to depend on how many kilometers they've done. But a brand new one, you know, for a thousand dollars more, I'd be taking the brand new one apart from anything else. So if the warranty starts from the day the cars registered, so if that car was a demonstrator car, he'll probably be getting a couple more months warranty buying buying a brand new one.
Yeah, absolutely, And most now you know they'll do five year warranties, don't they most? Yeah, five, five, seven.
Seven, yeah, seven, And they are about to go to seven.
I reckon that's going to happen probably in July or August. They're going to go to seven years, which is the same as Key has been.
Then be a big move.
Then follow up question then from Chris is the extra customer care products that they offer. I know how you feel about those.
Don't buy any of it. It's just it's yeah, it's a great way for dealerships to make a lot of money. You can get all of that stuff for less by getting it outside and they'll tell you, oh, you're be to enroll it all into the one package price. But that means you're going to be paying on interest on a whole lot of extra stuff, which can easily add more than a thousand dollars to the price of car.
If they mess to talk you somehow into buying all that stuff you don't need.
Yeah.
Absolutely, Okay. Wayne from Mount Cravat wants to know what are some of the small things that he can do when it comes to saving money and maintenance.
Do the maintenance sometime. So the basic deal is, look, the best way to save money is to go outside the dealer network to one of the go to one of the chain things. Don't go to your local mechanic. So as long as the current service what they call buy the book, which means it's got all of the servicing done the way it says, you know, the right timing and the right stuff done, and with factory level parts, then that's the single best way to save money.
Don't go to the official vela.
What's your opinion on the This and Hybrid pool?
I really like the This and Hybrid system.
I think it's called ePower from memory, So basically it runs as an electric car the whole time, and the combustion engine only charges the battery, so it is the most like a fully electric car to drive, and it's very quiet and nice when you're going at slow speeds. Then when you go to the longer distances, the combustion engine cuts into charge up the battery. It's actually called the range extend A hybrid is the type of is the category of it.
But I really like and I think they're doing good job with it.
So what have they done? And the hybrid the X Trail.
They do this to X Trail and cash Cashi and their plan is eventually to have this ePower being across pretty much everything they make, except obviously for the three seventies. But yeah, they're moving, like every brand more heavily into hybrids.
David says, Hi, Sophie, can you ask the guru that's you if there's any tray back EV's coming.
Ah, not that I know of at the moment, So tray back he's talking about a trayback youth. At the moment, pretty much fully electric pickup trucks are not on the radar for most people because they're not fit for purpose in Australia. They can't, they don't tell, and they don't have the load carrying capacity.
So what's happening at the moment.
Is we're moving more towards hybrids, and there are now plug in hybrids which give you a lot of electric range again around town, but pull ev pickup trucks are some way away, and when they do come in volume, they're all going to be the dual cab sort of family vehicles. People who are looking to use them as tool of krey won't be going either yet.
It's interesting because you I just looked up that EO seven. I know you're not going to, you know, put your name to them because you don't know what they But they're calling it a multi truck, an all new, all electric multi truck, so it's basically got a longer wheelbase and a long skinny boot. But it's but you can have a cover over it.
Rubbish, it's rubbish, how weird. Okay, it's marketing.
It's don't look at that, David forget. I said it.
It's a hatchback, right, It's just a hatchback vehicle which has got a slightly longer load carrying space in the back. So it's it's another camel. It's trying to do lots of jobs and it probably won't do any of them particularly well. But it's not in the sense that austrains understand.
Them, no, because it's still a passenger vehicle. Is still four door?
Yeah correct, Yeah.
Well, they're calling it transformational design. You're calling it rubbish.
I'm calling it. I'm calling it marketing. Lots of gobbledegook and made up words.
If anyone wants to look at it, it's the DPL EO seven. But it doesn't come with balls seal of approval. What does, though, is your the rest of your trip. Hopefully it all goes well, you get an opportunity to do some driving. You can tell us more about what you experienced with the team at Mahindra when you're back in the studio next Monday.
Yeah, I will.
And I got to say, we're at their approving ground and we turned off the main road, which is like the seventeenth century in terms of the way it operates and the quality of the roads you turned in here. But back at the twenty first century, the building is impressive. It's really well built and very neat and tidy.
No no towns in.
Here, no dogs running loose, and actually people writing scooters with helmets on.
Are you actually are you going to go into the floor, like we're into the manufacturing floor to actually see how they put it all together.
I think that's some of that is tomorrow. But at the moment. We're at the proving grand where they're developing the future models.
So okay, good to see what's been Thanks Paul go over travel well, okay, I shall six minutes to two. For those questions we didn't get to, we'll hold on to them for next Monday. North Straudebroke Island residents are concerned about the major overhaul of Queensland's shark control program and that it may a negatively impact marine life and ecotourism. As we know, the state government has just announced there would be a eighty eight million dollar initiative which would be the largest investment into state shark management. We spoke about this at the time, and this plan would include year round drum line servicing, expanding the drone surveillance and increasing funding for whale deterrent PingER technology to help to protect the whales as they head up, up and down the Humpback Highway. There are seven beaches now that are targeted for new nets and drum lines, including Elliot Heads and more Park and Pacific Beach down the coast. Cylinder Beach on Stradbroke and Tangalooma and Morton are also among the insidered locations. To be upgraded with drone technology. Critics obviously have come forward now to talk about the lethal drum lines, in particular whether or not they violate federal law, warning that they also increase bycatch without substantially improving swimmer safety. Many Stradbroke residents have now also come forward to say that they feel that the balance is a bit off. Department of Agriculture and Fisheries data reveals that five drum lines off Amity Point on Stradbroke did not catch a single target shark in the last ten years. You know, and you hear that, and you go, well, if in ten years it hasn't done what they're professing it's going to do, why are we spending more money on that? Maybe not on other things. Islanders are also unconvinced by drone technology. I've seen some pretty exceptional drone footage where it really clearly shows where sharks are and then is able to sort of, you know, warn people who might be in and around that area. While the drone at Cylinder Beach has aided in evacuating swimmers in those kinds of cases after they've seen shark sightings, its coverage is limited to the weekends and school holidays, and of course drones can only fly in certain weather. Having seen one take off in the wind, I know that to be true. A recent KPMG report indicated that shark bites decreased from three point three to five annually to just over one. The issue really is that the bycatch has also worsened. Between twenty twenty one and twenty twenty four, there were twelve hundred marine animals that died in this program, so the average bycatch death increasing to six three hundred and sixty two a year. There was also a trial that they did using circle hooks, and they're supposed to reduce injury by hooking sharks in the jaw. That's also underway away in sixteen beaches, including Stategy Struty. Look, I think this is one of those cases where you're never going to please everyone. That's for sure. Stay with us. The two o'clock News is coming up next on four BC and four RO. It's the two o'clock hour of Afternoons. I have a couple of theater superstars in the studio with me. They're in Brisbane to reprise Rhinestone, Rex and Miss Monica now underway right here at Brisbane and Karla Binnyaska will also join us this hour. She has our entertainment news covered, including the most important bit of news apparently that's been omitted from the Megan Marko Netflix show that we all need to know about. Plus five double passes to give away. Oh, No, one double pass for a family I should say, Broncos and Titans this weekend. Fingers crossed things pick up for our Broncos. I guess time will tell all of that and more on Afternoons and.
Now on four BC and network stations across Australia Afternoons with Sophie for my car.
Yeah, hold on to that competition line number one, three hundred, triple four eight eighty two because the Broncos will be playing the Titans this Saturday at sun Corp Stadium. So I have a family pass to give away. I'd be in all sorts of problems if I said I had five and only had one. It's definitely just one.
Local national around the globe. When it happens, we've got it. You're listening to another broadcast from nine Radio.
Well, we gave away tickets to Rhinestone, Rex and Miss Monica last month, and I promise that I'd be speaking to Georgie Parker and Glenn Hazeldean. For those who aren't aware, Rhinestone Rex and Miss Monica follows the unlikely coming together when a cultured inner city aesthetic hires a knock about true blue trade. And Georgie and Glenn are here in Brisbane with this show underway at the Queensland Theater. Despite having very busy schedules, they've kindly joined me in the studio at Cannon Hill. Nice to see you both. Hi, how are you Sophie? Very well? Now you two are no strangers to each other for this show.
Now we've actually worked together for quite a few decades now, Yeah, Glen, Glenn came and blessed us with an amazing performance in All Saints.
You know about thirty Es thirty years ago. Well there you go.
And we've done a few quite a few shows together as well.
Well, I've not worked with Georgia bit. She walked in and I said, oh, I knew you like thirty years ago. So it's nice to know that everybody sticks around long enough.
It's a small industry really, and if you keep if you're lucky enough to keep working, you just keep bumping into the same people. So it's yeah, it's been really great, and it's just it's such an amazing gift to be able to reprise these this play and these roles with Glenn. But there must be something about this show that you both love, because you talked about the fact that you're coming back to do it again. Glenn, you've mentioned that you've been often you've decided to have a Miss Monica in.
Other cities with other people that weren't Georgie.
So I learned my lesson.
What is it about this show?
Hey, look, it's it's a David Williamson, and Williamson is synonymous with Australian, with great Australian theater, and Georgie and I have been privileged to it, as we said, to have done this show a number of times.
It's a real crowd pleaser.
Yeah, we just strap ourselves in for the ride and let it happen. And it's so much fun. And you know, we've got to be careful of, you know, blowing smoke around each other's there he is, But working with Georgie is just the dream and so for me, it's a no brainer to say yes to Williamson, Yes to being having a job, but yes to working with Georgie Parker every.
Time, and Georgie and for you, like, you know, everyone sees you so regularly and you've been a you know, you've been a real stall and it comes to television in this country, but your love of theater means that you like to step away from being in front of the camera instead being back in front of a live audience.
Yeah, I started in theater, so that's really my first love language with acting, and so whilst I totally appreciate, really value my time on a set, and it's a very different approach to the craft and I've just been so lucky that I've had very positive experiences and met some incredible people. But it's always very challenging and incredibly rewarding because of that when you do theater, because it takes you back to the basics and you cannot get away with any any habits or any any bad decisions. You know, you've just got to really back yourself and do the rehearsal, do the work. But that's why it brings me to the fact that when you work with Glenn and I've been fortunate enough to do it a few times now, you can just you have such freedom when you're working with someone that good, and that makes the difference. And that's why with this two handed which puts a lot of pressure on that relationship, we have so much fun and we're contained in this boundary, beautiful house of David Williamson for two hours and we just deposit ourselves, start off on the right foot, and the audience just comes along for the journey.
I think we always know too that no two nights can ever be the same, and that's something that people who who love theater both as an audience member and those who are lucky enough to be up on the boards really love about it. It's this kind of immediacy, the instantaneous reactions that have to happen, the energy that's different on any given night because of everything else. So even you know for yourselves it's different for the audience every time, it's different for you too.
Absolutely, yeah, it's absolutely true.
We often say that our play isn't just the two of us. It's us plus William's words and the audience, and it's it. We don't have a preordained expectation of what this play will feel like at the end of the night, because we're waiting for.
The audience to join us.
Yeah.
For those who know nothing, is it really just about the relationship that builds between these two people, it's well you you go what Rhinestone wrecks? Yeah and Miss Morning.
Okay, yeah, well Mindstone Rex and Missmonica. I think the main thing about this play is that it's it is a love story about two people who it seems like it's impossible that they would ever be together.
Because they're so different.
Well, they're so different fundamentally up to their core and also got so many problems.
So it's they are very different people innately, but it's expressed brilliantly dramatically by Williamson through their tastes, their personal tastes in music. For instance, Ryanstone Rex or Gary is a country and Western nut, and Monika is diametrically opposed to that. She's a classical musician herself, and she's battling her own demons. Gary's got his demons. They don't know how to speak to each other about those demons at first, but they used the language of music and to find a comentsome common ground.
It's sort of a universal story because it happens regardless over the decades. But was there anything that was changed within the words, you know, to make it twenty twenty five.
Yeah, we did a bit of a nudge with some of the references, because just the idea of a male female relationship changed a lot. The way women, you know, have a lot more agency in their own lives and the way that's represented and discussed. Yeah, so it just became a much more equal playing ground between the two characters.
Yeah.
You know, you talk about working as actors, and you know, I wonder whether or not when you've had the body of work you both have and then you look for opportunities, Like Glenn, you said, I'm just happy that I'm working. Does the pool become smaller so therefore the work is more readily available or is it as hard as it was when you sort of started out in your twenties. It's different.
It's harder, I think as you get older, especially for women. If we're going to be honest, it's it's an industry that hasn't always been generous to female characters, which which means that for a lot of female actors there are few opportunities for work and that's slowly changing. The other great thing that's happened in the last you know, ten or fifteen years, is that we've seen a great growth in diversity in casting. So we're seeing people in our theaters that look like the people from our streets, which wasn't always the case. But that does for me as a middle aged white guy, does minimize opportunities because it's we're telling story. He's about a much broader range of people and that's a good thing.
If you've just joined us this afternoon, I have actors Georgie Parker and Glenn Hazelden in the studio with me. They're here in Brisbane for Rhinestone Rex and Miss Monica that's currently on at the Queensland Theater. Have either of you written.
I have not.
I'm married to a writer. Yeah, Glenn, have you written me?
I haven't, but I should and I'm lazy and I have problem focusing on things, so I should write a play.
I'd love to be a writer.
I would love you just the reason I asked this because like listening to you talk about David Williamson, hearing so much about, you know, all the work that he's done and how it's brought to life. I just wonder whether or not, it ends up being a passion where you go, actually, can I now from this angle and through this lens be able to create something as well.
Look, I've done a lot of Williamson in my career. I came out of drama school in nineteen ninety five, was my first year out, and I came into a Williamson back then, a play called Dead White Man. And so for my whole professional life, I've been indelibly kind of entwined.
With Williamson's works. And this man has been writing.
Plays for fifty five plus years and he is a genius, There's no two ways about it. So I've really been able to look at the way David's structures are play. He's just a brilliant technician. Yeah, And I admire that his craftsmanship, and I think I've has bled into me.
I just wish I had the I don't know. They get up and go to do something about it.
Some people really want to and others just know it's not their thing, not my thing.
But Glenn's smart enough to pretty much do anything he puts his mind too.
She really loves Georgie. For you, it's been more than thirty years since you've been on the stage in Queensland, is that right?
Other queens Throp in the opera for the QTc back then, Yeah, And I've done a couple of other performances up in Brisbane, but not at the QTc. So it's so it's so great to be back, I mean's and the Bill Brown Theater is a beautiful yeah, sensation loving it.
Yeah, so obviously really special for you to be back, very special.
And we both knew Bill Billy and we adored him, so it's extra special to be inside those walls.
Well, we know that it's obviously been well received. There are still tickets that are available. We want to remind everybody where they can go to get those things. But I just wonder how much preparation still has to go under, Like you guys, like now that you the familiarity is there, you obviously know this piece so well, does it still require a lot of press really? Yes it does.
And we have this weird life. Unlike most professions. We can't even get a little bit sick.
You know.
It's kind of terrifying when you hear stories of you know, little rises in bugs. Yeah, you know, the flu coming around and resurgence of cod It's winter. Yeah, I mean, thank guy, we're up here in Brisbane for winter.
This is paradise for me. It's so good.
Summer would drive me nuts, but winter, this is Melbourne home for you. None, okay, we both live in Sydney.
Yeah, it's pretty mild. We've got friend visiting us at the moment from Europe and he's like, why are you people putting on sweaters? Yeah, it's really yeah, it's like it's like spring. It's beautiful for us.
Yeah, so we can't get sick, So we can't get sick, and we can't.
We often run a scene or two before we go on, just to click the brain in because we know it so well.
It's easy to.
It goes into this weird space where you certainly go, oh, I forgot a huge chunk of dial Yeah.
And it would be dangerous with this play because it is such a beautiful story and it is such a delicate a relationship between these two lost souls.
That it's also very funny.
But it would be it would be really dangerous if we just clicked into a rote style of performance.
We Georgie and I both love working fresh and the living thing.
Yeah, and so you're hanging out together when I mean, obviously you're doing a couple of interviews and a bit of press and then like, well you guys have dinner together a little time.
Well, we we're both pretty busy doing our own thing.
But yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah, that's nice.
I love him, We're pals, we have we have lunches.
Well, that's you're choosing to be together, which is a really such a lucky thing.
It is a privilege to work, not just be to work as an actor in the theater, but it's a privilege to work with people that you just love.
And I love George.
One final question, what happens next? You're here doing this show together, you know, for a couple of weeks, and then is there already the next adventure on the on the horizon.
I go back and have a bit of time off to spend with my family, and then I do a play in Sydney, yep, and then I go back to home and away. So yeah, I've got another play in Sydney. I'm extremely lucky. This is a This is a I feel like a very sport woman at that moment.
I can I couldn't understand that, because how wonderful is it that you can actually make those choices. You know. I'm so fortunate.
I asked at the beginning of signing on to Home and Away and they said yes. So whenever I give them enough time, they let me go and do theater.
So it's perfect.
They've also got a cast of like twenty three people, so it's not like I'm you know, I just sort of go to the shops and go visit mum and I'm out for three months.
So it's great.
So gle I've got a play that hasn't been announced yet two thousand, that's not till next year. But I just got some money. I've got a grant for You're a private family foundation too. I'm setting up a charity I want to look after find a way to look after people coming back to work after having kids, because for people working in the theater, it's really expensive to be out at nights, so it can be a disincentive disincentive for people to come back to work. So I want to try and raise some money so that parents can afford supported through that yeah, you know, childcare or if they're on to where they can bring their family with them.
And how wonderful of you because obviously, it's that whole thing of seeing need feel a need, right you obviously heard an stories and sore enough of this being a barrier.
Yeah, yeah, especially for women because a lot of women I know who have had kids, these are friends who work in the business, don't take work because it's not really worth it financially at the end to give to be working and away from your family and then to be giving all the money to somebody.
Else to look after your kids. Yeah, so's and.
Those people miss out on superannuation, they miss out on mid career opportunities.
They which makes late careers really difficult. So I'm just trying. We're trying to work out a way.
To I think it's wonderful and I think it's just a reminder too of how important the arts are as part of the fabric of who we are as people and as a community. So good on you for doing that. And if you ever need us to help amplify that message, you know where to find.
I'll be calling you, Sophie.
In the meantime, if you would like to go along and see Georgie and Glenn in Rhinestone Rex and Miss Monica. They are at the Queensland Theater at the Billy Brown Theatre at the moment, and tickets can be purchased at Queenslandtheater dot com dot au. Thank you so much for coming in, Thanks so much for.
Having us such a pleasure.
Thank you.
It's great to be on your show. And I think people should book because this is not making things up. I think it's going to sell pretty well. It's David Williamson's.
Yeah, yeah, and it is an awesome night in the Theater's amazing.
Glen's amazing. You're both amazing.
Thank you.
It's twenty two minutes past two, twenty five minutes past two on four BC Afternoons.
And now time to find out what's coming up on four BC Drive.
Carry Hard Graves coming up on four BC.
Yeah, I feel like that Paul McCartney song coming up. Yeah, how are you?
I'm well. Did you have a nice weekend?
Look, you know it was there was this blue stuff hanging in the sky.
He is to have to I had to ask people. It wasn't then asked to other people. There was a meeting. It was really quite something. It turned out all right in the end. But now the Rawal Queenslan You're club. Yes, that's nice out there.
You go saily, just have a meal.
They just had a meal.
Okay.
My version of sailing would have been a cork in the water, I think. But you know, it's just it would have been lovely once the rain went away, and of course it absolutely hold down.
I don't wi yeah, I know, it's crazy. It was nice though, to see a little of that blue stuff. It certainly dried things out a little bit. I haven't asked you. I forgot to ask at the end of the last week if another baby has joined the family.
No, not yet, but keep kidding me.
It's it's playing hide and seek looking it's in places that no one's looking.
But I have pictures.
There's still nothing.
I think we've.
Well, I don't know about we.
Well I have My daughter will shoot me. She thinks it's hilarious that you keep raising.
It by the way over June. Now she is, okay, all right.
We'll maybe he's coming out Thursday one way, or you promise to keep us up setting.
What else is on the show this afternoon?
That dreadful story out my way run Corn Nathan Road level crossing at run Corn Railway station. A sixty nine year old black on a train and versus a on a bike roller versus a train. Look, we've got so many level crossings around Brisbane. We are actually the center of all level crossings in Australia. There are more level crossings in Brisbane than anywhere else in metropolitan Australia and it's a disgrace. Nothing's being done about it. We'll get into a bit of that this afternoon. I've been banging on about it for ages and I'm going to continue to because everybody says.
Oh, I know the cost, They're just so expensive. I'm actually convinced the trains are in the wrong spot, not the roads. So we'll talk about that.
We're getting so much rubbish steel coming in, cheap steel. We're ordering it, by the way, We're allowing it to come in, rubbish steel to come in from places. And I'm not picking on China because they could be running the country soon, but in all seriousness, the steel coming into Australia is not meeting the standards to join other bits of steel to it, and so welding Australia are really worried about it. And this is fundamental if we try to build stuff and the core elements of building are things like steel and concrete, and we got some technical problems here, boy boy Houston, get them online one please at Ted O'Brian, the Shadow Treasurer, will join us this afternoon. I want to challenge him when I hear that the Liberal Party you're talking about coming to a deal with the Labor Party about taxes on superannuation.
I keep thinking of Charlie Daniels Band.
You know, the devil went down to Georgia looking for a soldier steal who was in the bar, and he was way behind, but he was willing to make a deal. Well, I'm sorry, no deals please, I say, you've got to stand firm. And you may have read some updates. Some radio stations down south are trying to now take our homework and claim the.
Prize, but we got some updates on it. Shearer, let me tell you, do you promise.
If he end up, if you end up getting an exclusive show, do you want to be at the table. I just think it'd be nice for you to invite everybody in the four B C.
Of course, No, as far as I'm concerned that will happen, right, I'm concerned there were the other people involved, but as far as I'm concerned, Harvey, are you listening?
We have an exclusive four b C.
It's not a big team here at four BC, but it's a great team and they all should come.
I agree, absolutely, And then maybe we could just have a few listeners as well. We could maybe have the.
Four b C shar and pop up event in Ipswich, yeah, or out there on the driveway here.
Absolutely, it does that every time he comes to Australia, does things like ghosts of.
Schools, Drek in the boardroom, it's sharing in the boardroom. What's the characteristics like, I'm trying to think of the biggest spaces we have. It'll have to be the garage, have to be. It'll have to be. Yeah, it'll be like an underground right next to the train.
Of four fifteen cannon he'll express or go by. It'll be funny. Is there a punctulation point in one of those I'm on my way it's out of a train.
Big show.
After three, Thank you, Gary, Gary Hardgrave driving you home this afternoon. He'll be here from three. If you think you just might be what the Broncos need as a bit of a good luck charm this weekend when they take on the Titans. Then stay listening and keep the competition line handy one three hundred triple four eight eighty two. I've got a family paths to give away before the end of the show, which is about twenty five minutes away, so it's going to happen soon. First, though, here's some World.
Wars things that matter around the world.
Chaos has broken out in France over the weekend. Paris Saint Germain won the Champions League against Into Milan, and what was supposed to be a celebration quickly turned ugly, which it too often does when it comes to football fans, violence, civil unrest taking hold not just in the city but right across the country. Sadly, two people have died, almost two hundred injured. Police arrested another six hundred people. The crowds were throwing bottles, setting off fireworks, burning more than two hundred cars. Many officers and fire fighters have also been left with injuries from all of this chaos. French President Emmanuel Macron has said the violence is unacceptable and unjustifiable, and he promised promised to I quote find and punish everyone involved. To a story in China where a tourist has climbed over a fence and jumped into a section of the world famous display of China's Terracotta Army. In the process, two of the ancient clay warriors have been damaged. The thirty year old lives in China, was visiting the museum that houses the Terracotta Army on Friday when he literally climbed over the guardrail and the protective net and then jumped. Public security officials said in a statement he pushed and pulled the clay warriors and two were damaged to varying degrees. He said he was controlled. They said he was controlled by security personnel. The bit that he jumped into is five point four meters deep about eighteen feet according to the museum's website. And finally, to Turkey, I love this and I really hope we follow suit. Turkey has moved to fine airplane passengers who stand up too early when the plane lands Yay, the Turkish Director at General of Civil Aviation recently announced that they intend to find passengers who stand up before the aircraft has come to a complete stop, who unfasten their seat belts, or who open the overhead lockers prematurely. The regulation applies to all carriers operating flights into Turkey, and violators can be fined roughly one hundred and ten dollars. I think that there needs to be an additional rule that one section of the plane stands at a time and you can't run from like row twenty to try and get up the front to get out fast unless you've got a connecting flight and they suggest that and they invite you. It drives me insane. It absolutely drives me insane. It's one of the things that I hate most about flying is the way everybody stands up to try and barge their weigh out. We're all going in the same place, so good on Turkey. It'll be interesting to see whether or not they they actually follow up with this and we see people be fined. It is a twenty three minutes to three and shortly Karlabnyaska is going to join us for entertainment. But first, okay, it's happening. The Broncos are playing the Titans this Saturday. It's happening at sun Corp Stadium. So we have a family pass to give away. You do have to have a Ticketech account to be able to redeem these tickets. So if you would like to be at the game on Saturday with the fam and you have a ticketech account, now is the time to give us a call on one three hundred triple four eight eighty two for your chance to win. Kickoff is seven thirty five pm. It is a night game. Four BC is a proud partner of the Brisbane Broncos. And congratulations to our listener Katrina from Winnham West who's off to the Broncos with the family to see them take on the Titans this weekend at sun Corp Stadium. Fingers crossed.
We have a Winns on four BC afternoons. This you see Entertainment quarter.
Joining us now our four BC Entertainment and lifestyle reporter color Benyaska. Good afternoon, Good afternoon to you, Sophie. Nice to have you in the studio. It's nice to be here. There's plenty going on in the world of entertainment. Well some is sort of entertainment that's really hard to wrap your head around. President Trump, you're saying, has come forward to say that he would look at pardoning Sean Diddy Combs if he finds himself convicted. And I've stopped reading what's gone on in that trial, because I just find it so unbelievably disturbing. It's awful. It is awful.
Of course, the trial began earlier last month. It's expected to go on through till July fourth. If you haven't been following it, or if you're like Sophie, he's just decided to switch off. There's been some awful allegations that have come to light from ex lovers, ex partners, ex business partners, and it's all around to do with the sex trafficking of two women, including his ex partner who was with him for over ten years, and money laundering and all sorts of other other things. Now it's landed in the lap of Donald Trump. At the White House, he was asked whether or not he would be considering pardoning p Did he if he was found guilty and convicted of these crimes that he's been alleged to have done. You recall maybe that Trump and did He were once close. He appeared on The Apprentice back in twenty twelve, kind.
Of almost supported him at the last election, and then did he end up pulling out at the last minute.
Yeah, he ended up backing away from supporting Trump, but here's Trump on Sean P.
Did he coombs whether or not he would pardon him?
First of all, I.
Look at what's happening, and I haven't been watching it too closely, although it's certainly getting a lot of coverage. I haven't seen him. I haven't spoken to him in years. He used to really like me a lot, but I think when I ran for politics, he sort of that relationship busted up from what I read.
I don't know.
He didn't tell me that, but I'd read some little bit nasty statements and the paper. All of a sudden, you know, it's different. You've become a much different person when you run for politics and you do what's right. I could do other things. I'm sure he'd like me, and I'm sure other people would like me, but it wouldn't be as good for our country. As we said. Our country is doing really well because of what we're doing, so I can't It's not a popularity contest, so I don't know. I would certainly look at the facts. If I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don't like me, it wouldn't have any impact on me.
Okay, that's clear. Oh, is he going to or not. He's part of the fair amound a fair few of people and ones that know him or that I've worked with him previously.
But yeah, did he on trial in Manhattan for sex trafficking, prostitution amongst other things.
So let's see watch that space. Yeah. Now, there's been a massive fan event for Netflix Too Dumb twenty twenty five.
It's basically all the world's streaming nerds come together in one PA.
You call it to Dumb to Dumb, That's what it's called.
Okay, tudum And basically the trailers for the biggest shows and films for Netflix for this back half of the year released and includes the three biggest TV shows that they have. That's Squid Games, Wednesday, and Stranger Things. You're a fan of any of those shows?
Oh really? I love Squid Games. I've never watched really.
Well, Okay, so Wednesday's basically the spinoff of Wednesday Adams of the Adams Family, and it's the biggest show in the history of all times over two hundred and fifty million people. Well, it's had two hundred and fifty two point one million views Wednesday Wednesday.
So the release of the trailer for season two.
It does start Joanna Lumley, of course, from Absolutely Fabulous. She plays a teacher from Nevermore Academy, which is where Wednesday goes to harness her spooky psychic abilities and whatever else. And also Steve Rushemi plays the new principle in season two, so I love him. I think they're both terrific actors. And it's the biggest show of all time.
So Gangbusters, okay, doesn't pop up on my recommended for you, so I might have to go on.
Probably probably not well, unless just seeking out spooky, psychic.
Horror, fantasy, sci fi. Probably.
Lady Gaga also was there at the event, performed a medley of her hits, and she announced that she would also be part of the cast.
What's the show that's thirty years in the making? A sequel at thirty years in the making?
What's that about?
That's Happy Gilmore? Oh wow, okay, are you not excited about this Happy Gilmore? As it been thirty.
Years nineteen ninety six that Golf Classic was released, I've got to say it was one of the biggest films of my teenage forty years. I know it's very low brow, but you gotta understand I was Raised on a dive, Benny Hill from My Dad and Faulty Towers. But we loved Happy Gilmore the film, so yes, it is going to be released on Netflix, which much of all these big movies are being released on streaming. I watched a movie on the weekend with Natalie Portman that would have otherwise been at a movie THEA. I really feel sorry for cinema's cinema owners and that I mean they're still making money. But yeah, all the big names are going to straight director streaming. The likes of Apple and Amazon and Netflix have the cash to bring these big name styles on the platform.
So it's the sequel.
I don't know if anyone asks a question and it's been answered in Happy Gilmore To the trailer was released to have a listen.
My name is Happy Gilmore.
Thirty years ago, I decided to give golf a train.
But even when you're at.
The top of your game, you can always shank one.
Happy Gilmore sucks. So it picks up basically where the last one left off, and except that Adam Sandler is now thirty years older and nobody's still great.
The trailer looks great, and obviously there's a huge cast in this film. Professional golfers like John Daly is in their page spirin at Rory McElroy, Jack Nicholas is in there, Bryson de Chambere, so all the big golf names are in this film. Travis Kels in their post Malone, eminem even makes an appearance.
But all the favorites.
So if you're a fan of the original Shootera McGavin is back in Christopher McDonald, Julie Bowen, who plays his well, his wife now Virginia Vinnett is in there, and Ben Stiller reprises his role as the orderly howl who looked after his grandma in the first one.
Obviously I'm a fan.
Obviously I can't wait, and thank you Netflix for bringing Happy Gilmore two out.
I am a fan of Ricky Gervais and he's been celebrated. He got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Yes, two thousandth eight hundred and thirteenth star. That's how many have been handed out on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
It's just down from Hollywood Boulevard and on Vine Street, so not right near the action because I think, like, if you want to be right, but I mean that's a lot of stars. There's almost three thousand stars. Yeah, it's got to spread out. Now, I can't all be in front of Man's Johnny's Theater. Well that's it. So if you were there, that's the epicenter, I guess of it. It's down the road a bit and turner right on Vine Street if you want to know. If you're going over to La you want to find Ricky's star. But his speech was great and gracious, and then it turned pear shape.
He is it?
Before it turned pear shaped.
I was nervous because when they first told me I got this, the first thing I thought about was do I have to get down on all fours and put my hands in concrete?
And I just thought I won't get back up.
I am humbled and to have my name etched on this legendary Walk of Fame, a place that celebrates the dreamers and doers of the industry. I'd love to claim that it was due to my unrival genius, but truth be told, it's a cocktail of luck, persistence, and a little bit of pushing against the tide. Do you know what I mean?
I love it?
Wait tell me. And then after that he said something completely inappropriate correct.
He always you know, walks the line there and fighting political correctness, and he's just always on the precipice of being canceled.
But he does not care.
And he did in his speech bring up the fact that there are many other controversial recipients like Bill Cosby, Michael Jackson, Abby Einstein, which she is now in the pleasant company of on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. You could have, you know, focused on Sir Paul McCartney. I don't know Destiny's Child, Bob goldf and anyone else, but he's great. It's great that he's been honored and you know, and that he hasn't been canceled yet.
Okay, yes, you know who hasn't been canceled to And this is the only place we talk about her on afternoon, is that you would like to give me a Mega Markel update for her show? It is no, well not really.
And I know that she can be insufferable too many, I get it, But here is the one redeeming factor that I will now tip my hat to Mega Markel about. I can't believe that her show on Netflix has been renewed for a second season. It's a whole bunch of dribble the first one. However, the most important thing that I got out.
Of her series with Love Megan is how to cut a pineapple properly. Well, there you go. So every time you cut a pineapple, now you'll think of her. Probably, Well, I've never thought about it, I guess since she cut the pineapple on the show. Yeah, she does.
But that ended up on no penny intended on the cutting room floor. It didn't make the series the most interesting thing because she posted it on her Instagram. And I have alerts because I go and hate watch things and that's one of them.
And so basically, if you just cut.
Along the diagonal lines of a pineapple, and then you can just like with the I don't know what the little very spiky bits in each you know, square is each diamond is. If you pull at it like a plug, a whole wedge of pineapple just comes out.
Now.
I haven't tried it, I've watched other people do it. It looks relatively simple. And why hasn't anyone I come up with this so far? Because I struggle with a pineapple. You know, they're so cheap here and they're beautiful and sweet, and yeah, I just hack into it, and in the end I get mostly core and then some of the spiky bits and it's just pointless.
We'll see. Thank you Meghan for now changing Color's life. You didn't even it was information you didn't know you needed.
I know.
But I can go to sleep tonight. Thank you, Mega Michael. I have to say every now and then one of those little videos pops up on my Instagram feed of something that I didn't know I needed to know, and yeah, they can be life changing. That is one of them, but it didn't end up in the show. Was what you're saying. She posted it separately onto her Well, she's posted it separately. I hope that's the thing she goes viral for. Far from marrying Royal and everything else. But the show is terribly boring. That is remarkably interesting. How to cut a pineapple with Mega Mirkle. That's what the series should be. Are we really having a Rocky Road off you and I? Apparently?
But a giant box of Rocky Road just arrived for you. Really, I'm a terrible baker. I'm an excellent cook. I don't even know if Rocky Road's baking.
I don't think that Rocky Road is baking. I mean, Chrissy might beg to differ, but I think you're just melting chocolate and shoving a whole bunch of stuff in a bowl and then letting it set. I don't know whether i'd call it weaking.
I might call in with third degree burns to rocas I cannot melt things like chocolate and I'm hopeless.
I'm hopeless, Carla, thank you for bringing us entertainment. We'll do it again next Monday. I'm being told that the massive box of Rocky Road may have just disappeared. I don't know the person to point my finger out. That would be Jared Braybook coming up after the break, wrap things up for the day. It's six minutes to three. Just one more about sweet treats. You remember that not long ago I had the Kenilworth Bakery on the show. Well, they've announced that they're opening another store and it's just going to be a short drive from Brisbane, Ash. The country bakehouse arose to fame in recent years because they were doing their one kilogram donuts and Karen brought one in when we did Tuesday Trail Mix. Then we talked about the fact that they had opened on Bribe Island. Then they were really clever and they did an whole advertising campaign off the back of Robert Irwin posing in these bonds with the snake and the Kenilworth Bakery Guide did it but with sausage rolls instead, which was very clever. So they're now opening their fourth location in Samford Valley. Social media posts confirming the new location. It says new store opening in June. Tag your friends in Brisbane. So despite plenty of guessing from anxious donut lovers, there's been some ads go up over the weekend posted by the bakery confirming the news. They're also looking for people to go along and be handing out those donuts. They were founded originally in nineteen twenty four as the Kenilworth Bakery and have become a staple for that little village northwest of Montville for about one hundred years now. So in twenty sixteen, the new owner, Jenna Saunders, purchased the historic bakehouse and just died. Such a great job marketing the business on social media, you know those things that go viral, and in a few short years the bakery has become a bona fide weekend destination. With visitors traveling far and wide because they are doing some different and decadent delights. So if you're a fan of the donut, you won't have to go far for that little sweet tooth hit.
I owe my soul for a donut. Well, that can be arranged thunder. You're the devil. It's always the one you least suspect. Now many people offered his seller souls without reflecting upon the grave ramification. Do you have a donut or not?
Coming up?
Now?
Remember it the instant you finish it.
I own your soul for well, he.
Does love a donut, and there are other people who are listening to that who know exactly how he feels. Closer to home and tomorrow. Aussie pets, well, there's some new data that's come out from the rs PCA to tell us that Australia has one of the highest pet ownership rates in the world. Almost seventy percent of households have a pet. That means we've got about twenty eight million of them in Australia. There are more pets than people in our country. And of course dogs reigned supreme. They're the most popular pet. About forty eight percent of oussie pet owners have dogs, so that equates to about six million pups across the country. Cats come in second. They're the second most common pet that we have in our homes. That little furry friend is about thirty three percent of pet owners saying that they have a cat. And the reason for bringing all of that up, of course, is that tomorrow is Tuesday, and Tuesday means pets here on afternoons, So if you've got questions tomorrow, be sure to be listening to ask the experts. When we hit that at around one thirty in the afternoon, and we had our listener a few weeks ago tell us that they got the new puppy. I think it was a Golden Retriever, and we gave suggestions for the name. We might check in with her to find out what they ended up going with. I was talking about weather related because they were fishing people. Remember, we're going to call it Gilligan. So we'll go back and we'll find her and see if we got a name for that pet. After all. Tomorrow we'll also have another hit of Tuesday trail and XIMENSP from Karen Hannahmeller about where you might like to go for your next adventure out of the city. All of that and plenty more from midday, I hope to have your company then. For now, though my time is up, I do thank you for yours